#ic: Father of the Rebellion (Bail)

[nieithryn]

@mutatiio gave me a starter:

obi-wan had dismissed the topic as soon as it was mentioned. brushing the whole thing off as though it was just another mission. but anakin noticed the way he'd zone out, like he's not entirely present in mind or body. the way he'd jerk out of this trance whenever anakin spoke to him.  he'd been off-world during obi-wan's recovery time, but he'd heard rumours that his injuries were bad. which was just another thing obi-wan brushed off - though not unusual. they weren't supposed to keep things from each other anymore. it's barely been a few months since they agreed to that and obi-wan is already failing. miserably.  so, if obi-wan won't tell him then he leaves anakin no choice. he'll find out for himself.  it's late. he had no idea when bail would arrive back to his apartment, but he's been here awhile. the newer security is easy enough to evade - for a jedi. he'll have to mention that, too. if dooku could turn then someone else could too.  he's just about to decide that bail isn't coming back when a speeder pulls up. anakin's standing to his full height in an instant. "senator organa. do you have a moment??"

Everything hurt.

He was so tired.

Padme had fussed of course, and the clones had taken good care of him...but the life of a Prince, of a dutiful Senator, left him no time for recovery. A few days had been all he had managed before duty dragged him back to the Senate floor, shoulder aching, body begging for rest, and anxious mind constantly reminding him he had to keep an eye on a man who was safe in his Temple, being looked after and healing. A man who, by that point, was likely doing better than the Senator himself. The irony was not lost on him.

Still, eventually even a demanding schedule gave time....he still hurt, he still ached, but it was mostly the normal throbbing of extreme exhaustion that was normal for him. The thrumming of his heartbeat in his ears was just the siren call of sleep, and the burning in his eyes was only the result of too many hours staring at datapads full of information that he had to absorb for the sake of Alderaan, the Republic...the galaxy.

But even a dutiful, enduring man like Bail Organa had his limits. All he wanted now was a glass of brandy, his wife's beautiful voice on his messaging machine, and sleep. Not for long, of course, just a couple of hours - three or four, if he was very lucky - before daybreak would drag him back to his office, back to work, only to do it all over again.

He groaned softly as he came in from the landing pad, the lights in his apartment too bright by a mile. He was opening his mouth to tell the computer to dim them, when the realization that the lights were on hit him, and the familiar voice followed on it's heels.

Kriffing hells.

Instinctively, the Senator's spine stiffened and straightened, the weariness fading from his expression to be replaced with a warm curiosity and friendly concern. If Anakin Skywalker was here to see him in his apartment...surely it could be nothing good?

"This is a surprise. Of course, please, take a seat. What can I do for you at this hour?"

[vaultofqueenorion]

It is time to introduce you all to my favorite series of all time by my favorite author of all time, that is the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. 

This also means that the whole review will basically be one giant hype-train, even if I will keep spoilers to a minimum. 

So let’s take a deep dive into the story of Adarlan’s greatest assassin, Celaena Sardothien, the most sassy character that I have ever met, and one of the badass women in the series.

The Title

The title is dramatic, it’s got flair, and it also portrays something entirely terrible that had me actually getting chills when I started reading about the villain of the story. 

The castle is made completely of glass. That doesn’t seem particularly practical you say? Well you would be right, and Celaena would agree with you. It’s extravagant, just like the nobles of Adarlan who give no thought to the people that the King of Adarlan has oppressed for a while now. 

It’s also kind of the perfect metaphor for Celaena - extravagant and beautiful, but hiding a fragility, a fear that could bring it all crashing down. 

The Characters

See Celaena might be the Adarlan’s (and maybe even the world’s!) greatest assassin with blood on her teeth and a sharp tongue, but there are hints to her fear, to her utter self depreciation and escapism throughout the whole book.

She is, simply, a hero who doesn’t want to be one.

It’s quite aptly summed up in the picture above. She doesn’t believe that she’s fated for anything - not after having been through what she’s been through. 

But she puts on a mask and smiles through it all, ridiculing those around her and lavishing in the finer things in life. 

This was one of the things that made me connect so much with her (not the lashing out part, the hiding your true self part - the fear). Her past has left her so broken, so afraid of failure and of the world around her that she simply stopped trying to save it all. 

And yet.

Because as the above shows, she still does save people. She saves a puppy from being killed for being the ‘runt of the litter’, and she saves a man from falling to his death. She keeps saving those around her, keeps trying even after she says that she’s done.

Even though she has troubles surviving on her own as it is.

That’s also what’s so interesting about Celaena - she manages to be vibrant while hopeless, kind while self-preserving. She’s a full-blooded killer, but she doesn’t kill those who don’t deserve it. There are so many opposites within her, and they all serve to make her an incredibly fun character to follow. 

She’s also very flawed, and she’s got a horribly fiery temper that leaves her with thoughts such as the ones below.

See? That’s not the voice of a kind and soft spoken woman. That’s the voice of a fighter that has walked through hell and yet still manages to come out the other side. 

A Nehemia so aptly puts it:

Her spirit remains as it once was - she is scarred and she is hurt, but she kept her defiance going. She kept getting up after being knocked down.

I think that is one of the things that had me relating to her the most. All of those feelings, all of the despair and fear and pain and yet she still manages to get onto her feet one more time after she gets knocked down.

Celaena is a hero who had me getting back on my own two feet long after I finished her story. 

Nehemia is the second character that I want to talk about. The princess of Eyllwe, the land that the Kind of Adarlan has practically enslaved for their rebellion against his power, Nehemia Ytger is stuck in an enemy capital, walking around the torturer of her people at all times. And yet she still manages to keep her chin up, her spine erect.

She’s a powerful woman, the light of her people, and the dearest friend of Celaena. She’s fierce and Celaena has the idea that she’s fighting to free her people, even as she walks among her enemies, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. 

She’s also the one to bail Celaena out at many points, their friendship deepening with each horrifying secret that they uncover. She’s clever enough to keep her things relatively hidden, but there’s also a hint of sadness to her whenever she talks about her people. As if she knows that she cannot ever do enough.

Chaol is the captain of the Royal Guard. He’s cold, he’s calculating and he’s suspicious of Celaena and her intentions. That is, until you get to know him. He can seem stand-offish - imagine an old grumpy man with a golden heart. The thing is that this old man’s heart (he’s young in the book btw, so don’t take the metaphor too seriously) has been encased in ice and it takes him a while to thaw.

He does, however, appreciate hard work, and I have the sneaking suspicion that he’s proud of Celaena after a while as she goes from hollowed out husk to powerhouse again.

The above is not a particularly nice part of the book, but it does signify their relationship at first. Chaol sort of tolerates her, he doesn’t really praise her, but he comes to care for her. A lot.

And it was really really nice to have a hero that had to be retrained again, because that is the most realistic thing that I’ve seen in regards to a hero who has come back from a long time of inactivity.

Dorian Havilliard, the Crown Prince of Adarlan, is a softie. At least he seems like that - naive, doesn’t go against his fathers wishes, womanizer. The standard douchey no-good straight guy who has it all.

It’s shown in the dumb question below (which makes Celaena have the most amazing response later on the page, but go read the book to see that one!).

Because Endovier is the Death camp. It’s been made to kill and to be unescapable. And yet he asks her the unthinkable. Celaena, with her sass and smart assery, gives the perfect response and her escape plan was almost perfect. 

Dorian learns, slowly, to stand up to his father. He learns what it means to care for someone other than himself and his best friend Chaol, and he actually seems to maybe not despise it, but at least rein back on the courtly stuff. But boy oh boy there’s a lot of character development here, and the potential is amazing.

The King of Adarlan was terrifying. He’s a peripheral character, most of the time, but he’s very much prevalent in all of their minds. Sort of a dark presence that never moves, never blinks, he seems to watch their every movement. 

He’s cruel, he’s dark and we have no clue how much he knows. That lack of knowledge is terrifying and it was nice to have a hero that actually feared their adversary rather than felt like they could defeat them, because Celaena, Dorian, everyone feels powerless against him. 

The quote below from Celaena is one that I am especially fond of.

Cain is ... wow. Don’t even get me started. He’s a brute and he’s just plain cruel for fun. I didn’t like him because he was a bully, but he was never that prominent for me. He was a villain like any other. 

Elena, who is another pretty good but also a bit meh character for me, warns Celaena of this regarding Cain and whatever is going on.

Elena is not a character that I will go into. She’s sort of the friendly ghost that hangs back and swoops in once in a while, and she seems to want to help Celaena, but you have to take a look at her for yourselves.

The Plot

Ever wanted to read a murder mystery slash assassing tournament slash love and friendship story that takes place in a fantasy world that once held magic but is now dried out? Then this is the one for you.

That is a huge simplification, of course, because reality is so much better. I was in suspense until the end - not about who was the evil one, but rather what is going on. There’s a whole level of suspense going on in figuring out what in the world is happening alongside Celaena, who needs to discover everything for herself.

And gosh. The whole retraining programme in which Celaena finally gets to eat like the noble she feels like, and the way she has her sassy spars with Chaol. 

Just everything.

Also the ball seen at the Yule ball is so worth it and her dress description gives me life.

Then we move on to the tournament. I was in love with the challenges and whenever one presented itself, my eyes were glued to the pages. The way Celaena can easily outmaneuver most of them, but she needs to keep it a secret is priceless.

Also the poison challenge in which the participants need to rank the poisons from the most deadly to the most harmless and then drink whatever they placed as ‘without poisons’ is amazing. Partly because Celaena actually doesn’t identify all of them, and partly because there is just so much confusion among everyone but one (who’s basically a poisoner) and when they drink it. Man did I enjoy watching all the characters that Celaena hated writhe on the ground before they could get the antidote.

Next comes the murders. They are gruesome and terribly well written, and the worst part is that no one can figure out what is doing it. Organs are removed, brains carved out and they are surrounded by strange marks. 

Of course Celaena finds out, which results in one of the most intense scenes in the book, which I very much loved.

The last part of the plot is the actual tournament. It is tense, and it is glorious. A hero who struggles so much at the end will always be appealing to me, and then the scene where she thinks I will not be afraid (below) is one of the most character defining moments for me.

Because that is who she is. She denies her fear room, she fights on through it, and she says that she is Celaena Sardothien, and she will not be afraid.

It gave me courage, too.

The Language

Gorgeous, stunning, fierce. Can I end the segment there? That’s not enough to convince you? Alright, then let’s take a deep dive.

This is my absolute favorite quote, so much so that I got a version of it tattooed, so the below is really the star of the book.

It’s got fate in it and it’s got power and it is so beautifully written that I am in awe. The fear part got me - that she is so powerful that she would be able to change the course of the world, but she is too afraid to do it, because of her past, because of the world around her.

Geez that hits right in the feels. 

The stars and darkness and unknown is a huge part of this book and there are so many beautiful quotes that it is hard to narrow it down. The thing is that while the characters carry the book, the language is paced perfectly with snippets of these gems hidden between the pages and it just makes you want to keep coming back, again and again and again.

I found myself trying to emulate her writing style after I had read it (I quickly dropped that again because I kept slipping back into my own style which is honestly the best), and it stuck with me long after I put down the book. 

In conclusion

Do you get the feeling that I could talk for days and days and days about this book? You are very much right. It is my all time favorite, and I devoured it whole in one sitting when I first got it. I simply couldn’t tear my eyes away from the pages and the wonderful world that Sarah J. Maas has built within. 

So do yourself a favor and check it out. I’ll be giving it five paws, in any case.

[flightsrsk]

hello hello all !!! my name is riley and this is my actual trash son maverick, aka the flight risk !!! i am so so hyped to get the ball rollin on this, so check out info on my kid under ze cut !!

warning: this got rlly mcfreaking long and i am so sorry fjdklsjs i am incapable of writing a short intro post

unfortunately i will not be able to be around for the official opening bc i’m on vacation w my fam and godparents, but i will try and intermittently read intros and chat to you guys about plots !!!! PLS feel free to bombard me through IMs or through discord if any plot sparks ur interest or u think mav could fit well in one of ur plots!!! :’)

THE BASICS

Name: Maverick Hobbes Braxton

Age: Twenty-one

Gender: Cismale

Pronouns: He/Him

Major & year: Philosophy, Third year

Faceclaim: Alex Fitzalan

Occupation: N/A

THE FLIGHT RISK

Maverick Braxton, as you might see, is an enigma—or rather, has evolved into one, slowly: a transformation that begun with his first breath. In his early years, the stage had been set for him, line by line. Act One: attend prep schools, excel in classes. Act Two: attend Covington, take center stage—you know, all of the things his older brother, Richard had accomplished with ease, just one year prior to all of his expectations. It was simple, really: a blueprint laid out ahead of him, with little to nothing in his way.

The only problem was that Maverick didn’t exactly see the point in choosing that path, that stage, that story. To him, it wasn’t challenging.

That, and the fact that the life laid out in front of him offered him absolutely nothing.

A series of banal expectations, unfair comparisons, and heartbreaking betrayals, and the traditional life of the Braxton child was thrown out the window—at least, in his brain, it was. See, Maverick Braxton, while independent, coy, and arrogant, isn’t stupid. He knows if he pleases his parents just enough, they’ll still distribute his trust fund and still bail him out of legal trouble when he inevitably tiptoes too far down the delicate line between ambition and rebellion. Perhaps it’s a bit selfish, but what does he owe to a family who paid him no attention, who never asked of his well-being, his own ambitions, his personal dreams?

He’s the kind of person to drive down the highway, windows rolled all the way down, cigarette lit—not because he necessarily likes the taste of nicotine, but because he likes the way the smoke creates clouds that obscure reality. He’ll surprise you in class when he interjects with a sarcastic but surprisingly salient point before throwing up his hood and retreating to the back corner for the rest of class. He’s the kind of person to start reading a book, flipping incessantly through the pages, both impatient by the pace of the plot, yet put it down before he reaches the final pages because he doesn’t want to be disappointed by the ending. He’s the kind of artist who rarely finishes a sketch, the writer who is never satisfied by a poem—for fear, of course, by deep-rooted insecurities that nothing that he will ever do will be enough.

A once-broken heart had taken time to mend, even though it seems ice-cold and whole from the outside. It’s why he has commitment issues: he doesn’t want to be burned again. He plays off his flirtatious bit as a personality trait, someone who is bored by the prospect of being tied down—and yet those who share his bed might consider him Covington’s most surprisingly deep pillow-talker.

An enigma, you see—one who doesn’t stick around long enough for anyone to truly understand, truly a Flight Risk.

BIOGRAPHY:

( You can read his full biography here! Still in the process of editing it a bit, but below are some important bullet points! )

Maverick was born the second of three children to the Braxton family—and as per usual with the Braxton children, he was born into a life filled to the absolute brim of expectation.

His father, a playwright, his mother, an actress. His brother, a theatre prodigy—what part did that leave him to play? The assumed expectations were to follow in his mother and brothers’ footsteps and take center stage; he excelled, for a while, but Maverick always felt lost.

Neighbors and family friends would always ask if he had measured up, in each and every shape and form: it was like the entire universe had a scoreboard with their names titling each section, and Maverick was always playing catch-up, never knowing where the finish line was.

For a while, he stuck to the script that was given to him: study, succeed, repeat. He tried to understand the ins and outs of his father’s work, of masterful acting techniques, trying to make a large enough splash to where his family would even notice the work he put into his life. Surprise: it didn’t.

It took him seventeen years to truly understand that his role in life was not exactly the story his parents had laid out for him, but rather, his sibling, instead.

Downcast emotions transformed quickly into cynicism. What used to make him feel sad now fueled a blue fire within Maverick’s chest, one that felt wronged by the system he was placed in: a complete first-world problem, but it was then and there when he decided to take advantage of his situation, given that he had spent his entire life dedicated to a part he wouldn’t play.

Hypocritical as he was, he still enjoyed the fruits of his parents’ work, cashing the unlimited checks with his name on them, as if it was some sort of sick version of love.

One piece of recognition that Maverick finally earned was an acceptance to Covington—and even that couldn’t be tainted by his brother’s success or his legacy status.

At Covington, Maverick has both lost and found his footing, multiple times. He’s quit acting, quit studying theater, in favor of a topic that stimulates his brain more than reading lines and

PERSONALITY:

Maverick Braxton is certainly a paradox. He’s charismatic, funny, and has a witty sense of humor –– and is generally appreciated by his peers because he’s able to move conversation and discussion without making topics seem dry.

Despite his apparent inferiority to his sibling, the Braxton family still breeds the cream of the crop. He’s certainly a bit arrogant sometimes, given that he’s intelligent, innovative, and clever, and wants to be recognized for it –– however, even if he might not show it on the outside, he appreciates a good challenger. He thinks it keeps his wit sharp, and of course, his ego would never show it, but he does appreciate learning from people. After all, his passion in philosophy, his current area of study, makes him certainly interested in how the world works.

Those who happen to get to know Maverick outside of the surface-level stuff, outside the initial cockiness and flirtatious front he puts on will know that he’s actually quite thoughtful. His lonely childhood has made him extremely loyal to those who have shown him similar trust and friendship –– he would never turn his back on them.

He asks probing questions, is a good listener –– perhaps because he’s interested in human decision making, but is also because he doesn’t quite know what it’s like to be loved unconditionally –– though he wants to.

Deep down, what almost no one knows is that he’s really quite soft. He passes his curiosity off as wanting to understand people, when really it’s a mechanism for hoping someone asks him questions in return, to give him the time of day he wished his parents ( and the rest of the goddamned universe ) had given him.

Despite his theatre prowess, he isn’t actually a particularly good liar. Those who spend enough time around him can hear his tone of voice incline slightly and see him scratch his brow.

AESTHETICS:

coffee-stained mugs, walking with headphones in but nothing playing, untied shoelaces, black hoodies, a cheeky smirk, small books in his back pocket, writing in the margins, unfinished poems, quoting old authors on a daily basis, incessant eye-rolling, pen ink stains, an unmade bed, mismatched socks, floral ties, empty bottles of liquor, rose thorn pricks, old worn poetry books, polished dress shoes, calloused fingers, unlit cigarettes between teeth.

HEADCANONS:

Funnily enough, Maverick’s name means ‘independent, a noncomformist’, which is exactly the path that he has taken to stray away from his family’s expectations.

He does have one strong connection to his family, though: his grandmother, on his father’s side. She understands the pressure he undergoes, who saw the pressure Maverick’s father endured to obtain the success he has. She is one of the only reasons that Maverick has not just jetted off to take on his own adventure. He loves her dearly, and wishes that her empathy and wisdom would rub off on the rest of his family.

Maverick has some form of synesthesia, which allows him to remember a lot more than the average person. He associates colors, smells, sounds, to words –– and allows him to efficiently study any subjects he doesn’t have immediate passion for.

In the privacy of his own bedroom, he sometimes writes poetry and sketches his thoughts and muses –– when he knows he’s in complete privacy. Faces and features that appear in his sketchbooks are often those he’s thinking of often, those who intrigue him. He’s actually quite good a sketching, maybe not quite as good at writing poetry.

His room is spotless –– evidence that he is a bit of a control freak sometimes. It shows that during his adolescence, he reveled in the parts of his life that he could control and perfect.

tw drugs. He more than dabbles in drug use, smoking marijuana maybe every other day, while partaking in harder drugs like cocaine and adderall and others probably once a week. He feels like he’s in control of his use, but it may start to get the best of him. end tw.

Maverick is left-handed. He hates that he gets pen ink stains when he draws, writes poetry, takes notes. His left palm is probably perennially covered with ink.

Though he’s often wearing headphones ( airpods, of course, the nerve of this rich kid ), half the time, nothing’s playing. Sometimes he forgets to press play on his phone, sometimes he purposely likes listening to decision-making and conversations of strangers. it lets him think about the nature of mankind.

Maverick’s favorite philosopher is Albert Camus, known for his work that heavily developed the idea of absurdism ( much to do with the meaning of life, and human inability to discern an answer ).

Maverick’s preferred method of transportation is his skateboard. he loved it first because his parents hated it: pushing himself around on a board like that would get him injured—besides, why not just take the car to school, the driver had been paid for anyway? It was his first taste of rebellion. Now at Covington, where skateboarding is far more efficient than walking across campus, it comes in handy when he sees someone he’d rather not stop and chat to.

Maverick could die with a poetry book nestled on his chest—it’s the one thing he got out of the impressive book collection his family owned. There was something daunting and beautiful about the way poems would transform metaphors into something fantastical, like the emotions were clearly there, but the words were skirting the issue. Kind of like how his parents would never really tell him they loved him.

Maverick often has headphones in when he walks to class. not particularly because he’s actually listening to music or a podcast, but rather because he’d just … rather not be bothered to stop and talk to people.

Maverick loves to draw. He’s mostly self-taught, with a bit of mentorship from his high school art teacher. Evidenced by the rest of his fleeting personality, he rarely finishes a sketch or painting. He claims he never has time to finish them, but the number of crumbled-up, half-finished sketches in his trash bin might say otherwise.

PLOTS

** see my wanted plots tag here too! // and my plots page here !!

* FIRST LOVE / OPEN.

It wouldn’t be easy to make Maverick feel like even more of a disappointment than he already had with his parents, his family—but your muse proved this feeling wrong. He loved them, more than he’d ever loved anything before. In the midst of confusion about where he belonged, he felt safe with your muse; he’d do anything for them. Things ended, he felt betrayed ( though the break-up could have easily been due to a fault of his ), and the split made him the one who now struggles fully with commitment. He doesn’t want to have his heart broken again. See: this entire pinterest board.

but also if u give me this ……………… i’ll name my firstborn after u

* BEST FRIEND / OPEN.

Those who go through similar childhood traumas are often able to understand each other –– that was how it worked with Maverick and your muse, at least. They’re thick as thieves — and have likely seen the ups and downs of Maverick’s life in real time.

* CHILDHOOD FRIENDS / OPEN.

Self explanatory—and also probably knows about the pressures the Braxton family imposes on their children.

* EX-FRIENDS / OPEN.

Friends who were close, close no longer. Maverick’s a real piece of work, and an asshole, too—there are myriad possibilities for why Maverick could have pushed them away. He wouldn’t openly admit that he misses being around your muse, but he certainly would feel a bit of guilt given that they’re no longer the closest of friends.

* MOMENT OF WEAKNESS / OPEN.

Your muse, in whatever unfortunate setting, saw a glimpse of Maverick’s soft side that hardly ever makes an appearance. He’s not going to let them tell the world about his vulnerabilities, though. Not a chance.

* DISLIKED / OPEN.

Maverick is sarcastic, cold, and sometimes emotionless. It’s not surprising that not everyone gets along with the middle Braxton. The possibilities are endless—throw in some sexual tension and I’d actually fall at ur feet.

* PREVIOUS ROOMMATES / OPEN.

Your muse, at one point, probably knew Maverick better than everyone else at Covington. They overheard some of his phone calls with his parents, saw his notes for how he was to achieve his life goals, heard him crying in the middle of the night when he thought your muse was asleep. They could be extremely close now, as in one of the few people Maverick opens up to, or could be distant friends who know about one anothers’ struggles. The possibilities are endless, tbh.

+ ANYTHING LEGITIMATELY ……… IF U THINK THERE���S POSSIBILITY FOR SOMETHING COOL W MAV AND UR MUSE. SIGN ME THE F UP. THANKS.

[nieithryn]

His aides either knew he was currently alone, or knew better than to try and stop this particular Jedi Master from entering. Bail wasn't, offhand, sure which was better, but in this case both things were true. He had just finished a holoconference with a select few of the Security Committee, leaving him alone in the understated elegance of his office...and Obi-Wan Kenobi was always welcome, whether in his private apartment or his senatorial office.

Despite the worry and seriousness etched into the other man's features, it was a slight, strained smile that found the Prince's lips, even as he allowed the other to speak with nary a 'good day' to him. The way Obi-Wan ignored the protocols Bail had been born and bred to never ceased to amuse him, and the man's concern was far too touching to do more than elicit a warm fondness in the older man's heart. And in among the horrors of the war and the endless grind of politics in the Senate, there was something to be said for those things that could still garner warmth and affection.

And besides his friendship with the Jedi before him, the mention of young Boba Fett was enough alone to move him to a better mood. Even as he raised a brow at Obi-Wan, he shifted to lean back in his chair and give his aching back a rest from the holopads he was currently going over.

"It's good to see you too, Obi-Wan," he hummed, amused and warm. Then he shrugged, setting his work aside and folding his hands across his stomach amiably. "As far as Jango Fett and his son are concerned...yes, I did give him an 'earful,' though I would prefer to call it a friendly talk. We came to an agreement, as well, as a result. With Boba involved, of course; he's old enough for some say in who watches him. I could hardly pretend that my fellow Senators were not part of the problem in this particular instance."

Or, if one were to listen to him in private - as Obi-Wan certainly had, many times - then perhaps in every instance...still. In this instance more than most, the fingerprints of he and his colleagues could be felt and seen. It was only right that he try and do better by the pair.

@nieithryn / snarter call.

"You are never going to believe what I heard today: that you have not only taken to babysitting the Mand'alor's son, but gave him an earful about it too." It was spoken as less an accusation and more exasperated acceptance. Bail Organa was a good man—one of the best and most dependable out there—so it was no surprise that he'd found a lone child to take under his wing. Though, that the child was Boba Fett had surprised him and that Bail had thought to lecture the boy's father had worried him just as much. Once (not too long ago), Obi-Wan wouldn't have fretted, let alone marched his way into the man's office, but the longer the war dragged on, the more important people like the Organas became.

People like the Organas made a difference. People like the Organas halted the operations on Kamino, they provided aide to planets outside their own, pushed the same sentiment until someone grew sick enough of hearing it to act, would even defend Obi-Wan's people in his absence, and (foolishly) remained at the side of a possessed Jedi when he should have been making for the hills. They didn't advocate for sending people to be slaughtered or bring Zillo beasts into the heart of the Republic. People like Bail Organa mattered.

Obi-Wan's concern hadn't come from fears of Jango himself—not when the Republic was his only chance at salvation and he was growing about as predictable as a rainstorm—but rather the audacity Bail had to speak against those who were well capable of snapping his neck. The man was smart, had more than enough allies (both within and outside the Republic), and fully knew his way around a blaster and battlefield; it was a waste of effort to worry over his safety and likely just as insulting. Yet still, all the good Bail left in his wake made him a threat and Obi-Wan worried for the day he managed to speak ill in front of the wrong person.

He was too much an integral part of their efforts in the senate to be risking himself—not anymore—and on the more selfish end, Obi-Wan thought them close and the thought of losing any more friends was mortifying.

"The amount of things you can accomplish in a single day, senator, will never cease to amaze me." Coruscant was a planet that thrived on contradictions: citizens who wanted a war, but not to fight in it, a rich and vibrant community who quite literally survived by pushing the poor beneath them and out of view, and a chancellor who preached democracy, yet grasped for every inch of power he could afford. He could almost pity his fellow Jedi who had to remain at the temple in its ever-growing political climate.

"Now will your seemingly endless amount of patience."

[gabriel4sam]

Three conversations Obi-Wan had after the Death Star

Obi-Wan survives Vader and tries to take care of three young souls.

 Under the cut, a little fic written for @kenobi-gen-exchange, beta by the awesome @wrennette

Leia had entered the Death Star like she was descending into her own mausoleum. In her exhausted mind, it was fitting, in a way. The monstrous contraption which had destroyed Scarif would be her last step before the grave.

Then, there had been a too short Stormtrooper, a walking carpet, and a sarcastic rogue. There had been shots fired, and a garbage chute, and hope had reignited, like a spark starting a bonfire. The plans, the plans of that monstrosity were the best chance the rebellion had and now, she could deliver them…if they escaped.

Now, around them, the TIE fighters bark a deluge of fire, like a pack of small, savage beasts tearing at the throat of a larger animal.

Trying to tear apart, in fact, because the ship of Han Solo has teeth and he and Luke are sitting at the turrets, fighting back. Sitting in the cockpit, Leia watches, her heart in her throat. If they die in this battle, the death of Alderaan will be in vain. She wants to live, with a lust for life she thought lost when she saw her planet explode.

She wants to live, to avenge Alderaan, to tear the Empire apart. A cold shiver runs along her spine, changing her blood into ice in a wave of unknown fury, more dangerous for the calm that surrounds its core. She could murder, in that state of mind. She thirsts for the blood of Tarkin, of Vader; for their pain, to see them lose everything they hold dear, and make them watch, just like they made her. Just as a part of her recognizes, distantly, that her control of her emotions is better than that, normally, that she was raised better than that, warmth engulfs her and the ice recedes. General Kenobi has put his cloak around her shoulders.

“We will live today,” Kenobi says simply, “to rebuild,” and Leia wants to tell him she wants blood, revenge, she wants to throw away her principles to see Vader and Tarkin burn, but their gazes meet, and in the calm blue of his eyes, she sees a bottomless grief, like she carries in her heart.

“My father was happy, at the thought of seeing you again,” She says instead, and Kenobi smiles, old and kind and nothing like the brilliant, headstrong general of the stories, but his arm around her shoulders feels like an anchor, strong and sheltering, like a port in a storm.

“Sadly,” he says, “I know a little about losing my people. I won’t lie and say it will be alright.”

“You’re not very comforting.”

“But I will say this: it will get better, and an objective helps. A mission.”

“What was yours? When you escaped after the war?”

“Well, you and young Luke, of course. Luke, more specifically, but you were never far away from my mind.”

“What?”

“Oh, yes. Of course, you don’t know. We always said we would tell you together, and dear Bail and Breha were people of their word. Oh dear…. The Death Star, first, then we need to have an overdue conversation.”

She wants to pursue this conversation but he pats her hand:

“Allow an old man, whose mind is not as sharp as it used to be, a moment to gather his thoughts.”

“You can’t be serious! It seems like …like you said… Luke,” Leia whines, tumbling head first into a maelstrom of emotions, forgetting every notion of protocol ever drilled, with great difficulty, into her stubborn head, and General Kenobi’s mouth twitches.

In all his stories, her father never told how infuriating the man could be!

 **********************************

 The Death Star is dust, and Han’s head, which was only sought by Jabba, the thrice damned slug, and two or three exes with a grudge, will very probably be on every bounty hunter in the galaxy’s list in the days to come.

And yes, the Imperials.

That pesky problem of every Imperial who will now want him dead for helping the Rebels. Oh joy.

What was he thinking! He hadn’t even been drunk!!

On the edge of Yavin’s base, as the Rebels are packing up with military efficiency, despite an impressive collection of impressive hangovers, Han’s mounting worries look every minute more like full-blown panic, until a shuffling gait draws his attention.

Han isn’t a naïve farmer like Luke. He understands why the old man, whose steps were surer than the most limber Imperial spy on the Death Star, suddenly makes the same noise as a Gungan on dry soil. Kenobi smiles, light, self-deprecating, and Han glares harder. Despite himself, Han feels the poor, innocent, totally not dangerous, definitely can’t kill people with my mind, old man act works, as it had on Tatooine. It’s exasperating, especially since Han is old enough to remember Jedi shenanigans on the holo news. It shouldn’t work on him.

Kenobi sits next to him, and together, they watch the Rebels bundle up machines, explosives, parts, and sometimes a droid who doesn’t escape them quick enough, which spawns a quarter hour of comedy, as R2-D2 rescues his counterpart with violence Han didn’t expect of an astromech .

“Luke and Leia are very young,” Kenobi finally says.

“Hm, hmm,” Han answers. There. Totally not incriminating. He’s capable of learning, no matter what Chewie growls about his head and its contents.

“The crisis is reaching its boiling point,” the old man continues, not deterred.

“Long time coming,” Han can’t stop himself from adding.

“And they would certainly benefit from some guidance,” Kenobi half-smiles.

“They have the whole Rebel crew,” Han immediately says, “and also, aren’t you supposed to be subtle? Negotiator and all that.”

“I didn’t think you would appreciate being manipulated,” Kenobi remarks, and despite himself Han feels it working, that undisguised demand. Manipulated, yeah, he would hate that, especially from the man who is supposed to take care of Luke and Leia.

Those two will be trouble, he’s sure of it.

More trouble than the Death Star, even.

Oh, by the kriffin stars, they’re gonna get killed like two idiots. Luke has no survival instinct, and Leia isn’t much better, and he had only known them for a few days, he’s sure they can do worse than what already made him sweat. And Han isn’t touching on the hypocrisies of his opinion, coming back to protect Luke against Vader or not.

“Are you manipulating me by pretending you don’t want to manipulate me?” He asks, his glare making a fiery comeback.

The old man smiles.

“Snake,” Han grumbles, and apparently Kenobi takes it as a compliment, because his smile, from old and benign, turns mischievous. But it’s a smile which invites Han to share its joy, not a smile at Han’s expense, but a smile with Han, and despite himself, Han answers it with his own.

**************************

Luke is helping prep the Y-Wings for the flight to their rendezvous point, since all the X-Wings are ready. Working helped. Working, he understands. Flight engines don’t suddenly sprout family members. They don’t lie for years, pretending to be the more or less harmless and slightly touched in the head friendly neighbourhood hermit, when they are in reality space monks turned bodyguards for secret children of long-ago murdered friends. And also, perhaps he wouldn’t have needed a secret bodyguard, if he had raised under a false name, like Leia!

Oh Force, like his sister Leia….

Leia isn’t as angry as himself about their long hidden brotherhood, but he suspects that’s because the trauma of Alderaan and the necessary work for the Rebel Alliance are taking precedence.

Give it a little time. He’s pretty sure the spine of iron he already found in her is matched by a temper of much more volatile components.

Luke feels Ben entering the hangar. Every minute almost, the Force opens him a little more to sensations he doesn’t understand. It’s like an avalanche, and Ben explained it’s because Leia and him are working together, that it would be much harder if one of them tried to do it alone.

It’s terrifying.

It’s comforting.

It’s like a promise he will never be alone, as he can feel the nervous energy of every Rebel, and Ben and Leia more closely, the old man a point of light like a flame in the night, and Leia more turbulent, like a slash-and-burn fire, destructive perhaps but with a promise of more life reborn from the blaze.

It’s comforting, but when he’s angry with Ben, it’s a little inconvenient to feel themselves linked together like that.

“Came to tell me about more long lost family members?”

There is like a ping in the Force, almost a bell sound and Luke wouldn’t have understood, days before. Now he throws his wrench on the floor, unconcerned with their audience.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!! Ben!!”

“Luke, this isn’t –“

“No, not, let me guess, it’s a triplet. And it’s Han! Or better, Chewie!”

“Luke!”

The young man turns and on the old Jedi’s face, he sees what he didn’t feel in the Force, untrained and nascent, no matter his powers. On Ben’s face, he sees despair, worn like a twenty-year old wound, and still bleeding.

“Ben?” Luke asks, and suddenly he’s nine years old again and Ben just conveniently found him lost in the desert; he’s thirteen years old and Ben just conveniently rescued him from a slaver’s ship that wanted to fatten its pockets before leaving the planet; he’s fifteen years old and Ben just happened to pass the canyon where he was cornered by a Tusken raid.

Now that he thinks about it, he should have understood some things much sooner.

“Luke,” Ben says, and he stops. Luke puts his two hands on the hermit’s shoulders.

“I’m there,” he tries to reassure.

“Luke, there is something I haven’t told you and Leia, but it’s so terrible, I haven’t said it since the day I told it to Owen and Beru and I’m not sure I have the strength…”

“It will be okay,” Luke says, “you know it will. You’ll rely on us and it will be okay. You’re not alone.”

And if Ben’s eyes are perhaps wet, Luke doesn’t say it. A little awkward, he goes for a hug.

No matter what, they are not alone. Not one of them. The rest of the Rebels have made themselves scarce, but he suddenly feels Leia, at the other end of the hangar. She felt something like off and came to them. Behind her, Han is ranting, not aware yet of the current of tension between the three Force users.

Luke thinks of a little hut in the middle of the desert. He thinks about Owen and Beru, and Bail and Breha who he will never know.

“No one of us are alone,” Luke says with conviction and he knows, with certainty well beyond simple instinct, how true it will always be.

[sunnyfireeater]

☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙  / min yoongi, 23, he/him, cis male / ⟶ welcome to the big top sunny song! i heard that you go by the everburn and that you’re 23 and a fire performer? that’s pretty impressive, considering you’ve been with the circus for 7 years. i heard people say you were passionate and reliable, but also demanding and impatient, and that you remind them of ice cream during a winter storm, an end-of-summer bonfire, and the jitters two minutes before showtime. guess we’ll see if it’s true, eh? 

howdy! my name’s michelle (she/her) and this wildcard is sunny....... he’s an impatient fool but will always look out for his fellow cast members before himself. . . . . . . sunny’s been a muse of mine for a while so im really excited to bring him into a circus scene ! ! ! below is just a lil about him. i love to plot so pls don’t be afraid of ask ! ok enough from me . . . sunny take it away ! ! 

sunny was the offspring of new york broadway directors (parents were like adam driver in the marriage story). because of that, he’s always been around the art of theater. he hated it. 

he knew that he wanted to be a director just like his parents but because they were so famous already, he would always be compared to him. 

because his parents were always busy with their theater company, sunny made himself busy with the wrong crowd.

he was part of the new york elite and even though he was quite young, that didn’t stop him from partying. 

the worst part: his parents were too busy to even notice him gone in such late hours of the night. 

one night, of course, there’s that one night, sunny goes a little too far. an underage sunny song was detained. 

while detained, sunny’s only thought was “at least this time, they would have to bail him out. show up.... something!” 

but ah, his father’s personal assistant shows up to bail him out. 

he’s had it. he needed to get out. 

sunny sees that the circus was coming and that’s when he figured it out. how insulting to the song name would it be if sunny joined the freaking circus. the blood, sweat, and tears that his parents poured into their theater company soiled by the fact that their only son was a circus performer. 

he packed all his shit one night. he printed a flier for cirque de la luna and wrote in bold black letter, “left a house of clowns to join the circus.”

sunny started as stage hands for la luna. this was the first time he was completely on his own and it was quite a culture shock. he couldn’t just text his house made a recipe and have it delivered to him. he actually had to make money and do it himself. 

from stage hands, he made it as a manager of some sort. he kept up with show schedules and did some of the word of mouth in every city they landed on. 

while spending time with the performers, his curiosity got the better of him and self-taught himself how to play with fire by just watching every single performance. 

it took him four years of practice practice practice practice to make his debut as the everburn but his first performance was all he needed. he finally loved where he was. 

all this time, he thought he was there just to get back at his parents but that first performance was confirmation he was where he needed to be. 

tldr; his parents are broadway directors that did not pay any attention to him so he starts rebelling. his final act of rebellion was joining the circus at 16. he only joined to get his parents attention but as time went on, he realized he was there because he loved it. 

ooc; hi! thanks for making it this far! pls let’s plot and get this show on the road <3

[dalekofchaos]

If Obi-Wan survived A New Hope

It was originally the plan to have Obi-Wan survive ANH, but Lucas felt like there was nothing more to do with Obi-Wan as he would just have Obi-Wan standing around on Yavin with Leia and General Dodanna. So here is a hypothetical on what would happen if Obi-Wan survived the duel with Vader on the Death Star

First, I believe once he saw Luke and the Princess, I believe, Obi-Wan would land a powerful strike to momentarily stun Vader, then use force speed to make it to Luke, Leia and Han and displays his mastery of the force to ward off the Stormtroopers closing in on our heroes. Art by Ameen Naksewee

What would happen next is an emotional scene with Obi-Wan and Leia. Obi-Wan comforts Leia about Alderaan and how much of a good friend Bail Organa was. and mention that he saved his life, and how much he owed him and that the good and the light that her parents have brought to the galaxy now lives within Leia. Leia will take comfort and ask that Obi-Wan helps the Rebels in their time of need. Obi-Wan will indeed help the rebels. 

Obi-Wan would be there present at the base for discussing the Death Star Plans and the attack. After the meeting, all I can see happening is Obi-Wan wishing Luke well, telling him not to worry about Han as you cannot change someone motivated by greed and that the force will be with him, always. I do believe something should change as Obi-Wan’s presence needs to be a powerful one. Obi-Wan would use Battle Meditation to inspire and motivate the Rebels at the Death Star Assault. There would be fewer losses and maybe we can cheat by having Biggs survive, but in the end Obi-Wan telepathically tells Luke to use the force and Luke destroys the Death Star as Han makes the save.

Obi-Wan with Luke and Han at the Yavin Ceremony to receive a medal from Leia at the end.

Obi-Wan is a General in the Rebellion, much like he was during the Clone Wars. And as time moved on from ANH to ESB, Obi-Wan has trained Luke to becoming a fully fledged Jedi Knight. He feels he owes a responsibility to Bail to watch over Leia but also feels he is putting the Rebels in great danger because Vader is hunting him relentlessly. Nevertheless, Obi-Wan stands by to lead the Rebels alongside Leia while training Luke.

Darth Vader is desperately searching for the Rebels and for Obi-Wan, the only threats to the Empire. After discovering the Rebel base on Hoth and the subsequent battle that leads to the Rebels retreat from the ice planet, Vader leads a team of stormtroopers through the Rebel base to find Obi-Wan and finish what was started on the Death Star.

As the main cast flees the planet, Obi-Wan advises that they split up. Han, Leia, Chewie, and the droids will go one direction and Luke and Obi-Wan will go another. Obi-Wan still believes that keeping the children of Vader separate will help protect them. Obi-Wan takes Luke to swampy Dagobah where he introduces him to Master Yoda. He tells Luke to complete his training under Yoda. When Luke asks him why he can’t continue training with Obi-Wan, Obi-Wan says that he must go and protect Leia now that Luke is safely hidden here.

Luke begins his training under Yoda, Han and Leia eventually make their way to Cloud City, and everything proceeds as it did in the original film save that Obi-Wan is now trying to catch up to Leia’s party. Eventually he is able to detect either Leia’s or Darth Vader’s presence on Cloud City and flies in that direction.

Meanwhile on Dagobah, Luke receives a Force vision. He sees his friends in Cloud City in danger and Obi-Wan battling Darth Vader again. Luke says he must go to help Obi-Wan. Yoda entreats him to stay and says that Obi-Wan will protect his friends. Luke decides to go anyway.

Obi-Wan arrives on Cloud City shortly after Han Solo has been frozen in carbonite. He frees Leia and the others and tells them to escape, he says he must confront Vader and hold him off from pursuing the group. Leia and the rest flee Cloud City much like they do in the movie with the assistance of Lando Calrissian. Meanwhile Obi-Wan and Vader meet in the depths of Cloud City and begin their duel.

Darth Vader: I will not let you escape again, Kenobi.

Obi-Wan: The last time we met, I was searching for any trace of the man I knew. I now know there is not. This time, I am prepared to do what I must.

As the two duel, Obi-Wan’s age becomes apparent. He struggles to hold Vader off, but does manage to inflict some damage to Vader’s ventilation system. As the two fight, they feel Luke arrive in Cloud City. Vader begins to toy with Obi-Wan, letting him live until Luke comes upon them dueling. When Luke is there to witness it, Vader finally strikes down Obi-Wan in an attempt to drive Luke to the Dark Side.

Luke, in a rage similar to the one he displayed at the end of Return of the Jedi, attacks Vader. The two duel to a standstill thanks to Luke’s greater training and the damage Darth Vader received during his fight with Obi-Wan. As the two pause in their duel to recover their strength, things proceed as in canon with the great truth that came out.

I am your father

Unfortunately, even if Obi-Wan survived the battle with Vader in A New Hope, eventually his former Padawan would kill him. And yet by surviving he would gain so much time. Time in which to train Luke, to live, to love, and to become the father that Luke felt he never had. It isn’t exactly a happy ending, but we all know that The Empire Strikes Back was always the darkest of the original Star Wars film trilogy. In Episode VI everything come to fruition. Obi-Wan returns as a Force Ghost to explain his deception to Luke in not revealing Vader’s identity. Luke, despite all the evil Vader has done, is still the only one to believe there is good inside of him and is ultimately proven right. The Empire is defeated, and a new age of peace begins.

[nieithryn]

"Senator Amidala is a brilliant young woman, I will take that as quite the compliment."

Despite the strain that always seemed to hover about the Senator these days, a twinkle of warmth and amusement sparkled in his dark eyes. As frequently as Padme and he spoke of the war, her fondness and friendship with the young man before him was hardly a secret, but their dedication to professionalism was to be applauded. Certainly those who spent less time in Padme's company would never realize. And most certainly, not those who Skywalker quite accurately described as not tending to listen; Bail liked to think he was an exception.

"I hesitate to speak ill of my fellows...but, some days, I do consider with due seriousness the chance to leave Coruscant behind and go back to my wife and homeworld." Such an admission from him was hardly new. Alderaan was a place of beauty and growth and peace, clean and bright. Coruscant, by contrast, was...well. Coruscant. And the war dragged ever on, and with it, his stress only ever grew.

from here / @nieithryn

"Agreed." There was no hesitation in the deep, warm voice. Whatever else one could say about him, Bail Organa was hardly the sort who believed in ruling through fear. Even if he were, he doubted his wife would approve. It was enough to soften his dark eyes a little. "The people of any government are what give it power. Their respect for it's authority is all that allows it to function. Should a people cease to respect their government, cease to serve it, to obey its laws, that government is bound for failure. One way or another, it will have to change or die." A tired, wry smile flickered across the Senator's lips, and a small shrug rolled his shoulders. "Many of my fellow Senators would do well to remember that, in these harsh times."

Anakin was not one for politics, but being married, albeit in secret, to a politician, he sometimes had to listen to political matters. He definitely preferred war to politics and sometimes, he possibly deployed himself, versus having to deal with anything having to deal with diplomacy.

Padme was fond of Bail, and he had never been one of those annoying Senators. When Anakin was actually in Coruscant, he tended to loiter around the Senate Towers and pretend he wasn't there bothering Padme. But, she was in a meeting, so he was mingling. He was on leave for a few days, since he'd gotten hit in the head, pretty hard last time.

"You sound like Pad...Senator Amidala. I am not as much about politics, as I am out there fighting and being the whole 'Hero with no Fear"." He hated that name the holonet gave him, but he had learned to deal with it. "Senators don't tend to listen. I can only think of one or two that actually do. If they did all act like that, we wouldn't be stuck at war."

[swinfinities]

Long Live the Queen: Part Thirteen

                                                                                              Four years later

Padmé gently daubed the sweat from her forehead with a white handkerchief. She still wasn’t used to the humidity of the fourth moon of Yavin. After a decade in the thin, dry air of Tatooine, this jungle should have seemed like an oasis. But it felt more like drowning with every breath. She wasn’t sure if she’d ever really been dry since she arrived here.

A small hovercraft sped by, on its way back into the ancient temple that this fledgling group of rebels had converted into their base. Most of the soldiers on the transport offered a stiff nod toward Padmé as they passed. Some of the younger ones gave awkward salutes. It made Padmé cringe inwardly, but she kept a smile on her face and nodded back to her troops. She didn't like salutes. She never wanted to be seen as a military leader. She was, first and foremost, a diplomat, not a warrior. But as a leader of this rebellion (or whatever it was that you would call a bunch of fed-up farmers, bankers, and engineers with guns) acting as a general instead of a senator was unavoidable. Some of the other leaders—Dodonna, Raddus, even Senator Organa—weren’t as afraid to get their hands dirty, and Padmé was thankful for that. And of course, there was Ahsoka, known to all but a very select few as Fulcrum. She was always off somewhere, fighting unknown dangers and finding those who were willing to speak up against the Empire. Padmé had nothing but respect for her old Jedi friend but certainly did not envy her. Padmé’s place was here, serving among her people, not on a battlefield.

Soft footsteps approached from behind. Padmé knew those steps—each footfall was deliberate, calculated, but so smooth it was as if the feet simply glided over the pavement like a boat over water. It was the product of a lifetime of practiced poise and elegance.

“Senator Mothma,” Padmé greeted the fiery-haired woman as she approached.

“Good morning, Padmé.” Mon Mothma replied. More than anyone else, Padmé knew, this woman carried the weight of this rebellion on her shoulders. It showed. She always put on a strong face (and, indeed, she was strong) but in her eyes, a deep-seated sadness and pain had begun to show. Already, there had been so many losses and so few victories.

“Any news from Lothal?” Padmé asked.

“Yes,” Mon replied. “But it isn’t particularly good news. According to Fulcrum’s reports, our friends on Lothal have been forced to flee. Governor Tarkin has ordered a blockade of the entire system. I’m afraid we are shut out of that sector for the time being.”

Padmé sighed heavily. “You’re right. That isn’t good news,” she said. “Were there many losses?”

“Blessedly few, considering our opponent.”

“What do you mean?”

“Darth Vader.”

The air around them suddenly turned from stifling heat to ice cold.

“Vader? Vader was on Lothal? This is his first appearance in months and he attacks Lothal? Does Ahsoka know?”

“She does. She was able to successfully direct a rendezvous between the Lothal group and Phoenix Squadron. But yes, Vader’s appearance is… unexpected. But I prefer to think of it as something of a good sign. It means that our actions are starting to draw the Emperor’s attention. It means that he is beginning to see us as a threat.”

“It also means that the fighting is only going to get worse from now on.”

“It will. But someday, perhaps, all the fighting will mean something. Until then, we must keep pressing on.”

Padmé was silent. She shook her head softly. She just couldn’t push the images out of her head—images of Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight, a noble warrior, and a decorated general. Her husband. But now he was out there somewhere, murdering children, burning villages, and decimating armies of soldiers that Padmé herself had sent to their deaths. Maybe there was something she could have done, some words she could have said to stop him from going down this path. Would Anakin still be here if she could only have loved him just a little more?

No. Padmé stopped such a dangerous thought before it could really begin. Every so often, these sorts of thoughts would try to creep in, trying to lay hold on her mind like the choking roots of a noxious weed. But she was always able to pull them out before they did any damage.

So far, anyway.

“I want to talk to Ahsoka,” Padmé said.

“Of course,” Mon replied. “I’ll have Bail set up a call—”

“No. No calls. No more secret transmissions. I need to see her in person. We need to talk.”

“About what, may I ask?”

Padmé paused. A plan—or at least the beginnings of one—was forming in her mind. To what end, she didn’t yet know, but she knew it could lead to something important.

“About Anakin,” she said.

The corners of Mon Mothma’s lips turned up slightly, the closest thing anyone could call a smile from the senator.

“My dear friend, you do not answer to me. You may do as you wish. I only ask that you travel in secret. We cannot risk you being discovered. Not after everything we’ve built. Not after we just got you back. Frankly, it’s a miracle that the Emperor hasn’t discovered you yet. If he were to find out you are still alive—”

“You needn’t remind me, Mon.”

“I’m only asking you to be careful.”

“I will. I’ll wear a disguise. I’ll have Reymus take me in his old Starhopper. We’ll be invisible.”

“Of course. I’ve learned by now to never doubt you, Padmé. Fare thee well. And may the Force be with you.”

“And may the Force be with you, Senator Mothma.”

*****

There is no emotion, there is peace.

A stone coming at chest. Swing left. Block.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

Another stone, coming at head. Swing up. Block.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

From behind now. Swing. Block.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

Two stones. Duck one. Swing down. Block.

There is no death. There is only the Force.

Luke Skywalker repeated the mantra in his head. He was blindfolded, yet he could see through his mind’s eye the stones flung in his direction. His father’s lightsaber felt alive in his hands. The weapon swung effortlessly, hanging on the invisible eddies of the Force. Back and forth it swayed, the vibrant blue blade meeting each stone midair, cleaving them in two.

There is no death, there is only the Force, Luke repeated in his mind. Around him, everything was alive, singing aloud with the same voice, the same harmony that rang throughout the universe. It was the song of the Force. He had learned to hear it. He was just now beginning to learn how to sing with it.

And yet there was something else drumming behind the song. Not singing, no. Something discordant. Chaotic. Less a pleasing hymn and more a scream of agony. It was the Dark Side. Luke had felt it before, creeping through the Force like a dank fog.

Luke thought he could see a figure emerging through the mist. Something tall and broad, like a lumbering monster. The thing was steeped in the Darkness—it dripped with it, oozing hate and anger from every pore of its miserable body.

“V-Vader,” Luke said, through trembling lips.

He opened his eyes. The song of the Force fell silent as his concentration is broken. A large stone hit him right in the gut. Luke doubled over in pain. He could see Yoda drop his head in disappointment.

Again.

Obi-Wan walked over to him, helping Luke up out of the mud. Luke stood. He was taller now. Nearly as tall as Obi-Wan. He had grown broader, too. Stronger. His face was now less than that of a boy, and more of a man.

“You saw him again?” Obi-Wan asks, but it isn’t much of a question.

“More and more now,” Luke replied. “Sometimes it almost feels like every day.”

“It is a troubling time for you, Luke,” said Obi-Wan. “Your strength in the Force is growing. The Dark Side is beginning to tempt you. Every day, it will try to pull you in, to bend you to its will.”

“So how do I defeat it?” Luke asked.

Yoda chuckled at that.

“Defeat it?” Yoda said. “Defeat the Dark Side, you cannot. Defeat yourself, you must.”

“But Master Yoda, what does that mean?”

Yoda shook his head softly.

“Explain this lesson, words cannot. Learn through the Force, you must.”

“What are you saying, Master?” Obi-Wan asked. “Do you think he is ready?”

Yoda closed his eyes, meditating for a few moments.

“Ready, the boy may never be,” Yoda said, opening his eyes and looking at his student. “But time it is.”

“Time for what?” Luke asked.

“For your trial,” answered Obi-Wan. “The final trial on the path to becoming a Jedi knight.”

[nieithryn]

@misfittcd asked: "I'm your friend. It's my job to help you out." (From Obi-Wan to Bail!)

The stim he'd taken last night had worn off hours ago, and the crash from the vaping thing had left the Senator somewhat...groggy, if he were honest. A Security Committee meeting was not what he had wanted after such a long week, scant hours of sleep making Palpatine's smooth, silken voice a siren's call for the rest he desperately needed.

Unfortunately, neither his fellow Senators nor Palpatine particularly cared that he had just gotten back from the Mid-Rim with barely enough time to clean up and patch his wounds before taking himself to the Senate floor to speak against the latest in a long line of bills aimed at deregulating the banks and trade commissions. Nor, frankly, did he himself care, except that the endless meetings, domestic affairs, committees, and galactic affairs had finally put him at his limits. Or close enough to them that he knew it was best he retire, whatever the hour.

And then, of course, there was Obi-Wan, and what the poor man was doing hanging around the Senate apartments was anyone's guess. His presence was welcome, of course, and despite his exhaustion, Bail had found his heart lightening somewhat with the easy conversation. Still, perhaps it was far too much to hope that this particular Jedi wouldn't notice his present state. The galaxy could turn a blind eye, but he'd yet to meet a Jedi who could.

"Can you shoot me?" he finally replied wryly, steps slowing as he neared his private apartment. "If I have to hear Ralltiir go on about the Core World Consortium levies one more time, I might decide to give up politics altogether." The smile he gave was weary, and with a sigh he shook his head a little. "I'm fine, Obi-Wan. Just...tired. Nothing a few hours and a call to Breha won't fix."

[noctae-corvus]

Let's do #squad, parachute, zodiac, contact and shooting star for Athena, Noire and Dae!!

#squad: who’s friends with who? what are the squad dynamics like? 

Get prepared for me to mention a few characters i have only ever drawn like,, twice ever or never at all ahah. You may know some of these characters but stuff is being turned around to fit the lore better and yeeee

So the squad so to say consists of Athena, Leonidas, Desdaemon, Pyrrha (a human lesbian witch and major rebel spy that runs a bar in one of the shady corners of the city’s slums and also likes to gut “rowdy” male patrons), Raphaela (a fallen angel looking to find her purpose and a way back to the realm of her patron god, currently the best rebel sniper. Also lesbian,), Hermione (much like Dae, shared a fate of having had to work for the tyrant Tartarus- fancy as fuck vampire that taps into blood magic and poisons and has a great love for reptiles, snakes especially) and Ryujin (foreign mercenary recruited by the rebellion). Noire is still kinda part of the squad; but also has a distance, being considerably older than all of them and not getting into their shenaningans really.

So obviously there’s the twins, Athena and Leonidas with each other and their adoptive father, Noire. The twinnies are mischievous and often hanging out together, whether it be at a library or training or doing a marathon of the Sharkanado movies.

Athena and Desdae are best buds, platonic soulmates, actually literally bound to each other via a blood pact. They pretty much have no secrets between them and 

Desdae and Leonidas mayy or may not be friends with benefits and occasional drinking buddies alongside Ryujin and Pyrrha.

Pyrrha is like the fun mom of the squad, maintains a good relationship with everyone and often acts like an older sister. She is closest with the girls of the squad and Desdaemon. At the very least, if they want to vent their frustrations and get advice as well as a free drink, they know who to turn to.Raphaela is the actual mom of the squad, usually the one fretting over everyone’s well-being and scolding them for skipping meals and losing sleep. Bursts into Athena’s and Leo’s room to tell them to stop watching Sharkanado and finally go to bed. Literally called “bird mom”.

Hermione? Probably the youngest of the group. They all call her “bean”. She and Leonidas are the utter nerds and bond over books and science (and experiments involving ice and blood magic), while simultaneously judging everyone else’s fashion sense with Pyrrha. Dae and Hermione have a sibling-like bond.

Ryujin is the quietest of the group but still tags along for all the shenaningans. Sparring with him is something else and usually hangs with Raphaela. New to the group, still has fitting in to do.

Noire doesn’t get involved much, usually lets them do their own thing and makes sure they’re all not getting into trouble (or bails them out of trouble when it happens-)

Still have some fleshing out to do (and a lot of characters to actually draw-) but this is it pretty much! :’>

parachute: who does your OC(s) trust the most? who makes them feel safe? who would they do absolutely anything for? 

Athena: Really deeply trusts Desdaemon, Leonidas and Noire. She doesn’t invest a lot of trust in people, but when she does, she’s ride or die for real. Des is her best friend and platonic soulmate for all intents and purposes, Leonidas she has been together with since they were born, survived through hardship really bc they’re had each other and they’ve always had each other’s backs and Noire raised her since she was a kid, taking the role of a father she lost to the clutches of tyranny and supporting her to his best ability.Desdaemon: Due to his isolated upbringing, Dae really only trusts Athena, Leonidas and Hermione. He knows a lot of people, can get along with many people, being a charming bastard, but only puts his real trust in the twins, both because they’ve grown closer together through hardship and because they are the only people he remembers from his short childhood. Hermione he trusts because he grew up with her and has always been a guardian of hers, and she has been there to anchor him to his goals and reality.

Noire: The old man trusts his adoptive children the most- and that literally means the whole squad. He is very careful of who he puts into his team of assassins and spies, but for them, he would take a bullet for and feels endless guilt for having to send them out while staying behind.

zodiac: what’s their sign? does it influence their personality? do they care about astrology? 

Athena: Her zodiac sign is Virgo and I suppose I just jot those down for fun, not big or knowledgeable on astrology to be fair :’> If some traits do fit though, nice! Athena is not the one to believe or care about astrology.

Des: His zodiac sign is Aquarius, he doesn’t particularly care about astrology either, though might read up on it for the heck of it.

Noire: His zodiac sign is Pisces and in fact, he does care about astrology and has studied it sometime in the past.

contact: how does your OC(s) feel about touch/physical contact? are they affectionate? if so, how do they display affection to others?

Athena: Touch her and get a headlock- Athena is very jumpy and really does not like to be touched by people she doesn’t trust. Though she will tolerate it if putting up a polite facade, during any other time she responds very defensively. With people she trusts, she is affectionate and loves hugs/cuddling (and occasionally being carried). She may sometimes lay on top of people as a sign of affection like an oversized cat, especially in dragon form.

Desdaemon: Doesn’t mind physical contact, often touches people himself when talking with them (will stop if asked), loves cuddling with friends and displays of affection can be anything from typical hugs to “I randomly got you McDonalds bc I thought of u”

Noire: Please hug this man. He loves physical contact and touch and he’ll probably sell his soul for 1 hour of hugging. Often hugs, pats and kisses friends and family. Brushes hands with a cashier and dies a bit tbh.

shooting star: if your OC(s) could have one wish what would it be? 

Athena: This poor gal would have so many wishes haha. But mainly for Tartarus to never have existed, the mess she has gotten into wouldn’t exist and she’d be able to have a peaceful life.

Desdaemon: For all children to have a loving home and normal childhood- scars dig too deep and he never wants any child to experience growing up in a war-torn and corrupted nation.

Noire: For all war to stop- he has seen enough of bloody history repeating and losing dear friends to the vicious cycle and doesn’t want to see anymore. Either that, or a more selfish wish for a dead lover of his to come back to life.

oh dear this was so long haha, sorry if some resposes seem a bit inadequate! Thank you for the ask, this was pretty fun! :’>

[tomeandflickcorner]

Star Wars: Episode 5- The Empire Strikes Back

While it could be argued that A New Hope was a basic mythical style adventure set in a futuristic environment, the first sequel really seemed to up the ante quite a bit, with the stakes becoming much higher.  And while that potentially icky love triangle was still more or less present, it did start to lean more strongly into one direction.

Even though it’s not directly stated in the movie, three years have passed since the Death Star was destroyed.  But because Darth Vader survived to tell the rest of the Empire about its location, the Rebel Base on Yaven 4 had to be abandoned.  As the text crawl informs us, the Empire have been chasing down the Rebels across the galaxy ever since then, forcing our heroes to constantly be on the move.

At the start of this movie, the Rebel Base is currently located on Hoth, a planet that’s constantly covered with ice and snow. I do wonder how Luke managed to settle into such a cold environment, as he’d spent his entire life on a desert planet. But while it’s never established how long they’ve been stationed on Hoth, I guess he might have had time to adjust to the drastically different climate.

Anyway, the movie opens with Han and Luke, who are surveying the area surrounding the Hoth base, searching for any signs of life only to find nothing. After setting up a few scanners to continue searching for any lifeforms, Han heads back to the base.  But Luke opts to take the scenic route back, as he’d witnessed what he believes to be a meteorite hitting the ground a short distance away.  Unbeknownst to him, the ‘meteorite’ is actually one of the Probe Droids that Darth Vader has been sending out to locate the Rebels, on account of the fact that he’s now searching for Luke.  There’s something I have to say about that, but I’ll hold off on that for now.

Before Luke can actually go investigate the site where the Probe Droid landed, the Tauntaun (a bipedal lizard-goat creature) he was riding starts to freak out.  Seconds later, Luke is attacked by a giant yeti-like creature called a Wampa, resulting in Luke getting knocked out.  I wonder why Luke’s Tauntaun didn’t smell the Wampa until he was right on top of them.  Also, wasn’t it just mentioned that Luke and Han were specifically looking for any signs of life?  So why didn’t their sensors detect the Wampa’s approach?  Were they just looking for signs of human life?  I guess that would make sense, as the Rebels already knew there was some form of life on Hoth.  After all, they had managed to domesticate a team of Tauntauns, which were native to the icy planet.

Back at the Rebel Base, we see Chewbacca in the middle of performing repairs to the Millennium Falcon, which was apparently damaged in a previous battle that occurred off-camera.  When Han returns from his scouting mission, he promises to give Chewbacca a hand in a moment.  But first, he approaches General Rieekan to give his report on how he didn’t pick up any life signs during his scouting mission.  Han then announces that he’s planning on leaving Hoth and can no longer stay and assist the Rebel Alliance, on account of the fact that Jabba the Hutt is now out for his blood.  It turns out that Han never used the money he’d gotten for helping to rescue Leia in A New Hope to pay back his debt to Jabba.  So he’s going to have to get that taken care of ASAP or Jabba will start sending bounty hunters after him.  Apparently, Han’s already had a run-in with one such bounty hunter on a planet called Ord Mantell, during an adventure that I think was explored in one of the Star Wars novels I never read, and he doesn’t want to push his luck any further. General Rieekan expresses his sorrow to see Han leave, but wishes him the best.

However, Leia, who had been within earshot of this conversation, doesn’t take the news as well.  Instead, she all but runs after him, trying to convince him to stay, stating that the Rebel Alliance needs him, as he’s proven himself to be a true asset. But Han isn’t swayed and starts to challenge Leia, telling her to just come out and admit the real reason why she wants him to stay.

Yeah, this movie really puts the petal to the metal in regards to a potential romance between Han and Leia.  Han is convinced that Leia had developed genuine feelings for him during the past three years, but it constantly discouraged that she won’t allow herself to admit it, even to herself.  While I suppose it could be argued that Han is coming on too strongly, I have to disagree.  But to explain why, I’m going to go off on a brief tangent, so you’ll have to forgive me for that.

The way I see it, the whole relationship between Han and Leia has what Anakin/Padmé lacked.  Yes, there’s a bigger age gap between Han and Leia then the one that existed between Anakin and Padmé, but my main issue with Anakin/Padmé had nothing to do with their ages.  (Not really.) With Han and Leia, they’ve pretty much spent the past three years getting to know one another.   It wasn’t as if their interactions in this move were the first time they’d seen each other since the end of A New Hope.  No, they’ve had three years of shared adventures and experiences under their belts.  In addition, while I never got what Padmé ever saw in Anakin, I can see exactly what would draw Leia and Han to one other. With Han, he was a complete loner when we first met him.  He was completely used to calling all the shots and felt he could only count on himself (and maybe his best friend, Chewbacca.)  All of a sudden, here’s this young woman who might look fragile and delicate, but has both bark and bite.  Someone who can clearly hold her own in a fight, and most importantly, isn’t afraid to challenge him and put him in his place.  Chances are, Leia seriously impressed Han without even trying.  As for Leia, think about what her life might have been like before meeting Han.   To everyone around her, she was the daughter of a respected senator and his wife. She probably spent her whole childhood having to live up to everyone’s expectations by following Bail Organa’s example.  Especially in regards to their secret connection to the Rebel Alliance.  Simply put, Leia most likely spent her entire childhood being molded into a great leader.  And when Bail Organa died when Alderaan was destroyed, everyone must have immediately turned to her, expecting her to take over her adoptive father’s role. After all, Bail was one of the founding leaders in the Rebel Alliance.  Imagine how it must have been to have so many people turning to you for guidance when you’re only 19.  You can’t even take the time to properly mourn for your home planet, or the people you considered your parents.  Now, all of a sudden, here comes Han.  And unlike everyone else, he doesn’t humbly defer to you.  He actually talks back to you and isn’t afraid to argue with you. Simply put, Han is probably the first person Leia has met who doesn’t treat her like royalty or an esteemed leader. He treats her like an actual person. I imagine that is both confusing and refreshing for her at the same time.

So that’s why I don’t think Han is out of line when he challenges Leia to just come out and admit that she has feelings for him.   Because Leia is just so accustomed to putting the needs of the Rebellion before her own, she is in danger of becoming incapable of basic human emotion.  Han probably knows that’s no way to live. And I have to say I agree with him. For starters, what would Leia do once the war ended if she hadn’t learned to let herself let go and focus on herself once in a while? Han probably knows that Leia would be a lot happier in the long run if she stopped making the needs of the Rebellion her only priority.  (This is made even clearer in a deleted scene.)  So of course he’s going to be blunt in his attempts at getting her to open up.

On a side note, I do have to chuckle a bit in regards to those random Rebels who are walking by during Han and Leia’s confrontation in the hallway.  They don’t even stop and look back at these two arguing.  It makes you wonder how often this sort of thing happened during the three year time jump.  By this point, the other Rebels are probably just shaking their heads every time they see Han and Leia fighting.  There might even be secret bets going on over how long it’s going to be before those two just get a room together.

Either way, Han and Leia’s most recent spat has to be put on hold when word gets around that Luke hadn’t returned to the Hoth Base.  When he finds out about this, Han is greatly concerned for his friends, as night is approaching and nights on Hoth are dangerously cold.  In order to find him, Han decides to set off on his own, despite the warnings from the other Rebels about the rapidly dropping temperatures outside.  As such, he heads off on a Tauntaun to begin searching for Luke.  And after an hour or two goes by with no sign of either Han or Luke returning, Leia has no choice but to give the order for the shield doors to be closed until morning.  This is a rather hard-hitting scene, as we can appreciate how difficult this situation must be.  Leia knows that the chances of Luke and Han surviving for the night out on the frigidly cold planet are very slim, but she knows she can’t risk a search party until morning, or put everyone in danger by leaving the doors open overnight.

Meanwhile, Luke has woken up within the Wampa’s cave, where the Wampa was busy devouring Luke’s Tauntaun.  He manages to escape with the aid of the lightsaber Obi-Wan had given him in A New Hope.  It had apparently fallen off his belt when the Wampa hung him up from the roof of the cave.  Which was really convenient.  What if it had fallen off when Luke was being dragged through the snow on the way back to the cave?  Regardless, Luke manages to free himself from the ice cave, even wounding the Wampa when he attacks.  (By the way, when did Luke learn that trick with summoning the lightsaber into his hand? I don’t remember Obi-Wan getting to that particular lesson before he died.)  But Luke then proceeds to run out of the cave and out into the night. While this might seem like a bad idea in hindsight, I can understand it, as Luke was in a high stress situation at the moment, and he had very little time to come up with a good plan.  And he probably had no idea how far he was from the Hoth Base.  Nevertheless, he begins trying to make his way back to the base, but eventually, the dropping temperatures prove to be too much for him and he collapses from the cold and exhaustion.

At that moment, Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost appears before Luke.  Obi-Wan instructs Luke to travel to Dagobah and seek out Yoda, who will continue Luke’s Jedi training.  Okay, two things.  First, Obi-Wan claims that Yoda was the one who instructed him.  This is a pretty big retcon, as it completely ignores the fact that the prequels told us Obi-Wan’s master was Qui-Gon.  But I guess this could refer to the fact that Yoda instructed Obi-Wan on the ways of Force Ghosts.  Second, why is Obi-Wan waiting until now to send Luke to find Yoda? It’s been three years, after all. Why wait until Luke was dying of hypothermia?  What if Luke hadn’t made it out of his predicament?  That would put a damper on the plan to have Yoda continue Luke’s training. Then again, I guess it’s possible Obi-Wan knew that Luke would soon be saved, because Han appears on the scene seconds later.  After making sure that his friend is still alive, Han, in an attempt to help warm Luke up, deposits him inside the body of the Tauntaun, who chose that moment to die from the bitter cold.

We then cut to morning, when a small Rebel shuttle is deployed to search for Han and Luke.  And what’s the name of this Rebel shuttle?  Rouge Two.  That name is rather bittersweet when you know the story of Rouge One.  Although, it does present the question of what this particular pilot did to earn the name of Rouge Two. Given what happened with Rouge One, being called Rouge Two is probably a huge honor.  Either way, the Rouge Two pilot manages to find Han and Luke when Han is able to radio up to him.  Not that I’m complaining, but I do wonder how Han managed to survive the night. I doubt there was enough room for him in that dead Tauntaun, too.  Granted Han mentioned to the delirious Luke that he was getting a shelter put together, but what was he using to make that shelter?  And how did he manage to keep himself warm through the night?

Anyway, Han and Luke are both brought back to the Rebel base, where Luke is immediately given medical attention.  Under the care of the Medical Droids, he soon recovers from his hyperthermia, as well as the injuries he received from the Wampa attack. (I’ve heard people say the Wampa attack was written in to explain the facial scars Mark Hamill got from his real life car accident, but I’m not sure if this is true or not.)  As Luke is recovering from his ordeal, Han, Leia, Chewbacca 3PO and R2 all come to check up on him.  During this scene, Han pretty much continues the earlier ‘argument’ he got into with Leia, stating that he thinks General Rieekan’s decision that it would be dangerous for any ships to leave Hoth at the moment was just an excuse, and that Leia really just didn’t want him to leave.  This assumption exasperates Leia who, in what I think was an attempt to knock Han down a few pegs, kisses Luke on the mouth.  Which is REALLY gross when you know that those two are brother and sister.  George Lucas did know about that plot point when he made this movie, didn’t he?  Or did he just plan on Luke having a twin sister and hadn’t yet decided on having Leia be the long-lost sister?  If it’s the latter, then it probably would have been smart to have included more female characters into the story.  You know, so there would be other candidates who could have been the sister?

But there’s no time to really dwell on that, because the overall plot kicks in again at this point.  The Imperial Probe Droid that Luke had mistook for a meteorite earlier in the film has taken notice of the Rebel base’s exterior and has begun sending a transmission back to the Empire, notifying them about it.  While one of the Imperial Officers was ready to dismiss it as just being a smuggler settlement, Vader’s Force Senses enabled him to realize that it was indeed the Rebel Base they were looking for. Thankfully, the Rebel Alliance’s radio contact team managed to intercept the Probe Droid’s transmission, which puts them on high alert, especially when 3PO, who was in the room at the time, informs them that the signal they intercepted was most likely an Imperial code.  Their suspicions are confirmed when Han and Chewbacca head back out to investigate and determine the existence of the Probe Droid.  While the Probe Droid activates a self-destruct mechanism when he’s tipped off that the Rebels have spotted him, the Rebels realize it might be too late, and that the Droid had already informed the Empire that the Rebel Base was on Hoth.   Their fears are proved to be well founded when an armada of Imperial ships appear on their radar.  As such, they begin the excavation, with a fully-recovered Luke joining the team of Rebel pilots charged with fighting against the approaching AT-AT Walkers in order to give the others the chance to evacuate.

As such, we enter into the first action sequence, with the X-Wings fighting the AT-AT Walkers while the rest of the Rebels evacuate in transports, with the transports leaving two to three ships at a time.  Although, as much as I love the design of the AT-AT Walkers, I do question the practicality of utilizing them in the attack on the Hoth Base.   I get that the Imperial armada managed to drop them off on the planet surface so the Imperials and Stormtroopers wouldn’t have to traipse across the snowy surface of the planet, but wouldn’t ordinary tanks have been more practical?  Either way, the attack on the Hoth Base begins.  While Luke and the other pilots manage to take out all the AT-AT Walkers (even though Luke’s rear gunner is killed in the process), the Imperial forces still manage to infiltrate the Rebel Base, prompting Leia to order a full-scale evacuation.  Even so, Han, whose departure was delayed by him and Chewbacca having a prolonged difficulty in finishing their repairs to the Millennium Falcon, has to nearly drag Leia out of the control room to get her to her transport.  Because Leia had apparently refused to leave before the other Rebels had a chance to get away.  However, on the way to her evacuation transport, the attack on the surface of the planet causes one of the tunnels to cave in, blocking Han and Leia’s path. As such, Han has no choice other than to get Leia off the planet on the Falcon, with 3PO tagging along.  Because this movie kinda sets up the status quo that 3PO predominantly accompanies Leia while R2 is mostly seen with Luke.  Kinda ironic as this is more or less the same setup that occurred with Luke and Leia’s parents.  The female gets 3PO and the job as senator/political leader and the male gets R2, along with the position of skilled pilot and Jedi. (And yes, I can see how this can come off as rather sexist, but I’d rather not go into that at the moment.)

As for Luke, after he’s finished taking out the AT-AT Walkers and then gets the evacuation order, he declines from following the rest of the fleet to their designated rendezvous point.   Instead, he decides to reroute his X-Wing to venture to Dagobah and locate Yoda, as Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost had decreed.  And it’s at this point the movie splits off into two separate subplots.  While Luke’s subplot involves his journey to Dagobah and his training under Yoda, we’re also following Han, Leia, Chewbacca and 3PO as they try to evade the Imperial fleet that end up tailing them when they attempt to escape Hoth.

Admittedly, the fact that the Imperials are so focused on the Millennium Falcon is a bit head scratching.  Because the opening text crawl makes it seem as if Vader is aiming to track down Luke.  So why would he go after the Millennium Falcon?  I suppose it’s possible that he might think Luke was on that ship, as he probably remembered seeing it during the Battle of the Death Star and concluded that Han and Luke were friends.  But wouldn’t his Force Senses have tipped him off that Luke was not on board?

Then again, it becomes clear later on that Vader hadn’t yet figured out that Luke was his long-lost son until he is personally contacted by Emperor Palpatine at a later point in the movie.  But this does make it a bit more confusing.  Why would Vader be apparently so interested in Luke if he hadn’t already suspected that Luke was his son?  Was it just that he was intrigued by the young man on account of how he sensed Luke’s strong Force Sensitivity during the Battle of the Death Star?  Also, in the scene when Emperor Palpatine is telling Vader that he suspects that Luke is Vader’s son, it’s rather weird how he and Vader are talking about how Luke is the son of Anakin Skywalker, as if Anakin and Vader weren’t the same person. Cinematically, I understand why they had to do that, as nobody was supposed to know that Vader was Anakin at this point in the movie, but once you do know about that particular twist, it just makes the dialogue really odd.  Either way, Emperor Palpatine’s master plan is to capture Luke and force him into turning to the Dark Side, thereby turning Luke into a Sith Lord like him and Vader. Which is slightly odd, as it was established in Phantom Menace that there could only be two Sith Lords at any given time- a Master and an Apprentice.  So, if their plan is to turn Luke into a Sith Lord, doesn’t that mean that they both know either Vader or Palpatiene will have to get killed off?  I suppose it’s possible that the Emperor plans to kill off Vader in favor of Luke and that Vader thinks he can overthrow Emperor Palpatine and take over as Luke’s master, but even so.

Anyway, in the Millennium Falcon crew subplot, Han quickly discovers that the ships’ hyperdrive unit was somehow damaged as well, which prevents them from making the jump to lightspeed. (Seriously, how was the Millennium Falcon damaged?  They’ve been trying to repair it throughout the entire movie so far.)  So Han has to quickly scramble to repair the hyperdrive on the double so they could get away from a pair of Star Destroyers.  But before he could make much progress, they find themselves in another spot of trouble.  Because the Imperial ships have chased them right into the path of an asteroid field.  In a desperate attempt at escaping their pursuers, Han decides to fly into the asteroid field, stating the Imperial ships would be crazy to follow them. Despite 3PO’s pessimistic outlook on their chances of successfully navigating through an asteroid field, Han manages to dodge the asteroids before deciding to land on a particularly large asteroid.  (Yeah, just try to tell me that Han doesn’t have some degree of Force Sensitivity. 3PO had just stated it was almost impossible to navigate through an asteroid field.  And Han managed to do so in a ship that Spaceballs not only compared to a Winnebago, but one that was apparently already heavily damaged.)  The Millennium Falcon ends up taking refuge inside a rocky cavern inside the asteroid. There, they hope to evade detection from the Empire so they can finish the repairs to the ship.

It’s during this ship repair scene that 3PO is actually somewhat useful for once.  Being a Droid, he can plug himself into the ship’s computer and get a full system’s diagnosis in order to determine what exactly needs to be fixed within the hyperdrive mechanism.  While it’s made somewhat clear that he isn’t quite as adept in this area as R2, since Protocol Droids were not designed for this sort of thing, he still shows a willingness to do his best.  And yes, there is one moment when 3PO comments on how the Millennium Falcon’s computer has a peculiar dialect.  While I doubt George Lucas and his staff had thought up L3 at this point in the franchise, I still appreciate that line now, as it’s a reminder that L3 lives on in some form.  Although, that does lead to the question as to whether or not the Millennium Falcon can be considered somewhat sentient.

However, because the ship is essentially dry-docked until further notice, this means Han and Leia are forced to closely interact with one another.  Which, in typical romance novel fashion, leads to them sharing a rather well-timed kiss. While it isn’t outwardly stated, it does become clear that Han’s earlier assumptions that Leia had developed feelings for him wasn’t too off the mark, and that her outward hostility towards him was pretty much just the result of her trying to deny her feelings.  It’s possible that her upbringing in being constantly looked to as a leader led her to believe that, if she ever did look for a romantic partner, it should be someone respectable.  Almost like a modern-day prince.  And Han clearly comes across as the exact opposite of a suitable match.  That’s probably why she was so determined to push him away.  Because she knows that’s not the sort of man she’s supposed to end up with.  Nevertheless, she is still drawn to him and doesn’t pull away when he moves in to kiss her. In fact, the extended version of the scene shows she even instigates another kiss when Han pulls away. However, the moment is spoiled when 3PO barges in, completely ignorant to what he’d just walked in on.  With the spell broken, Leia quickly retreats to try and deal with her conflicting feelings, as she’s now probably feeling even more torn between what she wants and what’s expected of her.

While Leia is off reflecting on things, she spots something flying past the cockpit windows.  When one of the flying creatures initiates the closest thing this movie has to a jumpscare, a startled Leia hurries off to inform Han of what she saw. Instantly on the alert, Han steps outside the ship with Chewbacca and Leia accompanying him.  As a result, the three of them discover the flying creatures are a group of Mynocks, which I guess are like space lampreys with wings. When a whole flock of them appear, Han starts shooting at them, but that, for some reason, causes a tremor in the cave.  That’s when Han starts to figure out that things aren’t what they appear to be, and he ends up shooting at the ground to test his theory.  Simply put, they didn’t land the Millennium Falcon inside a cave, but in the gullet of a space slug.  (So, there are Mynocks living inside the mouth of a space slug?  What kind of weird symbiotic relationship is this?)

In any event, now that Han has figured out that they’re inside the gullet of a space slug, he hurries Leia and Chewbacca back inside the ship, taking off on the double.  They manage to fly out of the space slug’s moth in the nick of time. However, this once again gets them back into the situation they were before, with the Imperial fleet chasing them. And because the Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive still isn’t working, they’re pretty much sitting ducks. Thankfully, Han once again gets a brilliant idea.  His plan involves pretending to charge at the lead Star Destroyer and then land on the top of the ship.  This apparently enables the Millennium Falcon to avoid being detected by the Star Destroyer’s radar, as the signal from their ship blends into the Star Destroyer. This plan ends up working like a charm, although it did result in the death of Imperial Captain Needa, whom Vader held personally responsible for losing the Millennium Falcon.

While they’re tethered to the side of the Star Destroyer, Han announces to Leia the next stage of his plan.  Utilizing his knowledge of Imperial procedure, which we now know he’d gained from the time he’d spent enrolled in the Imperial academy, he plans to take advantage of the fact that Star Destroyers typically empty their garbage compartments before jumping to lightspeed.  Han plans to blend in with the debris and wait until the Star Destroyers leave.  After that, they’ll be free to head off without any further trouble.  The only issue is that they’ll need to find a safe port to finish the repairs on the Millennium Falcon.  When they start scanning the records of nearby planets, Han notices that his old acquaintance, Lando, is in the vicinity, on a planet called Bespin.  The planet’s records indicate Lando now owns a tibanna gas mine there.  Han decides that, even though Bespin is a bit of a distance from their current location, their best bet is to head there, because while Lando can’t exactly be trusted, he knows the man is no friend to the Empire. And so, once the Star Destroyers jump to lightspeed after jettisoning their garbage into space, just as Han predicted, the Millennium Falcon begins the journey to Bespin.  Although, while I’m not sure when this addition was put in, we do see the Millennium Falcon is now being followed by the Slave I, the ship that’s owned by Boba Fett.  There was an earlier scene when Vader had hired a team of bounty hunters to track down the Millennium Falcon.  And Boba Fett, who had previously been hired to track down Han for Jabba, was among them.

Meanwhile, Luke and R2 have arrived on Dagobah, which is an unpopulated swamp-covered planet.  Because the planet has no settlements, and is covered by a heavy blanket of clouds, Luke pretty much crashes his X-Wing in the middle of the swampy lake.  He does manage to make it to shore, though.  Even though R2 has a brief spot of trouble with some kind of aquatic beast. (Yes, I know the prequels were made years afterward, but seriously, did R2 completely forget that he could have simply flown to shore?)  After cleaning the gunk and saliva off of R2, Luke sets up camp, where he admits to R2 that he almost thinks he recognizes his surroundings.  Which I guess is meant to imply he had Force-induced premonitions of coming here.

Out of nowhere, Yoda suddenly appears before them, although the Jedi Master does not make his identity known at first. Instead, he takes on this whole act, as if he’s just some crazy old Alien living there.  (It does present the question as to whether or not R2 recognized Yoda, though.  His behavior during Yoda’s initial appearance in this movie suggests not, but shouldn’t R2 have at least noticed that he was at least the same species as Yoda?  What are the odds that there were two individuals of that particular Alien race on the same planet?)  Anyway, from what I can gather, the reason why Yoda was putting on the whole act at first was so he could test Luke, and figure out if he had the right sort of temperament to undergo Jedi Training.  Unfortunately, Luke ends up failing that test by displaying he has too much impatience.  In disappointment, Yoda finally drops the act and starts communicating with Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost, stating that he doesn’t believe Luke can be taught.  However, Obi-Wan continues to vouch for Luke, by stating he’d been just as reckless and whatnot as Luke had been when he’d undergone his Jedi Training.  Luke, upon realizing that the little Alien had been Yoda the whole time, begs for a chance, insisting that he’s not afraid.  To which Yoda states ‘you will be.’

Despite Yoda’s reservations, he begins Luke’s Jedi training sessions.  Which appears to involve Luke running around Dagobah’s surface with Yoda clinging to his back.  Though Yoda does give him a lecture about the dangers of the Dark Side, stating that while the Dark Side is quicker and more seductive, a true Jedi must use the Force for knowledge and defense, never to attack.  At some point, however they end up at this cave that apparently contains concentrated Dark Force energy.  Yoda informs Luke that he must enter the cave, in order to undergo another test. Luke proceeds to do so, but he refuses to heed Yoda’s statement that he won’t need his weapons inside the cave.  

Once he’s inside, Luke finds himself face to face with Darth Vader.  Immediately, Luke activates his lightsaber and proceeds to battle Vader.  The fight ends quickly with Luke decapitating Vader. But when part of Vader’s helmet explodes, exposing the face beneath, Luke is shocked to see his own face within the mask.  Obviously, this was meant to be taken as a lesson, with Luke being shown that he could easily end up just like Vader if he’s not careful.  But I do wonder if this was also meant to be a subtle bit of foreshadowing as to who Vader really was to Luke.  Either way, Yoda seems to sense what happened within the cave and is visibly crestfallen.  Which I guess means that Luke failed his test.  It’s hard to determine what Luke was supposed to have done, though.  Maybe it was the fact that his first instinct was to attack Vader upon seeing his image that made him fail the test.  I did notice the Vader hallucination only activated his lightsaber after Luke did.

Nevertheless, Luke’s Jedi Training continues.   This time, Yoda has moved on to the lesson of exploring the telekinetic aspect of the Force, by having Luke lift rocks with his mind.  Unfortunately, the lesson is interrupted by R2, who franticly informs Luke that the X-Wing is sinking into the swamp.  (Exactly how long has Luke been on Dagobah at this point?  And why did the X-Wing only start to sink now?)  Upon seeing his ship sinking, Luke starts to worry about how he’s supposed to get his ship out now.  To this, Yoda pretty much rolls his eyes and is all ‘haven’t you been paying attention to me?  I’ve literally just been instructing you how to lift things with the Force, remember?’  So Luke decides to take a stab at using the Force to lift the X-Wing out of the swamp. (With Yoda delivering his iconic line of ‘Do or do not.  There is no try.’)

Unfortunately, while Luke’s attempt at pulling the X-Wing out with the Force seemed to be working, he gives up almost instantly, as he can’t get over his preconceived notion on how the X-Wing is simply too big to lift.  Not even Yoda’s reminder on how powerful the Force can be gets through to him.  Luke just simply refuses to even try, stating that what Yoda is asking of him is impossible.  Once again, Yoda is visibly disappointed in Luke’s inability to get it. And, to drive the point home, Yoda effortlessly pulls out the now-submerged X-Wing, placing it safely on the solid ground.

Have to say, it’s almost embarrassing how much Luke is messing up in his training sessions with Yoda.  While I know it was probably done this way to make Luke appear more human and we had to see him struggle a bit, it also makes it a bit problematic.  Like, is this guy really the person who Obi-Wan and Yoda were investing all their faith into?  Is he really their best chance at restoring peace to the galaxy? If so, that’s really worrisome. Then again, they also thought an arrogant whiny brat like Anakin was their prophesized Chosen One, so I guess it makes sense.

Anyway, Han, Leia, Chewbacca and 3PO eventually arrive on Bespin and make their way to Cloud City, a series of buildings suspended above the clouds by anti-gravity boosters or something.  Despite a rather cold welcoming, they’re eventually allowed to land.  Shortly after landing, Lando comes out to greet them personally, along with a few of his staff, including a cyborg named Lobot.  At first, Lando appears to greet Han with hostility, but this is quickly shown to be an act.  (I do wonder if this is the first time Lando and Han have seen each other since the events of Solo, but maybe we’ll get that answer on a later date.)  Once he drops the fake hostility, Lando greets Han like an old friend, even though Han starts showing a bit of jealousy when Lando pours out the charm upon noticing Leia.

As Lando proceeds to show Han, Leia, Chewbacca and 3PO around, he goes on to explain that he obtained the gas mine in a gamble, but it’s been a relatively successful business, despite a number of problems ranging from supply issues to labor disputes.  However, during the impromptu tour, 3PO breaks off from the group when he encounters another Protocol Droid and overhears an Astromech Droid within a side room.  He ends up going to investigate, for reasons I can’t really understand.  So there were other Droids roaming the corridors.  So what?  It’s not as if Droids like 3PO and R2 were rare.  But the movie had to get 3PO alone somehow, I guess.  Anyway, when 3PO heads off, he stumbles into a place he wasn’t supposed to be in, resulting in an unseen figure shooting him into pieces.

Meanwhile, on Dagobah, Luke ends up getting a premonition during another training exercise.  He ends up seeing a vision of Han and Leia being tortured on Bespin’s Cloud City.  When he tells Yoda about his vision, Yoda informs him that he’s seeing the future, but goes on to say that even he cannot tell if Han and Leia would die, as the future is always in motion.  Yoda tells Luke that he could help them if he went to find his friends, but doing so would destroy everything they had fought and suffered for.  Despite this, Luke finds he can’t concentrate on continuing his training as his vision is plaguing him.  He ultimately decides to travel to Bespin in order to help Han and Leia.  As he’s preparing his X-Wing to leave Dagobah, Yoda and Obi-Wan’s Force Ghost attempt to talk Luke out of it, stating that his training isn’t complete and only a fully trained Jedi Knight has any hope of defeating Vader and Emperor Palpatine.  Obi-Wan goes on to state that if Luke chooses to face Vader now, then he will do it alone, as he and Yoda won’t be able to help him.  In the end, Luke decides that it’s worth the risk, as the lives of his friends are on the line.  As such, with the promise that he will return to complete his training later, Luke sets off for Bespin, leaving Yoda and Obi-Wan to watch his departure in despair.  At this point, Yoda states that Luke isn’t their last hope, as ‘there is another.’ Which is obviously meant to set up the reveal that Luke has a twin sister.  Though if they were thinking Leia could have been their Plan B, they totally botched that one, as nobody has even informed her that she’s Force Sensitive yet.

Back on Cloud City, Han, Leia and Chewbacca have noticed 3PO’s absence, prompting Chewbacca to go looking for the Droid. He ends up finding 3PO’s scattered pieces inside the mining facility’s junkyard and manages to retrieve the broken Droid from the little pig men who work there.  There’s also a small scene at this point with Han and Leia, which pretty much only exists to show that Leia is much more receptive to Han’s affection since their big kissing scene, as she allows him to kiss her forehead. (There was even an earlier scene when she willingly kisses his cheek upon seeing his plan on blending in with the Imperial garbage was working).  However, Leia makes it clear that she doesn’t believe Han will stick around, as she fully expects him to head off on his own again once he’s done escorting Leia to rejoin the rest of the Rebel Alliance.

Before Han could confirm or deny Leia’s assumption, or Chewbacca could start working on putting 3PO back together, Lando stops by the suite that he’d loaned them.  He invites the group to join him for a drink.  On the way to the dining hall, Lando informs Han, Leia and Chewbacca that his mining operation is not under the Empire’s jurisdiction, but is small enough to not be noticed.  Nevertheless, there is still the possibility that the Empire would eventually find out about Lando’s mining business and shut them down.  But Lando states he’d just made a deal that would ensure the Empire would never set foot on Bespin.  The details of that deal becomes clear when Lando opens up a door, revealing that Vader himself is waiting for them.   It turns out, because of Boba Fett tipping them off, Vader and a squadron of Stormtoopers had arrived on Cloud City before the Millennium Falcon did. As such, Vader had bribed Lando into betraying Han, Leia and Chewbacca to the Empire.

On a side note, props to Han in this moment. His first instinct upon seeing Vader is to move in front of Leia and fire his blaster at the Sith Lord, despite the fact that he probably knows by now that this wouldn’t accomplish anything. But it’s the fact that that was his first instinct that what makes this moment admirable.  He’s probably learned by now that Vader had personally tortured Leia while she was imprisoned on the Death Star, and also was among the men who forced her to watch as her home planet was blown up, and therefore moves to shield her from Vader without thinking.  Gotta love it.

Despite Han’s best efforts, he, Leia and Chewbacca are all taken prisoner, being confined to a prison chamber.  While he’s confined, Chewbacca takes the time to start reassembling 3PO, which is how we learn that the reason why he got shot into pieces in the first place because he’d stumbled across the hiding Stormtroopers earlier and they didn’t want him to warn anybody of their presence prematurely. Anyway, Vader and the rest of the Imperials proceed to torture Han (and maybe Leia as well, even though we don’t see what they do to Leia).  As Han is being tortured, Vader assures Boba Fett that he can have Han once the Empire is done with him.

Lando, however, is clearly starting to regret betraying his old friend to the Empire.  Especially when he’s notified that Han will eventually be turned over to Boba Fett, who plans to deliver him to Jabba, and that Leia and Chewbacca would not be permitted to ever leave Cloud City again.  He ends up visiting the three prisoners in their cell to explain that the Empire wasn’t really after them at all.  Instead, Vader is simply using Han, Leia and Chewbacca as bait to trick Luke into coming to Bespin.  (I guess this is why Vader was so insistent on following the Millennium Falcon into the asteroid field.  He knew the people on board were Luke’s friends and that he was sure to come rescue them if he knew they were in danger.)  Upon hearing the details of Vader’s plan, Han lunges at Lando in rage, only for Lando’s bodyguards to beat him back until Lando breaks up the confrontation.  Before leaving the cell, Lando apologizes not being able to do more for them, but insists he has too much at stake to risk angering Vader.

However, it’s then discovered that Vader intends to turn Han into a Guinea pig.  His plan is ultimately to force Luke into this carbon freezing chamber, which will essentially encase him in carbonite until further notice.  But since the process has never been used on a human before, Vader plans to test it on Han first.  Lando is visibly shocked upon hearing this, but ultimately does nothing to prevent it, as he’s fearful of what the Empire would do if he tried to interfere.  When Han is brought into the chamber where the carbon freezing takes place, Chewbacca tries to fight back, but Han urges him to stop, telling his friend that he should save his strength as Leia will need him to keep her safe.  Reluctantly, Chewbacca listens to Han.  But before the little pig guys from earlier drag Han onto the platform to be lowered into the carbon freezing chamber, he’s able to share one last kiss with Leia, who finally admits that she loves him.  And while I think there are some people who might give Han flak for simply saying ‘I know’ instead of returning the sentiment, I think it makes more sense this way.  Throughout the movie, we’ve seen signs of how much Han cares for Leia and how he largly tries to put her first.  So, in that moment, he probably realized how distraught Leia must have been, especially since she’s picked now to come out and say that she loves him.  He must have realized that she was saying it now because she was afraid he’d die without knowing how she really felt.  If that’s the case, by saying ‘I know,’ he was reassuring her that he’d always known, and that she didn’t have to feel guilty for not telling him sooner.

Ultimately, Han gets encased in carbonate.  And because the monitors fixed to the sides of the carbonite block indicate he survived the process, Vader orders that the chamber be reset for Luke.  Vader then proceeds to instruct the Stormtroopers to escort Leia and Chewbacca to his ship. An order that shocks Lando, as Vader had previously stated that Leia and Chewbacca were to be left alone.  When he tries to remind Vader about that, Vader simply announces that he’s changed his mind.

Before anything more could be said, notification arrives that Luke had just arrived at Cloud City.  As the Stormtroopers escort Leia and Chewbacca (who is now carrying the partially repaired 3PO), Vader gives orders that Luke is to be led right into the carbon freezing chamber.  So Luke, despite Leia’s attempts to warn him, walks right into Vader’s trap.  The two begin a prolonged lightsaber battle, with the occasional intermission.  Yeah, there are quite a few moments during this battle where Luke gets shoved into the carbon freezing chamber but escapes at the last possible second by performing a Force fueled jump, or when he gets sucked out a window.  There are a few moments like that, in which the movie is trying to drag it out and move the battle to a different location.

While all of this is going on, Lando has apparently decided that Vader had gone too far.  As he’s walking through Cloud City with the Stormtroopers escorting Leia and Chewbacca to Vader’s ship, he secretly signals Lobot to rally together Lando’s staff.  These men end up ambushing the Stormtroopers en route to Vader’s ship, allowing Lando to try and get Chewbacca and Leia to safety.  However, they’ve both too angry at Lando over what happened to Han to accept his help, with Leia doing nothing to interfere when Chewbacca tries to strangle Lando.  It’s only when Lando manages to inform them that they can still save Han if they can reach the East Platform before Boba Fett leaves that they decide to ease up on him. Taking advantage of this information, Leia and Chewbacca both race off, leaving Lando gasping for breath. Unfortunately, while they are joined by R2 (who got separated from Luke) along the way, they don’t make it in time and can only watch helplessly as the Slave I takes off.

However, while they have failed to prevent Boba Fett from taking Han away, Leia, Chewbacca, Lando and the two Droids now have to deal with the fact that additional Stormtroopers have apparently figured out that Leia and Chewbacca have essentially escaped, as they appear on the scene and start to shoot at them.  To get away, they have to fight their way to where the Millennium Falcon is docked.  Along the way, Lando manages to send out an announcement through Cloud City’s P.A. system, informing the population that the Empire has taken over the city and that they’d better get out before more Imperials arrive.  As a result, a whole bunch of people start running through the halls of Cloud City, which probably helped give Lando, Leia, Chewbacca and the two Droids cover as they made their way to the Falcon.  (Try and spot the random extra carrying the ice cream maker during this scene.  This guy is apparently so iconic, te fans gave him an elaborite backstory.) Eventually, Lando, Leia and the others manage to make it to the hanger where the Millennium Falcon is waiting, with R2 managing to hack the door to the hanger bay open.  (Though 3PO, who is still strapped to Chewbacca’s back and has been making pointless comments the whole time, dismisses R2’s attempts to warn them about something being wrong with the Millennium Falcon’s hyperdrive.) Once R2 gets the doors open, they are able to take off on the Falcon.

Now, I have to pause for a moment to talk about Lando.  In spite of everything, he’s actually a rather likable character.  Sure, he did betray Han and the others, but it’s still made clear that he’s not doing this because he’s a bad guy.  And as things progress, you can see he’s seriously regretting his actions, especially when Vader’s intentions with Han and Leia become clearer.  And in the end, he makes a valent attempt at redeeming himself.  In short, Lando is an iconic grey character.  And he even seems to have been cut from the same cloth as Han. Remember that Han had this whole ‘look out for number one’ approach at the start of A New Hope.  But he eventually turned himself around and slowly started to emerge as a heroic character.  Well, now we’re seeing a similar progression with Lando.  The only real difference is that we didn’t get to see the moment when Han ultimately decided to come back and join in the Battle of the Death Star.  With Lando, we can see the moment when he decides to officially start fighting back against the Empire.

Of course, while Lando, Leia, Chewbacca and the Droids were escaping on the Falcon, Luke’s battle with Vader was continuing on. It ultimately ends up on, you guessed it, a long platform over a large gaping chute.  The lightsaber battle comes to an end when Vader slices off Luke’s hand (which is not too dissimilar as to how Anakin lost his hand in a battle with Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones.)

As the injured Luke tries to stagger away from Vader, the Sith Lord tries to coax him into surrendering and join forces with him. Only for Luke to adamantly declare that he’d never join Vader.  But Luke is thrown for a loop when Vader reveals the truth- that he is Luke’s father.  The revelation is devastating to Luke, as he can sense the truth of Vader’s words.  However, in spite of the shocking revelation, Luke still refuses to accept Vader’s offer to pledge his allegiance to the Empire.  Instead, he allows himself to simply fall off the platform. Thankfully, Luke’s fall doesn’t prove to be fatal, but it does result in him ending hanging from some kind of thin pole affixed to the underbelly of Cloud City.  I could be wrong, of course, but I’m guessing these poles serve as part of Cloud City’s anti-gravity generator that keeps the city hovering over the clouds of Bespin.

Obviously, this presented a problem, though.  Luke is still no doubt in serious pain from getting his hand chopped off, so he’s not going to be able to hang on to this anti-gravity pole forever.  Thankfully, he manages to remain collected enough to call out to Leia through the Force. Because of the twin bond they currently don’t know they have, Leia is able to hear Luke’s call.  She convinces Chewbacca and Lando to turn the Millennium Falcon around so they can go back and save Luke.  They manage to do so, with Lando being the one to get Luke into the ship, where Leia is quick to help stabilize Luke’s injuries until they can get him somewhere for proper medical attention.

However, once Luke is on board, the heroes once again find themselves with the issue of how to escape the Imperial Star Destroyers. Especially since, as R2 tried to warn them before, the now-repaired hyperdrive unit was subsequently deactivated by Vader’s forces.  (Insert more useless commentary from 3PO, who continues to be more of an annoyance than an asset.)  Thankfully, R2 manages to switch it back on in time, allowing Lando to make the jump to lightspeed.  Luke, on the other hand, is unable to focus on how they were lucky to escape with their lives, as his thoughts remain on the knowledge that Vader was his father the whole time.  And he’s left wondering why Obi-Wan never told him the truth about the matter.

An undetermined amount of time later, our heroes have finally managed to rejoin the rest of the Rebel Alliance, who now reside in some space station somewhere.  There, Luke is able to receive proper medical treatment, with a Medical Droid fitting him with a highly advanced prosthetic hand.  As Luke adjusts to his new appendage, he joins Leia, R2 and 3PO (who was finally put completely back together again) at the window looking out into space, where they watch as Lando (who has apparently officially joined the Rebel Alliance) and Chewbacca take off in the Millennium Falcon.  Their plan is to track down Jabba and Boba Fett in order to find out where they’ve taken Han, in order to formulate a plan to rescue their friend.  Before leaving Lando gives them his word that he and Chewbacca will signal them the moment they find Han and then meet them at an established location Tatooine.  And it’s on that note, the movie ends.

While it might have been a gutsy move to end this movie on such an obvious cliffhanger, they probably knew at this point that they were going to make more Star Wars movies, considering the original film was an instant hit with audiences.  Although, this did pretty much set up a pattern that continued with the other trilogies, with the second film in a trilogy always ending on a cliffhanger.  (Although, The Last Jedi’s ending was a different kind of cliffhanger, for reasons I’ll discuss on a later date.)

As for the reveal that Vader was Luke’s father, I gather this was a huge shock for audiences at the time, as the prequels obviously didn’t exist when this movie first premiered, and there was nothing substantial to suggest it prior to that moment when Vader came out and revealed it. However, I honestly cannot remember how I reacted to that when I first saw the movie.  Of course, I was probably around three when I first saw it, and by that point, I was able to watch the movies on a VHS tape.  It might have been possible that I’d already been spoiled by the time I watched it, or I was too young to really grasp why that was such a big deal.  I just don’t remember being shocked by it.  

Also, it actually did surprise me how much I found myself loving Han/Leia during the rewatch I did in preparation for this review. Not that I was ever opposed to the pairing, of course.  I guess I just never was that invested in it before.  But this time, I found myself simply loving their dynamic.  Maybe I was just noticing the numerous similarities to Captain Swan, my ultimate OTP, this time around.  Because there were a LOT of parallels going on here.  Either way, I can now safely say I’m a Han/Leia shipper.

Next week is Return of the Jedi.  Which is probably the most interesting of the films, to say the least.

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[callioope]

STAR WARS >> A Song of Ice and Fire AU

Mad King Sidious still sits the Iron Throne.

It’s been twenty years since Lord Qui-Gon Jinn of Winterfell, Lord Obi-Wan Kenobi of the Eyrie, and Lord Bail Organa of Storm’s End flew their banners against the Mad King, and lost.

It’s been twenty years since Prince Anakin vanished — presumed dead, defeated by his friend-turned-enemy, Lord Kenobi.

It’s been twenty years since Princess Ahsoka fled across the Narrow Sea, to faraway lands, to self-exile, fearing her father’s wrath after pledging her support to the failed rebellion.

No one knows what, precisely, triggered the rebellion. No one knows what occurred between Lord Kenobi and Prince Anakin to make them enemies. No one knows what happened to Lady Padmé of Highgarden. Under the Mad King’s rule, no one dares to ask.

Though protected by his loyal Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Vader (whose face none have laid eyes on), and staunchly supported by Lord Tarkin of Casterly Rock, Sidious’ legacy is meaningless without heirs.

Lord Bail Organa understands this and bides his time. He readies his men to someday rise again. He can wait. When Lady Mothma of Highgarden steps into her father’s role, he senses a shift in the winds. Mothma no longer supports the ruler in King’s Landing as her father once did, and Bail knows she hopes to avenge her beloved sister, Padmé. Behind the flowered walls of the well-renowned garden, Mothma enlists the help of Ser Draven and begins to raise an army.

To put a final end to murmurs of rebellion, Sidious greenlights a plan guaranteed to keep the Seven Kingdoms under his thumb. Lord Tarkin both funds the project and tasks his maester, Orson Krennic, to oversee it. Facing a dead end, Maester Krennic seeks his former peer, Galen Erso, who left the Citadel years ago to marry Lady Lyra of Riverrun. When Galen refuses, Krennic convinces Tarkin to lay siege to Riverrun. In the ensuing battle, Lady Lyra is killed, Galen is captured, and their missing daughter presumed dead.

Lord Bail’s time to revolt finally comes years later, when a sailor flees Lannisport bearing a grave message. Upon hearing of it, Lady Mothma and Ser Draven send his best knight, Ser Cassian Andor, to locate the message. Taken in by the volatile Saw Gerrera and his Brotherhood Without Banners, the sailor is unreachable — until Ser Cassian tracks down the long-lost Lady Jyn of Riverrun and convinces her to help. The rebellion is then horrified to learn of Sidious’ devastating secret: a seemingly infinite store of weaponised wildfire. Lady Jyn and Ser Cassian lead a mission to infiltrate Casterly Rock and steal the schematics for this weapon in hopes of uncovering a way to combat it.

Hiding in a small boat in Lannisport harbor, Lady Leia of Storm’s End is ready to retrieve the plans. Her attempt to flee Tarkin’s ships forces her north, and a terrible storm carries her even further adrift, until she finds herself far beyond the Neck, further North than she’s ever imagined. With no other choice, Leia heads to the Wall, to Castle Black, where her father has promised her she can find his old friend, Lord Kenobi.

Far away, beyond the Narrow Sea, the Dothraki Sea, and the Red Waste, another force rises. The wind carries whispers: Princess Ahsoka lives and plots to depose her father once and for all. Rumors burn hotter than wildfire: the princess has tamed three dragons, and she’s finally set her sights on Westeros. Whether she’ll ally with Bail’s rebellion remains to be seen.

Luke Snow knows little of the political machinations playing out in the lands far south of his home. All he knows is the hardship of winter on his aunt and uncle’s farm outside Winterfell. He longs to take the black and join his friends on the Wall; the Night’s Watch is said to be the most noble of callings. Yet his aunt and uncle refuse. “Your father was defeated in combat,” they tell him. “Farming is safer.” “Just till the end of the season.” All too soon, his wishes are realized. Though the Night’s Watch meets few of his expectations, he finds a mentor in the Lord Commander Ben Kenobi, who discovers an even greater evil than Mad King Sidious festering far beyond the Wall.

When the cold winds of the North fling rumors of both Leia and Ahsoka at his door, piling like drifting snow, Ben Kenobi must face a harsh truth: the prophecy Prince Anakin believed in is true, and now his sister and his children must rise above the game of thrones and meet their destiny in a song of ice and fire.

A new hope is coming.

[renegade-skywalker]

Do you think that Leia has a lot of self-hatred since she is the daughter of Darth Freaking Vader, the most feared man of the galaxy? Do you picture Leia blaming and cursing Anakin for everything that went wrong in her life? Do you think Leia hates herself for sharing similar traits with Anakin? Does she scream at his force ghost everytime he shows up? And if Leia could go back in time, do you picture her killing her father for the good of the galaxy and to have Padme, Bail, Breha and Han back

Bless you, anon, bless you… but also curse you for making me feel all of the feels. This is such a loaded question so I’ll try to go point by point. 

As for the first, I think Bloodline covers this topic fairly well. For those of you who have not read the book (first of all, please do, but second of all) *SPOILER ALERT*: a political rival finds something of Bail Organa’s meant for Leia which essentially reveals her true parentage, that the secret of Leia’s biological father was kept secret because he is none other than Darth Vader. As we know, when Luke tells Leia that she’s his sister on Endor, she can also assume that Vader is also her father, since Luke has just revealed that as well. She does not seem to elicit much of a reaction on that front, but instead evokes more of her mother. Like Padmé convincing Anakin from plummeting over the edge and into complete darkness on Mustafar, Leia pleads with Luke to just run away. This is not so much a cowardly act as much as Leia suddenly fearing for Luke, someone she’s come to love and care for even before she learned they were related, let alone the fact they were twins. It’s funny, in retrospect, that Luke asks her if she remembers her mother in this moment, but I know Lucas hadn’t thought that far ahead at that point…

We could say that Vader is responsible for taking away everything that Leia has ever held dear, but this is not exactly accurate. For freezing Han in carbonite and sending him to Jabba, yes. For torturing her on the Death Star, double yes. But for the destruction of Alderaan, the death of her people, her mother, her father? The one who raised her? Not quite. That was Tarkin, and while Vader stood by and watched, I feel that he was not entirely responsible for that loss, but he was still complicit. He was present, he was at her back when it happened, reminding her that there was no escape, that there was nothing left for her now, that she should just give up the rebels and abandon the rebellion all together. When it’s revealed that Vader was her father on a galaxy-wide scale, what Leia feels most, I think, is closer to shame than anger, or at least something like shame. Leia is self-aware enough to know that she’s a difficult person, that’s she’s one tough cookie, but also that she’s quite an angry person and not someone to be reckoned with. Even the cool thing she’s known for, even if it’s straight up murder, is the slaying of Jabba the Hutt. Despite the situation she was in and the slavery, the act was not a diplomatic one. She’s a politician. No matter how justified any of her actions are or were, she has to deal with the possibility that any political contemporary (especially an opponent, in this case) can spin her actions in such a way to suit their needs and their narrative. With the fact that Vader is her father being public knowledge, Leia feels like she is somehow responsible for everything he’s done. Luke doesn’t ever have to worry about that. He’s not exactly in a position to be judged. He can forgive his father and choose to believe there was good in him, but Leia only sees the bad. She’s only ever seen and experienced the negative, both while Vader was alive as well as nearly twenty years later.

Now, this is where I’d really like to point out that Leia is a lot like her father, but when I say that, I mean both of her fathers. Leia is as much Anakin’s daughter as she is Bail’s, and I think it’s important to make that distinction. I feel like where she’s quick to anger like Anakin, she uses it for good. She pours her heart and soul into the rebellion, and her aggression comes out there. In the Princess Leia comic, she’s widely dubbed as a “ice princess” because she doesn’t seem to care for the loss of Alderaan. This is where she’s different from Anakin, and dramatically so. Leia is able to channel her anger and aggression into something more productive, and in this case it’s the rebellion. Whereas it may have been overly obvious that Anakin was upset over something (re: after the slaying of the Tusken Raiders in Attack of the Clones) Leia masks her sadness with a fierce tenacity almost to the point of appearing unbothered. This isn’t exactly healthy, either, but it is far less destructive. Where Anakin felt trapped in the Jedi Order and taken for granted, Leia has an outlet, and like Bail, she chooses to do good when things are unfair or seem impossible. This is a sense of nobility Anakin lost, and while I don’t think Leia would be at all privy to this, she may at least differentiate herself from Vader by what she knows. She can find comfort and solace in her plight to do good, something she inherits from Bail as well as her birth mother, Padmé (which, again, I don’t think she’s even aware of).

OKAY. Now that being said, I don’t think Leia doesn’t feel any of the things you mentioned above. I think she is angry, and I think she does still hate Vader despite what Luke claims. Vader, good? She doesn’t see it, she doesn’t feel it, but it may be because the connection she does have with her father is through their temperaments. WherePadmé and Luke are more like water, Anakin and Leia are both like fire, and they are difficult to tame. Even if they were to somehow meet in person, with Anakin as himself and not Vader, I feel like they would only butt heads but only because they are so alike. I think Leia fears that these shared traits make her dangerous, and that she is only one step away from following the same path as her biological father… which is why I think any of the above would be negated the moment she realizes that this is exactly what is happening to her son. She understands the confusion, the fear, the sense of loss and being lost. She gets it, but it’s because she knows that she’s too much like Vader that she sends Ben away. (I feel like if Yoda had known Leia, he would have retracted his statement about Luke: “Much anger in him, like his father.” ) But I also think that it’s because of the fact that Luke forgave Vader that she sends Ben to train with him, and not just because Luke is trained in the ways of the Force. Whatever bitterness and anger she felt is altered when it’s her own son that’s endangered by the traits that made Anakin more like Vader, and it’s in thinking of her son that I think Leia is perhaps more open-minded in terms of Anakin’s inherent goodness. Once this is put in perspective, I think Leia evokes a lot of Padmé, but more so out of hope for the best rather than feeling it in her heart. She’s open to the idea of her horrible father being redeemed because she does not want to lose her son to same darkness.

As time passes, though, I think Leia may blame more of herself. As much like Anakin as she is, she’s still Ben’s mother and Han is his father, hence her plea for Han to bring Ben home in The Force Awakens. I was really hoping for an interesting interaction between Leia and Kylo, especially through the lens that they are both like Vader, but I now realize that if that doesn’t happen in The Last Jedi it likely never will, and I wouldn’t trust another character (other than maybe Luke) to talk about how Leia and Anakin were/are similar.

As if anyone wasn’t already aware, I clearly have all the Anakin/Leia feels and honestly I had a fic in the works since, like, idk January about Leia and Anakin/Bail and I may finally finish it because if this ask has answered anything, it’s that I like Star Wars way too fucking much.

[ramajmedia]

The 10 Craziest Things The Targaryens Ever Did | ScreenRant

In the fictional world of Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire, the dynasty of House Targaryen is undoubtedly one of the most important and influential families in the entire story. Their rise in Valyria and their reign over Westeros is the stuff of literal legend, and the madness that seems to run through their DNA is almost as notorious as their literal fire power.

RELATED: Mhysa Or Monster: Daenerys Targaryen's Evolution Through Game Of Thrones

Daenerys is only the last mad Targaryen in a long line of mad Targaryens, and there is even an old saying that when a Targaryen is born the gods flip a coin. On one side of that coin is greatness. And on the other there is madness. It seems like on some level every Targaryen has been touched with a bit of the crazy, but clearly some of them have outshone others. So here are the ten craziest things the Targaryens ever did.

10 Rhaegar Marrying Lyanna

As far as crazy things go, marrying a girl that you've fallen in love with doesn't really rate that high. But if you're already married, and your father has gone insane, and the entire continent is on the brink of war because of his insanity, then maybe this isn't quite the time or place to be getting hitched. And while Rhaegar and Lyanna were both willing participants in their marriage, Lyanna was a young girl who might not have been able to predict the consequence of this particular decision, and Rhaegar's obsession with fulfilling the prophecy of a three headed dragon at any cost certainly clouded his judgment as well.

9 Maegor's Youthful Indiscretions

Maegor the Cruel is a Targaryen who undoubtedly earned his name. However, Maegor's violent and terrifying behaviors didn't begin when he was an adult and king of the seven kingdoms. Maegor was actually murdering and mutilating animals and humans before he even reached his double digits.

RELATED: Game Of Thrones: 8 Daenerys Targaryen Quotes Fiercer Than Drogon

In one particularly gruesome instance, Maegor was kicked by a horse when he was eight years old. He stabbed the horse to death for the great offense, and when a stable boy came running to see what all of the ruckus was about Maegor slashed up his face. And as we all know now, that was only the beginning of his violence and cruelty.

8 Viserys' Stand Against Khal Drogo

It's true that Viserys was first in line for the Iron Throne after most of the Targaryen dynasty was wiped out in the rebellion against the Mad King, but it may have helped Viserys if he didn't feel quite so entitled to that throne. Viserys was clearly willing to do whatever it took to become the king of the seven kingdoms, but he certainly overestimated his hand when he decided to stand up against Khal Drogo. After "selling" Daenerys to Drogo, Viserys expected to have an entire Dothraki army assisting him in his quest to conquer Westeros, and that entitlement cost him his life.

7 Baelor The Blessed's Zealotry

Out of all of the Targaryens that ever ruled over Westeros, Baelor the Blessed is probably the one who is admired and remembered the most fondly. And of course it was he who built the now iconic Sept of Baelor. However, Baelor was also, to put it frankly, more than a few sandwiches short of a picnic. Baelor was devoted to the faith of the Seven to the point of near madness, and while many of his expressions of that faith were for the benefit of the smallfolk, often times they were to his own severe detriment. He would often starve himself or otherwise punish himself for even one sinful thought.

6 Dany's Rule In Mereen

Daenerys Targaryen is definitely everyone's problematic fave. She often times has a good intention at the heart of her decisions, but often times the results wind up being a complete train wreck. Such is the case with Dany's rule in Mereen.

RELATED: 10 Things That Pointed To Jon Snow Being A Targaryen (That Most Fans Missed)

No one is ever going to argue that abolishing slavery is a good idea, but Dany did so in Mereen without any thought of the consequences or plans for the future. And as Dany is wont to do, when things started to go sideways she just started killing anyone who crossed her. And when the whole endeavor proved to be too much, she bailed.

5 Maegor The Cruel's Capital Punishments

A Targaryen killing those that disobey them with the fire of a dragon isn't exactly a foreign occurrence within this crazy family, however Maegor the Cruel took that idea to whole new heights with his completely insane punishments. In one particularly gruesome instance, some religious zealots rebelled against Maegor's rule, and in response Maegor hopped on Balerion the Black Dread, burned the sept they were occupying (the Sept of Remembrance), and instructed his archers to kill anyone who tried to flee the burning building. And the ruins of that sept are actually what were built into the infamous dragon pits.

4 Marrying Their Siblings

Not marrying your brother or sister seems like a pretty obvious rule, no? But let's give the Targaryen clan the benefit of the doubt and assume that in their culture, marrying someone who shares half of your DNA isn't as weird as it is in most cultures. Royal families have come up with this "bloodline purity" delusion before, so it's no surprise it's happened again. However, you'd think after everyone in your family seems to go completely insane you might reconsider how wise it is to keep your bloodline quite so pure.

3 Aegon's Invasion

Ultimately it's not that surprising that someone with unlimited power might want to flex that power on other people. As they say, absolute power corrupts absolutely. But the entire Targaryen invasion in Westeros is kind of insane in its own right.

RELATED: 10 Facts About The Targaryens That Game of Thrones Leaves Out

Yes, the Targaryens were the last of the Valyrian dragon riders, but the mere fact that you have dragons doesn't mean that you have to find some foreign land and claim it as your own, let alone that you have to brutally murder all of these complete strangers who don't feel like they should have to bow to you the minute you show up on their doorstep.

2 The Mad King's Wildfire

Maybe it's because their gene pool is about as deep as a puddle, but the Targaryen family are a very predictable bunch. They love to go nuts, and they love to burn things. And when it comes to the favorite Targaryen pastimes, no one was more passionate about them than the Mad King Aerys. Aerys was so unhinged that he caused the rebellion that ended their entire dynasty, and he took great pleasure in burning anyone who he believed to be his enemies. But apparently towards the end he believed every soul in King's Landing was the enemy, because he buried deadly wildfire everywhere throughout the city with the obvious intention of burning them all alive.

1 Daenerys Burning King's Landing

Well, I guess daddy would be very proud. Many fans were disappointed and enraged by the fact that Daenerys Targaryen herself wound up being the most dangerous threat in the entire Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire world, but evidently the heroine was the villain all along. But the thing is, not only did Dany decide to burn King's Landing to the ground, she decided to do that just after the city had surrendered to her. Which is absolutely insane. Perhaps her idea was to get a fresh start, but that's really not the best way to make a positive impression on the country you've just invaded.

NEXT: House Targaryen: 10 Things the Show Leaves Out From The Books

source https://screenrant.com/10-craziest-things-targaryens-ever/

[gretamaya]

One Man for the Galaxy Part 1

Summary: Jyn wakes up in a medical bay following her escape from Scarif to be greeted by Leia. They have a lot to talk about.

AO3

Jyn opened her eyes with a deep breath. “How are you feeling, Jyn Erso?” the medical droid asked.

Jyn opened her mouth, then closed it. Words. Remember how to form words. “I… I’m- okay.” Well. That was something.

“Would you like to try sitting up?”

Would she? She didn’t see any reason not to. “Okay.”

“When you are ready.”

Jyn waited longer than she thought she did before hoisting herself into a sitting position. Her heart rate responded to the change, but only momentarily. She looked around at the med bay, then at the medical droid. She had never seen one like it. “What make and model are you?” she asked.

Before the droid could respond, the door opened. A compact woman walked into the room. “Jyn Erso,” she said, not unkindly, “I am Leia Organa. Do you remember me?”

Jyn nodded. Leia. She was the daughter of Senator Bail Organa, both father and daughter were vital parts of the Rebellion. She had never meet her before, but she had heard of her.

“I am sorry I am not in better shape to greet you,” Jyn heard herself saying.

“That’s alright. You just woke up. How are you?”

Jyn’s mind snapped fully awake all at once. Her body became rigid in response, and the medical droid started making warning noises. “How’s Cassian?” Jyn demanded. Her voice sounded harsh in her own ears, but she-

“He’s okay,” Leia responded, raising a hand placatingly. “He’s not awake yet but he should be up soon.”

Breathe, Jyn. “Did you get the death star plans?”

“We got them,” Leia responded, softly but firmly.

“There’s a flaw built into the system-”

“We destroyed it.”

Jyn closed her eyes, swallowed and sighed with relief.

After several moments passed, Jyn felt Leia lay her hand on her arm. “Jyn,” Leia said gently, “Thank you.”

Jyn opened her eyes to look at Leia. She didn’t really want to be thanked, but the way Leia said it made the gratitude palatable. “How many others made it back?”

“You and Captain Andor are the only ones we’ve found.”

Again, Jyn closed her eyes, this time in pain. She wasn’t surprised by the answer, but it still hurt. “I want to see Cassian.”

“I’ll take you to him.”

The medical droid protested, but relented when Leia said he could come along.

Jyn’s face softened when she spotted Cassian, lying as she had been on a med bed, his own medical droid hovering nearby, busy.

Jyn took his hand in hers, not taking his eyes from his face. He looked so different from when she had seen him last. Strain and exhaustion had etched deep lines in his face.

Sedated and relaxed, he looked quite a bit younger. At peace.

“Jyn.” She jumped slightly at the gentle call. When she tore her eyes away from Cassian to look at Leia, Leia replied, “You are welcome to stay with him, but your medical droid would appreciate it if you ate something. I would be happy to eat with you, if you’ll have me. I can tell you about the destruction of the death star, and I’d like to hear how you managed to steal the plans and end up where you did, if you wish to tell me.”

Jyn smiled and nodded. “Yeah, thank you.”

Over what Jyn realized was somewhat better food than standard military rations, Leia told her about finding her brother and the destruction of the death star. Jyn got the impression that Leia was leaving quite a bit unsaid, but there were probably things she couldn’t tell Jyn, or didn’t want to tell Jyn at the moment.

Jyn had no idea what to make of the revelation of the involvement of Jedi - she thought that was a dead order, their legacy shrouded in unbelievable myths. But Leia did not seem to have such doubts about the Force - she reminded Jyn of Chirrut. Jyn found herself wishing the two could have known one another.

Leia’s story ended, and it was Jyn’s turn.

Jyn told her of their plan, of the distraction the small rebel force had provided while she and Cassian and K2SO went after the Death Star schematics. For reasons Jyn didn’t fully understand, she found herself explaining to Leia how Cassian had fallen after being shot, how she had thought he was dead.

Leia watched her in silent sympathy.

She had no way of telling Leia how she felt seeing Cassian again, after he had shot the Imperial officer, so she didn’t try.

Getting the injured Cassian to safety had been no small task, especially since the only ship left to them was hardly in better shape than he was. But a fraction of a chance was better than no chance at all. While the damaged cruiser had dumped them on a fringe planet in winter with no chance of getting off without help, at least they had been dumped on a fringe planet in winter with a chance of being rescued eventually.

It was a few days into their stay on X-gee that Jyn had realized their best chance lay in waiting out the winter in stasis. She needed time to devote to fixing the cruiser, but Cassian’s injuries were so severe that not only was he unable to help her, she found that the majority of her time was taken up with worrying over him. The cruiser’s info files told her the planet had other seasons far more hospitable, with a chance of finding resources. And calling for help.

The cruiser had surprisingly advanced medical facilities, most of which were damaged, but somehow not the stasis tanks. Not really trusting the cruiser’s damaged systems to last four months, Jyn had used the kyber crystal her mother had given her as a backup power source.

She had put Cassian to sleep first, the two of them staring at one another through the glass as she turned the unit on, silently promising each other they would both wake up. If K2SO had been with them he would’ve informed them how bad their odds were, but Jyn had never known anyone like Cassian, who had refused to give up on her regardless of how badly he was hurt. He had made it this far. She would make sure he kept going.

The last thing she remembered seeing was ice, before waking up in Leia’s protection. Jyn glanced around again, her eyes lighting on the unfamiliar droid model, the panels and readouts that were both familiar and somehow slightly off.

She looked back down to Cassian before returning her attention to Leia. “How did you find us?”

Leia smiled. “I sent two of my scouts to explore X-gee for resources the fleet could use. They found you.”

“What shape were we in?”

“I think you could’ve remained in stasis for a lot longer than you were with no harm done.” That was a very diplomatic answer.

“I programmed the system to wake us after four months,” Jyn said.

“Ah,” said Leia.

Jyn studied Leia uneasily. While she had never seen Leia before, Jyn didn’t think that Leia was as old as the woman who had spent the last few hours speaking with her was. Jyn didn’t have any reason to doubt Leia’s identity, not after the story about how she had gotten the Death Star files. But the uneasy feeling was steadily getting worse. She glanced again about the room, but it didn’t offer anything to quiet her growing sense of unease. At least Cassian had made it, too.

Not really wanting to think about it, but knowing she needed the answer anyway, Jyn finally asked, “How long were we in stasis for?” If the timing mechanism had failed, maybe it had taken eight months, maybe a year-

“Thirty-four years.”

Jyn had absolutely no idea what to do with that information.

Besides her, Cassian opened his eyes.