Episode 4 Chapter 8

Escape from the Death Star

Disclaimer: See Ch. 1

Death Star Briefing Room.

Tarkin turned as an Imperial officer entered the chamber. "Yes, what is it, Cass?"

"Governor, the advance scouts have reached Dantooine. They have found the remains of a rebel base... which they estimate has been deserted for some time. Years, possibly. They are proceeding with an extensive survey of the remainder of the system." The officer gave a curt bow and then turned and left with all due haste.

Tarkin turned apoplectic, his face darkening to a fine pomegranate fury. "She lied! She lied to us!" he turned towards Vader, who was leaning nonchalantly against the wall. "Terminate her immediately!"

"Calm yourself, Tarkin," Vader advised him. "You would throw away our only link to the real rebel base so casually? She can still be of value to us."

"Fagh! You just said it yourself, Vader: we'll get nothing more out of her. I'll find that hidden fortress if I have to destroy every star system in this sector. I'll—" A quiet yet demanding beep interrupted him. "Yes, what is it?" he inquired irritably.

A voice reported over an unseen speaker. "Sirs, we've captured a small freighter that was entering the remains of Alderaan. Its' markings apparently match that of the ship which blasted its way out of the quarantine at Mos Eisley."

"Someone apparently received the missing data tapesto the Senator," Vader said. "We may still have some use for her."

"Very well," Tarkin replied. "Keep her alive. For now." He turned to the officer. "Anything else?"

"Lady Jade's shuttle has arrived as well. She brings news from the Emperor for Master Halcyon."

"Then make sure she is accommodated. Vader, I leave this other matter to your capable hands."

The Dark Lord bowed slightly, a gesture which Tarkin acknowledged with a perfunctory salute. Then he spun and strode from the room, leaving Motti to find Master Halcyon.

Vader strode up to the captain who stood outside the Falcon with a squad of Storm Troopers. "Report," he snapped, causing the captain to snap to attention.

"The ship appears to be deserted, sir," he replied. "The ships' log says that the crew abandoned ship shortly after lift off and several of the escape pods have been jettisoned."

"Did you find any droids?"

"No sir. If they were on board, they must have also jettisoned."

"Very well," Vader said finally. "Send a scanning party on board. I want every part of this ship searched." He paused for a moment and then reached out through the Force. He senesed something vague and undefined which caused him to frown. "I sense something. A presence I've not felt since…" Vader trailed off, abruptly turning and stalking out of the hangar.

Halcyon approached the shuttle whose ramp was lowering. As it sit down Mara exited.

"Master Halcyon. Good to see you again," she said.

"Mara," he replied. "What is our master's bidding?"

"We are to return to Imperial City as soon as possible," she replied

"Very well. We shall leave shortly," he replied.

"What's all the commotion?" Mara asked.

"Just some Rebels, nothing much," Halcyon replied. Mara nodded thoughtfully.

"Then let's stay around for a bit and see what happens, shall we?" she said, and the two headed off to the control room.

The Falcon seemed to be deserted to the Storm Troopers that had searched the ship. But any smuggler worth his salt knew how to hide undesirables from government search teams. Of course, Han Solo had never thought of himself as undesirable before. But it was nice to have a place to hide…

"This is ridiculous," he remarked as he pulled himself out of the hidden smuggling compartment. Luke and Obi-Wan were pushing up the floor tile that covered theirs, as was Qui-Gon. "Even if I could take off, I'd never get past the tractor beam."

Qui-Gon looked to Obi-Wan, who nodded in silent agreement. "Leave that to us," the Jedi told the smuggler, who scowled.

"Damn old fool, I knew you'd say that," he grumbled. Kenobi smirked.

"Who's the more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?" He paused for a moment as he heard a storm trooper speak.

"She's all yours. If you find anything, report it immediately."

"Yes sir!" a voice responded and, after a moment, the sound of footsteps echoed up the ramp and through the halls and two technicians carrying a heavy case stepped into the deserted ship. Without preamble, they moved down the hall towards the cockpit-

And were thrown into the bulkhead when the deck beneath them lurched up suddenly.

Before they could react, a large and angry Wookie slammed both of their heads into the bulkhead, knocking them out.

"Hey down there, could you give us a hand?" Han called out, pulling out his blaster.

Up in the command office, a young officer noticed that the two Troopers left to guard the Falcon were missing for their posts. He hit the com button.

"TK-421, why aren't you at your post?" he asked, frowning when he didn't receive an answer. "TK-421, respond!"

Suddenly a Storm Trooper walked down the ramp of the ship and tapped the side of his helmet. The officer nodded and turned to his companion.

"Looks like a bad transmitter. Take over here, I'm going down there to see what I can do," he remarked, hitting the door button. The door slid up to reveal a very angry Wookie, who roared at the officer before he slammed him across the room with a massive blow. The second officer stood drawing his blaster, but was shot by a Storm Trooper before he could even think of pulling the trigger. The two walked calmly into the room, followed by the two Jedi, the Droids and another Storm Trooper who closed the door. He removed his helmet revealing the young features of Luke Skywalker, who turned to the other trooper immediately.

"You know, between his howling and your blasting everything in sight, it's a wonder that the whole station doesn't know we're here!"

Han pulled off his own helmet and rolled his eyes. "Bring it on! I prefer a straight fight to all of this sneaking around."

Kenobi and Qui-Gon ignored the two bickering men, instead turning to Artoo. "Plug in," Ben instructed the little droid, who obediently plugged his access plug into the terminal. "He should be able to interpret the entire Imperial network."

Several moments passed as Artoo sifted through the Imperial files. Suddenly he beeped excitedly, "He's found it, Sir!" Threepio exclaimed "The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactors at seven locations. A loss of power at any one of the stations will shut down the tractor beam."

Qui-Gon and Kenobi watched the schematics scroll across the screens, then shared a look. Finally, Qui-Gon spoke.

"I don't think there's any way you boys can help with this," he told them. "We must go alone."

"That suits me fine," said Solo readily. "I've already done more than I bargained for on this trip."

Luke wasn't put off so easily. "I want to go with you."

"Don't be impatient, Luke," Qui-Gon said. "Stay and watch over the droids. They must be delivered to the rebel forces or many more worlds will meet the same fate as Alderaan." He put a comforting hand on Luke's shoulder. "The Force will be with you. Always."

"When Buffy and Joyce return, they will appear inside the Falcon. They will be waiting for us when we leave," Obi-Wan assured Han and then moved to the door and opened it. The two Jedi looked once left, once right and disappeared down a long, glowing hallway.

As soon as they were gone Chewbacca growled and Solo nodded agreement. "You said it, Chewie!" He turned to Luke. "Where'd you dig up those old fossils?"

"Quinton Jinn and Ben Kenobi are great men," Luke protested loftily.

"Yeah," Han snorted, "great at getting us into trouble."

"Well I didn't hear you giving any other bright ideas!" Luke shot back challengingly.

"Anything would be better than just waiting here for them to come and pick us up. If we—"

A hysterical whistling and hooting came from the computer console. Luke hurried over to Artoo Detoo. The little droid was all but hopping about on stubby legs. "What now?" Luke asked Threepio.

The taller robot looked puzzled himself. "I'm afraid I don't understand either, sir. He says, 'I found her,' and keeps repeating, 'She's here!'"

"Who's here?"

Artoo turned a flat blinking face toward Luke and whistled frantically.

"Senator Nabberie," Threepio announced after listening carefully. "The person in the message he was carrying."

"Leia? She's here?"

Attracted by the commotion, Solo wandered over. "Senator? What's going on?"

"Where? Where is she?" Luke demanded breathlessly, ignoring Solo completely.

Artoo whistled on while Threepio translated. "Level five, detention block AA-23. According to the information, she is scheduled for slow termination."

"No! We've got to do something."

"What are you talking about?" an exasperated Solo demanded.

"She's the one who programmed the message into Artoo," Luke explained hurriedly, "the one we were trying to deliver to Alderaan. We've got to help her."

"Now, just a minute," Solo cautioned him. "The old man said to wait here, so that's what I'm going to do."

"A minute ago you said you didn't just want to sit here and wait to be captured. Now all you want to do is stay. Which is it, Han?"

The Corellian looked troubled—and confused. "Marching into a detention area's not what I had in mind."

"But they're going to kill her!"

"Better her than me."

Han turned away and Luke frantically searched for a way to enlist his help. Luke may be young and impulsive, but he wasn't delusional. He knew he had no chance of saving his sister by himself. He needed the Corellian's help. But how could he convince him? How could he convince a smuggler…

"She's rich," he said suddenly; Han perked up despite his best efforts.

"Rich?"

"Uh-huh. Rich, powerful - if you were to save her, the reward would be…"

Han looked sharply at Luke. "What?"

Luke shrugged. "Well, more wealth than you can imagine!"

"I don't know," Han retorted, "I can imagine a lot."

"You'll get it."

"I better!"

"You will!"

Han sighed. "All right, what's your plan?"

The most boring job on the station had to be guarding the detention blocks, so of course those jobs went to the more junior officers. Like the one who was on duty in the high security wing at that moment.

Seriously, he thought to himself, who'd be crazy enough to try and break into a detention block inside the Death Star?

At that moment his musing were interrupted when the turbolift door opened, revealing two Storm Troopers and - a monkey?

As they stepped out of the lift, he walked around his console towards them.

"Where are you taking this…thing?" he asked disdainfully

"Prisoner transfer from cell block 1138," the shorter trooper said. The officer narrowed his eyes.

"I wasn't notified," he said. "I'll have to clear it." He moved back behind the console as two more guards came to take the tall anthropoid.

Suddenly the Wookie broke loose from the binder cuffs and let out an ear-splitting howl and attacked the closet guard as the Storm Troopers started yelling.

"Look out, he's loose!"

"He'll rip your arms out!"

"I'll get him!"

Blaster fire erupted and it didn't take long for the officer to see how accurate the Storm Troopers fire was actually being. He moved to sound the alarm and was blasted in the chest as a result. His last coherent thought was: who could be this crazy?

Solo rushed to the open comlink speaker, which was screeching anxious questions about what was going on. Apparently there were audio as well as visual links between this detention station and elsewhere.

Ignoring the barrage of alternate threats and queries, he checked the readout set in the panel nearby. "We've got to find out which cell this Princess of yours is in. There must be a dozen levels and— here it is. Cell 2187. Go on—Chewie and I'll hold them here."

Han pulled off his helmet and shut off the blaring alarms and hit the coms button.

"Everything's under control," he said into the pickup, sounding reasonably official. "Situation normal."

"What happened?" a voice snapped back in a no-nonsense tone.

"Uh, well, we had a slight weapon malfunction," Solo stammered, his temporary officiallese lapsing into nervousness. "But there's no problem now— we're fine, we're all fine, thanks. How are you?"

"We're sending a squad up," the voice announced suddenly.

Han could almost smell the suspicion at the other end. What to say? He spoke more eloquently with the business end of a blaster.

"Negative—negative. We have a coolant leak. Give us a few minutes to lock it down. Large leak—very dangerous."

"Who is this? What's your operating—?"

Pointing his pistol at the panels, Solo blew the instrumentation to silent scraps. "It was a boring conversation anyway," he murmured. Turning, he shouted down the corridor, "Hurry it up, Luke! We're going to have company."

Luke frantically moved from one side of the hall to the other, looking for the cell. Finally he found it and hit the door release. Inside the cell, his sister lay there on her side, apparently sleeping. As soon as Luke entered, though, she sat up.

Aren't you a little short to be a storm trooper?" she asked sarcastically.

"Huh?" Luke said in confusion and then realized what she meant. "Oh, the uniform." He pulled off the helmet and smiled. "You can't go two weeks without getting into trouble, can you?"

"Luke!" Leia yelled in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"We found Artoo and Threepio. I came with Ben Kenobi and Quinn Jin." He heard shouting from down the hall. "Come on, sis! We got to get out of here!" Blaster fire erupted from outside the hallway and Luke cursed. He came out of the doorway and fried down the hall past Han and Chewie, who were running up to meet them.

"Now what?" the Corellian asked sarcastically, firing back at the Storm Troopers.

"This is some rescue!" Leia exclaimed. "You got in here. Did you have a plan for getting out?"

"He's the brains, sweetheart!" Han retorted.

Leia sighed in frustration, then grabbed her brother's blaster from his hand and blasted a hatch cover across from her.

"What the­-"

"Into the garbage chute, fly-boy!" Leia shouted, firing down the hall at the oncoming Storm Troopers, then tossing the gun back to Luke before finally jumping down the chute.

"Great girl! Either I'm going to kill her, or I'm beginning to like her!" Luke just shot him a look before jumping feet first into the chute. Han turned to his friend. "Go, Chewie!" he shouted, but the Wookie whimpered and shook his head. "I don't care what you smell! Get in there you great furry oaf!" Han gave him a kick in the seat of his pants, sending the Wookie sprawling down the chute. Han backed up and took a few more shots, then finally dived head-first down the chute.

It took very little effort for Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon to sneak past security and find the tractor beam emitter controls. Both Jedi carefully made their way around on the small catwalk to the control panel on the opposite side. The two worked in perfect harmony before Qui-Gon finally spoke.

"You feel it, don't you? The tremor in the Force," he remarked quietly.

"Yes," Obi-Wan replied. "But it can't be possible. He's dead."

"So was I," Qui-Gon replied. "It is conceivable that Sidious cloned C'baoth as well. If he did, then we will have to face him."

Obi-Wan put a hand on his mentor's shoulder. "Than face him we will. Come now, let us finish with this."

Han finished shrugging off the last of the Storm Trooper armor and tossed it through the now-open door of the trash compactor. Part of him still couldn't believe that it had almost been his grave, so he covered up his feeling in his usual way - with sarcastic bluster.

"Well, if we can just avoid any more female advice, we ought to be able to get out of here," he said, attaching the storm trooper belt around his waist. Leia scowled and moved in front of him.

"Listen, I don't know who you are or where you came from, but from now on you'll do as I say, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, she turned and moved off down the hall behind Chewbacca. Han, taken aback momentarily by how brazen the young Senator had been, soon moved to follow with Luke right behind him.

"Look, your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight. I take orders from only one person: me!"

"It's a wonder you're still alive," she remarked dryly, then glanced at Chewie. "Will someone get this big walking carpet out of my way?" she grumbled, pushing past the Wookie.

"No reward is worth this!" Han complained as he followed her.

The two Jedi made their way silently back towards the hanger, using the Force and their own natural talents at remaining hidden to avoid detection. They were nearly to the ship when a familiar face slid out of the shadows in front of them.

"My, my. The ghosts of the past have come to me once more - and not whom I was expecting," the Jedi master once known as Jorus C'baoth, now known as Darth Vader said. "You of course, Qui-Gon," he nodded to the elder Jedi, "but not you, Obi-Wan." He cast an appraising eye over Kenobi. "I must say, you're not looking quite how I'd expect you to look. You're looking well for your age."

"Yes, well - I eat right, exercise, watch my cholesterol…"

"Now, now Obi-Wan - don't mock the Sith lord. We have a job to do…"

Vader shook his head in disgust. "The great Jedi duo. More like the great Jedi jesters. How you think you could ever stand against my master is beyond me. Look around you!" he exclaimed, gesturing to the walls surrounding them. "This space station holds the power to destroy entire planets! And who will stop it - the Jedi?" he scoffed. "I've spent the past twenty years killing them off while you've been working on your tan, Jinn. Face it - the Jedi Order is dead and the Sith Order is just getting warmed up."

"The Jedi aren't as dead as you would like to believe, Jorus," Qui-Gon remarked, "nor are the Sith as powerful as you would like to believe."

"This station will be destroyed," Obi-Wan added. "As will the Sith."

Vader snarled and activated his lightsaber, the crimson blade reflecting off of the walls. "The only thing that will be destroyed today are two over-confident Jedi." He looked to Qui-Gon. "I've been looking forward to this."

Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan both ignited their blades. "I'm sure you have, Vader," Qui-Gon replied. "I'm sure you have."

Without further preamble, Vader attacked.

The small band of escapees made their way to the observation deck above the hanger where the Millennium Falcon was stored. Leia glanced down at the ship in disdain.

"You came in that?" she remarked. "You're braver than I thought."

Han rolled his eyes. "Nice. Come on!" He turned to head towards the stairs when a small squad of Storm Troopers came around the corner.

"It's them! Blast 'em!" one of the Storm Troopers shouted. Han pumped a few shots into the Trooper, sending the others scampering away for cover.

"Get back to the ship!" he cried, running after the fleeing troops. Chewie roared and ran off behind him.

"He sure is brave," Leia remarked. Luke just sighed.

"What good will it do if he gets himself killed?" he asked his sister.

A flash of light and sound announced the arrival of Buffy and her daughter back on board the Millennium Falcon.

"Home sweet home," Joyce remarked. She spied her helmet lying on the deck, right where she had left it before her trip across the dimensional barrier. "How'd we get back to exactly where we left?"

"When I took out the holo, I put in a locater. Helps to pinpoint portal openings on either side of the barrier." She paused and frowned. "Something's wrong…"

"The engines," Joyce said at once. "They're not running."

"Nothing is," Buffy added. "She's powered down."

"This isn't right," Joyce remarked. "Where still in artificial gravity, so we can't be at Alderaan. What's going on?"

"Let's find out," Buffy responded, moving past her daughter towards the cockpit. Joyce followed and the two moved silently through the ship, arriving in no time at the outrider cockpit. The sight outside of it chilled them both.

"This is an Imperial dock," Joyce said, looking around. "Looks brand new. Maybe some new station was built in the Alderaan system and the Falcon got towed in. If that's the case, it's up to us to break everyone out."

Buffy shook her head. "Luke's on the move. So is Leia. They're on their way back here, I bet, so our job is to get the ship ready to leave."

Joyce looked to her mother. "How could you possibly know that?"

"I felt them through the Force," she replied simply.

Joyce sighed and donned her helmet. "Well, I'll get the Falcon ready. You get ready to back them up if they come in hot."

"Yes ma'am," Buffy responded wryly. She glanced back out of the cockpit window and instantly blanched at what she saw - Qui-Gon and Ben, fighting-

C'baoth?

"What the fu-"

Mara Jade stared impassively as Halcyon used the Force to choke another hapless technician.

"Explain to me how a handful of rebels could cause so much disruption on the Empire's premier battle station?"

"I don't think he can answer you if he can't breath, my lord," Mara remarked dryly. Her eyes fell on a security monitor and narrowed. "What's this?" she demanded of a technician, who had been too terrified of Halcyon to pay attention to his monitors. At once he turned back to the screen and enhanced the image, revealing two Jedi fighting against Darth Vader. Halcyon saw this and immediately dropped his victim, instead moving towards the screen. The mechanically-regulated breathing from the suit sped up as he recognized the figures on the screen.

"Kenobi!" he exclaimed. "If he's here, then…" he trailed off as he reached out through the Force. Suddenly a presence flared to life, one he recognized in a heartbeat. "Skywalker! She's here, in the Millennium Falcon." He whirled to face the technician once more, his cape whipping around behind him. "Organize your forces. Have them proceed to the hanger at once. Kill the others, but I want Skywalker ALIVE!"

Once again, Obi-Wan found himself fighting beside his mentor against a Sith Lord of incredible power. Of course this time he was older and more experienced; though on the flip side Qui-Gon was older and more out of shape, while Vader was seemingly younger and more powerful than Jorus had been when he was killed. Their blades were meeting each others with a flurry of hits and parries, but while the two Jedi were expending a tremendous amount of effort, Vader seemed to be playing with them.

"Your powers are weak, old man!" Vader taunted Qui-Gon, viciously knocking aside the Jedi's blade then kicking him in the face. Qui-Gon stumbled back and Vader turned his full attention to Obi-Wan. He slashed violently at his head and then thrust the blade down low towards his abdomen. Ben barely managed to block, sending the Sith's blade off to the side, but Vader instantly reversed the angle of the blade and swiped low, cutting for his knees. Ben jumped over the blade and backed off.

"Obi-Wan, you disappoint me. Master Yoda always held you in such high esteem." Vader grinned maliciously. "Surely you can do better!"

Vader attacked again, with Obi-Wan desperately blocking his shots. "It's funny you say that, C'baoth. I used to think you were held in high esteem by the Order." Vader lunged and Obi-Wan parried, locking their blades together. "It wasn't until after you were killed on Outbound Flight that I learned how much you were actually despised by everyone." Vader growled and struggled to pull his blade free. "Personally, I never gave you much thought. I was always more concerned with your Padawan. I always felt that Lorana Jinzler would have made an excellent Jedi, if she hadn't been saddle with such an insane, inept Master…"

Vader roared in outraged and ripped his blade free and then started battering at Obi-Wan's defenses. The younger Jedi cursed under his breath as he fought to stop the Sith's attack. And Buffy says that bantering with the enemy helps to lower their defenses, he thought darkly to himself. Vader brought his blade down and Obi-Wan blocked, but Vader instantly spun on his foot, spinning the blade around so the blade was pointed behind him and thrust out. The crimson blade impaled Kenobi in the lower abdomen and Vader let the blade sit there for a moment before mercifully pulling it out. Obi-Wan dropped to the ground, groaning in pain.

Obi-Wan looked up at Vader, who was grinning maniacally, then past him to his former master who had risen again. He saw the sad expression in his eyes and instantly knew what he was going to do.

"Qui-Gon, no…"

The elder Jedi nodded to Obi-Wan once, then with the Force activated his PPG. A surprised Vader leapt back as a flash of swirling purple and white energy enveloped Obi-Wan, pulling him across the barrier before dissipating into nothing.

"So that's how he's escaped me all of these years…" Vader said quietly and then turned to face Qui-Gon. "Where has he gone?" he demanded.

"To a place that you cannot follow him, Darth," Qui-Gon responded evenly. "And I have no way to reach him, either." He raised his green blade to a basic neutral stance. "Let's say we finish this, Jorus."

Vader snarled and raised his blade to an aggressive forward stance. "Yes, lets."

Buffy watched helplessly as Ben was cut down, then teleported away from the safety of the cockpit of the Falcon. She looked around the hangar and spied Artoo and Threepio in the far corner. She then saw Han, Luke - and Leia?

Boy, she hated it when she missed important stuff.

It was then that the Storm Troopers in the hanger moved towards the hall at the far end where Qui-Gon was fighting with C'baoth. She turned to her daughter.

"Power her up. We're leaving."

Han, Leia and Luke raced across the deck towards the Millennium Falcon. Luke looked to his right and spotted the droids, then looked past him to see Qui-Gon fighting against Darth Vader - and losing.

"Quinn?"

Qui-Gon glanced over to where Luke stood, then back at Vader and smirked.

"You find this amusing old man?" Vader demanded and then swung his blade across Qui-Gon's chest. The Jedi seemingly brought his blade up to block it-

Then simply let go, closing his eyes a moment before Vader's blade slashed across his body. The impact knocked the still-active lightsaber away and into the hangar - while his body disappeared.

"NO!" Luke screamed. The Storm Troopers immediately turned to investigate the noise and opened fire when they saw who it was. Luke immediately opened fire, taking down several Storm Troopers in quick succession.

"Blast the door, kid!" Han cried and Luke turned his fire onto the door panel. The panel exploded and the blast door slammed shut, holding the Sith Lord behind it. Luke turned to run towards the ship-

And was thrown forward, landing on the ground hard. The blaster flew out of his hand and slid into the open maintenance pit in the floor, out of his reach. Luke looked up at Leia and Han and shouted, "Get on the ship!" He scrambled to his feet and grabbed his father's lightsaber from his belt. He ignited the blue blade and swung around, holding it with two hands in front of him-

And came face to face with the most beautiful redhead he had ever seen. Never mind the fact that she wore a standard grey Imperial uniform and held a crimson-bladed lightsaber loosely at her side, she was still gorgeous.

"Well, would you get a load of this," Mara Jade said, smirking. "The farm boy's got a lightsaber. Put that away, kid, before you poke your eye out or something. Leave these to the professionals."

"I can handle it just fine," Luke shot back defiantly, tightening his grip on his saber. Mara's smirk grew even wider as she slinked slowly up to Luke, till she was a blade's length away from the young farm boy. Suddenly she lashed out with her blade with one hand, effortlessly knocking the blade out of Luke's hand and sending the saber tumbling to the deck. Mara's smirk turned into a broad smile as Luke closed his eyes in frustration.

"Yeah, I can see you handle that real we-" she suddenly used the Force to push Luke out of the way and brought her blade up to intercept Buffy's silver blade. "Do you mind? I was trying to have a conversation here…"

"Just like your mother," Buffy remarked casually, driving the young Hand back, "all talk, no akk!" suddenly Buffy floundered, a vice-like grip crushing her throat. She felt herself being picked up off of the floor and watched helplessly as Mara moved away from her and back towards Luke. Her eyes searched frantically for the source of her torture and settled on an eerily familiar sight of a man in a black suit and mask…

It's not Anakin…but I'd recognize that presence anywhere.

"Welcome back, Master Skywalker," Nejaa Halcyon intoned, his hand extended in front of him as he used the Force to choke the life out of her. "It's been a long time."

"Hu-Hal," she choked out, "y-you looked bu-bu-better,"

"Your brother and your dear friend took my family away from me, Skywalker," he spat out. "So I intend to return the favor. Starting with his sister and her friends!"

Reaching into the Force with everything she had, she suddenly threw her hand forward and let loose a Force blast that sent Halcyon crashing back into the wall. His concentration broken, Buffy slumped to the ground, where she gasped for breath. She reached for her lightsaber and ignited it, just in time to block a returning Halcyon's own shot.

Luke wasn't having a much better time with Mara. As soon as her attention turned back to Luke, he had thrown a punch into her jaw, snapping her head back and sending her off balance. He had then tackled her, sending them both to the deck and knocking her weapon out of her hand. Of course, Mara Jade had been trained to be the Emperor's Hand. She didn't just know how to fight with a lightsaber.

All too soon Luke found that she was pretty good at hand-to-hand as well.

"You just don't know when to quit, do you, farm boy?" she said scathingly, snapping a kick off and connecting with Luke's jaw. The young Jedi collapsed to the deck, dazed, and Mara used that moment to call her lightsaber back to her hand. "Got to give you points for tenacity, though…"

"Hey, Darth Rosenberg!"

Mara spun around - and promptly received an armored fist to her face, followed by another to her gut. Dazed, her lightsaber fell to the ground and she was helpless as the armored figure grabbed her by the front of her tunic and hauled her up.

"I wasn't allowed to kill your mother and I don't really feel like killing you. Personally, I think that having an evil daughter is poetic justice for that bitch. But, seeing as how I can't let you kill my cousin here - how 'bout a mirshmure'cya?" and with that, she reared back and let loose with a vicious head butt, which was only enhanced by her beskar helmet. She let the even more dazed Hand slump to the floor and then grabbed Luke. "Time to co, Cuz!"

Buffy blocked a flurry of shots from Halcyon, desperately holding him back while her friends and family made it back about the ship. She saw Joyce come to Luke's aid, taking down whom Buffy presumed to be Willow's daughter with startling ease.

A Mandalorian Slayer, she thought to herself, what should I have expected? She noticed that Halcyon was distracted by that as well and she seized the opportunity to let loose with another Force push. The impact crumpled the control box on the front of his suit that regulated the life support system and the impact with the wall stunned the would-be Sith. Halcyon crumpled to the deck, desperately wheezing as Buffy ran to the Falcon. She was climbing on board when a blaster bolt nicked her artificial arm and she looked behind her - and gasped in amazement at seeing Mara rise unsteadily to her feet, a small assassins' blaster in her right hand. Hesitating only a fraction of a second, she fired. Buffy instinctively raised her artificial hand towards her face and intercepted the bolt that would have gone right between her eyes. The ramp then closed, blocking off any more shots and Buffy slapped the com panel on the wall with her good hand.

"We're all on board! Get us out of here, Han!" she yelled, then sighed in relief as the familiar hum of the engines resonated throughout the ship. Realistically she knew that they weren't out of danger yet, but at least they were finally going to escape the station.

But the question was- at what cost?

TBC

Next chapter - the escape, part 2; the arrival on Yavin IV, the Death Star plans revealed; Joyce meets a young Rebel pilot named Wedge and receives a gift from her mother. Comming next week!