Hello! Again, I'm SO sorry for the long wait. Also, read the A/N at the end for a bit of information about an even longer wait before the next update...Sorry.
Chapter 20:
Blistered fingers gripped a pair of metal pliers tightly but carefully—Holly had forgotten her gloves in the maintenance hangar, and it seemed that plastic handles built into metal tools were a luxury only found on Earth. Maybe they were found somewhere else too, but obviously not on a low-budget Rebel Base.
She crouched low in the cockpit of a malfunctioning X-Wing. It would have been helpful to take the ship down to the maintenance hangar, but that was also impossible: If anyone tried to fly this fighter, they'd find themselves soaring high over the endless slopes of snow and ice that was the entire planet of Hoth. Soaring northeast, specifically, for that was the only direction in which the ship could go.
Holly had only been sent to find out why it wouldn't steer, but there turned out to be many, many more problems than that. It was because of this that Holly had been here for nearly three hours, trying to get the thing to work correctly.
The sound of another ship landing reached her ears. Holly dismissed it; no less than five times today, she'd heard those sounds. No doubt it was a routine scouting mission returning from a day's flight over the perimeter, scanning for any threat and surveying a little bit farther out from their rebel territory.
Humming a peaceful, happy tune from Lord of the Rings brought a soft, nostalgic smile onto her face. It was perhaps the thing that she missed most about leaving—aside from school, of course. She missed playing her favorite songs on her piano (electric, of course, because a real one would be too difficult to bring up to her room).
"Holly, ma'am," an electronical voice spoke to her from outside the cockpit. Holly leaned over the side to see 3PO standing on the ground, looking up at her. She ceased her humming immediately; Concerning Hobbits could wait. "R2-D2 has returned!"
Holly's face broke into a wide smile as she saw the little blue and white droid roll over to his counterpart. R2 was back—that could only mean one thing. R2 had gone away with Luke on his mission. If the droid was here, his master was, too!
"See, R2? I simply cannot express how elated we both are that we can continue our Binary Lessons! I told you she would be so pleased that you have come back."
Shoving her tools back into her bag and hastily setting the breadboard on which she had been testing wires onto the seat, Holly leapt out of the ship and onto the ground, a grin still plastered onto her face. "Where is he?"
3PO's head shifted slightly in confusion. "Why, ma'am, he's right here! Can't you see? Oh, R2, I know the problem! She can't see you; you're not tall enough!" Holly was sure the golden droid planned to continue his unintentional degradation of R2's pride, but she decided to be nice and spare the astromech the humiliation.
"I didn't mean him, 3PO, I meant him! Luke!" she laughed, looking around. Unfortunately, she couldn't see his head of shaggy blond hair anywhere, mainly because a hoard of rabid pilots were crowding the group of X-Wings that was undoubtedly Rogue Squadron.
R2 beeped. When 3PO didn't translate, Holly realized that this was some sort of test; she had to test how much she learned.
"Um….it's a noun, the first word….masculine object?—no, it was a pronoun, wasn't it?—He, probably. He….then, um, some type of verb?" Holly shot an apologetic glance to her two language instructors. "I'm sorry, I can't hardly discern interrogative segments from imperatives; I'm hopeless at this!"
3PO scoffed. "I would have hoped you retained more information than that, seeing as you've been learning for three years!"
That statement brought an odd feeling to her stomach, but Holly tried to ignore it. "Again, I'm sorry," she said. "What did he say, though?"
R2 beeped again, as if Holly would understand. She heard the word 'attempt,' and quite possibly a modifier similar to 'pathetic,' but everything else was just a bunch of bleeps to her.
Probably insulting bleeps, too.
"Master Luke is giving a report to the Princess," 3PO relayed. "As there were no fatal casualties, it is to be assumed that the mission went well."
Holly smiled again. So, nobody was hurt after all. And, of course, her mind had jumped to the worst case scenario as soon as the next morning rolled around, being the eternal pessimist that she was.
"I'm going to find him," she declared, turning towards the crowd and stepping forward into the array of rebel troops.
42.
Finding Luke was more difficult than Holly could have ever assumed. If he was the leader of Rogue Squadron, and Rogue Squadron had just returned, was it not to be assumed that he was in the center of the jungle that was the main hangar?
He very well could have been exactly where Holly predicted, but the trouble was, once she was surrounded by people, she was so disoriented by the commotion that she couldn't tell you which way she came, let alone which way to the middle.
She chose one direction and stuck to it—as best she could. Everyone began to disperse, giving Holly a clearer view of where everything was.
It was pointless, though, because Luke was heard before he was seen.
"Holly!" he exclaimed from behind her. The girl in question had just enough time to turn around and face him before Luke caught her in a tight brace.
"H-hi," she chuckled, a bit taken aback. She might like to give a brief hug every once in a while, but each time someone else hugged her, Holly couldn't avoid slight unease. "So, did you miss me, then?"
She decided that it would be awkward if she didn't hug him back, so she wrapped her arms around him briefly before letting them drop, expecting him to do the same.
"Like you wouldn't believe," he responded, smiling gleefully, but still hugging her. The way he said it rallied up the Flying Circus and bought popcorn for everyone there.
Holly's hands played with the hem of her shirt awkwardly. Luke really knew how to hug too long. She blushed nervously and made a small movement, which caused him to drop his arms. "So, um, how….how did it go?"
That sounded like she was asking about a trip to the store, or a day at school. Well, it could have very well just been something that trivial, and she was just overreacting because she missed him.
Yeah, that was probably it.
Luke ruffled his hair. "It was….eventful," he began.
"I know exactly what you mean," Holly quipped sarcastically, alluding to the vagueness of his answer.
"I mean, it was eventful when we weren't sitting around, doing nothing," he amended. "Honestly, you'd be surprised at exactly how much 'doing nothing' there is in an operation like this. Nothing like rescuing the Princess."
"Now, that is something I really do understand." The two of them began to walk away from the largest congregation of people, not really caring what they were doing. "Did you know—well, I'm sure you did, but I didn't—that we've been here for three years? Until, er, I'm not even sure how long ago it was….until you left, I thought we'd been here for a few months, tops!"
He raised an eyebrow and looked upon her with a confused expression. "Seriously?"
"Time's hard to judge when you can't read a calendar," she defended feebly.
"Even if that were so, how could you possibly misjudge a year for a month?" he questioned disbelievingly.
Holly just sighed and explained how confused she was on the issue of time. It was funny, really, because back before any of this had ever happened, she was hell bent on solving the mystery of time—it had confused and enthralled her to such an extent that she spent many hours contemplating what exactly it was, how it worked. It was ironic that none of her past musings could help her in this situation—she'd never dwelt on her perception changing, so she had nothing to go on.
It was like living in a dream, except for the fact that she actually realized something was wrong.
"So, do you think that this has to do with the Force, as well?"
"Honestly, how couldn't it?" Holly rubbed her brow. "I would wait until we've got that reading sorted out, but I'm afraid that I'd have perceived my life away by that time."
Luke fell silent, contemplating. It was an uncomfortable silence, the sort that you'd get after you'd told your parents that you failed your history test (though Holly never had personal experience with that), where you waited with fear for them to share their thoughts.
Luke must think I'm more trouble than I'm worth, Holly thought to herself. All these problems—it would have been easier just to ignore them. That's what I would've done, probably, if it weren't me having the problems.
And she wasn't proud of the fact.
"Oh, come on," she sighed. "That's depressing. Let's talk about something exciting! What were the eventful parts of your mission?" She gave Luke a smile, which he gladly returned. Seems he wasn't too into this 'stuck in a hole without answers' mood either.
42.
As she listened to Luke's story, she found her thoughts straying from what he had done then to what he was doing now. She heard his voice, but not what he was saying. Just the tone, the pitch. And as he spoke, she noticed that he used his hands a lot to accentuate something he was describing.
Gosh, she hadn't realized how much she missed him.
When he laughed, she did, too. Not because what he said was particularly funny, but because Holly was just so happy to be back to normal again. However long he had been away had certainly been too long—and Holly was too continually absent from her life to realize it. Now, though, she forced herself to be there. It was so….comfortable, and happy. It was something she wanted to be able to remember, no matter how many other things she seemed to forget or not to notice.
Holly began to half-listen to what he was saying, deciding that it was both rude and slightly creepy to ignore his words and just pay attention to his mannerisms. She noticed that he wasn't too good at condensing things, for he rambled on and on about one thing in particular before he realized that there was something more to tell.
It was hard to follow any particular story, but she was just content to hear him talk. She surprised herself by how willing she was to listen to someone's rambling—though, to be honest, anyone who spoke to her had to listen to rambling, too, so she tried not to be hypocritical.
They found themselves sitting on a ledge that overlooked a stairway heading down to a lower level. It was unnerving, sitting on something where you knew your feet couldn't touch the ground—if they did, in this instance, it would be bad. Holly didn't fancy taking a tumble down the stairs after falling five feet, so she sat stiffly.
Though, once she was comfortable, it was rather exciting. She saw the people walk in and out, not paying her any mind, and she thought of them as ants. Well, ants that were at the level of one's knee.
"Hey, do you ever think about how small some people are?" she wondered aloud. Thankfully, Luke hadn't been talking, so she wasn't being rude.
"Do you mean literally or metaphorically?"
"The latter, of course." Holly paused for a moment, watching a group of pilots and mechanics head to the mess for dinner. "I mean, people like us….we're part of a collective, serving a greater power. The whole war; we're serving those who command. Do you ever thing of the difference between those who….control, and those who are controlled?"
"Where is this coming from?" Luke asked.
"I dunno. I was just thinking. I mean, some people have power over others, and some are just there to be lorded over."
Luke smirked. "That's rather demeaning."
"Well, it's true." Holly imagined the ants again. "It's like some bugs. Ants, bees. They have a queen who tells them what to do, and they just do it without second thought. What if people are the same way?"
"I suppose you can control anyone if you can evoke enough fear," Luke mused along with her. "It's kind of what the Empire's doing. Keeping control through threats and constant presence. You've got no choice."
"Well, you actually do," Holly argued. "You have a choice to fight back. You're part of a rebellion yourself. But if you were a worker bee, for example, you couldn't just think, 'I'm tired of this. I'm going to go sit in that tree.'" Holly hummed. "Good thing we're not bees, I guess."
Luke tilted his head. "What if we are?"
Holly looked over at him. "I suppose you can call yourself Sting and 'bee' anything," she chuckled at the pun. "But even though you're blond, I'm not sure if you can sing."
He must have gotten used to her out-of-place references by now, for he didn't even ask for clarification. "Seriously, though. What if we're controlled by a higher power and we don't know it? I don't mean any god or Emperor or…commanding officer, but rather, someone who we just couldn't disobey."
"'You mean it controls your actions?'" Holly thought aloud. "I suppose you could be right. Like we're some mad scientist's experiments that accidentally gained sentience."
"Or like Jedi who use the Force," he pointed out. "I mean, it's not like I don't want to learn to harness it, but from what I understand….the concept of the Force is rather powerful. We may think we're 'using' it, but it could just control us, and make us think that we have the option to choose."
Holly considered. "It might," she agreed, "but that implies that it's a….thinking being. Being, not force. Would the Force be a 'being?'"
"I suppose one would have to be a Jedi to fully understand that sort of thing," Luke said in resignation. He hopped down from the ledge skillfully, landing solidly on the ground below. "But I've been without real food for a month—I'm rightfully tired of those rations," he pulled a face to illustrate just how distasteful they were. "So, if you're through with this philosophical deliberation, I'd like to get dinner. Care to join me?"
Holly sighed. "Alright," she said, attempting a slide down that was as graceful as his, but she failed completely, losing her footing on the highest step. She'd have taken a tumble down the stairs if Luke hadn't secured an arm around her waist and stopped her fall. "Thanks."
The two of them forgot their previous engagements—at least, Holly did. The X-Wing was basically fixed, and even if it weren't, it would not matter. Luke, who had undoubtedly become her best friend, had been gone for an (as of yet) indeterminate amount of time. Holly would venture to say that he was a bit more important than making some old, decrepit Starfighter look pretty again.
42.
Nothing was a greater sight to behold than the return of Rogue Squadron from their month-long mission. Or so it seemed, by the sheer amount of people crowding around the mess hall. Honestly, you'd think that Luke blew up another Death Star—
Now, that would just be outrageous. The Empire couldn't be stupid enough to build another one.
Still, everyone stopped to speak to the rebellion's Golden Boy. Holly didn't even know that Luke had so many acquaintances, let alone first-name-basis friends.
Holly understood what he had just done. An Imperial ship had landed on an Alliance planet—he had to defend against them, along with the rest of the squadron. And Holly was very proud of him for it, of course, but that didn't mean everyone else had the right to do so.
"Okay," Holly said as yet another person walked away from trying to be Luke Skywalker's best friend. "I guess I missed you a bit, but whatever I felt was nothing compared to these fanatics."
It felt like Comic-Con, every fanboy in the world crowding around the-one and-only whoever-played-Luke in the movies. But this Luke wasn't even a Jedi yet!
"Sorry if it's a bit much," Luke apologized sincerely. "These people don't seem to get the 'keep your distance, I'm tired' look."
Holly chuckled in spite. "I think you just fail royally at the 'stay away' look, that's the problem." And people are too pushy. "God, I'm so glad I'm not famous."
"How 'bout infamous?" Holly sent him a questioning glance. "Well, you're certainly not in many people's good books now, since you get to sit with Skywalker and they don't."
Holly raised an eyebrow. "I think you're letting all this attention get to your head; that was rather pretentious of you to say." She fought the grin that attempted to seize her features and managed to turn it into a mild smirk.
Luke raised his hands defensively. "Hey, I only said that because they're doing nothing but glaring at you!"
Holly glanced around, affirming Luke's report. "Oh, well," she replied nonchalantly.
"What, you don't care what people think of you? At all?" Luke raised his eyes as if skeptical.
She merely shrugged and responded in an airy, rambling voice. "Not really. I suppose people just don't matter." As Holly focused on her food idly, she did not see Luke's smile fall.
"Though that's not entirely true," Holly amended. "I care about some people. Some people matter."
"Yeah?" Luke asked, a smile playing at his features. "Like who?"
Holly looked up, a knowing smirk on her face. "Oh, I dunno. Maybe Han. And Leia, to the extent of my job. Chewie as well, of course….and! oh, yes, the droids. Can't just forget them, now can I?"
Luke attempted to ignore the obvious exclusion of someone in particular, but he must have failed miserably, for Holly could tell that it bothered him.
Well, isn't he gullible. "Oh, come on, Luke!" She laughed to ease his reappearing frown. "Of course you matter, too; you're practically my best friend."
"Really? I'm your best friend?" The surprise in his tone was evident.
"Who else?" She didn't care if he didn't consider her his best friend, because really, that term didn't seem to be of much magnitude to people with as much….camaraderie as the rebels. "Hell, I haven't even told Han of the language difficulty. Although….I think it may be a toss-up between you and 3PO."
He laughed and feigned an accepting expression. "Ah, yes, the great C-3PO. Leader of all protocol droids who lack social skills. How will I ever compete with that?"
They joked comfortably back and forth, jumping from one menial topic to the next. Holly did not want to mention how pathetically devastated she had felt those first days for which Luke was absent, for by all conventional norms, it really should not have mattered whether Luke was present or not.
Holly had long since finished her dinner; Luke had, as well. The plates sat off to the side, forgotten. The crowd, too, began to dissipate; the general excitement of the Rogue Squadron's return had dwindled when their leader dismissed everyone's attempt at conversation.
Everyone's but her own, at any rate. Not that Holly particularly cared, but she convinced herself that she and Luke weren't being rude because they were friends, and friends were at liberty to do this sort of thing to third parties.
Weak excuse, yes, but Holy hadn't been bothered by it much anyway.
Luke's fancy space-watch (Holly knew there was another name for it, but she couldn't remember) beeped, signaling the passing of another hour. "It's twenty-two hundred," he reported.
Holly groaned. This was basically the grown-up bedtime. If she thought that being away from home at this hour meant having her own sleep schedule, she was sourly mistaken.
"All right," she sighed. "I sup—" Holly was rather rudely interrupted by her own yawn. "I suppose I am a bit tired. Had to fix that X-Wing twice in a row; damn pilot doesn't know how to even fly it, let alone keep it in tact. Lost some sleep, undoubtedly."
Luke sympathized and nodded tiredly. "Come on, I'll walk you to your quarters."
42.
"I'll see you….tomorrow? If I don't just choose to sleep in," Holly bid goodnight once they reached her door. Luke halted the hand that was raised to thumb in the lock combination.
"Hold on, there was something I wanted to ask you." She turned to him and waited.
"Yeah?"
"While I was away, I think…" he paused, unsure of himself. "It's absolutely crazy, I know, because there was just a great distance, but….Shortly after I left, were you mad or, maybe, disappointed?"
He watched her expression carefully. He had felt her presence clearly through the Force, he assumed. As unlikely as it was, it could be nothing else: over the three years he had known her, Luke had come to recognize exactly what she felt when a spike of emotion rose in her. And it was faint, but nonetheless outstanding to him then, after he had left, that she was distressed.
Her mouth morphed into a frown and her eyebrows knitted. He noticed the crease on the bridge of her nose—he liked her nose. It was well-shaped, looked very graceful above her lips. When she smiled, it was rather pretty.
Holly crossed her arms and sighed. "I felt a lot of things," she conceded. "It was right after I realized that we'd been here three years—I began to entertain outlandish possibilities, thinking of depressing things. It was irrelevant, and I'm honestly surprised you felt it."
"Maybe you were just….that mad," he suggested. "You seem to be, I don't know, fading in and out, sometimes. Every day, it's different. Someone realigns the plasma links incorrectly; I can feel from across the room that you're angry at them. But other days, there's….nothing. It's like you're not there at all. Our conversations, we've had them before. They're menial, just the same things repeated over and over again. Like you're living in your mind most of the time."
He eyed her as she took in his observations. She did not seem surprised. "I think I may know what you're talking about. You felt my anger because I was angry. It had been three years. Three years I'd been here, and it hardly felt like three months—I'd realized that I just wasted three years of my life living in some vacant dream. I was disappointed in what I'd done with my life."
Holly's eyes saddened, sending a spike through Luke's chest. "No, I'm sure it wasn't that extreme." But he sounded unsure himself. "You must've just lost yourself in your work, it could happen all the time." Biggs' words on girls came to his mind again. Don't make them sad, angry, or humiliated; they'd bite your face of if you do. Luke wasn't wary of her words, but he didn't want to hear or see such sadness in her.
"But how does that add up to what you said? I haven't been living, not really. I'm—I'm a drone most of the time. It's like….my body's a place-holder for when I'm actually there. I remember things that happen, things that I learn, but it's not a regular memory that I gain from experience. It's just something that I know." She paused for a moment, chasing a thought. "I know what it feels like. When I'm dreaming, I remember specific things, but I don't actually remember what lead up to it. I just know."
Luke was taken aback. What did she mean? "You think this is all a dream?"
"No, no; it's all too real for that. The times that I am thinking, that I am aware—times like these, for example—they're real. I can feel them, remember them, just like any other memories. But others, I'm just living my life away, waiting for something important to happen."
Holly held her chin in a tense palm, looking somewhere to Luke's left. Her eyes held the same sadness as before. Luke didn't know what exactly it was about her completely lost expression that made him do it, but before he really registered what he did, Luke had pulled her into a tight hug.
"You're not going to 'live your life away,'" he told her, one hand stroking the hair that fell over her shoulders. "No more than the rest of us, at least." Not that he had any idea what exactly was going on or, furthermore, how to fix it, but assurance couldn't hurt, could it?
Holly hugged him back just as tightly. He heard her mutter faintly, "They just zap you back in time and let you live to death," but the tone in which she said it told him that the words weren't hers. Her habit of making references must've just been a defense mechanism. "You're a very great friend, Luke. Thank you."
He felt himself smile and closed his eyes. "I really missed you, Holly." After one deep breath, in which he took in the scent of her soft hair, the two of them bid goodnight.
42.
The deteriorating but persistently effective metal hull of the Millennium Falcon did little to block out the hum of the hangar in which it idly sat, though this was a welcome noise. Anything less would have been uncomfortable for anyone in the ship; the Falcon simply could not be quiet, nor should it be.
Holly leaned against the curving seat with her feet propped up on the holographic chess table. She still hadn't figured out its conventional name, but it wasn't as though it mattered. Anyway, the term 'holographic chess' made her think of Wizard's Chess in a Federation starship's holodeck. It brought her comfort and familiarity.
She was alone, a fact for which she was grateful; anyone else present would take away from her purpose here, distract her. Holly wished only to preserve this ship wholly in her memory because, frankly, it was cool.
And she had absolutely nothing else to do at this hour.
Han didn't know that she was there, though Holly doubted that he'd care if he knew. It wasn't as though the Falcon was locked, either; everyone knew not to mess with the ship of Commander Solo and his Wookiee.
Why was is that they both gained ranks in the Alliance, but she herself was still a lonely….er….she didn't even have a rank.
Holly reckoned that it would be pitiful if that actually mattered to her.
Beside Holly sat her bag. She'd kept it under her bed for what must have been over a year, occasionally pulling it out for old time's sake. Now, she considered its contents carefully.
After a few conversations with Luke, he had managed to cheer her up. She no longer felt mad that she didn't have a chance to, of all things, finish her homework; with fantastic tales of different planets they could travel to and different careers she could have, all of her disappointments had disintegrated.
Holly still felt some twinge in her heart when she flipped through her math textbook. Chapters that she had understood but had never been taught: for a while after Holly got to the Rebel Base, she had actually focused on completing the textbooks that she happened to bring with her. It was a pity that she hadn't brought literature, but it wasn't the worst subject not to have; nobody could read what she wrote, anyway, if she could write.
That thought lead to another—when she had spoken with Luke, neither had wondered (aloud, at least) whether she could write anymore.
Well, no better time to find out than now. Holly snatched a binder from her bag, flipping through to one of the few sheets that weren't full of pre-calculus notes.
Lifting a pen, she had barely set it to the paper when hurried footsteps reached her ears.
"Han?" she called out, setting the binder and pen back in her bag. She'd have to try later.
The man himself stormed from around the corner, on the way to the cockpit. "What're you doing here?" he demanded in a harsh voice, though his anger wasn't directed at her. Rather, he just seemed annoyed in general.
Holly stood and crossed her arms. "Nothing, just sitting. Why?"
"In the Falcon? Anyway, you're going to have to leave. I'm—"
There was a loud banging, something that they felt reverberate in the floor beneath their feet. Han, spinning back the way they came, grumbled, "Come on, Chewie, couldn't you wait one minute!"
Holly followed him out of the Falcon, leaving her bag there. Underneath the ship, Chewbacca seemed to be dismantling the thing—Holly watched, perplexed, as he placed one large piece of the engine to the side to reach another one.
Han stormed over to him. "Why do you take this apart now? I'm trying to get us out of here and you go and pull both of these!"
Chewie yelled in response, but both of them ignored the Wookiee. "Han, did you just say trying to leave?!" Holly demanded. "You're leaving? After three years? I thought you'd dealt with that bounty on your last mission!"
He turned to her, fighting to keep a level voice. "Yeah, well, I did, too. But apparently, it's not enough. I've got to leave—no, Holly, don't look at me like that," he groaned.
"You've got a bit more trouble, so you're going to leave entirely? Come on, Han. I get that you've got another life—and if you really want to leave, I suppose it's your choice. But it's bloody cruel of you to stay here for three years and then do this to your friends—why not sever it when you first had the chance, back on Yavin?" Her sharp tone made him shove his hands deep within his pockets.
"I'm sorry, Holly. I wish I could stay—really. But I can't. I'm in too deep with the smuggling business. You don't understand; it's not something you can just leave behind."
"And your friends are?" Holly shook her head. "How could you do this to us? To Leia?" His face grew guilty. "It seems I've struck a tender chord."
"Don't bring her into this! It's bad enough with her following me, shoving her nose into my business without you reminding me!"
"Maybe you do need reminding," she thought aloud. Fine. If Han didn't care enough about them to stay behind (or at least to come back), she shouldn't care enough to argue.
The bronze 3PO and R2 strode and rolled respectively into the main hangar, arguing with one another. "Oh, switch off," 3PO told R2 in a tone that suggested that, for droids, 'switching off' was a rather rude swear. "Excuse me, sir, ma'am," he began once he reached them.
"Put those back right now," Han ordered Chewbacca before turning to 3PO.
"Might I have a word with you, please?"
"What do you want?" Holly shot him a glare, but Han ignored it.
"It's Princess Leia, sir. She's been trying to get you on the communicator."
"I turned it off. I don't want to talk to her," Han provided in a spiteful tone.
"Oh. Well, Princess Leia is wondering about Master Luke. He hasn't come back yet; she doesn't know where he is."
Holly asked, "But wasn't he just going on a routine scanning survey?"
"Yeah," Han replied, "but he stayed out a little longer to investigate a fallen meteor."
"You left him out there, and you turned off your communicator, knowing that he's still there?" How stupid could he be? It didn't matter how mad he was at the princess; Luke could have been in trouble and nobody would hear him!
"I don't know where he is."
"Nobody knows where he is," 3PO reported.
"What do you mean, 'nobody knows?'"
"Well, uh, you see…." He trailed off as Han leapt from the deck onto the floor.
"Deck officer. Deck officer!" he called.
Holly's mind raced as the deck officer was incapable of answering Han's questions. Han wouldn't have left Luke somewhere dangerous, would he? And this was only a routine survey, wasn't it? Usually, Luke wouldn't be in any danger. The biggest worry out there was maybe frostbite—but nobody was stupid enough to stay out long enough for that to happen. Maybe Luke was just late, but what if there was something out there that they couldn't foresee?
"Excuse me, sir, might I inquire what's going on?" 3PO asked of Han, who huffed.
"Why not?"
"Impossible man," the bronze protocol droid complained to R2 and Holly. "Come along, R2, let's find Princess Leia. Between ourselves, I think Master Luke is in considerable danger." He turned to Holly, who had a worried look on her face. "Will you be joining us?"
She nodded. "Maybe she'll be able to tell us something now," Holly thought aloud, though she didn't have much hope that Leia would know any more than Han did.
Luke could take care of himself, couldn't he?
42.
I'm so sorry for the lack of punctuality I seem to have with this story-I feel really bad for promising a chapter by a certain time then just ignore that, but summer is now a lot busier than school.
There is going to be a short hiatus for this story. I think I'll do it in between the different movies-it won't be too long, of course, but just so I can get a bit ahead of when I publish the chapters. Maybe then I'll have a steadier update schedule. I don't know how updating will go once I start ninth grade, but I'll try to keep it steady after the hiatus.
Expect the updates to resume about the middle to the end of July, alright?
A special thank you to everyone who's reviewed:
Sardhrantor: I totally agree with you; bad grammar can make even the greatest plot uncomfortable and distracting to read. And I do try to stay away from depressing stuff too. I hope you like this chapter too!
Gigira: Yep, you seem to notice all of the important things that went on...I'm glad you find it intriguing! Thank you for your kind review-And I hope you like the solutions to the mysteries as much as the mysteries themselves!
Dinosaur Imperial Soldier: The time you seem to be waiting for will soon come! After the little hiatus, though (sorry). Thanks for reviewing!
Trekkie: Wow. I can't believe I forgot that! Thank you so much for noticing it...Another thing to add to the list of edits when I go over the earlier parts of the story.
Guest: Thank you! Don't worry about the slight language barrier; I can understand you perfectly! I appreciate your review!
bb4ever1000: I'm glad you're enjoying reading it as much as I like writing it...I'll try not to keep you hanging for too long before I release the next chapter! Thank you for reviewing!
So I'll go write some more, and hopefully get a bit ahead with the chapters so that, in the long run, you have updates regularly. Please stick with me guys; I'd never quit this until it's finished, but I hope you don't mind the hiatus too terribly much.