Chapter 8

Governor Karnacki was seated at the head of the conference table and he watched as Darth Bracken paced the floor. The Sith lord had been pacing the floor for the past five minutes and it was starting to get on Karnacki's nerves. Darth Bracken had come to him about ten minutes ago to report that he felt the presence of his old nemesis. Karnacki had scoffed at the Sith lord.

"He is here." Lord Bracken insisted.

"Obi-wan Montgomery? Impossible." Governor Karnacki shook his head.

Lord Bracken stopped his pacing and turned to stare at Governor Karnacki.

"What makes you think so?" Karnacki asked a moment later, unnerved by Darth Bracken's stare.

"A tremor in The Force." Darth Bracken explained. "The only time I've felt it such as this was in the presence of my old master."

"Surely he must be dead by now."

"Perhaps..." Darth Bracken conceded. "It was just a feeling."

"The Jedi are extinct. Their fire has gone out of the universe. You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion."

A buzzing started up on the comm link on the table. Governor Karnacki leaned forward in his chair and answered the call.

"Sir, we have an emergency alert in detention block AA-23." A voice reported.

"Obi-wan is here." Darth Bracken declared with a trace of delight in his voice. "The Force is intense with him. I can feel it."

"Put all sections on alert." Governor Karnacki ordered, speaking to the comm link. He switched off the link and swivelled in his chair to look at the tall Sith lord. "If you're right, he must not be allowed to escape."

"Escape may not be Obi-wan Montgomery's plan." Darth Bracken surmised. "He is the last of the Jedi, and the strongest. The danger must not be underestimated."

"Fear not Lord Bracken he will be found." Governor Karnacki stated.

"No." Lord Bracken said as he lifted his head and stared at the ceiling for a couple of moments before he turned and looked at the Governor. "I must face him alone."

Suddenly the tall Sith lord spun on his heels and rapidly marched for the door leaving a dumbfounded Governor Karnacki behind.

XXX

The sound of the explosion reverberated through the corridor the moment Castle and Kate stepped out of her jail cell. Kate looked over to her rescuer and saw the worried look on his face as he started to pick up his pace. The exchange of gunfire started to grow louder the closer they came to the end of the corridor.

"That doesn't sound good." Castle remarked as he raised his blaster.

Suddenly Kate saw two figures come tearing down the corridor towards them, one was wearing the armour of a Storm trooper and the other was wearing a bandoleer. She glanced at Castle and saw him lower his blaster a little. These two men must be with Castle, she concluded.

"We can't go out that way." Javi announced, jerking his thumb in the direction he and Ryan had come from.

Castle nodded his head and glanced behind him. The other end of the corridor was a dead end.

"We can't go that way, either." He said, running a hand through his hair.

Kate looked at her rescuers and was decidedly unimpressed with what she saw. They were trapped in the corridor with no way of escaping.

"What kind of rescuers are you?" She said. "You've managed to cut off our only escape route."

Castle turned to looked at Kate and bristled.

"Would you prefer it back in your cell, your highness?"

Kate frowned and then shook her head. She definitely did not want to go back to her prison cell. If she was going to die then she was going to die fighting and she could not do that back in her cell.

"I didn't think so." Castle muttered.

Ryan turned away from the bickering Castle and Princesses and reached for the small radio he had on his belt. He brought it up to his mouth.

"See Threepio! See Threepio!" He called anxiously.

"Yes sir?" Came the voice of See Threepio.

"We've been cut off! Are there any other ways out of the cell bay?"

A burst of laser fire muffled the droid's response. Javi and Castle returned fire forcing the troopers at the entrance of the corridor to take cover. Castle waved to Kate to move to the other end of the corridor. The pilots of the Millennium Falcon continued to fire as they too back tracked. Ryan did the same.

"Repeat your message." Ryan shouted into the radio.

"I said, all systems have been alerted to your presence, sir. The main entry seems to be the only way in or out...All other information in your sector is restricted."

"There isn't any other way out." Ryan informed his companions.

"They're closing in on us." Castle said in between firing his blaster. "What now?"

Kate found herself shaking her head again at the predicament they were in. The laser fire was growing in intensity and smoke started to fill the corridor.

"This is some rescue." Kate said. "When you came in, didn't you have a plan for getting out?"

"He's the brains of this outfit." Castle pointed to Ryan.

"And what are you, the beauty?"

Castle was impressed with her angry retort. He flashed her an amused grin. Kate rolled her eyes at him. Another volley of laser fire had all of them ducking for cover. Javi steadied himself and coolly returned fire managing to hit a trooper who had started to come down the corridor.

Kate came to the realisation that if they were ever going to get out of the corridor alive it would be up to her to get them out of there. Glancing down she spotted a small grate on the wall. Immediately an idea came to her and she acted on it.

Reaching out she grabbed the laser rifle from Ryan's hands and pointed it down at the grate. She fired several shots at the grate blowing out a large hole.

"What do you think you're doing?" Castle asked, surprised at her action.

"I've decided it's up to me to save our skins." Kate told him, tossing the rifle back to Ryan. "Get into that garbage chute, flyboy!"

Castle opened his mouth to say something but he was struck dumb when he watched as Kate jumped through the hole and disappeared. Javi crept up to the opening and peered down in amazement.

"I'm going to kill her." Javi muttered.

"No, Javi...you're not going to kill her." Castle said as he joined his friend at the open grate. "I've got this odd feeling though."

Javi looked over to Castle.

"Either I'm beginning to like her, or I'm going to end up strangling her." Castle muttered.

Javi grinned at his friend. "My money's on the former."

Castle pulled a face. "Go on you oaf."

"Have you taken a whiff of that smell coming up from there." Javi protested.

A volley of heavy laser fire came down the corridor just missing the two pilots. Castle was ready to fire back but Ryan was crouched down and returning fire. Castle grabbed hold of Javi.

"I don't care what you smell. We don't have time to worry about it now."

Castle shoved his friend head first through the opening.

"Come on Ryan." Castle shouted before he disappeared through the grate.

Ryan fired blindly at the Storm troopers as he rose from his crouch and made his way to the grate. A short burst of laser fire hitting the floor just a couple of feet from him had the young man diving through the grate.

XXX

Castle scrambled out of the pool of water he landed in and up onto a hillock of garbage. A moment later Ryan splashed down sending a wave of dirty water in Castle's direction forcing Castle to turn his head away and avoid copping a face full of the foul smelling water. On surfacing Ryan started to cough and splutter. Castle started to reach out to the young man to help him but Ryan shook his head to indicate he was fine and did not need help.

Castle moved further up the pile of rubbish he was standing on and slowly surveyed the room they now found themselves in. He was relieved to see that the others were all right, a little shaken perhaps but all right.

Castle continued his survey and found that this garbage room was not particularly big. It was about twenty feet high and another twenty feet wide and ten feet long. It was not the dimensions of the room that had his eyes widening in alarm. This was no ordinary garbage room where food and other household items and scraps were deposited for disposal or recycling. He realised that this room was a depositing point for industrial waste. There were metal sheets and pipes as well as plastic tubes and old wiring and other items that Castle could not identify. There was a powerful oily aroma that hung in the air and darkened the surface of the water. There were other smells mixed in, some he recognised and others he didn't. Yet he knew that it would not be good if they breathed in this smell for too long. He could feel the beginnings of a headache already. What alarmed Castle the most was there were so many sharp edges and points everywhere. It amazed him that nobody had been killed coming out of the garbage chute.

Castle spotted a small hatchway and he started to carefully climb over the trash to reach it. He reached the hatchway door pleased with himself for not having slipped and fallen into the water. He tried to open the door. He struggled with it for a nearly a minute before he gave up on the attempt as the door steadfastly refused to budge.

He took a step back and let out a sigh before he turned around. Kate was perched on some rusting piping. Her cream coloured tunic was now a darker shade and streaked with oil. Her hair was a damp mattered mess. She had landed in the water when she had come down the chute. It had not escaped his sharp eye that her wet clothes had moulded to her body in a way, that had it been any other time, he would have found very appealing. Right at this moment he was experiencing a wave of annoyance at being trapped in a garbage room.

"I got to say the garbage chute was a wonderful idea." Castle said waspishly. "And that's an incredible smell you've discovered..."

Kate glared at him but did not say a word.

"Unfortunately these garbage chambers are vacuum sealed."

Castle rounded on the hatchway door and fired his blaster. The laser bolt bounced off the hatchway door at an angle and ricocheted wildly around the room, bouncing off one wall after another in a mad random pattern. Everyone was forced to duck for cover. It finally explode on the ceiling above them and showered them with sparks.

Kate got to her feet with a grim look on her face.

"Put that damn blaster away or you're going to get us all killed." She ordered.

"Yes your worship."

Castle did not move though. Kate put her hands on her hips and fixed Castle with a hard glare. The pilot of the Millennium Falcon held her gaze for a couple of moments before he made of show of holstering his weapon and then held up his arms as if to say: 'Ta da'.

"It's not going to take them long to figure out what happened to us." Javi reminded everyone.

"We had things well under control, until you led us down here." Castle added, looking at Kate.

Kate rolled her eyes before she slowly negotiated her way down to where Castle was standing.

"It could be worse..." Kate sighed.

A loud horrible, almost inhuman moan rose from the murky depths of the water.

"What the hell was that?" Javi said worriedly, his eyes darting about. He was standing near the hatchway Castle had fired at. He had been trying to open it.

Castle quickly drew his blaster while Ryan hefted his laser rifle. Both men slowly looked about trying to find the source of that noise. Javi had quickly raised his laser rifle as well.

"What was that?" Castle exclaimed in a high pitched voice.

He turned and looked at Kate and flashed a grin at her.

"I know we've only just met and this is our first date and all, but I didn't realise you're such a handsy person."

A look of surprise appeared on Kate's face. She opened her mouth to speak.

"I...I...didn't..."

Castle leaned a little closer to her, enjoying the sudden blush across her cheeks.

"I don't mind you handling the merchandise, but not in front of the children though, okay?" He added sotto vocce.

Castle was not above injecting a little levity in an otherwise tense situation. He was amused to see the princess looking flustered. He added a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows before he turned away.

"Something just moved past me." Ryan called out. He pointed his weapon down at his feet.

Suddenly a black tentacle rose from the water behind Ryan and wrapped itself around his ankles. Before the young man had a chance to call out the black tentacle yanked him down into the water.

"It took him under!" Kate shouted.

"Ryan!" Castle shouted, moving to the spot where Ryan had been standing.

Ryan broke the surface of the water gasping for air and thrashing his arms. The black tentacle was wrapped around his throat.

"Blast it! Blast it!" Ryan screamed.

"I can't even see it." Castle shouted back.

Castle started to take aim at where he thought the creature was but Ryan was pulled down into the water again.

"Ryan!" Castle shouted again.

Javi had left his position by the door and joined Castle searching for the young man. All three were looking for a sign of Ryan that they did not hear the walls of the garbage room shudder and move a couple of inches.

Castle was ready to hand his blaster to Kate and dive into the water to look for Ryan when the man concerned suddenly reappeared. Castle leaned down and grabbed Ryan and pulled him out of the water.

"What happened?" Kate asked.

"I don't know." Ryan panted as he tried to catch his breath. He was pulled out of the water and gave Castle a nod of thanks. "The thing just disappeared."

"I got a very bad feeling about this..." Javi intoned.

The co-pilot of the Millennium Falcon had barely finished speaking when the walls of the room rumbled into life and commenced to move towards them.

"What the hell?" Castle muttered as he stared at a wall that was coming towards him.

"Don't just stand there." Kate shouted as she punched Castle in the arm. "Try to brace it with something."

All four people snapped into action searching the garbage. Poles and long metal beams were found and as a team they worked to place the poles and beams between the closing walls. The poles were no match for the powerful compacter. The beams and poles snapped like dry wooden twigs.

"This doesn't look good at all." Castle muttered.

"Thank you Mr Obvious." Kate retorted.

"That's Captain Obvious to you." Castle corrected.

Kate turned away and resumed her search for something a little bigger and thicker to wedge between the two closing walls. Javi was doing the same. Ryan pulled out his radio which miraculously had not been lost during his dip in the water with the creature.

"Threepio...come in Threepio." He shouted above the noise of the compactor.

Kate found a larger length of piping amongst the rubbish. She struggled to pull it out. Castle rushed over and assisted her. Together they managed to wedge the pipe against one wall. A moment later the piping snapped like all the others. Castle threw himself against the wall as if brute strength would stop the oncoming wall. Javi was doing the same with the other wall.

"There's one thing for sure." Castle said as he strained to hold back the wall.

"What's that, Castle?" Kate asked.

"We're all going to be much thinner."

Kate looked at Castle only to roll her eyes and shake her head at his remark.

"See Threepio...come in Threepio." Ryan shouted into his radio.

"Try to blast the door again." Kate suggested.

Castle looked at Kate quizzically.

"It's our only hope." She shrugged.

Castle nodded his head in understanding and took aim at the door. He fired several times only to see the laser bolts fly off in all directions. One laser bolt narrowly missed Javi who glared angrily at Castle.

Within a couple of minutes the walls of the compactor were less than five feet apart. It forced everyone to stand up side by side. He could feel the first wave of pressure that was generated by the compacted rubbish. The water was rapidly rising as the space in the room became smaller and smaller. The water had reached his waist. He did not know which was worse, being crushed or drowning in this ooze and then being crushed. He did not like either outcome.

Castle was standing next to Kate. Glancing at her he saw the look of terror filling her eyes. As much as he could understand that feeling it was not a look that he liked seeing in those gorgeous hazel eyes of hers. He reached out and took hold of her hand and gave it a gentle reassuring squeeze. Kate was startled and looked into Castle's face.

"We'll get out of here." He assured her in a low voice.

Kate wanted desperately to believe him even though reality was telling her something else. She nodded her head and squeezed his hand tightly. If his face was the last thing she saw before she died that was not so bad, she thought to herself.

"Threepio!" Ryan shouted into his radio. "Come in Threepio!"

"Are you there, sir?" See Threepio called. "We've had some problems..."

"Threepio, shut up and listen!" Ryan screamed back. "Shut down all the garbage compactors on the detention level...do you copy? Shut down the garbage compactors."

For about half a minute the walls continued to close in. Then they came to a halt. Silence descended. Castle slowly turned and looked at Kate. It took a moment for him to realise that the walls had stopped moving and that they were still alive. He started to smile. The worried expression on Kate's face melted away and she matched his smile.

Javi was the first to start shouting and hollering that they were all alive. He grabbed Ryan and gave him a powerful bear hug. Soon everyone else were shouting for joy.

"Listen to them...they're dying, Artoo!" See Threepio's voice wailed through Ryan's radio. "I curse this metal body of mine. I was not fast enough...it's my fault...my poor master...all of them...no,no no!"

"Threepio, Artoo, we're all right! We're all right!" Ryan shouted happily into the radio. "We're all right, do you read me? You did fine."

"Well, you sure know how to show a guy a good time, your exaltedness." Castle said, grinning. "First you get us trapped in a garbage room, next we get attacked by a snake-like creature, and if that isn't fun enough, we almost get crushed by the compacter."

"Stop whining." Kate retorted. "You're still alive, aren't you?"

"She's got a point, Castle." Javi smirked.

Castle looked over to where his friend was standing and shot him a glare before he turned his gaze back to Kate and resumed smiling. In that moment she realised that she was still holding his hand. She released it and took a small step away from him.

Castle chuckled a little at her action before he shuffled across to the hatchway door. This time instead of firing at it as he had done earlier he reached up and scraped away some muck that was on a plate beside the door. He turned to look at Ryan.

"Tell him to open the pressure maintenance hatch on unit 366117891."

Ryan nodded his head and relayed the order to See Threepio.

XXX

Castle was the last to stumble out of the garbage room and he found that they were all standing in what looked like a maintenance corridor. He was about to close the hatch when a long black tentacle snaked its way out of the garbage room in search of a new victim. Castle let out a high pitched shriek.

"No wait!" Kate called out, seeing what Castle was about to do. "They'll hear."

Castle ignore her and pulled the trigger of his blaster. The noise of the blast echoed relentlessly through the empty corridor. The black tentacle instantly vanished back into the garbage room allowing Castle to close the door. He turned and smiled triumphantly at his handywork.

Kate stared daggers at a smug looking Castle. She took a couple of steps towards him.

"Listen, hotshot, I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but from now on you do as I tell you." Kate said angrily.

The smug expression on Castle's face slipped. He was stunned by her outburst. He holstered his blaster and focused his gaze on her.

"No, you listen your holiness." He replied. "Let's get something straight! I take orders from one person...Me!"

"It's a wonder you're still alive!"

Castle stood there looking flabbergasted as he watched Kate turn on her heeled boots and start down the corridor. Castle recovered quickly and cast a glance in Javi's direction.

"Women." Javi said with a smirk

Castle narrowed his eyes at his friend but did not get a chance to say anything because the co-pilot hefted his laser rifle and set off the catch up with Kate. Ryan fell into step behind the co-pilot.

"In case you guys have forgotten, she was the one who got us trapped in the garbage room in the first place." Castle called out to them.

With a shake of the head and muttering something unintelligible Castle too set off down the corridor to catch up with the others.

A few minutes later Kate had found an exit out of the maintenance corridor and they were moving along a large hallway that was empty of Imperial troops. Castle looked about him while keeping an eye on the princess.

Kate reached a large bay window and came to a halt. Peering through the window she saw that it over looked a hanger. A perplexed expression settled on her face. Javi and Ryan quickly joined her. Ryan broke into a smile when he saw the Millennium Falcon sitting in the hanger. Castle also reached the window but instead of smiling he frowned when he saw troopers moving in and out of his beloved ship.

"See Threepio...do you copy?" Ryan spoke into his radio.

"I read you, sir." The droid responded.

"Are you safe?"

"For the moment. We're in the main hanger, across from the ship."

"We're right above you. Stand by." Ryan turned away from the window. "We have to find a way to get down to the hanger."

"Getting back to the ship is going to be like flying through the Five Fire Rings of Fornax." Castle remarked, still staring down at his ship and wondering what kind of mess the troopers had made.

"You came in that thing?" Kate said incredulously.

"Yeah." Castle dragged his eyes from the window. "What about it?"

"You're braver than I thought!"

Castle narrowed his eyes at Kate giving her a dirty look for her mocking tone. He had a retort ready on the tip of his tongue but he did not get the chance to make it. Kate had already moved away from the window and was heading down the corridor along with the others. He had to run to catch up to them.

The little group rounded the corner and came to an immediate halt, startled by a group of about twenty Imperial Storm troopers marching towards them from the other end of the corridor. The troopers came to a stop at the same time. For a moment or two neither group did anything than to stare at each other, too surprised to do anything.

Without thinking Ryan drew his blaster. Letting out a loud yell he charged the troopers. The troopers startled by this assault began to back off. Ryan started firing at the troopers, hitting several and the rest began to flee.

"Go the ship!" Ryan called over his shoulder.

"Get back here, Ryan, what the hell are you doing?" Castle shouted.

"He's going to get himself killed." Kate said, sounding a little concerned.

"Yeah." Castle sighed. He turned to look at Javi. "Javi, go with him."

Javi straightened up and cast a dirty look at Castle, none too pleased to have been volunteered to go after the kid.

"Why does the brown guy always have to go and save the white guy?" He said pointedly.

"Just go and get him and meet us back at the ship." Castle ordered.

Javi nodded his head but the look he gave Castle told the pilot of the Millennium Falcon that his co-pilot was going to discuss this matter with him later on. Castle had no doubt that it was not going to be a pleasant conversation.

As soon as Javi set off down the corridor to catch up to Ryan, alarms began to sound in the corridor.

"Let's get out of here." Castle said. Kate responded with a curt nod of her head.

XXX

Castle and Kate were making their way along a corridor when a squad of Storm troopers appeared at the far end of the corridor.

"O-oh." Castle muttered. "We got company."

"I see them." Kate replied in a low voice.

The troopers came to a stop on seeing Castle and Kate and raised their weapons. Castle fired his blaster at the troopers before they had a chance to fire. Without thinking he grabbed Kate's hand with his free one and dragged her into a sub-corridor as the troopers started to give chase.

At the end of corridor Castle saw a small hatchway. He was the first through the hatch and found himself standing on a narrow bridge that spanned an extremely deep shaft that seemed to go on forever. The bridge had been retracted. Castle came to a halt suddenly when he spotted the bridge had been retracted. Kate had been looking behind her to the oncoming troopers that she did not see Castle had stopped and collided into him.

Castle let out a squeak and grabbed hold of Kate stopping from toppling over the edge of the bridge and into the abyss. When Kate turned around she let out a gasp of shock on seeing the abyss below them.

They were both staring down into the dark depths of the shaft that they were startled by the laser fire that exploded just above their heads. Castle turned and returned the fire stopping the advancing troops for a moment or two.

"Honey, I think we took a wrong turn." He said.

"Well, you were driving." Kate replied. "You should have stopped and asked for directions."

Castle grinned at her and fired at the troopers. Kate reached over and hit a switch on a console. The hatch door can slamming down cutting off the troopers. Castle fired a shot at the console destroying it.

"That's a shielded door, but it wont hold them long." He remarked.

Kate turned and looked at the distance that separated them from the other side of the bridge. She quickly realised that the chasm was too wide for them to jump across.

"We have to get across to the other side."

"Agreed."

"Find the extension control for the bridge!"

Both Castle and Kate started to look for the controls that extended and retracted the bridge. Within a couple of minutes they could hear pounding and the sounds of drilling coming from the closed hatch.

"They're going to come through any minute." Castle warned.

"Damn it!" Kate shouted.

"What?"

"The controls are on the other side."

"What?"

"The bridge controls are over there." Kate pointed across the chasm to the other bridge platform.

Castle looked over to the other platform.

"That's no good."

"You think?"

"Who builds bridge controls only on one side of a bridge?"

"The geniuses who built this battle station." Kate remarked sourly.

Castle shook his head in disbelief. Casting his eyes to the floor he caught sight of the pouch on his utility belt. He opened the pouch and dug his hand into it. A look of surprise swept across his face when he pulled his hand out of the pouch and found he was holding a long thin nylon cable.

His face brightened. He had found a way to get to the other side of the bridge. He quickly swung the cable around and around until he had the right speed and momentum. He then sent the cable hurtling across the dark chasm. The end of the cable wrapped itself around an outcropping of pipes that ran above the platform on the other side. Castle tugged on the cable several times to make sure that it was secure and was very relieved to find that it held firm.

He wrapped some of the cable around his right wrist and then without warning reached over and wrapped his left arm around Kate's waist. Kate gave Castle a startled look. Her eyes widened a little more when it dawned on her what Castle was about to do.

"Uh...about what I said...earlier...I...I..." Kate stammered.

"...meant every word of it." Castle supplied.

"Yeah." Kate breathed.

Kate found herself gnawing her bottom lip as Castle regarded her. She saw warmth and amusement lighting up his blue eyes. Eyes that she could easily lose herself in. She felt the rumble of laughter bubble up from his chest and felt the tremor pass through her.

"Honest as well as feisty." Castle chuckled. "I like that."

The pounding at the door behind them grew louder and it was enough to break the spell between them. Kate felt his arm around her waist tighten a little more and she automatically wrapped her arms around his neck. She leaned in an kissed him on the lips.

The kiss was quick as it was chaste but Castle looked at her in astonishment.

"That was..."

"For luck." Kate told him, feeling a little surprised herself.

"Yeah, okay, but I was going to say..."

"Out of character?"

"Amazing."

Kate smiled. "Okay. It was for luck as well." She said. "We're going to need it."

"Here goes nothing."

Castle jumped off the edge of the bridge and swung across the yawning chasm. He gritted his teeth at the strain his right arm was taking, having to hold his baulky weight as well as Kate's. He focused his eyes on the platform across the chasm, not wanting to look down at the black abyss below.

Castle's feet touched down on the other platform and he quickly released his hold on the cable. Steadying himself he let out a loud sigh. They had made it across. Relief changed to amusement when he saw Kate was still clinging to him. Not that he minded. In fact he found he rather liked it.

"Ah, Kate?"

"Mmm?"

"We made it."

"Oh." Kate looked about her and saw that they had reached the other side. "Okay."

Kate made no move to release her hold on him.

"You can let go now."

"Yeah."

Slowly Kate unfolded her arms from around his neck. A smile rose her lips as she looked about her. She turned to Castle and gave him a beaming smile.

The Storm troopers broke through the door and started to fire across the bridge to where Castle and Kate were standing. Castle turned and with no little annoyance at the untimely interruption, returned fire. Kate ducked through the doorway. Castle fired his blaster a few more times before he followed Kate, closing the door as he went. He was really starting to hate these Storm troopers.

XXXXX

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

Con