"Yeah, well I thought I had
it working." Han said annoyed at the wookiee's comment on his
skills as a mechanic. He hit a panel with the side of his hand,
smiled widely at the reassuring sound of throbbing power that started
"See: no problem." Chewie just woofeld quitely. Han thought
about replying but decided it wasn't worth it.
Clutching the
Falcon's controls, he banked her around and sent her careening
down towards the yellow planet that dominated two thirds of the view
out the falcon's cockpit. The huge planet reminded Han a little of
the distant Tatooine, though its violence made Tatooine's brutal
climate seem like a holiday. Storms raged across its surface: a
dramatic contrast between scorched dune seas and ragged, black storms
pouring rain over isolated areas. Gale winds blew fierce, abrasive
sand clouds across the dunes, remapping the landscape where they
destroyed rock and sand formations with the brutal force of the sand
being thrown at terrific speeds against them. Han whistled in
appreciation of the ferocity of the scene before him. Chewie howled
softly.
"Do we really want to fly through that lot?"
Han asked, not wanting anything else to go wrong with his ship.
Chewie looked skeptical about the idea of the Falcon making it
through,
"Trust Karrde to pick a planet like this to
call home. I knew the guy went in for out of the way bases but this
is getting ridiculous." Chewie made a point "Yeah, I
suppose it would give you a perfect camouflage." Han agreed,
peering at the sensors display. He for one couldn't make out anything
big enough to be a base.
"Your pick buddy: north, south,
east or west...?"
The comm light flashed for his
attention. Suddenly untrusting of this godforsaken planet, Han
frowned at it. Theoretically no one but Leia and Karrde knew Han was
coming. Theoretically. And besides, Han couldn't see any other ships
on the sensors, and he didn't trust a caller he couldn't see.
"Chewie," he said, acting on impulse "charge
up the main guns."
Chewie howled in objection as Han
pushed out of the pilot's chair and made for the gun ports "I
dunno Chewie, just do it."
It was probably nothing of
course. Just the sensors playing up again: or Han on edge cause he'd
rather be back on Coruscant helping Leia figure out where Luke was.
But he'd promised Karrde he'd be here, and there was no way to send a
comm to this place, so he'd had to come. Leia hadn't been too pleased
but that was just the way things went sometimes.
---
Luke
woke slowly, his mind groggy and struggling with unconsciousness. His
body tingled as his senses flooded with an overload of information
after days of being numbed.
For a while he just lay there.
After the last time he had woken he wasn't looking forward to seeing
where he was now. He could tell he wasn't in the same laboratory he
had been in the last time he had woken: there wasn't the burning
white light from harsh laboratory lamps; this wasn't the same medical
smell that had tainted the air there. And he could feel the side of
his head now too. The cool feeling of metal pressed close to his
head. But this time he felt only a small patch, and there were no
wires touching his skin. Whatever they (and who were 'they' anyway?)
had been doing, they had done it, and Luke didn't find the idea of
opening his eyes and finding out just exactly what that was
particularly thrilling.
He was tired. Weary like his body had
been fighting a battle for days but hadn't let his consciousness in
on the act. He had already tried to move and had discovered that he
was held in place by rigid restraints. When he was stronger he would
try and break them with the Force, but he doubted he would be able to
do it. A quick survey through the Force told him that the restraints
obviously weren't the usual locking type; they felt seamless, and
Luke had yet to figure out how to move them. Whoever 'they' were,
they had obviously planned this meticulously; done their homework on
Jedi. The thought didn't give Luke much hope, but even the best plans
had faults. He needed to get out of these restraints, first, though
he needed to let his mind rest and get over this inexplicable
tiredness.
The downward tug on his body told Luke that he lay
almost horizontal, the angle the table was tipped at was somehow
familiar, but Luke couldn't place the memory at the moment. He tried
opening his eyes, blinked at the sudden light. As he opened his eyes
he was aware of other senses too, the soft hum of working machinery,
the click of feet on hard deck. His eyes readjusted to the light and
Luke stared up at the ceiling. It was unusually high, he realised.
Thankfully, he found that he could move his head a few
degrees either way, and he tried to see his surroundings: banks of
machinery stood blinking quietly to themselves at a far wall, a large
blastproof door stood opposite them. He could see the edge of a halo
of wires reaching out behind his head, and could just make out
scanner wires and sensor pads attached to him, wires running down and
beneath where he lay. He could tell from a deep thrum behind him that
most of the machinery in the room was behind him; out of his line of
sight.
He looked left and froze. A huge reptilian creature
stared down at him, brown scales covered its body, beady eyes stared
intensely at Luke's face, a long tongue flicked out and back again.
Trying to force down his first reaction, which was repulsion, and
acknowledge his second, which was recognition, he stared back into
the creature's eyes. His stare turned from disbelief to defiance
as the events slipped neatly into place in his mind.
Ssi-ruuk,
Luke thought, old and painful memories pushing at his
consciousness.
---
Swh'hr'ring stared intently
at the human as he woke and looked around himself. Eagerly he had
watched the human's progression into consciousness and had
waited to see his initial reaction to this captors. Somehow he had
expected a stronger reaction to the knowledge it was the ssi-ruuk. He
surely knew, as soon as he had recognized them that his would be the
job of enteching the human forces, didn't he? Ah, well, even if the
human had not panicked except for a few seconds when he had looked on
Swh'hr'ring's face, Swh'hr'ring could be contented with gaining the
knowledge that the restraints would indeed hold the Jedi. He had had
some concerns over this: they had learnt from the young technician
who had survived the scout mission 14 years ago that the restraints
had been one of the faults in the original Skywalker project: this
time they had done their research though, and he had been assured
that the restraints were indeed Jedi-proof. For once, the technicians
back home had not bent the truth. Swh'hr'ring had at first
campaigned for the fleet intelligence to investigate getting a
different Jedi who had not had experience with the ssi-ruuk imperium,
but when it had been learned that Skywalker was the most powerful and
therefore also the most suitable for the task he had conceded the
point and helped prepare for this day. He whistled softly to himself;
he loved it when things went to plan
---
Han
settled quickly and with practiced ease into the gunwells seat and
started flicking switches, the screens came on satisfyingly quick as
he strapped in and placed the com-set over his head. Getting a grip
of the controls he patched it in to the ships private comm system
"All set Chewie?" he asked, getting an affirmative growl in
reply "Okay: stay sharp."
He watched as the Falcon
broke atmosphere and spiraled down towards the violent sand storms
"Keep her clear of anywhere near those storms, Chewie, I have a
feeling the turbulence on this planet is even worse than it looks."
The Falcon ripped clouds as it dived downwards. Chewie
did some clever manoeuvres as they hit unexpected pockets of
turbulence and the ship rocked and groaned in protest as she was
battered by the raging air currents.
"Chewie! I said stay
"Okay Chewie." Han said
good-naturedly "Just watch the storms."
Sand and
flak flew against Han's viewport as the Falcon neared the
ground and heavier particles swirled in the atmosphere. Han struggled
to watch the skies beyond the sand screen...watching for the ship he
knew had to be there to get a call through the sand.
"Chewie,
are they still hailing us?" He asked.
Chewie growled:
yes, but less frequently.
Han frowned. Surely if they wanted
to talk they should be hailing them more frequently as the
Falcon went into the storms, shouldn't they? If they weren't
trying to stop the Falcon from entering the cloud layer,
then
they must have wanted Han to go in here, which meant--
The ship lurched as a laser bolt seared through the sky and
hit just short of Han's gunwell, "Chewie!" He shouted, "Get
us back up!! Its a trap!!"
He gripped the controls and
fired blind into the sand storm in the direction he thought the shot
had come from. Another bolt exploded to Han's right. Lights flicked
of across his board and Han swore: those bolts were a damn site more
powerful than anything Han had met before. Another hit dangerously
close to Han's cockpit. Chewie howled and flipped the falcon 180 to
protect him.
"Chewie?"
No answer.
"Chewie,
turn the damn ship over! I thought I saw where that blast came from!"
Chewie complied and Han peered into the sand. He would swear
he'd seen a black ship just before that last bolt had hit...Han heard
Chewie howl and the Falcon dived. A black shadow shot over Han's
range of view
As Chewie sent the ship into a dive, he gave Han
the perfect shot. Han poured blaster fire onto the ship, saw it glow
slightly but not disintegrate like he'd hoped. He swore under his
breath as Chewie banked the Falcon around for another pass at
the limping ship. He sent the Falcon on a collision path
towards the smaller ship. Han drained energy to the guns and fired
relentlessly at the small black shape. Blurred by the sand Han
couldn't make out the type, but he didn't need to know the serial
number to destroy it.
The Falcon neared it and still
it didn't explode.
Han swore again, "How much can that
thing take?! What is it? All shields?!" The sand seemed to clear
as Chewie kept the Falcon on course for the ship "Chewie
pull off!! He's not gonna blow! Pull off!" Chewie howled and
kept the Falcon on course.
"Sithspit, Chewie-"
The ship exploded and the Falcon burst through the
fireball, burning broken pieces of hull bounced of Han's cockpit as
the intense light burned his eyes. Chewie howled in victory and Han
cheered with him.
"You stupid son of a-" he started
as Chewie brought the ship up out of the atmosphere. His words stuck
in his throat as he saw three ships hovering in wait for them,
stalking the space where the Falcon had first entered the
cloud layer. Chewie had brought the ship up a few klicks from them
and howled in surprise.
"Chewie get us out of here!"
He shouted "How long to hyperspace?" Chewie howled: a few
minutes. "Then we fight it out till then." Han said.
The
three ships turned and raced towards the fleeing Falcon. Now
they were out of the sand storm Han could see them more clearly. He
thought that they were vaguely familiar; a geometric design in a
jet-black, but he couldn't place them. The ships rained fire on the
Falcon as they flashed over head "Chewie!"
He
howled: ten seconds. Han decided to pour the last of the guns power
into the nearest ship, it glowed brightly, the engine flaring up with
an orange flash and sending the ship spinning down towards a fiery
end in the planet's atmosphere.
"Now!!"
Chewie yelled. Han gripped the controls waiting for the
familiar starlines to appear: he had just drained the ship's guns of
energy in that last blast; they wouldn't have lasted much longer.
The starlines never appeared.
"Err...Chewie?"
Chewie howled in anger: the alluvial dampers had shorted out.
Han swore "Stang! Well, pal it was good while it lasted-"
The
second of the ships blew up spectacularly next to Han's gunwell,
throwing flak against his screen.
"What?"
A
red-black ship streaked across Han's view, taking out the final ship
with a well aimed blast at its thrusters. As the other ship slowed
from its attack and banked around towards them Han got a good look at
it.
Surprised but relieved he let out a sigh of relief "Chewie
patch us in-"
"Solo? When are you ever going to
learn?"
"One day, Jade, one day." He answered
as he powered down the guns and slipped of the headset. Climbing back
down/across he dropped to the Falcon's main corridor and entered
the cockpit. Mara Jade's ship, the Jade's Fire, flew shotgun to
the Falcon. Han started punching up diagnostics to check she was
still working.
"Can you still fly?" Mara was saying
as watched warning lights flash across the screen. None were serious
though: the Falcon was so cross-wired she could fly with half
her systems down.
"Yeah thanks to you...or maybe no
thanks to you? Where the hell is Karrde anyway? He was supposed to
meet us here and instead we're welcomed by open turbolasers. What's
the deal, Mara?"
She seemed to hesitate "Look, Solo,
I'm sure Karrde will explain it all to you himself. I'm just here as
escort. Follow me in. " Han was about to ask how she had known
to find them here anyway, but she cut off the channel before he could
answer back. He glared at the comm, looked at Chewie "Well, I
guess we better follow her. Its not like we can go anywhere else
anyway." Chewie woofled his disapproval but complied. A slightly
more battered Falcon once again headed down towards the
turbulent atmosphere.
---
Luke stared at the
ssi-ruuk. It looked back him, its Force sense touched with
excitement. Luke felt like a laboratory animal. Trapped. The ssi-ruuk
was not that tall compared to other ssi-ruuk Luke had seen, and was
not as scaled as some, but apart from that Luke was struck by how
much the alien resembled Firrwirung, the ssi-ruuk who had controlled
Dev Sibwarra for so long. Controlled him.
Luke frowned at the
huge lizard. Why weren't they trying the same trick on Luke, as they
obviously meant to keep him alive, and must know that Luke would try
to escape. Did they know that any type of hypnotism probably wouldn't
work on Luke? Were they simply not bothering. No, that didn't feel
right. So how did they plan on keeping him?
The brown ssi-ruuk
stepped over to a side panel that Luke thought looked like a comm
unit and whistled into the receiver. He had to strain his neck into
the restraints to see, but Luke thought he saw the face of a larger
ssi-ruuk appear on the screen. While the two aliens talked Luke
worked at the straps. He could feel them in the Force but he couldn't
find an ending to the circular rings: it was like a continuous piece
of metal. There had to be a way to release them. If he couldn't pull
the two apart there were other ways of freeing himself from them. He
felt for the structure of the metal, searching for its weakness. In
most metals he would have been able to change the structure of the
atoms, perhaps thinning it until it could be broken, but the
structure of this metal was stronger even than durasteel: held in a
tight lattice that would not be moved.
Luke, still tired and
weary, gave up after ten minutes of pulling at the atoms with the
Force. He had thought nothing was immovable with the force, and
probably it wasn't, but then he wasn't infinitely powerful in the
Force. There were limits.
He let his head lay back on
the table as he allowed his mind to rest. Luke thought back to
Bakura, back to 15 years ago. Then he had had a vision after Dev had
warned him of the ssi-rruk's plan, of the galaxy being a supply
ground for the ssi-ruuvi army. Luke shuddered as he thought about it,
wishing there could possibly be another reason why he was here, alive
but unable to move. But he could think of only one.
After
Luke had freed himself on the first ssi-ruuk cruiser to attack, Dev
had told Luke that the ssi-ruuk had been able to adapt their
entechment machinery so that Luke would be able to use the Force to
entech humans for the aliens from a distance. Luke remembered the
sickening feeling of the ssi-ruuk battle droids, tortured human souls
screaming out for freedom. Luke shut his eyes. Then he had resisted
their attempts, if, as he thought, they were trying again, he
wouldn't let himself do it. He didn't know of any way they could
force him to entech, except by hypnotism, and Luke was sure that if
he was prepared for it, he would be able to resist.
He hoped
so, anyway.
A horrible thought struck Luke as he lay there
staring at the ceiling: what had they been doing earlier? He had a
vivid memory of lying in a room, his head covered with...with
something metal and alien to him, he remembered the touch of the
metal against his skin and the feeling of being suffocated as his
senses switched of...and the steady thrumming of...of something. The
memories didn't seem to match. Were some made up? Were all of them
made up, or none? He wished he had time to rest and regain his
strength, because his doubted he would be able to stand even if he
did escape these bonds.
The small brown alien signed off and
walked towards Luke. It peered at him, whistled at him. Luke didn't
understand a word it had said, and was about to see if he could gain
a hold on the excited aliens mind, when a cool mechanical voice said
from behind him,
"Welcome, Jedi Skywalker."
Luke
stared in disbelief, a droid? It wouldn't have been hard to get a
droid and program it with both the ssi-ruuvi and basic languages, it
was just that Luke had always thought of the aliens as being totally
alien. Now, suddenly they were able to speak to him, if only through
proxy.
"Funny, I don't feel very welcome." was best
retort Luke could think of, under the circumstances. The droid
whistled back in ssi-ruuvi at the alien. It seemed to frown, though
it was hard for Luke discern emotions from the creatures. The heavy
blast door opposite Luke's bed/table started to pull upwards slowly.
Must be heavily shielded, he thought. The larger blue ssi-ruuk
Luke had seen on the comm stepped in, with 3 p'w'ecks brandishing
paddle beamers at its side. He whistled at the younger alien and the
two turned to look at Luke.
The big blue alien finally decided
to speak. "Human, I would like to welcome you aboard this
cruiser." Luke just stared serenely into the big aliens eyes,
trying to read into its mind at the same time. "We hope that you
will be cooperative in the following weeks."
Luke could
almost see a gleam in its eye as the droid translated this last. So,
he is hungry for battle, Luke thought. I hope he never gets to see
it. "It is your honor to help us to bring these worlds into the
ssi-ruuk Imperium for" the droid whistled a name that Luke could
not catch, but guessed it must either be the political or military
leader of their race. The droid started to say something about what
would happen if Luke would not cooperative but Luke
interrupted.
" I hope you have a better plan for holding
me than with these." he said, trying to keep the ssi-ruuk
off-guard: he didn't want them getting too comfortable with thinking
Luke would help them.
The blue alien whistled the droid
translated "The restraints currently holding you have been
tested for every eventuality. They are inescapable. But please feel
free to try and escape if it will make you feel better."
Sarcasm, Luke thought, just did not suit droids.
"Thank
you, I will." He said, making sure his voice dripped with his
own sarcasm.
"You will have noticed the metal plate
attached to you skull. This is simply to help with your function-do
not concern yourself with it."
Perhaps something was lost
in the translation, but if do not concern yourself with it'
wasn't a big clue that it was important, he didn't know
what was.
He stretched out to the Force and felt for the
plate. He could feel where it stretched into his skin and beyond. It
was complex: he traced the energy flows in the Force and recognized
the pattern vaguely.
Though it sounded absurd, it reminded him
of the diagram plans for a remote circuit that Luke had seen a few
times during his time with the Alliance. They had been useful in
guerrilla tactics: remote droids used as high-energy bombs on
sabotage missions without risking the saboteurs too. But, Luke
thought woefully, they had been nowhere near as complex as this, or
as advanced. He wouldn't dare try and pull it free: he could feel its
tendrils reaching past bone and into grey.
Bringing himself
back to awareness, he opened his eyes and stared up at the two aliens
watching him intently.
"I'm impressed." He said.
Perhaps if he acted submissive they would become complacent and make
a mistake: give him a window of opportunity.
The droid walked
into view and Luke caught his breath. It was a C3 protocol droid, and
though the voice bore no resemblance the droid did look strikingly
like threepio. "We are enroute to our first target where you
will learn the capabilities of the chip." it said. Luke couldn't
help but notice the glimmer of anticipation in the smaller ssi-ruuk's
eye at the thought of this. He doesn't care about the battles,
Luke thought, he just wants to see if this thing they've
put in my head works. Two different minds, two different
passions, but both so blood thirsty.
Of course, Luke would
never entech anybody. He thought he could defy whatever the chip did.
He was, after all, the only one who could reach out with his mind and
touch the Force: he would simply refuse to touch it. All the same, he
had been naively certain of himself in the past and fallen badly, but
that had been a long time ago. Still, he hoped it took them a long
time to reach wherever they were going. Maybe in that time he would
be able to find a way out of these restraints.
The smaller
ssi-ruuk whistled and the droid translated, "Rest now, you must
be very tired."
Luke thought it was an odd statement,
almost suggestive. He didn't fell tired at all anymore, but he
decided to pretend that he was so that he could concentrate on
freeing himself. He laid his head back against the table and nodded
in agreement with the droid, closing his eyes as he did. They
whistled to each other, then turned to leave. He frowned at them as
they left with their accompaniant guard of p'w'ecks.
---
Luke
was alone. He looked at the ceiling, traced its patterns as he tried
to think of a way out of this mess, and as he tried to think back to
what had happened on Cassrine. He vaguely remembered wandering
through the forest behind the hotel. It had been raining hard: he had
gone out to get some fresh air. He frowned. He couldn't remember what
had happened next, everything was blurred: he thought he could
remember trying to reach Leia...but he hadn't been able to. He hoped
she was all right. He should have been able to reach her, even
if she was sleeping. No, she had to be all right: he had felt her
calling out to him whilst he was still coming around. He thought back
to that contact: remembered being jealous of her. He'd never felt
like that before: and he had no reason to envy her life, not now, but
it had felt so just when he was waking. That didn't make sense.
Neither did his amnesia: surely he would remember anything to do with
the ssi-ruuk, but he didn't. The memories just didn't seem to be
there. How had they done it? He remembered feeling a little dizzy
whilst they were on their way to the hotel, but he'd figured it was
from that insect bite that--insect bite? That didn't seem right, now
that he thought about it, it didn't seem right at all. A memory
flashed: Leia standing disheveled and tired staring out across Nam
Chrosis' flat sand plains...had he been drugged? He would have known
wouldn't he?
Not that it really mattered anymore: for now he
should try and get free, but he was so tired, he didn't think he had
the energy to movehe hadn't felt this tired since after Endor.
Luke felt himself dropping into sleep. But I'm not tired he
thought...I'm not. His mind started to close down and he
let himself fall into sleep. Maybe he was tired, after
all....
---
The ride down was less tense this
time, with the Jade's Fire leading them wide of the strong winds
until they got within a few hundred meters of the ground. Han stared
out the cockpit tensely, watching for any more surprises. Chewie said
something,
"I don't know Chewie but I don't like it. She
just turns up out of nowhere and then gives no explanation. But I
think we have to trust her. For the moment anyway."
Han
watched Mara's ship deftly avoid the hot air currents. Yeah, she
had turned up at the just the right time: like she had known just
when to strike. When Han thought back to how she had taken out those
two ships, he realised she had used a very useful tactic very
efficiently: surprise. But she had dropped out of hyperspace and
fired straight away, without stopping to look at the scene in front
of her. It was like she had known exactly where they would be and had
been prepared. And he didn't like it.
Without warning the
Falcon broke out of the cloud layers and skimmed the surface
of the planets sand dunes. Mara banked her ship around a tall dune
and vanished from view. Han followed her closely, ever suspicious,
even of Mara. The Falcon cleared the dune and Chewie growled
in surprise. A huge fortress loomed before them. Shielded from the
harsh winds by the huge dune and hidden from sight, it blended easily
into the background. Landing pads sprawled at its feet with prefab
buildings serving as temporary shelters for ships and crews. Mara
brought the Jade's Fire towards the nearest landing strip and
set her down onto the rough surface.
Following her, Han
brought on the repulsors and lowered the Falcon.
---
"Okay,
Karrde, do you want to tell me what all that was about." Han
said sharply, walking towards Karrde who stared back solemnly. Since
they had landed here, Han hadn't been able to get anything out of
Mara: she hadn't even stayed around longer than to point Han in the
direction of the room he now came into. All of Karrde's other
associates were deliberately avoiding him.
"Solo,
perhaps I should explain."
"Yeah, perhaps you
should," Han said with a tinge of sarcasm. "I didn't know
I'd have to risk my neck getting down here, you could have told
me!"
Karrde put down the datapad he'd been studying and
turned to Han "Will you come inside, this may take a long time
to explain and Byphssm gets cold very quickly at night." His
temper broken by the statement, Han and Chewie followed Karrde into a
simply clad room. Karrde gestured to a lounge area at its back and
sat down himself. Han sat opposite and Chewie came to sit by him. Han
waited.
Karrde still seemed hesitant, but he said, "I'm
sorry I had to get you away from Coruscant to tell you this news. I'm
afraid it wasn't the safest place to talk about these things."
"You mentioned strange reports." Han prompted,
adopting a slouch as he waited impatiently for an explanation.
"Yes,
some more disturbing than others I'm afraid. You probably know that I
have a lot of associates in the rim territories; they have
connections to a lot of the smaller settlements out that way. The
territory is no-mans land." He pulled up a star map on the
datapad and showed it to Han, "The Republic doesn't stretch that
far and the Empire is in so much disarray after their past few
failures that it hasn't stepped in to claim the systems."
Han
looked at the map, whistled. "I see what you mean about it being
a long way out." He said, noticing the system was near the edge
of one of the galaxies spiral arms.
"I keep a few
business associates out there because it easy territory: no one
complains about working beyond the law when the two biggest
governments don't even acknowledge you," he smiled ryely at
this and then continued, "but lately my contacts have been
reporting some strange events out there and I've lost contact with
several of them. May I?" He asked holding his hand out for the
pad. Han relinquished it.
"Here," Karrde said after
a few seconds work, and handed the pad back. "All the contacts
who we haven't heard from in well over month." as Han watched,
star systems began to glow red, spreading out from the far end of the
galaxy in a very symmetrical pattern. "You'll notice where the
pattern points to." Karrde said. Han watched as the red glow
spread towards Republic space.
"Do you know why they
haven't reported in yet? " He asked putting the pad back on the
table as the spreading stopped.
"No, we can't raise
them at all. Neighbouring systems report nothing and then go silent
themselves. Of course, I've sent in ships to find out what's
going on." He frowned, a strange expression passing over his
face. "The first ship I sent in didn't come back. Nor the second
or third. No comlinks, no distress calls, not a whisper: they just
disappear. I sent in the Peregrine's Nest, Aves ship. He
never came back." Karrde stared intently at Han. "He was
one of my best people. I can't afford to keep losing ships and
more importantly people. After loosing Aves, I've been reluctant to
send anyone else in. That's when I came to Coruscant: to get the
Republic interested."
"Use us as the bait,
Karrde-"
"Look at the facts, Solo." Karrde
interrupted him, "Whatever's happening is spreading towards
Republic territory, I thought you might be a little
concerned."
"I am, and I'd be willing to bet the New
Republic military would be too, but that doesn't explain why you
couldn't tell us on Coruscant or just call us."
Karrde
glared, "I couldn't tell you on Coruscant because I think you
have a spy in the hierarchy."
Han just stared at him,
"Come on, where did that idea come from?"
"We've
heard rumours. Understandably, it has probably escaped your attention
that a lot of Republic shipping has been going missing out on the
rim." It had? Han hadn't heard any of this.
Chewie, who
had kept silent through all this, spoke up "You had? When did
you hear that?" he asked him Chewie whuffled: the flight from
kashyyuuk had been long and boring...he'd caught up with all the
other news on the nets whilst he had the chance.
"So, you
think whatever been happening at your colonies is happening to the
shipping to? "
Karrde nodded "Awfully coincidental
otherwise, don't you think?"
"That still doesn't
explain you spy theory." Han said,
"Its not a theory
anymore. Your attack when you came here is proof that the spy exists.
How else would those ships have known exactly when and where you were
going? Who did you tell?"
Han thought about it. "Not
many people really," he replied, "but enough that I cant
tell you who would have betrayed that information."
"That's
a shame: it would have made things a lot easier. We first thought
that there must have been someone on the inside of the government
when we realized how little publicity the disappearances were
getting. That and that the ships that disappeared were redirected of
normal flight routes by someone high up."
Han stared "You
mean someone deliberately sent them to...to whoever these people are?
"
"That's the theory, yes. And they sent those
fighters after you too. "
"Did you know they would
be there waiting for us?" Han asked, his temper rising
again.
"We thought they probably would if you really did
have a spy in the know. But," he said loudly as Han began to say
something, "But, we didn't know for sure, and it was the
only way to test out the theory."
"I don't much
appreciate being dragged along like that." Han said sourly,
"I
know, but any comlink we might have made would probably have been
monitored, and we didn't want to send the spy into the woodwork. Now
we know for certain that one exists: but they don't know we know."
He smiled, "For once we have the advantage."
"I
don't call it much of an advantage, Karrde..."
"No,
but there it is. Now, though we have to decide what to do about these
attacks, I-" His comm beeped for attention. He lifted it.
"Karrde."
Mara's voice came over the comlink
"We've put those ship designs through the files." She said,
her calm voice not betraying any emotion.
"And?"
"And
nothing. There's nothing similar that we've ever met."
"Hmm.
Well, see if you can trace any of the design signatures. Call me if
you find anything." He signed off and looked at Han, "The
other advantage of having you come here was of course getting our
first look at their ships. Mara recorded all the information she
could from them. Hopefully it'll give us a clue as to who they are.
Otherwise...well, who could possibly want those outer systems?"
Han
shook his head "I don't know, a few smaller empires have been
taking interest in some of the old Empire's territory lately, the
Yevethra not the least, but these are totally unknown. They don't
even seem to have a point of origin." Han looked at the map
again. He thought he recognized it vaguely.
Chewie howled at
him "Hmm....what? Oh, I just thought I recognized the area,
that's all."
"Did you ever do any smuggling out
there?" Karrde asked. Chewie howled a negative as Han turned it
over in his mind.
The memory clicked "Bakura? Yeah, isn't
Bakura near there?"
"Not really. But you're in
the right end of the galaxy. Why?"
"No reason
really, I just thought we might be able to persuade them to help us,"
"I'd think after that mess at Corellia that the New
Republic were the last people they would want to talk to."
Han
nodded "Yeah, but if we get desperate their probably worth a
try."
"Lets hope we don't get desperate then. I
don't really want to be relying on a 'might help'. "
"No.
I better get this information back to Coruscant. Whoever 'they' are.
They're moving fast."
"Normally I would ask you to
stay a while first, but under the circumstances-"
"We'd
better get back." Han finished the sentence for him. He began to
rise out of his chair, "Karrde thank you-" Chewie howled
something quietly at Han.
"What's this about the 'other
question'?" Karrde asked.
Han scowled at his
co-pilot "I was getting around to it." He said. "I
didn't just come here because you asked me to, Karrde. I need your
help. I need you to see if you can't come up with some
information. "
"Really. Cash or account?"
Han
scowled "Considering I'm about to run off to get the military to
help you with your missing systems neither would be my choice."
"A
joke Solo. Just a joke. How can I help?"
"We've
found evidence that Luke's death was a fake." Karrde's face
remained neutral though his body language belied some surprise "We
think it was a set up. I was hoping you might be able to help us find
out what happened. We have no idea where he could be,"
"You
think he's alive?"
"Yes, and he might need help,
because wherever he is, Leia can't find him."
"Solo,
I hate to break this to you but there must be hundreds of people who
would have liked to have seen Luke dead."
"Yes but
how many would want him alive?"
"And how do
you keep a Jedi under your control? What makes you think he's alive?"
Han launched into his explanation, Karrde looked skeptical at
the whole story "Normally, I would say that its not that much to
go on. But then, I know Luke well. Are you sure they didn't just get
the dating wrong?"
"I've had them go over it about
ten times. The dates are right."
"Hmmm, well where
Skywalker is involved, anything is possible. I might still be
inclined to say it is a fluke, especially considering that Leia can't
seem to reach him, but it all seems a little coincidental."
"What
does?"
"Luke's death coincides almost perfectly with
the first time we lost contact with one on my associates." He
pulled up the dates on the pad "Yes, the first disappearance was
2 days before Luke's 'death'. "
Playing a hunch, Han asked,
"What did your associate deal in?"
"Uhh...hang
on. Yes, glitterstem. Spice."
"Really." Han
said dryly, his mind working.
"What, Solo?"
Han
turned to him "What I didn't tell you was that the drugs we
think they used to knock Luke out with were spice and gastine.
Coincidence?" Karrde frowned, seeing where Han was going with
it. "No, I doubt it was very much. If the two events are
connected, your best bet might be to get the New Republic
investigating this as soon as possible."
"Yeah, I'd
be willing to bet that whoever knows what's happening out there
knows what's happened to Luke too."
He began by asking for area
reports, one by one the holographic projections reported in countless
reports of success: the admiral sat listening impassively, but
smiling on the inside. Reports of the outer planets falling under
their sway: no ships escaped to warn the humans that the flood was
coming.
"We have met some resistance as the operation
progresses, Admiral." His youngest captain was saying "Of
course, this was to be suspected. Though we can stop word getting out
about our ...occupations." He seemed to taste the word as he
said it "We can do nothing about the humans becoming suspicious
as they loose contact with their outer territories. Groups of ships
have come into the occupied areas to investigate, but all have
been...disabled." The admiral had already heard these stories,
but he had heard a slightly less victorious tone given to them.
"Really." He said dryly. "All
victorious?"
There was an edge on his voice and the
commander heard it. He squirmed in his seat "Umm. yes
Admiral, mostly. We...err...did have some problems with one ship over
Sele4."
"Sele4? That isn't one of the planets we
have mounted a major offensive against is it?" One of the older
captains said.
"No. It is one our contacts showed us to
for the acquisition of certain goods needed for the offensive."
The admiral punched keys on the desk in front of him. A
holographic projection sprang up of a turning arid, yellow
planet.
"We left a patrol behind after we left the system
for the planet Cassrine, but they were attacked by an unidentified
ship. The patrol won the battle and the other ship was destroyed."
The captain tried to defend himself.
"Not destroyed
captain. I read that it was caught in the gravity well and fell
through the planets atmosphere. Exploding above the north eastern
hemisphere over the planets largest land mass..."
"Err,
yes sir, but no one could have survived the explosion."
"Even
so, I am hesitant to ignore any threat. I think the Sele system will
be the perfect place to for our first offensive into human territory,
and the 4th planet will be our target, " He brought up a smaller
holo on the display with details of it's defensive status "I
intend to take out the defences of this planet. It is rich in
resources. Mainly a meeting place for mercenaries and businessmen, it
is poorly defended though should still prove a challenge."
He
looked around his command staff, all were leaning in close to the
projection, a gleam in their eye "It is important we win this. I
should not prove too difficult. A few cruisers and a few squadrons of
snub ships.
Think of it more as a proving ground. Once we have
secured the planet I will send out a patrol to the planet to make
sure the captains security is indeed justified and all occupants of
the ship were destroyed." He let his threat sink in before
carrying on "For the past few months we have been quietly
preparing for our first major attack: the time has now come. We now
have the necessary resources and tactical information, and thanks to
Elder Fr'h'tokh we also have a weapon which our brothers did not have
at Bakura. Elder? Please explain the current situation to us."
He said.
A twelfth projection appeared next to the fleet
commanders, this one of two ssi-ruuk stood side by side, a large blue
and a smaller, younger rust one. Elder Fr'h'tokh spoke
first.
"Greetings High Admiral. As you will all surely
know by now, we have secured the help of Jedi Skywalker for the
entechment process," there were a few commanders who smirked at
the wording of this, but the Admiral silenced them with a look,
"Indeed, the wording is not so out of place. We have learnt much
from our brothers' attempts 14 years ago. We believe we know
have sufficient knowledge and technology for us to make the operation
viable."
A seasoned captain spoke up at this, "Elder,
if I remember true, Skywalker was unwilling to help with that
offensive and we were unable to control him. How is it that we have
taken such a risk now? Surely we don't need his help to win this
war." Fr'h'tokh recognised the ssi-ruuk: he had opposed the
capture of Skywalker from the beginning but had been overruled.
"It
is true that Skywalker will not willingly help us. But that should no
longer be a problem or a risk. We have taken measures against all
possible circumstances. Our chief technical assistant will explain
these in a moment, but first I should like to point out that by
having Skywalker with us, we have another advantage: the human's
believe he is dead. Their preoccupation with his death has allowed us
a valuable window in which to secure our position here. And also, do
not forget that Skywalker was in command of the attack force that
defeated our brothers: we would not want to meet him on any other
side."
"I think you overestimate his abilities
elder I-"
"Captain." Fr'h'tokh said,
stressing the word "You are right: we probably don't need his
help. But we can use it. It is well known that his sister is
the Chief of State of these humans, his capture allows us many
advantages beyond simply his own abilities."
"But
the risks Elder--"
"Enough!" The Admiral
interrupted, annoyed by the bickering, "The fact remains that we
have him all the same. I, personally, believe this to be an
advantage, and I would advise you not to stress the point." the
edge in his voice quietened his protests, "Please continue
Elder."
"Thank you," Fr'h'tokh bowed slightly
towards the Admiral, "Skywalker's help should allow us an
unlimited supply of droids, we will be able to keep power systems
onboard fully functional and with optimal power, we will not run out
of battle droids." He paused, allowing them to take this in "And
we will not have to spend valuable time capturing the humans and
enteching them. Our offensives can now be swifter, we will allow them
no time to adapt. The more they loose: the more we win."
The
room buzzed with excitement, but no one spoke. Fr'h'tokh enjoyed
their anticipation. They all understood what this meant: an unlimited
supply of droids would make them all but indestructible.
"You
speak of these benefits but do not say how we will achieve them. Tell
us how you plan to get the Jedi's help."
The smaller rust
coloured ssi-ruuk shifted his stance and began to speak, "Elder
Fr'h'tokh is quite correct that we will have Skywalker's help."
He said, addressing the Admiral "Weerr, that is I
have developed the system by which this will be achieved." He
beamed with pride. "We know hypnotism will not work on a Jedi,
so we had to approach the problem differently. We did consider using
his own life energy in a droid but it was debatable as to whether he
would still control the...'Force'. The energy field the Jedi get
their power from."
Swh'hr'ring waited for them to
respond. When they didn't he continued anyway, hoping they
understood. "So we went halfway. We developed this." he
picked up a small metallic object from a table just out of view and
held it up so that they could all see what it was. "This is the
solution" he said proudly "this combines our droid control
technology and the humans natural affinity to use the Force. This
little chip is inserted just behind the cerebral cortex: It can then
control the mental actions of the subject. As with reactions which
are out of the control of the Will, it causes the body to react to
stimuli without allowing the subject to stop it. It is totally
involuntary: droid circuits control much of the mental activity that
the subject has no control over, whilst it uses the human energy
source to power it, making it akin to a remote activator. It allows
us into the Jedi's brain without having to entech him. It effectively
reduces the subject's Will to near nothing."
Murmurs
spread out across the room at this. To be able to use the Jedi's
talents without the need for his co-operation? It was perfect.
"We
have yet to test it, but preliminary test show that it works, so far
we have been able to induce various conditions on the Jedi. Most
recently, we were able to cause sleep without his intervention. We
have no reason to doubt that it will work"
"Is it
necessary for the Jedi to be conscious to work? It might be
convenient if he was unconscious."
"Unfortunately,
we still need him to be conscious so that we can target certain ships
and people to be enteched if we need to, and because he cannot reach
the Force as well when he is unconscious, but it shouldn't prove a
problem. He will not be able to resist it anymore than he could
resist any other involuntary reaction."
Swh'hr'ring
finished his speech and stepped back. He thought it had gone well, as
long as they had understood him, he doubted some of them even
understood how the entechment machines worked.
The Admiral
looked sternly at his officers "With Skywalker's help this
planet will be our first target. You have one day to prepare before
we jump to hyperspace." He whistled softly "Then we shall
see our first victory for the Imperium."
---
Han
scowled and threw himself down into one of their apartments sofas as
Leia followed him into the room.
"Han-" She
started.
"Not now, Leia, okay? " He grabbed a
cushion from the seat and twisted it in his hands. He hadn't expected
them to be all that worried about the news he'd got from Karrde, but
he hadn't expected to react like that. Screwing the cushion
round in his hand he watched his wife carefully sit opposite him and
put on her diplomatic mask. She waited for him to speak, her own
thoughts unreadable in that placid face.
"Aw, hell,
Leia." Han shouted, throwing the cushion fiercely against the
wall "What the hell's wrong with them? What, didn't I spell
it out clearly enough for them? Anybody'd think they just wanted to
bury their heads in the sand and hope it'll all go away."
"That's probably what they do want Han," Leia said
as she leaned back into the sofa, "we don't need any more
problems right now."
"That's a pathetic excuse and
you know it," he accused her, "We both know the real reason
why they won't act."
"You can hardly blame
them for not trusting the source." she said, holding a hand up
before he could reply "I trust Karrde but they won't.
And with Ackbar in command of the fleet your not going to get round
the military, plus there's a lot of opposition to listening to
rumours from half-identified smugglers. We're still trying to
pick ourselves up from the mess out at Corellia, no one wants another
war, another Koornact Sector. "
"I know that Leia,
it's just that, well, I have a bad feeling about this." She
grinned at that,
"Don't say that! You know it
only makes things worse."
"Yeah, well, maybe then
they'll pay attention to what's happening out there." He replied
lightly.
"It is a long way out, Han. And we've
never tried to take those sectors for ourselves. As far as most of
the senators are concerned they couldn't care less who has
them."
"But you're the Chief of State, cant you
pull a few strings? I did kind of promise Karrde." He used his
best pleading look.
She didn't buy it. "Han, we're a
democracy. You know I cant do that."
She'd expected
him to reply with a light-hearted comment, but his face dropped and
he leaned towards her anxiously. "Not even when you know
something's going on out there that we don't know about?"
"No,
Han I-"
"Leia...it might lead us to Luke." He
said softly. Her mask broke but she kept calm.
"That's
not fair Han. I know, but I...I can't." She turned away
from him and walked towards the far window.
"Why'd you
have to be so damn dutiful when you know it's going to cost the
whole Republic. It's not like you're going to be doing anything
that's not for their benefit."
She shook her head "I
know but...it's complicated. I cant be seen to act simply
because I think it might lead me to my brother. It would undermine
our leadership."
Han shook his head at that. This just
didn't sound like Leia.
"Hun, I think you have to ask
yourself what's more important here, keeping the New Republic
spotless, or getting your brother back alive?"
His words
hit her but instead of her anger flaring, all she felt was a dull
ache. "I've been asking myself that all day." She
turned to face him, "I was raised to believe in working for the
whole society, not just yourself. To do things for the greater good,
and I still believe in that. Or at least I thought I did. But if it
comes down to it: I'd send the whole damn fleet after Luke if I
could. After my own personal needs. My whole diplomatic...training
goes against it but I can't help it. The council would have my
neck for it but I'd still do it. It scares me to think I could reject
my life's work for that. But I can't send the whole fleet after
him. I don't know where to look: we only have an area, and Ackbar
would never agree. I at least need to have some sort of public
backing." She looked away out the window again.
"Leia,
its not a crime to care about your twin brother, no matter what you
'training' says. And maybe we don't need to send the whole fleet. I'm
not sure it would do that much good anyway, considering we don't know
where exactly to send them."
She looked at him curiously
"What are you thinking Han?"
"That we rattle up
a few well placed friends and arm them to the teeth, send them on a
wild goose chase after whoever is silencing those systems."
She
could see his mind working deviously, whenever he got that look on
his face she knew he was about to do something really stupid or
really brave "Who?"
He grinned widely.
Chapter
Three : There IS a try, but it wont help
No Luke reminded himself,
don't feel it. Don't feel anything. Keep yourself shut
off.
The larger blue ssi-ruuk whistled something at the
smaller one. It nodded eagerly, and flicked it's tongue out in
anticipation. From behind him the protocol droid translated:
"Please
relax. This is just a trial. Reach out and entech that p'w'eck and
you will be left in peace."
The way the droid said it made it
sound like it was the most reasonable of requests. Luke glared at
aliens standing opposite.
"I don't think so," he
said, "If you don't have a better plan than that you might as
well give up now." Luke knew they obviously did have a better
plan, but he was trying to by time, and to try and get them to tell
him what they planned. That way, at least he'd know what he was up
against.
The larger alien seemed to laugh at Luke's remark. He
whistled something to the droid- "Very well, we will make this a
true trial of Swh'hr'ring's' design." The
smaller brown alien practically skipped over to the large control
bank behind Luke, whistling orders to the aliens holding the p'w'eck
down. The hum of machinery behind his head seemed to increase.
"Just
relax." The droid said.
Luke was still wondering how on
earth they were going to get him to entech the creature when he felt
the Force begin to flow through him
What!?!
He
hadn't done anything. He tried to shut out the force, building up
barriers against its flux of energy.
He had a terrible
feeling about this.
Something in the way the big blue alien
had laughed unnerved him. He wouldn't entech the p'w'eck. He
wouldn't.
He watched in despair as the barriers
crumbled to nothing, his own mind systematically destroying them
faster than he could build them until his consciousness was laid bare
to the Force. Peripherally he was aware of the blue alien's
smile at the look on Luke's face. He tried to break of his
connection, but couldn't; it was like his control had been snatched
from him and he was flailing in the dark against an enemy he couldn't
see.
Against his own mind.
A memory flashed- training
with Leia just before he set up the academy, whilst teaching her to
reflect his attempts to read her mind, they had discovered a reflex
action created in the force, Leia hadn't done anything: wouldn't have
known how to make that reaction if she'd tried. It had been
totally involuntary...involuntary: not under the power of her own
will. Was that the answer? Had the aliens somehow found a way to get
past actions under the control of his will?
Panicking at the
thought he tried desperately hard to pull his mind back and retreat
from the touch of the Force. But he could still feel it, flowing
through, now a tidal flood of energy washing over him, and he was
helpless to stop it.
He clenched his fingers into a ball with
the effort of trying to stop the flow; his fingernails dug sharp
points into his palm. He felt like he was watching it but not taking
part; he felt himself reach out to the mind of the small alien across
the room. It honked in surprise and then shrieked in pain, writhing
in his Force grip, he felt the grip tighten even as he tried to let
go of the creatures mind. The two large ssi-ruuk had to fight to keep
it down. Luke felt it as his own mind tugged on the aliens; it
resisted him, tearing itself away from him. But Luke grabbed it
again, stronger this time, the Force flowed through him,
uncontrollable and chaotic, with no direction or purpose other than
to rip the alien's mind free. Its presence in the force seemed
to break free of its own body even as it desperately tried to hang
on.
Luke didn't watch as the alien collapsed to the floor with
one last shriek of agony.
And then Luke screamed.
The
alien's agony tore at him as its presence was channelled through
him, and for a moment they were one. It screamed at him, and he
screamed with it, bearing its pain and confusion. Its spirit still
fought to be free of him. And it hurt.
It hurt like a burning
fire flowing through him, it's thoughts and fears crashing into
his own that were running back from it's presence. Luke felt his
mind would explode, filled with the alien's and his own horror
and pain at what was happening to it. The entechment machinery
snatched the presence from his mind and Luke felt it rip free of him,
the pain got worse as Luke thought to keep his own presence from
spiralling down into the void with the alien's. He couldn't
scream anymore, his throat dry from the shock, he channelled all his
energy into stopping the pain.
And as suddenly as it had
started, it was gone.
His eyes still closed, his lungs
gasping for air, his heart pounding; he didn't see Swh'hr'ring
beaming with pride, or Fr'h'tokh congratulating his young technician.
All he felt was the cold sweat on his face, the pain in his hands
where his fingernails still dug into his palms, and the dull ache of
the memory of the p'w'eck's pain. Luke lay there, horrified at
what he had just done, disgusted at himself for not being able to
fight back. He didn't want to open his eyes and see the p'w'ecks limp
body lying on the floor, or the ssi-ruuk's' glee at the success of
the 'trial'.
He closed his eyes to the world and shut himself
out of the Force.
---
Fr'h'tokh bent over the
Jedi.
"Is it all right?" he asked Swh'hr'ring
worriedly. His excitation over the entechment's success forgotten as
he got a look at Luke's' face. He was pale and his eyes were squeezed
shut. He had heard Skywalker scream out with the p'w'eck but had
thought it was a sympathetic scream as the two minds met momentarily,
and he hadn't screamed long. All the indications -from what he could
make out using his own crude knowledge of the procedure- were that he
was fine. But he didn't look fine.
Swh'hr'ring walked over to
the Elder's side and whistled. "He resisted the entechment too
much, it put a lot of strain on his mind. He will learn that allowing
it to happen will make it less painful." Fr'h'tokh honked
thoughtfully.
He knew the answer was just a guess, but none
the less, he didn't doubt that it was true. His comlink beeped for
attention. Holding it up he answered "Fr'h'tokh," he
said.
"Elder." Came the reply on the other end. "The
entechment was successful, the battle droid is operating above
standard levels!" The technicians voice was obviously excited.
All onboard the ship knew how much this test meant.
"Thank
you, Fr'h'tokh out." He flicked it of and placed it back on his
belt. Turning to Swh'hr'ring he said,
"Congratulations,
it was a complete success."
Swh'hr'ring beamed with
pride. "Thank you Elder! I will, of course try to make some
modifications to reduce the pain Jedi Skywalker must under go in the
procedure so that he might be able to continually entech subjects
without the need for rest." He hopped with
excitement.
Fr'h'tokh frowned. "How long before these
modifications can be implemented? We don't have much time before the
Admiral signals us to attack."
Sensing his concern,
Swh'hr'ring forced himself to calm down "Not long, Elder, some
of the problems I had expected did not occur. The restraints, for
example. I feared the Jedi might find a way out but he did not. A few
days and I should have him ready for continual entechment." He
could not keep the excitement out of his voice this time.
Fr'h'tokh
looked at Skywalker lying still with his eyes closed shut against
what had just happened. But at least he looked a little less pale.
"Sedate him." He said.
"But Elder I need to ask
him-" Swh'hr'ring started to say, but Fr'h'tokh interrupted him
putting a claw up to indicate for him to be quite.
"He
will need rest, sedate him and let him rest. You can question him
when he wakes, meanwhile you can begin your modifications."
"Yes elder." Swh'hr'ring bowed and reluctantly
accepted his Elders' command. He watched Fr'h'tokh leave through he
heavy blast door, wondering if the Elder had been upset with his show
of emotion over the success of the entechment. But, no, Fr'h'tokh had
been just as excited as he had. Thinking about what he would do to
improve his machine, Swh'hr'ring walked over to get a hypo from the
bench.
---
Luke had ignored the aliens
whistling, he felt too weak to interpret their words, and the droid
didn't seem inclined to help him out. He just lay, trying to come to
terms with what had just happened: they had forced him to kill the
p'w'eck, bypassed his will and used his power with the Force to rip
the creature's soul from its body. Luke felt sick thinking about
it. But he had to. He had done that to the creature: no one else. It
was his fault. Anyway he looked at it, it seemed too
incredible to think about. And yet it had just happened, despite his
best efforts, despite every trick he knew, he had just doomed a
p'w'eck to a tortured life inside one of the ssi-ruuk's' battle
droids. Luke shivered at the memory of their tortured presence. Now
he knew why the presence's inside the ships felt such despair and
pain. Finally, as he heard the blast door open and close, he opened
his eyes, the light blinded him for a moment, but Luke ignored it.
The smaller brown alien walked toward him holding a hypodermic, Luke
tried to pull back from the needle but the restraints held him firm.
As he slipped into black, ugly dreams he had the unnerving impression
the brown alien was smiling.
---
General Wedge
Antilles fell very un-professionally into his bunk. After 12 hours of
reconnaissance work in the godforsaken sector the military had sent
him too, he didn't particularly feel the need to be very professional
about anything anymore. Sometimes, just sometimes, he wondered why he
was still in this game. Maybe, just maybe, he should have got out
while he had the chance, like Luke did. Wedge sighed, he'd lost so
many friends over the years, he hoped he wasn't getting used to it.
Hiding under the covers he settled down for a quite but short nights
sleep. Annoyingly, the comm beeped for his attention. He frowned. He
knew better than not to answer it, Ackbar had nearly has his head one
day when he'd done that, but he couldn't think who would want to
contact him out here in the middle of nowhere. Plus, he'd have to get
out of his bed just as it was getting comfortable. Choosing the easy
option, he wrapped the duvet around him and dived for the
comm.
"Wedge?" Said a familiar voice.
"Yeah,
I'm here Han." Wedge replied, brushing sleep out of his eyes,
"Do you have any idea what time it is?" he said,
trying not to sound too testy.
"Yeah, sorry about that,
but I kinda need to keep this quite." Han replied
sheepishly.
"Oh?" This was beginning to sound
interesting..."Well, what?"
"You fancy a bit of
'blind mans bluff'?"
"What?" Wedge asked,
genuinely confused.
"A wild goose chase. Get away from
that dead-end job Ackbar's got you running at the moment."
Han was appealing to Wedges' obvious annoyance at this assignment.
Cute.
"Depends what kind goose were after." Wedge
joked. Han seemed to hesitate.
"Well, actually it's
Luke, and a few thousand colonies that need chasing up." Wedge
didn't even hear the second part of Han's answer.
"What!"
Wedge asked, seriously wondering if his old friend had finally lost
it. "Han...."
"Listen Wedge, I'm not joking
here." Han was suddenly all-business "We're pretty
sure Luke's alive, or at least he wasn't killed on Cassrine. Don't
ask me for the details, it'll take too long, but we think it's
connected to a group of colonies in the outer rim that have suddenly
gone quiet."
Wedge took it all in calmly. If Han didn't want
him to ask about Luke, he wouldn't. Not yet anyway.
"So
where do I come into this?"
"These colonies are out
your way, well, between you and Bakura. Thought you might want to
drop in and have a look?" Bakura. Now that brought up some
memories.
"I'd like to but-"
"But what?
Your a General, you can swing it Wedge."
He sighed.
Really, he should protest more, but he really did want to get out of
here. But...maybe he could get more out of Han...
"Ok,
I'll do it, but first I want you to tell me what happened to
Luke. I'm not going out there not knowing what it is I'm looking
for.
"What we think happened to Luke." Han
corrected him "Ok, I'll send the info over a more secure server.
That okay by you?" Wedge grinned. Like he would have refused to
go after Luke without all the facts. And Han probably knew that
too.
"Okay, I'll rattle up Rouge Squadron, I'm sorry I
can't take more but I don't want any of the high-ups on my
back."
"That's okay, it's probably better of as
a quiet mission anyhow."
"Look, Han I can get the
Rogues up and flying by tomorrow morning, so if you tell me where
we're going, you can send the information we need through
there."
"Sure." He paused to think, "I
think your probably best heading out to a little system called Rassa,
and then onto a few of the neighbouring systems." Han
replied,
"Why Rassa?" Wedge asked, hoping or some
information now.
"Some of Karrde's men have gone missing
there, and at the system next door, Sele. It just seems a sensible
place to start."
"Okay, got ya, I'll head out in
the morning, but right now I need some sleep." He said, mock
exasperatedly. He could hear Han laugh.
"Sure Wedge, I'm
gone. Good luck." He said.
"Maybe where Luke's
involved it should be 'May the Force be with You'. "Wedge said
"Seeya, Han." He clicked the comm off and flopped back into
bed. He really was going to need his sleep now.
---
Han
flicked the comm off. Well, he thought, that had gone well, he had
thought he'd need to cajole him some more, but then, he should have
remembered Luke was one of Wedge's best friend. Plus, he hadn't had
to mention their suspicions about a spy in the inner council.
Silently, he thanked wedge for not pushing the subject to much. Leia
came up behind him and draped her hands around his shoulders.
"That
went well." She said, mirroring his thoughts. "You think
they'll find him?"
Han twisted in her arms to look at
her. "Sure, if he's out there Wedge'll find him. Not to mention
he has Corran with him. That should help." she smiled at that.
"Lets hope" she rose and stretched her arms out,
yawning. "Come on, its late and I have a senate meeting
tomorrow. Lets go to bed." she took hold of his hand and gently
pulled him up from his seat.
"Okay, sure. You know
what?"
"What?"
"I have a really
good feeling about this." He said. Leia's smile broke into a
grin.
"Well, it certainly makes a change." she joked
as she flicked off the lounge light.
"He...I..."
she choked. He held her to him.
"We have to help him."
she said, suddenly twisting herself out his grip and moving towards
the wardrobe.
How? We've no idea where he is let alone
what's happening to him, he thought, but bit back any words he
might have said,
"Leia..."
She resolutely
ignored him. Had she read his mind?
"Leia, do you know
where he is?" she was pulling on an old pair of trousers. Her
figure was a dark shadow in the low lighting of their bedroom. She
was shaking, he realised. "No. I've got to go to him. The
first contact...he was in pain. It hurt, Han, Like a burning fire in
my mind. I can't explain it I. I have to go to him." All
the time she concentrated on getting dressed, not letting him see her
face, scared that if she looked up she would see her own fears on his
face.
Han sighed, why did things always have to get
complicated? Why couldn't they have just enjoyed her relief that he
was alive?
"Okay. But wait till morning. There's
nothing you can do now." She paused in pulling on an old shirt,
but then continued, flicking long brown hair out from the back of it.
"I have to go now." she felt his hand on her shoulder.
"Wait till Wedge gets back at least, we'll have more to
go on, anything we do now will just be a waste. And besides: you look
like you need to sleep." she had been starting to warm to the
idea, but at that last sentence she flung him back from her, her
anger flaring.
"Sleep?! Sleep!!! Sleep was what
stopped me from helping him the first time. Sleep was what got him in
this situation. If I hadn't been sleeping we'd have found him
and everything would have been all right!"
Her tears
flowed uncontrollably now. He'd thought she had got over her guilt.
He must have been wrong. His wife was very good at hiding things from
him when she wanted to. He moved to hold her, letting his voice get
sterner.
"Leia, that wasn't you fault. You know that.
Don't blame yourself for something you didn't do."
She
accepted his embrace, but her guilt stayed with her. She allowed him
to hold her to him and for the second time in the past 2 months,
poured out her grief on him. And again he took it, holding her up
against the pain and sorrow.
"Leia, this is different.
He's alive."