Hello! So, so sorry about the time it took to get this chapter done. Truth was, I wrote it, but just kept writing. It got very rambling, and it was going to be much longer, but I abridged it a bit so it wasn't huge. And, I'm sorry to most of you, because you seem to be anxiously awaiting Holly's reaction to Darth Vader-I'm afraid, however, that you won't know until next chapter, but you will know by then.
Anyway, happy reading!
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars, I'm just borrowing it for my entertainment.
Chapter 13:
It would have been ideal to say that the corridors were clear of uniformed officers patrolling the prisoner's cells, that there was no-one who could recapture Holly as she tried to sneak past. It would have been ideal to say that she ran through the ship without trouble, with nothing to stand in her way.
Of course, nothing was particularly ideal here. If it were, she wouldn't even be here, in this bizarre universe, let alone captured by the Enemy. Truth was, Holly didn't know what waited beyond, with nothing to turn to for reference. She was wading forward completely blind now.
The adrenaline coursing through her veins as Holly exited the cell was exhilarating, and perhaps she would have relished in it were it safer for her to pause and consider anything closely. Anything not completely pertinent to the task at hand, however, was unwelcome in her mind.
The adrenaline did not give her arrogance or stupidity, however, as she had enough common sense not to storm through this wretched space station at the speed of sound in search of the Millennium Falcon. She wasn't even sure if she could locate it, really, but Holly wouldn't be able to live with herself knowing she hadn't tried.
Though she wouldn't have even gotten the chance to live with herself if she stayed idle, the thought still motivated her.
Holly set Xenon tentatively on the ground, trying to avoid any unnecessary noise. The barely audible tapping of his eight feet on the metal plating made her flinch as it was. She lowered her head to the ground and whispered to Xenon as quietly as she could.
"Carefully go around that corner," she pointed ahead of her to the junction where the passageway branched off. "Tell me if it's clear, and be quiet!"
He scurried off as quietly as he could while still maintaining an appropriate speed. It was an awkward shuffle, but it got the job done—albeit slowly.
The corridor was long and straight, dark red and black. There were a few junctions—those seemed safer to Holly than merely striding down the main hallway. This place seemed like the ideal location for round of security guards, and Holly wanted nothing more than to make herself scarce as soon as possible.
Xenon returned after twenty-seven seconds—yes, Holly had been counting—and beckoned to the corner. She took that to mean, 'affirmative, the corridor's clear.'
Upon reaching that little branch, she noted that 'corridor' was probably not the correct term for it. It was much smaller than the main passage, much narrower and merely rectangular instead of shaped as the other corridor had been. Holly decided that she liked the look of this much more than the previous; there was less hiding space, yes, but it seemed more like a brief pathway to a utility closet rather than something that a night guard would loyally patrol.
She slid in, taking slow and careful footsteps. Her navy blue sneakers were not particularly loud, but they certainly had the potential to be when one did not take proper precautions. Holly let Xenon race ahead of her as they both made their way through the darkly lit hallway.
Eventually, they came across a door. It wasn't fancy; at least, it wasn't by Holly's standards. It didn't seem as sturdy as those blocking the detention cells, but at least it was more than the hanging rags that had been the privacy for the Dreary Dug. Next to the door was, unsurprisingly, a panel.
"Hey, Xenon," Holly whispered as she let him crawl into her hand. "Can you open this door? If the room's empty, of course." His agreeing response was almost immediate. She nodded, raising her hand to the panel, letting him crawl carefully onto it.
She kept her hand there in case he fell—while it didn't seem likely, it had to be possible. Her eyes shot continually from him to each end of the hall, keeping a steady watch for anything coming their way while her ears strained to hear any approaching footfalls.
What Xenon was doing soon captivated her attention. He seemed to be prying the panel off the wall, opening a small gap into which he slipped. The movements were quick and precise, though Holly was amazed that the little bug wasn't making even more noise.
Soon, the doors slid open. Holly smirked; Xenon was very useful. She remembered what Xenon had done to get them into this mess in the first place, but in light of it all, it really didn't seem to matter that much. Holly was just too eager to get out of this place.
Of course, she didn't know exactly how she'd get out, but she had to start somewhere.
Before her was a utility closet. That's what Holly assumed it was, at least—there were many remarkably un-science fiction-y shelves piled high with grey cloth, something that Holly would have never expected in a place like this. There was also a computer terminal, though it looked less…complete? It wasn't as neat as the others that Holly had seen when she passed them on her way to her cell. It reminded her oddly of an old Fallout terminal.
The door slid shut behind them. "Xenon, lock it," Holly requested. "I don't want anyone barging in unannounced." She wasn't whispering as lowly anymore, though her tone was still quiet.
Holly scanned the room further. There was a sheet of smooth, reflective metal spanning one wall, next to the shelves, and a space in between the shelves and terminal lead to the conclusion that there was something beyond it—it had an indent akin to a door, yet still different. Holly tilted her head as she considered it, though she didn't want to approach it yet. Something unwanted may be waiting beyond.
Xenon came scurrying back. "Is anyone around us?" she questioned. "Is the coast clear?"
Using this special, adventure-type terminology made her feel officially fictional. She and Clare had used terms like "the coast is clear" when they snuck around school into the library before the bell rang. Now, Holly used the term while trying to evade threatening evil military officers.
Times did change indeed.
Xenon chirped in affirmative and crawled onto her shoulder. She shot him a quick glance before hurrying towards the packed shelves.
"Are these uniforms?" she asked no-one in particular.
No-one in particular answered her.
She reached up and withdrew one pile of clothing slowly. It was grey, almost black, and stiff—uncomfortably so. They were perhaps the last thing Holly would voluntarily wear, besides perhaps a swimsuit. However, they seemed to be a goldmine now.
"Oh, Xenon, this is great!" she exclaimed, her voice still level. "Will you look at these—I could go anywhere in this stuff!"
Of course, she was exaggerating. But….Her Science Officer-blue hoodie and pants didn't exactly blend in. She wouldn't be able to walk somewhere….noticeable, but maybe she could blend into the crowd. Look like just another face.
But then she thought….Holly hadn't seen any women on her way over here. Not that she had been looking, of course, because it really hadn't mattered, then, what gender her captors were. In retrospect, though, every officer, guard, and trooper had been, as far as Holly could see, men.
She held one suit up and considered it closely. Holly wasn't shaped as exaggeratedly as some girls and women were—her waste wasn't tiny, her hips weren't so rounded, and she wasn't as buxom. Glancing at the reflective surface of the metal wall, Holly figured that if she slouched a bit, letting her shoulders sag, she'd look at least like a scrawny man.
However, Holly pulled off her hoodie and tied it around her middle for good measure—it would make her look more flat-chested. She pulled on the uniform and analyzed her appearance once more. Her shoes were hidden by the pants, which she just slid on over her jeans. They were a bit baggy, so she had just tucked them into her jeans and let the shirt fall over it. With the belt tied loosely around her middle, she just looked like a short fat man.
With long hair. That'd have to go.
The elastic that she'd tied had nearly fallen out. She re-secured it in her hair at the top of her head, then slid that weird dome-like helmet over it. Holly was so lucky that she had found just the right room with just the right materials—though she couldn't have been in Greg (was that his first name? She couldn't remember) Lucas's original story, she certainly had all the luck of a movie character.
Holly made a mental note to thank the evil author of her own story for this one bout of convenience.
She turned to Xenon. "So, how do I look?"
His head seemed to shake in dislike or disgust. Holly nodded. "Yeah, it's hideous," she remarked. "But this is only in case I get caught—someone may glance quickly and just dismiss me as a peasant who works here," she said. Before stowing away her broken glasses permanently, Holly slid one half up to her eye and eyed her reflection again.
To anyone who looked for any period of time, something was wrong with her as a man—but hopefully, nobody would do that.
42.
"We've got to find out which cells Holly and this princess of yours are in," Han said. The smell of smoke pervaded the room, emanating from the numerous spots on the walls where blaster shots had been fired—they were really lucky the Stormtroopers were such horrible shots. "There they are….Holly's is cell twenty-one nine-three, and her majesty's is eight-seven, same corridor. You get them—I'll hold the troopers here," he ordered.
Luke, similarly garbed in the Stormtrooper armor as Han was, scurried down the hallway. He moved awkwardly, trying to hurry in the bizarre suit. Han rolled his eyes and turned to the comlink in front of him.
"Everything is under control," he reported. "Situation normal." Han fought to keep his tone level, despite his growing anxiety.
"What happened?" questioned the man on the other side.
Han tried to pull off the lie. "Uh….had a slight weapons malfunction. But, uh, everything's perfectly all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here, now, thank you." It was going downhill quickly and Han was growing nervous. "How are you?" The minute that statement left his mouth, he cringed. They were all positively doomed.
He wasn't the only one who noticed his obvious mistake. "We're sending a team up," the exasperated voice said.
"Uh….Uh, negative," he tried to deflect. "We had a reactor leak here, now….Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak, very dangerous." Oh, he could see it: he was digging his grave ever deeper….
"Who is this? What's your operating number?"
Then, Han's gravedigger decided that he didn't want to be oppressed by all the dirt that was way above his head. He wouldn't take it. Han blasted the comlink.
"Boring conversation anyway," he remarked. Now that nobody was listening, he wasn't as nervous. "Luke! We're going to have company!"
42.
Luke stared at the open door in wonder.
It looked like a perfectly average cell—minus the door being open, of course—in that there were no obvious signs of damage. The blond farm boy just stood there for ten seconds too long—down the corridor he heard Han shout for him to hurry up.
Luke glanced up to the address above the cell door—it was right. He was in the right place; this was Holly's cell. Only….there was no Holly.
He stepped into the cell. Maybe his helmet was constricting his view; maybe she was in the corner or something. He knew that the notion was ridiculous—why would she hide in the corner when the door to her prison had been open? Of course, this was the girl who rode a sandcrawler out of the middle of the Dune Sea….nothing she did seemed to be the smartest idea to Luke.
He would have stepped on it if he hadn't happened to look down at exactly that moment. Right next to his foot was one half of those strange contraptions that Holly held to her face—those glasses. He remembered something about focusing a retina….everything that had happened then seemed like a blur, for he had still been wallowing in the grief of losing his aunt and uncle, so he couldn't quite bring the rest of what she said about these 'glasses' to the front of his mind.
He bent to pick them up. The dark framework looked too fragile to be of any use—it bent so willingly! Where the glass part met the rest of it, there was a wobbly hinge. How could someone wear these things for any longer than half a day without them breaking? If the timeline that Holly had told them had been correct, these object were far beyond their prime.
They just looked ridiculous.
But, they also meant something—it meant that, although the cell was vacant with the door wide open, there had been a prisoner held here, and that prisoner had been Holly.
But where was she?
42.
Holly leaned closer to the terminal. The screen lit up in dark green and yellow lines—Xenon was jamming away on the controls, making his movements very similar to a mix between Holly's atrocious dancing skills and the game Twister.
In front of her was displayed a map—she could make more sense of it now once the movements of the lines slowed. Xenon's weird dance halted as well—he crawled up the side of the terminal so as to reach the screen.
"So, where's the Falcon?" she questioned. "Can I get there from here?"
Xenon considered the map closely. Then he extended one leg as if it were a pointer finger, indicating one particular line. He then began to trace it up the screen slowly, following the path as it turned corners and wound around. He stopped in a large square—that must have been the hanger in which the Falcon had landed.
"Nice." Her eyes traced along the path, trying to memorize it. Right, right, left. Turn corner, straight—two lefts and U-turn before taking one last right. Holly could remember that. "But—what is this? A corridor? I don't exactly blend in, even now."
He shook his bionic head.
"Oh, good. So….it's not so crowded. Another air vent?" Holly pondered. Xenon nodded an affirmative. "Oh, great." She wasn't looking forward to that again. "Just wonderful."
Well, at least it was better than parading around in plain sight.
"Do you think we could get caught?" she questioned. "You know, don't answer that." Upon further consideration, the odds of survival were stacked against them, and Holly just found it easier to ignore them.
"It'll be through here, right?" Holly motioned towards the paneling that looked like a smaller door, the one that she had been wary of before. She hardly waited for Xenon to nod before bounding forward and pulling it back.
Ahead of her now was a tunnel similar to the air vents on the Falcon, yet larger in diameter. Holly sighed in relief—she wasn't looking forward to barely squeezing through all the way to the ship.
Taking another long look back at the terminal, Holly tried to memorize every turn once more, though she was sure she already had. The last thing she wanted to do was get lost in this station's maze of corridors and tunnels.
Then there was something interrupting the silence. From beyond one wall was heard the blast from someone's gun—it was so close to this room that, had it been but a little louder, Holly would have screamed in fright. As it was, she nearly jumped out of her skin.
There was an indistinct shouting—the voice was indistinguishable as anybody in particular; it didn't really sound like the radio transmission of one of those soldier's helmets, but she couldn't place it as anyone else's either. The sounds of the battle outside her room continued on, and Holly was very scared that someone would accidentally blow a hole in the wall that was guarding her from them.
Holly gulped and took her last few glances at the terminal, then whispered to Xenon, "Okay, we need to hurry up." He threw her a look that, while non-verbal, clearly stated 'then do so.' "Okay, amendment. I need to hurry up." So stop talking! She told herself.
Holly prepared to depart.
Just as a precaution, Holly fished her glasses out of her pocket. It was hard to reach, being tied around her midriff as it was, but that wasn't the only problem. Holly soon found that she could only find one half of her glasses—the other was gone.
She twirled around quickly, scanning the floor in search of the missing portion. It wasn't there. "Oh, no," she sighed in exasperation. "Don't tell me it's still—don't tell me I left them in the cell!"
Xenon, wisely ad predictably, stayed silent. However, he did make his way for the tunnel. Holly got the message. There was no use mourning over the loss of her glasses now—she had to get out of here.
"Forth the two hunters!" declared Holly, hoisting an imaginary sword in the hand that she proceeded to offer to Xenon, for whom it functioned as a bridge to get to her shoulder.
She crawled into the tunnel.
42.
"Aren't you a little short for a Stormtrooper?"
"What? Oh, the uniform." Luke took off his helmet. He could see the Princess more clearly, now, without the restricting helmet. She was, frankly, beautiful. "I'm Luke Skywalker; I'm here to rescue you."
The beautiful angel still looked apprehensive. "You're who?" She didn't recognize the name 'Skywalker'.
"I'm here to rescue you," he repeated. "I've got your R2 unit and I'm here with Ben Kenobi."
That peaked her interest. She sprung up immediately. "Ben Kenobi! He's here? Where is he?" she demanded in an authoritative voice. Well, duh, thought Luke. She was a Princess, after all.
"Come on!" he urged. The two of them fled the cell.
42.
Han rushed down the corridor, still facing the control room. The troopers would soon gain on them, and they would be greatly outnumbered.
He reached Luke and that princess. She stood short and thin, garbed in white robes that were entirely not suited for this type of….adventuring. Han had to admit she was remarkably pretty, with large eyes and red lips—but he couldn't think of that now. "Can't get out that way," he reported, though it was obvious.
"Looks like you managed to cut off out only escape route." The Princess's remark was laced with such a beautiful voice….
"How'd you like it back in your cell, your Highness?" he retorted.
They all backed against the wall—the Stormtroopers were nearing. The sound of blasters as their bolts of energy neared their ears was all they needed to be alert. Luke and Han shot blasts of their own at the troopers, taking down as many as they could while trying to dodge the array of shots pelting them.
"C-3PO!" Luke called into a handheld comlink. It had been attached to his belt next to the other half of Holly's glasses. "C-3PO! We've been cut off! Are there any other ways out of the cell bay?" There was a distorted rumbling, but it was indiscernible. "What was that? I didn't copy."
Luke listened closely to 3PO's reply. Han eyed him for a second before his eyes widened in shock at his sudden realization. "There isn't any other way out!" Luke said, but Han ignored that.
"Wait, Kid, where's Holly?" he demanded.
"I got to—ah—" Luke had to leap back in order to dodge a surprisingly accurate shot. "I got to her cell and it was empty!" he yelled over the sounds of the blasters. "Door was open, not even her droid was there!"
Chewie let out a moan that told Han the Wookiee's grief. Chewbacca didn't really believe they had been killed, but Han could tell that he wouldn't be surprised if any ill end met them. The smuggler knew, however, that Chewie really missed Holly's droid.
"She probably escaped with that Lock Pick!" Han shouted. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking, but he fooled himself into believing it, at least. "She's probably back at the Falcon now!
"I can't hold off these troopers forever!" he continued. "Now what?!"
"This is some rescue," remarked Princess Leia sarcastically. "When you came in here, didn't you have a plan on getting out?"
Han scoffed. "He's the brains, sweetheart!" he barked, indicating Luke, who immediately felt sheepish for being put on the spot.
"Well I didn't—" Luke didn't have a chance to finish his excuse. His blaster was snatched from his hands by the short woman next to him faster than he could have hoped to stop her.
She blew a hole through the gratings.
Luke just stared in awe. Wow. Did this princess really just do that? She just—she just—he stuttered even in his thoughts. He undoubtedly would have made a further silent fool of himself had Han not interrupted.
"What the hell are you doing?" Her Royal Highness had almost fried him!
She crossed the corridor swiftly, sending a few shots along to the troopers as she went. "Somebody has to save our skins! Into the garbage chute, Fly Boy!" Leia tossed the blaster back to a still confused Luke and promptly jumped down the chute.
42.
"Damn!" Holly barked quietly.
They had reached a fork in the road.
Well, actually, they had reached a dead end with gratings, and they were in a chilly air vent, not a road, but the term was at least partially applicable. Holly could now stand, at least, on her hands and knees, instead of flat on her stomach. Xenon fidgeted in front of her.
The ventilation shaft ended abruptly. A little bit ahead to Holly's right were steel gratings, allowing for the passage of a little light. She didn't know what lay beyond those slits, and she didn't want to risk being seen by an undesirable onlooker.
Well, she had made it this far. To expect any more, Holly would have been hoping for too much.
Slowly, she crept forward. If she tried to view it at an angle, those beyond may not see her, if there were indeed any people out there. She couldn't hear anything, though that may have just been because any potential sound was drowned out by the air rushing past her ears, pushing her hair away from her face.
Mustering her courage, Holly was finally close enough to the grating to see the room outside.
It was empty.
"Xenon," she whispered. "Can you crawl through—maybe try and see if there's anyone out there?" Holly hadn't seen anything, but she did have a rather limited view. She decided be safe rather than dead upon the floor—not merely sorry. You can't really be sorry when you're dead.
He complied. Holly cringed as even she heard the metallic clicks of the droid making his way through the grating; if there was anyone out there to catch them, they would surely be alerted.
Xenon scurried back immediately, motioning towards the grating with his entire insectoid body. "So it's safe?" she cleared. Xenon nodded in what Holly was certain was an exasperated manner.
Holly breathed deeply. Okay, she said to herself. Nobody will catch you yet. I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death— Holly was caught off guard by something interrupting her ridiculous Dune mantra that she had only started because she really didn't want to leave the vent, no matter what Xenon said.
And procrastination is the opportunity-killer, Gandalf's voice rang in her head. But, no, it wasn't Gandalf. It was Obi-Wan.
Oh, why had her conscience have to adopt his voice?
She decided to take the voice's advice, however, as she propped herself up on her elbows and brought her hands to the grating. It didn't budge immediately, mainly because Holly was trying to pull it towards herself when it should have rightly been rushed away. When she finally tried pushing it, she had to lean forward so drastically that, when it finally popped open, not only did she fall forward with it, but it also was sent clattering loudly to the ground.
"Oh, you flipping flamingo!" she gritted out as she tried to withdraw back into the vent. However, she was now bent at the waist, dangling from the vent freely. Holly barely had time to register her situation before she felt herself slide forward, out of the ventilations shaft entirely and tumbling onto the stone cold floor. Head first, might I add.
Holly lay sprawled upon her back, glaring menacingly at the dark ceiling for a moment. From her mouth flooded a stream of made-up profanities along the lines of 'flipping flamingo', grumbled in a low and threatening tone. What exactly Holly was threatening she did not quite know, but it seemed to help long enough for the room to stop spinning.
The still slightly dizzy girl sat up, head throbbing dully. Holly glanced around the room, finding it nearly empty. It was only 'nearly empty' because there was still one thing in the far corner of the room—a table or something; without her glasses, Holly couldn't quite be sure—which she eyed critically before peering at it through her one lens.
There was a closed door at the side of the room, but Holly ignored it. Her head wasn't quite right from being landed on, after all, and she didn't want to leave her newfound temple of solitude quite yet.
Scrambling up, she approached the table. It looked more like a workbench, really, than a table, and the tools laid haphazardly upon its surface enforced the idea. She picked up one of the tools—it resembled strongly a crowbar, smooth and black with a wickedly sharp end. Holly hoisted it into her hands, wielding it as if it were a sword.
Could come in handy.
There were a few metal sheets leaning against the way beside the table. They had holes for screws, Holly assumed, and that lead to the conclusion that someone had been building something here. The room was obviously never finished, for it would have been in use if it had—so the tools and metal sheets weren't too unlikely.
The door slid open with a high-pitched, slow and threatening squeak. Holly froze for merely a moment as the noise slowly dwindled, her back to the door. Once the sound stopped and the only noise in the room was her heart's frantic beating, Holly clenched a fist tightly around the crowbar and spun around on the balls of her feet to brandish her improvised blade in what she hoped was a threatening gesture.
She must've thought that a yell would help her prove her point, for the cry that escaped her lips was one to rival Chewbacca's.
"I must advise you to put that weapon down, my dear," said the grandfatherly voice of Obi-Wan ad he stood in the doorway. "I'd rather not lose consciousness now, of all times."
"Oh my—" Holly's mouth kept moving, but no words came out. Suddenly, she flung herself forward, letting the crowbar fly free as she threw her arms around Obi-Wan in relief. "Obi-Wan! You're here!"
She simply could not believe it. A wickedly happy grin on her face, she waited for his response. "Yes," he replied. "It would appear that I am."
"But—well, I'm glad you're here, certainly," she stuttered. "But where….I mean, why are you here? How'd you find me? Are Luke and Han okay? And the droids? What in the realm of fiction is going on?!" He waited patiently for her rambling to come to a stop.
"Holly, please ask one question at a time," he chuckled at the many questions she had fired off. "More slowly, this time."
Holly sighed and let go of him. "What are you doing here?" she asked, careful to be clear in her query this time.
"Your Lock Pick over there ran off." Obi-Wan nodded towards the little droid, who had scurried closer to them. "After you chased after it, we hid in the smuggling compartments that Han Solo had near the exit."
"I knew all that already," she pressed. "But why aren't you still there?"
"Well, we couldn't very well stay there forever, could we?" he chuckled again. "There was a tractor beam hold on our ship. I have disabled it."
"You just snuck around this station?" she gaped in disbelief. "I've had to crawl in even more air vents just so I wouldn't get caught again!"
"Again?"
"Well, the first air vent I hid in on the Falcon only got me caught by one of those soldiers."
"Stormtroopers."
"Yeah. Anyway, you were right about Xenon—he picked the lock in that cell that they dumped me in, and I came here, through more air vents."
"Those haven't exactly brought you the best of luck insofar," he pointed out. "But, yes, I must say I have quite a bit more stealth than you do." Though she scowled, Holly didn't interrupt. "It is part of the Jedi training."
"Oh, not that again," she grumbled. "The Force—that can't do anything! It's impossible, even in this galaxy!"
"Of course it's real, Holly, and active. I'm here speaking to you because of it; the Force undoubtedly brought you here, for there is no conceivable alternative. I can feel it. Luke can feel it. I have even reason to believe that you can feel it."
Holly just scoffed. "Sir, with all due respect, that couldn't happen. You may believe in it, but you can't get me to."
"And what of this 'empathy' you described back on the ship?" he probed. "That wasn't mere imagination. You could feel Luke's grief through the Force, much as I could feel Alderaan's destruction."
"Then why didn't I feel the planet blow up?"
"That is something that I cannot explain," he admitted, taking to pacing the room. "But you can certainly feel through the Force—and you can hear projected thoughts, as well. Not many can, even amongst the Jedi; it takes a special sort of connection."
"What do you mean?" Was he saying that the voice in her head wasn't her conscience?
"It takes a direct path of the Force," explained Obi-Wan. "A deliberate shift in the strands of destiny—a shift that it, in itself, controls. You are part of that shift, I can feel it. Luke certainly can, as well; it would be quite difficult to ignore."
"Okay, okay," Holly played along for a moment. "Say that you are right and I'm just a stubborn non-believer—but how would you know this? I mean, it's like you're reading a textbook, that's how certain of it you are."
"I am most certain," he said. "The Force is, simultaneously, the most dependable and the least dependable, well, force in the universe. If there is one thing that is certain, it's that it surrounds you entirely for some reason, to fulfill some purpose. What that purpose is I cannot even attempt to guess, but it is most certain that you being here is no accident."
"That doesn't tell me how, though." Holly was growing impatient. "You're just repeating what you already said."
He sighed, as if dealing with a small and ill-behaved child. "It is as clear to me as a swift gust of air would be to you. A Jedi can be trained to tap into the Force, to harness it and use it to their advantage, to find balance within themselves. They can also feel when some aspect of the Force is out of balance, as it is with you."
This was starting to sound an awful lot like Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time; everything about the Force sounded like the One Power. "So you can feel that I'm 'out of balance'," she emphasized this with incredulous finger quotes, "with the 'Force'?"
"Indeed," he said, nodding, probably relieved that she finally got it—or, at least, pretended to. He didn't seem to mind the fact that she most obviously didn't believe him. "But you must listen now, Holly. You must do what I say—exactly as I say it if you are to survive this," Obi-Wan warned.
Holly nodded, feeling a bit perplexed. Yes, of course they were in danger, but was he going to tell her how to get out of danger? She remained silent and waited for him to continue.
"You must follow my directions. Do not divert from the path I say, and under no circumstances are you to follow me," he ordered in a lecturing tone, resting his hands on Holly's shoulders as if that would emphasize his point. "Do you understand me?"
"Uh, yeah," she said. "But I don't understand you." Holly paused a moment. "Well, I get what you're trying to say, but I don't quite know why. Are you saying that you're not coming with me?"
He looked down for a moment. "You must understand," he said slowly. "I cannot come with you. Luke must go his own way, now, as must you, Holly. Amongst the little that I know is the fact that yours is the type of future that you must build yourself. I cannot guide you through it; nobody can.
"Luke needed a push; he needed an external prodding to get his story going. I was simply the person who provided that push. You, however…" he trailed off, fixing her with a meaningful look. "You have been pushed by something that I have no control over. I'm afraid that it is up to you."
Holly blanched. She stared openly at him for a moment, eyes wide with realization. No, she thought, though she knew, really, that this was it. It's part of the hero's journey, the loss of the mentor. Obi-Wan was, obviously, the mentor in this tale, and this was his end. He parts from the protagonists and goes his own way—often by means of death—and the protagonist has to conquer the evil by themselves. With Harry Potter, it was Dumbledore's death. The Fellowship of the Ring? Gandalf's fall with the Balrog. Of course, the mentor wasn't gone forever in every story, but this certainly felt final.
She wouldn't see him again. Holly wasn't the main character; it wasn't her with whom he would linger; it wasn't her who would carry his advice and warning until the quest was over. No, that belonged to Luke. Luke would meet him at his own 'King's Cross Station,' or something similar. She would have undoubtedly been childishly jealous were it not for the gravity of the present situation.
"What—no, Obi-Wan, you can't leave now," she pleaded. "You can't! It's too early! Just don't go, please!" she engulfed him in another hug. He may be crazy, and she hadn't known him long, but she had grown attached. It was the type of instant connection—someone you immediately trusted. "You don't have to teach us anything, but don't die, please!"
He gave her a solemn pat, unperturbed. He must have expected something like this. "I have outlived everyone I know by nearly twenty years," he said. "I have kept myself alive far too long—and I have done what I must do. It is time, now, for me to go."
Holly didn't realize that there were tears in her eyes until they fell down her cheeks. His words didn't do much to convince her. She didn't quite know what to say in response, and she didn't have to. "Holly, you must listen to me now," Obi-Wan enforced. "I told you this because I need you to try and figure out your predicament. I told you this because you can't stop working towards your home."
"I wouldn't have stopped trying," she insisted, "but you could stay. You could help."
"You may need help very badly along the way," agreed Obi-Wan. "But you will not get it from me. I cannot get you home."
Holly's mind flashed to Luke's promise, the one that she hadn't truly believed. "Then who can?"
"You alone can get home. Now, do not cry—I will not suffer, I assure you. I am fulfilling a destiny." Holly looked at him through teary eyes, ready to protest. "But to ensure your safety, you must listen to me. You can't let an old man depart without a sound mind, without assurance that his earthy friends will live on?"
His eyes were so persuasive. She could see his point, and she could tell that he truly didn't fear what was coming. To covet his company would be selfish—this was clearly what he must do, and he wanted to do just that. Though unhappy with it, Holly nodded slowly. "Tell me how to get back. I promise not to follow you or get into trouble, Obi-Wan, though I will miss you." She spoke the words through muffled sobs.
Holly's mind wasn't properly in the right place, but she did recall one thing that brought her comfort—someone had once written that death was but the next great adventure. She wished the best for Obi-Wan, silently praying for him as he gave her explicit instructions.
42.
The four of them, Han, Luke, Chewie, and the Princess, finally crawled out of that slimy garbage contractor. Luke had been in nasty situations before, yes, but they had never been so….moist and damp and musty and disgusting. Every disgusting job he's ever had to do was something with the dry sand of Tatooine or the broken down generators in the moisture vaporators, which were dry themselves. He'd never been fully immersed in that much water, let alone that much smelly, slimy, water….
"If we can avoid any female advice, we ought to be able to get out of here," Han declared. He was in a similar predicament—he wasn't too wild about his pants being messed, though it wasn't nearly as bad as Luke's drenched clothes, which he was trying desperately to dry.
"We need to find Holly first," Luke pointed out. "Where do you think she could be?"
"Holly?" questioned Leia. "Who's this 'Holly'?"
"Holly's our friend," Luke responded. "She came here with us."
"Then why isn't she still with you?" demanded Leia. Her urge to hear the answer wasn't out of concern for this friend of theirs, but rather concern for how long it would take to get her back. They needed to get off of the Death Star as quickly as possible, and she stifled a grumble at this next dilemma.
"She was captured," Han said. "Then she escaped, and we don't know where to."
Leia narrowed her eyes. "Escaped? How does one just escape from an Imperial cell? They've got some of the galaxy's strongest locks!"
"She must've had her droid with her," Luke supplied. "Xenon, she calls it, I think. He could've gotten into the wires and unlocked it."
"Could have," mused Han.
"Well, anyway, we have to go find her, quick!" Luke's quick and excited words were met by a reluctant silence from Leia.
She tried not to sound too calloused. "Your friend has probably gotten back to the ship by now," she said. She didn't want to waste time on a search that could come up null. She had to get those plans to the rebel base; that was her top priority, above her life and the lives of a few others, as long as those plans reached their destination. "Shouldn't we wait for her there?"
Han chuckled sarcastically. "You wouldn't have so much faith in Holly if you knew her."
"What is she, dumb?" Leia was growing irritable, and her sarcastic retort showed that clearly. They needed to get out of there quickly. "Why can't she find her own way back? She managed to escape, after all. And just because she's female and may have advice of her own doesn't mean that she's inferior to you! I'd bet she's even faring better than you right now. Probably more sensible." Her rapid contradiction
"Anybody'd fare better without you there," grumbled the smuggler underneath his breath. If Leia heard him, she didn't say anything.
"Holly is not dumb," insisted Luke. "She isn't. Holly's just never done this before—never done anything like this." His words meant more than Leia knew, but she only saw the surface that he scratched. She didn't know to what extent Holly was inexperienced, and Luke wasn't about to explain it now.
"We need to get a move on," Han started. "Come on, I've got to find a terminal. Maybe someone's spotted Holly or knows where she is." He made for the end of the hall, brushing past that blasted princess.
"Listen, I don't know who you are or where you came from, but from now on, you do as I tell you," she ordered viciously. "Okay?" Leia didn't want anything bad to happen to this friend of theirs, but if she was just going to be a liability, the top priority wasn't on her.
"Look, Your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight! I take orders from one person, me!"
"It's a wonder you're still alive. If we come across a computer, you can look for your friend; we won't, however," she stressed 'won't, "go out of our way to look for her. I'm not, at least, and yours is the ship I'm taking back to base." She strode forward, glancing Chewbacca up and down. "Will somebody get this walking carpet out of my way?"
"No reward is worth this," said Han lowly to Luke. "We're getting Holly, whether Her Highness likes it or not."
42.
SO! What d'you think? This chapter mainly just set up some stuff; you'll get more action next chapter, I promise, and...Finally...She'll meet Vader! I'm super excited to write that, and I hope I end up doing it justice.
Anyway, onto the reviews:
Himeno Kazehito: That would be an interesting concept. However, I must say that she isn't. I did, however, toy with the idea of another fic featuring him as a father figure to a different heroine...but that's something else entirely. And, yeah, I have-it was great. Thanks for reviewing!
Sardhrantor: Thanks! I try to deviate from what's already known as much as possible, because you already know what happened in the movies, and I didn't want just a retelling, or for anything to be too forced. I'm glad you think I'm doing a good job-thank you for your review!
Portia Mae: Your review really made me smile-I'm glad you like it so much. I actually got the idea for this story when I walked into the theatre to see The Force Awakens wearing a Star Trek shirt...and it was supposed to be a parody/comedy. While I failed in every possible way, I'm glad some people find it funny. Don't worry, she'll meet both Vader and Leia in ch. 14!
EGGS: Sorry to disappoint again; I PROMISE she'll meet them next time. Anyhow, I hoped you like it in the meanwhile, before Vader makes his appearance, and thanks for the feedback!
Stick with me, guys. I'm getting through it, and even though it's slow, it's coming along. Thank you all very dearly for your feedback; it's like sheet music to by computer screen. See you all next chapter!