Part 17
Mission Abort + 27hrs
16:00 - Malhördhem Local Time
TARJA KARSAAR GAPED AT VADER, not quite sure that she had heard him correctly, wondering if this was some sort of test. "My Lord," she tried. "I don't understand…"
Vader's mask looked back at her. "There is nothing to understand. You have your orders."
"My Lord," she tried again, floundering in the face of the enormity of those orders. No matter what happened now, her life as a Medical Specialist on Vaaljajord was over. She had thought her re-assignment as Skywalker's physician was only temporary, but Vader was sending her into the field. Anxiety twisted in her stomach. "Forgive me," she began. "I have little experience in operational tasking. My remit in Malhördhem was limited to surveillance and data acquisition. I… I have no idea how to plan or implement such…"
"You will have no need to plan the extraction," Vader interrupted. "If the Rebels don't do it for you, Colonel Vyre will see to it. However, the Rebels know their people are here. They are almost certainly planning a rescue attempt. You need only assist in that attempt. You have already gained the trust of the Rebel seditionists," he reminded her. "And Skywalker is no longer comatose. He will furnish you with the information you require to contact the Rebel Alliance."
Tarja considered that, feeling the ground firming up beneath her again. No longer out of her depth, she examined her options then pushed her luck. "I request that the other pilot, Derek Klivian, is also transferred to my custody. Returning both pilots to Rebel lines will make the rescue more credible."
"Request," Vader told her, "granted." Then he turned, striding out of the office into the corridor beyond. The stormtroopers at the door turned on their heels and fell into step behind him, following him.
Tarja looked at the closing door then sank into her seat, running everything through in her mind. Colonel Vyre was to work with her. She was to liaise with the Rebels; get Skywalker, and now Klivian, back to Rebel lines. She was to stay close to Skywalker, nurse him back to health. Once he was almost fully recovered she was to contact Vyre and wait for further instructions. Failing that, she was to get Skywalker to Coruscant and contact Vader.
Tusken One Aurek: the identification authorisation that no Imperial would question.
Conflicting emotions roiled within her. This was not what she had envisioned.
The Rebel Alliance threatened to tear the Galaxy apart in civil war. Without the authority and scrutiny of the Imperial military, criminals like the Hutts and the Diazez would increase their power. The New Republic would never be able to exert its authority.
She believed, passionately, in the Empire... but the Emperor's dream of a safe and secure society would start to fall apart if it continued to be bought by fear and torture. She could not in all conscience enable a culture where sadistic bullies were allowed to abuse their position.
And she was being ordered to keep a young man safe, only to deliver him into...
She took a deep breath, pushing any misgivings aside. She had given her word to Per Alvessen and Shawn Valdez that she would do everything she could to protect the Rebels. She would focus on that for the moment: get Luke and Hobbie back to safety. Only then would she give any further consideration to the position she was in.
Vader had been closer to the truth than he knew: the Rebels were working on a rescue plan. She was part of it. Now, however, she had no need to worry about trying to hide the preparations being made to conceal Luke and Hobbie.
Hobbie…
She couldn't wait much longer to get him into surgery. She had tried everything she could, but the damage to the bone was too severe. She was going to have to remove another section.
Luke, on the other hand, was an entirely different matter.
She reached for her comlink. "Ceetoo, inform Artoo that the pressure therapy is working. The patient is now responsive and I need a second opinion, on-site. I also need the schedule on the new equipment to be brought forward. I require it as soon as possible."
"Contacting Artoo now, Specialist Karsaar," the droid's lilting tones confirmed.
Tarja pushed herself to her feet and headed out of her office, turning towards the room she planned to use to conceal the two Rebel pilots. It was a treatment area towards the back of the clinic. It would be partitioned off from the corridor by holoprojectors supplied by the Rebels.
The area was normally only used during the logging season. Logging was dangerous work, but to protect the precious Daemor trees it was historically done by hand. The best syrup-producing trees took three generations to season. They were too prized to trust droids to fell the trees surrounding them. There were another few weeks before the season began and this area started filling with injured loggers. It was more than enough time.
She needed the holoprojectors now. She needed to move Hobbie before Vader changed his mind.
Turning, she headed back down the corridor, making for the hyper-atmospheric chambers and Skywalker. She moved across the room, checking the medical data on the screens before turning her attention towards the young man inside.
"Luke?"
The blond pilot remained still. "Luke, I'm alone," she told him.
His head turned towards her and the blue eyes opened. She smiled at him. "Derlin is safe," she assured him, repeating what she had been trying to tell him when Vader had interrupted. "So is Wedge. Hobbie will be moved to safety, shortly. You'll be moved beside Hobbie once the pressure cycle is done. You'll be moved before Vader can touch you. Do you understand?"
He looked at her, and then swallowed. "Yes."
She glanced towards the door then looked back at him. "Luke, I'm running blind, medically, but I think Vader's only partly right about what's ailing you. The ship crashing probably did cause a neuro-spinal disconnection that's specific to the Jedi... but I reckon there's more to your coma than that. The spores destroy cells in the body. I reckon the biology of those cells are different in the Jedi. So when the cells died... that might have cut you off from the Force. We're eliminating the spores, now, and your cells are healing. I'd lay credits on your recovery being directly related to the eradication of the spores."
Luke swallowed, saying nothing for a moment, trying to understand everything she had just said. Finally, he asked, "So when the spores are gone... I'll be able to sense the Force, again?"
She smiled. "I reckon so. Now," she went on, "rest! Your people are close. You're safe. You have my word."
Luke closed his eyes, exhausted but reassured. It was a weary exhaustion, though. It wasn't the heavy, restricting lethargy that had weighed down on him since the crash. It took an effort, but he could move his fingers and toes. He could move his head. He could speak. He was no longer trapped in his own body. He was no longer helpless and waiting for Vader to drag him away...
It is your destiny…
Luke drew in a breath, pushing away the emotion before breathing out slowly; guiding himself into one of the meditations he had learned from Yoda.
Mind what you have learned. Save you it can.
An image rose up: of the little Jedi Master, standing on the muddy bank of the swamp, gently settling the X-wing onto the ground. And then another image swept in: more powerful, more disturbing.
I am your father!
Luke gasped in a breath, losing track of the meditation. The words had shredded his world. Even as he had denied him, he had known they were true… because the Dark Side had shown him the truth in the cave on Dagobah.
On Cloud City, with Vader looming above him, everything he had seen in the oppressive darkness of the cave had suddenly made sense. It hadn't been his face within the mask, it had been his father's.
A young Jedi named Darth Vader... He betrayed and murdered your father.
Obi-Wan had lied to him. Yoda had lied by omission. The Dark Side hadn't been testing him in the cave, it had been exposing their dishonesty. The realisation had shaken him, shattering his faith in the two Jedi. The betrayal had kept him away from Dagobah after Bespin. Instead, he had thrown himself into the Rebel Alliance cause; volunteering for mission after mission; leaving Chewbacca and Lando to search for Han; doing everything he could to avoid dwelling on the awful truth: Anakin Skywalker was Darth Vader.
What had turned his father to the Dark Side?
Had it been lust for power? Had the Emperor made promises of influence and authority to his father: assurances of a senior position within his council? Had that lured Anakin Skywalker away from the path of the Jedi?
You can destroy the Emperor! He has foreseen this!
Vader's words swept back into his mind and Luke took in a deep breath of horror. How long had the Emperor anticipated in his own destruction? Had he already foreseen it two decades before? Was that why the Jedi had been all but wiped out? Was it possible that Anakin Skywalker had allowed himself to be seduced by the Dark Side in order to protect his family from the genocide?
Luke swallowed down emotion, mind reeling.
What about his mother? He knew nothing of her. He had no idea who she was, what had happened to her, or even what she looked like. All Beru had ever told him was that she had loved him with all her heart and had very much wanted to be with him. Had she left him safe with Beru and Owen, to go to search for Anakin? Had she died on Coruscant during the attack on the Jedi temple? Could she still be alive somewhere, hiding?
Had Vader killed her? Had he killed the woman he loved?
Grief welled up and Luke took a deep, steadying breath.
And then another, devastating thought occurred to him. What if Vader was lying? What if Vader wasn't Anakin Skywalker? What if Vader had killed his mother because he had loved her, but she had loved Anakin Skywalker… or had chosen Anakin over him…?
Was it possible that the vision in the Dagobah cave had been a lure after all? Could Vader have seen an echo of the vision and used it to manipulate the situation, making him believe that Yoda and Ben had lied? Had Ben told the truth after all: Vader had betrayed and killed Anakin Skywalker…
Luke closed his eyes, groaning softly, thoughts whirling.
There was only one place that he would find those answers. He had avoided returning to Dagobah for too long. He had to go back and confront Yoda. He had to go back and find out the truth.
oo0oo
"Your Highness?"
Leia glanced at Threepio, holding her hand up, telling him, "In a moment, Threepio…" Then she turned her attention back to the two special forces sergeants: Lynk Comdhail and Meleen Arisii. "Continue…"
"We don't believe a diversion, alone, will work," Arisii told her. "Vader has his own stormtroopers guarding Skywalker, and we doubt they'll be fooled by simple misdirection. For this to work, we need to sever their communications at exactly the same time as the shooting begins."
"We need to go dark," Comdhail finished.
Shawn Valdez looked at them. "Magflux charge?"
"No!" Leia told them. "Absolutely not!" A magflux charge would kill everything with electronic circuitry that wasn't shielded. It wouldn't just leave the Imperials deaf and blind, it would cripple the Rebel contingent, too. More importantly, they didn't have a magflux charge on-board, nor was it designed to be deployed on the ground. They'd have to call in a bomber squadron to run the gauntlet of an Imperial Star Destroyer.
"The medical centre is shielded," Arisii countered. "And they have a back-up power for when the main grid goes down. So does the Sheriff's bureau."
"The B-wing that drops the charge won't be shielded," Leia argued. "If they're blockaded by TIEs in the atmosphere and don't reach altitude before the charge detonates, we will have more pilots within reach of the Empire."
"If X-wings are deployed to keep the TIEs busy above planet," Arisii reassured, "they'd shield the B-wing run…"
"We need to go dark, Your Highness," Comdhail repeated. "We need to kill the lights in the medcentre, too. Artoo can do that through the protocol droid at reception."
Leia took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. The diplomat in her was reticent. They had no idea how badly a magflux charge would affect Malhördhem. If things went wrong, they could be driving sympathy into the arms of the Empire.
The two sergeants were right, however. Making a diversionary attack on the med centre, in daylight, would be suicidal. The Empire had to suspect that a rescue attempt would be made. Vader would be waiting for it, planning for it… and the only thing the strike force had on their side was the element of confusion. Floundering in silence, unable to receive orders, Vader's troops were vulnerable.
It was the only way they would be able to move Luke and Derek Klivian into hiding without decimating the Special Forces teams.
Reluctantly, she nodded. "Very well. Send it up the line."
Comdhail and Arisii both moved, walking towards the flight deck. Leia exchanged a long look with Valdez, then turned to the protocol droid, who still waited patiently a few feet away. "What is it, Threepio?"
"Your Highness, Artoo Detoo reports that Specialist Karsaar requests someone's presence in the medical centre. The pressure therapy is having the desired effect and Master Luke is responsive."
Relief flowed though Leia and a smile pulled at her lips.
"Specialist Karsaar also requests that the schedule on the new equipment be brought forward," Threepio continued.
"Must be the holoprojectors," Shawn Valdez offered, confirming, "They're ready to go. I'll take them over now."
Leia desperately wanted to be the one to go to the medical centre. She wanted to see Luke: needed to reassure herself, with her own eyes, that he was recovering. But while the Ubese biohelmet allowed her to move around, unrecognised, it could also cause problems if anyone heard her speaking Standard. Both Shawn Valdez and Toryn Farr were already known to the medical specialist, however.
Pushing her emotions firmly back behind the curtain of duty, Leia told Valdez, "Do that. And see what else she needs."
He nodded to her, turning on his heel and heading across the living area into the interior of the ship.
"Your Highness!"
Leia turned, again, looking past Threepio to where Meleen Arisii stood in the door of the flight deck. "Trouble!" Arisii told her. "Colonel Vyre heading this way… alone…"
Irritation pushing through her, Leia swore. "What does that man want now?"
Arisii shrugged but suggested, deadpan, "He's alone. We could drag him in and take him down."
The thought appealed to Leia as much as it obviously did to Arisii and she laughed: a short snort of malevolence. "As tempting as that sounds," she began, "he'd only find his way back from beyond to haunt us. Throw me my hat then get Farr. I'll keep him busy until she arrives."
She caught the biohelmet as Arisii lobbed it to her, putting it over her head and locking it into place. Making her way to the ramp, she paused for a moment at the open weapons locker, grasping a blaster rifle and pulling it free of the clips. Rifle held loosely in one hand, she made her way down the ramp, standing at the bottom, watching Colonel Marek Vyre walk the last few feet to the ship.
Vyre pushed down a rush of irritation as he saw the Ubese bounty hunter. He'd much rather deal with Farn or her First Mate. The Ubese didn't even speak Standard. How was he supposed to make it understand what he wanted?
He had little time for bounty hunters. In his experience, they were unreliable: their presence disruptive. However, Vader's unspoken orders had been quite clear: You limit your resources. They have their uses.
The hunters were operating under Vader's direct authority. If the anticipated Rebel rescue failed, or never materialised, he could use the bounty hunters to remove Skywalker from Malhördhem and take him back to Rebel lines.
He reached the ship. "I will speak with Farn."
Leia said nothing for a long moment, simply looking at him. Then, as Vyre opened his mouth to speak again, she told him, "You… wait."
Vyre quirked an eyebrow. So, it did speak Standard, or what passed as Standard. Biting back an acerbic response, he gave the Ubese hunter a cold smile. "Tell Farn that I am here."
"She knows you're here!" Farn's voice announced from the top of the ramp. "And if you're here to beat up Antilles, again," she continued, walking down towards him, "I'm afraid he's still unconscious. And I'm not sure I want to let you see him. You might kill him this time, and he's worth more to me alive." She stopped beside the Ubese, hooking her thumbs into her belt, asking bluntly, "What do you want?"
Vyre gave her a disarming smile. "I wish to engage your services."
Farn laughed at him. Vyre allowed her the laughter.
Shaking her head, she told him, "I'm sorry. We don't work for the Empire. We work for Lord Vader."
Vyre's smile widened. "Oh, I am aware of that," he countered. "That is why I am here. You see, Lord Vader has done me the honour of reassigning me. I am now, also, under his direct authority."
That wiped the laughter from Farn's face. Beside her, the Ubese hunter stiffened.
"You'll forgive me," Farn replied, slowly, "if I confirm that personally with Lord Vader."
"You'll forgive me," Vyre answered, "but Tusken One Aurek is the only confirmation you will need." He saw the uncertainty flash across her face and knew that he had her. "I may require passage for three people. Be ready to leave at short notice."
Toryn looked at the Imperial Colonel for a long moment, knowing there was nothing she could do but agree. Three people... but what three people? What was Vader up to?
"We'll be ready, Colonel," she told Vyre, then asked, "Are there any special requirements apart from the short notice?"
"You will be informed if there are," Vyre confirmed. Then he turned on his heel, walking away across the duracrete.
Neither Leia nor Toryn moved, watching the Colonel's retreating back. "What," Toryn asked softly once she was sure Vyre was out of earshot, "the hells was that?"
Leia turned, hefting her blaster rifle onto her shoulder. "That was either a trap," she offered, walking back up the ramp, "or Vyre trying to save his hide."
It didn't feel like a trap. There was no sense of the uneasy foreboding that normally warned her that things weren't right, or weren't what they seemed to be. She had ignored that tight apprehension on Bespin, putting it down to her blossoming feelings for Han: trusting his judgement and his friendship with Lando. Not that it would have changed anything.
They arrived right before you did…
Faced with betraying a friend, or risking the lives of everyone on Bespin, Lando had made the only possible choice.
So, this wasn't a trap. But… there was something…
Vader has done me the honour of reassigning me.
"Why?" Leia said out loud.
"Why is he trying to save his hide?" Toryn asked.
"No. Why has Vader reassigned him?" She stopped, turning to look at Toryn. "And is it Vyre who needs the ship… or is it Vader?"
Toryn frowned. "I'm not following..."
Leia glanced around then motioned to Toryn to move inside the ship. She stopped at the top of the ramp, taking her respiration helmet off before turning to Farr. "Vyre said he might need passage for three people… What if that's Luke, Tarja Karsaar and Vader?"
Toryn's frown deepened. "But… Vader has a Star Destroyer up there! Why would he risk using bounty hunters?"
"He risked it at Bespin," Leia reminded her. "He has to know that the Alliance would try a rescue attempt. And while the Alliance is attacking the Star Destroyer…"
"…Vader's slipping away with Commander Skywalker in a small, unmarked ship," Toryn finished.
"Exactly!"
"Or," Toryn suggested, "it is Vyre who wants the ship. Maybe Vader's tasked him to escort Commander Skywalker off Vaaljajord. With Vader still here, the Alliance wouldn't suspect that Skywalker had been flown out."
"Or perhaps," Shawn Valdez put in, "Vyre's pulling a fast one."
Leia and Toryn turned, looking at the Captain as he walked towards them, a satchel slung over his shoulder. "I heard what you were saying," he told them. "Vyre wants us to carry some passengers and he used one of Vader's authorisations to secure our loyalty?"
"Yes," Leia confirmed.
"Except that Vyre's discredited," Valdez reminded them. "He's lost Derlin. His career is probably over, possibly even his life. Vader doesn't take kindly to failure. And," he went on, "why would Vader trust an unreliable officer with someone as important as Skywalker? Vader's personal authorisation codes wouldn't be difficult for an ISB officer to get a hold of, not when he knows bounty hunters loyal to Vader would accept it without question."
"You think he's making contingency plans to save his own skin?" Toryn asked.
"Makes sense," Valdez confirmed. "He's a bastard. He's not an idiot."
"No..." Leia said slowly, shaking her head. Valdez had made some very plausible points, but the explanation didn't feel right. "It's certainly something we should plan for, but... if Vader was going to make an example of Vyre, he would have done it by now. And… there's something else going on. I'm not sure what, but there's more to this... Tusken is too much of a coincidence to be some random code that Vyre managed to find."
"Tusken?" Valdez asked.
"The authorisation code Vyre gave us," Farr supplied. "Tusken One Aurek."
"The Tusken people are found only on Tatooine," Leia told him. "Luke is from Tatooine."
Shawn Valdez considered that for a long moment. The Princess was right: it was more than just coincidence. It was worryingly more than coincidence. He looked at Leia. "We can't allow Vader to take Commander Skywalker..."
Anger and fear flared at the reminder of their earlier conversation, but Leia kept it tightly under control. No matter what argument Valdez made, no matter how much her head agreed with his conclusions, the concept of Luke dying at the hands of the Rebel Alliance was unthinkable. "That's why you're giving those holoprojectors to Tarja Karsaar."
oo0oo
Mayor Agnessa Gunnistsaar stood beside Deputy Sig Arnassen in the main office of the jailhouse. Arms crossed, she considered the security feed from the anchorage. At her side, Sig's brow was furrowed, his lips pressed into a tight line as he watched Colonel Vyre walked across the duracreet, away from the Rebel ship.
"What is he up to?" Agnessa asked.
Sigurd shrugged, glancing down at her. She had arrived not long before, sweeping into the jailhouse, looking for an update. She had taken one look at the Sheriff and ordered her to rest. Gunnistsaar had succeeded where Ash's Deputies had failed, and the Sheriff was currently snoring gently on a cot in one of the cells.
"Whatever it is, Mayor, it ain't good…" Sig offered. He paused, chewing on the inside of his lip for a moment before continuing, "Think I'll wander across to the anchorage and have me a conversation with the bounty hunters."
Agnessa looked at him. "Is that wise?"
Knowing that the Mayor was still unaware that the bounty hunters were actually Rebel personnel, Sig gave her a lopsided smile. "The first mate is decent enough. Had a civilised conversation with him when they arrived. And Vyre's damaged their bounty: reckon they'll be less than happy with him."
Agnessa considered that for a moment, then she nodded, ordering, "Do it… but be careful! And, if you all have no objection, I'll stay here until the Sheriff wakes."
Sigurd hesitated. Then he told her, "Ma'am, you are welcome to stay… but if you do, you might lose all plausible deniability."
Agnessa blinked, her eyes going wide in surprise as she realised what he alluded to. She opened her mouth to ask how many of the Deputies were sympathetic to the resistance… then closed it.
Only a few hours before she had promised the Rebel Alliance whatever help it needed, while staying out of the way and allowing the Empire to believe she was nothing more than an ineffectual bureaucrat. She had just shown Lord Vader that she was more than that, twisting what she knew of the situation to counter his accusations of sedition with a clear-cut and plausible rebuttal.
If she stayed now, she might see too much: glean some piece of information that, as Mayor, she should have no way of knowing. If her attention wavered, if she slipped up and revealed that information to Vyre or Vader, it would blow everything apart. The whole town would be under a suspicion that she would have no way of countering…
The Emperor showed leniency to Vaaljajord once. He will not show such leniency again!
Agnessa stepped back, giving Deputy Arnassen a nod of acknowledgment. "A point well made," she told him. "In which case I will be in my office. Keep me up to date…. And let me know when the Sheriff wakes?"
Sigurd smiled at her, assuring, "Yes, Ma'am."