CONFETTI! CAKE! STREAMERS! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE DANGER OF A DEATH! 1 year ago today, I posted Chapter One of this story. Since then, I've been getting inspirational and loving reviews from all you guys. I'm so glad you like this story. I had no idea where I was heading going into it!
I'm glad you enjoyed last chapter. Sorry I couldn't respond to some of you guys, was being weird and I didn't get some of my mail.
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars (but I wish).
(Published 3.19.19)
Chapter Thirty-Two: The Dead Planet
3 BBY
"Approaching Ilum," said Ben at the controls. Padme, as the wife of the owner of the Twilight II, had allowed them to take the ship - just for this one mission.
Luke could've been more... enthusiastic. After his father's outburst, he had been contemplating whether going to Ilum was a good idea or not, but there really was no turning back now.
Of course, R2 had come along. Ilum's not a fun place, the droid complained. It nearly froze my circuits. And last time I went there -
Luke rolled his eyes. "I know, you told me. You and Ahsoka got attacked by pirates."
Probably wasn't any worse than that one time General Grievous captured me and tore me open for information. Did I tell you about that one time -
"Exiting hyperspace," said Ben, chuckling at R2's antics.
Flying would never get old for Luke - for someone who had only been in hyperspace a few times in his life, he loved to watch the swirls of blue as they drifted out of sublight. It was almost mesmerizing.
But not this time.
The Twilight exited hyperspace to… destruction.
That was the only way to describe the planet Ilum.
Where snow may have been ten years ago, there was merely gray now. In some spots, especially near the equator, large chunks of land had been ripped off the surface of the planet.
At least four Star Destroyers orbited the face of Ilum, with smaller ships that Luke knew to be mining ships… or maybe freighters. They were so tiny compared to the Imperial ships that he couldn't even pay attention to the tiny specks moving back and forth.
Obi-Wan's mouth parted in shock, and Luke simply said, "What have they done? How - how - "
"I don't know."
In short, the planet was a mess.
Artoo squealed and went to patch into the comlinks.
" - new batch of crystals from the surface to come in tomorrow."
" - T-14's?"
" - better not be any more pirates. I swear, if - "
" - Emperor wants us to report back to him after our next shipment," said an accented Coruscanti voice of a woman.
"Artoo, stay on this one," ordered Ben, holding up a hand for quiet.
The woman continued. "I will lose my placement here, which means you will too, Lieutenant, if we don't get this shipment as soon as possible to S-S-Sca - " The comlink communication fizzled out and Luke slammed his fist on the control panel.
"What are they doing to this planet? Why do they need shipments of these crystals?" Luke asked in anger.
R2 whirred worriedly and Ben muttered, "I think we've got bigger problems. That fleet is jamming our transmissions, which means they know we're here."
"Kriff." Luke immediately took the necessary precautions for preventing any tracking, taught to him by his pilot friends from the corvettes, but the damage had already been done.
"Attention, vessel," said a new voice, still in the same Coruscanti tone, but with different inflections. "The Empire is taking you in. State the number and model of your ship and please, do not resist arrest."
Luke wildly turned his head around and faced Ben with wide eyes. The Jedi, however, seemed calm, and pure serenity radiated from him. "What do we do?" yelled Luke, suddenly lowering his tone as if the comm system could still pick up his voice.
Ben simply bowed his head as the Imperial again said, "Light freighter, again, please state your credentials."
R2 beeped worriedly.
Stroking his beard, Ben said, "Luke, jump to lightspeed."
"Where?"
"Back to the fleet, or anywhere!" His tone suddenly became stricken. "Jump, now!"
Luke hurriedly nodded and pulled the lever to activate the hyperdrive, and they were going into hyperspace…
Suddenly, the entire the ship was rocked and Luke saw a blinding flash of rainbow colors. Then they were back in sublight.
"W-what just happened?" muttered Luke, head pounded. He was going to have a headache.
"I don't know, but Luke, we can't reach that ship. They will no doubt find out who we are if we get captured." R2 again whirred in frustration, trying to find out what had pulled them out of hyperspace.
"Ben, how are we going to find out where my crystal is if there are ships full of them? And we're being captured by kriffing Imperials!"
The Jedi gave him a stern look that only Luke would obey, and then said, "Luke. I need you to reach out to that ship. The ship in the middle. Close your eyes." Luke felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and he did what he was instructed. "Now picture a kyber crystal in your mind."
"I don't know what a kyber crystal looks like."
"What would a kyber crystal look like to you?" It was Ben's, Obi-Wan's, voice that comforted him, just as it had as far back as Luke could remember. Ben had always been there for him, even when his dad wasn't there. He focused on the voices of his past like a lifeline, something that could never be taken away -
That was it. He would protect everyone, not just his family, but the galaxy.
His eyes shot open. "My crystal isn't there."
"What?" said Obi-Wan in confusion. "Try the other ships, or maybe it's down on the surface still." They were steadily approaching the command ship, caught in a tractor beam.
"No, it's not there," said Luke, biting his lip. "I think my crystal is… here."
"Here?"
"I mean, on the ship." He turned around to meet Ben's grey eyes. "What's in your satchel?"
"My bag…" The older man picked up the bag and rummaged through it. "My lightsaber, my datapad, comlinks, rations…" He trailed off.
R2 beeped hopefully, still focusing on the tractor beam. "And what?" asked Luke.
"Qui-Gon's lightsaber crystal."
"Qui-Gon's…" Luke's eyes shone with realization. "Seriously? You actually have Master Qui-Gon's lightsaber crystal, randomly in your bag?"
Ben's voice was quiet. "I have carried this crystal with me ever since he died. He taught you. Maybe he wants - "
The Twilight shook as the tractor beam seemed to… deactivate?
"Are we free?" asked Luke in excitement, not noticing that he had interrupted Ben. "Wait." He turned to R2. "Was that - "
The astromech beeped, extending a 'limb' and giving a thumbs-up.
"Great job, Artoo," smiled Ben. "Now, let's get out of here, before they realize they've been intercepted!"
"But whatever pulled us out of hyperspace might still be here," Luke pointed out.
He shook his head. "No. It just left the system."
"How can you tell?" R2 continued to hold off the tractor beam as Luke turned the ship around to look for a new opening.
"There were many crystals on that ship. I could sense them. As soon as they pulled us out of hyperspace, the ship jumped to lightspeed itself. They're taking those crystals somewhere, I know - "
The ship rocked as a laser hit it. Luke peered out the window.
"TIE fighters!" he said in worry, jumping back into the pilot's seat. "Artoo, get the hyperdrive ready to go."
Where to?
"Anywhere!" The rest of the TIEs, a squad of them, swarmed around the Twilight II, giving Luke ample opportunity to make any moves.
Suddenly, at the worst moment, a hologram popped up. Dad. Kriff.
"Obi-Wan? I'm sending you coordinates for the new rebel base. We're heading there right now." He paused. "What's going on?"
"Oh, nothing, nothing, Anakin. Just a bit of fun." Ben and Luke braced themselves as another blast rocked the ship.
An angry look grew on his face. "What's going on? Is that - a TIE fighter? Get out of there, now!"
From outside where his father could see in the extent of the hologram, Luke shouted, "Yeah, that's kind of what we're trying to do."
Smoke began to hiss from a crack in the covering. Ben cursed. "This is really the last time I borrow a ship from you, Anakin Skywalker. It didn't turn out well last time, either."
The hologram crackled off unexpectedly as the ship went flying. "I really need to work on my shooting," Luke grunted.
"Leave that to me." Ben stiffly sat up and moved around to the reverse guns.
"No, no, no!" Luke brought the ship back around, bracing himself for more TIEs coming in. He saw Ben gun one down, not staggering one bit.
Until the guns exploded.
"Ben!" he yelled, looking slightly backwards. Ben was lying on the ground, seemingly unconscious, but he couldn't be sure. "Artoo. Please, are you done making those calculations?"
The droid whirred, and Luke made the final jump to hyperspace.
And then Luke collapsed.
He woke up to being electrocuted.
"Hey!" he yelled, pulling his arm away. He looked up, where R2 was staring at him. "Why'd you do that?"
Because you were unconscious, the droid replied. I've been trying for quite some time to wake you, but eventually I resorted to shocking you.
Luke rolled his eyes, but then asked, "Wait. How long was I out?"
The droid shifted. From my calculations, Master Luke, for 22 hours. Almost a day. You have a small concussion, I believe. It is healing quickly.
"A day!" Luke's eyes widened when he remembered Ben being thrown to the ground by the explosion. His head spun - probably the formerly mentioned concussion.
"Uncle Ben?" he said, rushing over to him.
"Luke," he smiled weakly. "The ship… damaged… coming out of hyperspace…"
Luke's eyes widened. "What?" He rushed over to the controls, searching for any sign of damage to the hyperdrive. "Oh no."
They were rocked out of hyperspace, Luke groaning. "Can this honestly get any worse?" He gritted his teeth, looking around. No sign of any planets, or even asteroids. "Artoo, can we contact anyone?"
Luke knew the answer was no. The ship's communication was down. The hyperdrive was disabled. They were stranded.
And Luke had never felt so helpless in his life.
Thankfully, Ben was there, just like he had always been, if not a bit dazed. "Comm…"
"What?" Luke asked, preoccupied by pressing buttons on the control panel. Also, he had a faintly pounding headache distracting him already.
"Comlink… in your pocket," he groaned. "Solo."
He looked at R2 in confusion, and then realized that he did in fact have a comlink in his pocket from Han Solo. Han Solo had a ship. The ship, as far as he knew, was operational. The ship could fly and pick up the dysfunctional Twilight II.
"Got it!" Luke gasped, clutching the communicator. "Thanks, Ben."
There was no answer from the old Jedi.
Somewhere across the galaxy, Han Solo heard a faint beep from his jacket pocket.
Ooh, Han! We all love Han! Also, as you can see, I took some canonical liberty in regards to Luke's lightsaber crystal. I couldn't find anything on the internet about how Luke came across his green lightsaber crystal, only that he found it in Obi-Wan's deserted hut. Why did Obi-Wan have it in his hut? Maybe it was important to him, and he had it for safe-keeping. What if it was... Qui-Gon's? That's always been a personal headcanon of mine. If it breaks canon... well, this is an AU, after all!
Also, some Death Star nods in this chapter. That Imperial officer was about to say Scarif, but the connection was lost. How convenient.
I just want to take a moment to thank everyone who has taken the time to review on this story. A year later, I'm close to 100 reviews and 150 followers. The furthest I had ever gotten in a fanfic before this was 8 chapters, and I'm currently writing Chapter 39! I've gotten so many kind and thoughtful reviews from members and guests alike, telling me that they are rereading DoaD. I always try my best to respond to you!
CloneWarsNerd has been the first to hear about most of my chapters throughout this journey. MAJOR kudos to them - sorry for the Anidala. I can't help myself sometimes!
So, my eternal thanks to all of you guys. Star Wars is one of the things that keeps me positive during school, because we all know how annoying and stupid school can be.
May the Force be with you and God bless, everyone!
-HH