ACROSS THE STARS || STAR WARS AU

Third From The Sun

"Leia."

The woman jolted upright, awakened by the voice that called her name. Looking around her, she saw nothing but the glow of the control panels and screens.

There was no one here but her.

A shiver came over here despite the ship being set to a comfortable temperature.

Leia remained huddled in the dark, pulling up the stats on her travel time and distance. Scanning over the data, she realized that it had only been a little over a month since she fled her home.

Alderaan.

Bitter tears came to the woman's eyes as the name crossed her lips. Memories came rushing back to her, memories of a planet that was no more.

"Father," She whispered, recalling his final words to her. A desperate plea, telling her to leave on the ship and follow the programmed destination.

She did not even get the chance to tell him goodbye; to thank him in spite of everything.

Yet another thing the Empire had robbed her of.

Leia let her tears fall from her face, spilling onto her lap and staining the white fabric a darker shade.

She should not be alive. She should have joined the rest of her planet when it was destroyed.

But she knew there was a reason she was still here; why she had been able to escape.

She had a mission.

A mission her mentor and father had been preparing her for since she was young.

And she was not going to let their deaths be in vain by wallowing in her sadness. Neither surrender or failure were an option.

She would not let Vader win.

"Vader." The name rolled off her tongue in a hiss. Just saying it gave her a new resolve, stopping the flow of tears from her eyes.

No matter what the truth was, Leia vowed she would defeat the man who took everything away from her.

Touching the hilt of her lightsaber, a change immediately rushed over her.
Its familiar feel in her hand warmed her insides, and the ship did not feel so alone anymore. The lightsaber was one of her last, remaining objects and it was beside her, attached to her hip.

And for that, she felt a sense of peace.

Obi-Wan had trained her well.

"The Tantive IV is now entering the Solar System," the computer's voice announced as a 3D diagram came up. Leia's eyes lit up as she watched how the holographic planets circled around the giant star at the center.

A sudden radiance shone over her face, causing Leia to shift her gaze from the screen and up towards the window above the flight deck. Even though it was millions of miles from her, the star's brilliance could somehow still reach her.

She continued to wonder at the solar system in front of her, seeing the nine planets around her. The closest one seemed to be the smallest and was colored a light brown.

But the planet that immediately caught her eye was the one with rings surrounding it. She had seen many interesting planets before, but none like this one.

"How many days until arrival?" She asked the computer, never taking her eyes off the window.

"Expected arrival time is two days," It replied in its artificial and monotone voice.

She could see it even from being at the edge of the solar system. It was just a speck in the distance, but she knew that was where she was headed.

The third from the sun, the one called Earth.