Chapter 23: The Lone Jedi
Luke pulled the hood of his cloak up, allowing his features to be completely obscured by shadows, before stepping back out onto the streets of Coruscant. Properly, Luke was on Imperial Center, but he was refusing to call it that. The Empire had died with the Emperor and its remnants would not be able to hold off the inevitable. That was part of why Luke was here. The liberation of Coruscant would send a clear signal to the rest of the galaxy that the New Republic was in control and there to stay. But first, Luke had a mission to complete.
Sparing a glimpse at the massive structure on the horizon, Luke pulled his cloak around him and made his way across the busy walkway. After the mission team and parameters had been set, Luke had volunteered to take on the most heavily guarded of the defensive positions. He was going to take down the defenses for the Imperial Palace itself. The rest of the team had paired off to join up with the various resistance cells on the planet-sized city to secure objectives scattered throughout the galactic capital. However, Luke had insisted that he could handle this one on his own and that he was best suited for the most dangerous work. After all, he was a Jedi. No one else stood a real chance at infiltrating the palace defenses and surviving.
Noting a couple walking down the street giving him a little too much attention, Luke made a subtle gesture with his hand and the pair soon looked away. His face was still recognizable from Imperial most wanted lists and the reward offered for his capture remained substantial in spite of the course of the war. With the widespread belief that he had been the one to kill the Emperor, Luke thought it best to avoid drawing any attention to himself. The risk of coming across a greedy opportunist or Imperial loyalist was too great. Briefly clouding a few minds with the Force would go a long way to keeping his anonymity.
The familiar whine of ion engines brought Luke's attention to the night sky as a pair of TIE fighters patrolled the sky above him. Ever since he had stepped foot on the planet, Luke had noticed a sense of urgency among the Imperials. The Empire seemed to know that its days were numbered and was starting to get desperate in its attempts to maintain control. The constant stormtrooper patrols and TIE flybys told Luke just how they planned to do that. They were still trying to rule by fear and hoping to keep down any revolt by the citizenry as the Republic fleet drew closer. The effectiveness of the Imperial military at keeping celebrations from occurring after Endor told him all he needed to know there. When the time came, Luke was sure they would have help from the people of Coruscant in one way or another.
After surreptitiously checking behind him to insure that he still wasn't being followed, Luke stepped into the cantina where he was to meet his contact from the nearby resistance cell. Luke had no plans to take the local freedom fighters with him to complete his mission regardless of how eager they would be to do so. The intelligence they could provide would be invaluable in planning, however, so Luke had agreed to meet them anyway. Perhaps, they could create a diversion for him when the time came.
Luke exited the small hallway leading into the main room of the small cantina and took a quick survey of his surroundings. The place seemed rather empty considering how busy the nearby streets were, but the pungent smell of ale well past its prime told Luke the likely reason for the establishment's absence of patrons. The lack of company was probably why this location was chosen for the meeting in the first place. After a second look through the smoky room, Luke identified his contact sitting in the corner of the room. As he continued to make his way across the room, Luke couldn't help but feel that something was off.
Luke's suspicions were confirmed as he stopped short at a warning in the Force blasted him. Noticing Luke's sudden halt, his contact whipped out a blaster pistol and trained it on Luke. Realizing that he had just walked into a setup, Luke started to check each of the exits he had found during his initial survey of the cantina. He found no easy escape route, however, as stormtroopers were entering at all points. Luke immediately hit the emergency relay on his comlink so that the others would know his mission had been compromised and scanned the room, assessing the situation. Not seeing another option, Luke snapped on his lightsaber and turned to face his nearest foe: the man who had set him up in the first place.
Panic was clear on the face of Luke's betrayer as he saw a lightsaber slowly making its way toward him. Not knowing what else to do, the man fired a volley of shots at the approaching Jedi. The blaster bolts soon met with Luke's emerald blade, however, and the man was felled by the very shots meant to defend him. With his first foe dealt with, Luke turned his attention to the first group of stormtroopers coming toward him.
Luke's lightsaber was a green blur as he stood his ground against the wall of blaster bolts coming his way. Obviously, Imperial training did not include the proper technique for dealing with a Jedi since the stormtroopers still came at him without going for cover. Not having a choice as the Imperial troops moved to encircle him, Luke was soon sending each blaster bolt that had come his way back at the advancing troops. If he could get the stormtroopers to go for cover, he would have a chance to make a break for it in the ensuing crossfire.
The Imperial troops refused to back down, however, and Luke was beginning to wonder just how expendable the Empire considered their soldiers. In fact, he was beginning to wonder if the stream of armor clad troops would ever cease. Luke called on the Force to bolster his tiring arms as he continued to move his lightsaber in front of him with uncanny ability. The extra boost of Force energy allowed Luke to realize just what the troops were doing. They hadn't taken cover because that was what he wanted. Luke then realized that they were firing at low power but not taking advantage of the extra firing capacity that change allowed. The wanted Luke to think they were going for the kill when the worst any of the bolts would do was form a stinging burn. The stormtroopers were there to keep him in one place, but Luke didn't know why.
The reason soon became apparent, however, as a fog began to pour out of the building's ventilation system. Inside their armor, the stormtroopers were safe from the effects of the gas, but their Jedi foe was not so fortunate. Luke wanted to attempt a leap over the heads of the squad of troops before the gas dulled his senses, but some of the fumes had already reached him. As he started to stumble from his attempted overexertion, Luke called on the Force to filter the gas from his body and fight off unconsciousness. His mind was too groggy to process his command, however, and Luke felt himself fall to the ground. His lightsaber switched off as it rolled out of his hand and Luke no longer had the power to stay awake as the gloved hand of an Imperial officer retrieved his weapon from the floor.