Chapter Two

Coruscant. Hanger Bay AX2122.

Luke Organa Skywalker was prepping his X-Wing. His father looked worried as Luke completed the final preparations. The Force tingled with the concerns of his father. Luke put his helmet aside and ran to his father's side.

"What is it?" Anakin Skywalker adjusted his gray jacket as he gazed into his son's eyes. Luke already sensed what Anakin wanted to say. "We're going to need to talk before I go, aren't we?" Anakin sighed.

"Yes."

"Leia hasn't said anything, but she felt it to back on Endor." Luke paused, running his fingers through his hair as he thought over his next words. "You could've told us she was alive, you know that."

"She didn't want me to tell you…she said she had many things to go through." His son's eyes widened.

"You saw her after the Death Star blew up?" Anakin averted his gaze from Luke, feeling guilty.

"I did."

"Do you know where she is?"

"No…and believe me I've looked across the galaxy."

"Do you think she's responsible for these disturbances in the Outer Rim?"

"No, she isn't. I am no Jedi, but I could always feel her Force-signature. She's deliberately hiding herself, even from me."

"We would have welcomed her back…doesn't she know that? I mean…after everything that happened…I forgive her."

"I think she knew that son."

"But…" Anakin looked squarely into Luke's eyes.

"After what she had been through, after what she had done. It's hard to come back from that…to be able to live with yourself. She's right, she does have much to answer for…"

"You know what we're up against, don't you?"

"Maybe. It's all rumor at this point." A familiar voice spoke out behind them.

"When were you going to tell us about Grand Admiral Thrawn?" It was Leia. They both turned around to face her, and saw her leaning smugly against a wall with her arms crossed.

"I didn't want to alarm you."

"Supposedly all of the higher ups…Piett and the like…died at Endor. Why wasn't he there?" Before Anakin Skywalker could utter a word, another voice spoke up.

"It was part of Palpatine's contingency plans to leave Thrawn out of the fighting." The cloaked figure wore a dark brown cloak with a hood obscuring the speaker's face. The figure wielded an old worn lightsaber and quickly drew back the hood, revealing a long scar running down her face. "He knew, as well as I did, that if the Second Death Star blew it up, it was going to be up to Thrawn to pick up the pieces of the shattered Imperial Fleet and rebuild a new." The twins and Anakin were too shocked to say anything as Padmé Skywalker walked closer to them. She had less of a limp now than she did before, but it still persisted in her gait as she methodically made her way closer to her estranged family. Anakin finally mustered the courage to speak up.

"By the Force…you came." She allowed herself a small smile at his remarks.

"Yes."

"Are you here to stay?" She nodded her head.

"For the moment, yes." Leia quickly ran to embrace her mother. Luke Organa Skywalker hung back a bit, still wondering what to make of the sudden turn of events.

"You should've been with us…"

"I know…but we have no time to catch up now…there is much more at stake than any of you can imagine."

"I felt a disturbance," said Luke as he finally acknowledged his mother's presence. "But I didn't know what to make of it."

"Thrawn always loved playing around with the Emperor's toys, to put it mildly. He was one of the few commanders who managed to earn my respect."

"You think he's found another Force-user…" She nodded her head.

"An older one…someone who has witnessed the rise and fall of many." It was then that Padmé Skywalker noticed Leia's distended stomach. She smiled, there were tears forming in her eyes. "You're pregnant…" She shut her eyes tightly feeling the children through the Force "with twins…"

"Yes, mother."

"Then there is still hope for the galaxy yet." Luke grabbed his helmet, still a bit wounded by the turn of events that was transpiring before him.

"I need to go…find out what Thrawn is up to near the Outer Rim."

"You can't go alone," Padmé Skywalker's eyes widened the fear palpable in her frame as she spoke. "You don't know what you're up against Luke, if anything were to happen to you I couldn't bare it." Luke suddenly felt a tinge of resentment mixed with guilt.

"I'll be fine mother. You're needed here. Alliance intelligence can use your insights. Right Dad?" Anakin Skywalker nodded his head hesitantly. "Besides, I've got Artoo with me, I highly doubt we'll be in too much trouble with him along for the ride." This elicited a smile from Padmé Skywalker.

"Very well then." She sighed moving closer to her son, moving to embrace him. It was a brief moment between mother and son, but it filled whatever void Luke had been feeling. He ran back to his X-Wings and fired up the converters before launching speedily out of the hangar. Anakin and Leia were transfixed in the skies above them. When they turned back to speak with Padmé, they found that she had disappeared. The roar of another starfighter blurred right past them and up into space. Anakin Skywalker shook his head in disbelief, as he put his arm around his daughter.

"Some things change…and others do not."