Chapter 15
Irreplaceable
The holding cell was dark and wet. Leia opened her eyes and gripped the edges of the cot on which she lay. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she smelled the stench of the cell's previous inhabitants. She had no idea what had happened to her. The last thing she remembered was walking into her office. She attempted to sit up, but her head felt like lead, and she tried to clear her brain.
Shouts came from down the hall and Leia hoped she would find out not only why she was here, but where 'here' was. As she sat up and rubbed her neck, the owners of the voices came into view. Dr. Zachary Smith was being led by the arm, wrists in stun cuffs, to her very cell. He was shoved in and the guards released him.
"Get to know the pretty little lady," the guard laughed. "You'll be here a long time."
"Why am I being imprisoned?" Smith shouted.
The guards ignored him and returned to their posts.
Smith turned desperately around in the cell. His wrists were sore from the electrical pulses that the guards seemed to take pleasure in giving him. He backed up to the cell door, wanting to put as much space between him and Leia as possible. He knew from experience that an angry woman should be avoided at all costs.
Leia finally had her wits about her and rose to confront the man. "Dr. Zachary Smith."
He attempted to be proactive. "As you can see, I am as much a prisoner as you are. I, ah, I attempted to rescue you, but was captured myself."
"We know you betrayed our forces at Fondor, and we were successful despite your incompetent interference."
"I was only trying to make my way in a strange universe, my dear. Please don't take anything personally."
"Don was right. You should have been incarcerated just for your evil character."
Booted footsteps echoed in the hallway that led to their cell. General Delvardus himself appeared at their door.
"And how are our prisoners being treated, eh?" Delvardus asked.
"Delvardus, why am I being imprisoned?" Smith demanded. "I brought you valuable information!"
"Very simple, Doctor. Once you left the New Republic, you ceased being useful to us."
"But I was found out! I needed asylum or I would have been imprisoned or worse."
Delvardus shrugged, "That is not my problem. Competition for credits and power is one thing I do not need. You are now expendable." He turned to Leia and bowed, "Your Highness, your government has not responded to our proposal. Could it be that Fondor is more important to them than you are?"
"We do not deal with kidnappers, Delvardus," Leia stated.
"I hope that is not true for your sake, Your Highness. The deadline for your government's response is fast approaching. You should pray that the New Republic finds you irreplaceable."
The rescue team had landed on Ghormon. Han paced as he waited for the others to join him for one last briefing.
"About time you got here," Han growled.
"Patience, Han. She's all right," Luke replied.
"But for how long?"
Judy quietly entered the room with a holster strapped around her waist. Luke greeted her with a quick kiss on the cheek and asked, "What is that?"
"My laser pistol," she answered.
"Your laser pistol?" he replied.
"Judy, you're staying behind to prepare the med bay," Han said.
"It's prepared. I'm coming with you," she answered.
Luke interrupted, "You should stay here, where it's safe."
"She can handle herself, Luke, better than most," Don stated.
Judy flashed him a grateful smile.
"Okay, you're with me and Luke. We're going after Leia." Han declared.
"Han…" Luke started, but Han waved his concern away.
Han continued with the orders. "Don and Lando, you find Smith. Chewie will wait on the Falcon," he turned to his co-pilot, "and be ready to move." Han placed his hand on his blaster. "All right… let's go get her."
Getting into the building was easier than they expected. Only two guards were at the delivery entrance and Don and Lando made short work of disposing of them. They made their way to the security center and Lando sliced into the computer, knocking the cameras off line. He hoped this would give them enough time to find the captives.
"This is too easy, Lando. Either Delvardus is an idiot or his men need some serious training," Don commented.
"He's an imperial, Don. He's an idiot," Lando replied.
As they entered the elevator, a siren wailed throughout the building. "What in hells did Han do?" Lando exclaimed.
"I thought you disengaged the security system?"
"Just the cameras. Han knows how to bypass locks and alarms."
"It had to be Smith. He probably tripped the alarms to save his skin."
They left the elevator and made their way down the hall. As they neared the cellblock, they could see the green glow of Luke's lightsaber lighting the air as it deflected blaster bolts, but there were still guards in the hallway. Lando took the storm troopers on the right and Don took the ones on the left. They were clear for now.
Han shot out the cell's lock. Don and Lando expected Leia to be in the cell, but it was Smith, not Leia whom Han pulled out by the arm. He shoved him up against the wall… hard. "Where is she!" Han demanded of Smith.
"She was taken by Delvardus." Smith replied.
"Where!" Han repeated.
"I can take you to her, but I must have your word, as a General of the democratic New Republic, that I will not be harmed."
Don held his pistol up to Smith's face. "You have my word as the battle commander of the Jupiter that you will be shot if you don't cooperate in three, two, one…"
"N-now, major, no need to be 'testy'." Smith gestured towards the hallway. "Shall we?"
Han kept a hold of Smith and dragged him down the corridor. Don and Luke followed behind while Lando brought up the rear.
"Luke, where's Judy?" Don asked.
"I thought she was right behind us. She must be waiting in the stairwell up ahead. You said she could handle herself."
"But not alone!"
They were only a few steps from the stairs and Judy was not there. Don cursed under his breath. 'I should have kept her with me,' he thought. They raced up the steps and halted before entering the main hallway. Storm troopers were swarming near a closed office door.
"That's where Leia is and Judy's with her," Luke stated.
"Can you and Lando take care of the Storm troopers?" Han asked.
They nodded.
"Don, you take Smith… Don? Where in hells did he go?"
Don had snuck out a side door and made his way around the building to the window of the room where Leia was being held. He saw Delvardus holding a pistol to Leia's head and Judy pointing her pistol directly at Delvardus. It was a standoff. Don commed Han and explained the situation to him. "Delvardus has his back to the window. I'll crash through and take him from behind. Can you clear the hallway?"
"Working on it," Han replied.
"Let me know when it's clear." Don didn't want to move in until the troopers were eliminated, or Judy would be a sitting duck.
Guards were making routine sweeps of the outside area, but Don had eluded them so far. If he didn't get the go-ahead from Han soon, he'd have to find some cover – fast. He peeked in the window again and caught Judy's eye this time. He motioned for her to wait, but Delvardus saw her eyes drift and took evasive action. He pushed Leia directly into Judy and disappeared through a panel in the wall. Don crashed through the window, but it was too late to catch him. The panel had already slid back into place and Delvardus was half way through the tunnels under the building. Han and Luke came through the door and helped the women to their feet.
"Are you all right?" Han asked Leia.
She nodded and hugged him tightly. Luke looked into Judy's face and she nodded to indicate that she, too, was fine.
Lando shoved Smith into the doorway and stated, "More troops are coming. We can't get out that way!"
"How about the window?" Han asked Don.
"We'll have to run for it… real fast!" he replied.
"Let's go!"
Don jumped out first and helped Leia, then Judy over the broken glass. Luke jumped through and Smith was pushed out by both Han and Lando, who quickly followed.
"I'll take him," Don said as he grabbed Smith and pulled him along. Storm troopers had come through the door and were hot on their trail. Luke deflected the blaster bolts as they made their way into a clearing. Han had commed Chewie from inside the building and the Falcon appeared over the horizon like a rising sun. The ramp was lowered as the Falcon hung in mid air. Within seconds, they all hopped onto the ramp and were safe within the ship.
Han pointed to a smuggling compartment and yelled, "Put him in there!" and then ran to the cockpit. Don tossed Smith into the hole and closed the lid. Luke and Lando had climbed into the gun turrets. The tie fighters had already been launched, but the Falcon would be in hyperspace before they could do any damage.
The rescue was complete.