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Chapter Text

The ship shuddered beneath her as another blast hit its mark.

Kriff

Her day had started so well. She had been lucky enough to get a chance at scamming the Hutts out of a good load of spice. The drop-off point to their customers had been leaked by some greedy employees or something. Obviously, the Hutts were rather unappreciated throughout the Outer Rim, even though they were the major syndicate in said region. But, even after sharing profit with their loose allies, they would have still been able to make a decent amount of money off their scam. The risks were high, nevertheless, but who could have said no?

But of course, as her copilot snarkily remarked, the Hutts wanted their spice back. Right now. Not as if they didn’t have enough of the stuff, but slimy obese slugs apparently needed an upped dosage to get high. Oh well, damage done.

“We gotta jump to hyperspace, Captain, or we‘re dead.” With that statement, ZO-E3 brought Leia out of her senseless thoughts.
"Come on flip the bypass switches for the hyperdrive!”

She didn’t need to tell Leia twice. With practiced ease, she flicked the five switches on the console to her left and released the hyperdrive control.

“Everything’s firing! Make the jump to lightspeed,” came from ZO-E3.

“Let‘s make them swallow our dust,” Leia exclaimed while pushing them into the blue spiral of hyperspace.

“Nice one, Captain,” ZO-E3 cheered when they were finally, safely away from their attackers.

“Oh that never gets old,” Leia could only agree. The vast expanse of nothing but stars and darkness had always brought her comfort and by now the blue nebula of hyperspace felt like home to her. Finally calming down, she turned right to where her only and most trusted friend sat.

Z0-E3 had once been supposed to be a medical droid, but various changes to her appearance by her former owners had turned her into a mix of Medical, Protocol, and Engineering droid. To go with her expressive personality, that had developed over years without a mind wipe, she was quite the package. Leia remembered first meeting her clearly.

She had been brought to her owner’s hangers as additional help for his ever-growing shipyards. Back then she had still possessed her legs and had been covered in the complete tan plaiting typical for her model. Nowadays she had an old repulsor lift instead of legs, her platings were mostly lost, all sorts of cables were hanging loose and her arm was a blue replacement.
 

She had been assigned to Leia to be worked into the force. Within minutes of arriving, Zoe had already called their overseers incompetent and lazy without them even noticing. Leia had always been attentive even as young as she had been back then and she knew from the start that something special was between her and Zoe. She wasn’t merely a droid (just as Leia never really had been simply a child). She had more personality than anyone Leia knew.

“As soon as we upload these spice crates on the shadow market we are sitting pretty!“ She also had a lot of criminal energy, which just made her more perfect. Seeing as the two of them had had to make a living on the streets for…
…ten years soon.

Time just flew when you had fun (or were trying to survive in this crazy galaxy). 

Zoe continued, unaware of her captain‘s musings, “You know maybe then you can make those ….ahh…repulsorlift upgrades you‘ve been promising to me since …uh… forever… and ever?“

Or as much fun as you could have with someone who was constantly reminding you of that one time when you had accidentally gotten her legs crushed…

Leia only rolled her eyes. But Zoe was right, they should get themselves some upgrades after this…She herself could use a new helmet, after all. Maybe one that would make her look taller. That would be nice. Every single inch she could get would be an improvement to her meager height.

“You know, we‘re gonna stay in hyperspace for a while. If you wanna like go back and check our loot feel free. Sky‘s the limit!“Zoe continued.

“Haha, funny.“ But Leia did end up moving towards the back of the cockpit, despite the less than an amusing allusion to her name.

The Windfall wasn’t by any stretch of the imagination a large ship, especially since most spaces were taken up by their “goods”.Leia‘s cot was located a few feet away from the controls, allowing her to stay alert at all times, which helped soothe the paranoia rooted deeply within her.

Right now she didn’t feel tired and consigned herself to tidying up her space. On her cot laid various hijinks and tools from when she had been tinkering before leaving for the Hutt's secret loading point. Stowing all her stuff away was finished rapidly, which left her with only her old helmet to put away. She stroked the top of it slowly while a smile crept onto her face.

Zoe noticed,“Ah, still remember the Vinta Harvest Classic?“

Her smile turned into a grin. Yes, she did remember that race. It had been her first but she had done very well, especially considering that humans could not race pods. 

Never mind little girls. Her memory whispered.

Well, she had shown them that it was never wise to underestimate her.

“That sure got us a lot of money! But if you ever did go back, I‘m sure they‘d rip you apart for taking them out for what they were worth! Hah!“

“Can't really help it. It‘s in my blood,“ she laughed.

Zoe only shook her head fondly. Leia put the black helmet back into her personal compartment when Zoe asked,“Hey, while you’re here can you help me with something?” She had been working on the ship's computer to check for any harm they might have received during their escape.

“Sure. What do you need?“ Leia approached the console.

“It looks like we took some damage back there. Why don’t you scan the ship while I reroute the power?“

Leia started to have the computer rotate through the various parts of the ship until the symbol for the main sensor antenna began flashing.
“Scrag, looks like that one took some damage. Alright let‘s switch to back-up.” The backup was easily activated and before she knew it, Leia was back to scanning. When she got to the defense system she sucked in a breath, not going unnoticed by Zoe. “Well, the deflector shields are completely down. One more hit and we would have been toast!“

Not a very nice thought. But they had been in worse situations and as long as they'd make it to their next stop without further trouble they would be fine. Once in safe harbour, she could easily repair the hull of the ship herself. Or so Leia hoped. She was quickly proven wrong by another shudder of the ship.

Suddenly the blues and whites of hyperspace were interrupted by splashes of red and purple. If the sight wasn’t so terrifying it would have been beautiful.

Alarmed, Zoe suggested, "Something‘s happening. Let‘s go check it out.“
Both of them moved towards the pilot and co-pilot seats. Leia had just enough time to grab her helmet and put it back on.

Reaching the pilot seat, or more pilot area in Leia's case, since the typical chair that came with the ship had to be removed in favor of letting Leia reach the controls, took a few precious seconds.

When she had finally made it to her designated spot just in time to hold onto the console, another shudder took them by surprise only to…
…to pull them out of hyperspace?!

“What in the galaxy?” Both she and Zoe screamed at the same time. In front of them laid a planet practically emitting red light from its atmosphere. It was covered in thin, puffy clouds and underneath rivers of lava had spread all over the surface.

Leia had a bad feeling about this.

No time to dwell on the uneasiness staring at the planet brought. Something had pulled them out of
hyperspace, which was supposed to be impossible.

"Please don’t be the Hutts. Please don’t be the Hutts," she softly prayed.

Zoe remarked, panicking just as well, “We’re in the Atravis sector. In the outer rim.”

Leia wanted to ask her which planet they were flying over when a screeching from outside the ship halted her. Green laser bolts were being aimed at the Windfall. Their new attacker came closer and was easily identifiable as a TIE-fighter.

Even after that shock, nothing could have prepared her for the shadow that slowly crept over them. The ceiling of the cockpit was made out of glass and afforded them the terrifying view of an Imperial Star Destroyer floating over their heads.

Leia had seen Star Destroyers before, but never this close. She categorically tried to avoid the Empire as much as possible and was usually quite adept at it.
“That doesn’t look like any Star Destroyer I’ve ever seen,” Zoe mused timidly,” How did they catch us ?”

She had no answer for her friend. All she knew was that her instincts were screaming at her to get away as fast as possible.
But what was she supposed to do when an entire Star Destroyer with a fleet of TIEs was looming over her head?

The solution came to her in the form of the old holo-screen right to the view-port of the cockpit lighting up.

A man, half-covered in shadows, appeared on the flickering screen and promptly introduced himself as Admiral Karius of the Imperial fleet.
“Surrender control of your ship immediately.“

“This is Z0E-3 first mate on the Windfall. Zoe to my friends. Uh. There must be a mistake, Admiral. The Windfall is a humble salvage vessel,”Zoe tried to tell the Admiral, which was met with an interruption and yet another hit to the ship.

“Anything short of immediate compliance will result in your destruction.”

“My bad, Admiral. Slaving our ship’s guidance to your Imperial command now,” Zoe was laying it on rather thickly.

“Ah scrag. We didn’t do anything that bad!” Leia grunted after the holo of the Admiral had disappeared again.

Slowly the approach to the planet commenced as the two TIEs that had been attacking them moved into position to flank them during their descent.
Leia didn’t know what to expect when they were forced to enter Mustafar’s, as Zoe had informed her the planet was called, atmosphere.

Certainly not the flight through dense fog clearing to reveal fields of bright glowing magma only disturbed by occasional rocks and black shores. A single spire, reaching into the red sky as if it were trying to tear it apart disrupted the scene. From it, a stream of lava flowed, mocking every sort of waterfall Leia had seen on the rare occasion, as it emerged from the middle of the structure into a sheer endless fall, only to result in more smoke billowing towards the sky and thus clouding the castle even further.

“What are the imperials even doing here? Mustafar is a mining planet,” Zoe spoke more to herself than to her captain. Leia couldn’t answer her anyway. Mustafar didn’t have any sort of value to the Galactic Empire and yet it seemed as if they had gone out of their way to build this massive castle with an additional garrison on this remote planet.

Not as if Leia wasn’t impressed. The closer they were driven to the spire and its slowly opening hangar doors, the better she could make out the various TIEs stored neatly on huge racks and the lights eliminating the otherwise black and grey hanger. But, what she also noticed was the hoard of stormtroopers waiting for their arrival with loaded guns.

Once the Windfall had touched the ground, Admiral half-face spoke to them again,”This is Admiral Karious. Prepare for boarding immediately.”

As always when they got such a threat Leia sprang towards the nav computer to delete all of their recent movements while Zoe hid their mostly hard-earned credits. While they were occupied with erasing all the proof of their illegal schemes, the Admiral spoke to them once more, this time from their hold, “Open your door!”

“I’m officially worried, Captain!”Zoe whispered only for an explosion to erupt at the entrance of the cockpit. From the smoke emerged two stormtroopers with their guns trailing first Zoe and then Leia, closely followed by Admiral Half-face. She remembered his name being Karious, after all he had taken the time to introduce himself twice, while he was stalking towards her. One of the stormtroopers pushed Zoe out of the way to make space for him.

Every damn step that Admiral took in her direction made a clunking sound on the floor, which only increased her anxiety. Once he got close to her she could tell why. His right arm seemed to be a prosthetic and judging from the sounds he made while walking that wasn’t the only part of him that was made of metal. He stopped barely half a meter away from her. Upon this unwanted proximity, she could tell that his face was not shrouded in darkness at all. The left half of his head was covered in a metal plating, making him look even more terrifying.

Leia was used to people towering over her, but not like this. With him being easily over 1.8 meters tall and the added shadow from the respirator on his face, he seemed to come straight out of a nightmare. His blue ice-cold eyes pierced right through her as he sighed and said,
“You’ve caused us considerable inconvenience, Smuggler!”

Zoe tried to salvage the situation by denying,“Smugglers? We’re not smugglers. Who said anything about smugglers!” ,which led to her being shot by one of the stormtroopers before Leia could intervene.

Suddenly, the anger of seeing her friend being hurt outweighed her fear of the Imperials. She screamed at the Admiral and moved forwards to punch one of the stormtroopers before she was promptly taken out by a stun bullet and everything went black.

Chapter Text

Leia woke up with a pounding in her head and a weird buzzing noise in front of her. When she opened her eyes, she found the terrifying source of one of the two.

Directly in front of her floated one of the famed imperial interrogation droids. One would think that a black ball couldn’t inspire this much fear in every citizen and enemy of the Empire and yet seeing one in person made the hairs on Leia’s neck stand up.

With all it’s appendages pointed in her direction gleaming dangerously, it was almost a relieve when it holstered them and moved slightly to the side, only for the grating voice of one Admiral Karius, dubbed Half-face, to come from the shadows of the small room,”Ah you’re awake. Good”

Stepping into the light he introduced himself once more. She got it, he was the Admiral and suuuuper important. Leia only rolled her eyes, which he luckily couldn’t notice since she was still wearing her helmet.

Odd, shouldn’t the Imps have taken that off her?

No time to dwell on it as a name Half-face mentioned caught her attention.

Vader. Darth kriffing Vader! The supreme commander of the imperial fleet. The Emperor's iron fist and loyal lapdog, who would soon come to give her a task.

She started to involuntarily shiver. Leia had seen him before. He had been leading two dozen Stormtroopers over a marketplace on Corellia. The crowd had parted almost instantly when his feared breathing echoed through the streets. She had been barely tall enough to peer over the market stall she had been bartering at. He had revoked a bone deep terror within her and she had felt the urge to run as fast as she could until he was far enough away for the bustle of the market to resume.

She still had that same urging feeling right now but nothing could be done while she was confined to this room. It seemed to be tiny in perimeter but high. The walls were seemingly pressing in on her and covered with multiple cell doors. Only one entrance existed, sitting open, but further down the hallway was a second closed door.

While she had been swallowing her panic Admiral Half-face had been droning on about how she would most certainly die carrying out Vader’s mystery task. 

Charming.

The interrogation droid left the room and took the annoying buzzing with it. Admiral Half-face stepped back into the shadows with the final warning words,”Do not anger Vader”

Once he was finished the second door slowly slid upwards. Suddenly there was a bright white light falling into the otherwise dim room, only obscured by a tall broad shadow.

Chrrr pfuuh Chrrr pfuuh

That breathing. Vader.

He took long slow strides directly towards her. The closer he got the more he blocked the light with his huge silhouette. When he stood in the doorway the only light left to see by were the flashing buttons on his chest piece.

Run run run run.

It thrummed in her head but Leia could do nothing as the door behind him snapped shut and he halted right in front of her.

She actually had to rest her head in her neck to look him in his face, or more mask in his case, either way he was gigantic. Almost two meters tall, she was eye-level with his chestpiece.

Her dread only grew when he began to talk. While Half-face’s voice had sounded artificial and scraping, his was positively robotic, the deep baritone voice sending shivers down her spine.

“You may wonder why I have brought you here.”

Hells yes! Leia was no one. What did he want from her? Sure, she might be committing fraud and tax evasion every other week, but this was nothing for Vader to be concerned with!

“You are required to perform one simple task,“ he continued while magically floating a small stone box into his hand. There had been rumors of his strange powers. Even whispers of it being called the Force.

Leia hadn’t believed them. Those we’re just scary stories to make children stay in their beds at night. But actually seeing it? It was uncanny.

Holding out his hand and the strange device with it, he told her,”Open this configuration and I will spare your life.”

Not taking chances on a threat delivered by Darth Vader, Leia grabbed the artifact and right when she touched it, it made a clicking noise and began to emit a strange blue glow. Suddenly, the device unfolded its outer layer to reveal tiny shards which were extending and folding back into the device in a pattern. From within, the blue light glowed brighter and with one final click it’s source revealed itself. A white crystal had emerged from within as the device finally calmed.

“By the core!” Half-face gasped in astonishment.

For once Leia could only agree. She couldn’t comprehend what had just occurred.

With one wave of his hand Vader called the crystal back to him. He turned around to the Admiral while pointing at her, stating,”This is the one I’ve been searching for.”

These words made the Admiral move towards the set of doors. Vader continued to stare at the crystal almost as if he was… wistful

Leia couldn’t know that. She shouldn’t.

The Admiral activated the control in the doorway and initiated voice ID. The door unlocked and both him and Vader left with one final,”I will send for you shortly.” The door slammed shut behind them.

With Vader at last out of the confined space, Leia let out a deep breath.

Congrats! You survived whatever that just was!

Her cynicism had to wait for another moment though, as there was a sound of someone shuffling coming from the cell right next to the entrance.

“Hey you! Come closer! They mustn’t hear us!“ The prisoner whispered.

Carefully, Leia moved in front of him. He seemed to be an entirely different species, Leia had never seen anyone like him before. His skin was brown and leathery, he had some form of trunk instead of a mouth and nose, but Leia couldn’t really tell as the lower half of his face was covered by a respirator. His four fingered hand clung to the prison bars and he was -shocker- much taller than her.

In the cell to her right, Zoe moved out of the shadows. She was eying the other prisoner suspiciously.

”Are you alright?” Leia asked to which Zoe only nodded. Before she could answer she was interrupted.

“You opened the artifact. No one has been able to do that for eons! Vader’s been scouring the galaxy for Someone of your bloodline.” The guy must have been imprisoned here for quite a while then to have the inside scoop.

“What bloodline? What are you talking about?” Zoe queried. “Also please, introduce yourself-who are you?” She snidely added. All good questions Leia would also love to get answered.

“Vylip F’alma, Loremaster of my cavern clan.”

“Uh huh. And why should we trust you?”

“Do you want to get out of here?”without waiting for an affirmation, he continued,”Then listen! Now that Vader has found you he is in reach of enormous power. He means to conquer death itself. Countless lives are in danger, including your own.” He pointed at Leia’s chest to underline his statment.

This made Leia start to shiver again. Yes if someone could conquer death it would be Vader.

“You must escape this planet!”Vylip stated the obvious. Leia wanted to leave this hellhole behind, as quickly as possible.

“Yaaah, waaaay ahead of ya on that, Loremaster….except I can’t reach...” Zoe had tried to activate the control for the cell doors without success.

“Here, use this to access the main breaker.” Vylip extended his hand and gave Leia a hydrospanner.

“Wait…you have a hydrospanner?! I don’t want to ask but, where have you been hiding that…? Don’t tell…you know what? I don’t want to know,“ Zoe interjected which made Leia chuckle. Vylip looked between the two, exasperated.

Always on the move, Leia stepped towards the controls and began overriding them using her new tool.

Leia had had an affinity for all sorts of tech for as long as she could remember. Wiring had always come easy to her and her handiness had proven itself to be a useful skill time and time again. Unsurprisingly, she had the doors unlocked in no time.

First thing Zoe did once she was free again was hug Leia. ”Wow.You did it, Captain.” As if there had ever been a chance she wouldn’t.

Turning around, Zoe addressed their prison mate,“Thanks, uh, Veelip.”

“Pretty sure his name was Violet.”

“Or Vylip?”

Leia only shrugged in response.

“I was technically not listening,” Zoe chirped.

Vylip was already done with the pair, if his expression indicated anything.

“The door is activated by voice print. Maybe I can…”

“Ok, no offense, but this is not our first jailbreak. Step aside, please, and keep quiet. I can simulate the Admiral’s voice…”,Zoe took charge of the situation.

Of course she was absolutely right. Jailbreak was frequently on the agenda for the two of them.

And they had gotten a long way since their escape from the shipyards…

Stepping up to the control Zoe threw herself in pose and tried activating it with a slightly pitchy,“Voice ID-Admiral Gable Karius…”

“Sounds like he breathed in helium.”

“Voice ID-Admiral Gable Karius…”

“Now someone stepped on his foot.”

“Voice ID-Admiral Gable Karius…”

“Now that sounds like good ol’ Half-face.”

And the door swooshed open.

“Yes!” Vylip rejoiced,”This way! Hurry,” and led them into the empty hallway.

Chapter Text

Leia stepped into the just slightly better lit hallway. Vylip was leading the small group towards the elevator. On their way they passed the door Vader had come through earlier. Like him, it felt cold.

Leia moved on quickly.

“This lift will take us to the hangar and your ship, but we need to override the security.” Vylip motioned to a set of doors.

No problem for Leia. After working a little bit on the control panel, the elevator began its descent to their level.

“I’m keeping this, by the way,“Leia holstered the hydrospanner,”should we need it again, of course.”

Vylip only gave her a very dry look. Beneath her helmet Leia grinned at him.

When the lift finally did arrive, it carried one sole Stormtrooper. As soon as he noticed them he drew his gun, but instinct had Leia moving fast enough to latch onto it. This gave Vylip enough time to knock him into the wall, and Zoe to sucker punch him. He fell to the floor and Vylip grabbed his gun. ”I’m keeping this by the way, should we need it again.” He smiled innocently.

“No fair,” Leia grumbled but followed him into the elevator.“We’d better move before any more guards arrive.”

Vylip manned the control panel of the elevator, while Zoe and Leia took positions on his left and right. And thus the waiting game began.

For the first time since being sucked out of hyperspace, Leia had a moment to breathe, until Zoe started to morse to her,“Are you sure we can trust Vernon?“

Leia grinned at the silently established inside joke.“He wants the same thing as we do; get us off this planet. As long as our goals align, we’re safe with him.”

Confirming her suspicion Vylip didn’t appear to be bothered by the secret exchange at all.

“He‘s crazy, I think.“

“Must be all the lore stored in his brain.“

“A planet completely covered in lava? They must have fun deities”

Vylip still wasn’t bothered by the rather frequent wirrs and clicks coming from Zoe nor from the tapping of Leia’s foot. He really didn’t have a clue waht was going on behind him.

Most people only learn to communicate in secret if they have to, after all.

The morse code Zoe and her had established from nearly the start had always served them well. Especially during their escape from Kuat.

The memory came unbidden.

She could still hear the noise of the shipyards. The stench as too many people of different species were forced to share too close quarters. The sting of her hands at the end of a long day. The brutality of the overseers if you didn’t manage your workload. But mostly she remembered feeling cold.

Tatooine had always been hot and dry. One couldn’t escape the temperature anywhere on the planet and most certainly not in the slave quarters. They were still crowded just like on Kuat, but there had been a sense of belonging there. A community. Not everyone fighting for their own survival. The Grandmother of the quarters, for example, had always had a nice story for Leia whenever she got to visit.

But there was something dim in Leia’s memory even before that. When it hadn’t been too cold or too hot and she had been comfortable and loved.

Most of the time Leia thought she was just imagining that place. For as long as she could remember she had been a slave. All she had had was her name.

Leia

The last and only gift from a mother Leia sometimes saw in her dreams but couldn’t remember anymore after waking.

The jolt of the elevator brought her back to reality. They had reached the hanger and through the window in the wall of the elevator, Leia could directly look at a TIE-advanced.

Fascinated, she thought out loud,“I would love to fly one of these some day.“

“You‘d probably crash it,” Zoe teased.

“Would not.“

“Would too.“

“Please calm down,“Vylip intervened.

“Fine. But only for you, Vincent!“Zoe told him cheerfully.

Vylip rolled his eyes while Leia started to laugh.

“There’s the Windfall!“Zoe suddenly shouted,”That‘s our ship!“

She was right. In her obsession with the TIEs Leia had overlooked the Windfall in the left corner of the hangar.

“They better not have done anything to my precious ship!“Leia growled.

Unimpressed, Vilyp encouraged them,”Quickly, let‘s move!“

Once more upon opening the doors a trooper was waiting on the bridge leading to the elevator. Vilyp took him out, but the shooting and subsequent fall to the death of the Stormtrooper did not stay unnoticed as the speaker system almost immediately informed the entire garnison,“This is Admiral Karius! All personnel alert! Prisoners have escaped. Lock down the hangar and secure all exits.“

“No, no! This place will be swarming with troopers in seconds…,“Vylip cried.

The doors snapped shut again, shielding them from the Imperials at least for the time being. They had been so close and now it looked like they were about to be brought back to their cells.

Vader would have her head!

Zoe was trying to come up with ideas while Vylip was anxiously peering out into the hanger to watch the enormous doors close and the stormtroopers downstairs gather themselves.

“You‘ll have to find the priestess of my clan. Down in the caves beneath us-She‘s your only way off Mustafar now!“ Vylip appealed to her while pointing to the floor.”Take my lore-totem“ with which he shoved the blue crystal, embedded in a little white piece of metal, into Zoe’s hands.”This will help her find you!“

Sirens had started blaring in the hangar. Leia could only stare in shock as Vylip opened the doors of the lift before shooting at the barrage of stormtroopers waiting on the bridge outside.

“I‘ll hold them off. Find the Priestess. She‘s your only hope!“was the last thing he shouted before he exited the lift altogether and Zoe punched the doors shut.

“Did he just…“Leia couldn’t quite comprehend.

No one sacrificed themselves for them! They were just some middle class smugglers and not worth anything to anybody except each other.

“No time to think about it. We‘ve gotta move!“Zoe reminded her.

Zoe was, of course, right. She had to pull herself together if they were to make it out of this mess.

Already having connected herself to the dataport of the elevator, she informed Leia,”The elevators are going into lockdown. The only route out is via the private chambers above us! No telling what‘s up there-But it can’t get worse than this,right?“

“You just jinxed it.”

With that the lift abruptly stopped and all lights went red.

“You had to say that, didn’t you?”

Zoe only waved her hands at Leia.

“Secure stations, secure stations. Prisoners have escaped. Locking out all service elevators and doors,“the speakers blared at them.

“Ugh, we‘re sitting blogging in here. Can you find another way out?“ Zoe asked, annoyed,of all things.

“Sure thing,” Leia muttered while regarding the controls to the elevator. Grabbing the hydrospanner on her belt, she told Zoe, ”See I told you I‘d need it later!“

Once she had gotten into the system, finding and activating the emergency ladder was easy. Climbing it not so much. Zoe had to help hoist Leia up the first step, seeing as the ladder began at about her eye level.

Once they were in the elevator shaft, Zoe began to complain about climbing. Leia found that very unfunded, after all she actually had to climb up the multiple ladders, unlike a certain someone, who just floated.

“You know, this is humiliating. If you‘d upgrade my repulsor lift module, I wouldn’t have to drag myself up like a meatbag.“

“Drama Queen,“Leia gritted out between her teeth as she currently had to dangle from some pipes in the wall in order to reach the platform Zoe was already on. After swinging herself over the abyss and landing relatively steadily, Leia was standing next to her friend once again.

“Looks like we could climb up here,“Zoe noticed a small hallway leading to another ladder. Following her co-pilot, Leia continued her way up into the unknown.

Chapter Text

Leia dragged herself up yet another ladder, when Zoe tried to lighten the mood by reminding her, “Hey word of advice, best not to look down.”

Really, it only soured Leia’s mood. After climbing a lot of ladders to seemingly no end, she just wanted it to stop. What did Vader need such a huge castle for anyways?

“Alright, from here on out, can we just stick to places that don’t require climbing?” Zoe asked, equally wary.

“Sounds like hell of a plan,”Leia agreed.

At ast, they had reached a door, probably leading to the private wing Zoe had mentioned earlier. Leia opened it using the lever to her right and was greeted by a dark hallway. Upon entering it a mouse droid started to frantically circle them.

“Hi, little fella!“Leia tried to greet it before it sped away into the shadows of the room ahead.

“Ehh, ugh, I hate those things,“Zoe noted, disgusted.

“Come on they‘re kinda cute.” Zoe only shivered at that statement of Leia‘s.

Slowly, the two of them continued to advance further down the dark hallway until they reached the entrance to a huge cavernous room at it’s end.

Once they entered, the room was automatically lit up. There was a pedestal in the middle of it, displaying some sort of metal cylinder. The wall to their right was covered in colorful images. One depicting a woman holding some sort of scepter and another of a man mounting a strange beast, while holding a flaming sword. Further back in the room a great army was shown, readying for battle.

On the wall opposite to Leia a red glowing depiction of the planet itself  was mounted.To the left hand side the walls had been replaced with floor-to-ceiling windows covered by shutters.

Zoe went for them immediately.”Okay, I think I can activate them but I‘m gonna need a minute. Will you cover me?” The standard request didn’t even need an answer. Leia would always cover Zoe and Zoe would always cover Leia, as had become clear after they had freed themselves from their masters and only had each other.

Still, while Zoe was busy tinkering with the controls of the shutters, Leia was drawn to the center of the room, specifically the cylinder laying on a scaffolding. She was inexplicably drawn to it as if it was calling out to her.

Carefully, Leia reached out her hand and took a hold of it. The thing only had one big red button and Leia, always curious to test the devices she could get her hands on, pressed it.

Suddenly a green glowing blade extended from the cylinder -no- hilt.

It seemed to buzz in Leia’s hand and an unexplainable surge of power swept through her.

Simultaneously, a piece of the floor lifted and from it extended a rag. From it sprang, a tall black droid preparing itself for battle.

Zoe had barely enough time to shout “Oh no! What did you do ?“before the droid activated a red flickering blade of its own.

Lunging out, the droid tried to hit Leia from above which she blocked with her blade almost too late. On and on the droid went trying to hit Leia from different angles, but most of the time she could block him.

When he did manage to get a hit in, Leia cried out as an electric shock went through her. With that the droid tucked both his blade and his multiple arms back in.

“Assessment indicates that training is required.”

If training meant Leia wouldn’t be shocked again, she would gladly take it. Wielding the blade had felt right, as if she had always been meant to fight like this.

Listening carefully to the droid’s instructions, Leia was first taught how to block and parry an attack. Then it showed her how to actually attack back. She had thought that would be the end of the impromptu lesson, but the droid wasn’t through with her yet, as it also showed her how to reflect blaster bolts, which Leia had the slight premonition, could be vital for the path ahead of them.

After Leia had destroyed the last training remote, the floor now littered with scrap metal and sparking wires, the instruction droid moved in front of her once more.

It went back into a fighting stance. The duel that ensued was longer than the first one but went a lot better, in Leia’s opinion. She even got a few hits of herself in. Noticing that the blade could actually damage the droid, which continued to hammer on her, she put all her energy into cutting off his arms. With his defenses down, she needed only one final thrust, and he fell to the floor shattered. Leia deactivated and holstered the blade.

“I‘m actually impressed, Captain. I thought for sure you were dead-hehe,“Zoe laughed at her, approvingly.”Come on, there‘s no time to celebrate. I found a way out…Yes! Okay.”

Slowly the shutters lifted and the two of them stepped out of the training center onto the patio beyond.

“Ahh, I found a way, aaand it’s along an outer ledge. Oh goody…”Zoe had never been a friend of heights, but as far as Leia could tell, this was their only way onward.

“Don’t look down!”Leia teased her friend while stepping towards the edge of the patio. Below, she could only make out thin streams of more lava and the obsidian black outer walls of the castle.

The entire sky was still blocked by thick billowing clouds of smoke and ash. Where it did come through, the sunlight was tinted in an uncanny red. Everywhere Leia looked, there was nothing but fire and destruction.

Zoe hadn’t been fazed by the scary scenery though, and had ventured further without noticing Leia taking in the planet.

Trying not to fall behind, Leia jogged along the narrow edge to catch up with Zoe. Along the way she saw more of Mustafar. Not that that would change anything. Everywhere she looked there was just more rocks and lava. Somewhere in the distance, there were cracked mountains and a canyon,where all the lava rivers seemed to end in. Other than the imperial garnison, Mustafar truly was a wasteland.

It felt sad and…painful.

Cautiously nearing the edge now as well, Zoe remarked, “Yikes, that’s a really long drop…,” looking up she continued,”Okay! Well, there’s a ventilation shaft just above us which….which means we have to go even higher! Sooo, great news for me.”

Scaling the outside of the monolith was even worse than the elevator shaft. This time there were no ladders and they had to cling to rusty pipes. With barely any place to put her feet Leia struggled to keep up with Zoe.

She was grabbing the last pipe she would need to climb to reach the ledge, when all of a sudden it’s embedding loosened. Leia could barely keep her grip when the pipe tipped forwards. Now hanging over the abyss, Leia started to panic.

“Scrag! Grab my hand,”Zoe shouted from above.

Trying to keep her hands from slipping, Leia shimmied towards the other end of the pipe. As soon as Zoe could get a hold of her she pulled her up on the ledge she was already on.

“Are you alright? You really scared me there.”

“I’m fine,”Leia dismissed her, despite her racing heart,”We’d better move on.”

With one last look at her, Zoe turned around and led them further along the ledge. After rounding a corner they came to a halt as Zoe remarked, “It’s actually kind of beautiful. At least as far as nightmare hellscapes go…”

“Maybe we can return one day for a nice vacation. Go sight seeing and enjoy some local food,“Leia joked.

“But don’t forget the sunscreen or we might get burns!” Zoe pointed out. They both chuckled.

Soon afterwards they finally found the opening of the air vent. It was massive, like apparently everything in this damn castle. Leia pulled the lever to open the hatch and in they went.

Once inside, they had to continue their way over more pipes. At least these ones seemed more sturdy and there was enough space to walk upright. Leia remembered too many vents where even she had to crawl.

After a few steps, their way was blocked by some vertically spanning metal tubes.

“Oh, Oh! Use the lightsaber!” Zoe excitedly instructed her.

“The what?”

“The lightsaber you picked up in that dojo!”

“How do you know that’s a lightsaber?”

Zoe looked at her solemnly, “Just trust me,okay? It’ll cut through that as if it were nothing.”

Leia looked at the lightsaber. Sure, her friend’s assessment did make sense. And Vader wielded a lightsaber himself, it would be reasonable of him to have multiple, but ….wasn’t his red?

As long as it got them out of this predicament, it would more than suffice. Leia activated the blade just as she had before and carefully touched the highest bar with it.

And just as Zoe had foretold, it cut through them easily.

“See,“Zoe said from behind her.

“Hm…I could get used to this.”

Leia advanced further through the vents. Whenever they came across another obstacle Leia cut through it without a problem. Even a massive beam, about as broad as Leia, fell before her.

“Yeah, I really like this!” She exclaimed once they had found their way back to real ground. Zoe only weakly chuckled in response.

But as soon as they entered the next ventilation tunnel they heard a deep muted voice and …

Chrr pfuu Chrr pfuuu

Vader!

Chapter Text

Chrrr pfuuu Chrr pfuuu

The very sound of Vader’s breathing made Leia freeze. Only the interruption by another, muted voice made her move towards the vent, where she could view the scene below her through slim slits.

A strange figure, whose entire face was covered by a blue veil, spoke to Vader,”…and you believe the final component of the Aeon Engine is within your grasp?”

Aeon engine?!

Did he mean the strange egg-shaped device in front of him? It was huge, but like the device Leia had opened earlier, seemed to glow from within. Ornamented with golden accents, originating from an oval-shaped hole in its heart contrasting the deep blue surface, it looked rather beautiful.

“I have no doubt,“Vader answered. Next to the gigantic egg, even he looked small.

“You found a descendant of Lady Corvax, then?”The shadow whispered, intrigued.

“One of the last it would seem,”Vader responded with some sort of…. remorse? Regret, even?

Leia kept having these weird intuitions, when it came to him. She had always been good at reading people, but not like this. It was as if Leia could tell what he was feeling without really trying. It horrified her.

Why was she feeling as if she were somehow connected to Darth Vader?

She didn’t have the time to properly analyse that thought, when the next one crossed her mind. Vader had told the shadow man she was the last descendant of this lady. Well, if he was really referring to Leia’s bloodline, that would make sense. She didn’t have any blood family.

“Unlike the others,” Others?! There were others?!,”this one activated the artifact.“

If at all, they must have been distant relatives. And as all of them apparently had failed, they were dead anyways.

“Corvax“ hadn’t Zoe touched her shoulder while saying this, Leia wouldn’t have noticed, so occupied was she with the scene below.“Is that what Vylip meant about your bloodline ?“

The two speakers had moved further down the room they were in. With the end of the tunnel leading to another ladder, Zoe and Leia were practically forced to follow them, especially since they were talking about the family Leia knew nothing about.

Once they had reached the floor below, Leia and Zoe were no longer above the shadow man and Vader, but rather looking up at them through a ventilation shaft at their feet.

“With the candidate‘s help, you will be able to unlock Lady Corvax‘s Sanctum. You will gain mastery over death itself,“the shadow man intoned ominously to Vader.

Vylip had mentioned that as well. Vader really was trying to overcome death.

“What you seek is finally within your grasp.“

Was he trying to reach immortality? It was a horrifying picture. Vader, not only too powerful to be killed by any normal man, but also immortal, rendering ridding the galaxy of him completely impossible. A bloodthirsty shadow haunting the galaxy for evermore.

The Empire would become even more unstoppable.

Leia had heard the faint whispers of discontent. The rumors that a rebellion was gathering to one day strike against the Empire. All of them were hopeless fools. You couldn’t escape tyranny, you could only learn to live despite it. And so Leia had made her way in the galaxy.

“Leave me now,“ was the only thing Vader told the shadow. With that order, it seemed to vaporize into thin air, which made Leia reel back in shock.

Vader on the other hand, believing to be on his own, kneeled down in front of a strange glowing crystal sat in the middle of the room.

Upon this, the surface of the crystal rippled, as if it were a lake someone had thrown a rock into.

“Ani…Ani….Ani“ a female voice whispered, barely audible.

She knew that voice.Where did she know that voice from…

Vader slowly lifted his hands, actually pulling off his helmet, revealing a bald head, with multiple scars running along his scalp. A hoarse voice, that couldn’t realistically belong to Darth Vader scratched,”Padmé“

He sounded broken. Pathetic, even.

The reflection the crystal showed became clearer and Leia could make out a woman. Her brown hair was styled into two buns on either side of her head. When she smiled, it seemed to light up her whole face. Her eyes were sparkling with love as she looked at whoever she was talking too.

She was beautiful, looking more like an angel than a human woman.

In a nervous tone, barely repressing her giddiness, she responded with that oh so familiar voice Leia couldn’t pinpoint,”…something wonderful has happened. Ani, I‘m preg…''Vader reached for the woman as if to graze her cheek.

And suddenly, before he could touch its surface, it interrupted itself by blurring again, the glow of the crystal dimmed once more.

Because of that Vader began to scream out in pain. The floor beneath him crumbled, the walls shook and with a final outraged cry of his, Leia had to suppress herself not to join in, the vents slammed shut.

Ani…

Was that short for Anakin? ”Rainstorm”, it meant. An inconceivable miracle among the slave population of Tatooine…But Vader was the chief enforcer. The loyal lap dog of the Emperor. The bloodhound. The one who inflicted slavery upon the weak and defenseless. He couldn’t possibly have the same origins as Leia, could he? It was completely foolish and yet the thought continued to linger in Leia’s mind. What right did he have to the language of the slaves? He stole the freedom of countless planets and their populace on a daily basis.

She tried to turn her thoughts to more pressing matters than contemplating Darth Vader‘s past but was only meet with a feeling of loss, radiating from her heart.

Now, without the warm smile and comforting voice of the woman, Leia felt empty again. As if a part of her had finally found home only to lose it again. What right did Vader have to this woman? She seemed kind. Beautiful. The polar opposite of him, even. Her Name was Padmé, a melodic sound that should never come over his lips. Leia felt guilty as if she should have known that, which was impossible. She’d never met this woman, had no connection to her. She had tried to tell Vader that she was pregnant. Had that been his lover? Did Vader have a child? The thought seemed equally ridiculous as all her others. Where Leia was concerned, Vader was far too much of a machine to father a child. And yet…

It didn’t matter anyways. He was trying to kill her, cultural heritage or familial situation be damned.

Beside her, Zoe summarized the entire mess into a fitting statement before Leia even got the chance to voice her thoughts, “I was not programmed for this.“

Leia hadn’t been programmed in any way at all, but still, she could only agree with that statement.

What even was that? Her reasonable part asked. Vader definitely needs therapy, she answered her own question.

Shaking her head, Leia ventured further down the tunnel.”Everything about this place feels wrong.We need to get out of here…”

Luckily, they eventually found another elevator shaft. Leia had not believed she would associate any happy thoughts with one of these ever again, but here she was.

Once they had climbed back down into another elevator, Zoe turned around to her and tried to remember what Vylip had told them. Promptly, they reviewed the hologram Zoe had made of his instructions.

Zoe summarized the entire szenario rather neatly, “Cavern. Priestess. Totem…Is there any version of this plan that doesn’t end up with us being dead?“

Leia had no answers for her friend except,”Whatever comes our way, as long as we stick together, we‘ll be fine.”

Zoe looked at her sceptically, before sighing, “No matter what does end up happening…Captain…it‘s been a good run.”

Leia‘s throat dried up and all she could do was nod at her friend.

Shortly after that the elevator chimed as they had reached the lowest level it could take them. One last time the doors swooshed open and they stepped out onto the platform beyond.

Chapter Text

Stepping out of the elevator, Leia was met with a huge cavern, sparsely lit by lights bulit into the rocky walls.

“Wow! Look at this …look at this place! It seems like the Imperials are excavating something,”Zoe whispered, looking around her.

“What could possibly be down here, that’s of interest to the Empire?”Leia wondered.

They were standing on a platform, which seemed to be a loading point. It was littered with crates and held up by sturdy metal beams that had been drilled into the rough stone.

“Don’t know. But, we got to the caverns. How are we going to find the Priestess?”Zoe stammered.

“Didn’t Vylip say she was going to find us?”

“How’s that supposed to work?”

“Ominous Mustafar-Lava-Magic?”

Zoe chucked.“Oh! Oh! There’s a skiff! We can use that to see what’s deeper in this cave!”

“Sounds just great!”Leia was very much, definitely, in the mood to go explore this dark hole on a little skiff. But she didn’t even get to object as Zoe had already moved forwards and positioned herself on the pilot seat.

“You know what? I think I can just hotwire this thing. Come over and cover me!” Zoe told Leia happily.

Stepping onto the skiff not a moment too soon, Leia heard a Stormtrooper shouting. On a skiff of their own, three of them were rapidly flying towards them. Instinctively, she activated her lightsaber.

I knew those lessons would come in handy!

Without losing any time, the stormtroopers started shooting at them. Leia deflected their laser bolts one after another. Unfortunately, Leia couldn’t take them out before they called for back-up. Within minutes the platform behind them was swarming with stormtroopers, all firing at them.

“This is Admiral Karius! All units to the excavation dock. Secure the area.“

“Ohh it‘s about to get real busy down here!“Zoe said in answer to Half-face‘s announcement.

More Stoormtroopers arrived over the multiple elevators leading to the platform. The ones that had found cover were harder to hit. Leia had underestimated how difficult it would be to reflect all the laser fire at once. Anything the reflected bolts hit exploded in bright flames, which only made it harder to keep an eye an everything.

One shot slid through her defenses and grazed her right arm. She screamed in pain and her anger grew.

Something inside her stirred. It was the same thing she had felt back on the Windfall, when Zoe had been attacked. Trying to block out that voice, or feeling, honestly she couldn’t even tell, she concentrated back on their attackers.

“Almost there,“Zoe screamed over the noise of the blasters.

“Good,“Leia gritted out.

And just as Zoe had promised, the skiff began to levitate and they were moving.“Alright it‘s working. Let‘s get out of here!“

The more distance they got between the Stormtroopers and themselves the wider their shots flew. Speeding away from the deck, the last thing Leia heard was “Prisoners are escaping. They are out of range, requesting orders!“and the fire ceased.

As they rounded a corner, Leia finally relaxed enough to deactivate her lightsaber.

Turning around, she looked upon a structure made of the same rock as the cavern, in its middle. It consisted of one big spire and multiple turrets around it. The roofs were glittering golden in the bit of sunlight that fell through a hole in the ceiling. It looked imposing, although not as menacing as the fortress on the surface.

“Oh…Incredible…that looks like an ancient castle. These ruins are definitely Pre-Republic. At least a few thousand cycles old,“Zoe murmured,in awe.

“That‘s what the Imperials are excavating. I wonder what exactly Vader is after,“Leia mused.

“Don’t know. But I’m guessing we‘ll find the Priestess there,“Zoe guessed.

They floated around the tower, towards the entrance. Upon closer inspection, she could make out the bricks of the castle. They were separated by fine white lines, which only made the black look darker. They could also make out a silhouette standing in a lit doorway. 

“Oh, this must be it. That guy looks like the welcoming committee. I hope this Priestess shows up.“

The figure stood beneath a scaffolding, which must have been built by the imperials as well as the platform that led to the entrance.

When they docked at the platform the shrouded figure holstered their gun and gestured them to enter. Once they had, the guard took position in the doorway effectively blocking their only way out, while also keeping a look out for when the Imperials showed up. And they surely would, sooner or later.

Inside, the castle was sparsely lit, even though the light had a green shimmer to it, that made all the shadows look fuzzy around the edges. The walls were unadorned and without any doors or windows.

The hallway they had entered led them straight to a small, hexagonal shaped room. A ray of sunlight fell in through the open ceiling, illuminating the wall to their left.

“Hey, the totem is glowing.” Zoe held the totem up to her face. It was steadily pulsing and emitting the same blue light Vader’s contraption had.”That creepy guy said you were a descendant of Lady Corvax.”

“Whoever that’s supposed to be,”Leia frowned.

“Uhhh someone who has an underground castle?! Seriously, I wish I had a legal claim to this thing.”Zoe indicated around her.

“And someone who got me Vader's attention for being her descendant,”Leia shot back.

“Yeah, well, family is not always perfect.” Zoe rolled her eyes at Leia.

Shaking her head she tried to find the way further into the castle and her eyes fell on the illuminated wall. Realising what was depicted there, she crept closer.

“That must be her!” Zoe shouted, excitedly pointing at the mural.

The same woman who had been painted on the wall of Vader’s dojo, holding the exact same scepter, was surrounded by a crowd consisting of all sorts of species. Behind her stood the man with the flaming sword and in the background there were… two suns.

One bigger than the other. Leia knew another place, intimately connected to her family, with twin suns.

“Does Mustafar even have two suns?” Leia asked absentmindedly.She hadn’t seen one sun so far, nevermind two.

“No, it used to orbit around its star Priate along with two gas giants, though. Maybe that’s what the cycles are supposed to be?” Zoe informed her.

“Maybe,”Leia mumbled.

Even when Zoe moved on, Leia couldn’t quite get herself to follow her friend. She was captivated by the two celestial bodies, sure that they were suns. After all, she had spend the first seven years of her life looking at double sunsets looking exactly like this. Whenever she had felt lonely, she had looked at the sky and just wished for someone to come for her. Anyone. But that dream had been left unanswered and she had to fend for herself.

It didn’t matter, she told herself. It was long passed and she wasn’t going back to Tatooine.

Turning around, she followed Zoe down the hallway, around the ornamented wall, where the narrow hallway made way for a vast room. The walls and floor were made of black marble but other than that there were no decorations whatsoever.

“Uhhh, after you, Captain. Why don’t you go first?”Zoe floated behind her.

She entered the room, her steps making loud noises on the polished stone. When Leia’s eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she could make out a person, their back turned to them, standing next to some sort of altar in the middle of the room. She also noticed multiple columns, nearly blending in with the shadows lining the walls. The floor was made up of tiles split by white lines, all merging in the center of the room, just behind the altar.

Slowly she walked up to the person. They were covered in a long blue veil with a strange headpiece. When Leia stepped up to the altar, the stranger began to speak.

“By the Original Light…Ah! It appears Vader has finally found his candidate.”

The voice was smooth and warm. They turned around and opened their arms to Leia, welcoming her. The stranger had the same stature as Vylip and the same leathery skin. Their hands also had only four fingers. The headpiece Leia had noticed earlier was some sort of swirl with a hole in the middle, fastened to the hood sitting on their head. Other than that, they were covered in blue robes of the same shade, their mouth obscured by a net with pearls weaved into it. On their shoulders rested a heavy golden necklace.

Zoe voiced Leia’s thoughts as she went into the room behind Leia,“Um, hi are you the Priestess? Vylip said we should give you this, that you’d help us escape?” Zoe showed the totem to the Priestess.

They only responded, “We don’t have much time, I must help you understand…”

They laid their hand on Leia’s helmet and the last thing she saw was a blue light shining from the Priestess’ fingers.

Chapter Text

Leia had to blink multiple times for her vision to clear and even then the world remained blurry around the edges.

From somewhere far away, the Priestess‘ voice echoed,”Once our world, Mustafar, was green. Filled with life.”

This seemed hardly likely to Leia. As far as she was aware, Mustafar was a wasteland filled with only rocks and lava. But, to her surprise, vibrant grass and giant trees sprouted from the nothing in front of her. Everything looked bizarre and unreal to her, still, she recognized a forest in front of her eyes.

The sky was a smokey gray and yet the greenery that surrounded her now could have grown on Kashyyyk.

“Lady Corvax abided here with her husband, Sir Dorwin, living in peace with my people,” The Priestess continued.

Above her head the faces of two humanoids appeared, one man with a flowing brown beard and a woman with brown curls and piercing brown eyes.

If Vader and then this Priestess were to be believed, her ancestors from thousands of circles ago.The idea seemed unfathomable to Leia. After all, she had never thought of herself as someone with a family line as old and powerful as this.

The scenery in front of her changed once more, as the Priestess told her, “The Bright Star was our most sacred object.”

Now Lady Corvax stood in front of her husband, who was holding an orange glowing swirl of light, and a group of Mustafarians, one of them clad in the Priestess' very clothing. They seemed to be performing some sort of ritual.

The Priestess continued to explain to Leia the importance of the Bright Star to the ecosystem of Mustafar, as rays of light began to shoot from the crystal and connected to the wildlife around it. It provided for all the nature of Mustafar, or at least it had, until it’s power had been abused by none other than Lady Corvax herself.

When the Priestess started to recount the grueling tale of how this had happened, the clearing Leia had stood in disappeared and everything else with it. The only thing that remained was the glow of the Bright Star, which eventually also crumbled in on itself.

The darkness Leia had been plunged into didn’t last long, as suddenly Mustafar’s light shone into her face, blinding her.

All around her, an army appeared. The soldiers were riding strange beasts and fighting with ancient weapons, Leia didn’t even know the names of. Fire and Death was everywhere around her and the screams of the wounded rang in her skull. She tried to cover her ears but it didn’t help, as the noise was raging even in her head.

With a somber voice, the Priestess announced, “Lady Corvax’s husband fell in battle.”

A spear flew past Leia, almost hitting her, but gutting the bearded man from earlier instead. His scream of pain turned into rasped breaths and sudden silence in far too short to be normal.

As sudden as he had appeared he vanished again with the entire battle around them. All that remained was Lady Corvax.

Her hands firmly grasped around the Bright Star, dressed in black mourning clothes, she stood in front of her husband's corpse. He had apparently already been prepared for his funeral, as he was dressed in fine clothes and had his sword positioned on his chest, his hands grasped around the hilt.

“Lady Corvax stole the Bright Star, believing it would restore her husband to life. She created the Aeon Engine, a terrible machine…”

Lady Corvax was replaced by the egg-shaped device, Leia had seen earlier. It pulsates with ever brighter growing light, until it exploded into green flames, encompassing everything.

“It reduced our world to the wasteland you see now.”

The light faded, and Leia stood on a cliff looking over the by now familiar black shores and rivers of lava. Very far in the distance, she even saw an active volcano.

“The Bright Star is hidden beneath us. Somewhere within Lady Corvax’s sanctum. Vader has the only key.”

The Bright Star appeared in front of Leia again, but this time bigger and brighter than before. Just as the Priestess had said, it descended into the depths of Mustafar's riverines, below her feet and out of sight.

“But he needs a descendant of the Lady’s to wield it.”

Which would be her. Lovely.

“Vader is here!”And she was ripped out of the vision. Feeling as if she were finally back to her own mind and body, she opened her eyes, only to be met with the Priestess once more.

“Help him retrieve the Bright Star. Our best chance is to follow and take it from him.”

Leia frowned as possibly risking her life for this endeavor seemed nearly as foolish as trying to take away this artifact from Vader, but she didn’t even have the chance to voice her doubt, as their guard was already dragging the Priestess away.

She hadn’t even noticed the guard entering, which concerned her. The only thing she could blame for her lack of awareness for her surrounding was the discomforting vision the Priestess had plunged her into.

Zoe, who couldn’t possibly know what had just occurred to Leia and was only reacting to what the Priestess had said out loud, shouted after them,“Wait, retrieve the Bright Star? Oh, hold on! That wasn’t the deal. NO no no no no. No,Vylip said…Vylip said you would help us get off planet!”

Which as valid as a point it was, didn’t even register to the leaving Priestess, as they only threw back at them, “In our hands, the Bright Star could heal our planet.”

Them and the guard passed through a hidden panel in the walls, with the last words, “Circumstances have changed,”which made Leia go into defensive mode as these words usually meant a busted deal,”Destiny has bound us together and now our future is in your hands.”

A crappy excuse for letting them do all the heavy lifting, really. After all, Leia didn’t believe in destiny in the slightest and Zoe most certainly didn’t either.

Still, there was nothing to be done about it, as they had exited the room.

“Oh great! Thanks…thanks for stopping by. ‘Cause you know what I wanted? I wanted a lot of fate. I thought that would be fun, you know? Some…some future?”Zoe lost herself in her own rant until they heard footsteps from the hallway.And..

Chrr pfuuu

Chrr pfuu

The mechanical breathing was amplified by the huge room and probably echoed through the entire cave. 

Dank Farrik.

The Imperials had caught up to them at last. Vader’s silhouette, flanked by a dozen stormtroopers entered behind them.

With determined strides he walked right towards her, throwing Zoe out of the way, into the direction of the hidden door, without ever touching her, even as she was trying to plead with him.

All he grumbled was, “Do not insult me with excuses.” Knowing better than to cross Vader again, Leia kept quiet, even as Zoe was hurled against the far wall.

She’s strong. She’ll be fine. She had to be.  

Suddenly not only heavily outnumbered but also completely alone, Leia was left to heed Vader’s command. The Stormtroopers positioned themselves in a half circle around her, their blasters at the ready.

“You know what I seek. Take the artifact key. Open the sanctum lock now.”

His deep baritone combined with the relative shadow of the room and his gigantic stature intimidated Leia even further.

Vader stretched out his hand and with shaking fingers she took the artifact that she had opened in the cell from him. Turning around again, she positioned the white crystal in a little nook on the altar that had begun to glow in deep blue light.

Once the key was put into the lock, the circular shaped altar slowly started to turn and fold into itself. Little embers emerged from it as it descended into the floor.

The moment the altar had become level with the floor, Vader took his lightsaber into his gloved hand and strode towards the center of the room.

Leia only understood why when she saw strange red lights turning on around the perimeter of the room. One by one they were ignited. Whispers in a foreign language came to her ears and as she watched the last red light turn on, she found it’s source.

A dozen droids, emerging from crannies in the wall stalked towards them.They seemed just as ancient as the castle with their metal plating and weird build. What Leia had thought were lights in the wall turned out to be red glowing spears the droids used as their weapon.

Leia started to panic as Vader shouted, “Protect the prisoner!” to his troops.

The command was rendered useless, as one by one the Stormtroopers were mowed down. With Vader handling the other side of the room Leia was left defenseless, as all the troopers were laying dead in front of her.

To her shock the entire floor began to move downwards with a shudder that had her nearly falling over.

When she looked up again, it was straight in the face of one of the guard droids. Her instincts taking over once more, she remembered the lightsaber at her hip and ignited it not a second too soon as the red blade of the droid crossed her green one.

Her panic vanished and she completely gave herself to the rhythm of the fight. She had had a feeling that her lessons in the dojo had been useful after all.

The first droid was dismantled easily enough, but right when it fell another took its place. On and on she went, fighting off these droids to her left and right. Sometimes she caught a side glance at Vader, not just barely scraping by, like her, but taking on four of these droids at once.

Briefly, she wondered where this magnitude of droids suddenly came from, but she found her answer relatively quickly, as she saw the droids coming out of the walls the deeper down into the castle they went.

With no other choice but to fend them off slowly she made it through the entire excruciatingly sluggish descent of the platform, until the only light she could make out was provided by the cascades of lava flowing beneath Mustafar, that were showcased by the inbuilt windows of the trench.

And even then they went further down, into complete darkness, the fire of the lava only a dim light above her.

Once the platform came to a halt there was only a single droid left. Right when she went in to attack him, he was lifted above her head and torn to shreds by an invisible force.

As another droid landed directly in front of her, her lightsaber was ripped out of her hand.

Defenseless once more, she staggered backwards in the face of the droid, lifting its spear over its head to strike her down. But from behind her attacker, Vader took it down in one swift stroke with his red saber, hers resting in his other hand.

After he had deactivated both of them, the only things Leia could still detect were her own rapidly beating heart, his terrifying breathing and the faint glow of the buttons on his chest piece. They both breathed for a second.

With a hiss Vader reactivated his red blade and spoke to her,”You’ve acquitted yourself well.”

That coming from perhaps the most skilled warrior in the entire Imperial Navy meant a lot to Leia. The only fights she had ever gotten into were brawls between children or outright fire fights, which had nothing to do with skill but scruple.

“I will not be denied. You will help seize the Bright Star.” He balled his fist.

That made her think of the Priestess once more and her mission to retrieve the Bright Star for the people of Mustafar. What should she do? She couldn’t beat Darth Vader, nevermind outright outsmart him in this.

”I sense a latent Force ability within you. Follow me, and I will instruct you in its ways…”

The Force.

The mystical thing Vader had used to make things float around a gravitorial space. The thing he had used to crush entire droids?

She didn’t believe him. It was impossible. She simply couldn’t be force sensitive.

And yet a small voice, that suddenly registered to Leia as always having been there, whispered to her.

Yes.

She was force sensitive, and had apparently been all her life. It certainly explained how her escape from the docks had worked even in the face of all the danger, her and Zoe…

Right. Zoe.

The only way to get back to her friend now was to ally with Vader and go on this fool’s errand. And if he just happened to impart some knowledge on the Force to her, well it probably couldn’t hurt.

“…you will need the Force, if you are to survive the path ahead,” Vader droned on, having already taken a few steps toward the other side of the trench.

After all the adrenaline from the fight and the feeling of being right where she belonged faded away, Leia felt afraid and uncertain again. Her lightsaber was still dangling from Vader’s belt, but he hadn’t brought it up yet, so Leia sure as hell wouldn’t either.

Vader’s mask that looked like a skull in the red light emitted by his lightsaber, did not calm her uneasiness in the slightest. Surounded by complete darkness and utterly alone with him, Leia had never felt so small.

Yet, as the Dark Lord took his first steps into the catacombs of the castle, Leia didn’t have a choice but to follow him.