Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. Hope you like this one.
So, this chapter will be a good one, and one of two set on the Death Star during the rescue. It'll be a very long one, so I hope you don't mind that.
Let's get to it.
Guest DCDGojira: Well, Hall is not Force sensitive, so I'm not sure if Vader would be able to sense him and figure out it was him. Not sure what deleted scene you're talking about. Yes, Vader will find out about Luke's love interest before the end of the story.
RandomFanAuthor: Yes, I will continue through the Disney trilogy, but my version may be a fair bit different.
Ke-Pa: Yes, the Last Jedi will be a fair bit different.
Jayhawks: Yes, I may very well use that species idea.
Guest: Not sure if I'll use that specifically, but yes, there will be plenty of filler chapters betgween the episodes, especially between episode 4 and 5.
Guest: The Alliance is technically a government, but its mainly just a renamed and slightly ore powerful version of the UN, so each nation retains its sovereignty. Over the years, many authoritarian regimes have lessened their hold on their people.
boba fat: Yes, NASA and other space agencies still exist, but their main duties are to conduct astronomical research and maintain Earth's satellites, while the duty of planetary exploration is now shared with the Starfleet (space agencies provide the initial explorers, and the Starfleet provides the ships)
Chapter 9- Arriving on the Death Star
(September 21, 2013)
Hall slowly walks into one of the passenger areas on the Millenium Falcon. He'd been taking a nap for a little while, and just woke up.
As he walks in, he sees Luke, holding his new lightsaber, and training with a remote in blocking blaster bolts. Hall stops and looks Luke, feeling a slight sense of déjà vu, remembering the last time he saw that lightsaber in use.
"Remember, a Jedi can feel the Force flowing through him," Obi Wan says.
"You mean it controls your actions?" Luke asks.
"Partially, but it also obeys your commands," Obi Wan says.
The remote darts around a bit, then fires again, hitting Luke. Han laughs, and he says, "Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid."
"Don't be too sure, Solo," Hall says.
Luke deactivates his saber before he asks, "You don't believe in the Force, do you?"
"Kid, I've flown from one side of this galaxy to the other. I've seen a lot of strange stuff, but I've never seen anything to make me believed there's one all powerful force controlling everything. There's not mystical energy field controls my destiny. It's all a lot of simple tricks and nonsense," Han says.
Obi Wan just smiles before he picks up a helmet and walks over to Luke, saying, "I suggest you try it again, Luke. This time, let go your conscious self, and act on instinct." He then sets the helmet on Luke's head, the visor covering his eyes.
"But…with the blast shield down, I can't even see. How am I supposed to fight?" Luke asks.
"Your eyes can deceive you. Don't trust them," Obi Wan says.
Luke sighs, then ignites his lightsaber again. The remote darts around a bit, then fires again, hitting Luke. Luke groans and resets his stance.
"Stretch out with your feelings," Obi Wan says.
Luke sighs, then raises the saber. Luke stays still for a few moments, then moves his saber to block three straight shots from the remote.
"You see? You can do it," Obi Wan says.
"I call it luck," Han says.
"In my experience, there's no such thing as luck," Obi Wan says.
"Agreed," Hall says. He then looks at Luke and says, "You know, wielding that saber, Skywalker…you remind me of your father."
Luke looks at Hall in surprise. "You knew my father too?" he asks.
Hall is quiet for a moment, a number of images racing through his mind. His first training session under Anakin. He and Anakin fighting side by side on Geonosis. Working with Anakin to rescue the captured Togruta. Working with him on the Temple bombing case. Rescuing Palpatine and dueling Dooku on the Invisible Hand. And finally, hearing the sound as his lightsaber cut off Anakin's limbs on Mustafar.
"Yes. I knew your father. He trained me on how to use a lightsaber, and I fought beside him many times," he says.
Han looks at Hall. "So, the Terran Alliance is real. Always thought you guys were a story," Han says.
Hall grins a bit. "Oh, we're real. It's not surprising that the Empire has tried to make it seem like we're just a story. I can see why. If more people knew we were real, it would inspire more rebellion against the Empire, and probably lead people to drag us back into this fight. The Empire knows that my people have an appetite and a talent for war, and we've got some pretty d*** good tools to do it with," he says.
"Then why'd you leave the galaxy?" Han asks.
"Because. At that time, we weren't in as great of shape as we are now. We lost over a million people because of the Clone Wars, and at the time, our military was only really adequate for defense of our own planet. We didn't have enough military power to adequately defend our planet and wage war with the Empire at the same time. That's changed in the two decades since then. It's only a matter of time before we return to this galaxy to wage war on the Empire," Hall says.
"Well you may think you're good. But one planet against a galaxy wide Empire? That's a bit of a tall order," Han says.
Right then, there's a beeping. Han looks at the instrument panel next to him and says, "Looks like we're coming up on Alderaan." He then stands up and walks towards the cockpit, Chewie following him. After a second, Hall follows them.
Han and Chewie settle into the pilot and co pilot seats, while Hall takes up position behind Han.
"Alright, General. Cut to sub light engines on my mark," Han says.
"Got it," Hall says, reaching up to the switches.
"And…now," Han says. Hall flips the switches, and the ship drops out of hyperspace.
Almost immediately, the ship begins to shake as small pieces of debris impact the ship.
"What the?" Han exclaims.
Chewie growls a few times, and Han says, "Ah, we've come out of hyperspace in the middle of a meteor shower. Some kind kind of asteroid collision! It's not on any of the charts!"
Right then, Luke and Obi Wan hurry into the cockpit. "What's going on?" Luke asks.
"Our position is correct, except…no Alderaan," Han says, still clearly confused.
"What do you mean? Where is it?" Luke asks.
"That's what I'm trying to tell you, kid. It ain't there. It's been totally blown away," Han says.
"What? How?" Luke asks.
"Destroyed. By the Empire," Obi Wan says.
"The entire Starfleet wouldn't destroy the whole planet. It'd take a thousand ships with more firepower than I've ever…" Han says, but he stops as he sees something on his scope. "There's another ship coming in," he says.
"Maybe they know what happened," Luke says.
"It's an Imperial fighter," Obi Wan points out.
A few seconds later, a TIE fighter flies over the ship and continues on its course straight ahead. "It followed us!" Luke says.
"No, they didn't. That's a short range fighter," Hall says, drawing on the Alliance's knowledge of the TIE fighter.
"There aren't any bases around here. Where'd it come from?" Han asks.
They continue pursuing the TIE, and Luke says, "He's sure leaving in a big hurry. If he identifies us, we're in big trouble."
"Not if I can help it. Chewie, jam its transmissions," Han says.
As Chewie begins jamming the TIE's transmissions, Obi Wan says, "It's just as well to let it go, it's too far out of range."
"Not for long," Han says.
A few moments later, Obi Wan curiously says, "A fighter that size couldn't get this deep into space on its own."
"Well, he must have gotten lost. Been part of a convoy or something," Luke says.
"Well, he ain't gonna be around long enough to tell anybody about us," Han says.
They continue pursuing the TIE, slowly closing the distance. Luke then says, "Look, he's heading for the small moon."
"I think I can get him before he gets there. He's almost in range," Han says.
Suddenly, Obi Wan straightens up, and says, "That's no moon. It's a space station."
"It's too big to be a space station," Han says.
Slowly, they get closer to the object. As they do, an unease begins to grow in Hall. And it becomes clear he's not the only one, as Luke says, "I have a very bad feeling about this."
"Turn the ship around," Obi Wan says.
"Yeah. I think you were right. Full reverse. Chewie lock in the auxiliary power," Han says as he begins pulling levels. As he does, the ship seems to shake a bit.
"Chewie, lock in the auxiliary power," Han says again. Chewie pulls a few levers as well, but the ship stays on course.
"Why are we still moving towards it?!" Luke demands.
"Because we're caught in a tractor beam," Hall says.
"There's gotta be something you can do," Luke says.
"There's nothing I can do kid. I'm at full power. I'm gonna have to shut down. They're not gonna get me without a fight," Han says.
Obi Wan leans forward a bit. "You can't win, but there are alternatives to fighting," Obi Wan says.
Han sits there for a moment, then quickly stands up. "I got an idea. Come on," he says.
Hall and the others follow Han back. Han jettisons two of the escape pods, then leads them to a spot near the ramp. Han then lifts up some floor panels and says, "Get in."
Hall and Obi Wan get 3PO and R2 into a compartment, then get into another compartment as Han, Luke, and Chewie get into another.
For over half an hour, they remain in the compartments, waiting quietly as they hear Imperials check the ship multiple times. Finally, after a final crew clears the ship and decides nobody is aboard, Han and Luke finally lift the panel off the top of their compartment and climb out. A moment later, Hall and Obi Wan lift the top off theirs.
"Boy, it's lucky you had these compartments," Luke says.
"I use them for smuggling. I never thought I'd be smuggling myself in 'em. This is ridiculous. Even if I could take off, I'd never get past the tractor beam," Han says.
"Leave that to me," Obi Wan says.
"D*** fool, I knew that you were gonna say that," Han says.
"Who's the more fool? The fool, or the fool who follows him?" Obi Wan asks, drawing a smirk from Hall.
Only moments later, they hear something outside. Hall very carefully peaks outside and sees some officers bringing a crate of supplies up to the ship.
"Luke, Chewie, General, get back. Han, get ready," Hall says.
Hall and Han wait patiently as the two officers bring the crate onto the ship. As they get to the top of the ramp, they set the crate down, and one of them calls down to two stormtroopers at the bottom of the ramp, "Hey down there. Could you give us a hand with this?"
The stormtroopers make their way onto the ship, and then Hall and Han make their move. Han takes out the two officers with two shots to the face, while Hall leaps forward and wraps his arms around the necks of the two stormtroopers, quickly strangling them.
Han and Luke quickly put on the stormtrooper armor, while Hall dons the uniform of one of the officers. Together, Hall, Han, Chewie, and Obi Wan, along with 3PO and R2, sneak out of the ship head up towards the control room overlooking the hangar, while Luke stays on the ship as a decoy.
They make their way up to the control center. Right as they reach the door, it opens, revealing an Imperial officer on the other side. Chewie immediately lashes out and smacks the officer, sending him flying. Another officer in the room tries to draw his blaster, but Han fires and kills him.
They move into the room. Not long after, Luke comes running up and closes the door. He then removes his helmet and says to Han, "You know, between his howling and your blasting everything in sight, it's a wonder the whole station doesn't know we're here."
"Well, bring 'em on. I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around," Han says.
"We've found the computer outlet sir," 3PO says.
"Plug in. He should be able to interpret the entire Imperial network," Obi Wan says.
R2 quickly plugs into the computer, beeping all the while. After a few moments, 3PO looks up and says, "He says he's found the main controls to the power beam that's holding the ship. He'll try to make the precise location appear on the monitor."
A series of images appear on the monitor as 3PO says, "The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations. A power loss at one of the terminals will allow the ship to leave."
Obi Wan glances around at Luke and Han as he says, "I don't think you boys can help. I must go alone." He then looks at Hall and says, "Stay with them, Tyler. They will need you."
"Sure thing, General," Hall says.
"Whatever you say. I've done more than I bargained for on this trip already," Han says.
"Wait, I want to go with you," Luke says as Obi Wan reaches the door.
"Be patient, Luke. Stay and watch over the droids," Obi Wan says. Luke tries to say something, but Obi Wan continues with, "They must be delivered safely or other star systems will suffer the same fate as Alderaan."
Obi Wan then opens the door before saying, "The Force will be with you. Always." He then walks out of the room and down the corridor. Luke watches him go before shutting the door.
Chewie growls a few times, and Han says, "You said it, Chewie." He then looks at Luke and asks, "Where did you dig up that old fossil?"
"Ben is a great man!" Luke says defensively as he walks up to Han.
"Yeah, great at getting us into trouble," Han says.
"I didn't see you offering any ideas," Luke shoots back.
"Well, anything's better than waiting around for him to pick us up
Han starts to reply, but is cut off by rapid beeping from R2. Luke looks over at him and asks, "What is it?"
"I'm not quite sure, sir. He says 'I've found her', and keeps repeating 'She's here'," 3PO says.
"Well, who? Who has he found?" Luke asks.
"Princess Leia," 3PO responds.
"The princess? She's here?!" Luke exclaims.
Hall has to prevent himself from smiling. Figures that if Leia gets captured, her secret twin brother is gonna be the one to come rescue her, he says.
"Princess? What are you talking about?" Han asks.
"Where? Where is she?" Luke asks.
"Princess? What's going on?" Han asks, but he's ignored.
R2 beeps a few times, and 3PO translates, "Level 5, detention block AA-23." R2 beeps a few more times, and 3PO again translates, "I'm afraid she's scheduled to be terminated."
"S***," Hall mutters.
"Oh, no. We've gotta do something," Luke says.
"What are you talking about?" Han asks.
"Princess Leia. She's the one in the message contained in R2, and she's a leader of the rebellion," Hall says.
"We gotta help her," Luke adds.
"Now, look. Don't get any ideas. The old man told us to wait right here," Han says
"Watch the "old" comments around me, Solo," Hall says with a tinge of humor.
"He didn't know she was here," Luke says. He then turns to 3PO and says, "Try and find a way into that detention block."
"I'm not going anywhere," Han says.
"They're gonna execute her. Come on, a few minutes ago you didn't want to wait here. Now all you want to do is stay?" Luke demands.
"Marching into the detention area is not what I had in mind," Han says.
"But they're gonna kill her!" Luke protests.
"Better her than me!" Han says, turning away from Luke.
Luke turns away himself, looking very frustrated. But, right as Hall is about to speak up, he gets a look of "I've got an idea" on his face, and turns back to Han. He then says, "She's rich."
Han turns to face Luke as he asks, "Rich?"
"Yeah. Rich. Powerful. Look, if you were to rescue her, the reward would be…well more wealth than you can imagine," Luke says.
"I don't know. I can imagine quite a bit," Han says.
"Don't worry, Solo. You'll get a handsome reward," Hall cuts into the conversation.
"I better," Han says.
"You will!" Luke says.
"Alright, what's your plan?" Han asks.
Luke looks around, then says, "3PO, hand me those binders there will you?"
3PO grabs the binders and hand them to Luke. Luke walks over to Chewie and says, "Here. I'm gonna put these on you."
Chewie roars in protest. Luke backs up quickly and says, "Alright. Han, you put those on."
Han smiles a bit and takes the binders from Luke. "Don't worry, Chewie. I think I know what he has in mind," he says as he puts the binders on Chewie.
"Follow my lead," Hall says as he heads towards the door, storing his lightsaber in his jacket.
"Excuse me, sir. What should R2 and I do if we're discovered here?" 3PO asks.
"Just lock the door and hope they don't have blasters," Hall says.
"That isn't very reassuring," 3PO says.
Hall leads Han, Luke, and Chewie down the hallways towards an elevator that will take them down to the detention level. Hall keeps his hands folded behind his back as he walks, finding himself grateful he'd grown a slight beard. Had he not, someone might have recognized him, as he's sure that Vader would've made sure the Empire knew what he looked like.
Finally, they reach the elevator. Hall presses the button to summon the elevator car, and the four of them wait for just a few moments before the elevator arrives. After letting a soldier out, they make their way into the elevator. As they do, Luke says, "I can't see a thing in this helmet."
As they ride up, Luke checks the binders on Chewie to make sure they're properly loose. As he does, Han says, "This is not gonna work."
"Why didn't you say so before?" Luke asks.
"I did say so before!" Han replies.
"Enough," Hall says.
A moment later, the elevator opens. Hall walks out first, with Luke and Han then leading Chewie out of the elevator.
An officer standing at the control panel looks at the four of them and asks, "Where are you taking this…thing?"
"He's a prisoner transfer from Cell block 1138. The orders came from upstairs," Hall says.
The officer looks confused, and says, "I wasn't notified. I'll have to clear it." He then motions two troopers forward while he tries to contact a higher officer to clear it.
As the troopers get close to Chewie, Chewie "breaks free" and smacks a trooper away. "Look out, he's loose!" Han says to keep up the charade for any recording device. He and Luke then start firing at the remaining officers and troopers in the cell block, as well as firing at any of the cameras in sight. Hall immediately joins in with his two blaster pistols. In a matter of second, they've destroyed all the cameras and killed every Imperial.
They quickly make their way over to the control panel. Han looks at one of the panels and says, "We gotta find out what cell this princess of yours is in. Here it is. 2187. You go and get her. I'll hold 'em here."
Luke starts walking towards the cells. Right as he does, Hall notices a locked container in the corner. After a moment, he slowly walks over, pulling out his lightsaber and igniting it. He jabs the tip of it into the lock to melt through it, then deactivates the saber. Reaching forward he opens the container, and to his surprise, finds another lightsaber inside it.
Hall reaches in and picks it up. Then, he recognizes the design of the hilt. Just to confirm his suspicion, he ignites it, and a purple blade springs out of it.
Hall's eyes widen. "Sam," he says in a low voice. He then whips around towards Han and says, "Find out which cell Samuel Adams is in."
Han looks confused, but does so. He quickly says, "2193."
Hall sprints down the hallway after Luke. He passes Luke as he's opening Leia's cell. He then reaches Cell 2193 and opens the cell door. The door slides up, revealing Adams, still chained to the floor and ceiling.
Adams looks up at Hall, then breaks out in a grin. "Well, Tyler. Took you long enough," he says.
"You might wanna be more grateful. If I hadn't found your lightsaber in the control room, I wouldn't have thought to come find you and we would have left your a** in here," Hall says.
Adams just chuckles before saying, "Get me out of here." Hall smirks before igniting his lightsaber and cutting away the chains binding Adams.
Adams rubs his wrists as he regains his feet. "Good to be free of those," he says. He then looks at Hall and asks, "You got my lightsaber?"
Hall grins as he holds out the saber to Adams. Adams takes it and ignites it, spinning it once in hand. "Ah, it's good to have this back," he says.
Right then, they hear blaster fire outside.
"We better get out there," Hall says. And he and Adams race out of the cell, Adams deactivating his saber.
As they hurry out of the cell and turn towards the entrance to cell block, they see Han and Chewie retreating towards them.
They hurry up to them, right as Leia says, "Looks like you managed to cut off your only escape route."
"Maybe you'd like it back in your cell, your highness," Han says.
As soon as he says this, stormtroopers in the control room start firing at them. Everyone quickly ducks to the sides of the hall. Luke quickly gets on his commlink and shouts, "C3PO! C3PO! Are there any other ways out of the cell block? We've been cut off!" As he's shouting into the commlink, Chewie, Han, and Hall are returning fire.
A few moments later, Luke shouts back, "What was that? I didn't copy."
A few moments later, Luke lowers the commlink and shouts, "There isn't any other way out!"
"This is some rescue! When you came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?!" Leia demands loudly.
"He's the brains, sweetheart!" Han shouts.
"Enough!" Adams shouts. He draws and ignites his lightsaber and cuts open the covering over the garbage chute.
"What the h*** are you doing?" Han demands.
"Into the garbage chute, now!" Adams shouts as he clips his saber to his belt before leaping in. Hall quickly follows him, followed by Leia.
As Adams and Hall land in the garbage room, they look around in disgust. "Maybe not your best idea ever, Sam," Hall says.
"Oh, quit your crying, Tyler. It's not that bad," Adams says.
Hall then turns to the door and pulls out his blaster pistol. "Maybe I can open the door," he says. However, as soon as he fires, the blaster bolt ricochets off the door, and starts bouncing around. Hall and Adams immediately hit the deck, waiting until it dies down.
"Maybe not your best idea ever, Tyler," Adams says with a grin.
"Shut up," Tyler responds.
A few moments later, Leia comes out of the garbage chute. Then, Chewie comes out of the garbage chute. Luke follows moments later, then moments later Han comes out.
Han groans and says, "Oh, great. This was a fabulous idea." Adams rolls his eyes.
Han stands up and says, "Let's get out of here." He then aims his blaster towards the door.
"Wait, don't!" Hall says, but its too late to stop Han from firing. Again, the blaster bolt bounces around the room, forcing everyone to duck.
When the bolt finally dies down, Hall shouts, "Forget it, Solo! I already tried it! The door's magnetically sealed!"
"Put that thing away! You're gonna get us all killed!" Leia shouts.
"Absolutely, Your worship! You know, it's not gonna take them long enough to figure out what happened to us," Han says.
"It could be worse," Leia says.
Right then, there is a loud, drawn out groaning sound, and everyone goes quiet. After a moment, Han looks at Leia and says, "It's worse."
"There's something alive in here," Luke says.
"It's your imagination, kid," Han says.
Right then, Luke whips around and says, "Something just moved past my leg."
Hall and Adams scan the trash. Then, Hall points at some motion in the water and says, "Right there."
"What?" Han asks.
Everyone scans the water and trash. Then, suddenly, something wraps around Luke's leg and drags him into the water. "Luke!" Han shouts. Hall whips out his blaster pistols, and Adams ignites his lightsaber.
Everyone watches and waits. Then, Luke suddenly comes back to the surface, trying to get the tentacle wrapped around him off of him.
Han tries to help Luke up. Adams leaps into action, cutting off the tentacle and forcing the creature to retreat back. Adams then pulls the tentacle off Luke.
Luke is breathing heavily for several moments. Then, he looks at Adams and says, "Thank you."
"No problem," Adams says as he deactivates his saber.
Right then, there's a loud clanking sound. Everyone goes quiet and looks around. Then, there's another clanking sound. Han looks up at the walls and says, "I've got a bad feeling about this."
Then, there's a creaking, and with a chill, everyone realizes the walls have slowly begun to close in.
"Don't just stand there! Try and brace it with something!" Leia cries.
"Tyler!" Adams says, reigniting his lightsaber. Hall removes his saber, igniting it too. The two race towards the door and stab their lightsabers into the metal. However, to their horror, because of the magnetic seal on the door, it takes a few second for the sabers to even penetrate the metal, and once they start moving, the sabers are cutting very slowly.
"This is bad," Hall says.
"Keep going! I did not withstand torture by the Empire to be killed by a garbage compactor!" Adams says.
The two ASAT commandos continue trying to cut open the door, but their sabers are moving frustratingly slow. Then, right as they think it's worthless and they're about be crushed, the walls suddenly come to a halt.
Luke, Leia, and Han start cheering and screaming for joy. Seeing that the walls have stopped moving, Hall and Adams pull out their sabers and deactivate them, resting against the wall as the excitement of the moment passes.
"Well. That could've been messy," Hall says, and he and Adams chuckle.
Adams then looks over at Luke. "Who's the boy?" he asks.
Hall smiles. "Luke Skywalker," he says.
Adams head snaps around to face Hall. "Really?" he asks.
Hall nods and grins. Adams grins as well as he looks back at Luke. "Good," he says.
And, I'll end there. Hope you liked the long one.
So, next chapter will finish up the Death Star rescue. I'll try and get it up tomorrow if I can. If not, it'll be up Friday. But until it is up, please leave a review, and stay tuned!