Disclaimer: I don't own them. Not then, not now, not ever.
A/N : Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who left me a review, especially to those of you that helped me correct some of my errors. *hides face in shame* But then again I wrote it somewhere in-between 3am and dawn, I'm really not sure when exactly. This chapter might be kinda boring, I'm not sure. Sometimes what I see in my head gets lost on its way to the computer. Go figure. Well in any case, I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 2 - No friends like clone friends
The Dark Lord of the Sith, stood motionless, staring out into the dark void of space. But the universe wasn't empty. Through the Force he could feel the varying currents of the all the beings that made it up. The universe was full of Force-blind individuals; their weak minds and wills barely making an impression in the Force. His officers were proof enough of that. Vader could never understand how incompetence always seamed to surround him.
Idiots the lot of them, he thought. He needed someone that he could rely on, someone that was capable of getting the job done, and someone that had the power to defeat the Emperor. He needed his son.
Luke had already proved himself to be a capable leader, an excellent pilot and he encompassed enough power to make even the Emperor wary.
Occasionally, a large ripple of fear would wash over Vader, bringing his mind back to the problem at hand.
What am I going to do with the boy?
He stretched out his senses and brushed gently against his son's mind. Luke was still trapped in one of his fitful nightmares. Drugs were keeping him sedated, but these dreams still managed to surface.
Are they just his vulnerable mind reliving his fears or was the Force giving him 'helpful' insights into the future? If his suit would have allowed him to sigh he would have. He had hoped that his son wouldn't have inherited that particular trait. The blonde hair, blue eyes and Force sensitively were fine but these insights were much more trouble than they were worth.
Many restless nights awaits young Skywalker, Vader reflected, knowingly.
My son needs a great deal of training if he is to become my weapon against the Emperor. Maybe Luke's dreams could be used to my advantageā¦
-
The crew watched nervously as the Sith Lord, suddenly turned and stalked towards the lift, his cape flapping out behind him. The tension that hung heavy in the air, slowly dissipated as the threat of being Force choked exited the bridge.
Every member of the crew knew the cost of failure and the loss of the Millennium Falcon with the Princess on board was indeed, seen as a failure. No one had diedā¦.yet.
The lift doors closed, sending Lord Vader onwards towards a confrontation with his son, albeit a mental one.
If there was one thing he hated was being stunned, and if there was one thing he hated more than being stunned was waking up in a detention cell on Darth Vader's Super Star
Destroyer.
Everything was white. White walls, white floor and extremely bright overhead lights that shone down with a blinding radiance. The only color to be had was the black out line of the door, so at least he knew which way was out.
A fine lot of luck that does me, Han thought as tried to push himself up off the cold floor, only to find that the stunbolts effects hadn't fully worn off yet. He could barely move his arms let alone actually use them for anything.
He stopped trying to move and allowing his blood to circulate which gradually revived his stiffened muscles.
I wonder where Luke is in all of this? puzzled Han as he lay partially paralyzed on the floor.
We all knew that Vader was after him personally but I thought that Vader wanted to kill him after blowing up the Emperor's pride and joy. I don't know, maybe it's some kind of Force thing. After all Luke father was a Jedi. Han started wiggling his fingers and toes, glad to find that they moved rather easily. However, his legs and forearms still felt stiff and cramped.
I have told the Kid a thousand times that, that Force nonsense would get him nowhere; or at least nowhere good. But does he listen? Of course not!
This was just great. Luke captured, me captured and that evil walking pile of droid parts running the show. How could this day get any worse?
I spoke too soon, Han thought as the doors parted revealing two Stormtroopers.
They pair stepped through the narrow open, rifles in hand. The one on the right moved closer. "The stunbolt should have worn off by now, Captain Solo. Can you stand? We don't have a lot of time. The surveillance is only temporally turned off."
Han didn't reply, he just stared.
Not getting a response the trooper bent down and grabbed a hold of Han's forearm as the other one came forward and took his other one, so that they both lifted Han together.
Han shrugged their hands off of him as he moved away, falling against the wall. "Who are you guys?"
"Captain, we really don't have a lot of time to explain. We're defects and we work for the Alliance. We're going to get you out, but we really must hurry. You're not currently scheduled to begin interrogation but Vader is known for changing his mind."
The Stormtrooper that had not yet spoken pulled out a pair of binders. "Sorry, but we're going to have to bind you, to keep up pretenses." As he moved forward with the intent of securing Han, Han waved his arms and backed away again.
"Wait a second here. You guys work for the Alliance?"
"Yes"
"And you're clones?" Their helmeted heads turned to look at each other then back at Han before replying.
"Yes"
"And we're going to rescue Luke before we go, right?"
This time the Troopers showed visible unease as the first one hesitantly replied, "No, there is nothing we can do for Skywalker."
Before Han could explode the other trooper rushed forward and snapped the binders on, getting and angry yell from the now cuffed ex-smuggler.
"There is no way I'm leaving Luke here in the hands of that monster!" Han shouted as he tried desperately to free himself. Both Troopers moved up beside Han and each took and arm.
"Captain Solo, we have no way of freeing Skywalker. He's being held in Vader's personal medbay. There's no way of reaching him and if we don't hurry, we're going to miss our window of opportunity."
An infuriated Han still struggled against his capturers/rescuers as they pulled him towards the door. "You can't do this. Vader will kill him!"
"Actually, Vader has healed him, but he's still in recovery." A white clad glove hovered above the door release. "Captain Solo, you must act like a prisoner, but don't get too cared away or we will have no choice but to retaliate as would be expected, alright?
Han glared daggers at the masked man but replied, "Fine."
With all the seething anger of a spirited prisoner that was being lead to somewhere he did not want to go, Han walked through the doors of his cell with his defective clone escort.
A/N : I think I am going to leave it here. Sorry, no Luke yet, but he'll probably be in the next one. Please review, constructive criticism or plain old help is always welcome. After all I'm doing this to improve my writing and 'me likey' feedback.
Laterness, BITD
