Switches
[Hold on!] Chewie growled, running quickly to the cockpit. The ramp was up, finally, but the sound of shots hitting the hull continued to echo throughout the Falcon. Lando wasn't far behind Chewie, but paused momentarily to glance at Mila, who, now on the Falcon, seemed to be filled with the perfect mixture of shock and terror.
But he couldn't pause too long. Outside, Fett grew closer to the ship, intent on taking out as much of the Millennium Falcon as possible. Eventually he'd have to stop and run to his own ship though, as he wasn't the only one quickly approaching. Security was quick behind him, but he easily dodged their shots. He was a bounty hunter by both blood and heart, and wouldn't be taken down easily.
"Why is he shooting at us?" Mila asked quickly as she followed to the cockpit.
"Because" Lando answered, flipping switches as the ship started up, "he knows we're after Han, and he also knows it'd be a lot easier to kill us off and not worry about us anymore."
"Kill us off?" she squeaked as Lando lightly pushed her down into the nearest seat.
"Yeah, kill us off. Now get yourself strapped in" he continued, sitting in the captain's chair. Chewie had the guns running, attempting to hit Fett as he continued to shoot towards the ship, but he always managed to dodge.
[Everyting ready?] Chewie asked.
"Yeah, let's get out of here" Lando replied quickly, and moments later they were in the air, blasting towards the entrance. Over the comm, deck officers yelled for them to stop, that they didn't have clearance, but Lando turned it off.
"Why did you turn it off?" Mila asked, her eyes still wide.
"Doesn't matter if we don't have clearance, we have to get out of here!"
"But what if they follow us? Oh Gods, what will my father do? We have to go back!" she rambled on, obviously worried.
Chewie was flat with his reply, [Too late now.]
"Too late?" she asked, and Lando gave a small laugh, but cleared his throat and tried to hide it from her. "I can't just leave! You realize..."
[Where'd you find her again?] Chewie asked, completely ignoring the fact that she could understand him.
"Hey!" she replied, offended.
Lando looked at her, "Hey, he wants you to calm down. We'll do our best." Chewie just rolled his eyes.
"Oh, alright..." she said quietly, and then she attempted to sit back in her chair, holding her hands awkwardly in her lap. "Are you sure we'll be ok?" she asked again after a few moments.
Lando sighed and turned around again, "Look, Mila. I know you're scared and everything, and haven't really done this before, but could you please keep quiet? We're attempting to get away from a bounty hunter that wants nothing more than for us all to be dead."
Eyes still wide, now from a mixture of recent events and Lando's outburst, Mila kept quiet, and Lando was able to return to the task at hand. "How we doing Chewie?"
[Alright, we're far enough out now that we should be able to jump, but...] he paused, [we'll lose Han...again.]
"Leia won't be happy."
[I know, but I don't see what other option we have. You set for the jump?]
Lando sighed once more, "Yeah, everything should be ready" he replied, and a moment later, Chewie pulled back on the handle, and they were shot into hyperspace, now safe from the deck officers they were sure would attempt to track them down and from the bounty hunter than wanted their heads.
[I'm gonna get some sleep] Chewie said quickly, and Lando noticed the slight hint of disappointment and sadness in his growl. The wookiee got up from his seat and moved out of the cockpit, leaving Mila and Lando alone.
"Is it alright if I talk now? Mila asked coldly, and Lando turned to her again.
"Yeah. I suppose you have questions and concerns."
Cautiously, Mila got up and took Chewie's seat so they were across from one another. "Where exactly are we going?"
"That's a good question" Lando replied, laughing. "At the moment we're headed back towards the Alliance. I highly doubt you that you want to come with us to Tatooine, and quite honestly you shouldn't, so therefore, your best bet of getting home is with the Alliance."
"The Alliance as in the Rebel Alliance?"
"That's the one" he said with a slight chuckle, "although I'm not sure what other alliance there would be."
"My father will be pretty worried" she continued, looking down at her hands in her lap. Her dark hair fell from behind her shoulder and covered the side of her face. "He'll think I'm dead."
"You can contact him when we get back. And I hope you plan on fully explaining what happened here, just so I don't have to deal with another bounty."
Mila suddenly looked interested, "You have a bounty on you? Now? I thought you were respectful now!"
He smiled and looked out into the swirling blue, "Well, I am respectable. I'm helping find Han, and I've been planning on the joining the Alliance too. It's a good cause Mila."
"I'm sure" she said quietly. "I don't think my father knew that I know, but I think he was connected with the Alliance somehow, or rather that he is in contact with them."
"That's possible. They have agents all over the galaxy."
"Yeah, and there's always been this part of me that's wanted to join myself, although I'm not sure what help I'd be."
"What do you mean?" Lando asked, genuinely interested for once.
"Well," she started, "I've never been in space like this. This is the first time. I have no medical training, and I wouldn't be much of a help when it comes to cooking. I can't pilot a speeder properly, much less a ship, and I'm certainly no good with a blaster. And as you saw today," she laughed, "I've never really had any battle training or experience."
"There's gotta be something you can do" Lando countered, " and you know what? I think I know just the person to help you."
[You've got to be kidding me.]
"Well it makes sense, doesn't it?" Lando asked.
[No. No it doesn't. They couldn't be more different! She'll go insane!]
Lando had finished talking with Mila some time earlier and had sent her to the cabin to get some rest, and he was now sitting in the galley talking with the wookiee. "Look, Leia would be a great person to mentor Mila."
[You don't know Leia] Chewie argued.
"You don't know Mila!"
[Considering she wouldn't shut up, froze during that battle and just told you she has no training of any kind, I still thing it's a bad idea.]
"I never told you that she didn't have training!"
[Wookiees have sensitive ears] Chewie replied simply. [Plus, Leia isn't exactly in a position to take someone like that under her wing. She's got enough going on as it is.]
"What? Because of Han?"
[That, among other things.]
"Well Leia seems like a pretty strong person to me, and I think she could handle it."
[Maybe we should just let Leia decide, and you can have the pleasure of calling the Alliance once we get there.]
"Why do I have to do it?" Lando asked quickly as Chewie got up from the bench.
[Because you're the one who got us into this mess!] he finished before leaving with his caf.
"You know that's not fair!" Lando called after him. "You can't use that excuse forever!"
He heard one more woof from the wookiee, [Oh yes I can!]
An alarm sounded from the cockpit, and Chewie rushed to it, reaching the room before either Lando or Mila. She fell in soon after, asking quickly what was going on, but quieted down quickly when she realized that she wouldn't help much by asking constant questions. Lando came in moments later, giving Mila a quick glance before sitting in the front seat.
"What's going on Chew?"
[Don't know. Why don't you tell me?] he asked harshly.
Lando looked offended, "What do you mean by that?"
[Well it's just the proximity alarms are going off a lot earlier than they should be, meaning you put in the wrong calculations.]
"So where are we now?" Mila asked, piping into the argument before Lando could respond.
[Good question.]
"Well we'll just have to pull out of hyperspace to see then, won't we?" Lando continued, ignoring Mila after another quick glance.
Moments later they were pulling out, the blue fading to the still stars, but what they found in front of them wasn't exactly what they wanted.
"What's going on?" Mila asked again, clutching the arms of the seat as the ship flew back and forth through a series of ships.
"The Empire" Lando replied quickly, but his voice sounded final. His hands flew from switch to switch, and the ship circled, carefully avoiding the larger frigates, which were now beginning to fire at them.
[Apparently it doesn't matter if it's you or Han piloting this ship...I still end up in this position against the Empire] Chewie growled as he continued to fly them through the maze of Star Destroyers the best he could. [They'll take us down if we don't get out of here quick.]
"Can't argue there. Do what you can, and I'll try to recalculate the coordinates."
[Don't send us to the Alliance. They'll follow. Make a jump to Naboo.]
"Naboo? Mila asked, although her question went unnoticed once again. As Lando entered the calculations, ties were released from the belly of a nearby Star Destroyer, and flashes began to light the areas outside of the ship.
[We've got trouble.]
"I can't do it now. Mila, get in my seat and take the controls!"
"But I told you...I've never been in space before! How can I pilot a ship?"
"You just have to do it, not go!" Lando yelled, and she quickly moved to the front seat, her hands hovering over the controls nervously.
[I'll take main control, but when I tell you, there's a green switch in front of you. See it?]
"This one?" she asked, pointing to a small switch a few inches from the bottom of the console.
Chewie nodded and confirmed with a growl.
Outside, the ties had surrounded the ship, and another alarm began to blare, notifying them all that the shields were close to going down. One or two more hits to the back system and they'd be dead. Chewie gave another growl and Mila flipped the switch, setting the laser cannons into action. They sent a series of shots toward the advancing ties, taking two or three of them out in one pass. She flipped it back down, and the guns stopped sending shots.
Quickly, Mila figured out what she was really doing, and as Chewie brought them around for another pass, she flipped the switch at just the right time, sending two more tie fighters into flames.
"Almost ready" Lando said as he put the last numbers into the console. "Line up the jump Chew!"
He did, and while there still ties close behind, the Millennium Falcon and her passengers were soon safely in hyperspace, having once again avoided the Empire.
Chewie leaned back into his chair, and Lando fell into the nearest one, giving off a sigh of relief. Mila, meanwhile, was happily jumping up and down. "I did it! I helped us get out of there!"
"Congrats on flipping a switch" Lando answered sarcastically, and Mila gave him a look..
Chewie on the other hand, was a bit more congratulatory. [Good job. Maybe the Alliance could use you after all.] Mila smiled.
Suddenly Lando spoke again, "You know Chew. I'm sure glad Mila speaks Shyriiwook. I don't know how Han does the whole translating thing. It's hard enough to understand myself!"
[Well Leia knows Shyriiwook, so he doesn't have to translate all the time.]
"Who's Leia?" Mila asked, interrupting. "Wait...Leia as in Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan?"
"Well that's the only Leia I know, so yeah."
"You know her? I thought she died with Alderaan! I didn't know she was still alive."
Chewie sounded happier. [Oh she's alive, just back at the Alliance, although she really wanted to be out here with us.]
"Why?" she continued. "Why would a Princess want to be out on a mission like this?"
Chewie laughed, as only a wookiee can, [Leia isn't just a Princess.]
"You said it Chewie" Lando included.
"What do you mean?"
[Well Leia is currently helping to plan the rescue mission of Han. Actually, she's leading it. She's been a leader of the Alliance since long before Alderaan happened too.]
"Let me guess. Han and Leia...they're together?"
"Never occurred to me either...that Han would ever settle down."
"It's just surprising. I don't know him personally, but it's just really interesting based on what I've heard about him."
[Han isn't the person everyone says he is. He's pretty good about putting on a mask around people] Chewie answered, remembering the secrets Han had kept even from him.
"Either way, that's why Leia's doing all of this?"
[Yeah, it is.]
Mila sighed, "Well, I may not know Leia, but I do know that I'll do whatever it takes for her to get Han back. I know what that feels like."
"Oh really?" Lando asked, his grin growing as he leaned towards her.
"Not you" she said, pushing him away. "No, there was this one guy, Jex, and I honestly loved him. But then the Empire came around, searching for people associated with the Alliance. When I didn't get a response on his comm for a few days, I went to his apartment, and he was on the floor, dead." They were silent for a moment, as neither Chewie or Lando knew what to say. But Mila continued, "That's when I kind of figured out my dad was involved in the Alliance, and that I wanted to join for myself if I ever had the chance."
[So you're saying you want to come with us?]
"If I could. I know I'm not much help and at the moment I'm just taking up space, but I want to learn. I feel like the galaxy is so big, and I just want to see as much of it as I can. Jex never got to and I just feel like now I need to see it for him."
"Joining the Alliance is a big deal. You can't really live a life of your own outside of it once you join. Han proved that point. "
"I know" she replied. "But I want to. I'll have to contact my father of course, to let him know I'm safe, but I want to help."
Chewie yawned, [Well we'll see what we can do once we get back to the Alliance, but right now, I think we could all use some sleep. Naboo will be waiting for us in the morning.]
The wookiee left the cockpit first, and Lando stood to go next. "You can take the bunk in the main cabin again." When she didn't move, he spoke again, "You coming?"
"Yeah," she sighed, "I'll be there in a minute. I just haven't seen anything like this before."
"And by the way" Lando said, "I'm sorry about Jex."
"You didn't even know him."
"You don't know Han or Leia, but you're still willing to help them because you care. It's the same thing."
"I suppose. I just wonder what he would have thought of all this. He never really left Sullust either, but just worked as an undercover agent on the planet."
"Well I'm sure he was a great guy. He moved towards her and placed a light kiss on the top of her head, an odd gesture for him. "Get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."
"Yeah," she replied. Mila lingered for a few minutes longer before finally standing to follow and head to bed. But before she left completely, she looked one last time at the swirls of hyperspace outside the cockpit, hoping to find the answer to her question.
Was she doing the right thing?
Well, there's the end of the next chapter! Any ideas on what "right thing" Mila is talking about? It could go more than one way!
I'm pretty proud of myself for getting a new chapter of something up every Saturday...although I might have to take a week off (either next Saturday or the one after or both). I graduate High School in a few weeks (although I really don't want to think about it), so I'm pretty busy finishing stuff up for finals and everything. I'm amazed I got this chapter done...last night. Either way, it's here, and I know somewhat where I'm going with it at the moment, so I'll just keep writing the best I can.
Along with this story, I posted a new chapter for Repairs last week, and there should be another one soon, but the next one will go back to the more actual repairs...like of a ship. I've kind of been alternating the two meanings. I've also got a short story in the works...so hopefully that appears at some point.
Hints for upcoming chapters: Well, next chapter we go back to Luke and Leia, sort of. There will be some...well, interesting stuff going on. Not really battles yet...but Naboo is definitely the start of an alternate storyline that goes along with this whole thing. Like a smaller story that works its way into the overarching storyline of rescuing Han (which really is smaller than the largest storyline of Han and Leia's relationship). Oh...and Wedge will be back. I know some of you are really enjoying him...I am too. =)
As always, thanks for reading, and please review if you have a moment! Also, if you find any errors, please let me know and I'll fix them as soon as possible! Thanks again!
