Sibling Comparisons
Leia rose from her bed, confused, as the door hissed open.
Something seemed off about the situation, she could feel it. But she didn’t want to tip her hand – and a moment’s thought turned up an answer.
“Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” she asked, thinking about minimum-height requirements that had been instituted in the days of transition from the clone army and never been rescinded.
“What?” the ‘trooper replied. “Oh, the uniform.”
He took off his helmet. “My name’s Luke Skywalker, I’m here to rescue you.”
Leia did a double-take.
“What is Kenobi thinking?” she asked. “He brought my brother here?”
Luke practically fell over.
“Brother!?” he asked. “But – you’re a princess-”
“Yes, yes, excellent cover identity, sheer audacity,” Leia replied. “Nobody would suspect the Senator for Alderaan, and if you’re going by Skywalker then the same idea must be in play for you. Where’s Kenobi? Is he going by Ben or Obi-Wan these days?”
“We were coming to Alderaan,” Luke said. “Ben’s off shutting down the tractor beam so we can leave – look, what do you mean, brother?”
“We can talk about that later,” Leia replied, striding past her brother to the door of the cell. “What’s your exfiltration plan?”
“My what?” Luke asked. “...we’ve got your R2 unit?”
“Hey, farmboy!” a voice called from up the detention block corridor, accompanied by the sound of blasters firing. “We’ve got company!”
Leia sighed. “Where’s R2-D2?” she asked. “He should be able to get us out of this.”
“About… what, ten floors above us?” Luke guessed, then a wookiee joined them along with someone else in stormtrooper armour.
“We’re not getting out that way,” the man said.
“I don’t suppose you brought a spare blaster for me?” Leia asked. “Is there another way out?”
“Let me check with Threepio,” Luke said, reaching for his comlink. “Seriously? You’re my sister?”
“Right now I’m mostly hoping I’m better at planning than you,” Leia shot back, as blaster bolts flashed down the corridor.
“...well, that worked, eventually,” Leia muttered, brushing herself off as they exited the trash compactor. “Which is a marked improvement on your way of getting us out of here, I have to point out.”
“I’m still waiting on an explanation,” Luke protested. “How can you be my sister?”
“What, you want me to draw a diagram?” Han asked.
Chewbacca roared something.
“Hey, he’s from Tatooine, it’s not an animal farm,” Han protested. “He might just not know.”
“That’s not what I mean!” Luke objected, flushing.
“We’re twins,” Leia replied. “Both of us were put into hiding because being known descendants of Anakin Skywalker is a serious health hazard, beyond just being Skywalkers which is separate… how much training did Ben give you?”
“A few hours,” Luke replied. “On the flight to Alderaan.”
“What was he doing with his time?” Leia asked. “My tutor is literally a state secret without any hands-”
She stopped, swallowing.
“Was, now,” she said, before shaking herself. “Anyway, I could only learn from him while on break on Alderaan and I still got a lot more training than that…”
Han made a curious noise.
“What are you talking about, exactly?” he said. “More of this force nonsense?”
“Where did you dig him up?” Leia asked her brother, with a sardonic eyebrow. “He looks old enough to remember the Clone Wars.”
Chewbacca sniggered.
“Laugh it up,” Han countered. “The Clone Wars weren’t that long ago.”
“That’s my point,” Leia replied, sharply. “The Clone Wars had the Jedi literally leading armies-”
She shook herself. “Okay, we need to focus. How exactly did you plan to get off this thing?”
“Once the tractor beam is down, we’ll be able to just fly right out of here,” Luke volunteered. “Han’s ship is more than it looks – which isn’t hard.”
“Hey!” Han protested.
“Well, if you’ve got Chewbacca with you, that’s a good sign at least,” Leia said, then held up her hand. “Wait – not this way, that way.”
“Based on what?” Han asked.
“That thing you don’t believe in,” Leia replied. “Master Windu couldn’t teach me to fight but he could teach me to avoid trouble…”
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