K'gworth shoved Luke into the dungeon cell. The door shut behind him with a heavy, definitive thump. Luke went flying, his boots searching for but not finding purchase on the thick, slippery floor. Judging by the smell, he didn't want to know what was decomposing down there. He collided with something very solid, very warm and very hairy. Chewbacca grunted at the impact and held Luke upright, but not before he caught a mouthful of Wookiee fur.
"Luke!" Leia exclaimed. She ran to him and spun him around, her gaze sweeping over him. "What happened to you? When we realized you weren't captured with us, we feared the worst." Her fingers brushed over the charred edges of the hole in the shoulder of his flight suit. "You're hurt?"
"A farmer on the edge of the town gave me a bacta patch. I'm fine." It was mostly true. The blaster wound was a mere throb instead of a screaming pain. "But are you three okay?"
Leia nodded. "Not a scratch. The stormtroopers rounded us up and marched us here. They locked us in and have left us alone ever since." Her dark eyes shone in her pale face, just visible in the dim light coming from a narrow, barred window set in the wall high above their heads. Through it, Luke could see a few stars start to make their appearance in the evening sky.
What he wouldn't give to be out there among them.
"Hey Kid." Han clapped his hand on Luke's good shoulder. "So how do you plan on getting us out, now that you got yourself locked in?
Luke held up the hilt of his unlit lightsaber. K'gworth had taken it from him and handed it to Pottz before shoving Luke into the cell, but she didn't secure it. Luke called it to him with the Force as the door shut. He had a feeling Pottz wouldn't tell.
A slow smile spread across Han's face. "I like how your mind works," he said.
Luke ignited the lightsaber, its icy blue glow illuminating the small cell. He could see for himself that his friends were indeed unhurt, albeit covered by new layers of grime. He moved to the southern wall. If the map of the castle he drew in his head as K'gworth led him to the dungeons was correct, this wall should lead to the outside.
"Do you still have your comlink?" he asked Han. His plan was going to go up in a wisp of smoke if Han didn't.
"Yeah. They took my blaster, of course, but I managed to hide the comm. I haven't been able to get a signal, however." Han pulled it out. "Why?"
Luke exhaled. "I have Threepio standing by to bring in the Falcon with the beacon call once we get clear."
Han and Chewie exchanged looks. Luke didn't like the expressions that crossed both their faces. He crossed his arms.
"I don't need the Force to know what you are thinking," he said, "but what alternatives do we have? The Falcon is docked hundreds of kilometers away at the spaceport. If the Empire is looking for us, we won't be able to rent a speeder. And we can't make it on foot. The Diswaltis don't leave their homes at night. Something about the forests not being safe."
"He's right, Han," Leia said. "The Falcon has to come here."
Han's mouth moved but no noises came out. Finally, he managed to form words. "Goldenrod? You believe that useless bundle of circuits will be able to fly my ship? Are you nuts?"
"I thought you liked how my mind works," Luke said.
"The moving objects part I like. The thinking part has problems. Big ones." Han's mouth continued to open and close, like a Mon Calimari trapped on Tattoine during a sand storm. Chewie rumbled next to him, his growls unsure and suspicious.
"It'll be fine. At least Luke had a plan before he came in here, which is more than we had before," Leia said. She touched her hand to Han's arm, and then pulled it away when he glanced down at it. "Besides," she said with a lift of a regal eyebrow, "the Alliance will pay for any damages, so that should take care of your concerns, Captain Solo." She turned to Luke. "First things first. Let's get out of here."
"I'm right on it." Luke positioned the tip of the lightsaber blade against the wall and began to cut.
Or at least, that was his intent.
The blade willingly went into the first few centimeters of stone.
But then it…sputtered out. There was no other way to describe it. A few fizzling sparks, and the lightsaber turned itself off.
"What's wrong with it?" Leia asked, her voice sharp.
"I don't know," Luke confessed. "It's never done that before." He ignited the blade again. The weapon hummed and glowed as usual. With a wrinkled nose, Luke lifted something unrecognizable off the refuse on the floor. He threw it into the air, and the blade cleanly and swiftly cut it in half.
He tried the wall again. But no go. Sputter, and automatic shut off. "It's not the lightsaber. It must be something in the stone."
Leia's shoulders slumped. "I don't suppose you have a Plan B?"
Chewie let out a series of short staccato roars, and Han nodded. "What about the door?" Han asked. "We'll have to go through the castle, but that's the way you came in. Hopefully you know the way out."
Luke walked over to the cell door. He didn't relish prolonging his stay in the castle, but at least the door wasn't made of stone. He ignited the lightsaber once more, and started to cut through the layers of steel.
Hiss! The blade sparked, jumped and disappeared, the feedback causing Luke to drop the hilt. Whatever was in the stone was also in the door, only there was more of it.
"Great. Just great," Han muttered. "Plan C, anyone?"
Luke picked up his weapon and tried to wipe the slimy residue from the floor off it as best he could. He could feel the others' disappointment, but his own emotions were even darker. This was a cell meant to hold a Jedi, he realized. Or to keep a Jedi out. There was no other explanation for why it was lined with some sort of material that neutralized lightsabers.
The dark side corruption he felt earlier pressed at him, whispering in his ear, igniting an aching burn in his heart. Be angry. Be afraid. This is your fault. You're the one the Emperor's Beast wants, not them. And now they will die, horribly, painfully. Because of you—
"Boy?" A concealed narrow slot in the middle of the cell door suddenly slid open. "Are you still there, boy?"
"Pottz? Luke bent down until he could see her.
She smiled and clapped her hands together. "There you are! Now, are you quite done with the dungeons?"
"You better say yes," Han said.
"Quite done," Luke agreed.
The door to the cell swung open. Pottz stood before them, a large ring of keys clutched tight in her hands. "Let's go, spit spot," she said.
She walked quickly, leading the small party through the dungeon's winding corridors, up the narrow stairs, and back to the main gallery. Luke felt as if he could take his first real, deep breath in hours. The dark side voices faded, their words forgotten.
"I finally realized that you wanted to be in the dungeons because of the other three," Pottz confided to Luke. "So I figured that if I moved the others, you would move, too."
"I can't thank you enough," Luke said. Out of the corner of his eye, he noted that Han had his comlink out and was speaking softly into it.
"Oh, 'twas nothing," Pottz said, a pink blush on her pale cheeks. "So, now can I take you to your real room? It's much nicer than the dungeons, I promise." She tugged Luke's hand, trying to lead him to the grand staircase that led to the upper floors.
Luke stood his ground. "Pottz, we're leaving," he said gently. "We have to go. I truly appreciate all your help, but I can't stay."
She stared at him, her lavender eyes wide and unblinking. "But you're the boy!" she said. "I know you are. You're the one we're waiting for."
Luke shook his head. "I'm not anything," he said. "I'm just a moisture farmer from Tatooine." A moisture farmer capable of wiping out an entire battle station the size of a moon with one torpedo, he thought uneasily, and then quashed it. He was still feeling the strain from the…whatever it was…deep in the dungeons. He motioned at Leia, who was watching him closely with a thoughtful look in her dark gaze, and moved toward the large entry door. Han and Chewie beat him to it.
"No!" Pottz cried. "You need to meet the mistress first." She held onto Luke with a surprisingly strong grip.
A whooshing noise assaulted their ears, and then bright halogen lights lit up the outside night sky as if it were noon.
"That's my girl," Han said, and he threw open the main door with a major assist from Chewbacca.
A stunned Pottz loosened her grip on Luke enough for him to break free. He raced outside to see the Falcon doing lazy oblongs in the sky, one side of the ship higher than the other.
"Shavit!" Han exclaimed. "Goldenrod did something to the stabilizers." He threw the comlink at Chewie, who caught it with a graceful paw. "Talk to the Falcon's computers, see if you can calm the systems down and undo the damage." He waved his arms at the ship, as if it could see him and respond. And maybe it could, Luke thought. Force knew he still missed the connection he had with Arfive.
Pottz drew near and stood slack-jawed at his side. "How pretty," she said. Luke gave her a sideways glance. "No wonder those two are so in love," she said, indicating Han and Chewie who now has their heads together and were both talking into the comlink. "They share such a beautiful ship."
Leia glanced at Pottz. Her eyebrows rose higher than Luke had ever seen them, but she didn't say anything.
The Falcon eventually straightened out and started to drift toward the ground, landing repulsors engaged and the boarding ramp lowered. Luke felt his shoulders relax. For once, an escape worked as planned. Who ever would have thought such a thing possible?
Chewie reached the ramp first, using his Wookiee height and strength to pull himself on board. He grabbed Han, who quickly disappeared into the ship. Probably to throw Threepio out of the cockpit, Luke thought. Leia stood by, her posture straight and outward manner serene as always, ready for the boarding ramp to be low enough for her to reach Chewbacca's hand.
Pottz's gaze remained fixed on the Falcon. "Bye, Pottz," Luke said. He brushed her smooth cheek with his lips in a farewell kiss. "Thanks again." He walked to Leia's side and waited for his opportunity to jump into the ship.
The lightning hit hard them hard. Sharp, hard, a thousand volt jolt to frail human systems. Nerve endings flared, frayed. Synapses burned. His Force sense screamed the hardest of all. Luke fought through the pain and disorientation. He threw himself over Leia, shielding her as best as he could from the attack. He forced his eyes open to narrow slits, saw long brunette locks escaped from their practical coiled braids and a cowering Pottz, kneeling with her forehead prone on the ground. He managed to regain enough control of his body to turn his head, trace the lightning to its source.
A cloaked figure, dark, ominous, malevolent. Glowing gold eyes, deep inside a shadowed hood. Crackling dark side energy, pouring from outstretched fingers. Slender, delicate fingers. The words appeared in his brain from nowhere, exhausting what little conscious thought Luke still possessed.
"Taking my guests away without being properly introduced to their host? What bad manners you have, Just a Farmer from Tatooine." The voice was low, throaty and full of promised menace.
The voice of the Beast.