Revenge of the Jedi (14/17)

Sep 26, 2011 18:05

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Title: Revenge of the Jedi (14/17)

Fanverse: Revenge of the Jedi

Blurb: Vader makes an offer to Luke; Leia makes one to the Alderaanians in the Rebellion.

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Chapter Fourteen

Luke conscientiously did not mention his epiphany, and did his best not to think about it, either. So what if galactic domination was a perfectly realistic goal? He still wanted no part of it, and silenced the voice that suggested they couldn’t possibly be worse than Palpatine.

Vader, rather to his surprise, didn’t mention the power of their combined efforts either. He seemed more grimly satisfied than pleased. Maybe even perturbed at something -- and Luke had the feeling it wasn’t their potential omniscience.

They returned to the data room -- Luke didn’t know what else to call it, since Skulduggery Central seemed unlikely to meet with approval -- and corrected the rough schematics with the information from their vision. He hadn’t doubted that they’d shared it, but if he had, all doubts would have vanished after he saw that their memories matched up in every particular.

He didn’t know if he’d ever be happy that his father was . . . who he was, but sometimes Luke was very glad to be strong in the Force.

Afterwards, Vader began to hammer out a plan.

“That won’t work,” Luke said. Artoo whirred and rolled behind his legs. Vader looked at them, his silent, reddish-black gaze ominous.

Luke didn’t know if he’d lost all sense of self-preservation, had too many imminent dangers to worry about, or had simply ceased to fear his father at all, but he returned the stare without even a flicker of anxiety.

“I don’t know how to do Obi-Wan’s trick with the weak-minded, so I can’t get in that way. Assuming the guards are weak-minded.”

Not that it was much of an assumption.

“He hasn’t taught you?”

Luke gave him an incredulous glance. “He’s dead. I don’t suppose you remember everyone you’ve killed, but -- ”

Vader waved this aside as unimportant. “He is not dead.”

“What?”

“You told me that some Jedi continue to live beyond their natural ends, as my -- ” Vader paused, then with a shake of his head, continued -- “mother has. Clearly you’ve encountered one of these Jedi, clearly you’ve continued to train with a teacher, and Obi-Wan himself warned me that he would become more powerful if I killed him. He was, unfortunately, right. I seem to have made him immortal.”

“They don’t live,” Luke protested. “I didn’t say that. They’re dead, it’s just . . .”

“Anyone who walks and talks is not dead.”

“Well, when -- ” Luke caught himself. “We can argue about metaphysics later. No, as a matter of fact, nobody has ever taught me that trick.”

Vader’s sigh was audible, even through the respirator. “I will teach you, then.”

“Um, no,” said Luke, and hastily added, “I won’t learn it from anyone. I’ll kill when I have to, but this -- I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to even know how to do it.”

“You are foolish to throw away any possible advantage you might have,” Vader said, irritation leaking through the vocoder.

Luke’s eyes narrowed. “I think we’ve had this conversation before. When I jumped down the reactor shaft rather than accept an advantage I don’t want. I haven’t changed, Father.”

He felt more than saw -- or heard -- his father’s incredulity. Luke flushed, but didn’t correct himself. He hadn’t changed about that, anyway.

“Using the Force for persuasion is hardly the same as accepting the power of the Dark Side,” said Vader. “As I’m sure Obi-Wan would tell you, if you asked him.”

“I’m sure he would, too,” said Luke. “And you told me I had to start relying on my own judgment when I make decisions. That’s what I’m doing. If I get cornered in there -- ” he gestured at the schematics -- “I know I’ll use any tool I’ve got. I’d rather not have that one.”

“You would place some personal discomfort above the lives of billions, if not trillions, of people?”

And that, Luke thought, was Obi-Wan’s star pupil speaking. He didn’t quite have the nerve to say it. Instead, he shrugged.

“I guess so,” he said. “I’m not going to start rearranging people’s minds because maybe I might find it useful at some point. It’s not like it’s something you can unlearn. If that’s selfish, then -- maybe I am. And I don’t see what I’d get out of it, or anything else you’d want to teach me.”

You’re my father and I love you, he realized, torn between dread and -- oddly -- relief. But nothing’s worth turning into you.

“Ah,” said Vader. “I understand.”

No, Father. You really, really don’t.

“Very well. What do you want in exchange?”

Luke very nearly smacked himself. Instead he rubbed his temples. “I don’t want anything that much. Look, I’ll find another way -- ”

Vader turned to stare at the schematics for a full minute, his hands locked behind his back. Finally, he said, “Not the Dark Side. As I told you before, it is not crucial at this point. But you will need all the skills of a Jedi.”

I’m already finishing my training, Luke wanted to say. I have a teacher. If Yoda had thought he should know anything else, he’d have taught him before sending him after the crystals. Certainly before assigning Leia to him.

Except -- Yoda was dying. How long had he known? Awhile, anyway. If he had known he was running out of time to turn Luke into a proper Jedi, then maybe he’d only taught him what was most important. Hadn’t he said something about his other students healing? Luke had never learned that.

He bit his lip. He’d always been grateful for his first training with Obi-Wan, even though it’d only lasted a couple of weeks; he wouldn’t know anything about fighting without that. And he’d needed it; he was fighting in a war, great or not. It seemed better to receive both points of view -- the guru’s and the general’s -- and find some kind of middle ground.

Still, learning from General Kenobi was one thing, learning from Darth Vader quite another. Even assuming he’d keep his word. Though he was the only one of the three who’d been consistently honest with him, so maybe he would. But still.

“I . . .”

“I am a Jedi Knight,” Vader reminded him, sounding very nearly amused. “And trained by your own master. Obi-Wan taught me all he knew -- anything he taught you, he taught me first, and likely more thoroughly.”

“I know,” said Luke, and thought, if he trains me in the Force -- the Living Force, not the Dark Side -- he might very well have to use it himself. He might --

For once, he couldn’t turn to anyone for advice. Shmi and Obi-Wan couldn’t be here even if they felt so inclined. Yoda was off in Dagobah, and probably sleeping anyway. There was nothing but the Force, which seemed ambivalent -- heavy with anticipation as it spun between them, but silent. Luke felt rather as if he were teetering on a knife’s edge, the whole galaxy pausing to see which way he fell.

“I don’t want anything in particular,” he said.

“Consider it a debt, then,” said Vader, impatiently. “I wish to train you, for more reasons than this particular mission."

"Right, overthrowing the Emperor."

"The Jedi existed to guard peace, justice, and order throughout the galaxy," Vader said, "but they allowed themselves to be corrupted, and sold their swords to the highest bidder. They became mercenaries and traitors. I have been the only true Jedi left in the galaxy for eighteen years." He finally turned from the computer. "I would prefer it if I were not."

Luke, with some effort, kept his face expressionless.

"But I don't -- " He stopped. "All right. Suppose I let you train me. As a favour. Without the Dark Side. For peace and order. When -- how . . . there are things I have to do, especially in the next few weeks. I'm sure you're busy with whatever it is you do when you're not hunting me down."

"I am," said Vader. "I am also sure that we can both spare a few hours each week for your training -- at least until you rescue Solo."

Luke stared at him.

"You are not the only one with spies in the Hutt's palace, Luke."

"And you're not --" Luke hesitated.

"I do not concern myself with the well-being of slavers," Vader said coldly. "And it will serve as an exercise for this." He nodded at the plans for the Sun Crusher base.

It'd help rescue Han.

"All right," said Luke, and hoped he hadn't done something incredibly stupid. "I'll do it."

And if I'm lucky, your mother and my friends will recognize me by this time next year.

"Good." Vader, for once, sounded distinctly pleased; Luke rather suspected he was smiling as he walked over to one of the holographic generators.

"But I don't have a lightsaber or anything. I've harvested crystals, but I don't know how -- "

Something long and silver flew towards him. Luke instinctively caught it, his fingers closing around the familiar grooves of his lightsaber -- Anakin's lightsaber. Luke looked at it for a moment. Then he slung it back on the hook where he'd carried it for two years, and lifted his eyes to his father's mask.

"Thank you," he said, and even he didn't know exactly what he meant.

Within an hour of returning to base, Leia had asked the other Alderaanians to join her in the war room. She felt certain the request sounded awkward -- she didn't want to command them, but she wasn't used to asking favours, either.

She wasn't sure what she expected, but everyone from an elderly retired general down to a twelve-year-old refugee appeared within ten minutes of the meeting time. Most were early, seeming more curious than anything else.

Leia walked up to the podium, her back ramrod straight, waited for everyone to settle down, and explained the situation.

"It's dangerous," she concluded, "and I won't ask anyone to take the risk -- but if some of you are willing, I'll personally fight to establish a settlement, I'll live there myself, and I'll do my best to provide a home for every Alderaanian left in the galaxy." She took a deep breath. "I don't want to influence you one way or the other -- "

"What about my sister?" asked a young woman in the front. "She was due back on Aldera two days afterwards, but I never -- "

"You'll find my son?" a man said, even more loudly.

A roar of inquiries followed until Leia held up her hand. "I'm going to look for all our families and friends," she said. "It might take time to get started, and I can't promise that I'll find them all, or that I won't -- or that something won't happen, but I will look, no matter what's decided about Carathis."

"I say we call it New Alderaan," someone called out, and shouts of approval went up.

"The Imperial project," Leia began.

"Damn the Empire!" said a teenage boy and an elderly woman. Almost everyone laughed, but the general stood, and the room quieted once more.

"The princess has a point," he said. "We've lost our home and our families once already. Setting up shop next door to a secret Imperial project is incredibly dangerous. We don't know how long they'll be there, but they could very easily find us."

"A few months -- if all goes well," said Leia. "It could be years if it doesn't."

Most of their faces, she couldn't help but notice, looked decidedly obstinate. They debated for another hour, Leia not so much directing the argument as mediating it.

"I don't expect consensus, or an immediate decision," she said finally. "I realize it's a monumental thing to consider, so we'll vote in two days. And --" she sighed -- "there's another thing."

The last few mutters fell silent.

"Last week, I didn't think I'd be able to protect a possible settlement in any meaningful way. But I've recently discovered that I --" She didn't even know how to say it. "Well, I've seen Commander Skywalker, who I think most of you know about."

"He has a laser sword and a fake hand and he blew up the Death Star," said another boy.

"That's the one," said Leia, smiling. "He's training, right now, to be a Jedi Knight, and recently discovered that -- well, that I could become one, too. While it's my own decision, I feel you should know that I may very well --"

The room very nearly exploded with shouts and cheers. It was ten minutes before she even managed to make herself heard again.

"I don't know exactly what I'll be able to do," she said. "If I do it all, that is. But if I accept this . . . opportunity, I will use every power I possess to defend you."

Even General Pralayo seemed a bit awestruck. "We've never had a Jedi queen before," he said thoughtfully, and cries of Jedi queen! promptly echoed around the room.

"I haven't been much of a leader at all," said Leia. She set her jaw. "But if you want that to change, it will."

Two days later, they voted while she met with more refugees, her muscles aching from smiling for five hours straight. It took another day before the results to be counted and sent to her datapad. Leia took one glance at them and couldn't help but smile again.

"Eighty-six percent support establishing a settlement on Carathis," Leia reported to Mon Mothma. "Seventy-nine percent intend to live there if it is established. Ninety-four percent support searching for other Alderaanians."

Mothma's thin eyebrows arched. "And?"

"Ninety-one percent agree that I should train as a Jedi."

"I wasn't aware that was a subject of the vote."

"It wasn't," said Leia. "They typed it under the other heading."

One of the admirals made a muffled sound. Leia ignored him and kept her eyes fixed on the former senator.

"This is a considerable risk," said Mothma. "However, the purely material cost is negligible; you would easily have been paid that much personally, if you had accepted any reasonable payment for your services. We cannot afford to take responsibility for failure or success of this endeavour. If you truly intend it, however, I see no justifiable reason to stop you or withhold the recompense you have so thoroughly earned."

Leia bowed. "Thank you."

"Moreover, we will consider the information you have provided. If they really are building another superweapon, it may be convenient to have you so near."

Convenient was not the first word that sprang to Leia's mind. She bit her tongue, conscious that the day when she managed to get every concession she wanted -- from Luke maintaining contact with his mysterious informer to funding for a colony that might very well be doomed -- was not a day when she should test anyone's tolerance.

Nodding, she turned to go, only to be halted by Mothma calling after her.

"Princess Leia?"

Leia swivelled around to look back at her. "Yes?"

"It is not, strictly speaking, my concern, but I would be interested in knowing if we may expect to have two Jedi Knights on our side."

She'd thought about it for the last four days. She'd dreamed of stopping blaster fire with her mind, and of finding a red lightsaber blade -- hers -- in Han's chest. She'd imagined rescuing him from Jabba's palace, the look on his face when they told him. She'd considered Luke's second offer -- the powers without the commitments or duties of a Jedi.

Then she'd rejected it. If she were going to do this, she'd do it properly. The whole thing. Vows, responsibilities, weapons.

It wasn't much of a choice, really. She had to do everything she could to more effectively fight the Empire and protect her colony. She didn't like the idea that her abilities were being controlled by something beyond herself, without her knowledge or consent; she did like the idea of becoming a sort of paladin-sorceress.

“You will if I have anything to say about it,” said Leia.

When she returned to her rooms, she stopped only to greet Chewie and Threepio, then flung herself on her bed and stared at the ceiling. She’d had so much of her life planned out from childhood. Of course she’d run into unexpected horrors on her way, but she’d always known what way she’d be on. Now --

Well, now it was different, and she’d manage that too. Leia sat up.

Luke? she thought. Nothing happened.

She squeezed her eyes shut and remembered what it’d felt like, when he’d spoken to her. Like she’d see him right behind her if she turned to look.

Attachment had something to do with it. And the Force had something to do with it. Leia frowned, trying to concentrate on something she couldn’t even pin down.

I’m Luke Skywalker. I’m here to rescue you. She laughed aloud, ignoring the confused looks she got from Threepio and Chewbacca.

“Luke,” she said again.

“Leia?”

She gasped for breath. It wasn’t just bizarre, hearing him like that; it was exhausting. “I’m coming back to Dagobah and I want to be a Jedi,” she said quickly. She felt a bit as if someone had punched her in the chest, and possibly broken some of her ribs in the process.

“That’s wonderful!”

“Yes, but I -- ” Her head spun and each breath ached. “There are other things I’ll be doing too, so I can’t be there all the time. But -- ”

“That’s fine,” said Luke. “I -- I have things to do too.”

“I’ll be -- ”

He was gone. The burning in her head and chest vanished, but her arms and legs felt more liquid than solid. Leia fell back and promptly went to sleep.

fic: revenge of the jedi, genre: fic, genre: alternate canon, character: anakin skywalker, character: leia organa, character: luke skywalker, fanverse: revenge of the jedi, fandom: star wars, character: mon mothma

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