Hooray! Chapter 4, and sooner than I expected!
Shoutouts:
Kynstar, kyer, and Kitkat: Hmm…four Ks…anyway. Many thanks for your reviews…kyer, Obi-Wan's going to get a lightsaber constructed as soon as feasibly possible.
I put all three of you together here because you all addressed the possibility of an Obi-Jade romance. Well…
Kynstar, do you mind awfully if I use your noise here? It seems so wonderfully appropriate.
(snrk)
I cannot deny the thought entered my mind, but I didn't entertain it for long…I don't consider myself to be very good in handling romance, as it has so many ways of coming out horribly insipid and cheesy. Besides that, it makes me cringe…yes, I am a chick. No, I hate chick flicks. Anything that makes you, the Reader, think that a relationship might be starting…well, you're right, but it's not that kind. I'm aiming for more of a mentorship thing. Whether Mara wants that or not, though, remains to be seen…
Okay, we have that cleared up now. On to my other reviewers.
Elf: You know who you are. How'd the cake turn out?…Ahem. Anyway, I already addressed this issue with Elf, but I'll say it again: anything Chewbacca has said so far has been written as an indirect quotation. For direct quotations, which may or may not occur later, I'll put it up as so many other SW writers do: [Hi. My name is Chewbacca. I shall now rip your arm off.] You get the idea.
A Tye: Many thanks! And you shall see more!
You shall see more as of now, in fact, because here…is Chapter the Fourth.
~~~***~~~
At times the Millennium Falcon almost seemed like a sentient ship, and sometimes Han wished she was.
He did now, anyway; if only he could tell her why he was so bent on starting her up…
But no such luck. Han was forced out of the cockpit to stand before one of the control panels, busily flipping switches as Chewie kept an eye on a bothersome gauge.
"How's this?" Han asked, but received a negative grunt from his copilot. Frustrated, he hammered the next switch so hard it almost broke off.
Leia was close enough to hear, and called out, "Would it help if I got out and pushed?" Her voice sounded just as exasperated as he felt.
"It might," Han said over his shoulder, trying to figure out which switch to take his anger out on next, one he preferably wouldn't need anytime soon…
Against Leia's wishes, Threepio clanked up and cocked his head. "Captain Solo, sir…might I suggest that you—"
Han shot the droid a look that might have melted circuitry, and hurried off to the cockpit.
"It can wait," Threepio added, hoping not to rouse the captain's wrath, an activity that he seemed to be extremely adept at without even trying.
"Get back here," Leia snapped at him.
Obediently, Threepio turned and shuffled back to Leia and the two unconscious forms as the boarding ramp rose up, sealing off the outside world. "Yes, your Highness?"
She glared heatedly at him, a look that matched Han's. Threepio seemed to be getting an awful lot of those, today. "Take her, and follow me."
Threepio watched as Leia brought her hands under Obi-Wan's arms and began carefully dragging him off to the med bay.
"Oh, dear, oh, dear," he murmured, and imitated Leia's movements awkwardly. Threepio didn't know how he kept getting himself into these situations. He was programmed for protocol, and would have been much more adept at arranging a dinner party than playing the medical droid. Wistfully, he wondered where Two-Onebee was as he shuffled backwards down the corridor, dragging Mara along.
***
Obi-Wan struggled back into consciousness. He couldn't remember why, but he was sure he had to come awake before someone else did to warn somebody else of something…
His eyes fluttered open as he felt himself being lifted onto a bed of some sort; his head turned to the side a bit and he could see Leia again.
She smiled despite her anxiety at the entire situation they were in and dabbed at his forehead with something cool and wet.
"Leia…" he murmured. "Leia…cuff Mara to Threepio."
Ignoring her moderate surprise at his use of her first name, she leaned in closer. "Mara's the woman?"
He nodded and closed his eyes. "Cuff her to Threepio…or something else…can't trust her yet."
Confused, Leia fastened the crash webbing around him to make sure he wouldn't roll out of the cot and turned to Threepio, who was dragging Mara in. Coming around him, Leia bent down to pick up Mara's ankles. "We're taking her to the bunks. There's only one med cot."
***
Lights in the cockpit blinked madly at him. "C'mon…" he growled, punching buttons above his head and hitting a lever on the side panel.
Something began purring, then coughed out. He cursed and whacked a spot on the bulkhead with his fist, a spot much more worn than the rest of the bulkhead, telling of its frequent beating. The purring started up again, taking on a stronger note, but Han had no time to throw a victory party.
Stormtroopers rushed into the far side of the hangar and some began setting up a large stuttergun; Han silently thanked an old friend for suggesting the installation of a hidden blaster and twisted a dial. Good thinking, Shug.
The weapon dropped out of a hatch and began to fire on the Imperials, scattering their efforts and laying them out over the hangar floor.
Chewie came in then, and strapped himself into his chair, growling anxiously.
"No kidding," Han snapped, and saw Leia come in out of the corner of his eye. "So how's the extra cargo? Strapped in?"
"They're fine, for now. I don't see how this bucket of bolts is ever going to get us past that blockade."
"This baby's got a few surprises left in her, sweetheart," Han muttered. "Switch over," he told Chewbacca. "Let's hope we don't have a burnout."
Chewie yelped as a laser hit the cockpit window, and turned to see more Imperials pouring into the hangar. He pulled back the controls quickly and the three heard the engines fire up.
Han grinned. "See?"
"Someday you're going to be wrong, and I hope I'm there to see it," she snapped back.
"Punch it!" he said to Chewie.
The Falcon roared out of the hangar just in time for Vader to see it disappear out of the cave's opening.
***
Her throat was so dry it hurt to breathe; she swallowed painfully and opened her eyes. She wondered what had happened to Kenobi when a golden head loomed into her vision, and blinked twice…
It wasn't Kenobi, just a droid. The glowing eyes seemed to regard her cheerfully. "Oh, hello. I am See-Threepio, human-cyborg relations. Who might I have the pleasure of introducing myself to?" It spoke in a stilted, accented voice; the words might not have been so annoying if it wasn't for that voice…
She started to cough…then she noticed the cuff around her hand, attaching her to the droid.
"Oh, dear," Threepio said. "Are you quite all right?"
Mara glared furiously at him and rasped, "I would be if you'd shut up."
Threepio silenced his next remark, wondering if today was a galactically acclaimed day for rude behavior. He had been either glared at, told off, or brushed away over eleven times today alone, a figure he calculated to be forty-five point six percent higher than usual. He reasoned that perhaps human behavior became more difficult when it was subjected to the stresses of war, a theory he found to be reasonably believable.
Mara tried to make herself relax, wondering where in the galaxy was she, and with what sort of people that would keep around a droid like this…
***
Luke rose his head to watch the Millennium Falcon burst out of the hangar and fly across the planet surface, rising into the atmosphere. At least Han had fixed the thing in time to make it out.
He turned then, plodding through the snow to his X-wing. Luke waved to the other pilots who were also boarding, and climbed up the ladder. He felt tired from the fight with the AT-ATs, and his heart sank when he thought of his copilot Dack and all the others who had been killed in the battle.
Artoo chirped happily at him as he came to the top of the ladder.
He smiled at the droid, forgetting his cares for a moment. "Artoo, get her ready for takeoff."
The astromech burbled impatiently as he lowered himself into the cockpit, eager to leave.
"Don't worry, Artoo. We're going, we're going." He buckled in his crash webbing and took hold of the controls as the canopy closed around him. Soon his X-wing was blasting off into vacuum, leaving the cold air of Hoth for the colder void of space.
Artoo whistled curiously as they banked into a different vector than the other X-wings had taken, and his question appeared on the screen in Aurebesh: WHAT'S WRONG? IS THERE A MALFUNCTION?
"There's nothing wrong, Artoo," Luke said into his comlink, punching some numbers into the navicomputer link. "I'm just setting a new course."
The astromech beeped in confusion.
"We're not going to regroup with the others."
There was the smallest of pauses, and the next question came up: WHERE ARE WE GOING?
"We're going to the Dagobah system." Luke looked over the readouts, making some adjustments while the hyperspace jump was being calculated.
Artoo waited a moment before continuing with a stream of whistles.
Luke smiled at the offer. "That's all right. I'd like to keep it on manual control for a while."
***
He grunted at the sharp pain shooting up his side as the ship rocked under him, forcing his ribs against the crash webbing that secured him to the cot. Obi-Wan suspected one of his ribs was cracked, but there would be time to look after that later. He slowly reached for the buckles, taking off the webbing and carefully sitting up.
Obi-Wan was doing much better now; the cause of the floor rocking under his feet was due to attack from outside, not his disoriented sense of balance. He stood slowly, and made his way to the cockpit.
No one noticed him enter; Leia stood behind Chewie's seat, clutching the headrest tightly, and Chewbacca and Han each appeared to be doing six things at once.
Chewie roared.
"I see them, I see them," Han barked back.
"Saw what?" demanded Leia.
"Star Destroyers. Two of them, coming right at us." Han worked away furiously as Obi-Wan came up behind his chair.
Leia noticed him then. "What are you doing up?" she asked him sharply. "You should be lying down."
He shook his head, looking out to the Star Destroyers. "I'm all right." Normally he would have been less brusque, but there was a dark presence he needed to hide from, and, as a Jedi, he knew his own strength.
She was startled; turning, he could see the angry blaze in her eyes. Leia still was a princess, and being brushed off by someone she supposed was a mere seventeen-year old recruit was enough to provoke her.
But before she could say anything, he held up a hand. "I was hoping to explain this to you later, but I suppose I'd better tell you now: I'm Obi-Wan Kenobi."
Her mouth, as well as her eyes, began to form a question.
"I was cloned but I regained my memory. Later would be a better time to go into detail."
Leia shut her mouth and nodded, looking as if she had been stricken dumb.
Han pointedly kept his attention up front and ordered to Chewie, "Check the deflector shield."
One of the Wookiee's long arms reached up to adjust an overhead switch as he yarrned plaintively.
"Oh, great," muttered Han. "Well, we can still outmaneuver them."
That was believable; it didn't take a quantum physicist to know that the Falcon, while not nearly as nimble as a one-man starfighter, would be able to turn on a decicred compared to the hulking Imperial monsters.
Chewbacca caught a sparkle of mischief in Han's eye and wondered what his captain had planned for the sluggish Star Destroyers.
Han clenched his teeth as he gunned them toward an oncoming Victory-class Destroyer, then started into a deep dive downward to their former position. The four TIEs that had been on their tail followed them "down" as the Star Destroyer continued on, unable to halt its momentum in time…it slowly veered away from the other two Destroyers, narrowly escaping a collision.
Han grinned as he thought of the panic he was creating; too bad Darth Vader hadn't been here to see it. Some officer would have paid with his life for such an embarrassment, if one hadn't collapsed of a heart attack already.
The four TIE fighters were relentless in their pursuit, buffeting the Falcon with laser blasts as the onboard computer gave Han the signal that they were clear of Hoth's gravity well.
"Prepare to make the jump to lightspeed," he said, running through the rendezvous coordinates one last time.
Leia was far more nervous than she would have liked. "They're getting closer!"
Han grinned; soon things would be his way again. "Oh, yeah? Watch this!"
But the stars did not shift for Han Solo this time. He exchanged a look of deadly concern with Chewie's troubled blue eyes.
"Watch what?" snapped Leia.
Han pulled the lever again. The stars were unforgiving, simply staying in place, staring coldly at the Falcon. "I think we're in trouble."
"It sounds as if the motivator is damaged," mused Obi-Wan from behind his head. "Things like that are difficult to notice groundside."
"We're in trouble," Han confirmed, agreeing with Obi-Wan's diagnosis, and jumped out of his seat. "Chewie, follow me. You two…" He shook his head. "See what you can do."
Leia exchanged looks with Obi-Wan as the pair raced out of the cockpit for quick repairs.
Obi-Wan took the controls, settling into the seat and trying to make evasive action while leaving the ship still enough for things not to rattle around too badly back there…
***
Han hung upside-down from a metal beam, working furiously at a control panel. "Horizontal boosters!"
Chewie barked down at him.
"Alluvial dampers…Well, that's not it…bring me the hydrospanners!"
Chewbacca quickly retrieved a box from nearby and set it down on the edge of the pit.
Han rose to select one of the spanners, and glanced up at Chewie. "I don't know how we're going to get out of this one."
He had just spun back down to work when the ship lurched radically, and the tools fell down onto Han. "Oww! Chewie!"
Chewbacca brayed in alarm as the Falcon rocked, making it feel as if they were swinging erratically back and forth. Though the movements were smooth, they were quick enough to send anything loose flying.
Han's head popped back out of the pit, and he frowned. Leia wouldn't be piloting like that…he knew Leia wouldn't be piloting, anyway. "What the hell does he think he's doing? Get up there and tell him to quit being so damn evasive—"
Leia's voice came over the comlink. "Han, get up here!"
"Come on, Chewie!" Han clambered out of the hold and ran back to the cockpit, Chewie on his heels.
The cockpit's window presented them with the reason for Obi-Wan's unpredictable piloting. He brought the ship up smoothly to dodge another asteroid, coming clear of a smaller chunk of rock orbiting its parent.
"Asteroids," Leia said grimly.
Sensitive to the captain's wishes, Obi-Wan slid out of the pilot's chair quickly and out of the way as Han took the controls.
"Chewie, set two-seven-one." Han's brow furrowed as he quickly looked over the screens.
Chewbacca took his usual seat, complying with a grunt.
Leia's eyes grew round as Han kept the course. "What are you doing? You're not actually going into an asteroid field?"
"They'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't they?" he retorted, barely missing the next asteroid.
It grazed the ship and Leia winced. "You don't have to do this to impress me."
***
Mara grabbed the side of the bunk as the ship shook under her. "What's going on? Those aren't laser blasts."
Threepio's neck servos jerked his head to one side. "I beg your pardon?"
Her temper flared. "Can't you tell? We're being pummeled with space debris. Asteroids, most likely. There's a belt just beside Hoth."
Threepio grew flustered…she had no idea how she knew that. The droid seemed to have an unusual talent of looking nervous without being able to move his facial features. "But the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately three thousand seven hundred and twenty to one! We're doomed!" he concluded in distress.
"Either tell that to the pilot or shut the hell up," she snarled, wishing it were possible to strangle droids.
***
The TIEs were under an even deadlier risk as they doggedly pursued the Corellian freighter into the asteroid belt; the frail little fighters were fast but had a total lack of shielding. One, unable to veer away in time, connected with an asteroid and instantly exploded. Another clipped its solar paneled wing on a smaller rock and spun out of control until it, too, vanished in a vacuum-silenced flare of light.
The oncoming Victory-class Star Destroyers were faring somewhat better; turbolasers targeted the more threatening rocks, vaporizing them as the massive ships slowly advanced into the field, clearing themselves a path while still battered with the smaller asteroids.
Darth Vader, open as he was, felt the TIE pilots' lives wink out of existence, but he was not focused on them. For once, he wasn't even focused on Luke. There was a stronger presence aboard the Millennium Falcon. One that, in its silence, spoke immeasurably to him.
The technicians had said it was impossible…but they, in their ignorance, had created the very man Vader had taken years—no, decades—to dispatch. The Empire had even endorsed the boy…
The Sith lord's fist closed around thin air. Soon the Imperial Palace would be hiring again. He wished he could be there to execute the technicians himself, something the Emperor would be looking after instead.
But for now Vader turned his brooding attention into the Falcon. He knew before he caught up to Luke, he would again have to rid the galaxy of by now the most pestilent Jedi Master he had ever known.
***
Leia turned in confusion as Obi-Wan cried out; for the moment no asteroids were thudding against the hull or whizzing by the window. "What's wrong?"
He was weakened from the fight, mentally as well as emotionally, and his frenzied eyes seemed to burn through her as his clenched jaw tightened. "Quickly. Give me your hand."
Hesitantly, she offered it; he took it in a firm but gentle grip. She was alarmed at how hot it felt, and squeezed back. "What's the matter?" she repeated.
"Leia…I need you to give me your strength." He saw her bewildered expression. "There's no time…quickly. Concentrate."
Flabbergasted, she shut her eyes and tried to bottle up her strength to send to him via their physical connection. She thought it might work even though she wasn't a Jedi; perhaps he could take what she offered because he was one.
"Good," he murmured, to her surprise. "You're doing well."
Leia could not sense the dark onslaught that was pouring itself onto Obi-Wan from their mutual enemy, could only follow his directions with no idea of what was really happening. She tried harder at his encouragement.
He felt her strength come slowly but steadily, and concentrated all of it plus the little he had left of his own on fending off Vader's strong probing and building walls around both of them. It was too early for either Vader or Leia to know of their ties; the knowledge might destroy her at this point, one way or another. He could not let Vader know where he was gaining strength from. Any properly trained Force-sensitive would know that it was impossible to tap into a non-sensitive's strength enough to build such shielding, and if Vader would be given an option out of all the others on board, Obi-Wan knew which one the dark lord would pick as the sensitive sentient. And then the most dangerous thing: Vader would wonder why.
Little by little, the dark opposition retreated for another time, and Obi-Wan slumped forward in his seat, relieved but totally exhausted.
Chewbacca barked in concern, noticing Obi-Wan's state.
"Leia can take care of it," Han said, deeply focused in his piloting. "You have to keep an eye on the shields, or we might all die anyway."
Chastened, Chewbacca turned back to the computers, still keeping a weather eye back on the other two.
Leia was in a bad position to push Obi-Wan back up, but she struggled to regardless and managed to prop him back up. "You're really having a bad day, aren't you?" she murmured in his ear.
No response came, but she expected none from the seemingly comatose Jedi, who almost slid out of his seat at an abrupt maneuver from Han.
"You said you wanted to be around when I made a mistake; well, this could be it, sweetheart," Han muttered as he grappled with the controls.
"I take it back," she told him. "We're going to get pulverized if we stay out here much longer."
"I'm not going to argue with that." He narrowed his eyes, searching the field for a likely asteroid. "I'm going in closer to one of the big ones."
"Closer?" Leia echoed in astonishment, Chewbacca barking the word even louder in his own tongue.
Han flipped them to port, skimming his belly past a rock as he dove down to a massive asteroid, half the size of a small moon. The two remaining TIE fighters pursued him down to the surface, but soon met defeat as the combination of quick maneuvering and narrow canyons got the better of them.
Glancing down to his main scope, Han spotted something he liked. "There. That looks pretty good."
Leia tried to see. "What looks pretty good?"
"Yeah." Han's mouth quirked into a half-smile; perhaps he'd found what he wanted, after all. "That'll do nicely."
Leia and Chewie understood as the Falcon neared a large crater and completed a neat loop to disappear into the deep shaft.
"I hope you know what you're doing," she murmured to him as they cruised in, gradually decelerating.
"Yeah…me too."
***
Deep in a healing trance, Obi-Wan felt the stars. He was still attentive enough to keep up the shields, still observant enough to reach out for one nearby star in particular, looking for an old friend.
The friend expressed a complete shock at feeling his presence, a surprise at a magnitude that Obi-Wan had never felt from him before. Alive you are…and yet I felt you die.
Obi-Wan would have smiled. The Empire gave me back to the Order, and so my work is not yet finished, Master.
Amusement reached him as the friend arrived at a guess. So arrogant were they to do such a thing. Such ignorance of the capacity of the Force.
Obi-Wan remembered the thing he had to tell his Master. Luke Skywalker comes to you for training.
This time his friend was not surprised. Yes, this I know. Prepared a reception for him, I have. Little time, will there be…but enough.
Obi-Wan's heart grew heavy. I wish I could come, Master, but for now it is impossible.
He felt a bit of impatience. Taught you nothing, have I? If to come, you are, arranged it will be. Until then, by young Leia your place remains. Looked after, the twins must be, until complete their training is.
Yes, Master. Obi-Wan thought to amuse his Master with the thought that he had regained his youthful thinking along with his new body, but he knew Yoda would hardly agree with him.
Fascinating, Obi-Wan thought to himself, how Yoda learns the fact that a Jedi has actually returned to life beyond all odds and then so quickly brushes away the surprise, lecturing me as if I was a junior Padawan returning from stomping on Master I'tah's terish-flower bushes in the Temple courtyard.
He opened his eyes long enough to see Leia's worried face, give her a reassuring smile, and fall back into a deep healing trance.
***
Life.
It was all around him, spreading from the roots of the ancient trees to the very top of the canopy; it skittered and slithered around in the form of lizards and snakes; it glided from tree to tree as birds and hawk-bats. Dagobah teemed with natural life.
Death.
It spoke to him from the nearby cave, where a powerful Sith had died an age ago. The numbing tendrils reached out to him, whispering iniquities into his ear…but at the same time, the death preserved his life. One dark presence next to one of the light; the two beacons cancelled each other out to any outside search party.
Exactly the way Yoda wanted it. Life and death worked hand in hand for him; life ran through his veins now, and within a matter of time death would claim him. It was the way of things.
And as the old ones passed on, a new generation would arise to take up the position…but before that happened, the knowledge, the training…it had to be passed on. The elder had one responsibility remaining.
The new generation, currently manifested in one human, had just arrived. Yoda picked up his gimer stick and trudged out into the mists.
***
The gloom that Piett stepped into was comparable to that of the throne room in the Imperial Palace, though he was fortunate enough never to have had an occasion to visit.
The freshly promoted admiral hesitated as the doors slid shut behind him. Years ago as a cadet, he'd been privy to all the rumors surrounding the hair-raising things that went on in Lord Vader's meditation chamber. He could recall some…and some he didn't want to. Superstition, he knew, could easily become fact if the dark lord saw it fit. A heavy feeling of foreboding draped itself on his shoulders but he shook it off as best he could and stepped farther into the room.
Piett almost turned away when he saw the hatch was open, the rumors circulating in his mind, but curiousity piqued in him and his eyes remained riveted to the fascinatingly revolting scene.
Though he didn't see anything more than the back of Vader's bare head, the glimpse alone was enough to put a foundation into some of those rumors. The ugly mass of scar tissue was covered up as a metal arm moved down to place the black helmet back into place, and Vader rotated in his chair to face Piett, who snapped instantly to attention as the hatch opened fully. "Yes, Admiral?"
"Our ships have sighted the Millennium Falcon, lord. But…it has entered an asteroid field and we cannot risk…"
"Going in much farther" was snatched from his lips as Vader interrupted him. "Asteroids do not concern me, Admiral. I want that ship, and not excuses."
"Yes, milord," Piett said, vividly recalling the death of his predecessor, Admiral Ozzel. He wheeled about smartly as the hatch closed down again, and strode out of the room, sweat beading at the back of his neck.
***
Leia stared out the cockpit at the dank-looking cave as Han and Chewie quickly slapped off the systems.
"I'm going to shut down everything but the emergency power systems," Han muttered, half to himself. He didn't want to risk being found if the Imperials conducted an energy sweep, which he knew was standard protocol anyway.
[Does that include shutting Threepio down?] Chewie inquired hopefully.
"No," Han said with a wistful tone. "I need him to talk to the systems and find out what's wrong with the hyperdrive. Pity, really."
Chewbacca muttered his agreement.
Leia smothered a grin, then recalled where Threepio was at the moment. "I suppose I'll go back and get him. Uh…" She frowned. "Chewie…could you hold the general in his seat until I come back?"
The Wookiee consented, and instead hauled Obi-Wan's limp form out of the chair into his lap, cradling him like an infant in his huge arms.
Han shook his head, knowing better than to comment. "Sure, then…" Something was nagging him in the very back of his mind, beckoning for his attention; hardly anything, but he had learned to trust his acute sense of intuition over the years. It was the eyes in the back of the head that all experienced smugglers developed after a while. So he listened to it, and turned to follow Leia. "I'm coming with you. I want to see this extra passenger for myself."
"I can handle it," she snapped without turning around, suddenly irritated.
"Hey, your Worship, I just tend to like knowing who's riding on my ship, is all."
Leia snorted, still walking, not bothering to face him. "You don't know me all that well, it seems."
"Well enough," he muttered under his breath.
Fortunately, she didn't hear him, and they came into the bunks.
The door hissed open to reveal a striking redhead perched on the edge a bunk, cuffed to the protocol droid, her green eyes burning into both Han and Leia at once.
"What," said Han, viewing the scene, "is this?"
Leia shrugged. "It was General Kenobi's idea—"
Suddenly the ship lurched, causing all the loose items in the area to go flying. Mara held on to the bunk for dear life as Threepio flailed his loose limb in alarm. Han and Leia found themselves colliding in the doorway and grabbed each other for support, only realizing they were in each other's arms when the motion stopped.
As best he could, Threepio perked up. "Sir…it's quite possible this asteroid is not entirely stable."
"Not entirely stable?" Han snarled sarcastically. "I'm glad you're here to tell us these things. Now come here and I'll—"
Mara took a firm grip on the droid's wrist and yanked with all her physical and metaphysical strength. Threepio's arm popped off with a cut-off yell on his part, and she swung it around dangerously, knocking him off his metal-shod feet and closely missing Leia.
Han shouted a curse as Mara jumped at him; his draw was too quick for her and the stun beam coursed through her body as momentum carried her into him, slamming him into the floor.
"Oh, dear," said Threepio as Leia pushed Mara off of Han. "Sometimes I just don't understand human behavior. After all, I'm only trying to do my job in the most—"
"Tell me you didn't start telling her stories," Leia interrupted his indignant statement.
"Well, your Highness, I'm not much of a storyteller, I'm afraid, but I did quote to her a most excellent piece of—"
"Oh, wonderful," moaned Leia, trying to prop a gasping Han up. "You bored her to tears, don't you see? This was the only reasonable response."
Han rubbed his forehead. "Now that you say that, I'm almost tempted to forgive her."
Leia hauled him to his feet, and just as they got up, the ship pitched under their feet again. He staggered backwards into a seat and she tumbled after him, sitting down awkwardly into his lap.
The ship shuddered once more as she felt his arms around her middle, and tugged at them. "Let go."
"Shhh," he said, putting up one finger for silence.
But she still tugged at his arms. "Let go, please."
Han noticed her annoyance. "Don't get excited."
Leia's anger rose then, her voice automatically taking on a haughtier tone. "Captain, being held by you is quite enough to get me excited."
He grinned, hauling her up by her underarms and setting her feet on the floor. "Sorry, sweetheart; we haven't got time for anything else."
Fuming at his wicked smile, her eyes flashed and she stormed off to the cockpit.
"Hey," he called after her, "could you tell Chewie I want him back here?"
Her course didn't alter as she vanished around the bend.
He sighed and turned back to Mara, who was beginning to twitch. Not wanting to take any risks, he pumped another stun blast into her, then went back to root out the med kit.
Yes, the small vials were there; he was fortunate Chewbacca had remembered to replace them after their first little episode with the stormtroopers in the Death Star. Snapping one vial of anesthetic to a clean syringe, he headed back to Mara and carefully slipped the needle into her arm, giving her half the dose. Now he had another three hours' time.
Threepio still sat dazed and confused by the bunks, his arm stump terminating in a mess of wires. "Oh, my…Captain Solo, would it be entirely possible to have my arm replaced? It is a rather convenient appendage, after all—"
"Oh, spare me," he growled, wondering if the droid had the capacity to be satirical with him. "Chewie'll look after it after you tell me what's wrong with the hyperdrive. Now get over here."
Deferentially, Threepio managed to push himself back up to a standing position and clanked his way over.
***
The gray light that drifted from the canopies down to the swampy ground grew even dimmer as twilight slowly made its dreary arrival. Yoda picked his way through the vegetation, attuned to the sole other sentient on the entire planet.
A soft yellow glow beckoned to him through the trees and hanging vines. He knew what it was. A mere farmboy's lantern.
If things went as planned, it would soon be a light in the hands of a warrior.
~~~***~~~