Alderaan
by Valerie Vancollie
"Ready Chewie?" Han asked as he took his seat in the cockpit of the Millennium Falcon.
Chewie roared his response and Han leaned over and pulled back the hyperspace levers bringing them out of hyperspace above the planet of Alderaan. Luke arrived in the cockpit just as Alderaan jumped into view.
"Well here you are kid, Alderaan," Han said turning to face Luke. "Your friends had better have the money."
"They will," Obi-Wan said as he too entered the cockpit.
"Whatever you say," Han replied.
Just then a voice came over the Falcon's com:
"Millennium Falcon you are now on our screen, please state your destination."
Han looked at Obi-Wan as he reached for the com.
"Aldera," Obi-Wan relied Han's unspoken question.
Han nodded before speaking into the com:
"This is the Millennium Falcon requesting permission to land at Aldera."
"Passenger or cargo?" the voice asked.
"Passengers only," Han replied.
"Permission granted, once at the spaceport you will be checked for weapons."
"Very well," Han replied rolling his eyes.
He had been to Alderaan several times before and was always annoyed by the fact that you weren't even allowed to carry a blaster while visiting. But this time it didn't matter, he had no intention of staying, he was just going to collect the money and head back to Tatooine to pay back Jabba.
He was just turning the com off when he remembered the lightsabers Kenobi and the kid were carrying.
"You do know that you're not allowed to carry weapons on Alderaan right?" Han asked wondering what the hell they were going to do with the lightsabers.
"Don't worry," Obi-Wan replied. "It won't be a problem."
"Whatever you say," Han said as he turned back to the controls, not believing Obi-Wan in the least.
Obi-Wan just smiled as he felt the smugglers disbelief. Once Bail learned that he'd arrived with Luke he would make sure the smuggler was paid and that they were allowed to keep their lightsabers.
"Mind if I make a call?" Obi-Wan asked nodding to the com. "To arrange the delivery of the money?"
"You mean it isn't already taken care of?" Han asked suspiciously.
"Don't worry," Obi-Wan replied amused. "It'll be ready once we arrive, if I can make the call now."
"Okay, but the money had better be there."
Luke looked from Obi-Wan to Han and then to the Wookiee sitting in the co-pilots chair. He hadn't known about the weapons ban on Alderaan and was curious as to how Obi-Wan would make sure that they got to keep their lightsabers.
Meanwhile Obi-Wan took the com and punched in a number he hadn't used in years. After a few seconds a male voice replied:
"Bail."
"Hello," Obi-Wan replied as he saw Han look in his direction, stunned.
"Obi-Wan is that you?" Prince Bail Organa replied.
"Yes," Obi-Wan replied. "I'm in a spaceship just entering Alderaan's atmosphere and I've got Luke with me."
"Have you heard from Leia?" Bail asked a little worried.
"Yes, I got the message," Obi-Wan replied not wanting to say anything more on an unsecured channel. "But I still owe the pilot fifteen thousand credits."
"No problem," Bail replied. "And I'll have someone meet you."
"Thanks," Obi-Wan replied as he turned off the com, then turning to Han he asked: "Is that satisfactory?"
"Yes," Han replied nodding then, looking over his shoulder to the kid, he saw that Luke looked just as surprised as he was about what they had just heard.
* * *
As soon as Han let down the ramp of the Falcon two men dressed in the Alderaanian colors stepped forward.
"General Kenobi?" one of them asked.
"No," Han replied stunned, he hadn't known the old fossil was a General. "I'm the pilot."
"Then this is for you," the second guard said as he handed Han a bag of credits. "Fifteen thousand, you may check it if you want."
Han was just about to reply when Obi-Wan stepped past him and walked down the ramp.
"General Kenobi?" the first guard asked again.
"Yes," Obi-Wan replied as he smiled at the title, nobody had called him General since he had left with Luke for Tatooine just over twenty years ago. "Come Luke."
Just as Obi-Wan called him Luke appeared at the top of the ramp with Artoo and See-Threepio right behind him. Together they walked past Han and down the ramp.
"Goodbye," Luke said as he reached the bottom, looking back at Han before following Obi-Wan and the guards out of the landing bay.
Appearing next to him Chewie roared a question.
"No," Han replied shifting the bag of credits in his hand. "No, I don't think we'll see them again. The galaxy's just too big, besides why would you want to see that old man again?"
Chewie replied in a series of roars and barks as he gestured after Luke and Obi-Wan with his hand.
"Jedi?" Han exclaimed when Chewie finally stopped. "Come on, you're not telling me that you actually believe in those fairy tales, are you?"
Chewie gave a short but loud reply.
"Luck," Han replied re-entering the Falcon. "He stopped that stun bolt with pure luck, besides I wouldn't be surprised if the old man rigged the remote."
* * *
"Obi-Wan!" Bail Organa exclaimed as he got up. "It's good to see you again."
"And you too," Obi-Wan replied as the two friends embraced each other.
"And this must be Luke," Bail said as he looked at the boy following his friend.
"Yes," Obi-Wan replied. "Luke this is Prince Bail Organa, Princess Leia's father."
Bail eyes darted quickly to Obi-Wan, wondering why he wasn't telling Luke the truth, but he decided to let Obi-Wan handle it. Instead he looked back at Luke and noted the resemblance between the boy and Anakin Skywalker before his accident, he resembled his father just the way Leia resembled her mother.
"Welcome to Alderaan Luke," Bail said as he held out his hand.
"Thank you," Luke replied shaking Bail's hand, still unsure of what was going on.
Obi-Wan smiled at Luke's confusion, but then his face turned serious as he thought of Luke's twin sister.
"Bail I didn't want to say it on an unsecured channel, but Leia's been taken prisoner by the Empire."
"What?!" Bail exclaimed as he turned to Obi-Wan.
"Yes," Obi-Wan replied nodding. "Luke, where are the droids?"
"Right here Sir," Threepio replied as he and Artoo stepped out of the shadows.
"Artoo," Obi-Wan said looking at the small droid. "Show the message."
Obediently Artoo rotated his doomed head so that he projected the miniature image of the Princess on a table.
"General Obi-Wan Kenobi," the image of the Princess began. "I present myself in the name of the world of Alderaan and of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. I break your solitude at the bidding of my father, Bail Organa, Viceroy and First Chairman of the Alderaan System."
Obi-Wan noticed his old friend twitch at the word 'father' and look up at Luke who too busy watching the holo to notice that Bail was studying him. As he looked at Luke, Bail remembered how he had first suggested that he take in both of the twins, but Obi-Wan had refused saying that if they were together they would bring out the Force potential in one another. Then he turned his attention back to the holo-image of the child he had raised as his own.
"Years ago, General you served the Old Republic in the Clone Wars. Now my father begs you to aid us again in our most desperate hour. He would have you join him on Alderaan. You must go to him. I regret that I am unable to present my father's request to you in person. My mission to meet you has failed. Hence I have been forced to resort to this secondary method of communication. Information vital to the survival of the Alliance has been secured in the mind of this Detoo droid. My father will know how to retrieve it. I plead with you to see this unit safely delivered to Alderaan."
There was a short silence in the room as Leia paused slightly and looked behind her, then when she continued her words were more hurried and less formal:
"You must help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You are my last hope. I will be captured by agents of the Empire. They will learn nothing from me. Everything to be learned lies locked in the memory cells of this droid. Do not fail us, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Do not fail me."
Then the image flickered and faded away. Bail stood looking at the spot where the image of his adopted daughter had been until heard Luke's sharp intake of breath.
"What?" he asked looking at the boy.
But Luke just shook his head, a puzzled expression on his face.
"I don't know," he replied looking at his mentor for help. "I thought I felt something, something familiar, but it was so fast I can't be sure."
Obi-Wan looked up at Luke in surprise, something familiar? He had felt the same thing Luke had felt but, unlike the boy, he had recognized it. It was the dark Force presence of his former student and friend Anakin Skywalker a.k.a. Lord Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith. He hesitated slightly as he wondered about Luke's comment, but then he shrugged guessing that Luke's strong connection to the Force must have somehow trigged the feeling of familiarity he felt with his father's presence, even though he had never met the man before.
"Vader," he stated out loud. "That was Vader's Force presence you felt, he's in the system right now."
Bail's eyes widened in shock, both with the knowledge of Vader's nearby presence and with the fact that Luke had somehow felt the connection to his father, even if only unconsciously. Before he had time to think about it his com beeped.
"Bail Organa," he said as he brought the com to his mouth.
"Viceroy, we have just picked up an enormous space station approaching Alderaan," came the reply.
"An enormous space station?" Bail asked looking at Obi-Wan and Luke in confusion.
"Yes," replied the voice. "So far we have been unable to identify it."
"Keep trying, I'll be there as fast as I can," Bail ordered before he turned off the com. "Is Vader on that space station?"
"Yes," Obi-Wan replied. "They must have gotten Leia to talk after all."
"No," Bail replied. "At least not this fast. Leia has an iron will, she won't break easily, not even under an Imperial interrogation."
Obi-Wan nodded as he understood what his friends wasn't saying, she was as stubborn as her father. Then suddenly he felt a ripple of danger through the Force, but before he could react Alderaan shuddered and exploded into a million pieces as it received direct fire from the Death Star's superlaser.
* * *
On board the Death Star Princess Leia Organa's eyes widened in horror as her home-planet was destroyed, along with everybody she held dear.
Standing just behind her and holding her shoulder Lord Darth Vader felt the death of his former mentor and friend Obi-Wan Kenobi. Not only that, but he felt as if he had just lost somebody else. A small but noticeable hole had opened up inside him and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't figure out how to refill it. Whatever it had been, it was irriplacable.
Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? E-mail me at valeriev84@hotmail.com
April 1999
