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Saga - Legends Hope for the Future (Bail Organa - fic gift for mavjade)

Discussion in 'Fan Fiction- Before, Saga, and Beyond' started by Mira Grau, Dec 30, 2016.

  1. Mira Grau

    Mira Grau Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2016
    Title: Hope for the Future
    Author: Anedon
    Characters: Bail Organa
    Timeline: 18 BBY
    Notes: The fic gift for mavjade. I hope you like it.

    :) And Thanks to the wonderfull divapilot for the beta and support.

    I would like a story either in Beyond Legends, Saga, or Beyond with:
    1. Luke time traveling (forward or backwards in time is fine, canon or complete AU is fine)
    2. Luke meeting family he's never met. (Even tangentially related, so I'd be fine with Bail Organa since he was Leia's father. An OC is also fine, so like a grandchild or something.)
    3. The person Luke meets learning who Luke is to them.
    I don’t want: Any worry about a time travel paradox
    Characters: Luke, anyone else canon or OC.




    Corusant 18 BBY
    Bail Organa was tired.
    It had been a long day in the imperial senate, again. It had been a year since Chancellor Palpatine had proclaimed himself as the emperor, a year since the Jedi had been massacred, a year since Padme Amidala had died, a year since he had adopted her daughter.
    Bail couldn´t believe how much the galaxy had changed in this time. The power of the senators had been reduced to little to nothing, non human politicians had been arrested or forced to give up their positions, the holonet was full of imperial propaganda and the agents of the new order spied on everyone. Some other Senators including Bail´s friend Mon Mothma had fled Coruscant and went into hiding. Sometimes the viceroy wished he could do the same, but Alderaan was a core world with peaceful inhabitants and they wouldn´t have a chance against the empire. So he had to play the role of the loyal Senator while supporting the rebellious worlds in the shadows.
    But there was little he could do, most of the galaxy was still exhausted from the Clone Wars and many worlds openly supported the Empire. Palpatine had brought back peace and stability they said, the Jedi were traitors they said. It frustrated Bail how effective the Empires propaganda was, how many beings in the whole galaxy believed the Emperors lies.
    He stood up and left the speech he was writing for a moment. He had worked the entire evening on it but hadn´t achieved much. During the time of the Republic he had been one of the most respected public speakers in the senate and writing his speeches had always been easy, but now? A week ago imperial soldiers had located a surviving Jedi on Alderaan and the Senate demanded an official statement from its Senator. But what should he say? Bail hadn´t known about the whole affair until the Jedi had been captured and executed by the imperials. He wished they had learned about it before, he wished they could have sent the man to a safe place. But now it was too late and the Senator of Alderaan had to defend himself against accusations in the imperial senate.
    Bail knew how risky the situation was: only a few months ago the imperial army had attack the planet of Naboo and murdered its queen for hiding a handful Jedi padawans. Bail feared it could happen to Alderaan too, that star destroyers would fill the orbit and soldiers would swarm through its cities killing and arresting his people. Bail didn´t wanted to think about what would than happen to Breha and his daughter Leia.
    The senator thought of her every day. She was the light in the darkness that had filled the galaxy. But could he protect her? The Empire was searching for Jedi and a single traitor or a single decoded message could expose them. What if his speech failed to convince the Emperor? Bail stepped to one of the panorama windows and looked down into the night. The lights down there were the same as they always had been but it felt different, cold and distant. He thought of all the people down there who believed Palpatine to be a hero, to all the armies and fleets under the Empires control.
    "How can we ever hope to destroy the empire?" he muttered to nobody but himself.
    "You can always hope."
    Bail turned around and reached for the blaster on his hip. Nobody should be here. But there was someone, standing behind him. A man, Organa assumed he was around thirty, with blonde hair.
    "Who are you?" Bail asked the stranger carefully while slowly moving towards the elevator.
    "I´m a Jedi," the man told him, and Organa stopped drawing out his blaster, while his thoughts ran through his mind. He had heard that more than one Jedi had turned to the dark side and was now supporting Palpatine. Was it a trap? Or could a Jedi truly have survived, here on Coruscant? The man raised his hands to the senator to show they were empty. Bail stopped walking but kept the blast pointing at the man´s chest.
    "What are you doing here?" he asked carefully.
    "The force sent me here," the stranger said, but he seemed to be as confused about it as Organa. "You are Bail Organa." It wasn´t a question, it was a statement.
    Bail lowered his blaster a bit. Something told him to trust the man before him. It was almost as if the senator knew him. Had he seen the man before? He couldn´t remember.
    Then he froze as he realized something else. "You must leave, now. The Empire has spies everywhere. You are not safe here." Bail realized how he started to shiver. What if the Emperor had installed holovidcameras in this room or microphones? For a second he saw the destruction of Alderaan before him.
    "They won´t realize I´m here," the Jedi told him again a little confused but confident. That calmed Bail down. "And don´t worry for my safety, I will leave tonight and after that you won´t see me again."
    Bail holstered his blaster and stepped towards the Jedi before him. "Then why are you here?" The senator felt still suspicious despite his feelings, which told him he could trust the person in front of him. But he once had believed the same of Palpatine.
    "I wanted to meet you, I heard a lot about you."
    This confused the senator of Alderaan even more. This Jedi had heard a lot about him? He was trying to keep his loyalty to the order a secret. "Who told you about it?" Organa asked, still wondering if he had seen this man some when before. Something about him remained him of... Padme.
    The man paused before he answered, "My sister." Another pause. "I´m Luke Skywalker."
    "Luke..." Organa muttered the name more to himself. Leia´s twin, the boy Obi Wan had taken with him. How was this possible, the children were born only a year ago? Was it a trap? Had the empire figured out what had happened? Organa started to shiver again. "How is that possible?" he asked quietly.
    "The force has sent me here."
    Bail saw the confusion on Skywalker´s face as he answered. The Jedi seemed not to understand it himself. For a while they just stood there, the senator and the Jedi and followed their own thoughts. Then Organa asked, "Are you from the future?"
    The Jedi nodded and millions of questions filled the senator´s head. He asked the first one that came to his mind. "Is Leia okay?"
    Luke smiled. "She is."
    A great relief overcame the senator and he returned the smile for a moment. There was another question he wanted to ask but, he wanted to hear the answer but at the same time he feared it. Luke walked towards the great panorama window and Bail followed him, still disbelieving. "So you became a Jedi?" Bail asked Luke while they looked down into the night below.
    "Yeah and Leia too." Pride filled Organa as he tried to imagine his daughter as a Jedi. Again they kept silent for a while and the senator thought again about asking the Luke the one question that interested him the most. But he couldn´t, he feared the answer.
    "You have to continue your fight," Luke suddenly told him.
    Bail look up. "Against the Empire? It often feels hopeless, the Sith are strong."
    "You are strong too senator, there is a lot you can do. A lot you will do," Luke replied and smiled knowingly.
    "The empire will be overthrown?" Organa asked after a while, still trying to determine how to go further.
    Luke nodded, "Yeah, there will be a rebellion."
    The viceroy felt sadness in the Jedi´s voice and it told him his dark fear was true. "I´m dead than?" He asked quietly. When he looked at Luke he saw the sadness in his face and it gave him the answer. So the fight against the empire would take his life.
    Organa took a deep breath. He had known this from the first day, from the moment when he saved master Yoda from Kashyyyk. But then he thought of the Empire, of the cruel things Palpatine had done to the galaxy. He thought of Padme and the queen of Naboo and of the young boy the clone troopers had killed before his eyes at the Jedi temple. They had to continue the fight or more and more innocents would die in the Sith´s shadow. He had to continue the fight. For Breha, for his daughter, for the citizens of Alderaan and the galaxy itself.
    He turned again to Luke, wanting to thank the Jedi for giving him strength, but Skywalker was gone. Bail looked around in the room, panicked. The Jedi wasn´t here anymore and it looked like he never had been.
    Organa blinked for a moment and then realized how tired he was. He had been working for hours and hours. Had the Jedi even been real? Or a hallucination caused by the stress and worries? Bail wasn´t sure, what had happened should have been impossible, but Organa knew the force was very powerful and impossible to understand.
    But he knew that it didn´t matter, Luke, whatever he was, had told him that the Empire would fall and there was always hope. Organa felt as if a great burden had been taken off him. And he felt confident, tomorrow he would give the senate the speech they wanted to hear. He would see Breha and Leia again and he would play the role he had to in bringing down the Empire even if it would cost his own life.
     
  2. Briannakin

    Briannakin Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Feb 25, 2010
    Wow. Great story. I love the idea of Luke from the future visiting Bail and pressing him onward towards the Rebellion. Though they would have never met in canon (save for a meeting like this) I really enjoy reading them together.

    I liked the ambiguity of the ending. Was Luke really there or was it all just a tired mind?
     
  3. RX_Sith

    RX_Sith Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Mar 13, 2006
    Great meeting between Bail and Luke; it is definitely something that should have happened.
     
  4. Ewok Poet

    Ewok Poet Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jul 31, 2014
    There are these little things in this story that link it to the OT in chilling ways: "a new hope" comes along from the future, Bail wonders if "it was a trap" and then, at some point, he can...he can see Alderaan being destroyed. Holy kriff.

    Since these two never meet at any given point in time, it's interesting to see them interact here, whether it was a Force thing or Bail dreaming, preoccupied by the bleak world he now lives in.
     
  5. mavjade

    mavjade Former Manager star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Sep 10, 2005
    Oh Anedon... I love it!! Thank you!! :D [:D]

    I'm sorry I didn't respond yesterday, I didn't get home until late and I knew I would be to tired to give this the read it deserved.

    I love how you focused on Bail, I could really feel his weariness, his fear. Your writing really conveys those feelings well.

    I love this, especially now after Carrie Fisher has died. Leia really is a light in the darkness of the galaxy and Carrie is who brought that light to life. It made me quite emotional at this line.

    The imagery here is fantastic! I could really see it in my mind and this part really stood out to me. I actually took a moment and just imagined him looking out at those lights and the feelings he must have had. It's quite powerful.

    I absolutely loved the interaction between Luke and Bail. How Bail didn't want to ask, but it was pretty clear that he was dead. How Luke was happy to meet someone so important to his sister. How Bail takes the knowledge of his death and doesn't run from it, uses it to strengthen is resolve and do what needs to be done. The foreshadowing to what happens to Alderaan makes this even more powerful.

    I also really like that Bail doesn't know if Luke was real or not, but he knows it doesn't matter and just the idea of of hope given to him for the future was enough.

    Fantastic job and thank you again!!
    =D=@};-
     
  6. Findswoman

    Findswoman Fanfic and Pancakes and Waffles Mod (in Pink) star 5 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Feb 27, 2014
    I enjoyed this. :) The idea of Luke traveling back in time through the Force to warn Bail of what lies ahead is a very compelling one, and Bail is a good person for him to warn in this way, given what's happened to his other family members at this point in history: Padmé's dead, Anakin has turned, and Leia is just a baby. What a bittersweet moment this must be for Bail: he finds out on one hand that there is hope for overcoming the Empire, but on the other hand that he and his entire planet will perish along the way. I can just imagine how hard that would hit him in his fatigued state, after all these endless hours of debating, politicking, and speechwriting (and I echo the others that you did a fantastic job of getting that mood across). And even if Bail's not quite sure that the Luke he saw is real (which could be part of the fatigue too), he at least is sure that Luke's message of hope is real—and that is what matters.

    Thanks for sharing this story and being part of this challenge! =D=
     
  7. Mira_Jade

    Mira_Jade The (FavoriteTM) Fanfic Mod With the Cape star 5 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Jun 29, 2004
    I really liked this. :) Bail's fatigue - both in a physical and mental sense really came across clearly at the beginning. In those early days of the Empire, I can only imagine how hopeless the fight must have seemed, and you perfectly captured those almost overwhelming odds stacked against them. Luke truly did appear at the right time to give a well needed dose of encouragement - it was just the bolstering that Bail needed to continue on and protect Leia; to protect the galaxy. I loved the foreshadowing and symbolism in your writing.

    My favourite part of this, however, is that Bail, in a way, gets to know the path that his daughter takes here - that Leia carries on his fight and wins, that she fulfills her Jedi heritage, that she's happy and living in a better galaxy - a galaxy that Bail has the renewed courage to fight and give her, even knowing that he will not be there to see it. Just beautiful. [face_love] =D=
     
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  8. Chyntuck

    Chyntuck Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Jul 11, 2014
    There's something so intrinsically sad about this story that it made me want to cry. Your portrayal of Bail is fantastic here - the talented, honest politician with so much dignity who does his best to continue trusting people even in the darkest of times - and it was incredibly touching how his first question to Luke would be "Is Leia okay?". At the same time, there is so much foreshadowing of what will eventually happen to Alderaan (e.g. "Alderaan was a core world with peaceful inhabitants and they wouldn´t have a chance against the empire") that as a reader, I really wanted to intervene in the story and shout to Luke, "just tell him to take his bloody precautions already!" You handled the "no time travel paradox" requirement amazingly well to give this story the tragic undertones it needed. =D=
     
  9. amidalachick

    amidalachick FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 5 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Aug 3, 2003
    Love this, especially the circumstances of Bail and Luke's meeting. It could be real, it could be a hallucination, but either way the message is powerful. There is hope. I especially liked that Bail's first concern was for Leia, and his thoughts about her being the light in the darkness. So beautiful. =D=
     
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  10. Kahara

    Kahara FFoF Hostess Extraordinaire star 4 VIP - Game Host

    Registered:
    Mar 3, 2001
    The insight into what Bail is feeling during the early Empire here is really well done; the pressures between caving in to Palpatine and trying to protect Alderaan must have been nearly unbearable. :( That Luke is the one to show up when he's doubting the possibility of a better future seems really fitting. I'm glad that this version of Bail gets to know (or at least have the half-remembered dream) that the Galaxy will survive and thrive, though it's sad that he may even suspect what happens to his homeworld. And he definitely picks up quickly that he may not make it to that future himself. But he's very much the good leader and father that we can imagine from Leia's memories, and he cares most about those he serves. Lovely possibility for a missing moment! @};-
     
  11. Mira Grau

    Mira Grau Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2016
    mavjade I´m so glad you like it, it wasn´t easy to write. Yeah there are some sad parts in the light of Carrie Fishers death, although I wrote it before she died. Thanks for enjoying it and the idea for it in the first place. I´m so glad I could make you happy with it.

    Briannakin Thanks, I´m glad you like it. Yeah the ending is supposed to be a little ambigous. I personaly prefer the hallucination explanation but to each his or her own. ;)
    RX_Sith Thanks It´s defenetly a intersting moment.
    Ewok Poet I´m glad you recognized those little bids, thanks for reading.
    Findswoman Yeah in the end it doesn´t matter if Luke was truly there or not, Bail regained his hope. I´m glad you like it.
    Mira_Jade Thanks :) Its nice to see my attemts on sybolism were quite succesfull.
    Chyntuck I´m glad you like my take on Bail, I always liked the character.
    amidalachick Thanks for commenting on this story. Its defenetly about Bail finding new hope.
    Kahara Its defenetly hard for him and I really liked the fact that in this story I could give him some hope for the future.
     
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  12. divapilot

    divapilot Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 30, 2005
    Such a good story. Like how it's been a year since Padme died, a year since he and Breha adopted baby Leia - the idea that it was only a year ago, but it seems like forever. There is so much weight on Bail's shoulders as a politician, as the Viceroy, and now as a husband and a father to a baby girl. The one thing that I was impressed the most with in Rogue One was the sense of desperation that the rebels had, and that comes through so well in this story. Bail's at his wit's end.

    That 's why the choice of having Luke come to see him is brilliant. Another thing I loved was how Luke reminded Bail not of Anakin but of his mother Padme. He has her strength, that's for sure. Although Luke is headstrong like Anakin and obviously inherited his Force sense from his father, the older Luke got the more he took on his mother's calmness and focus. Luke is the New Hope, even if nobody knows it yet. Despite all the horrible things that are going on, there is still hope and it gives Bail the inspiration to write that speech and the courage to speak it.
    Bail knows that he will pay dearly for this rebellion but he accepts that. It doesn't change anything. And knowing that it will be for a higher end makes his sacrifice (although he doesn't understand how huge a sacrifice) worth it in the end.

    Great story!!!
     
  13. Mira Grau

    Mira Grau Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2016
    Thanks divapilot I´m glad you enjoy it. I still haven´t seen Rouge One so I´m suprised my story fits to its tone. :)
    Yeah Luke seemes to have inherited his fathers potential in the force but is more akin to his mothers personality.
    It´s defenetly sad that Bail is ready to pay the price for a free galaxy, but the price will be much higher than he thinks.
    Thanks for your help with the story. :)
     
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  14. WarmNyota_SweetAyesha

    WarmNyota_SweetAyesha Chosen One star 8

    Registered:
    Aug 31, 2004
    Superb thoughts from Bail and intriguing "visitor" from the future. [face_thinking] Definitely helped to shore up Bail's resolve.
     
  15. Mira Grau

    Mira Grau Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    May 11, 2016
    Thanks I´m glad you like it. :)
     
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