Out of the Shadows
The characters all belong to Lucasfilm and I am
only playing with them for my own pleasure. The opening scene is from Kathy
Tyers novel, The Truce at Bakura and if you are looking for a timeline and
character continuity…forget it. This is a very alternative universe albeit
still a Star Wars one. Thank you so much to Rhea for helping me finally give
this story a name. This story is mainly for my beloved Mona because I could
not do without her and also for all my friends on the SSB list.
Ash Darklighter
Part 1
Millennium Falcon – in
orbit above the planet Bakura
Luke Skywalker stood in the primary airlock of the Millennium
Falcon gazing impassively at the body of Dev Sibwarra. It had all been in
vain – he hadn’t managed to save the boy, Luke’s mouth tightened. Dev
had been captured and brainwashed at a vulnerable age into doing his
captor’s bidding. Luke’s mouth tightened. It hadn’t been Dev’s fault.
He hadn’t been aware of the evil he had helped to perpetrate; he thought
that he was doing good. It wouldn’t be the first time, nor the last, that
innocent souls were tainted by such darkness. Dev had at least died at peace,
washed clean by the light side of the Force, but that didn’t make Luke feel
much better. He should never have died at all. Luke knew that he should have
been able to do more.
His fingers brushed the soft blue shawl that
Chewbacca had wrapped around the dead boy’s head and shoulders - the shawl
he’d been offered by Gaeri… He didn’t want to think of her with her
strange, mis-matched eyes and how soft her lips had felt against his. His
starving heart could have loved her so easily. Gaerial Captison had been born
and educated to serve her world, Bakura. She had to help her people move out
from under the yoke of Imperial tyranny and into a new freer existence. She
wanted that more than a potential relationship with a half-trained Jedi Knight
or poorly paid rebel commander. What did he have to offer her? His was still a
life on the run. The
“I didn’t mean to fail you,” he whispered to
the boy’s cold, unresponsive form. “If I’d only known more, you might
have lived. I could have saved you…helped to train you to become a Jedi.”
He stopped, the twist of his mobile mouth, bitter. “Who am I trying to
fool?” he muttered. “I’m a half-trained Jedi, more dangerous than an
untrained one.” Luke bowed his head for a moment and when he lifted it, he
had regained the unnatural calm he’d worn about him since the battle of
Endor where his father... His father! Luke abruptly ceased that
train of thought. He didn’t want to think about Anakin Skywalker right now.
Too many deaths…Dev, his father, Obi-Wan, Biggs… ‘No!’ he thought, as
he felt his whole body tremble. ‘Control,’ he told himself again. ‘You
must learn control.’ But he could still see Dev’s scarred face as he died
and his father’s… Luke tried to swallow as he pushed the invasive memories
away but his throat was dry. He couldn’t let them surface. It would shatter
the control he was fighting so hard to keep.
“The Force was strong in you, Dev Sibwarra,”
Luke intoned solemnly. “Be at peace.”
“Ready, Luke?” Leia Organa’s voice echoed
through the Falcon’s com system.
Luke drew himself up, his chest rising, his head
lifting proudly. “I’m ready,” he answered, his voice steady. “I have
to be,” he added quietly, so quietly that no one could overhear the
apprehension in his speech. He moved stiffly from the airlock, his bearing
that of a soldier, a fighter. No one could ever dispute that Luke Skywalker
wasn’t a coward or a weakling – he had proved himself when it mattered,
time and time again. He’d led this hastily assembled battle group to Bakura
and it was because of him and his friends that the alien Ssi-Ruuk had been
defeated. Yes, their mission had been a success but it had had its price. He
gave a final glance back at the body in the airlock as the hatch closed with a
loud hiss.
“Wait…” Quickening his strides, he made his
way to his customary seat behind Chewie in the Falcon’s cockpit and
sat, his eyes fixed determinedly out of the main viewport.
Concerned at her brother’s distant manner, Leia
glanced at Han who shrugged. He knew what she was thinking. It couldn’t be
easy for the Kid right now. He’d been through a lot in a very short time –
they all had. Luke had managed in his own peculiar way, despite almost getting
himself killed, to pick up another helpless waif. Han had wondered if Luke had
considered what he was doing when he’d rescued the boy from the Ssi-Ruuvi
cruiser. Sibwarra had come with a lot of messy baggage attached to his psyche
but Luke hadn’t seen that. As usual, he had only seen the potential for
good, the chance that he could help ease the boy’s pain and what Dev
Sibwarra could have been if he had survived. Dev hadn’t made it. His
injuries had been far too severe and his soul too scarred from the pain and
shame of his past. This was his funeral and Luke Skywalker his only real
mourner. There was no one else who cared enough to see beyond the fragile
shell of his life.
Just Luke.
“Ready, Kid?” Han asked carefully.
“Yeah.”
“Okay, we’re good to go.” Han pulled the
hatch release and then accelerated the Falcon away from the lushly
green world of Bakura. The body of Dev Sibwarra vanished forever in a bright
burst of flame.
“Luke…” Leia stretched out her hand to her
brother, her face warm with the compassion he loved. She hadn’t understood
Luke’s need to save Dev but had recognised that her brother was hurting.
This new awareness of their relationship and what it meant was still a
revelation to her. She could actually feel his pain through the Force;
otherwise she couldn’t have guessed that it ran so deeply. “It’s not
shameful to feel sad, Luke. You have to let it go.”
“I will.” He took her hand and gave it a gentle
squeeze but she could tell that he’d erected a shield in his mind to keep
her out.
“I think I’ll go and lie down for a while,”
he said quietly.
Han nodded. “Good idea, Kid. You look like
hell.”
“Han!” Leia exclaimed, horrified, while Chewie
snickered. “That’s not tactful.”
Luke’s sunny grin almost appeared but he was too
weary, his face white and drawn. “Thanks, Han, you’re too kind. But
it’s the truth.”
“You ever known me to be anything but
truthful?” Han quipped lazily.
“Ah…” Luke hesitated. “You have your
moments. If you don’t need me for anything…?” He waited for Han’s
reaction. The Corellian shook his head and Luke managed a tired smile. “Then
I’ll give in graciously. I just need to focus on my sketchy knowledge of
self-healing for a bit.”
“I’ll come and help you get settled.” Leia
fussed over him quietly but still managed to glare at the back of Han’s
head. “As soon as we rejoin the fleet, I insist that you see 2-1B and have a
proper medical examination.”
“Good idea, Highnessness. You see that the Kid
rests properly. It’ll be a few more minutes before we’re ready to make the
jump to hyperspace.”
“I’ll be okay…”
“That Imperial medic said that you had to rest,
Luke.”
“Aw…Leia,” Luke made one half-hearted protest
because he knew she would expect it. “That’s what I’m going to do –
rest.” He just wanted to hide away and sleep for a month or more. Too many
things had happened, too many hurts, too many things that he wanted to totally
forget. Meanwhile, the dark side was laughing at him from behind his
shoulder…waiting for him…taunting him with its seductive power.
“Humour me, brother.” Leia drew him from the
cockpit and with her arm around his increasingly shaky frame, walked him to
his bunk in the crew quarters.
*************************
The door slid silently closed behind Luke and Leia.
Left alone, Chewie barked at Han. “The cub is doing far too much when not
completely healed.”
“Runs in the family,” Han said with a frown.
“Stubborn, the pair of them.”
“He is not built with the strength of a Wookiee
even though he has the heart of one. Han, my friend, he has not had time to
grieve properly.”
“For Sibwarra?”
Chewie growled disdainfully. “For his father.
He has not been allowed to.”
“Oh,” Han busied himself with the Falcon’s
controls for a moment, uneasy at the mention of the former Dark Lord.. “Leia
was having trouble back on Salis D’aar with the whole father issue.”
“That’s to be expected and she will not let
Luke mourn. She has a different opinion of Vader.”
Han snorted. “Yeah, she still sees him as Vader
and Luke sees him as Anakin. Two very different views of the same guy. I’m
with Leia on this one. I still remember how Vader treated me on Bespin.
It’s hard to forget. But would you believe that on Bakura, Leia saw the
ghost of her father? She saw him as Anakin. I think she shouted abuse at him
or told him to go away. It could have been the stress of our last mission.”
“She is of the Jedi. All things are possible,”
the Wookiee said gently.
Han shrugged. “They’re all crazy but I can’t
believe old heavy-breathing ever could have fathered anyone, especially a
gentle soul like Luke.”
“The cub is not so gentle and you should know
this by now. He deceives and that is the most dangerous of beings.”
“He’s just a kid.”
“No, he’s a man now.”
“I would give quite a lot to see Luke again as we
first met him. He’s had to grow up far too fast.”
“As you had to,” Chewie reminded him.
“I didn’t want that to happen to Luke. The
funny thing is…” He glanced at his long time friend and partner.
“Don’t ever tell Leia I said this but…It’s easier to think that Leia
is Vader’s daughter than Luke his son.”
“Leia had Bail Organa and the rank and upbringing
befitting a princess. She has the inbuilt arrogance of command which
associates her to Vader at the height of his power but without the cruelty.
Organa was her real father in everything but birth and once she lost him, the
“That was some chance picking up Luke and old
Obi-Wan on the dustball,” Han mused thoughtfully. “What would have
happened if we hadn’t met?”
“I suspect we might all be dead,” growled the
Wookiee.
“You called it, Chewie. Dead or as low as we
could go. Still, Vader fathering Luke…” He broke off what he was saying
and then shrugged. “Junior didn’t get his father’s height, did he?”
“Obviously not. The cub always longed for a real
father and found him only to lose him. Luke has real strength inside. He came
for you, my friend, never forget that. Without him you could still be alive
yet dead to us.”
“I would rather be dead than back in that carbon
freeze. You can sometimes speak sense for an overly large fuzz ball,” Han
said mockingly. “I thought the Kid was fairly accepting of Vader as his
father.”
“I did not realise it at the time but he did have
difficulty accepting who his father was. He changed drastically after you were
taken from Bespin. We all thought it was because he had lost his hand and his
friend.
“Stang!” Han swore. “And he didn’t tell
anyone either – did he.” It wasn’t a question.”
“Luke found and lost Vader on the Death Star –
a difficult thing to cope with for anyone who longs for a family. Vader was
never Leia’s to lose. She has to find him again and that is a whole lot
harder.”
“I forget how young they both are, Luke more so
than Leia – straight off the farm with the sand still on him. He lost crazy
old Ben Kenobi on a Death Star too. I forgot that.” Han rubbed his face
tiredly. “I thought Luke was alright at first when I came out of the carbon
freeze. He’d changed…grown up a lot…but he’s not alright, is he? He
seems…”
“Driven?”
“Yeah.” Han checked a destination reading on
the navicomp. “Driven, distant…closed off from us all…”
“When he’s ready he’ll tell us.” Chewbacca
settled himself comfortably in the oversized co-pilot’s chair. “Where are
we heading?”
“Leia said that the fleet had regrouped near
Annaj – the Modell Sector.” His mouth twisted into his familiar lop-sided
grin. “That’s the great thing about this job - always travelling someplace
new. I’ll check the final co-ordinates once I make the next hyperspace jump.
I should be able to get the exact location then.”
“Endor is in the Modell Sector,” the Wookiee
barked gently.
“So we go back to where we started,” Han
muttered as he flipped the lever that took them into hyperspace. “Least that
giant ball bearing’s gone now. No one will be shooting super lasers at us
this time – I hope.”
**********************************
“You will go to Dagobah and learn from Yoda,
the Jedi Master who instructed me…”
“Dagobah…” Luke muttered restlessly in his
sleep. “Yoda…must return. Don’t leave me Ben…Ben!”
“You must go back, Luke.”
“Can’t go on alone.”
“Go back, Luke, and you won’t be alone. A
Jedi is never alone when he has the Force.”
“Alone…”
“Sleep, youngling.”
“Go back…Dagobah…Yoda.” Luke relaxed back
into deep slumber, his strange dreams gone for the time being. Gone but not
forgotten.
*********************************
Home One – Rebel
Han landed the Falcon gently inside one of the
great ship’s docking bays. “That’s us. I guess we’ll need to check in
with the powers that be?”
Leia nodded. “I’ll go and wake up Luke.
They’ll want his report.”
“He’s still asleep? It’s been nearly two days
since I last spoke to him.”
“Healing trance,” Leia said. “He woke up
several hours ago to eat. It’s about time he did that again anyway and if
we’re disembarking...”
“Has he talked yet?”
Leia sighed, her brown eyes worried. “No. He kept
muttering things under his breath but the only thing I could make out was
Ben’s name and that was while he was sleeping.”
“He’s still connected to that crazy old
wizard?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Han echoed. “I
thought this Force power was in you too.”
“That’s not fair, Han. I understand that I’m
his sister and he says that I have the same power that he has but…” She
stared out of the view port at the other battle-scarred ships lined up in the
docking bay with the Falcon. They’d won a couple of battles. They
hadn’t won the war. “The only real connection I’m aware of in all
this Jedi talk is with Luke.” She placed her hand against her heart. “I
can feel him. Has the Force directed my thoughts and actions or is it a happy
accident? You tell me, hotshot. You know as much about it all as I do.” She
unfastened her seat restraint and stood up, wincing a little as she stretched
cramped muscles. “I’ll go and wake him.” She hesitated for a
moment and then leant over and kissed Han’s cheek before swiftly heading to
where Luke was asleep in the crew quarters.
Han and Chewie began to shut down the engines,
flicking off switches with noisy satisfaction. The hum of the engines faded
and died. “There, there, girl.” Han gave the bulkhead an affectionate pat.
“Bakura was a success but we still lost some good people,” he said
soberly. “There’s always too much loss and destruction in this line of
work.”
Footsteps sounded on the metal deck plates and the
cockpit door slid open. A sleepy Luke Skywalker, hair standing on end and
rubbing his eyes like a child, wandered in slowly, followed by his sister.
“Hey, Junior!” Han greeted the younger man.
“You’re looking better.”
“I feel better,” Luke admitted wryly.
“I’d still like you to go and see 2-1-B,”
Leia insisted. “Once we’re cleared by security. Just in case there’s
anything...”
“I’m fine. The healing trance worked,” Luke
said with a disarming smile but his sister wasn’t fooled. He hated the
medibay with a passion and if he could avoid going there, he would. “I’ll
probably need to have a medical at some point so I’ll see the doc-droid
then. First things first, I have to see Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar now.”
“Right now?” Han asked.
“I would expect so.” Immediately Luke’s com
began to beep insistently. “Skywalker!” he answered tersely.
“Commander Skywalker? Mon Mothma will see you in
interview room 1.”
“I copy.” Luke’s voice was clipped. “I’d
better go.” He kissed Leia’s cheek and then picked up the bag containing
his things. “They’ll want to see you and General Solo too.”
“Probably.” Leia’s voice was dry. “I think
the welcoming committee’s already assembled.”
“They know I’m here? Damn!” Han mumbled.
Luke’s use of his rank grated.
**********************************
Mon Mothma smiled warmly at Luke as he walked into
the meeting room she had commandeered as her office and saluted. “Sit down,
Commander.”
“Thank you.” Luke sat on the edge of an
uncomfortable looking chair.
Mon Mothma studied the young man before her. Since
the very first time she had met him, he reminded her of someone she’d once
known but she’d never been able to work out exactly who that was. She had
known his father – not well - but Anakin had died when the Emperor and Darth
Vader had instigated their annihilation of the Jedi. No, it was someone else
but she couldn’t sit wasting time when there was so much to do.
She had a very high regard for this young man. He
had saved the Rebellion from certain destruction and paved the way for a
better life for the galaxy. It was one of the things that pained her most
about this war; Luke Skywalker was too young to have seen and done all that he
had. She could see the knowledge and sadness in his eyes. She knew because
every time she looked into a mirror she could see the same expression hiding
in her own gaze. “Thank you for this report, Commander,” she said, tapping
the stack of data cards Luke had presented to her. “I would like to meet
early tomorrow to discuss the situation in detail, if possible? You are sure
Bakura is intent on joining the
Luke sought out her Force presence. It was
reassuringly warm and deep, a testament to the woman she was. The destruction
of the Death Star had given her a new lease of life. It had given them all new
hope and Mon Mothma had been one of the inspirations that had sparked the
flame of hope and kept it alive. He gave her a reassuring smile. “Prime
Minister Captison assured me this was the case but that he would hold a
referendum to let the people decide. Leia managed to draw up a draft treaty
which the Bakurans are currently examining. That’s more her area of
expertise than mine,” he admitted, beginning to tire again. “But the
Senate was urging the people to accept the choice of the
“You should get some rest, Commander,” Mon
Mothma said, her face tinged with sympathy. “You’ve had little or no time
to yourself since long before Endor.”
“None of us have,” Luke countered quietly, his
voice steady. “I spent some time in a healing trance on the return
journey.”
“Another one? You should really learn not to be
so reckless, Commander.”
Luke shrugged and eyed her steadily. “It’s an
occupational hazard. When did you last sleep soundly, Ma’am?”
“It’s been a long time.” Mon Mothma smiled
sadly. “The last time I slept peacefully was the night before Palpatine
declared himself Emperor.”
“I can understand, Ma’am. You take great
responsibility for the beings in the galaxy.”
“But unlike you, I haven’t been on active
service. Commander…”
“No, just shouldering the burden of
leadership.”
“I chose to do it willingly. Commander Skywalker,
and don’t regret it. You must take some time to let some semblance of
normality return to your life, otherwise the wounds will only fester. You have
endured many things…”
“I recognise your arguments but it’s hard to
let go,” he admitted. The President was right. He hadn’t had time to come
to terms with all the things that had happened to him. One minute he had been
an innocent boy stuck on a Tatooine moisture farm and then a wanted rebel
flying the galaxy, his life constantly in danger. He couldn’t remember the
last time he had stopped to think. No…he didn’t want to think. Thinking
brought back images of his father, of Dev – all the people he had failed to
save.
“What is it, Luke?” Mon Mothma asked, concerned
at the bleak expression on his face, using his first name instead of his rank.
“I want to resign my commission,” he blurted
out bluntly.
Mon Mothma gasped. Whatever she had expected, it
certainly wasn’t that. “What!”
“I want to resign my commission,” he repeated.
“I can’t do both…”
“Both of what…?” she asked and then she
understood. He had been trying to become a Jedi and fight for the Rebellion
simultaneously, both of these were full time occupations and now one was
warring with his desire to follow the other.
“Why?” she queried, wanting to refuse yet
seeing the pain and confusion visible on the young man’s face, the dark
shadows under his eyes, made her realise that he’d been tearing himself into
pieces over something.
Luke stared down at his hands and clenched one of
them tightly, his mouth twisting just a little. “I have my reasons.”
“Can you not tell me what they are?” the former
senator of Chandrila asked carefully. “We do not want to lose you, Luke.
Have you discussed this with Princess Leia?”
Luke lifted his head. “I haven’t said anything
to Leia, yet.” He wondered what Mon Mothma would say if she knew about he
and Leia’s newly discovered relationship and the true identity of their
father. He wasn’t ready yet to divulge that piece of information to anyone
beyond what he considered his family circle and Leia certainly wasn’t. He
wondered if Leia would ever be ready.
“You do not think she would approve?”
“I am one of the last of the Jedi but I am only
half-trained. It will become my duty to see that the Jedi Order is reborn and
can survive in a changing galaxy. The Emperor and Lord Vader are dead and thus
the main obstacle to the Jedi is gone but it won’t be that simple. There’s
nothing left. I have no records of the way the Jedi were trained. I’m not
sure how to find new Jedi. There must be more Force sensitives than just me
and my… I cannot do it without more training. I cannot help the
Mon Mothma steepled her fingers together and placed
them under her chin. “We would like to see the Jedi return to the galaxy,
Commander Skywalker,” she agreed, her face composed but inside her mind was
ticking. He said ‘one of the last of the Jedi.’ Who else is there?
To my knowledge, none of the other Jedi survived the purges apart from Obi-Wan
Kenobi and he died on the first Death Star.”
“I thrive on leading Rogue Squadron but that’s
not what I was born to do. I have a duty to the people who kept me safe and
hidden from harm. Other people can lead the Rogues. Wedge
“I can see that you’ve thought long and hard
about this.”
“I have. I’m not turning my back on the Rebel
Alliance but I have to go. Time is running out.”
“I don’t understand.”
Luke closed his eyes; he had almost said too much.
If he let slip Yoda’s continuing existence they would not leave him in
peace. “I only ask that you let me go and give me any information collected
on the Jedi that the
“When would you like to go?”
“I will stay another week. It will give me time
to explain to Leia and Han – I have an idea that that will be the more
difficult task. If the
“I appreciate that Jedi Skywalker,” Mon
Mothma replied. “And I accept your resignation even though I don’t really
want to. I suspect it would have made no difference.”
“No,” Luke smiled sadly. “It wouldn’t but
it’s better this way.”
“Do you know where you are going?” Mon Mothma
was curious. Luke had disappeared after the battle of Hoth and had returned
minus his right hand a few weeks later after a confrontation with Darth Vader
on Bespin. He had never explained exactly where he had been or what he had
been doing but there had been an obvious change in the man. He had fought
Vader and lived but somewhere, somehow, Luke Skywalker’s soul had been
forever wounded.
“Yes, I know but I can’t tell you. I have a
promise to fulfil to an old friend. There are no cities or technology there to
aid in finding me. I will be unobtainable and undetectable.”
“So how will you know when we need you?”
“The Force,” Luke said simply. “I can read
some of the shifting patterns it contains within it quite well now. I will
sense if I’m needed.”
“What about Princess Leia and General Solo?”
“I cannot tell them exactly where I’m going.
Leia would want me with her, or would come to find me and the way is too
difficult and she’s too important to the
“Of course.”
“I don’t want to announce my departure. We do
have our fair share of Imperial spies, after all. If people ask, you could say
I’m away on a mission. It happens all the time.”
“It’s the truth.”
“From a certain point of view, yes, I guess it is
– my life’s mission.” Luke stared down at the grey deck plates and gave
a nod as if making some sort of final decision. He then swivelled on his black
booted heel and left the room.
“Princess Leia…not ready to travel the way of
the Jedi?” Mon Mothma said slowly to the empty room. “Oh.”
***************************************