Hello again! I hope you all had a very nice holiday season and are looking forward to the start of 2013! Anyone gonna make any New Year's resolutions? I should probably try to give up chocolate for about the third year running (no success so far). I've had a lot of fun wandering around Turkey - I saw The Hobbit which was completely awesome, and which everyone else should definitely also see.
Shout-out to Undertaker's Hattress (great name by the way) for reviewing - it's always lovely when people review. :)
Anyway, hope you enjoy this week's chapter - I can't believe we're already getting to the end of A New Hope!
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.
Suddenly, the mournful silence that had fallen between Luke and Alice was broken by a slight cough. Alice looked up. There was a woman standing in the doorway. For a second, Alice failed to realise the significance of this. Then she remembered who this was.
"Your Highness," Alice said, wondering if she ought to curtsey.
"Please," said the woman, coming closer, "call me Leia. I would just like to say that, well, I don't think that there was anything more you could have done for General Kenobi. He would have wanted you to escape."
She's pretty, isn't she, Alice thought idly, despite the unfortunate hairstyle. Kind of like Luke. She froze. Holy crap, I just remembered. They're brother and sister, aren't they? That's one of the things about Star Wars that everyone knows. Luke and Leia are twins. Only, I'm not supposed to tell them – right?
Luckily, her mouth was able to reply for her while her brain went on a momentary holiday, "Oh. Thank you." A thought occurred to her, and leaving Luke's side, she took a step towards the princess, "I'm, um, I'm so sorry about what happened to your planet. It must have been terrible for you."
Wow, that sounded really lame out loud.
Poor comfort though it was, however, it seemed to make Leia pause. Her expression softened, and the way she was looking at Alice made it seem like she was re-evaluating the strange girl who stood in front of her, "Thank you." The words were simple, but full of genuine gratitude, and Alice realised that, stuck on the very ship that had destroyed her planet, Leia could not have received a single word of condolence since it had happened. "But you mustn't be sorry. There was nothing I could have done to change its fate without giving up my belief in freedom for this galaxy. And that is something I will never do."
Wow…she's…wow.
Han came clattering into the room, breaking the solemn moment, and gave Alice and Luke a brief, sympathetic look, "Come on, you two, we're not out of this yet."
His voice acted as a pretty effective galvaniser. Alice got to her feet and hurried to the cockpit, followed by Leia, while Luke and Han made for the twin gun pods.
"Oh, I'm Alice Miller, by the way," Alice said over her shoulder to Leia as they went, "good to meet you."
"A pleasure," her companion replied.
Civilised.
They clattered into the cramped cockpit, Leia sliding into what was normally Han's seat while Alice took up a place between the two chairs.
"What have we got, Chewie?" Alice said, peering nervously through the front screen.
Leia glanced down at the monitor and rapped out, "Four Imperial fighters."
"Ah," Alice said grimly, "fun."
Chewbacca growled loudly and spun the ship fiercely to avoid oncoming laser blasts. Through the crazed whirl of stars and the green of the Imperial lasers, Alice saw one of the Imperial ships swerve to avoid a volley of the Falcon's red lasers.
She gripped the back of Leia and Chewie's chairs hard to steady herself, flinching as the ship was struck and the lights flickered briefly.
"We've lost lateral controls," Leia called into the open communication line between the gun pods and the cockpit.
"Don't worry," Han's voice came back over the speaker, "she'll hold together."
Tense silence fell as the three of them watched the four enemy ships spiral around them, somehow just managing to stay ahead of Luke and Han's shots. Come on, Alice thought, crossing her fingers.
Han's yell of triumph made Alice jump, but she grinned as one of the four fighters exploded into fragments.
Another followed soon after, accompanied by a shout of, "I got him!" from Luke.
"There are still two more of them out here," Leia warned.
But her concern ended up being unfounded – Luke blew up another ship within minutes, and the last one exploded with a satisfying finality thanks to Han.
Chewie bugled cheerfully and Leia jumped to her feet, "We did it!" She threw her arms around the wookiee, then turned suddenly and hugged Alice too.
She blushed in surprise, but hugged the princess back, "That was…ridiculous. Phew."
Leia smiled at her, then sat back down in the captain's chair, her hands moving confidently to the controls, "Now, to get as far away from that station as possible…"
Chewie looked a little doubtful but didn't try to stop Leia as she entered what was presumably their new destination. The ship shuddered, and they shot forward into light speed, the stars blurring together and forming a swirling blue vortex around them.
Safe in hyperspace, Leia let out a little sigh of relief, "At last." She glanced over her shoulder at Alice, "You have no idea how good it feels to be out of that place."
"I can't imagine," replied Alice, and she couldn't.
Chewie got to his feet, burbling softly, and though she had no idea what he'd said, Alice nodded once in acknowledgement. He patted her gently on the head as he passed her and disappeared into the depths of the ship.
Woo, free chair.
With a great deal of satisfaction, Alice slumped into the co-pilot's chair, folding her arms on the control panel and resting her head on top, "Okay. Excitement over, time for a nap. Or a shower. Or both."
"Definitely both," Leia agreed dryly, "after that dip in that trash compacter. Thank you, by the way."
"Huh?" Alice frowned, confused, "What for?"
"For rescuing me," Leia said.
Alice blushed, "Oh. Well, you're welcome. But I really didn't do very much."
The princess looked amused, "Weren't you the one who turned off the garbage crusher?"
"Well…" Alice paused, "Not as such...let's say I was involved..."
To her surprise, Leia actually laughed, "Well, I'm grateful that you were involved. That awful captain would have gotten us killed if it weren't for you." Alice felt the urge to grin and repressed it – Han really did have a talent for getting on people's nerves. "I suppose you haven't known him long," Leia went on, tilting her head at Alice.
"Nope. We hired him to fly us to Alderaan. I hope he doesn't expect us to pay him, seeing as we never actually got there, but from what I can see-" Leia's smile faded and Alice bit her tongue, instantly guilty, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" Searching around for a new topic, she said quickly, "You know that we've got your droids, right? Artoo and Threepio?"
The words were met with a loud enthusiastic whistle. Leia and Alice turned in their chairs to see the droid peeping around the corner of the door; as soon as he saw them looking, he rolled right through the door and up to Leia, beeping cheerfully and stomping from side to side on his treads.
Aww.
Leia smiled, and rested a hand on his dome, "Yes, your other friend mentioned it. I'm very glad to have them safely returned." The little droid whistled again and stomped up and down, "I have to thank you for that too."
"Looks like he's pleased to see you too," Alice said. I'm not jealous, I'm not…
"Hey!"
"Well, look who it is," Alice said, as Luke and Han barged into the room looking very pleased with themselves, "the heroes of the day."
Luke shrugged self-deprecatingly at the compliment, but Han was quick to capitalise on it, leaning casually against the wall of his ship with as much swagger as if he'd just blown up the whole Death Star, "What can I say, I told you the Falcon has what it takes."
Next to her, Leia cleared her throat, her eyebrows going up in disbelief, but far from discouraging Han, her evident disdain only seemed to spur him on.
He turned to her with an exaggerated bow, "Ah, Your Highness. I assume that you want to be taken somewhere."
"Yes-"
"Then by all means," Han interrupted, "tell me where that is, so that I can get you off my ship as soon as possible."
Leia looked at him coldly, "It would be my pleasure."
Alice drew in a sharp breath through her teeth, "Well…I'm gonna go sit in the cabin. Luke? Coming with?"
"Sure," he said, backing out of the door with an uncharacteristically exasperated expression on his face. Somehow, she got the impression that he'd had his fill of Leia and Han bickering, which was impressive considering they'd only met about twenty minutes ago.
"Well, they make a lovely pair," she whispered to him as they left the cockpit.
Luke frowned, "Do you think so?"
She looked at him, strangely touched by his obvious lack of cynicism, "No, darling, no. That was sarcasm. If someone was writing this down, there would be italics there."
"Oh."
He looked distinctly embarrassed, and all of a sudden, the memory of Ben's death hit Alice in the face all over again, along with a wave of guilt for even teasing Luke at a time like this. Reaching out, she touched his shoulder gently, "How are you feeling?"
He shook his head wearily, "A little better, I guess. At least we managed to get the princess out – Ben would be proud of us for that."
"Yeah, he would." She fidgeted, gesturing towards the chairs in the main cabin, "I think I'm going to get some rest. Maybe you should too?"
Luke smiled softly, "Yeah, I think that's a good plan."
She smiled back, "Night, then. I guess."
"Night, Alice."
BREAK
"Alice? Wake up, kid, we're here." Alice opened an eye tentatively to see Han leaning over her, one hand resting lightly on her shoulder. The cabin was dark, and still, indicating they weren't in lightspeed anymore and corroborating his statement.
"And 'here' is where exactly?" She asked, standing up stiffly and stretching, "And why am I the only person who sleeps on this ship?"
"You're not," he said with a grin, jerking a thumb across the cabin. Blinking the sleep from her eyes, she saw Luke and Leia slumped side by side in the booth, Leia's head resting on Luke's shoulder.
Alice didn't know whether to coo or laugh, "Well...what a...peaceful scene."
"Yeah, well," the smuggler said, crossing the room to wake them, "you should see Her Highness when she's awake. She's more of a pain than you, and trust me, sweetheart, that's saying something." He paused, as if considering the truth of his own words, and perhaps rethinking his decision to wake Leia up.
"I have seen her while she's awake, remember? And I like her," Alice said, firmly, "maybe you're just feeling threatened."
Han snorted, but didn't move any closer to the sleepers.
Alice raised an eyebrow, "Perhaps you want me to wake her up, oh fearless captain?"
"Be my guest. I'll be up front."
Wuss.
Feeling slightly gleeful, she tiptoed over to Luke and Leia, and leaning over the table, shook Luke's shoulder lightly, "Helloooo? Time to wake up, sleeping beauties."
Luke opened his eyes drowsily, and jerked backwards, clearly surprised to find Alice's face so close. She had to laugh at the shocked expression on his face, and either that or Luke's sudden movement woke Leia, who looked disconcerted to say the least, as if she'd forgotten where she was.
"We've arrived at our mystery destination, wherever it is," Alice explained, seeing the princess's confusion, "personally, I don't have a clue. I'm hoping one of you does."
Leia brightened at this, and got to her feet at once, "Excellent. We've reached the rebel base. Finally, I can complete my mission. Artoo," she turned to the droid, who was sitting quietly in the corner, "come with me. The engineers will need to retrieve the information I stored in your memory drive."
Artoo beeped apprehensively, and Alice smiled encouragingly at him, "Don't worry, buddy, I'll stick with you the whole time. Honestly, it'll be fine." She glanced at Leia, "It will be fine, won't it?"
"What? Oh, yes, of course. Now come quickly, we shouldn't keep the commander waiting." And with that she strode down the corridor, opened the Falcon's main door and simply went swanning out.
Alice grinned at Luke, "She's something, isn't she?"
"Yeah, a pain in the ass," Han's voice answered her from the doorway.
Alice tsked, "That's enough out of you. You're just upset because she's tougher than you are. Or because she doesn't like you anymore than you like her."
"Both," Luke said, with a grin as he left the ship, jogging slightly to catch up with Leia.
Han met Alice as she hesitated in the doorway, watching the two of them, "He's known her two days and he's already soft on her," Han commented, "there's something wrong with that kid."
"Ha ha...you can say that again." Given that they are BROTHER AND SISTER, OH MY GOD, THIS IS SO CREEPY.
"Well, better not keep them waiting," she continued, smiling awkwardly.
He nodded, "After you."
"Aha!" She pointed at him in triumph. "So you are a gentleman really."
He rolled his eyes, "Get out of the ship, kid, before I throw you out. Goldenrod, Whistly, you coming?"
"Of course they are." Alice smiled in satisfaction as Threepio and Artoo joined her, and led the way out of the ship, Han and Chewie close behind.
The rebel base turned out to be a pretty, leafy moon named Yavin Four hidden in space behind Yavin, the planet it orbited around. Apparently this was good camouflage; Alice wasn't so sure.
The Rebel Alliance had set up shop in a large, stone temple, a lot like the ones built by the Maya on Earth. Alice almost laughed aloud when she saw it, and nudging Han, said, "Get your whip out, Indy!" (As a history buff, she had seen the Indiana Jones films.) He stared at her like she was mad, while she went off into enthusiastic gales of laughter at her own wit.
Princess Leia, reaching the entrance first, received a warm welcome which was extended, once she explained recent events (and Alice stopped laughing maniacally), to her rescuers. "It was nothing," Alice said breezily to the soldier at the door, "literally, I did nothing."
Luke, Han and Alice, as friends of the princess, were each given a small apartment to themselves, where they were able to wash and change. Alice, though she couldn't think of anything she wanted more than to have a shower and get out of the clothes she'd been wearing for three days straight, passed in favour of sitting with Artoo while the engineers retrieved the data Leia had stored inside him, as she had promised.
Together, Alice and Artoo were taken to a small, bespectacled man who was reputedly the best engineer the rebels had to offer. He seemed a little surprised to find a strange girl accompanying the little droid like a mother taking a child to the dentist, but he didn't say anything about it, instead getting straight to work.
She sat quietly, watching the engineer (who she was delighted to find out was named Bob) and listened as he explained the very complicated technical things he was doing. She didn't bother to point out that she had only just scraped a pass in GCSE Physics and let him talk; clearly he enjoyed it. It was quite soothing for her too – probably because what he was saying sounded like it should make sense, but it didn't, a bit like the time she'd accidentally bought a movie in French and had fallen asleep watching it.
As soon as they were done with Artoo, however, Alice allowed the huge moustachioed soldier who had come to fetch her to lead her up to her 'apartment'. She spared the time to say a brief hello to Han, whom she met along the way, before flinging herself into the small bathroom of her little room and locking the door, with the intention of not emerging for several hours at least.
Now, she was sitting on the tiny little camp bed in her room and attempting to pat her hair dry as quickly as possible, never an easy feat. She had actually cheered up sufficiently from the shower that she was in a singing mood and was humming to herself.
The soldier who'd guided her to her room had given her a bundle of clothes, and looking through them, she found they weren't that different from the ones she'd had on before: a similar tank top, another flight suit, though this one was made of slightly heavier, coarser material. She pulled them on quickly, whacked her boots on and shoved the various miscellaneous items which had been in her pockets into her new flight suit.
She was just pulling her almost-dry hair back up into a bun when there was a knock on the door. With a hair tie in her mouth and one hand holding her hair in a bunch, she headed over to the door and managed to find the right button to open it first try.
Luke stood before her, his slightly darker than usual hair suggesting he'd been enjoying the benefits of having his own shower too. He'd also changed clothes; to her surprise, he was wearing one of the orange flight suits she'd seen the other rebel soldiers wearing earlier, and he had a helmet tucked under his arm.
He grinned at her, taking her by surprise with the enthusiasm in it, "Hey, Alice."
Hurrying to remove the elastic from her mouth and finish doing her hair, she smiled back, "Hi."
"Listen," he said, "they're about to hold a mission briefing – they've finished analysing the plans they got from Artoo. Leia wants us both to be there."
"And Han and Chewie?"
"I think they're already down there."
"Well, okay." But will there be food? I'm starving.
Luke led the way down the corridor – which was lucky because Alice didn't know where they were going. "So," Alice said, "just bring me up to speed: what exactly did they get out of Artoo?"
"The schematics for the Death Star," he answered, "the meeting is for us to come up with a plan of attack."
She frowned, "So soon? But we only got here, like, three hours ago."
"Well…" he glanced down as if he were embarrassed about something, "they tracked the Falcon. Followed us right to the base."
"Oh." Alice winced, "Whoops…"
"But they're coming to us so they'll be much easier to attack."
Alice suddenly got a very nasty feeling about just why Luke was wearing a flight suit now, "And…are you going to be…taking part in the attack?"
"I don't know yet, but maybe," he answered, his eyes glittering.
"Ah."
Slightly worrying that he's excited about risking his life trying to attack a planet-destroying space-ship.
"Alice? Are you alright?"
"Hm? Yeah, fine."
The rest of the walk was quiet; Alice didn't quite feel like making small talk anymore, and Luke kept shooting sideways glances at her, as though trying to work out what he'd said. It was almost a relief when they reached their destination: a medium-sized room that looked like a university lecture hall – except instead of being full of dozing students, this one was packed with fighter pilots in orange flight suits. Once they arrived, Alice slipped away from Luke and went to join Han and Chewbacca in the corner – the fact that Chewie was at least seven feet tall made him easy to spot.
"What took you two so long?" Han muttered as Alice took up a place next to him.
"I'm a slow walker, okay?"
Then the commander that Leia had hugged earlier in the hangar was talking from the front of the room, drawing even Alice's easily-distracted attention to him. "As you can see, the battle station is heavily shielded, and carries a firepower greater than half the star fleet. Its defences are designed around a direct, large scale assault. Therefore, a small, one-man fighter should be able to penetrate the outer defence."
A random pilot raised a hand, and said, "Pardon me for asking sir, but what use is a single fighter going to be against that?"
"Well, the Empire doesn't consider a small, one-man fighter to be a threat, or they'd have a tighter defence."
Alice snorted quietly, "Well, that's logical."
On screen, the map shifted from showing the exterior of the Death Star, to a cross section of it. "An analysis of the plans provided by Princess Leia has demonstrated a weakness in the battle station."
Alice zoned out. All this planning wasn't for her; when writing essays, it was always the part she hated most. So instead, she gazed around the room, studying the faces of the pilots. Most looked calm – but some of the younger men and women were twitchy. They fidgeted, glancing at the screen, then at their comrades, then down at the helmets clutched in their hands.
Poor things, she thought, sympathetically. She looked over at Leia, a young woman her own age, who appeared completely unfazed by the idea of attacking the Death Star. I don't know how Leia does it. She's so...in control. Maybe if I'd been born in this galaxy, I'd be like that...all firing blasters and commanding armies. She considered. Actually...no, I'd probably still be a loser historian.
A sudden ripple passed through the room – even Han shifted beside her – and Alice glanced up to hear the man saying, "It's a small thermal exhaust port right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system. A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station." On screen, a small bleeping dot, representing the rebel missile, travelled down a long thin passage directly to the heart of the Death Star. "Only a precise hit will set off a chain reaction. The shaft is ray-shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes."
Nearby, Alice heard someone mutter, "That's impossible, even for a computer."
There was a faint murmur of agreement around the area of the speaker, but the commander, not hearing, held out a hand, silencing the room, "Man your ships. And may the Force be with you."
As one, the men got to their feet, and began to file out of the room. Alice shuffled where she stood, her heart going out to the more nervous-looking men and women as they left.
"So the plan is that they fly up there and try and shoot a missile down a pathetically small gap to blow up the station, whilst at the mercy of the Death Star's forces?"
"More or less," Han said, shaking his head slowly.
"So basically, it's a rubbish plan."
"Well..."
"I feel so bad for them," Alice said softly, hardly aware that she had spoken aloud, until Han replied.
"They've got guts, I'll give 'em that." He snorted, "Course, it'll take more than guts to take down the Death Star. C'mon, Chewie, let's get out of here before it's too late."
Alice froze, "Wait…" She spun to face Han, her eyes narrowing, "You're really leaving, aren't you. After the Death Star, after Alderaan."
Chewie let out a little whine, as if in agreement, and Han shot him a dark glare, "Can it, fuzzball. Now, don't start trying to convert me, kid, I'm no crusader. I said from the beginning, I was only in this for-"
"For the reward," she cut him off, surprised to find just how devastated she was by the idea of him leaving and letting it out in clipped tones and a reproachful glare, "I remember. And that's totally fine. But you get to tell Luke that you're walking out on him. I wouldn't want you to miss out."
Thanks for reading, and please review!
