Divided Loyalties

I

Author note: angst ahead. I'm sorry, I wasn't in my most cheerful period when I originally wrote this XD

No. I am your father.

Luke jolted upright with a muffled scream of denial. It had happened again, his nightmares had been stronger than him.

He quickly checked the time on his chronograph. It was half past four, and this meant he had been sleeping for just two hours. Definitely not a great success. Now fully awake, Luke decided to get cleaned and dressed so that he could be ready to leave within six in the morning.

He walked into the minuscule refresher of his bunk with the intention of having a quick shower. Eventually, he stayed under the hot jets a bit more than necessary: after all, no one was there to prevent him from doing so. That short blissful moment was the only way he had to relax.

When Luke finally came out of the shower, he heard someone knocking eagerly on the door. He got dressed as fast as he could, then he literally ran out of the refresher and opened the door. Waiting for him, there was Leia.

"Good morning" she greeted with a tired smile. "Did you manage to sleep?".

Luke shrugged his shoulders. "As always".

Leia sighed and leaned on the doorframe. "Since letting you rest is pretty useless, you can come with me to the hangar. We're leaving with a stolen Imperial shuttle and I could use a mechanic to sabotage its automatic systems" she suggested.

Luke nodded his head only half-heartedly and ran one hand through his damp hair. "Just give me enough time to get dressed, I don't want to leave in a pyjamas" he said.

Leia agreed and reminded him where and when they had to meet.

Taking the elevator she quickly reached the gathering point and stopped by the Imperial shuttle's ramp, lost in her own mind. She already hated the incoming mission, she didn't trust herself that much... that's why she had decided to bring Luke with her. It was going to be the most dangerous expedition she had ever taken part in.

No one had ever come back alive after spying on the Empire, much less on the Star Destroyer Executor.

Luckily, Luke arrived on time, saving Leia from her thoughts, and immediately started working.

The shuttle was ready in no time, so quickly that at half past five the two Rebels had nothing to do. They decided to leave even if it was very early: an advantage of half an hour wouldn't hurt.

The ionic engines rumbled when Luke started the leaving procedure, and Leia let out a worried sigh, hoping the heavy sound would cover it.

"Hey, are you alright?" Luke asked gently.

"I'm a bit nervous" Leia confessed, shaking her head. Her hands were trembling, and for just a second the brave princess was just a frightened girl. She had a very bad feeling.

With a tired smile, Luke placed his hand on Leia's smaller one. "Don't worry" he murmured. "The Force will be with us".

He was right, but never he would have expected it to work like it eventually did.

~~~

When they got the consent of landing in the hangar 27 of the Executor after a flight which took long hours, Luke and Leia wore false Imperial uniforms and braced themselves for what was to come. They would pretend they were part of a technical crew and they had to check the hyperdrive.  Basing on the standard plan of an Imperial ship, the hyperdrive was always in communication with the archives: at that point, finding the projects for the new Death Star would be very easy.

Waiting for the two undercover Rebels there was Admiral Piett, Vader's favourite officer. Luke and Leia, though, weren't aware of this.

When an alarm informed them that they had successfully landed, the two Rebels walked solemnly down the shuttle's ramp. They noticed with stinging anxiety that the docking bay was controlled by two dozens of stormtroopers, together with the admiral and various officers, calm but always vigilant.

Trying to keep his feelings under control, Luke cleared up his throat with a small cough and bowed his head in front of the man who had to be his superior.
"Good morning, Sir" he started "we are technicians, sent by the Imperial Palace. We were told that this ship's hyperdrive hasn't been of great help during the recent chase of the Millennium Falcon. We're here to enhance its performances".

For a mere second which seemed an eternity, Luke and Leia stared into the Admiral's icy eyes until the man decided to speak.

"Of course" Piett replied gently. "The hyperdrive's access is located on level -3, sector number 11. Have a good day.".

Leia bowed her head reverently. "Thank you very much, Admiral".

Feeling much more relieved, the two Rebels marched towards the closest elevator, which could be seen at the end of a nearby hallway. Reaching it would leave behind a good part of their problems.

But they never got to said elevator. The Force suddenly rang in alarm and Luke realised what was happening. He quickly looked over his shoulder and saw the stormtroopers and Piett himself opening the fire. His heart sank into his chest as he remembered that he didn't have a lightsaber.

Without a second thought he furiously pushed Leia, who was blissfully unaware of the danger, against the hallway's wall. In the same moment a fierce, stabbing pain all over the right half of his torso told him that the shoots had reached their target.

Leia just felt her body being thrusted aside and bumped violently onto the wall, the sound of blaster fire hurting her ears. She turned her head just in time to see Luke crumpling on the floor with an enormous bloody spot on his shirt.

Keeping her nerves under control, Leia grabbed her blaster and her friend's. She shooted back, but numbers weren't on her side.

She was alone with two blaster guns against twenty-five stormtroopers and an admiral, who had clearly been told about them coming: they had powerful weapons of any kind.

Finally two series of gunshots caught her legs and made her fall, in pain like very few times before.

Piett approached the two intruders with a tiny smirk.

"Very well, Rebels" he observed. "It looks like your mission went bad. Obviously, you didn't know that Lord Vader is designing a new hyperdrive all by himself".

Leia's eyes were full of hate as she looked at him and grabbed again the blaster behind her back.
A sudden pain in her wrist blocked her as other soldiers came from the elevator; one of them had prevented her from killing Piett with a simple kick.

The same soldier took hold of her arm carelessly and pulled her upright ignoring her injured legs.

"We'll have fun interrogating you, girl" he spat.

Another trooper called Luke and said menacingly: "Hurry up and stand, or I'll do it for you".

With great effort Luke propped himself up on his elbow, but the pain from his wounds made him fall back.
Impatiently the soldier grabbed his shirt just beside the ripped skin, making the boy yelp, and dragged him towards his cell.