No. 7 – My Spidey-Sense is Tingling
Helplessness | numbness | blindness
Wedge gestured the Rogues forward, boots crunching on the snow in the ice cave.
"Luke!" he called. His voice echoed, bouncing off the ice walls. The Empire was right behind them, so if they didn't find and retrieve Luke soon, they would technically be disobeying orders. But Wedge and the rest of the Rogues had agreed they wouldn't leave without Luke.
Rocks slid down, clattering against each other.
Wedge drew his blaster just in case, pointing the barrel at the ground. "Luke?" He ran around into a tunnel off the cavern.
Luke pressed himself against the cave wall at the far end of a tiny cavern, orange flight suit ripped in several places and stained with blood. His blue eyes were wide and cloudy.
Wedge holstered his blaster and stretched out his hand. "Luke, it's me."
Luke shook his head frantically. He held his hand out. "Stay…stay back."
"Wedge!" Hobbie called out. "The Imps are here!"
Luke's breathing quickened. He pressed himself flatter against the wall.
Wedge pulled his blaster out and spun around. "Don't let them get Luke!"
The Rogues made a circle in front of Luke, blasters drawn.
A small rock bounced off Wedge's shoulder blades. "Get away from me!" Luke said.
The room chilled. Darth Vader strode into the room, cape flaring behind him. Stormtroopers filed in behind him.
"Give Skywalker over and your lives may be spared," Vader said.
Wedge leveled his blaster at Vader's head. "Never." He wasn't thrilled to be facing down Vader, but he'd give his life to protect Luke.
"I said, get away from me!" Luke cried.
A force blasted Wedge against the wall. He slammed into the ice and fell onto the snow, stunned. He glanced around. Everyone had been blasted back against the walls except Vader.
Vader extended a hand. "Luke. I am here. Come with me."
Wedge tried to sit up, but something kept him down. He gritted his teeth. "Stay away from him!"
Luke stood up, hand stretched out. "You can't fool me." His voice trembled. "I know none of you are real. I'm not going to be tricked twice."
Wedge frowned. Not real? What in the nine Corellian hells had Luke been through?
Luke raised his hand. He held a large grey rock. "I may not have my lightsaber, my blaster, my eyesight, or any idea how to defeat a shapeshifting Force monster, but I can still kill you!"
Shapeshifting Force monster? How was anyone supposed to defeat something like that?
"Luke, it's me." Vader grabbed Luke's wrists. Luke fought to pull away, but Vader pulled him closer and placed his hands on his mask.
Luke stilled. His fingers moved over the mask.
"It's really you?"
"It's really me," Vader said.
Luke trembled. He grew limp. The pressures keeping Wedge down dissipated. "You're here."
"You're in trouble." Vader laid a hand on Luke's cheek. "How could I not be?"
Wedge's eyes widened. He scrambled to his feet. Luke and Vader weren't acting like sworn enemies. There were acting more like…friends. "Luke, what's going on?" He trusted Luke implicitly, but this was weird.
"Thanks," Luke said. He grabbed Vader's lightsaber off his belt. "I need to borrow this. There's a monster I need to kill."
Vader grabbed the lightsaber and tugged on it, but Luke wouldn't let go.
"You are blind," Vader said. "What are you going to do?"
Surprisingly, Wedge found himself siding with Vader. "Luke, you didn't even know any of us at first. You just lashed out. You can't even see. How are you going to kill the monster?"
"With the Force," Luke said. He tugged on the lightsaber. "Let go!"
"This is my lightsaber!" Vader said. "Not yours."
"You made me lose my old lightsaber and that was yours, so this one is a good replacement," Luke said. "You owe it to me."
A roar echoed through the caves. Luke paled. "He's here."
Vader ripped the lightsaber out of Luke's hands and pushed Luke behind him. "Stay behind me. I will keep you safe."
Wedge scooped up his blaster from the cave floor and stood next to Vader, ignoring the scowl he could feel boring into the back of his neck. The Imps had to be dealt with or escaped once the danger was gone, and he needed to process the odd Vader-Luke dynamic, but he had found odd common ground with the second-most hated Imperial—protecting Luke.
"I can protect myself," Luke said.
"No, you can't," Wedge and Vader said together.