Skywalker's Legacy, page 111

Chapter Seventeen

For the next day and a half, the Falcon's crew worked hard to get her as space-worthy as she was going to get without a major overhaul in a space dock, while trying to keep out of sight of Etan Lippa's searcher ships. It was mostly Han, Chewbacca, and Rupert who did the work. Luke was a genuine help, but he still looked tired, and Han purposefully saved the jobs that required heavy lifting for Chewbacca, Rupert and himself. Several times Rupert had asked Brenna for a hand with some minor task, and she had worked without complaint, but she had been so much more machine than person that he stopped asking her, and Han wasn't inclined to deal with her, either. Lucy helped mostly by keeping Poul out of everyone's hair. Threepio translated the Falcon's self-analysis "peculiar dialect" into standard. Artoo was also busy repairing those systems that an astromech 'droid could repair faster and easier than humans or Wookiee.

And in the meantime, Rupert acquired a new pet.

Lucy discovered it the next evening after Brenna was rescued from the krail pit, when she was looking for Poul and found him in Rupert's cabin. They couldn't work outside in the dark, because ships flew by overhead with great frequency, and they didn't want Etan Lippa finding them through something as simple as their leaving the lights on after dark, and all the repairs that could be managed from the inside were completed..

"Rue, what is that?" Lucy asked, pointing to the terrarium set-up Rupert had added to his cabin, and at which Poul was staring intently in the dim light to which Rupert had adjusted his cabin.

Rupert grinned. "That, Lucy, is a krail."

"If I didn't know you better," Lucy said, "I'd swear you were joking."

"Want to see? He's just a baby."

Lucy shuddered. "No, thanks. Where'd it come from? You didn't bring it back on purpose, did you?"

"No, of course not. I found him curled up around my ankle when I was getting undressed. Didn't even know he was there. Must've climbed up inside my pant leg when I wasn't looking."

"What," Lucy asked, "are you going to do with it?"

Rupert shrugged. "Keep him, I guess. Putting him back with his fellows would mean going back to the pit, and nobody really wants to do that. If I just dump him in the sand, he'll starve."

"Dad know you have him?"

"Yup, and so does Luke. He thinks it's a good idea to keep a pet, says its good for practice."

Lucy studied her younger brother, who had his nose pressed to the make-shift plexiglass cage Rupert had set up. "Poul might try to get to him."

"I've got a lock on the cage. He can't get to him without the codes."

Lucy shook her head at the insanities of her two brothers, and left.

Finally, after the second day, they had a green light on all systems, although there was really no way to check the hyperdrive to see if it was working without actually lifting off. Han went to see Luke to find out what he wanted to do.

"You decide," Luke said.

"Doesn't that sixth sense of yours tell you whether it's better to stay or leave?"

"No. And if I try to use it, Lippa could track us through it."

"So it's fifty-fifty, whichever we do?"

"I wouldn't rate our chances that high for either. But if you're looking for odds, I'd say they're slightly better if we leave."

"Never tell me the odds," Han said. He sighed. "Etan Lippa could have a whole armada waiting for us as soon as we take off."

Luke nodded. "And the longer we stay here, the better his chances are of finding us. Especially since we have three confirmed Force-sensitives on board. Sooner or later, someone's going to make a mistake, or Lippa's ships are going to get lucky."

"And the longer we stay, the more ships he can bring to search for us."

"As I said..." Luke reminded him.

"Same as always," Han commented. "I'm getting too old for this stuff."

At takeoff, the Falcon's crew consisted of Han as pilot, Rupert as co-pilot, and Chewbacca as navigator. Luke was also part of the command-crew, taking the fourth chair in the cockpit. Rupert had decided to step down as pilot and turned the ship over to his father because of Han's combat experience and knowledge of the Falcon. Luke had insisted that Brenna go to the main passenger compartment with Lucy, Poul and the 'droids, hoping that their familiarity with space-flight would help to keep her fear of the dark to a minimum. He also had Rupert raise the lights inside the cabin to their maximum level.

Lucy tried to engage Brenna in conversation, but soon gave up the effort as hopeless. Poul, on the other hand, talked too much. He was excited about the prospect of battle engagement, and too overconfident of the abilities of his father and brother to handle any situation they came across. He and Threepio made up for the reticence of the girls with a steady stream of chatter.

The Falcon hadn't even climbed out of the atmosphere before they picked up the TIEs following them.

"Damn," Han remarked.

"We've got to make a run for it now," Rupert said. "There's no way we can land again without them tracking it."

"Charge up the guns, Rupert. Luke? Chewie?"

"I'll take belly," Luke answered, unstrapping himself from his seat. It was the same gun he had first operated on the Falcon, after they had rescued Leia and were trying to escape from the first Death Star.

Rupert hit the switches to charge the guns, and Chewbacca followed Luke back towards the cabin just as the Falcon gave a lurch that indicated they'd been hit.

"Five bogies in sector six," Rupert commented.

"Yeah, I know," Han replied.

"And five more in sector three."

"What?" Han glanced at the read-out where five blips had just started to appear, and adjusted his course to dive underneath the oncoming ships."

"Now in sectors two and five. They're changing course to follow."

"Do we have jump coordinates yet?"

Rupert looked at the nav-computer. "Still red-line. Do you think the hyperdrive will work?"

"Aw, who knows." Han switched his intercom speaker on. "They're all yours, Chewie!"

Streaks of light shot by overhead as Chewbacca tried to hit his targets. The bolts of light swept lower as the Wookiee tried to follow the diving fighters, then started up high again as he went after a new target. Han put the Falcon into a roll as he saw which direction the fighters were trying to go to duck, and was rewarded by small display of sparks that indicated a hit to the TIE's stabilizers. Han dipped the other way, and Luke finished off the TIE as it came into range of his gun.

Rupert didn't see the actual explosion, since it occurred underneath the Falcon, but he saw a flash of light come from that direction and saw the ship disappear from the scope. He tried not to think of the fact that his teacher had just killed the pilot of that ship. "One down," he said.

Then there was a second flash of light from underneath, and a second blip disappeared. "Two," Han corrected. "Luke, you've got another one coming into range."

"I see it!" Luke replied over the head-set. The fighter started to pass by underneath, but exploded before it could pass out of visual range.

"Five more coming up in sector eight," Rupert said.

"Damn!" Han exclaimed, not double-checking him, but immediately looping the Falcon up towards the planet. "We really could use those jump coordinates!"

"Then stay on course," his son suggested. Each time they changed course, the nav-computer had to compensate, which took longer to get the jump data.

Chewbacca missed his second TIE when the Falcon lurched again.

"Grrnaagghhhwahh!" the Wookiee complained.

"Stop missing!" Han retorted.

But Chewbacca had already gotten his second. Luke's count climbed to four.

"Eight more in sector nine," Rupert called out.

Han changed course again, heading for Tatooine's moon, looking to use it as a shield.

Rupert looked at where he was going for a second. He had a bad feeling about it. "I'm not sure we would do that," Rupert said.

"Why not?"

"I don't know, I just "

Then, suddenly coming out from behind the moon into visual range, hidden from the Falcon's sensors by the same gravitational fields Han was hoping to use to hide the Falcon, Han saw why not. It was a Star Destroyer. It looked like the same one Han had seen jumping into hyperspace above Coruscant.

"Sweet Deities," Rupert murmured.

"I saw that ship jump out of Coruscant space just before I did," Han said. As he talked, he cut power to the forward engines and turned on the reverse thrusters, which ordinarily would have slammed the Falcon into reverse. All it did this time was cause the freighter to shudder. It didn't stop the forward motion.

"What's wrong?" his son wanted to know.

"Tractor beam! Switch all secondary power to reverse thrusters!"

Hitting the switches made little difference. All it did was make the engine temperatures climb. "We're overheating," Rupert remarked.

"Never mind. Shut down the engines." Han switched on the headset. "Luke! Chewie! Get down here! We're caught in a tractor beam!"

In the passenger cabin, Brenna and the others watched the gunners return to the cockpit. Luke glanced at her, but said nothing. It wouldn't have done any good, at this point. He could sense her fear from the battle. And if he could sense her fear, so could Lippa.

"I don't suppose there's any chance we can break out of it?" Luke asked.

"We'd have done it by now if there was." Han glanced back at Luke. "I may be picking up on this Force stuff. I've got a deja-vu feeling about all this. The contraband holds?" he asked.

Luke shrugged. "It worked once before. But I think Lippa knows we're here.

"All of us?"

"Brenna and me, at least."

"All right. Rupert, get your brother and sister and yourself into the third hold. Chewie and I'll join you in a few minutes. Luke ?"

"Go ahead. No sense in Lippa getting all of us."

"I'm sorry, Pal. But my kids..." Han waved a helpless hand back towards the passenger cabin where Lucy and Poul were travelling.

Luke nodded his head back towards the compartments. "I'll give you as long as I can."

Han held out his hand. Luke shook it. Then the handshake became a hug. Luke glanced at the window at the Star Destroyer growing larger in the window, and pulled away. "Go," Luke said.

There was no blame, on either side. Han held his hand out to his son, who hadn't made a move toward the passenger cabin. "Rue "

Rupert shook his head. "They have to know there were at least three of us, a pilot and two gunners. And without him " he looked at Luke " I don't have a chance anyway." He shrugged.

It took Han a second to realize what Rupert was saying. "Rue "

"Come on, Dad. I'll help you get settled."

Too numb to argue, Han was ushered by Chewbacca and his son back to the passenger compartment. He couldn't quite believe that he had lost. He had lost his wife, he had lost the battle, and now he was about to lose a son. He just didn't believe it.

Luke, too, was in a state of shock. He moved mechanically, shutting down systems and altering the logs. He had known this was a possibility, had tried to plan for it, to prevent it, and in the end, it hadn't done a jawa's portion of good.

In the passenger's compartment, Rupert motioned to his brother and sister. "Lucy, Poul, come on. We're caught in a tractor beam. Time to hide in the contraband holds."

Lucy unbuckled her seatbelt. "What about Brenna?"

Rupert glanced at Brenna with a look she couldn't read. "Brenna and I...are staying with her father."

"And the 'droids?" Poul piped, not catching the implication of what Rupert had said.

"The 'droids...will hide in the holds, too," Han said. "Come on, Goldenrod, Artoo."

Brenna watched them go with the dawning realization that she, Rupert, and her father weren't going to be hiding with the others. There had to be only one explanation. Her fear had caused a ripple that Etan Lippa had picked up. Swallowing the bile that rose to her throat, she undid her belt and made her way to the cockpit.

Luke was just finishing the log alterations when he felt her presence, and her fear, which was amplified by the darkness of space. He stood up and turned to face her.

"Dad...I'm sorry," Brenna said softly.

Luke closed his eyes briefly, and drew in a ragged breath. He held out his hands and pulled her close. "Bren "

Brenna allowed him to embrace her, but she didn't return the hug. It was her fault they were about to be captured. If she had just done what her father had told her, if she wasn't so afraid all the time, if she hadn't fallen into the krail pit...

"I'm sorry, Dad," she repeated.

Luke tightened his hold. "Bren...stick as close to me as you can. I promise I won't let Lippa hurt you." He didn't tell her the rest of what he was thinking. He was thinking that there would not be any chance for escape, but he still had his lightsaber. He would never be able to defeat Lippa in a duel he knew how powerful Palpatine's son was but he could still use his lightsaber...on her. He might have time, if he was lucky. He wouldn't do it until he was absolutely certain it was time, and he knew there wouldn't be time for anything more. Etan Lippa would stop him before he could use it on himself, or Rupert. Lippa would punish him for that, no doubt, stretching his own death out to make it as long and as painful as possible. Rupert would probably also suffer for it. But at least Brenna wouldn't have to go through what Corran and the others went through before they died.

Luke just stood there for a few minutes, holding her, as the maw of the landing bay became visible through the cockpit window. Then the thought occurred to him that there was no longer any point in trying to hide his Force-sensitivity. At this point, it could only help them. He stretched out with his feelings towards the Star Destroyer, expecting to encounter Etan Lippa, and instead he enountered...

"Leia!" he exclaimed in surprise, and pulled away from Brenna.

"What?" Brenna asked uncomprehendingly.

Rupert was just coming back from the contraband holds when he overheard Luke say his mother's name. "What about Mom?"

Luke dropped his hands from around Brenna and ran back towards the contraband holds. He slid to his knees on the floor by one of the compartments and felt for the ever-so-slight indentation by which the panel could be lifted, found it, and raised the lid.

Han was on the floor of the hold, his back against Chewbacca, holding Lucy and Poul, with Chewbacca's arms protectively surrounding the whole group. Lucy and Poul were obviously scared. When Han looked up, Luke saw that he had been crying.

"What " Han cleared his throat and began again. "What is it?"

"Come with me," Luke said, extending a hand to help Han out of the pit.

Han looked back at Lucy and Poul. "Stay here," he ordered. Then motioned to Chewbacca. "Chewie "

Chewbacca, simian tree-dweller that he was, climbed out of the hold easily. Luke led Han and Chewie off a short ways from the contraband holds and wiped his forehead with the edge of his hand. "Leia's on the Star Destroyer," he said. "I need to know what you want to do."

Han shook his head to shake off the surprise. "Can you contact her?" he asked.

"No. I don't get anything more than a vague sense of her presence. She's alive, and she's on board that Star Destroyer, but..." he shook his head.

"What about Lippa?"

"I get nothing. He might be on board. He might not. I don't know." Luke breathed in and out. If Lippa was not on board, then there might still be a chance for Brenna, and himself, and Rupert. "So what do you want to do."

Han was torn with indecision. Leia was here? And Etan Lippa might or might not be! Did he dare risk leaving the two children he might be able to save alone for the sake of a rescue effort that was probably doomed? And what about Rupert? It was impossible for him to accept the idea of Rupert's capture, or Rupert's imminent insanity if he escaped without Luke to train him.

"What do you want to do?" Luke repeated.

It was a female voice that answered. "We find Mom."

They turned to see Lucy and Poul, who naturally had disobeyed orders and climbed out of the contraband holds and had heard everything. "We find Mom," Lucy repeated. "And we stick together. All of us." She already had Poul by one hand. She reached out and grabbed Rupert's hand. "All of us. Including Rupert. And Luke. And Brenna. Whatever happens to one of us happens to all of us."

Luke switched his gaze back to Han. "Your call."

Han nodded, and moved to his children. He put one hand on Rupert's shoulder and the other around Poul's. Chewbacca moved behind him, and the group was solidified. "We stay together," Han said. "And...we find Leia, or " he saw his youngest son's frightened expression and gave a lopsided smile. He didn't finish his sentence 'or we die trying.' Instead, he repeated what he had just said, "And we find Leia."

They crowded, all nine of them, in the cockpit, as the maw of the landing bay swallowed them: Luke, Han, Rupert, Lucy, Brenna, Poul, Chewbacca, and the two 'droids.

In actuality, there were ten of them, since Rupert had gone back to his cabin, retrieved the baby krail, and let it wind around his ankle, under the darkness of his pants leg. The snake was small, and its venom weak, but Rupert still took it. He had become familiar with it, by now, had bonded with it on some level, enough that it wouldn't bite him, and in Rupert's view, it was part of the family.

"I don't see anybody," Rupert remarked. "There should be somebody."

"Where are they?" Han asked. "No 'droids, no troopers, no nothin'!"

"This is weird," Poul said.

The Falcon came to a halt, alone in the landing bay of the Star Destroyer. Automated landing claws reached out to secure the freighter. Still no troops.

They waited several more minutes.

"I don't like this," Luke said.

"Rrraaannnggh," Chewie said.

"Yeah," Han agreed. "I like it better than the alternative. I just wish I could explain it. I don't suppose Leia could be behind it?"

"No. I'm quite sure she's not," Luke answered. Wherever Leia was, she wasn't in control of the situation.

As they watched, a blast door in front of the Falcon opened. It stayed open. No troops came through it into the landing bay.

"Oh," said C-3PO. "They've opened a door for us."

Artoo whistled nervously.

"So what do we do?" Lucy asked.

"They gotta know we're here," Rupert said. "I mean, we were caught in the tractor beam. Unless they're all just waking up from their naps or somethin', they gotta know we're here."

Lucy shook her head. "Who opened the door? Are we supposed to march through it, like good little prisoners? Is somebody giving us an escape route? Or are they waiting to blast us out of existence on the other side?"

"Aw, Hell," Han said, in sudden decision. He'd been thinking too much like a father these days, trying to stay near his kids and protect them as best he could. In his younger, more reckless days, he'd have charged the door without a second thought. And somehow, he always managed to survive back then. Come to think of it, he'd also managed to rescue Leia from a Death Star using that strategy, and a Death Star was even more powerful than a Star Destroyer. Maybe that was the strategy they needed to use now, a little recklessness. "If they were gonna blast us out of existence, they'd have done it by now." He went back to the passenger cabin, followed by the others. He drew his blaster, and turned back to face the others. "Stay here."

"We stick together, remember?" Lucy reminded him.

"Fine," Han said. He opened a secret cabinet near the ramp controls, took out the two blasters that were stowed there, gave one to Brenna, and offered the other to Luke, who shook his head and indicated his lightsaber, which was his preferred weapon. Han shrugged, drew his favorite blaster and holstered the other in its place. Having a spare wouldn't hurt. Rupert and Lucy unholstered theirs. Chewie had his bowcaster. Poul took his crystalline knife out of its sheathe. Everyone was armed.

"Luke, take the rear," Han said.

They went down the ramp cautiously. Luke went last, following Threepio and Artoo, staying close to Brenna and keeping her close to the group. He watched for any sign of activity, and found none. They went through the blast doors without incident, and found a corridor beyond.

The corridor was just as empty as the landing bay appeared to be.

Han looked at Luke, who shrugged, then started down the corridor. He was followed by Rupert, then Chewbacca, then Lucy with Poul in tow, then Brenna and Luke.

Luke glanced behind, but neither his eyes nor his other senses gave off a warning that anyone was following, beyond the vague sense of danger that he didn't need the Force to warn him about.

They came to a Y in the corridor, and the group came to a halt.

"Which way?" Han wondered.

Nobody had an answer, and Luke couldn't get a sense of either Leia's location or one being better than the other, so Han just picked the one on the left.

They hadn't gone far when they heard a dull clang! echo through the empty corridors, and they stopped again.

"What was that?" Han wanted to know.

"I'll go see," Rupert volunteered.

He trotted past the group the way they had come, and returned a few minutes later. "The blast doors are shut again," he announced. "We're cut off from the Falcon."

Lucy let out of stream of air. "Well, I guess there's no turning back now," she said quietly.

"Who's there to shut 'em?" Poul wanted to know.

Artoo found a computer terminal and plugged into it. After a moment, he emitted several electronic beeps.

"Artoo says that the ship is automated, being controlled remotely," Threepio translated.

"You can't automate a ship this size," Han said.

"If it is automated, we've got a better chance at escape," Rupert pointed out. "All we've got to do is take out the command center, or the communications."

"Yeah, and either one could be rigged to blast anyone without the right codes tries to tamper with it," Han replied. "But unless anyone has a better idea...?"

No one did.

"All right," Han said, "Let's see if we can find the control center. Luke, can that 'droid of yours pull up a schematic of this ship?"

"Artoo?" Luke said.

Artoo Detoo interfaced with the terminal again for a few seconds, then whistled.

Threepio translated again. "Artoo says that that information is classified, and is only available with the proper codes. He says that there were no available schematics in the New Republic databanks as of the last time he updated his programming."

"Great," Han muttered. "I don't suppose he could just scan for the control room."

Artoo emitted another series of beeps.

"Artoo says that the corridor is shielded. His scanners can't penetrate the shielding. I'm sorry, Captain Solo. It appears as if Artoo is completely useless in our present predicament."

Artoo whistled a protest.

"Well, it's quite true," Threepio argued. "You haven't given us one byte of useful information since we landed.

Artoo beeped and rocked back and forth on its two legs.

"Really, Artoo, can't you "

"All right, all right," Han said. "Let's just see what we find." He started leading the group onward again. They came to another Y, and he picked the one on the right, this time. It sounded to him as if the noises from the engines were coming from the left, and therefore the command center was probably in the opposite direction.

The corridors wound in twists and turns. As they continued down them, there were more intersections. Some of them were Y's, some of them were T's, and some of them were X's. Sometimes Han picked the direction based on the sound of the Star Destroyer's engines. Sometimes he just picked it at random. They did a lot of walking, but they never seemed to arrive anywhere.

At one intersection, Han was just about to choose to go straight ahead when Rupert walked up to him, covering his mouth with his hand. "Dad?" he said in a barely audible voice.

"What is it, Son?" Han asked quietly.

"I think we're going around in circles." Rupert drew Han's attention with an eyegaze down to a tiny scratch on the paneling near the connecting way. "I used Poul's knife to make a mark like that at several of the intersections we passed."

Rupert had an uncanny knack for directions. If he thought they were going around in circles, and was making marks to verify their trail, then they had probably been going around in circles for some time.

"All right," Han said quietly, acknowledging Rupert's keener sense of direction. "You lead."

Rupert stood at the intersection a moment, then chose the corridor on the right.

For a while, the engine thrumming seemed to grow more quiet. But as the corridors twisted and snaked, it began to grow louder again.

And then they came to another connecting way, with another T intersection beyond it. Rupert stepped through the connecting way into the area where the corridors joined, and brought the group to a halt when he found another mark. "It's no use," he said. "I'm not getting anywhere, either."

"All right," Han told him. "Go take Luke's place as rear guard. Maybe he can get us out of this maze."

Rupert squeezed past Chewbacca, Lucy and Poul, and the 'droids. Luke had been keeping Brenna close to him throughout the journey through the corridors. "What is it?" he asked Rupert quietly.

"I think we're going around in circles. Dad wants you to lead."

"Stick with Brenna. Shoot anything behind us that moves."

Rupert nodded, and Luke stepped past him over the threshold of the connecting way. Suddenly a solid barrier came crashing down through the connecting way, cutting Brenna and Rupert from the main group, at the base of the Y where they had just come from.

Immediately, Luke's lightsaber was in his hand and activated, and he sliced at the door, but the energy blade just bounced back and didn't even scorch the metal. "Brenna!" he yelled, not certain of whether she could hear him. "Stay where you are!"

"Let me try," Han said grimly, pulling his blaster out of his holster. His son was on the other side of that door, too. Luke moved quickly away from the door. "Lucy, Poul---"Han motioned for them to move further down one of the corridors of the Y. "Everyone, get back!"

"Wait," Luke said. "That could separate us more."

"Fine," Han said. "Everyone, hit the deck."

Luke knelt to one knee next to Han. Chewbacca gently pushed Poul and Lucy to the floor and covered them with his bulk. Threepio groaned a complaint and lay down next to them. Artoo, unable to lie down, was squat enough not to be in danger. Han knelt next to Luke, raised the hand that was holding the blaster, covered his eyes with his other hand, checked to see that everyone was ready, and squeezed off a series of shots without moving his hand or looking at his target, making each successive shot hit the same place. The bolts from the blaster hit the shielding and ricocheted down one of the corridors, flashing over the heads of the group. When Han stopped shooting and peeked through his fingers, there wasn't even a mark on the door. The others looked up after the sound of the last ricochet died away.

"What now?" Han asked.

Luke shook his head. "We have to find another way around." He doubted that Etan Lippa would be so careless as to leave an open passageway. But he might have left a section of bulkhead without shielding, if they could find it.

"In this maze?"

"Yeah."

Luke turned to study the juncture where the "Y" had become a "V". As he did, twin panels dropped from the ceiling, blocking both passages, closing the group into the tiny area, and causing Lucy to gasp in surprise and alarm.

"We're trapped," she said.

Poul began to cry.

Rupert and Brenna listened to the attempts to beat down the barrier. When the first sound of blaster fire bouncing against the door came, Rupert grabbed Brenna's arm and pulled her back and away and down. He needn't have bothered. None of the bolts penetrated.

"What now?" Rupert asked. His timing was just about the same as father's in asking that same question on the other side of the door.

As if in answer to his question, what looked like a solid section of wall suddenly lifted, revealing a passageway.

Brenna, doubly annoyed at Rupert for trying to protect her and for being her father's student, took the opportunity to separate herself from him, even if it was only for a couple of steps.

"Brenna, wait "

He started to follow, but then the wall came crashing down again between them, separating them absolutely.

"Brenna!" Rupert called.