Sol hated to admit that she missed seeing the way a planet's sky would darken to the abyss of space. When Ahsoka left Tatooine's atmosphere, Sol sat in the passenger seat of the cockpit with her eyes glued to the windscreen. As the opaque blue sky turned to a black canvas of stars and far-off planets, Sol reminisced at being in space for the first time in years.
'We'll be at Hoth soon if we jump to hyperspace,' Ahsoka informed her passenger. 'Or would you like me to take the long way? I have a feeling that you want to talk.'
Sol said nothing and merely turned her head to the T6's driver. Ahsoka leaned forward to put the flight plan into the ship's controls, before leaning back from the joysticks that were now on autopilot. The ship drove itself towards the Hoth system while keeping a scan out for any nearing star destroyers.
'So,' Sol struggled to think of how to start the conversation. 'What's new with you?'
Ahsoka crossed her arms over her chest and glanced out the windshield with a light laugh. She shuffled in her seat to sit sideways, and Sol did the same despite her slight awkwardness.
'Well, Mon Mothma has been leading the resistance from Coruscant. The Empire is working to accuse her of working with Padme, but they have nothing on her yet,' Ahsoka said. 'But it won't be long until Mothma will also have to go into exile. The Emperor is evil in his ways of finding dirt on ex-senators of the Republic.'
'And Revan? What's been happening with him?'
'I haven't had contact with Revan in at least a year, now. He went on a mission to Mon Calamari to settle an alliance, and when we received their confirmation, Revan never came back. The Mon Calamari people confirmed his safe departure, but we haven't seen him since.'
Sol's eyebrows arched in concern. If the rebellion hadn't heard from the Shan, then he was deemed off the grid. His distancing in the past years hadn't just been towards Sol, who had intended to introduce Luke and Leia to their second cousin once they were old enough. But when Ahsoka was the only off-world visitor to the Skywalker and Lars family, Sol was forced to forget about the twins ever meeting Sol's only living relative.
'Could it be that... he was caught by the Empire?' Sol said with hesitancy in her voice.
'It's possible,' Ahsoka said, her face tight with her seriousness. 'If he was, he must have been loyal to the rebellion, because our location is still hidden. We are yet to be located.'
Sol didn't want to think about if Revan was killed in action. The man was skilled and wouldn't have let the Empire overpower him without a decent fight. There had to have been a reason for Revan's departure, and considering he was distancing himself from the rebellion prior to his Mon Calamari mission, Sol liked to think that it wasn't the Empire who were responsible for his disappearance.
'But what about you, Sol?' Ahsoka spoke again and Sol was pulled from her thoughts. 'Are you prepared to work with the resistance? It's certainly different from the Order.'
'I'm not pledging myself to the resistance. I'm just here to draw Vader away from Luke and Leia.'
Ahsoka leaned the side of her montral against the head rest of the chair. Her eyes remained on the Jedi Master, who tried to avoid the knowing look that Ahsoka gave her. The sassiness of the Togruta had transferred into her twenties, and Sol remembered how often she was on the receiving end of the Padawan's sarcasm and attitude. She didn't know what she expected from the Padawan of the Jedi whose reputation of arrogance and recklessness was known throughout the galaxy.
'Alright, alright... maybe I will help,' Sol sighed as her reluctance crumbled under Ahsoka's pointed look. 'But only because we have a common goal, which is defeating the Empire.'
'But you're not going to defeat the Empire, are you? Because that would mean...'
Sol grimaced and looked out the cockpit's windshield. The stars and planets appeared to be passing slowly, but in relation to space travel, the ship was moving at an intense speed. It gave Sol nothing of interest to stare at and she was forced to think of what Ahsoka neglected to say.
'I am still under the assumption that the Emperor has a hold on Anakin.'
Ahsoka raised her eyebrows at Sol's admittance. She could see that it was a struggle for the woman to say the name that the man no longer went by. Even the Togruta preferred to name him by his Sith title, as it separated him from the image she still had of her Master.
When she left the Order, she left Anakin. But when Darth Vader appeared and Revan informed Ahsoka of his true identity, the young ex-Jedi couldn't bear to think that her had Master turned to the dark side. She had experienced Order 66, and to think that Anakin was a part of its effect was crippling to Ahsoka. Anakin wasn't evil, but Darth Vader was.
'Palpatine was always dark,' Sol continued when she wasn't interrupted. 'And I watched him take control of Anakin when the Council pushed him further and further away. You, of all people, knew what it was like to be failed by the Order. And if you saw what happened to him, Ahsoka... you wouldn't be able to believe it yourself.'
Those yellow eyes and clenched jaw took over Sol's mind. She felt the suffocating air of Mustafar and felt the anxiety she felt the day Obi-wan prowled in a circle opposite Anakin. Sol's hands itched to fidget when she saw the sadistic smirk that plagued Anakin's lips in her head.
'I am more powerful than the Chancellor. I can overthrow him, and together, you and I can rule the galaxy! Make things the way we want them to be!'
Sol's heart ached. His words had been so full of hunger and desire, that Sol knew in that moment that Anakin had turned to the ways of the Sith. She thought of the Anakin that was in her dreams, and the man that she saw in her children every day. There was no logical explanation as to why the Force would ever let someone who was needed so much be taken by the dark side. This was why Sol believed that the Emperor was still the true enemy, and that Darth Vader was only at his disposal to gain enough power to kill the Sith Lord once and for all.
'Padme will advise you of this as well, but I think I should warn you beforehand,' Ahsoka said, and Sol was thankful to be back in the ship's cockpit instead of in her thoughts of Mustafar. 'The rebellion do not yet know that you're a Jedi, nor about your relation to Darth Vader. If you can help it, keep the mention of Anakin and Vader to a minimum. You're past with him could be compromising in the rebellion's perspective.'
As Sol was about to question Ahsoka, a beep sounded from the controls. The two women paused their discussion and looked to the scanner that had suddenly appeared on the screen. A wave of confusion passed through the cockpit, as the scanners calculated that a vessel was within five hundred metres of them. But when Sol looked out the windshield, there was nothing but the same boring sight that sat in between systems.
'What is it?' Sol questioned with unease. 'It should be within sight at that distance.'
'Something must be about to leave hyperspace,' Ahsoka shifted to sit properly in her seat and took the ship off autopilot. 'You better strap in. I think we're in for some trouble.'
Sol didn't need to be told twice as she also sensed the unease in the Force. As Sol pulled the seatbelt across her waist, Ahsoka turned the controls to the right to begin heading to the Hoth system at an angle. The pilot kept an eye on her scanner and knew that she would need to go into hyperspace if the situation went dire. If the feeling in the Force was what Ahsoka thought it was, then she would need to be using her best piloting skills to evade the incoming vessel.
'Can you put in the coordinates to jump to hyperspace? They're on the controls here,' Ahsoka motioned her head down to the numbers on the dashboard. Sol was thrown back into her Jedi habits of remaining calm while working fast. She typed in the coordinates into the hyperdrive and resisted thinking about the clone wars where she was the one giving similar orders to the 336th legion.
'Alright, jumping in three, two-'
Ahsoka went to lower the handle to jump but was forced to pause as a star destroyer appeared in front of them. Its mammoth size occupied the entirety of the T6's windshield, and Ahsoka and Sol's heads jumped back in surprise.
The tip of the monstrous ship threatened to pierce through the cockpit, and it was only with Ahsoka's Jedi reflects that their ship was yanked to the left. Sol had to grip the armrests of her chair to avoid flailing around and with her heart hammering against her ribcage, the Jedi looked out the window to her right.
'Kriff, that was too close,' Ahsoka cursed. 'We can't jump now. They've locked our hyperdrive.'
It wasn't Sol's first time seeing a star destroyer, but she couldn't say that it wasn't daunting to be next to one. Ahsoka's ship was considered miniscule next to the massive vessel and when it was known that star destroyers were used exclusively by the Empire, it made being next to one all the more terrifying. The destroyer held dangerous weaponry and the lethal ability to lock controls. And if passing ships couldn't identify themselves, they would be fired upon by tie-fighters, or taken into the mother ship for questioning.
'They're asking for a security clearance, Ahsoka,' Sol said, fearing the worst as she read the message on the screen in front of her. She hoped that she would see the Togruta shrug nonchalantly and come up with a simple solution. But just as Sol feared, unease occupied Ahsoka's Force signature.
'Remember when Anakin and I used to ignore direct orders from the Council?' Ahsoka said shakily. 'Looks like we're going to have to do that with the Galactic Empire, too.'
Sol groaned. Sol should have known that by leaving Tatooine with Ahsoka, she would be thrown back into the hands of reckless Jedi and unpredictable missions. There was no more quiet living in the Tatooine desert, only the battlefield and blasterfire in the dangers of space.
As Ahsoka powered the T6 past the destroyer, a thickness coated the realm of the Force. It was impossible to ignore and the two Jedi in the cockpit looked at each other with suffocating dread in their stomachs. Even Sol, who didn't use the Force much in her day-to-day life on Tatooine, felt the immediate darkness that pulled at her navel. Masking her signature was all that she did, and it became subconscious to smother her flame without needing to call to the Force to use her power. But when she felt the presence that had darkened since the last time Sol had encountered it, Sol could do nothing but sit in her seat and look back to the destroyer where the darkness was coming from.
'It's him,' she muttered in disbelief. 'Ahsoka, he's on that ship.'
Ahsoka hands clenched the controls in her tanned fingers. The flame was familiar, but barely recognisable. The warmth that it used to represent and emit was gone and was replaced with a deep hatred and simmering evil. The Force signature's pale orange was a distant memory and a crimson laced with black had taken its place. Blazing with a power beyond anything Ahsoka and Sol had ever seen, the presence came from the control room of the star destroyer that was currently demanding identification from the much smaller ship.
'It's heading for Tatooine,' Ahsoka let out through her shivers. She tried to remain calm and looked from the destroyer to Sol, who was frozen in the passenger seat.
'I think it's time you let go, Sol.'
The relief would be great, but Sol had been hiding her signature for so long that letting it roam free felt unnatural. Obi-wan had taken over in hiding both Luke and Leia to the point of them being near undetectable in the Force, and if Sol were to reveal her flame, the children would be forgotten in comparison. The power that Sol directed to her signature would be at her disposal and Sol almost forgot what she used to be like when she was at her full potential.
She gulped dryly. With another look to the star destroyer, Sol eyed the cockpit that was still within sight of the T6. If he was preparing to descend to Tatooine, then Sol would need to distract him. If she wanted to protect Luke and Leia, then Sol had to let her signature blaze through the Force.
With a deep breath, Sol let the blanket fall from her flame and the Force was blessed once again with the purest signature it had ever seen.
---
It was beautiful. So beautiful, that Darth Vader nearly lost his footing and fell to the floor of the control room. Like the heavens had opened and blinded him with all the good they held, the Force was flourishing with the light side that had been absent for so long.
His crimson Force signature was engulfed with the white beam and Vader couldn't control the memories that flooded back to his troubled mind.
A shining smile and flushed cheeks. Violet eyes that sparkled as they looked up to the thing they had imprisoned in their beauty. Soft, small hands that held everything with such a delicate touch.
Vader wished that he could feel the hands that were covered with gloves that he had purchased on his skin once more. He longed to feel them against his jaw and for them to soothe the fine lines that formed from his years of frowning and glaring through his black mask. Maybe then would his burn scars heal properly, and he would no longer be in constant discomfort and pain.
'We haven't received an identification from that T6 ship, sir,' a workman said from the left lowered workstation of the control room.
'Send the tie-fighters, then,' Grand Moff Tarkin ordered from above.
'No.'
Tarkin swiveled on his heel to look at Darth Vader beside him. Everyone in the room had heard the low voice that sounded through the mechanical mask.
The Sith was pulled from the Force's realm that continued to shine with the white signature and had challenged Tarkin's orders. The workmen nearby lowered their gazes in fear of being caught in the crossfire, and a stare-off ensued between the Emperor's right hand man and the Emperor's personal apprentice.
'What?' Tarkin said in disbelief and offence. 'You demanded we come to this system, and now you want to let a ship pass without clearance?'
Darth Vader looked at the infuriating man through the screen of his mask. His jaw tightened and his teeth ground together at Moff Tarkin's confidence to speak to the Sith in such a way. Anger bubbled inside his stomach and when he thought of how the signature he desperately desired was within metres of the destroyer, Vader wanted nothing more than to crush Tarkin's ribcage beneath his grip. The one thing he wanted in his life was creeping away and Vader feared losing the opportunity that he had waited so long for. He couldn't let someone like Tarkin get in his way.
'The Jedi, who I need from Tatooine, is on that ship,' he slowly let out through his restrained anger. 'Disable its controls. We will board it and its inhabitants will be brought to me. I will then alert the Emperor. Is that clear?'
Tarkin stood with his hands behind his back. Usually, he would argue Darth Vader's orders with the priority of finding the rebellion in mind. But when Vader mentioned the Emperor, Tarkin didn't want to risk upsetting the man he had only seen in person a handful of times. The Emperor was menacing in appearance and powerful beyond what Moff Tarkin could ever understand. Vader was as close to Tarkin's rank in the Emperor's favour as he could get, but there was no telling what would happen to him if the Emperor found out that Tarkin had let a wanted Jedi escape.
'Dispatch a ship with troopers to board. Act with extreme caution,' Grand Moff Tarkin turned to the general standing in the corner waiting for orders. 'Disable the T6's controls.'
'Yes, sir.'
The general turned away to bark orders and Tarkin turned back to Vader. But instead of seeing the expressionless mask, Tarkin was left on his lonesome. He caught the edge of Darth Vader's cape by the door as the man turned the corner and disappeared into the hallway. The gaunt man clenched his jaw at the lack of acknowledgment from the Sith and hoped that he hadn't made the wrong decision to let Vader take control once again.