Equally Cursed and Blessed

by Mina

25/.

It didn't matter that the X-wing's sensors were telling him that there was nothing unexpected out there - Luke could feel it, creeping through his nerves; the wrongness of the situation. There was no evidence that anything was wrong - no reason to call the squad back as they split into escort pairs around the Rebel blockade-runner. But Luke knew something was wrong. Or rather - was about to go wrong. And hideously wrong, at that.

To Luke's eyes, the approaching Black Sun shuttle seemed to be flying ridiculously slowly. He tightened his hands around the flight stick, flexing his fingers in the gloves. Patience had never been his strong point, but this wasn't about patience - this was about that shuttle flying deliberately slowly.

Not that there wasn't a perfectly reasonable explanation for the delay: the Black Sun cruiser was using the time to sweet-talk Leia; to persuade her that the Alliance should strike a deal with them. Luke could hear the droning of the conversation in his left ear, the volume turned down; his right speaker was on full volume, tuned into the squad frequency.

Luke's finger itched over the comm switch. He was in command of the snubfighters - if he ordered a pullback, then they'd do it. But the Rebel blockade-runner was out of his jurisdiction, and he had the sneaking suspicion that Leia and Lando wouldn't let anything - not even one of Luke's hunches - give up this chance to get Han back. They'd stay put, totally unprotected from the something that Luke could feel bearing down on them. As would be the shuttle that was transporting Han across space, achingly slow, to dock with the Rebel ship.

Luke was torn - torn between trusting his instincts to turn back, and doing everything he could to get that shuttle across space; to getting Han back. He could feel an echo of his friend's distinctive presence, just a shadow of its former strength right now, but it made the whole thing more real, somehow - more desperate.

Luke blew out a breath, feeling increasingly jumpy.

"Relax, boss. They've passed the half-way mark."

Luke frowned at the voice, but then a glance at his comm panel showed that the communication had been kept private from the rest of the squad. He pursed his lips, considering his response. "I don't like it, Wedge. This doesn't feel right."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line, and Luke stared at the shuttle, still a thousand klicks away. Nothing looked wrong, but still...

"It's your call, Luke," Wedge replied eventually.

Luke sighed. He was tempted - every instinct was screaming that this was wrong - but he couldn't - just couldn't - abandon Han. He tried to imagine what Vader would do in this situation, but Luke was fairly sure his father would never have come out here in the first place, not so undermanned and unprepared. The mission had been so rushed that they hadn't even had a field-general available to lead it - Lando had been temporarily promoted to a command position just to get through the Alliance's red tape. And Lando, even though he was an experienced pilot, just had no experience of commanding a flotilla. Luke couldn't imagine Vader ever putting himself in such a desperate situation. He'd have found a way to force Black Sun to extend the window of opportunity and then have met them with a full wing of fighters.

Luke snorted - it was way too late for that idea. He stared out at the shuttle, muttering impatiently, "What's taking it so long?"

Wedge's mood sounded as dark as Luke's own. "Xizor's stringing it out." He paused. "I don't like it, either."

"Xizor?"

"You haven't heard of Xizor?"

"Well... no."

Wedge chuckled, a brief moment of levity in the tense atmosphere. "He's the head of Black Sun - call's himself Prince Xizor."

"Well why would he..." Luke trailed off, a fragment of a memory slashing through his mind, sharp and piercing like a blade-

- an aid whispering fretfully to Darasbt, "... but... this is from His Highness, sir. He told me to tell you it is regarding a... an unpaid debt, sir."

Luke drew in a terse breath, feeling a sudden panicked sensation twisting the air out of his lungs.

"Sithspit!" he swore, the pieces falling into place with an almost brutal simplicity. Adrenaline kicked through his body - he'd known this was a trap, maybe even a trap for him, and he'd known that Darasbt had been trying to kill him for someone else... hells!

"Boss?" someone - his wingman - called over the comm and Luke realised he'd pulled back on the flight stick and was making a run towards the shuttle, closing the distance between them. "Lead, you copy?"

Luke glanced at his scopes; his wingman had come up on his starboard side, following him. Luke slapped the comm panel, swapping over to the squad frequency, and ordered, "Form up, Rogues, we're speeding up this escort - Three to Eight, we're going for the shuttle. The rest of you, stay with the Battalion. And get ready for incoming-"

"Incoming?! What the hell? Lead, what are you-"

"Humour me!" Luke yelled over the comm, feeling time tearing away from him. "We've got to get that shuttle to the Battalion before-"

Midway through the words, even as four of the X-wings began peeling off, following him, the sky was lit by a storm of blue flashes, the precursor to multiple reversions from hyperspace. Luke braced himself, resisting the urge to try and escape the incoming tide - and then a full wing of ships came screaming in, tearing up the space between them. And though he'd been prepared for that - he hadn't been prepared for those ships to be Imperial.

"Incoming!" one of the Rogues shouted.

No kidding! Luke thought, but said, "Keep in your pairs! Don't let the TIEs split you up. Get behind that shuttle - don't let it get intercepted!"

"What about The Battalion?!"

"They're not after The Battalion!" Luke called back, as a TIE fighter screamed across space in front of him, a narrow miss.

A flicker of beeps came across the comm, acknowledging his orders. Luke glanced at his scopes - all the ships were TIEs, and an Imperial-class cruiser had just slid into real-space a hundred thousand klicks behind them. He'd expected Black Sun ships - what the hell was the Empire doing here? Was it his father?

Luke stepped down hard on the right stabilizer, going through a snap- roll to dodge an incoming ship. He could almost eyeball the other pilots, they were coming in so close and fast. He hit the accelerator, rolling the ship for a starboard turn, before arrowing straight for the shuttle. He was gifted a brief chance to breathe, and he stretched out to the Force - only to confirm what he'd suspected: his father was light-years away.

Luke flicked the comm onto open-burst. "Rogue Leader to Black Sun shuttle - you copy?"

But the words weren't out his mouth before the shuttle was already arching around, making a dash back the way she'd come.

"No!" Luke yelled, feeling desperation tear at him. Hells, hells - so close! He couldn't let them run now! "Shuttle, listen up - we'll escort you to The Battalion but if you run, then you're on your own!"

No response. The shuttle lurched forward, suddenly finding its engines. The TIEs screamed after it. The Black Sun cruiser was already breaking off, accelerating away from the battle. The shuttle had no hope of catching it, but it still ran.

Luke cursed. "Rogue Two, you still back there?"

"Aye, boss - trying like hell to keep up!"

Luke nodded, thinking fast. "We're going after the shuttle - keep your foot on the pedal!"

"Aye, sir!"

Vader's irritation threatened to burst through his control. But if he slipped now, he'd never get answers. His meditation refused to reveal anything to him - the Force almost seemed to shrug off his touch, the calm and clarity of a meditative state unreachable.

But he needed the answers meditation would guide him too; needed direction, needed to make sense of what to do with Palpatine, with Luke; with what that strange dream-vision of Luke's had meant. But as hard as he fought for those answers, the more the Force refused him. He stretched... stretched...

An incessant beeping noise finally broke his control, and he snapped back to reality with a snarl of irritation. An annoyed flick of his finger turned the comm on.

"What is it? I told you I did not wish to be disturbed!" He let his anger show, his voice growling with displeasure.

The officer on the comm screen paled. He took a nervous breath before he spoke, and then the words just seemed to tumble out, "Yes, my Lord - however I was instructed to inform you of any changes in the status of the prisoner you detained during the failed hijacking of the shuttle from this ship and I-"

"The governor? What change in status?" Vader interrupted, impatiently. He stood, flexing his fingers. Sudden, impatient energy made him restless. "Has he regained more of his faculties?"

The man shook his head, frantically, "No - no, my Lord. But there has been a security breach. A crewmember attempted to enter his medical bay and access his secure room without appropriate permission and-"

"And you have this man detained?" An untamed emotion, perhaps hope, had caused his heart to start racing.

The officer nodded. "Yes, my Lord. He is detained, and unharmed. He protested that he made a mistake in entering that area, however he had an unregistered blaster upon his person and I thought it best that I-"

"I will be there shortly," Vader interrupted, a slow smile spreading over his face. "See that he remains unharmed and detained... I want him in full health before I question him."

The officer was nodding, and he opened his mouth to reply, but Vader flicked off the comm, already turning on his heel and striding for the door of his quarters. Ah, but that was a fortuitous development - because whoever had been sent to get rid of Darasbt had most certainly been sent by those who had given Darasbt his orders in the first instance... It seemed that Vader had been right to keep the man alive a little longer. And now, finally Vader would know who it was that wanted his son dead.

In previous dogfights, Luke had experienced an intoxicating thrill that seemed to race through his veins, divorcing him from the reality that this was a do-or-die situation. But now, right now, he could feel his own mortality bearing down on him.

They were outgunned, and taken by surprise. Every TIE pilot's death felt like a burn to his mind, even as Luke doggedly followed the shuttle, trying to pin it down. To a naive eye, it looked like those TIEs were throwing everything they had at the Battalion, and were only just being held in check by the X-wings and some clever manoeuvring on Lando's part. But, through instinct and experience, Luke knew that they had another target. Which meant there was another reason for this battle, and one that had Palpatine's fingerprints all over it. Were they after him?

One of the TIEs levelled off in front of him, bearing down with suicidal intent. Luke tightened his fingers, triggering off a sharp burst of fire. It arrowed in on the other ship, pinning it right through the starboard engine. The explosion started to die, fizzling in the vacuum, and then suddenly blossomed as the portside engine flared and consumed the ship in a flash-fire.

Luke held his own ship dead on course, ripping through the smouldering remains, resisting the urge to close his eyes against the chance that the corpse was a part of the wreckage that bounced off his canopy. A glance over his shoulder confirmed that Rogue Two was still back there, forging through the mêlée.

Luke flicked open the comm channel again. "Shuttle, this is Rogue Leader. You've got a half-minute to turn back or I'm ordering my squad to open fire and disable you. Is that understood?"

No response - it just kept running. And he couldn't fire, could he? What if he missed his mark?

Force - the idea of missing his mark was at once alien and frightening to Luke. Not something he'd ever really worried about, before, but something had changed - suddenly the world seemed like a much more dangerous place than it had before Bespin, before Darasbt.

Luke stretched out to the Force, feeling for the emotions of the shuttle pilots. He picked up fear, though it was impossible to say where that came from - fear of not making it to the Black Sun ship, or fear of not trying to make it? They were scared, and scared people did stupid things.

The ship shot through a trio of TIEs, and Luke was forced to dive right after them. One of the eyeballs came up and around on his tail, and Luke rolled the X-wing through a helical-manoeuvre, one that lost him some speed but that kept him running after the shuttle without having to turn and face the pursuing ship. That was what wing-mates were for.

"Two, you there?"

"I'm onto him," the man clipped back.

Rolling out of the manoeuvre as Two and Luke's pursuer dived off starboard, Luke cut right in front of another ship aiming to intercept him. Hell, they really didn't want him to get to that shuttle. The first shot from the TIE splashed against his shields, causing Artoo to whistle a worried chirp. Luke rolled his eyes - one glancing shot and the droid got jumpy. He was as much out of practice as Luke was.

Artoo had a point, though - generally speaking, it was a seriously bad idea to let any enemy get directly behind you and lock you in their sights, but Luke had the Force to guide him - the X-wing rolled and dodged, zigging across space with dizzying speed, and all the shots went wide. Still, just in case...

"Artoo, strengthen the rear shields."

The droid chirruped in response, clearly unhappy with the order - and well he might be; it meant Luke had minimal shielding to the anterior of the ship, so he better be on the lookout for any chance- shooters whilst he was trying to shake off the guy gunning for his backside.

In fact, the power going to the forward shields was a waste now - any shot would blow the canopy, with or without what little shielding was still there. Luke channelled the front shielding power to the main drive, and the X-wing jumped forward. He glanced at his scopes - there was no sign of Two. Luke was the only X-wing in a sea of TIEs. Not a great place to be, really.

"Two, where are you?"

The response was delayed. "About three klicks to your starboard. My right stabiliser's hit, but I'm flying. Throttle back and I'll catch you."

Luke looked up at the escaping shuttle, mentally ticking down the seconds they had left to act before it was within range of the main Black Sun ship. Not long enough, he surmised darkly. "Negative, Two. Fall back to the main group - I'll persuade these guys myself."

There was a snort of dismay over the comm. "Lead, I can be there in five. Wait for me."

"No. That's an order, Two." He didn't wait for a response before flicking over to the shuttle's frequency. "Shuttle, this is Rogue Leader. I have a missile lock on your starboard engine. You've got thirty seconds to turn around, or I'll blow you out of the sky."

He'd fully expected the same silence he'd received to his earlier summons, but after a few moments wait, a voice returned to him. "You wouldn't. We've got your friend aboard."

Luke swallowed, stretching to the Force, reaching out with his mind as he flew after the shuttle. Space seemed to blur around him. He touched the pilot's mind.

"If you don't turn around, I'll blow you out of the sky," he said.

"If I don't turn around, you'll blow me out of the sky," the pilot echoed, dully. And then, "Alright, alright - but I want a guarantee I won't get shot when we dock!"

Luke snorted, half out of disbelief, half out of relief. "Just try and get back to the Battalion first, then we'll see," Luke said.

He watched as the shuttle began to swing to port, climbing up and over. Luke arrowed after it, hitting the squadron frequency as he assessed the impossibly wide distance between them and the Battalion; the hive of TIEs between them. "Rogues, report in," he called. Ten men answered him - Five had gone extra-vehicular. "We need a corridor for this shuttle. Form up."

"What about the Battalion?" someone asked, even as a flurry of clicks confirmed his order.

"They're not after the Battalion," Luke repeated. "They want this shuttle."

But even as he said it, he knew it wasn't true. Had they really wanted to, they could have blown the shuttle out of the sky the minute they'd come screaming out of hyperspace. They weren't interested in that ship, or the Battalion - which left just one possibility, one that became gruesomely real as the shuttle shot towards the Battalion - and the TIEs abruptly closed ranks, cutting off Luke's route back.

"Oh, Sithspit," Luke swore quietly. "Artoo, even out those shields."

A trap, it'd been a trap for him after all - maybe the shuttle had been in on it, too. It certainly wasn't getting fired on much as it dived towards the Battalion. And that only made sense if Black Sun and the Empire were working together.

A light on his comm board was flashing furiously - Luke slapped it, even as he snap-rolled out of the path of a diving TIE. Artoo squealed as they scraped past another fighter and green fire spat overhead.

"Rogue Leader, this is Control - do you copy?"

"I'm here, Lando!" he called. "Just a bit busy!"

"We've seen it. I'm calling a retreat. The shuttle's commed and agreed to follow our jump. Get out of there, Luke."

Luke held on tight to the flight stick as it jumped in his hands during a tight roll away from another attack, a shot winging in so close he could imagine the heat of it. "I can't get back, they've closed ranks," he said. "Make the jump and I'll follow if I can."

There was a pause. Luke willed his friend to listen to him, even as he had to pull back on the throttle to roll through a complicated series of loops, gaining a new pursuer on every twist and turn. No hits yet - but this couldn't last.

Lando's voice, when he replied, sounded strained. "You can't hold them off Luke. We're coming in closer to try and cover you. Make for- "

"No! No - get out of here, Lando."

"You need our cover, Luke," Lando said, gravely. "You won't get through that nest without it."

Luke swallowed thickly, hearing the dead toll of truth in his words. "I can try."

"No, you-"

"I can't get through while the Rogues are covering Battalion, that's for sure! Jump, and we can take on these guys together!" Luke shouted, and winced at the duplicity: there was no way the rest of the squad could get to him, even if they didn't have Battalion to cover. But Lando had to get the ship out of there - someone had to get away from this mess. He held his breath as another TIE came screaming in, too close, and Luke just barely pulled away in time.

There was a pause. Luke thought he could hear Leia's voice in the background, sounding desperate, pained.

"Leia, can you hear me?" he sent, feeling time running through his fingers like sand.

The reply was hesitant, disbelieving, and heartbreakingly worried. "Luke? Luke!"

He felt his heart constricting, tight in his chest. "I'm sorry, Leia," he sent, watching the Battalion hang in space, indecision stalling her retreat.

Lando's finally replied. "Alright Luke, we're going to jump. But you better follow. Transmitting co-ordinates now."

"Acknowledged," Luke said, and with a guilty sense of relief he flicked onto the squad frequency. "Wedge?"

"I hear you, Luke. Heading towards you right now."

Luke glanced at his scopes - it was true; four X-wings had broken off cover for the shuttle and were heading his way. Luke took a deep breath, "Not sure that's going to be possible, Wedge. You take lead - keep covering that shuttle."

"Luke, how the hell are you going to get back if we don't - Luke! You've got a pair coming in obliquely on your blind spot!"

Luke had already felt them, through the Force. He dodged right, slicing through another group of TIEs that couldn't seem to decide who should shoot at him first. Or maybe that wasn't it - not all TIEs could be this bad could they? They couldn't all miss, not unless they wanted to - not unless they didn't want to kill him.

He gripped the flight stick and hung on as the TIEs streamed after him. Now that there were so many of them, it became impossible for more to shoot at him without hitting their comrades, and every couple of seconds one of them was hit by friendly fire.

"Wedge, get that shuttle and the Battalion away. I'll keep drawing these TIEs away."

He felt something run through him then - a shiver of prescience, of the breath being sucked from his lungs, his skin burning. It was gone as soon as it had arrived, but it left behind the sour taste of inevitability.

"Luke -"

"That's an order, Wedge," Luke said, hating having to do that, but aware his friend would never forgive himself if he thought he'd ever had a choice. "Look at them - they're not trying for any kill shots. I can keep them away long enough for Battalion to jump."

He didn't hear the reluctant acknowledgement; he was too busy dodging the incoming shots. Because if they were trying hard not to kill him, then they were trying just as hard to disable him. And that was the last thing he needed right now.

"Artoo, how long before that Star Destroyer's in firing distance?"

The droid whistled shrilly, not quite the reply Luke was expecting, and he looked up and right sharply. Green fire was striking towards him, a TIE dropping down on him. Luke channelled power to the left drive, rocketing the ship upwards, towards the TIE.

The ship seemed to hesitate in shock that its prey was heading right for it, and they came within spitting distance of one another as Luke raced past it. That left the confused TIE in the sights of his friends, who were still in hot pursuit of Luke, and the ship was caught in the crossfire, punctured by a dozen shots, and exploded.

Luke let out a strangled breath - that had been close.

Artoo whistled again, this time not quite so panicky. Luke glanced over his shoulder - just in time to see the shuttle disappearing into hyperspace.

"The shuttle's away," Lando's voice called over the comm.

"I see it. Get going."

"No!" That was Leia's voice, suddenly, and Luke pictured her pushing Lando away from the command. station. "Luke, please - you've got to make it back."

He shook his head, though she wouldn't see it. He said, trying to sound reassuring, "I'll try, Leia."

She didn't reply. He could feel, stretching across space, her pain - she knew he was sugaring the truth; a handful of X-wings had no chance against a wing of TIEs and the Star Destroyer that was almost within firing distance. It would take a miracle to get out of this one.

"No, no - we can cover you. We can-"

"Lando, get her out of here," Luke said, intercepting what he knew was going to be a decision that would kill them all.

"Luke..." Lando replied, his tone heavy with foreboding.

"I'll jump when you're clear," Luke interrupted him. "Go - before that Star Destroyer gets here. You're no match for that."

Lando didn't answer him - Leia did. "Luke, you better show up at the jump point or we're coming straight back."

He smiled, though he knew he was about to lie. It wasn't intentional - he'd make the jump if he could, but... something told him he wouldn't. "I'll see you later, Leia."

A bolt of green fire winged in them, clipping the shield. Artoo shrieked and Luke missed Leia's response as he jerked the X-wing hard to the left, tearing down and away from the fighter. He couldn't change direction too much, with a long tail of TIEs after him, if he jerked too far right or too far left he'd be in their sights again. He just had to keep running.

Leia called to him, whether by instinct or design, as he saw from the corner of his eye the Battalion accelerating away from the battle.

"Luke!"

His heart constricted - he knew exactly what she was going through, right now. He knew he'd caused it. And he couldn't do anything about it. On a strange, whimsical impulse he sent, "I love you, little sister. See you soon."

And then, in a tearing flash of blue, the Battalion jumped, and was gone. He stared after it for a few seconds - a few seconds too long.

He couldn't say where the shot came from, but whoever it was who'd fired it had got lucky - it hit just as another TIE exploded right next to Luke, pierced by another shot meant for him. The flight stick momentarily jumped from Luke's hands with the force of the close explosion, and the X-wing jumped right into the path of the incoming fire.

It went through the X-wing's weakened shields, slicing deep into the ship. Luke had enough time to hear someone screaming in his ear, "Eject! Luke, eject!" before the flames started, and the heat. And he didn't need telling twice. His hand slammed onto the twin eject buttons - one for him, one for Artoo - and suddenly the world was turning red, fire licking at his flight-suit.

Instinct took over - Luke's mind leapt out to the Force, trying to do something - anything - to slow down his death. And maybe it worked - time seemed to slow - he was moving in slow-motion as he lifted his hand off the flight-stick and braced himself for a messy, fiery death.

It didn't happen - the ship was crumbling around him, the explosion blossoming but impossibly slowly, and then finally - finally! - the eject boosters lit, time resumed normal pace, and he was rocketing upwards, through the remains of the exploding ship.

He knew a moment's horror as he saw a piece of debris hurtling towards him - or, rather, he was hurtling towards it.

He couldn't miss it, and he was travelling too fast. His mind went out again, scrabbling in the Force, trying to slow his flight. But it was no use - and instead Luke found himself latching onto the familiar presence of his father, light-years away but at the same time so close, next to him in the Force.

He felt a response, a flicker of surprise, and then heard his own voice screaming, before everything went black -

"Father-!"