Chapter 4: Search Parties
The sun was setting over Raxus Prime's eastern horizon when the first of the Rebel fighters burst from Indomitable Base's main hanger. In the lead was Rogue 1, one of the Survivors of the Battle of Yavin, Leia Skywalker.
Young and pretty, with her hair tied back in a small ponytail under her helmet. Her eyes were wide as she hit the scanners on her T-65 X-wing. Behind her, the other members of Rogue Squadron began to spread outward in their search for the lost Prince of Alderaan.
Rogue 2, Wedge Antilles, a young dark haired Corellian keyed his comm channel. "Rogue 2 to Rogue Leader, We're heading to our assigned sectors. Scanners are on double front. I see search parties leaving in speeders as well as bikes. Captain Solo and Captain Felth leading them down below."
Leia nodded as she looked down at the search parties below them. Her friends Han Solo and Davin Felth were leading the ground search party. Two other squadron of fighters, Dark Squadron and Gold, were being launched as well. Bail Organa and his wife Breha were worried about their missing son, and had even asked the Jedi to assist in the search.
As Leia flew over an outcropping of junk, she could see one of the Jedi, Master Qu Rahn, silhouetted against the setting sun as he stretched out with the Force seeking the lost Luke. The completely bald jedi had dark skin, with a strong build and an even stronger character. Leia found that she enjoyed the stories Master Rahn told. Other Jedi that had arrived, Echuu Shen Jon, a noble but haunted warrior, and Olee Starstone, the Jedi guardian who seemed to be following Han Solo, were searching other sectors with Master It'kla and her uncle Obi-wan Kenobi.
Coming up along side her fighter was a airspeeder piloted by her close friend and fellow padawan Het Krex. The airspeeder had been specially modified to accept his tiny stature. Behind her was her personal astromech Red, assisting her scanners in struggling to find her friend Luke.
Leia was worried, but for some reason, she wasnt afraid. It was as if she knew Luke was not in any danger. She had no idea why she felt this way, but while everyone else was terrified that Luke had been in an accident and been hurt, or worse... she knew that Luke was fine.
Why would she feel this way?
Leia liked Luke, but not in any romantic way. She found that her heart was being called by her fellow Rogue Wedge Antilles. He had been there for her since her first love died in the Battle of Yavin, and had asked nothing in return but her friendship... but Leia saw that Wedge was a good man who cared for her, and she had started caring in return.
Now, she called her partner, Het. "Hey little guy, Im gonna head over to sector two. I dont know why, But I think Luke's that way."
Het nodded in the airspeeder, swinging his little vessel around to follow her. "On your wing!" He said, clearly excited that he was able to fly with her.
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The probe droid paused briefly in the fetid air, scanning in all directions when it picked up several power sources. Its scanners quickly told it that the power sources were fighter based, and it turned towards the source, eager to see what it had discovered.
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Luke sat in the controls of the Ebon Hawk, besides him T3 sat and beeped as he asked the small droid questions. "Ok, so the ship is flyable... I got that... Just...how are we gonna get out of here?"
He looked out the window, and the junk that nearly buried the ancient vessel. T3 beeped and started flicking switches. Outside, Luke heard the grinding of ancient gears and machinery long buried, and the junk started falling away slowly as two ancient doorways opened upwards, lifting the generations of junk away from the old hatchway, revealing the Ebon Hawk to the open air for the first time in millineia.
Luke grinned as the Ebon Hawk roared into life, the power thrumming through the ancient, but well taken care of engines. He gripped the controls, fed power into the repulsors, and for the first time in centuries, the Ebon Hawk took to the skies once again.
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Leia had been drifting with thoughts of her time with Wedge, her training with her uncle, the Battle of Yavin, and her memories of Biggs when Red beeped at her in alarm. Snapping back to attention, she checked her scanners. "Im reading a ship heading in our direction, Het. Im locking S-foils in attack position. Rogues, this is Rogue Leader. I have an unidentified vessel heading our way from sector 2."
The other members of Rogue Squadron all answered, and all of them started heading in her direction. The leader of Dark Squadron, Jereth Stryder, hailed her as well. "Need any backup, Rogue Leader?"
"Lets see what we're dealing with first." Leia said. "Inform Bail Organa of the situation. I'm going in."
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The probe droid watched as several X-wings and a few Y-wings flew overhead. It quickly secluded itself in the wreckage, blending in, recording everything that happened around it...
... and transmitting it to the Empire.
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Luke flew towards the Rebel base when T3 started beeping in alarm. Luke looked over and saw the scanners revealing several fighters heading in his direction. "Dont worry, T3.. thats just Rogue Squadron! They were probably searching for me." Even as he spoke, the comm channel started blaring. "Unidentified vessel, you will identify yourself and state your intentions. Any hostile action will be met with lethal force. I repeat..." Luke reached over and slapped the comm. "Leia, its me, Luke! Don't shoot! I'm flying the ship!"
"Luke!?" Leia Skywalker called from her X-wing. "What in the Five Fire Rings of Fornax are you flying?" Her X-wing, along with a small airspeeder, took escorting positions alongside the Ebon Hawk.
Luke sighed, and looked at T3 when he answered. "Your never gonna believe this."
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The Imperial Probe droid followed the fighters and the strange freighter as they vanished over the horizon at a discreet distance. It did not wish to be discovered until it had discovered the location of where those fighters had come from. As it lifted up from its hiding place, its sensors picked up a lifeform approaching very quickly. As it swung one of its huge bubble eyes towards the lifeform, for a moment, its memory banks were awash in confusion. What it was seeing in the junk fields of Raxus Prime was impossible...
... Sand People were native to Tatooine!
When the Sand Person flew past the Imperial Probe droid, the lightsaber it held in its hand ignited, the crimson blade severing the droids head from its cylindrical body. The two halfs of the droid crashed to the ground and finally detonated, the explosion echoing from the canyons of junk.
The Sand Person had landed in a crouch, avoiding the explosion with years of practice. Finally, as the last of the peices of the droid pattered down around him, the Jedi Master A'sharrad Het keyed his comlink. "Master Kenobi, this is A'sharrad. I have found and disabled some type of probe droid. I fear that we have been discovered by the Empire."