Chapter 7 – Into the Trap

Captain Dosha sat back in his commander's chair as the Dawning Sun's crew prepared to revert to real space. All indications were that the mission was going smoothly, though he was still uncertain as to what that mission was. The message they had received from the contact on Toprawa had been so heavily encrypted that it had appeared to be merely static, but Princess Leia had quickly downloaded it into her R2 unit and had seemed more than satisfied. After wiping the message from the Dawning Sun's memory banks, she had ordered them to Tatooine. Now he would see what this phase had in store for them.

"Hyperspace counter timing out. Prepare to engage sub-light engines," the navigator called out to the pilot.

Abruptly, the colorful images of hyperspace gave way to starlines that in turn resolved themselves into single points of light.

"Sith!" the sensor officer exclaimed before Dosha could ask for a status. "Star Destroyer dead ahead, multiple targets incoming!"

"Shields up! Take evasive action and plot me a course out of here, now!" Dosha screamed as he flew up from his chair.

The bridge crew sprang to life as the first laser blasts from the TIEs assaulted their shields. The Corvette careened wildly through space, spitting laser fire back at those targets it could. At first it seemed as though they might survive long enough to manage an escape, but the small stings from the hits the TIEs scored were soon dwarfed by more powerful blasts from the aft.

"Captain, another Star Destroyer just entered the system," announced the sensors officer.

"They're cutting off our exit vector, Captain. We're not going to make it out of the system," the navigator predicted direly.

Dosha sank back into his chair at those last updates. He had not seen many battles, but he knew enough to know he was beaten.

"What should we do, Captain?"

Dosha's first instinct was to tell his crew to prepare to die, but discipline held him back. He had no doubt where this was going. The TIEs and the Star Destroyer to their aft were neatly maneuvering them toward the Star Destroyer waiting ahead. The shots from the TIEs seemed focused on areas intended to disable rather than destroy. They intended to capture his ship, and they would succeed. He had failed the Princess and the Rebel Alliance.

"Captain?" the navigator asked again when his first request went unanswered.

Dosha snapped out of his spell. "Hold them off for as long as you can and notify the crew to prepare to be boarded. We'll not go down without a fight," he stated firmly. "Lieutenant Frak, you have the bridge. I'll be with Princess Leia."

**

"Hurry, Your Highness. The shields won't hold out much longer," Dosha urged as he watched Leia load a datacard into her R2 unit.

As if in response to his prediction, the sound of distant explosions began accompanying the ship's shudders as laser blasts began pounding directly into the hull.

Leia didn't bother to reply to Dosha, but kept focused on her task. She had guessed what was happening the moment she had felt the first blast shake the ship. Arkus had tracked her somehow. She knew there would be no escape for her, but there might still be chance for her mission to succeed if she could get this droid to Obi-Wan.

She addressed Artoo. "There, those are the coordinates. Now you and See-Threepio take an escape pod out of here. You know your mission. I'm counting on you," she encouraged the little droid.

He whistled bravely in reply before turning about and wheeling out of her quarters.

Just as Leia was turning her attention to Dosha, a more violent explosion rocked the ship, nearly knocking her down. Dosha reached out to steady her, and then paused to listen to a persistent deep hum and thrubbing that now filled the ship.

"That's it," he glumly announced. "They've shut down the drive and main reactor. We're dead in space."

"Now what?" Leia asked.

Dosha sighed as he appraised her determined look. He had no idea what she had been up to. "I wish you would reconsider taking that escape pod yourself."

"They'd have it in a tractor beam the moment they detected life signs," she argued back. "This is the only way."

Reluctantly, Dosha agreed, though he was still baffled about what the Princess hoped to achieve. There was obviously no point arguing with her. "Here," he shoved a blaster into her hand. "Do you know how to handle one of these?"

"I can hold my own," Leia replied, almost offended.

Dosha gave her a curious but doubtful look. "We'll find out soon enough," he muttered and then started to lead her through the ship's corridors in search of a protected position from which to defend themselves.

**

Artoo gave Threepio a final shove into the cramped escape pod and forced his way in after him. He had no time to argue with his old companion. The laser blasts from the invading stormtroopers were getting much too close.

"What are you doing?! Have you gone mad?!" Threepio continued to protest as Artoo closed the airlock and worked to engage the pod's ejection pyros.

A deafening explosion filled the tiny space and threw the two occupants against each other. When Artoo recovered he quickly turned his visual scanner to the small viewport. From this vantage point he could see the small ship he had just left seemingly clutched in the metallic mandibles of the larger ship's docking tunnel. He moaned mournfully as he momentarily considered the fate of his mistress. Even Threepio was respectfully silent.

But that moment was all Artoo had to spare. He immediately turned his attention to the controls for the feeble manuevering jets provided for the escape pod and began doing his best to bring their wild spinning under control.

Threepio regarded his efforts dubiously. "I do hope you know what you're doing."

Artoo's warbled reply clearly communicated, "Me too."

**

Leia swallowed hard and clenched her jaw as she watched Dosha closely for the signal to open fire. They had found refuge among the cramped spaces and twisting pipes of one of the ship's maintenance areas. It was surely about the last place the stormtroopers would search, but they had both known it would be searched eventually. Now the careful footfalls of practiced intruders could be clearly heard approaching.

Dosha leaned harder into his alcove and held up his left hand to tell the Princess to prepare. He bit his lip as he carefully envisioned the placement of footfalls he could only hear. When he was convinced that at least three of the stormtroopers had entered the corridor, he met Leia's eyes briefly and dropped his hand forcefully.

They burst out of their respective hiding places in almost perfect unison and immediately opened fire. The first of the stormtroopers had been inspecting a suspicious recess near the opening of the corridor and was caught unprepared for their assault. He and his two companions were killed before they could return a single shot.

'She's a pretty good shot after all,' Dosha thought with some satisfaction as he refocused his aim on the stromtroopers now returning fire from the intersecting passageway.

They were horribly outnumbered, but since the stormtroopers were using stun settings, there was little point in surrendering. The intense fire fight continued for almost another minute with Leia and Dosha forced frequently back into their respective alcoves to dodge the more dispersed stun blasts from the stormtroopers. They managed to kill only two more invaders before first Leia and then Dosha was knocked unconscious.

**

Leia regained her senses as something her gave her head a rough shake.

"This one's coming around, sir," a harsh voice called out.

She groaned slightly as she struggled to bring the world back into focus. The tingling pain immobilizing her right arm and shoulder quickly brought back the memory of the stun blast that had grazed her. As the rest of her senses checked in she realized she was laying on the cold deck now with her hands bound before her. A few more fluttering blinks and the white blob dominating her field of view resolved itself into the threatening helmet of a stormtrooper stooping over her. Leia mustered a defiant glare for his benefit and resolutely erased all signs of discomfort from her face.

"Good. Get her up," an officer commanded.

The stormtrooper grabbed Leia tightly about her sore arm and hauled her roughly to her feet. He shoved her cruelly in the small of the back to get her moving before she could even gain solid footing, almost causing her to fall into the officer. The officer glared at her at first, disgusted, but then seemed to take greater interest. Grabbing Leia's face, he dragged her a bit closer and studied her intently. After a moment's inspection, he seemed to reach a satisfied conclusion.

"This one matches the description we were given. Take her directly to Lord Vader," he ordered.

'Vader?!' Leia thought. 'What happened to Arkus?' She wasn't sure how it mattered which Sith lord had captured her, but somehow she felt more uneasy at the thought of facing Vader. She and Arkus had established a rapport of sorts, or at least a drawing of battle lines. Vader she had only seen under formal circumstances during Senate meetings and negotiation sessions. She had never interacted with him directly, but Leia was certain he would not give her the same latitude that Arkus had.

The officer simply shoved her aside and then gestured to other stormtroopers somewhere behind her. "You two, drag that other one along."

'Dosha!' Leia thought and quickly turned to see what had become of her companion. He was restrained the same as she but was still unconsciousness. The two stormtroopers the officer had addressed were now each threading a hand under his bound arms and dragging him up between them.

'He must have taken a more direct hit,' she realized. Otherwise, he seemed unharmed.

Her stormtrooper took note of her hesitation and roughly turned her back around. "Move," he barked as he shoved her forward.

Leia regained her dignity and walked proudly out into the larger passageway where the assembled stormtroopers arranged themselves about her. As the group marched toward the ship's main hatch, Leia's mind desperately searched for a cover story. It was pointless. Only the truth would adequately explain her presence on the ship, and the truth she would take with her to the grave.

The stormtroopers escorted her around one more turn then abruptly came to a halt and parted to present her to Darth Vader. Leia stiffened her posture and locked her gaze dead ahead with her focus aimed somewhere beyond the dark lord. Convinced she couldn't come up with a satisfactory offense, she was determined to remain silent and reveal nothing.

Vader studied her expectantly for a moment, then asked somewhat surprised, "No haughty indignation this time, Your Highness?"

The only reply he received to his taunt was a narrowing of her eyes and strengthening of her resolve.

"I'm pleased you have chosen not to waste my time with your excuses," he continued. "Now, I want to know what happened to the data you intercepted at Toprawa."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Leia snapped indignantly.

The second group of stormtroopers half-dragging Dosha arrived and interrupted their exchange. Leia couldn't help but cast a quick side-glance in Dosha's direction. He was semi-conscious now and doing his best to stand upright though spasms still shook his body. She felt a momentary sting of regret for the wrath she had brought down on him and his crew. Just a few days ago they had been complete innocents. Now none of them would live to see their families again.

Vader caught a wisp of her emotions through the Force and decided to let the Princess know just who she was dealing with now.

"I have no need for you." Vader stated coldly to Dosha. In one smooth motion he called a discarded blaster to his hand, raised it to Dosha's face, and fired point blank.

The flash of light and sharp snap from the blaster, accompanied with the realization of what had just happened, startled Leia and shook her to her bones. She clamped her eyes shut tightly in horror and quickly turned her face away as she heard Dosha's body collapse. She had no desire for her last memory of him to be of the decapitated mess that now lay twitching on the deck.

Vader did not give her even a moment to recover, but roughly grabbed her jaw and twisted her head around and up so he was now staring directly into her eyes. Convinced his use of the crude blaster had yielded the desired effect, he decided to let her reflect on the horrors that awaited her.

"We will continue our discussion later, Your Highness," he snarled menacingly at her trembling face. He then released her from his grip and gestured forcefully down the passageway, "Take her away."

**

Vader turned his back on the Princess even before the stormtroopers had removed her from the corridor. He stepped over Dosha's remains and those of several other Rebels that still cluttered the passageway and moved to address the commander waiting for him.

"Your report," he demanded from his officer as he continued his deliberate march toward the Corvette's bridge.

"The Death Star plans are not in the main computer and no transmissions were detected," the officer accounted, almost fearfully. Disappointing Darth Vader was rumored to be the quickest path to early and unpleasant exit from the Imperial Navy.

"They must be here somewhere, Commander. I suggest you continue your search," Vader rumbled his advice weighted with the unspoken threat of the punishment for failure.

The commander took a breath to gather his courage then ventured, "There was an escape pod jettisoned during the fighting, My Lord. No life signs were detected, so it was assumed to be a malfunction. The Death Star plans could have been hidden in there."

Vader wheeled about and glared fiercely at the commander. Though the commander could not see Vader's eyes through the mask, he nevertheless felt mortally imperiled.

"Of course they were in the pod!" Vader thundered. "The orders were nothing was to be allowed to escape!" Vader paused, working his jaw fiercely to keep his temper under control. Taking his anger out on this officer would serve no purpose. It was the Admiral's incompetence that had allowed the Rebels to maintain custody of the stolen plans.

Vader continued when he had reigned in his frustrated anger. "I have no time for this. Inform the Avenger they are to send a detachment down to retrieve the plans. They will remain in system until they have completed this task. In the mean time, call in the local patrol cruisers to search all departing craft. I will not risk the Death Star plans falling into the hands of the Rebel military."

"As you wish, My Lord," the commander replied. "But what of the Corvette?"

"Destroy it. There is no official record of them coming to this system. The Corellian government will assume they are derelict, which is true enough.

"See to it there are no mistakes this time, Commander. There have been quite enough blunders already," Vader concluded threateningly before departing in search of Gjurn. That incompetent would be permanently relieved of the burden of command.