A Left Turn at Albuquerque
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters and universes that I am about to mangle around and smash together for my own amusement – sadly all Robotech and Star Wars characters and settings still belong to Harmony Gold, Lucasfilm Ltd and Disney respectively – I am merely borrowing them and make absolutely no profit from their use. As a result, please keep the legal attack dogs – also known as lawyers – firmly muzzled and on a leash as I have no money to give to anyone.
Author Note: I feel compelled here to, yet again, remind everyone that the name of the cruiser in this chapter the Windermere is not a reference to Macross Delta. Instead, the cruiser is named for the largest of the lakes in the Lake District of the United Kingdom. Conversation in bold type represents Wookie speech - yes that means Han and Chewie are in this chapter.
Chapter Thirteen
UES Windermere
Near Tatooine
Five Minutes Earlier
"Captain we're approaching our next defold point."
Sitting in the command chair at the back of the bridge Captain Johannes Somerville looked up from the report he was reading on the commander's console at the call from his helmsman. Already, he thought surprised but a glance at the consoles chronometer and saw that indeed they had been in hyperspace for well over an hour. Guess I got so preoccupied reading these status reports to notice.
"Very well commence final defold preparations," he ordered as he saved and closed the reports, his full focus would be needed for the next ten to fifteen minutes until they were back in hyperspace on course for the final defold point where they could finally begin the survey mission Admiral Hunter had tasked them with. He just wished it weren't so far as sequential hyperspace folds could put considerable additional strain on the engines even if you let them run a full cool down/repower cycle between folds. Granted the chances of a serious problem developing were extremely remote with their latest generation of fold systems, which were far more reliable than the ones they'd used when he'd first started his career as a young and very wet behind the ears veritech pilot attached to one of the SDF-3's support ships for the Pioneer Mission, he still preferred to err on the side of caution with these things unlike some of the other up-and-coming commanders.
"We have reached our defold point sir."
"Commence defold operation."
"Aye sir."
Almost immediately a faint thrum of power ran through the whole cruiser as the hyperspace fold system began its reversion/power down cycle. Despite himself Johannes was still startled by the fact that there was no shivering or jolting as the transition began and that the usual multicoloured fade-in-fade-out again disorientation that accompanied the transition from hyperspace to normal space while still present was nowhere near as prominent or disorientating as it had once been. In fact, he remembered more than one of his squadron mates throwing up in barracks the first time they'd experienced that most unpleasant of side effects of a fold initiation. I'm never going to get used to these new model drives, he thought with a mental shake of his head even as he marvelled, not for the first time, at the smooth ride. Through the bridge viewports he saw a flash of light that rapidly turned into the familiar whirling ball of frosted glass effect that was the fold field itself. It only lasted for a few moments before with a gyroscopic flash of blue light the fold field dissipated as the ship completed its integration with normal space-time…
…it was at that moment that all hell broke loose.
Proximity alarms abruptly screeched from the navigational and sensor consoles. However, before anyone could even begin to process that alarms, let alone react to them, a tremendous impact rocked the Windermere. A second impact followed, this time accompanied by the piercing shriek of metal ripping apart, followed by the concussive rumblings of internal explosions and the wailing of an alarm that no spacer ever wanted to hear, the alarm warning of a breach in the hull.
"Report what have we collided with," Johannes demanded a moment before a third impact rocked the ship causing sparks shot out of numerous junction boxes around the bridge moments before the main lights flickered and died – an accompanying downscaling whine informing everyone that the ships reflex furnace was going into emergency shut down, something it would only do in the event of catastrophic damage to either its protoculture fuel feeds or its primary control systems – harsh blue-white emergency lights coming on moments later diffusing slightly through the thin haze of smoke that now filled the bridge.
"Captain sensors indicate we collided with three large organisms just as we exited fold," sensors reported.
"Damage report?"
"Sir the second impact has ripped the hanger pod module right off the ship," damage control reported grimly, "it's gone there's nothing left of it as its munitions and protoculture stores detonated within moments of it being ripped off its mooring bolts. Hull breached in compartments H1 to H4 on decks six and seven, we have electrical and plasma fires burning in all adjoining compartments, collateral damage on all decks. All fuel storage matrixes have been ruptured, we're spilling all our remaining protoculture and helium three fuel into space.
"Both the reflex furnace and our secondary fusion reactor have scrammed due to damage to both the fuel feeds and the control systems. We are running on emergency power only. Casualty reports are coming in from all over the ship."
"Jesus," Johannes breathed crossing himself as his strong Christian upbringing – his parents had been devoted Anglicans and highly active members of their church community in both the original and then the new versions of Macross City – made its presence known.
"Sir I hate to add to the bad news but the venting protoculture and helium three are acting like crude thrusters," navigation reported grimly, "not only have they put us into an uncontrollable lateral counter-clockwise spin, but they've pushed us to close to the planet. We're falling into its gravity well."
"Can you stabilize us into a low orbit?" Johannes asked.
"I'm afraid not sir all our propulsion systems are off-line, I can't even fire landing thrusters."
So, we're doing what the SDF-1 did when she first arrived on Earth, he thought having been told enough times about the event by his parents and grandparents as he couldn't remember the incident itself, but then he'd only been two years old when the SDF-1 first defolded in Sol, in the process changing the destiny of the entire Terran race forever, way back in nineteen ninety-nine. "Time to impact?" he asked after a moment of horrified silence.
"At most five minutes sir."
Damn that's not enough time to get everyone into the escape pods and safely off the ship, Johannes thought before gathering himself up. He couldn't afford to show the dread that even now felt like it was turning his blood to ice. "Alright here's what we're going to do," he said at last. "Operations have all the surviving crew get into their Cyclones and set them to armour mode. Then divert as much of our remaining power as you can to the inertial dampeners and gravity control systems. Between them they should allow the crew to weather the impact."
"Aye sir," operations acknowledged.
"Communications send a distress signal to the SDF-3. Advise Admiral Hunter of what's happened and request assistance as soon as possible."
"Aye sir," communications acknowledged. As the indicated officers scrambled to carry out their orders Johannes for his part, along with his first officer, moved to the small corridor between the bridge and the stairs that led down to the main crew decks. Without talking there was no need to, they began opening all the emergency lockers and getting out the sets of CVR-4 body armour and folded up Cyclones that were stored there.
In minutes they all returned to bridge, wearing their Cyclones in armour mode, carrying the other sets and mecha for the bridge crew with the massively enhanced strength imparted by the Cyclone mecha. "Status report?"
"Sir the SDF-3 has acknowledged our distress signal. The Sumatra, Geneva and Baikal have been dispatched to assist us. At maximum speed they will be with us within the hour," communications reported.
"Sir engineering reports that they have been able to restore some power to the lateral thrusters. It won't be enough to stop our descent but if we fire them at the right time it might be enough to cushion the landing," damage control added.
"Excellent. Alright everyone, suit up."
"Aye sir."
Millennium Falcon
A Short Time Earlier
Han Solo had a pleased smile on his face as he guided his beloved ship into space. He was always glad to leave this dustbowl of a planet and get back out among the stars where he belonged, the fact that he had already made a formidable profit on this run – smuggling spice for Jabba alongside a more conventional cargo of moisture vaporator parts, which were always in demand on desert worlds like Tatooine – was another factor in his current good mood. Now he and Chewie were outbound again, this time to Sullest to pick up another cargo along with another consignment of spice for Jabba, if they made good time – and managed to avoid any Imperial entanglements which was honestly getting harder and harder with the Imperial fleets recent introduction of the Raider-class corvette which between turbolasers and concussion missiles had an absurd amount of firepower for such a small vessel – they would be back here by the end of next week.
Outside the viewport the dusty atmosphere of Tatooine gave way to the infinite, star studded blackness of space. Unfortunately, as the heavily modified YT1300 light freighter broke free of the desert worlds gravity well Han and Chewie got a surprise as their sensor screens came alive with warnings.
"What the-?" Han breathed as he checked his screens and recoiled in surprise at what he saw. "Purgill what are they doing here? They've never come near Tatooine before."
"I don't know," Chewie said back naturally in his native language as Wookiee's rarely spoke anything but their native language and never spoke basic as their vocal cords just couldn't make anything other than the barking tones of their native language. "Though they appear to be somewhat confused."
Han nodded he could see it himself. The large pod of purgill, featuring members ranging in size from calves the size of the Falcon to gigantic adults who rivalled a Star Destroyer in size, were milling about in clear confusion. And no doubt giving every spacer present a heart attack, he thought knowing that colliding with one of those lumbering menaces could really ruin your day. Just out of curiosity he checked the general comms frequency and noted it was alive with concerned chatter about the presence of the creatures.
Abruptly the sensors chimed. "Now what," Han wondered as he checked his screen. "A gravitational disturbance forming just beyond the purgill pod? What the hell could be causing that?"
As he watched the screens, he saw the spatial disturbance spike and a strange energy sphere appear. A sphere the dissipated in moments leaving a completely unknown alien ship in its place. A ship that was heading straight for the purgill. Han's eyes widened in horror but before he could toggle the comm to send a warning about the creatures to the ship it entered the pod, carried forward by inertia. He couldn't help but wince when he saw the vessel collide first with one purgill – hitting it with such force that it plunged right through the creature causing an explosion of gore as the smaller creature was literally torn in half by the collision – then another, this one ripping a deep gash along its underside and ripping a box-like projection off the centre of its central hull. For half a second or so the box drifted away before abruptly erupting into a massive fireball that made Han wonder just what had been in there.
The impact of the close-range blast knocked the alien vessel upwards, right into the path of a third purgill that seemed to be frantically trying to change course to avoid the collision. It didn't quite succeed as it clipped the side of the alien vessel sending it spinning away out of control, out of the pod and spewing two distinctly different plumes from a breach in the hull. One of the plumes was a green colour and appeared to be fluid, a fluid that was rapidly freezing in the cold environment of space, the other plume was almost certainly atmosphere venting from the breach in the hull.
"Impressive that they're still somewhat intact eh Chewie," he commented as the unknown ship started to fall into Tatooine's atmosphere. What were clearly some alien version of distress beacons were flashing on its hull as it fell slowly, but with increasing speed as gravity's insidious influence began to manifest itself, into the atmosphere. His mind made up, he wasn't going to leave other spacers to suffer, no career spacer would do so as it was kind of an unwritten rule that spacers – whoever they were – helped one another when they were in this kind of trouble, he began altering course to try and intercept the vessel. "Chewie prepare the tractor beam. Let's see if we can get them up into a stable orbit."
"Preparing tractor beam," Chewie acknowledged as he began working the co-pilots controls bringing the Falcon's tractor beam online, thankful that the ships previous owner Lando Calrissian had thought to fit one as most freighters didn't have them relying entirely on powerful magnetic clamps.
Trusting in his co-pilot/business partner/best friend for life Han began guiding his ship closer to the spinning alien as it entered the tenuous upper atmosphere of Tatooine. Come on, he thought as he pushed the ion engines as hard as he could though he was having to fight against the inertia of their previous heading, which was costing him precious time. Slowly but surely, he got closer to the vessel as it fell deeper and deeper into the atmosphere, friction generated plasma flames flickering around it, licking across the hull, and triggering powerful atmospheric shockwaves. As he tried to get close enough to lock on the tractor lose pieces of hull metal and some of the ships external fittings began to be ripped off the hull by the turbulent, uncontrolled entry.
One of the bits flew right at him and Han was forced to break off to avoid getting hit by the flying debris as while he had faith in the strength of the Falcon's shields getting walloped by a whopping great hunk of metal travelling at high speeds would not do the ship any good. Unable to do anything to help the crashing ship now, if bits were coming off it would simply be too dangerous, Han pulled back to watch. The most he could do now was observe the crash then land to see if he could help any survivors and if possible, salvage something worthwhile from the wreck.
As he watched more pieces of various sizes broke away from the tumbling ship, one especially large piece broke off the bottom hull a piece that looked like a large turret. Han watched as it fell away heading towards the surface. I wouldn't want to be wherever that lands, he though knowing it would destroy whatever it touched. Idly he checked its trajectory and gasped when he realized that it was heading right for the former B'omarr monastery that Jabba the Hutt had turned into his palace/base of operations on Tatooine.
Jabba's minions seemed to have spotted the danger as the Falcon's sensors showed that the palace's shield generator was beginning an emergency power up cycle, simultaneously defensive cannon emplacements began spewing red bolts of hot ionized tibana gas at the incoming projectile in an attempt to knock it out of the sky. Somehow Han knew they would not succeed in either of their endeavours as the piece was both too big and moving far too fast to be intercepted or for the shield to be fully raised in time. He was right as the force field was just beginning to form when the multi-ton lump of hot, fast moving metal smashed into the palace and instantly turned all its momentum into a single massive blast of kinetic force while simultaneously being vaporized.
The result on the palace was devastating.
Before the stunned eyes of Corellian and Wookie alike the palace literally seemed to explode, shockcrete and durasteel walls shattering and turning into a storm of hypervelocity shrapnel. A rippling shockwave shot out across the desert floor even as the ground around the former palace began to cave in, the underground levels collapsing in upon themselves. A mushroom cloud rose above the ruins of the palace, marking the final resting place of Jabba the Hutt and his court.
"Kriffing hell did you see that Chewie," Han asked, shocked by the display of basic physics that had just taken place before their eyes.
"I did," Chewie confirmed knowing this was really going to kick over a few anthills in the galaxy's criminal underworld, which was still reeling from the recent collapse of Crimson Dawn. "The Hutt Cartel is not going to be happy about this."
"That's for sure," Han agreed a moment before the ship jerked as something powerful hit it from behind, nearly making him lose control of the ship. Thankfully, he was able to keep the Falcon steady, at least till another jolt shook the vessel. "What the hell is this?"
"Massive atmospheric shockwaves coming from the crashing ship," Chewie replied checking the displays, "we should be able to move above them."
Han nodded and guided the Falcon up back into the upper atmosphere until they were above the region that would be affected by shockwaves. "Chewie find that crash site," he ordered. We need to get something out of this after all, he thought.
"On it Han."
Lars Homestead
A Few Minutes Earlier
Seventeen-year-old Luke Skywalker sighed in relief as he finally finished cleaning the filters on the last of the moisture vaporators just outside the entrance to the largely subterrain homestead – like most were on Tatooine as it was cooler underground during the day and warmer in the evening. An unseasonably strong sandstorm had blown through here last night, the wind-blown sand particles accumulating it the filters in the moisture vaporators – the storm had come so suddenly and unexpectedly that they hadn't been able to shut them down in time – completely jamming them up. It had been an awfully long and dirty job just unclogging the filters on this series close to the homestead.
"And I have to clean all the others yet," he complained softly to himself. From experience he knew it would take him the better part of a week to completely unclog all of them, and that was assuming he didn't have to do any repairs to some of the more exposed units, meaning he would have no chance of getting to Tosche Station this week. Meaning he wouldn't get to hang around with Cammie and Fixer or see Biggs before he headed off to the nearest Imperial flight school. He's so lucky to be getting off this rock, even if he's going to be joining the Imperial Navy as a TIE pilot., he thought somewhat bitterly as his uncle resolutely refused to allow him to begin applying to the academy so he could build a new life off this miserable dustbowl Uncle Owen never seemed to get that he wasn't a farmer and never would be no matter how hard the older man tried to make him one.
"Luke," Aunt Beru's voice abruptly called from the direction of the shaft that served as the open-air hub of the underground homestead. "Luke."
Putting the last of his tools back on his belt Luke stood up and jogged the relatively short distance to the top of the shaft and looked down, to see Aunt four meters below looking up at him. "Dinner's ready Luke," she called up seeing him appear at the lip.
"I've just finished up here I'll be right down Aunt Beru," he replied gaining a nod in return before turning and making for the entrance. On the way down he stopped by the refresher to clean the dirt and lubricant off his face and hands – his Aunt would throttle him if he came to the table dirty – before making his way towards the dinner table.
He was just starting to cross to the dining area when a rumbling sound accompanied by a vibration in both the ground and the air itself caught his attention. What in the world, he thought pausing and looking up to see just what was causing it, just in time to see what appeared to be a huge fireball shooting across the heat bleached sky. A meteor, he wondered a little surprised as he wondered just where it had come from as far as he knew Tatooine's system didn't have an asteroid belt in it and very few comets and none of few that there were had come anywhere near the planet for several centuries.
Whatever the object was it passed overhead, heading in the direction of Anchorhead. As it passed, he saw a massive ripple in the air indicative of a shockwave approaching. Luke's blue eyes went wide microseconds before the shockwave hit and the whole homestead rocked, bucking, and shaking like a bantha caught in the jaws of a kryat dragon. Try as he might Luke wasn't able to keep his feet under him and found himself pitched hard to the floor. In the distance he could hear yelps of surprise and pain from his aunt and uncle as they to found themselves thrown hard to the floor.
After what seemed like an eternity the shaking stopped. Shaken Luke started to get back to his feet when a series of sharp cracks above him caught his attention and he looked up… in time to see several rocks break away from the rim of the central shaft and, accompanied by a deluge of sand, begin falling rapidly towards him. From what seemed like miles away he heard horrified calls of his name from the people who'd raised him, Luke for his part stood rooted to the spot seeing death falling towards him.
Instinctively he closed his eyes and shielded his head with his arms, waiting for the inevitable impact that would if it didn't kill him would probably cripple him for life as there was no way, no matter how hard they tried, that Uncle Owen or Aunt Beru would be able to afford expensive medical care not on a moisture farmers income. Abruptly he felt something pass through him…
…only for no impact to come.
Huh, he thought opening his eyes and looking up to see the rocks and sand just floating there in the air a few meters above his head. It was as if the planets gravity had suddenly been turned off for them. He stood there gaping in dumbfounded astonishment, wondering what the hell this was. After a few moments he felt a pair of arms grab him and pull him away from the floating rocks and sand. As soon as he was clear they fell again landing on the floor in an avalanche of sound and choking dust.
Luke looked to see who had saved him to see it was his uncle. Owen had a look of shock, concern and even horror on his face as he gazed at first Luke, then the fallen rocks, then back at Luke again. He could see in his eyes that Owen Lars knew exactly what had happened there, knew, and feared it. He tried to open his mouth to ask the only father he had ever known what was wrong, but before he could do so a wave of exhaustion swept over him. He suddenly felt like he was falling…
…then darkness enveloped him, and he knew no more.
A Few Moments Earlier
Owen Lars grunted slightly as he picked himself up off the floor. Ugh what the kriffing hell caused that, he thought as he dusted himself off. In all his life he had never even heard of any seismic disturbances anywhere on Tatooine, or in his fathers and grandfathers time come to that. The Hutt's having invested centuries ago in seismic stabilizers to keep everything quiet and stable geologically on the planet, even the Sand People knew better than to bother them.
"Are you alright," he asked Beru who was also picking herself up, he was relieved when she nodded back to indicate that she was fine. Before she could speak, they, both heard a series of sharp cracks prompting them both to look over at where Luke had been just starting to cross to the dining room after having spent all day cleaning the filters on those moisture vaporators closest to the homestead after yesterday's surprise sandstorm.
Both watched in horror as an avalanche of stones – some quite large – broke free from the rim above and start falling towards their nephew. A deluge of matter that would surely take his life, or at very least injure him possibly beyond their ability to care for him. Luke instinctively attempted to protect himself with his hands while bracing himself for the impact…
… no impact came as before their eyes the falling rocks and sand came to a halt, hanging suspended in the air. Oh no, Owen thought as he realized exactly what was happening, without even realizing that he was doing it Luke was using the Force sensitivity he'd inherited from Anakin. He found himself torn by what to think as on one hand he was glad that Luke's inherited abilities had chosen this moment to make themselves known but on the other hand he was terrified as he knew what it meant.
Mentally he shook himself he hurried across to his nephew's side and pulled him away from the path of the would-be falling debris. As soon as they were clear the avalanche of sand and stone resumed its fall filling the air with a cacophony of noise and choking dust. As soon as it cleared enough for them to see Luke looked at him, notably shocked and from the look on his face Owen knew he had seen his own reaction to seeing him use the Force.
Then Luke's eyes rolled back in his head and he started to crumple into unconsciousness. He would have fallen to the floor if Owen hadn't caught him and gently lowered him to floor. A few seconds later Owen heard Beru join him.
"Owen you know what we need to do now," she said firmly. "We need to call him."
"No, we…" Owen started to say he didn't want that crazy old man anywhere near his nephew. It would only lead to the death of another Skywalker as the old man would certainly take him off on some foolishly idealistic crusade like what Anakin had gone on so long ago. A crusade that had ultimately seen his step-brother die. When Obi-Wan had brought the barely two-day old baby Luke to them he'd vowed he wouldn't let him kill another Skywalker.
"Owen you know we need to. Now that Luke has used the Force once, even without consciously choosing to do so, he'll do it again."
"We can…"
"We can't Owen and you know it," Beru said determined to stop her husband's obstinacy on this issue. She knew what he was afraid of, it was a source of endless quiet arguments between them especially whenever Luke brought up wanting to leave the farm to attend the Imperial Academy. Owen was so determined to make Luke a farmer even though he knew that Luke just wasn't a farmer by nature, just like Anakin – the few times they'd met him – hadn't been. Luke was meant for much bigger things than that and it was a disservice to him, and a betrayal of Anakin and Padme's trust and memories, to try and keep him from his destiny.
And this time Owen seemed to realize it as his shoulders dropped in defeat. "Call him," he said at last sounding a little broken.
"We're doing the right thing Owen."
"I hope your right Beru, I really hope your right," Owen replied before looking at Luke unconscious on the floor. "I'll move him to the sitting room as it will be a more comfortable place to wake up than the floor."
Beru nodded in agreement before heading back towards the kitchen where they had a communicator that would allow her to place a call to Obi-Wan.
UES Windermere
"Time to impact fifteen seconds," navigation reported. "Firing lateral thrusters."
"Understood," Johannes acknowledged from where he was standing, fully clad in his Cyclone, next to the command chair. As calmly as he could he reached out and pressed a control on the commander's console, activating ship-wide intercom. "This is it everyone. Engage your Cyclones mag-locks and brace for impact."
"Eight seconds to impact."
Knowing there was nothing else he could do to help the crew now, he had done everything in his power to prepare them for the inevitable impact, Johannes engaged the magnetic locks on his Cyclones boots and braced himself for impact. Closing his eyes, he whispered a silent prayer and waited.
"Five seconds to impact… four… three… two… one… impact."
No sooner than the world impact had left the navigators mouth than there came a tremendous roar and a feeling as if something were trying to pitch them all towards the ceiling as the Windermere slammed hard into the ground. Like a tortured beast the Garfish-class cruiser bucked and shook fiercely as she skidded along the desert floor, sending up great waves of sand and pulverized rock on either side of her that crashed down to earth again as a mixture of crude molten sand or half-molten globs of semi-pulverized rock.
A Jawa sandcrawler in the path of the skidding ship was pulverized, flattened, and wiped away as the ship drove over it, wiping out it and the Jawa clan aboard faster than the Jawas could react to attempt to save themselves. And still the ship continued onwards her momentum so great that the sand and rock she was ploughing through doing virtually nothing to slow her down.
Coming to a cliff edge the cruiser once again shot into the air and for a moment out of time hung suspended in the air – as if she were going to fly once again – before gravity claimed her and she dropped three hundred feet into the dried-up basin of an ancient lake, crushing an entire village of Tuskan Raiders camped at the base of the cliff before anyone in the village was aware of her presence. And still she moved forward ploughing through the sand and rock before, several dozen kilometres later coming to a skidding, smoking halt.
The UES Windermere was down.
Authors Note: Well, another chapter bites the dust. I hope you all enjoyed the description of the crash sequence of the Windermere, has her crew survived their ships final impact with the ground of Tatooine? What are Han and Chewie going to find when the Millennium Falcon arrives at the crash site? You'll find out in the new year when I will have time to work on the next chapter as with Christmas now so close, I doubt I will have any time to get more than a small fragment of the next chapter done before that time as things tend to get a bit crazy around here come Christmas time. So until next time stay safe everyone.