In Memory of…
By: Skywalker's Dream
February 6, 2001
Disclaimer: The normal disclaimer on this one. None of the characters in this story belong to me. I am making no money off them and claim no rights.
Chapter
1
Han Solo entered his bedroom, to find his wife sitting on the edge of the bed. He watched as she slowly ran a brush through her long hair. She didn't seem to notice he was there. He sat down beside her, taking the brush out of her hand. When she turned to protest, he pulled her hair back off her shoulder, and then began to brush her hair for her.
"That feels nice," she commented.
"Have I told you recently how much I love your hair?"
"Hum… So you don't think I should cut it?" She teased.
"No way. You'd get into way too much trouble."
"How would me cutting my hair get me in trouble?"
"All that extra time you'd save not having to fool with it… come on, you are a Skywalker, you can't have that much idle time without something happening."
"Why you…" Leia said, trying to turn to face him.
"Kidding, kidding," he chuckled, throwing his hands out as if to protect himself. "Touchy, touchy. Are you about packed?"
"Not quite. I'll finish this evening or in the morning. Don't you worry, I'll be ready to go."
"Why not pack now?" Han asked his wife.
"We are not leaving for a couple of days yet, besides, I have a last minute meeting in a bit."
"I should have known that I couldn't get you out of here without one of those."
"It's nothing too severe. Ackbar's just worried about us going off alone. He's wanting to send some support with us."
"Support? This is a vacation, not an assault."
"As I pointed out to him. He countered me by pointing out that we get into the most trouble when we go on vacation. He just wants to send some people out with us on the first leg of our trip; once we've determined that everything's fine, we can send them on their way."
"I shouldn't have to tell you how much I hate this idea, Leia. Who's he planning on sending?" The dread he was feeling seeping into his voice.
A growl
from the door indicated Chewie's entrance to the room. He added his own barking comments, revealing
his thoughts on the conversation.
"You knew about this too?" Han asked, turning towards the door to see his friend. "Am I the last to know?"
"Of course not dear," Leia said, placing a loving hand on his shoulder. "Wedge and the squadron have not been told. We were going to leave that one up to you."
"Well at least it's going to be them with us. I can probably stand having those guys around for a little while, anyone else I would not allow."
"I know dear," Leia told him, sporting her sweetest smile.
"But why not just bring Luke along," Han questioned, ignoring his wife's mocking manner. "I know he needs a break by now."
"I tried to get him to come visit a few days ago, but he wouldn't. He seemed a bit depressed, but he wouldn't tell me what was wrong."
"He gets depressed about this time ever year, Leia," Han told her.
"You think so? I've noticed that he gets depressed every so often, but never that he had formed a pattern to it."
"It's been going on for a few years."
Chewie growled.
"Are you sure?" he asked him.
"What?" Leia asked, turning to look at Chewie.
"Chewie said it's been going on for longer then a few years," Han explained to her. He picked up the brush and resumed brushing her hair. "He says he has become depressed and disappears about this time every year since we met him."
"Then I guess that it's past due for me to talk to him about this. I will give him a call and get him to come here."
"I don't think that's such a good idea," Han told her. She turned around, looking him in the eye. "He already knows you want him to come here and has said no," Han continued. "I have a better idea. We were gong on vacation anyway, lets get Luke to meet us. We'll make it someplace he'll be near, and take it from there."
"Where?"
"Somewhere I'm sure he'll go."
"OK, again, where?"
"Karrde is in the area. We'll head out that way and have Luke meet us there. It would even help if we made sure Mara was there."
"That sounds good. Luke never passes up a chance to try and convince Mara to complete her training," Leia said with a smile, not noticing the look shared between her husband and his co-pilot.
"Well, you go on and get to your meeting. I am going to go talk to Wedge. Or do I need to wait until after this meeting?"
"No, you talking to him now is a good idea. He'll be briefed on it in an hour. I would rather have you tell him before he gets there."
"Well, good then. I'll see you later."
----
Han walked into the hanger sectioned off for Rogue Squadron just as Wedge hopped out of his X-wing.
"Hey Han," Wedge said, not stopping, causing Han to walk beside him to keep up the conversation.
"Wedge, how you doing? You look tired."
"I am tired," Wedge admitted, rubbing the back of his neck.
"You got a minute?"
"Sure, if you don't mind taking this to my office so I can sit down. I have about an hour until my next briefing."
"Busy, busy, busy," Han said.
"The life of a pilot," Wedge agreed, opening the door to his office.
"That it is."
Wedge nodded his head in agreement, as he entered his office. "So what did you need to talk to me about?"
"Well, it's actually about your briefing. I was sent down here to give you a heads up so you'll know what to expect when you get there."
"Great. Mind if we sit?"
"Not at all."
Wedge didn't exactly sit, more like he fell into his chair. Turning to a table behind him, he poured them both a glass of water, handed Han his then took a long drink of his own. "Is it bad?"
"That depends on what you think of as bad. You are being assigned to baby sit Leia and I while we are on vacation."
Wedge almost choked on his water in an effort to keep from laughing. Wiping his face with his hand he smiled. "You're kidding right?"
"No. I just found out a few minutes ago."
"And you're all right with this?"
"I wasn't, until I saw how badly you guys needed a vacation of your own. Looks like you'll get paid to do it, as long as you don't mind following us around."
"If that's our orders, I guess we will have to suffer though them."
"Oh, and you sound so upset about that," Han said, returning his friend's smile.
"How many of us will be going?"
"I'm assuming all of you. I was just told that it was your squadron going."
"Twelve X-wings to cover the Falcon? Can we say over kill?"
"Maybe a little, but I wouldn't complain, you might be the one they leave behind to work."
"You're right," Wedge exclaimed in mock horror, switching over to being sarcastically serious. "It will take the whole team to make sure no one bothers you. Who all is going with you?"
"Just Leia and me. Chewie is taking the kids with him to see his family. We get some much needed time alone."
"With Rouge Squadron along for the ride," Wedge laughed.
"Makes me glad the Falcon isn't big enough to dock all of you."
"Great, so we get to spend the whole time in our X-wings?"
"No, not all of it. We'll be meeting up with Talon Karrde first. Hopefully to meet up with Luke."
"Luke is with them?"
"No, he'll be meeting us there. Anything to get him off that blasted planet."
"When do we leave?"
"In three days. You think your men will be ready to fly by then?"
"My men could fly now if we had to. Three days is plenty of time."
----
Karrde was sitting at a console, scrolling through the last of the reports when he heard Mara grunt.
"No luck?"
"Where'd Tatooine learn their encrypts? I can't get more than the local weather out of that system."
"Well, lets give it to Aves and see what he can do with it. Ghent'll be back in a few days, and I'm sure if no one else can get into their system to confirm that information, he can."
"Yeah, Ghent would probably break this system wide open in his sleep."
"True enough. So Mara, what do you think of her?" Karrde asked, gesturing around him.
"This ship, she's big. That contact must have owed you a lot to be willing to part with her."
"He made one too many deals, and wasn't able to cover them. It was either give up this ship, or give up everything else."
"Everything else?" she questioned, her eyebrows raised.
"Not what you are thinking, though it never hurts for them to fear for their lives. I was meaning that he was low on cash. He would of had to sell everything he owned to pay me and keep this ship. I think he made a wise choice."
"Of course you would," she stated, turning back to her console. "You got this in the bargain. If I were you, I would change her name. What kind of ship name is Wishing Star anyway?"
"You think she is worth keeping?"
"That's what we are on this little trip for, isn't it? A test drive? From what I've seen, this ship needs a lot of work. It will also take a lot of personnel to man her. She would be a prize in any fleet, we just need to see if we can incorporate her into yours."
"True. For now, we can at least see what other bits of information we can get out of these computers."
"I can't imagine what could be so important in a file from Tatooine."
"I have found that Tatooine has produced some interesting people on that planet."
"Skywalker is as about as interesting as a sand fly."
"You say that with such convection. Come on, leave those files for Aves, before you break something," Karrde said, commenting on the manner she was banging on the keys. "It's time for a break anyway. The Solo's are due to arrive any minute now."
"Last I heard they were going on vacation," Mara inquired, standing to stretch. "Why are they coming here?"
"It's actually a ploy. I agreed to help them get Skywalker to leave Yavin for a while."
"They're all coming here? Great."
"It gets better, they have a squadron of X-wings in tow."
"Well, this is just turning into a regular party isn't it?"
"Ah, cheer up Mara, they'll only be here a few days, then they'll be on their way. Lets go, they should be landing soon."
"I hope you charged them a landing fee," she said with a smirk.
"Now that's my girl."
They arrived at the largest landing bay inside the Wishing Star, just as the ramp lowered. Some of Karrde's people went to help the X-wing pilots, and show them where they could go to rest. Leia exited the ship looking around before stopping in front of Karrde and Mara.
"Welcome aboard the Wishing Star. Something wrong princess?" Karrde asked, as he noticed the puzzled look on her face.
"Thank you Karrde. Luke's not here yet?"
"No, not yet, we haven't heard from him," Mara replied.
"We purposely waited so Luke would get here before us," Han said, joining the conversation as he made his way down the ramp. "The last I talked to him, he said he had to make one stop, and then he'd meet us. He should have been here two days ago."
"Two days? Where was he going?" Mara asked.
"He didn't say. Just that he had something to take care of, then he would met us here."
"Only one thing to do then," Karrde stated, as he lead them away from the Falcon, "Call Yavin and see when he left, and if he said where he was going."
They all accompanied Karrde to the bridge. From there they called Yavin, and found out that Luke had, in fact, left as planned, and was even kind enough to have filed a flight plan. Upon reading through the information, they departed for Luke's first scheduled stop, Tatooine.
"Great," Mara said, sitting back in her seat. "Now we get to see if the only problem we were having with their computers was distance."
"You're not in a very good mood
today, are you Mara," Karrde commented
as he looked over at his second in command.
"No, I'm not."
----
"Leia, we've located his shuttle," Karrde told her in a grave voice. They were standing in an observation room, off the bridge of Karrde's ship. The room had become the organization center for Luke's search.
"So I've heard," she stated, indicating Wedge and Corran standing near by.
"However," Karrde continued, despite the hopeful look that sprang to her eyes. "Luke was not there."
They had begun looking on the planet as soon as they reached Tatooine. Beginning in the area they thought Luke was most likely to visit, near where he grew up. After finding no hint of him in the area, Wedge and Corran had agreed to go out and search from the air for his shuttle, as Karrde's people searched on the ground. They had searched for two hours, before the X-wings' scanners had picked up his shuttle, sitting on one of the many landing fields.
"Did you find anything in the shuttle that might give us a clue as to where he is?" Leia asked.
"We had trouble getting in the shuttle," Mara told her. "He had it locked up tight. Nothing was out of the ordinary, though. It looked like he had locked it up only expecting to be gone a short while. We found a book left open where he'd been reading, nothing significant there. He left his clothes on the foot of his bed. He also left some food out on a table. Everything indicating he didn't plan to be gone long."
"Then there are no leads?" Corran asked, not familiar with what they found. He and Wedge had been forced to return to the ship or risk running out of fuel.
"She didn't say that. We found this laying outside." Karrde handed Leia a pile of cloth.
"Outside the shuttle? That makes no sense. These are his Jedi robes. He wouldn't leave them just laying around outside."
"Right, so we can deduce that when he exited the shuttle he was wearing his robes. He had time to lock the shuttle. What would happen to make him take them off?"
"Besides it being too hot?" Han tried joking.
"Yes, besides that. Even if he was hot, which I've hardly ever seen happen. He wouldn't just toss them to the ground," Mara said, clearly still not in a joking mood. "Perhaps a fight? He takes them off when he is fighting."
"Not a scenario I am hoping is true," Karrde said looking from his second in command to Leia. "But the best possibility we have as of yet. Leia do you know where he was going when he came here?"
"No. I have no idea. I didn't even know where he was going. All I know is that he was leaving Yavin. He said he had to make a quick stop then he was going to meet us. He never got there."
"Another dead end," Han needlessly stated.
"Did you find anything else?" Leia asked with frustration rising in her voice.
"Do you know who this is?" He handed her a hologram of a young girl, long curly blond hair, and sparkling blue eyes.
"No, I've never seen her before."
"Are you sure?" Karrde asked. "Luke would have known her before he met you, before he left Tatooine."
"No, I've never seen her before. The only girl I ever heard him talk about was Camie and she looked nothing like this. He said she had dark hair and eyes. Why? What does this have to do with anything?"
"This was found in Luke's robes. There is also one with Luke in it. Here look," he switched to a picture of the girl, and Luke. Leia could also recognize Biggs in the back ground with a few other guys. "Luke looks to be about 16," Karrde continued. "We thought maybe it would lead somewhere. At least give us a clue as to whom he was meeting. Maybe he was meeting her."
"Do you know any of his friends down on the planet?" Mara asked.
"No, he never really said he wanted to come back here when we talked about it."
Wedge looked around with everyone else, looking for an idea to materialize in front of them. Suddenly a thought occurred to him. "Wait, Gavin's here."
He got questioning looks from everyone.
"Gavin Darklighter. He is Biggs' cousin. He knew Luke back then too. Not as well as Biggs, but he might know who this is."
"Thanks Wedge, can you find him and bring him here?"
There was a beep of the com as Wedge stood.
"Hold on," Karrde said, stopping Wedge from leaving the room. "They found him."
"How is he?" Leia asked. The worry she was feeling evident in her voice.
"Wait…" he said, listening once again to the com. He turned sad eyes on the group. "He is in bad shape."
"What's new?" Mara asked sarcastically.
"They are on their way back. My men will take him directly to the medical bay. You can meet him there."
"OK," Leia said, doing the only thing she could do in this situation, take charge. "Wedge, can you go get Gavin and meet me there?"
"Sure thing."
"I am going too," Mara said, standing and leading the way out of the room.
----
Gavin walked into the medical bay with Wedge. He had no idea why he was here. He had been sitting in the ready room they had been given with the other members of Rouge Squadron, watching the sabaac game, when Wedge came running in. He didn't say much. He just grabbed Gavin by the arm and pulled him out of his chair.
"I need you to come with me," was all he said as he pulled him out the door. He never spoke during the short walk to the medical wing. Gavin knew better than to question a superior officer, no matter how bad he wanted to know, so he kept his questions to himself. There were a hundred different reasons why Wedge could be so upset, and a hundred more why he had brought Gavin with him. I could be in trouble, Gavin thought. However, he couldn't think of anything he had done. Wedge probably just needed someone, and I was sitting closest to the door. So much for getting some rest tonight.
They entered the medical bay and approached Han who was standing in the hallway.
"How is he?" Wedge asked as soon as he was near.
"Bad," Han said, covering his eyes with his hand. "He took a shot in the side, but they got to him in time. He should be OK."
"Did they say where they found him?" Wedge asked.
"In an alley just inside Anchorhead."
"Anchorhead?" Gavin asked, shocked out of his silence. "We are over Tatooine?"
"Yes, we followed him here," Han informed him distractedly.
"Where are they?" Wedge asked.
"No visitors yet. They just brought him in."
"I know, but Leia told me to get Gavin and meet her down here."
OK, there went me being a random selection, Gavin thought. He couldn't help but wonder who they were talking about. He didn't know they were looking for anyone. Then again, he didn't know they were going to Tatooine, either. He was under the impression that the Solo's were on vacation.
"All right, I'll let her know you're here." Han walked into a room, coming out barely a minute later. "Come on in."
Gavin followed the two men into the room. The sight before him sent his head spinning. He was standing in an observation room, which over looked another room. Leia, Mara, Corran, and Karrde were watching the progress of the four doctors in the next room. However, that was secondary, it was the figure that laid on the bed that threw him for a loop. Luke Skywalker was lying there, as pale as the sheets he was laying on. He had a severely charred area in his side and was covered in bright red blood. The doctors were working on him, trying to get the bleeding to stop.
"Oh man, what happened?" he whispered.
"We were hoping you could help us figure that out," Leia informed him.
"Me? How can I help?" He could not keep his eyes off the scene in the next room. Luke hadn't moved since Gavin had entered the room. The bed he was laying on now looked as if it had been dipped in red paint. He started feeling lightheaded and the room slowly started to spin. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Gavin, you all right?" Corran asked, squeezing his shoulder, steadying him.
"Huh?" He muttered tearing his eyes away from the table.
"Maybe we should have talk to him outside," Leia belatedly suggested.
"Snap out of it, flyboy," Mara barked at him. "I am sure that's not the first time you've seen someone get shot,"
"No, he has seen plenty of that first hand, isn't that right Gavin," Corran asked, turning him away from the window. "Still got the scar to prove it right? He'll be OK. He just wasn't expecting to see this."
"Yeah," Wedge said, looking like a small child being scolded for something he knows he did wrong. "I didn't tell him what we were doing down here. Never thought about it, all I wanted to do was get down here."
"I'm OK," Gavin said, ashamed that his commander was making excuses to cover his reaction. Pulling himself together, he decided the best thing to do was to get down to business. "You don't know what happened to him?"
"No," Karrde said, a look of understanding crossing his face. "He was late meeting up with us, and we found his shuttle down on the planet. Some of my men found him like this and brought him here."
"Then how am I supposed to help?" Gavin asked, truly confused. "I hardly ever talk to him."
"Show him the holo," Leia demanded, and he accepted the data pad Mara thrust at him.
"This was found with Luke's things when they found his shuttle," Mara continued when he turned the data pad on. "Do you know who this is?"
Gavin studied the holo for a moment. His eyes grew wide in recognition, then his forehead knitted together with dread. He shifted his feet uncomfortably and handed the holo back.
"Do you know her?" Mara asked him again, eyeing him expectantly.
"No, sorry, I don't know her," he lied, doing his best to ignore the glare he got from Mara.
"Are you sure?" Leia asked.
"Look," Gavin said, almost succeeding in keeping the defensiveness out of his voice. "Luke was Biggs' friend, not mine. I hardly hung around him."
"Gavin," Corran said. "Why are you lying about this?"
I should have remembered, there are just too many Jedi in this room, Gavin growled to himself.
"We need to know," Leia pleaded to him. "This is the only clue we have to finding who did this to him."
"I was just a kid when he was there. I was barley eleven when he left Tatooine. I was only eight or nine when this holo was taken."
"Gavin, you are his friend," Leia told him. I have heard him talk about you. About how close you and Biggs were. If that's the truth, then you should at least know who Luke's friends were. Who was this girl? Can you at least tell us what her name is? Why did he have this holo in his pocket, was she who he was meeting?"
Gavin interrupted her with a sorrowful laugh. "Trust me, he wasn't meeting her."
"You do know her," Mara demanded, glaring at him once again.
"Yeah, and I can tell you that Luke was definitely not going to meet her. She died about two years after this holo was taken."
"Oh," Leia whispered. "Well, this is another dead end then."
"Wait," Mara said, still eyeing Gavin suspiciously. "What are you not telling us, Darklighter?"
"Why am I being interrogated about this?" Gavin exclaimed, tired of the whole line of questions and no longer caring if he sounded defensive or not.
"Because my brother is in there," Leia countered with just has much heat. "He's in there with a very nasty blaster shot, that could have killed him. We don't know who he was meeting or who did this to him. And you are the only one that has even a shred of information about any of this. And you won't even give us a name!"
"Arielle."
"What?" Leia asked, taken aback by his sudden answer.
"You have a name. Her name was Arielle."
"Arielle? He never mentioned an Arielle." Leia looked at her husband, but he had never herd of her either.
"I know," was all Gavin gave as an answer.
"What else do you know?" Leia demanded.
"Look Leia, I knew her," Gavin admitted reluctantly, not positive he was hiding the pain he was feeling. "And when I first got here, I asked Luke about her. He told me that he didn't want to be reminded. I honored his wishes and never talked about it again, to anyone. I didn't then and I won't now."
"I'm sure he's grateful for you keeping your word, but if it helps…"
"I don't think what I know will bring you any closer to finding out who did this than you are now."
"Please, let us make that decision," Leia pleaded.
Gavin looked over at Wedge and
Corran, hoping to have them step in and help him get off the hook. Didn't any of them realize how wrong it was
for him to give out this information? No,
of course they didn't, because no one has a clue what you're talking
about. Because for reasons of his own,
Luke Skywalker decided not to share this piece of his past with them, and if he
had wanted them to know, he would have told them.
"Gavin, even if it doesn't help us, I'm sure Luke will know that you were only trying to help. He will understand."
"But who am I to divulge that information when he hasn't?"
"He'll understand, Darklighter," Mara said, speaking softly for the first time that day, getting a surprised glance from Karrde for her trouble.
"Look, I'm sure you guys all think you are doing what's best. But you knowing who this girl is, will doing nothing but relieve your curiosity. The best I can do is to tell you to check with Tatooine authorities and make sure that a girl named Nyela Coramar is still locked up. If this is the only clue you have to go by, and she's free, you might want to start looking for her."
"Great, back to dealing with Tatooine files again," Mara said in a huff, all her previous gentleness gone as if it had never been there.
"That's all?" Han asked.
"That's all I'm willing to tell you. I'm a man of my word, and I swore to him that I would never talk about this. I'm sorry for the big secret, but it just would not be right for me to tell you. When to explain this to you should be Luke's choice, not mine. You check on Nyela, and when he wakes up, you can see if he'll give you more information. I believe that I have only made things worse with what I've already told you. I'm begging you, that if he does not want to talk about this, that you'll not push the subject. It's a wound that took a long time to close, and he'll not open it easily. If you'll excuse me." With that Gavin walked out of the room, leaving a stunned crowd behind him.
To be continued? Of course.
Ok that's it everyone. Tell me what you think.
**Biting fingernails, waiting for a reviews**
