Chapter 7
Darth Vader entered his apartments keen to have some time in his meditation chamber. His suit with its life support systems could keep him going much longer than would be natural for any other man, but his chamber gave him the only freedom from it. Before he could have that moment however, he needed to contact the Emperor. Kneeling on the holo disk the Emperor appeared before him.
'I am most displeased Lord Vader and keen to locate your son, he failed in his mission to retrieve Princess Leia and is partly to blame for the destruction of the Death Star. He should have sent more fighters from Black Squadron, had he properly planned this mission he would have needed only a few pilots with him. As it stands he took too many to Yavin 4, we have lost many excellent pilots' said Emperor Palpatine, his voice always lowered but still managing to convey fury.
'My Master, Grand Moff Tarkin also must take blame, although he has paid the ultimate price. I am informed he failed to evacuate the station when alerted, he also refused to launch additional TIE fighter squadrons when it became clear the Rebels were evading our gun towers. I was already in pursuit of the Rebels or I would have intervened,' replied Vader. He could not, and did not, want to entirely defend his son. He continued,
'My son has failed you and the Empire my Master, I will find him and punish him personally. I have questioned members of Black Squadron and his wingman, I believe he is currently being held on the Rebel base on Yavin 4 after crashing his x-wing. I know him to still be alive, but in what state I am uncertain.'
'Moff Tarkin is no longer of any interest Lord Vader,' replied the Emperor, 'you will search the Rebel base immediately and inform me when you have young Skywalker, you will then bring him before me and we will deal with him together.'
'Yes my Master,' said Vader bowing his head as the Emperor ended their transmission.
Standing and turning the giant hemispheres of his meditation chamber separated with a hiss and he took a seat inside. He opened a channel to the command bridge, Admiral Ozzel and General Veers appeared on the screen in-front of him.
'Lord Vader,' the two of them greeted him with bow.
'Admiral, make contact with the Devastator and Avenger. They are to meet us at Yavin 4 and begin an immediate raid of the Rebel base in search of my son,' ordered Vader.
'General Veers get my shuttle ready, I will join them on the surface, there will be no mistakes this time,' and with that he cut off the transmission frustrated he would have to wait even longer to meditate, the concern for his son was being replaced with anger.
…..
Deek was panicking, what did Lord Vader want with him? Why did he have to stay behind? What did he know? Of the members of Black Squadron that had returned from Yavin 4 most had now gone back to the Interceptor, a handful remained in the detention cells recovering from the interrogation droid and finally there was himself. He had been given access to the mess hall, where he sat now, and crew quarters for the pilots that were assigned to the Executor. He was all too aware however that a squadron of storm troopers had been given strict orders not to let him leave this immediate area, they stood guard at all available exits. Sipping on a cup of kaf Deek ran his fingers through his hair, acutely aware he had not even had chance to freshen up after the battle, it had all gone so terribly wrong. His mind raced, the anxiety was overwhelming, and he found it hard to even sit still. Deek rose and went to grab a ration bar, maybe eating something would help. The other pilots glanced at him as he went up to the servery but where for the large part giving him a wide berth, news travelled fast, and it had almost certainly gotten around that he had found himself on the wrong side of Darth Vader. Grabbing the ration bar and another cup of kaf he hurriedly sat back down. Three pilots sat down at the other end of the bench, the insignia on their uniforms indicated they were new recruits, he took a bite from his ration bar hoping the sugar would settle his shaking.
'So I just overheard the Commander telling the Captain we are headed back to Yavin 4,' one pilot said to the others.
'What the hell for?' asked another.
'Something about taking troops to the base, I couldn't hear everything,' he replied.
Deeks ears pricked, he leaned ever so slightly closer to the group.
'Why are we going down onto the surface? If Vader wanted to finish off the base wouldn't it be easier to bomb the crap out if it and take out any escaping ships from the air?' asked another pilot.
'I don't know,' said the first pilot again.
I know, thought Deek, Vader wants to search for Luke, which meant that he was alive. Of course, Vader must have known if Luke was alive or not, Luke had spoken often about their 'connection' as he called it. He would always flinch slightly when Vader was speaking to him, like it was painful, tilting his head a little to the side. It also explained why the order was not to bomb the base or shoot down any craft, Vader clearly did not want to risk accidently killing his own son, ironic really given the amount of times Luke had ended up in the med bay following an argument with his father. Deek remembered a particularly aggressive fight when Vader had speared Luke with his lightsabre. The blade had gone completely through his right side, it had been a close one that time, Luke had spent a month in the med bay. Things were heating up now with the Death Star destroyed, the Rebels almost certainly holding Luke and Darth Vader ordering an attack on the base. Vader clearly had it in for him, he needed to get out of here. Thinking quickly, he rummaged in his belt pulling out a small but powerful smoke detonator, the guards has taken his blaster when he came onboard, but the small size of the detonator meant it went unnoticed. Setting the timer and checking his chrono he got up and pretended to get another cup of kaf, sticking the detonator onto the side of the machine. He returned to the bench with his cup.
'Hey can I ask you something?' shouted Deek to the pilots.
'What do you want?' one of them said back with distain.
'Who do you think you're talking to Ensign?' Deek said sternly, rising from his seat so they could see his rank insignia, 'I am Lieutenant Nadir, Lord Skywalkers wingman, I suggest you stand to attention before I inform him of your insubordination .'
'Sorry sir, yes sir,' they all stuttered standing up and saluting him, they all knew how short a temper the Prince had. That's interesting, thought Deek confirming his suspicions, it clearly hadn't gotten round that Luke was missing yet.
'Better,' said Deek, he pointed to the Ensign that had first spoken to him, 'You? What's your name?'
'Err Ensign Boone Sir,' he replied.
'Well Ensign Boone, by the sounds of it you and your friends should be preparing for battle. Why don't you show me to your TIE fighter and I can make sure you complete the proper pre-flight checks correctly,' said Deek praying his plan would work.
'Yes Sir, certainly Sir,' replied the Ensign.
'Excellent, after you,' gestured Deek, 'You two stay here,' he added to the other pilots, 'I'll come back for you later.' With that he followed the Ensign out of the mess and down the corridor, checking his chrono he slowed ever so slightly, putting his hand on the Ensigns shoulder. At the exit stood two stormtroopers, blasters held ready. Right on time a loud bang came from the mess hall, the Ensign turned startled, plumes of black smoke were spewing out of the mess hall door. Alarms blared and the two stoomtroopers ran off to investigate. Pulling the Ensign back round Deek ushered him forward and through the doors towards the launch bay, 'Never mind that Ensign,' said Deek,' let's get to your fighter, I'm keen to know what you can do.'
'Yes Sir,' replied the Ensign, not wanting to enrage his senior officer any more than he already had.
…
With the Prince secured in the small medical bay onboard the Falcon, along with his accompanying nurse, Han and Chewie prepared for take-off. Leia was sat behind them in the cockpit with C-3PO next to her, R2-D2 had secured himself in one of the holding bays ready for the Falcons typically bumpy take off.
'Captain Solo to Base, all checks complete, ready for take-off.'
'Base to Captain Solo, copy that, you are cleared for take-off' replied Dodonna, 'The Redemption is expecting you, may the force be with you.'
'Here we go Chewie,' he said as the Falcon creaked into the air. They flew out of the hangar bay, above the trees and out of the atmosphere to space. Leia got up from her seat and went to head out of the cockpit. Chewie growled,
'I agree, this is going to be a short trip Princess, might as well stay here,' said Han.
'I need to see him,' said Leia quietly, turning again to leave. She wanted to look him in the face, all be it an unconscious one, she wanted to see up close the face of the person responsible for much of the death and destruction of the last few years. The Emperor until the last few years had been very protective of his heir, preferring to attend the Senate himself, it was only recently Luke had appeared in the Senate chambers. Occasionally Vader had accompanied them, more so in recent months as the Emperor sought to rule with fear. Vader made for an intimidating site, his stature, and the sound of his respirator enough to strike fear and bend the will of most. As soon as the Prince turned 16 the Emperor had begun to involve him more in their work. Now at almost 20 years old he had already carried out missions on behalf of the Emperor, most successful, others not, but in all he had left devastation in his wake.
Stepping into the Falcons medbay the nurse looked up from her charge, standing to great Leia. She was young, but the dark circles around her eyes spoke of the stresses of war.
'Your highness,' she said with a small bob, 'I wasn't expecting you.'
Leia smiled, 'I wanted to see the Prince for myself, thank you for agreeing to accompany us Nurse….?'
'Amana, Nea Amana your highness, please do sit down,' she gestured to a small stool next to her, 'I was just about to clean some of this blood off, I didn't have time with the rush to stabilise him and get him off planet.'
'Please continue,' said Leia taking her seat, the nurse picked up a small bowl of water with a cloth and set to work. The Prince lay motionless on the cot, they had removed his shirt and he was covered up to just below his shoulders with a brown blanket. An IV was set up pumping fluids, painkillers, and sedatives into his veins. The nurse started with the cut at his hairline, the blood was dried onto his forehead and in his hair, she carefully cleaned it away, a small amount of fresh blood taking its place. Nea quickly applied bacta gel along the line of the cut and the bleeding stopped. Next she removed the oxygen mask that was covering his nose and mouth, Leia saw his face was bruised and his lip split. Nea gently cleaned the blood from his chin, replacing the mask. Moving down she uncovered his chest, Leia gasped.
'Oh my!' she exclaimed.
'Yeah, we think his chest must have hit the front console, the right side taking the most force, most of the ribs on that side are broken' said Nea, 'he's lucky to be alive, I hope he appreciates what the Alliance has done for him when he wakes.'
Not likely thought Leia.
Lukes' chest was a heavily bruised, particularly the right side, with numerous lacerations. Just underneath his right arm was the chest drain, sutures held the tube in place. Bacta patches had already been applied to the larger wounds, Nea cleaned and applied the gel to the smaller ones. She checked the drain site and covered him back up, placing his right arm across his chest.
'Are you ok to keep watch while I empty the bowl?' asked Nea.
'Certainly,' replied Leia, moving her stool a little closer to the Prince after Nea left.
She looked down at him, Wedge was of course right, he would have left any of them to die had the circumstances been reversed. Despite the injured features he looked far too young to be capable of the things he had done, that being she thought, he is the same age as me and look at all I have done. It was the Princes 16th birthday celebrations that made Leia realise that not only where they the same age, but they also shared a birthday, Empire Day. The celebrations had been larger than usual to mark the Prince coming of age. Moving her gaze to his hand she reached out, she would probably never get this close to him again without her life being in danger. She laid her hand on his, a rapid overwhelming wave of emotion washed over her. Panic and fear gripped her mind, it felt like tendrils of fire had wrapped around her head and were forcing their way in. Screams of pain burned in her ears, she even reached for her right side it felt so real. Encompassing it all came a sense of connection, bonding. She tore her had away gasping for breath, sweat beading on her forehead. What in the Galaxy was that!
'Princess Leia, Princess Leia' said Threepio, she had no idea how long he had been there or how many times he had said her name, 'Captain Solo wishes me to inform you we are approaching the Redemption, he requests you strap yourself in for landing.'
'Thank you Threepio, I'm coming,' she replied, trying her best to hide her shortness of breath. Nea entered as she stood to leave, 'best get yourself seated to Nea, and I think the Prince could do with some more painkillers in that IV.' Nea nodded, confused, but happy to do as ordered.
Leia turned to leave and headed for the cockpit, her head still spinning from whatever it was that had happened.
