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If You Honor What They Fight For

Act I - Seduction

Chapter 1

Visions of Han Solo and Leia Organa had plagued Luke Skywalker's mind for many days, visions of their pain and anguish at the hands of some great evil. His Jedi training on Dagobah had opened his mind to many things, but he was always the realist, always the impulsive youth. As he prepared to board his X-Wing, Luke was once again acting on impulse, opting to save his friends rather than finish his training.

"Luke!" Master Yoda shouted. The old green alien strode towards Luke, supported by his cane. "You must complete the training."

The young rebel turned to address the short Jedi Master. "I can't keep the vision out of my head," Luke revealed. "They're my friends. I've got to help them."

"You must not go!" Yoda pleaded.

Luke had had enough. Raising his voice, he said, "But Han and Leia will die if I don't!"

Then, Luke heard the voice of a dead friend. "You don't know that," the ghost said.

Luke turned to face the source of the voice, bewildered as Ben Kenobi materialized near Yoda. He had always trusted Ben's kind wisdom.

"Even Yoda cannot see their fate," Ben said.

"But I can help them!" Luke told Ben. "I feel the Force!"

Ben said, "But you cannot control it. This is a dangerous time for you, when you will be tempted by the Dark Side of the Force."

Yoda sensed that Ben's words were having an affect on Luke, so he said, "Yes, yes. To Obi-Wan you listen. The cave. Remember your failure at the cave!"

"But I've learned so much since then," Luke said, addressing Yoda. "Master Yoda, I promise I will return and finish what I've begun. You have my word."

Yoda cast his eyes towards the ground, feeling a brief moment of sadness at Luke's declaration.

"It is you and your abilities the Emperor wants," Ben said. "That is why your friends are made to suffer."

"And that is why I have to go," Luke countered.

Ben sadly said, "Luke, I don't want to lose you to the Emperor the way I lost Vader."

"You won't," Luke confidently replied.

"Stopped they must be," Yoda said, regaining his composure. "On this it all depends. Only a fully trained Jedi Knight with the Force as his ally will conquer Vader and his Emperor. If you end your training now, if you choose the quick and easy path as Vader did, you will become an agent of evil."

"Patience!" Ben pleaded.

"And sacrifice Han and Leia?" Luke snapped.

"If you honor what they fight for, yes," Yoda replied firmly, forcing Luke to pause.

If Ben's words were true, then the suffering of his friends implied that Vader was setting a trap for Luke. It was not in his nature to turn and run, but he had always trusted Ben before. Ben had introduced him to the Force. Ben had saved Luke and his friends on the Death Star. Ben had given Luke the courage to dive into the Force so he could make the lethal shot to destroy the Death Star. And most importantly, Ben had put Luke on the path to becoming a Jedi by leading him to Dagobah. If he had always trusted Ben before…

"Ben, I can feel their pain," Luke told his deceased friend. "The nightmares have been getting worse."

"The future is unwritten Luke," Ben said. "The visions the Force sends us are not absolutes. The Force can only be your guide."

"Trusting the Force," Luke mused, taking a moment to stare at the ground. "That's what this is all about, isn't it?"

"To grow in the Force, trust in it you must," Yoda explained as if he was repeating an age old lesson. "Think I expected to live here, you do?" When Luke shook his head, Yoda continued, "A Jedi cannot see what he does not understand. Clear your mind."

Luke closed his eyes and took slow, deep breaths.

"It is your vision you must see," Yoda explained. "Focus not on the pain." After a moment, he asked, "What is it that you see?"

"Suffering," Luke said, his eyes still shut. "I do not see death, but everything else is cloudy."

"Hard to see, the Dark Side is," Yoda said to his apprentice, the old Jedi Master feeling a glimmer of hope.

"Trust the Force, Luke" Ben pleaded.

Luke glanced towards his X-Wing, staring at his astromech droid. "Artoo, cancel the launch," he told R2-D2. "We're staying." Though he still felt traces of dread, he couldn't let Ben down.

+

Leia Organa felt alone. For the first time in years, she was alone, a captive of the Empire. Vader had frozen Han in carbonite and the face of her love, frozen in time, made her heard sink more with each thought. Lando Calrissian had tried to rescue her, but Vader had tracked them down, bringing them to his Super Star Destroyer when he realized that his trap for Luke Skywalker had failed to produce results.

Separated from Chewbacca and Lando, Leia could have even handled Threepio's company. But the cell was now her life. She would undoubtedly be executed or sent to the spice mines of Kessel, but she was not afraid. More than anything, she felt betrayed.

If Luke had come to Bespin, Leia would have warned him of a trap. But Luke hadn't come. He may have come too late, but he had left his friends to the Empire on Bespin. Every logical bone in her body told her that it was wise for Luke to avoid trouble, but such actions just weren't like Luke. What if he was already dead?

"No, he would have known," Leia said. She had witnessed some of Darth Vader's power himself. He had deflected a blaster bolt with his hand and ripped Han's blaster away with the Force. She had seen Vader's power at Mimban and again on Cloud City. She didn't think a Sith Lord would go through the trouble of setting up a trap for a dead man.

"Where are you Luke" Leia groaned as she curled up against the wall in her drab durasteel cell.

+

Vader sat alone in his meditation chamber, pondering the recent turn of events at Cloud City. Luke should have come to Cloud City to rescue his friends. He either wasn't as powerful as the Emperor had foreseen or his own son was behaving just like the Order he helped extinguish: callous and void of passion. That Obi-Wan could have brainwashed his son infuriated the Sith Lord.

He had promised his master that he would find Luke Skywalker and now Vader was empty handed aboard the Executor. He had a few rebel prisoners, including the Alliance leader Leia Organa. When Vader had stared at her in Cloud City's carbon freezing chamber, something sparked within him. It was almost as if she reminded him of someone. He had to go back on his deal with Calrissian and take her into his custody. He just had to know for sure.

Vader stared at the blinking red light on the arm of his chair, letting him know that someone on the ship was trying to send him a transmission. The Dark Lord inhaled one last breath of the specially prepared air before punching keys on the arm of his chair that would allow his helmet to descend onto his face once again. Once his mask was back, Vader responded to the message.

The holoscreen before him showed one of the science officers in the medical lab. "What is it, Captain Lohr?" Vader asked.

"Lord Vader, we have completed the test results on the blood sample on the specified prisoner," Lohr said. He was a tall, lean Kuati man with short black hair and gray eyes. "Will you come for them or shall I transmit them to your hyperbaric chamber?"

"Has anyone else viewed the test results?" Vader quizzed menacingly.

"No milord," Lohr replied before transmitting the results of the blood test to the computer in Vader's hyperbaric chamber. "The results are at your disposal, milord."

"Good," Vader said after punching one of the keypads on his command chair, bringing up a projected hologram of the test results. "Tell no one of this. I will deal with this personally, Vice Admiral Lohr. You will find your next assignment at the computer in your quarters."

"Thank you, Lord Vader," the newly promoted vice admiral said before closing the transmission.

Vader felt the discovery promoted the necessary promotion to serve at his castle on Vjun. If the results had been inconclusive, Vader would have killed Lohr. But as it stood, he was shocked. "Jedi twins?" Vader thought aloud.

His fury towards Obi-Wan increased. Even from beyond the grave, Vader's former master tormented him. But now Vader had the upper hand. If Luke would not come to him, then he would have to train Leia.