It Is Not the Only Way
[This is the continuation of Star Wars Episode V if R2D2 could not fix the hyperdrive on the Millenium Falcon, and they instead get captured by Vader's command ship.]
"They'll be in range of our tractor beam in moments, my lord."
"Did your men deactivate the hyperdrive on the Millenium Falcon?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Good! Prepare the boarding party, and set your weapons for stun."
"Yes, my lord. Lieutenant!"
"Yes, sir."
……………
"(Luke!)"
"Father?"
"(Son! Come with me!)"
"Ben! Why didn't you tell me?"
……………
"It's Vader."
"(Luke. It is your destiny!)"
"Ben. Why didn't you tell me?"
……………
"Alert all commands. Ready for the tractor beam."
……………………
Lando's face turned pale. "It's no use… they've got us. We're as good as dead."
"I'm not going down without a fight!" Remarked Leia. "There must be something we can do. This ship has been captured before and survived."
Luke looked up. "But we had Ben with us then. Now we don't."
Leia turned to face Lando. "Does this ship have a self-destruct mechanism?"
"As a matter of fact… it does." Said Lando.
"In that case, we'll take out everyone with us. The Alliance will have a much easier time destroying the Empire with Vader dead."
"But we'll all be dead!" Complained Lando.
"It's a sacrifice we have to make." Leia stood up. "I'm not afraid to die."
"Second of all, the explosion probably won't be big enough to destroy the whole command ship." Said Lando. "We might be able to take out the sector that the tractor beam drops us in, and the storm troopers that are in the area, but Vader's not stupid enough to get close to us yet because he probably suspects that we might be brave enough to take that option."
"Any damage that we can do is good enough." Said Leia. "If they capture us, the information that they'll probe from our brains will be far more damaging to the Alliance anyway. We have to die!"
"Wait!" Interrupted Luke. "Maybe there is another way. Lando! Can the explosives from the self-destruct mechanism be removed and moved to, oh say, somewhere else?"
"I suppose so. But where would you move them to?"
"To me! I'll strap them to me under my clothes, go to Vader, and walk with him. When I'm within the proximity range of the tractor beam operation mechanism, I'll take us all out, and then you'll be able to escape on the Millenium Falcon." Explained Luke.
"Your out of your mind!" Yelled Lando.
"Vader only wants me, so I'll walk out of the ship alone."
"I have a better idea." Said Leia. "Strap the explosives to R2D2 instead. He'll go with you when you go to meet Vader. Then somehow you'll find a way to get away before you command R2D2 to explode."
"It's worth a try. Now where's that self-destruct mechanism?" Asked Luke.
"Follow me." Said Lando. "I'll show you." All of a sudden the ship began shaking and lost all of its thrust. The tractor beam now had a full lock on the ship. "Turn the engines off, Chewie. Just keep the ship stable. Luke, Leia, follow me. We don't have much time." They ran to the central defense compartment and Lando removed the seal that surrounded the explosive device. "Help me take these components apart."
"I only have a hand." Remarked Luke.
"I'll help you." Said Leia. They quickly disassembled the parts just as R2D2 came into their room. Then they began reassembling them into the interior of the little droid.
"Just barely enough room to fit inside." Stated Lando. "Our time is almost up." They soon finished and then all of them went to the entryway.
"Take care of yourself, Luke." Said Lando. Then he walked out of the room and to the cockpit.
"Good luck, Luke." Leia whispered. "And may the force be with you." Then she gave him a very emotional kiss. Tears followed immediately from her eyes. She had strong doubts that he could work everything out successfully. Luke also had his doubts.
"Leia," whispered Luke, "there's something I need to tell you before I go, in case I don't survive. There is a jedi master named Yoda on Dagobah. He is the one who trained me before I came to Bespin. Although Ben told me that I was the last and only hope left to defeat the Emperor, Yoda spoke of another, and I believe that to be you."
"Me? How could it be me?"
"Remember a few moments ago when you rescued me in Bespin. I was able to use the Force to communicate with you. That means that you must have my powers too. If I fail here, you must seek out Yoda, and be trained as a Jedi."
"No, Luke. There must be some sort of mistake." After she said that, the Millenium Falcon touched the ground of the landing platform inside the command ship.
"There's no time anymore. You have to trust me, Leia. I have a feeling that we shall see each other again after this is all over. I must go now. Stay here on the ship and wait for my signal. I will use the force to communicate with you again. Now hurry to the cockpit and stay with the others. You'll be safe." Leia nodded and left the room. Luke was now alone with R2D2. "Lets go R2." They walked to the entrance and it started opening up for them. "So it begins." Luke whispered. He held his left hand to cover what remained of his right arm, and then slowly walked out of the ship with R2D2 by his side. "I'm sorry R2. We won't forget you." He whispered again.
The storm troopers were waiting outside, and were very surprised to see anyone come out of the ship on their own free will. One of the commanders approached him. "Put your hands up you rebel!" Then when he saw that Luke was missing a hand, he corrected himself: "Put your hand up!"
"I surrender. Vader wants to see me. Bring me to him."
"Yes. He told us about you. He has been waiting for you, you rebel scum. Where are the others that are with you?"
"I'm sure enough that Vader only wants me. He has no use for them. Let them live!"
"Lord Vader will determine their fate." The storm troopers then surrounded Luke and R2D2. "You will follow them to Lord Vader. If you do not cooperate, they will stun you."
"I have every intention of obeying." He started walking with them.
"Hold on a moment, rebel! Your droid will stay here."
"But this droid contains valuable data on the location of the rebel base. I'm sure that Vader wants him too."
"No! Until that order is received, the droid will stay. Now go!" The guns were pointing straight at him. And Luke had no choice but to continue. Things were not going according to the plan. They walked him to a set of stairs. Once they reached the top, the doors opened. On the other side stood the eagerly awaiting Darth Vader.
"Leave us!" Said Vader. The storm troopers left immediately out of the room.
"Father."
"Son."
"You were right about me, father. It is the only way. It is our destiny to rule the galaxy together."
"Yes. The emperor has foreseen this. Together, we will defeat the emperor, and then nothing shall stand in our way."
"The Darkside guides me now."
"Tell me the location of the rebel base. They are the only ones against us now."
"Of course, father. The coordinates are kept in my R2 unit. I tried to tell the commander to allow me to bring him to you, but he refused, saying that I must come alone."
"I will make sure that he is told to let the droid pass." The admiral was walking across the room. "Admiral!"
"Yes, my lord."
"Tell the commander outside the Millenium Falcon to let the R2 unit come to me."
"Yes. At once, my lord." He ran off quickly to give the order.
"Walk with me, my son. There is much to talk about."
"Yes, father."
"Tell me– who is it that has been training you?"
"I've trained myself. The force is strong with me."
"Indeed, it is, young Skywalker."
……………
"So what are we supposed to do now?" Asked Lando.
"Nothing." Replied Leia. "We will wait here for Luke's signal."
C-3P0 managed to find his way to the cockpit and began talking. "Where's Master Luke? And where is R2?"
"Out there in the command ship, somewhere." Replied Lando.
"My goodness. Might I add that the probability of survival in such dire conditions is a billion to one!"
"I hope nobody minds if I turn him off." Lando flipped a switch on his back and he was off.
"He's been like that before." Mentioned Leia.
"I took a look at the hyperdrive." Said Lando. "And I'm not sure how to reactive it. It might be easier to just get another one."
"Easier?" Questioned Leia. "That definitely complicates things a bit."
……………
After several minutes walking, Vader and Luke were finally in the hallway of the control device for the tractor beam.
"My legs need some rest, father. I've had a rough day."
"I know– I gave you that rough day of yours. We can talk here for a bit."
Luke looked around in both directions of the hall. R2D2 was nowhere in sight. "Father, do you believe that we are powerful enough to destroy the emperor?"
"Yes, my son. He is no match for our combined abilities. Now, it's time to deal with some important business. Your old friends on the Millenium Falcon must die."
"But they are no use to us anymore. We can let them go."
"NO! They will all have to die for being the rebels that they are. You agree with me, don't you?"
Luke was in a tight predicament. By not agreeing with Vader, he would put the whole mission in jeopardy because Vader wouldn't trust him anymore. But by agreeing with Vader, he would put his friends in danger. He had to hold on to the hope that they'd think of way to stay alive a bit longer. "You're right, father. They must all be killed."
"That's what I thought." He walked over to the command console and spoke an order to the entire ship: "Kill everyone on board the Millenium Falcon. Leave no one alive."
……………
"Did you hear that!?!" Yelled Leia.
"I heard! I heard! Chewie, close the main entry!" Commanded Lando. The hatch doors closed immediately."
"That won't hold them for very long!" Complained Leia.
"I know! I know! This ship has two turrets for defense. We can use them to hold off the storm troopers. You take the left turret, and I'll take the right! Let's hurry to our positions!" They quickly ran to the turrets, sat down in the seats, and activated them in defense mode. By then they were already being fired at in all directions by the storm troopers, yet their blasters were not penetrating the shielding that quickly. "Fire at everyone!" Yelled Lando.
"There are too many of them! We won't be able to last for too long!"
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"Luke. I will complete your training to the dark side. You will soon become unstoppable like me."
"I cannot wait to become more like you, father."
"Let me look into your mind, and see how much training you will need to be complete." Vader's mind was now focused on his. Luke resisted Vader's attempt to read his mind. He could not allow Vader to see his real thoughts and feelings.
"Why are you resisting me? You must let me look into your mind."
"Now, is a bad time. Perhaps later?" Luke was getting worried.
"No! I must see now how dark you truly are." Declared Vader.
"I am as dark as you are, father. This test of yours is pointless."
"I don't think so, young Skywalker." It was at that moment that R2D2 finally showed up at the right entrance to the hallway.
"I believe you're interested in the coordinates of the Rebel base. Let me first show you that with my R2 unit, and then you can look into my mind all you want." But by that point, Vader had already scanned his mind, and found out the truth. He took out his lightsaber immediately and turned it on in Luke's direction. Luke started running immediately toward the left exit door of the hallway, but it shut itself before Luke could pass through. Vader stayed where he was.
"You cannot run from me, young Skywalker. You do not yet realize the true power of the Dark Side. Now I shall show it to you!" Vader was all the way across the hall, but that did not stop his powers from reaching Luke. All of a sudden, Luke was feeling the worst headache that he had ever felt in his entire life. He grasped his head with his only hand, but the intense pain ruined any chance of normal thought. He could not think clearly at all. Every time he tried coming back to his senses, Vader obscured his thoughts even more. His pain grew worse at every passing moment. Soon he felt like needles were being shoved into his head. He wanted to die. His screams echoed loudly throughout the hallway, and he could even be heard outside of it.
……………
Leia stopped firing and put her hand on her chest. Her heart was pounding unnaturally quick and hard. She knew right away from her feelings that Luke was suffering.
"Don't stop firing now!" Shouted Lando. "We need to continue holding them off! It's our only chance of surviving!"
Leia couldn't take her hand off her chest. She could almost feel Luke's pain creating an echo that reached her own body. She wanted to save Luke from his misery, but first she had to save herself. Her situation didn't look good. The storm troopers were closing in on them fast. Hope was fading away.
……………
The anguish continued to torment Luke's mind. He had no idea that the Dark Side was so powerful. He now wished that he had listened to Ben and Yoda when they suggested that he stay on Dagobah longer to train. But it was far too late for that. It now felt much worse than needles poking through his head. He felt like his head was being dipped into a fire and then hit with multiple hammers.
"I hope you've learned your lesson, young Skywalker. Fear leads to anger– anger leads to hate– hate leads to suffering. Now you feel what I once felt, when the emperor turned me to the Dark Side of the Force. Perhaps you haven't been tortured enough yet. I think that I'll keep going– all day long!"
Luke now knew that he wasn't going to survive. He was facing Vader's direction while lying on his side on the ground. He saw R2D2 next to Vader, and next to the control mechanism for the tractor beam. Luke knew that this was his last chance to save everyone else, even if it meant his own death. He would be too close to the explosion to survive, but at least the others would be saved– if of course, they were still alive. With his last ounce of strength, he opened his mouth, and whispered: "Now, R2." Just before Vader could resume the mind torture, R2D2 exploded in a gigantic blast. Vader died instantly, the tractor beam went offline, and nearly every bone in Luke's body was shattered. Somehow, he managed to stay alive, but he was completely paralyzed. He used the Force to send a final message to Leia: "(Hurry and escape. Go without me.)"
……………
Leia's eyes opened wide. She got his message. "He did it, Lando! Now let's get the hell out of here!"
"Finally!" Said Lando. He paused for a moment. "Wait! What about Luke?"
"He can't make it back. We have to go on without him."
"Chewie, fire up the engines! We'll shoot our way out of this command ship." Chewie started up the engines and the ship went airborne by a few meters. "Leia! Try focusing your fire on that south wall structure!" Together, their turrets caused a lot of damage to the wall, but the firepower still wasn't strong enough to pierce a hole through that was big enough for the ship. "Damn, the turrets aren't strong enough. We have to find another way out!" The ship's shielding was nearly all gone.
"There's a docking bay nearby." Explained Leia. "If we can reach their tie fighters, we might be able to use their own firepower against them to get us out of here."
"Perfect. And we can steal the hyperdrive components and use them on the Falcon. Chewie, fly us east. Our turrets should be able to punch a way through the interior walls without difficulty." The Millenium Falcon soared over the storm troopers and shot its way into the docking bay where all the tie fighters were kept. "Someone's going to have to get into one of those and set the auto-pilot on to guide it into the wall."
"I'll do that!" Said Leia. "Bring the ship closer to one of them and I'll jump aboard." Chewie brought the ship above one of the tie fighters. Leia opened the bottom hatch, and then jumped down into the tie fighter. She opened up the communication channel so that she could talk to Lando on the Falcon. "I've disconnected the hyperdrive. Now let me set those auto-pilot coordinates."
"First give us the hyperdrive! We need time to reconnect it!" Complained Lando.
"Then I'll fly over the Falcon and drop them to you." Leia piloted the tie fighter over the Falcon while evading blaster fire. "Open the top hatch!" She spun the tie fighter upside down, opened her hatch and dropped the hyperdrive component into Lando's hands."
"I'll go and connect this, and you set that auto-pilot!" Shouted Lando. "Hurry! There isn't much time!"
"Okay! I'm on it!" Leia started fiddling around with the auto-pilot. She was rather unfamiliar with a tie fighter class ship. "Damn controls." She told herself.
Lando wasn't doing to well either. "How does this work?" He told himself. "Chewie! Switch places with me! I'll fly the ship, you fix the hyperdrive!" The wookie gave out a loud roar. "I know they're still firing at us! I know!"
Leia finally figured out how to work the auto-pilot. As she was setting up the flight path, she noticed a considerable number of storm troopers shooting at the Falcon. She knew that she would never be able to get close enough to get back onboard, especially at the speed of the Falcon's maneuvering. "Lando! I've set the auto-pilot."
"Good! Now get close enough to jump onboard!" Said Lando.
"You're moving too quickly! If you slow down, you'll be destroyed!" Shouted Leia.
"Then what are you planning on doing?" Asked Lando.
"I have a plan. I'll escape on another tie fighter." Explained Leia. "You go on without me. When we're out of here, you can go into hyperspace with the coordinates that I have already been entered. You will meet up with the rest of the Alliance. Tell Mon Mothma, their leader, that I have some unfinished business, and that I'll meet back up with everyone later."
"But Leia, where are you going?"
"To the Dagobah system, to meet up with Luke's mentor. Now get ready to do what you have to do!" Leia piloted the tie fighter to another tie fighter that was away from the crowd of raging storm troopers. She quickly jumped out and into the other and went airborne again. More storm troopers had just come through the doors to finish them off once and for all. The ship that Leia put on auto-pilot was now obeying its commands and started accelerating toward the south wall. "If this doesn't work, we're in serious trouble." The Falcon and Leia's tie fighter followed closely behind the unmanned tie fighter. The storm troopers tried to stop them from getting away. At last the tie fighter smashed its way into the wall and a gigantic hole appeared that was just wide enough for the Falcon to pass through. The Millenium Falcon rushed through, followed closely by Leia's tie fighter. No sooner after that, the whole squad of tie fighters was just behind their ships chasing them.
"Chewie!" Shouted Lando. "Get that hyperdrive working! Now!" The ships were closing in on them fast. They all focused their firepower on the Falcon and Leia's tie fighter. The wookie let out a loud roar and hit the reconnected hyperdrive with his wrench. Apparently, that did the trick, and the Falcon zoomed into hyperspace. Leia, who then realized that the Falcon was safe, then went into hyperspace herself. Her coordinates were set for the Dagobah system, where she would go and meet up with Yoda and be trained as a jedi.
……………
Luke was less fortunate. Although he just barely managed to stay alive from the explosion, he wished that he was dead. Vader had corrupted his mind, and his thoughts slowly started to betray him. It was at that point that the admiral found him lying there helpless on the ground, with nearly all of his bones broken. The admiral looked up, and then saw what remained of Vader's body. Then he looked back at Luke.
"You rebel scum!" The admiral shouted, and then he kicked him in the face. "The emperor will know what to do with you!"
[To Be Continued…]