Star Wars Infinities: The Warrior

By Christopher W. Blaine (darth_yoshi@yahoo.com)

DISCLAIMER: The characters and situations contained in this story are ©2003 by George Lucas and are used herein without permission for fan-related, non-profit entertainment purposes only. This original work of fiction is ©2003 by Christopher W. Blaine and may not be reproduced in part or as a whole without the express permission of the author.

CHAPTER 20

Artoo-Deetoo sat in the private quarters of his master plugged into a power socket and running on low charge. It had been several days since the stormtroopers had come for his master and Han Solo and the loyal droid remembered the command Luke had given him. "Execute Alpha Twelve."

The code-phrase automatically activated several subroutines in the astromech droid's primary programming. Luke Skywalker, like his father before him, loved to tinker with droids and other mechanicals. A big difference between the two of them was Luke seemed to have a passion for machine code and often spent his free hours reprogramming the droid to perform functions that went beyond his original programming.

Whatever his original purpose had been had long ago been deleted from the droid's brain. Between Anakin and Luke both, they had completely transformed the droid. Artoo was, besides Darth Deceptra, Luke's only real link to his father, a man of such greatness that even the Emperor spoke of him in respectful tones.

Artoo was now passively drawing power and sending a secret signal back through the connection that tapped him into the communications system. He was able to monitor and filter all message traffic for the Death Star, downloading information based upon a series of parameters that Luke had set. A message sent by governor Tarkin only minutes before had activated many more subroutines in the droid and while it looked like he was only sitting there in the dark, he was actually performing hundreds of very small tasks.

Most of the tasks were distractions meant to keep Tarkin's agents from guessing what was going on. By the time the Imperial programmers figured out what was going on, Artoo would be unplugged and gone.

"They're coming," Luke said as he checked his fingernails. Han turned and regarded him with a wry smile.

"Is it lunchtime already?" he asked. They were housed in the general holding cell and had been treated fairly well for the duration. They had been imprisoned for "safety reasons" as the Imperial Intelligence officer had said. Luke had immediately wanted to kill all of them for daring to even to presume to arrest him, but Han had held him back, reminding him that Tarkin was still the boss of the Death Star.

All of that had changed after Luke had picked up the Emperor's message on the holoviewer. "I can sense the apprehension in their minds. They've been ordered to execute us."

"Probably just you; I'm getting killed by association," Han replied. He blew out and ran a hand threw his close-cropped hair. "I guess we really need to get out of here."

"Let them come," Luke said coldly. "I'm tired of playing games with Tarkin. I'm going to kill him."

"Maybe," Han said, his eyes darting to the door. "We need to find the commander."

Luke nodded his head. "Agreed. He might be an arrogant ass who wants to sleep with my mother, but at least he's loyal."

"Are all of you dark Jedi so cheery?" Han asked. Luke gave him a dour look and then hopped down off of his bunk. "Do you need help?" he asked.

Luke laughed. "Please. This is nothing."

They stood there, both of them, not moving as the seconds ticked by. Han had to admit he was just a little nervous. He didn't understand the Force and he couldn't explain how his younger friend could do the things he could. Jedi just weren't the kind of thing an orphan from Corellia learned about on the mean streets.

Luke, on the other hand, was bored and had been since they were put in this cell. From the first moment he wanted to kill everyone and had even entertained the idea of choking Han in his sleep. The other pilot could not possibly know that the nightmares he was having night after night were the result of Luke's tampering. His control over the Dark Side was growing every day.

The experience's Luke had logged over the past few months, ever since he had left Imperial Center, he allowed him to become more in tune with the Force. He was starting to experience the visions of the future that his mother had told him would occur. He was healing from injuries more quickly, but not nearly as quickly as his mother who could have limb replacement surgery and walk out hours later.

His musings stopped as the energy fields dampened around the door, indicating that the electronic locks were about to be disengaged. The time was about right for the afternoon meal but Luke could not believe that they would try so ignorant a deception. He touched the three minds approaching through the Force and found them to be lacking in everything, especially individuality. They were perfect examples of Imperial military training.

Tarkin must have assumed that Luke was nothing more than an ignorant Sith brat raised in opulence on Imperial Center. He focused his contempt; he needed no anger to handle these nerf-herders.

The door opened and the two naval troopers stepped in. Before their shiny boots touched the deck plating in the cell, Luke had them. Their wills melted away and they became simply an extension of his own mind. Both troopers turned and fired at their supervisor, burning away large chunks of flesh and dropping the detention area commander immediately.

Luke then had the troopers fire on each other. The air smelled like burnt meat and Han had to hold his nose. "That's great, kid; you couldn't just put them to sleep could you?"

"You complain too much," Luke snapped. "I just saved your life." Han noted that Luke didn't bother to mention that he saved his own skin as well.

"And you forgot about the ionization sensors that are mounted throughout the Death Star. They'll pick up the blasters that were fired into the corridor." Han stepped over the two troopers and pointed to several nodes in the overhead. "Stormtroopers will be here soon. You should have waited until they were all in the cell or just made them go to sleep!"

Luke's face reddened but Han didn't back down. He had been Luke's friend for a long time and understood the emotional changes that could suddenly come over him. "We have to find the commander…now!"

"My duty is to the Emperor!"

Han put a finger up and started to speak when alarm klaxons went off. At the far end of the corridor, a stormtrooper appeared and started firing. Deadly bolts of energy raced past Han's head and he dove for the deck plating next to the dead officer. Grabbing the man's blaster, he started returning fire. "Grab a blaster, kid!" he yelled.

Luke nodded, his anger replaced by the necessity of combat and he put himself into fighting mode. He held his hand out and one of the trooper's dropped weapons flew to his hand. Han had backed into a small recess and was using it for cover while Luke waited in the doorway.

The stormtrooper was soon joined by several others and some regular naval forces. The amount of laser blasts was increasing greatly and Luke could sense that the Imperial forces were getting ready to try an assault on their position. "Han! They're going to make a push!"

"Can't you stop them?" Han asked sarcastically as he popped out to take a shot. A stormtrooper went down as his blast helmet exploded.

Luke was ashamed to admit his weakness. "They're too into the fight! Single-minded purpose is hard to break through!"

"Well, you're a lot of help!" Han duck a near hit but got splattered by molten metal as the blast ate through the support beam he was hiding behind. His skin was burned along his hand but he was otherwise fine for the moment. "We need to pull back and get to the Baron before they do!'

Luke nodded and reached out, sending his will down the corridor as far away from the advancing stormtroopers as he could get. He smiled. "They haven't tried flanking us yet!"

"We need a diversion!"

Luke used the Force to grab the bodies of the two troopers and flung them at the stormtroopers. The white-armored soldiers fired desperately at the corpses, shocked and sickened at the same time as their bolts blew the bodies into flaming masses of flesh. Han didn't have to tell Luke twice and the two pilots ran down the passage past the other detention cells.

They knew that Baron Fel was being held in the very last cell, the one closest to the interrogator droid station. Han looked at the lock and fired his blaster at it. Reaching two fingers into the hole he had made, he pulled out several wires. "I'll have to hotwire it!"

Luke rolled his eyes. "Get the hell out of my way!" He pushed Han aside and put his hands up against the door. He closed his eyes and began to push and the metal started to give a little. Luke did not hurry even though Han could see two stormtroopers moving up to a defensive position.

"Kid…"

Luke threw him a curse and continued pushing against the door. It creaked as it was stressed beyond what it was designed for. Hydraulic locks, hidden somewhere in the walls, could be heard snapping and Luke pushed the door all of the way open.

Baron Fel sat on his bunk, one eye swollen shut and dried blood all over his uniform. It was obvious he had not eaten or washed in the days he had been imprisoned and even Luke felt a little guilty about the relative comfort he and Han had been enjoying while under arrest.

Fel smiled a toothless grin. "Thought I heard you knocking."

Han fired and took down a stormtrooper that had tried to get too close. "Luke! We're gonna have company!"

The young Sith ran over and holstered his weapon before helping Fel off of the bunk. "You guys got a plan?" Fel asked.

"He's the brains, sweetheart," Han called as another trooper went down. "He seems to have everything under control."

Luke smiled. "Artoo should be prepping a shuttle for us right now. We have to get to our hanger bay."

"Shouldn't be too hard!" Han called, firing one more time. His aim was slightly off from the burning sensation on his hand and he only winged a particularly agile trooper. "Let's go!" he griped.

Luke carried Fel out of the cell and let Han provide covering fire as they exited out the maintenance door for the droid station. They looked around and were relieved to see that the station wasn't on general alert. "They thought I had radioed a message to Garm Bel Iblis about Chandrilla," Fel said. He was breathing hard and by the way he winced, Luke guessed he had some broken ribs.

The men under Tarkin's command had been thorough in their beating, but they apparently were either too dumb to realize that Fel was telling the truth or too stupid to pick up on his lies. Luke believed that Fel was loyal to the Empire; that was the only reason why he was being saved.

"There is an organized resistance on Corellia under the leadership of Wedge Antilles," Fel told them as they stopped next to an office door. Luke used the Force to unlock it and they stumbled in. Han shot the man behind the desk.

"We can't stay here," Han told them.

Luke set Fel down in a chair and went over to the computer terminal. "I just need to check something," he said as he typed in a few commands. He smiled at them. "We've got a Lambda-class shuttle waiting!"

"What about the station tractor beams?" Han asked. "A shuttle isn't fast enough to outrun those!"

"Use the planet," Fel said, seeming to get some of his strength back. "The Death Star is in orbit over Corellia right now; the gravitational pull of the planet disrupts the targeting lock. Thrawn told me about it; Tarkin thought it was a load of bantha poo!"

"Then what? Wait for the Rebels to kill us instead of Tarkin?" Luke shook his head. "I don't like this plan at all."

"The Rebels won't bother us."

"Right," Han laughed, agreeing with Luke. "They might leave me alone, but you're a Hero of the Empire and Luke's the Emperor's Fist!"

"Wedge Antilles is my brother-in-law," Fel told them as he started to stand up. "I didn't know he was mixed up in the Rebellion until Tarkin's people told me." He saw the disbelieving look on Luke's face. "You can read my mind, so do it!"

Luke did and he wasn't gentle at all about it. Fel went to his knees but kept his face firm. Luke's face twisted in disgust but in the end, he found that his commander was telling the truth. "I can't agree to it myself; I have a higher calling to attend to."

"Not this stuff about going to kill Tarkin," Han groused. "Kid…"

"No, I'm returning to Imperial Center to make sure that none of Tarkin's assassins have harmed our leader." He double-checked the readings on the monitor. "The two of you should go down on the planet and see about obtaining any intelligence you can."

"We're too well known," Han argued.

Fel shook his head. "The Emperor's Fist is correct." Luke brightened slightly. "You have some natural leadership ability, Flight Officer, but you seem to be forgetting your chain of command."

Luke understood and apologized. The Emperor had him join the military for a specific reason and that was to learn how to take orders. "You cannot give until you receive," the Emperor had said.

"I only meant…"

Fel held up a hand and slowly went over to sit on the desk. His breathing was a little more regular now that he was moving about. "The entire planet could not have turned. There has to be some Imperial resistance and maybe an appearance by a Hero of the Empire might help."

"What about Antilles?" Han asked as he checked the charge on his blaster.

"Garm Bel Iblis has warped the minds of our people, Han. They don't remember what it was like under the Old Republic. They've gotten complacent and they need to be steered back to the side of Order." He stood again on shaky knees. "Corellia cannot survive on its own."

Han nodded agreement and began to holster his blaster when the door burst open. The stormtrooper that Han had winged opened fire and Han went down immediately. Luke was quick to return fire and three shots took the stormtrooper out for the final count.

Both Luke and Fel looked down at the steaming hole in Han's chest; his usually cocky features subdued in death. There was no time to mourn. "Baron, we have to go."

"Another Corellian killed by Tarkin's treachery," Fel murmured. It was men like Tarkin, those who usurped the natural order that gave fuel to the fire of Rebellion. Bel Iblis had been a fellow senator with Palpatine and had seen first-hand the nightmare that had been created by 25,000 years of Republic rule. Tarkin was akin to the terrorist member states of that once-august body and Bel Iblis could almost be forgiven for what he was doing.

They made it to the hanger bay an hour later, mostly by using Luke's Force abilities to make people forget them or, as in one case, have them go blind. By the time they were walking across the deserted hanger deck, as all of the other members of the 181st were gone, Luke was breathing harder than Fel. His abilities were being taxed to the limit and in the back of his mind he kept hearing the echoing call of the Emperor.

Luke struggled with the desire to simply get his lightsaber from Artoo and go back charging into the Death Star to hunt down Tarkin. Fel, though impressed with Luke's devotion to the Emperor, still felt compelled to talk him out of it. "You had a sound plan before; stick to it. I'll do what I can to stir up trouble on Corellia, you just make sure you send the reinforcements I need!"

"I'm not running out on you," Luke said. Fel was surprised by the admission but then reasoned that with Han gone, Fel was the closest thing Luke had to a friend. He had expected Luke to show more grief, but instead it only seemed to feed his burning hatred of Tarkin.

The problem was that Fel got the impression that Luke was more upset at losing someone he could control more than he was about losing a friend. "I know, but all of this is for nothing if something happens to the Emperor."

"Aren't you afraid that Tarkin will destroy the planet?"

"And make this system uninhabitable? Destroy Corellia and the other planets of the system will die as well. Gravitational distortions will disrupt trade routes; garrisons could get dangerously low on food and ammunition. Fleets will have a shortage of spare parts." Fel shook his head and climbed into the shuttle.

Artoo was already in the cockpit and had the engines set for quick start-up. "That one hell of a droid you got there."

Luke patted Artoo on the head and took his spot in the pilot's chair. "He was my father's." There was obvious pride on Luke's face when he spoke of the deceased Darth Vader.

"He had good taste," Fel said as he buckled in.

"I had Artoo route all maintenance personnel around this area and even arranged to have the containment field tied into the main computer for this hanger bay." Luke chuckled. "I'm also going to drop the defensive shields for the Death Star for about three seconds. I'm sure Tarkin's boys will have a fun time trying to figure that one out."

The shuttle unfolded its ventral wings and Luke activated the repulsor lifts. True to his word, the craft sailed out of the containment field without incident from a hanger bay that should have been teaming with maintenance activity. Luke's ability to gain control of an impossible situation was very impressive.

Luke smiled as he picked up the thought. "Yes, it is, isn't it?" He scratched his head and then hit the engines, racing towards the planet below. Just as Thrawn had predicted, the tractor beams could not get a lock on them and several warnings of imprisonment and death came over the speaker.

Luke traded insults with person on the other end and then announced he would use the Force to drop the outer defensive shields. When they went down, there was stunned silence on the line.

Luke cut the communication, dodged a passing TIE fighter that then slammed into the shields as they suddenly reappeared and raced away to freedom.