Hey guys - sorry for the delay. AS Mocks are a killer. Hope you've all had a merry time since we spoke last. :)
This week's shout-outs go to: Taboo22, SerenityMoonPrincess and ThatGirlWhoLovesELO. Thanks again for reviewing!
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.
"Princess," General Rieekan called from the other side of the room, "the snow-speeders are away. There are Imperial walkers are gaining ground. They're almost at our front line." An ominous rumble punctuated his words.
"How many?"
"Four, your highness. Most of the transports are out, but I don't think we can protect two at once."
"I know it's risky," Leia said grimly, "but we can't hold out much longer. We've got to get as many of the troops out as possible."
He nodded, "Very well. Launch the patrol."
"What's happening out there?" Alice asked, glancing at Leia.
"The Empire has sent ground troops to try and take out our shield generators so they can bombard us from space. We need to hold them off until all the transports are gone, but even if they manage to get off the planet, there's a blockade of star destroyers up there and we don't have enough fighters to defend ourselves." Leia's voice shook a little as she finished, giving in to her frustration long enough to pound the table top.
"So essentially, not an ideal situation," Alice summarised.
As though to prove her point, the ceiling suddenly gave a violent shake. Alice wobbled, and glanced up. Cracks were spider-webbing through the rock ceiling with a rough snapping noise, marking out a large chunk that if it fell would land directly on-
"Leia!" Alice lunged forward and shoved her friend out of the way just as the chunk of ceiling gave way with a furious crack. Dust exploded up from the floor, blinding them all momentarily. Coughing, Alice blinked furiously until her vision cleared. The boulder had partially crushed the screen Leia had just been studying, but other than that, no one was injured.
"Phew," she said, relieved, "that was close."
Leia looked shocked, but managed to say, "Thank you, Alice."
"Not a problem. Gosh, I'm just like Lara Croft."
"Alice? Leia? You alright?"
To Alice's acute surprise, Han came leaping in over the rubble and stumbled towards them. Leia's expression sharpened immediately, "What are you still doing here?"
"Heard they were targeting the command centre."
"You've got your clearance to leave," Leia snapped, getting to her feet.
"Don't worry," Han said, reaching forward and grabbing the princess by the arm, "I'll leave. But first I'm going to get you to your ship."
"Princess," Threepio put in, clearly worried, "Miss Alice, we must take this last transport. It's our only hope."
Leia pulled her arm away from Han and strode off to the other side of the room, shouting instructions to the remaining few technicians.
Alice expected Han to get angry with Leia, to yell at her or something. But instead, he was surprisingly gentle. He put a hand on her shoulder, and turned her around, "Come on, that's it." Somehow, even with grumpy Imperial soldiers shooting at them and the building falling apart and Luke somewhere out in the middle of a battle, Alice managed to crack a smile at this. Han Solo: The Softer Side.
"Give the evacuation signal, and get to your transports," Leia said, with an air of desperation. Han allowed her this last order, then pulled her away, grabbing Alice's hand as he passed her.
They hurried down the corridors, most of them in darkness, the lights burned out or broken. The walls and floors trembled as the Imperial walkers or whatever they were called got closer and closer to the entrance of the base. "This isn't the way to the main hangar," Alice panted as they ran.
"The transports are in a secondary bay," Han called back over his shoulder, "thought they'd be safer there."
Suddenly, there was a sharp crack, and ahead of them, the ceiling of the tunnel simply caved in. Han shoved Alice and Leia back against the wall, crouching protectively over them. Alice also got a mouthful of snow, but since it was that or being crushed by a tonne of the stuff, she thought a mouthful was probably the lesser of two evils.
Spluttering, Alice stumbled to her feet, leaning heavily against the wall for balance. Han pulled a comlink from his belt and said quickly, "Transport? This is Solo. You'd better take off, I can't get to you. I'll get her out on the Falcon." He put the device away and helped Leia up, dragging her past Alice back the way they'd come, "Come on."
God…all this running is going to be the death of me.
She chased after them, and grabbed hold of Threepio, who was still trying to catch up with them as she passed him. They made their way to the main hangar where the Millennium Falcon waited for them. Chewie was dancing anxiously around by it, and Alice flashed him a grin as they reached him, "What, you didn't think we weren't coming, did you, fuzzy?"
He gave a wail of relief, and scooping both her and Threepio up at once, he carried them both on board.
"Well, it's good to be back, isn't it?" Alice said cheerfully as Chewie set them down in the cockpit, "The only thing missing is-" She stopped, horror-struck. "Leia!" The princess, followed by Han, came racing into the room, "Yes?"
"What about Luke? He's got a ship, yeah? I mean, he can get off the planet?"
"Yes, yes of course," Leia said, avoiding her eyes.
Alice stared at her, "Oh no."
"What?"
"You're not telling me something. What is it?"
Leia shifted uncomfortably for a moment, then said reluctantly, "The last we heard over the comlink was that Luke's speeder had been shot down."
"What?" Han spat, his head jerking up.
"I'm sure he's fine," Leia insisted, "but right now we need to get out of here!"
Han stared at her, then furiously turned back to the console, and started banging away at it. Alice flinched at the noise and started chewing the inside of her cheek nervously.
"Can't you get this thing started?" Leia said, clearly letting out her concern for Luke as anger at Han.
"I'm trying!"
For a moment, the console hummed, and the various switches on the walls and ceiling began to glow. Then they flickered off again. Han bashed the wall hard with his fist. They came back on.
Alice felt a twist of nausea. "Oh boy…"
"This bucket of bolts will never get us past the blockade!"
Han took his seat, "This baby's got a few surprises left in her, sweetheart."
"Sometimes I think you're a little too generous to the Falcon, Han," Alice said apprehensively, staring up at the rusty walls, "I mean, she's a freighter. You're basically a man in a van."
Han ignored her, pressing buttons frantically. Out of the front view screen, Alice saw a bunch of people dressed in the familiar white of storm troopers come running towards them, though their winter gear made them look a little like kids dressed up as ghosts for Halloween, only far more menacing. Han grabbed a joystick, twisted it and slammed down a switch. Lasers, presumably from a hidden gun somewhere on the Falcon came flying out of nowhere and mowed down a whole row of soldiers.
"See?" Han said, trying for a carefree grin but clearly a little too stressed to pull it off.
"One day you're going to be wrong and I just hope I'm there when it happens," Leia grumbled, sitting down in the seat behind Han's.
"Punch it," he said to Chewie, ignoring Leia's jibe. Slowly, a little too slowly for Alice's liking, the Falcon started to move. She was leaning forwards, trying to see out the front window when she saw him. Darth Vader. He stood across the hangar, watching as his troops were shot down trying to stop them taking off.
She could tell from the sudden stillness of the others that they'd seen him too. She let out a jerky breath, her eyes fixed on the black-cloaked figure. It was weird, even though they were half a room away from each other, it felt like he was watching her; the hair on the back of her neck prickled, and goosebumps crept down her arms.
"I can see you."
Alice jerked backwards, her eyes wide, her breath coming in quick startled pants. What the hell…?
Han spared her a glance as he frantically rattled the controls, trying to get them airborne. Leia however, reached over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Alice? Are you alright? Alice?"
"Umm…" She tried to explain that she'd just heard Darth Vader speak to her, over the sound of laser blasts and Han's cursing and the whole of Echo Base collapsing, but her voice was lost as the Falcon finally managed to lumber into the air and go sailing out of the far end of the hangar, past the Imperial troops still firing at them.
The tense silence endured as they flew over the crumbling remains of the rebel base, which was littered with the smoking wrecks of several of their speeders. Alice swallowed, thinking of Luke. Leia seemed to guess what she was thinking about, and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly, "I'm sure he's fine. He'll meet up with the rest of the fleet at the rendezvous point, no problem."
"Sure." She put a hand to her stomach, which, for some reason, was roiling with nausea, "Hey, I don't feel very well. I think I'm going to go lie down…"
Han glanced over his shoulder at her, his eyebrows drawn down in concern, "Take my cabin, kid." She nodded, and got to her feet, stumbling slightly as the ship rocked. Han growled, and added, "Make sure you're strapped in nice and tight. It's going to get rough."
Alice's stomach lurched, and she clapped a hand to her mouth, "Oh joy…"
BREAK
Huh…I'm in a bed. Great. I love the bed. "Han? Leia?" It was dark, with only a faint pulsing of red and green bulbs on the floor and walls. Alice sat up cautiously, blinking blearily in an attempt to suddenly gain night vision. Where am I again? She glanced around, and in the dim glow of the lights, she spotted a black vest half-trapped in a cupboard door. Ah. Right. Han's cabin.
She got to her feet and crossed the room unsteadily. It took her a moment to locate the opening switch for the door in the dark, and when she did, the light from outside nearly blinded her. With one hand covering her face, she called, tentatively, "Threepio? Chewie? Hellooooo…"
"Mistress Alice!" The golden droid poked his head around the corner, his voice expressing a certain degree of relief, which she thought was really quite touching.
"Threepio! I never thought I'd be so ridiculously over-excited to see your face! How are you?"
"My current state of being is…tolerable, thank you. I must say that Captain Solo has led us into a real mess this time, though."
"Oh? Well, that's reassuring…"
"Ally!" Han appeared in the doorway, "You alright, kid? You didn't throw up in my room did you?"
"Charming," she said, wrinkling her nose, "and no, I did not. I just felt rubbish that's all." Thanks to the velvet-voiced Darth Vader popping in to say hi. Give me Ben Kenobi any day. "So what happened? Where are we now exactly?"
"We're on an asteroid, a big one, in the middle of an asteroid field. I reckon we'll be safe here for a little while…"
She raised her eyebrows, "Safe from what, pray tell?"
"A couple of Imperial star destroyers. You know, the usual."
"Ah."
"Alice! How are you?"
"Doing okay," she told Leia, noting that despite her concerned expression, the princess looked rather cross at the moment. She glanced over at Han, who, by contrast, seemed positively chirpy. Aha. I wonder what's been going on there then. "I hear we're doing temporary time on an asteroid."
"Yes," said Leia, sounding as though she strongly disapproved of this, "it was Han's idea."
"Who else?" Alice said, trying to stop herself from grinning, "So how long are we stuck here exactly?"
"Who said we're stuck?" Han broke in, indignant.
"I definitely heard a 'stuck' implied in there somewhere."
Han hmphed, and Leia said, "We're trying to fix the hyperdrive so we can make the jump to light speed and get off this rock."
"Perfect," Alice said, clapping her hands cheerfully together, "now, what not technologically-related task do you have in mind for me?"
Han and Leia glanced at each other. "You could…no…"
"How about…wait, that probably wouldn't…"
"Perhaps you should just take it easy," Han suggested after a moment.
Alice stuck her tongue out at him, "Thanks for the vote of confidence, but I'll stick with Leia actually, if that's alright."
"Let's go then."
She poked Han in the chest as she followed Leia out of the room, and he grinned fondly at her, "Good to have you back, kid."
And, because it was required by some kind of unspoken law, Alice said, "Good to be back."
"So," Alice said, some half an hour later, as Leia expertly scorched something with a blowtorch, "you and Captain Solo, eh?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Leia said, though her cheeks were quite distinctly pink, even in the gloom of the weird little cupboard she'd led them into.
"You can't fool me, Leia, darling. You've been muttering under your breath for the last half an hour, and you have this grumpy little frown on, which means he's done something that you know should make you dislike him, but actually only makes you like him more." She gave a happy sigh, "You two are just so sweet."
Leia glanced at her, then shook her head, "Really, I have no clue."
"Oh, suuure-" Alice stopped as suddenly, she spotted Han standing in the doorway. He met her gaze, and jerked his head to the side, indicating for her to scram. She grinned mischievously, and got to her feet, "Hey, I'm just going to go and check with Threepio about the old food situation. You want anything?"
"I'm fine."
"Okey dokey. See you later, alligator. And before you ask, yup, that's just something we say back home. Because we're cool like that."
She headed off down the adjoining corridor but glanced back over her shoulder just in time to see Han stepping in and leaning down to talk to Leia. She grinned to herself, He's bold, I've got to give him that.
She poked her head out of an opening to her right and found herself back in the main corridor where Chewie and Threepio were working. "Hey guys," she said brightly, "how's it going?"
"Well, I don't know where to start," Threepio said huffily, "this ship's computer really is one of the coarsest I've come across."
Alice held back her laughter, knowing it would only make the protocol droid more cross, "Well, I'm sorry to hear that, old chum."
He cocked his head on one side, "If you don't mind me saying so, Miss Alice, you seem unusually cheerful all of a sudden."
"Do I?" She asked, smiling, "I can't think why."
He turned back to his work, still grumbling, "Well, it can't be because of this blasted situation we're in – stranded in an asteroid field with no working hyperdrive. It really is typical of Captain-" A loud beep echoed through the corridor, and Threepio gave a well-mannered cry of triumph, "Hurrah! Sir, sir!"
"Wait, Threepio, don't!" But before Alice could stop him, the droid had ambled round the corner and interrupted Han and Leia in the middle of a passionate kiss. Ohhh, spacey-wacey awkward situation number one: getting caught kissing by the protocol droid…
Han turned grumpily to face Threepio, who was somehow clueless as to what he'd just done, and Alice saw Leia slip away deeper into the bowels of the ship, her head down.
A moment later, Han stalked out past Threepio and went to criticise Chewie for a bit. Alice bit her lip as she glanced first the way that Leia had gone, then after Han. Who to follow?
After a moment's thought, she decided there was no point in going after Han – it wasn't like he ever listened to her anyway. Looks like Leia's stuck with me and my terrible advice. Oh, why didn't I get more experience with relationships before I had to come and play cosmic matchmaker?
Shaking her head, she headed off down the corridor after Leia, pausing to wander over to Threepio and give the droid a smack on the arm as she passed, "Numpty."
"Well, I never!"
She made her way to the cockpit – Leia would probably be there since it was as far as she could get from Han without physically leaving the ship. True to her own suspicion, she found Leia sitting in the co-captain's chair, staring moodily out of the front window.
"Hey," Alice said tentatively, closing the door behind her as she slipped inside. "Want to chat?"
Leia started when she came in, but when she realised who it was, she seemed to relax. "Oh. Hello, Alice."
Unsure if this was a 'yes' to the chat, Alice sidled forward and sat down in Han's chair, twisting awkwardly backwards and forwards, and half-hoping that Leia wouldn't say anything to her. No such luck.
"I just don't understand that man sometimes."
"Han, you mean?"
"Yes," Leia said, exasperated, "it's so frustrating. Because it should be so easy to read him, but it's not. And he's just so stubborn…"
"Kind of like you," Alice said, without thinking. Leia stared at her. Alice stared back, one hand covering her mouth. "Um…I just meant…that…ah…"
"No, you're right," the princess said, waving away Alice's anxiety, "I am stubborn. Perhaps that's why…"
She shook herself, and made a face, as if she was no more comfortable with this touchy feely stuff than Alice was. I can sympathise.
After a moment's silence, Leia spoke up again, this time sounding tentative, "Alice, I want you to know…that, that kiss with Luke…I wasn't…you know that I'm not trying to-"
"Oh yeah, of course," Alice said at once, cutting her off before she could continue to even vaguely allude to an admittedly non-existent but nevertheless creepy incestuous relationship with her brother, "No worries. It's just…it's all pretty messed up." And you don't even know the half of it.
Her companion hummed in agreement, and together they turned their gazes to the front window again.
"Alice?"
"Mmm?"
"Do you think Luke's alright?"
"Oh, bloody hell."
Leia raised her eyebrows, "What?"
Alice shook her head, "Sorry. I just remembered he's not with us. He'd better be okay, or I'm going to hunt him down and…probably injure him."
Outside the ship, there suddenly came a loud cracking noise, as if a huge rock had just been crushed. She flinched and peered out of the window. The sound came again, and again. "Imperial fighters," Leia said grimly, "they're looking for us."
Alice sighed, and sat back in her seat. Hoth had been cold and dismal, but it was still better than this drifting hunk of rock. The explosions went on and on, echoing hollowly through the cave. Suddenly, Leia leant forward in her seat, peering through the view screen.
"What?" Alice asked apprehensively, "What is it?" Leia didn't answer, causing a horrible, nerve-jangling build in tension that made Alice wish she could turn around and run away.
Then a huge, ugly, slimy, disgusting half-bat, half-slug creature smashed into the window, directly in front of their faces. Alice screamed.
Dun dun dun! Thanks for reading, and please review!
