Thanks for the reviews. Here's the next chapter. - Tomb Raider X

Chapter Three

Luke followed behind Han Solo as the command crew of the shuttle "Tydirium" crept through the forest. They wore full camouflage gear, with hardhats and everything, and Luke had the pocket containing his blaster unbuttoned.

As he watched ahead, he saw Han Solo give the hand signal to duck.

He crept forward stealthily, not moving a single leaf or branch. He was just in time to hear Leia say, "Should we try and go around?"

Crouching down next to Leia, he saw two stormtroopers in a small clearing, near three parked speeder bikes.

Luke shook his head at Leia's question. "It'll take time."

"This whole party'll be for nothing if they see us," Han agreed.

Han nodded as Chewie growled in agreement. "Chewie and I'll take care of this. You stay here," Han said, drawing his blaster.

"Quietly," Luke instructed them. "There might be more of them out there."

Han stopped what he was doing and looked at them with a lopsided grin on his face. "Hey - it's me!" he said.

Luke sighed and shook his head as Leia grinned. They watched as Han and Chewie crept around behind them and began creeping up on the two Stormtroopers. Han had his blaster out and ready, and was just about to fire it when he stepped on a twig. He glanced down in surprise, giving the Stormtrooper an opportunity to punch him, which he did. Han fired his blaster just a second too late.

"Go for help! Go!" the Stormtrooper yelled at his partner.

"Great!" Luke exclaimed angrily. "Come on!" He and Leia rushed down from their vantage point and into the clearing, where Han was having a rousing hand-to-hand fight.

Chewie shot down the escaping Stormtrooper and Luke was about to go and help Han when Leia yelled, "Over there, two more of them!" She ran for one of two remaining speeder bikes and leaped on.

"I see them, wait - Leia!" Luke yelled. He threw his hands up in exasperation and rushed after her, jumping on the back of Leia's speeder bike just as she went to speed off after the two Stormtroopers.

"Jam their comlinks - centre switch," he ordered.

She and Luke ducked under a fallen tree, which was making an arch in the ground, then nearly turned sideways as they careened around a trunk, then another one, making an O shape.

"Behind us!" Leia called as two laser bolts narrowly missed their speeder bike.

"Stay on that one, I'll take these two," Luke shouted in return.

As he neared an overhanging branch of just the right size, texture and shape, Luke jumped straight up and grabbed hold of it, using his momentum to carry him forward and over it. He landed with his hips resting on the branch, arms supporting his weight. When the last speeder bike got just the right distance away, he cast off and swung around the branch at arms length, letting go and throwing a back somersault at the arc of his swing. He had calculated perfectly - he landed behind the Stormtrooper on the speeder bike. Without giving the Stormtrooper the time to react to his presence, he threw him off and grabbed the controls himself.

The Ewok went up to Leia's prone form and poked her in the back with a spear. He backed off, then, when Leia didn't move, went up to her and poked her again, this time eliciting a startled gasp from Leia, who sat straight up and exclaimed, "Cut it out!"

The Ewok was making purring sounds, but he sounded much more frightened and defensive than happy. Leia sighed and got up, deliberately making no threatening gestures, and made her way over to a deadfall, where she sat down, groaning.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Leia reassured the Ewok. He didn't look like he understood her words, but he got the drift. He didn't look too convinced, however. Leia pulled out a ration bar and took a bite, surveying her surroundings. "Well... looks like I'm stuck here," Leia said resignedly. "Trouble is I don't know where here is." She looked at the Ewok thoughtfully. "Maybe you can help me. Come on, sit down," she offered, patting the log next to her.

The Ewok growled low in his throat, holding his spear out protectively. "I promise I won't hurt you. Now come here!" Leia insisted.

"All right. Want something to eat?" Leia asked, offering a piece of her ration bar to the Ewok. Her tone of voice was much gentler now.

He did, hesitating once more then climbing up on the log a short distance away. He waddled toward Leia and grabbed the bar out of her outstretched hand, nibbling on it while staying out of arm's reach. "That's right," the princess encouraged him.

"Come on. Hmm?" Leia spoke to the Ewok in a cutesy voice now, and it seemed to be working, because he walked up to her and plonked down beside her, talking to himself while eating his ration bar.

Leia groaned with relief as she took her camouflage hardhat off. The Ewok squealed and jumped up, aiming its spear at the hat. "Look - it's a hat," Leia explained. "It's not gonna hurt you, look." She offered the hat to the Ewok, who took it out of her hands and examined it. "You're a jittery little thing, aren't you?"

Suddenly, the Ewok dropped the hat on the ground and lifted his spear, scanning the horizon. He sniffed and his ears perked up, as if trying to see something.

"What is it?" Leia asked, following the Ewok's eyes.

Leia hadn't ducked when the blaster bolt exploded out of the trees and hit the log next to her. She gasped and rolled over the log backwards. Leia had her blaster out and ready now, and was scanning the tree line when the second shot burst out of the trees. They both ducked.

"Freeze!" came the muffled, but no less intimidating, voice of the Stormtrooper who was now holding a blaster on Leia, who gasped in surprise. "Come on, get up." He grabbed Leia's blaster from her; then spoke to his partner, who climbed up on his speeder bike.

While his attention was elsewhere, Leia heard an Ewok battle cry and a baffled Stormtrooper cry, "What the--?" as he bent over to see.

Seeing her chance, Leia grabbed a log and bashed the Stormtrooper over the head and knocked him out. She then grabbed his blaster and fired at the speeder bike zooming off. She hit it on the fuel tank and it exploded.

She could no longer sense Luke or the others, so it would take her days - if she remembered where to go. She had a pretty good memory, but it wouldn't do her much good in a forest like this. "Okay. I'll follow you." She headed off, through the clearing, following the bear-like Ewok.

Emperor Palpatine stared out into space, occasionally watching the moon of Endor, but more often studying the stars. "His" stars. He more or less owned them - no one else would dare to place a claim on them when he did. And he could do what he liked with them. They were nothing more than building blocks, really - blocks to build his Empire on. Briefly he wondered which one he would test his new Death Star on first.

He chuckled. Ah, no, no, no...that was an honour reserved for the Rebel command ships. And speaking of his plans... He sensed Darth Vader was here to add something new to them. What, Palpatine didn't know, but he would find out soon enough. He let his servant wait for a while. Let him worry.

"I told you to remain on the command ship," Emperor Palpatine chastised Vader.

The Dark Lord practically ignored his master's statement. He would have to be taught who was the master around here sooner or later. He was getting a bit too big for his boots. "A small Rebel force has penetrated the shield and landed on Endor," Vader announced.

As if Palpatine didn't know. "Yes, I know."

"My son is with them." Vader dropped his bombshell.

"Are you sure?" The tone of his voice implied that if Vader wasn't sure, he would be punished for disturbing the Emperor.

"I have felt him, my master," Vader insisted.

"Strange that I have not. I wonder if your feelings on this matter are clear,

Lord Vader."

"They are clear, my master." Vader's voice was strong and sure when he said this. Was it "too" strong and sure? The Emperor wasn't sure yet.

"Then you must go for the sanctuary moon and wait for him," Palpatine ordered.

"He will come to me?"

"I have foreseen it. His compassion for you will be his undoing. He will come to you, and then you will bring him before me."

"As you wish."

Vader bowed and left, and once again the Emperor was left alone to ponder the future of his galaxy.

Luke jogged into the clearing where they had seen the first two Stormtroopers and looked around for Han and the commandos. Soon Han stepped out from behind a tree, looking very relieved he was back. "Luke!" he called, voice confirming his state of mind. He looked behind Luke. "Where's Leia?"

Luke frowned. Leia wasn't with Han? "What - she didn't come back?"

Han gave him a threatening look. "I thought she was with you."

"We got separated," Luke retorted. He looked around behind Han, though he needn't have bothered. "We have to go look for her. I can't sense her!"

"Okay, kid, okay. We'll find her," Han reassured the young Jedi. He told the commandos to meet them at the shield bunker the following day.

"R2-D2, C-3PO, you come too. We'll need R2-D2's sensors," Luke called to the droids as he, Chewie and Han set off.

Three hours later, they arrived in a small clearing strewn with debris. Luke went to check some of it out. It was definitely speeder debris - it matched the one they had seen about two hundred metres back the way they came, and that wasn't as broken up as this one or these ones had been.

"Luke! Over here!" Han called. Luke jogged up to the smuggler and stopped short when he held up a camouflage hardhat. "It's Leia's," Han said softly.

"I hope she's all right," Luke added fervently, trying to calm down the panic forming in his mind.

Suddenly Chewie growled from another clearing.

"What, Chewie?" Han called as he and Luke ran up to the Wookiee. As they got closer, Han repeated, "What, Chewie?"

They stopped next to a tall stake with raw meat impaled on its point. Chewie was growling at it like it was his best friend. "Hey I don't get it," Han said. "It's just a dead animal, Chewie."

Just as Chewie reached for the meat, something clicked in Luke's mind. "Chewie, wait, don't!" he shouted, lunging for the Wookiee. Too late - Han, Chewie, Luke, R2-D2 and C-3PO were all swept up in a huge net.

"Great, Chewie, just great! Always thinking with your stomach!" Han berated his friend, getting a mournful growl in return.

"Would you two shut up and help me try and think of a way out of this mess?" Luke demanded. "Han - can you reach my lightsaber? "One of Luke's arms was pinned straight out in front of him, the other between C-3PO and the net.

"Yeah, sure!" Han replied, trying to claw his way around the outside of the net. At least both his arms were free.

Just as Han was getting close, Luke felt the floor (which was R2-D2 at the moment) drop out from beneath him. Before he could do anything, let alone draw on the Force, they all plummeted to the ground and landed in a huge, painful heap.

After rolling away from everyone else, Luke pushed himself up into a sitting position, groaning. Luckily he had landed on R2-D2, so he hadn't been hurt seriously, but he did have a few bruises. He gently touched one that was already forming, snatching his hand away when a small wave of pain issued from that area. "R2," he groaned. "Did you have to cut it without warning us? I could have..." his voice trailed off as he saw that they were not the only ones in this clearing.

Hope you liked it. Please review. - Tomb Raider X