"Gentlemen, we fight to the death," the young captain ordered.
His older first officer, who had a wife and children, drew his blaster and walked over to the young captain. From three feet away, he shot Captain Lawrence in the side of the head. He then grabbed the comm, "All hands, this is the XO, we have permission to surrender, I repeat, we have permission to surrender. The rebels have overwhelming forces on board; you may give up your arms at your discretion."
He paused for a moment, then looked around the bridge. Most of the faces looking back at him seemed to have looks of approval.
"Rebel forces, this is First Officers Wells. I am in command of the ship. We are prepared to surrender the bridge peacefully, please instruct your men not to fire," he said.
Commander Wells looked around again, to make sure that no overzealous young officer shot him in the back; then he let out a sigh. If all went well, this would be over soon, and then the real hell would begin. Cdr. Wells wondered if perhaps a quick death wouldn't have been better, but at that moment, his left hand inadvertently went to a picture of his oldest daughter, in his pocket. Wells thought of his three daughters and his baby boy, who was… fifteen months already. Wow, time flies, he thought. The commander hadn't seen his son since he was nine months old, and that was only because his wife and kids had met his ship when they pulled into the Cannes system… There was a beep. It was the hatch to enter the bridge. A young officer walked over, unsure of what to do.
"Everyone throw your weapons down, that's an order," Wells said, trying unsuccessfully, to put some grit in his voice.
After he was satisfied that all had obeyed, Wells threw his side arm down, too. Then he nodded to the young officer, and raised his hands. The young officer pressed the button to open the hatch. Everyone held their breath, not sure what to expect. As the hatch opened, he could see rebel troops on the ground, and peaking out from every turn down the P-way.
The rebels waited for about one second, just long enough to see that hands were raised and guns were on the deck. Then they rushed onto the bridge and began pushing men against the bulkhead and handcuffing them. Wells was handled rather roughly by a mid-ranking enlisted soldier. He had hoped that the Alliance Navy men, who would crew the ship, would have taken the bridge, rather than soldiers. However, Wells thought, he wouldn't have taken any chances if he were in their shoes, either. The navy crew eventually arrived.
"Where's the Captain?" an officer asked.
"I'm in command," Wells said.
"Unhandcuff him," the rebel officer ordered. "I'm Commander Carfagno, Third Officer of the Naboo," he said, and surprisingly put out his hand to shake Wells' hand.
"I am Commander Wells, the Executive Officer, I surrender the Chesapeake to you," he said, shaking Carfagno's hand.
"Will you and your crew help us get the ship underway," Carfagno asked.
"Yes," Wells found himself saying.
"What's the minimum number of people you would need on the bridge?" Carfagno asked.
Wells looked around at the stations, counting in his head, "Eight underway, but ten for the startup, any less would be difficult," he said.
"Pick your ten," Carfagno said.
While the prize crew was getting things in order on the interdictor cruiser, the Naboo was busy blowing things up.
"Sir, the carrack is in pieces, there's no sense pounding it any more," Mr. Lee reported.
"Alright, let's go finish that Star Destroyer," Mok replied.
"Naboo, Chesapeake, we have control of the ship and the Imperials are going to cooperate, and assist us with the startup," Carfagno's voice said over the comm.
Captain Mok let out a sigh of relief that Peto also felt.
"Excellent job Commander, let me know as soon as you have power," Mok praised.
"Naboo, Freedom, the station has surrendered, do you want us to take prisoners?" the Freedom's XO asked.
"Negative, standby," Mok ordered. Then he looked back at his comm, "Where's Captain Petrarch?" he asked.
"There was an explosion in CDC, Sir…" the XO said.
He hoped that his silence would answer the next obvious question, it did.
"Standby Freedom," Mok said, in a much more depressed voice.
He looked at Peto.
"Should we send the rest of the wing from the station to help us finish off the ships in the yards?" he suggested.
Peto gave him a wry look.
Mok nodded slowly in agreement, "All remaining fighters," he said, sounding as if he were straining to talk. "Engage the Leo III, designated SD4 on your holo. Freedom, go after the Imperial-class Star Destroyer here in the yards, it would take you too long to get to the Leo" he said, and then walked away from the holo.
"Naboo, General Kenobi, we can't hold out much longer. Most of our guns are disabled, and we have almost no shields," a voice said, urgently.
Mok just looked back at Peto.
Peto walked over to the XO, "how long would it take us to get there?" he asked, taking charge of the situation.
"It would take at least 10 minutes, and that Star Destroyer is still drifting backwards… Sir, if I may, I'm pretty sure that those B-wings will be enough to turn the tide. That Star Destroyer is just hanging around to try and buy time, he'll probably turn around as soon as the fighters get there," the XO offered.
Peto looked at the holo, "How long would it take a corvette to get there?" he asked.
"Well, they could get up to speed faster, maybe five or six minutes," the Naboo's XO answered.
"Metalmyte, Naboo, go assist the Kenobi," Peto ordered. "General Kenobi, this is the Naboo, help is on the way, we're sending you all the remaining fighters and bombers, and a corvette. Disengage if you have to," Peto said, his own spirits kind of down.
It had rubbed off from Captain Mok.
"Commander, what should we do?" the XO asked Peto.
"Let's finish off the yards, we'll leave the junk Strike Cruiser for last," Peto said.
The Freedom reached the junk ISD just as the remaining wing reached the functional one. The fighters and bombers were having a field day, the Leo had no fighters and few guns left. By this time, the Naboo had trashed the better part of the shipyard. Captain Mok returned to the holo with a hot beverage in his hand, his mood seemed to have recovered somewhat. Looking up at the holo he was delighted to see the Leo withdrawing.
"I smell blood commander," he said, with an evil looking smile that Peto had never seen from him before.
"Freedom, go board that victory-class Star Destroyer," Mok ordered.
"Don't you think we should wait so see if the Leo goes to hyperspace before we board another ship? What if she has reinforcements and she's withdrawing in the direction from which they are coming?" Peto suggested.
"Commander, most of the time caution is good, but every once in a while, you have to go all in. This is one of those times," Mok said.
"Who's going to crew the ship? The Freedom was short on people before we left," Peto said.
Captain Mok gave Peto an exaggerated look of shock, "They'll stand six and sixes the whole way back if they have to, if it'll get us a Star Destroyer," he said. By "six and sixes", he meant a six hours on, six hours off, watch rotation.
"Captain why don't you…" Peto was interrupted.
"Sir, the Freedom is being fired on," Lee reported. She was being hit by the victory.
The Freedom used ion cannon to silence the two guns that had lit up. The Freedom boarded the ship without further incident, offloading five of her six battalions for good measure. She also had to use more of her crew to man the Star Destroyer.
"Naboo, Kenobi, the Leo just jumped to lightspeed. I guess the Captain figured that there was nothing more for him to do here," the report came in from the comm.
"Peto, you go command the Victory-class Star Destroyer," Mok said.
"Aye, aye, Captain," Peto said with a smile, as he headed for the hangar bay.
Six hours later, an ISD a Strike Cruiser and a carrack were destroyed. The yards had been methodically cut to pieces. The Kitrick station, after prisoners were taken, was likewise turned to space dust. Most of the shipyard workers and crew of the docked ships that they destroyed made it to the planet by escape pods. Now four Calamari cruisers, four corvettes, the Spearfish, an Alliance Victory-class Star Destroyer, Strike-class cruiser, and an interdictor cruiser, were making the jump to lightspeed.
"Go ahead Mr. Spice," Mok yelled. Then he went to the comm, "Peto, this was a fine operation you and Hoffman planned".
"We couldn't have picked a better captain to lead it," Peto said.
The fleet jumped to hyperspace with about half the number of fighters with which it had arrived, but with three more capital ships.
#
Leia kissed Han on the lips and then stared into his eyes, oblivious to the world around her. "You look Handsome in this shirt I bought you," she said, smiling.
"Hey, come on, do you guys have to do that in front of us," Lando said, putting his cards down in frustration.
Chewy made a bearish growl showing his concurrence.
"Alright, let's see what we have here," Han said, looking at his cards.
"Han, can you look at my cards and tell me what I should do?" Leia asked.
Lando let out a loud sigh, showing his annoyance that they were not taking the game seriously.
"Excuse me, I didn't know we were playing for big money here," Leia retorted.
"Hey hun, can you like… you know… sense anything from Luke," Han asked.
Leia shrugged, "I don't know. I don't know if I'm sensing his emotions, or if it's just me thinking that I sense something, but it's really just what I think he's feeling," Leia attempted to explain.
"Alright, who's going to go talk to him?" Han asked. After a moment's pause, Leia realized that everyone was staring at her. After thinking about it for a moment more, her shoulders slumped and she gave in.
"Aaallright," she said, pouting like a child who had just been told to clean her room. "What do you want me to say to him," Leia asked.
No useful suggestions were forthcoming. For the first two days of the trip Luke had not left his cabin; and on the third day, he only came out once. The day he had come out, he had looked all nervous and clammy. Today, the fourth day of the trip to the Pyang system, he had not come out yet.
Leia grabbed her cup, and then decided to make Luke some tea before going to talk to him. The door was locked when she arrived, so Leia pressed the button to let Luke know she was there.
After a moment, Luke pressed the speaker button, "I'm meditating," he said.
"Well take a break, you've been in there for four days," she said.
"Leia, this is important, I need to prepare for this upcoming mission," Luke said.
"I made you some tea, can I just come in for a minute," Leia pushed.
A moment later, Luke opened the hatch; Leia handed him the cup.
"Thanks Leia, but I really do have to get back to meditating," Luke said.
"Luke, if you were really meditating, you wouldn't have heard the door," Leia said incredulously.
"I was just about to start another session," Luke said, trying to recover.
Leia rolled her eyes and then pushed her way in, "Aren't Jedi not supposed to lie," she said.
"Guess I'm not much of a Jedi," Luke commented. He had not intended for that reply to come through as showing how he really felt. It was the truth though, he really didn't feel much like a Jedi.
"Luke, locking yourself up in this room is not going to help," Leia said.
"You don't understand. I can't talk to you guys…" Luke stopped, trying to figure out how to finish his sentence without offending Leia. "I need to talk to a Jedi," he finally said in frustration.
"You can't talk to us ordinary people; your problems are too complex for us to understand?" Leia said, allowing just a bit of outrage to seep into her voice.
"That's not what I meant…" Luke started to explain.
"That's exactly what you meant, Luke, you just didn't realize how dumb it sounded until you said it out loud," Leia continued. "I'll bet that if Ben Kenobi had a problem, he could talk to anyone about it, even a child," Leia finished her onslaught.
Now Luke was embarrassed. He knew she was right. Having broken his arrogance, Leia had to act quickly, so that what was left of Luke's self-esteem didn't go with it.
"It's alright Luke, you may be a Jedi, but you're still human. Nobodies perfect, nobody," she said.
"Okay… I agree. But as a Jedi I do have to expect more of myself," Luke pleaded.
"Yes, you do. However, Luke, you cannot beat yourself up over the things that you can't control," Leia said.
Luke took a sip of his tea. Then he jerked around, suddenly startled.
"Ahh," he moaned, as some of his tea spilled on his lap.
"Sorry Luke, didn't mean tah startle you," Han said.
Luke and Leia had been sitting on the floor, now they both got up to greet Han.
Han looked back at the hatch, "Good job, sweetheart, you didn't even have to blast the door down," he said sardonically.
Luke was a little embarrassed, but still was able to laugh at the joke, which Han had directed at him.
"How are you doing, Han?" Luke asked, shaking his friend's hand.
"I'm good, did you wanna join us?" Han asked.
"Uh… I don't know," Luke answered.
"Look kid, if you're worried about this dark Jedi… well, I wouldn't be. You defeated Vader and the Emperor at the same time. Besides, who knows where he is now. If we find out he's on a freighter or something, then well send out a squad of X-wings and blow it up, nobody said it's your job," Han said, trying to get Luke in a better mood.
Luke was about to argue about who killed the Emperor, but decided that there was no point. Han already knew what had happened; he was just trying to give Luke some encouragement.
"Alright, I'll come out," he said.
It was obvious to both Han and Leia that Luke was already feeling better.
"You want something to eat," Han asked.
"Sure, I didn't realize, till I drank some tea, that I was starving!" Luke said.
"Alright, you take over my hand and I'll make you something to eat," Han said as they walked out of Luke's cabin.
"Mastah Luke, sah, it's so good to see you again," a happy Threepio exclaimed.
"Nice to see you too Threepio, Artoo…" all of a sudden Luke was grabbed from behind by a big furry monster. "Hey Chewy, nice to see you too," Luke said, as he was being squished by the wookie.
Although he could barely stand the wookie hug, it felt good to know that he was missed.
"Hey Luke; you alright?" a deep voice asked.
"I'm ok Lando. And by the way, thanks for saving me at Serres," Luke said humbly.
"You kiddin me, you saved our butts. That guy would've carved us up like boiled tashin," Lando replied. "You wanna play some cards?" he asked.
Luke spread his hands, conceding defeat.
"Sure, why not. I'm not very good, you know," he added.
"I know, we've played before, remember?" Lando reminded.
"Oh yeah," was the reply.
Luke and Leia sat down and each picked up their cards, as did Lando. Artoo picked up his cards, but could not sit down; as he was not designed with such complex motor capabilities. Threepio also sat down, but he just watched the game. Chewy laughed when Luke laid a card down.
Leia smiled, too, "I guess you're not the worst player anymore, Leia," Lando said.
Luke smiled sheepishly, "Was that bad?" he asked, honestly.
"It's alright Luke, it's just that if you had paid attention to the last go around, you'd know that I have the small ringer," Lando explained.
"Oh, I see," Luke said, in a voice that made it clear that he did not. Thirty seconds later, Han appeared with a hot plate of food.
"Hear you go, kid, a nice home cooked meal," Han said, as he handed the plate to Luke.
"Thanks Han, it smells delicious," Luke said, as he accepted eating utensils.
"All those years when it was just me and Chewy, one of us had to learn how to cook," Han said.
Several loud walrus like sounds came from the other side of the table.
"You cook good too, Chewy. I just meant that I needed to learn how to cook too," Han corrected.
Chewy replied with a disbelieving grunt that everyone understood.
"You want your cards back, Han, I'm not very good at this," Luke said.
"Sure, let's see how much damage you did," Han said, taking the cards. "How much did you bid, six? Whew, this should be a close hand."
"I told you I'm not very good at card games," Luke said.
Han looked at Lando, "I have failed him as a friend," he said.
Lando laughed, "We should play something you are good at," he said.
"I can't really think of anything that I'm good at," Luke said, his voice sounding far grimmer than it should have when discussing card games.
"Luke, what's wrong? We don't even know where this guy's at," Lando said.
"That's the thing, I'm getting a bad feeling about this mission, let alone whenever I have to face that Dark Jedi again," Luke said.
"You're worried about this mission?" Leia asked, with a concerned look.
"Can you be more specific," Han asked.
"No," Luke said. "No matter how much I meditate, I cannot see anything," he complained.
"Luke, even Jedi can suffer from anxiety. You're probably still traumatized from that battle at Serres," Leia suggested. "You're way too worked up and anxious to meditate right now," she continued.
Luke sighed in frustration.
"Lando, how do we look for getting into the system," Han asked.
"Not good. Security is tight. Only about two or three thousand ships enter the entire star system everyday."
"That's it?" Han asked in surprise. "That's not much for a whole system."
"The whole star system is like a prison, they know everyone who's coming in or going out!" Lando exclaimed.
"You think that code is any good that Madine gave us," Han asked.
"From what Ackbar said, Madine really knows his stuff. If he says it's good, then it should be," Lando said.
"Then again, look what happened at Endor," Han said with a lopsided frown.
Chewy growled in concurrence.
"At Endor they knew we were coming. They shouldn't be expecting us here," Leia said.
"Maybe they are! Maybe that's what Luke's worried about," Han said.
Everyone looked at Luke. He shrugged, "I don't know. I mean, I don't think so. Maybe…" Luke said, not really knowing what to think.
"Luke needs to relax, let's change the subject," Leia said.
"Yeah… chewy, did you get that converter replaced?" Han asked.
Chewy replied with a growling sound.
"Why not?!" Han asked, in an irritated voice.
Chewy let out several unhappy growls.
"Why didn't you tell me, I thought it came in weeks ago?"
Chewy argued that he had in fact told Han twice.
"And I told you that if it doesn't come in in another week, to remind me! What are we going to do if we have to use the landing claw?"
Chewy growled a suggestion.
"Then we'd have two burnt out converters."
Chewy growled another suggestion, this one involved some rope and Han having to hold his breath.
"Don't you still have the old one," Lando asked.
"It'll take us two days to fix it ourselves," Han replied.
Chewy mentioned that they had nothing else to do.
"He's right," Lando said.
"You going to help us?" Han asked.
Lando nodded.
"Come on Luke, we could use your help, too. You too Artoo," Han said.
Artoo responded with a beep and Luke grabbed his plate and got up without argument.
"Sah, will you be needing my help also," Threepio asked.
"No Threepio, you stay here and … do whatever it is that you do," Lando said.
The whole group, excluding Threepio and Leia, walked into an empty storage bay. Chewy picked up the pieces of the old converter, and Luke sat on the floor with his plate. Lando and Artoo went over to get the tools, while Han stared at the pieces of metal as if he'd never seen them before.
"Chewy, what is this?" Han asked.
Chewbacca growled an answer.
"Oh," was Han's reply. "How come I've never seen one of these before?" he asked.
Lando began laughing, "That's because you always make Chewbacca fix it," he said. "Here Han, I'll show you the ropes."
"Alright genius, you show me how to take it apart," Han said.
Lando took the piece of metal and squeezed the two quick detach buttons to take part of it off.
"Ooohh," Han said, putting down the wrench. "Teach me more, Master Lando."
Lando detached two more pieces and then pointed to a piece of metal which appeared to have tubes protruding from it.
"And this, my young padawan, is a manifold."
"Now do you need the wrench, or are you going to take it off with the force?" Han asked.
"I'll use the wrench this time. I never use the force after I've had a few drinks," Lando said.
At this point, Luke decided to join in the fun. He closed his eyes and, before Lando could use the wrench, he undid all the fasteners.
Lando threw up his hands, "voila," he said, in triumph.
Han laughed, "Nice trick master Lando," he said, as he and Luke both gave their friend a round of applause.
"Thank you, thank you. And for my next trick, I'm going to plug the secondary up to Luke's finger to reset the safeties," Lando said.
Artoo, knowing this to be unlikely, rolled forward and extended a socket.
"Here comes the real Grand Master," Luke joked, gesturing to Artoo.
Lando plugged a cable up to Artoo's socket.
"Work your magic little man."
"Han, this is excellent," Luke said with a mouth full of food. "What kind of food is this."
"Actually, it's from your home planet."
Luke raised his eyebrows.
"Not from your side," Han continued. "It's from the eastern hemisphere. Granna… Gratta, something like that."
"Gratta," Luke said. "Heard of it, never been there."
Chewy growled a nostalgic growl.
"That's right, that's where I met that…" Han automatically stopped and looked to see if Leia was there.
He had done it subconsciously, and only now realized how obvious it was. By now everyone was laughing at him.
"… nice salesman," Han finished his sentence.
"What was her name," Lando asked.
"Wait, wait, let me tell the story," Han said. "We met this girl," he started, looking at Chewy for support. "Ok, I met this girl. She was one of those weird girls…"
"What do you mean, weird girls," Luke asked.
"You know, bright green hair, had those things put in her ears to make them pointy on top," Han explained.
"Oh, those kinds of girls," Lando said sarcastically. "That's what I thought you meant," he said laughing. "Isn't that what you thought, Luke?"
"No, I was thinking of the girls with pink hair and pointy chins," Luke said, poking fun at Han. "Where did you find this girl, Han?"
"Alright, let me finish my story," Han said.
The snickering continued, despite his efforts.
"She was really good looking; even with the ears," Han said smiling. "Look, if you guys are going to keep making fun of me, then I'm not going to tell the story."
"Oh, come on Han, tell it," Luke said, smiling.
Han didn't want to tell the embarrassing story anymore. However, he noticed that Luke was in a good mood, and had forgotten about what was on his mind. So, he decided to tell it, to give his friend some comedy. Luke could use the laughs.
#
Admiral Ackbar was fuming over a bill he had just received.
His door beeped. "Come in," he said, still staring down at his data pad.
"You wanted to see me Admiral," Madine asked.
"General, I have a bill here for 30 megatons of explosives, as well as armor and weapons that cost more than this ship" Ackbar said, not even looking at the General.
"When we discussed this mission, what did you say?!" Madine asked, in an argumentative tone.
Madine was feeling quite overworked and underappreciated right about then, and it was clear that Ackbar had pushed the wrong button at the wrong time.