A/N: Here's the next chapter….hope you enjoy it!
"Yes, calm, you must be and flow through you, the Force will."
Yoda's voice was soothing, though barely audible to his young apprentice. Luke was upside down, balancing on his hands, and the diminutive Jedi Master was perched on Luke's upturned feet. A nearby rock began to float slowly into the air as Luke immersed himself in the Force. The rock was soon joined by two more.
"Yes! Yes. Much progress, you have made. Maybe next time, lift your own ship, you should, hmm?" Yoda said with a little cackling laugh, referring to the events of the previous day.
A ghost of a smile crossed Luke's lips--even as his eyes remained closed in concentration--at the subtle reminder that, as far as he had come, he still had far to go. Personally, Luke considered the fact that he didn't get angry at Yoda's little jab great progress. Carefully, Luke lifted one hand off the swampy ground so that he was balancing his and Yoda's weight solely with the remaining hand.
"Yes. Yes. Good," Yoda encouraged him.
It was one of the rare, but increasing, occasions where Luke truly felt that he was feeling the Force. His very spirit seemed to be completely in tune with his surroundings and he breathed in deeply as a sense of utter serenity flowed through him. He marveled at the connection he could sense to all the living beings around him…the trees, the birds, the creatures in the swamp, his Master…even the insect that crawled slowly across his balancing hand. Rather than be startled, he felt a kinship with the little bug.
The sharp stab of excruciating pain was what startled him. He gasped and, for a moment, thought he had somehow injured himself as his balance began to waver. On his feet, Yoda gave a little yelp. The wave of agony rippled through him again and he cried out. Then he understood. The pain was coming to him through the Force and he could sense Han. And Mara!
"Mara! Han!" he shouted and there was no hope of maintaining his balance now. Yoda gave a frightful shriek as the two of them went tumbling to the ground. Luke landed hard, his breath leaving his body in a whoosh. When he sat up, he noticed Yoda had somehow managed to land on his feet and he was giving his Apprentice a knowing gaze.
"I'm sorry, Master, I--"
"Sensed your friends, did you?"
"Yes. I saw…a city in the clouds," Luke said and he shivered as he hung his head. "Mara and Han were there and they were in pain."
Yoda sighed as he sat down in front of Luke. "Let this interfere in your training, you must not."
Luke glanced up at his Master sharply. "I have to go to them. I have to help them."
"No! Leave before the training is complete, you cannot! Vulnerable, you are, right now."
"I feel the Force, Master!" Luke protested.
"But you cannot control it, Luke," a voice said from behind him.
Luke looked around at the spectral figure of Ben Kenobi sitting on a log behind him. Ben's shimmering form stood and moved to stand beside Yoda.
"This is a dangerous time for you, Luke. Now is when you will be most susceptible to the temptations of the Dark Side."
"I won't turn to the Dark Side, Ben. I swear. I can't let anything happen to Han and Mara. They're…they're everything to me!"
"That is what Vader and the Emperor are counting on, Luke. They are intentionally trying to draw you out. It is you and your abilities that the Emperor wants."
"So I'm supposed to sit back and do nothing? Sacrifice Han and Mara?" Luke asked incredulously.
"If you honor what they fight for…yes!" Yoda stated imperiously.
"You're not 'doing nothing', Luke. You are taking the necessary steps to prepare yourself for what is going to be a monumental task. You must understand how important this is. You may be the only hope for the galaxy," Ben said urgently.
Luke closed his eyes and dropped his head at Ben's words, as though denying them to himself. He could not do this! He was just a farmboy from a desert planet in the outer rim. They expected too much from him. And then there was the issue of his friends…
Luke was confused by the struggle between what his Masters said and what he felt was in his own heart. He knew he wasn't ready yet to face Darth Vader. He realized this was a trap to lure him, so the Emperor and his dark minion could tempt him with the Dark Side. While he knew that he may very well lose the battle and forfeit his life, he felt confident that he would never turn to the Dark. And he could not sacrifice Han and Mara's lives. He simply couldn't.
He looked up to see his Masters watching him. He couldn't read anything of the expressions they wore, but he sensed they weren't surprised by the words he spoke.
"I'm going to save them. I'm sorry, Master Yoda. I will return, but I can't just let them die."
Yoda said nothing for a long moment and Luke felt his disappointment and disapproval sharply through the Force, but he remained resolute in his decision.
"So be it. Do what you think is right, you must," Yoda intoned.
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Mara paced back and forth in the cell she had been placed in after an extremely stressful 'lunch'. Her hair was no longer arranged in the lovely braid that it had been that morning; instead, it was disheveled and dirty, rather the same way she herself felt. They had taken away her dress and given her an ugly gray flight suit to wear. The Imperials had separated her from Han and Chewie and she was terrified that Vader had killed them.
She barely noticed the tears that were silently tracing her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around herself, continuing her solitary walking. Vader hadn't talked to her personally, but a couple of his men had interrogated her. It had been nowhere near the ordeal the Death Star had been, but it had still been difficult. They had questioned her about the Alliance fleet's location, and when she refused to answer those questions, they had gotten physical with her. She absently rubbed a hand across the darkening bruise on her cheek. She desperately wished for word on what was happening to Han and Chewie.
Almost as if in answer to her silent plea, the door to her cell slid open and two troopers stepped inside, carrying a limp Han Solo between them. A moment later, a door on the other side of the room opened and Chewbacca walked in under his own power, still defiant enough to give a warning growl to a trooper who'd dared to push him. The trooper lifted his blaster rifle menacingly, confident in his arrogance that the Wookiee would not dare to truly try anything. Chewbacca realized it would do them more harm than good, but he had to hold back the urge to rip the soldier's arms from their sockets.
Mara rushed over to where the troopers had unceremoniously dumped Han on the floor. Chewie helped her to get him up and stretched out on the narrow cot that was the only piece of furniture in the cell. Han looked up at them with hazy, pain-filled eyes.
"I don't feel so good," he mumbled.
"Why are they doing this? They didn't ask me anything of any real importance," Mara wondered as she stroked Han's head.
"They didn't ask me anything at all. Just plopped me down on the scan grid," Han replied as he closed his eyes wearily. He opened them again and focused his gaze on her, anger flaring in his eyes when he saw the bruise on her cheek. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine. This is nothing. You know I'm tougher than that," she smiled gently at him.
[Something is not right about this whole situation.] Han looked over at Chewie and nodded his head in agreement at the Wookiee's assessment.
"Vader's up to something, but I can't figure out what," he said.
Mara gave a short derisive laugh. "It'd be easier to try and solve the riddle of the Kandarian Triangle than to get inside that monster's head."
The door to the cell slid open again and they turned to see Lando step through the door, followed by two of his own guards. Mara glared at him fiercely, her green eyes shooting sparks.
"What do you want?" she spat.
"I think you'd better leave, old buddy, before Mara here tears your ears off your head. Or maybe I should let you and Chewie have a 'talk'," Han sneered. He struggled into a sitting position, pretending not to notice as Chewbacca gave him an assisting paw at his back.
Lando frowned as he cleared his throat. "Look, Han, I'm sorry. I didn't intend for this to happen. I never would have given you away, but they already knew you were here! They must have tracked you somehow."
"Yeah, poor you. What do you get out of this deal?"
"Lord Vader won't blast this facility into oblivion, that's what," Lando bit out. "I'm responsible for a lot of lives here, Han, not just my own."
Han didn't say anything to that. He understood that Lando had been in a difficult position, but it didn't lessen his anger and frustration at the predicament they were in. He glanced over at Mara and saw that she was struggling with the same emotions.
"It's never easy when other's lives are at risk because of you," she said, her voice hoarse and quiet. Han knew she was thinking of Alderaan and the choice Tarkin had forced her to make. A choice that, in the end, could never have been right or wrong because the Grand Moff had already decided to blow up her planet no matter what she did or said.
"Do you know what Vader has planned for us?" Han asked, wanting to get Mara's mind away from the grief that was always hovering in the background of her thoughts.
Lando grimaced. "He's going to take all of you back to Coruscant. But first, he's going to…put you into carbon freeze," he said as he nodded his head towards Han.
"What?!" Mara shouted. "Why would he do that?" Han only frowned, not wanting to admit to the spasm of fear that shot through him at what those words meant. Vader had just given him a death sentence.
"He wants to test it, to see if Han will live. He's not actually after you at all. He wants someone named Skywalker."
"Luke?!" Han sputtered in disbelief. Chewbacca gave a low, angry growl.
Mara's face paled so much that she appeared on the verge of passing out. Images of the last time she had seen Luke flashed through her mind and she felt her lips tingle as she remembered the brief, but intense, kiss they had shared. She had a frightening image of Vader standing over Luke's huddled form, his black-gloved hand stretching out towards the youth menacingly. She could see Luke's face, his hair drenched with sweat, his eyes wide with fear as the dark one advanced towards him, stalking him.
"Mara! Mara, snap out of it!" Han's worried voice penetrated her senses and she realized that he was shaking her by the shoulders, hard. She finally focused her gaze on his face, whitened with apprehension.
"What…what happened?" she asked weakly.
"You zoned out on us for a minute there, that's what happened!" Han shouted. She flinched and he lowered his voice as he asked, "You okay?" He was trying to contain the panic he'd felt when she had started to slump downwards. Chewbacca had dived forward barely in time to keep her from hitting the floor.
"Is she all right?" Lando asked.
"She's fine, not that it's any of your business. We understand that you may have felt like you had no choice, but forgive us if we don't feel like sitting down to afternoon tea with you anytime soon," Han said sarcastically.
Lando seemed to realize that he had overstayed his welcome and he straightened, becoming the Baron of Cloud City. "I'm truly sorry, Han. If I could change things, I would," he said quietly before he turned and left the cell.
"Vader's after Luke," Mara whispered in a horrified tone.
"He's not gonna get him, Mara. Luke has no way of knowing where we are. Vader's wasting his time." Han wished that he was as confident as his words sounded. He wished that he didn't have a bad feeling about this.
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Yoda and the ghostly form of Obi-Wan stood watching in silence as Luke loaded up his X-Wing. He had just settled Artoo in his niche and he was gathering up the remnants of his time on Dagobah. He hoped that he would be able to return and finish the training. He regretted having to disappoint Ben and Master Yoda, but he had to go and help Mara, Han and Chewbacca, who were in danger because of him.
"Artoo, fire up the power converters," he instructed the little droid before turning to say farewell to his Masters.
"If you face Vader now, Luke, you do so alone. Yoda and I cannot help you," Obi-Wan said, still trying to change Luke's mind.
"I understand," Luke said quietly but he was resolute in his decision. "I will come back to complete the training, Master Yoda, I promise."
He turned and climbed up into the cockpit. He glanced down at the two worried Jedi one last time.
"Luke! Mind what you have learned. Help you, it can. Give in to anger and fear, you must not! The Dark Side, are they," Yoda said urgently, trying to instill these lessons in the boy's head one more time.
Luke just nodded and pulled his flight helmet on. The cockpit canopy slowly lowered and the Jedi Masters watched as the ship lifted off the ground and into the air. It was swallowed up by the mist in a matter of moments. Yoda heaved a huge sigh.
"Told you, I did. Reckless, is he. Like his father," Yoda said sadly.
"And what if Vader tells him who he is?"
"Hope that Luke is strong enough, we must."
Obi-Wan's gaze dropped from where he had been following the ship's path to the tiny Jedi beside him.
"Should we have told him of his sister?"
Yoda sighed again and looked up at Obi-Wan with a shrewd gleam in his eye. "Still not certain, am I, that the right thing you did in erasing his memories of her, Obi-Wan." The taller Jedi barely resisted the urge to squirm under that gaze. "But, no. Distract him, it would, the grief her death would cause. On Vader, all his focus must be."
Obi-Wan once again raised his gaze to the spot where Luke's ship had disappeared. "That boy is our last hope," he said.
"Yes, he is," Yoda agreed quietly.
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The procession moved slowly towards the carbon-freezing chamber. Han was scared out of his wits, but he would be damned before he'd let these blasted Imps see it--he was a Corellian, after all. He and Mara were side-by-side with Chewie walking a few paces behind them. Ahead of them, he was forced to stare at the back of his traitorous friend's head and the black helmet of Darth Vader. Surrounding them on all sides were Vader's stormtroopers. No chance of escape. Looks like this is it, Solo, Han thought as he tried to swallow with a suddenly very dry throat.
He glanced down at Mara as she raised her eyes to meet his. Her face was still deathly pale and he found himself worrying more about her for a moment than he was about himself. Tears welled up in Mara's eyes and he tried to give her his usual cocky grin to reassure her, but he had the feeling it didn't work very well.
The room they finally ended up in was full of steam and it was humid and oppressive. Han could feel his shirt already sticking to his skin from the sweat that began to pour from him.
"Place him in the chamber," Vader's imperious voice echoed around the room and in Han's head.
"Lord Vader, I must protest. This chamber is not designed for this purpose. If you put him in there, it may kill him," Lando spoke up, bravely albeit nervously.
Lando must have found a bit of his conscience, Han thought derisively. Not gonna do me much good now, 'old buddy'.
"This matter is no longer your concern, Calrissian. In fact, I would prefer it if you took the Wookiee and the girl to my ship now."
"No." Vader and Calrissian turned in surprise at the strength of that voice. At least Han could see that Lando was surprised. Who could tell what the Dark Lord was thinking at any given moment? Han admitted to some surprise of his own at the firmness in Mara's voice, but he should have known better. Mara was one of the strongest women he knew and he found himself proud of her in that moment.
"No," she repeated. "Han Solo is my friend and ally. If you are determined to murder him, Lord Vader, then a friend's face is going to be the last thing he sees, not yours and certainly not his," she almost spat the word as she indicated Lando with a nod of her head.
Vader was still for a long while as he and Mara stared each other down. Han had a feeling both of them were remembering the Death Star, but in very different ways. He could see Mara's lips trembling slightly. He was just about to speak up and tell her that he didn't want her to stay when Vader finally answered her.
"Very well. If that is your wish."
Was that a hint of respect in Vader's voice, Han wondered in disbelief before he decided that he must be mistaken. Probably just realizes how much it will torture Mara and Chewie to have to watch this, he thought angrily.
Vader gestured to his troopers and they stepped forward to yank Han away, moving him to stand in the middle of a circular platform. Han glanced nervously at the tiny Ugnaughts who were scurrying around, adjusting knobs and levers. He looked back up as Chewbacca suddenly gave an enraged howl and with a wide sweep of his massive arm, knocked two troopers off their feet. There was pandemonium for a moment and then Han realized that the other troopers were about to fire their weapons.
"Chewie! Stop it, Chewbacca!" He stepped forward, getting the Wookiee's attention after a few perilous tries.
Chewbacca looked at Han and just gave a mournful cry. Han was fighting back tears as he grasped his partner and oldest friend by the arms.
"This won't do any good, pal. You can't let yourself get killed. You have to take care of Mara."
Chewbacca looked as though he wanted to argue, but then he nodded his shaggy head in agreement.
[You will be avenged, my life-long friend.]
Han gave him a shaky smile. "I'm counting on that." Their eyes held for a long time and no other words needed to be expressed between the two beings who, no matter how different they were in appearance, were truly bond-brothers.
He turned to look at Mara and realized that this was probably the only opportunity he would get to say good-bye. A single tear slid down her cheek as she gazed up at him. Han wiped it away with his thumb and when he spoke, his voice was uncomfortably hoarse.
"You take care of yourself, Red. I know you'll figure out a way to get out of bucket-head's clutches."
"Han, I--" Mara broke off. She had so many words and yet no idea what to say. Han smiled in understanding.
"It's been an honor to know you, Mara Jade," he whispered. He leaned forward and softly kissed her on the forehead. A quiet sob broke from her throat that she quickly tried to stifle. She didn't want him to see her crying.
The stormtroopers had lost patience with the tender scene and stepped forward to haul Han back to his original position on the carbon-freezing platform. Han kept his eyes locked on Mara and Chewie, refusing to give either Vader or Lando the satisfaction of seeing him cringe as the platform began to lower slowly.
His breathing quickened and he felt as though the blood were pounding in his ears as he tried to prepare himself for what was to come. Still, he flinched in shock as the carbon gasses suddenly poured into the small chamber. Instinctively, his hands raised as though trying to ward them off, but it was futile, of course. He struggled to breathe as the gasses began to fill his lungs and he gagged, feeling as though he was about to vomit. If he could just get one good breath! He could fight this, if he could just breathe! That was his last thought before blackness overwhelmed him and he knew nothing more.
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