On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter IV

"Another weapons factory?" Han asked as Leia showed him the mission information.

"That's not all, some of those Imperial Hands are supposed to be stationed there, but from what we can tell, they're out of town for the time being," Luke told him.

"So we're hitting it while they're gone?"

"We won't get another shot, besides, some of the new and improved TIEs are being made in bulk there, not to mention some type of new weapon starting mass production. We need to shut this factory down," Leia replied. Han looked around to make sure they were alone in the hall before speaking.

"Don't you think you should tell your father about this?" he asked in a low voice. "See if he could confirm it?"

"We will, but I doubt he'll be able to tell us if the information is right," Luke replied, matching Han's tone. "At the least, he'll probably insist on being in standby in case we need back up."

"At least we got that."

"I can't believe I'm saying it, but times like this I wish Eclipse was around," Leia muttered. "Even if we ran into the Hands, she'd have them finished off in a decent amount of time and we wouldn't have people questioning our allegiances."

"That makes all of us," Han agreed.

~*~

"Are you sure the Emperor's Hands are no longer stationed at the base?" Vader asked. It had been about two weeks since Leia had left, and it was the first holo call either of the twins had managed to make in all that time. Thankfully he wasn't completely in the dark as Padmé had been sending him periodic updates, but she seemed to have forgone mentioning this.

"As sure as we can be Father," Luke's holo told him. "You know how wrong or right the information can sometimes be."

"And what is the plan this time?"

"Sneak in as Imperials."

"Because that is bound to work without failure," Vader noted sarcastically.

"It has worked," Luke pointed out.

"Perhaps. They can't send someone else?"

"Because of the Hand possibility, they wanted the only Jedi in the Rebellion on the team. Of course, that also meant Leia wanted to come, and.... Well, you know the rest."

"Indeed," Vader said. Where Luke and Leia went, Han and Chewie were never far behind. But that did leave the Sith to wonder.... "Does your Mother know?"

"Yes. Mon Mothma forbade her from helping. Apparently she thinks there's still a chance the Imperials don't know Mother survived and isn't ready to risk a reveal. Don't know how Mon managed it."

At least someone was keeping Padmé from recklessly heading to the front lines. "Have you crafted your lightsaber yet?"

"Yes," his son replied. Vader smiled beneath his mask as Luke brough the new lightsaber up so it would appear on the holo. It looked well crafted, and, while it honestly appeared more like Obi-Wan's lightsaber than his own, the Sith was proud to see that Luke had succeeded making it by himself. Vader had originally been hoping that he'd be there for his son's right of passage, but the way things had been hadn't allowed for such sentimentalities.

"It looks well made. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help you along the way." Luke glanced to the ground, somewhat embarrassed.

"That's alright.... I gave Leia your old saber for the time being."