Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

Part I

The room was illuminated by lightning. The slick black surface of the floor dimly reflected the blue light of the unnatural discharge that sprung from the Emperor's fingertips. The crackles of electricity bounced off the walls, along with the Emperor's laughter.

And with Luke Skywalker's screams.

Vader lay on the ground, his cybernetic arm in tatters with no hand on the end. His child, the boy of the dessert, writhed on the ground before him. His Master stood above, smiling gleaming from within his black cloak as he killed Vader's son.

"Father please!"

Vader wanted to help him. Vader would do anything for Luke. But as he tried to stand up, his body faltered and he fell. He could not get up. He was helpless and could not save Luke.

Vader watched as the Emperor killed his child, and Vader lost everything all over again.

"No. There is another."

OOO

Five weeks after the Rebellion lost the Battle of Endor, it seemed Leia Organa had recovered completely.

She ate regularly again. She was back to work and was leading the Rebellion to safety. Almost all of the Rebel leaders had been killed, leaving Leia in charge. Though she seemed disinclined to strike against the Empire, who could blame her, she gathered food for her soldiers and kept them in safe locations.

She had more reasons to give up than anyone. The Princess had always been an unstoppable fighter, but even she had been affected by the losses. Many of her friends were dead, including her possible lover Luke Skywalker. Her home, Alderaan, had been destroyed and the government that had destroyed it remained in charge. The Rebellion she had dedicated her life to was fading out after the Battle of Endor.

She had Han Solo and a few friends, such as Chewbacca and her droids. But she had lost so much. Yet after five weeks Leia seemed merely disheartened over it. She did not speak much but she didn't break out into tears anymore. At least, not when anyone else was around her.

What the soldiers of the Rebellion didn't know what that she hardly slept. And when she did sleep, she cried herself to sleep. And when she was finally able to close her eyes, her dreams were plagued with nightmares.

But still, she kept going. She led the Rebels from hidden base to hidden base, never risking so much as a hair. She was only trying to keep everyone alive and none of the Rebels objected, still too shell-shocked and heartbroken to do anything else.

The Empire was uninterested in the surviving Rebels. They were hardly a threat. Their entire fleet, every ship, had been used in the Battle of Endor. What few ships that had escaped were in no condition for battle. Nobody came to the Rebellion after such a failure, and every day more and more Rebels abandoned their posts and went to hide in the Outer Rim. The Death Star, despite being operational, still was under construction and unable to leave Endor yet.

There was no interaction between Empire and Rebels for seven weeks.

Until Darth Vader knocked on Leia Organa's door.

Leia heaved herself up from her bed, wiped the tears from her eyes, opened the door to Vader, stood staring at him for a moment of shock, and then promptly shot him.

Vader was in the process of lifting his hand to block the shock when it hit his upper arm. He crashed into the hallway wall and landed on the ground. Cradling his smoking wound, he looked back up to see Leia point her blaster directly at his head.

Vader was merely amused. "I don't know why I didn't see that coming." His amused faded quickly. "I deserved it."

Leia's firm angry expression did not flicker. Any trace of weakness or sorrow was gone from her face. "How did you get here? Answer quickly."

Vader responded immediately. "I tracked the Rebellion here but the Empire does not know your location." Leia let a quiet breath of relief out through her nose yet kept her face steel and did not remove the blaster from Vader's forehead. "I came here by myself, in a TIE the Empire cannot track. I used a mind trick to get past your guards and followed your presence in the Force to this door."

Leia took a small moment to absorb that, then moved on to her next question. "What do you want?"

Vader moved his hand to his side and Leia stiffened. Her grip tightened on the blaster, about to pull the trigger as Vader drew something. But she went completely still when she saw it. Vader had a lightsaber but it was not his; it was Luke's.

She blinked twice, keeping the tears from coming again as her lungs refused to work. Vader held out the weapon to her. "This is for you. He would want you to have it."

Vader did not say Luke's name and Leia was grateful for it.

Leia didn't budge an inch. She stared at the outstretched lightsaber but made no move to take it. He gaze eventually returned to Vader, on the other side of her blaster.

"Explain why you are here." Her voice was as cold as Hoth's, not a warm drop of trust in the words.

Vader was unaffected by her tone that could have frozen a star. "What is there to explain?" the Sith Lord asked. "The Emperor killed my son. I want my Master" Vader spat the word through his vocoder "dead. At this point, I no longer care what government replaces him so long as the man who murdered my son is dead."

Leia blinked in surprise. "So you wish to join the Rebellion to do it?"

"Yes."

Leia stared into Vader's visor. She did not know how to use the Force, but it sang true to her. Vader wasn't lying.

She thought of all the reasons her soldiers had decided to join the Rebellion. Some because they didn't agree with the Empire, but most of them were here because it had taken something, or everything, from them. Most of them were here because they fought what they hated. Not the noblest reason, but the galaxy wasn't a noble place.

Vader just wanted revenge and was willing to help her to do it? Good enough for her. "You never return to the Empire's fold again," she said, thinking up conditions of their alliance.

"I never planned to. I would die first," was his response.

"You will do as I say," Leia moved on. She leaned forward to be sure she had Vader's attention. She couldn't meet his eyes, not through the visor, but she tried. "If you join the Rebellion, you work for me. I tell you to kill someone, or not kill someone, you obey."

Vader tilted his head slightly and Leia kept the blaster aimed straight dead center on his head. "That is a reversal of things."

Leia hissed, disgusted. As if she would ever obey him just because he was her biological father. "And also," she growled, "you will never mention our relationship. Not to me. Not to anyone."

Vader did not respond for some time. His mechanical breathing was the only sound. Leia did not move a muscle, but held her glare on him.

Finally, he spoke. "That is as much as I can expect. After all I have done to you, your hatred is justified."

Her hatred was more than 'justified,' but he continued before she could say that.

"The Emperor does not know you are…" he paused as he saw her furious expression "…the daughter of Anakin Skywalker." Leia was not very pleased with that term, either. "But he knows there is a daughter and will likely find out that is you soon. Still, it would be best if you were hidden from his attention as long as possible."

"So you agree not to acknowledge it?" Leia asked, wanting a clearer answer.

"Yes," he said in a softer voice.

"And you agree to do as I say?" Leia pressed, catching that he had not yet consented to that part.

Yet again slight amusement colored his voice. "You would be a better commander than the Emperor." She didn't say anything to that. "Yes. I agree."

Leia removed the blaster from his head and Vader stood again, his huge form taking up much of the cramped hallway. His arm was still smoking from the shot.

Leia eyed the wound before turning away towards the repair center. "Come. We have work to do."

OOO

The next day, Leia Organa left the Rebel base. The soldiers were very uneasy; had their leader abandoned them, too, just like so many other soldiers? As the hours ticked on they worried. Han Solo paced all over the base.

But she returned with a truckload of supplies, weapons, and even a few ships, claiming she had downed a light cruiser. Proudly she organized the Rebels to sort through her stolen treasures. When that was done, she sat down and created a schedule for training. She sorted the seasoned Rebels from the new ones and had the more experienced ones teach the new how to better shoot a blaster. She also brought together the few Rebel informants and drew up a list of Imperial targets.

In half a day, Leia had sparked life back into everyone. Her victory, seeming so easy, brought the smallest flicker of hope to the depressed Rebels.

As her soldiers got to work, she took Han Solo away in private to speak to him. The Rebel soldiers didn't knew what about but heard him scream in shock a few moments later from all over the base.

One way to make a grown man scream like a ten-year-old girl was to show him Darth Vader. Leia had been sure to remove all weapons from Han's reach before bringing in the Sith Lord but was taken by surprised when Han went for her. The smuggler immediately put himself between Leia and Vader protectively, though he was completely unarmed and not a threat or even an obstacle and would never be able to stop Vader if the Sith attacked.

Han, however, was not actually unarmed. He always kept a weapon on him if he could help it. He drew a small blaster and shot multiple times at Vader.

The Sith Lord, more on guard this time, easily blocked the shots with his palm.

"HAN!" Leia grabbed Han's arm and pulled it down, not for the safety of Vader, but more so that he would some provoking the Sith Lord. "Stop! He's on our side now; he helped me take out the light cruiser!"

"Excuse me?" Han stared at Leia, gaping, as if she had suddenly proclaimed that space was pink instead of black.

"Han, he wants revenge for what happened to Luke." Leia had already told Han that Luke was her brother and Vader was her father. After the Battle of Endor, she had spilled everything to him in a fit of tears. "He wants to kill the Emperor and he's willing to help us to do it."

"You trust that lying, krayt-spitting—"

"It is a pleasure to see you, too, Captain Solo." Solo cut off at Darth Vader's voice, glaring. "I see you have changed little since we last met. Though, I must admit, I miss the carbonite."

Leia and Han gave Vader parallel glares.

"Leia, have you forgotten everything after Endor?" Han pleaded. "Vader's the Empire's Fist, it's second in command. He tortured us, froze me," Han shot Vader a pointed glare to who Vader merely crossed his arms "he—"

"He held me back as his Empire destroyed my planet."

It was like time paused for a moment after Leia said the words. Vader's mechanical hands gripped in arms with creaking leather and Han winced.

Leia continued. "Han, this in no way means I forgive him. I never will." She gave Vader a hateful glare but the Sith was perfectly still. "But I can feel his hate, directed towards the Emperor. Luke—" the name hurt her and her voice caught. She swallowed and started again. "—he believed Vader cared, Vader had light. I don't believe it for a second." Vader was still as stone. "But I believe that he hated the Emperor even before Luke was killed."

Han stared at her for a moment. He then let out a breath. "Fine. So Vader helped you with the light cruiser?"

"Yes," Leia breathed out a sigh. Han was with her, always. "That was...to make sure. I wouldn't just take his word. Taking out the cruiser was to test him."

"Let me get this straight," Han lifted a hand to his eyes. "Vader showed up at your door…and you got on a ship with him all alone?"

"I took his lightsaber until we got to the cruiser, Han."

"Vader doesn't need a saber to kill someone." Han put down his hand and glared at her.

"Well, I had my own," Leia lifted Luke's lightsaber and Han blinked at the sight of it. "And I had you on instant call if anything went wrong."

"Do you know how to use that thing?" Han said, looking the lightsaber up and down.

Leia opened her mouth but didn't have a response.

Vader stepped forward. "I will teach her."

"Yeah, right," both Leia and Han said at once.

Vader made a sound like a growl. Frustrating children. "I cannot defeat the Emperor alone. That is why I came to the Rebellion. Leia, I need your help and so I need to teach you."

"Luke warned me of the Dark Side," Leia snapped. She crossed her arms, looking rather like Vader without realizing it.

"I will not teach you the Dark Side, then, if you are so filled with lies to hate it so much. I was once a Jedi and I even possessed a Padawan of my own—I will teach you. Or how else will you defeat the Emperor?" Vader pointed out calmly.

Leia had nothing to say to that. There was a pause in the room as both Han and Vader could see her calculating in her eyes. Her brain zipped from each plan and idea, but came up with nothing.

"Fine," she spat.

Vader's shoulders relaxed a little.

"Soooooo," Han stepped in awkwardly. "Vader's a part of the Rebellion now. How's that gonna work?"

"We can't tell anyone," Leia said immediately. "Nobody would buy it, and we'd definitely attract the attention of the Emperor if he knew. We have to avoid that, at least until we can build our forces back."

"Our little secret," Han agreed, nodding. "So the Rebellion is going to come back—how? Keep striking light cruisers? That won't bring us people, and only a few ships, and eventually the Empire will come after us full-force again. They'll attack sooner than we can regroup. So what do we do?"

Leia grinned, her face slightly malicious. "The 'Huttslayer' is going to pay a little visit to the Outer Rim."