The inside of the rebel base was chaos at the moment. Harry watched as soldiers and crewmen moved swiftly around the mountain corridors, finishing preparations for the impending exodus. Harry had cleaned himself up and traded his singed and ripped desert wear for a crisp flight suit. Wanting to detract attention from the fact that he was a Jedi, he had snagged a shoulder holster and tucked his lightsaber beneath a jacket.

He walked out of the changing room and made his way down a hallway that he was told led to the transport hanger. When he reached the entrance, he was met by Nola and her Father, each of whom were now sporting new clothes similar to his own. As he joined them, they silently made there way through the open entrance and into the hangar. The inside was like no airport Harry had ever seen...not that he had actually ever been to an airport. The floor of the hangar was a good length below the entrance and was reached by either walking down a ramp or set of stairs off to the side. Harry's attention was immediately drawn to the ships that were the center of attention in the room. Three were rather large and oval shaped, while the other six were much smaller, with narrow bodies and wings carrying some type of gun turrets.

He barely noticed as he made his way down the ramp to where Commander Trest was hovering over a monitor, scrolling through information on the screen. The preoccupied man only looked up when they were directly in front of him.

"We will be leaving shortly," Trest told them. "I've been coordinating with the other two bases, and we will launch our escape at the exact same time. We don't want to stagger the launches and give the Imperials a chance to react."

"That's good in theory, but the Empire has the planet surrounded. How exactly are we supposed to get through an Imperial blockade, especially one that is going to be on high alert due to recent events?" Nola asked.

"There's no way to completely alleviate the danger, but we always had a plan for this," Trest explained. "Through less than respectable means, we managed to procure three cloaking devices. These aren't the kind meant for personal use on a single ship, but for a larger area. We'll launch them ahead of our evacuation to cover our movements."

"If they can't see us, then where is the danger?" Harry asked, having not forgotten the Commander's caveat.

"The cloaking devices aren't a perfect solution. They'll hide us while we're in their effective boundaries, but they also cause malfunctions with our ships navigation systems and hyperdrives. To make the jump to hyperspace, we'll have to make ourselves vulnerable for a short time. Hopefully the Imperials won't react quickly enough, but there is no better option available to us, unless you have another plan."

"I'll have to defer to you on this one," Harry conceded, his knowledge of space technology severely lacking.

"Good," the Commander replied, seemingly pleased at not being challenged. "You three will be on the first transport ship with me. Go ahead and board, and I'll join you shortly."

The trio left the Commander to his preparations and walked towards the center transport ship that Trest had pointed to. Harry hadn't realized the true size of the vessel until he was standing next to it. He was slightly concerned when he saw the amount of damage to the outer hull of the ship, and hoped that it was only aesthetic in nature.

"Have you ever been on something like this?" Harry asked Nola, who was standing close enough that her arm was brushing his own.

His female companion shook her head. "Nothing this size. I've been on a smaller transport that operates between Bestine and Mos Eisley, but that pales in comparison to actual space travel."

They walked up the gangplank that descended down from the center of the ship took in the interior. The cockpit was to their left and there was a gun turret station on each side. There seemed to be a few small rooms, but the bulk of the ship's area was taken up by a long hall of seats. Harry entered and sat in one of the seats that was beside one of the ship's few windows. Nola sat beside him, and her Father next to her.

They were quiet for a few minutes, before Harry leaned forward so that he was in eyesight of Nola's Father.

"Ordol, I just realized I had forgotten to ask this, but do you have any idea of where we're going?"

"Can't rightly say for sure," Ordol shrugged his shoulders. "I doubt we will all be heading for the same destination. The Empire has too many spies around the galaxy to risk a large contingent of ships landing somewhere together."

"If you had to take a guess..."

"If I had to take a guess, I would say some of us would be heading for Alderaan. Bail Organa is one the Rebellion's biggest backers."

"And you would be correct," the voice of Commander Trest commented as he made his way into the ship, along with a large group of soldiers and crew. "Our course is set for Alderaan, and all things going to plan, that is where we will end up. Now, strap yourselves in, things may get turbulent. I will be in the cockpit with the pilots."

Harry wasted little time following the Commander's instructions, pulling the seat's harnesses over each of his shoulders. His head touched back against the headrest and he took a deep breath to try and calm his nerves. Space travel was something he had only ever read about in fantasy stories, and now he was actually about to experience it. He just wished that his first exposure was a joy ride, and not a potential space battle. He felt the vibrations in his chest as the engines kicked on, and he looked out the window to see that the smaller space fighters had already lifted off the ground. As the ships continued to hover, a large portion of the mountain wall suddenly began to move away, letting in a stream of daylight. The fighters accelerated and eventually became specks in the distance.

Hearing the Commander give the order, Harry gripped his seat tightly as the transport picked up off the ground. In barely a blink of an eye, the ship thrust forward and they were flying over the Tatooine desert. The yellow sands eventually faded, and Harry stared outside as the blackness of space crept towards them, faster and faster. He saw the Imperial blockade in place, and if he had been impressed at the size of the rebel transport, he was completely blown away at the size of the Imperial destroyers. Suddenly the idea of hiding away in the desert did not seem like such a bad idea to him. Realizing that his nerves were getting the best of him, he instead focused on reaching out through the Force.

"We're going to reach the edge of the cloaking field in a moment," Trest shouted from the front of the transport. "Brace yourselves for evasive maneuvers."

It was easy to tell when the protection of the cloaking device cut off. The six starfighters that served as their escort were ahead of them, and Harry could actually feel through the Force as the bolt of energy left the gun turret on the closest Imperial destroyer and blasted one them into nothing but miniscule fragments. His concern for the pilots on the starfigthers was quickly forgotten as the transport rolled to the left to avoid an attack.

The pilot did everything he could to avoid the attacks, but inevitably one of them connected and the ship shook terribly, sparks raining down from the wall. Harry still concentrating on the Force, felt the presence of a dozen smaller ships approaching them from behind.

"We have incoming fighters," Trest called from the front. "Man the turrets! We need more time before we can make the jump to lightspeed." Two crewmen left their seats and immediately took off towards the gun stations. The first man made it to the gun on the left side of the ship, but just as the other crewman reached his own position, the transport suffered another attack, and he was propelled headfirst into the wall of solid steel and knocked unconscious, or worse Harry feared by the state of the bleeding wound.

Now the Imperial fighters were right on top of them. Harry watched as the rebel starfighters moved to intercept, but they were outgunned and overwhelmed. Their number quickly went from five remaining to none. The lone crewman on the turret was firing and firing, but was doing nothing to thin the ranks of the enemy. Harry noted that none of the others on board were in a hurry to help him, so doing what only felt natural to him, he pushed aside his restraints and grabbed the joysticks that held the triggers. The seat itself swiveled to allow him to move the dual-guns horizontally. The window also contained a targeting system that enabled him to line up his shots.

Harry unleashed the guns on the streaking enemy fighters, but he had underestimated just how quick they were. It was a challenge to try and anticipate their movements, which were sudden and unpredictable. The targeting grid itself was more of hindrance than a help. Eventually, he grew tired of it and instead focused solely on what his eyes and instincts told him. His first burst of unaided shots were wide, but the next set clipped an enemy fighter on the wing and sent it hurtling down into a fiery impact with a destroyer. He took down two more fighters before there was a giant explosion that forced him to turn his eyes away from the window.

"We've lost transport two!" A voice called from the cockpit.

With their escort gone, along with one of the transports, the Imperial fighters converged on the third transport, which was not offering any resistance. The shields held for several volleys of attacks before it too was lost in an explosion of fire and steel.

"Make the jump! Make the jump now dammit!" Trest screamed at the pilot. "It's better to end up off course, then end up dead!"

Harry had never felt anything like making the "jump" before. The ship jerked forward, then there was a steady stream of light outside the window, making it impossible to discern anything at all. The only thing he knew was that he could no long see any Imperials. Releasing his hold on the turret, he leaned back in his chair and exhaled the breath he had been holding in. He jumped slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder, but relaxed when he saw the face of the Commander.

"Good work on the gun kid. Probably saved our butts back there. You can relax now. It'll take a few hours in hyperspace to reach Alderaan."

Harry stood up from the turret, and immediately turned his head as he saw the still prone figure of the fallen crewman, who would clearly never wake again. He slid into his seat next to Nola, and felt her squeeze his hand as he rested.

"So how has your first space flight been," he asked her.

"Very overrated."

The next thing he was aware of was a hand on his arm shaking him awake. He looked into Nola's eyes questioningly.

"We're about to come out of hyperspace. They said it can be rough, so I figured you may want to already be awake for it," she answered.

"Probably a good idea." He wiped his hands over his eyelids, waking himself even more. The move out of hyperspace was unsettling to say the least, and almost felt like they came to a dead stop when in reality they were still moving forward at a reasonable speed. Now he was free to gaze out the window and when he did he felt a sudden jolt in his gut when he saw the planet in the distance that looked strikingly familiar to Earth. The landmasses of browns and greens swirled with the blue oceans and white clouds, creating a breathtakingly beautiful sight. He felt himself greatly anticipating getting a chance to walk on the surface after so many days spent in a barren desert.

"I think you may have to find a new source of employment Harry," Nola quipped as she leaned on shoulder to get a good view out of the window as well. "It doesn't really look as if they have a need for a moisture farmer."

"Yeah, it's a good thing I have that Jedi thing to fall back on or else I would really be in trouble."

"All of that water..." Nola began, looking at the large oceans in amazement. "Do you think they would mind if we went for a swim?"

Harry turned and raised his brows at her. "When have you ever had the chance to learn to swim living your whole life on Tatooine?"

She looked away bashfully. "Well...I haven't, but it would be a good time to learn. At the least I could float around."

"I'll see if I can make that happen. Maybe we can speak with the Emperor to see if he'll put a hold on the hostility."

He wasn't that surprised when he got the punch in the shoulder. "You're just so, so funny Harry."

"Excuse me, Mr. Potter." Harry and Nola turned their attention to Commander Trest, who was standing in front of them. "I've communicated with Senator Organa and he is preparing for our arrival. I've let him know the circumstances of our escape, and that we are carrying 'special' cargo, so he has secured a remote position for our landing. Hopefully we'll avoid any unfriendly eyes."

"Thank you for the update, Commander. Any word on whether the bases made it passed the blockade?"

"None," the Commander answered gravely. "Unfortunately, until I hear otherwise I will assume they've been lost." With that the man turned and walked back to the cockpit to coordinate their landing.

Their descent was smooth, and the planet that looked beautiful from far away, was even more so the closer they came. The civilization seemed to blend in with the great grassy fields and long ranges of mountains. They continued on until they slowed at the space between two snow-capped mountains. Harry had to strain his eyes, but eventually his saw the small city that was built into the valley between them. The buildings were tall, but slim, and the city itself was not large by any means. The landing pad where they set down was built directly into the mountain, and he could see small group waiting to greet them.

Harry allowed Commander Trest to lead them down the ramp, and he followed closely behind. The comfortable temperature, and clean air immediately invaded his senses as he took his first step outside. A well-built man with tanned skin, dark hair, and sharp features stepped forward and shook hands with Commander Trest, before turning his attention to Harry.

"I am Senator Bail Organa, and I welcome you to Alderaan," the distinguished man offered, bowing slightly

"Thank you Senator. My name is Harry Potter, and I greatly appreciate you and your people welcoming us on your planet. It truly is beautiful."

"The Jedi are always welcome on Alderaan. In fact, as it turns out you aren't the first I have had the pleasure to see today," the Senator said, a secretive smile on his face.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, in confusion.

"I did not expect to see you again so soon Harry," a voice called from behind the Senator. The figure stepped forward out of the crowd that was their welcoming committee. The man was wearing a long, brown outer robe with a hood covering his features.

When the stranger finally lowered his hood, Harry had to actually fight to keep his jaw from dropping at his surprise. "Obi-Wan?"