Chapter 9: Take Them By Surprise.
Leia Organa Solo rounded the corner of the main docking bay, her blaster at the ready. She opened her mind to the force, trying to sense where the Alliance soldiers were hiding. She found them immediately: half a dozen, just outside the Falcon.
Leia smirked. If the Alliance had resorted to searching the Falcon for some information to derail their rebellion, they were getting desperate. Her smirk faded a little when she remembered that only a few hours earlier, it was the Rebels who were the desperate ones.
She looked to the sky and silently thanked her brother and nephew for turning the tide in the war. If it weren't for them, she and the other Rebels would probably be dead by now.
Leia turned her head to the way she'd come and motioned for the others to join her. Han Solo, Wedge Antilles and three young Corellian soldiers barely old enough to be out of school edged down the corridor and came to rest in the shadows opposite her.
She signalled with her free hand what she wanted the others to do, and Han and one of the young Corellians stepped to her side of the corridor. She gestured to Wedge that her group would go first, and he nodded in acknowledgement. Leia rested her free hand on the hilt of her lightsaber, anticipating a combat situation, and she, Han and the young soldier slowly made their way across the near-empty hanger towards the Falcon.
The group came to rest
behind a stack of empty weapons crates, and Leia signalled motioned
for Wedge's group to make their move. Wedge and the other two
Corellians silently slunk across the glossy metal floor, ducking
behind a dismantled A-wing a few meters to the right of the others.
They were now close enough for Leia to get a better read on the
Alliance soldiers, and as she opened herself to the force once more,
she was shocked to find a familiar mind among them – a familiar
Jedi mind!
"Kyle Katarn is with them!" Leia hissed to Han.
Han raised his eyebrows in astonishment, but said nothing. Kyle was one of his brother-in-law, Luke Skywalker's, oldest friends, and was one of the first Jedi to join the Skywalker Academy many years ago. If Kyle could turn his back on the Skywalkers and the Jedi, how many other old friends had fallen under Jacen's sway? Hand shuddered at the thought.
Leia waved her palm in front of her husband's face to bring his attention back to the task at hand. It was going to be much more difficult to take the Alliance soldiers by surprise with a Jedi amongst them. "In fact," Leia thought, "he probably already knows we're here." She didn't voice her opinion out loud. Negative thoughts weren't good for group morale.
They had two choices: they could try and take the Alliance soldiers now, or, they could wait for Luke, Ben and their back-up to land. The latter would be the more sensible choice, seeing as it would be less likely that one of them would be killed, but Leia had spent too many years married to the 'King of Rash Decisions' to be content with waiting for back-up. That, and the fact that Han always loved a good fire-fight.
Leia leaned in closer to Han and the young soldier so that her voice wouldn't carry as far across the hollow space. "They've got a Jedi with them, which is going to make things a little more difficult," she explained in a whisper. "I'll take care of the Jedi, so that leaves five soldiers for you and Wedge's group to handle. Try and stay covered; there aren't enough of us to go all heroic and get shot."
She nodded to Wedge and pointed to the closest
repulsorlift on the Falcon. Wedge nodded back to say he understood,
and then turned to the two Corellian soldiers to explain what was
going to happen.
Before heading off toward the Falcon,
Leia put her mouth to her husband's ear. "This might get a little
rough out there, Han. I can't promise the Falcon will be in
one piece when we finish this."
Han flashed his wife a
trademark Solo grin. "Do whatever you have to do, Princess. Just
make sure you come back in one piece."
Leia smiled at
her husband and kissed him on the cheek, before rounding the corner
of their hiding place and heading for the Falcon.
This was about to get interesting.
