Ghost - A Star Wars Fanfic

Chapter 16

The binders grating against skin were painful enough, but not being able to feel the comforting presence of the Force lingering in the back of his mind was enough to drive Luke to insanity. His feet instantly began to tire as their cell transfer trek seemed to never end, every moment stretching longer as if to taunt the group's endurance.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Leia continuously looking up at him worryingly. He desperately wished he knew what she was thinking, the look in her deep brown eyes troubling, but he didn't dare speak his fears aloud in worry of one of the many stormtrooper guards marching beside them clipping one of them on the head with the butt of their blaster and incapacitating them temporarily, making their escape attempt that much more difficult.

Swallowing tightly, Luke looked away from his sister, trying also to not think too hard on his recently found Jedi Master awaiting Vader to confront him on the swamy planet. Luke didn't doubt Yoda's abilities, but his age was slowly weakening him, Vader decidedly having the advantage.

Padmé noticed the shaky breath Luke took in and discreetly nudged his shoulder with her own, catching his wide blue eyes. All the woman had to do was smile lightly and she saw the stiffness in the young boy's shoulders slump down with ease. He trusted her, despite everything.

They walked for more anticlimactic minutes, the only sounds the muffle of shuffling feet, occasional shouts of orders from the halls of the Star Destroyer, and a few snuffs of discomfort from Chewie, the Wookiee trailing behind the entire group.

The lights of Coruscant's main city that assaulted the group once they left the Executor were almost blinding. Luke himself had never been to the infamous planet, only heard about it or seen fuzzy holos back home on Tatooine. He gaped at the tall buildings that made up the entire planet, speeders whizzing past obliviously.

The group of prisoners was marched towards Imperial Center's main building, the memory of other members of Luke's squadron calling Coruscant's prison 'worse than all nine Corellian hells combined'  taunting him in the back of his mind.

The Rebellion, Leia had said she had called the rebels. Were they actually coming? Would they really risk everything for one rescue mission? It had to be more than just a rescue mission though. Vader was his father, how could he even fathom looking one of his squad members in the eye ever again, let alone commanding them?

Luke heard Leia's breath hitch beside him, her eyes staring somewhere no one else could see as she remembered visiting the Senate building on Coruscant with her father, Bail Organa. Her hair had been done in extricate Alderaani designs, her best dress flowing from her small frame and her chocolate eyes alight with focus as she inspected the technique of every politician. She also remembered the choking fear she had had of Vader from when she was very young, the man's very presence always sending her into a brief internal fit and giving her nightmares the night later. Nightmares of the Sith discovering her father's aid to the Alliance, the Emperor sentencing them to the highest penalty for the highest crime...

But wait. She was not the only person in their group who knew a lot about Coruscant's Senate building.

"Padmé, you used to work here, didn't you?" Leia questioned, keeping her voice low enough to where the stormtroopers wouldn't overhear and start snapping at her.

Padmé looked surprised to be acknowledged, but nodded all the same. "Yes, every day. It was very busy work, especially with the war." She paused, studying Leia, "I imagine Bail took you here a lot."

"He did," Leia said simply. There was a silence between the women, Leia not really knowing how to act around Padmé. This was her mother, the woman she had thought about for years as a young girl. She had always known she was adopted, but she never fathomed ever meeting her birth parents. After all, she had thought they were dead.