Thanks to all my reviewers. You guys are all so wonderful. Enjoy the chapter. - Tomb Raider X

Chapter Five

Han and Leia crouched behind a small hillock, staring through macro binoculars at the busy control bunker just ahead of them. A few Ewoks had accompanied them, for safety reasons, they said, but privately Leia thought the bear-like creatures were just plain curious. She didn't mind, as long as they didn't get in the way.

As they watched, a shuttle much like the "Tydirium" lifted off from the landing platform; opened its wings and sailed off into the atmosphere. Leia watched it go. She knew that somewhere inside the shuttle was her brother... her brother... Luke. She had had a hard enough time accepting that the Jedi she had liked and admired for years was actually her long-lost twin brother, but that Darth Vader was her father, and her brother was now on a mission to kill him? That would take time.

Time she didn't have right now.

Sensibly, Leia pushed it to the back of the mind and concentrated her thoughts on the coming ambush. They needed to find some way to sneak into the bunker, which was infinitely preferable to fighting their way through a nest crawling with Stormtroopers, and plant the charges that would detonate the shield generator - all before the Rebel fleet arrived, which they would be doing soon. It was looking harder to accomplish than they had first thought.

"The main entrance to the control bunker's on the far side of that landing platform. This isn't going to be easy," she voiced her fears.

The ever-cocky Han replied, "Hey, don't worry. Chewie and me got into a lot of places more heavily guarded than this."

With a rueful smile, Leia half-listened to 3PO and an Ewok chatter in the Ewok language in the background while trying to figure out a method of entry. Finally getting tired of the chatter she couldn't have a hope of understanding without a translator, she demanded, "What's he saying?"

3PO turned to her and told her, "He says there's a secret entrance on the other side of the ridge."

A slow smile spread across the Rebel princess' face.

In the blackness of space just outside the Sullust home world, the Millennium Falcon roared past the stationary Rebel fleet. Lando Calrissian had been surprised at the number of ships assembled - he had heard the Rebels were a tiny and ineffectual movement. Instead, he was zooming past Calamarian cruisers, huge Medical Frigates, Corellian gun ships, and their smaller fighter cousins, the A-Wings, B-Wings, X-Wings and Y-Wings. All capital ships were either in formation or approaching formation, while their escorts were gathering around them, as per Admiral Ackbar's orders.

Lando knew this was probably the single most important event of his life. In command of a fleet of Rebel fighters, out to attack and destroy the Empire once and for all. All these lives, thousands of them, depended on his decisions. One mistake could cause the entire attack plan to backfire on them. So the former Baron of Cloud City wanted no mistakes. Making a circuit of the ships once more to assure full battle readiness, Lando returned to the head of the formation and flicked on his comm. "Admiral, we're in position," he spoke into the mouthpiece. "All fighters accounted for."

"Proceed with the countdown." The reply came in the Admiral's gruff Mon Calamari tone, determined and ready. "All groups assume attack coordinates," he finished.

Lando glanced at his Sullustan co-pilot, Nien Nunb, as he spoke; then waved his concerns away. "Don't worry, my friend's down there! He'll have that shield down on time."

Nunb didn't seem convinced, muttering to himself about how methodical and efficient Han Solo was, therefore how likely he was to pull this off. Lando shook his head. "Or this'll be the shortest offensive of all time," he murmured to himself.

"All craft," the Admiral's voice crackled over the comm speaker. "Prepare to jump into hyperspace on my mark."

This was it. The most important day of his life was about to begin. "All right, stand by," he instructed his fighters, hand ready on the hyperspace lever. Taking a deep breath, he waited for the tone that would signal the jump to hyperspace.

With a flicker of pseudo motion, the fleet vanished as though it had never been, on its way to the battle for the galaxy.

Han Solo crept through the thick jungle. They were coming up on the Ewoks's secret entrance, and Leeyar was scouting up ahead. His ear tufts looked like strange moving plants that moved forward and back and constantly twitched from side to side. He was almost excruciatingly cute, which was mainly why Han was easily annoyed by the walking teddy bears. He could live with cute things or beings, but not these Ewoks. They were just too damn cute.

The furry being up ahead signalled a halt-and-duck, which looked so ridiculous on a teddy bear that Han nearly laughed, but it was obeyed anyway. He crept forward to join Leeyar, Leia and a few more Ewoks, including Wicket, the Ewok that had found Leia, followed. They crouched behind a bush and watched the activity, or lack of it, surrounding the squat, dark grey bunker.

"Back door, huh," Han commented. "Good idea."

He was peripherally aware of two Ewoks having a vehement discussion.

Probably domestic, he thought with a mental snort. It would be just like the completely battle-naive Ewoks to start arguing over problems in the home while they were scouting out the enemy.

Han watched the four Scout troopers chatting in a circle below them. With another mental snort at their apparent incompetence, he commented, "There's only a few guards. This shouldn't be too much trouble."

"But it only takes one to sound the alarm," Leia warned him.

He nodded in agreement, casting an annoyed glance at 3PO, who had just exploded with what sounded like, "Naku! Aku-tak-tak?"

An Ewok was now scampering away from their little group. Returning his attention to the task at hand, Han replied, "Then we'll do it real quiet-like."

"Oh!" came a loud protest in an all-too familiar mechanical voice. "Oh, my! Princess Leia!" Leia immediately jumped up and slipped her hand over the protocol droid's mouth. Han couldn't help but be impressed at the skill she moved with - she had made sure both she and 3PO were out of sight of the Scout troopers as well as being absolutely silent and very fast. He took a brief moment to wonder how she had gotten so skilled at commando techniques. She was, after all, a valuable Rebel leader, and therefore wouldn't be allowed to go on many missions at all. Maybe she was just naturally skilled at it, as she was with diplomacy.

Recognising Leia's wish for quiet, 3PO adjusted his vocal volume control before he next spoke. "I'm afraid our furry companion has gone and done something rather rash," he told her.

Heart sinking, Han turned toward the direction the Ewok had scampered off in.

Leia vocalised his thoughts. "Oh no." As did Chewie, with a mournful growl.

The Ewok was busy climbing onto one of the four speeder bikes sitting in a small alcove waiting for their owners. "There goes our surprise attack," Han said as he watched the furry little being flip switches and press buttons.

It was actually quite comical to see the startled Ewok squeal as the bike shot off into the trees, leaving him hanging on to the handle bars for dear life. There came a shout from the Scout troopers as they heard the noise of the engine, then three of them sprinted for the remaining three bikes, jumped on and raced off after the Ewok thief.

A smile spread across Han's face. Well, they would have wanted a diversion anyway... "Not bad for a little fur ball," he commented, grinning at Leia. "There's only one left." He turned to R2 and 3PO. "You stay here. We'll take care of this."

As he headed off in one flanking direction, Leia and the rest of the Rebel commando team in the other, he heard 3PO announce, "I have decided that we shall stay here."

Scout trooper no. HM-237 stood in front of the back door to the shield generator bunker, staring straight ahead into the trees. He had been standing there for quite some time, the boredom only being relieved by the appearance of an Ewok, who had stolen a speeder bike from its parking place a short distance away. 237's companions had raced off after it, and had not yet returned. He hoped they hadn't flown into a tree trunk or something equally stupid.

237 scanned the trees, bored, looking for something to appear out of nowhere and provide him with some shooting practice. He wished he had had his blaster rifle ready, because that Ewok would have been—

Suddenly, he felt a rough tap on his right shoulder. Twisting to the right, he caught a glimpse of a running figure, heading toward his other side. That figure was not Ewok, was not a Stormtrooper, and was not in Imperial uniform.

Nervous excitement spreading through him, Scout trooper HM-237 shouted, "Hey!" and twisted around to the other side. He was just in time to spot the figure darting around the corner of the bunker. Eagerly, he gave chase, fumbling for his blaster as he reached the corner--

And stopped short. Straight in front of him, in alert ready stances, stood at least fifteen camouflaged humans. In front of him was the figure he had seen - a tall human male dressed in black pants with the Corellian blood stripe and a white shirt and vest. He shrugged cockily at 237.

With a sigh, Scout trooper HM-237 straightened up and handed over his blaster rifle.

With a grin, Han Solo headed for the entrance to the bunker, Leia and Chewie following. They used the code Leia had memorised to open the door, and slunk quietly inside.

In the Emperor's throne room, five red indicator lights lit up one by one as the turbo lift rose to the throne room's level. Silently, the door slid aside, revealing Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader.

The young Jedi Knight was calm and composed, while the Sith Lord's state of mind was impossible to determine. Luke's hands were shackled in front of him, and his father carried his lightsaber. Together, they walked forward, across the walkway and up the steps to stand in front of Emperor Palpatine's throne.

Luke watched the Emperor carefully, studying those shadowed yellow eyes. He knew his life and the life of his father and friends depended on his surviving this ordeal - and that was what it was going to be - an ordeal. Yoda had warned him about the Emperor, and this time he was going to heed his Master's warning. The Emperor was powerful, malevolent, and dangerous, and Luke knew he would need all his wits and skill with the Force to survive this.

"Welcome, young Skywalker. I have been expecting you," Palpatine announced in a voice that would have been conversational, had it not reeked of the dark side. "You no longer need those."

For a moment, Luke wondered what he was talking about, then felt a tiny disturbance in the Force as his binders cracked open. With a slight movement of his hands, they slid from his wrists and crashed to the floor. He looked up, a little nervous. The Emperor was truly powerful - extraordinary control was essential to handle the Force, even the dark side, so delicately.

"Guards, leave us," the Emperor ordered, and Luke felt the presences of the two Imperial guards stationed next to the turbo lift, as well as the two hidden behind it, fade away as they left the room. Palpatine returned his attention to the young Jedi.

"I am looking forward to completing your training," he said. "In time, you will call me master."

"You're gravely mistaken," Luke denied. "You won't convert me as you did my father."

"Oh no, my young Jedi." Emperor Palpatine got up out of his throne and walked toward Luke and Vader, extending a gnarled finger in their direction. "You will find that it is you who are mistaken - about a great many things."

As the Emperor came closer to them, Vader held out Luke's lightsaber. "His lightsaber," he offered. The Emperor took it and studied it.

"Ah yes. A Jedi's weapon. Much like your father's," he commented. "By now you must know that your father can never be turned from the dark side. So will it be with you."

Luke shook his head slowly. "You're wrong. Soon I'll be dead. And you with me." Something was nagging at the back of his mind. He knew he should be able to, but he couldn't quite grasp what it was.

To his dismay, Palpatine only laughed shortly. "Perhaps you refer to the imminent attack of your Rebel fleet?" Luke's eyes opened a little wider as he heard this. How did--? "Yes. I assure you," the Emperor continued, "we are quite safe from your friends here." Friends... That feeling at the back of his mind grew stronger.

"Your overconfidence is your weakness," Luke challenged, buying time. He needed to concentrate on that feeling - he felt that it was important.

"Your faith in your friends is yours," the Emperor snapped in reply.

"It is pointless to resist, my son," Vader added, reminding Luke of his reason for coming here in the first place.

The Emperor stalked back to his throne and sat down. "Everything that has transpired has done so according to my design. Your friends, up there on the Sanctuary Moon, are walking into a trap, as is your Rebel fleet. It was I who allowed the Alliance to know the location of the shield generator. It is quite safe from your pitiful little band. An entire legion of my best troops awaits them. Oh..." he leaned forward, making a mockingly sad face. "I'm afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational when your friends arrive."

The sound of his laughter echoed around the throne room.

The door to the command centre of the bunker blew open with a shower of sparks. Han Solo charged in, shouting, "All right! Up, move! Come on!" Chewbacca, Leia, and the other Rebel commandos poured in behind him and spread out, Chewie roaring in his native language. One spotted an officer running past the power core and leaped at him, knocking him over the safety railing easily.

"Quickly, quickly!" Han ordered, herding the officers into a corner of the bunker. "Chewie!" he called, and left the prisoners under Chewie's more than capable guard.

"Han! Hurry, the fleet will be here any moment!" Leia told him urgently after checking the scopes, which were aimed at the area surrounding the Death Star.

"Charges come on! Come on!" Han demanded. One of the commandos threw him a bag, which he snatched out of mid-air and began pulling open.

C-3PO stood next to his astromech counterpart, R2, beside a large tree. They stood with one of the Ewoks, watching anxiously as the Rebel commandos made their way into the bunker.

Suddenly, Stormtroopers sprung up out of nowhere, all aiming their blasters at the guard the Rebels had left behind, dressed as one of them. Seeing the overwhelming odds, he raised his hands and was herded away as a squad of Stormtroopers ran into the bunker.

"Oh my!" 3PO exclaimed, servos whirring excitedly. "They'll be captured!" The Ewok chattered something, then scrambled off into the forest, leaving the two droids behind. "Wait, come back!" 3PO called. He did not want to be left alone, all out in the open like he was, with an army of Stormtroopers gathering outside the bunker.

Possessively, he clunked a metal hand down on R2's dome. "R2, stay with me!"

"Freeze!"

Han spun around, startled, and threw the empty case at the speaker as soon as he saw the grey uniform of an Imperial officer. It knocked him, yelling, over the safety railing and into the power core. Before Han could react, a whole squad of Stormtroopers came flooding into the small room, and suddenly, one of the officers they had captured held a blaster and was aiming it at him.

"You Rebel scum," the officer spat with contempt.

On board the Millennium Falcon, Lando Calrissian sat with his hand resting on the lever that would bring them out of hyperspace. He was tense, frightened, nervous and excited all at once, and desperately trying to concentrate on the numbers that would indicate when to pull that lever. They slowly diminished, until finally the display flashed zero. With a quick breath, Lando pulled the lever, and the bewildering sky of hyperspace stretched into star lines, then dissolved into stars. For an instant they hurtled straight at the Death Star and the Sanctuary moon of Endor, then slowed as the hyper-decelerators kicked in.

Behind and all around him, capital ships and fighters burst out of hyperspace and slowed with him. "All wings, report in," he ordered over the comm.

Wedge's distinctive voice, only slightly distorted by Alliance comm equipment, replied, "Red Leader, standing by."

Another voice responded, "Grey Leader, standing by."

And another, "Green Leader, standing by."

Wedge's voice came over the speakers again, adding, "Lock s-foils in attack position."

Lando watched as the X-wings' s-foils separated and the B-wings' lower wings raised. There were dozens of fighters, milling around his ship and buzzing around each other like insects. It was hard to remember there were actually pilots in each one of them, but Lando tried even harder not to forget.

"May the Force be with us," came the voice of Admiral Ackbar.

Lando's Sullustan co-pilot, Nien Nunb, said something to Lando in his own language. Lando frowned. "We've gotta be able to get some kind of reading on that shield - up or down?" The Sullustan added something, sounding a little more agitated. Lando looked at the sensor display to be sure. "But how can they be jamming us if they don't know we-- if we're coming," he finished slowly, horror spreading across his face as he realised what he had just said.

Frantically, he slapped the transmit button on the comm. "Break off the attack! The shield is still up!" he shouted.

Wedge's confused voice replied, "I get no reading - you sure?"

"Pull up!" Lando demanded. "All craft pull up!"

One by one the other ships followed suit, heeling hard over and turning back the way they came. For a moment, Lando was worried the capital ships weren't going to make it, but they just managed to turn in time. He himself pulled the control yoke in front of him, yanking the Falcon onto a different course.

On the Calamarian cruiser, Home One, the bridge was buzzing with frantic activity as the horizon tilted outside the view screen.

"Take evasive action," came the Admiral's experienced voice.

"Green group, stick close to holding sector MT-7."

From behind the Admiral, a voice called, "Admiral! We have enemy ships in sector 47!"

Ackbar snapped his head back around to the view screen, watching countless Star Destroyers appear in the distance. "It's a trap!" he moaned.

Lando, followed by the fighters of the Rebel Alliance, were headed straight for the Star Destroyers when they noticed something new on their scopes - lots of something new.

"Fighters, coming in!" Lando warned as he twisted the Falcon to avoid the lasers of the hundreds of TIE Fighters. His gunners returned fire without aiming - it wasn't necessary because space was thick with the things.

"There's too many of them," came a cry over the comm, undoubtedly from some fighter caught in the middle of a large group, like they were.

All around them, TIE's and Rebel fighters began exploding in the first stages of battle. "Accelerate to attack speed. Draw their fire away from the cruisers!" Lando instructed over the comm.

Immediately he heard, "Copy, Gold Leader," from the ever-competent Wedge, Red Leader. The Falcon dived over the hull of a Calamarian cruiser, dodging and weaving to avoid enemy fire.

"Come, boy. See for yourself," Emperor Palpatine ordered, gesturing to his left. Luke walked to the view port beside the Emperor's throne and looked out. "From here you will witness the final destruction of the Alliance, and the end of your insignificant Rebellion," Palpatine gloated.

Luke tensed, staring at the group of random flashes and blurry capital ships that was the fierce battle between Imperial and Rebel forces. He could feel the emotions of the Rebels clearly - frightened, nervous, but very determined. He felt their terror and pain as they died. He didn't know if he was feeling this himself or if the Emperor was aiding him, but it made him angry, and that scared him.

He twisted around and stared at the lightsaber handle resting on the arm of the Emperor's throne. It would be so easy...

"You want this... don't you," Palpatine murmured, stroking his fingers lightly across the metal casing. "The hate is swelling in you now. Take your Jedi weapon. Use it! I am unarmed. Strike me down with it. Give in to your anger!" he urged. "With each passing moment you make yourself more my servant."

"No," Luke denied, dread in his heart.

"It is unavoidable. It is your destiny. You, like your father... are now... mine."

Sorry about no author note on last chapter. Story almost done, and a sequel is in progress. Review......Please - Tomb Raider X