Chapter 7
Governor Karnacki was seated at the head of the empty conference table. Darth Bracken as usual was standing at his left shoulder. The Governor was staring at an officer who had entered the conference room. The officer, a captain by the name of Maddox approached Governor Karnacki and when he was only a few feet away came to a halt and promptly saluted. Darth Bracken regarded the officer. The man looked like someone who brought bad news.
"Make your report, Captain Maddox." Governor Karnacki smiled and motioned to the captain.
"Sir, the scout ships have reached Dantooine. They have found the remains of a rebel base." Captain Maddox reported. "But they estimate it has been deserted for some time. They are conducting an extensive search of the surrounding system."
The smile on Governor Karnacki's face vanished at the news. He dismissed Captain Maddox with a flick of his hand and waited until the officer had left the conference room before he turned to look at Lord Bracken.
"She Lied!" He shouted angrily. "She lied to us!"
Darth Bracken smiled behind his mask. He bowed his head slightly before speaking.
"I told you she would never consciously betray the rebellion." Darth Bracken said. "Unless she could destroy this station in the process."
"Terminate her immediately!" Governor Karnacki screamed.
"And lose your only link to the rebel base?"
"I don't care. I want her dead within the hour."
"She can still be of value to us." Darth Bracken pointed out.
"You'll get nothing more out of her Lord Bracken." Governor Karnacki retorted.
The Governor rose from his chair and began to pace the floor back and forth for a few moments. Suddenly he paused and looked at the silent Sith Lord.
"I'll find that hidden fortress if I have to destroy every star system in this sector." He declared angrily.
Do that and you will certainly aid the rebellion in ways you could never imagine, Darth Bracken thought to himself. Wisely he chose not to broadcast that thought. He watched as the Governor resumed pacing the floor. An electronic beep interrupted the Governor's pacing of the floor. He turned and walked back to the conference table. He punched a button on the console that sat there.
"Governor, we've captured a freighter entering the remains of the Alderaan system." The voice announced. "It's markings match those of the ship that blasted its way out of the quarantine on Mos Eisley."
Governor Karnacki immediately turned to look at Darth Bracken.
"They must have been trying to return the stolen data tapes to the princess." Darth Bracken surmised. "Well, I believe we can be of some help there."
XXX
Castle stood in the darkness of the floor locker trying to control his breathing as he listened to the tramp of the Storm troopers as they moved about his beloved Millennium Falcon. What he could not control was his rapidly beating heart. It had been a stupid suggestion that the old man had made after Castle had told him about the secret lockers on board the ship. All of them hiding in these secret storage lockers. It was madness.
Castle would have argued long and hard about how dangerous it was to hide in these lockers, and how easy it would be for the Storm troopers to find them hiding in there. He never got the chance to put forward the arguments he had marshalled though, because Obi-wan had asked the pertinent question. 'Had the Imperials ever found contraband he had hidden in the floor lockers whenever they had boarded the ship?'
Castle had to concede that the Imperials had never discovered the secret lockers whenever they had conducted searches of the Millennium Falcon. Following that concession, the decision had been made. The other thing was that they had no time to argue. The Millennium Falcon had been brought aboard the battle station and it would be only a matter of time before the Storm troopers came barrelling in.
Castle was sharing his locker with Ryan. He had to give it to the kid, he had been very quiet as the soldiers searched the ship. Castle had been half expecting Ryan to whisper a question or make a noise of some kind but not a peep had come out of him.
The Storm troopers had been traipsing around his ship for about half an hour by Castle's reckoning. No doubt they would have trashed the ship as they searched it. That thought alone was enough to get his anger rising. In the darkness of the locker Castle cocked an ear toward the ceiling when he heard voices.
"There is no one aboard, sir." The first voice announced. "According to the ship's logs, the crew abandoned ship right after take off. It must have been a decoy. Several of the escape pods have been jettisoned."
Castle smiled to himself and silently complemented his friend and co-pilot. It had been Javi's idea to have such an entry on the ship's logs just in case for these eventualities.
"Did you find any droid?" A second voice asked.
A cold shudder of dread passed through Castle when he heard that deep rasping voice that seemed to come through some kind of breathing mask.
"No sir." Said the first voice. "If there were any, they must have also been jettisoned."
"Send in a scanning crew on board." The second voice said. "I want every part of this ship checked. I sense...a presence I haven't felt..."
Castle did not hear the rest. It did not matter anyway. He knew that they could no longer remain hidden in the storage lockers, not if a scanning crew was coming in. He was about to push open the door of the locker when he paused. Someone was running down the corridor.
When the footsteps had faded away Castle began to move. He pushed open the door and stood up. He blinked a few times letting his eyes adjust to the bright lights of the ship. Ryan rose from his cramped, crouched position and also blinked his eyes. A moment later a second floor panel opened and Javi popped his head out. Obi-wan Montgomery stood beside the co-pilot.
"Lucky you had these compartments." Ryan remarked.
"I use them for smuggling." Castle replied, a little proudly. He had installed the secret storage lockers not long after he had gotten the Millennium Falcon. It had turned to be one of the smartest moves he had ever done. Those storage lockers had saved him and Javi a few times over the years.
"I just never expected to smuggle myself in them." Castle added.
Castle hauled himself out of the locker he turned to offer Ryan a hand up but the young man declined the offer and scrambled out of the locker on his own steam. Javi got out of his hiding spot and then assisted the old man. Castle looked over to Obi-wan Montgomery and frowned.
"Even if we could take off, we'd never get past the tractor beam, you know?" He said.
"You leave that to me." Obi-wan Montgomery replied.
"I was afraid you were going to say that." Castle sighed. "You're a damn fool, you know that?"
Obi-wan Montgomery grinned as he walked up to the starship pilot and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
"Who is more foolish...?" The old man said. "The fool or the man who follows him?"
Castle shook his head slowly and muttered something unintelligible. Obi-wan Montgomery grinned a little more before he leaned a little closer and outlined the plan he had conjured up in his head while they had been hiding from the searching Storm troopers. Castle listened carefully and again shook his head. He did not like what he was hearing but he did not have any alternative.
XXX
"TX421. Why aren't you at your post?" An angry voice shouted."TX-421, do you copy?"
Castle ignored the angry buzz that was coming through the headset of the helmet he was wearing as he came down the ramp of his ship onto the hanger floor. He stopped and turned to face the window of the hanger control room a short distance away. He saw a grey uniformed officer standing by the window staring at the space ship. Castle shrugged his shoulders and then tapped the side of the helmet. The officer in the control room turned away from the window.
When the officer disappeared from view Castle turned back to the ramp and signalled to the others to come down. First down the ramp came Javi armed with a laser rifle. He quickly sprinted across the hanger to the door that led into the hanger control room. On his heels was Obi-wan Montgomery. Next to come down were the droids and Ryan brought up the rear.
Castle and Javi had overpowered the two members of the scanning crew the moment they had stepped onto the Millennium Falcon. They were not hard to disable. A hard tap to their heads and they went down. Once the scanning crew had been taken care of Castle turned his attention to the two storm troopers who were stationed at the bottom of the ramp. He called the troopers for assistance and the soldiers dutifully came up the ramp.
As the Storm troopers were in full armour, a couple of taps to the head would not do. The two soldiers went down after getting hit by shots from blasters that had been set to stun. The soldiers were stripped of their armour and tied up. Castle quickly put on one of the suits and Ryan put on the other one. Castle had to suppress a fit of giggles when he saw that the armour suit was a little too big for Ryan. After a couple of adjustments Ryan was good to go.
Reaching the door to the control room Castle came to a stop behind Javi and Obi-wan Montgomery. Castle had his eyes turned to the hanger on the look out for any soldier or battle station crew member who might be about. He clutched the laser rifle in his hand ready to use it. The white armoured suit he was wearing was uncomfortable and the helmet was in desperate need of cleaning.
Putting aside those thoughts as he glanced over to Ryan who had taken up position on the other side of the door. He was pleased to see the young man was scanning the hanger on the lookout for any sign of danger. Castle turned to face the door ready to burst through it.
The door of the control room slid open and the officer who had been standing at the window was now standing in the open doorway. He was startled to be confronted by a group of people he'd never seen before.
"Hi there!" Javi said cheerfully.
Before the officer had a chance to respond to the greeting he was sent flying backwards into the control room by a granite like fist that belonged to Javi's right hand. The officer crashed into a console hitting his head and then slowly slid to the floor unconscious.
A second officer at another work station started to reach for his blaster but he did not get far. Castle had moved into the doorway and fired at the officer. He fell down dead, a large smoking hole in middle of his chest.
Obi-wan Montgomery and the droids moved swiftly into the small control room followed by Ryan.
"With you blasting anything in sight, it's wonder the entire station doesn't know we're here." Ryan said tersely as he glanced at Castle.
"Bring them on." Castle replied defiantly. "I prefer a fight to all this sneaking around."
With everyone inside the small control room Castle closed the door and locked it. They would be safe but for how long he had no idea. He turned around and looked at his companions before he went over and checked on the two bodies.
The old man went straight to a computer console and started typing. The screen above the keyboard came to life and displayed a map of the entire battle station. He began to inspect it carefully. Artoo moved up to the console and looked at the screen. He issued a series of beeps and whistles. Obi-wan Montgomery glanced down at the little droid.
"Plug in, my little friend." Obi-wan Montgomery instructed. "You should be able to read the entire Imperial computer network."
Artoo Detoo punched his claw arm into a computer socket on the side of the console. Almost immediately the vast Imperial network was open to him, feeding him information. He started to beep and chirp.
"The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations." See Threepio translated. "Most of the data is restricted but he'll try to get what there is to come through on the monitor."
On a second monitor the information that Artoo had discovered was displayed. Obi-wan Montgomery looked at the information on the screen. After a couple of moments he turned to look at Castle and Ryan.
"I don't think there is any way you boys can help in this." Obi-wan Montgomery said. "I must go alone."
"Whatever you say." Castle replied. "I've done more than I bargained for on this trip already."
Obi-wan stepped back from the console and started to move to the door.
"I think putting that tractor beam out of commission is going to take more than your magic, old man." Castle called out.
Obi-wan Montgomery stopped and turned to look at the pilot.
"We shall see, Castle." Obi-wan smiled.
"I want to go with you." Ryan stated, stepping towards Obi-wan Montgomery.
"Don't be impatient, young Ryan." Obi-wan Montgomery smiled. "This requires skills you have not quite mastered."
"I still want to go with you."
"Your destiny lies along a different path. Stay and watch over the droids. They must be delivered to the rebel forces or more star systems will meet the same fate as Alderaan."
Obi-wan Montgomery adjusted the light sabre hanging on his belt, gave a nod goodbye to the others then walked to the door. He unlocked and then opened it. Without a glance behind him he stepped back into the hanger and set off on his mission.
"So, where did you did you dig up that old fossil, bro?" Javi asked, once the door had closed.
"Obi-wan is a great man." Ryan bristled.
"Yeah, great at getting us into trouble." Castle remarked. He was slowly wandering around the small control room looking at the consoles.
"Well. I didn't hear you come up with any ideas." Ryan lobbed back.
"Anything would be better than just waiting here for them to pick us up."
Further argument was interrupted by the rapid and very excited chirps and beeps that exploded from Artoo Detoo. Everyone looked at the excited droid but only Ryan walked over to him.
"What is it?" He asked.
"I'm afraid I don't quite understand, sir." See Threepio said apologetically. "He says 'I found her' and keeps repeating 'she's here.'"
"Who? Who has he found?"
See Threepio turned to look at Ryan. "Princess Kate."
"The princess?" Ryan exclaimed. "She's here?"
Artoo chirped excitedly in answer to Ryan's question.
"Princess?" Castle said, suddenly interested.
The pilot of the Millennium Falcon moved away from the console he had been inspecting and walked over to where the droids and Ryan were standing. Castle did not see his friend roll his eyes and shake his head as he walked past.
"Where? Where is she?" Ryan demanded.
"Level five. Detention block AA-23..." See Threepio's voice trailed off as he turned away from the monitor and looked at Ryan. "I'm afraid she's scheduled to be terminated, sir."
"No!" The young man shouted. He looked at Castle. "We've got to do something."
Castle shrugged his shoulders at the young man.
"The droids belong to her. She was the one in the message." Ryan explained. "We've got to help her."
"The old man said to wait here." Castle pointed out.
"But he didn't know she was here." Ryan turned back to the computer console and stared at the monitor displaying the plan of the battle station. "If we could just figure a way into that detention block."
"I'm not going anywhere." Javi announced.
Castle looked over to where Javi was standing and gave him a sympathetic look. Javi did not like jails much less detention blocks. Castle had first met Javi when they had shared a jail cell many years ago. Javi had been kept shackled and the prison guards took particular delight in inflicting beatings on him for the flimsiest reasons or for no reason at all. Castle could well understand his friend's attitude. He too would not be keen to visit a detention block willingly if that had been done to him.
"If we don't do anything, they're going to execute her." Ryan said with growing excitement. "We can't let it happen."
"Listen, kid. Marching into a detention area was not on our list of things to do today." Castle intervened.
"But they're going to execute her!" Ryan repeated.
"Better her than me." Javi muttered.
Ryan shot the Millennium Falcon's co-pilot an angry glare before he turned to look at Castle.
"We can't let her die." Ryan said, in a more controlled voice. "What would people say if the great Rick Castle did not help a damsel in distress?"
Castle's eyebrows knitted together. He silently cursed Ryan for hitting upon the one thing he could possibly not refuse, a damsel in distress. He might affect a heroic, devil-may-care, womanising persona for the rest of the world to see but the truth was his mother had raised him to be a gentleman.
Castle turned and looked at his scowling friend.
"She's a princess, Javi." He said, as if that explained everything. "Imagine all the stories I could tell about rescuing a fair princess from the clutches of the evil empire?"
Javi folded his arms across his chest and said nothing as he continued to scowl.
"And there would be a major part in those stories of your heroic role in the fair princess' rescue."
Javi suddenly offered up a shrug of his shoulders, signalling that he agreed to rescue the princess. It was not because he wanted to feature prominently in one of Castle's stories, he knew his friend would do it as a matter of course. No, Javi agreed so quickly just to stop Castle from wearing him down with enticements. Castle could be very persuasive when he set his mind to it.
"All right." Castle said with a little relief in his voice. "What's your plan, kid?"
Ryan nodded his head. Looking about him he spotted a pair of binders, electronic handcuffs that the Imperials used on their prisoners. He scooped them up and walked over to where Javi was standing.
"Now, I'm going to put these on you..."
"I don't think so, Bro." Javi said dangerously.
"Castle is going to put these on you." Ryan said hurriedly holding out the binders to Castle.
Castle grinned as he came over and took the binders from Ryan.
"Don't worry, Javi. I think I know what he has in mind." Castle assured his friend.
Javi glared at his friend for some moments and then relented. Slowly he unfolded his arms and held them out so that Castle could place the handcuffs on him his wrists. It did not escape the co-pilot's notice that Castle had not locked the handcuffs tightly. With a bit of a twist Javi could slip his hands through them. He gave Castle a curt nod when he was finished.
"Excuse me, Master Kevin." See Threepio said. "Pardon me for asking...but, ah...what should Artoo and I do if we're discovered here?"
"Hope they don't have blasters." Castle supplied.
Castle grabbed his laser rifle and put his helmet on. He marched Javi to the door. Ryan quickly joined them a moment later. Castle looked over to Ryan and saw that his helmet looked askew. He reached across and adjusted the way the helmet sat on the young man's head. When he was satisfied that it looked right, he tapped the top of Ryan's helment with the palm of his gloved hand. He opened the door of the control room. The two Storm troopers and prisoner stepped out of the hanger control room.
XXX
Princess Kate Beckett lay on the uncomfortable steel slab and stared up the ceiling. In her mind she kept seeing the destruction of her home over and over again. Her face was wet from the tears she had shed. From the moment she had been returned to her cell she had started to cry. She did not care who saw her crying. She was not crying now but she could feel more tears were not far away.
She lay there on the bed feeling numb. Even now she could not believe she would never see her mother again. She would never see her father either. All her friends and relatives on Alderaan had perished after that super laser beam had blasted the planet apart. There was a soreness in her heart she had never felt before.
She could have easily fallen into the depths of despair but she did not. No matter how heart sick she was and would be, there was something else. Something that burned deep within her. It was anger. A burning conflagration that kept the worst of despair at bay. Along with the flame of anger that burned was its old friend, vengeance.
No matter how long it took Kate vowed to herself that she would avenge the death of her family. She would avenge the destruction of her home of Alderaan. She would avenge them if it was the last thing she did. The Empire would be made to pay for the crime they had committed.
Slowly Kate eased herself up into a seated position. She snuffled back some tears and ran the sleeve of her tunic across her eyes and face, wiping away the tears there. She had cried enough, she told herself. There would be time for tears later. After she had exacted her vengeance.
Kate looked to the cell door and wondered how she was going to get out of here. She felt a small tendril of despair start to rise within her but she tamped it down hard. She had to think of a plan to get herself out of here. Rising from the bed Kate walked over to the door and started to examine it carefully.
Five minutes later Kate returned to the bed and sat down. A frown creased her face. The door was made of high tensile steel. There was no way she could break it down. She did not have anything that could do the job. The only implement she had at hand was a plastic spoon that had been supplied when the guards had brought her meal. She had been required to return the spoon when a guard had come to collect the empty plate but she had hidden it in her tunic and the guard had not noticed it missing.
Kate came to the conclusion that she could not get out of the cell without outside help. If she was going to escape she would have to do it when the guards came for her. Leaning back against the wall Kate started to think and make plans for her escape.
XXX
The elevator opened onto the Detention block security area and Javi emerged flanked by the two Storm troopers. They marched down the corridor to the reception desk. Through his helmet Castle took a look around at grey coloured surrounds and saw that there were a couple of guards on duty but there were laser gates everywhere. He frowned beneath his helmet.
"This isn't going to work." Castle said in a low voice.
"Why didn't you say so before?" Ryan replied.
"I think I mentioned something when we were coming up in the elevator."
They reached the security desk and came to a halt. A grim looking, grey uniformed officer rose from his chair and came around the desk.
"Where are you going with this...this...thing?" He demanded, looking distastefully at Javi.
"Who are you calling a thing?" Javi growled.
Castle quickly nudged his friend with the butt of his laser rifle to shut him up.
"Prisoner transfer from block TS-138." Ryan reported.
"I wasn't notified." The officer said. "I'll have to clear it."
The officer returned to the security desk and commenced to type on his computer.
Javi glanced at Castle and on a nod from his friend quickly slipped his right hand out of the handcuff.
"Here goes nothing." He said under his breath.
Suddenly Javi let out a loud blood curdling roar and grabbed the laser rifle Castle was holding. Castle staggered back in mock surprise.
"Look out!" Castle shouted as he staggered back." He's loose! He's loose."
Javi started firing the laser rifle taking out several cameras in the ceiling and walls. The guards started to react to the attempted escape and began to level their weapons on Javi. Castle and Ryan had already drawn their blasters and started firing. Castle took out the guards and the officer at the desk while Ryan hit cameras and the control panel for the laser gates.
Fight lasted barely ten seconds. Castle rushed to the security desk and pulled off the body of the officer. He was a little relieved to see that the man did not get the chance to hit the alarm button. He pulled off his helmet and looked down at the computer console. A series of screeching questions coming from the comm link which he ignored.
"We've got to find out which cell this princess is in." He told Ryan. A moment later Castle found what he was looking for. "Here she is...cell 2187."
Castle came away from the desk and looked at Ryan.
"I'll go and get the princess." Castle ordered. "You hold them here."
Ryan was about to open his mouth to protest but he did not have the chance as he watched Castle turn and race down one of the corridors. Ryan shook his head and cast a glance a look in Javi's direction.
"He always like to play the hero?"
"When it comes to pretty ladies, yeah." Javi replied, a ghost of a smile on his face.
Ryan moved over to the desk. Whoever was on the other side of the comm link was getting very agitated when there had been no response to the calls. Ryan knew that he had to answer or an entire squad of troopers would come storming in.
"Everything is under control." Ryan reported, trying to sound as official as he could. "Situation normal."
"What happened?" Demanded the voice.
"Uh, well...slight weapon malfunction." Ryan said nervously. "No problem now...we're all fine thank you. How about you?"
Ryan winced immediately on saying that. He felt a stab of embarrassment and it only worsened when he cast a glance in Javi's direction and saw the co-pilot slowly shake his head in disbelief.
"We're sending a squad up." The voice announced.
"Uh...negative, negative." Ryan said hurriedly, his embarrassment forgotten. "We have a reactor leak, give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak...very dangerous."
"Who is this?" The voice said angrily. "what's your operating..."
The rest of the sentence was lost under a laser blast that Ryan fired. Smoke billowed up from the destroyed comm link.
"Let me guess." Javi remarked. "This is your first time breaking into a prison?"
"Nah, I do it every other week back home." Ryan said drily.
Javi smirked and turned his attention in the direction of the elevator. He trained his laser rifle at the doors. Ryan walked to the entrance of the corridor Castle had ran down.
"Castle! We're going to have company!" He shouted.
XXX
Castle ran down the corridor checking the numbers on the cell doors. Three doors near the end of the corridor he found the cell he was looking for. He raised the blaster ready to fire at the door when he heard Ryan's warning shout. He cursed silently. He had been hoping for a little more time to rescue the princess. That plan had to change now that the Storm troopers were on the way.
He aimed the blaster at the electronic door lock and fired two shots. The electronic mechanism exploded in a shower of sparks and smoke. Castle did not wait for the smoke to clear, he stepped up the door and pulled it open. Entering the cell he came to a sudden halt when he laid eyes on the woman standing in the middle of the cell staring at him in surprise.
Castle liked to think that he was a well travelled man and his reputation for being a ladies man was not without a little foundation. In his travels he had met a number of very beautiful women. He had fallen in love with one or two of them. Yet, never in all his travels through countless star systems had he ever met someone as beautiful as the woman before him.
The princess was tall and slender with shoulder length brown hair. Her high cheek seemed to accentuate the most gorgeous hazel eyes Castle had ever seen in his life. Those eyes brimmed with intelligence with a suggestion of sadness once the initial surprise had left her. She wore dark brown high heeled boots, a pair of sand coloured tight fitting trousers and a white tunic with long flowing sleeves that was cinched at the waist and accentuated the curves of her body.
"You're even...more beautiful...than I tho..." Castle stammered.
"Who the hell are you?" Kate demanded, having recovered from her shock.
Castle snapped out of his daze suddenly remembering the reason he was there. Immediately a charming smile spread across his face.
"Hi, I'm Rick Castle." Castle introduced himself. "I've come to rescue you."
"You're who? And you're what?" Kate replied.
"I'm Rick Castle." Castle repeated. "I'm here to rescue you."
Kate raised a questioning eyebrow in Castle's direction.
"Have you come to rescue you me all by yourself?"
"Obi-wan Montgomery is with me. We've got your droids." Castle added.
"Obi-wan Montgomery! Where is he?" Kate said with some excitement.
"He's kind of busy right now." Castle explained. "We can talk about that later, first we have to get you out of here."
Kate regarded her rescuer carefully. She was a little wary about trusting him, he was dressed in an Imperial Storm trooper's uniform after all. Yet what would a storm trooper be doing blasting a cell door, when he could have simply unlocked the door. He had the kind of face that was easy on the eye, she had to admit. Ruggedly handsome with an appealing smile. Something told her that she could trust him.
"Okay." Kate sighed. "Let's go then."
Castle bowed as he waved her towards the door.
XXXXXXXXXX
As usual dear reader, your thoughts would be appreciated.
Con