A/N: Hello everyone! I am really happy to get this chapter out so quickly. Thank you to everyone who read, and those wonderful few who reviewed. Seriously guys, I recommend reviewing. Audience engagement encourages me to get these out so much faster.
Kondoru: I'll do some research on those laws you mentioned. Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention. Daniel Olsson: Oops! Sorry about that. I looked up the names of Rebellion leadership and forgot he was dead. Do you know of anyone who would be a good replacement in that scene? I would really appreciate your input.
I do not own Star Wars or its characters, I just play here.
Chapter 17
One of the Rebellion's secret suppliers had left a drop at an old Republic outpost. There were lots of these scattered across the outer rim, along the line that had once been the division between Republic and Separatist space. Once the first line of alarm in case of invasion, they had been largely abandoned once reunification under the Empire made that line defunct.
Rishi was one such outpost. Hard and unforgiving, the rocky terrain was pocked by meteors and covered with cliffs and rolling hills. The station was situated on one of these hills, a long platform jutting from the small building serving the triple function of landing zone, storage area, and bridge to the surrounding land.
Han carefully set the Falcon down on the narrow platform. It had been built for much smaller Republic shuttlecraft, and he was quite proud of the way he was able to maneuver so all of the ship's landing gear fit. He didn't know if Leia had noticed his prowess, but he knew he would sure be impressed to see someone do that.
When this mission came up Han had happily accepted. He was getting a bit stir-crazy sitting in the fleet with nothing to do, and besides… an abandoned outpost, no doubt dark and warm inside, just him, Leia… and Chewie of course, but he was tactful enough to disappear if the situation called for it…
Anything could happen.
He followed Leia out of the ship, hands on his hips as he looked around. "So, this is Rishi. Well, it's not much to look at, that's for certain."
The supply drop was piled along either side of the rusty metal platform, in anti-grav crates for easy transport. Leia immediately walked over to them, checking each one for identifying labels, trackers, or homing beacons. She wore a blue shirt with a tan vest and pants, her long hair plaited in a complicated braid down her back. She was gorgeous, and he casually walked over to lean his hands on the crates on either side of her head.
"What are you doing?" His girlfriend asked as she turned around.
Han towered over her, smiling flirtatiously as he leaned down towards her face, his voice soft and tempting. "You know, there's no one else here. We could drag this thing out indefinitely."
Taking advantage of her diminutive height, she ducked under his arm, escaping him easily. "We should load the supplies."
"Hey princess, what's your rush?"
Leia was already levitating boxes to move into the ship. She threw him a frustrated look. "The Empire might have this place under surveillance. They didn't last we checked, but we know that doesn't mean anything. We have got to get the drop out of here before they show up." She turned to the taller man. "Here Chewie, help me get this."
So much for his lovely idea.
Han had a strange feeling, like something was watching them. Hesitantly he turned and approached the entrance, staring into the unlit interior of the outpost before moving through the door.
Carefully he edged further along the hallway. His blaster was drawn, ready for whatever it was he had felt in the dark.
He had nearly reached a flight of stairs up to the command center when something grabbed him. Not hands, not a weapon, something. He wasn't choking, thank God, but he was helpless to resist as he was thrown back and pinned against the wall, sliding upwards to prevent escape.
The Force. This must be the Force. He had never felt it used personally, only witnessed some of the things Luke could do, and had his gun grabbed once by Vader, but there was no other explanation as he cursed and struggled helplessly.
Goddamn Jedi making my goddamn life so goddamn difficult.
His gun flew from his hand as he struggled to raise it, and he watched a tall, slender woman step from the shadows, her hips swaying habitually as she moved towards him. Besides a helmet she wore no armor, and her hands were exposed. She was unnaturally slim and her hands were strangely pale, almost grey. He couldn't help wondering what she looked like under the helmet. No way she was human.
"What do you want?" He asked bitterly.
Her arm fell back to her side, but he remained where he was. She withdrew a small round object from her pocket, setting it rotating slowly in the air with the Force as she turned it on. Han's eyes widened as he recognized it as a bounty guild puck, and more importantly recognized the blue face emanating from the transmitter.
The mysterious bounty hunter spoke, her voice syrupy and smooth like a serpent. She made no effort to sound pleasant. "I'm looking for someone. I know you know where he is. Tell me what I want to know, and I'll be on my way."
Han stared at the face hovering in the air. "I don't know who that is."
She sighed. "He is worth a lot of money to me. Don't worry, the bounty is for him alive. It is very specific about that. He won't be harmed, not even frozen."
He thought fast, looking for any out available. Maybe he could get some information. "Who put out the bounty?"
"The Empire. Who else?" She paused, "Now enough stalling. Where is he?"
"Sorry. Not a kriffing clue." Why can't it be easier to shoot these people?
She seemed to decide to take a new tactic, studying the hologram pensively. "You know, I was quite surprised when Karga gave me this puck. I mean, the name certainly could be a coincidence, but… that face, and he's a Jedi. So, what is he, nephew, cousin? He's too young for 'brother.'"
"I said I don't know him."
Suddenly the woman grabbed the puck and whirled around, easily dodging out of the way of a bowcaster shot.
Chewie had finally come to see what was taking him so long, apparently.
The wookie had grabbed Han's pistol from the ground and now fired a series of shots at the woman. A pair of strange, otherworldly, sickly green-bladed lightsabers with delicate curved hilts materialized in her hands. They trailed emerald mist as she gracefully blocked every shot before leaping up and disappearing into an air duct.
He had no doubt that she would be back.
Han dropped from the wall and wasted no time in making for the Falcon. "LEIA! LEIA IT'S TIME TO GO!"
She looked at him incredulously as he bolted past her and up the ramp. "What? But we barely have half the supplies!"
"Sorry, your highnessness! No time to discuss it!" He ran to the cockpit and started turning the ship on.
She was behind him. "What's going on?!"
"There's a bounty hunter after Luke. She tried to interrogate me."
"We can take a bounty hunter."
He bellowed toward the back of the ship– "CHEWIE! Go kick the hyperdrive to make sure it's working!" – back at the controls he continued. "This one has lightsabers. We'll go back to the fleet, warn Luke, and send a larger, better equipped force back for the supplies. One that has Jedi in it."
"Isn't it possible that she just stole the lightsabers?" Leia retorted.
"Judging by the way she picked me up with her mind, I think she's the real deal. Either way, I'm not sticking around to find out."
The wookie returned to sit in the copilot's seat as he took off.
"Why the hell didn't I just stay on Tattooine?" Han said, mostly to himself.
Chewbacca responded.
"I know Jabba wanted me dead! You're not helping!"
Ahsoka had finally found an opportunity to leave Luke drilling, instead wandering down to see Anakin's new quarters in the command ship.
Anakin and Rex were inside, rearranging the room to better suit him. Or rather, the older man was trying to help while the clone did most of the lifting. It wasn't easy for Anakin to do much physically while confined to a hoverchair, and Ahsoka decided to ignore that he was definitely discreetly using the Force to make it easier for Rex without offering help that would only wound the man's ego. Kriff the Rebellion's restrictions. They were stupid anyway. She certainly wouldn't tell.
It didn't escape her notice how close these quarters were to one of the security rooms at the end of the hall. Clearly, they were surreptitiously trying to place a guard on him.
There wasn't much here, just the standard furniture and a few items Anakin had picked up in his time in the fleet: some tools and a workbench from Han, a box of loose hardware that ought to be R2D2 sitting on a table and a couple of datapads laying beside it.
Rex smiled at her, noticing her presence. "How's the commander doing?"
A combination of programming and long use had made those old rankings a difficult habit for him to break. It didn't matter what ranks the Rebellion gave them, for Rex she and Anakin were 'General' and Luke was 'Commander.' That wouldn't change until Luke finished his training.
"He's doing great. I'm really proud of him. He's gotten faster, more precise, his focus is better… we might be able to move on to more advanced techniques soon."
"I'll have to come watch him practice." Anakin responded.
Her own welcoming warm look turned to him. "I know he'd like that." She paused, perusing the chair and its occupant. She hadn't seen him outside the medbay and she was grateful to see that he looked slightly better out of it's harsh whiteness and intense direct light. "How is the chair working out? It looks good."
"Well, I haven't done any upgrades yet, so the speed leaves something to be desired, but I'll fix it." He paused, "The doctor said that I shouldn't use it more than I absolutely have to, to build muscle back, but right now my limit for standing is about thirty seconds, so…" Anakin smiled happily. "The Emperor never would have let me have this. He would have nailed planks to my legs to keep me upright before he let me be seen in public in a position of weakness."
A familiar twin surge of protectiveness over Anakin and hatred for Palpatine ran through her. He's not yours anymore, you toad. "So, you're getting settled in?"
"Yeah. Well, there isn't that much to settle in, I don't really have many belongings, but… we're getting the room together."
Rex caught her eye from behind him and surreptitiously drew her gaze to one wall near a corner. A mirror had been taken down and set there, face against the wall.
The reason was tragically obvious, but there would be time enough to deal with his self-loathing and insecurities about his scars later. Right now everything was too happy for her to want to interrupt it.
Anakin had dug up brown pants and a tan shirt from somewhere, topped off with a darker brown leather jacket and boots. It didn't escape Ahsoka's notice that for perhaps the first time in all the time she had known him, none of it was black. She hoped that wasn't Palpatine's fault, him and his suit. There was still leather though.
"See? I didn't need the robes."
"Where did you get the jacket?"
"I won it off Lando in a game of Pazaak."
She narrowed her eyes in confusion. "Are you… good at Pazaak?" When could he have gotten any practice? She couldn't quite picture Darth Vader sitting down to cards. She could imagine an officer not purposely losing even less.
He smirked, the first real smirk she had seen from him, that old conspiratorial sparkle in his eye. "No. But neither is Lando when you steal the extra cards he keeps in his sleeve." He drew three Pazaak cards jokingly out of his pocket and handed them to her.
"How did you steal them?"
Anakin grinned, their old camaraderie back for just a moment. "Oh, I haven't taught you everything my very young padawan."
"Really." She returned his challenging smile, "Well, you'll have to show me later." Something occurred to her and her confused expression returned. "Where did Lando get a leather jacket? I've never seen him wear one."
"I thought it best not to ask."
"Luke!" Han yelled as he walked through the ship. "Luke we have a problem!"
He finally found the kid in his usual location: running saber drills alone in the training room. "What's going on?" He paused. "Is something wrong?"
Han told him about the bounty hunter.
"That doesn't make any sense." Luke continued. "Why would there be a bounty on me specifically? The Empire has a standing bounty on Jedi, dead or alive. I would think that… oh no."
"What, kid?"
He seemed to have realized something, as he sheathed his saber hilt to leave. "I gotta go. I know who put the bounty on me."
