Disclaimer: Anything you recognize belongs to George Lucas/Disney. Anything you don't recognize probably also belongs to them.
Headway
All of them. Every single last one of them was a clone, and the one Luke had captured wasn't talking. The man just glared at them all in silent hatred.
And oh how Luke wished he couldn't feel the man's hatred, like dull fingernails clawing roughly at his skin.
"So what are we going to do with him?" Wes asked, drawing Luke out of his thoughts as the man settled down next to him at the edge of the dusty bunk room that they had all returned to in order to regroup.
From his slumped position Luke looked over at the serious face of the normally overly cheerful man; a state he realized he only ever seen him in after a battle. He sighed, "I suppose that'll be up to Madine." Luke shook his head, "To be honest, as weird as this all is, I'm more worried about what happened to our people that were based here. Artoo's sensors still show life-forms ahead of us, and I," he swallowed dryly, "I can sense them somewhere in here." He tried to focus on anything aside from how he had needed to stretch his senses out through the terrible disturbance in the Force caused by the echoes of death in order to confirm that. His eyes trailed across the room instead and rested on the small droid that had forced its way into the building at some point during the blaster-fight. R2D2 was currently projecting graphics into the air for several of the Green Squadron members as they appeared to debate over something.
Wes nodded, "That's good news at least. I'll admit, for a minute there I thought the only people in here were those..." He glanced warily at the single surviving clone, "those guys."
"Nope." Luke heaved in a breath and shook his head, "I just hope those guys didn't do anything to our people."
Wes' expression turned even more grim, "Let's hope not." He sighed darkly, then a thought appeared to strike him that brought a spark back into his eyes, "By the way, you were karking amazing in there. You and Iris. I mean, I get it with Iris, she's a bothan, but man I've never seen a human move like that." He whistled, then grinned slightly, though it was still only a ghost of his usual cheer, "You looked like a damn badass. I don't think you stopped moving a single time once you started."
Luke felt bile try to rise in his throat at the reminder, but he forced a smile that he hoped reached his eyes. "What can I say?" he joked emptily. "I'm just that good."
Each shot a death. The crunch of armor and bone under his new hand. Blood oozing out from a fist sized crater in flesh as he pulls his hand free, only to stab his straightened fingers into another vulnerable throat. Easy. Methodical. Not a movement wasted. More a dance, than a manslaughter.
Picking bone fragments and brain matter off of himself in the aftermath.
Wes' chuckle mercifully drew Luke out of memory, and the other man responded, "I'll say. Remind me to never get on your bad side."
Luke suppressed a flinch.
"I'd be more worried about getting on Talamiin's bad side if I were you Janson," Wedge drawled as he walked up. "Sorry, couldn't help but overhear the blatant hero worship going on over here. Figured someone had to intervene."
Luke sensed the older man's intention and looked at him gratefully, a real smile crossing his lips for a short moment. Somehow the man had known that the recent events were the last thing Luke wanted to talk about.
"Oi, what's that supposed to mean Wedge?" Wes complained, some of his normal energy returning as the conversation shifted.
"You know exactly what I mean Janson. Hells, I'm pretty sure at least the entire squadron knows, if not most of Haven Base," Wedge rolled his eyes.
Wes turned a telling shade of red and he began to splutter.
Wedge gave Wes a hearty slap on the back, "Good luck with that one. You'll need it."
Wes stared, his jaw working as if he wanted to talk, but couldn't find the words before he finally turned and stormed off in a huff.
Luke watched the man retreat and found himself smiling again despite everything that had happened, "Thanks Wedge."
The older man smiled back, but his tone was serious when he spoke, "No problem Luke. That... wasn't something he should have been talking about so soon. Especially not like that."
Luke shrugged with a nonchalance he didn't feel, "Honestly it's not that surprising. I'm sure everyone was thinking something along the same lines as him. I should probably just get used to it," he added bitterly. The short moment of amusement gone as quickly as it had come.
"Just look at it this way Luke. Without you it would've been a whole hell of a lot worse," Wedge's eyes trailed over to the line of their dead comrades lined up against the other wall.
"Yeah, I know. Extreme violence is okay, so long as the ends justify it. Believe me I've been over this," Luke snapped, his bitterness multiplying substantially.
Always that same reasoning. That same logic. That same twisted attempt at comfort.
Luke closed his eyes and breathed in deeply trying to release at least some of his tormented feelings into the Force.
"I'm sorry Luke," Wedge spoke, and Luke nearly lashed out at him.
He didn't need anyone's PITY.
Luke breathed in sharply and refused to open his eyes.
It was bad enough hearing the words. Feeling the emotions. He wouldn't be able to hold himself together if he saw it too.
"Luke, look at me," the man foolishly (oh so foolishly), demanded and Luke opened his eyes to see a glare that matched his own.
"What?" he sneered.
And where was all of this animosity coming from? This was the man that had saved his life barely over a week ago. His friend.
Force, he needed to meditate so badly.
"This is a war Luke. This is how war works," Wedge snarled, then fell silent. The man closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath before opened them again and continued, significantly calmer, "Luke, I get it, we're putting a lot on your shoulders. More than anyone should have to deal with, but you can't just ignore your feelings and bottle them up. They're not just going to go away."
Luke froze at the words, an echo of his Aunt's own during his childhood.
"Look. I may not know anything about the Force Luke, but I would have to be dense to not realize that your state of mind is affecting your connection with it somehow. And I definitely don't know how to fix that, but stars Luke, you've got to talk to somebody."
Luke opened his mouth to protest, but Wedge cut him off.
"I don't mean a therapist or anything, though Force knows it would probably help. I mean us. Your friends," he tapped himself on his chest.
Luke immediately clammed up, "You guys wouldn't understand."
Wedge scowled, "Try me."
Luke grit his teeth and looked away from Wedge. His eyes danced around the room, trying to focus on anything aside from the man that was demanding more than he could give. What was he supposed to say?
That his father was their second greatest enemy?
That some part of him didn't care, because it was his FATHER?
That his moods felt like they were almost entirely out of his control?
That sometimes he worried about how far his temper would take him?
That sometimes he didn't even care how far he might go (and wasn't that so much worse)?
(Power sang through his veins, and under all of the horror he felt... he felt...)
(Exhilarated.)
That some truly sick, adrenaline-fuelled part of him that basked in power wanted to dance in carnage and never stop?
He flinched harshly at the last thought that had slithered to the front of his mind without his permission. He started to tremble, and suddenly he was back in the hangar and he had just shocked Wedge, and why, why, WHY, couldn't he control himself?
"Luke?" Wedge's blessedly calm voice filtered through the chaos, and Luke slumped.
"I can't," he shook his head frantically.
"Yes you can Luke. You need to," Wedge stated firmly. "It doesn't even have to be everything, but you need to talk about something that's bothering you."
And some part of him knew that Wedge was right.
Luke cringed slightly, searching for any excuse, "We don't have time..."
"We'll have plenty of time," Wedge gestured around them and Luke realized that at some point most of the group had dispersed. "They're all still working on clean-up and tending to the wounded." He gave Luke a pointed look, and Luke sighed in defeat.
"Fine," he muttered, and cast his thoughts around in search of a safe topic until he hit on one. "Well to start, Jedi aren't supposed to feel emotions," he spat, and the amount of bitterness he felt at the statement almost floored him.
Wedge's expression was everything he could have hoped for at that moment. "WHAT?!" the man yelped as disbelief painted his features. "How is that even supposed to... What sort of banthashit... How in the hells is THAT supposed to work?"
Luke smiled harshly, "Meditation and releasing the emotions into the Force. It works too... sometimes." Luke shook his head, "It's really hard to do when you're emotional though. Ironic really." He looked around the room scattered with people, and emotions, and the clone's hate, hate, HATE, "It's also really hard to do because of everyone has their own signature; their own emotions that I can feel." He rubbed his face and huffed out a broken laugh, "They're all so loud."
And there it was, that frustration with the others' mere presence.
But no, wasn't it HIS fault that they affected him? If he wasn't so weak...
"Well shavvit, it's no wonder then," Wedge snatched Luke out of his deteriorating thoughts. "How are you supposed to live without emotions? And I bet you're just ignoring the ones you can't get rid of too." He shook his head, "You can't just ignore things like that Luke, you have to deal with them."
"But I need to release them into the Force, if I don't..." Luke trailed off, not wanting to finish the thought.
"If you don't, what Luke? What could possibly be so terrible about emotions?" Wedge asked in confused exasperation.
Luke shrank in on himself and bit his lip.
"Luke," Wedge coaxed with a mix of stern gentleness.
Luke exhaled sharply, then breathed in and nodded. The words seemed to spill from his lips now that he had made up his mind, and he explained what he knew of the Force, which when he came down to it really wasn't all that much.
The serenity of the Light. The seduction of the Dark. Emotional attachments leading to the Dark Side. Losing yourself and falling to the Dark.
"I have to get rid of my emotions Wedge. If I don't... if I can't control myself... I'll become a monster," Luke said desperately.
Just like Ben and Yoda said his father did.
(And even if Luke was wary of trusting what the two said about his father now that he knew they had lied so blatantly, Artoo also seemed to think that was what happened as well...)
Wedge looked at him thoughtfully, but to Luke's relief he seemed mostly unfazed. After a few moments the dark haired man sighed and nodded, "Okay well that sounds pretty terrible." Luke exhaled sharply, but Wedge continued to speak, "What do I need to look out for to help you?"
Luke stared at Wedge in bemused amusement, "I basically just told you my emotions could turn me into something terrible, and you're just going to what? Roll with it?"
Wedge shrugged, "Well why not?"
Luke opened and shut his mouth, at a loss for words at the man's audacity, and completely torn between laughing and being furious at how lightly the older man was taking this. Finally he spoke, "Because I'm significantly more dangerous than your average sentient when I lose control!"
Wedge frowned slightly and flexed his hand, causing guilt to slam Luke. "I know," Wedge shrugged again, then grinned crookedly, "But you're my friend, and despite what you think Luke, I know you're not a monster. You're just a human." His grin widened, "A human with space wizard powers, but still a human."
Luke scoffed, locked somewhere between amusement and utter frustration, "What in the hells am I supposed to do with an idiot like you, that has no sense of self-preservation, as a friend?"
"I'm a fighter pilot, what'd you expect?" Wedge chuckled.
They sat in companionable silence for a few moments before Luke's thoughts drifted to the question Wedge had asked. He blanched, but he knew he would have to answer his wing-man. Luke looked up at the stone ceiling and heaved a long sigh, unable to look directly at Wedge during what felt like a confession. "I am... unstable, as you probably noticed," he gestured to Wedge's hand that he had shocked unintentionally. Wedge frowned and nodded, so Luke continued, "I was never this bipolar before I became aware of the Force. Now I feel like I'm constantly moving between highs and lows. I can release some emotions, and for a while it's peaceful, but the emotions I can't get rid of are usually negative, and they just... warp." He shook his head despairingly, "Everything seems to lead to anger, and the Dark Side is called to that."
Luke shifted uncomfortably and ran his fingers through his hair, "I don't think I've ever used the Dark Side, but... I've wanted to, I think. It's been close." Luke looked at Wedge, feeling lost, "It sings, and it's so hard to say no in the moment. It makes me... violent." His voice faded and he whispered, "Bloodthirsty."
Wedge met Luke's eyes, his dark eyes serious, "Okay then. I want you to try something for me, and it may turn out to be a bad idea, but from what you've told me it seems like trying it would be better than nothing."
"Okay?" Luke answered uncertainly.
"Obviously ignoring your emotions isn't helping you at all, so I'm thinking that unless it's absolutely necessary, you should avoid doing that," Wedge started thoughtfully. "I don't really understand how you 'release' your emotions into the Force, but what you don't release is obviously still there. In fact, until you can do whatever it is you're trying to do reliably, I would say you might want to leave most of your emotions be. To me it sounds like you're forcing yourself into an imbalance of peace and the emotions you have a hard time releasing. You've got no middle ground that way."
Luke grimaced, "When you put it like that it makes sense, but it seems dangerous..."
Wedge shook his head sharply, "What you're doing now is dangerous Luke, or did you forget the days you were stuck on bed-rest?"
Luke cringed, more worried about what he had done to Wedge inadvertently, than what had happened to him, though he didn't say as much. He sighed, "Fine, but what will we do if I end up having... issues again?"
"Do what we'd do if it happened now... try to snap you out of it, or wait it out," Wedge shrugged helplessly. "I never said it was a solution. It's an alternative, because what you're doing right now isn't working. And again, you really need to talk things out with someone. You're not alone, and you need to remember that. Just because the rest of us don't have your abilities, doesn't mean we can't be here for you."
The older man was projecting an aura of protective stubbornness so strong that it was impossible to doubt him, and the sense of relief that washed through Luke was so welcome it made his eyes sting with a rush of emotion. "Thanks Wedge," he said hoarsely.
The man shrugged casually, "You're my favourite wing-man. I gotta take care of you sometimes, since you save my ass all the time."
Luke cracked a smile and stood up with his usual unnatural grace, "I suppose we should go see if there's anything we can do to help until we're ready to head back out." He held out his left hand to haul Wedge off of the floor.
Leia sipped half-heartedly at her latest cup of caf and sighed in frustration as she closed yet another file from the fruitless search for Vader's current location. She put her datapad down on her makeshift desk and leaned back in her chair. With a tired moan she stretched her arms high over her head in a very undignified fashion, causing her back to pop in a satisfactorily loud manner. As she settled back in her seat there was a knock at her door. She groused inwardly, and hoped fervently that it wasn't something that would prevent her from taking the nap she had promised herself the night before when she had been forced to wake up after only four hours of sleep. She looked at the chrono and winced. It was only 16:04 hours, but she was exhausted.
"Come in," she called out in a well-practiced polite tone that betrayed none of her tiredness.
The door to her current office slid open revealing a slightly greying woman with brown hair that she had seen in the intelligence department. After a moment, the woman's first name came to her. Not exactly protocol, but it would have to do.
"Ah, Ms. Carrie. How can I help you?" Leia asked with a smile.
"For once we've got something for you that isn't useless," the older woman said with a wry smile, her dark eyes sparkling with humour.
"Oh, well that is good news," Leia said in relief.
"You'd think it would be easier to find Vader. The man's a two-metre-tall walking black monstrosity. Hard to miss if you ask me," the older woman said, her tone commiserating, which elicited a laugh from Leia. "Anyway this isn't about that. We received a holo from your guy on Tattooine." She held up a disc and passed it to Leia, "Apparently the place is a fortress, but I'm sure you'll figure something out." She smiled, "From what I can tell, the Captain is still alive."
Leia brightened at the news of Han's survival, "Oh, that's wonderful! I'll watch this immediately."
The older woman smiled, "Hang in there kid. You're a bright girl, I'm sure you'll get him out of there."
Leia swallowed against a lump that had formed in her throat at the support, "Thank you ma'am, I certainly hope so."
The woman chuckled as the door slid back open, and she stepped to the hallway, "Well?" She gestured at the disc, "Get on with it." She winked, and the door closed, leaving Leia alone with the indicated item.
With a deep breath Leia inserted the disc into the console that sat on the side of her desk, before she pressed the button to start the holo, her hands shaking slightly. This was the first information Lando had been able to get to them, and she felt a mixture of nerves, excitement, and worry simultaneously at the thought of what it might contain.
She would have to find a way to forward the message to Luke and Chewbacca, she mused as the holo flickered to life to show a bedraggled looking Calrissian wearing clothes so far below his usual standard, that she had to smile despite the seriousness of the message. She bit the inside of her lip as the holo finished running its course and frowned to herself. The man looked like he had been through quite a bit, and the entire situation seemed grim, but at least she could take comfort in the fact that Han was alive. Instead, he was being kept in the hutt's inner sanctum. Apparently the hutt gangster had decided that using him as a decoration was more amusing than having him killed or sold. Leia breathed in deeply and extracted the disc from the console before storing it for safekeeping. That didn't make the situation impossible, just difficult. Not that she had expected anything less.
Leia exhaled wearily and slumped back in her chair, before yawning and stretching again. She would have to wait to send the message to the other two, and she didn't have another meeting for almost two hours.
It looked like she could finally afford to rest.
Chewbacca had reached the point that he was wishing he could simply lug the painfully slow gold-plated droid on his back like he had on Cloud City. Sure it would have the drawback of having the thing chattering incessantly in his ears, but by this point he couldn't force himself to give a damn. If he had been alone he would have been at the cantina twenty minutes prior, but instead they were still slowly making their way through a sea of sentients. If it had been up to him he would have sent the slow bucket of metal back to the ship, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt that the droid would have gotten lost, and he did fancy keeping his pelt off of their dear princess' wall.
With a frustrated growl that caused several of the sentients to scatter from his path, he finally turned down the street that the Cryptic Togruta was located on. They were cutting it close, but if he was lucky he would still arrive with a couple minutes to spare.
When they finally reached their destination, Chewbacca walked around the side of the building, ignoring the front entrance entirely, in favour for the back entrance that he figured must be located nearby. After a minute or so of walking along the side of the rather large building, he turned the corner and saw a small cluster of gamorreans guarding an entrance. Without a second thought he strode up to the group and picked one up threateningly. The pig-like humanoids didn't deal well with logic, so this would be the fastest way to get through to them.
[I'm here to see a friend,] he rumbled, causing the being to squeal in terror.
"Oh. Oh dear. Chewbacca you can't just do that!" C3PO wailed.
[Just translate,] Chewbacca bit out.
"He... he's here to see a friend," Threepio translated dutifully, as his hands flapped in the air in a useless display of frantic worry.
The pig-being in Chewbacca's arms squealed again, and the others appeared to speak, before they stepped out of the way.
With a disgusted huff, Chewbacca dropped the being and ducked down in order to enter through the door, only to be stopped by a familiar female voice that he hadn't heard in years.
"Well I had been coming to see what the racket was all about, but would would've expected this?" the woman spoke in a warm alto.
[Hello, Xaverri,] he rumbled warmly, and the almond skinned woman smiled in response.
"Hello to you too, Chewbacca," she gestured for him to follow her. "I heard about Han. It would appear we have much to talk about."
Chewbacca nodded as he shuffled behind her, his back stooped as it often was in buildings with lower ceilings.
"Who's the droid?" the woman asked as Threepio clattered after them nervously.
[It's better if you ignore him,] he rumbled quietly.
"Ah, one of those," she said with a grin. "This should be fun then."
Chewbacca simply shook his head and wuffed in amusement.
Luke and his squad followed behind the ground troops, an unnerved quiet permeating the group as they walked through the section of the hallway that had so recently been a battleground. The clone bodies had been moved to the giant garage in order to leave room in the hall, and if it weren't for the remaining blood-stains and burn marks the hallway would have looked very unassuming. Luke focused forward and followed the group despite the remnants of death-echoes still swirling around him. If he hadn't had the sense of purpose that came with rescuing their fellow Alliance members, he wasn't sure he would have willingly been able to walk back through the space again. His skin crawled uncomfortably, and he felt nauseous, but he pressed on.
"You alright there Commander?" Irys asked from her position to his left-rear, and Luke had to shake off the oddity of her relaxed speech and effortless lack of her bothese accent yet again. It wasn't so strange hearing it over the com-channels, but in person it only reminded him of when her accent was heaviest. She truly was a chameleon.
Luke gave a relaxed shrug and tried to smooth his features into some semblance of normal as he borrowed one of her common techniques, "Well I've definitely been better."
Something flickered in her eyes, and Luke felt a ghost of amusement twirl away from her.
Half-truths. Misleading without lying. In some ways it was easier.
She chuckled, "Understandable. You're just lookin' a bit green around the gills."
Luke grimaced, "Yeah, well the Force feels pretty terrible right here."
"Ah," she tilted her head thoughtfully. "That would make sense. I'm guessing it'll fade though."
Luke nodded, "It's already faded a bit since earlier."
The bothan faced forward and they continued forward in silence again, as the ground troops swept through the hallways and several rooms to clear them as safe.
Luke had long since assumed the conversation was over when Irys spoke again, "First time you've really killed anyone face to face isn't it?"
Luke tensed and nodded. "Y-yeah," he managed.
She reached up and patted him on the shoulder, "It gets easier."
Luke blanched, "It shouldn't."
She huffed out a short breath through her nose, slightly ruffling her facial fur as she looked up at him. When her bright green eyes met his, she spoke, "No. I suppose it shouldn't, but it does."
Wedge nudged Luke's back from the right where he had been listening quietly, and Luke looked over at him questioningly.
The man shrugged offhandedly, "You looked like you were about to get tangled up in your thoughts."
Luke huffed out a laugh, "You've been spending way too much time around me if you're getting that perceptive."
The man nodded as they turned yet another corner and were given the sign to halt, "Obviously."
Luke looked past the mass of people in front of them to see what was going on, "Looks like they're getting out the blast charges. Must be a sealed door around that next corner."
"That could be a good sign," Wedge opined.
Irys nodded in agreement. "That means that someone was able to secure the door with those troops outside of it," she pointed out thoughtfully. "Though it seems odd that the clone troops wouldn't have been able to blow the door just like we're about to do."
Luke's gut twisted slightly, and for a short moment an echo of his earlier Force-lead thought that something was wrong here spiked through him. Then, just as quickly, it was gone as if it had been snatched away.
"Something's wrong," he muttered without thinking. He felt distinctly unsettled, though there was no outward stimulus to confirm anything, even as he spread out his senses.
"Fire in the hole!" a voice called from around the corner, abruptly cutting off all talking as everyone without ear-plugs covered their ears.
A painfully loud explosion echoed through the enclosed space, and the troops began pouring through the opening to secure the area.
Luke almost held his breath as they waited morbidly for more blaster-fire after what had happened earlier.
Several moments seemed to drag pass, then a male voice spoke over their coms, "We've got non-aggressive contact. I may be speaking too soon, but I think it's our people."
An unplanned and clearly relieved whoop rippled through the entire group, and Luke grinned.
"What sort of numbers are we looking at?" the Lieutenant demanded once the noise had settled.
"Upwards of thirty Sir," the male that Luke realized must be the Sergeant replied.
"What's their status?" the Lieutenant demanded.
"Alive, Sir, though it looks like they're been trapped in here for a while. Their rations are nearly gone," the man responded.
"Clear. Secure the area. I'll send some of our troops to move our supplies and alert the 'Luck that we've found our people," the Lieutenant decided. "We're probably going to be bunked down here for the night until we know it's safe to move them."
=-.-=
With that, a the group was separated and Luke found himself waiting with the rest of his squad until they were cleared to enter the room. He shivered slightly as he stepped through the blasted-in doorway, and thought wistfully of the outer layers he had shed earlier. They were in another housing area, he realized, though this one was clearly older than the one they had left their supplies in. The walls had been picked clean of whatever had been on them, and anything else that was combustible had obviously been used in a failed attempt to warm the large room, if the charred pile of various items was anything to go by.
"The heating units in here appear to be inoperable," Irys commented as she drew her own jacket more tightly around herself.
"I hope the portable ones we brought will be enough," Luke sighed, though it wasn't quite cold enough for his breath to fog.
"We can always hope," Wedge said wryly.
The three hovered at the entrance as more of the squad trailed into the room. The other two obviously sensed Luke's unwillingness to step away from the warmer hallway and further into the colder room. After several moments he finally heaved out another sigh, and walked over to where toward where the Lieutenant was speaking with one of the many people huddled together on the floor.
"What's the situation Lieutenant?" he asked. Now that the ground situation had mostly calmed, the other man deferred to Luke, who was technically higher in rank.
"They were ambushed, Sir. This is Killian Scott, he was in charge of this base," the man replied stiffly.
Luke nodded and turned toward the man on the floor, "What happened here Captain?"
"Bloody Clone Wars came back tah bite us in tha arse is what happened lad," the man said in a scratchy voice.
"We noticed," Luke smiled flatly at the non-answer. "However, if you could be a little more... descriptive please Captain Scott?"
"Well, we got here near abouts the time that Hoth got established fer a base. Everything was normal at first, and we got settled in. Couple o' weeks in we started havin' people go missin', but there was this real bad sand storm. Couldn't get a message out. Course, by the time tha storm cleared someone had messed wit our 'quipment." He shook his head, "Had tah've been tha damned clones."
"And you didn't think to use your backup communication in your ships?" Luke questioned.
"Ha," the man snorted. "Those damn things are a couple miles out o' our way from here. Moved 'em as soon as we found tha hangar, else they probably woulda been buried in sand by now."
Luke nodded in understanding, but the man's lack of a straight answer hadn't gone unnoticed, "And why didn't you try to send a message from your ships?"
"Tha place was crawlin' wit clones! Let's see yeh try an' get that far wit them buggers on yer tail," the man snorted.
Luke nodded as he looked around at the group and looked at the remainder of the supplies, "How long did you say you were stuck in here?"
The man hesitated, "Maybe a month I guess?"
"Mmm," Luke hummed thoughtfully. "Out of curiosity how did you manage to send a distress signal then, if you didn't use your ships, and your main communications terminal was tampered with?"
"Sent a group out with a mechanic and a slicer. They never made it back. Figured they'd failed. Guess I was wrong," the man said gruffly.
"Let me see if I've got this straight," Luke started. "You've been trapped in here for approximately one month," Luke looked at the man for confirmation.
"There abouts, yeah," the man nodded.
"And you started losing people after a couple weeks?" Luke asked.
"Yeah. Started gettin' bad there b'fore tha end when the clones showed up," the man confirmed.
Luke tilted his head, "And you sent out a group that managed to get us a message a bit over a week ago?"
The Captain huffed in annoyance, "I said that, yeah. I don't see why it bears repeatin'." The man wrinkled his nose and glanced over at the Lieutenant of the ground troops, "Ain't he a bit young tah be questionin' our people like this?"
Luke's temper flared, and when the Lieutenant met his eyes as if asking what to do, Luke merely shook his head and straightened his stance. With a single step forward he loomed over the much older man, and crossed his hands behind his back despite the cold - an unintentional visual echo of his father.
With a slow breath he was able to release the more dangerous facets of his anger into the Force, but unsurprisingly some of it remained. Listening to Wedge's earlier advice reluctantly, he allowed the more tame anger to remain present, and he began to speak with a deliberately clipped preciseness. "I understand you must be a long-standing member of the Alliance given your attitude, and I am well aware that you have been living in isolation; however, this does not excuse you for disrespecting a superior officer."
The older man cringed, but surprisingly held his ground, "Look, we've been trapped in this hell-hole and we're all miserable. I ain't gonna just sit here an' repeat myself fer yer pleasure."
Luke grit his teeth and reined in his temper, allowing it to simmer below the surface, "Look, Captain," he bit out. "I'm asking you to verify all of this because this doesn't add up."
"What tha' hells is that s'pposed tah mean?" the man snapped.
Luke's grip tightened on his right hand behind his back for a moment before he forced himself to relax it as well as his stance, "It would appear you are either lying to me, you are terrible at keeping track of time, or something else is happening here."
"Whaddaya mean lyin'?" the man asked, but Luke ignored him.
"If you all had to make a guess, how long have you been here?" he demanded loudly to the entire group of people.
The people muttered to themselves, and Luke picked up several similar responses. He nodded then turned to the Lieutenant, "Something is wrong here Lieutenant."
The other man nodded in agreement, "I'll have to agree with you there."
"What tha' bloody hells is goin' on?!" the Captain demanded.
Luke glanced over at the man, then drew himself up ramrod straight, "You're all under quarantine. You are not allowed to leave this room without approval. We will be searching the rest of the base, and one of you will be required to show us where you have your ships stored, as well as the location of your communication terminal."
"You can't do this! I demand an explina-" the man started, only to freeze when the air seemed to become incredibly heavy around him.
Luke stood quietly, with his eyes now closed as he wrestled with his temper, despite a strong urge to unleash it, until he had it under some semblance of control. The air slowly returned to its normal state. After another beat he opened his now frigid eyes and smiled, "Do. Not. Presume to question me again Captain." The man withered as Luke continued, "You have been in isolation. It would be... smart for you to let those of us with more information do our job. Is that understood, Captain?"
"Yessir," the man grit out, addressing him more formally for the first time since the encounter had begun.
"Good," Luke replied, and with that he turned abruptly and smoothly strode out of the room, with Wedge and Irys following him like shadows.
As soon as he turned the corner and was out of the line of sight of anyone else, he leaned against the wall and hugged himself as he slumped to the floor shivering uncontrollably. "Too close, too close, too close," he muttered, as his body caught up with all of the shivering he had been fighting off while in the much colder room.
Wedge dropped down beside him and placed his hand on his shoulder as Irys stood guard over the two, "I think you did pretty well if you ask me."
Luke dropped his head to his knees, and shook his head, "I almost did something I should have."
"You did not though," Irys spoke from above them. "You kept your head, and that is what counts in the end."
Luke chewed on his lip, but didn't comment.
"He should not have questioned you as he did," she continued. "While your rank was never explicitly stated, it was clear that you were considered to be the superior in the situation when the Lieutenant deferred to you."
Luke sighed and pulled his jacket more tightly around himself, "Yeah, I know-" he trailed off for a moment. "I still have a hard time believing they think they've only been here for a month and a half."
Irys nodded, "An entire month and a half unaccounted for."
Wedge leaned back and laid his head against the wall, "I gotta say... I have a bad feeling about this."
AN: Rest peacefully Carrie, you were our feisty role-model for not taking any shit (or giving a shit, for that matter). You will be missed. 3
The plot thickens…?(dun dun duuuuun)
Random Info:
- Luke's understanding of the Force is still rudimentary at best. This includes what he understands to be the beliefs of the Jedi. Do not take his word for fact.
- The scene with Leia went from the concept of a random IT member that had yet to be written, to a full on Carrie cameo of sorts almost the instant I heard of her passing. I doubt I did her justice, but I certainly tried.
- Yes, I had to put that final line... it's practically a Star Wars tradition
- I doodled a tribute of sorts with my average doodling skills if anyone wishes to see it: imgur dot com /gallery /yv84n62