I'm aliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive! Sorry! It's been aaaaages since I posted anything but I've just been so caught up in school (last year - sooo terrified!) and I've got an interview for uni tomorrow... Well, basically my life is pretty hectic and so this kind of sporadic updating is to be expected (though I am currently working on/almost finished the next chapter of 'Step Forth') as I am literally writing in between classes and studying. :(
Anyway, here's chapter 4! R ,R and enjoy! ;)
Chapter 4
"Are you sure we can trust him?" Merlin hissed as he hurried to keep up with Gaius, Lance following closely behind, glancing back suspiciously over his shoulder.
"We don't have much of a choice, Merlin." Gaius replied, glancing disapprovingly at Merlin. "He's supposed to be the best pilot in this spaceport; the only one who can get us there in time."
"He's a prat, that's what he is." Merlin muttered mutinously.
"Merlin." Gaius looked disapprovingly at him. "At least be civil."
"Why should I?" Merlin groused as they drew level with the dragon-droids. "He's the one who started it. He's just so…argh! I hate him. And I'm pretty sure the feeling's mutual." Lance scoffed at that, carefully avoiding Merlin's questioning gaze.
"The half cannot truly hate that which makes it whole." Kilgarrah spoke up, drawing everyone's gaze to him. "You and the young Pendragon are but two sides of the same coin."
Merlin stared incredulously at the dragon-droid, his eyebrows inching towards his hairline. "Uh…o-kay?" his voice trailed off uncertainly but Kilgarrah simply continued to gaze steadily at Merlin, his large amber eyes boring into Merlin's blue.
"We should start towards their ship – Excalibur, did they call it?" Lance broke the silence that had fallen after Kilgarrah's comment. Gaius nodded and the group turned to head towards the spaceport's hangar.
They were met in the hangar by Leon, who led them onto the spacecraft and into the cockpit where Arthur was preparing for the journey.
They managed to take off with no problems, the only slight hitch was a few storm troopers who tried to question them about the dragon-droids, but luckily a few blasters were no match for the ship.
Once they had made the jump to light speed, both passengers and pilots headed to the living area to wait out the flight. Leon soon caught Lance in a conversation about the various controls on the ship, while Arthur sat in the corner cleaning his holster, keeping an eye on Merlin all the while.
Merlin, for his part, was training with Gaius who had produced a small metal sphere, which floated and had an inlaid blaster. "What's that for?" Merlin asked, fingering his father's lightsaber at his hip.
"To test your reflexes." Gaius answered simply, activating the sphere. Merlin drew his lightsaber and proceeded to deflect each and every shot. "Clearly this exercise is too easy for you." Gaius remarks, eyebrow raised, before he turned his back and rummaged for something in his bag.
"You have excellent reflexes." Leon remarked, earning him a grin from Merlin.
"He always has." Lance told him. "It's what makes him the best pilot on Tatooine."
"That I highly doubt." Arthur scoffed from his position. Merlin scowled, opening his mouth to snipe back, but Gaius cut him off before he could utter a syllable.
"Here." He said, handing Merlin a helmet with an opaque visor. "Put this on. We can test your instincts. Without your sight, focus on the force; it is your strongest ally."
From his corner, Arthur snorted, but Merlin only ignored him this time, focusing.
As before, he seemed to be a few steps ahead of the droid-sphere, blocking each and every beam with ease.
"You display a level of control over the force the likes of which I have never seen before." Gaius said, collecting the sphere and deactivating it. "What I see you do is…elemental. Instinctive."
Arthur snorted again from his spot in the corner and this time Merlin wheeled on him before Gaius could intervene.
"If you have something to say, say it."
"'The force'? Please." Arthur deadpanned, rolling his eyes. "There's no such thing."
"Says who? You?" Merlin shot back sardonically, raising his eyebrows. Arthur raised his in return and Merlin fell into a mock bow. "Oh, I'm sorry, my Lord. I did not realise that your every whim was to be declared a truth."
Lance spoke up before Arthur could reply, eying him suspiciously. "If there's no such thing as the force, how do you explain what Merlin just did?"
"Dumb luck." Arthur replied around a yawn, stretching his arms over his head as he placed his feet back on the floor of the spacecraft. "Come on, Leon. Time to check on our progress." He left the room then, Leon following behind him after shooting an apologetic smile at Merlin.
"What an arrogant, narcissistic-" Lance muttered furiously once the pair left the room.
"Prat." Merlin finished for him decisively. Gaius raised an eyebrow at him. "What? He is!"
"Remember Merlin, Arthur has been kind enough to grant us passage to Alderaan on his ship. We should be grateful. All of us."Gaius gave Lance a significant look at his last remark. Lance looked down with his lips set in a grim line.
Merlin sighed and threw himself back into the hair Leon had vacated with a sigh. "I'll try Gaius, but he's not exactly making it easy, is he?"
"He could at least have the decency to refrain from mocking someone's beliefs." Lance muttered, still looking towards the floor.
Leon leant around the doorframe then, eyes flickering between them before speaking up. "We're approaching the coordinates now. You need to come back to the cockpit and strap in for the jump out of light speed. It can be a bit rough, sometimes." Gaius nodded and started up after him, leaving Merlin and Lance to gather their supplies.
"What's your problem with Arthur?" Merlin asked as he reattached his lightsaber to his belt before packing up the helmet and laser-sphere.
"What?" Lance asked incredulously, turning to raise his eyebrows at Merlin. "You clearly don't like this guy either, Merlin. You've been calling him a prat all day."
"Well, yeah, but he deserved it. I just mean; he hasn't done anything to you, and it's not like you to dislike someone so easily. Especially not without getting to know them."
"I don't like the way he looks at you." Lance finally admitted.
Merlin looked confused. "What? He doesn't look at me any differently than anyone else." Lance snorted. "What? He doesn't!"
Lance shook his head with a small smile. "I swear, Merlin. You're the most oblivious genius I've ever met."
Merlin just looked at him for a moment, blinking. "I can't figure out if that was a compliment or an insult."
Lance laughed then, heading towards the doorway.
"Hey!" Merlin yelled after him. "Seriously. Was that an insult or a compliment? Lance? Lance!"
Merlin and Lance appeared in the cockpit soon after one another, Merlin shooting Lance a reproachful glare as he buckled himself in.
"Alright then, Leon." Arthur spoke up when everyone was buckled in. Leon reached across the controls and confidently flicked the appropriate switches.
With a jolt, the ship returned to its starting speed. Leon's eyebrows crinkled with confusion. "Are you sure you gave us the right coordinates?" he asked, glancing back at Gaius.
Gaius raised an eyebrow at him. "Yes."
"Because there's no planet here." He remarked, peering out the windscreen. "Just asteroids."
The ship continued to jolt as Arthur and Leon fought to navigate the asteroid field they had suddenly found themselves in.
"What's that?" Merlin piped up. Having unbuckled his seatbelt, he was now leaning over the back of the console, between Leon and Arthur's chairs, pointing out of the windscreen.
"Maybe that's your missing planet." Arthur answered him, turning away from the object in the distance, slowly coming nearer, to look at Merlin, who was frowning.
"That's no planet." he mumbled, staring at it intently.
"A moon, then." Arthur shot back. "Must be."
"No." Merlin shook his head, finally tearing his gaze away from the windscreen to face Arthur. "There's something about it…"
"Turn around." Gaius spoke up suddenly from his seat. Both Merlin and Arthur jumped despite the soft tone of his voice.
"What?" Arthur glanced back at the object. "Why?"
"I gave you the coordinates for Alderaan. Now we are in an asteroid field." Gaius spoke quietly but urgently. "The only explanation is that Alderaan was destroyed."
"Impossible." Arthur shook his head. "What could have enough power to destroy a whole planet?"
"The thing that has us caught in a tractor beam." Merlin cut in, eyes wide as he lunged between Arthur and Leon's seats, aiming for the controls. "Turn around! Turn around!"
Arthur and Leon sprung into action, frantically trying to turn the ship. "It's too late." Arthur sat back in defeat, scowling. "It's too strong."
"What are we going to do?" Lance questioned from his position clinging to Leon's seat with wide eyes.
"We cannot fight but there are alternatives." Gaius spoke quietly, not moving his eyes from the windscreen.
The ship continued to be pulled forwards, even as Leon and Arthur turned off the power in a last-ditch effort to stop the effects of the tractor beam. "It's a spaceship." Merlin gasped, wide-eyed, as they drew near enough to see the opening shields to the hangar. "An Imperial ship."
Arthur's face was grim. "I have a bad feeling about this."
P.S. If there are any artwork-making inclined people, would you consider making a cover for this? I feel awful asking, but I don't want to have Lego Harry Potter as the symbol for this story and, well, you can see my pathetic attempt... Please?
