Chapter 22 – An Empty Victory
Han allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction once the Falcon passed safely beyond the range of the battle station's tractor beam. That sense of accomplishment could not be celebrated for long, however, as a sensor panel suddenly came to life, beeping and flashing its warning of other ships detected in the area. A quick study of the readouts confirmed what Han already suspected.
"We're coming up on their sentry ships," he announced to Chewbacca as he narrowed his eyes more intently at the screen. 'Only four, not bad,' Han assessed, but even one of the speedy fighters was a threat to be taken seriously. At the rate they were closing…
"Hold 'em off. Angle the deflector shields while I charge up the main guns," he ordered sharply, already throwing the handful switches to activate the gun wells and twisting out of his pilot's chair to head for yet another familiar seat on his ship.
He charged down the main corridor and skidded to a halt almost as an afterthought as he reached the entrance to the ship's main hold. "Come on, old man," he yelled at the Jedi's back. "We're not out of this yet."
Obi-Wan stiffened slightly at the summons, but otherwise kept his attention on the princess seated next to him on the couch. Belatedly, Han realized the man was holding the young woman's hands and leaning toward her in a fashion that suggested he had been tending to her in some way. The severity of his intrusion was made even more apparent by the harsh glare the previously fragile woman now had fixed on him.
Dismissing her with a scowl, Han started to repeat his call to the Jedi, but the old man spoke first, directing to the princess a soft, but firm, "You go."
Han thought he had surely misheard. Too stunned to talk, he leaned further into the hold, and tried to discern just what the old man had meant.
The princess seemed to share in his confusion, with a look of uncertainty crossing her face as she returned her attention to Obi-Wan. Her lips began to form the question "What?" but again, the Jedi spoke up first.
"Captain Solo needs a steady hand and sharp eye to handle the ship's guns," Obi-Wan quietly explained. "Youth is better suited to this. My experience would serve best in the cockpit."
"But…" the Princess began to protest.
"Trust your instincts, Leia," Obi-Wan insisted, starting to slide out from behind the couch and guiding her to follow. "You can do this."
"Now wait just a minute!" Han objected, finally finding his voice again. He took two steps into the hold and met Obi-Wan face-to-face with a finger pointed right at the old man's nose. "This is still my ship, and there's no way I'm turning over a canon to some ditzy dame!"
"And three hours ago you weren't about to follow a crazy old man," Obi-Wan cut him off pointedly. "Appearances can be deceiving, Captain Solo."
Han started a retort to wipe that patronizing smile off the Jedi's face, but a howl from the cockpit warned that the attack was imminent. He had no time to press an argument he knew he had no chance of winning. The Princess had joined Obi-Wan in standing against him, and the challenging gleam flashing her eyes left little doubt that she was just as stubborn as the Jedi.
"I am qualified on laser cannons," she bit out. "And if someone doesn't man those guns soon, it won't matter a wit who this bucket belongs to."
"Great," Han shot back sourly, "just don't shoot my ship." He wheeled about before either of them could react and resumed his run to the gun turrets, shouting over his shoulder, "Chewie, keep those Imps up top."
Leia glared at the disappearing pilot and prepared to follow him, but was held back by a calming hand that lightly gripped her upper arm.
"Clear your mind, Leia, and all will be well," Obi-Wan advised her with a serious look she found almost disturbing. Then he, too, turned away, releasing her arm and heading for the cockpit.
Leia shook off the whirlwind of confusion that still surrounded her, and hurried down the corridor the pilot had taken. She came to the steep and narrow wells that led to the guns, and looked up to find Captain Solo already settling in behind the controls of the dorsal cannon. That left the ventral cannon for her, and a curse-filled scramble down the ladder as she fought the fullness of her skirt the entire way to the lower deck.
The setup of the gun controls was familiar enough, thanks to the brief training the Alliance military had given her, but her claim of being qualified to operate the cannon had been a bit of an overstatement. She'd only fired a gun like that twice, in simulation, and that had been as a land-based installation. Shooting from a ship-mounted gun was sure to be quite different.
Nothing was going to deter her, though, not when she finally had a chance to fight back. She slid into the chair, and quickly fastened the comm headset to her ear. Then her fingers found the right switches, and the screens before her came on-line just as Obi-Wan called out through the comm, "Here they come."
The first laser blasts rocked the ship, and two TIEs whizzed past Leia's gun turret, left unmolested by return fire as she reached for the triggers and spun her cannon around too late to catch them. Frustrated, Leia turned to the tracking screen and tried to trace the TIEs through the next pass, but the ship spun wildly as the pilot evaded their attack. She heard Solo's cannon pulsating away and felt the deflected impacts of more hits, but saw nothing to shoot at until it was again too late to react. The handful of shots she got off lagged miserably behind the racing TIEs.
"You awake down there?" Solo shouted harshly.
Leia didn't dignify the remark with a response, but tightened her jaw and focused more intensely on the screen. It was next to useless. The only clear information it showed was that the TIEs had formed up into two pairs, each turning back and swooping down upon the slower freighter in repeated strafing runs. Every time Leia thought she had a feel for where they were coming from, the ship would veer sharply, changing the perspective of their approach and leaving her out of position for the brief seconds the TIEs were in her line of sight. Perhaps the maneuvers were minimizing the damage to the ship's shields, but they were making it damn near impossible for Leia to line up a shot.
Solo didn't seem to be as affected by the disorienting spins and dives. At least he was firing nearly continuously, and harassing the TIEs enough to convince them that the underbelly of the freighter was the approach of choice. That gave Leia a target rich environment, and necessitated that she abandon her study of the tracking data. She, too, began firing continuously, pouring herself into a fierce laser exchange with the swarming TIEs. This time, she got close enough with her return fire to cause one to juke away from her side of the ship. It disappeared above the edge of the freighter's main engines, and then let off a fireball of light that expanded back into Leia's view.
"Ha!" Solo yelled out triumphantly, and Leia half noticed one blip disappearing from the tracking screen.
She didn't contemplate the TIE's fate, however. It was still moving all too fast, and the start of rumblings from the forward end of the ship sent a prickling sensation up the back of her neck. She jerked her gun around in response and fired immediately, catching another strafing TIE square in the cockpit.
Solo let out another whoop and called down, "Not bad, Princess."
Leia didn't acknowledge this either, though. Something was stirring in her, a half-remembered sensation from her race through the Death Star, something Arkus had awakened. That feeling was there again, a sense that she was seeing through another set of eyes into another world. It fed on her sense of pride for the destroyed TIE, and pushed out the gnawing doubts that plagued her still. For the first time in days, her determination felt solid again, and not like the chipped and frayed remains she'd been surviving on. She drank in the strength and pulled it into her core.
Again, Leia spun her cannon, just as a TIE looped back over to her side, and she sent the fighter veering off sharply with a barrage of laser fire. Watching the ship flee before her brought a thrill she'd never felt before, and the power within seemed to grow all the stronger for it. Now, she was into the rhythm of the swooping TIEs and twirling freighter, and knew on instinct where the remaining fighters were. She could even feel the weakening of the freighter's shields as the enemy lasers pounded repeatedly away at them from above.
Two TIEs were gone, but it wasn't enough. An explosion from the interior of the ship brought that point home, and caused Leia's frustration to flare. She hadn't endured her imprisonment for nothing, and Arkus hadn't freed her to die out here in the emptiness.
The TIEs split off from each other, and came at them again, one from starboard and one from port. Leia chose the one to port, and lined up her shot with a sneer, ready to take out the menace as soon as he was in range. Her fingers itched to pull the trigger as she tracked the approaching TIE through another sharp spin. One more breath and he was hers.
The TIE opened up and Leia squared her shoulders to return fire…
"Not this way, Leia."
The authoritative voice snapped Leia back to herself, and caused her to miss the shot in confusion.
"Calm, Leia. Clear your emotions," Obi-Wan spoke to her again through the comm.
"What the…" Solo shouted. "Shut up, you crazy old fool!"
"Let it flow peacefully," Obi-Wan continued, unmindful of Solo's continued cursing.
Leia looked at the gun controls again, realizing now that she'd released them. Her hands felt hot, and her mind swam dizzyingly from the ebbing power that had filled her. What had she been doing?
"Relax, Leia."
"Relax this!" Solo shouted again, this time in conjunction with another spreading fireball and disappearing blip.
There was still one TIE out there.
"Open yourself."
Leia reached for the triggers again, and searched the stars once more for the attack. It came from above, sending powerful blasts resonating through the freighter, and never dipped into her sights. Solo's gun pulsated loudly, tracking the departing TIE unsuccessfully.
The freighter rotated about as the TIE turned back on them, keeping the fighter up top as Solo had requested. Leia watched its approach on the tracking screen, but really saw nothing. She knew where it was from the progression of the impacts, and readied her gun to meet it should it peek over the edge of the freighter. The peculiar feeling from inside her returned again, but warm this time, instead of hot. She remembered Obi-Wan's strange advice, somehow felt his encouragement, and so hesitantly let it infuse her again. It guided her to adjust her position slightly as the freighter rocked again, then her fingers squeezed the trigger and the TIE was gone before it even cleared the edge of the ship.
"Ha, ha! That's it! We did it!" Solo screamed out, and Leia heard a similar roar issued from the Wookie at the helm. "Get us outta here, Chewie," the captain ordered next.
There was more commotion - an affirmative growl over the comlink, the sound of Solo sliding down the gun well and heading forward - but Leia lingered in her seat, staring in bewilderment at the last place the dissipating fireball had been visible. She had done it, lived it: impossible feats and sensations she couldn't begin comprehend over the last hour, and overwhelming emotions of fear, grief, and shock over the last few days. The memories pressed in on her now… now that she was free again. But at what price?
Minutes later, she should have been elated by the sight of stretching starlines taking her safely into hyperspace and away from this place, but as she caught a final glimpse of the star that had been Alderaan's sun, all she felt was that half of her remained behind.
***
Blackness spun cruelly around Arkus's fogged mind as the first glimmers of consciousness returned and faded again. Mere fragments of sensations approached in muted waves only to recede back to the distance, slipping away from his grasp before he could try to understand them. Even his own thoughts refused to form into something he could hold on to. The only sure constants were the darkness suspending him in reeling emptiness and a growing feeling of nausea that began tightening his throat until he could hold it back no longer.
Natural instinct rolled him to his right as he retched violently over the edge of some precipice, a set of motions altogether much too drastic for his broken body. Pain instantly exploded from every point along his left side, blocking out even the overpowering effects of his disorientation and yanking him harshly back from the blessed numbness.
Arkus gasped in shock as he futilely tried to curl around the injury, but this action brought only more pain and the panicking realization that he couldn't quite breathe. He gasped again, desperate for air; and it came, but cut off much too soon. A third gulping breath brought the dizziness and nausea back, and he retched uncontrollably again, heaving his empty stomach into repetitive spasms as louder screams of agony erupted throughout his body.
He couldn't see, couldn't catch his breath or fix his concentration to reach out for the Force. He was completely helpless against this torture. Stars, was he in hell?
Though it seemed an eternity, it was actually mere seconds when a distant prick at the base of his neck brought flooding relief over his shuddering body and forced back the worst of the nausea. The dizziness remained, but the pain subsided and his muscles relaxed. After a short moment, he had a fraction of control again; enough to clamp his eyes tightly shut against the misery and fear until his shortened breaths could calm his racing heart. The onset of a cold sweat and weak trembles signaled the worst was over, and someone else seemed to share that assessment.
Arkus's useless left arm was moved first. Then he was pushed onto his back again, methodically returned to the position in which he had started. He opened his eyes to faint slits when the same cold hands placed a respirator over his mouth and nose, giving him a steady flow of sweet oxygen. Greeted with only blackness at first, his vision began to clear slightly, or at least it brightened through a gradually widening tunnel. Everything was still blurry and tilting slowly to and fro, but he did manage to identify the bland, almost skeletal features of a droid hovering over him.
'Med droid.'
It was a simple and easy conclusion, but a solid start. Arkus locked onto it and used it to begin constructing an understanding of his situation as the droid went about its business, shooting additional needles into his right arm and probing the injuries along his left side. Concussion, broken ribs, collapsed lung, dislocated shoulder at minimum, internal injuries to be sure. Nothing that couldn't be patched, then healed with a series of bacta dips courtesy of the med facilities.
But this was not the bright atmosphere of the med bay, a med bay he was already familiar with because of…
Arkus's right hand clenched tightly shut in reflexive response as the flash of memory quickly traced itself back to the origin of his current predicament.
~Leia!~
~FOOL!~
The rebuke slammed hard into Arkus's mind, brutally cutting off his rash telepathic reach and burning its way back through his unprotected thoughts before he could erect any barrier to slow the invasion. Fresh panic erupted as Arkus mentally scrambled to divert the probe, but he was too weak, caught off-guard with his freshly born interests laid plainly open, and the invader too powerful and determined in his search. All Arkus managed was a cringing retreat as the foreign presence sifted rapidly through his recent memories and emotions, passing its searing judgment on every demonstrated weakness that had lead to his betrayal until there could be no doubt left as to the motive driving Arkus's actions. Then it paused for excruciating seconds while Arkus lay quivering with his eyes tightly shut, dreading the coming consequences of his irrational devotion to a rebellious princess.
But there was no final condemnation, no vicious sentence passed or deafening censure to drown out the sound of his pounding heart. Only considered silence, then a quiet withdrawal that left Arkus straining against the respirator with ragged breaths as the strangle hold on his mind was slowly released.
Arkus's eyes snapped open again in suspicion of the unexpected reprieve, his wary instincts already searching for his lurking attacker. His vision was sharp now, enhanced by an influx of the Force called forth by his fear, but still there was little he could see. Above him were the bright lights of the med station preventing him from penetrating too far into the surrounding darkness. The room felt small, though, occupied primarily by this single portable med station and nothing else he could detect with the Force. He was alone in this private sanctuary, save for the droid… a specialized droid that continued to access the very best the Empire had to offer in medical diagnostic and life support equipment, all placed at its personal fingertips...
'Vader's quarters.'
~Yes,~ the now milder voice of his attacker confirmed, not so much to comfort as to provide a reminder of his vigilant presence.
Arkus mentally flinched in response, realizing now that it was Vader guarding him, though apparently at some distance. There was nothing further in the way of aggression, only a sense of Vader patiently awaiting his next move, just as his father had always done. This time, though, Arkus had no biting remark or bitter retort on his tongue, but a desperate need for answers to questions he dare not voice. Still, he couldn't stop the concern from surfacing, and Vader gleaned the tentative inquiry before it was formed.
~She is away on that ship, as you arranged. They are safely past the sentries, and should be making the jump to hyperspace shortly.~
The words brought more relief than Arkus had ever known, releasing all the tension in his body and allowing him to sink into a comfortable surrender to the med droid. With Leia safe, he could face any punishment…
~Don't be so naïve,~ Vader sneered, setting Arkus's frayed nerves back on edge in an instant. ~Kenobi was attempting to deliver the Death Star plans to the Rebels when he was captured. I had already intended to let the ship's pilot escape with the plans to continue that mission.~
The respirator suddenly forced a breath into Arkus, causing him to nearly gag as he tried bracing against the coming revelation. He willed the words not to come, to be able to deny it. It simply couldn't be…
~The ship is being tracked,~ Vader continued coldly. ~When they emerge at the next Rebel stronghold, Tarkin will be right on their heels, ready to use this battle station again.~
'Nooo,' Arkus moaned weakly.
~She would have been yours once the base was destroyed, but now you have ensured her death.~
Arkus reeled at the harsh declaration. It was true; the Force resonated with Vader's words and with the image of another lush world disintegrating before a blast of green laser light. The void that remained threatened to swallow Arkus whole, plunging his spirit downward in a sickening spiral as the full impact of his failure dug its way through his heart. He was beyond numb, beyond the ability to do anything but simply exist.
And still Vader remained in his mind, cold and hard as durasteel, somehow stinging harder with his detached observation than the harshest attack he'd ever delivered. Arkus slumped away in defeat from even him, for once uncaring about what his father saw or thought as he sank into the depths of his misery. Slowly, Vader began backing away, finally leaving him with a soft rebuke, ~You should have trusted me.~
'Trust?!' Arkus mentally lashed out at the advice. How bitter that word seemed when he was surrounded by nothing but despair.
He had trusted another, gone against his better judgment and followed its command. Where was that voice now? Why had it steered him so wrong?
Had it all been for nothing?
'Nooo,' he moaned again as the treasured memory of Leia's warm eyes emerged. How could he have failed her? What else was he supposed to have done?
The droid came back into Arkus's unfocused view as it prepared yet another injection with little concern about how its actions might be received by his broken spirit. The hypo was set on his neck this time, and its contents quickly delivered to his bloodstream. The solution spread rapidly throughout his wrecked body, lulling his senses and stealing away his consciousness, slipping him back into the darkness where nothing was felt.
Arkus welcomed it, desperately holding onto the image of Leia so that she wouldn't be lost to him. It was all he had left.
~Heal.~
The word bubbled up as one last perceived command, an insistent call that skirted comprehension as Arkus succumbed to the drugs and fell into its will.
***
Vader stared out the wide viewport on the overbridge, looking to dissipate the tugging sensation of grief into the void before it re-opened a wound still raw, no matter how many years had passed, no matter how many events had tried to erase it from his mind. He couldn't allow himself to slip back into the weakness that now plagued his son. Not now, not ever. He'd come too far in overcoming it, and though he had worked to see that his son would not have to endure the same horrendous loss, the betrayal and hate sown by Palpatine had ensured it would be for Arkus just as it had been for him.
The dark side didn't allow for love.
The ghosts of the past disappeared from Vader's thoughts as Tarkin slid up next to him, sharing the view of the now vacated area of space.
"Are they away?" Tarkin asked, his voice laden with unease.
"They have just made the jump into hyperspace," Vader affirmed what Tarkin surely already knew.
"You're sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship?"
Vader didn't bother with a response, letting the silence express his growing impatience with the Grand Moff's questions.
"And Obi-Wan?" Tarkin pressed, once again conveying his concern over the Jedi being allowed to live, and turning toward Vader to insist on an answer.
Vader repressed his own anger at the actions that had brought about these circumstances, and forced himself to repeat the lie, never once looking toward Tarkin. "I told you, the ship is piloted by nothing more than smugglers. They would have wandered for months, looking for a place to sell the droids. With Obi-Wan and the Princess on-board, they will head directly for the Rebel base."
The frown that crossed Tarkin's face clearly showed his skepticism and near rejection of that explanation. Vader would have no more of it.
"The Jedi are the business of the Sith, Governor. I suggest you leave them to us."
Tarkin didn't balk at the near threat, but narrowed his eyes harder at Vader's profile. "I'm taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work."
Vader did turn to look down at Tarkin at that, but the Governor had already returned his gaze to the viewport. 'Yes, this had better work,' Vader agreed, 'and for more than the salvation of your pointless career.'