Or, at least, safer.
Chewie went
first, bowcaster ready, Han next, managing to carry the still-groggy
Luke and keep his blaster ready, and Leia last, senses alert for any
approaching ssi-ruuk. Despite the obvious destruction in the
entechment bay, the corridors were still ominously quiet.~
"They've
got something else ready." Han said. Leia just nodded,
concentrating.
They were nearly to the hatch when her danger
sense flared.
"Wait!" she whispered harshly. She
grabbed on to the sleeve of Han's jacket and pulled him back
towards her.
Han skidded to a stop, looking round anxiously.
There was nothing different about this are of corridor. When he
didn't see anything he turned to her "What?" he asked.
She
shook her head confused. She had been sure there was something wrong
here. Han looked at her again, not wanting to ignore her instincts
but knowing they had to keep moving if they were going to get off the
ship before the aliens thought of some way of stopping them. He
started to move forward again,
"Wait!" She said
again, moving in front of him and standing at the intersection
between two corridor sections. A thin black line that ran from deck
to ceiling and across surrounded the wall. It could just have been
the join between two sections of bulkhead, but she lit the lightsaber
and gingerly sliced of a corner of her top. She bent and gingerly
placed it on the floor, then with the tip of her foot she slid it
forward.
Han watched impatiently "Leia, we have too-"
he cut of as the cloth sparked and frazzled, streaks of light coursed
in-front of them and when they stopped, the cloth was just charred
ash. Han whistled softly.
---
Mara flicked on
the channel to Han as the cruiser began its fiery descent.
"Han!"
she called, trying to concentrate on flying at the same time. There
was no answer to her call and she sprayed a hail of fire into yet
another of the stubborn droids. "Come on, come on. " she
whispered impatiently.'
"Mara?"
"Han,
you've got problems-"
"-Your telling me-"
"Borak's
ships is going down."
Han paused, catching the
taughtness in her voice and the muffled sounds of explosions coming
across the comm..
"Where?" He asked
"Right
on top of you."
Han swore. "We're stuck, we
can't get through." He said. "Some sort of electricity
field blocking the way back to the Falcon.
"You
have to, the whole ship will blow."
"How long?"
He asked, and she could hear Leia in the background, asking what was
happening.
"About 3 minutes, tops." Mara said. There
was a deadly silence from the comm.
"Get the fleet away
from here." He said, at last.
"Han-" she
started
"Don't worry about it, Mara." He said.
"Now, get going." there was the click of the comm and her
cockpit was silent, again.
---
"What's
going on?" Leia said again as Han flicked off the comlink. He
placed the device back in a top pocket and moved back away from the
stun trap, studying the corridor behind them.
"It's
a long story, but we have 3 minutes before this whole ship explodes."
He studied at the stun trap, feeling helpless. "We have to go
round." Even as he said it he moved back to help Luke to his
feet again.
"No, wait."
They both looked
over at Luke, leaning back against the bulkhead. "Luke-"
"Wait."
he said again, gaze intense. And then, Leia understood.
"Right."
she said. Han began to object but Leia quieted him. Luke closed his
eyes and Han looked around anxiously, not sure what was happening.
There was a thunderous crack above them, cutting through the air. Han
leaped out of the way of sparks that rained down from the ceiling.
"What the-"Leia stepped in beside Luke and caught
him as he sagged.
"Come on." She said, slinging her
brothers arm across her shoulder and walking towards the trap.
Han's
heart leaped "Leia!" he called as she walked to the trap.
He winced but they passed through unharmed.
"Come on."
She said again, sterner and impatient. Han didn't wait any longer,
though whether it was because of the lack of time or the tone in his
wife's voice he would never say. He took Luke from her,
motioning Chewie forward. They reached the ramp on the far side and
climbed in.
"How long?"
"2 minutes."
---
Captain Sha'trok stared out in horror at the flaming
ship diving down towards them.
"Fire the engines!"
he called, panic stirring his voice.
"We can't sir!
They're down" one of the techs called across the bridge.
"Get us out of here!" He shouted.
"All
systems are down sir. We can't move."
The Captain
paced frantically in front of the screen. "Fire all guns. Blow
it out the sky."
"Aye sir!" his weapons officer
said, but they all knew it was a futile gesture. The pride of the
ssi-ruuvi fleet was going down.
---
Mara watched
the huge ships weapons lance out futility at the falling ship. Flames
raged across the republic cruiser's surface, eating up the
oxygen inside the ship. Mara knew everyone on board was already dead.
Which was probably a good thing. She looked anxiously at the Falcon
perched on the side of the ship, then the chrono.
1
minute.
---
Han raced ahead, seeing the small
airlock. They had less than a minute, and that was assuming Mara
hadn't been too optimistic. Throwing the Falcon's hatch
open, he sprinted for the cockpit, turning on the doorframe as he
raced around the circular corridor and headed for the cockpit. Leia
was hot on his heels, Chewie secured the hatch and raced to the back
of the ship.
Reaching the cockpit, Han dumped Luke
unceremoniously onto one of the spare chairs and slid with practised
ease into the pilots chair, hands working frantically over the
controls. The board flickered into the life and the cockpit was
flooded with light. There was a quiet thunk and the ship floated free
of the cruiser's hull suddenly, Chewie having released the landing
claw.
Han had the engines running already, the fast start-up
still seeming achingly slow. Leia slipped into the seat next to Luke
as Chewie bustled past her and into the co-pilot's seat. Han
yanked the controls and the ship began to turn, slowly.
The
sight that slid into view across the cockpit nearly froze them all.
The republic cruiser filled the screen, writhing in its fiery death,
engulfed in flames which cast a vicious orange glow across them.
It
bore down on them, close enough that they could almost imagine they
could feel the heat. Leia gasped as the mammoth ship fell towards
them.
"Sweet gods of-"
She cut off as the
Falcon jumped into action like a startled mynock, throwing her
back into her seat, the words gone out of her.
Chewie howled as
the fires coursed across the falcon's own hull. Han gritted his
teeth and kept the ship on course.
---
Mara
watched as the two ships collided, the smaller one crumpling against
the side of the ssi-ruuk cruiser. She held her breath as a huge
fireball erupted from the collision, bright orange washing across
space, both ships hidden by the explosion. From the edge of the
explosion small black speck appeared, tiny against the mammoth ships.
Mara gasped, staring intently at the little ship and hoping she could
believe her eyes.
---
Leia clung to the seat's
edge as the blazing hull rocketed past, the Falcon picking up
speed with every second. The whole cockpit was a blinding orange and
she dare hardly open her eyes. She heard a tremendous crack behind
them and a split second later the Falcon was tumbling forward
like a toy tumbling from the hands of a child in the throws of a
temper tantrum, with Han fighting with the controls.
Riding
the front of the explosion, fire and debris spinning ahead of them,
they sped away from the destruction that marked the death of the
ssi-ruuk cruiser and her crew.
---
Han threw
the Falcon around and reversed in a brutal smugglers-stop,
cutting off the speed. Stars spun momentarily and the Falcon
hung in space, all it's occupants not moving or speaking as they
watched the final death throws of the two cruisers. Han was the first
to move, checking the Falcon's systems.
"Damn."
He whispered.
"What?" Leia asked, not really wanting
to know, not able to take her eyes of the two capital ships still
burning.
"The hyperdrive is fried." He said, in
reply, turning to her "Along with all the weapons." He
added ryely.
"It could have been a lot worse." She
pointed out, coming to look over the diagnostics with Han.
Luke
leaned forward, "A lot worse." he echoed. Han looked out
the cockpit at the burning ssi-ruuk ship, the dead ship falling
closer to
the massive gas giant.
"Definitely."
The comm sprang into life,
"Solo?" a
familiar voice came across the comm as the screen began to coalesce
into an image
"Right here, Jade." He assured her,
hearing the tension in her voice.
"You like to cut it
close, don't you?" She said ryely, her eyes
smiling.
"Mara?" Luke asked, confused, leaning
forward.
Mara nodded at him. "Good to see you too,
Skywalker." She said.
He nodded back, still holding onto
the side of the chair. "You okay? You look a little pale."
She frowned at him. Han and Leia looked up at him. He managed a weak
smile.
"I'm fine I just-" he fainted to the
floor.
---
Leia left Luke on the Falcon's
bunk in the main hold as the Jade's Fire docked with the
Falcon, the resounding clank of connecting airlocks ringing on
the hull. She reached the airlock as Mara stepped through, holstering
a blaster on her hip and brushing down a black shipsuit.
"Leia."
she greeted her, holding out her hand "It's good to see
you." There was an earnestness there Leia wasn't used to
hearing. Leia shook her hand, and then pulled her into a quick
embrace. To her surprise, Mara didn't pull away.
"Thank
you for your help out there." Leia said, moving to walk towards
the cockpit. Mara fell into step behind her "No problem, though
its really Karrde you want to be paying."
"I bet."
Leia laughed as the cockpit door opened to reveal Han bent under one
of the consoles.
"Problems?" Mara asked, raising her
eyebrows slightly. Han twisted out from underneath the board and
grimaced.
"The hyperdrive's shot." Leia said.
"Again."
"All things considered, I think you
got off light." Mara commented, remembering the inferno that had
engulfed the dying capital ships.
"And the weapons."
Leia added. Mara laughed.
"You never think of getting a
more...." she paused, thinking of the right word "modern
ship?"
"Very diplomatically put." Leia
said.
"No, we don't." Han answered, clambering
up, using the seat as a brace. He stared out the cockpit window.
"Look's like the ssi-ruuk have a few more problems though."
Han said, watching the remains of the big ship falling down into the
red planet's atmosphere.
Mara nodded. "How's Luke?"
she asked.
Leia sighed. "To be honest, I don't
know." she said, turning and leading the way out of cockpit. "I
think we need to get him to the nearest Republic base soon, though."
They entered the main hold, Han staying behind in the
cockpit. Mara knelt down by Luke's side and stared intently at him,
Leia could feel her reaching out to the Force. Mara rocked back on
her heels. Leia waited.
"How long until you get the
hyperdrive fixed?" She asked at last, opening her eyes again.
Leia shook her head. "A while." she answered,
kneeling down beside her brother and brushing back a stray blonde
hair from his forehead.
Mara shook her head "Too long.
I'll take him." She stood up suddenly.
"Are
you sure? Karrde probably wants you back." Leia said.
"Karrde
will be fine." Mara answered, stepping away from the bunk. "I
have some spare parts onboard the Fire, you might be
able to use them."
"Thank you." Leia said. Mara
just nodded.
"The 'Fire has better medical
facilities anyway," she said. "and besides-" She cut
off as Han swung into the corridor, leaning around the cockpit
door.
"Leia." He called.
She looked up at
him, saw the seriousness in his face "What is it?" she
said.
"Ackbar." Han said and ducked back inside the
cockpit.
Leia took a deep breath and headed towards the
cockpit.
"I'll go get the 'Fire ready."
Mara said, moving back to the airlock.
"Okay, and thank
you." Leia said, watching as Mara moved for the airlock.
---
Han sat down in the co-pilot's chair and waited
for Leia to arrive. Half the lights were still out, giving it an
eerie feel, lit by the red glow of the gas giant in front of
them.
Han heard Leia approaching and flicked the display on.
Admiral Ackbar appeared, huge eyes peering at him.
"Solo."
he greeted him "Where is the Princess?" Han noted the
concern in his voice. He opened his mouth to answer but Leia dropped
into the pilots seat then
"I'm right here, Admiral"
she said. The Admiral relaxed.
"It is good to see you
alive, Princess." He said.
Leia nodded. "The
ssi-ruuk ship is destroyed, most of the droids have been destroyed
too. " She said, her eyes flicking up momentarily to the ship
still falling into the planet.
"And Councillor Borak?"
Ackbar asked.
Leia grimaced "His ship was destroyed in
the explosion that ruined the ssi-ruuvi cruiser." She said.
The Admiral must have caught something in her voice "A
suicide run?" He asked.
Leia shook her head "No, not
intentionally, anyway." The admiral nodded "And Jedi
Skywalker?"
Han looked over at Leia, saw the emotions
run quickly across her face before she pulled the mask of calmness
back on.
"We got him out." She said at
last.
Ackbar waited.
"Mara Jade will be taking him
to the nearest medical facility." She said.
"I
see..." Ackbar said. "Mara Jade?" he looked curiously
at Han.
Han shrugged. "We needed help from wherever we
could get it." He answered.
"Did the senate come to
any decision?" Leia cut in, avoiding any confrontation over
Han's decision to bring smugglers in.
Ackbar paused, seeing
the diversion, but didn't mention it.
"Yes,
actually."
Leia looked shocked. "Really?"
"A
little late, maybe, but still. Unfortunately the fleet you've
destroyed was not the whole fleet. Not by far." Ackbar said
gravely.
Leia frowned. "But that was their main ship."
She said.
Ackbar shook his head, "Borak's brother said
there was an Admiral." He said.
Leia nodded "There
was another ssi-ruuk on Sele4 that seemed to be in-charge."
"He's
still out there." Han said, quietly.
"Along with a
good portion of his fleet." Ackbar nodded.
They were all
silent for a moment.
"Do we know where?" she
asked.
"We do. And I'm sure, as soon as the council hears
of Slastare, they'll have to send out a fleet to meet him." the
Admiral said.
"Will it be enough?" she said.
"I
hope so. The 12th and 4th fleet, if I can persuade them. The 4th is
the biggest we've got."
"How long do you
think?" Han asked.
"Oh, at least a week. Your
destruction of this fleet will likely set them back a bit.
Bu..."
"The next target was Cador wasn't it?"
Han said.
"Over 5 million people." Ackbar
nodded.
Han blew out a sigh. "Well, it's never over
is it?" he said. The silence hung in the air.
"Princess,
will you be returning to Coruscant?"
"No, I want to
stay with Luke." Ackbar looked troubled at that but just
nodded.
"Keep them in order for me." She winked and
reached for the comm.
"I'll try." He said and signed
off.
Leia leaned back in her seat for a minute, thinking.
Mara walked in through the door "Ready?" she asked.
Leia rose heavily out of the seat
"Ready." she
said.
---
Han followed Mara and Leia out of
the cockpit and to the airlock. Mara turned to face Han.
"What
do you need?" she asked him.
"The ride out blew
most of the circuits."
"Well, come on board and see
if you can find anything you can use." She said, stepping
through. Leia followed them into the Jades Fire.
Though
Mara's personal ship was smaller than the Falcon, it still
managed to feel bigger than the old freighter, and a lot more
comfortable despite the moody colours she had decorated it in. "Down
there." Mara pointed to a storage room at the far end of the
short corridor.
"Right." Han said and he moved past
to inspect the contents.
"I doubt I'll have much,
not for the hyperdrive anyway." She explained to Leia.
"Well,
thank you anyway." Leia said, obviously distracted.
"You
can come too, if you want." Mara said, guessing at what was on
Leia's mind.
She seemed about to accept but instead shook her
head.
"No." she said, "The sooner we can get
the Falcon flying again, the better. It won't take that
long."
"Well, if you're sure." Mara said,
studying her hard.
"I'm sure" Leia replied.
"Come
on," Mara said, leading the way to the Fire's hold.
Leia
knelt down beside Luke and gently brushed her hand across his
forehead. His eyes fluttered for a moment and she sighed.
"Are
you sure? There's plenty of room." Mara said.
"No,
we'll be right behind you." Leia said.
"A day at
most." Han said, appearing in the doorway, bundles of parts in
his arms.
"Did you find anything useful?" Leia asked
him, pulling herself back up to standing.
"Yeah, thanks."
He said, nodding at Mara. "Come on, Leia, we should get
started."
"Right." With a last look down at
Luke she left the room.
Chapter
Two : Casualty Count
"He'll be fine." He whispered into her
ear.
"I know." she said, continuing to stare out of
the cockpit. At last she twisted out of his grip
"Come
on, let's gets back to those repairs."
---
Mara made one last check of the coordinates before
pulling back the levers and sending the Jade's Fire into
hyperspace. The familiar mottled backdrop appeared on the forward
screen. She flicked the ship into auto-pilot, letting her droid,
Slips, take the controls. It wasn't true autopilot; she disliked
having no control at all over the ship, but it would let her sit back
and relax. She leaned back in the pilots seat, though it wasn't
really designed for lounging and consequently wasn't
particularly comfortable. She let the mottled sky take her thoughts
and drifted into a quiet sleep.
Mara started at a sound
behind her, instinctively reaching for her sleeve blaster as she
turned to face the noise. She scowled. "You shouldn't be
up." She said, replacing the blaster back into its holster.
Her
scowl faded as Luke grinned. "I wouldn't be, if I'd
have known you were going to shoot me." He said stepping into
the light where the coloured lights threw a dazzling halo over his
head. She smiled as her stepped forward,
"Teach you to go
sneaking around other people's ships, " she said, but there
was only humour in her voice. "Seriously, though, you shouldn't
be up." She gestured to the seat beside as she said it, though.
"Your sister would kill me." Luke's grin widened.
"I'm
fine..." he said sitting down- a little too heavily- and
suddenly trailing off. Mara looked at him curiously.
"Sure"
she said. He sighed and stared out beyond the cockpit screen, is face
set in stone.
"It's gone you know," she offered,
recognising that he was fine physically, though not mentally. He
turned to her.
"What?"
"The ssi-ruuk
ship. It fell into the planet."
"Oh." he said.
Tone neutral, turning back to stare forwards and leaning back into
the pilots seat.
She sighed, realising she wasn't going
to do any good trying to reassure him.
"How far out are
we?" He said at last.
She glanced down at the chrono and
was mildly surprised to see they were over 11 hours out from
Slastare.
"Only a few minutes left." she said,
trying not to look flustered.
Luke nodded, not noticing. He
leant back again quietly. Strangely, the silence didn't seem to
hang between them, instead they both sat in quiet thought.
"Does
it hurt??" she asked at length.
"What?" this
time he did turn to look at her.
"The..." she
couldn't bring herself to say the word 'implant'. His face
creased when he realised what she was asking.
"Oh"
he said "No. Not really. There are some pain suppression tricks
I know."
"Useful" She said "you'll
have to teach me them someday." She turned fiery green eyes on
him "How about mentally?"
She braced herself for him
to close off to her, to run back inside himself. Instead he stared at
her, eyes going distant. He swallowed hard before answering.
"Probably not as much as it should." He said,
straining to keep his voice.
"Look, Luke-" she
started
"Don't Mara, " he interrupted her
"Just.... just don't."
She bit back a comment
about refusing help, knowing she would just be the same in his
position. He folded his arms across his stomach, not so much a
defensive gesture as a lonely one.
"I won't," she
promised. "But just remember where I am."
He paused
"I will."
She nodded, resting her fingers over the
hyperspace levers, flicking the ship back to manual control. She
glanced over at Luke; glanced again. He was pale, head lolling
against the headrest.
"Luke?" she said, reaching
over and shaking his arm lightly. When he didn't respond, she
shook him harder.
"Luke?" she said again. He moaned
slightly, tried to move his head. Mara reached out to the Force,
bolstering him as he came back around.
"I think you
should get back tot the bunk," she said, gently, but leaving no
room for argument.
He just nodded, gripping the edge of the
seat like he thought he would fall out. She watched him then turned
back to the controls. "Ten seconds to real space" she said,
gripping the lever.
She waited for the countdown, and then
brought the fire out for hyperspace. The stars reappeared, spinning
dizzily.
Mara took her eyes of the screen, and flicker don the
comm. She frowned as the 'receive' light blinked at her: they had a
message coming in. She flicked through and tuned it to receive. She
looked up suddenly as Luke gasped.
"What is it?"
she said, staring at hi m. he continued to stare out the view
screen.
"Mara-" she followed his gaze.
She
gripped the controls tighter. The New Republic station was coming in
to view now, or at least, what was left of it was.
One of their
huge modern facilities, barely out of dry dock, tilted half on its
side, huge chunks ripped out of it, girders and walkways hanging open
to space. Circuits sparked, small fires burning lazily on what was
left of the atmosphere.
"Oh sweet stars-" Luke
began, but didn't finish, staring stunned at the crippled
station, wordless. Debris littered space; the 'Fire cruised
slowly forward through the small asteroids pelting the hull. The
station was eerily dark and quiet. Suddenly, the comm crackled into
the life, that message making it through. Mara and Luke listened in
silence to the static-filled, panicked voice.
"That
was over 6 hours ago," she said. He nodded, closing his eyes and
forcing himself to relax. She watched him as he opened them again and
shook his head.
"No one."
Mara breathed
deep. They were all dead. A station like that could have as many as
8000 crew.
Mara shook her head "All of them." a
statement, not a question.
"We have to get onboard,"
Luke said. Mara turned to look at him "Why? Who are we going to
help? They're all dead."
"We need-" he
started.
"No. What we need is to get you," she
pointed at him "to a medical centre."
Luke just
stared at her. "No arguments." she warned.
"We
can't just leave," he said with that intense earnestness of
his.
"We're not," she said, reaching for the
comm.
He frowned at her "What are you doing?"
"Calling
your sister. They can deal with this. I meant it when I said she'd
kill me if I didn't get you to the nearest bacta tank."
Luke
shivered suddenly, turning pale "What?" she asked,
concerned. His face drained of colour.
"Nothing." He
said "Come on, call Leia."
"Right." She
said, tone neutral, not convinced.
She shook her head "They're
not responding, they can't have got the comm back up
yet."
"They'll be coming here, leave a buoy."
Luke offered.
Mara nodded, keying a message to say that they'd
been here, but moved on, and then fired it off into space. The trail
of the buoy's drive glistened behind it. Mara flicked through
nav. charts. "We need another base, " She looked over at
him, "Somewhere close."
She found a likely place "What
about this, small port, fairly of the main lanes though. Mining
facility. Sounds promising." Luke just shrugged, not really
concentrating. She keyed in the coordinates and sent the 'Fire
back into hyperspace. Luke remained quite, his complexion still pale.
Mara switched over to auto-pilot again,
"Come on."
she said, standing, "Lets get you back to that bunk." Luke
glanced up at her, his expression blank, but didn't resist as
she took his arm and helped him up. He led the way back to the bunk,
sat down beside him and gave him a sedative, not returning to the
cockpit before she was sure he was sleeping soundly.
---
Leia flicked the last connector into place and
replaced the metal cover. "Try that!" she shouted down the
corridor.
"Right!" was Han's reply, followed by a
low growling from the circuits in front of her. She stepped back
quickly as a shower of sparks flew from the panel. "Turn it
off!" Leia screamed. The sparks died and the Leia looked
disgustedly at the slightly charred panel before gingerly teasing the
cover back to look inside. Han appeared by her side and shook his
head. "Must be something further down the line," he said.
"This is taking too long," Leia said, wrinkling her nose at
the arid smell of burned wires. They had been out here nearly twelve
hours now, and they still hadn't got the hyperdrive
fixed.
"Relax, Mara and Luke won't even be there
yet." Han soothed, peering closer at the tangled mass of wires.
He reached in and moved one of the wires "Let's try that."
he said. Leia just frowned. He turned to her "Relax, Leia. "
he said.
"How long is this going to take?"
He
shrugged" I don't know," he said honestly. " I
think we've nearly got the hyperdrive fixed. The comm could take
a lot longer," he said.
She sighed, tensing "Han-"
"We
can skip the comm and repair it enroute," he said, seeing the
expression on her face. She looked up at him, found him smiling. He
knew her too well "Thanks." She said.
"No
problem." He answered, heading into the cockpit "Ready?"
he called.
"Ready!" she called back. The circuit
hummed to life, Leia watched it closely but the circuit held.
"That's it!" she called.
"Great!"
he called back, appearing again. "Don't worry, a couple
more hours and we'll be gone," he winked and she grinned back at
him.
---
Mara took the
"This is
private shuttle Jade's Fire, I need permission to land at you
medical facility," she said to the controllers when she finally
made it through.
"We read you, Jades Fire, you'll
have to wait a while for that, we have a lot of Republic casualties
coming in." A mans voice answered her.
"How long?"
she asked. "I have an injured passenger."
"How
injured?" The man came back, "Is he dying?"
Mara
considered lying, decided she'd just be chased away when she
landed if she did
"No, he's unconscious. He needs
immediate help." She answered.
"Well, then it'll
be at least 6 hours before we can get you down," he said,
obviously not really caring. Mara sighed, barely audibly and reached
out with the Force, touching the man's mind.
"You will
let us land," she said, emphasising every word. The man
hesitated a while and Mara thought for a moment that it hadn't
worked.
"I'll ...let you land." he said slowly,
confused.
"Thank you." She said, hurriedly switching
off the comm before he could reply and banking the ship around
towards the medical building.
---
Leia sat in
the pilots seat, trying not to feel too anxious as the clock counted
down to real space. Han and Chewie were still working on the comm,
she could hear faint bangs and curses from the aft of the ship, but
they should have nearly got it fixed by now, hopefully anyway. Han
had, for one of the few times in his life, trusted someone else to
bring the falcon out of hyperspace. There was only a couple of
minutes to go before she had to pull back the levers, but for some
reason she felt slightly apprehensive. She didn't really know
what it was: just a nagging feeling in the back of her mind. Probably
it was the ludicrous fear that she might actually do something wrong,
born out of Han's unusual act of trusting her with the ships'
well being.
But whatever it was, it was there, and it was
annoying. She flicked on the intra-ship comm and the sounds of Han
and Chewie working suddenly filled the cockpit. At least that part of
the system was back up.
"Han." she called.
"Look
it goes there, not there, there!"
"Han!"
she called again,
"Leia?" he called back, then
suddenly his voice rose a note, "What's wrong?" the
paranoia about his ship was obvious.
"Nothing's
wrong," she said, slightly annoyed at his lack of confidence in
her "We've got two minutes to realspace. Is the comm up
yet, we don't want to fly in there without a transponder."
"Oh, right." her husband said, though she couldn't
hear any chagrin there "It should work."
"Great."
she said, a little too sarcastically.
"You need me in the
cockpit?" he asked, not able to get rid of his discomfort with
having someone else pilot.
"No, Han, it's fine."
she laughed.
"UhhOkay..."
She cut of
the comm and took hold of the hyperspace levers. The comm lights
started to flick on across the board, all showing green.
Hopefully
they would stay that way.
The counter reached zero, and with
a sense of trepidation she pulled back.
The mottled space
warped into starlines and with the slight spinning sensation the
stars reappeared.
She froze, just for a second, then gasped,
grasping for the controls and sending the Falcon into a
stomach-churning twist as the it bore down on a huge chunk of debris.
Leia gritted her teeth and pulled the Falcon up out of the
turn, fighting to slow it down and keep clear for the debris
scattered across space. There was a yelp from the corridor as Han and
Chewie ploughed into the walls from her sudden manoeuvre.
"Han!"
She called over the comm., "We've-" she cut of as
another piece of the destroyed station appeared. They'd jumped
right into the middle of a debris field.
She hit the braking
thrusters and Falcon dragged to a stop, the hull shaking from
the stress. She swung it round slowly, staring at the destruction of
the station. A sudden lump formed in her throat. If Luke and Mara-
But, no. This had happened a long time ago, all the fires had
been quenched, and Luke and Mara had only been a few hours ahead of
them.
Han appeared in the cockpit doorway.
"What
the hell-" he stopped, the anger in his voice turning to quiet
shock as he stared out at he lifeless station that floated in front
of them.
Silently he slipped into the co-pilots seat, hands
moving over the controls "I'm not getting any signs of
life." he said quietly, shaking his head.
"Ssi-ruuk?"
she asked, though it wasn't really a question.
"Yeah,
this whole place is covered in radiation." he said, "We
shouldn't stick around." He added, grabbing the controls
and banked the Falcon slowly around heading out of the field.
Leia sat back in the chair and stared out at the destruction. But if
Luke and Mara had-
Chewie entered, looking a little bashed, Leia
stood up and gave him the pilot's seat as they moved slowly and
carefully from the destroyed station.
"Leia can you pick
up anything from the station?" Han asked, not taking his eyes
off the controls.
"No." she shook her head "But
I don't know if I would at this distance anyway."
"Okay
well- hang on, we've got something out there." He frowned "
A message buoy, I think."
Leia leaned forward "From
who?" she asked "Is it from Mara?"
"Hang
on." he repeated, working at the sensors. He visibly relaxed
"Its from the Jade's Fire alright."
So they
had not been here when it had happened. Good.
"Bring it
in.," she said.
He nodded "Am doing."
They
got closer the buoy, but Leia couldn't make it out amongst the
debris.
"Okay, it's downloading now." Leia
waited anxiously for the download to complete. Suddenly, the comm
light began flashing.
"Han." she said, "We've
got a message coming through."
"Put it on speakers."
he said, reading the screen with the buoy readout on it "It's
probably the distress call."
Leia routed it through to
the cockpit speakers
Han
shook his head "They were probably being jammed." he said.
"As it is, well have to go out of the system if you want to send
a message to Coruscant."
Leia sat thoughtfully, resting
her chin on her hand as she thought.
"We better send a
message out, but...."
"You don't want to wait
for anyone to arrive?" he asked. She shook her head.
"No."
She answered. "Does Mara say where they went?"
"Yeah.
A small mining colony with a base a couple of hours from here."
He said, already punching the coordinates in.
"Okay, take
us out and I'll make the call, then we'll go meet
Mara."
Han nodded; already the twisted wreck was far in
the distance.
Chapter
Three: Already Determined
The medical facility wasn't
as crude as she had feared: the colony here was relatively new and
the medical area had obviously been bought new, and so was as modern
as she could have hoped for. Luke had been whisked away, probably to
a bacta tank, which, considering his jumpiness about them on the way
in meant it was probably a good thing that he was unconscious. They
had discovered the implants: one in his arm, one on the top of his
scull. They had questioned her, and Mara, though cagey about giving
out too much information, had told them all she knew. Which, on
reflection, wasn't all that much. They had decided to leave them
well alone until Leia arrived. Hopefully, she would know more.
Hopefully.
Mara grimaced. There was still an awful lot they
didn't know about any of this. They had won the first battle,
but she had the sinking feeling it wouldn't be nearly enough to
stop the ssi-ruuk attack. And now she was bound, both by her loyalty
and her interests in the economics of this area of space, to help the
Republic any way she could.
If that meant going back in to
battle, well, so be it. She would go, but she didn't have to
like it.
She stared into the sky. The stars she would have
expected to see were masked by the cloud of noxious gases the mining
plants spewed into the atmosphere. She didn't really know why
she was looking for the Falcon: she probably wouldn't see
it before it go below that toxic layer, and by then it would almost
be on top of her.
Her red hair blew across her face in a
sudden fierce gust of wind, bringing sharp pieces of flak with it.
She put a hand up to cover her eyes and leaned into the relative
cover of the colony walls. She thought back to Luke's face on
the Jade's Fire on the way in. It had been the first time she
had seen him since that whole mess out at Corellia. Both times he had
seemed like a different person than he had over the past few years.
More at ease with himself, but in some ways even more on edge.
She
thought she knew what was wrong, but it was only an idea, and one she
wasn't about to voice to anyone. Not yet, anyway.
She had
always admired Luke, not that she would even admit that to anyone but
herself, but even on Mkyr she had admired him. But over the past few
years, he had seemed to go off in the wrong direction, on the wrong
path for him. But then, who was she to talk about wrong paths? For
five years after the Emperor's death she had worked with the
lowest of the low, done things even she was ashamed of. At some point
in everyone's life, there was a time to be ashamed of. Maybe, at
last, Luke was finally realising that. She hoped so.
A sudden
glint in the sky caught her eye and she looked up to see the dark
shape of a ship descending to the ground like an avenging angle,
falling rapidly towards her, it's shadows passing in shivering
waves over her.
The Falcon lowered slowly on repulsors
as it came closer, the air protesting against it's movement,
throwing up a fierce wind. Before it had even settled properly with a
hiss of hydraulic landing pads, the ramp lowered and Leia's face
could be seen poking out.
Mara waved to her, seeing the anxiety
on her face. Maybe she had sensed that Luke was still unconscious as
they approached.
Leia smiled at her and waved back, quickly
pulling the mask of calm over her face as she walked down the ramp,
wearing now a plain white ship suit. Mara strode towards her,
greeting the shorter woman with a smile and a handshake. The Falcon's
engines cut off and suddenly the air was quite
"Good
to see you Mara," Leia said. Han appeared at the ramp, then
Chewbacca. Mara nodded in greeting them, got a smile from each and a
casual wave from Han, before turning back to Leia
"And
you. Let's go in, it's a bit cold out here." Leia
nodded and headed for the door at a fast trot.
---
The blast door shut with a quite hiss and the howl of
the wind was cut out. Mara ran a hand through the knots in her hair
and turned around to Leia as they walked.
"I haven't
told them who we are yet. I thought you might want to keep it
discreet. Or at least, as quite as possible for as long as possible."
she said as Leia fell into step beside her. Mara began to lead the
way down the blanched corridors towards the medical bay.
Leia
nodded "I think were going to have to tell them, eventually. But
at least I can stop them sending anything out."
"Being
Chief of State has some advantages, then." Mara said.
Leia
smiled. "I can count them on one hand." she said. Mara
arched her eyebrows but didn't say anything.
"We
need to take this lift." She said, and they stopped in front of
it, waiting for it to arrive.
"Everything fixed on the
Falcon?" she asked Han. He grunted and turned a sarcastic
look to his wookiee sidekick "As much as possible." He
said.
"As much as it ever is." Leia put in and
managed to get a scowl from her husband.
"We tried to
call you when we reached the station, but your comm must have been
down."
"That, or the radiation was too
strong."
"Whatever. It was a mess, wasn't it?"
Mara continued.
"Yes." Leia shivered. "We
didn't find any signs of life."
Mara nodded "Luke
couldn't sense anyone either." she said.
The lift
doors began to open "He was awake?" Leia looked shocked.
Two roughly dressed miners stepped out, gaping openly at the
strangers. Mara stared back just as openly until they moved on
"Yes, for a short while." She cut off, sounding
troubled and stepped into the lift.
"What?" Leia
asked.
"He didn't look too good, Leia." She
said. The doors shut behind Han and Chewie and the lift began to
drop.
"I know." She said, "But as soon as
they've got the implant out-"
Mara was shaking her
head "They haven't touched the implants. They daren't.
Not yet, anyway."
Leia's face was stony "They
have to." She said.
"You'll have to tell them
that." Mara answered as the lift stopped and they stepped out
into a new corridor. The noxious smells of a medical bay wafted
through and Leia wrinkled her nose.
They walked down the
clean, white corridor, their footsteps echoing off the floor. Mara
led them further deep into the complex, past rooms with quietly
clicking machinery and closed doors.
"He might be out of
the bacta by now." She said, noticing Leia stiffen barely
perceptibly behind her at the mention of bacta "But I doubt
he'll be awake." They reached a plain door and Mara
gestured for Leia to go first.
She seemed to steel herself
before passing her hand over the release switch. Han gripped her
shoulders, holding her up.
Mara watched the couple help each
other as the entered the room. She didn't know if she could ever
be that dependent on someone. Maybe one day.
Inside, the room
was the same blanch colour, white walls, floor and ceiling. The same
design that seemed to be universal for every medical facility, no
matter where you went in the galaxy. Mara followed them into the
room, saw them move over to the lone bed in the room. She kept a
respectful distance as Leia squeezed the hand of her brother where he
lay, unconscious, on the bed. She heard Han whisper, "He'll
be all right." in her ear.
"Miss Jade?" She
twisted at the voice, saw the head medic behind her.
"Yes."
she said then looked back at Luke "How is he?" she asked.
The medic shrugged, a frown furrowing his balding features
"Better than we could have hoped. In fact, he's doing
remarkably well considering his condition when you brought him in."
Mara suppressed a smile. There were also some advantages to
being a Jedi.
"He'll recover then?"
The
medic shrugged. "These things are always in the hand's of
fate." he answered "But.... yes, I think so."
Leia
approached, leaving Han by Luke's side. "He's gong to
be okay?" she asked.
The medic frowned again, glancing
at Leia, then looked at Mara, eyebrows raised.
"This is
his sister." Mara explained.
"Ahh..." he said
"Yes, I think-" he cut of, looking at Leia with sudden
shock.
"What?" Leia asked, concerned, glancing
worriedly at Mara. The media stared at her, then Han and Chewie, and
lastly at Luke.
"Great stars... " He whispered.
Leia understood.
"Please, is he going to be okay?"
she asked again.
"President Organa-Solo?" he asked,
his voice shaky.
"He'll be fine, Leia." Mara
answered for him. The man put a hand up to his ruddy cheeks and shook
his head.
"He's supposed to be dead!"
"Well,
he's not." Mara cut the man off, wishing he would pull
himself together. The man, sensing her annoyance, seemed to jar
himself back to reality.
"Oh, ummYes. I'm
hoping he might wake up in a day or two." He said, moving to the
bedside.
Mara walked with him and got her first good look at
Luke's face. She had to admit, he did look a bit better. His
features were still waxen but he looked stronger.
"Did
you tell Ackbar where we are?" Mara asked Leia.
"Yes,
but he's not telling anyone."Sshe turned a stern look onto
the medic "And I don't want this getting out." she
said.
"Oh, of course not, Madam President...umm...Madame
Organa-Solo...Chief of-"
"Leia will do fine."
---
Leia dropped down heavily into one of the apartment's
tatty old chairs and pulled at the stuffing poking out the edge of
the frayed stitching. Han dropped down beside her, letting the last
of their travel bags fall to the floor. The apartment reminded her of
the one they had had on Bespin, only not so flashy. The furniture was
older, the view not so striking: looking out across a craggy
landscape of canyons and mountain ranges of stone bathed in the blue
dusk light.
She stretched her arms out above her head and
leaned back into the chair. They'd left Luke in the medical bay
and fetched their bags. It was the middle of the night locally, but
she wasn't really tired.
She felt like she should be
doing something, but she didn't know what. Mara had gone
back the Jade's Fire, preferring to stay onboard her ship -and
probably contact Karrde- than to take the accommodations here. She
couldn't really blame her, either.
Han pulled himself
out of the seat and walked towards the kitchen area. "You want
anything to drink?" he asked her.
She stretched again.
"Umm.... any hot chocolate?" she asked.
Han smirked
and rolled his eyes "Skywalker's..." he mumbled.
Leia
grinned. Luke had introduced her to the drink and, frankly, she found
it irresistible. Han though, thought it beneath him to drink the
stuff. But then, he did drink Correllian whiskey-
There was a
laugh from the kitchen.
"What?" Leia called,
levering up from her chair and walked over. Han poked his head around
the corner and held up a bowl-shaped object.
"They have
kettles." He said. "Only this place and the Alliance are
poor enough to use a kettle."
---
Mara
waited patiently for the Solo's to arrive at the med centre.
They had been here two days now. Mara had contacted Karrde, and,
though she had objected, he had told her to stay here with them, at
least until they knew what the situation with the ssi-ruuk was. Mara
didn't like it; she felt she should be doing something, instead
of sitting around here. She wondered darkly if it was Karrde being
over protective of her or Skywalker. Or both of them. He seemed eager
to see them talking together. She shook her head. One day, she would
figure it out.
Leia and Han appeared in the distance, the
wookiee in tow. The chief medic had called to say Luke was awake,
sooner than he had hoped for too. It looked like it was going to be
okay.
But then, Mara wasn't counting the victories
yet.
"Mara." Leia nodded, she looked tired but
stronger than when they had arrived here, Mara thought.
"Ready?"
Han stood beside the door control.
"Yeah." Leia
answered and door slid open.
---
Luke blinked
against the bright lights and tried to turn his head. A spasm of pain
shot up his neck and he winced. The world around him was hazy and
shifting, the lights all but blinding. A dark figure appeared over
them and he blinked, trying to make out the strange images that
floated in front of him.
"Luke?"
He knew that
voice, but his memories were scattered and muddled and he couldn't
place it. He blinked again, frustrated. He tried to concentrate on
his surroundings: he was laid down, on a bed, he thought, the soft
curves underneath him. He could faintly hear voices, but not the
words they said.
"Luke, its Leia." A hand squeezed
his own, clasping on tightly. She appeared over him, brown hair
framing her still-beautiful face as she smiled gently down at him.
The image was out of focus but he could start to see things
now. He tried to move his head again.
"Don't let him
move." An unfamiliar voice said sternly, followed by two firm
hands pressing him down. "Relax."
He blinked again and
saw Leia more clearly, standing next to him. His balance was off, it
felt like the bed was tilting and he resisted the urge to grab the
sides to stop the dizzy feeling. She grinned down at him when she saw
he could see her,
"Well, it's about time. You
planning on sleeping forever?" Her voice was genuinely joking.
She was, for the first time since Luke had seen her in months, truly
relaxed.
"I think I've slept enough." He
managed, working to force the words out off parched lips. He tried to
sit up again. But, again, firm hands held him down.
"Relax,
kid." That was Han's voice, but he didn't turn his
head to look, remembering the shivering pain from when he'd
first woken. He felt someone step closer and Leia turned away from
him.
"What's that?" she asked sounding
concerned.
"It's just a pain-killer." that
unfamiliar voice replied. There was a prick against his arm that he
hardly felt and suddenly the fog around his mind began to
clear.
"Where am I?" His voice sounded
better.
"Quanti. A small mining colony." He frowned
not recognising the name. "Don't worry about it." Leia
said as she moved back into his view. "Do you remember what
happened?"
He thought hard; trying to piece together the
fragments of his memory "I think so." He said
uncertainly.
"Don't worry, temporary memory loss is
perfectly normal." The voice said. A medic, probably, he
decided, "It'll back within a few hours, maybe less."
Luke nodded, regretted the action.
"I said don't
move." The man admonished him.
"Sorry." Luke
said sheepishly. There was a laugh from the
background.
"Mara?"
"Yes, Luke."
she stepped into his field of view "I'm here." She
leaned over him, her red hair pulled into a loose plait behind her
"You're looking a lot better." she smiled.
"What
happened?" He asked. Leia looked worriedly over at the medic,
but then turned back to Luke "The ssi-ruuk cruiser fell into
Slastare," she said, "They're long gone."
Luke
tired to remember had vague images of a huge red gas giant he thought
was associated with that name.
"Gone?" He asked,
not knowing why there was trepidation and quite hope in his voice
when he said it.
She smiled "Long gone." She
repeated. He relaxed into the pillows and closed his eyes.
"I
think that's it for now..." the medic said.
Luke's
eyes flew open and he recoiled as the short man approached holding a
needle, ignoring the pain it caused.
"No."
His
voice wasn't good, shaking. Something about the idea of the
situation repulsed him. Leia looked down worriedly at him, but saw
the confusion in his face. She stepped up to the medic and pulled him
off to a corner, whispering quietly so that Luke couldn't hear
them.
Mara watched them anxiously then turned back and smiled
reassuringly at him. Leia and the medic returned.
"Okay,
no needle, but you do need to rest." He said.
"Come
on," Leia said, taking Mara's hand and beginning to lead
her away. She looked down at Luke. "Try and sleep, we'll be
back soon." she said, still smiling gently.
Han
appeared, grinning slowly "Good to see you again, kid." he
said before disappearing after Mara and Leia. Luke stared up at the
blank ceiling and waited for sleep to come.
---
Leia
turned over against the pillow, hair scrawled across her face. She
clutched at the soft pillow and buried her head deeper into its
folds, hoping the annoying beeping was just in her mind. It wasn't,
it thrummed against her temples in time to her heartbeat. She was
tempted to just pull the duvet closer and forget about it, but she
remembered the last time she had ignored a call for the sake of
sleep. The memory sticking uncomfortably in her throat, she pushed
the quilt away and padded softly across the lounge area to the comm.
Pushing straggled hair from her eyes she switched the comm on.
Her
young children appeared on the screen, excitably clustering around
the pickup. Her eyes went to Anakin, his slightly blonde hair messed
from sleep: it would be morning on Coruscant. She remembered too what
that other call she'd missed had been about. Gathering her
children in a smile she realised just how long it had been since
she'd held them. Still, they shouldn't have access to the
comm, she looked questionably at Jaina, always the responsible one.
Jaina smiled sheepishly.
"Mum!" she grinned, her
brothers adding their own greetings. "Admiral Ackbar gave us the
number." She explained, knowing the first question that would be
on her mother's lips.
"I'm glad" she
assured her daughter with a smile.
"Are you okay? We've
missed you." Jaina put in, trying her best to sound grown-up
though Leia could see the childish glee.
"I'm fine."
she said, "you, though, won't be if threepio catches
you."
Her children just shrugged "Admiral Ackbar
said it was okay. He said you'd found Uncle Luke." Jaina's
deep brown eyes searched her mothers face, waiting for a reply.
Leia
nodded, smiling "Yes, we did."
"Is he ok?"
Anakin pushed to the front, eliciting a scowl from Jacen, "He is
ok, isn't he?"
"He's going to be fine."
Leia assured him, her dusky tones deeper from sleep.
"Are
you coming home?" There was hope in his voice when he said, his
eyes lighting up, waiting for a good answer.
"I don't
know yet." she answered him truthfully "We have to see how
things go."Jaina wrinkled her brow "But I thought the ship
was blown up." Leia smiled at the hint of pleasure in her voice
at the words blown up'.
"It was, but there are
still some others." she answered, not sure how much she should
tell her children, and how much should be said over this insecure
channel.
"Oh." Anakin looked downcast "but
you'll come home soon??"
"Yes."
"And
bring Uncle Luke?"
She nodded as Jacen pushed his little
brother out the way.
"Still sleeping."
funny how he manages to always pass these tasks onto me. Only
this wasn't a task, it was the first time she had actually seen
Anakin grinning quite so widely in a long time. There was definitely
no task.
Suddenly all three children turned at a noise in the
room. Threepio's voice drifted over the comm
"Master
Anakin? It's time for- oh, my! Mistress Leia!" the droid
started as her saw Leia's face.
"Hello, threepio,
everything okay? " she asked, greeting the droid.
He
seemed to step back from her in shock "Of course." he said
nonchalantly. There was a barrage of whistles as Artoo entered and
beeped frantically at the comm
"I was coming to that,
Artoo." Threepio admonished his diminutive counterpart. He
turned back to the pickup "Artoo wishes to know how master Luke
is." Leia
smiled at the ever-faithful little droid
"He's fine." then amended "Or, at least,
he will be fine."
Threepio, though his expression
couldn't change, seemed genuinely pleased "Then you will be
returning soon?" he asked, and Leia heard the hope there,
despite his protestations Threepio really wasn't suited as
nursemaid
"As soon as we can." she said hiding a
grin.
"Ah, well, give our best wishes to Master Luke."
the protocol droid said, moving to herd the children away "I'm
sorry for the call, I didn't know the children could access the
comm."
"That's all right, I'm glad to see
them." she assured him. "We'll be back soon."
Threepio nodded and Leia cut off the comm and leaned back
into the rickety seat. She leaned her head onto her hand and stared
out to the starless night beyond the window. Small ships lifted up
from the far docking platforms and Leia watched them spark across the
deep blue sky, falling slowly into a deep, thoughtless sleep.
---
Leia perched on the bedside and studied Luke's face
intently before smiling at her brother
"You look a lot
better," she said as he pushed up into a sitting position. Han
took his position in the chair next to the bed, flopping down
casually as Mara stood off at some distance.
"I feel a
lot better." He said. "When can we get out of here?"
Leia frowned. " Not for another couple of days at
least." she said, squeezing his hand. He did look better.
Luke opened his mouth to protest but his sister cut him off,
"No arguments," she warned him.
He shut his
mouth and grinned "Yes, ma'am." There was a choked chuckle
from his side and Leia turned to look at Han.
Mara stepped
forward. "Will you be going straight back to Coruscant?"
She asked, red hair flowing loosely around he shoulders.
"We
hope so." Leia said. "Its all right, you don't have to stay
around."
"Its no problem." she said "And
besides, Karrde want me to stay with you."
"And keep
up on the latest in the ssi-ruuk?"
Mara shrugged. "Well,
we-" she cut of and Mara swivelled on her foot as Leia looked
towards the far door. The head medic stepped through, and strode
purposefully towards Leia, looking a little flushed.
"Madame?"
he asked, his words betraying a slight tremble.
"What is
it?" she asked, frowning slightly at the small man. Mara stepped
closer adding her own deep frown.
"Madame, you have a
call coming in from Coruscant." The little man bustled to get
the words out "It's coded scramble nine."
Leia
felt a ripple of shock coarse through her body and saw Mara step
backwards in shock
"Scramble nine? Isn't that-"
"Top
priority, only used in extreme circumstances." Leia finished,
her tone strangely mute. She turned to the medic, "Where's your
most secure comm room?" she asked.
The smaller man
pushed a hand across his eyes, thinking, before answering "My
office probably."
Leia nodded and headed for the door. "Show
me." She said, quickly crossing the room. Han moved to stand up
but she waved him down. "Sorry." she said. "But you
know the rules."
He seemed about to protest but just
nodded and slumped back into his chair. "Good luck." he
said quietly to her retreating back.
---
Leia
watched the retreating medic before reaching to the console and
punching in her identification code. Under normal circumstances the
comm system wouldn't be secure enough for this kind of priority
but if Ackbar felt it was serious enough- and he was the only one who
knew she was here- then she had better reply and soon. The screen
fizzled for a while before coalescing into the new republic symbol.
Leia held her hand against the keypad and felt the tingle a thin beam
passed across and registered her.
Suddenly the Admiral
appeared with a small blinking red message at the bottom that read
recorded'.
Leia frowned. Somehow she'd
expected a real time message. The need for a pre-recorded message was
ominous.
The playback started and she listened as the admiral
began to talk.
"Princess Leia." he started
formally, his eyes grave. "I'm sending this whilst on board the
cruiser Redemption en route to Bosse." he paused, and Leia tried
to recall where she'd heard that name before. "The ssi-ruuk
have stepped up their attack. Bosse was not supposed to be attacked
for a long time yet, but Cador has been taken. A sudden pincer attack
yesterday, and Bosse has gone silent."
He leaned closer
in. "Leia, I fear we have greatly underestimated their ability
to recover. We must move know. The 9th fleet is moving with us to
Bosse. President Gaviscom has ordered us to attack."
"Leia,
stay where you are. Any route out to Coruscant is likely to be
littered with ssi-ruuk interdictors. Stay with Jedi Skywalker. He'll
need you."
"Good luck, and may the Force be with
you." The screen blinked twice before going dark.
"And
to you, Admiral..." She whispered.
---
"Leia,
we can't just sit back here." Han protested, barely keeping
his seat. Leia perched on a table edge, feeling the piercing gaze of
her brother but not looking at him.
"What can one ship
do against the whole ssi-ruuk fleet??" she said "We're
not going to help anyone by getting killed."
"Two
ships." Mara put in.
Leia turned to her "Do you
think you can get Karrde's group out to help us?"
Mara
looked troubled "I don't think I can do that. We suffered
some bad losses at Slastare and I don't think they'd be
much help. Bosse is pretty far away from where I sent the fleet.
They'd never get repaired and reach it in time."
"Okay,
so that's not an option. What else do we have?" Han asked,
"Not a lot." Leia said, shaking her head and
folding her arms across her stomach. "The 9th fleet is going out
there. The 5th might be able to join them in a couple of days.
They're the two biggest we have."
"We'll
never beat them on numbers." Han pointed out.
"
Well, unfortunately we don't have any miracle weapons to throw
at them." She sighed.
"Or maybe we do."
All
eyes turned to Luke, "What?" Han asked.
"We
might be able to use the technology in this implant." he tapped
the side of his head "To control the druids."
"We
don't have the time to look into it." Leia said bitterly.
"Well, I can still use it." He said.
She
looked up sharply "No you don't." she warned "No
stupid crusades." She said, and they could all hear the dread in
her words.
"Leia, it's the best we've
got."
"I don't care." She shook here head,
firm.
But she knew the minute he'd said it that there
really wasn't any other way to win this, and that, in the end,
she'd have to give in. He had to know that too and, mercifully,
he had the sense not to push her.
She sighed deeply. "Okay,
but not yet."
"Leia-"
"Not yet."
She insisted. We wait at least another day. Bosse is closer to here
than Coruscant. Even if we left now we would be way ahead of the
fleet."
"Is that such a bad thing?" Han put in,
leaning against the back wall. "We might be able to use a head
start."
Leia nodded "I agree." She said "But
I don't think we can risk running into the ssi-ruuk fleet on our
own." She shook her head slowly
"We have to wait."
Chapter
Four: the Final Phase
Luke sat down on the edge of the bed
and stared around the empty bay, feeling like the only walls he'd
been seeing in the last few days were white clinical ones, the only
smells the sharp medicinal smells that bit at the senses. His mind
wandered to the lush, free smells of Yavin Four, or the dry
bitterness of the Tatooine desert. He laughed; even the cloyey
Coruscant would be a welcome to change to the universal medical
centre.
"Hey, you awake." The words swept slowly
into his consciousness, drifting slowly. Finally, his perception
caught up and he turned to face the speaker.
"I was just
thinking," he said. Mara arched an eyebrow at that, but instead
of the usual sharp remark he might have expected she circled the bed
and sat down beside him. Maybe she understood that right now he had a
lot of thinking to do.
"Not much time left for that now."
She said, shifting slightly.
He nodded "No, I suppose
not." He said, knowing she was studying the distant look in his
eyes but not really caring. They were going back out there- to Bosse.
To the ssi-ruuk. Whatever memories they now conjured up to him, they
had to go back out there and, in some way, put it behind them. Or at
least try to.
"We should go. Leia sent me up to get
you." Mara said, standing up uncertainly and, as a strange look
crossed her features. Offering him her hand. Luke looked up at her,
not quite sure how deep the gesture went. He decided to take it at
face value. Accepting the hand he allowed her to help him
stand.
"You sure you're up to this?" She asked
him trying, unsuccessfully, to hide her concern.
He looked up
her and smiled "Sure." He said. She seemed to see something
in his eyes as she studied him; she moved away "I'll be
following you in the Jade's Fire." She said, heading for
the door.
"Following?" He frowned at her. "You're
not going back to Karrde."
"No." She said,
pausing in front of the door, keeping her back to him "Karrde
wants me to stay along."
Luke felt his forehead crease,
there was something in her sense; she wasn't telling him the
truth. Or, at least, not the whole truth anyway. Perhaps it was just
loyalty.
The door swooshed upwards and he followed her into
the corridor. He didn't feel as bad as he feared he would. Laid
down for days, he'd expected to feel tired when he'd got
up. Instead, he felt more rested than he had in days.
Mara
seemed to know where she was going, moving with confidence through
the corridors. At last, they reached a heavily shielded door: a door
to the outside probably. Mara reached for the control, then turned
back to him. "It gets pretty windy out there." She said as
he approached and stood beside her. Her gaze on him went deeper as he
felt her presence reach out to his. Probably trying to decide if he
really was well enough for this. Finally her piercing green eyes fell
away, and with it her Force sense. She offered him her hand and he
raised his own eyebrows, feeling a slight grin spread across his
face.
"Hold on to me if it gets a bit gusty." She
said, careful to allow no particular emotion into her voice.
Luke
wiped the grin from his face, matching her expression, and nodded.
She opened the door and a gust of wind blew in at them, flak
thrown around the small room. Luke staggered a little, realising just
how much of an understatement Mara's earlier statement was.
Beyond the blowing debris he could make out two ships, the large bulk
of the Falcon, squatting on the platform, looking less stable
than normal in the wind, and the small, sleeker modified personal
yacht that was the Jades Fire: Mara's personal ship. She grabbed
his hand and pushed him forward into the wind. Her hair blew around
her face, and she brushed a hand angrily against it.
The wind
wasn't as bad as he'd feared, the initial gust probably a
result of the different pressures between outside and inside.
The
reached the Falcon's side and Mara shouted over the wind
"Go on up! Leia and Han are there." He couldn't really
tell what she was saying, but the sense was there none the less. He
nodded and as she moved away he grabbed onto her sleeve. She turned
to him, startled, but only for a moment. Her red hair flew madly as
she swivelled to face him.
"Thank you." He shouted
over the wind. His words caught in the air and were blown away but
she understood. She stopped for a minute and studied his face, he
watched as emotions spread in quick succession across her features.
At last she just smiled- an honest, genuine smile that Mara Jade
hardly ever showed. It crossed Luke's mind then for a minute
that that was shame: she had a beautiful smile. Whilst wondering just
what that last thought meant, his attention was brought back the
present as Mara squeezed his hand and shouted
"Its okay.
Anytime." She smiled again and moved away from him turning her
back and heading for the Jade's Fire.
---
Leia
turned from her seat as Luke entered the small cockpit.
"We
all set?" He asked as he sat down in the seat behind the
co-pilot's.
Leia nodded "Just about. Hans just
checking the hyperdrive over once more."
She saw him hide
a smile at that. "Just to be sure," she said mimicking Han
brash casualness with flair. Luke laughed and Leia felt a smile rush
across her face too.
"That's good. That's very
good." Luke said. Leia just laughed. Behind Luke a dark figure
appeared, arms folded across his front in a distinctly suspicious
expression.
"What's so funny?" Leia managed to
stifle her laughter and coughed "Ahemnothing." she
said.
Han stepped into the light "Doesn't sound much
like nothing." He said, moving past her to the pilots seat. She
just chuckled as he started up the engines.
---
The
shuttle was small but sleek. Hull turning in twisted curves to form a
spearhead silhouette that cut the night. The stars seemed to bristle
behind it in anticipation, and Admiral Sh'rtokh could emphasise with
them. The shuttle crossed the distance between it and the Admiral's
flagship -the Calisaire- with a grace that was rare amongst
even the ssi-ruuvi fleet. Its deep black swallowed the night
greedily, its whole persona reeking of anticipation. Sh'rtokh clasped
his claws if front of him, tension in his hands digging deep into his
skin. The pain, in retrospect, was exquisite; simple and pure where
the Admiral's world was rapidly spiralling into the complex and
obscure. The ship slipped through the aft docking bay and Sh'rtokh
clasped his hands harder, waiting, revelling in the pain that blunted
the moment. That ship held a messenger; whether it was a harbinger of
doom or not was to be seen, and soon. The messenger's approach
to the bridge was almost tangible. Traced, should he have wanted to;
should he have dared, but the decks rapidly growing quite at the
messengers approach. The Admiral took a steadying breath. A message
from His Potency the Shreeftut was not unexpected, but its method of
transmission was. For His Potency to have used one of his elite was
an unexpected, and unwelcome, move. He doubted the elite would
be here if the message was not of consequence.
"The Calisaire and the 4th
ssi-ruuvi fleet to His Potency the Shreeftut offer their most
honourable greetings to you, messenger of the elite." He
rose slowly from his bow. "Welcome aboard the flagship of the
Task."
The messenger turned steely eyes that flashed
both knowledge and danger in a shifting cocktail. He was shrouded in
a dark, damp cloud of concealed danger, the very air stung by his
presence, the room chill.
"It is a pleasure to have
boarded." The messenger crowed softly, his voice thick and
gravely, using words to weave a net around Sh'rtokh's senses,
blinding him as he fought to maintain his own presence in the room.
"His Potency is most displeased." The threat was not
voiced, his words never venturing above the mildly interested, by
Sh'rtokh fought to resist quailing from the fire that burned behind
those eyes. "Your errors have been noted." This time the
threat was well spoken and clear, his voice smothering with its old
intensity.
"The invasion is back on schedule."
Sh'rtokh managed, careful to keep his voice below the level of
argument.
The cold laughter that erupted from the elite
washed over the admiral in a wave of ice that froze his muscles and
rooted him to the spot. Warmth fled the small room and Sh'rtokh found
himself facing his own failure.
"No ssi-ruuk wants to die
away from consecrated ground." The elite spoke softly,
weaving the words in delicate snares. "You would be wise to
remember that."
Sh'rtokh was too numb to find his voice.
Instead, he bowed his head in the deepest of respect. When he found
his voice, though shaking, he dared to speak, "You bring another
message?" He hazarded the guess, felt the disapproving frown
flit across the elite's features.
"No. No
message in and off itself."
Sh'rtokh frowned in his turn
"Then..."
"I am the message." The elite
said. "As of now, you work under and for me."
"I
understand." Sh'rtokh said, biting back the bitter taste of
dejection from his voice. "And I obey."
Luke had the freighter banked starboard and scrapped another
craft, Hans cries to take it easy' punctuated with the
ricocheting of fire across the smaller ships as it exploded and shook
the Falcon. Luke's hands flew across the controls, using
instinct and the Force to guide them as he acted as pilot and
co-pilot and, on the occasions when Han and Chewie missed, he was
gunner too as he took control of the forward guns. He was aware of
Leia sat beside him, doing what she could to help as she tried to
keep up with his manoeuvres. He had his eyes half closed as he relied
on the Force more. For now they were just flying for all they were
worth, trying to avoid the deadly wave of droids that had descended
enmass.
In front of them, an x-wing shattered under the fire
from the combined power of one of the jet-black droids and the
sleeker, faster fighters. Luke flicked the guns onto the fighter as
it burst through the burning corpse of the ship and blew out a sharp
burst of fire at the fighter as it swung around to target the Falcon.
The first burst pierced the weapons relay, melting and liquefying it,
the return fire dying before it was even loosed. The next shot took
out the main engine, striking with pinpoint accuracy the assembly
that held the held the small fusion reactor. The fireball raced
across the small ship, engulfing it as the shell fell away from
them.
"Nice shot." Han called across the comm as
Luke twisted the Falcon again, shifting the rudder back and
forth to weave tightly between the dogfights.
"Luke?"
Leia said from beside him, her voice laced with concentration and
just a little awe.
"I'm listening." He said, sparing
her the concentration to turn and look "What is it?"
"Over
there." She pointed. He followed her finger to see a group of
a-wings struggling under the assault of an army of battle droids.
"You ready?" she asked.
Luke forced a
swallow and nodded. "Now for it."