Chapter 52
Han and Tobin, in the white stormtroopers armor, tried to act inconspicuous as possible as they escorted Anakin, Luke and Chewie through the hallways of the Death Star. They stopped in front of a turbo lift and pushed the button to call it to them. As they waited for it to arrive on their level, many stormtroopers, officers and droids passed them, not even noticing the oddity of the group. As far as they were concerned this was nothing unusual and went about their business. Although, a few gave Chewie curious glances, but then resumed walking down the corridor without a word.
After what seemed like an eternity to the group, the turbo lift finally arrived on their level; and they had to wait as a few officers got off of it, but then proceeded to enter. As soon as they had all walked into the elevator, Tobin turned to the rest of them. "I can't see a thing in this helmet." He said as an officer raced to catch the elevator; but Han deterred him by pointing to Chewie and shaking his head. Seeing Chewie on board lift, the officer complied and allowed the doors of the lift to close.
As soon as the doors closed, Anakin looked down to make sure that his lightsaber was still out of sight under his dark brown cloak as the group nervously waited for the lift to stop on level five. I sure hope this works. Anakin thought to himself.
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Meanwhile, in a hallway somewhere within the Death Star, Obi-Wan was cautiously making his way down the passageways, trying to avoid the various officers and stormtroopers he came across. He continued to cloak his presence and used mind tricks to get passed them unnoticed. At one point, he ducked into a small hallway, just in time for a squad of stormtroopers to pass by him. As soon as they were gone, he darted out from his hiding place and then disappeared down another small hallway, continuing his journey to the nearest power terminal for the tractor beam.
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As the group in the lift continued their ride, Tobin and Han double checked the others' binders to make sure they were unlocked. When the finally reach the fifth level, the elevator doors opened and they stepped out into the detention area. All the guards looked up at them in confusion as a tall officer with a grim look on his face approached them. "Where are you taking these two and this...thing?" He said as he finally pointed to Chewie.
Chewie growled a bit in response to the officer's rude remark, but Han nudged him to silence him.
"Prisoner transfers from Block one-one-three-eight." Tobin told the officer.
The officer looked at them with confusion and skepticism. "I wasn't notified. I'll have to clear it." He told them as he went back over to his console and began to key information into the computer.
Anakin eyed the area and noticed that besides the officer, there were only three other troopers in the area. Han, Tobin and Luke joined him in his assessment; and they all started looking around to check for all of the alarms, laser gates, and camera eyes.
Han then nudged Chewie again as a cue and suddenly Chewie threw up his hands, letting out ear-piercing growls as he reached over and took Han's blaster away from him. Han and Tobin then tried to act surprised. "Look out! He's loose!" Han shouted.
"He's going to pull us all apart." Tobin added.
"Go get him!" Han yelled to the other guards.
The startled and momentarily dumbfounded guards froze in shock as Han pulled out his laser pistol and started shooting at them, joined by Tobin with the blaster. Anakin then abruptly dropped his cuffs to the floor and brought his lightsaber to his right hand using the force and ignited it as the guards started to shoot at them. Anakin deflected the shots as he pushed Luke behind him and Tobin and Han continued to shoot back at the guards.
As the guards fell, Anakin called one of their blasters to his left hand with the Force and gave it to Luke. "Here! Start shooting the cameras!" Anakin told him as Luke nodded and complied, shooting them out one by one. When he was done, he joined in the fire fight along with the others.
The fire fight continued until the only Imperial left was the officer, who immediate reached out to sound the alarm; but Han blasted him before he could say anything to the voice that was asking questions across the comlink.. Han immediately rushed over to the consol, taking off his helmet, and tried to read the computer readouts. "We've got to find out which cell that daughter of yours is in, Anakin." He said as he continued to search the network and then stopped. "Here it is...cell twenty-one-eight-seven." Han told them and then looked up at the others.
Anakin nodded back at Han. "Luke and I will go get her. You and Tobin hold them here." Anakin instructed as he extinguished his lightsaber but still held it in his right hand. Tobin and Han nodded as Anakin and Luke raced down one of the cell corridors, looking for cell twenty-one eight-seven.
Tobin then took his helmet off and watched the entrance as Han turned to the consol and pushed a button to speak into the comlink. "Everything is under control. Situation normal." Han said, trying to sound official and then released the button.
"What happened?" The voice over the intercom asked.
Han started to get nervous and pushed the button on the consol again. "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. How are you?" He asked before releasing the button again.
There was a pause on the other end of the comlink. "We're sending a squad up." The voice finally said.
Han started acting even more nervous as he tried to think of something else to say to keep them from coming. He pressed the button. "Uh, uh, negative. We had a reactor leak here now. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak...very dangerous." He told them in a very unconvincing way.
"Who is this? What's your operating number?" The voice on the comlink asked Han with authority.
But instead of answering them, Han blasted the comlink and it exploded. "Boring conversation anyway." He mumbled to himself before turning to look down the hall way Anakin and Luke had just gone down. "Anakin! Luke! We're going to have company!"
"Great. Just great." Anakin said shaking his head as Luke and he exchanged worried glances. "We've got to hurry." He told Luke as he nodded in agreement; and they quickened their pace, checking each door along the way.
"Here it is." Luke said excitedly as they stopped at a door on the right side of the hallway.
"Stand back." Anakin told his son as he ignited his lightsaber again and pushed the blue blade right into the durasteel door, melting the metal as he quickly started cutting a hole.
"Wow!" Luke said as he watched in awe. "I've never seen anything like that before."
Anakin just smiled as he continued cutting the hole in the door, and it wasn't long until he had managed to cut a hole big enough for them to fit through. He then extinguished his saber again and returned it to his belt before kicking the cut piece with his right foot, letting it fall into Leia's cell.
As soon as it fell, they could see Leia shoot up to a sitting position with a shocked look on her face as Luke and then her father entered the cell through the opening. "Luke! What? How?" Leia asked as she first looked at her brother and then her eyes fell on her father. "Dad? Is that you?" She asked in awe as she stood up.
Anakin smiled at her as he stood up to his full height after bending over to fit through the opening. "Yes, Leia, it's me. We're here to rescue you." He responded with a smile as Leia got a huge smile on her face and ran into her father's open arms. They embraced warmly as Anakin ran his left hand over her hair and then kissed the top of her head. "We've all been extremely worried about you." He told her as he continued to stroke her hair.
"I've been so scared. It's been awful." Leia told him as they continued to hold each other tight, but all of the sudden she started to giggled. "I didn't recognize you at first without your beard, Dad. You look so different." She told him…But then she paused in thought, while still in her father's embrace. "I-I just don't believe it! That you're both here." Leia finally exclaimed as they backed out of their father, daughter embrace and smiled at one another. She then turned to her brother and hugged him too. "I've never been so happy to see anyone in my life!" She said as she and Luke backed out of their hug and they all faced each other. But then Leia got a puzzled look on her face as she looked at her father. "Did I just see you use a lightsaber, Dad, to cut a hole in my cell door?"
Anakin smiled at her. "Yes. There's a lot you don't know about your mother's and my past, Leia, that I'll have to share with you."
"Anakin! Luke! What's keepin' ya?" They heard Han shout down the corridor as they gave each other worried glances.
"We better get going." Anakin told the twins as they all ducked down to fit through the opening in the door.
"Dad, did I just hear someone call you, Anakin?" Leia asked as she came out the opening behind her father with Luke right behind them.
"Yes, Leia. My real name is Anakin Skywalker, and I was once a Jedi Knight." He told her as they started down the cell block hallway towards the exit.
Leia just looked up at her father with awe. "What?"
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Death Star – Conference Room
In the conference room, Tarkin was sitting at the far end of the conference table while Vader was pacing the room, his anger ever increasing. "He is here..." He finally said.
Tarkin looked at Vader with surprise. "Obi-Wan Kenobi! What makes you think so?"
Vader stopped pacing and then looked directly at Tarkin. "A tremor in the Force. The last time I felt it was in the presence of my old master." He told him as he resumed his pacing.
"Surely he must be dead by now." Tarkin tried to reason.
Vader then stopped and looked at Tarkin again. "Don't underestimate the Force."
Tarkin scoffed at Vader's reply. "The Jedi are extinct, their fire has gone out of the universe. You, Lord Vader, are all that's left of their religion." But then their conversation was interrupted by a buzz on the comlink. Tarkin reached out and pushed a button. "Yes."
"Governor Tarkin, we have an emergency alert in detention block A A-twenty-three." The voice over the intercom told them as they both looked at the comlink.
"The senator! Put all sections on alert!" Tarkin said into the intercom.
"Yes, Sir." The voice replied as Tarkin shut it off.
Vader turned to Tarkin. "Obi-Wan is here. The Force is with him."
Tarkin turned to look up at Vader. "If you're right, he must not be allowed to escape."
"Escape is not his plan. I must face him alone." Vader told Tarkin as he then quickly turned and stormed out of the conference room.
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Detention Block A A-Twenty-Three
As Anakin, Luke and Leia headed down the hallway towards the control center where Han, Tobin and Chewie were, they started to hear an ominous buzzing sound coming from the other side of the lift doors.
Han looked over at Chewie apprehensively. "Chewie!" He said as Chewie responded with a growl.
"Get behind me! Get behind me!" Han yelled as they readied their blasters.
Anakin brought his lightsaber to his right hand with the Force, igniting it again. "Stay behind me." He told his children as they all watched in momentary dread as a series of explosions knocked a hole in the lift door. As soon as the hole opened up, several stormtroopers began entering the detention area from the elevator.
Han, Tobin and Chewie fired their blasters at the arriving troopers through the smoke and flame caused by the explosion. The trio then turned and ran down the cell hallway, to meet up with the Skywalkers. "Can't get out that way." Han declared as they came together.
"Looks like you managed to cut off our only escape route." Leia replied.
Han turned to glare at Leia. "Maybe you'd like it back in your cell, Your Worship."
Oh no. Anakin thought to himself as he overheard the exchange between Han and his daughter. But then he returned his thoughts back to the problem at hand as he took a small comlink transmitter from his belt and handed it to Luke. "Luke, see if you can get a hold of 3PO and ask him to have R2 find another way out of here." Anakin told his son as Luke nodded and took the comlink from his father. Anakin then continued to block the blasts with his saber, sending them ricocheting back at their attackers as the others continued to fire back down the hallway at the approaching stormtroopers with their blasters, giving Luke cover while he made the call.
"3PO! 3PO!" Luke shouted into the comlink.
"Yes sir?" 3PO answered.
"We've been cut off! Are there any other ways out of the cell bay?" Luke yelled into the comlink but then he only heard static. "...What was that? I didn't copy!"
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Back at the control room where the droids had been waiting, 3PO paced the room as R2 beeped up a storm. 3PO then yelled back into the small comlink in his hand. "I said, all systems have been alerted to your presence, Sir. The main entrance seems to be the only way in or out; all other information on your level is restricted."
But then 3PO and R2's attention was brought to the door when someone started banging on it. "Open up in there!" A voice on the other side of the door commanded.
"Oh, no!" 3PO exclaimed.
