AN: My thanks to Kazlyhn for beta reading again. Any mistakes are mine alone! Yizzi (Ysabel Jaconti) belongs to Louise T. my thanks to her for allowing me to use her.
As always - all previous disclaimers still apply!
Dark Times: Chapter Six
A Legitimate Target
Part Three
Leia was out of breath by the time she reached the pilot's briefing room. She had been unable to reach Luke before the squad briefing, then had been called to the Command Centre to discuss the raid in more detail and the wording of a statement that the Alliance would publically announce to the galaxy after the mission had been completed either successful or not. And now, mere minutes before departure, she had been able to excuse herself to find him.
Narra exited first. He smiled with genuine affection. "Your Highness, good of you to see us off."
"Always, Commander. May the Force be with you."
He smiled. "With Luke back in the squad it just might be." He glanced back into the doorway as more pilots spilled out and headed for their ships. "He should be right out," he bowed his head in respect. "If you'll excuse me." And he was gone, leading his men to their fighters.
Luke was last out accompanied, as always, by Wedge Antilles. "Leia..."
Wedge nudged him in the ribs, pushed him closer to the princess and grinned. "I'll see you out side, Luke." He moved away, walking backwards to the exit as he made rude gestures behind the princess' back.
Luke blushed, shrugged and smiled at her as he fiddled with the straps of his helmet. "He thinks we have a thing."
Leia laughed, lightly. "A thing?" She echoed, teasing.
He shifted uncomfortably, cleared his throat, his colour deepening. "You know..." He offered, lamely.
She laughed at his discomfort, could almost believe that this was nothing more than a moment of light hearted banter, that Luke wasn't about to leave on another mission that could see him as another statistic, another notch on the hull of a TIE fighter.
"Thanks," he said, a little more solemnly. He turned for the door.
"For what?" She fell in at his side.
"Narra told me you spoke up for me. Got me reinstated."
Leia wondered if Narra had mentioned Rhovan's part in it. "It's what you wanted."
There was something in her tone that caught him. "You don't sound too happy, though."
They stepped from the building into the sunshine, into the organised chaos and noise of the squadron's preparations for take-off. The ground beneath them trembled as the mountain belched more smoke. A soft breeze blew particles of ash around their ankles as they walked.
"Leia?" he prompted as they headed for his bird.
"Han's not back yet," she told him, avoiding his question. "I'm worried that the arms he's been sent for will..."
Luke quietened. So that was it. Han. He quelled the tiny swell of jealousy that could still steal into moments like this. He had long ago come to terms with the fact that he and Leia would always only be close friends and put his more romantic feelings aside. "He'll be fine, Leia." He glanced over his X-Wing, noted Artoo was already in the droid socket. "He and Chewie always turn up."
Han? Thought Leia. Why had she mentioned him? It was Luke she was worried about. It was Luke who was about to fly off on another dangerous mission because she had spoken out on his behalf and she brings Solo into the conversation? What was she thinking? What were these conflicting feelings she had for the two men in her life? She loved them both; she couldn't deny it, but her feelings were unsure, convoluted and contradictory. Luke was kind and gentle, Han was rugged and course and she knew within herself that she had come to rely on them both. She loved them; she just wasn't sure in what way she loved them.
"I know," she said, raising her voice to be heard over the growing din on the landing pad. She was sorry to have mentioned the Corellian, hoped that she hadn't distracted Luke with her concerns. She reached up, laid her palm against his cheek. "May the Force be with you, Luke." She stood on her tip toes and kissed him lightly on his other cheek.
"I'll see you soon," he told her earnestly as he jammed his helmet onto his head. He took hold of the ladder and climbed into his ship as Artoo whistled a greeting. "We're all set, Artoo" he told the droid as he settled into the acceleration chair. "Set the power..." He paused, smiled and yelled down at Leia. "Han'll be back before we are!" He waved as the canopy closed.
The Princess found herself lifting a hand in reply as she moved away to the edge of the landing field, wondering about his last statement and how he could sound so sure about something he couldn't possibly know.
"It's the kid's Jedi thing," Han had said waving his hand in the air. "Just go with it, humour him."
She smiled at her memory as Luke's ship began to lift from the ground. As his landing struts folded beneath the ship and as it rose higher; the ash on the landing platform swirled up after the X-Wing in a cloud. He wangled his wings as he followed the squad into the air, banking away from the smoke that belched from the active volcano. Her smile froze as a cloud covered the sun, a sudden chill shivered through her, and she suddenly had the urge to shout out after him, to stop him. She needed to say more to him, it was important to say more, to tell him to be careful, to take care, be safe, but what she whispered beneath the engine noise was unexpected.
"Come back."
Something was wrong. Something she couldn't place. Something that Luke...
"Come back." She whispered the words again as she tried to understand them, tried to identify where they had come from. The X-Wings disappeared into the clouds as the roar of their engines rolled and echoed down the mountainside drowning out the volcano's own rumble.
"He'll be fine, Your Highness."
Leia turned at the voice, saw the squad's Chief Tech standing nearby, her face grimy and greasy, her hair tousled.
"You look worried. 'Thinking about what happened his last mission, in case it happens again, right?" Ysabel told her, sure of her insight. "But Luke'll be back, they all will." It sounded like the Chief was trying to convince herself.
"I'm sure they will, Chief Jaconti." She could hear the lie in her words and wondered if Ysabel could hear it, too. "Thank you." Was that what was truly troubling her? Was it the events that had followed Luke after the Escaal mission that was causing this fear to gather in her belly? It made sense that she was scared for her friend, about how he would cope and respond after his trauma. That was it, that had to be it.
"Come back..."
The Chief's eyes turned back to the empty sky and a quiet fell over the area. Leia moved away, started her journey back down through the base toward the command centre.
Now all they could do was wait.
ooOOoo
Vader drew in a breath of cool pressurized air; feeling it fill his lungs, feeling the pain of it, the burn. He exhaled, drew in another. He was still, deep in meditation, eyes closed within the darkness of his hyperbaric chamber, heart steeped in midnight black. The Force expanded before him as he moved with it, through it, became one with the dark side.
He could feel the fear and uncertainty of the thousands of refugees they had packed into the "relocation centre," but their feelings were tempered by hope; a flickering light within the blackness and he moved on, moved away from the beckoning glow.
He could feel the anticipation of his crew, the unspoken fear of the fighter pilots as they waited for the word of the impending Rebel attack. He could sense the anxiety that settled low in the pits of their bellies.
He could feel the planet below as it shuddered in its death throes. The Force rippling and weaving around it as its animal and plant population moved swiftly toward extinction. It was a painful death, and silence would not fall upon it for several months yet.
Through all of this he could sense his master's glee. This battle, this day, could see a shift in support for the Rebel Alliance, this day could see planets that rallied to their cause backing away in horror and they would be seen as terrorists and insurgents who had no regard for the sanctity of life. The Emperor's carefully weaved deception was insidious and would draw the Rebels out like insects to a flame.
He drew the Force to him, wrapped it around himself like a cool blanket searching for the events to come, searching for the outcome of the approaching battle and finding...
"Come back."
A young voice, a girl's voice.
He frowned within his meditation. This was not the future, this was...
"Come back."
A smell of heat, of smoke and ash. A noise, the rumble of unstable ground.
"Come back! I love you!"
He was there. Standing in the ship's hatch way. He was there, with her.
"Liar!" The word was snarled, filled with rage and hatred."You're with him!"
"No!"
His eyes snapped open. The memories from the past fading slowly from his vision like an after image. Memories that should be long buried, but had recently been surfacing more and more to torment and taunt him with all he had lost. His friend, his love, his child all snatched away due to...
...Your own actions...
...the betrayal of the Jedi. The betrayal of his wife. The betrayal of...
...Palpatine...
...Obi-Wan.
"You were my brother, Anakin. I loved you!"
And still the Jedi turned his back and walked away as the flames arose to consume that brother. Still he took his brother's wife and his child and turned his son against his father with lies and falsehoods.
"I..won't betray...the Alliance...as...you betrayed...my father."
Such brave words, gasped through an excruciating agony that would have felled more experience men. His son was strong, his spirit resilient, the Force was strong with him; a potency that Luke barely recognised. The boy had only made scant scratches on the surface of his powers, had still to fully accept and immerse himself in his abilities.
Vader smiled. And his father would be there when that day came, when Luke fully realised his potential. He felt it.
Luke would stand by his father's side and...
"Come back."
The whisper again. But not Padme, not a memory after all. He looked up into the darkness of his chamber trying to follow the feeling, wanting to pinpoint its meaning and...
...an Income T-65 banking away from a cloud of black smoke. The sun winking off the canopy obscuring the pilot within, but not obscuring the man's...
...the boy's...
...feelings. He was determined, elated, fearful, his mind set on settling a score.
Luke.
With a rush of understanding he deactivated the meditation chambers locks and his helmet lowered to enclose his head and re-establish his suit's life support as the claws of the compartment split open. He turned the chair, activated the view screen.
Admiral Ozzel turned to face the optical feed. "Mi'Lord."
"Admiral, sound General Quarters and move the cruisers beyond Cusrean. Have them maintain their position unless called for. Order the space station to man their batteries and see to it that the Executor's are fully crewed. Launch one fighter attack wing, put the others on full alert and ready my own ship and Squadron."
Ozzel took this in. "It shall be done, Mi'Lord, however we have no intelligence to suggest an attack is imminent and there is nothing on the scan..."
Vader fought his anger and frustration; one of these days Ozzel would go too far in his question of given orders. "The Rebel's are coming, Admiral and we should be prepared."
My son is coming.
"Have the tractor beam readied. I want a prisoner."
His son and his friends had fallen into the Emperor's ruse. Luke and his friends were about to pull off a successful mission and the Galaxy would revile them for it. The one captured would suffer the consequences alone; Luke would have no choice but to denounce his friends and he would, at last, be released from the Rebellions leash and become his father's son.
Ozzel bowed. "As you wi..."
Vader severed the connection.
ooOOoo
"Artoo, three minutes to reversion." Luke pulled himself straighter, preparing himself for the X-Wing's deceleration. His heart was hammering, his stomach lurching with anticipation and anxiety for the battle ahead but, as he reached for the controls, he was dismayed to see his hand shaking.
"Bang out, Luke!"
Wedge's voice from the Escaal battle weeks ago, when he was shot down, when he had been captured and...
"You gave us home, Luke. You told us about Wedge."
"Shit," Luke cursed, curling his hand into a fist as Artoo twittered his concern.
"I'll be fine, Artoo," Luke assured him, his voice gratefully steady. "Just some unwanted memories."
"You have allowed your fear to consume you, boy, but it is your anger and hatred that has sustained you thus far."
Luke heaved in a steadying breath, forcing Vader's words from his mind. He needed to focus on the here and now, not on the past. He needed to concentrate on his target and not worry about anything else.
He closed his eyes, reaching for the centre of himself, seeking the calm he required. He could feel the pulse and thrum of the fighter's engines, could hear their muted whine within the cockpit; could hear the ticking of the life support systems.
He had missed this, missed the freedom the fighter gave him, the sheer joy of flight. He opened his eyes with a smile.
"Artoo, bring the weapons on line and arm the torpedoes." They were coming out of hyperspace outside of the Cusrean system, out of the range of any scanners, but you never took any chances and he had, long ago, learned to come out of a jump "hot" and ready for any event.
"One minute, buddy," he told the astromech. "Everything reads green. Thirty seconds." He gripped the control column tightly, licked his lips. "Okay, Artoo bring us out."
The swirl of chaotic lights beyond the cockpit suddenly streaked into lines and fell away to far off pin points in the darkness. Luke immediately glanced to his right and was relieved to see Wedge appear at his starboard side. Antilles waggled his fingers at him as Narra ordered them to call in.
"Red Five, standing by," Luke responded at his turn as Hobbie and Janson took up their places to his port side. Luke fell in behind Narra.
"Form up, lock S-foils in attack position," Narra ordered as soon as all seventeen of his flight had called in. "We are going in hot Red flight and coming back out the same way. Accelerate to full attack speed and maintain comm silence until we reach the marker point. May the Force be with us."
Luke felt his body press further into the chair as his fighter picked up speed.
Luke, trust your feelings.
He smiled, feeling the warmth of the Force flood him with the echo of Obi-Wan's voice. His heart rate slowed, the anxiety faded leaving only the shiver of anticipation in its wake as they approached Cusrean at high speed.
ooOOoo
"My Lord!" Ozzel's hologram image crackled on the tiny communicator within the cockpit of the modified Advance TIE. "Scanners have picked up eighteen small snub fighters heading for us at high velocity. They will be here in less than five minutes, shall I..."
"Allow them to approach unchallenged. They must take the first shot before we respond."
Ozzel bowed and the hologram faded. Vader toggled the comm and spoke with his squad. "Black Squadron, our objective is not to defend the station, or wipe out these rebels. That is for the attack wing. Our objective is simple; we are to locate, mark and isolate one of the rebel pilots. He is to be driven toward the Executor and brought on board, alive and unharmed." The last words were stressed; Luke must not come to harm. His son would pay the price for his rebellion soon enough but not by any hands but his own, or his master's.
"Prepare to launch on my mark," Vader powered up the throttle of his fighter and eased the ship out of the Executor's hangar bay.
ooOOoo
They were nearing the marker point; the planet Cusrean growing rapidly as they approached. Luke could see empty refitting and refuelling stations, he could see orbiting platforms circling the planet like dead star ships. His targeting computer pulsed as it searched for the Bio-Weapons facility, ringing out a tone as it locked. Luke could see it now, tendrils of durasteel sensors reaching claw like toward the planet it orbited. A repugnant structure with a repugnant purpose.
One capital ship, a Super Stardestroyer loomed far behind it, silhouetted against the dying planet. Vader's ship.
His stomach twisted with anger, with satisfaction. He was about to deal a blow to the Dark Lord. Maybe not one as devastating as the Death Star, but a blow nonetheless. He was about to destroy another space station on Vader's watch and...
Something wasn't right.
The sudden knowledge was like a punch to the gut. Luke twisted around to visually scan the area, checked his scanners.
Where were the other two cruisers they had been warned to expect?
Where were all the TIEs?
Why was no-one shooting at them?
This was wrong.
His feelings were screaming at him, he felt panicked, sick with no understanding of why.
Behind him Artoo twittered with concern, picking up his accelerating heart beat.
"Break, break, break," Narra called, breaking comm silence at the given moment. "Hit 'em hard and get out, Red Flight!"
They broke their formation heading unimpeded toward their weapon's facility; Narra and his wing men for the shield generator; Luke, Wedge and Hobbie for the reactor, others for life support, hangars and gun emplacements.
"A couple of shots and she's all yours, Luke," Wedge sounded pumped.
Luke didn't answer. This wasn't right, this was all wrong.
"Trust your feelings."
"Luke?" Wedge questioned, their target coming up fast. Too fast. "You with us?"
Luke was staring at the facility. It wasn't the lack of defences that had his senses rattling, it wasn't Vader's ship that had yet to turn in their direction. It was the station itself. It didn't feel malevolent. It didn't feel like the Death Star. It felt... hopeful. It felt...
Innocent.
"No!" He suddenly cried. "Commander this is a mistake. There's something not right here!"
"What?" Narra shouted, He had the shield generator lined up, had armed his torpedos, had his finger on the trigger. He was bothered by the lack of defences, but had hoped they had merely caught them by surprise. "What hell, Skywalker?"
"The station's not the danger here," Luke cried, trying to get a grip on his feelings, trying to figure out what the Force was telling him. His target was lined up, he had seconds before Wedge and Hobbie took their shots on the shielding, before he was to kill the facility.
Narra hesitated for a micro second. He fingered his trigger and his proton torpedoes were away. He pulled the X-Wing into a turn, heading away as his shots struck the station. They hit, exploded and the station visibly rocked.
Hobbie and Wedge followed suit; their quad guns blazing a trail through shielding for Luke to plant his torpedoes in the reactor. The whoops and yells of the pilots crackled through the comm.
"Pay back's a bitch!"
"This one's for Ra'iamar!"
The station was pounded, sensor arrays broke off, spun away. The hull buckled, air and beings blown into vacuum.
Luke cried out, pained. His emotions battered. He pressed hard on the pedals rolling the X-Wing, pitching it away from the station.
"Skywalker!" Narra's voice screamed in his ears. "What the frig..."
"TIEs!" Someone cried.
"We've got bogies, coming in point five-oh, twelve of them. Looks like Interceptors." Wedge advised.
"Shit! Shit!" Someone cursed. "More coming in point two. A lot!"
Luke scanned his scopes, eyeballed the enemy. "It's an attack wing! This was a trap!" He brought his ship around to face a wave of approaching enemy. They were still out of range but approaching fast.
"We've still got a job to do here," Narra reminded them, tightly. "Red Five take another run at the station, Two and Four back him up." The station's batteries opened fire, rocking Narra's shielding. "Shit," he cursed, peeling away. "Shields down by ten percent!"
"Sir!" Luke protested even as he brought his fighter back around with Wedge and Hobbie by his sides. "The station's not..."
"That a Godsbedamned order, Skywalker!"
An order. He knew he was endangering the squad. The TIEs were almost upon them and still he stayed his hands, still he disobeyed and took a risk of another hearing.
"Any repeat of the offense will result in a full formal hearing under military law."
He was conflicted, torn. Everything about this was wrong. The space station wasn't the threat they had been lead to believe it was. It was merely the bait, it was the catalyst that brought them here. It...
"We will speak at length, young one."
Vader's presence washed over him like a cold wave, chilling him to the core.
ooOOoo
The Dark Lord opened his fighter's engines to full throttle, barrelling the ship toward the attacking rebels who were now caught between the approaching wave of TIE fighters, his own squadron and the stations own guns.
"Hold fire," he told his squadron. "I will mark the one we want."
He checked his scopes and was pleased to see the Executor begin to turn toward the battle. Now to find his son.
ooOOoo
"Luke! Wake up!" Wedge was screaming at him. "We're gonna get pulverized!"
Antilles ship spun away, evading streaks of green energy. Luke's own ship rocked under a barrage from the station. Artoo shrieked from the droid socket. He pulled to port, spun, levelled his ship and flew straight through a field of TIE fighters, guns blazing.
There was an agonized screech over the comm.
"We've lost Twelve, we've lost Triani."
"There's one on my tail! Help me! Help me! Ah....."
"They're all over me!"
Luke threw up his helmet's blast shield, pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead, heaved in a steadying breath as he struggled with the emotions, the hammering of the Force against his feelings telling him one thing, while his sense of duty and loyalty told him another.
These were his friends who were dying.
Trust your feelings.
"The Destroyer's moving in!" Janson was sounding panicked. "Red six, one on your tail!"
"Where? I can't see... I can't..."
Another flare. Another death.
"Luke! Interceptor on your back!" Wedge called.
"Shit," he batted the blast shield down, pulled the control level sharply and threw the ship into evasive manoeuvres. The enemy ship followed him, but didn't fire upon him.
He knew it was Vader.
ooOOoo
Vader wrenched his own controls, following the X-Wing in a tight spin. The two ships weaved a patterned through the melee, dodging pieces broken off from the damaged station, darting through the conflagration of the battle.
His son's reflexes were quick, precise, his movements enhanced by his Force abilities. He was a talented pilot as Vader had discovered over the Death Star almost two years before.
He was his father's son in many ways.
The boy was conflicted. Luke had sensed that there was something amiss with the station, had realised that this was an elaborate ruse and yet there was a part of him that wanted to take the shot, to destroy the station so that they could get out, get away before more of his friends died.
Vader's targeting computer locked, he fingered the trigger and sent a torpedo speeding after his son's fighter.
"Ozzel, send another attack wing and bring the cruisers around."
ooOOoo
"He's got a lock!" Luke cried, pushing the column forward and down taking the fighter into a dive. "Wedge, I..."
The Interceptor peeled away as Luke's scanners picked up the torpedo heading his way.
"Artoo! Counter measures!"
He blasted a TIE that strayed into his path. Turned and tried to see behind, spotting the chasing weapon. "Shit!"
Artoo released the counter measures as Luke wrestled with the controls, throwing the X-Wing into wild loops and rolls as he tried to shake off the missile. It flew straight through the debris Artoo had released, gaining ground on the speeding ship.
"Hold on tight, Artoo!" Luke braced himself, closed his eyes as the missile struck. His fighter was shunted forward, his harness catching him with bruising impact. He cried out, "I'm hit, I'm hit..."
ooOOoo
Vader felt Luke's panic, caught the flaring terror as the missile struck the ship and exploded driving the tracker into the hull of X-Wing.
He checked his scopes, saw the blip appear on the screen.
"We have our target."
ooOOoo
"What the hell?" Luke shouted in disbelief. "Artoo, damage report?" He glanced at the screen as Artoo whistled in reply, taking note of the damage to the shields, the small hole in the hull. There was nothing too urgent.
"Luke, are you all right?" Wedge wanted to know.
"I'm fine, I... must have been a dud."
He was confused, relieved, but it was there; a warning in the Force.
"Where is he? Where'd he go?" He twisted around in his chair trying to see, one wing clipping debris and taking out one of his quad guns. The X-Wing rocked as he diverted power to his other weapons an shut down the damaged gun."Wedge, Janson do you see Vader?"
"Vader?" the comm crackled as Antilles spoke. "How'd you know..."
"Another wave!" Narra warned. "We have more TIEs incoming."
"Shit!" Luke breathed again, this was impossible. The odds against them grew by the minute, their situation was desperate and still the Cusrean Weapon's facility orbited the planet, damaged but not destroyed.
Because of him.
Because he had hesitated when he should have taken the shot.
He was Squad second; these were his men dying.
His friends.
No, Luke...
"Antilles, take out the reactor," Narra barked in his ear, the commander sounded furious, disappointed, desperate . "Skywalker bug out and return to base."
Humiliation burned, anger knotted within; he knew what he would face once back home. Narra thought he had frozen; thought he was incompetent. The whole squad knew what was happening and how he had let them down and allowed them to die.
No matter what the station held...
...innocence...
... it was Imperial. It was Vader's and he was still out here somewhere. It was time to humble the Dark Lord.
It was time to prove to the Alliance that he was still a pilot to be relied upon.
It was time to follow his orders by disobeying that last one.
Decision made; Luke brought his X-Wing back around, brought his remaining quad guns to bear and shot a path through the enemy ships. "Negative, Commander, I'm fine. I can do this." His voice was calm, even.
"Wedge, Hobbie, form up. Let's do this and go home."
Luke, no!
ooOOoo
Vader felt the stirring in the Force. Felt the darkness sing.
He could see the three X-Wings join formation, could see his son's ship take the lead.
"Let them through," he ordered all fighters. The station was to be destroyed. Let his son step onto the midnight path, let him feel the power and the passion of the Dark Side.
ooOOoo
Palpatine held up one bony finger effectively silencing his advisor. He glanced up, looked inward, his mind reaching into the Force and he smiled at what he found.
The father...
...and the son.
And the Dark Side embracing them both.
ooOOoo
Luke threw aside the echo in the Force as he watched his HUD, concentrating on evading the fireworks coming his way. He drew the Force closer, ignored the wrongness in it, focused only on the target before him and closed his eyes. He thumbed the triggered, fired the missiles and pulled up and away as they struck.
"Yeeeha!!" Wedge shrieked. "Direct hit, Luke! Welcome back!"
Luke looped around, saw the fires, saw the flames engulf the structure, saw the station explode, grimaced as the deaths of those on board sliced through the Force. He gasped, stifled a cry at the hammering emotion. The feelings winked out as suddenly as they arose and then he grinned, laughed. He'd done it!
"Okay, Red Squad, time to run!" Narra advised, relief clear in voice.
The remaining X-Wings cut off from the battle all heading for the edge of the solar system and open space from which to jump.
"They're chasing us," Hobbie observed, trying to sound calm as his aft shields took a hit. His craft bounced.
"Ya think?" Wedge responded tightly, wrenching his control column and pressing as hard on the foot pedals spinning his ship to evade more fire.
"More coming in from..."
"I see them," Narra responded. "Red Five, they're heading your way."
Luke banked, allowed the blasts to pass under him. The Interceptor fighters followed, cutting through Red Squad as Luke attempted to come back around. The Imperial squad broke up, coming at Luke from different directions effectively surrounding him.
"Shit! They're on me!"
Wedge checked his scopes. "That Destroyer's getting awfully close," he noted. He frowned at a strange signal, visually checked its source as his fighter shuddered under fire. He followed after one of the Interceptors, blew it away. "Luke, you're transmitting something."
"What?" Luke rasped as another Interceptor fell in behind him. Movement caught his eye as an Imperial fighter drew up on his port and starboard sides. Yet another above and below. "What are they doing?"
But he knew. He'd been tagged and they were driving him toward the approaching capital ship and its tractor beam.
"Luke!" Wedge called as he was cut off from his friend, as the second attack wave of TIE fighters opened fire on the Red Squad survivors. "Friggin, hell, Luke!"
"Just go!" Luke told him, desperately. "Commander, I'll see you all back at base."
"We're not leaving you," Antilles told him. "Not this time."
Narra broke in. "Break and run Reds, that include you Wedge! Skywalker make sure you have that bug off before coming home."
"I hear you!" He banked to port, scrapping his foil against the nearest Interceptor. A warning burst of fire from behind carbon scored his wing. "Artoo, get that damned thing off my ship!"
"I'll keep a beer warm for you, Luke."
"Thanks, Wedge." He was grateful for their sentiments but he had a feeling it wouldn't be alcohol that would be running through his veins in the next few hours if he couldn't get himself and Artoo out of this. "Artoo, we don't have much time, can you reach it?" He fought to keep calm, fought to keep the panic at bay, knowing that to lose his wits now would see him back in an Imperial cell. He licked dry lips as he regarded the looming Super Star Destroyer.
Artoo blooped, whistled his concern as he rose up and out of the droid socket, magnetising his treads to the hull of the X-Wing as he trundled across the back of the ship towards the small hole.
"I know, I know. I'll fly careful just watch yourself."
A whisper of a warning in the Force and he pushed the control column forward, down and scraped his belly off the top of the Interceptor below him. Green laser fire lit up the canopy above him. "Artoo! You okay?"
A muted raspberry cheered him.
"Okay, just make it quick and get back in the socket. We're cutting this fine." He drew in a deep breath, fighting to keep his composure, trying to keep his mind centred. He reached for the Force and found...
...nothing...
...an empty expanse...
...nothing, no feeling of power or strength.
Another deep breath. "Come on, don't leave me now," he whispered to the Force. He reached out again...
ooOOoo
"The tractor beam is ready, Mi'Lord, he will be in range in moments," Ozzel assured Vader as he trailed behind the bobbing X-Wing. It couldn't manoeuvre far, its movements restricted by the herding actions of Black Squadron. Soon, his son would be in his grasp. Soon Luke would learn the lessons of his actions and he...
Vader frowned, leaned forward for a better view of the X-Wing. The droid was lifting out of the socket and moving along the back of the ship. He smiled, Luke was trying to remove the tracker. It was too late for that; his was the only Rebel ship left and an easy target now the battle had ended.
He fired off a shot toward the astrodroid and Luke's ship suddenly dropped as the boy anticipated the blast, protecting the little machine.
Interesting, that Luke should be so protective of a droid.
"We got 'em, Artoo."
Wasn't he once the same? Didn't he once have a droid who rarely left his side.
Artoo Detoo. A machine he had modified over the years after being gifted him by...
No, he would not think her name. He would not recall those events.
He watched the droid on Luke's ship as a grasping claw reached out and probed a hole on the aft fuselage, watched as the tracker was pick up and let go to spin away and bounce off his own ship.
The little blue droid in the elevator on Escaal. The droid that had tapped into the detention centre systems and killed the power as he assisted the Primary Interrogator, Rhovan, rescue his young master, was now working its way back to the droid socket. It was unmistakably Artoo Detoo.
Vader couldn't help himself. He smiled, intrigued at how the astrodroid had survived the years since the last time he had seen him.
"Artoo, stay with the ship."
Mustafar.
"You were my brother, Anakin!"
The Dark Lord growled low in his throat, angry at allowing the droid to distract him, allowing his mind to wander when he should be focusing on getting his errant son on board the Executor and into custody. He drew his attention and concentration to the pilot in the craft in front of him and opened himself to the Force, opened and felt for his son's unique presence.
The boy was struggling to find his focus; his awareness of the Force muted and subdued, beginning to wane and...
He yelled. "No!" As he realised what Luke was about to do and what his mistake had been.
Even if the boy had shot it down, he should have had a ship in front of the X-Wing.
"Ozzel now!" he roared, opening fire on his son's ship. "Disable him!"
ooOOoo
Artoo whistled behind him and Luke gunned his engines, pushing the X-Wing to its limits. He accelerated toward the Destroyer and way from the cordon of Interceptors as a flash of laser fire burst beside his canopy. He dived, twisted, was pressed into his seat by powerful g-forces. He brought his ship down the sheer side of the destroyer and under its vast belly.
He emerged on the other side.
"Artoo, programme the jump."
He received a whistled warning.
"I know we're inside the system, compensate for it."
His X-Wing rocked, his shields pummelled, as he pointed it at open space, spun and pitched to avoid the barrage of laser fire.
"Artoo!" He yelled.
The X-Wing winked into hyperspace with green streaks of light following in its wake.
ooOOoo
"My... Lord," Ozzel was stuttering over the com. "We... we couldn't get a lock. The sudden velocity of the..."
Vader shut the comm off.
He stared at the spot where Luke had disappeared. The boy had taken a risk with the jump so close to the system but it was something he had done himself in his youth; executed an escape at the last possible moment, fought against impossible odds and still emerged victorious.
He banked his fighter, turned it back to the Executor and saw the burning, blasted wreckage of the refugee centre. Luke would not feel so jubilant when word reached him that he had just murdered civilians; men, women and children whose only crime was to believe Palpatine's promises of relocation and re-settlement.
The boy's grief and anguish could only serve to drive him further into darkness where his father would be waiting to welcome him.
ooOOoo
To be continued....