CHAPTER 37 - BANTHA FODDER
The next day, more quickly than expected, General Rieekan provided a freighter and some food for barter. Luke and Naluma spent a tedious morning with the Bureau of Identification sorting out her ID. After a day of fighting with the bureaucracy, the accelerated departure date brightened their moods.
Luke spent one more night with Leia eating dinner at the planet's one restaurant, the Mimbanite restaurant Threepio had ordered from the previous night. Afterward, they watched a touring theatrical troupe perform a randy comedy that left both twins blushing as they left the theater. Overall, it capped off a wonderful visit with his sister over the last few days. But duty called.
Leia escorted him to the landing bay holding the long freighter. The massive spacecraft consumed most of the hangar. Multiple octahedrons formed the odd structure of the ship and could be rearranged or removed to alter its configuration. The four behemoth compartments currently linked together would require every gram of boost from the engines to lift it from the planet's surface and past the atmosphere.
"You sure you can fly this thing?" Leia asked with raised eyebrows.
"I can fly anything," he boasted with an impudent grin.
She hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "Come back soon. I won't be able to rest until I see you again."
"Will do, Princess," he said as he kissed her on the forehead. "Say 'Hi' to Han and Chewie for me when they return."
Luke cantered up the loading ramp, closed the hatch, and entered the cockpit of the freighter. It was bigger on the inside than he had first imagined. "Got her warmed?" He halted in the middle of the cockpit.
"She's coming up." Naluma's black trousers hugged her hips in just the right way and concealed her knee-high boots.
Luke sucked in a breath at the sight of the dark-blue top that revealed more of her cleavage than he'd seen in a while. The fabric shimmered beneath the waist-length black jacket, its even darker blue trim snugging tight along the V-neck and lapel.
She grinned at his reaction and snapped the two nickel-plated, rectangular latches on the jacket. She stuck a thumb into her matching black belt.
I ought to relax the uniform requirements more often. He could not take his eyes off of her. Maybe not. Must not violate her trust.
He brushed his yellow jacket and tugged on the dark-blue Corellian trousers before sitting in the pilot's seat.
Naluma gave a sly wink. "Nice outfit."
"Something I found in an old trunk of mine back at Leia's. Swear it still had some ice crystals on it from Hoth," he said with a chuckle. "Haven't worn this since Yavin."
Naluma put two and two together. "Yavin? You're that Luke? The one that blew up the Death Star? I remember watching that back on Felucia—on the black-market vids—right before I joined up."
"I had help. My friend Han, well, if he and his Wookiee friend Chewbacca hadn't flown in and taken a shot at Vader, well, we'd all be bowing to the Emperor right now, wouldn't we?"
"Vader ... your father."
"Yeah, but I was blithely unaware at that point in time. Just a kid from backwater Tatooine who had dreams of going to the Imperial Space Academy, of all things. Now, I would look silly in a TIE fighter, don't you think?" he joked with a smile.
She smiled and giggled at the thought. "So how'd you end up in the Rebellion?"
"It's a long story."
"We've got plenty of time."
"Okay, but after we make the jump to lightspeed." Luke put on his headset and initiated launch procedures. "Freighter Kohtohnuu requesting launch permission from Landing Bay 414."
Air Traffic Control replied over their intercom. "Freighter Kohtohnuu, what is your cargo and destination?"
"Classified. Flight plan filed with High Command," Luke said as the engines revved.
"Freighter Kohtohnuu, launch granted."
As Naluma angled the shields, Luke pulled back on the stick, launching them into space. They each watched their gauges, she for heat incursions as they lumbered through the atmosphere and he for engine strain. After a few tense minutes, they broke forth into the darkness of space.
Luke punched the coordinates into the hyperdrive.
"Why Corellia?" asked Naluma. "That's Imperial-controlled space."
"Just making sure we have an alibi if we run into trouble."
He spent the remaining time telling her about his time on Tatooine, rescuing Leia from the first Death Star, and then blowing it up in the Battle of Yavin. "Those were the simpler days, the days before we were locked into this battle of good and evil ... the days before I knew the truth."
Bitterness and regret colored his words. He hung his head and stared at the brilliant-blue light show of hyperspace.
"Master? You okay?"
He shook his head and ran his fingers along the edges of the console. Get it together, Skywalker. He slipped into meditation, staring out at space as his father had once suggested.
When they reached Corellia, Luke jerked out of his meditation. He hopped the freighter in and out of the system to make it look like the hyperdrive was failing. During their last time in system, he jettisoned an escape pod and then jumped to lightspeed en route to Telti.
A couple of hours later, they came out of hyperspace into a geosynchronous orbit with the planet Telti with alarms screaming and flashing in the cockpit. Naluma asked, "What's going on?"
"All systems are dead." The ship shuddered and clank reverberated through the hull. "We're caught in a tractor beam, and the only thing big enough to pull this thing in is a star destroyer," Luke said with a grimace.
"What are we going to do?"
"Follow me," he said with a glint in his eye. "I got an idea." On the way back to the main hold, he grabbed two breathing masks. A hundred crates of food stacked four high, jammed the main hold. Each metal crate was a meter high by two meters long.
Naluma looked at it. "They'll find us in here."
"No, they won't. Quick, help me move these crates," Luke said as they moved over to one stack a few aisles back. They moved the three crates on top using levitation, and then he opened the bottom one. It was empty.
"Climb in there. Take this," he said, handing her the breathing mask. "I'm going to lock you in—"
Naluma looked at the crates with her hands on her hips, shaking her head in disbelief. "Their scanners will read our body heat, master."
Luke pointed out the label on the crate: LIVE BANTHA FODDER.
Pursing her lips and lifting her eyebrows, she said with a voice laced with sarcasm, "Brilliant."
"Just get in there, and I'll take care of everything."
The main hatch unlocked with a loud ratchet.
"Hurry, they're coming," Luke said as he watched Naluma pull her shapely leg inside the crate.
Once Naluma was locked inside the crate, Luke lifted his crate back on top of hers and climbed inside. He used the Force to lift the other two full containers back on top. At the last minute, as the main hatch cycle open, he threw the locks on his crate. Naluma hoped the soldiers had not heard the resounding clicks of the locks.
It seemed like an eternity as the stormtroopers searched the freighter. Using the Force to give her awareness, Naluma heard one of the stormtroopers report to his sergeant. "There's no one aboard, sir. The ship's log shows that the crew ran into trouble over Corellia. An escape pod has been jettisoned."
"Very well, transfer this cargo to the Shuttle Hyperion," the sergeant said. "We'll use it to resupply our base."
What do we do? Naluma asked.
We wait. Patience, Padawan. This is working out better than anything I could have planned.
What are we going to do when they open up these crates? We don't look that much like bantha fodder.
Leave that to me. Somehow, I think it's time to steal a shuttle again. He chuckled.
A few minutes later, an antigrav sled banged against the crates and locked onto their stack. They lurched forward and were loaded aboard the shuttle.
Luke waited until the loading crew had left before unlocking both of their crates. The stormtroopers had stacked the cases so that Naluma was now on top of him. You're on top. Can you get out?
Hang on a minute, master.
He joined his mind with hers, listening for the return of the troopers.
After flicking open the latches, she burst out of the crate and executed a sprawling backflip. She pounded to the deck in a three-pointed stance, chest heaving with adrenaline. Let me get your crate down. She picked it up with the Force and moved it down slowly and smoothly.
Luke jumped to the deck. "Good work. Come on, let's get this shuttle out of here before someone else comes in." He closed the loading ramp and hopped into the pilot's seat. After grabbing the headset, he started the launch sequence. "Shuttle Hyperion requesting permission for launch."
"Shuttle Hyperion, what is your cargo and destination?" traffic control asked.
"Food provisions for the planet Telti."
"Permission granted."
With practiced skill, he flew the shuttle out of the hangar until the comm interrupted their maneuver.
"Shuttle Hyperion, permission rescinded. Return to the hangar immediately."
"Now what?" Naluma asked.
"This is where the fun begins. This shuttle has some armament. See what you can do with it." He opened the throttle and raced toward the surface.
Within seconds, squadrons of TIE fighters engaged the black shuttle. First four, then eight, then over thirty. Luke weaved in and out of the TIEs, while Naluma used the gunner controls to shoot them down.
"Master, there's too many of them."
Luke ignored her while he juked the controls and brought them into a sweeping roll. "Focus, Naluma. Use the Force."
Naluma picked up the battery scope and locked on the nearest group of ships. She squeezed the trigger as the Force flowed through her.
Her aim proved true as she took out four of the six bogeys, each blasting into fiery sparks. In the wake of the explosion, one of the two remaining fighters careened into the other, snapping off the hexagonal wings and sending them sputtering and whizzing into another squad of fighters.
"Hold on!" Luke adjusted their course and banked the shuttle away from the TIEs, putting their strongest shield between them and escape.
Naluma gritted her teeth and turned the targeting computer to bear on the pursuing ships. She gave a battle cry that sent a chill into Luke's heart. He couldn't help but grin. His Padawan unleashed a fury of laser cannon fire with the skill of a surgeon, taking eight more TIEs out of the fight in explosive deaths.
"I guess target practice is finally paying off."
Luke flashed her a wry smile and hit the shields full front. He then barreled them at a group of fighters and smashed them to pieces.
They hollered in unison until more TIEs appeared on their radar.
When it looked like their situation could not get any worse, Naluma picked up another ship on the scope. "Master, we have another ship incoming—a Corellian freighter, high and behind us. He's in perfect position to hit us."
"Well, I can only handle the ones coming at us. There aren't any rear guns."
All at once, two TIE fighters blew up in front of them as the Corellian freighter zoomed through the resulting fireball. One Naluma had shot at, but the other—the new freighter had taken on two TIEs at once.
Before either could worry about their dubious ally, the shuttle took a hit, blowing an engine. The small craft spun out of control to the planet's surface. Blue-and-red sparks glanced from the craft as it plummeted to the hard deck.
When Luke realized there was no way to avoid a crash, he ordered Naluma, "Come with me, and hold on."
While they clutched the stability bars on either side of the loading bay, he lowered the ramp. It sheared off in the wind as the shuttle tumbled end-over-end. A burst of heat attacked them. Flames licked at the entrance.
"Master, what are we doing?"
"Getting out of here. On my mark we're going to jump for it and start counting. At mark sixty, use the Force to slow your descent, or you'll become a large crater." Luke opened the door. The wind sucked the shipping containers out and dragged Luke and Naluma. "Now!"
They both free-jumped from four thousand meters.
Mark five, ten, fifteen.
At three thousand meters, the cold atmosphere chilled Luke's skin.
Mark twenty, thirty, forty.
Two thousand—the ground seemed to reach up for them.
Mark fifty.
One thousand meters, and Luke reached out to Naluma with the Force. He checked over to her and found that she was locked in the fall—in the moment—her eyes closed, and her black jacket flapping in the wind.
Mark fifty-five.
Naluma's eyes snapped open.
Mark sixty.
Luke and Naluma drifted closer together in the air, almost close enough to join hands. Instead, they joined together in the Force and their abilities amplified.
The surface rushed at them, threatening to smack them in the face, but the Force slowed them gracefully.
Still falling, two hundred meters. They still fell, but their fall continued to slow.
One hundred meters. Fifty.
For any normal person, their rate of descent would have still proved lethal. But with the Force as their ally, they hit the surface with bent knees and tucked into a roll across the grassy field.
They slid into a ditch and covered their heads with their hands just in time. The shuttle cratered into the surface and burst into a plume of crimson fire, splintering across the meadow.
Rising from cover, Luke gazed off into the horizon. We're at least thirty clicks away from the insertion point. We'd better get moving if we're going to make it by nightfall. He scanned the area once more and grinned at the sight of the other ship. "Follow me."
They sprinted toward the beat-up freighter hand-in-hand. Two figures waited at the end of the ramp.
Luke ran up to the man with dark hair and the tall Wookiee, hugging them both at once. "Han! Chewie! Thanks. I've never been so happy to see this old bucket-of-bolts in my life."
Naluma slid back and looked them over.
The Wookiee growled something at Luke.
"Okay, Chewie, maybe Bespin." The Jedi grinned. "What brings you here?"
"Well, I have a load of cargo for the planet, but when Chewie saw an Imperial shuttle being attacked by TIE fighters, we knew it had to be a Republic action. I wasn't going to let you have all the fun and take all the credit, kid." Solo slapped Luke on the shoulder.
Luke put his hands on his hips and focused his eyes on his brother-in-law. "Han, I saw Leia."
"How is she?"
"Pregnant," Luke said with a knowing glance.
"I know." The smuggler looked away.
The Wookiee roared something at Han, but he ignored it.
"You should be there with her right now."
"Hey, this was her idea." Han turned his back to the Jedi.
Luke extended his arm toward Han. "Really?"
The Wookiee barked an agreement.
"Yeah, really."
Naluma bustled forward. "I hate to interrupt this little reunion here, but we've got company coming."
Han pointed at her. "Who's the girl?"
"My apprentice," Luke said holding out his arm to Naluma. "Naluma Fau, Han Solo."
Naluma glared at the man. "Move now, hug later." As they moved out, she looked at the captain. "Han Solo? The smuggler? Isn't there a bounty on your head by Jabba the Hutt?"
Han said with his hands outstretched, "Been there, done that, sweetheart. Jabba don't care no more." Han's expression then turned to one of longing as he returned his hands to his side. "Chewie, let's try out that cloaking device. See if it works as good as Lando claims."
Chewbacca moaned an answer and padded up the ramp. While he was inside, the ship phased out.
"Nice. How much did that set you back?" Luke asked.
"You don't want to know. All right, Chewie, let's get moving."
The Wookiee appeared magically where the loading ramp had been. He now held a remote in his hand, which he secured in his satchel.
He headed toward the cover of the forest.