Penpals 26: Luke Skywalker
"Well, I sent him a second letter." Luke informed Han and Leia as he stretched his arms out before himself. "But I really don't think he's really going to come here. I mean, there's just no way he could possibly know which planet we're on! There must be hundreds of icy planets in the galaxy!"
"You don't know the resources the Empire has, Kid." Han commented from where he leaned against the wall of the Falcon, the caf cup in his hand. "They're scouring the galaxy for us and even the slightest bit of information can give them the edge they need to track us down. Besides, Vader has the Force. You seem to believe in it, even if I don't. Surely you must admit that it gives Vader a big advantage."
"But you can't use the Force that way!" Luke protested wildly.
"Kid, you don't really know what Vader can or can't do. You're brand new at this Force business. I was there when that old man gave you your first lesson or did you forget?" Han moved away from the wall and slowly walked over to Luke. He placed a hand on the younger man's shoulder and gazed down at him in concern. "I know you want to do the right thing by helping Vader and that's admirable. Heck, in some ways that makes you braver than I am and that's saying a lot."
"Or foolish." Luke hung his head, his shaggy hair falling into his eyes. He felt incredibly stupid.
"Helping people is never foolish, Luke. Don't think that way." Han smiled at him and slid into the seat next to Luke at the gaming table. "Blowing up the Death Star like we did; that was foolish. But guess what? We did it! Sometimes the really crazy plans work the best. So maybe in a way helping Vader that way could be seen as a bit foolhardy because the Empire would never suspect such a thing! But if you're really getting through to him, you could actually succeed! But at the same time, I want you to be careful. All right?"
"Yes, I'll be careful." Luke promised. It was still hard for him to think of Vader as his father, but each letter seemed to point more and more towards that.
"I mean it, Kid!" Han warned. "Just remember Vader is far more advanced in this Force stuff and you have no clear idea what he can really do. I don't want to see you getting hurt."
"And I don't want to see you get hurt, either." Leia agreed as she gazed at the young would-be Jedi. "You have far more compassion that I do. I doubt if I could ever bring myself to helping that monster. Yet you watched him kill Ben and you still want to help him. That's noble, although I'm sure a lot of people here wouldn't understand it at all."
"I appreciate what you're doing Leia, really I do." Luke stared down at the game table and nervously twisted his hands together. "I know what I'm doing could be considered treason. That thought has preyed on my mind a lot. But he is my father and I just can't leave him trapped like he is. I just have to help him!"
"Well, you better help yourself first." Leia held out her hand to Luke. "Let's get you back to bed. The doctor will no doubt be worried that his patient has vanished. I wish you would think more before doing stuff. Running around like this, why, you're just asking to get sick!"
Luke sighed but stood up from the Falcon's game table. "I'm sorry."
/I really am acting stupid…/
A blanket wrapped over his shoulders, Luke followed Leia towards the door to the Falcon. She was so smart, brave and levelheaded and he wished he could be more like her. The Princess never lost her cool and wouldn't be caught dead rushing around the icy corridors in a pair of thin pajamas covered by a blanket. Luke glanced down at his bare feet and frowned. He really was getting careless! His eyes traveled upward again and fell on Leia's spectacular hairdo. Her long braids were carefully wrapped around her head and it was a total mystery as to what made them stay that way instead of collapsing down her back.
/Even in the middle of a firefight she has perfect hair and I'm a total mess!./
Why couldn't he be more like her? Leia would never be caught writing letters to Imperials. The guilt started to eat at his insides again even though he had purged his secret to his two friends. Would it never go away?
/I caused a huge mess./
Reaching out, Luke gripped Leia's arm near the elbow. "I'm really sorry for creating this mess. I know it must create problems for you, things I probably can't even fathom."
"Luke," Leia turned and held his hand, her brown eyes warm. "You don't have to apologize! You're doing a noble thing and I'm sure the old Jedi Order would be proud of you."
"Really?" Luke gazed into her eyes, a slight warm feeling pushing the guilt away. "I don't feel noble. I feel all mixed up and confused. Worried and guilty."
"But that is what makes you such a good person!" Leia explained as she gripped his hand tighter. "And it's why you're so special, Luke! A real hero doesn't care for himself. He's self-sacrificing and helps others. And it's good that you have a conscience. People who don't have one, well, they do horrible things. It would kill me if that would ever happen to you."
"Do you think Vader has a conscience?" Luke asked.
"By his letters I would say he probably does." Leia thought back to what she had read.
"But if he has one, how can he do such terrible things?" Luke asked, his mind whirling like one of Tatooine's famous sandstorms. He certainly knew his conscience loved to beat him for the slightest thing. Even blowing up the Death Star had eaten away at him afterward. All those people died because of him; their lives snuffed out from a single shot from his X-wing. It hadn't mattered that they were going to kill all the Rebels and at the time he had been in the cockpit it hadn't bothered him. It was only later when he was alone in bed; the medal laying upon his chest in the quite of night that he had started thinking. It had occurred to him that most of the people aboard probably didn't really hate the Rebel Alliance at all. They were just people doing a job so they could support a family back home from wherever they had come from.
/Maybe I think too much…/
"That's hard to answer." Leia sighed and glanced at her chronometer. She really belonged in the command center, not on the Falcon discussing Vader's conscience. "Maybe his conscience wasn't working for a long time and you woke it up. Or maybe he doesn't see anything wrong with a lot of the things he does. He does seem to believe that the Empire is right about lots of things and that could be a problem later down the road. You do have different viewpoints, right?"
"I guess…" Luke shrugged. At the moment he really didn't know what to believe.
"Luke! You do know what the Empire is doing is wrong, right?" Leia stated, new concern appearing in her dark eyes. "Think of how they blew up Alderaan! They've done many other atrocious things as well, awful things that would make you sick!"
"Yes." Luke sighed. He felt tired and emotionally drained, yet he couldn't help thinking of the good things Anakin had told him about in one of the letters. Like opening schools and creating a police force to lock up dangerous criminals. Surely those were good, weren't they? But Han was a smuggler, wasn't he? Didn't he owe Jabba all that money for loosing a cargo of illegal substances? Luke wasn't positive but he was pretty sure it had been drugs and not the kind you got from a doctor. Yet Luke was positive Han wasn't a bad person. The man had just risked his own neck to save him out there in that artic wilderness. Yet it was clearly wrong to sell or use illegal drugs as they wrecked lives. So who was right in the long run? Was the Empire right for keeping dealers off the street or was the Rebels right as some smugglers were actually good people?
/I'm so confused/
"I'm just tired." Luke finally said, one hand to his suddenly aching head. A faint pounded had started just behind his eyes and the would-be Jedi winced in pain. The pounding reminded him of the large feet of banthas stomping on the hard desert terrain.
/The last thing I need is a herd of banthas in my head/
Leia hugged Luke and gave him a quick kiss on his cheek. "Let's get you back to bed. You're not fully healed yet."
Luke obediently followed Leia down the ramp of the Falcon and back towards the medical ward. The bright light reflecting off the ice walls pained his eyes and he squinted in an effort to stop his headache from getting worst. The Princess kept a firm grip on his wrist and gently led the way. The curious or surprised glances from the other Rebels embarrassed him and he felt his face grow hot even though he was freezing.
/I don't know what's worst: that they see I'm practically holding hands with Leia or that I'm dressed this way…/
Both were enough to make him blush. And he still didn't find the courage to tell the Princess that he liked her.
/But she did kiss me/
Yes, she had given him a little peck on the cheek.
/But she only did it to make me feel better/
Luke knew that was most likely true. The Princess couldn't love him. Why, she was a Princess!
/I bet she has to marry some Prince…/
His blue eyes focused on the woman who walked slightly in front of him, her hot hand gripping his wrist firmly. What was Leia going to do after she dropped him off at the Medical Ward? Even through his pounding headache the answer was obvious: she'd head to the Command Center. It was where she spent most of her time doing all the mysterious things that needed to be done so the base could operate smoothly, whatever those things were. Then a new horrible thought wormed its way into his aching head.
/Will she tell anyone/
His stomach leaped and his headache increased in intensity.
/She promised she wouldn't! I trust her/
But did he really? A little itty-bitty voice way at the back of his mind was convinced that she would tell someone, that it would be her duty to tell. Leia wasn't like Han. The smuggler was easy-going and carefree in many ways. He went wherever he wanted to when he wanted to, as long as the Falcon cooperated, that is. He wasn't as concerned with rules as much as the Princess was. Wasn't that why he smuggled stuff for Jabba? He was more than willing to look the other way or say he had a blind eye. Why, he even blasted people to death right in a public bar and didn't care who witnessed it! But the Princess, she was a stickler for rules. Her clothes were always neat and clean, her personal appearance always well groomed with not a single hair out of place. She grew up in an aristocrat family and even served on the Senate! Surely if there was anyone rule oriented it was her! Surely she couldn't just keep such an important thing to herself, could she?
/I'm doomed/
Luke moaned loudly and partly collapsed against one of the ice walls, his free hand clutching at his head.
"Luke!" Leia hurried to him and threw his arm over her shoulder. "We better get you into bed!"
He leaned on her slim shoulder and staggered the last few feet to the medical ward. He eagerly crawled back into his bed and tried to get warm. The bed felt cold and he shivered under the thick wooly blanket. He gazed up at her beautiful but concerned face. "I feel terrible!"
"Now stay in bed!" She ordered him firmly. "I don't want you getting out of that bed until the doctor releases you! Is that understood?"
"Yes." He moaned, the banthas now jumping up and down in even greater numbers within his poor skull. Their feet were squishing his brain matter to poodoo. What he needed was a nice long nap….
"Now get some rest! And stop worrying!" Leia watched him for a few more minutes, then left.
Luke closed his tired eyes and tried to follow her orders. The droid doctor came over and did a few things, Luke ignoring it as best he could. He never cared much for the poking and prodding those doctors did. Most of it usually required pain of some sort and he didn't like pain. No, pain was bad. The bed grew warm and he sleepily closed his eyes. The banthas grew tired of being in his brain and went back to Tatooine where they belonged. Time ceased to mean anything as he drifted off to sleep.
"What…?" Luke groaned some time later as some annoying person kept shaking him. He tried to roll over and drift back to sleep, his soft pillow clutched in both hands. "Go away…"
"You must wake up!" The droid doctor insisted and shook him again.
"Now what do you want?" Luke asked, annoyed as he opened his eyes to glare at the stupid machine. As his body woke up more and more things began to register. For one, his bed was shaking and it wasn't from the droid! The klaxon wailed out in the nearby hall, its loud and insistent cry threatening to bring his headache back. He heard a distant thud from somewhere in the base and then felt a tremor race through his bed. Voices shouted in the hall and the patter of running feet joined it. Luke's blue eyes flew open as wide as possible, his mouth gaping open as he stared up at the droid. "We're not under attack, are we? Tell me we're not!"
"The Empire is here. You must dress at once and go to your X-Wing!" The droid instructed.
"Oh no!" Luke cried in horror as he threw the blanket off and leaped out of bed. His clothes waited on the nearby table, including his blaster, lightsaber and orange flight suit. Without wasting time, he quickly pulled the various pieces of clothing on.
/What have I done/
He tugged on his shirt and his fingers fumbled with the small buttons. It can't be because of me, it just can't be!
/But it IS my fault/
No it's not!
/But Leia said Anakin would get worried and would come looking for me and now he's here/
The distant thuds grew louder and not so distant anymore. Luke struggled with the orange flight suit, one foot refusing to cooperate, as it grew tangled in the long pant leg. "Come on! Come on! I got to get out of here!"
Smoke started to billow in through the open door and he glanced that way, worried.
/Leia will say it's my fault! She'll hate me/
His foot finally popped through and he quickly pulled the flight suit the rest of the way up, shoving his arms through it roughly. It took only a few seconds to seal it. He snatched his weapons from the table and hurriedly attached them to his waist, checking to make sure both were secure. The last thing he wanted was to loose his lightsaber through carelessness!
/She's really going to kill me for this! I'll end up in the brig for sure/
Luke rushed through the doorway and dashed down the long smoky corridor towards the hangar bay. He knew the ground crew would have his X-wing prepared and ready to take off. His boots almost slid out from underneath him as he hit a wet spot, the smooth ice drenched with liquid from a busted pipe overhead. He pin wheeled his arms madly and slid across the surface but managed to prevent taking a spill.
/Oh, this is my entire fault! I never should have started writing to Anakin/
Once past the wet spot, he hurried on his way. The corridor was empty of personnel and Luke hoped that meant most have already evacuated the base and had gotten away safely. The closer he got to the hangar bay, the worst the damage was. In several spots he was forced to leap over blocks of fallen ice but there was nothing he couldn't manage.
/I hope Leia and Han are OK/
"IMPERIAL TROOPS HAVE INTERED THE BASE! REPEAT: IMPERIAL TROOPS HAVE INTERED THE BASE!"
"Great, that's just great!" Luke murmured as he raced through the now empty hangar base. He spotted his X-wing outside and scrambled towards it madly like a demon out of Tartarus was hot on his trail.
/And to think I trusted him/
Luke reached his fighter and heard R2 beeping excitedly from within the back part where the droid sat. "Yes, yes I'm coming!"
He scrambled up the ladder and jumped into the cockpit. The top closed and he prepared the little ship to take off.
/If only I can escape before he catches me/
The thought shocked him and he paused, his hand halfway to a control.
/I thought you wanted to meet him/
Luke shook his head, confused.
/Maybe I'm not as ready as I thought I was/
The would-be Jedi shook his head sadly and pushed the button.
/You got everyone into a huge disaster and now you discover you're a coward too boot/
Groaning, Luke made his X-wing shoot up into the sky as he escaped his would-be rescuer.
Back down in the Hoth Base, a frantic Han Solo clawed at the wall of ice that separated him from Leia. When he had heard the Command Center had been attacked, he had raced there right away. He had tried to see her off safely to the last transport but a collapsed ceiling prevented that. So he had ordered the ship to take off. He would get Leia out on the Falcon. And that plan had been going fine until another blast from the ATATs had knocked down yet another ceiling, this one separating him from Leia!
"Just go!" Leia's muffled voice floated to him from the wall. "Get out before they catch you, too!"
"I won't leave you!" Han swore. He pulled the blaster off his belt and stepped back a few paces, then fired at the solid hunk of ice. He had no idea how thick it may be or if the blaster would do anything at all. It might make matters worse. The blasting might knock more ceiling down and either one of them could get crushed. For all he knew, it might be like trying to melt an iceberg with the flame from a tiny match.
"You have to!" Leia shouted at him. "You have to go take care of Luke!"
"Luke started this mess!" Han shouted angrily as he stopped blasting to study the results. Nothing! It did absolutely nothing!
"And he can finish it! Now GO!" Leia ordered sternly.
Swearing in a dozen exotic languages and feeling like a total heel, Han dashed to the Falcon and took off. A gaping wound existed in his side, mentally at least. He hated leaving Leia behind but there had been nothing he could have done. He just couldn't get through all that ice! If he was feeling this bad, the Kid must be feeling even worst.
Princess Leia stood with her back to the ice blocking the tunnel. Within moments stormtroopers appeared, Darth Vader right behind him. She smiled grimly. This time her captivity would be quite different…
"Princess. We meet again." Vader said as he stopped before her in the ice tunnel.
To be continued…