A Life Resumed
Chapter One – A New Beginning
Luke Skywalker struggled to keep the damaged Imperial shuttle on course. Making the jump to hyperspace probably hadn't been the wisest decision he'd ever made, but at the time it was either do that or break apart in the shockwave from the exploding second Death Star.
He wished for the second or third time that he'd been paying more attention when he'd hurriedly entered the coordinates for the hyperspace jump. He'd been trusting to the Force at the time to keep him from jumping the shuttle into something that would destroy it, but he'd also intended only a short jump outside of the Endor system. Instead, the shuttle had been traveling through hyperspace for a couple of hours now. Obviously he'd transposed a number or two. He thought again about dropping the ship out of hyperspace, but a tiny voice from the Force kept telling him not to.
He checked the navicomputer and noticed that they were only about twenty minutes away from reversion to real space. He got up and went to check on his passenger.
His passenger lay strapped into a bunk inside the passenger cabin. He was unconscious, but Luke could feel his growing strength in the Force. Calming himself slightly, he reached out through the Force, looking for any potential medical problems with his passenger. After a few moments, he realized that the man lying before him was having difficulty breathing.
Frowning, he withdrew from his trance. Didn't the respirator help with his breathing? He hastily fumbled open the clasps holding the heavy, black helmet on, and lifted it off his father's head. And almost dropped it in shock.
Rather than looking at the aged, pale sickly face of someone near death, he was looking at the face of someone as healthy as himself. Amazed, he began stripping the rest of the heavy suit off of his father and discovered the body of a healthy middle-aged man instead of the damaged body he was expecting. He also came across something else truly amazing—his father now had two normal arms rather than the mechanical ones he had had. Something had changed the mechanical ones into real ones.
"How could this have happened?" he muttered. He stiffened as a flash came through the Force. He'd done...something...to the Force lightning that the Emperor had been killing his father with. He'd altered it somehow, exactly how he had no idea.
Suddenly, his father began coughing, and opened his eyes. "Where...where am I?"
"You're on a shuttle. We managed to escape the destruction of the Death Star."
Puzzlement filled the young looking eyes. "Death Star, did you say? And who are you?"
Concerned, Luke asked, "What's the last thing you remember?"
"I'm not really sure. Something...something about a wedding. Yes, that's it. Padme and I were getting married." Anakin looked up at Luke. "Why? Has something happened? Where's Padme?" He tried to sit up and frowned when he noticed the straps. Luke felt a small surge in the Force and the straps unlatched themselves.
"Careful," said Luke, "you may not have the strength to sit up yet."
Anakin sat up and looked at Luke through suspicious eyes. He noticed the lightsaber hanging at Luke's belt and relaxed slightly. "You're a Jedi, " he stated flatly.
"Not exactly." said Luke.
Anakin frowned. "What do you mean, 'not exactly'?"
Luke sighed. "That's a very long story," he said. He could hear the navicomputer beeping from the cockpit. "We're about to come out of hyperspace and I've got to get up front. I will be more than willing to answer your questions once I've gotten us safely out of hyperspace."
"I'll come with you." said Anakin.
"That's fine--if you think you can make it there," answered Luke.
"The Force gives me all the strength I need."
Luke nodded, and left the cabin; Anakin following slowly behind. Once he reached the cockpit, Luke settled himself in the pilot's seat and initiated the reversion to real space. Once the starlines had cleared it was obvious that they had come out in a solar system of some kind. They were headed towards a green planet that showed the long scars of orbital bombardment.
"What planet is that?" asked Anakin.
"The navicomputer identifies it as a world called Naboo." said Luke. "Ever heard of it?"
Luke felt a massive feeling of shock through the Force as Anakin slumped into the co-pilots chair. "Naboo...yes, you could say that I have heard of Naboo. Padme was born there...we were married there. What's happened here?"
Luke looked at Anakin. "I don't know. I suspect that it may be part of what you don't remember, though."
"You keep saying things like that. What do you mean by that?"
Luke sighed. "How old do you think you are?"
"Twenty-two. Why? What aren't you telling me?"
Luke pointed at a particularly shiny part of the interior hull and said, "Look at yourself."
Anakin turned and looked at his face. Luke could feel the shock resonating through the Force. "What's happened to me? How old am I?" He turned to Luke, panic written on his face, "Tell me, please?"
"Well, basing it off my own age, I figure you're about 44 to 46 years old. But since I don't know how old you were when I was born, I can't estimate it better than that."
He looked confused. "What's your lifeday got to do with how old I am?"
Luke shook his head. "Brace yourself for shock number three."
"Okay..."
"I'm your son."
The stunned silence in the cabin was palpable. "My son..." whispered Anakin. "How is that possible? No. You're wrong. You can't possibly be my son."
"We can do a blood test if you like," said Luke. "Or..." he paused.
"What?"
"I know you can feel the bond between us in the Force. I've felt it ever since that day you told me--the day you cut off my hand." He added wryly.
"The day I..." Anakin fell silent, but Luke could feel him stretching out through the Force. His father's raw power always amazed Luke, but he was confident that he could keep shielded the areas that Anakin didn't need to know yet. Luke felt Anakin's shock as the Force confirmed that Luke was indeed Anakin's son.
"You're my son. Amazing. There is obviously a lot that I'm missing here, like why I would even think about cutting your hand off, let alone doing it. You are going to fill me in on this stuff, right? Like why you don't hate me? Like why you didn't leave me for dead on this Death Star thing before it was destroyed?" Anakin stared out at Naboo. "Why did we come here? You obviously have never heard of Naboo before...and where is your mother? Where is Padme?"
Luke sighed pensively. "I was hoping that you could tell me that. I never knew my mother. I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle on Tatooine."
"Tatooine! That's where I was from. I was a slave in Mos Espa, before Master Qui-Gon found me and freed me. Your Aunt and Uncle raised you?"
"Yes, Owen and Beru Lars."
"The Larses. Actually, Owen was your step-uncle. His father married your grand-mother after he freed her from her owner." said Anakin. "That was while I was away learning to be a Jedi."
"With Obi-Wan Kenobi." said Luke, flatly.
"Yes, with Master Kenobi. How is he? I assume that you know him since you are a Jedi yourself." asked Anakin.
Luke looked at Anakin. "Father, that is one of the things that you aren't ready for--not with your memory loss." While they had been talking, they had entered Naboo's atmosphere and were now flying over heavy forest. Luke indicated the ground. "We need to figure out where to put this thing down before the stabilizers give out completely."
Anakin looked at the navigational displays and frowned to himself. "If I'm reading this right, we should be coming up on Theed in about ten minutes. That's the capitol of Naboo. We should be able to find help there."
"I hope so," said Luke, looking at the scars of orbital bombardment that they were now flying over. "This is pretty serious destruction. I hope there's somebody left in Theed to help us."
"Who could have done this, and why? I've never seen such destruction before," said Anakin.
Luke thought, yes, you have, and were responsible for quite a bit of it. But he kept that thought carefully shielded and hidden from his father, who he wasn't quite sure how to deal with. The memory loss was quite unexpected and presented a number of complications--the least of which was that Anakin had no memory of who he had been. He could feel his father stealthily picking at the shields that Luke had erected around his own memories, but the shields were pretty strong. Still. "I wish you would stop picking around in my mind. I am trying to keep from overwhelming you with information, most of which you would find rather...horrifying."
Anakin looked at him for a moment. "When are you going to fill me in? This is my life that we're talking about." He said this without anger, but more with curiosity.
Luke saw the ruins of what appeared to have been a once-beautiful city approaching and he headed the shuttle towards it. "I don't think we're going to find much help here, " he said. "Maybe we should look else-"
At that moment, there was a loud popping and banging noise from the rear of the shuttle and it gave a sudden lurch as red lights started appearing all over the control console. Luke was suddenly fighting with the controls. "Looks like we don't have a choice." he said, trying to keep the shuttle from plowing into the ground. "This is going to be rough, so you might want to strap yourself in."
"Way ahead of you," said Anakin. "You know, I used to be a pretty hot pilot myself."
"I know. Where do you think I got my piloting ability from?" gritted Luke as he carefully edged the shuttle down towards a burned out clearing near the edge of the city. The shuttle kept trying to roll completely over, which at the altitude they were from the ground would have been an utter disaster. "Hit the landing cycle switch."
Anakin scanned the controls and found the requested switch, which he flipped. There was the sound of hydraulics, followed by yet another bang, and Luke completely lost control of the shuttle. They were only about 50 feet off the ground however, and the crash, while unpleasant, didn't cause any injury to either Luke or Anakin. It was fairly obvious that the shuttle would never fly again.
Once the shuttle stopped moving, Anakin and Luke looked at each other. "Hot pilot, hunh?" asked Anakin, with a grin.
Luke grinned back. "Hey, any landing you can walk away from..."
"...is a good landing." returned Anakin. He paused, "So, you going to answer my question?"
Luke let his grin fall away. "Father, yes it's your life, but it's also my life, and..." He paused for a moment, and then plunged onward, "it's also your daughter Leia's life--my sister."
Anakin's mouth dropped open. "I have a daughter as well?"
Luke nodded. "We were twins. Separated at birth. Leia went to live with the Organa family on Alderaan. I only found about her at the same time I found out about you being my father."
"Why were you separated at birth?"
"That I won't answer until we are off this ship." Luke looked earnestly at his father. "I intend to tell you as much as I can, but now is not the time or place."
Anakin looked as if he wanted to continue, but then nodded. "Alright...son, I guess I can trust you."
Luke felt strangely guilty over the pleasure that Anakin calling him son had caused. Perhaps it's because I feel like I'm betraying Leia, he thought. He started to unstrap himself from the seat, noting that Anakin was doing the same. Luckily the angle that the ship had crashed at didn't make walking too difficult.
Luke went to the back of the shuttle and began to pull open the supply cabinets, removing all of the survival gear he could find. Luckily, none of it appeared to be too badly damaged from the crash, and considering how well stocked these ships were, they probably had more than they could carry.
He looked over at his father, who was packing food concentrates and other survival gear into a pack, frowned, and then went over to the weapons locker. Unlike the survival gear, this had sprung open upon landing and it looked like most of the heavier weapons had been damaged by breaking free and being tossed around during the landing, however he did manage to find what appeared to be a working blaster rifle.
"Here, "he said. "You might need this." Anakin looked at the blaster rifle briefly and then shook his head. "Where's my lightsaber?"
"It got left behind on the Death Star," answered Luke.
"What was the Death Star? You keep referring to it and yet I have no idea what you are talking about."
"It was an Imperial space station. It was basically designed to destroy entire planets—to extend the Emperor's philosophy of control through fear. Behave yourself, or we'll blow up your planet."
"What was the Empire? And who was its Emperor?"
Luke sighed. "The Empire was what replaced the Old Republic. It believes in rule by tyranny and fear, and I am a member of the rebellion against it. The battle we just left was where we finally managed to kill the Emperor and perhaps even destroy the Empire, but it'll take some time to determine that."
"Replaced the Old Republic! But how did the Jedi Order allow that? How did Chancellor Palpatine allow that? Palpatine would have fought to prevent that from happening, as would the Jedi. Is Chancellor Palpatine a part of your rebellion?"
Luke snorted, and then looked directly at his father. "As to how it happened: Emperor Palpatine was all for it." He paused to let his words sink in.
"Emperor Palpatine!" said Anakin, shocked. "But how was that possible? Palpatine was a great man. He was trying to hold together the Republic against forces that wanted to tear it apart." He paused, seeing the truth in Luke's eyes. "But even if I accept that, why didn't the Jedi stop him?"
Luke looked away. "I'm not ready to talk about that yet." He looked up as the ship creaked and shifted slightly. "We need to get out of here." He picked up his survival pack, and the blaster rifle. "I promise I will continue filling you in once we get out of here."
"Okay," answered Anakin and picked up his pack
Luke blew the escape charges on the landing ramp and it thumped down to the ground, and together father and son jumped down to the forest floor. Luke checked the compass he had taken from the survival gear and said, "Theed should be about a kilometer or so that way."
Behind them, in the shuttle, a blinking light indicated that the shuttle's emergency tracking beacon had been activated. It silently blinked on and off, while the transmitter sent the shuttle's location out to anyone who was listening.
Chapter One – A New Beginning
Luke Skywalker struggled to keep the damaged Imperial shuttle on course. Making the jump to hyperspace probably hadn't been the wisest decision he'd ever made, but at the time it was either do that or break apart in the shockwave from the exploding second Death Star.
He wished for the second or third time that he'd been paying more attention when he'd hurriedly entered the coordinates for the hyperspace jump. He'd been trusting to the Force at the time to keep him from jumping the shuttle into something that would destroy it, but he'd also intended only a short jump outside of the Endor system. Instead, the shuttle had been traveling through hyperspace for a couple of hours now. Obviously he'd transposed a number or two. He thought again about dropping the ship out of hyperspace, but a tiny voice from the Force kept telling him not to.
He checked the navicomputer and noticed that they were only about twenty minutes away from reversion to real space. He got up and went to check on his passenger.
His passenger lay strapped into a bunk inside the passenger cabin. He was unconscious, but Luke could feel his growing strength in the Force. Calming himself slightly, he reached out through the Force, looking for any potential medical problems with his passenger. After a few moments, he realized that the man lying before him was having difficulty breathing.
Frowning, he withdrew from his trance. Didn't the respirator help with his breathing? He hastily fumbled open the clasps holding the heavy, black helmet on, and lifted it off his father's head. And almost dropped it in shock.
Rather than looking at the aged, pale sickly face of someone near death, he was looking at the face of someone as healthy as himself. Amazed, he began stripping the rest of the heavy suit off of his father and discovered the body of a healthy middle-aged man instead of the damaged body he was expecting. He also came across something else truly amazing—his father now had two normal arms rather than the mechanical ones he had had. Something had changed the mechanical ones into real ones.
"How could this have happened?" he muttered. He stiffened as a flash came through the Force. He'd done...something...to the Force lightning that the Emperor had been killing his father with. He'd altered it somehow, exactly how he had no idea.
Suddenly, his father began coughing, and opened his eyes. "Where...where am I?"
"You're on a shuttle. We managed to escape the destruction of the Death Star."
Puzzlement filled the young looking eyes. "Death Star, did you say? And who are you?"
Concerned, Luke asked, "What's the last thing you remember?"
"I'm not really sure. Something...something about a wedding. Yes, that's it. Padme and I were getting married." Anakin looked up at Luke. "Why? Has something happened? Where's Padme?" He tried to sit up and frowned when he noticed the straps. Luke felt a small surge in the Force and the straps unlatched themselves.
"Careful," said Luke, "you may not have the strength to sit up yet."
Anakin sat up and looked at Luke through suspicious eyes. He noticed the lightsaber hanging at Luke's belt and relaxed slightly. "You're a Jedi, " he stated flatly.
"Not exactly." said Luke.
Anakin frowned. "What do you mean, 'not exactly'?"
Luke sighed. "That's a very long story," he said. He could hear the navicomputer beeping from the cockpit. "We're about to come out of hyperspace and I've got to get up front. I will be more than willing to answer your questions once I've gotten us safely out of hyperspace."
"I'll come with you." said Anakin.
"That's fine--if you think you can make it there," answered Luke.
"The Force gives me all the strength I need."
Luke nodded, and left the cabin; Anakin following slowly behind. Once he reached the cockpit, Luke settled himself in the pilot's seat and initiated the reversion to real space. Once the starlines had cleared it was obvious that they had come out in a solar system of some kind. They were headed towards a green planet that showed the long scars of orbital bombardment.
"What planet is that?" asked Anakin.
"The navicomputer identifies it as a world called Naboo." said Luke. "Ever heard of it?"
Luke felt a massive feeling of shock through the Force as Anakin slumped into the co-pilots chair. "Naboo...yes, you could say that I have heard of Naboo. Padme was born there...we were married there. What's happened here?"
Luke looked at Anakin. "I don't know. I suspect that it may be part of what you don't remember, though."
"You keep saying things like that. What do you mean by that?"
Luke sighed. "How old do you think you are?"
"Twenty-two. Why? What aren't you telling me?"
Luke pointed at a particularly shiny part of the interior hull and said, "Look at yourself."
Anakin turned and looked at his face. Luke could feel the shock resonating through the Force. "What's happened to me? How old am I?" He turned to Luke, panic written on his face, "Tell me, please?"
"Well, basing it off my own age, I figure you're about 44 to 46 years old. But since I don't know how old you were when I was born, I can't estimate it better than that."
He looked confused. "What's your lifeday got to do with how old I am?"
Luke shook his head. "Brace yourself for shock number three."
"Okay..."
"I'm your son."
The stunned silence in the cabin was palpable. "My son..." whispered Anakin. "How is that possible? No. You're wrong. You can't possibly be my son."
"We can do a blood test if you like," said Luke. "Or..." he paused.
"What?"
"I know you can feel the bond between us in the Force. I've felt it ever since that day you told me--the day you cut off my hand." He added wryly.
"The day I..." Anakin fell silent, but Luke could feel him stretching out through the Force. His father's raw power always amazed Luke, but he was confident that he could keep shielded the areas that Anakin didn't need to know yet. Luke felt Anakin's shock as the Force confirmed that Luke was indeed Anakin's son.
"You're my son. Amazing. There is obviously a lot that I'm missing here, like why I would even think about cutting your hand off, let alone doing it. You are going to fill me in on this stuff, right? Like why you don't hate me? Like why you didn't leave me for dead on this Death Star thing before it was destroyed?" Anakin stared out at Naboo. "Why did we come here? You obviously have never heard of Naboo before...and where is your mother? Where is Padme?"
Luke sighed pensively. "I was hoping that you could tell me that. I never knew my mother. I was raised by my Aunt and Uncle on Tatooine."
"Tatooine! That's where I was from. I was a slave in Mos Espa, before Master Qui-Gon found me and freed me. Your Aunt and Uncle raised you?"
"Yes, Owen and Beru Lars."
"The Larses. Actually, Owen was your step-uncle. His father married your grand-mother after he freed her from her owner." said Anakin. "That was while I was away learning to be a Jedi."
"With Obi-Wan Kenobi." said Luke, flatly.
"Yes, with Master Kenobi. How is he? I assume that you know him since you are a Jedi yourself." asked Anakin.
Luke looked at Anakin. "Father, that is one of the things that you aren't ready for--not with your memory loss." While they had been talking, they had entered Naboo's atmosphere and were now flying over heavy forest. Luke indicated the ground. "We need to figure out where to put this thing down before the stabilizers give out completely."
Anakin looked at the navigational displays and frowned to himself. "If I'm reading this right, we should be coming up on Theed in about ten minutes. That's the capitol of Naboo. We should be able to find help there."
"I hope so," said Luke, looking at the scars of orbital bombardment that they were now flying over. "This is pretty serious destruction. I hope there's somebody left in Theed to help us."
"Who could have done this, and why? I've never seen such destruction before," said Anakin.
Luke thought, yes, you have, and were responsible for quite a bit of it. But he kept that thought carefully shielded and hidden from his father, who he wasn't quite sure how to deal with. The memory loss was quite unexpected and presented a number of complications--the least of which was that Anakin had no memory of who he had been. He could feel his father stealthily picking at the shields that Luke had erected around his own memories, but the shields were pretty strong. Still. "I wish you would stop picking around in my mind. I am trying to keep from overwhelming you with information, most of which you would find rather...horrifying."
Anakin looked at him for a moment. "When are you going to fill me in? This is my life that we're talking about." He said this without anger, but more with curiosity.
Luke saw the ruins of what appeared to have been a once-beautiful city approaching and he headed the shuttle towards it. "I don't think we're going to find much help here, " he said. "Maybe we should look else-"
At that moment, there was a loud popping and banging noise from the rear of the shuttle and it gave a sudden lurch as red lights started appearing all over the control console. Luke was suddenly fighting with the controls. "Looks like we don't have a choice." he said, trying to keep the shuttle from plowing into the ground. "This is going to be rough, so you might want to strap yourself in."
"Way ahead of you," said Anakin. "You know, I used to be a pretty hot pilot myself."
"I know. Where do you think I got my piloting ability from?" gritted Luke as he carefully edged the shuttle down towards a burned out clearing near the edge of the city. The shuttle kept trying to roll completely over, which at the altitude they were from the ground would have been an utter disaster. "Hit the landing cycle switch."
Anakin scanned the controls and found the requested switch, which he flipped. There was the sound of hydraulics, followed by yet another bang, and Luke completely lost control of the shuttle. They were only about 50 feet off the ground however, and the crash, while unpleasant, didn't cause any injury to either Luke or Anakin. It was fairly obvious that the shuttle would never fly again.
Once the shuttle stopped moving, Anakin and Luke looked at each other. "Hot pilot, hunh?" asked Anakin, with a grin.
Luke grinned back. "Hey, any landing you can walk away from..."
"...is a good landing." returned Anakin. He paused, "So, you going to answer my question?"
Luke let his grin fall away. "Father, yes it's your life, but it's also my life, and..." He paused for a moment, and then plunged onward, "it's also your daughter Leia's life--my sister."
Anakin's mouth dropped open. "I have a daughter as well?"
Luke nodded. "We were twins. Separated at birth. Leia went to live with the Organa family on Alderaan. I only found about her at the same time I found out about you being my father."
"Why were you separated at birth?"
"That I won't answer until we are off this ship." Luke looked earnestly at his father. "I intend to tell you as much as I can, but now is not the time or place."
Anakin looked as if he wanted to continue, but then nodded. "Alright...son, I guess I can trust you."
Luke felt strangely guilty over the pleasure that Anakin calling him son had caused. Perhaps it's because I feel like I'm betraying Leia, he thought. He started to unstrap himself from the seat, noting that Anakin was doing the same. Luckily the angle that the ship had crashed at didn't make walking too difficult.
Luke went to the back of the shuttle and began to pull open the supply cabinets, removing all of the survival gear he could find. Luckily, none of it appeared to be too badly damaged from the crash, and considering how well stocked these ships were, they probably had more than they could carry.
He looked over at his father, who was packing food concentrates and other survival gear into a pack, frowned, and then went over to the weapons locker. Unlike the survival gear, this had sprung open upon landing and it looked like most of the heavier weapons had been damaged by breaking free and being tossed around during the landing, however he did manage to find what appeared to be a working blaster rifle.
"Here, "he said. "You might need this." Anakin looked at the blaster rifle briefly and then shook his head. "Where's my lightsaber?"
"It got left behind on the Death Star," answered Luke.
"What was the Death Star? You keep referring to it and yet I have no idea what you are talking about."
"It was an Imperial space station. It was basically designed to destroy entire planets—to extend the Emperor's philosophy of control through fear. Behave yourself, or we'll blow up your planet."
"What was the Empire? And who was its Emperor?"
Luke sighed. "The Empire was what replaced the Old Republic. It believes in rule by tyranny and fear, and I am a member of the rebellion against it. The battle we just left was where we finally managed to kill the Emperor and perhaps even destroy the Empire, but it'll take some time to determine that."
"Replaced the Old Republic! But how did the Jedi Order allow that? How did Chancellor Palpatine allow that? Palpatine would have fought to prevent that from happening, as would the Jedi. Is Chancellor Palpatine a part of your rebellion?"
Luke snorted, and then looked directly at his father. "As to how it happened: Emperor Palpatine was all for it." He paused to let his words sink in.
"Emperor Palpatine!" said Anakin, shocked. "But how was that possible? Palpatine was a great man. He was trying to hold together the Republic against forces that wanted to tear it apart." He paused, seeing the truth in Luke's eyes. "But even if I accept that, why didn't the Jedi stop him?"
Luke looked away. "I'm not ready to talk about that yet." He looked up as the ship creaked and shifted slightly. "We need to get out of here." He picked up his survival pack, and the blaster rifle. "I promise I will continue filling you in once we get out of here."
"Okay," answered Anakin and picked up his pack
Luke blew the escape charges on the landing ramp and it thumped down to the ground, and together father and son jumped down to the forest floor. Luke checked the compass he had taken from the survival gear and said, "Theed should be about a kilometer or so that way."
Behind them, in the shuttle, a blinking light indicated that the shuttle's emergency tracking beacon had been activated. It silently blinked on and off, while the transmitter sent the shuttle's location out to anyone who was listening.