A/N: So here it is, chapter five - the Great Escape continues. Enjoy!
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Chapter Five
"He is here…" Vader muttered, pacing the room.
"Obi-Wan Kenobi!" Tarkin exclaimed. "What makes you think so?"
"A tremor in the Force," the Sith answered. "The last time I felt it was in the presence of my old master."
"Surely he must be dead by now."
Vader stopped pacing and fixed Tarkin with his black gaze. "Don't underestimate the Force."
"The Jedi are extinct, their fire has gone out of the universe," Tarkin declared. "You, my friend, are all that's left of their religion."
A comlink buzzed. "Yes?" Tarkin acknowledged.
"Governor Tarkin, we have an emergency alert in detention block AA-23."
Tarkin jumped to his feet and yelped, "The princess! Put all sections on alert!"
"Obi-Wan is here," Vader stated again calmly. "The Force is with him."
Tarkin turned and stared at the Dark Lord. "If you're right, he must not be allowed to escape."
"Escape may not be his plan. I must face him alone."
Luke, Leia and Padmé ran down the hallway and met up with Han and Chewbacca, who were rushing towards them.
"Can't get out that way," Han said breathlessly, his face flushed.
"Looks like you managed to cut off our only escape route," Leia agreed, annoyed.
Han looked her up and down. "Maybe you'd like it back in your cell, Your Highness," he said sarcastically.
Stormtroopers were beginning to make their way down the corridor, opening fire on the small group. Luke pulled a comlink from his belt.
"See-Threepio! See-Threepio!" he cried.
"Yes, sir?" the droid's voice answered.
"We've been cut off! Are there any other ways out of the cell bay?" Static crackled as Han and Chewbacca fired at the troopers. "What was that? I didn't copy!"
Threepio answered more clearly. "I said, all systems have been alerted to your presence, sir. The main entrance seems to be the only way out; all other information on your level is restricted."
Smoke billowed in the corridor, making it difficult to see. They were badly outnumbered – they had to get out of there quickly.
"There isn't any other way out," Luke told them.
"I can't hold them off forever!" Han yelled over the roar of the blasters. "Now what?"
"This is some rescue," Leia's irritated voice broke in. She eyed the two men. "When you came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?"
Padmé looked at her daughter, and recognising the familiar glint in her eye – one she herself often had – she wisely kept silent.
Han, however, did not. He pointed to Luke. "He's the brains, sweetheart."
Luke shrugged sheepishly. "Well, I didn't –"
Leia suddenly snatched Luke's blaster from him and fired at a small grate in the wall.
"What are you doing?" Han yelled.
Padmé smiled, surprised at her daughter's ingenuity. Then again, she is a mixture of Anakin and I, she thought, ignoring the pang of sadness she felt at Anakin's name.
Leia lifted her chin. "Somebody has to save our skins," she answered the smuggler. "Into the garbage chute, fly boy. You coming, Mother?"
With that, she jumped feet first into the narrow opening.
Padmé gave the amazed men a small smile that seemed as if she was apologising for her daughter's behaviour, yet approving it all the same. "You'd better do as she says," she said, and then she disappeared into the opening after Leia.
Chewbacca sniffed the garbage chute and growled.
"Get in there you big furry oaf!" Han ordered. "I don't care what you smell! Get in there and don't worry about it."
He kicked him swiftly, and the Wookiee jumped in reluctantly.
Luke and Han began to work their way back to the opening.
"Wonderful girl!" Han commented to Luke about the Princess. "Either I'm going to kill her or I'm beginning to like her. Get in there!"
Luke ducked the continuing fire and leapt into the darkness.
Han fired a few more blasts to create a smoky cover, and then slid into the chute.
Han tumbled down the chute into a large room filled with muck. The other four were stumbling around the garbage, trying to find an exit. Luke spotted a small hatchway, and struggled to open it – but it wouldn't move.
"Oh! The garbage chute was a really wonderful idea. What an incredible smell you've discovered!" Han commented sardonically. "Let's get out of here!" He gestured at Luke. "Get away from there…"
Luke cried, "No! Wait!"
Han drew his pistol and fired at the hatch. The bolt ricocheted around the metal room, and everyone ducked as it exploded almost on top of them. Leia scrambled out of the garbage, wearing a very grim expression.
"Will you forget it? I already tried it. It's magnetically sealed!" Luke told Han.
"Put that thing away!" Leia ordered angrily. "You're going to get us all killed."
"Absolutely, your Worship," Han said mordantly. "Look, I had everything under control until you led us down here. You know, it's not going to take them long to figure out what happened to us."
"Look, everybody calm down, all right?" Padmé cut in diplomatically as she climbed out of the trash, her voice sounding a little strained. She hadn't found her son only to lose both her children now. "Let's just try and figure out a way we can escape. Yelling at each other won't help our situation."
Leia continued to glare at Han, but decided to drop it. "It could be worse…"
Suddenly, the walls began to rumble.
"What was that?" Padmé said, staring around the room in alarm.
"I've got a very bad feeling about this…" Han muttered. Chewbacca howled his agreement as the walls began to edge towards the Rebels.
"The walls are moving!" Luke cried.
"Don't just stand there!" Leia snapped, rushing to a pole sticking out of the trash.
Padmé ran over to help. "Try and brace it with something!" she instructed the others.
They all tried to stop the walls using beams and poles, but these simply bent and snapped like twigs as the compactor continued its crushing journey.
Luke yanked his comlink out of his belt. "Threepio! Come in Threepio! Threepio! Where could he be?"
The room kept getting relentlessly smaller and smaller. Whining, Chewbacca tried to hold a wall back, pushing against it with all his great strength – but to no avail. Within a minute, the walls were only feet apart. Forced to turn sideways, Leia and Han were now facing each other. The haughty look on the Princess's face was gone, replaced with one of fear. Impulsively, she reached out and grabbed her mother's hand on her left and Han's in front of her, squeezing both tightly as the closing walls contracted.
Suddenly, Luke's comlink buzzed. "Threepio!"
"Are you there, sir?" the droid replied. "We've had some minor problems. You would not believe –"
"Shut up, Threepio!" Luke screamed into the comlink. "And shut down all the refuse units on the detention level or immediately below it. Do you copy? Shut down the refuse –"
Several tense, frightening moments ticked by – but then the walls halted and began to reverse directions.
The group began to screech and yell in relief. Padmé held her daughter close, hugging her as though she would never let go. She was about to reach out to Luke, but caught herself just in time – he still didn't know who she was.
"Artoo, Threepio!" Luke hollered into the comlink. "It's all right, we're all right! Do you read me? We're okay – you did just fine."
He pushed through the sludge to the hatch cover and scraped away the slime to read the number. "Open the pressure-maintenance hatch on unit 360-117891."
"Yes, sir," Threepio acknowledged.
Obi-wan edged his way across the walkway over the service trench. His steps were careful and precise, though his eyes were focused on the terminal ahead.
He slipped around the terminal and pulled some switches down, changing the indicator lights from red to blue. The tractor beam holding the Millennium Falcon had been shut down – the escape route was free.
Two troopers came in and began searching the area. Obi-Wan hid behind the terminal and waited for them to leave. Then he slipped through the shadows back into the corridors.
As the old Jedi crept through the halls, he felt the presence of his old apprentice grow clearer, stronger – nearer. Briefly, he shut his eyes, allowing the Force to fill him completely. He knew the time was at hand – the Force told him that the result of this confrontation would not be one he would favour.
He turned a corner, and there he was – standing tall and ominous at the end of the corridor. Darth Vader.
Obi-Wan stepped forward from the shadows.
It was time to face him.