Disclaimer: I do not own anything to do with Star Wars, other than Aurora. It all belongs to the bearded genius in flannel. As this is based on the book, some of the dialogue is taken verbatim from Shadows of the Empire. That belongs to Steve Perry and George Lucas. I do not intend any copyright violation and am not making any profit from this.
"Luke, look out!" Lando screamed.
"I see him." Luke replied, sending the Falcon into a steep climb before peeling off to starboard to avoid the other ships that were pelting in from that angle. Flashes of light registered at the corner of his eyes, followed by a larger blossom of brightness, marking the demise of another ship.
There were so many ships boiling around in the confined space, firing on each other, that there were almost continuous flashes of laser fire. The Falcon was shaking almost constantly from near misses, many of which hadn't even been aimed at them.
Under his feet, he could feel the deck plates thrumming with the regular firing of the ship's guns as Aurora and Chewie strafed incoming ships.
As he watched, a TIE fighter chased after one of the unmarked fighters and brought it down. He couldn't figure out why.
"What are they doing? They're on the same side, aren't they?" He said, half to himself.
"Don't question miracles and thank your lucky stars for small favors. If they're shooting at each other, they aren't shooting at us." Lando replied. "Look out!"
Luke zigged then zagged and missed the incoming ship by centimeters.
In the midst of this, he suddenly felt a familiar disturbance in the Force.
"Oh, shavit!" He swore under his breath. Vader.
No time to worry about that now. He'd wonder what the hell Vader was up to later- if there was a later.
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Vader kept his eyes on the chronometer as he listened in on the decoded communication from Xizor's commander.
"My prince, we are being destroyed by the attackers! We are outnumbered and being slaughtered! I need permission to offer our surrender! Highness?"
Not much time left for the Dark Prince now.
Seven seconds…six seconds…five…
"Prince Xizor, please respond! We must surrender or we will be blown to pieces! Please!"
…four seconds…three seconds….
"Highness, I –" The commander's voice abruptly cut off. He must have been killed. Vader couldn't really find it in himself to care.
…two…one –
"Commander, destroy the skyhook."
"Yes, my lord." The reply came instantly. One didn't hesitate or question an order in the presence of the Dark Lord of the Sith.
Vader smiled under the concealing helmet, took a deep breath and then let it out slowly in anticipation.
Goodbye, Xizor. And good riddance.
Page Break
It was sheer luck that had the Falcon facing it when it the skyhook abruptly exploded.
A strong beam of light shot out of the Executor and pierced the skyhook. Almost instantly it shattered; exploding into millions of pieces in an incandescent burst of light that rivaled a supernova for a moment, then faded into sullenly glowing pieces.
Silence filled the comm. as everyone tried to grasp what had just happened.
"Oh, man." Lando said softly. "They must have made somebody real mad."
Luke could only shake his head in disbelief, shaken by the sight.
"Luke, get us the hell out of here." Aurora's voice came desperately from the comm. "Now!"
"Heads up, boys. You heard the lady. Follow me." Dash cut in.
Luke blinked. "Huh?"
"Somebody just opened us an escape hatch."
Luke glanced at the glowing remains of the skyhook. It was starting to separate slightly, but it was still packed together densely. A flaming, jagged mass of death. "Are you crazy? You can't fly thought that wreckage!"
"We don't have a choice. There are ships everywhere. What's the matter, kid? Don't think you can do it?" Dash challenged.
"If you can, my droid can." Luke shot back, his eyes still on the debris.
"Luke, no! It's too dangerous." Leia gasped, grabbing the back of his seat.
But he ignored her. He understood what Dash meant. It would be incredibly tricky and very, very dangerous, but the space around the decimated planetoid was relatively clear in comparison to the ship-filled space they currently occupied, as the chunks were expanding outward. If they could avoid hitting anything, it was their best chance to get out of here.
"Yeeeehawww!" Somebody in Rogue Squadron yelled enthusiastically.
Luke should have reprimanded them for the unprofessional comment, but he understood how whoever it was felt. Just seconds before, they'd been preparing for their own deaths. Now there was a chance they would actually survive this, and they'd do it by some of the most challenging flying he'd ever seen.
He laughed and headed for the wreckage. Looks like the good guys were going to win after all.
Suddenly though, his danger sense flared and he heard Lando yell, "Look out, Dash!"
He saw it immediately; a gigantic chunk of the skyhook the size of a resiplex was heading right for the Outrider.
"Dash!" Luke yelled, but it was too late. The shattered block of planetoid was just too close to avoid.
There was a bright flare of light that forced Luke to turn his face. Next to him Lando threw up one arm to shield his eyes. When he lowered it, the Outrider was gone.
"Oh, man," Lando whispered. "He – he's…gone."
Leia pressed her hands to her eyes, feeling a sense of loss that she was only too familiar with.
Any sense of triumph that Luke had felt was gone, turned to bitter ashes in his mouth. But there wasn't time to worry about it now. Grimly, he gripped the controls tighter.
"Brace yourselves. This is going to be rough!"
Chunks of debris rushed at them, seeming to purposely try to hit them. Flashes of light began to appear to the front and sides of the ship. Luke realized that Aurora and Chewie were firing at the wreckage, trying to clear it away somewhat.
The other ships followed in their wake, allowing the larger Falcon toblaze a path.
Luke wanted to take a moment to mourn for Dash's death, after all the other man had turned out to be pretty okay, but he simply didn't have time. It was up to him to get them all out of this alive.
He let the Force take him and he flew.
Page Break
The secret Alliance base they were heading for was light years away from Coruscant. It was going to take them a while to get there, but get there they would. For now though, they were all sitting in the main hold, decompressing from the stressful events they had all just gone through and discussing the implications.
Chewie expressed his disbelief at the actions of the Imperial Navy. As much as they hated to admit it, the Empire had saved their butts.
"Well," Lando said, considering the bottle of lum he held in his hand. "I heard Vader never did like Xizor. They were kind of rivals for the Emperor's attention. Maybe he just saw this as a way to remove an impediment."
"What I want to know," Leia said, sitting down wearily next to the holochess board, "is how Vader knew we were there."
No one was more surprised than Luke when he heard Aurora's voice.
"He knew because I told him."
They were all staring at her in various postures of disbelief.
"What?" Leia gasped, jerking upright.
"I told him." The other woman repeated. Her answer was for the princess, but her eyes never left Luke's.
"Why?" His voice was studiously calm, belying the tumult of emotions roiling through him.
"Because I knew we were going to need help getting out of there."
"And you thought Vader was going to help?" Leia asked scathingly. She was absolutely furious, mainly because all of the doubts she'd had about Aurora directly after Bespin had just come surging back to the front of her mind.
Aurora glanced pointedly at the viewport. "Didn't he?"
Luke, who had remained silent during the exchange, his eyes locked on Aurora's face, suddenly stood up and grabbed her arm, dragging her to her feet. "Excuse us a moment." Without another word, he pulled her out of the hold and into one of the cabins.
There was an awkward silence left behind them until Leia broke it. "What could she possibly have been thinking?"
"Maybe exactly what she said; we were going to need help getting out of there." Lando offered.
"From Vader?" Leia asked again.
The gambler shrugged. "It worked."
"Yes, but why. Why would Vader help us escape?" She'd tried not to reveal any of her doubts, but something must have crept into her voice.
Chewie growled, a frown distorting his features.
"Chewie says she must have had a reason." Lando translated. "We should give her the benefit of the doubt."
"For how long?" The princess responded, wrapping her arms around herself as if suddenly cold. "How long do we keep on trusting someone despite the evidence against them?"