Chapter 5: Another Point of View

After passing by the fifth planet of this solar system, the convoy of smuggler ships left the largest of four gas giants behind them. From there it was a straight shot to the third planet, as the fourth was too small and in the wrong part of its orbit for effective cover. Just to the left of the third planet's large satellite sensors could detect a Star Destroyer in orbit, fighting the gravity well to remain in the planet's shadow. A smuggler's instinct in this situation was to turn around and jump into hyperspace, not head towards it as they were instructed.

For once it was more profitable to comply with the Empire than to circumvent its laws and regulations, though only because of the discreet nature of this assignment. The apparent risk here had the Empire paying five times the going rate for these supplies, quite a premium that simply could not be passed up by any cash strapped smuggler. For each ship this was going to be a very big payday, with it being at the Empire's expense as the icing on the cake. There would certainly be a lot of crowded cantinas once this was over, the credits and drinks flowing like water.

Last in the convoy was the Millennium Falcon, its pilot and captain Han Solo turned on the internal comm system. "Alright kid, we're going to need that voice of yours real quick."

The wookie Chewbacca grumbled something.

"I gave him your script," Han said, right before a young brown haired man walked into the cockpit. "Alright Wedge, time to see how well you could have been in holo-films."

Although Wedge Antilles was only a fighter pilot and mechanic, he had been handpicked by Princess Leia to be a substitute for Han Solo. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be."

"Here you go," Han said, handing Wedge a headset before hailing the Star Destroyer, praying that they didn't have Wedge's voice on record.

Wedge cleared his throat before putting on the headset. "This is the cargo freighter Vortando hailing Imperial Star Destroyer Stalker, delivering cargo requested by Imperial Supply, now requesting permission to dock."

Now all they could do was wait for a response. With each passing second the Star Destroyer grew larger in the view, ever the greater threat the closer they got to it and its immense arsenal. Han had his hand on the hyperdrive control, ready to engage at the last possible second to get them out of here. He was about to do it when the console beeped, as the Falcon was receiving a signal back from the Star Destroyer. It had all of them letting out a breath they had been holding, and they heard a voice coming through the comm.

"Acknowledged Vortando, await further instruction." There was a pause on that end, as if the officer was looking for something. "Vortando, the main shuttle bay is currently under quarantine. Please dock at underside hatch three. I apologize for the inconvenience."

"Understood, Vortando out," Wedge said, ending the transmission. "Huh, wonder what's going on over there."

"Whatever it is, it's not our problem," Han said. He got up from his chair and gestured for Chewbacca to follow. "We've got enough of them already."

When Toph awoke she felt strangely hollow inside, until her stomach started rumbling and told her only that part of her was empty. Then she noticed where she was, or rather the lack of where itself. To her form of sight she was lying back on a rather comfortable bed, in the middle of an abyss with nothing connected to it. Yet she did not feel the sensation of falling, despite every instinct telling her that ought to be happening right now. It was like something out of a nightmare, being completely lost and alone in a small island that she could see.

"What the… where am I?"

"Whew, you had us worried there," Sokka said, putting a hand on her wrist to comfort her.

The moment Sokka made contact Toph's world expanded, now that there was a physical connection for the vibrations to get to her. She could now see the shuttle bay all around her, along with Sokka and Zuko standing next to the bed that seemed to hover in place. They were near a wall that connected to a corridor, she could see several shuttles in the bay along with other assorted vessels. It also seemed like a prison here, as there were guards stopping people from coming in or going out. But they weren't aggressive, merely concerned with the health of everyone here.

"Oh right, we were going to that space ship," Toph said, raising herself to a sitting position. She held Sokka's hand with her right one, and the other arm wrapped around her belly. "Worst. Trip. Ever."

"I've never see you pass out before," Sokka admitted.

"Well I'm feeling a little bit better now," Toph said. She noticed a strange metal statue standing at the head of the bed, with hands that appeared to be some kind of tools. "Kind of hungry though."

"Your vitals appear to have stabilized."

"AH!" Toph yelled, scooting away from the unexpected voice. Now that she took the time to focus on it, the strange metal statue was moving. "What is that thing?!"

"I'm not really sure," Zuko said, looking at the grey colored mechanical man observing Toph. "The pilot said it was an emergency medical droid. Not that I know what a droid is other than it's some kind of machine."

"This 'machine' is nearly finished," the droid said, taking some scans of the patient. "Do you still feel nauseous or other symptoms of any kind?"

"Just hungry," Toph answered, having scooted all the way to the opposite end of the bed. She dangled her feet off the end, reaching with her toes until they touched the floor. "So what's the verdict Doc? Am I contagious?"

"Scans are coming up negative for viral elements, all vitals within acceptable parameters; you appear to be in good health." The droid shut down its scanners and backed away, then turned towards one of many officers standing nearby. "There is no risk of an outbreak."

That officer reported to the guards at the nearest exit, feeling very much relieved. "All clear. Lift the medical quarantine."

In moments the shuttle bay returned to what Toph assumed to be normal behavior, with the guards leaving the exits and everyone else going back to their own business. Toph quickly got onto her feet and walked away from the hovering bed, glad to have something solid beneath her feet. It was a little disconcerting that there was hardly any earth in the place, not enough for her to bend anyway. Even the metal around her seemed remarkably pure, clearly refined with far more advanced techniques than Earth had.

As she walked out of the shuttle bay with Sokka and Zuko, Toph had something she wanted to ask. "So is there a cafeteria around here?"

Directly beneath the Stalker's bottom hull, the Millennium Falcon was docked and hanging like some irregular stalactite. A docking clamp from the Star Destroyer was affixed to the Falcon's dorsal hatch, using the Falcon's lift for passage to and from the larger ship. Wedge was standing at the access hatch for the lift, currently in use bringing someone down from the Stalker. When the lift descended it brought three people down, an officer accompanied by two stormtroopers. Wedge didn't like the idea of haven them on the Falcon, but it was necessary to keep up appearances.

"Welcome aboard sir," Wedge said, with all the courtesy the Empire expected of people. "The Vortando may not look pretty, but she'll get the job done.

The officer took a small data chip out of his pocket and handed it to Wedge. "These are the coordinates for delivery on the planet. You and your crew are not to interact with the local inhabitants. I will handle the delicate matters planet-side."

"As you wish," Wedge said, taking the chip.

Waiting right beneath their feet in one of the Falcon's concealed smuggler holds, Han and Chewbacca were listening in on everything with a spare pair of headsets. Han was happy to hear that the final delivery would be made on the planet instead of the Star Destroyer, since making a getaway from there didn't have the problem of blowing apart any docking clamps first, removing the risk of damage to his own ship. The two stayed silent while hearing footsteps through the false deck plating, figuring that Wedge was heading back to the cockpit.

When he got there Wedge handed the data chip over to his copilot, another brown haired rebel by the name of Wes Janson. Caution told him not to insert the chip into the Falcon's main computer, suspecting that the Empire might want to upload a virus that would disable all the smugglers after the deliveries were completed. Instead Wes put the chip into a separate data pad, and a set of coordinates appeared on the pad's tiny screen. He then started putting the coordinates into the Falcon, plotting a course to get them there.

"Large continent, east coast, right in the middle of a giant circular wall," Wes said, giving the general location on the planet.

The Imperial officer stepped into the cockpit, though the stormtroopers remained just outside. "There's a city down there that needs the shipment you're carrying."

"Let's get underway," Wedge said, getting into the pilot's chair. He resisted the urge to adjust the seat, both while in front of the officer and to avoid the ire of Han. "Prepare to release the docking clamp."

Once the officer transmitted the correct code back to the Stalker, the operators over there made the docking clamp detach from the Falcon's dorsal hatch. Thrusters turned the Falcon around to face away from the Star Destroyer, and when the main engines ignited the Falcon put the larger ship behind it. The Falcon then set a course for the planet, heading for the dayside to descend in the local morning. The nearby star was in full view when the Falcon entered atmosphere, so there was a glare in the cockpit's windows.

When a large and ruined city came into view the officer pointed at one particular spot. "Put this ship down there, plenty of room to unload."

The Falcon descended towards the northern part of the city, where some immense calamity had left a wide swath of destruction some time ago. The area had been cleared out some time since then, but had yet to be replaced with new buildings. However one of the larger smuggler freighters had dibs on the center of the cleared land, so the Falcon had to land closer to the southern end of the clearing. On the way in the city appeared to separate into distinct sections, with the Falcon's landing coordinates being in the second innermost one.

And as the Falcon descended, from one of the massive walls, two teenage girls watched.

Once again, Toph started to feel sick.

Not from an upset stomach, but from a stomach far too full. There had been a mess hall not too far from the ship's shuttle bay, and Toph had been hungry enough to stuff her face with everything she could get her hands on. Sokka and Zuko could barely keep up with her ferocious appetite, and the food here was of a quality unheard of back on Earth. Not only was the taste out of this world, but the nutrition was richer and healthier for her than anything she could get back home. It more than made up for emptying her stomach on the way here, filling it back up with so much better food.

Sitting with Sokka and Zuko around one of many tables, Toph leaned back and belched. "I take it back. This is not the worst trip ever."

Sokka was munching on some kind of meat and cheese patty between two pieces of bread. "You know, if they had started with something like this, this whole ordeal could have been a lot smoother."

"Appealing to your stomach," Zuko surmised, having a simple juicy steak. "I suppose that might have worked. There are a lot of hungry mouths to feed."

"Like mine," Sokka said in between two bites. After swallowing he held up his drink in a clear glass. "I'm not sure about the blue milk through. That's kind of weird."

"We're in a giant metal ship, hovering in space, and you find the milk weird?" Toph questioned.

"Point taken," Sokka admitted. He had just finished his meal when a crewman approached him. "Can I help you?"

"The lab is ready," the crewman reported. "We're ready to analyze the equipment you salvaged."

Sokka sighed and got up, though still facing Toph and Zuko. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

While Sokka left the mess hall with the crewman Toph and Zuko watched them leave, and then Toph scooted her chair closer to Zuko so that she could whisper to him. "Hey Sparky, does anything seem different to you?"

"What do you mean?" Zuko whispered back.

"Well I thought I was just really hungry," Toph whispered. She started flexing her fingers, as if expecting something to happen. "But still… something seems wrong. Like there's a void I can't explain."

"I hope you're not going to throw up again," Zuko said.

"If I do, that'll be from overeating," Toph said.

Zuko made a quite laugh, though it didn't last long. He pushed his chair back and stood up. "Come on. We should probably check up on the people I left up here last time."

Toph shrugged and got up to follow him. "Not like I have anything better to do here."

In Ba Sing Se tensions were running high again, now that three more alien ships had landed in the city. They were in the cleared area straddling lower and middle rings, putting plenty of space between them and citizens that ventured there from the middle ring. The bigger ships were shaped like flattened cylinders with small legs, while the smaller ship was more like a disk. The people that emerged from the larger ships seemed like ordinary folk in plain clothes, and they started unloading large gray crates from within the ship.

Watching from atop the innermost wall of the city, Katara wondered what else might be inside those ships. She knew that Aang and Long Feng had reservations about the leader of these visitors, and they made it clear that it was still far too early to trust them. Standing next to her Azula was of a similar mind, suspecting alternative motives behind these ships being here. Azula could certainly think of all the things she would do in their position, and figured that far worse ideas could be employed by the visitors if they meant them harm.

Azula looked at Katara and nodded. "Let's get a closer look."

Katara pointed at the smaller ship. "That one first."

It took a few minutes for them to reach a set of steps on the outer side of the wall, and a few minutes more to climb down them. From there they walked through the middle ring to reach the cleared area, passing through crowds to reach it, and approached the edge closest to the smaller ship. From around the corner of a small burnt out building at the southwestern edge they could see a ramp opening beneath the ship, with someone in a grey uniform exiting followed by two in white armor. None of them seemed particularly happy to be here.

"Too small for an attack force," Azula noted.

"Shush," Katara whispered.

The one in grey checked a handheld device, and then looked up at the sky. Seemingly on schedule a shuttle appeared and descended toward the city, coming in for a landing at the palace. He put away the device and made a hand signal to the two in white, who in turn signaled to someone inside the ship. Two more people wearing plain brown clothes emerged, both pushing hovering carts that were carrying white crates on them. They then unloaded the carts and placed the crates on the ground, and went back inside to go get more.

Azula stepped out from their hiding place, and before Katara could do anything about it she was out in the open. "What are you doing?"

"Asking them," Azula said. She crossed into the cleared area, approaching the one in grey and getting his attention. "Excuse me, what are you doing here?"

Up close the man's outfit was clearly a uniform, with markings suggesting an officer's rank. He looked like he wished he could be anywhere else right now. "Ma'am, you'll find out when everyone else does."

"Oh right, you probably don't know who I am," Azula figured, wishing she had brought her salvaged space armor today. "I am Princess Azula, Fire Nation representative in Ba Sing Se."

The officer took out his little device again, tapped its buttons in a certain order, and looked at a picture that appeared on a tiny screen. "Ah yes, Lord Vader's report mentions that name."

"Then you should know I have some authority here," Azula said.

After a humph and a shrug, the officer put away his device. "Well then if you really must know, they are unloading supplies for this city to use as its people see fit. Consider it a gesture of goodwill between your planet and the Empire."

"I would like to inspect the contents," Azula said. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble."

While Azula had all the attention, a natural talent of hers, Katara quietly walked into the cleared area unnoticed. She took a long and curved route to get behind the ship, finding small cover behind one of its landing struts. There she uncorked a waterskin she carried and drew all the water from it, having slightly more than a gallon and having it coat her right hand. Then she reached for one of the large engines and the water lengthened into a thin whip, which attached to the top and then pulled her most of the way up there.

Her free hand grabbed the top by the edge, and Katara had to pull herself up the rest of the way. Once she had her feet on seemingly solid metal plating, Katara looked around the top of the ship for a way inside. There was a hatch that appeared to lead into the middle section, but it was closed and no apparent way to open it from outside. After slowly walking around something that looked like a double barreled cannon, Katara headed for the cockpit sticking out the ship's right side. As far as she could tell, that was going to be the only way to get a look inside.

At the edge of the cockpit Katara crouched and looked over the windows, taking short peek first to see if anyone was in there. There hadn't been anyone so Katara looked again but longer this time, getting a better view of the inside. She saw all sorts of controls that she couldn't make heads or tails out of, except for the fact that they had seen better days. For something that was more advanced that anything on Earth, this cockpit looked absolutely ancient. She wasn't sure if it was the layer of smeared grime over everything, or the patchwork parts clearly never meant to fit together.

But there was a blinking red light in there, which did not bode well as far as Katara was concerned. "Hmm… wonder what that means?"

Suddenly the hatch opened, with a sound that had Katara wishing she could get to cover. From the hatch a gentleman in a white shirt and brown jacket emerged, brandishing a weapon aimed at Katara. "Hands up."

Reluctantly, Katara complied. "You got me."

"Here, you can have this back."

Although the Stalker was not primarily a research vessel, it was equipped with a standard laboratory for small scale scientific endeavors. It was intended for use during patrols of dull sectors of space, to give the crew aboard something to do when nothing of note was going on. Now it was in use analyzing the alien equipment brought up from the planet, and far more thoroughly than the locals could accomplish with preindustrial methods. A researcher just finished scanning Sokka's space shield, and was now handing it back to its owner.

"Done already?" Sokka asked, accepting the return of his space shield. "I thought you might do some more stuff with it?'

The researcher checked a screen showing the results of the scan. "The metal is composed of various alloys, all of which are in our database. There aren't any special functions hidden in it, so all that's really there is a hunk of metal."

"Well it was part of a floor," Sokka said, remembering when he had acquired this little souvenir. "So I can keep this now, right?"

"If you really want to," the researcher answered, though he really didn't know why anyone would bother. "To us it's just scrap that would be recycled."

Sokka eyed another one of the machines in the laboratory, which was subjecting the space armor to a more extensive scan. "How long before that one is done?"

"Could be all day, maybe well into tomorrow," the researcher answered. "Someone will notify you when the scan is complete."

"Sweet," Sokka said. He turned and started to walk away. "I'm going to go find my friends now."

If the researcher had given a response, Sokka didn't wait long enough to hear it. He was already heading out the door and into a corridor, walking back down it to return to the mess hall where he had left the others behind. When Sokka arrived he discovered that Toph and Zuko had already left, but there was a friendly crewman that pointed Sokka in the right direction to find them. After walking through a few more corridors Sokka found the right section, where all the guests from the surface were staying for the time being.

It was quite loud in the large room Sokka found, as it seemed that waterbenders inside were enjoying a game that involved hurling water at each other at high speeds. All that rushing water was like being near a small waterfall, smothering out the lesser sounds like someone walking around or conversations further than five feet away. Sokka walked around the playing waterbenders and found Zuko and Toph in the far corner, yet somehow going around didn't stop someone from accidently splashing him, much to his chagrin.

When that inevitable splashing happened Toph was laughing at him. "Every single time, that always happens."

"Story of my life," Sokka said, wringing water out of his hair. "So what's going on here?"

"Well I got a bath for one thing," Toph answered.

Now that he knew to look, Sokka noticed that Toph was surprisingly clean and dirt-free. "I thought you liked having a healthy coating of earth?"

"I do," Toph said. She held up a ball of clay, just barely bigger than her hand. "This was all the earth I had on me."

"Thought it would be more," Sokka muttered.

"I know, right?" Toph said. She shook her head and got back on subject. "Anyway, I needed some earth and I didn't want to ask for it. So I bathed and had a waterbender collect this for me."

"Couldn't you do it yourself?" Sokka asked.

"See… that's the thing…" Toph muttered. She held out her hand and then stretched her fingers apart, yet nothing happened to the ball of clay. "I can't."

"Oh…" Sokka muttered. With a moment of thought the implications of this revelation struck him, and his eyes went as wide as they could. "Oh!"

"Yeah, this is a problem," Toph said. She slipped the ball of clay into her pocket. "My earthbending isn't working, which means my secret weapon isn't going to work either."

"Secret weapon?" Zuko questioned.

"Just a little something up our sleeves," Sokka said, deliberately being vague to Zuko. Sokka looked at the waterbenders still playing their game, and past them he got glimpses of Qin doing some firebending. "Okay, water and fire are still working, so why not earth?"

"I think it turned off while we were coming up here," Toph said. "It might have been why I got so sick. At first I thought it was from all the vibrations, but now I'm not so sure."

"Of course!" Sokka said, snapping his fingers. "We're so high up, it must have broken your connection to the Earth."

"Are you sure about that?" Zuko asked. "Because it sounds like you're just guessing to me."

"Hear me out," Sokka said. "We know that firebending and waterbending tap into celestial sources, the sun and the moon. When an eclipse blocks them, benders lose their abilities. The only logical equivalent for earthbending is the Earth itself, so leaving it would have the same effect as an eclipse."

"So if I get back to Earth, my bending will come back!" Toph said.

"If I'm right, it should," Sokka said. "We'll find out when we leave this ship and go home."

"Not just yet," Zuko said. He looked at Toph and nodded. "I wasn't counting on having earthbending here anyway. All I need here is Toph's feet."

"Ah…" Sokka muttered, his eyes narrowing. "Doing a little reconnaissance up here?"

"The discreet kind I can't do myself," Zuko said. "So Toph, are you still up for it?"

"Of course I am," Toph answered, crossing her arms. "Get me around this ship, and who knows what I'll find."

Han Solo had almost felt relieved when the last stormtrooper got out of his ship, finally having a moment when they might not be discovered. But Chewbacca reported a proximity alarm on the remote sensor display, which the wookie had installed into the smuggler hold after the last time they hid here. Someone had climbed on top of the Falcon, and with everyone else off the ship and/or busy it was up to Han to investigate. So he headed for the access hatch to use the lift, getting topside to see what had triggered the alarm.

He hadn't been expecting to find a teenage girl looking at the cockpit. "Hands up."

The girl turned around, saw the blaster Han was holding, seemed to recognize it as a threat in spite of not knowing what it was, and raised her hands. "You got me."

Han looked past the Falcon and saw the imperial officer distracted by someone else, and he pointed at the open hatch on the Falcon's hull. "Inside."

The girl slowly walked over to the hatch and stood on the lift, and Han stepped on while his blaster was now pointed at the girl's back. With his foot Han hit the switch to activate the lift, and it brought them down into the ship. From the bottom it was a short walk into the main hallway, and Han stomped his foot on the floor five times. In front of them the false deck plating was lifted from below, and Han pointed into the dark and empty space within. Han heard Chewbacca make a growling noise, which had the girl hesitate while Han wanted the wookie to shut up.

"In there," Han ordered.

Although reluctant to comply, given the growling and the dark spaces and the blaster at her back, the girl did go into the hold. Han was right behind her, still aiming the blaster as he climbed down, and Chewbacca lowered the deck plating back into place. At first it was completely dark inside the hold, until Han flicked a switch to turn on one small light. It was just barely enough light to make out the girl's face, and for her to see Chewbacca's. That sight prompted her to start screaming, only for Han's hand to cover her mouth to muffle the sound.

"That's enough of that," Han said, keeping the sound down as much as he could. "When you stop, I will let go."

The girl nodded.

Han took his hand away, and there was no need to put it back. "Alright miss, what were you doing on top of my ship?"

Chewbacca growled something.

"Well obviously she was spying," Han said to him, and then went back to the girl. "But the why, and the what for, that I want to know."

"You understood that?" the girl questioned.

"I'm the one asking questions miss," Han said.

"It's Katara by the way," she corrected. "And excuse me for not taking you guys at your word."

This time Chewbacca laughed.

"So she's right about that," Han admitted. "But not for the right reason."

"Well now I know I can't trust you empire guys," Katara said.

This time Han laughed, and he slightly lowered the tip of his blaster. "Lady, if this is what it takes to make you suspicious, you have no idea what the Empire is capable of."

"So I figured," Katara said. She slowly turned around. "Enlighten me."