So this is officially the start of Part II (A.K.A. The Empire Strikes Back). I had the end part of this chapter written for ages - it was actually what inspired me to get back into writing this, and I have marked out quite a few things to include later, and a few scenes/sections from this part and Part III have already been written, so I can't wait to get to some of them! I've also decided to include more quotes from Merlin in this story along with the quotes from the Original Trilogy, so look out for some of them!

Enjoy! (And if you are, let me know! I'd like to know if anyone is actually reading this).

Chapter 10

It had been months since the Death Star mission and the Rebellion had since –due to the Empire's discovery of their base's location –been chased across the galaxy by the Empire, understandably upset by the destruction of their battle station.

Arthur and Leon had, in the end, decided to stay with the Alliance. Lance didn't miss the looks that passed between Merlin and Arthur at this announcement, though he found that it no longer bothered him as much as it previously had. If it was making his brother happy, he figured, he could give Arthur the benefit of the doubt for now. He didn't have to like it, but one slip up…

The Alliance eventually managed to lose their Imperial tail, settling on the remote ice region of Ismere. On the seemingle deserted frozen tundra landscape, along with the daily tasks the Alliance sent out daily patrols out to place, check and replace sensors as an early warning system for any life-forms approaching the new base.

Arthur was sceptical of ever finding life-forms, whereas Merlin insisted he could feel some.

It was on one such patrol that Merlin saw something streak through the sky and crash into the snow out of the corner of his eye.

Twisting round on his Taun-Taun's back, Merlin brushed snow from the lenses of his binoculars, lifting them to his face and attempting to focus the image. Merlin couldn't make out what exactly it was, for the only thing he could see was a tower of smoke rising from the snow bank.

Brow furrowed, Merlin put his binoculars away and reached for his comms unit.

"Arthur, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," Arthur drawled in response. "What's up?"

"I've finished my circle but I don't get any readings," Merlin started, glancing at the sky, trying to gage how long was left in the day.

"I told you, Merlin!" Arthur scoffed. "There's not enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser. Anyway, my sensors are placed. I reckon we should head back now."

"You go. There's a meteorite that's just hit the ground near here that I want to check out first."

"Alright. See you shortly." Arthur's voice disappeared from the comm with a click and Merlin started towards the snow drift, where the smoke was still rising.

However, Merlin never made it to find out what had hit the ground. As Merlin got closer to the smoke, reaching for one of his instruments when his Taun-Taun stopped.

Opening his mouth, Merlin was interrupted by a shadow falling over him.

Merlin whipped round, catching sight of a large, monstrous creature before pain exploded in the back of his skull and everything went black.

Arthur arrived back at the Rebel base not much later. Glancing at where Leon was working on, and nearly finished by the look of things, Excalibur's repairs as he passed on his way to deliver his report, Arthur sighed. He knew that, no matter his feelings, he had to continue with his and Leon's plans.

The Command Centre was as cold as the rest of the base and filled with technicians and commanders alike, each and every one of them wrapped up in their winter gear.

"General," Arthur announced himself as he located his superior and headed for the console he was studying along with Morgana.

"Pendragon," the General acknowledged, handing Morgana his data pad and turning to face Arthur.

"Still no sign of life out there, but the sensors are in place so you'll know if anything comes around."

As the General nodded, Arthur could see Morgana eyeing him over the General's shoulder. He should have known she wouldn't miss his use of pronouns.

Knowing that he couldn't put it off any longer, Arthur took a deep breath, blurting, "General, I've got to leave. I can't stay anymore."

Morgana froze, pinning him with her unreadable stare. The General too looked displeased.

"I'm very sorry to hear that."

"There's a price on my head Arthur elaborated, unsure whether he was trying to explain himself more to his Senior Officer or his friend. "If I don't pay Jarl I'm a dead man."

"A death mark's not an easy thing to live with," he conceded with a sigh, expression softening.

Morgana's, however, did not.

"You're a good fighter, Pendragon. I'm sorry to lose you."

With a clap to Arthur's shoulder, the General moved to another console, leaving Arthur with the still stony-faced Morgana.

"Well, Your Highness. I guess this is it." Arthur, aiming for nonchalance, missed it by a mile.

"That's right," was Morgana's only reply. She made no move, except to cross her arms as she continued to stare Arthur down.

In the end it was Arthur who broke first, dropping his gaze with a sigh. "What do you want me to say, Morgana?"

"I thought you'd decided to stay?" Morgana continued in her cool, calm manner.

Arthur felt his temper flare in response. "Yeah, well that bounty hunter we ran into last month changed my mind."

"Sometimes you have to do what you think is right," Morgana shot back, starting to get angry herself, "and damn the consequences."

"And you think I should stay, then?" Arthur challenged.

"It doesn't matter what I think?"

With that reply, Morgana left to join the General once more and Arthur, looking perturbed, stormed out of the Command Centre.

Meanwhile, Merlin was slowly becoming aware of a throbbing pain in his head and right shoulder. Reaching up to investigate the injuries, he soon realised that he couldn't as he was hanging upside down, thick chains wrapped around him. Opening his eyes – flinching and closing them again for a moment at the brightness – Merlin took in his surroundings blearily.

He was in what appeared to be a cave made up of ice – all he could see around him was a blinding shade of white and he could see his breath forming before his face.

A glint of silver amongst the white caught his Merlin's attention out of the corner of his eye. His lightsabre must have fallen from his belt when whoever, or whatever, had attacked him had strung him up.

Closing his eyes, Merlin concentrated on his lightsabre, willing it into his hand. Fingers closing around the weapon as he felt it hit his palm, Merlin didn't waste any time activating it and twisting to release himself from the chains that seemed to tighten at every move he made.

Landing in a heap with a groan, Merlin staggered to his feet, pressing a hand to the back of his head. He let out a hiss through his teeth as it came away coated in red.

Hand tightening around his lightsabre, Merlin cast a glance around for an exit. Locating one, Merlin headed for it, a menacing hissing sound echoing from behind him spurring him on as he ran from the cave into the snow.

Arthur stepped out of his room, having changed from his heavy-duty winter clothes into his overalls, intending to help Leon finish Excalibur's repairs. The sooner they could get away and pay off their debt to Jarl, the better. Then, maybe, he could return. 'If they let you back,'the small voice at the back of his mind spoke up.

Shaking his head to silence that voice, Arthur stepped forward to head towards the hangar bay but found Gwen blocking his path.

"So, I hear you're leaving?" she shot at him, her entire body radiating her disapproval - from her crossed arms to her raised eyebrows.

"Yeah," Arthur shrugged. "I am."

"You chose to stay with us for a reason, Arthur," Gwen continued, stance not shifting. "Why are you leaving now? We need you and I know you like it here."

"It's not that simple, Gwen," Arthur sighed. "I owe someone a lot of money."

"So you're going to turn your back on us?" Gwen's glare was eerily like Morgana's had been earlier. Those girls had been spending far too much time together in Arthur's opinion.

"I don't have a choice. I'm sorry Gwen, but if I don't pay back the money I owe-"

"In life you always have a choice. Sometimes it's easier to think that you don't."

"Well," Arthur sighed, defeated. "Then I choose to leave."

Gwen sighed too, dropping her arms to her sides and her glare fading to a defeated look. "Then I'll miss you." After a moment's pause, she added, "Does Merlin know yet?"

Arthur shifted on his feet, trying to ignore the pang he felt when he considered Merlin's reaction to his leaving. He sincerely hoped he would be welcomed back once his debt was paid, but with the reactions so far…

"He wanted to check out a meteorite when he'd finished his circle. I'll tell him when he gets back."

Gwen said nothing, merely continued to stare at him, her eyes filling with what looked like disappointment and… pity?

Arthur cleared his throat and, straightening and taking the opportunity to escape this conversation as well as his own tumultuous emotions, strode towards the hangar bay leaving Gwen staring after him.

As night fell over Ismere the temperature dropped to near freezing and to top it off a blizzard had begun to form, getting progressively worse as time went on.

The full effects of Merlin's head injury were starting to hit him as he staggered through the snow. His shoulder was also throbbing. Merlin hadn't been able to check on it since he had left the cave, not wanting to take the risk in exposing his bare skin to the cold air, but when he had taken a peek at it earlier there was a large red welt swelling to a noticeable size. He struggled to put one foot in front of the other, eventually collapsing into a snowbank when he could go no further. As he lay panting in the snow, head spinning, Merlin's mind drifted.

Maybe he could rest for a while… Just a little nap…

"Merlin…" A familiar voice cut through the fog of Merlin's mind. "Merlin…"

Merlin lifted his head sluggishly, looking around in disbelief. "Gaius?"

Even as he asked the question, voice wavering in disbelief, Merlin could see a vague outline of a figure and as it drew nearer he recognised the shape of his mentor.

"Gaius," Merlin gasped, feeling a lump form in his throat at the feelings that rose in him when he relived the last time he had seen the man before him. It gave him the sudden urge to grovel for his mentor's forgiveness.

It seemed that Gaius could still read Merlin like a book for his mentor's ghostly figure's eyes were shining as he spoke. "My boy, to have known you has been my greatest pleasure, and to sacrifice myself for you has been an honour. You are and always will be the son I never had."

Merlin's breath caught in his throat at Gaius' words and he felt a fresh wave of grief wash over him.

"Your life is destined for greatness, Merlin. You must live by the tenets I have taught you and I believe you will become the greatest of them all."

Merlin rasped through the tightness in his throat, "There is so much I have yet to learn, Gaius. I need you to teach me."

Gaius shook his head slowly with a soft smile. "I have taught you all I know. Your destiny is great; you need a teacher far more skilled than I. You must go to the Isle of the Blessed and seek out the Druids there. Iseldir can finish your training there."

As Gaius finished speaking, his hazy figure began to fade.

"No…" Merlin gasped, hand reaching for the space where the figure of his former mentor had stood as his vision too began to fade.

"Gaius... no…"

Kilgarrah could tell that he had found Arthur as soon as he entered the hangar. Although he could not see the man there was no mistaking the cacophony of grumpy mutterings and the metallic clanging of various tools as coming from anyone but Arthur Pendragon.

With a sideways glance at Aithusa as they reached the area where the aforementioned space pirate was working on Excalibur, Kilgarrah cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, sir, but might I have a word?" Receiving a grunt in response Kilgarrah continued. "The Princess has been unable to reach you on the communicator-"

"Probably because I turned it off," came the grumbled response around the screwdriver held between his teeth.

Kilgarrah ignored Arthur's mumbling, simply continuing on. "She is wondering about Master Merlin. He hasn't come back yet and she doesn't know where he is."

"Well I don't know where he is," Arthur bit back, now using the screwdriver on one of Excalibur's outer panels.

"Nobody knows where he is."

At Kilgarrah's glib reply Arthur froze. Whirling around to face the two dragon-droids, pointing the screwdriver still in his hand at Kilgarrah's face, he demanded, "What do you mean nobody knows?"

"Well-" Kilgarrah began but it seemed that Arthur was not willing to wait around to hear the answer, for he was already storming off, screwdriver still held within his clenched fist. The two dragons scrambled after him as he called out for the Deck Officer, placing his hand over Kilgarrah's mouthpiece when the dragon began to voice his inquiries. Upon finding the Decl Officer Arthur, once again pointing his screwdriver threateningly, demanded, "Do you know where Commander Emrys is?"

"I haven't seen him," the Officer replied, eyeing the screwdriver warily. "It's possible he came in through the South Entrance."

This statement, though aimed at appeasing the irate Captain, had little effect.

"It's possible?"Arthur echoed sarcastically. "Why don't you go find out? It's getting dark out there."

As the Deck Officer nodded before scurrying off towards the South Entrance, Arthur frowned lowering the screwdriver before absentmindedly twisting it between his hands, betraying his worry as he glanced over his shoulder towards the doors leading to the ice planet. Arthur was still playing with the screwdriver when the Deck Officer returned.

"Sir, Commander Emrys hasn't come in through the South Entrance either." At Arthur's clenched jaw and fisted hands he rushed to add, "We have scoured the radar-"

"Scour it again." Arthur insisted, ignoring the looks the two dragons shared behind his back.

"Sir," the Deck Officer protested. "There is no sign of the Commander. Perhaps he forgot to check in?"

Arthur scoffed. "Not likely." Setting his jaw, he put the screwdriver down before striding determinedly towards the hangar.

When Guinevere found Arthur he was wrapping himself back into the layers he had stripped only a few hours previously when he had returned from his patrol.

"What are you doing?"

Arthur ignored her, instead turning to one of the base's technicians. "The speeders ready?"

"Uh, negative sir," the technician replied nervously. "We're having some problems with their systems in this weather. They should be ready by morning."

"I'll have to go out on Taun-Taun," was Arthur's muttered response as he pulled his parka on.

"But sir!" the technician exclaimed in shock. "The temperature's dropping too rapidly!"

"That's right, and my friend's out in it." Arthur shot back, pulling his gloves on as he headed towards the Taun-Tauns.

Gwen hurried after him. "Arthur!"

Arthur paused, turning to face Gwen as she caught up to him. "I'm as worried about Merlin as you are-" she began, before Arthur cut her off.

"You're not going to change my mind." Arthur turned away, continuing towards the Taun-Tauns. Gwen followed, hovering nervously behind him as he readied one for riding out into the cold.

"Who knows what's out there at night!?"

"I have to go," was Arthur's only response, not stopping in his actions.

"The patrols and the radar have found no sign of him."

"Do you really expect me to accept that!?" Arthur burst out, whirling to face Gwen. "Just to sit here and take their word that Merlin's gone?"

Gwen found herself unable of forming a response to that, and Arthur shook his head, turning away again to mount the Taun-Taun. He paused for a moment, looking back over his shoulder towards Gwen.

"I won't rest until I at least try."

And with that he pushed the Taun-Taun into a run, leaving Gwen staring worriedly after him.

That's all I have written so far! Will hopefully have the next part done soon!