Hello :)

As promised, here is it, Hope you'll like it :)  For the Jedi-abusers fans, it's coming again, in the next two parts :)  (hmmm, is that too much of a give away ;)  bah, nah, you know it's coming anyway :)

Characters: Luke, Anakin, Padme, Leia, Han, Mara, and surprises :)
Type: family, drama

Previously:  Luke and his parents have found the whereabouts of his sister, but the rebels are suspicious.  To avoid more complications, Luke remains hidden in the shuttle while they go with Leia to the main base.

Dear Son part 14/16
by SJ_
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Disclaimers: None of those characters belong to me. See my 
front page for more details. (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Quasar/3702)

Note about the story's copyrights: All the rights related to the basic idea of 
Vader finding Luke as a child at his school, protecting him from any bad things and the Emperor, as well as the Emperor's scheme concerning Luke belong to 
Jessica (MoonArtist7@aol.com). Thanks for your suggestion, my friend ; this story wouldn't have come to be without it.

Also, special thanks to my shy, secret beta-reader and best friend, Adrianne, 
for her help with the final editing of my new stories. (Eh, I have no choice 
but to mention you, my friend ; your secret is still safe though ;) Thanks for 
giving us some of your precious time, my friend :)
____________________


Even though Luke remained in the shuttle, he still followed the next events through his bond with his father.
First, the rebels took his parents straight to the medcenter where they took blood samples from them and analyzed them.
As expected, his mother's matched her data, but his father’s didn't match anything that existed in the databanks. He explained it once again with the Jedi purges which led the rebels to lead a search to try and find traces of Jedi blood lines.
As Anakin had predicted, they didn’t find anything ; it corroborated the fact that the Emperor had indeed erased every type of data about the ‘hated’ Jedis.
In a way, Luke thought, it proved that Anakin wasn't a spy, but at the same time, it didn't prove his true identity either. 
Hence, he could feel that the rebels were still skeptical about his trustworthiness. Security remained tight around their little group.
Next, they met with tacticians who took eager notes of his father's revelations then asked him all the questions that they could think of before they questioned his mother.
Once again, the rebels didn’t find anything incriminating in their stories, yet they remained suspicious. 
However, they privately decided to begin a spying operation to verify the truth of his father’s words.
Luke had no doubt that the rebels would realize quite soon that they now knew the Emperor’s most guarded secret ; his father had been so precise and explicit in his explanation that even them couldn’t fail in their search of the clone labs.
Once this meeting was over, his sister, who seemed to trust their parents almost implicitly, took them to small quarters and asked them to not leave them until she came back for them.
As she disappeared from his senses, Luke reflected on the past hours. Throughout the rest of the day, both her angel-like presence and her friend's omnipresent distrust had hovered around his parents', creating a strange aura of trust/distrust in his senses. His sister obviously wanted to talk with their parents and get to know them better, but, he thought in annoyance, that Solo guy seemed to be keeping her from doing so, giving her warning glances, or so his father’s senses informed him.
The more he thought about Solo though, and the more that that he understood why his father felt like his patience was wearing thin. That guy had an upsetting attitude that would bear on anybody's patience.
Even his sister seemed annoyed by it, he smiled to himself. He had never spent too much time wondering how alike they would be, thinking that their different background would make them hopelessly different, but now that he was thinking about it, she might have the Skywalker temper after all.
It was a somewhat pleasant discovery, "as long as it didn’t turn against us in the long run." he muttered to himself.
He reintegrated his full senses and decided to check the news before going to bed.
While they had been on Dagobah, they hadn't thought about checking those out, but now that they were getting ready to rejoin the battle, he had to know what they were up against.
He called up a copy of the most popular newspaper in the galaxy, thus making it completely impossible to be tracked because of it ; he opened it--- and felt his jaw hit the floor in disbelief.
The head title read: Lord Vader strikes again.
What??, he gaped. Vader?? How could that be?? 
He read on, then froze when he read that the Dark Lord was slowly avenging the capture and possible death of his son that the Rebels had so lowly ambushed in the Vultran sector. 
What the?!?, he wondered, his eyes as wide-opened as his gaping mouth was. Was the Emperor merely covering up?, he thought, Or had he truly disguised someone as his father to keep up appearances---unless, he realized, he had cloned his father.
Or else, he corrected, he was using the clone that he had created fifteen years ago to imprison his mother. 
The monster that had been his father was still alive then, he sighed--- then stopped his mental rummaging as he focused on his tingling senses.
Someone was coming.
He hurried to clear the computer log from the newspaper, logged out, then proceeded to find a place where he could hide while seeing everything.
He selected the far corner of the cockpit where the shadows were thick. With a Force-veil, it would be perfect.

Five minutes later, loud footsteps came from the direction of the landing ramp, then the tall form of the annoying Corellian came into view.
Checking out the newcomers, Luke realized.
He first took in the surrounding of the cockpit, and Luke realized that he recognized the imperial design.
Clever, he noted.
Next, the intruder plopped down on the pilot seat and called up the logs.
Luke watched in slight amusement while the smuggler struggled with the codes, but he recognized his creativity when he spliced leads and forced the computer to accept a new code.
Much better than hacking, he conceded.
He watched him rub his jaw as he read the log of their last destination. Luke knew that he would be able to retrace their frenzied escape of the past weeks... and discover where they had been ; Coruscant, z-1278, Balmoar, the Dagobah System, Alderaan... Yavin. 
He heard him snarl something unintelligible before he shut it down.
He realized that his newest discovery made his father's story true, and it didn't please the Corellian. 
Next, the rebel searched the ship from bow to stern, looking for secret compartments or anything interesting.
When he stepped toward his parent's room, Luke remembered his father's armor and hurried to hide it under the bed and with the Force. 
The wary man didn't find it, but he did find his mother's dirty clothes as well as his pajama pants. He also noticed the lavish comfort that told him that they had stolen this shuttle from a very high dignitary. 
Finally, he stepped back in the cockpit, seemed to gaze straight at him--- but it was impossible, Luke reminded himself. He was still hidden unless...
The Corellian lit Anakin’s ruby-red, new lightsaber, stepped closer--- then turned slightly away and studied it.
Luke let out a breath in relief ; he was still hidden.
"I know you..." Solo muttered to himself while he walked around the cockpit. "Somehow, I know you, Skywalker... Something in you is very familiar..."
Luke swallowed in slight worry as the Corellian closely examined Anakin’s new lightsaber, the one that he had found in the Emperor’s room and that was almost an exact replica of his old weapon except for a slight difference of design in the handle. He himself could recognize those things because he had lived with his father for more than five years now, but could the Corellian..?---
As if reaching a decision, the smuggler pilot suddenly closed off the weapon and stormed out of the ship. 
Luke put an end to his veil, then checked on the tall man and hoped that he hadn’t figured out their secret. 
He hadn’t, but he hadn’t given up either.
He realized that he was studying the exterior of the shuttle, analyzing its design and its modification. Well, he sighed, then yawned, nothing incriminating in that. It was makeshift while sturdy, and added to the fact that they had worked hard on escaping imperial notice. 
Finally, Solo walked away from the shuttle and returned toward the rebels' main base. Still slightly worried, Luke reached out and lightly scanned him.
He was suspicious, frustrated that the truth was eluding him, but he wouldn’t attack his parents yet.
Reassured that he hadn’t found what he had been looking for, Luke relaxed, then decided to take advantage of his solitude to go to sleep. 
He wanted to be in shape to train tomorrow, then to meditate about the clone of his father.
He closed up the shuttle to avoid being surprised by anymore unwelcome visitors.

******

At the rebel base, Leia tossed yet again in her bed, raised herself on her elbows in annoyance, punched her pillows a couple of times to make it more comfortable, then tried again to fall asleep.
Not only was Han bunking on the Falcon tonight, which was one sure way to keep her from falling asleep, but, she finally conceded, she was also very excited. She sat up in bed, turned her light on and sighed in both frustration and happiness. She had never thought that her mother would someday be returned to her, and to have it happen today, with her father... it was too much for her. 
Deciding that the only way to recover at least part of her ability to sleep would be to talk with the object of her thoughts, she stood up, put on her bath robe, then slipped outside of her quarters and tiptoed toward her parents' which happened to be two levels under her owns.
Hesitatingly, she knocked on their door, then slowly opened it, careful to not startle them too much. 
What she saw made her smile softly ; her parents were sleeping peacefully, her mother safely ensconced in her father's strong arms. 
Thanks to the moon glow, she also noticed the presence of a long, reddish welt that ran from his back and onto his arm ; she shuddered. 
That had got to hurt, she conceded in sympathy.
"Leia?.." her mother's soft voice drifted up.
"I'm sorry," she apologized, suddenly feeling foolish. "I just..."
Her mother smiled at her, then slowly sat up, careful to not awake her husband. 
Leia noticed that she was still wearing the shirt that she had been wearing during the day.
"Let's go outside," she whispered, then put on her trousers and overshirt. 
Leia watched in rapture as her mother caressed her father's face once then pecked his cheek ; Anakin reacted with a mumble before he hugged the blankets back to himself.
It made the young princess smirk while she preceded her mother outside. 
The two of them didn't talk for as long as they hadn't found a quiet corner to talk. 

They sat on the cool stones of the walkway that was surrounding their floor.
"You really love Father, don't you?" Leia finally asked her mother.
"More than ever." Padme nodded. "Having him back now is like a miracle. He was completely lost, overwhelmed... even 'he' never thought that he would some day be free."
"How did they escape?" the young woman inquired, folding her legs to hug her knees to her chest. 
For a moment, her mother remained silent, as if pondering how to tell her about the past, then she took a deep breath and spoke hesitatingly. 
"The Emperor... had dropped his guard around your father... because he thought that he was finally 'his'... He made the mistake to try and abuse your brother in front of him to test his subservience, but Anakin wasn't broken at all, no matter how hurt he was..." she explained wistfully, her eyes shining with respect of the strength of will that her husband had demonstrated at that moment. "He attacked the Emperor and, with your brother's help, killed him before taking care of the nearby guards."
"Too bad that the Emperor hasn't stayed dead." the princess muttered glumly.
"Yes, too bad..." her mother agreed with her. "But we're going to defeat him once and for all this time." she reminded him.
Leia nodded slightly, then frowned as she remembered the debriefing that had taken place during the afternoon. Yes, her father had given them priceless information, but, she had to admit, it almost sounded too good to be true. 
"How has Father found that information?" she inquired seriously. "It truly is priceless." She added as lightly as she could, not interested to make her mother think that she didn’t trust her.
"In the Emperor's shuttle logs," her mother answered softly. "When he and your brother stole that shuttle, they didn’t know what they would find in it, but it proved to be a throve of secrets." 
Leia nodded slowly in agreement, then asked: "Is it also how he's found you?"
"Yes. The Emperor's secrets were all logged in that computer... as if he never wanted to leave without them." she added wistfully.
"Were??" she queried in puzzlement. "Aren't they still there?" 
"Unfortunately not." her mother shook her head. "A few days after their escape, they’ve discovered that the secret logs had been wiped clean from a distance."
"Security measures." Leia understood. "They were lucky to not be traced at the same time."
Her mother smiled proudly at that. "They couldn't ; Anakin had already taken care of the transponder."
"Is he a mechanic? He does seem to have skills with machines." she commented.
"He's a wizard with anything that functions with wires and technical parts," her mother told her wistfully. "and he can fly whatever he wishes."
"Even after all those years of detention?" Leia inquired in incredulity.
Her mother nodded. "He's a born pilot, Leia. He hasn't had the chance to fly a fighter yet since his escape, but he's flown the shuttle as expertly as ever."
"what about you?" she asked. "Have you suffered from your years of detention?" 
"Well," her mother began as she shifted her position to lean on the heels of her hands, "I don't know if I am still as good in technical skills as I used to be, but I think that I could still be a good politician, if I wanted to of course."
"Don't you want to?" the young woman gaped, unable to believe that her mother, whom she admired, wouldn't want to use her skills for the good of the galaxy.
Padme sighed tiredly, closed her eyes for a moment, then reopened them and gazed at the green moon that was providing them with a soft light.
"When Vader locked me up," she began slowly, "I thought that I would be left to die... I wanted to die for real this time..." she added glumly. "What was there to do if I couldn't be with the people I cared for? If I couldn't help my planet with my oratory and political skills..." she said, voicing her inner dialogues of the past. "Then, as the time passed, I realized that there was more to life than fighting for a cause, or helping others."
Leia couldn't help but inhale sharply in deep surprise. 
Her mother turned back toward her and gazed at her with the softest eyes that she had ever seen. 
She knew that she wasn’t being selfish, but as kind as ever.
"Whenever I caught the beginning of the sunset, or the end of the sunrise," her mother continued wistfully, "I yearned to see the rest of it. Under the implacable heat of my prison-planet, I tried to remember what it was like to be in the snow, or merely walking in a grassy, windswept clearing, or near a river... and whenever I caught sight of a droid near my window, I wished that I would some day be able to talk with a real person again... I wondered if I would ever see my children again."
Leia could feel tears in her eyes ; she wiped them with her fingertips, then said: "I understand, Mother, but..."
"I'm not going to hide forever, or ignore what is going on in the galaxy," her mother explained gently, resting her hand on her own, "but I will not let it become the center of my life anymore." she finished gently. "I have a second chance at life, at a family and love life ; I am not going to miss it." she smiled wisely.
Somehow, her mother's words brought more tears to Leia’s eyes ; she bowed forward in sadness.
All her life, she had realized, she had always let her duty lead her life, never taking real time to enjoy those simple things that her mother had mentioned... until she had had to hide from her friends and family because of her affiliation with the Alliance. 
She had always put her people, her cause--- the galaxy ahead of her needs... It was in fact a wonder that Han had managed to pierce through that fog to reach her heart, she smiled sadly.
She then felt her mother's feather-like touch on her opposite shoulder, then her gentle invitation to seek comfort in her embrace. Abandoning all pretense of strength, Leia leaned into her arms, then sobbed again as she felt her mother's arms around her small frame, holding her like she had done when she had been younger. 
And with that thought, she realized that she too had just been given a second chance, one to know her family, not just her mother, but her father and brother as well... and to be more than Princess Leia or Alderaan, leader of the Rebellion and untouchable figure of head. She could be a daughter, a sister... a lover.
Now she understood why her mother's words affected her so much. They were exactly about what Han had kept reproaching her ever since she had admitted her love for him.
She loved him, but she never had time for him. She always had to take care of a request, or attend a meeting, or prepare a mission.
She never said no... because it would have been like denying her efforts to avenge her mother, but now that she was alive, that they were all alive... all she had left to fight for was freedom.
It was important, but not to the point of burying herself alive under work either. 

Padme gently rocked her grown-up daughter while she cried. She didn't know exactly why Leia was so sad all of a sudden, but she wanted to comfort her.
She held her in silence for a long while.
"What is it, Sweetheart?" she finally inquired. 
"I..." she sobbed, "I was a prisoner too, Mother." she breathed. "A prisoner of my grief... my desire for revenge."
"And now you're free." she whispered even as she kissed the crown of her daughter’s head. "Free to live, free to love."
"Yes..." the young woman nodded, then lapsed into silence.
Padme accepted her silence and didn't try to break it. The mere fact that she was holding her baby girl in her arms was enough for her ; she didn't need anything else for the moment. 
It was strange, she thought, how she was almost resuming her relationship where she had left it with her, almost like it was with her father.
The only family member with whom she was starting for the first time was her boy, her dear son who had brought them back together without his being aware of it.
The Light Bringer, she thought wistfully. Yoda was right, her son was a Light bringer.
"What's my brother's name?" Leia inquired from the vicinity of her shoulder.
"What?" Padme asked as if she hadn't heard what she had said.
Could she tell Leia the truth about his name? Or would she make a link between Luke Vader and Luke Skywalker?.. 
"Father's name is Anakin, right?" Leia said.
"yes."
"What is my brother's?"
Trying hard to not look as if this was a perilous moment, Padme answered as softly as she could. "Luke."
"How old is he?" her daughter asked, raising her head to gaze at her in interest.
"He's 19, just like you, Leia. He's your twin." she smiled gently.
"I have a twin brother??" her daughter gaped in disbelief.
"Yes," she nodded. "The Jedis recommended to me to hide you at birth and separate you from one another."
"From the Emperor?"
She nodded slightly.
"He knew that Anakin's children would be Jedi," she nodded, "and he wanted all the Jedis dead or in his claws."
Leia remained pensive, probably considering the secret of her past she admitted. 
"Tell me about him." she asked her, leaning back in her embrace to cuddle there in complete contentment.
Padme smiled wistfully, amused yet saddened by how much it reminded her of when she had read bedtime stories to her when she had been much younger, or when she had simply held her while listening to Bail Organa's arguments about this or that. 
Yes, she thought with a small smile, they were resuming where they had left off.
"He is a brave young man," she began, "strong willed, determinate... and yet... he is also the kindest youth that you will ever find this side of the galaxy." she continued in a soft voice. "He is intelligent, a full-fledged Jedi Knight thanks to an early training... and a skilled pilot like your father." she finished in the same voice than the one that she had used when she had read fairy tales to her, she realized.
"Pilot?" Leia inquired, also sounding like that little girl that she remembered so well.
"He is a natural." Padme explained, skillfully hiding her slight blunder. "He barely needed explanations to know how to fly the shuttle... and he's told us about flying skyhoppers before he was captured."
"Oh," her daughter nodded against her shoulder, then remained silent for a while.
Somehow, Padme knew what she was thinking about. 
His years of detention.
"He is fine," she reassured her, "he is with the last remaining Jedi Master, on Dagobah, and he is recovering from the Emperor's abuses."
Leia sat straighter at that. "Jedi Master??" she asked, bemused. "I thought that all the Jedis were dead."
"Well, not completely," she explained, turning toward the distance where their shuttle, and her son, were quietly waiting for their return, "Master Yoda has managed to survive the purges."
"Then he can fight with ---" Leia began earnestly.
Padme turned back toward her daughter and shook her head, reflecting that she was exactly like her brother when it came to eagerness. 
Twins indeed, she thought with a wistful smile.
"He is too old for this now," she said out loud, "but he's taking care to complete your brother’s training so that ‘he’ will be able to fight with the Alliance, not as a warrior, but as a Jedi."
"Oh." Leia nodded again, then sat quietly once again. "Then I guess we are better to keep this secret between us." she commented, seconds later.
"Yes, we are." she agreed with her. 
Another silence stretched between the two women, then Leia broke it again.
"tell me everything that you know about the past, Mother. Yours, Father's, Luke's... I want to know everything."
Padme sighed, then began her tale. She carefully avoided all the parts that could betray Anakin and Luke's secret, but she told as much of the truth as she could to her daughter.
Leia sat, entranced by her retelling and the idea that she had had a family but had never, ever known about those other members...
But now she did, and she wanted to know more.

******

The next morning, Luke decided to spend his waiting time by exercising both his mind and body.
First, he sat cross-legged on the deck, then focused his mind and let only one thing enter his mind: the Force. 
He didn't allow any stray thought, any worries to disturb his concentration. 
At first, some images flashed in his mind, then, a pulsing star began to grow brighter, slowly at first then with increasing speed, until it also grew in size, progressively encompassing more and more 'darkness' until his inner vision was nothing but light--- and he recovered his full senses.
Only then did he become aware of what he had just seen, of what he had just managed.
He had focused the Light, not willingly, but most naturally, as if he were merely breathing. He hadn't thought about it, hadn't focused on the 'star', yet he had done it... and it had felt like a second nature to him. 
He also felt stronger somehow, steadier in the Force than before his meditation. 
He would have to practice this more regularly, he decided, checking the board's chrono.
Whoa!, he gaped, four hours had just gone by without his noticing it. 
Then he became aware of something else: he was starving. 
He hadn't eaten breakfast yet. 
He climbed to his feet, stretched his cramped muscles before he headed for the galley where he would eat a ration bar. His mother had really made quite a discovery when she had decided to cook them. It made them as edible as any other meal.
Thinking about her, he wondered how they were doing and decided to check on them while waiting for his meal.

******

Anakin and Padme were just exiting a new debriefing with the high-ranking officers.
Throughout the past 3 hours, the rebels had asked Anakin tons of questions about the Emperor's clones, the security measures surrounding them, and how he had gotten hold of such information.
Both of them were aware that their explanation was just this side from being their undoing, but the possibility to destroy the Emperor eventually won out over the Alliance's doubts about them... except for Captain Solo who was present during the meeting but wasn't allowed to speak.
A flash of white robes caught Anakin's attention and he turned toward it.
His daughter quickly caught up with the Corellian before the two of them walked away from the rest of the group.
For a moment, he debated whether he should follow them or not, then he dimly felt anger that came from the corridor where the two of them had disappeared.
He stiffened when he recognized who it was coming from.
"What is it?" his ever-perceptive wife asked him, having felt his minute tensing.
He turned back toward her, kissed her forehead, then whispered. "I'll be right back ; I think it's time to have a private talk with Solo."
"Be careful." she whispered back, then he was gone.
Anakin swiftly made his way toward the corridor, then quickly covered its length with a dozen long strides.
He emerged on the landing pad of the base and almost instantly heard the youths' voices ; he edged closer to them, careful to not be noticed by either of them, evne when he peeked around the huge crate.
"And I tell you that they aren't any danger to us." his daughter was arguing rather vehemently with the Corellian.
"A red Lightsaber, Princess, doesn't it remind you of anything??... Of anybody?..."
"You mean the only bearer of such a weapon in the galaxy, Solo?" she demanded, "Might I remind you," she began defiantly, "that Vader is still alive, first of all, and second, that they've escaped from the Emperor's Jedi dungeons and stolen his private ship. He's found it aboard it."
Anakin felt himself stiffen in disbelief as he realized that Han Solo was slowly piercing the secret of his past. Thank the Force his daughter wasn't believing him, but if he came up with more precise proofs than his feelings,... they might have to abandon the prospect to reunite their whole family, he conceded.
Han almost glared at his daughter for a long minute, then he finally shrugged.
"All right, you want more proof. Give me some time and I will find more proof." he promised her. 
"Fine." Leia clipped. 
Anakin was surprised to feel the younger man cringe at her tone, then the pilot stepped closer to his daughter and took a gentle hold of her small shoulders. "I just want to protect you from a trap, Leia..." he reminded her--- kissing her forehead, he realized in shock.
By the Force, the Corellian was in love with his daughter, and vice-versa!!!!
"I know, Han..." his daughter nodded, also softening as she melt against him. "I... what if they truly are my family... my parents and brother?..." she wondered, speaking against his strong chest.
Solo kissed the crown of her head, then gently tilted her head until he could see her eyes.
"I hope that I am wrong, Leia... but if I am not, I will be glad to have been dubious about them. I love you ; I don't want any harm to befall you."
Leia answered him by standing on her tiptoes to kiss him while he leaned forward.
While her daughter kissed her chosen lover, Anakin tried to process what he had just witnessed. 
So the annoying pilot who had almost pierced his secret was his daughter's chosen lover?.. Great start, he mentally muttered to himself. 
He could only hope that Solo wouldn't uncover anything 'tangible' to convince his daughter about his 'theory'.
He waited for them to finish, then made Solo's comlink beep and projected his disguised voice into the device, calling for his help with his Falcon. 
It separated the two lovebirds faster than even his lightsaber would have.
He waited for Solo to have disappeared from view before he stepped slightly away from his actual position, then pretended to catch up with his daughter.
"Leia!", he called, on his way toward her.
He noticed her slight flinch, but nothing worse than the previous night. She still wasn't used to him, he realized.
"Hello Father," she answered smoothly, hiding what slight misgivings that she might have concerning him. "I thought that you'd be with Mother.".
"And she sent me to look for you because she expected to see you for Lunch." he smiled warmly. "She said that you had told her that you'd join us."
"Oh," she nodded, as if remembering, "yes, I did. Sorry, something got my attention."
"I trust that everything is all right?" he inquired diligently.
"Yes, it is as right as possible... Father." she smiled at him.
He didn't know whether her hesitation was due to her doubt about him... or her not being used to saying that word to him, but since he didn't feel any overwhelming distrust in her, he decided to just give her time to get to know him.
"Shall we join her then?" he offered her, bending his arm like a gentleman.
She answered him by a beautiful, surprised smile, then she slipped her arm through his.
"With pleasure, Father." she said, with much more ease this time.
They slowly walked back toward the main temple in companionable silence.
"Father," she finally inquired, in a more serious tone of voice. "I... I didn't want to bring this up during the meeting, but..."
"But?" he queried, inviting her to continue. 
"But some of the information that you have provided us with could only be accessed if you had a very, very close 'position' to the Emperor." she finally stated, gazing up at him with her intelligent eyes.

Aware that this would probably help her identify if her 'Father' was a spy or not, she silently dared him to answer her.
To her surprise, he did.
"Yes,... I didn't find those information," he admitted, lowering his head in shame, then shut his eyes for a moment.
Uh-oh... this was bad, she knew, instantly feeling bad for having asked that question.
"Your brother... was not only tortured to make me break, but to make him break as well... and the Emperor shared many of his secrets with him to lure him to his side. Luke... has also discovered many of those secrets, the clone included... in outrageous circumstances during mind probes."
Rape!, her inner voice screamed in her head. Her brother had been raped by the Emperor... and she had just brought that back in her father's mind.
"I'm sorry, Father." she apologized, edging slightly closer to him. "I... I shouldn't have listened to Solo. He's just jumpy."
"And he's right to be so." he agreed with her. 
She jerked her head up at that, gazing at her father in bemusement. "What do you mean by that?"
"Men are always right to protect the women they love." he answered, smiling gently at her. 
That stumped her. She hadn’t spoken about her and Han’s relationship with her family yet.
"How do you know?" she frowned at him.
"I've seen how he looks at you, Leia... how he cares for you. He only wants to save you from harm... and gods know that there are plenty of those in the galaxy." he answered with a surprising wisdom.
Leia couldn't answer him, couldn't say anything else after this... so she settled for smiling slightly, as she walked silently beside the tall, well-built man that was her father, Anakin Skywalker.

******

Withdrawing from his deeper contact with his father, Luke sighed in relief. 
Whew, it had been close this time. This Solo guy was beginning to be too good at his little investigation, he reflected unhappily. He himself might have to consider tampering with something soon if the smuggler got any closer to piercing their secret before Leia was ready to hear it.
He would certainly not let this ex-smuggler jeopardize his family's happiness, he determined while he ate his bland yet still surprisingly good meal, then thought about how he was going to exercise his body while not leaving the shuttle.
An hour later, he was standing on his hands, keeping his balance with nothing much but his strength and nudges from the Force, then bent his arms, focused his levitating skills and--- pushed himself off the floor, tucking his knees in his arms. He flipped 360 degrees vertically, then stretched again and fell back on his hands, keeping his balance once again.
And again, and again, varying his flipping techniques, but never the final position.
Drops of sweat ran down his spine, following its course until it touched his neck, bundled there with other droplets... and continued its way all the way down to the tip of his nose or his eyes.
He wasn't exactly sure which course that one had followed. 
It might not be a morning run, he thought to himself while he caught his breath after yet another flip, but it was very demanding for his whole body since he had to control his legs as well as his arms and back. 
Gathering his strength and focus again, he flipped----- and lost his concentration in mid-air.
*I need your help, farmboy. He's touched me one too many times.* Mara's voice barely whispered in his mind, then was gone once again.
He crashed on his back on the rigid deck, knocking his breath out of his lungs.
*Mara!!!* he called through the Force, instantly desperate to re-establish the contact with her. 
He barely found her, and understood where she was.
Where the Emperor would never think to search for either of them.
Tatooine. His hiding planet for twelve years... a place where no one ever paid attention to anything except how they were going to get away from the blasted sand pit... and the perfect place to set a trap, he calculated, delving back in his assassin training.
Sands were treacherous, the Sand people had understood that for eons now... And the Emperor was far worse than a furious Tusken raider. He had to determine if his friend/lover had been lying to him or not, he decided.
Still laying on his back, he closed his eyes and focused on the feelings that he had had during his communication with Jade.
She had been alone, and she had truly meant to escape the tyrant. The Emperor didn't know where she was, but she couldn't remain hidden forever either.
He had to go now, he realized, jumping to his feet.
*I'm coming!* he sent to his lover, although he wasn't sure if she had heard him or not.
As he put on his shirt on his way toward the pilot seat, he belatedly remembered his parents and stilled.
Could he leave them here and not endanger them? he wondered. Would he be able to come back to pick them up later on?.. And how could he abandon Mara when it would take him a little under ten hours to pick her up and take her back with him without anyone being the wiser?.. 
His father had the Rebels' trust now, and his mother had really bonded with his sister. If he lifted off, he knew that they would have to reveal the truth, but they could do it. Leia was almost ready to hear the truth... and it was better to do it now then wait for Solo to do it for them.
He ignited the engines of the shuttle and prepared for lift-off. 
He was so focused on his chance to rescue his lover from the Dark Side that he never noticed three presences who were coming closer to the landing pad.

TBC :)

Liked it?  Hope so :)

SJ