Chapter 10: Revelation
Mara clenched her jaw as she drew on the Force. She could feel the carbonite slab moving towards her, but the ramp was already half way closed. 'I will not fail. He saved Luke's life. It's time to return the favor.' With a last ditch effort, Han's frozen form was pulled out of the cargo hold of the Slave I, clearing the now shut ramp by only a few millimeters. Mara moved to follow Leia who was running to retrieve Han's vulnerable form, but began to feel dizzy. Chewie came up behind Mara to steady the lightheaded Jedi as Lando moved to cover Leia's retrieval of Han. Chewie growled a question to Mara. She shook her head and took a deep breath to get back her bearings before she responded. "Yeah. I'll be fine. Pulling a stunt like that just took a lot out of me, that's all. Go help Leia. I'll take care of those stormtroopers."
Mara called on the Force once more to revitalize herself before stepping out from behind the crates which covered her to deal with the remaining stormtroopers. She lost herself in the Force as she allowed it to guide her blade, picking off stormtroopers with their own blaster bolts with pinpoint precision.
Leia was amazed when she looked over and saw Mara wielding her lightsaber with superhuman coordination, her violet blade a blur in front of her, sending red blaster bolts back at the few remaining stormtroopers. Once they reached the exit of the landing platform, Leia called to her. "Mara! We have Han. Let's get out of here." Hearing Leia's call, Mara stepped back from her position and jogged off the platform, leaving the sole remaining stormtrooper to fight another day.
"...you are not a Jedi yet." Luke moved deliberately up the staircase to place himself face to face with the Dark Lord. Reaching the top of the stairs, he stood defiantly before Vader and ignited his lightsaber in challenge. His challenge was quickly met as the red blade of Darth Vader sprang to life. After a tense moment, Luke brought his lightsaber in a high arc to strike the Dark Lord, but was quickly blocked. Changing tactics, Luke brought his blue blade over his head and lunged at Vader. Vader brought up his own lightsaber to block the attack and took advantage of his superior power to push Luke down to the metal deck.
Luke stood and firmed up his grip on the hilt of his lightsaber. He made a couple probing steps forward and swung his blade around in three quick strikes, all of which were deftly blocked by the Sith Lord. Spinning himself in a wide arc, Luke found himself on the defensive. Luke managed to block a series of downward swings before ducking a high arcing slash which sent Vader's blade through a support post. After fending off a series of quick one-handed strikes by Vader, Luke found himself back at the top of the staircase where the duel had started. The Dark Lord pointed one of his gloved fingers at Luke. "You have learned much young one."
Luke simply responded "You'll find I'm full of surprises" and swung at Vader, but the Dark Lord was able to use his strength to twist Luke's blade out of his one handed grip. Luke ducked as Vader swung his weapon at him and tumbled down the steps. He had to roll out of the way to avoid being crushed by the descending black figure of Darth Vader who had leaped down the staircase.
Luke got his feet back under him to find himself face to face with Vader's red blade. The Dark Lord's moved closer to Luke, pushing the young Jedi back. "Your destiny lies with me, Skywalker. Obi-Wan knew this to be true"
Luke firmly stated his disagreement with the Dark Lord's statement with a simple "No." Upon hearing Luke's refusal, Vader, stepped forward again causing the young Jedi to stumble backwards. The sound of machinery turning on could be heard as Luke fell into the pit in the center of the room. A pit Luke recognized from his vision.
Once Luke had fallen into the carbon freezing chamber, Vader simply said "All too easy" and turned away from the pit in order to activate the freezing process. Distracted, the Dark Lord missed Luke's Force aided leap into the equipment overhead. Vader looked down into the carbonite gas cloud and mused to himself. "Perhaps you are not as strong as the Emperor thought." His attention was turned upward by the sound of metal crashing and he saw Luke hanging onto one of the gas tubes. "Impressive." Vader slashed at one of the tubes, but Luke was able to dodge his swing. "Most impressive." Fog began to spill out of the tube Vader had cut. Luke dropped to the floor and aimed the stream of gas into Vader's face, allowing him a moment to call his lightsaber once more.
Luke ignited his blue blade and swung it around to meet Vader's weapon once more. Their blades locked and Vader addressed the young man in front of him. "Obi-Wan has taught you well." They two combatants separated their blades, but Vader continued speaking. "You have controlled your fear." Luke blocked a series of short swings by Vader as the gas filled the room and the combatants once again found their blades locked. Luke felt himself physically tiring and sweat poured down his face.
Vader spoke strongly, hoping to sway the young Jedi into making a critical error. "Now release your anger. Only your hatred can destroy me." Vader came at Luke with a number of short, powerful strikes to the midsection. Luke flipped over Vader's head in order to dodge his final strike and came at him with a series of high strikes. Luke was able to maintain his advantage and push Vader back to the edge of the platform where Vader fell with a grunt. Luke deactivated his lightsaber and stood at the edge of the platform for a moment. While he knew he should meet Mara and the others, something was calling him to pursue Vader deeper into the city. Finally, Luke moved from the edge of platform in pursuit of Vader. His family would never be safe as long as Vader was after them.
After calling on R2-D2 to meet them at the Falcon, Mara reached out with the Force in an attempt to find Luke. She found her ability to use the Force stifled by a dark cloud and was only able to pick up a vague sense that Luke was in the lower reaches of the city and in a bad situation. She stopped her run, causing the rest of the group to stop behind her. Leia came up to her to find out what was going on. "Mara, what is it?"
Mara was unable to keep the worry from showing on her face as she responded. "It's Luke. There's something wrong, but I can't pinpoint it. The Force is too clouded around him."
Lando came up behind Leia with a questioning look on his face. "Luke? Is he that Skywalker guy Vader was after?"
Mara's eyes went wide when she heard this. "He's after Luke! I thought he wanted me!"
Lando nodded and told the worried young woman what he knew. "He wanted to take him to the Emperor as some kind of trophy. He used Han to test the carbon freezing chamber to be sure it wouldn't kill him."
As soon as Lando finished his sentence, Mara set off on a dead sprint down an adjoining hallway, intent on reaching the carbon freezing chamber before anything happened to Luke. By the time anyone else was able to react, Mara was out of sight, leaving those remaining with no choice but to head to the Falcon with Han's still frozen form.
Luke stepped out of the access tunnel with the hilt of his lightsaber firmly in his right hand. The door shut behind him and he found himself in a room filled with machinery overlooking the city's core. He surveyed the room, turning to look down the hallway when he heard the telltale sound of Vader's respirator. Luke thumbed on his lightsaber and took up a defensive position. Vader stopped short and raised his lightsaber as well. Luke took a couple of small, wary steps toward the Sith Lord.
Luke was forced to turn away from his opponent when Vader loosened a group of pipes from the wall and hurled them towards Luke. The young Jedi was able to block the pipes with his lightsaber and spin himself back around to meet Vader's blade with his own. Luke swung his blade in a number of wide arcs, attempting to keep Vader at bay. However, Luke was knocked of guard when a piece of machinery was slammed against his head. He raised his weapon to defend himself once again, staring at Vader. Vader raised his blade and began ripping equipment from the room in Luke's direction. Luke swung his lightsaber wildly at the flying debris, but his fatigue slowed his reflexes and he took substantial blows. Finally the window overlooking the city's core was knocked out, causing decompression in the room, sucking the debris out.
Luke grabbed onto the wall, hoping to keep from falling into the city's core. It would not end like this. He would return to Mara and his son. Luke's will was stronger than his body, however, and he was unable to maintain his grip. The young Jedi was sucked out the window, but, miraculously, he was able to grab onto a catwalk with Force aided reflexes before plunging to almost certain death below. Vader made his way to the crushed window, the dangerous winds now gone as the room returned to equilibrium. The Dark Lord looked down at the city's core to see Luke climbing onto a catwalk below.
Mara was unable to suppress a shiver as she entered the carbon freezing chamber. At this point she was close enough to Luke to track his path. She attempted to contact him with the Force, but found herself blocked by a dark presence. Her eyes narrowed and she spoke to herself in almost a growl. "Vader. If he's hurt him…" Mara shook her head, not wanting to allow her thoughts to go down that path. The young woman tightened her grip on the lightsaber hilt in her hand. She made her way to the edge of the platform and leaped down, hoping to get to Luke before anything more happened.
After numerous run-ins with stormtroopers, Leia reached entrance to the Millennium Falcon's docking platform with Lando and Chewie close behind to find R2-D2 impatiently awaiting them. "R2, hurry up and open the doors, we have to get out of here." After a short whistle, R2 quickly complied and the doors hissed open. As they made their way down the platform, they were met by a series of turbolaser shots as the Slave I set down in the middle of their path. The group moved to scramble for cover, but Boba Fett quickly emerged and tossed a stun grenade into the middle of the retreating party. The grenade exploded, knocking all three down, racked with pain. R2 found himself on the receiving end of a low pulse ion blast when he tried to assist the frozen smuggler, becoming temporarily disabled. Unable to move from the pain, Han's friends were helpless to stop Fett as he pushed Han's form up the ramp and back into his cargo hold. Chewie howled into the sky as the effects of the grenade began to wear off, but the Slave I was already leaving the platform.
Luke made his way down the catwalk he had climbed onto and entered a control room. He cautiously walked through the room, lightsaber in hand. The sound of Vader's breath was the only warning he had to avoid being decapitated by the Sith's red blade. Luke quickly ducked his head and switched on his lightsaber, bringing it up to defend himself. Vader quickly pressed his attack, driving Luke back towards the entrance of the control room with a sequence of high strikes. The Dark Lord drove Luke out onto the catwalk hitting the doorframe numerous times in the course of his wild attack. Luke found himself being pushed back on a dead end catwalk. Vader was able to use his strength advantage to push Luke to the narrow deck. He pointed his red blade towards Luke's neck, causing the young Jedi's face to turn into a mask of fear as he felt the heat of the lightsaber on his skin.
"You are beaten. It is useless to resist. Don't let yourself be destroyed as Obi-Wan did." Luke backed away on the floor of the catwalk and batted Vader's blade away with his own. Luke quickly scrambled to his feet, ducking and dodging Vader's erratic swings. Luke swung his blade at Vader in his attempt to flee, hitting the Dark Lord in the shoulder. The Sith cried out in pain and drove Luke off the catwalk to a beam extending from the end, attacking with renewed fury. Vader was able to force Luke to overextend himself and with a quick upward motion cut off Luke's right hand at the wrist still holding his lightsaber, effectively disarming the young Jedi. Luke cried out in pain drawing in the cauterized stump of his right hand. Luke fell into a sitting position as Vader approached him menacingly.
"There is no escape. Don't make me destroy you. You do not yet realize your importance. You have only begun to discover your power. Join me and I will complete your training. With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring order to the galaxy." As Vader spoke, Luke inched his way to the antenna array at the end of the beam and raised himself to his feet with his uninjured arm.
He turned to the Dark Lord and spat at him in a hoarse voice. "I'll never join you!"
"If you only knew the power of the dark side. Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father."
Luke moved down to a lower section of the antenna array, hoping to increase the distance between himself and Vader. His voice was low and spiteful when he spoke. "He told me enough! He told me you killed him."
"No. I am your father."