Work Text:
The Rebel Alliance briefing room is in chaos.
It always is, these days, but usually it's in a state of more affectionately-termed "organized chaos". Today is an altogether different madness. From far enough above that no one notices them, and actively shielding their presences enough so that none of the force-sensitives in the room feel the need to look up, Luke and Leia Naberrie-Skywalker hang on to every intelligible word.
"General Skywalker is dead—"
"—description matches him perfectly—"
"It's been well over a decade, even if he had survived then, it is impossible—"
"Anakin's always had a knack for the impossible—"
"—survived Order 66 then we would have known—"
"Agent Sabé's information has never been wrong before—"
"Enough."
The room quiets marginally. Padmé Amidala, Senator turned traitor to the Republic and General of the Rebel Alliance, steps forward. Ahsoka Tano and Obi-wan Kenobi, former Jedi dead on all official Empire records, stand steadily behind her.
Luke and Leia, perched in the vents, exchange an apprehensive glance.
"General Amidala, you must see reason," Mon Mothma says placatingly. "Obtaining the Death Star plans is of utmost importance right now. We don't have the resources to waste on such a treacherous rescue mission, not when it's likely nothing more than chasing ghosts."
"Or worse," Ackbar adds. "A trap."
"Rest assured," Padmé says smoothly, "that I have heard all of your points. But Sabé's information has been confirmed by multiple trustworthy sources. There is an extremely valuable prisoner on-board the Death Star, scheduled for execution, and he does match the allegedly late General Skywalker's description. Eerily well."
"And if it isn't him?" Mon Mothma asks. "We can't afford to send our best agents out for the sake of a 'maybe'. Not even for the father of your children, Padmé."
Even their mother, with all of her practice at keeping her expressions even and diplomatic, can't stop her gaze from narrowing sharply. Leia grips the bar she's pressed against more tightly, watching her knuckles whiten.
But it's Ahsoka that speaks this time, putting a steadying hand on Padmé's shoulder. "Any prisoner that valuable is worth our time, Skywalker or no."
"Ahsoka is correct," Obi-wan says. "Besides, it will be a simple reconnaissance mission, nothing more. Ahsoka and I will find the station and be in and out as quickly as we can."
"It's never that easy."
Obi-wan looks slightly affronted at that. "We are well-versed in these types of missions, Ahsoka and I. We will handle it."
But a puff of air besides her makes Leia miss whatever is said next.
"Shh," she snaps."I'm trying to listen."
Luke, attention torn away from the scene below, gives her an affronted look. "I'm literally just breathing."
"Well, you're breathing too loud. Cut it out."
"Oh, I'm sorry, your highness, I'll just stop breathing for your sake—"
Leia claps a hand over his mouth. Luke rolls his eyes at her.
Below, a murmur sounds.
"Very well then," Mon Mothma says. "Master Kenobi and Agent Tano will take the mission and report back to us. You have the predicted coordinates of the Death Star; however, if the mission circumstances seem too dangerous at any time, turn back. The Rebellion needs you both."
"We will," Ahsoka agrees solemnly.
Obi-wan only inclines his head.
~
It's their mother that catches them. It always is. "You know you two aren't supposed to listen in on the classified meetings."
From behind her, Ahsoka flashes them a quick grin. "Your shielding is definitely improving, though. I didn't sense you in there even once. I wouldn't have noticed at all if not for the crash at the end there."
Luke and Leia beam. Obi-wan sighs. "Ahsoka, we are endeavoring to be good influences, remember?"
"A lost cause," their mother says. "In any case, neither of you will be going on the mission. You're far too young."
"Too young?" Leia says incredulously. "We're fifteen; we're not babies!"
"Yeah and besides, you fought off a whole planetary invasion when you were fourteen!" Luke adds.
"And Ahsoka started fighting in the Clone Wars at fourteen!"
"And you said Dad won that impossible podrace at nine. If anything—"
"—we're too old. We should have started going on missions years ago."
Their mother gives them a long, unimpressed look. You're pushing it, the look says. Leia meets it head on. Luke looks away.
"Mom," Leia tries again. "If there's any mission we get to go on, it should be this one. Dad is out there and we should be there for the rescue—"
Padmé sighs and looks away. "We don't know that it's him, Leia. It's a wild shot I'm the dark and none of us should be getting our hopes up like this—"
"—and I'm sure Ahsoka would agree, right?"
"Sorry, Skykids," Ahsoka says, shrugging her shoulders apologetically. "I'm with your mom on this one."
Traitor, Leia thinks.
Luke puts a hand on her arm. "Leia," he says. "Leia, we should leave it."
"What? Absolutely not—"
"Leia," Luke says, now through gritted teeth, eyes flickering between her and their mother. "Leave it. Come on, let's go."
"Luke—"
He drags her away.
~
"What is wrong with you?" Leia rounds on her brother.
Luke sighs. Long-suffering. "Leia, we were never going to be able to convince Mom to let us go on the mission."
"So what? So we just give up? This is our dad we're talking about—"
"Leia, you're not listening to me. Mom was never going to let us go on the mission. We were wasting our time there. But—"
"Wait," Leia says, stopping in her tracks. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
Luke points. "We know the freighter they use for these types of missions. It's that way. And Ahsoka did say we were getting good at shielding."
Leia reaches out to ruffle his hair. "My brilliant baby brother," she says, grin splitting her face. "We are going to crush our first mission."
"I'm older than you," Luke says.
Leia sticks her tongue out at him. Maturely. "Wampa-face."
"Bantha-breath."
They link arms the rest of the way down the hallway.
~
After hours of being pressed into the corners of the storage compartments hidden under the floors of the ship, they're both starting to get more than a little antsy.
Which, in Leia's opinion, does not mean they should risk everything just for a little bit of eavesdropping.
"Come on, Leia," Luke says. "They're focused on flying, and we'll still be out of sight."
Leia doesn't move.
"Leia…" Luke tries again. "Don't you want to know what they're talking about? What if they're talking about us? Or…"
Dad, he doesn't need to say.
That's enough to convince Leia. "Fine," she says. "But if we get caught, it's your fault."
"Duh," Luke says, hands raised in surrender.
~
Luke had been right. They are talking about Anakin. Leia pushes closer to the door, keeping a tight hold on her shields and trying to catch more snatches of conversation. She can hear Ahsoka's low murmur and Obi-wan's light cadence drifting through the door, and—
"Over here," Luke whispers. "I can hear them."
She shuffles over to his side.
"There were times…" Ahsoka is saying slowly. "That the Rebellion had help. That we didn't know where it came from. Distractions, convenient attacks, supply runs… could that have been him? Alive, all along?"
Leia hears a restless tapping to the side. "I don't know," Obi-wan says. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. It's only speculation at this stage."
There's a pause before Ahsoka speaks again. "If it really is him, then why did he stay away?"
"We are dead on all official records, Ahsoka," Obi-wan says with light amusement. "Either way, I imagine we'll have our answers soon enough. Some of them, at the very least."
Ahsoka's ensuing silence is concession enough.
And then Leia sneezes.
~
Of all things to do us in, Leia thinks bitterly, it was a sneeze.
And they had been doing so well, too. They're almost to the Death Star's landing bay; just a little longer, and the two of them would have made it completely undetected.
Ahsoka is standing over them, furious. Ahsoka is never furious. Or, at least, Leia concedes, not at them. Ahsoka's always the one ribbing, teasing, softening the inevitable lectures they get from everyone else.
But now she's furious.
Obi-wan is furious too, of course. But Leia had expected that.
"We're sorry," Luke says. "It's just… he's our dad. We had to. We had to."
"If it really is Anakin," Ahsoka says sharply, "which neither of you seem to understand isn't guaranteed—you being here is a liability. You are putting our mission at risk, Luke, Leia. We can't do our job and focus on keeping you safe at the same time."
"You don't have to—" Luke stomps on Leia's foot before she gets a chance to finish. She glares at him.
Obi-wan pinches the bridge of his nose. "Both of you will stay on the ship. Am I perfectly clear?"
They sigh. "Yes, Master Kenobi," they chorus in unison.
~
Naturally, they don't manage to stay on the ship after Ahsoka and Obi-wan disappear into the winding maze of the Death Star's hallways, because trouble follows Luke and Leia everywhere they go.
"Shit," Leia says, heart still hammering like a galloping eopie against her chest. "shit, shit, shit, shit."
"Language," Luke says through his wheezes.
"Fuck you," Leia says. "Luke, we almost got shot."
"I know."
"To death."
"I know."
"We didn't even bring an extra blaster or anything. We only have the sabers. We didn't even bring Artoo."
"Look," Luke says, extending his hands. "It'll be fine. We just have to get to Dad without being caught by any of the stormtrooper patrols… or, worse, by Master Kenobi and Ahsoka. And then we get him back to the ship. Without being caught."
"Except…" Leia says slowly. "That Master Kenobi and Ahsoka are here also looking for Dad. And if we find him first, they won't know because we can't let our shielding down in case the Emperor's apprentice senses us. Or the Emperor himself."
They stare at each other, the gravity just beginning to sink in.
"Luke," Leia says. "This was a really, really stupid plan."
~
"You really think you can build us a comm?"
Luke grimaces and yanks another wire out of the open panel in the wall. "I've got most of the parts. And we know Ahsoka and Obi-wan's frequencies. I just need some time."
Except they don't have that time, because at just that second, a squad of stormtroopers comes marching down the hallway and spots them.
With nowhere left to run, Leia pulls out her lightsaber. And grabs Luke's too, for good measure.
"Okay," she says, mostly to herself. "It's just like the training exercises, it's just like the training exercises…"
Deflecting bolts. She can do that. She can deflect bolts.
And she does. There's a lot of bolts, and it's terrifying at first, but she does it. She gets into the rhythm and lets the Force guide her, just like Obi-wan always says, and before she knows it, every last stormtrooper is down.
She tries not to think too hard about what that means and focusing on the part where she deflected all of those blaster bolts. "Luke," she hisses. "Luke, did you see that?"
"No," Luke says flatly, "because I was busy trying to build the comm, remember?"
"Oh, yeah," she says. "So did you do it?"
Luke holds up a piece of what frankly looks like complete junk. But he does it confidently, so Leia guesses he's got it figured out. "Course I did," he says. "It was a piece of cake."
Leia rolls her eyes.
~
After a bit of lecturing and light panicking, Obi-wan and Ahsoka tell them to steal the stormtrooper armor and make straight for the ship. So they do. Except--
Luke skids to a stop in the middle of the hallway. "No. Way."
"What? What is it?"
A grin slowly spreads across his face. "Leia, we're in the cell block. Which means—"
"Dad."
"Well, maybe not. You heard the briefing. Maybe it's not really him."
"Don't be ridiculous," Leia says. "You can feel it too, can't you?" There's a tugging underneath her skin, a righteousness that sings—Anakin Skywalker is here. And the Force has led them right to him.
"Come on," she says, grabbing Luke by the arm. "Let's go."
They find the cell easily. It's the only one in use.
"He looks just like Mom's old holos," Luke whispers, awestruck.
Leia squints. "A little more beat-up than in the holos, I think."
"Duh."
Leia rolls her eyes at him. "Can you get the door open, Luke?"
…And his hand is already buried deep in the workings of the panel. Perks of carrying a portable vibro-multitool around with you at all times, Leia guesses. "Course I can," Luke says. "Who do you think I am?"
The door slides open.
Alright, Leia thinks, Time to face the music.
She steps forward. Anakin Skywalker, former Jedi Knight and General, current prisoner of the Empire and apparent anonymous ally to the Rebellion, gives her a look of pure, bored disinterest. "Isn't it a bit early for an execution?"
"Leia, the helmet," Luke hisses from behind the rat's nest he's made of the wiring.
"Oh, right." Leia tugs off the helmet and tosses it aside with a clatter. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees Luke wince.
She turns back to her increasingly confused-looking long-lost father.
"Hi, dad," she says. "I'm Leia—that's your son, Luke. We're here to rescue you."