When Han emerged from the freighter's hold, shouldering the packs he had put together from their supplies, Luke laid his head against the solid bulk of the ship and sighed.
This was going to be a long trip.
"Han?"
The smuggler never looked up from the overladen pack he was trying with little success to stuff with one more unidentifiable item. "Yeah, kid?"
"Don't you think those packs are a little . . . mismatched?"
Han looked up, an unconvincingly innocent expression on his face. "Whaddya mean? I'll have you know, I uh . . . acquired these from a very reputable dealer on Nar Shaddaa who assured me they were a matched set. Of the finest quality, of course."
Luke rolled his eyes. "Han, there are no reputable dealers on Nar Shaddaa. I may have grown up in the backside of nowhere, but even I've heard of the Smugglers' Moon. Besides, you know very well that's not what I meant."
Han hefted the bulky pack he was working on and unsuccessfully concealed a wince. The pack was easily four times the size of the other.
Luke sighed again. "Han, if you try to put that thing on, you're going to end up flat on your back."
"Been there plenty of times." Han grinned. "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it, kid."
Crossing his arms across his chest, Luke decided to ignore that particular comment. He settled on glaring at Han instead. "I'm not an invalid, you know."
"Yep. And I'm tryin' to make sure you stay that way."
Luke glowered at Han for a few more moments, then realized this was one battle he wasn't going to win. Actually, there were quite a few battles he hadn't managed to win, and the odds were against that losing streak changing any time in the near future. Force knew, his current life expectancy pretty much eliminated any need to worry about the long term.
Han walked over and dropped the significantly smaller pack next to Luke. He squatted down and said, "Hey. No need to get all gloomy. It's not that bad, you know."
Luke merely raised a dubious eyebrow at him.
"You're not worried about Vader, are you?" Han grinned again. "Don't be, 'cause we have him outnumbered. I'll distract him, and you can bonk him over the head with a rock or somethin'."
In spite of himself, Luke smiled. "That easy, huh? Then how are we going to find our way to the Imperial base - and its ships - if we take out Vader, with or without the rock?"
"Well, I haven't worked out all the details yet. Good planning takes time. . . ."
". . . . And bad planning takes lives," Luke finished for him with a grin. Luke paused then, chewing on his lower lip absently as he considered how to bring this up with Han, but knowing that he did have to bring it up before Han managed to get his damn-fool self killed. "But speaking of taking lives, about Vader. . . ."
Han's face lost its playful expression. "I'm not gonna let him hurt you, Luke."
"It's not about me, Han." Luke shook his head, frustrated. "I can't tell you why, but I don't think . . . I don't believe he's planning on hurting me."
Han looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "Kid, Vader's got a bounty on you the size of a Hutt's ego because you blew up the Emperor's Death Star. You think he just wants to congratulate you on your spectacular shot or somethin'?"
Luke glanced down, avoiding Han's eyes. "Just be careful, Han. Vader won't hesitate to kill you if you push him too far."
Han shook his head and then stretched lazily. "I'm pretty hard to kill, kiddo. Thought you would've figured that out by now."
Luke sighed. "Han, you usually have Chewie around to pull you out of your scrapes. If we have to rely on just your native ingenuity, we'll be in trouble for sure."
"Hey, watch it there." Han punched him playfully in the shoulder. "I'll have you know. . . ."
A dark presence suddenly trickled through Luke's consciousness, and he looked up sharply to stare off into the mist-shrouded rainforest. "He's coming," Luke said simply.
"Huh?" Han followed his stare, but after a few moments of seeing nothing, he turned back to Luke. "Don't start gettin' all jumpy on me, Luke. He'll probably be a few hours yet."
Luke shook his head and sighed. "Han, you may not believe in the Force, and I may not be trained in it, but it's rather difficult to miss his presence." He shuddered. "He must have been shielding somehow the first time, but now . . . now I can't seem to stop feeling him."
"It's just nerves, Luke. Force knows you have a lot on your mind right now." Han glanced again to the area where Vader had disappeared into the forest, oblivious to the fact that for someone who didn't believe in the Force, he still tended to use it often enough in conversation. "I don't know why old Kenobi had to fill your head with a lot of mumbo-jumbo and nonsense. He sure wasn't doin' you any favors."
Luke started to defend Ben, but he stopped abruptly when he saw Darth Vader striding into the clearing. He watched Han's eyes widen slightly, but any satisfaction Luke may have felt about correctly predicting the Dark Lord's return soon evaporated in the cold chill of Vader's presence.
That formidable presence didn't arise from merely the Sith Lord's reputation or his impressive size. He might have towered over Luke's small frame, he might have had decades of experience in using the Force, but that was nothing compared to the sheer intensity of Vader's aura.
Luke shivered as he felt the strength of the Dark Lord's attention on him as soon as he entered the clearing. He had always felt something whenever he had encountered Ben Kenobi, but it was nothing like the sheer power of Vader's regard. Oddly enough, it reminded Luke of the awards ceremony after the destruction of the Death Star. When he, Han and Chewie had turned on the stage after receiving their medals from Leia, Luke had felt as well as seen the attention of the hundreds of Alliance personnel centered on them, but this felt like the combined Force presence of those hundreds of people had been distilled down into one focus - a dark focus that singled out Luke alone.
How many times, when he had been growing up on Tatooine, had he wished to be the center of someone's - anyone's - attention? Luke had always felt he was more of an obligation than anything else as far as his guardians were concerned. He knew that was unfair, because Aunt Beru especially had always been kind to him, but Luke had constantly longed for something more. And for his father in particular, even before discovering that his father had been a Jedi Knight.
Well, he certainly had someone's full attention now. Too bad for him it was a Dark Lord of the Sith and the Emperor's second-in-command.
Vader strode over to them, completely ignoring Han's presence, and stared down at Luke where he lay on the ground. Luke resisted the urge to shift backward from the Dark Lord's intense scrutiny.
What had his Uncle Owen always said? - "Be careful what you wish for, boy, or you may get it."
Luke really, really hated it when his uncle was right.
