Chapter Nine
Fight and flight
Chewbacca paced in indecision up and down the corridor, from the Millennium Falcon's cockpit to her hold. He had a very bad feeling about this pick up. It did not improve when Han and Leia left the hanger. He paused when his sensitive ears picked up yet another siren out on the boulevard.
The feeling was finally too much for the Wookiee to ignore. He barked over his shoulder to Lando, who poked his head out of the cockpit in surprise.
Calrissian's face fell and he rushed after the huge Wookiee. "Chewie wait, Luke said to stay here!"
"I do hope nothing has happened to them," See-Threepio was saying to Artoo-Detoo, when the Wookiee came as fast as his injured leg would carry him down the old freighter's landing ramp.
Even with his bandaged knee Chewbacca's long strides carried him to the stairs before Lando finally caught up to him. Calrissian grabbed a hairy arm and stopped the worried Wookiee, who growled at him. The former administrator of Cloud City would not relent. "Hey you can't go charging off without a plan."
Chewbacca barked a hard reply.
"Yeah and Han would kill me if I let something happen to you so just hold on. All I'm asking is for you to take a second to think. You can't run on that leg, so you're going to have to find a transport. Scout around for one of those hovering skiffs we saw when we were landing."
Chewbacca nodded, agreeing with him.
"I'll keep the Falcon warmed up. If you don't come back in twenty minutes--" He paused not wanting to think about that possibility, "--Just come back."
Again the Wookiee agreed and then rushed out of the hanger to chase after his captain.
"I wonder where he's going?" See-Threepio curiously inquired. He turned to look back up at Artoo-Detoo, who was still seated in his X-wing slot. The little astro mech was monitoring the local emergency channels, answered his question with drastic possibilities. The translator was startled by this and reacted. "Artoo-Detoo must you really say such terrible things. Of course Master Luke is alright."
Artoo-Detoo beeped back at him.
"Yes, I know I asked. But it was a rhetorical question."
The golden droid then jumped and turned when Lando took hold of his metal arm with an order.
"Time to get back inside the Falcon, Threepio."
"Have you gotten word on Master Luke?" the droid asked hopefully.
Lando shook his head. "No, but I agree with Chewie, there's something that just doesn't smell right here. Better to be safe than sorry."
"I heartily agree with you Sir."
"We're leaving in twenty minutes Artoo, so be ready to leave in a hurry."
Artoo whistled his reply as Lando turned and walked away.
Threepio waved at his counterpart and then followed after Calrissian with a woeful complaint. "Oh, I knew it was a bad idea coming here."
Freya moved without concern that she would be seen on the rooftops. On Lana's command Creature followed after her. He landed on the empath's shoulder and growled after she jumped down just in front of the group of approaching men.
About a dozen men, masked and unmasked came to an abrupt halt in front of them.
"Who are you and what do you want!" she demanded.
"Careful boys," warned the lead man. "It's the freak that took out Keller."
Freya's brow lifted sarcastically, "A freak am I? Well now, I'd say that's all a matter of opinion." She gave a small challenging smile. "Which one of you wants to die first?"
Their combined answer was to take aim on her.
Creature took flight instantly, hissing and spitting.
Freya's split second reaction was to use her powers to pull two men from the sides in front of her like a shield as the others fired. The two unfortunate souls fell to the ground dead. The others all turned when she vaulted high over them and then followed after her when she took off running down the alley distracting them.
Han was impressed by her acrobatics and therefore missed the sick expression on both Luke and Leia's faces. "That was a nice move, but where is she going?"
"She'll be back," Lana assured. "Keep an eye open Terell, while I do a little recon."
Terell shook his head. "No, Lana."
"I want to know who we're dealing with?" she insisted.
"We don't have time--"
Blaster fire from the west drowned out the rest of his sentence. Both Luke and Terell reacted instantly with the Force. Luke's saber came to life and deflected the shot that was headed for the Alderaanian. Terell reacted instinctively and sent Lana back with a strong Force push. She lost her weapon and temporary consciousness when she smacked her head on the ground as she was pushed well out of the line of fire.
Han grabbed Leia's hand and returned fire while he headed for the only cover in the alley several yards away. The two took up a defensive position behind some large empty supply bins opposite the alley junction where Leia had been held hostage by Lana.
The sudden fire storm that followed cut both the Jedi and the Alderaanian off from the others.
"We need to find a way out of this alley before we're completely surrounded!" Han shouted, as he shot off an effective round.
Weaponless, Princess Leia was once again his second set of eyes, effectively telling him where men were diving for cover.
Luke and Terell fought side by side redirecting and shooting at the approaching men, some masked, some not.
"Aim higher, their armor isn't affected by blaster fire," Luke told Terell.
"Regular blaster fire doesn't, but maybe--try directing their shots back at them!" Terell shouted over the shots.
He then focused his attention on the unmasked men, while Luke concentrated on the masked individuals, using their own redirected blaster shots to slow them down. They backed slowly towards Han and Leia's position.
Lana regained consciousness to the sound of the fire storm. She sat up rubbing her head and found that Terell had pushed her down the adjoining alley in which Freya had distracted the first of their would be attackers. She was only feet away from the two that the empath used as a shield. She moved over to the closest body to inspect his attire, trying to find something that would give an answer as to who his people were. The only clue she found was a strange skull-like insignia with down turned horns. She instantly remembered Gavin. He had the same symbol as a small medallion on his thick leather gauntlet. She took her pack off her back and pulled a small blade out of it to cut off the embossed patch on the man's sleeve.
:Freya: Lana called mentally to her friend, :Get back here:
Luke's attention darted towards Lana when, from his right side, Terell shouted a sudden warning.
"Lana, to your left! "
The Corellian woman quickly stood, flipped the blade over in her hand and threw it at the fast approaching unmasked assailant, who had apparently evaded Freya and was returning to join the fray. The blade hit him in the throat sending him staggering backwards. Apart from making him lose his blaster rifle, Lana's weapon had surprisingly little effect on the unmasked man. He pulled it out and continued after her. She jumped back as he slashed at her with the blade.
"You will die for that witch! " he yelled and lunged for her again.
Lana spun around, dodging under his slashing swing and swept his legs out from under him. He fell hard to the ground, then immediately rolled over and grabbed her well aimed left foot as it was coming at his face. With a grizzly twist of her leg, Lana was sent swiftly to the ground herself. The sharp pain in her ankle told her that it was badly injured. She turned in time to see her attacker jump for her and barely twisted out of the way. Then with a swift calculated right kick, knocked the blade out of her attacker's hand and into the air above them. The man and Lana rolled away from each other, out from under the blade as it came plummeting back down to the ground. It landed with a dull thud, it's point stuck in the dirt several feet between them.
For a moment they both looked at it. From somewhere behind, Lana heard Terell shout that he was on his way to help her. But she knew that he was too far away to do anything. Lana and her attacker eyed each other dangerously before they reacted. Both got up from the ground at the same time, but Lana's injured leg made her a beat slower than her attacker, who got to the blade first. She seized his gauntleted wrist as he came bearing down on her with the sharp weapon.
"Die Jedi witch! " the man growled while the blade inched closer to her throat.
Lana saw the gash on his neck bleeding and pushed back against his wrist. "I'm not a Jedi!" She snarled then roughly shoved two fingers into his opened wound.
This did not have the effect she was hoping for. Instead of passing out, the man screamed and in a rush of adrenaline back handed her across the face, knocking her senseless to the ground.
Lana fought to shake away the buzzing in her head. Something small fell from her ear, bounced off her shoulder and landed on the ground. She spat out the blood in her mouth and saw one of her sparkling mid sized earrings rolling away from her. She made a desperate grab for the spinning sphere and missed as she was brutally lifted up. Dazed and unable to see clearly she heard Terell yell out her name. His desperate tone seemed to bring her vision back into some focus. She saw the blind rage burning in the man's wild eyes, the blade held high above his head and then the blur of his hand moving to plunge the knife into her chest. Her assailant then let out an enraged disappointed cry when the blade was ripped from his hand. Lana was able to see Terell catch her knife when her attacker wheeled around in the direction that it had flown. With no weapon to use on his foe, the man resorted to strangling her while using her body as a shield.
With a desperate gasp for air Lana struggled to free herself from his iron grip, but it did very little good. In that instant the Corellian thought that her life was over, until Freya came out of nowhere and seized the man's arms. She pried his hands off her Controller's throat. Once again Lana fell to the ground coughing and gasping for breath. She clearly heard the violent crunch of bone and then saw the man fall to the ground next to her, his neck broken. Freya had saved her, like she had on so many occasions.
"Perfect timing as usual," Lana rasped, rubbing her throat. Still somewhat stunned she accepted Freya's hand up, "thanks." She ran her tongue along the interior of her left cheek where her teeth had cut into it, then wiped the corner of her mouth clean. "That was cutting things a little too close."
She looked around for Creature than asked where he was when she didn't see him.
"He's making sure those others don't get back up again," Freya explained as she called the fallen earring to her hand and gave it back to her friend.
Lana shook her head clear, then replaced the mid sized spherical earring. It sparkled and twinkled as it dangled and spun securely on her right earlobe.
The empath didn't like the look of the livid bruise raising on her friends left cheek. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Another perfect day at the office," she mused drily, then painfully hobbled over and picked up the dead man's weapon from where it had fallen after she struck him with her blade. They turned as Terell and Luke finally made it to them.
Terell gave the empath a quick grateful one armed hug. "Thank you Freya." He then looked anxiously at Lana, his heart pounding furiously in his chest. He saw the bruises around her throat and it pained him that he had not been able to reach her in time to prevent it from happening. "I thought I was going to lose you."
He took her in his arms, very relieved that she was relatively okay. Lana returned his hug while cautiously eying Luke.
A quizzical look traveled across the Jedi's concerned face. Why was she looking at him that way, like she was expecting him to do something; but what? Before he had a second to ponder this question the Force warned him to react. He spun swiftly around and fended off another volley of blaster fire with his lightsaber when more attackers, along with some locals, arrived onto the scene.
Freya felt instantly dizzy. She shook off the brunt of the sick feeling and looked at her Controller when Lana touched her arm.
"I need your sight from above; let us know what we're up against," she ordered sharply. "Try and find this Solaren guy, if you take him out that might be enough of a distraction."
"I'm on it!" exclaimed Freya and she launched herself into the air in one swift jump.
A wave of icy nausea washed over Luke and he faltered. Dizziness made his head swim and he staggered back between Lana and Terell. Lana's aim on an attacker, the very man she had told Freya to look for, was distracted by Terell, who caught and righted the Jedi.
Freya's use of power was having an adverse affect on not only Luke, but Solaren and his fellow Hunters as well. It slowed them down a bit. The lead Mandalorian shook off the ill feeling and then moved from his place.
"Are you ill?" The Alderaanian asked Luke suspiciously. The Jedi's face showed a sickly pallor through a sheen of perspiration.
Luke shook his head in answer and pushed himself to try and see beyond the disruption in the Force.
Lana reaimed her blaster at the spot where an attacker had been hiding, but he had moved. :Where'd he go Freya:
Luke faltered again and this time dropped his saber when Freya answered.
On reflex, Lana caught the weapon before it could hit the ground. She eyed it with trepidation, then sharply handed it back to the Jedi.
"Take your weapon!" she said, roughly shoving him back against Terell, out of the way of on coming blaster fire. Lana retrained the Mandalorian blaster rifle back on the attacker who, Freya had warned only seconds earlier, had fired at the Jedi.
Solaren saw her aiming at him and ran for cover.
Lana's first shot missed him. Then as she was wishing for something to trip the man up, an empty box just a head of him suddenly hurtled out in his path, impeding his full retreat. The Corellian took advantage of the lucky opportunity and fired a little ahead of the Hunter. He fell into her shot.
Solaren gave a pained cry under his helmet and grabbed at his side, when the Mandalorian blaster fire pierced his seemingly impenetrable armor. He hit the ground hard and lay there unmoving, still alive.
Lana smiled with satisfaction, thinking that he was dead and that Terell had moved the box. "Thank you my love," she shouted to him, "That's one less dim bulb in the galaxy to worry about."
She hobbled back a step and a look of suppressed pain replaced the smile on her face. She caught the sickly sheen on Luke's face when he glanced at her injured leg with concern.
"You, Jedi, what's wrong with you?" She snapped.
"Nothing I'm alright," he insisted as he straightened, shaking off the odd feeling that had just hit him. He stepped swiftly forward, grabbed her around the middle and pulled her to him while he swung his lightsaber down in time to deflect a blast coming at her, on the right.
Lana looked at him in shock and felt instant heat rush to her face. "What are you doing, let me go! "
"You can't walk on that leg." Luke readjusted his hold on her. "Put your arm around my neck and I'll help you."
"You can hardly defend yourself right now, let alone--" Lana began to protest, when her attention was sharply drawn to Terell as he let out a cry of pain. He killed his attacker then fell to one knee holding his side.
"Terell! " Lana shouted, pulling free of Luke's hold. She hastily stumbled to her love's side. Luke covered them while she lifted Terell's shirt to see the damage.
"It's not bad, just grazed me," he insisted, with an embarrassed hue to his face as he avoided her eyes. "Stupid really--let myself get distracted."
Lana followed his briefest of glances to Luke's back and knew what had distracted him.
"It wasn't stupid, it was--" Her face filled with sudden dread.
"What did Freya just tell you?" Terell asked.
"Another wave, about ten to fifteen more heading this way from the southeast. We have to move now, before they box us in," she answered.
Terell got quickly to his feet and helped her up. He wrapped her arm around his shoulder while warning Luke. "There's more coming from the southeast, we have to get to cover."
Luke nodded his understanding and focused hard on the Force around him. For a while he was able to keep himself sharp and his mind unfogged by Freya's distortion in the Force as he pulled back. But it didn't last, he started faltering every time the distortion spiked.
"Get out of there Luke! There's too many," Han shouted as Terell got Lana to his and Leia's cover.
Leia, who was looking just as ill as the Jedi, told Han, "They're only targeting him."
Lana glanced back at Luke. "He's an easy target, standing out in the open like that."
"He's going to get himself killed if he stays out there much longer!" Han exclaimed as he picked off another attacker aiming at his friend. "Get back here Luke!"
"There's something strange about this attack," replied Leia. "It doesn't make sense. Why would they only be after Luke? Unless. . ." She turned to Han when a sudden thought entered her mind. "Vader sent them."
"And how would he know where to find Luke? It's not like the kid advertises where he's going to go for the Alliance," Han replied sarcastically.
"I don't know," said Leia, fearfully looking back out at Luke. "But it's the only thing that makes sense."
Terell pulled Lana protectively out of the way of another blast. She felt the heat of it on her back as it passed by, missing her by inches.
"Thank you," she said and quickly kissed him.
"There not just after him, they're also targeting Freya and Lana," Terell observed, "They must be attracted to their abilities."
"You're the one with the abilities," Lana corrected.
"Then it's your connection to Freya; they can obviously sense it," Terell told her.
Something in what he said sparked shocked understanding in Lana. She pulled out the insignia patch she'd taken off the dead man and remembered what her last attacker had called her, 'Jedi witch.' She looked back at Luke, he was barely fending off another attack. Adrenaline took all awareness of pain away from her as she watched the Jedi. She'd made an error thinking that he was her enemy.
Without a second thought she made a rash decision and rushed back out to lend aid to the stumbling Jedi and rectify her mistake.
Terell reached out to grab her but Princess Leia, in a moment of clarity, pulled him back. Blaster fire hit the spot where he was just standing.
"Looks like they've targeted you as well," she warned.
What else could Terell do but lay down cover fire for Lana.
"Duck!" Luke warned and Lana painfully slid under his lightsaber as he swung it around to deflect the blast coming at her. "What are you doing? You were safe where you were."
"Mandalorian Hunters! " Lana exclaimed.
"What?"
"They're Mandalorian Hunters!"
She showed him the patch as she set her back against his and then widened the beam of her weapon's blast radius. She then fired at an on coming smaller blast. The two laser bolts hit and harmlessly ricocheted off each other.
"They hunt Jedi and they're damn good at it!" she told him. "That's why there aren't any more of your kind left in the universe. Someone must want you real bad to send Hunters after you."
"I thought they were after you!" Luke panted over his shoulder, while deflecting the next blast.
"Terell's the only Force user on my team and we've been here for days now." Lana fired at a Hunter, who made for better cover. She cursed when she missed. "If they'd wanted us they would have shown themselves sooner. They only revealed themselves today, after you showed up."
Her next shot made the blast heading for them rebound to the alley wall. She smiled sarcastically. "Leave it to the Alliance to send their only Jedi into a fire nest of Mandalorian killers!"
"Are you sure?" Luke asked, ignoring her flippant comment.
"I'm positive. This place must be a haven for them, that's why they appear to be coming out of nowhere," she replied in a, 'I should have known,' sort of way.
Really good hiding place you picked Ehker, she thought sarcastically. Right under the enemy's nose.
Luke leaned against her back for support when a wave of illness struck him.
:They're closing in, get out of there Lana: Freya sent urgently.
:They're Mandalorian Hunters Freya! Find Creature and get down here.: Lana sent back. She cast her eye over her shoulder at Luke. "What's wrong with you?"
"Your friend's abilities--they're causing a distortion in the Force," he admitted at last.
Immediately Lana sent an urgent command to her friend. :Freya stop using your power:
:What! Are you insane: Freya sent back from wherever she had disappeared to.
:It's affecting the Jedi in a bad way. He's going to get hit if you don't stop now: Lana returned.
:And I'm going to get killed if I do:
Lana frowned and pushed against Luke's back forcing him towards his companions. "Disconnect yourself from the Force Jedi and move it!"
Luke barely heard her harsh command while he deflected another blast with his saber. His staggering fall to his knees reflected the strength of a sudden spike in Freya's powers. Lana turned and kept him on his feet as she sent to her friend. :What just happened, are you alright:
:Creature's pinned down. It's going to take a few minutes to get him cleared.: Freya answered.
Solaren panted in pain and gave orders to his men over his comm, once they'd all gotten into position.
"I'd have a clear shot if it wasn't for that woman. Now what Solaren? " asked one Hunter over the comm.
"Just keep Skywalker from making it to his friend's cover and leave the woman to me, I'll take care of her myself," Solaren growled vengefully through a pained breath. He grit his teeth and pulled himself up to a higher point. "I'm almost in position," he panted into the comm, "Direct Skywalker into a corner of some kind, so that I have a clear shot."
The Mandalorain's fired at Luke and Lana, moving them slowly in the direction that they wanted them to go.
Blaster fire, it seemed, was hitting everywhere that Lana tried to push Luke towards. She moved him right and then pulled him back as they were being cut off from their escape route and herded away from their companions.
Lana saw the only clear path and focused all her efforts on getting Luke to the closest place of safety. It wasn't an easy task, painfully limping and hobbling while she directed the staggering Jedi towards a sheltering nearby doorway. As a result she never saw Solaren emerge from a higher point and take aim on them.
But someone else did.
Terell aimed at the lead Mandalorian and found that his blaster had exceeded it's charge when nothing happened after pulling the trigger. He tossed his useless weapon aside and called on the Force to aid him in gaining a new blaster. This time however, the mystical energy did not answer his call fully. The blaster rifle he was concentrating on was sent flying away from him instead of to him. He didn't think, he just reacted, sprinting out towards Lana.
"Can you manage? You look like you're going to be sick," Lana panted in pain once she finally got Luke to what she thought was the protection of the doorway.
Luke nodded and leaned heavily against the door, trying desperately not to be physically ill. At once he started using his lightsaber to cut a hole in it's lock. The saber burned slowly through the metal.
Lana turned to cover the Jedi while he worked to open the locked door. She finally saw Solaren take a bead on Luke's unguarded back. Without a second thought, she stepped in front of him, protectively covering him with her own body and aimed her gun.
"That's right little witch stand in the way. The Emperor will have two for the price of one," Solaren happily sneered as he pulled the trigger.
It was as if
time suddenly slowed down when the laser bolt left Solaren's blaster
dead on target. Lana saw it coming right at her and knew as she
returned fire that she had miscalculated the shot.
I'm dead, she thought, amazed at how calmly her mind accepted her inevitable doom.
Never had Lana ever wanted Terell to put himself between her and death. She abandoned her weapon and screamed his name out in disbelief, catching his falling body in her arms as the laser blast hit his back and tore through him. His selfless act was completely unexpected. For Lana, it took full awareness away from new injuries. The momentum of Terell's full body weight slammed her against the door directly next to Luke with a dull crunching sound.
Time suddenly sped back up at a shocking pace.
"Damn it! " Solaren cursed and then quickly reaimed on Luke's now unguarded back.
The second shot missed the Jedi by a mere inch as he turned, clipping his extinguished saber to his belt, and caught Lana and Terell when the door suddenly opened. He dragged the two of them into what looked like an empty storage unit and set them down. Luke took his saber in hand once more, ignited it and did a quick scan of the room they were in by the shimmering green brightness of his lightsaber. He relaxed only slightly; for the moment they were all out of immediate danger and the disruption in the Force was not as strong as before.
He went to the door and glanced partially out it, scanning their position in relation to Han and Leia's cover. They weren't that far from them, only slightly over three and a half meters away; but they were trapped. Unless he could shake off Freya's disruption in the Force, they were going to be captured.
Luke waved at Han after the Corellian Captain called out to him.
"We're alright for now!" the young Jedi called back.
"Stay there Luke, we'll come get you out!" yelled Leia.
Luke shook his head, rejecting her suggestion. He met eyes with Han and yelled back, "Get her out of here Han! Take her back to the Falcon, before she's hit! "
Han grimly nodded and took the Princess firmly by the arm. "Come on."
"We can't leave, he'll be captured! " Leia protested then shouted back to Luke. "We're coming to get you!"
"No!" he yelled back. He called Lana's discarded weapon to his hand and fired at Solaren when he peered out of his cover and took aim on him again. Luke's aim was true, even as the man dodged. Still Solaren fell to the ground, after the laser blast glanced off his helmet. He lay motionless, the visor strip on his helmet shattered over his left eye.
"Just go--" Luke leaned back as another attacker's blast went flying past his face, "--Get Leia out of here Han! "
Not that far from Luke, Lana called to her empathic friend. :Freya get back here quick, Terell's been hit:
:I'm on my way: Freya sent back, feeling the panic in her friend's sending.
Luke faltered in his stance and shouted back at his friends with a tone of finality in his voice. "Go now! We'll be alright! "
With that Han and Leia saw him step back into his cover and aim the blaster rifle at the interior controls.
Luke heard the Princess' painful cry of "Luke No!" as he fired at the controls to the door. At once a secondary blast door suddenly sprang closed behind the first door. The room was in darkness except for the green light of his saber. Luke could hear the dull sound of blaster fire bouncing off the blast door. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard on Leia.
Once again as before, while fleeing Cloud City, the Princess heard the Jedi's urgent voice in her head, :Run Leia, they'll use you to get to me.:
Han grabbed Leia's hand with a serious, "Come on, while they're distracted."
Leia didn't argue, she just let him lead her out of their cover. They slipped around a corner unnoticed by the new arrivals, who were focusing all their efforts on the door that Luke had closed.
Han and Leia sprinted down the next few alleyways and turned to the left. They skidded to an abrupt halt when they found themselves facing about ten new Hunters and some locals heading straight for them. There was no cover in sight.
"I really hate these guys," said Han as he protectively stepped in front of Leia, pointing his blaster, determined to kill as many as he could before he fell.
His first shots took out two helmetless Hunters. The others jump out of the way when another shot rang out over Han's head. Both he and Leia turned in surprise.
"Chewie," Han exclaimed with a greatly relieved smile.
The Wookiee gave a growling shout and fired off another round from the small cannon mounted on the front of the hovering skiff he'd taken to find them. He motioned to them and laid down covering fire while they boarded the skiff.
Luke hadn't wasted any time, he was looking around the room for another exit. It was Lana's anguished question that made him abandon his search for escape and return to the two rebel's.
Oh God, Terell you were safe, why did you do that!"
The Alderaanian was laying on the floor, clutching his stomach, breathing hard. Blood seeped through his tightly closed fingers where he was clutching his injury.
"It's not your time," was all he said, his strained voice revealing the pain he was experiencing. His focus fell on Luke, when the Jedi set the blaster rifle aside as he bent down beside him.
"Here, hold this." Luke handed Lana his lightsaber to get a better look at the rebel's wound by it's light. The blade's green light cast an eerie glow about the injured man's face. Terell lifted his hand enough for Luke to see the palm size exit hole in his stomach. Luke instantly knew a horrible truth and grimly met the wounded man's eyes. By Terell's grave expression he fully understood what the outcome of this new wound would be.
"We need something to wrap around his wounds," said Lana, scanning the room for something--anything--to do just that.
She didn't know about the severity of Terell's injury and neither man was going to tell her. Luke instantly removed his belt and then his black obi and assisted Terell into a sitting position and starting wrapping it securely around his middle.
Terell looked from Luke to Lana, holding the Jedi's lightsaber in her shaking hands and comprehension flashed in his eyes. "I understand the dream now Lana," he whispered to her. Luke curiously followed his gaze to Lana and saw fearful moisture filling her eyes as Terell told her, "We were never meant to be together."
"Don't talk that way!" Lana exclaimed shaking her head. "It was nothing more than a dream. You're going to be alright," she insisted, her voice growing thick.
Luke tucked the end of the obi down and eased Terell back. He then sharply strapped the wounded man's own belt tightly around his makeshift bandage.
Terell winced and almost passed out.
"Stay with us Terell! " Lana ordered firmly.
He looked at her with hazy eyes, then took her hand and weakly placed it in Luke's. "Don't be afraid Lana," he said weakly, "go with him, he can protect you."
Lana shook her head, but Terell firmly held their hands together.
"You know that's what it meant," he insisted. "Now go."
"No!" Lana pulled her hand out of the Jedi's and gave him back his weapon. "I'm not leaving you behind. Now get up! "
Terell turned to Luke and in a heavily strained voice told him that he'd have to drag her out.
Luke nodded and firmly declared. "I won't let anything happen to her." He then took a shocked Lana by the arm.
She yanked it away in strong protest, "Oh no! He just saved your life and you're going to leave him here? What kind of a Jedi are you! "
"Cut your losses and run, Lana," Terell told her, "I'm not going any further than this room."
"Oh yes you are! That worked for Keirdan, but it's not going to work with you. If you're strong enough to argue with me then you're strong enough to get up! " she declared in a heated temper. Lana moved to help him up, then wince painfully and fell back clutching at her left leg. The stabbing twinge that shot through her ankle was excruciating.
"Let me see your leg," Luke said at once.
"It's nothing," she insisted, through her teeth.
Luke ignored her brush off and took her foot. Lana hissed sharply when he lightly moved her ankle.
Terell sat up on his elbows concerned, grimacing from his own pain. "Did she break it?" he asked in a labored breath.
"Feels like it might be dislocated," Luke told them.
Lana stopped him from trying to remove her boot. "Don't! " she growled through clenched teeth, holding her leg.
"You can't continue to walk on it like this. I have to remove the boot to relocate it," Luke explained as he tried to see how best to do this. After a moment he nodded to himself, there was simply no other way. "I'm going to cut the boot off," he told her.
Lana's tearing eyes widened. She sat motionless, watching, while he lightly touched the lightsaber to the top of her leather boot. Luke carefully drew the saber's tip along the length of Lana's lower limb. With a dull thud the boot fell away from her foot to the ground.
Terell winced when he heard the unmistakable sickly pop of Lana's ankle slipping completely out of place. Lana couldn't stifle the cry of pain that escaped her.
Luke, expecting this might happen, remained calm and handed his saber to Terell.
The injured rebel watched by its green glow while Luke gently took Lana's left foot in his hands. Her ankle was grossly enlarged on one side where it was disjointed, resulting in her foot bending at an odd angle. The sight of it made Lana sick. She closed her eyes and reached inside her jacket to extract Creature's small leather hood from an interior pocket and placed it between her teeth. Sweat trailed down her face while she bit down on the hood to keep from crying out.
Very slowly Luke pulled and rotated her injured foot, much to the stifled sounds of pain from Lana, until he decided just how best to relocate it. "Okay Lana. . . No don't look at this, look at me." Her pain filled eyes met his confident steady gaze and he told her, "Set your good foot against my knee and push against it as hard as you can. That's good, now keep it that way," he said when she did as he instructed, "On three."
Lana could only nod. She took a deep breath and counted along with him in her head.
"One," Luke started, his eyes locked on hers, "two--" then very abruptly he pulled down hard and sharply twisted her ankle back into alignment.
Lana fell back with an agonizing cry of pain and slammed her fists onto the ground, her squeezed eyes streaming uncontrollably.
Terell took her hand.
She laid on the ground breathing hard, clinging tightly to her love's hand.
"You okay now?" he asked once she appeared to have recovered some composure.
Lana nodded and irritably returned Creature's leather hood to her pocket while glaring at Luke. With the Force, he summoned some rags he saw laying on the floor just on the edge of his lightsaber's glow. He was ripping the rags into long strips and tying them end to end when she finally regained the use of her voice.
"What the hell happened to three! " she growled.
"I lied," Luke said very plainly while securely wrapping her ankle up. "How's it feeling now?" he questioned when he finished and assisted her into a sitting position.
She wiped her face dry and admitted somewhat bitterly, "Better."
"You think you can stand on it?" asked Terell, his strained voice relieved and slightly weakened.
Luke helped Lana to stand and she gingerly tested her ankle's strength. As the Jedi aided her to walk a few steps away she told him quite seriously, "I'm not leaving without him."
"No one's staying behind," he told her, then helped her back to Terell.
With a heartfelt, 'thank you,' the wounded man weakly handed the lightsaber back to Luke, after he put his belt back on.
"You're welcome." Luke bent down to assist the Alderaanian. "Now, come on we're all getting off this rock."
Lana followed his lead and together they managed to hoist Terell onto his feet.
Their determination was plain and Terell was feeling too weak to argue with either of them. He spoke imploringly to Luke. "Promise you'll look after her when I'm gone."
"I'll will," the Jedi vowed.
"You have to take her back to Corellia."
Again Luke agreed, if only to relieve the wounded man's obvious distress.
"You were meant to--take her back--to--Corellia," Terell whispered somewhat sadly.
Lana bristled angrily, "Stop that Terell, you're going to make it!"
His head lolled weakly to one side with a groan, "How are we going to get out of here?"
Luke pointed with his saber towards a secondary exit. "There's another door in the corner over there."
Terell and Lana looked sharply at the door when they heard the distinct sound of a much bigger gun coming from the other side of it. Weaponless and fearing for Terell's safety, Lana's eyes scanned the floor searching for the blaster rifle Luke had used earlier and saw it not far away from them. She reached out with her hand, intending on making a quick grab for it, when without understanding how it got there, the blaster suddenly flew to her outstretched hand. At that same instant Luke felt a chilling sensation wash over him as Freya called out mentally for her friend's position.
Lana sent a mental image of their whereabouts to Freya before shooting out the controls next to the door, which caused brilliant sparks to fly out and fully light the room for a short time.
"Well we're not getting out that way," Luke said somewhat annoyed.
"Yeah and they're not getting in now, are they?" snapped Lana.
"Where's Freya?" Terell asked groggily.
To Luke's surprise Lana answered, 'She's coming,' as though she knew for sure where their absent team member was. A strong flash of illness struck Luke as the disruption in the Force grew close. He tried not to let it effect him and glanced at Lana when he felt it flare for a moment around her while she looked at the ceiling and called out to her friend.
":We're here. I need your sight Freya.:" Lana shut her eyes, ":Show me where I am from above.:"
The disruption spiked when Freya answered her call and informed her of a new arrival.
Lana pointed to the far wall. "There's an enclosed garden on the other side of that wall with a door that will bring us out closer to your friends. They've got a ride waiting for us," she informed Luke. "Can you cut an opening in the wall with your saber?"
"I think so," said Luke, straining some to remain focused.
He and Lana helped Terell cross the room. Lana supported Terell while Luke pushed his lightsaber into the thick clay wall. It was slow going at first until Luke managed to sink the entire blade through the wall. A dark melted line showed the Jedi weapon's path marking an arched doorway that Luke then pushed out with the Force.
Light flooded into the storage unit; and all three of them, their eyes accustomed to the dimness, squinted out at the gray overcast garden. Luke extinguished his saber and reattached it to his belt while he returned to Terell and Lana.
Thunder sounded as Terell draped his arm around Luke's shoulder and the Jedi led them out into the garden. Chaotic sounds were everywhere, it was as if there was a mini war zone just beyond the gardens protective walls. They made their way steadily towards the door without interruption from the Mandalorian Hunters, who from the sounds of it, were concentrating their efforts on breaking into the doors of the small storage unit.
A small laser cannon was being shot off as they neared the garden door.
A loud explosion, which shook the ground, told the retreating rebel's that the Hunters had finally broken through. The side facing the alley partially collapsed on top of some of them as they rushed into the weakened clay structure.
This gave the rebels a little more time to escape. They were approaching the garden door when Luke began stumbling again, slowing their progress.
Freya suddenly appeared overhead.
"They're over here Han!" she shouted over her shoulder while she hovered above them for a moment. Freya then landed behind them to guard their backs when she saw the Hunters peering through Luke's impromptu door.
Creature followed after her, carrying Lana's back pack in his talons. He dropped it down for Lana at the garden door, then flew high up into the drifting smoke and low hanging storm clouds where the Hunter's could not see him. His piercing predatory cry rent the air as he folded his wings and dove down on the first unmasked Mandalorian to enter the garden. He sprayed venom in the man's face, who screamed and then fell to the ground, scratching at his eyes as Creature flew swiftly out of sight, to set up for another attack.
Freya, in the meantime, stood with her back to Luke and her two friends, absorbing hit after hit of blaster fire from the Mandalorian's, who had made it through.
Once the three rebels made it to the garden door Lana shot it open. Luke reeled and then fell to one knee at that moment. Terell fell with him which dragged Lana down to her knees as well, making her loss her weapon.
It was illness such as Luke had never felt before. His insides were churning and twisting into painful knots. He had broken out in a cold sweat and wanted to collapse, to free himself of the abhorrent distortion in the Force, which was all encompassing. Still he fought to remain conscious.
Freya had taken in as much energy as she could and redirected her accumulated energy flux back out at her enemy.
At that same moment Luke involuntarily retched. He tried to stand as the vomitous wave passed but couldn't. Before his head could clear he was suddenly lifted to his feet by a familiar pair of hairy arms.
Chewbacca barked a question at him and then hurriedly handed the sick Jedi up to Han, when he didn't answer.
"Were you hit?" Han asked, worried looking him over for injury.
Luke shook his head, then asked about the Princess when he didn't see her.
Han turned and set him down next to her. She hugged him briefly and then leaned over in a sudden illness. Solo warily eyed the two of them.
"What's gotten into you two!" he finally asked.
"I don't know," Leia panted, trying not to be ill.
She looked at Luke, who was eying her with a sudden astonishment. Leia, he knew immediately, could feel the disruption in the Force and it was affecting her as badly as it was him.
Chewbacca's bark gained Han's attention. He turned and helped him get Terell onto the skiff. They set Terell next to Leia on her request. Then the huge Wookiee went to man the small cannon again.
"Your Highness," Terell rasped weakly as Princess Leia rested his head in her lap, "Tell my parents I love them."
She tried not to show her own illness as she comforted the weak Alderaanian. "You tell them that when you get back."
"Where's Lana?" Terell feebly questioned Luke.
"She's coming," he answered.
Terell closed his eyes and smiled faintly when he heard Lana shout at Freya.
"We're leaving, Freya! NOW! "
Lana handed off her pack to Han and then accepted his hand up. She glanced back at her friend and Han swiftly stopped her from jumping back off the skiff when she saw that Freya was now caught. Thin wire cables, just like the one Boba Fett had used on Luke, were wrapped tightly around Freya's upper arms, holding them pinned to her sides.
Seizing Han's blaster from his holster, Lana aimed at Freya, but Solo pulled it up before she could fire it.
"What are you doing?" Lana shouted, "We can't leave her behind."
"We don't shoot our own," Han stated, completely taken off guard by her move. He pulled the gun from her hand. "We'll get her back!"
Lana automatically looked to the one person she could trust. "Terell, shoot her now! "
He opened his eyes but had very little strength to do anything.
Much to the Corellian captain's surprise and Lana's, the blaster flew from Han's strong grip, not to Terell, but to Luke's out stretched hand. He took aim and fired twice at Freya with deadly accuracy.
Freya jerked sharply, absorbing the blasts when they hit her in the back.
Terell saw Luke's sickly pallor as the Jedi leaned against the floor of the skiff breathing hard.
"Don't fight the disruption, let it pass over you or it will continue to make you sick."
Terell's feeble rasp gained Luke's queasy attention.
"Why aren't you sick?"
"It doesn't affect me because I'm use to it," he explained. "And I'm not as strong in the Force as you."
The Jedi did as he said. His head cleared and he gained some ground on his sudden illness. He then fired two more rounds at Freya after Terell told him to.
Han wanted to shout, 'Have you lost your mind Luke! ' but he was momentarily stunned that Freya was still standing. He couldn't believe his own eyes, which were still not up to their normal focus.
The second shots gave Freya just what she needed to free herself. She grabbed the two separate lines from the Hunters and released her power flux down the wires holding her. Several bright purple bolts of skewed energy spiraled down the conductive lines and ripped into the two men holding her captive. They writhed in pain and screamed as though their every nerve were on fire. The cables dropped out of their hands and they dropped dead next to them. Freya was once again free, a satisfied smile on her lips.
Han released Lana, who went right to Terell, while he went to the skiff controls to pilot them back to the hanger.
Lana met Luke's winded gaze with a heartfelt, 'Thank you.'
He nodded unable to speak and sank down on his back, his stomach cramping with illness.
Freya jumped up into the air and landed on the skiff as it passed and joined her friends.
"Where's Creach?" Lana asked her.
Freya leaned over the skiff railing and whistled sharply for the Guardian. Creature gave a piercing cry and then flew after them.
Terell moaned painfully while he drifted in and out of semiconsciousness. Lana applied pressure to his wound and ignored the fact that his makeshift bandage was soaked through. Harder to ignore was the amount of blood that was steady covering her hands as she spoke encouraging words to him. They reached the Falcon's hanger in mere minutes on the skiff.
"We made it Terell, just hang in there and we'll get you patched up in no time," Lana told him. He sluggishly returned her reassuring kiss when the skiff stopped.
Chewbacca jumped off first and helped Han and Freya get the wounded man off next. Leia, with blaster in hand, watched for any possible pursuers. Her shots warned the others that they were indeed being closely followed by another hovering transport. Luke helped Lana down and then draped her arm over his shoulder and moved into the hanger after the others. Princess Leia brought up the rear of the group, firing and killing some of the men that relentlessly pursued them.
The rebel's passed by the Jedi's X-wing and quickly went up the freighter's landing ramp. Artoo-Detoo called alarmingly to Luke and sighed when he got no answer.
Multiple blaster fire answered his mechanical inquiry.
The little droid, seeing his master being pursued, fired up the one man fighter's engines. Fueled fire burst from the four engines and set ablaze the first few of the Mandalorian Hunters that had closely followed the rebels. Their screams filled the hanger and kept the other Hunters at bay.
"Tell Lando we're all on board Chewie and get us the hell out of here!" Han yelled after everyone had entered the star ship and the landing ramp was sealed shut.
"Oh my, thank the Maker you're back in one piece Master Luke," See-Threepio exclaimed as he followed behind them.
Han, knowing that there was little hope for the injured man, led them to his personal quarters. He helped Freya lay Terell on his bed then turned to leave for a moment to automatically retrieve a medical kit. "Out of the way goldenrod, make yourself useful and go tell Artoo that Luke's with us. He'll have to follow."
"Yes Captain Solo," said the droid. He turned and left the room after the Corellian man.
Artoo-Detoo's wild beeps came over the comm amid the sounds of blaster and ship fire.
"Yes Master Luke is fine--" See-Threepio jumped and shouted in distress when sparks flew out next to him after a blaster shot ricocheted off the ship's exterior, "--Ahh!--Just follow the Millennium Falcon, Artoo! Quickly!"
The astro mech's brave comment made See-Threepio huff in exasperation.
"You're going to end up as scrap! you stupid junk pile!" the golden translator yelled into the comm. "The Falcon has shields to protect her, so stop playing the hero and lift off!"
Artoo-Detoo was already raising Luke's ship into the air, even before Lando piloted the Falcon out of the hanger. Luke's unmanned ship rotated while it rose up and out of the hanger. With a final burst from the X-wing's engines, the rebel fighter shot after the Corellian freighter.
Luke's loyal droid programed the destination that Lando sent him into the ship's computer. Ten minutes later both ships broke through the planet's gravitational pull and then disappeared into hyper space, leaving Zirus Five far behind them.
A surviving Hunter staggered out of the burning hanger and into another docking bay, several doors away. He made his way to the ship that sat in waiting. Smoldering and bruised he staggered to the ship's small hold, where his leader sat panting and stubbornly clinging to life.
Solaren diligently sat up and pushed away the help of his personal medic.
"What happened?"
The Hunter pulled off his smoldering armor, dropped the smoking metal and flopped down on the floor of the ship, next to his friend panting, "They got away."
Solaren's face contorted in pain and his medic rushed to help him again.
"You must relax sir," he told him, "And keep the pressure on that eye or you will lose it for good."
Solaren pulled the blood soaked cloth from his left eye, revealing that it was a mangled mess in his socket, "Do notgive me false hope medic! I know it's a total loss! Now just shout up and fix what can be saved!"
The medic set to work, while Solaren spoke with his man.
"How many did we lose, Kaimon?"
The Hunter shook his head, "We are all that's left of our team." Kaimon swallowed and panted in pain. "I don't get it, that last shot of yours should have killed the woman and crippled the Jedi?"
"That witch knocked off my aim when she shot me," Solaren admitted bitterly, "And I wasn't expecting that other one to jump in the way."
"What should we tell the Emperor?" Kaimon asked, sounding very worried.
"Nothing."
Solaren flinched painful away from the cleaning fluid that the medic poured over his wound to numb the area.
"What are we going to do, then?" Kaimon panted.
"What we always do," Solaren said with a cool diligent growl.
He watched with his good eye as the medic removed his useless one and placed it in a glass container. Solaren picked up the glass and stared at his mangled eye floating in the blood tinged fluid within and made a chilling declaration.
"I want that Jedi bastard and that little witch to pay for what they've done to me."
"And what of the Emperor?"
"He can have what's left of the Jedi when I'm through with him. Skywalker thinks he's killed me and now I'm going to show him just how wrong he is."
"Hold still, sir," said the medic as he set to work stitching up the blaster wound that Lana had first hit him with.