Remember how I said I would post a chapter every few days? I lied :-P But I am happy to report that this story is now fully written, so barring any crazy life occurrences I should be able to post the remaining chapters by the end of the week. Thanks for sticking with the story this long and I promise there won't be any more lengthy absences.
Chapter 4
Kasya paced the small room, the comm link Luke had given her grasped tightly in her palm hoping for any sign that either party had been captured. She couldn't believe they had left her there; Luke and Han had gone gallivanting off to rescue some princess, taking Chewbacca as their 'prisoner' while Ben had volunteered himself to locate and destroy the tractor beam somewhere deep within the ship's depths. And she was left where she was with nothing to do but wait and hide.
So here she was, hiding out in what looked to be a security office with two droids.
Aboard an Imperial space station.
Behind her, Artoo's dome was spinning lazily as he analyzed any sort of data he could pull from the station's computer system. She had no idea what he was looking for, but at this point any information would help. If droids were capable of emitting emotions, Artoo was the picture of calm under pressure.
Threepio was his exact opposite, pacing as quickly as his stiff legs would allow, muttering how they were all doomed. Kasya had a strong urge to flip the power switch she knew was hiding at the back of his neck. Her fingers twitched at the thought, but she managed to control them. There was no sense in deactivating the droid simply because he was annoying her. No, she would simply grin and bear it.
"Mistress Kasya, how are we ever going to escape this horrid mess?"
Kasya sighed and dropped into a nearby chair. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad; after all it would just take the flip of a switch.
His hand hovered over the release mechanism for the cell door, a thousand thoughts running rampant through his mind. After a moment's hesitation, Luke depressed the device and watched as the door flew open. The cell was small and just as bleak as the rest of this station had been. The walls were completely bare, as was the rest of the room, save for a small hard cot attached to the opposite wall holding a tiny body draped in white.
The young woman took notice of Luke's entrance and pushed herself up on one elbow. She had a look of bored nonchalance about her. "Aren't you a little short for a storm trooper?"
"Huh? Oh, the uniform." Pulling off the terribly heavy helmet, Luke shook his head and finally saw the woman without the distorting lens. She looked much younger than he first realized. "I'm Luke Skywalker. I'm here to rescue you."
"You're who?" she replied skeptically. Leia had been in this horrid place long enough to suspect anyone and everyone. Some blonde headed kid showing up with a heroic rescue plan was exactly the type of ruse the empire would use to break her.
"Luke Skywalker," he repeated. "I'm here with Ben Kenobi. We found your droids."
Suddenly Leia was wide awake with a flash of adrenalin. "Ben Kenobi? Where is he?" Not bothering to wait for an answer from the young man who barely looked old enough to carry the blaster in his hand, Leia pushed passed him and stumbled into the hallway. Instead of meeting the stately old man her father had talked so much about she found herself in the middle of a firefight. Her survival instincts kicking in, Leia flung herself against the far wall and compressed her body against it creating a smaller target for the Imperial soldiers firing at them.
Luke followed her back out into the black corridor, blaster bolts sizzling off the ceiling and walls all around him.
"You got in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?"
"Hey, he's the brains Sweetheart!" Han shouted, tossing an annoyed look at their newest companion on this crazy adventure.
This is definitely not what Luke had been picturing when he'd first seen the princess in that hologram. He was expecting the dainty royalty that he had heard so much about, not the petite little spitfire he was now dealing with.
He definitely wasn't expecting her to steal his blaster and create an escape route out of thin air.
"In to the garbage chute, flyboy!" And then Leia was gone.
Luke stared at the space where she had disappeared with a bewildered expression before suddenly remembering that he was being shot at. He returned fire and crossed to the other side of the corridor.
"Wonderful girl!" Han sneered. "Either I'm going to kill her or I'm beginning to like her." He gestured toward the hull in the vent, which Luke took as his invitation to go first. With a deep breath to steel his nerves, Luke dove headfirst into the chute and whatever trouble awaited him within.
"What were they doing in a garbage chute?" With great restraint, Kasya was able to keep her laughter to a small chuckle. Had she not been in a life or death situation, separated from her only family aboard an Imperial super weapon and left to care for two droids, the thought of her cousin and Captain Solo rummaging around in a trash compactor would have been hysterical. As it was, the thought was still fairly amusing. She would have to remember to laugh about it later.
"What are we going to do now, Mistress Kasya?"
'I have no idea.' She paced the floor for a few moments, half of her brain trying to come up with some sort of plan while the other half kept alert for any signs of trouble. She was so deep in thought that she nearly missed the voice rising from her comm link.
"—you there? Kasya, come in!"
She gasped and raised the device to her lips. "Luke? Is that you?"
"Yeah it's me," came the muffled reply. "Where are you?"
Kasya looked around the corridor she and the droids were currently bunkered down in. There were no signs designating what level of the station they were on—not that such directions would really help when the basic layout of this place was still a mystery to her. "We're somewhere near the docking bay where the Falcon was brought it. If I go around the corner I can see the boarding ramp."
There was a moment of silence, punctuated by bursts of static, before Luke replied. "Okay I think we're right above you. Hang on."
Kasya wasn't sure if Luke wanted her to stay where she was or just wait for further instructions, but she was sick and tired of being left behind. Making up her mind, she ordered Artoo and Threepio to stay where they were and went off in search of her cousin and the rest of their merry little band. It didn't take long to locate the turbolift but Kasya wasn't too keen on being stuck in a confined space with little chance of escape. The smuggling compartments aboard the Millennium Falcon had not been a pleasant experience and definitely not one she was eager to repeat. Thankfully there was a set of stairs further down the corridor. She snuck up them rather stealthily and paused at the top. There was no door on this level so she peeked her head around the corner cautiously. Spotting no one in the immediate vicinity, Kasya stepped into the hallway and crept toward the spot where she assumed Luke and the others would be waiting.
She was ecstatic to find her cousin, looking a little harried and nervous, standing near an open viewport overlooking the docking bay. Throwing all caution out the airlock, Kasya covered the few remaining meters at a dead sprint and threw her arms around Luke's waist.
"You're okay!" she cried, then immediately sobered. "Luke Skywalker don't you ever do that to me again!" She was so excited to see Luke again that she almost missed the addition to the party. "Oh wow…you're her!"
Leia's head snapped up from where she was peering down the hallway. "I'm who?"
"The girl."
Now she was really confused and highly doubtful this little girl would be able to give her the answers she needed. "What girl? What is she talking about?" she asked Luke
"She was with me when I found that recording you put in R2D2," he explained.
Kasya's head bobbed enthusiastically. "Exactly. I told Luke he would never find you. I figured you were probably dead already."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Leia huffed.
Han's baritone chuckled sounded from further down the hall. "This is all terribly amusing, but I think we should probably move this little party along. Those storm troopers are on our heels."
"Agreed. Kasy, where are the droids?"
Her eyes dropped to floor. "They're one level down, right below us."
"You left them? You wandered around this place by yourself?"
In an instant Kasya's hands were across her chest, her right hip cocked. "Don't pull the parental card on me now, Luke. I was perfectly fine on my own when you left me with the droids."
"I didn't want to leave you…"
"Hey!" Both parties ceased their arguing and looked to Captain Solo. "Let's save the family spat for when we're not being hunted by an entire garrison of storm troopers, huh? Now, we need to get to the ship but we're going to need a distraction. Any ideas?"
"Why don't you send your big, hairy friend out there to wave his blaster around and howl," Leia suggested, her tone snarky.
"Now look here, your Highnessness—"
"Wait." Kasya drew everyone's attention to the docking bay. The handful of storm troopers that had been guarding the Falcon had now moved across the space, drawn toward some unknown source of inquiry.
"That's our opening," Han said moving toward the stairwell. "Let's move people." He led the group from their safe outlook down the stairs and out into the hanger bay. The Falcon loomed before them, looking as dilapidated as ever, yet still a welcome sight. Kasya ran as fast as her legs would carry her, not daring to look at anything except the boarding ramp. That was her salvation, her single goal in life at this particular moment. Nothing would deter her from reaching it…
…except maybe seeing Luke detour unexpectedly.
"Luke?" Whatever it was that had drawn her cousin's attention, Kasya couldn't see, but she knew he was about to get himself killed standing about in the middle of a landing bay filled with storm troopers. "Luke, what are—"
"No!"
Blaster fire filled the area and chaos broke out. Leia shouted for her cousin while pushing Kasya up the landing ramp. She fought against the older girl, not wanting to let Luke out of her sight while all hell was breaking loose.
"Go! Luke will follow," Leia urged. She pushed Kasya into the ship, following closely and leading her into the cockpit. Kasya dropped into the seat behind Chewbacca and anxiously watched the doorway for Luke to follow. After several heart-wrenching seconds, he dashed into the cockpit.
"We're taking off," Captain Solo yelled. The words were barely out of his mouth before the ship was lumbering upward on its repulsors. They broke through the magnetic field and blasted away from the space station.
"Luke, what happened out there?"
He didn't look at her, but Kasya could see the tears shining in the corner of his eyes. "Ben's gone. Vader…Vader killed him." Not knowing what else to say, Kasya simply reached over and grasped Luke's hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. There would be time for comfort later, once they were far away from this place.
Han rose abruptly from the captain's seat. "C'mon kid, we're not out of this yet."
By the time the fighting was done, Kasya felt like she'd been holding her breath for hours. She felt so helpless during that time just sitting in the Falcon's cockpit watching as Chewbacca piloted the ship while Han and Luke took out several enemy ships. Now the space around the ship was eerily quiet as was the ship as a whole.
It was unsettling.
It was Kasya who finally broke the silence that had settled over everyone like a thick blanket. "Where are we going now?"
Leia brought her eyes up to meet the younger woman. Behind them swirled a great sadness that nearly took Kasya's breath away. She would never understand how someone could feel such emotion but show none of it outwardly. Leia must have a very strong resolve.
"Well Your Worship? Are you going to tell us where we're headed or would you prefer to blindfold us and input the coordinates yourself?"
Leia paid him no attention. "We have a base in the Yavin system. We'll go there."
The second they exited the Falcon, Kasya knew she was not going to like this planet. Sure the surrounding jungle was beautiful and a nice change of pace from the deserts of her home, but the humidity was not welcome. At least Tatooine's heat was dry and oppressive. The heat that Yavin gave off was humid and stuffy and wreaking havoc on her hair. Kasya could literally feel her hair becoming untamable.
They were hurried along by an older gentleman in a green and grey flight suit and escorted into the great temple that loomed before them. Kasya praised whichever deity the temple was built in honor of that the temperature inside was much cooler.
"Princess Leia."
The assembled group watched as an older gentleman with graying hair approached the Princess and wrapped her in a familiar embrace. "We feared the worse when we heard about Alderaan."
Leia shook her head stoically. "We have no time for our sorrows now, General." The pair moved on ahead discussing the war effort and the Alliance's next move.
Kasya hung back and lowered her voice. "Luke, what happened to Alderaan?" she asked.
"It was destroyed," he answered simply.
Kasya's eyebrows shot up. "What?" Her voice echoed slightly in the cavernous space, bringing a slight blush to the young woman's cheeks. "What do you mean it was destroyed? How?"
"We'll talk about it later."
The group moved further into the Rebel base, following Leia and the older gentleman. All around them people were milling about, some of them working on snub fighters, others crowding around a data pad, but all eyes were on the newcomers. Apparently new faces were such a rarity that most people saw it fit to stare at them. Or it could be that a group that included two teenagers, a cocky Corellian pilot and a seven foot tall Wookiee was something of an anomaly.
"Commander, do you think we could find some temporary quarters for my friends here? I'm sure they're eager to clean up."
Kasya's spirits immediately lifted; the thought of a quick sanisteam had her giddy with excitement.
"I'm sure something can be arranged." The commander—whose name Kasya would probably never learn—summoned one of his subordinates and charged them with finding some rooms for the group. Han and Chewie chose to stay aboard the Falcon rather than in the temple, so the young man with short cropped red hair and pink skin led Luke and Kasya down a series of corridors.
The quarters they were provided with were small, dormitory style rooms. Two cots occupied either side of the space, a glow lamp situated on the wall above each bed cast a soft light on the space. Kasya collapsed onto one of the cots, the events of the day finally catching up to her. She felt like she could sleep for at least a day without waking up, but sadly there was no time for that.
"Okay, now tell me what happened to Alderaan."
Luke sighed heavily and dropped onto the opposite cot. He ran a tired hand over his face and leveled a stern gaze at his cousin. "They destroyed it." His voice was barely above a whisper and thick with emotion. "Before we got to the Death Star, they…they used the station's laser and just blew it up."
"How is that even possible?"
Luke shrugged. "All I know is what Leia told us. She said there was an enormous laser that came from the Death Star and the planet just…exploded."
Kasya shook her head at the pure evil it would take to do such a thing. She had no love for the Empire but they had never interfered with her life so she remained blissfully neutral on the whole subject. Emperor Palpatine had been in power long before she was born, so it wasn't as though she knew of any other way. The Old Republic was just something they studied in school, and briefly at that.
And then another thought occurred to her.
"Luke, did Leia…did she see it happen?" Luke's silence was all the answer Kasya needed. A burning rage blossomed in Kasya, accompanied by a deep sense of sympathy. She and Leia had butted heads during their escape and now she understood the other woman's need to close herself off. She had just witnessed the death of millions of people, her family and friends, and the destruction of everything she had ever known and held dear. Her world had been shattered in an instant—both literally and figuratively.
"Poor Leia," Kasya mused. She sat for another moment before stretching out on her back, hand resting behind her head. Her thoughts travelled a light year a minute as she attempted to understand the new information she had acquired. It was completely incomprehensible to her that anyone—even someone as controlling as Palpatine—would choose to destroy a planet. She understood hatred, but to kill millions of innocent people…that was just unimaginable. Millions of lives snuffed out in the blink of an eye, no warning, no chance to say goodbye. There was little solace in the thought that their deaths had probably been painless or nearly so.
Kasya was quickly coming to understand just what the Alliance was fighting for, and she found herself wanting to help their cause. But what could she do? Surely a single person like herself couldn't make much of a difference.
Her rumbling stomach served as a great distraction to such serious thoughts. It took Kasya a few moments of contemplation to remember when she had last eaten. It must have been several hours ago while the Millennium Falcon was headed for Alderaan. She would still taste the blandness of the ration bar on her tongue.
"Luke?"
"Yeah?"
Kasya turned over onto her side and looked at him. "Do you think they have any food around here? I'm starving."
He started chuckling at the comment, which blossomed into full blown hysterics. The laughter was infectious because Kasya soon found herself dissolving into a fit of giggles. All the tension and emotions that had built up over the last day had finally bubbled up to the surface. Kasya wasn't sure if she wanted to laugh or cry, but she figured the former was a better choice. It was easier to recover from a case of giggles than it was to come back from a fit of hysterical crying. She wasn't sure if she would be able to stop crying once she started, so it was best to not start.
Eventually the laughter wound down. Luke wiped the tears from his eyes and climbed to his feet holding out a hand to his cousin. "C'mon Kasy, let's see if we can find something to fill that bottomless pit you call a stomach."