One Lost Signal
A Star Wars Fanfic
By: Tomas Megarson
Email: NighthawkTM@yahoo.com
Webpage: http://nighthawk.anifics.com
Disclaimer: Star Wars and all material related to Star Wars is the
property of George Lucas and of LucasFilms/LucasArts/and the other
various companies within the George Lucas empire.
Author's Notes: This fic has come about by my inability to find any
good AU Star Wars fics in which Luke or Leia or both are NOT part of
the Empire and/or fall to the Dark Side.
Chapter 1:
Evacuation
"General Rieekan, sensors report energy-weapons fire at Captain
Solo's location, followed by an explosion. We've lost the blip."
Both Rieekan and Princess Leia Organa turned to face the man
seated at the sensor station. The General's face held its ever-grim
cast while Leia unconsciously bit her lower lip slightly. After
Luke's close call in the Hoth blizzard but a day before her mind was
worried about her other friend.
Han had gone out only an hour before to check on the hit that the
sensors surrounding the rebel base had picked up. He and his brown
fur Wookie co-pilot, Chewbacca, were only lightly armed but had said
they'd take out the droid that was scouting the base. They refused to
let Rieekan send in Rogues Ten and Eleven to destroy the thing saying
that doing so would insure that the Empire learned that the Rebels
were on Hoth.
"And Captain Solo?" Lei did her best to keep the worry from her
voice that she felt in her mind.
The Comm Officer turned his head to look at her. "We haven't been
able to raise him yet, Your Highness."
"General," Leia turned to Rieekan, this time unable to keep her
fears from her voice, "I think we should send in the snowspeeders.
Han and Chewbacca may have been hurt."
The General's head nodded slowly. "I agree, if we don't hear from
them soon."
Leia opened her mouth to say more, but she was interrupted as one
of the Comm officers from across the room called out. "Comlink signal
coming through on Alpha band sir!"
"He's alive," Leia bit out as she moved to the Comm console,
though relief flooded her. "That numbskull..."
Reaching out from behind the Comm officer, General Rieekan picked
up the comlink and turned it on, catching Solo in mid sentence.
"Base, d'you read me? What do we haveta do, write you a letter?"
It was easy to hear the annoyance that Han was feeling come through
the comlink.
Speaking into the comlink, Rieekan replied, "Base here. What
happened Solo? Are you two all right?"
"Not a scratch, General. Chewie did a little decoy work and I got
a shot straight into it. I'm afraid there's not much left of it,
though."
Leaning slightly passed the General, Leia asked, "What exactly was
it, Han?"
"Tough to tell," came the reply. "A droid of some kind is all I
can say for sure. I didn't hit it that hard, but it blew up anyway.
It must've had a self-destruct mechanism."
"It sounds like an Imperial probe droid, all right."
"Well then," Han's voice was as grim as Rieekan's face was, "it's
a pretty good bet the Empire knows we're here. I think it got a peek
at the defensive generator."
Leia pulled back from the comlink so that she could look at
Rieekan in askance of what to do. His face told her all she needed to
know, but he said the words anyway. "We'd best start an evacuation,
Leia, much as I hate to say it."
For just a moment, Leia gave into the weakness she felt by giving
a tired sigh. "We have no other option. Put out contingency plans
into effect."" She took the comlink from Rieekan as he went to begin
giving the orders. "Han," she said, speaking into the comlink, "you
and Chewbacca get back here right now."
"Best advice I've heard all day!" Han actually sounded slightly
enthusiastic about it. He had been saying he was going to leave the
Rebels, and now it seemed he'd get his chance. "We'll be right back!"
After turning off the comlink, Leia let her gaze wander around the
command center. The controlled chaos that had begun to spread didn't
touch her for some strange reason. The young princess felt more
resigned at the fate then anything else. No matter where they went,
the Empire would hound the Rebellion. Perhaps they would never have a
home again.
"Leia! Leia, what's going on? What's happened?"
The sound of Luke's voice brought Leia back to the present. She
turned her head to look at the young pilot with Sandy-blond hair.
Luke Skywalker had come far from when she had first seen him, bursting
into her cell aboard the Death Star. "An Imperial probe droid has
located the base."
Luke's face grew grim at the news, his blue eyes seeming to loose
some of their fire. "That's gonna change things." His head tilted
slightly as he listened to Rieekan started listing the posts for the
ground troops over the PA system. "At least the waiting's over. I'd
better go look after Rogue Flight."
"Luke, are you sure you're feeling well enough?"
A confident smile came to Luke's face. "Too-Onebee says I'm
fine." The smile quickly fled his face after that, however. "It
wouldn't matter, anyway; we're going to need everybody we've got."
Coming over from where he had been posted, C-3PO, a golden
protocol droid approached the pair. "Oh, Master Luke, there you are!
Does the latest news mean we are leaving?"
"Eventually, Threepio, when the evacuation is organized."
Reaching out, Luke patted the droid on the shoulder. "I'll be in a
snowspeeder until then." Luke turned his gaze down to the blue and
white domed droid that had rolled up next to Threepio. "Artoo, you'd
better get over to the fighter hanger. We're gonna need you in my X-
Wing."
As Artoo-Detoo whistled in agreement and moved off, Threepio
looked again at his master. "And what about me, Master Luke?"
"I want you to stay here with the princess. If I don't see you
here, I'll meet you at the fleet rendezvous point."
"Very well. Do take good care of yourself and Artoo, Master
Luke."
"Yes, Luke," Leia spoke up, "be careful."
Luke gave the two a genuine laugh. "I could say the same thing to
you two. Watch out for yourselves, both of you. Good-bye, Leia."
Leia's voice was soft as she spoke. "Good-bye Luke; good luck."
Luke turned his head over his shoulder to look at the Princess as
he headed out of the Command Center. "Don't worry. I'll be fine.
See you at the rendezvous!" The door to the center slid shut behind
him as he left.
Leia remained standing still, watching where Luke had been, even
after the door had shut him off. Something just felt...right for some
reason. As though something that could have been very bad had just
missed her. She would have remained there pondering what it was when
Threepio broke the spell for her.
"How may I be of service, Your Highness?"
Leia turned to face the golden protocol droid. "Just stand by for
now, Threepio. We're undermanned at the communications consoles; we
may need you there later."
"How do you evaluate our situation?"
With a sigh, Leia shook her head. "I can't. Too many unknowns in
the equation. What's important now is to get our personnel and the
critical equipment away from Hoth. The rest of the Alliance is
scattered. If the Empire manages to destroy us, it would mean the
loss of the Alliance's main organized resistance."
"Can we evacuate quickly enough, Your Highness?"
"We have to, Threepio." A determined look came to her eyes. "If
the Empire succeeds in trapping us here, it could be the end."
***
Floating in the vastness of space, a group of white, wedge shape
capital ships silently hovered. The fleet that was assembled was the
largest in the Empire, under the command of Darth Vader himself. The
Dark Lord of the Sith anger was well known, as was his obsession with
finding the rebels. His desire to find the rebel Luke Skywalker,
however, was far greater then any other he had felt in years.
As the Dark Lord stalked toward the bridge, his anger grew to new
heights. Even before he reached the bridge, he could tell through the
Force that he would not get the answer he wanted. But
perhaps...perhaps something would change. And perhaps his presence
would inspire his forces to work harder. If they valued their lives,
they would.
As he stepped onto the bridge, Vader could taste the fear that
began rolling off of the crew. It was like a sweet nectar to him,
making him stronger as the Dark Side permeated the bridge. He stalked
up to the older man on the bridge, the one with the Admiral's bars on
the chest. "What is the status of the search operations, Admiral
Ozzel?"
Ozzel turned to face his lord. "We're ahead of schedule on probe
droid deployment, Lord Vader. The starfleet's capital ships are
making their assigned sweeps. Our TIE fighters are dispersed
according to plan."
"Without having found anything - is that what you are telling me,
Admiral?" Vader's deep voice carried a hint of a threat with it.
Ozzel didn't miss the threat at all, swallowing his fear back
slightly. "Lord Vader, we have a huge volume of space to search, but
we've worked our way through much of it already. In time, we will
root the Rebels out."
"I grow impatient. I expect results, Admiral. And so does the
Emperor."
"No one knows that better than I, My Lord. Perhaps if more units
were assigned to the fleet, we could saturate the region, and then..."
"The Empire," this time Vader's voice dripped with anger, "must be
kept in good order, Admiral, and its planets kept...pacified. There
are no unites to spare." Ozzel was beginning to get on Vader's
nerves. A far more serious threat seemed to be needed. "If you
cannot perform your mission with a starfleet, perhaps someone else
can."
Admiral Ozzel shrank back in fear. "I can do it, Lord Vader. We
shall find them; you'll see."
"Admiral Ozzel, have you a moment?" Walking toward the pair was a
younger man, with the rank of Captain on his chest.
"Yes, Admiral, I WILL see." Vader made sure he was clear on that
before turning his attention to the captain.
"Admiral Ozzel, I thought you should be informed that..."
"Captain Piett," mentally Ozzel was glad the young man had shown
up, giving him an outlet for his anger and fear, "can't you see that
you're interrupting Lord Vader and myself? Until we are finished, you
will stand by and await my..."
"Admiral," Vader interrupted, "I think I should like to hear this
interesting news of Captain Piett's."
It took everything Ozzel had not to swallow his tongue. "As you
say, Lord Vader. You may continue, Captain."
Piett had no choice but to swallow at that. Everyone knew what
Darth Vader did to those who brought bad news, and his news was fairly
bad. "My Lord, we have not received any transmission from the probe
sent to Hoth since eight hours ago. Our meteorologist section has
reported that severe storms passed through the zone where the probe
landed just after that time." Piett swallowed at the gaze he felt
Vader give him. "We're afraid that the probe droid might have been
damaged."
Vader seethed under his mask. He would have slain both where they
stood, but then he would have had to place General Veers in charge of
the fleet, and that would have been...problematic to say the least.
"Deal with this mistake Admiral, or you and your Captain will pay the
price." With that, Vader turned and left, leaving both Ozzel and
Piett wondering at how much longer they had to live.
***
Luke sighed as he gazed around his quarters within the ice
caverns. He found it slightly amusing that he had grown attached to
the place. Maybe it was just because he was from Tatooine, and that
it was Han and himself that had discovered the world.
Pulling on his flight gloves, Luke pressed a few buttons on the
life support system of his flight suit, starting it up and sealing the
gloves to the suit. He reached out to a shelf to grab his helmet as
the door to his room slid open. Turning, Luke smiled at Too-Onebee,
the medical droid who put him back together after his walk through a
Hoth blizzard.
In his precise voice, Too-Onebee spoke. "I'm glad that you're well
enough to have left the medical center, Commander Skywalker, but
saddened by the circumstances."
"You and me both, Too-Onebee." Luke gave the droid a smile. "But the
Empire hasn't shown up yet, so hopefully we can get out of here
quietly."
"Hopefully Commander. I was told to consult you, sir. My medical
center is being evacuated insofar as is possible, but it will take
considerable time and effort to evacuate the T-47's."
Luke's face took a decidedly downward cast. "I'm really sorry,
Onebee, but we'll have to forget the heavy equipment. There's plenty
of time to get the smaller modules onboard the transports, though."
"Yes, sir. It seems wasteful that the T-47's must be scheduled for
demolition. They are useful machines."
"Would you rather have the Empire use them?" Luke asked pointedly.
"I am a medical droid, sir. My political programming is limited."
Luke was interrupted from replying by the PA system. "The third
transport has departed. All personnel assigned to transport number 4
please proceed to it and board immediately."
As the PA switched off Luke gave a grin. "Its great that the Empire
hasn't showed up yet. All of those troops who would be in the
trenches are busy helping with the loading. Everything is moving
faster then we expected." Luke turned his eyes to his desk and
frowned. "Have you seen my comlink Too-Onebee?"
"The techs are repairing it. Like yourself, it underwent some very
unhealthy usage."
With a shrug, Luke headed toward his door. "Well, if anyone needs me,
tell them I'm heading for my X-Wing, with a stop by the Millenium
Falcon's hanger bay."
"Yes, sir. It is my hope that you continue in health, working to the
good Commander Skywalker."
With a laugh, Luke gave the droid a wave over his shoulder. "You too,
Onebee, you too."
***
Han Solo finally relaxed as the last panel of the Falcon's hull was
sealed again. "Thanks for the help Lieutenant. Chewie and me might
not have gotten it done without you and your droids."
"I was happy to help Captain. We all owe you a lot for what you've
done." The young man waved at the droids to get moving before turning
back to Han. "We're on Transport Five, so we've got to hurry. I hope
to see you again, Captain." With a salute, the Lieutenant turned and
walked with his droids out of the hanger.
With a slight, almost sarcastic smile, Han turned to his partner.
"Get inside and fire the engines up Chewie. I wanna get us out of
here before any Imps arrive."
With a howl of acknowledgement, Chewbacca went up the Falcon's main
ramp and into the ship. Han turned to join his partner when a voice
stopped him. "Well, well, well; so you haven't gotten around to
junking this bucket yet, huh?"
Han turned back and frowned at Luke. "That's gonna cost you, next
time you want a joyride, Junior." Coming back down the ramp, Chewie's
growls were easily taken as agreement. "And Chewie says you ride with
the ballast from here on in," Han translated for his friend. Luke's
laughter brought a grin to Han's face. It was good that the kid could
keep in light spirits. "So, where ya goin' in the funny suit,
Commander?"
"X-Wing Han. Its almost time for me to get off this rock of ice."
Under Luke's voice, the announcement of the fourth transport departing
and that the fifth was to be boarded. "So, when you leaving Han?"
"Me and Chewie are gonna help escort the sixth transport out of here.
Then we're gonna go pay Jabba a visit and pay off that debt."
Luke gave a tired sigh. "I see. Well, I'm gonna miss you Han. You
take care of yourself, okay? I wanna see you both again."
Reaching out, Han roughed Luke's hair. "We were taking care of
ourselves before you even saw a starship kid. We'll be fine, you're
the one who needs to watch out. You're still gonna have the Empire
after you."
"I'll be fine Han." Turning away Luke began heading for the door.
"When you're done with Jabba get in touch with me, okay?"
"Will do. And Luke?" Luke turned to look at his friend. "May the
Force be with you."
"Thanks Han," Luke said with a smile. "You too." Turning again, Luke
took off at a run out of the hanger.
"Transport Five is away. All personnel assigned to Transport Six
proceed and begin boarding now."
Han turned himself and headed up the Falcon's ramp. "Come on Chewie,
that's us. Its time to leave this joint."
***
"Hey, Luke, you ready to leave this place?"
Luke smiled as he approached his friend Wedge Antilles. Luke and
Wedge had been wingmen since the Battle of Yavin, and through it all
they'd seen a lot together. Wedge's hansom face and ready smile made
him all the more popular when they managed to get some vacation time
away from the Alliance, though that was still rare for the two. "You
bet I am Wedge." The rest of what Luke tried to say was drowned out
as Transport number six flew over head, heading toward space.
Luke turned to gaze at its launch, but more importantly to gaze at the
smaller transport that was flying escort for it. Despite knowing it
for all this time, the Millenium Falcon still looked like a piece of
junk. The two X-Wings that were with it, however, looked fairly
splendid with light glistening off of their wings.
"Say, Wedge, who had escort for Number Six?"
"Hobbie and Wes were guarding it."
"Why am I not surprised? Okay, into the X-Wings. Our number is
coming up soon, I'm sure."
"You got it boss."
The pair climbed into their respective X-Wings, each letting their
eyes go over the instruments making sure everything was working.
Reaching out to his com, Luke switched it to the Squadron's channel.
"Wedge, how's your X-Wing look?"
"The engines are on the cold side Luke, but it shouldn't be a problem."
"Got it." With a flick of a finger Luke switched over to the command
frequency. "Base, this is Rogue Leader. We are green to go."
"Alright Commander," General Rieekan's voice came back, "The Command
staff is heading to the transport now. Lift off is in T minus two
minutes."
"Understood, sir. Rogue Leader out."
The two minutes came faster then Luke thought they did, time
seeming to have slowed down as he waited for the transport to finish
loading. Finally, however, the orders came. Activating the
repulsorlifts, Luke gently brought his fighter into the air, Wedge's
own following him up. Adding power to the engines, Luke formed up
with the slowly rising transport and headed toward space.
"Artoo, set coordinates for the rendezvous point." Behind Luke,
the blue and white astromech beeped in reply, and it wasn't long
before a message came up informing Luke that the coordinates for the
jump were set. "Wedge, I'm sending you the jump calculations now.
Stand-by." Punching a few more button's, Luke shot the information
over to Wedge.
"Okay Rogue Leader, I got them. Ready to jump when you are."
Luke switched back to the command line. "Transport, are you ready
to jump?"
"We're ready, Commander."
Switching to a general channel, Luke reached out to the lever.
"Okay everyone, we jump in three. Three, two, one...mark." So
saying, Luke through the lever back, sending his X-Wing into
hyperspace.
Author's Notes: Well, there ya go, chapter one. Hope you peoples
enjoyed it.
A Star Wars Fanfic
By: Tomas Megarson
Email: NighthawkTM@yahoo.com
Webpage: http://nighthawk.anifics.com
Disclaimer: Star Wars and all material related to Star Wars is the
property of George Lucas and of LucasFilms/LucasArts/and the other
various companies within the George Lucas empire.
Author's Notes: This fic has come about by my inability to find any
good AU Star Wars fics in which Luke or Leia or both are NOT part of
the Empire and/or fall to the Dark Side.
Chapter 1:
Evacuation
"General Rieekan, sensors report energy-weapons fire at Captain
Solo's location, followed by an explosion. We've lost the blip."
Both Rieekan and Princess Leia Organa turned to face the man
seated at the sensor station. The General's face held its ever-grim
cast while Leia unconsciously bit her lower lip slightly. After
Luke's close call in the Hoth blizzard but a day before her mind was
worried about her other friend.
Han had gone out only an hour before to check on the hit that the
sensors surrounding the rebel base had picked up. He and his brown
fur Wookie co-pilot, Chewbacca, were only lightly armed but had said
they'd take out the droid that was scouting the base. They refused to
let Rieekan send in Rogues Ten and Eleven to destroy the thing saying
that doing so would insure that the Empire learned that the Rebels
were on Hoth.
"And Captain Solo?" Lei did her best to keep the worry from her
voice that she felt in her mind.
The Comm Officer turned his head to look at her. "We haven't been
able to raise him yet, Your Highness."
"General," Leia turned to Rieekan, this time unable to keep her
fears from her voice, "I think we should send in the snowspeeders.
Han and Chewbacca may have been hurt."
The General's head nodded slowly. "I agree, if we don't hear from
them soon."
Leia opened her mouth to say more, but she was interrupted as one
of the Comm officers from across the room called out. "Comlink signal
coming through on Alpha band sir!"
"He's alive," Leia bit out as she moved to the Comm console,
though relief flooded her. "That numbskull..."
Reaching out from behind the Comm officer, General Rieekan picked
up the comlink and turned it on, catching Solo in mid sentence.
"Base, d'you read me? What do we haveta do, write you a letter?"
It was easy to hear the annoyance that Han was feeling come through
the comlink.
Speaking into the comlink, Rieekan replied, "Base here. What
happened Solo? Are you two all right?"
"Not a scratch, General. Chewie did a little decoy work and I got
a shot straight into it. I'm afraid there's not much left of it,
though."
Leaning slightly passed the General, Leia asked, "What exactly was
it, Han?"
"Tough to tell," came the reply. "A droid of some kind is all I
can say for sure. I didn't hit it that hard, but it blew up anyway.
It must've had a self-destruct mechanism."
"It sounds like an Imperial probe droid, all right."
"Well then," Han's voice was as grim as Rieekan's face was, "it's
a pretty good bet the Empire knows we're here. I think it got a peek
at the defensive generator."
Leia pulled back from the comlink so that she could look at
Rieekan in askance of what to do. His face told her all she needed to
know, but he said the words anyway. "We'd best start an evacuation,
Leia, much as I hate to say it."
For just a moment, Leia gave into the weakness she felt by giving
a tired sigh. "We have no other option. Put out contingency plans
into effect."" She took the comlink from Rieekan as he went to begin
giving the orders. "Han," she said, speaking into the comlink, "you
and Chewbacca get back here right now."
"Best advice I've heard all day!" Han actually sounded slightly
enthusiastic about it. He had been saying he was going to leave the
Rebels, and now it seemed he'd get his chance. "We'll be right back!"
After turning off the comlink, Leia let her gaze wander around the
command center. The controlled chaos that had begun to spread didn't
touch her for some strange reason. The young princess felt more
resigned at the fate then anything else. No matter where they went,
the Empire would hound the Rebellion. Perhaps they would never have a
home again.
"Leia! Leia, what's going on? What's happened?"
The sound of Luke's voice brought Leia back to the present. She
turned her head to look at the young pilot with Sandy-blond hair.
Luke Skywalker had come far from when she had first seen him, bursting
into her cell aboard the Death Star. "An Imperial probe droid has
located the base."
Luke's face grew grim at the news, his blue eyes seeming to loose
some of their fire. "That's gonna change things." His head tilted
slightly as he listened to Rieekan started listing the posts for the
ground troops over the PA system. "At least the waiting's over. I'd
better go look after Rogue Flight."
"Luke, are you sure you're feeling well enough?"
A confident smile came to Luke's face. "Too-Onebee says I'm
fine." The smile quickly fled his face after that, however. "It
wouldn't matter, anyway; we're going to need everybody we've got."
Coming over from where he had been posted, C-3PO, a golden
protocol droid approached the pair. "Oh, Master Luke, there you are!
Does the latest news mean we are leaving?"
"Eventually, Threepio, when the evacuation is organized."
Reaching out, Luke patted the droid on the shoulder. "I'll be in a
snowspeeder until then." Luke turned his gaze down to the blue and
white domed droid that had rolled up next to Threepio. "Artoo, you'd
better get over to the fighter hanger. We're gonna need you in my X-
Wing."
As Artoo-Detoo whistled in agreement and moved off, Threepio
looked again at his master. "And what about me, Master Luke?"
"I want you to stay here with the princess. If I don't see you
here, I'll meet you at the fleet rendezvous point."
"Very well. Do take good care of yourself and Artoo, Master
Luke."
"Yes, Luke," Leia spoke up, "be careful."
Luke gave the two a genuine laugh. "I could say the same thing to
you two. Watch out for yourselves, both of you. Good-bye, Leia."
Leia's voice was soft as she spoke. "Good-bye Luke; good luck."
Luke turned his head over his shoulder to look at the Princess as
he headed out of the Command Center. "Don't worry. I'll be fine.
See you at the rendezvous!" The door to the center slid shut behind
him as he left.
Leia remained standing still, watching where Luke had been, even
after the door had shut him off. Something just felt...right for some
reason. As though something that could have been very bad had just
missed her. She would have remained there pondering what it was when
Threepio broke the spell for her.
"How may I be of service, Your Highness?"
Leia turned to face the golden protocol droid. "Just stand by for
now, Threepio. We're undermanned at the communications consoles; we
may need you there later."
"How do you evaluate our situation?"
With a sigh, Leia shook her head. "I can't. Too many unknowns in
the equation. What's important now is to get our personnel and the
critical equipment away from Hoth. The rest of the Alliance is
scattered. If the Empire manages to destroy us, it would mean the
loss of the Alliance's main organized resistance."
"Can we evacuate quickly enough, Your Highness?"
"We have to, Threepio." A determined look came to her eyes. "If
the Empire succeeds in trapping us here, it could be the end."
***
Floating in the vastness of space, a group of white, wedge shape
capital ships silently hovered. The fleet that was assembled was the
largest in the Empire, under the command of Darth Vader himself. The
Dark Lord of the Sith anger was well known, as was his obsession with
finding the rebels. His desire to find the rebel Luke Skywalker,
however, was far greater then any other he had felt in years.
As the Dark Lord stalked toward the bridge, his anger grew to new
heights. Even before he reached the bridge, he could tell through the
Force that he would not get the answer he wanted. But
perhaps...perhaps something would change. And perhaps his presence
would inspire his forces to work harder. If they valued their lives,
they would.
As he stepped onto the bridge, Vader could taste the fear that
began rolling off of the crew. It was like a sweet nectar to him,
making him stronger as the Dark Side permeated the bridge. He stalked
up to the older man on the bridge, the one with the Admiral's bars on
the chest. "What is the status of the search operations, Admiral
Ozzel?"
Ozzel turned to face his lord. "We're ahead of schedule on probe
droid deployment, Lord Vader. The starfleet's capital ships are
making their assigned sweeps. Our TIE fighters are dispersed
according to plan."
"Without having found anything - is that what you are telling me,
Admiral?" Vader's deep voice carried a hint of a threat with it.
Ozzel didn't miss the threat at all, swallowing his fear back
slightly. "Lord Vader, we have a huge volume of space to search, but
we've worked our way through much of it already. In time, we will
root the Rebels out."
"I grow impatient. I expect results, Admiral. And so does the
Emperor."
"No one knows that better than I, My Lord. Perhaps if more units
were assigned to the fleet, we could saturate the region, and then..."
"The Empire," this time Vader's voice dripped with anger, "must be
kept in good order, Admiral, and its planets kept...pacified. There
are no unites to spare." Ozzel was beginning to get on Vader's
nerves. A far more serious threat seemed to be needed. "If you
cannot perform your mission with a starfleet, perhaps someone else
can."
Admiral Ozzel shrank back in fear. "I can do it, Lord Vader. We
shall find them; you'll see."
"Admiral Ozzel, have you a moment?" Walking toward the pair was a
younger man, with the rank of Captain on his chest.
"Yes, Admiral, I WILL see." Vader made sure he was clear on that
before turning his attention to the captain.
"Admiral Ozzel, I thought you should be informed that..."
"Captain Piett," mentally Ozzel was glad the young man had shown
up, giving him an outlet for his anger and fear, "can't you see that
you're interrupting Lord Vader and myself? Until we are finished, you
will stand by and await my..."
"Admiral," Vader interrupted, "I think I should like to hear this
interesting news of Captain Piett's."
It took everything Ozzel had not to swallow his tongue. "As you
say, Lord Vader. You may continue, Captain."
Piett had no choice but to swallow at that. Everyone knew what
Darth Vader did to those who brought bad news, and his news was fairly
bad. "My Lord, we have not received any transmission from the probe
sent to Hoth since eight hours ago. Our meteorologist section has
reported that severe storms passed through the zone where the probe
landed just after that time." Piett swallowed at the gaze he felt
Vader give him. "We're afraid that the probe droid might have been
damaged."
Vader seethed under his mask. He would have slain both where they
stood, but then he would have had to place General Veers in charge of
the fleet, and that would have been...problematic to say the least.
"Deal with this mistake Admiral, or you and your Captain will pay the
price." With that, Vader turned and left, leaving both Ozzel and
Piett wondering at how much longer they had to live.
***
Luke sighed as he gazed around his quarters within the ice
caverns. He found it slightly amusing that he had grown attached to
the place. Maybe it was just because he was from Tatooine, and that
it was Han and himself that had discovered the world.
Pulling on his flight gloves, Luke pressed a few buttons on the
life support system of his flight suit, starting it up and sealing the
gloves to the suit. He reached out to a shelf to grab his helmet as
the door to his room slid open. Turning, Luke smiled at Too-Onebee,
the medical droid who put him back together after his walk through a
Hoth blizzard.
In his precise voice, Too-Onebee spoke. "I'm glad that you're well
enough to have left the medical center, Commander Skywalker, but
saddened by the circumstances."
"You and me both, Too-Onebee." Luke gave the droid a smile. "But the
Empire hasn't shown up yet, so hopefully we can get out of here
quietly."
"Hopefully Commander. I was told to consult you, sir. My medical
center is being evacuated insofar as is possible, but it will take
considerable time and effort to evacuate the T-47's."
Luke's face took a decidedly downward cast. "I'm really sorry,
Onebee, but we'll have to forget the heavy equipment. There's plenty
of time to get the smaller modules onboard the transports, though."
"Yes, sir. It seems wasteful that the T-47's must be scheduled for
demolition. They are useful machines."
"Would you rather have the Empire use them?" Luke asked pointedly.
"I am a medical droid, sir. My political programming is limited."
Luke was interrupted from replying by the PA system. "The third
transport has departed. All personnel assigned to transport number 4
please proceed to it and board immediately."
As the PA switched off Luke gave a grin. "Its great that the Empire
hasn't showed up yet. All of those troops who would be in the
trenches are busy helping with the loading. Everything is moving
faster then we expected." Luke turned his eyes to his desk and
frowned. "Have you seen my comlink Too-Onebee?"
"The techs are repairing it. Like yourself, it underwent some very
unhealthy usage."
With a shrug, Luke headed toward his door. "Well, if anyone needs me,
tell them I'm heading for my X-Wing, with a stop by the Millenium
Falcon's hanger bay."
"Yes, sir. It is my hope that you continue in health, working to the
good Commander Skywalker."
With a laugh, Luke gave the droid a wave over his shoulder. "You too,
Onebee, you too."
***
Han Solo finally relaxed as the last panel of the Falcon's hull was
sealed again. "Thanks for the help Lieutenant. Chewie and me might
not have gotten it done without you and your droids."
"I was happy to help Captain. We all owe you a lot for what you've
done." The young man waved at the droids to get moving before turning
back to Han. "We're on Transport Five, so we've got to hurry. I hope
to see you again, Captain." With a salute, the Lieutenant turned and
walked with his droids out of the hanger.
With a slight, almost sarcastic smile, Han turned to his partner.
"Get inside and fire the engines up Chewie. I wanna get us out of
here before any Imps arrive."
With a howl of acknowledgement, Chewbacca went up the Falcon's main
ramp and into the ship. Han turned to join his partner when a voice
stopped him. "Well, well, well; so you haven't gotten around to
junking this bucket yet, huh?"
Han turned back and frowned at Luke. "That's gonna cost you, next
time you want a joyride, Junior." Coming back down the ramp, Chewie's
growls were easily taken as agreement. "And Chewie says you ride with
the ballast from here on in," Han translated for his friend. Luke's
laughter brought a grin to Han's face. It was good that the kid could
keep in light spirits. "So, where ya goin' in the funny suit,
Commander?"
"X-Wing Han. Its almost time for me to get off this rock of ice."
Under Luke's voice, the announcement of the fourth transport departing
and that the fifth was to be boarded. "So, when you leaving Han?"
"Me and Chewie are gonna help escort the sixth transport out of here.
Then we're gonna go pay Jabba a visit and pay off that debt."
Luke gave a tired sigh. "I see. Well, I'm gonna miss you Han. You
take care of yourself, okay? I wanna see you both again."
Reaching out, Han roughed Luke's hair. "We were taking care of
ourselves before you even saw a starship kid. We'll be fine, you're
the one who needs to watch out. You're still gonna have the Empire
after you."
"I'll be fine Han." Turning away Luke began heading for the door.
"When you're done with Jabba get in touch with me, okay?"
"Will do. And Luke?" Luke turned to look at his friend. "May the
Force be with you."
"Thanks Han," Luke said with a smile. "You too." Turning again, Luke
took off at a run out of the hanger.
"Transport Five is away. All personnel assigned to Transport Six
proceed and begin boarding now."
Han turned himself and headed up the Falcon's ramp. "Come on Chewie,
that's us. Its time to leave this joint."
***
"Hey, Luke, you ready to leave this place?"
Luke smiled as he approached his friend Wedge Antilles. Luke and
Wedge had been wingmen since the Battle of Yavin, and through it all
they'd seen a lot together. Wedge's hansom face and ready smile made
him all the more popular when they managed to get some vacation time
away from the Alliance, though that was still rare for the two. "You
bet I am Wedge." The rest of what Luke tried to say was drowned out
as Transport number six flew over head, heading toward space.
Luke turned to gaze at its launch, but more importantly to gaze at the
smaller transport that was flying escort for it. Despite knowing it
for all this time, the Millenium Falcon still looked like a piece of
junk. The two X-Wings that were with it, however, looked fairly
splendid with light glistening off of their wings.
"Say, Wedge, who had escort for Number Six?"
"Hobbie and Wes were guarding it."
"Why am I not surprised? Okay, into the X-Wings. Our number is
coming up soon, I'm sure."
"You got it boss."
The pair climbed into their respective X-Wings, each letting their
eyes go over the instruments making sure everything was working.
Reaching out to his com, Luke switched it to the Squadron's channel.
"Wedge, how's your X-Wing look?"
"The engines are on the cold side Luke, but it shouldn't be a problem."
"Got it." With a flick of a finger Luke switched over to the command
frequency. "Base, this is Rogue Leader. We are green to go."
"Alright Commander," General Rieekan's voice came back, "The Command
staff is heading to the transport now. Lift off is in T minus two
minutes."
"Understood, sir. Rogue Leader out."
The two minutes came faster then Luke thought they did, time
seeming to have slowed down as he waited for the transport to finish
loading. Finally, however, the orders came. Activating the
repulsorlifts, Luke gently brought his fighter into the air, Wedge's
own following him up. Adding power to the engines, Luke formed up
with the slowly rising transport and headed toward space.
"Artoo, set coordinates for the rendezvous point." Behind Luke,
the blue and white astromech beeped in reply, and it wasn't long
before a message came up informing Luke that the coordinates for the
jump were set. "Wedge, I'm sending you the jump calculations now.
Stand-by." Punching a few more button's, Luke shot the information
over to Wedge.
"Okay Rogue Leader, I got them. Ready to jump when you are."
Luke switched back to the command line. "Transport, are you ready
to jump?"
"We're ready, Commander."
Switching to a general channel, Luke reached out to the lever.
"Okay everyone, we jump in three. Three, two, one...mark." So
saying, Luke through the lever back, sending his X-Wing into
hyperspace.
Author's Notes: Well, there ya go, chapter one. Hope you peoples
enjoyed it.