Disclaimer: Zeke is ours but everything else belongs to whoever it belongs to.
Nitro-glycerine
"Ah, Leia! Just the woman I was looking for!"
Unlike Luke, Leia was in a less than jovial state. She was sitting in the lounge staring, or rather glaring, at a small, solid, durable object, willing it to move. Unfortunately, she was having no such luck.
"Still can't do it Luke." She looked up at him. "It's still not getting any easier Luke! I thought you said that it would!" Her voice held the slightest tone of accusation.
"It will," Luke said with the utmost certainty. "You just have to give it time, that's all! You, of all people should know that everything takes time!"
Leia gave him a long, hard glare. "Don't patronise me, little brother."
The fact that she was using an old joke was a bit of an upside to the situation at least, Luke considered. However, he changed the subject before Leia could carry on insulting him any more.
"I found this," he said, handing her the holo-cube. "It's Hans. I think you might want to watch it."
Leia took it, turning it over in her hands cautiously. "Hans? Why would I want to watch something of Hans?" Her words only served as a reminder that their fight had yet to be resolved.
"I think it might help," Luke continued unconvincingly. "What harm could it do?"
"Probably quite a bit to my sanity!" Leia retorted, but her brother could tell that she was joking. He knew she'd think about it. She just wasn't sure yet.
He could understand. But still, he really hoped that Leia would find the time to watch it, and forgive Han.
"And this here, it tells me when I'm gonna arrive at where I'm going to."
"Wow!" Zeke continued to stare at the control panel, "how does it do that?"
"Well…" Han didn't want to look stupid in front of Zeke, but he didn't know the answer to the youth's question, "Um…there are these…microscopic aliens that…um, live inside the hyperdrive…with measuring tapes and they tell me how far away we are…using their measuring tapes…."
"Yuh huh? Really!" said Zeke the sarcasm was so solid, he could have hit Han around the face with it, "You don't know, do you?"
"No, not really, no."
"It's okay, I don't know a lot of things either."
Han smiled and shrugged, "That's the basics anyway," he continued.
Zeke tried to sound off-hand band if it wasn't for the question he was asking he might have succeeded, "So…um… where are the guns?"
Han didn't react in the way Zeke expected, "You think Luke would want me to show you where the guns are?"
"I'm sure he would."
Han almost laughed; the kid had attitude. "C'mon then."
Zeke hopped off Han's reserved pilot seat and followed him out of the cockpit. Han brought him to the spot where the two ladders that led to each gun where and led him down to the belly gun.
"This is the-"
"Belly Gun, I know."
"For someone who has only been in space twice you sure know a lot."
"Well I can read," Zeke said. Han was surprised to hear this. Often street kids had no education at all. "And," Zeke continued, "I've been in loads of space ports. It's just space its self which is hard to get into!"
Han chuckled. This kid really wasn't so bad after all. Even if he had shot him.
After showing Zeke precisely how to use the gun he led him back to the cockpit.
"Well Zeke, that's the grand tour. Hope you enjoyed. If you'd like to leave a tip you're always welcome!" It was meant to be a joke but Zeke didn't appear to take it that way.
"I would Han, seriously! Except, I don't have any money. I spent it all on… well, you know."
"Yeah, I know," Han yawned. "Look, Zeke, I'm really tired, I got shot today and all- no offence! It's just that- do you mind if I…?"
"Nah, you go. Hey, is it alright if I have another look around the controls? I'll be really careful and I won't touch anything! I promise!"
If Zeke was honest with himself he really didn't expect Han to say yes, but he did.
"Yeah, okay. But I'm going to lock the controls. It's nothing personal!" he added, when he saw Zeke's face, "It's just in case you…or anyone else for that matter, accidentally hit something and we end up at Naboo instead of Nar Shaddaa."
"Yeah… Okay…" Even though Han had said it was nothing personal, Zeke took the words to heart. Still, he was so desperate to take another look at the controls that he would go for whatever he was offered.
After locking the controls, Han left Zeke on his own. He was confident in his decision and reasoned that should Zeke try anything that might harm the mission; the Falcon would warn its master using some form of telepathy.
It hadn't been too long after Han had left for his forty-winks that Luke and Leia rounded the corner discussing more light-hearted topics than they had in days.
"Seriously Leia, the skirt looks fine!"
"Are you sure, I mean, are you sure it's-"
"It's fine! It looks grand! Don't you trust me?"
Leia had walked on a little ahead of Luke, but rather suddenly she stopped dead still.
"Leia? What's wrong?" Luke asked facing her.
Leia didn't speak but pointed towards the open cockpit door. Luke followed her gaze and saw what had upset her.
Someone was at the controls, and it wasn't Han. In fact it wasn't an adult at all.
Luke was about to say that he was sure there was a perfect explanation for Zeke being at the helm of the Falcon, but he didn't get a chance. Leia was off. She sprinted as fast as she could in her skirt down the corridor. Luke could feel her rage building up inside her. He didn't know what she was going to do so he followed his instinct.
"ZEKE!"
Zeke spun round in the pilot seat. Luke saw the surprise on his face before the boy ducked just in time to miss Leia's hand hitting his face.
"Hey Leia!" he said in a cheerful voice before ducking again, away from her curled fist. By this point Luke had joined them. Much to his sister's surprise, he grabbed neither Zeke nor her. Instead he seized the back of Zeke's chair and span him away from the danger zone. Making sure he was covered at all angles from Leia he sent a wave of calming force power over his sister. It didn't do much, but now at least he could understand what she was yelling.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" she shrieked, "WHY ARE YOU IN HERE? WHERE'S HAN? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM? ARE YOU AND WEDGE IN THIS TOGETHER!"
She was clearly crazed.
"You're clearly crazed!" Zeke yelled over his shoulder to her. Luke was pinning him to the chair with one hand and holding Leia with the other. "And as for Han, he gave me permission!"
"Han would never let a respectable minor anywhere near the cockpit let alone one like you!" Leia yelled back struggling with her brother's grip, "Where is my husband!"
Zeke was fighting as much as she was, causing hell for Luke who was stuck in the middle, "He…he…" Zeke gasped, "He went to bed… without you notably!"
As quick as lightning, before Zeke could register what was happening, Luke had let him go and given him a slap that was worthy of Leia on the back of the head. He had then grabbed Zeke again by the scruff of the neck before he had a chance to move. Even Zeke who had been on the receiving end of the punishment was impressed with the speed.
"Next time hit him harder Luke!" Leia screeched at the top of her voice. She fought Luke's human barrier harder than before as she hollered insults in every language she knew at him.
The increasing noise had attracted the other occupants of the ship, minus Han. Chewie had the longest legs and therefore greatest speed. He dived into the cockpit and hoisted Zeke off the seat and over his shoulder.
Meanwhile Lando and Wedge helped Luke restrain Leia who was fighting like a wampa.
"CHEWIE!" Lando yelled over the noise, "SWAP!"
Chewie sighed and set Zeke down while grumbling something that Zeke took as, 'Stay there!' he then went and picked up Leia as easily as if she were a rag doll. It was at that point that the rest seized Zeke.
"Don't mind me," yelled Wedge in Zeke's ear as he attempted to make himself heard, "I don't even know what I'm grabbing you for, but whatever you've done, don't do it again!"
"That's the thing!" Zeke hollered back, "I haven't done anything!"
He felt Wedge's grip slacken although no one else's did. If Zeke hadn't been in the situation he was, he might have felt touched by the gesture.
"She accused me of messing with the controls! I didn't do anything! Han let me in here and he locked the controls anyway!"
Lando noticed the conversation between Wedge and Zeke first and decided it was time for his eardrums to stop threatening to explode. "LEIA!" he yelled, "WILL YOU SHUT UP FOR JUST ONE MOMENT!"
To everyone's surprise, including Lando's, Leia did actually shut up. The room went completely silent.
"Thank you!" said Lando in relief. "Now, just exactly what's happening? Start at the beginning! Zeke?" he asked the boy to speak his account of the story. Leia made a noise of indigence at being put second to Zeke.
Luke silenced her with a glare then turned as Zeke cleared his throat. Whether his voice was hoarse from shouting or from the flu-like withdrawal symptoms he was experiencing, it was impossible to tell.
"I have permission to be here. Han let me!"
"Do you have anyone to confirm this Zeke?" asked Luke in his grave Jedi Voice.
"Sheesh!" Zeke moaned, "You sound like the Court of Justice in Coruscant!"
Before he could add that the smart thing to do would be just ask Han himself, Leia retorted scathingly, "Yeah, and you've been up in front of them a load of times, haven't you!"
"Just ask your husband," the youngest passenger of the Falcon said in a bored drawl. "He was showing me around 'cause I've got an interest in flying!"
"But we don't know what you've done," Leia turned to the adults in the room, "He could have changed the flight paths of anything!" She said this as Chewie set her down gently.
Fed up with being treated as a criminal Zeke patronised her. "Obviously someone wasn't listening! Han locked the controls in case of an accident!"
"Accident? Oh yes. I'm sure that's why he did it!" It was none other than Leia that spoke once again. No one else could get a word in edgeways.
"Well, maybe that's the case!" Zeke was fighting to keep his cool, should he do anything rash, "But I'm not a liar!" He stressed the sentence.
Leia didn't speak for a moment; she seemed to be considering him. The rest of the room waited with bated breath.
"You're right," she said in a sorrowful voice, "You're not a liar."
Zeke looked at her intently, like an animal looking at a bear trap. He knew she wouldn't give in so easily.
"You're not a liar," Leia repeated, "You're a junkie, and that is all you'll ever be."
The silence that filled the room was electrifying. The line sank into Zeke like poison running through his veins. It was fascinating to watch. His eyes went from blue to green to yellow to orange to red to purple to black so quickly you could hardly tell the colours apart. It was like waiting for a volcano to erupt. One minute he was standing stock still in the middle of the room the next…
Zeke dived across the floor pulling himself free from Luke and Lando's grip with an enormous amount of strength. He dodged Wedge and Chewie running straight at Leia. No one could move quickly enough to stop him, not even Luke.
By the time everyone looked up Zeke had Leia by the throat. He had pinned her to a wall with the same strength he had conjured in order to escape the clutches of his captors. For a fleeting instant she looked terrified as she tried to find the composed face she had worn everyday during the rebellion. She found it at last when she realised that she could breathe. Zeke was holding her but not strangling her.
Zeke had a sneer playing around his mouth, but at the same time, he looked confused and venerable as well as evil. But there was more than this going on in the room.
Wedge was the first to notice Luke's hand creeping slowly towards his lightsaber. He reached out, touched Luke's arm and shook his head in a pleading way. The look on his face said, 'let me handle this.'
Normally Luke would have pulled rank on him, but in this situation he wasn't given the time. Wedge understood without words that he had been given approval for one chance and one chance only.
"So Zeke," Wedge said in a perfectly calm voice, "Tell me. What do you plan to do after you've killed Leia?"
Zeke didn't look at him, but everyone knew he was listening.
"Go on and kill Han, I suppose," Wedge looked thoughtfully in to space, "the opportunities are endless once you've erased the captain of the ship…No! wait!" Wedge took a few steps forward so he was standing beside the boy, who was still not looking at him, "You should kill Luke!" Wedge continued as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "That's what I'd do!"
Wedge's tone suddenly changed, "You don't want to hurt her Zeke. Not with us around anyway," he put a hand on Zeke's shoulder, "If this is part of your escape plan, I can tell you your not going to get past stage one." Still Zeke didn't release Leia but he did turn to face Wedge.
"Even if you did want to kill all of us, we are some of the key members who brought down the empire, so I think we could handle you. Let her go and we can go and talk in another room. C'mon Zeke, that's a plan that'll work. Let her go."
Zeke stared at Wedge for a split second. His eyes were slowly going straight from black to blue. His grip on Leia slackened and then dropped altogether.
Leia ducked under wedge's arm and ran straight to Luke. She watched cautiously as Wedge led Zeke away out into the corridor and out of sight. Just as they disappeared, Han stuck his head round the door.
"Hey guys I just came to- did I miss something?"
The room breathed a sigh of relief.
"Boy!" Lando shook his head, "That guy is more explosive than nitro-glycerine!"
A.N. Well, that's gotta be our longest chappie yet! Wooooo! Go us!
Thorney: This chapter is dedicated to all the punk bands out there! Especially Good Charlotte and Green Day, who we have been listening to the whole time that we have been writing this fic. Not that you guys will ever know, but thanks for the inspiration.
Sweetdeath04: Plus, my dad needs a little mention (not that he'll care) because he gave us one of the lines that we used to get a bit of a rise out of Zeke.
Thorney: Cheers for reading guys. We'll try and get another chapter done before I have to leave but I'm not promising anything.
So we'll see you guys soon!
Sweetdeath04 and Thorney
