This is the last of the shorter chapters, I swear! They get longer after this. But this takes us almost all the way up to the battle of Hoth.
DISCLAIMER: Don't own it... Yada Yada... Dagobah... Yoda... AU part is mine...
Chapter Nine
"Are you sure you're fine?" Mara asked for the hundredth time and Luke laughed.
"Yes, I'm fine! You need to relax! It takes a lot more than cold to kill me," he teased and Mara shot him an angry look.
"That's not funny, Farmboy, and you know it."
"Fine, I'm sorry," he apologized. "But you really do need to stop fretting."
"Luke, I- We almost lost you," she said, hoping to ignore the slip but luckily Luke didn't seem to catch it.
"A few more hours and I'll be out of here, and everything will be back to normal, I promise," Luke said, and Mara nodded. The door to Luke's med room opened and in walked Leia.
"Hey, Leia," he called and Leia smiled and hugged Luke.
"I'm so glad you're okay," she told him, and Luke smiled.
"What do I keep telling you guys, I'm fine!"
"Sure," Leia nodded. Luke grinned before his expression turned thoughtful. "Leia, I might be leaving soon."
"What?" she cried out. "Why? Are you leaving the Alliance?"
"No, no," Luke consoled her, and Mara stepped forward.
"Why are you leaving? When?" she demanded, and Luke shrank back into his bed slightly.
"I just, there was something, just before I passed out," he started, his expression far away. "Like something out of a dream. I don't know. But I have to seek out a Jedi Master."
"Luke, the Jedi were all wiped out before we were born," Leia told him, and began wondering if he'd bumped his head.
"Ben was a Jedi, some escaped," Luke told her. "But I have to go to Dagobah, I have to at least try."
"Yoda," Mara mumbled and Leia snapped her head to look at the red head.
"You know about him?" Luke asked hopefully.
"No, but you were mumbling about him all last night," she explained. "Over and over, Ben, Yoda, Dagobah."
"Oh," he said, slightly saddened before turning back to Leia. "I don't know how long it will be, but once I'm a Jedi, I'll come back to the Alliance."
"Great," Leia said, pasting on a sarcastic smile. "Just great! Everyone's leaving! First Han, now you! When are you leaving, Mara?"
Mara bit her lip and looked down. "When Luke is."
"What?" Luke asked, suddenly alarmed. "Where to?"
Mara looked at him and took a deep breath. "Dagobah. If I'm going to completely eradicate the dark in me and become a Jedi as well, I could use this Yoda's help too."
"Are you sure? I don't even know if he's still around or if he ever was," he told her hesitantly. "It could just all be a wild Gungan Chase for all I know."
"I don't care," she told him. "I have to try."
"Great!" Leia threw her hands in the air before crossing the room. The door slid open and in came Threepio and Artoo, the latter twittering happily.
"Oh, it's so good to see you fully functional again, sir!" Threepio cried, waving his arms about happily.
"Thanks, Threepio," Luke mumbled, not taking his eyes off Mara. Artoo beeped again, and rolled out from behind Threepio.
"Artoo expresses his feelings also."
"How 'ya doin', Kid?" Han called as he walked in after the droids. Chewie followed, growling happily. "You don't look so bad to me. You look strong enough to pull ears off a Gundark."
"Thanks to you and Mara," Luke told him in a low but thankful tone.
"That's two you owe me, Junior," Han teased, holding up two of his fingers for emphasis. Han then turned around and grinned smugly at Leia. "Well, Your Worship, looks like you've managed to keep me around for a little while longer."
Leia stared at him, arms crossed and an annoyed look on her face. "I had nothing to do with that. General Rieekand thinks it's dangerous for any ships to leave the system until we've activated the energy shield."
"That's a good story," Han said smugly and crossed his arms across his chest. "I think you just can't bare to let a gorgeous guy like me out of your sight."
"I don't know where you get your delusions, Laser-brain," Leia retorted. Mara grinned and looked down to Luke to see that he had a similar expression. Chewie wolfed out a laugh and Han turned and glared at his best friend.
"Laugh it up, Fuzzball," he said, before crossing the room to Leia. "But you didn't see us alone in the South Passage." Han put his arm around Leia's shoulders despite her surprised look. "She expressed her true feelings for me."
Leia snapped her head up at the Smuggler. "My-?" she asked in surprise, and Han began to pull away from her and walk back across the room. "Why you.. Stuck up, half-witted, scruffy looking..." she searched for the word. "Nerfhearder!"
Han spun around, offended by the name calling. "Who's scruffy looking?"
Leia breathed angrily, not replying. Han turned around and leaned over to Luke before speaking. "Must've hit it pretty close to the mark to get her all riled up like that, huh, Kid?"
Leia nodded and began walking closer to Han to teach him a lesson before she saw Mara and changed her tactic.
"Well, I guess you don't know everything about women, yet?" she said, and turned and walked out of the doorway to the Luke's room and right into Wedge. She pulled his collar down to her height and kissed him on the lips.
Han looked shocked and Luke dropped his jaw at the audacity of what Leia was doing. He never thought she'd go that far to teach Han a lesson. She broke the kiss with Wedge before glaring once at Han and spinning on her heal and walking down the icy hallway.
Wedge gaped after her, certainly surprised by what had just occurred. He looked into Luke's room and noted the gaping expression of Luke and the slightly annoyed expression of Han.
"I don't want to know," he stated and turned back down the hallway the way he came. Han glanced at Chewie and Mara before turning to Luke.
"Take it easy," he said, and left the room, closely followed by Chewie and the Droids. Once the door shut behind them, Luke and Mara exchanged an amused look before bursting out laughing.
"Princess," Rieekand called, getting Leia's attention. "We have a visitor."
Leia and Han walked over to the scans of the area where Rieekand was standing.
"We picked up something outside the bases' own twelve moving east."
"It's metal," the officer next to Rieekand stated.
"Then it couldn't be one of those creatures," Leia thought aloud, referring to the creature that Luke described after he'd come to.
"It could be a speeder," Han said, slightly hopeful. "One of ours."
"No," the officer said, then listened to his comm unit at the signal the metal object was omitting. "Wait. There's something very weak coming through."
Everyone listened to the droid language that came over the comm channel, trying to decipher the origin of the object.
"Sir!" Threepio called out. "I am fluent in over six million forms of communication. This signal is NOT used by the alliance. It could be an Imperial code."
Leia's chest tightened as Threepio vocalized what she'd been thinking.
"It isn't friendly, whatever it is," Han said, and began heading for the exit. "C'mon, Chewie. Let's check it out."
Han and Chewie located the object, and Han furrowed his brow at whatever it was. A droid of some sort, with antenna probably to send back what ever messages it needed.
"Chewie, you go around and distract it, and I'll see if I can immobilize it," Han said quietly, and the wookiee nodded.
As they got in their positions, Chewie cried out and alarms sounded from the droid. Han aimed his gun over the ridge he was hiding behind, as the droid shot at Chewie. Han fired once, and the droid blew up, scattering pieces of debris everywhere.
Han frowned at the sight of the dismantled droid. Leia was not going to like this.
Chewie ducked out of his cover and growled out something to Han.
"Yeah, yeah, I've already thought of that," Han dismissed before grabbing his comm unit and reporting to base.
"Echo Seven to Echo Base," he said.
"Received, did you find the object?" Leia's voice sounded back.
"Yeah, afraid there's not much left," Han said.
"What was it?"
"A droid of some kind. I didn't hit it that hard, must've had a self-destruct."
"An Imperial Probe Droid," Leia said knowingly.
"There's a good bet the Empire knows we're here," Han sighed, and shook his head. Shavit.
"We better start the evacuation," Rieekand said. "Solo, you and Chewbacca return to base. You two need to be ready to take off out of here too."
"Understood, Captain," Han nodded, and waved to Chewie as they started their way back
Yay for the Probe Droid! Risked its life in the name of our valiant Emperor!
Anyways, I hope you guys liked how the Med Bay scene played out. As I've said before, Wedge is Numero Uno. And I couldn't very well have Leia kiss her brother... I mean Luke... without Mara getting angry.
NEXT CHAPTER: Battle of Hoth