Chapter Five: On Yavin IV
I shook off my feeling of unease and changed the topic of conversation. "At least the information in Artoo is still intact," I said optimistically.
Solo glanced over at me, then at the little blue-and-white droid. "What's the little guy carrying that's so important, anyway?"
"The technical readouts of that battle station," I replied, not able to see how telling him could hurt, and hey, if he was willing to actually have a civil conversation, the least I could do was be nice in return. "I only hope that when the data is analyzed, a weakness can be found. It's not over yet!"
He snorted, and my opinion of him fell once again. "It is for me sister. I ain't in this for your revolution, and I'm certainly not in it for you, Princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money!"
I set my jaw – something I had to stop doing, no matter how much he annoyed me. If I wasn't careful, I was going to shatter it one of these days. "You needn't worry about your reward," I said tightly. "If money is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive!"
I jumped to my feet and left the cockpit, running into Luke on the way. "Your friend is quite the mercenary. I wonder if he really cares about anything – or anyone!"
And with that, I stalked off.
Alone in the hold, I sank into thought. I couldn't believe the callousness of the pirate! Even Vader believed in a cause, had a goal. Granted, it wasn't exactly a noble one, but to me it was still better than living merely for money.
I thought a little more about Vader. I knew I couldn't tell anyone about our deal. Mon Mothma would insist I drop it, and the recruits would forever see me as a traitor. That meant it would be my burden to bear alone.
I frowned. It was heavy, though, and I already had so much responsibility to bear. Maybe I should back out. Things were already progressing in a direction far different from the one I had imagined when I had made this deal. With the destruction of Alderaan – I forced back the lump that formed in my throat at the very thought – and the death of General Kenobi, I would have sworn nothing had changed between us.
Of course, that was the point, but still! We still had the Empire breathing down our necks despite Vader's promise to me to keep them away – but really, what's the promise of a Sith worth?
I buried my face in my hands. This was all so complicated! I hadn't thought this deal through very well at all; in fact, I had likely endangered the Alliance by agreeing to it! Damn Vader!
And how was I supposed to contact him? He hadn't given me a comm number. Was I supposed to sit prettily until he decided to contact me?
Well, screw that. If he wasn't going to treat me like the partner in this deal that I was, then he would have to deal with th situation on his own!
I nearly whimpered. He didn't even have a plan! How could I have agreed to be part of something that didn't even exist except as a vague concept in the mind of the half-mad arch-villain of the galaxy?
Stupid, Princess. Very, very stupid . . .
I stood up and began to pace. Maybe if I could come up with an idea . . . I'd probably have time to; I didn't expect him to contact me anytime soon. So what could we do?
Well, first of all, the Emperor was on Coruscant. Always. In my lifetime, he had never so much as taken a couple days to visit his homeworld of Naboo – two days being the minimum, because it was a day's journey each way from Coruscant. So whatever happened would have to happen on Coruscant.
I bit my lip. The Alliance was ages away from being ready to attack Coruscant. I was having my doubts about our ability to take out this monstrosity of a battle station. Our equipment was old, our numbers less than a fraction of Coruscant's population – and that included the members of permanent cells set up apart from the main base, people we couldn't call on easily anyway.
I sighed. How exactly did Vader expect this to work?
Maybe we could send in a small group, an assassin group. The Emperor would be sure to call on Vader for assistance . . .No, he'd send Vader out to kill us, not keep him close as a bodyguard.
What could we do to put Vader, armed and ready to strike, beside the Emperor?
The only thing I could think of was to send a unit against the palace while Vader and the Emperor were in conference. But even then there was no guarantee they'd stay together.
I sighed and sat back down. No wonder Vader didn't have a plan.
I bounced a little on the balls of my feet as I watched the trees of Yavin IV disappear underneath us. In the distance, the ruin we had set up base in drew ever nearer.
We docked in the general landing bay, and were greeted by a grinning mechanic, who promptly called, "Oi! The princess is alive!"
A cheer went up among his colleagues, and I smiled shyly as he found an armoured military speeder for us to use to travel across the general hangar to the military one. Han grumbled at their good moods, but I refused to let him get me down; these people, my fellow Rebels, were all I had left now. They were my family, and I was happy that they were glad to see me.
As soon as the speeder halted, Commander Willard scooped me up in a giant hug as everyone around us watched, chattering and smiling.
"You're safe!" Willard exclaimed in relief. "We had feared the worst." He let me go and continued, "When we heard about Alderaan, we were afraid that you had been lost along with your father."
I paused briefly. No, I wanted to say, Vader was protecting me. Because as soon as I said that, the situation would be out of my hands. It would be the High Council's burden to bear.
Unfortunately, if I said that, I would also be questioned and watched like a hawk until they had milked all the information they could out of me. Not appealing at all.
No it was simpler to keep this to myself. "We don't have time for our sorrows, Commander," I told Willard. "The battle station has surely track us here --" If it has, I will kill Vader "-- it's the only explanation for the ease of our escape. You must use the information in this Artoo unit to plan the attack. It's our only hope."
There, Lord Vader. Is that enough cover for you? I sighed discreetly. Hopefully Vader had enough sense to get off the Death Star while he still could.
A few hours later, General Dodonna approached me, a small object in his hand, which he waved at me. "You were right, Princess," he told me. "They did track you."
He offered me the device, and I took it, furious. How dare he? So much for keeping the Empire off our back!
I handed it back. "Then we need a strategy more than ever," I replied sweetly. "How is the planning of the attack coming?"
Finally, we were ready to launch our attack. The Death Satr was on its way, and we needed to get to it before it reached us.
Dodonna and I found Luke by his X-wing, looking upset.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"Oh, it's Han," he sighed, and I stiffened. Not again . . . "I don't know," he continued. "I really thought he'd changed his mind."
right. The pirate had taken the reward the Alliance had offered and disappeared. "He's got to follow his own path," I told Luke, rather than saying what I really thought of the man. "No one can choose it for him."
Luke looked down. " I just wish Ben were here."
I couldn't help it. I gave him a comforting hug and a peck on the cheek, then left to watch the battle from the war room.
