TheBridge

Luke blinked at this.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “You want us to meet in person with a Sith Lord who has been trying to kill me?”

“Not kill you,” said Piett swiftly. Veers glanced at him. “Our orders were to capture you alive on pain of death. You were not to be damaged at all if we could help it.”

Well.

Interesting.

“Do you know why?” Luke asked, rubbing his fingers over the hilt of his lightsaber.

Veers gave him a very cynical look.

“You imagine that Lord Vader shares reasoning like that with us, Skywalker?” he asked.

Luke sighed. He had already experienced too many near misses with Lord Vader hunting him. Surely he wasn’t the only Force sensitive that Vader could be hunting?

Unless—

Unless Vader knew .

The range would have made a great deal more sense for him to take his mood out upon, but this was guilt that he was working out and merely firing a blaster wasn’t enough.

Lobbing dentons might have done it, but then, Piett would have thoughts about that upon his Lady. Hells, the Lady would have thoughts about that.

“What do you think?” he said aloud to the ship, wondering if she was listening to him or if all her attention was upon her unconscious Admiral. Doubtful. She was…unique. And massive.

“Lob a few dentons around in here? You could make sure nothing opens to vacuum?”

Her lights flickered at him.

He wasn’t as adept as Piett in reading her moods and so he tapped at his datapad before shrugging out of his duty jacket and rolling the sleeves of his henley over his elbows.

She had obliged by placing a copy of the ship’s safety policies next to a picture of Piett which showed him raising an eyebrow and giving his best ‘Fleet Admiral’ look.

Veers breathed out through his nose, dealing with the pain the image caused.

You had better be healthy enough to give me that look soon, Firmus.

“Yes, all right. No wanton destruction to the ship,” he sighed, exiting the office and striding to the vast array of lockers on the far side of the bay where the AT-ATs were stored.

Veers took a moment to pause behind the shelter of a huge trunk in order to close his eyes and lean his forehead against the rough bark, breathing in the comforting earthy tones of living wood.

These trees were very different from those on Kashyyyk, but equal in size. The bark was softer and the trunks a less vibrant shade— no doubt being on a mere moon did not give them the variety of soil and water needed to develop in the way the forests of Kashyyyk had.

Regardless, it was wood, and Veers had always found the feel of it comforting in any form.

He’d been incredibly busy organizing things here on the surface after the massive death throes of the space station had spread across the sky in white fire.

This had disrupted all communications for hours, and other Rebel teams even reported massive debris from destroyed ships landing on the moon’s surface.

How many vessels had that damned vanity project taken with it when it blew?

He knew he’d be dreaming about that explosion, given how many times his mind had replayed it for him.

He dragged himself back into the fray, until at last communication was restored with their ships.

Once things were in good order with shuttles and transports going back and forth, Veers made his way via speeder bike to the Ewok village they’d first come across.

There was already a great fire in the central platform, and music. He could smell some sort of meat roasting and there were jubilant voices.

But there was only one face he really wanted to see in the moment, and as yet, there had been no word from him.

“That bastard did some significant damage to his mind,” Henley stated. Neither had to clarify who ‘that bastard’ was. “I have done all I can but he needs more than that, my Lord. It doesn’t help that he was interrogated extensively as well, but that I can take care of. He’s responding well to treatments. But if I’m correct about what I’m seeing on his scans—and naturally I am—he doesn’t have a lot of time before the damage is permanent.”

Anakin’s stomach twisted. He longed for Yoda in this moment, but the cryptic Jedi Master had made it clear that this was Anakin’s mess and his alone to clean up.

“What would you have me do?” he asked roughly, already aware of where this conversation was going.

“What it takes,” Henley answered curtly. “He needs you, my Lord.”

Anakin looked down at his prosthetic hands—hands that had brought death to so many.

“I am no healer, Doctor.”

“Then start,” Henley told him with more boldness than Anakin recalled in the past, and that was saying something for the chief medical officer. “We have precious few Force users around and the Admiral doesn’t have much time. Your son needs to heal and so isn’t available. You are.”

His son’s presence in the Force bloomed warm and strong. Anakin reveled in that as Luke sprinted to his side.

“Piett?” Anakin asked curtly, not having breath for more detail.

“Safe with your old army buddies,” Luke replied. “We’re going to have some explaining to do.”

Anakin was darkly amused at the description of the clones as ‘army buddies’. He was fully aware that Fox would turn his blaster on Anakin at any given moment. Hells, it was possible that Cody would beat him to it.

“We should split up,” Anakin panted. “Come at him from two directions…”

“He already knows we’re both here,” Luke shot back. “I’m not leaving you.”

The loyalty which Anakin didn’t deserve was like strong wine in the Force.

“Besides,” the boy continued, “Didn’t you say that—-”

<Dark One,> announced the Lady in his mind. <I have arrived.>

“Still no idea on the whereabouts of Commander Skywalker then, Your Highness?”

It was her turn to look hurt.

“No,” she answered quietly. “But while I am concerned, General…I have hope that he is with Lord Vader. And I realize how odd that sounds coming from me—”

“Oh believe me, it sounds odd if we said it as well,” Venka put in. The man was doing well given all that he’d been hit with in the past week.

“---but Luke is planning something. I’m certain of it. And clearly Vader is helping him.”

“You think so?” Veers said dryly, reluctant to allow himself hope.

“Yes,” she answered firmly. “He would never abandon us, General.”

“Or they’re dead,” he said frankly.

She winced, but shook her head. “I…do not believe so. I would…I would know.”

He raised an eyebrow at this. “Really? Pardon, Your Highness, but how ?”

She folded her arms and her countenance became defiant. “I can’t explain. But…somehow I knew Luke needed me on Bespin. It’s why we tried to go back for him, but Vader beat us to it then.”

Well.

Interesting.

“Do you…are you Force sensitive, Princess?” Veers asked. Venka groaned quietly, and Max was certain he heard a mumbled ‘not another one’.

“Not to my knowledge,” she answered, with a sad little smile. “But…I don’t know, General. I’ve always had decent intuition when it comes to Luke.”

Two months before the battle of Endor, Darth Vader disappears. Coincidentally, so does Luke Skywalker. The secret treasonous alliance between Death Squadron and the Rebellion is in the balance. Then Admiral Piett is arrested to be brought before Palpatine himself. The fallout is reasonably dramatic.

<It will come in time, Bright One,> the Lady said and her excitement was tangible. Padme’ frowned at all of them.

“Are you all…is the ship speaking with you?”

He wheeled on her. “How do you know of her?”

The answer came to him almost before he’d finished speaking and a surge of betrayal filled him.

“Captain Piett will pay for this breach of trust,” he growled, and immediately the lights in the bay dropped blood red.

<YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HIM,> the Lady commanded vehemently. <I will be very sad, Dark One, to lose you. But you taught me about choice. That I am no slave but your equal. I choose my Captain if you force me to it.>

He couldn’t help the hysterical laughter. It no doubt sounded bizarre coming from the vocoder.

The family he’d no idea existed until ten minutes ago had already managed to win the Lady to their side of things and the Force was once again kriffing with him like he was its personal plaything.

The life of Anakin Skywalker, he thought incredulously. Finding new ways to be karked since 41 BBY.

They were all looking at him—Luke with concern, Leia glaring, and Padme’ contemplatively.

He extinguished his lightsaber.

“I think,” he said at last. “That we need to go and speak rather than fight.”

“I wish I could properly express how much I desire things to be different,” he told her. “If I could stay with you and Padme’ without compromising my duty, I would.”

“She understands you,” Sola replied, turning back to the control panel. “And I have gained more understanding. This may be risky, but I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t think getting you back to your Lady wasn’t the right call.”

He would see the Lady again. He would set foot on her familiar decks. See the stars from her viewports…

He smiled.

“Coming into the Savareen sector,” Sola said. “I’m going to drop out of light speed in 5 seconds.”

He counted silently and the small craft snapped into normal space above a green planet.

And it took both of them half a second to believe what they were seeing right in front of them.

But there was no mistaking the dagger shape of the SSD Executor.

“What’s she doing here?” he asked numbly as Sola took the shuttle into a sharp dive. “I thought you said she was a sector over!”

“She was !” Sola snapped. “If I can get to the surface, I have a chance. You can claim escape and I can—”

The tractor beam snagged them.

“Kriffing hells,” he breathed. What should have been a joyous homecoming for him, was now filled with dread for the woman beside him.

“However,” she continued, leaning forward and clasping her hands together. “The intention is absolutely to get you back to your ship. I’m asking you to be patient.”

The corner of his mouth curled a little as Henley flashed into his mind.

“Not…historically good at that,” he told her.

She looked at him knowingly. “And you don’t believe me.”

“I’d like to,” he rasped. “But you have not given me anything to hold onto.”

“Is not getting you away from those Hutt sucking bastards enough?” she asked him, arching an elegant eyebrow.

He considered how to answer this. It was compelling, yes. Unless she had other motives. He was well aware that he held a ghoulish sort of value to various beings around the galaxy.

She understood his silence.

“I swore to you that you would be with friends. I am not lying, Captain. There are no ulterior motives in saving you. And you will return to your ship. When you are physically capable of doing so.”

“What friends?” he asked, throat aching with so much talking. “My closest friend in the world is on my ship. I have no others.”

She sucked at her bottom lip and he could see her weighing her reply in those wonderful blue eyes.

“I…can’t tell you that. I wish I could, Captain, believe me. I will merely reiterate, you are safe here. Doctor Frolov says you will have the final surgery tomorrow to make sure that everything heals as it should.”

He tried to paste on a relieved smile and nodded.

He had to escape.

Padme' Amidala lived because Obi-Wan got her to exactly the right person---her sister Sola. The Naberrie women went on the run from the Empire after faking Padme's death in order to protect the twins. Now, fifteen years later, Padme' sends Sola on a mission to save an old friend. This leads to the unravelling of many things all of which adds up to numerous surprises coming right at Anakin Skywalker's face.