Chapter Forty-one:
Han was more than happy to be dragging Saez along on their little excursion to find out where the man had taken Luke. Their prisoner was grumping often and loudly, which only made Han smirk happily. It served the fool right for taking Luke in the first place. However, Han had the growing feeling that the man was playing them. What Han couldn't figure out was why Saez was stalling. What did he have to gain from that maneuver?
Anakin and Obi Wan were in the lead of their little posse, walking slowly and with purpose, which befuddled Han. They'd been doing the same thing for hours now, and Han finally could reign in his curiosity no longer.
Picking up his pace, Han stepped between the Jedi Masters. "What exactly are you guys doing? We've been going at a granite slug's pace all day, and nothing. Am I missing something?"
Anakin threw Han a look, but Obi Wan merely smiled patiently. "We are trying to locate Luke's presence in the Force."
Han frowned. "How so?"
"He would have left a trail wherever he went," Anakin said.
"Ah," Han replied before he frowned thoughtfully. "I take it you've not found his trail?"
"Actually, I've come across it many times," Anakin admitted, "but something keeps interfering with it so I lose it and don't know where he went."
"What could interfere with the Force?" Han asked warily.
"Another Force user could," Obi Wan said grimly. "But, I have felt no other presences."
Han was even more confused. "Then what's going on?"
"There seems to have been many other presences that came through here quite recently," Obi Wan said, his eyes scanning the area with practiced ease.
Han considered that. "This place looks deserted, why would people come out here?"
"Maybe to do illegal business?" Anakin supplied, pointing to something in a corner of the abandoned walkway.
Han thought the discovery looked like a cage of some sort, but it was rather small. He gestured to Chewie, who came forward. "You smell anything useful?"
Chewie lifted a brow, but sniffed the area cautiously and then wrinkled his nose. [I smell blood.]
"And I sense greed." Obi Wan supplied.
Anakin walked closer, though when he heard Saez snort in disdain, he turned to the man."What do you know of this?"
"Street fighting." Saez spat on the ground. "Those who can't make it good in a reputable way try to make a name for themselves like this." He gestured as if that explained everything. "The winners get rich quick, while the losers go home a bloody mess."
"Oh, so it's more reputable than enslaving children?" Han snapped irately, earning himself a fierce glower from Saez. "You're a real saint."
Saez spat at Han's feet now. "Insolent boy! I would never stoop to such lows as this," he indicated the cage, "I am better than that."
Han couldn't believe the gall of this man. "What kind of a jerk are you?"
Saez merely turned his nose up at Han. "One who is too good to be shown up by the likes of you."
Anakin rolled his eyes. "You're a real piece of work, Saez. Which way from here?" He was really trying hard to be Jedi-like, and not Vader-like in giving the man another chance to come clean.
Saez shrugged nonchalantly. "Beats me. I know nothing."
Dewlanna surprised them all by suddenly stepping forward and grabbing Saez by the scruff of his neck. Though she had remained calm up to this point, Han didn't need the Force to sense her patience had finally reached the end of its fuse. She lifted Saez off his feet like the man weighed nothing and watched as his eyes bugged. She then roared in his face and Han translated her heated tirade.
[You listen to me, you worthless bag of bones! You took my cub, and the only thing that's kept me from ripping your arms off are the Jedi here!]
Han grinned as Saez cowered in her grip, and the young man continued to translate. [You will take us to where you took my cub: and your options on that front are to do it with or without all your limbs attached!]
Saez swallowed. "You can't do that."
"Can't she?" Han returned.
Dewlanna shifted her grip to Saez's arms and she pulled warningly, making Saez turn pale. "Alright! I... I can take you. It's going to take a while to get there, though; we've been going the wrong direction."
Anakin looked about ready to hit the fool, and Dewlanna dropped him with a disgusted grunt. Han, however, didn't have any qualms letting him have it. Han decked him again, and garnered a bit of pleasure from Anakin's satisfied smirk.
Saez glared murder at Han but began walking, with the others following, though Dewlanna remained close to the man to keep him in line.
Han nickered at the way Saez tried to hide his fear. "I've always said it was unwise to upset a Wookiee," he told Anakin, who laughed quietly.
00000
Luke's feet were tired from walking, but he didn't complain. They'd managed to dodge being seen whenever someone from their target base passed by. And though he was grateful that they'd made good time, Luke couldn't help but feel like their ease of travel was a bad thing.
But he didn't want to alarm Leia, who had already been hesitant to come. Luke would just put his experience to use and hope it was enough. He'd finished his tale and now they walked in companionable silence while Leia processed all he'd said.
Occasionally his companion would favor him with a question and Luke would patiently answer, knowing she meant him no harm.
"How much farther?" Luke asked when he saw that it was nearing the end of the daylight hours.
"About another hour's walk," Leia replied, gesturing to bellowing plumes of oily smoke. "I can see their base, but it's still a maze to get there. And there's only one entrance."
"Only one they want us to use, you mean," Luke said.
Leia frowned at him. "What does that mean?"
"There's always another way into someplace." Luke was confident.
"Well, their base is surrounded by the most unstable of the junk piles, which I'm sure is one of their alarm systems for anyone trying to get in the wrong way."
Luke shrugged. "We'll figure it out."
Leia made to speak when her foot slipped on something and she stumbled with an alarmed squeak. She tried to stop her fall when she saw she was about to land in an oil slick, and instead of her hand catching something, the wraps on her arm caught. With a loud tearing sound, it ripped into shreds on the twisted piece of metal she'd tried to catch, and Leia landed on her front in the oil.
She lay still for a moment while Luke trudged in to get her without thinking twice about it. He'd been in far worse, so the oil didn't bother him.
"Here," he said gently, taking her by the bicep and lifting her up. She didn't fight him, but he could see that she was struggling to keep tears at bay. He felt his heart go out to her. "It's okay, it's just oil. It'll wash off."
Leia shook her head, unable to ward off her sorrow any longer. "It's not that, it's just that..."
Luke cut her off though when his gaze landed upon her exposed arm. "What's all this?"
She looked down, taken aback by his interruption. Then she looked away as if ashamed. "Burns."
Luke frowned, concerned. "What kind?"
Instead of answering, Leia froze when the rumble of thunder sounded overhead. "How long have those clouds been up there?"
Luke, trying to keep up with her kaleidoscoping attention, looked up also. "A long time."
Leia blanched. "I thought it was just smoke accumulation!" She jumped when something began to fall from the sky. "Stang! We need to find cover now!"
Luke opened his mouth, but Leia cut him off harshly. "NOW!"
His answer to 'why' came when the starting rain landed upon his exposed skin and he hissed when it burned him wherever it touched. He held back any further comments and helped Leia search from somewhere to take shelter.
Meanwhile the rain picked up, and Leia grabbed a piece of metal to use as an umbrella for them both. Luke helped hold it until his gaze landed upon an opening in the pile before them. "There!"
Leia broke into a sprint, abandoning their makeshift umbrella. Luke followed right on her heels, feeling the burn each time the falling moisture touched his skin. They dove into their cover, and Luke had the presence of mind to check on Leia first.
She was still weeping, but harder this time, and the young woman's fingers shook as she touched her arm. Luke gingerly touched her arm as well. "I don't get it. How can rain hurt us?"
"It's not just rain," Leia explained around her tears, "all the toxins in the atmosphere collect in the water that falls. It's acid rain."
Comprehension dawned, and Luke looked to his own skin, and he saw the situation in a new light. If they couldn't wash their skin off, the burns would continue to get worse. "Is there any clean water?"
Leia held up her water skin. "Only what we brought along."
Luke knew the importance of their drinking water, but he took the cruse and tenderly cleaned her arms and face with it. When there was but little remaining Leia looked to him with a guilty expression. "What about you?"
Luke shrugged, trying to ignore his own pain. "I'll manage."
Leia took the water skin anyway. "We should at least clean your face off."
Luke swallowed at the thought of water around his airways, but he managed to hold still as she cleaned his face. But she noticed his trembling, because she paused. "What's wrong?"
Luke hadn't told her of all the things Garris had done to him, so she didn't know of his force-feeding. "Bad memories again," he whispered, looking away.
Leia didn't press him. "I wish there was more to clean your arms off with."
Luke didn't have an answer to that, so he changed the subject. "What were you trying to say before the rain came?"
Leia had to think a second, and then she looked away, her shoulders drooping. "It's just another straw on my back."
Luke nodded. "I'm sorry."
She smiled gently. "Aren't we a pair? Both so scarred we can't talk about our true ghosts."
Luke sighed in frustration. "I was fine until recently. And I hate that I can't operate around my relapses."
Leia leaned forward. "We can choose not to let them stop us."
Luke met her gaze, feeling something in him shift. "You're right, we can choose. From now on, I opt to fight off my demons."
00000
Anakin jumped when he felt a singe of pain flare across his growing connection to his son. Anakin instinctively brushed at his arms and face, trying to discern what Luke was feeling.
"What's the matter?" Han asked, looking to the man oddly.
"I don't know." Anakin looked up, frowning when the dome above wasn't as clear as it normally was. It looked... blurry.
"It's raining," Saez told Anakin when he saw what he was looking at. "Bad time to be outdoors."
Another notch in Anakin's patience wore off, and he had to consciously turn his anger away from the fool. "And yet you had no trouble throwing Leia into such a place."
Saez sighed. "It's not like I'm the only man to ever own a slave. Get over it."
Anakin stopped and whirled on the man so fast everyone did a double-take. Obi Wan was swift to lay a hand on Anakin's shoulder and Anakin was grateful for the reminder to reign it in before he reverted to Vader-mode without realizing it. But he was still a father.
"Listen to me, Saez. If my children are not alive and in one piece when we find them, I will see to it that you receive the same treatment."
Saez blinked, missing Anakin's wording in his moment of consternation. "You're a Jedi; they don't do that kind of stuff."
"I'm not a Jedi though," Han said, coming up beside Anakin, "and I happen to be very familiar with ways to hurt someone." He wasn't being entirely truthful, but he knew how to bluff when he needed to.
Saez rolled his eyes at Han, but began walking again. "Well then, let us press on."
00000
Luke looked out at the entrance of their shelter when the rain ceased about ten minutes after it had begun. "That was quick."
"Just enough to cause damage." Leia agreed, rising.
Luke made to leave their shelter when he saw a shadow pass by. He gestured for Leia to wait, and they remained hidden as a speeder dropped from above to land at the base of their pile. Luke watched as the occupants exited to begin scavenging, and Luke smiled at their stroke of fortune. Their hour's walk would be cut into a fraction of that time if they could commandeer that vehicle.
Turning to Leia, he motioned for her to follow him. She shook her head, gesturing with an agitated air. "Are you crazy? They'll catch us!"
Luke shook his head. "No they won't."
Leia sighed. "You don't know how to quit do you?"
Luke thinned his lips, and turned away, refusing to let her stop him. "Follow me."
He crept from their den and navigated the pile the same way they had ascended it, keeping to any form of cover he found as he crept ever nearer the speeder. It was a nice machine considering their surroundings, and Luke studied the controls from where he was before he leapt from his position to land in the pilot's seat.
Leia gasped at his audacity, frozen in place even as Luke flipped switches to get the vehicle running. The sound of the engines roaring to life drew the attention of its previous occupants and they shouted at Luke, gesturing angrily and running at him.
"Come on Leia!" Luke called to her, waving her forward. Her apprehensive gaze shifted between him and the men racing forward, and Luke waved more urgently. "Leia!"
Finally she came forward, but he could see her uncertainty in every movement. "Can you fly this thing?"
"Yes," Luke said, gunning the engine and taking them up into the air. Those below hollered and threw debris at them, but Luke spun the vehicle about and sped away. Leia fell due to his maneuver, and she had to catch herself on the arm of the passenger seat. Trembling, she strapped herself in and held on with a white-knuckled grip.
"This is insane!" Leia fretted. "But I trust you."
Luke softened, offering her a small smile before he had to focus again. Something exploded to their left, drawing Luke's attention to a pair of speeders that were now hot on his tail.
"Hold on!" Luke shouted and he threw himself into piloting mode, handing himself over to his sixth sense instinctively. He was now in his element, and he allowed himself to simply fly.
True this vehicle wasn't meant for the speeds he was taking it at, nor was it meant to withstand a barrage of blasterfire, but Luke didn't let that stop him. He used the towering spires of garbage to his advantage, drawing close several times and intentionally knocking away debris to rain on his pursuers. Leia screamed when Luke got too close for her comfort, but didn't try to stop him.
Finally one speeder crashed with Luke's traps and went down, though the second vehicle was managing to keep up with him. Luke took a hard left at the next intersection, nearly barrel-rolling their craft in the process and spilling their speeder's contents all about the cockpit.
That was when Luke saw that there was a blaster onboard. "Leia, can you shoot?"
She looked to him with a face that was equal parts green and white, but caught sight of the weapon in question and picked it up. "Yes."
Without waiting for anything else, Leia took aim and began to fire at the speeder on their tail. Luke focused on maneuvering his way through the terrain.
For several minutes it was just the two speeders, and Luke was doing well at keeping ahead. Then Leia turned her head to him. "The copilot is on his comlink; I think he's calling for reinforcements!"
Luke ground his teeth, and sure enough, as he came to the next intersection Luke's sixth sense lit up as it never had before and he reacted before his brain caught up with his actions. Luke slammed on the brakes, swung the speeder on its axis and blasted back the way he'd just come. The speeder that had been chasing them shot by so closely that Leia was able to shoot the driver in the chest.
That speeder crashed with a fiery explosion, which lit up the five new vehicles that now followed them. Luke took his craft higher and tried to maneuver his way closer to the base, but the five vehicles split up, and Luke knew he'd be hard-pressed to win this time. He as a racer, not a starfighter pilot!
Luke swallowed, thinking he'd finally gone and bitten off more than he could chew. And what was worse, he'd dragged Leia into his mess.
Luke started to apologize to her when his mind flashed back to his very first vehicle escape: the one that had started it all. Luke thinned his lips, his determination hardening into durasteel. If he could outrun a police squad in a metropolis area, Luke could outmaneuver these thugs. Tightening his grip a fraction on the controls, Luke let go of all fear and simply flew.
