Han finally managed to track Luke down to the lounge on the Falcon, although if he had thought about it, he probably should have looked there first, it was the only place he was likely to get any privacy with everyone bustling about inside the base with repairs and the Imps still mopping up outside. The kid was slumped on the bench, his head resting on folded arms atop the deactivated dejarik grid.
"You ok Luke?" he finally asked when the younger man showed no indication of acknowledging his presence.
Luke looked at him, and pushed up into a more upright position.
"He let me believe he was dead Han, no, he made me believe he was dead, Yoda and Qui-Gon let me believe it. How many other lies are there?"
"I don't know kid," he sighed, seeing the bitterness in the other's eyes. He slumped into the seat across from Luke and blew out a long breath.
"We could just snag Chewie and go, head back to the rest of the fleet, or wherever, leave Yoda, Kenobi and this whole mess behind," he offered.
Luke seriously thought about it for longer than Han thought he would before shaking his head slowly.
"Whatever else Han, I do want to be a Jedi, I can't do that without Master Yoda," he sighed.
"And Kenobi?"
"I want him to tell me why he did it, and if there were any other lies I have grown up believing."
"But how will you know he's telling you the truth even now?"
"I won't, I guess, but I still need to ask him."
"Yeah, I guess," Han nodded, before pushing back to his feet and clapping Luke on the back.
"Come on, up, no point in sitting here dwelling on it, come and help me and Chewie with the hyper drive."
/x/
Qui-Gon stood invisible in the command centre of the base, watching as the base commander reported the attack on the base by the Shining Sword to Mon Mothma, Rieekan and Dodonna over a fuzzy and unstable comm channel.
"Did you drive them off, or destroy them?" Dodonna demanded.
"The Vengeance arrived shortly after the attack had begun, they, along with another ship I do not know the identity of fought off the Shining Sword, they also halted the ground attack. The Imp troopers are still mopping up the enemy troops out there now, they haven't made any effort to access the base, except…"
"Except what, General?" Mon Mothma asked.
"One injured member of the Vengeance ground force was brought inside by Solo and Skywalker for medical treatment after he got on the wrong side of the local fauna, he…I…"
"Stop dithering and spit it out," Dodonna cut in impatiently.
"General Kenobi is currently in our medical section, he was with the Imp troops," he said crisply.
"Kenobi is dead, he died on the battle-station before we escaped, Vader killed him, I saw him," Leia objected, stepping into the frame.
"Princess, I don't know what to tell you, but a number of people here recognize him, including me. I may only have been a young grunt back then but everyone knew General Kenobi's face."
"Tell Captain Solo to return and bring him with him, as soon as your medic clears him for travel," Rieekan said, speaking for the first time.
Qui-Gon had heard enough, he focused his attention on Anakin as Obi-Wan was still unconscious, finding himself in the small conference room off the command deck, going through a mountain of datapads listing the damages and casualties from the battle with the Shining Sword and the mercenaries on the ground.
"Is something wrong with Obi-Wan?" Anakin asked instantly as he saw the insubstantial blue form appear in the corner of his vison.
"Not yet no, but the Alliance leaders know he's alive, they just told the base commander to have him brought to the fleet on the Falcon, as soon as the medical section clears him for travel."
"We need him awake, we need to know how he wants to handle this," Anakin said, cursing softly as he shoved the pads aside and rose to pace from one end of the room to the other."
"Anakin, he's an unknown quantity right now, unless I miss my guess, he'll be kept sedated until they get him to the fleet, they're not going to want to take chances."
"Then we take him back, before they can take him anywhere."
"If you attack now, you could destroy everything you and Obi-Wan have been working for, everything you sacrificed for," he warned.
"I'm not going to attack, I'm just going to snag the Falcon when it leaves the planet."
"Anakin…."
"I'm not going to let them take him," Anakin said fiercely, it was bad enough that he hadn't been able to do anything to stop him getting hurt in the first place, he wasn't going to let them take him unconscious and undefended into the midst of the Alliance.
"Just…don't do anything too rash Anakin, I'll see if I can persuade Yoda to try to reason with them," Qui-Gon sighed, he had to admit he didn't love the idea himself, Obi-Wan could technically be taken as a prisoner of war, and he was too important to risk that way.
Anakin snorted, but didn't object as Qui-Gon faded out, not that he intended to just sit back and wait.
"Captain, I want the planet watched closely. Any indication of the Millennium Falcon leaving before I counterman this order, bring it aboard before it can make hyperspace. They may attempt to take the Emperor to the rebels," Anakin ordered, striding onto the command deck.
"Do they know who he is, my lord?" the captain asked in alarm.
"No, all they know is that he is General Kenobi, Jedi, and supposedly dead, make sure that any men who might be around the Falcon crew know it is to stay that way."
"Yes, lord Skywalker," the man acknowledged with a crisp salute.
/x/
Yoda was sitting in the corner of the medical section, watching the medical droid click and whirr over the unconscious patient when Qui-Gon appeared.
"Sooner I expected you, Qui-Gon," he commented.
"I've been around. Yoda, you need to talk some sense into these people, the Rebel leaders have just ordered that Obi-Wan be brought to the fleet as soon as he is fit to be moved."
"A problem is that?" Yoda asked, cocking one ear in the direction of his insubstantial former student.
"Well let's see, Anakin in orbit aboard the Vengeance, already rather concerned about his master….can't imagine that he will take kindly to them abducting him, so yes, I'm thinking that it could be a problem," Qui-Gon pointed out sarcastically.
Further conversation was cut off when the base commander came in, Han and Luke trailing after him.
"Is he fit to be moved?" he demanded of the droid.
"My patient is still unconscious, but no longer in any danger," the droid responded promptly.
"Then prep him for travel, he needs to be sedated, so provide Captain Solo with whatever he needs to keep him under, should he start to regain consciousness."
"Do that, you should not," Yoda said after a pointed glare from Qui-Gon.
"We have orders," Han said disinterestedly, the old man had upset Luke, he didn't much care what he or the green guy might want.
"Query them, you should."
"He faked his death and joined up with the Empire, I would say he has questions to answer," Han said snidely.
"Perhaps, but a mistake it is to do it this way."
"We're leaving as soon as they have him doped and aboard, you don't like it, you don't have to come with us."
Yoda sighed and looked at Luke, who was looking at him suspiciously.
"Why don't you want us to take him back to answer questions?"
"Not a threat is the Vengeance, the Empire, at this moment. Change that will, if abduct Obi-Wan you do."
"We're not abducting him."
"If without his consent you take him, if drugged you take him, abduction that is, a mistake, that is."
Luke hesitated, then shook his head and moved to help Han guide the floating stretcher out of the medical section. Yoda sighed and followed silently. Qui-Gon was already gone, and he had no doubt where.
/x/
Anakin looked at Qui-Gon out of the corner of his eye as he reappeared on the command deck. He shook his head in exasperation.
"He tried, but they were not inclined to be reasoned with," he said.
Anakin sighed and looked at the captain.
"Be on the alert captain, the Falcon will be leaving Hoth any time now. I will be very displeased if they manage to make hyperspace with the Emperor aboard," he warned.
"Understood, my lord," the captain replied, swallowing nervously and moving to make sure the crew were on the ball.
"There is a ship leaving the planet, it matches what we have on file for the Millennium Falcon," one of the techs reported.
"Get a tractor beam on it the moment it is clear of the gravity well, do not give them a chance to jump into hyperspace."
"Yes my lord," the tractor beam tech acknowledged, his hands flying over his console.
/x/
Chewie snarled something unflattering as they broke clear of the planet's gravity field, and found themselves in a debris field, and facing the Vengeance dead on, the second Imp destroyer laying off to starboard, blocking any escape in that direction.
"Evasive manoeuvres Chewie, don't give them a chance to get a lock on us. Luke, take the upper gun turret, we're not going down without a fight."
Luke unstrapped from the seat behind the pilot chair and darted through the narrow corridor, heading for the turret, he could hear Han muttering about Imps trying to lull them into a false sense of security behind him, and he saw Yoda standing in his way ahead.
"Master Yoda, I have to get in there."
"Fight them you must NOT, wish only to retrieve Obi-Wan they do."
"Damn it Luke, there are TIEs incoming, get on the gun will you," Han yelled from up in the cockpit as the ship jerked sharply to port, throwing Luke into the bulkhead, though he noticed sourly that Yoda didn't even flinch at the sharp movement.
Luke moved to nudge past Yoda, and yelped as the gimmer stick whacked across his shins.
"Make things worse you will, if fire on them you do," he warned.
"Whose side are you on, really?" Luke asked angrily.
"About sides this is not, listen to what Obi-Wan has to say you must."
"Well that will be kind of difficult, considering you are in the way of us stopping them from taking him back."
"Speak as a prisoner he will not. Listen you must," Yoda insisted.
There was another, harder jolt, knocking Luke on his ass as the engines started to whine painfully and the air was rent by an angry howl from Chewie and vitriolic cursing from Han, who stormed out of the cockpit.
"They have us in a tractor beam, are you happy now?" he snarled.
"Believe me you must, for the best it is."
"Yeah, you just keep thinking that when we end up in their cells, you do remember that the Imps wanted all Jedi dead, right?" he sneered as the whine of the engines cut out and they thumped to a halt, presumably inside the Vengeance.
Han slammed his hand down on the release for the main hatch, if there was going to be any chance of escaped, he couldn't afford for the Falcon to be damaged by the Imps heavy handed methods of entry.
A dozen storm troopers surrounded the boarding ramp, their weapons aimed unwaveringly at the hatch. Han sneered silently and raised his hands to show he was unarmed. He vaguely noticed that the three white armoured figures that accompanied the two men pushing a grav stretcher up the ramp had scuffed armour, and the same red strip that the forces on the plant had worn, indicating that they had likely been part of the ground assault.
Chewie loomed up behind Han's shoulder, growling menacingly, but remained still at a gesture from Han.
As soon as the unconscious Obi-Wan had been removed from the Falcon, a man in a crisp officer's uniform stepped to the bottom of the ramp.
"I am Captain Veers, I have been instructed to inform you that you have two options, you may depart and go on your way, or you may remain aboard at this time, and wait for Master Kenobi to regain consciousness," he said simply, that wasn't quite how Lord Skywalker had phrased it, but it was less abrasive than his 'they can stay or go, I don't give a damn right now'.
"You seriously expect us to believe you will let us go, and not shoot us out of space the moment we are clear?" Han snorted.
"You may of course believe what you wish, we are not a threat to you, as long as you do not attempt to threaten us."
"And if we opted to remain on board, which prison planet would we be shuffled off to?"
"None, there are no plans to break orbit at this time. We will be remaining here until an escort arrives for the Dominator, and to collect those prisoners we have from the Shining Sword," Veers said with surprising candour, before gesturing to the remaining troopers.
"Take some time to think about it, if you wish; you can inform them of your choice, and you will either be escorted to quarters or permitted to leave unmolested," he said, turning on his heel and walking away.
/x/
Back in the small conference room, Anakin snorted with amusement at the poleaxed looks on Luke and Solo's faces, and wondered briefly which option they would take. He honestly didn't care right now, they had tried to take Obi-Wan from him, and he wasn't entirely sure he could restrain his temper on that front just yet. He left the screen on to keep an eye on them, but turned the majority of his attention back to the pads in front of him, trying to distract himself while he waited for the Medical Officer to report.
"Well?" he demanded as soon as the man stepped into the room half an hour later.
"The Emperor is still unconscious, but he seems to be dealing with the drug himself, it is reducing in his bloodstream much faster than normal, he should be awake within an hour or so. The injuries he received planet-side were dealt with competently, and require no further intervention from us, although we will be monitoring them."
"So he's going to be fine?"
"Yes, my lord."
"Good, I want to know the moment he begins to wake, he may be…combative."
"Of course, my lord."
Anakin dismissed the man, and glanced back at the monitor, noticing with surprise that Luke and his companions were being escorted across the bay by the troopers that Veers had left there, it seemed they had decided to stay after all. This could be interesting, he mused, eyes narrowing in dislike as he watched Yoda stumping across the deck beside the towering form of the Wookiee.
tbc