Yay! Chapter Ten! Woo! Longest story I've ever kept with. This deserves a party. I say Disneyland. Who's with me?
Haha, all joking aside, I really am happy with this story. You guys make it awesome with your reviews. Seriously. Everyone of them makes me smile and giddy that people are reading this. You rock. And for the sake of a cult movie, 'You go Glenn Coco!' Anyone who gets that gets a high five, though it's not as old as some movies I quote.
Now, I'd like to remind everyone that even though I am a huge, HUGE fan of Han/Leia and will read them all the time, I'm not going to be covering their story until we reach Bespin from here out. It'll be strictly Mara/Luke for awhile, which is kinda the point of this story. So when Luke references the Falcon flying away, Leia is on that, just like in ESB. Their story remains the same.
DISCLAIMER: You'd think by now it'd be obvious I don't own SW.
Chapter Ten
The base was a flurry of movement as half of it focused on evacuating the necessary people and those in Command, while the other half was preparing for the upcoming battle with the Empire.
It was an unspoken rule at the moment that walking was no longer allowed. If you were going somewhere, you ran, because time was freedom. If they failed, the Empire would assume complete, non-rebellious control. And that was not an option for the Alliance to Restore the Republic.
Luke ran over towards Han, partially to check how the repairs on the Falcon were and partially in hopes to make sure he'd seem him at the rendezvous.
"Turn it off, turn it off!" Han yelled, as something on the top of the Falcon began smoking. Alarms sounded, but they went mostly unnoticed anyways. Han threw down a toll and crouched to examine the smoking part as Chewie walked down and under the belly of the ship to see the wire panel below.
"Chewie?" Luke called to get the wookiee's attention. Chewie looked up and Luke scratched at his neck where it was sensitive. "Take care of yourself, okay?" As Luke turned to find Han, Chewie enveloped him in a tight hug, growling out words of kindness towards him.
"Hi, Kid," Han called from his spot on the top of the Falcon. One of the computing droids wheeled itself over and Han's dislike for droids came through as he spoke to it. "There's gotta be a reason for it. Check it at the other end." The droid twittered to him, and began to roll away. "Wait a second," he told the droid before turning to Luke. "You alright?"
Luke nodded up at him. "Yeah," he mumbled, and started to continue, but then stopped and decided he didn't want to part on harsh words with Han. Instead he just nodded again and began to turn away.
"Be careful," Han called, and worried idly that the Farmboy would do something ridiculous and get himself vaped.
Luke grinned and said, "You too," before turning away from Han and heading towards the speeders. As he walked up, the Rogues awaited orders from both Luke and General Rieekand.
"Any word on when we take off?" Wes asked, and Luke shook his head.
"They'll comm me with battle plans and then we'll take off." Wes nodded and glanced back at Hobbie, who was going over tactics with Mara.
"You flying with Jade?" Wes asked quietly.
"No, Dak and I are flying together, why?" Luke asked and Wes just shrugged.
"Thought you might pair together on this, that's all." Luke nodded, knowing what Wes was getting at, but choosing to ignore it. His comm unit beeped and Luke pulled it out of his pocket. "Skywalker."
"Luke, we need all the Rogues for a debriefing before the Battle," Leia's voice sounded over the unit. "Rieekand says that Imperial troops just exited Hyperspace."
"We're on our way," Luke said, and returned the unit to his pocket and turned to his crew. "We're needed at the debrief. C'mon."
They started jogging off down the hangar to where they saw the collection of pilots in orange flight-suits stationed. Leia was in the center, ready to give orders and plans.
"We need to divert the Empire long enough to evacuate the base," she said in a commanding tone. "All troop carriers will assemble at the North Entrance. The heavy transport ships will leave as soon as they are loaded. Only two fighter escorts per ship. The energy shield can only be opened for a short time, so you'll have to stay very close to your transport."
"Two fighters against a star destroyer?" Hobbie asked, almost in disbelief. Is Command crazy?
"The ion canon will fire several shots to make sure every enemy ship is out of your flight path," Leia assured. "When you've gotten past the Energy Shield, proceed directly to the rendezvous point. Understood?"
The pilots nodded.
Leia threw her hands to the side and sighed. "Good luck."
The Flight Deck officer took over. "Okay, everyone to your stations, let's go!"
With the announcement of the first transport successfully making the jump to Hyperspace, the Hangar was a flurry of excited movement. People running in all directions, pumped for the fight. The Rogues dodged people as they made it to their set of assigned speeders.
As Luke reached his speeder, Dak was already sitting in the back, doing the pre-flight checks. Luke hopped over the side and into the Speeder.
"Feeling alright, sir?" Dak asked, and Luke grinned.
"Just like new, Dak, how about you?"
" Right now I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself!" he said triumphantly.
"I know what you mean," Luke said. As Dak began pulling down the cockpit cover, Luke glanced one last time at Mara, and nodded when he caught her eye. She returned the nod, and then pushed out a message through the force.
May the Force be with you, Luke.
He grinned and sent a message right back. You too, Mara. Be safe.
She nodded and, and Hobbie closed the top to their speeder as well. Luke lifted his and Dak's speeder, and they flew out to join the fight.
"Echo station five, seven," Luke called out after receiving the call regarding the Imperial Walkers. "We're on our way. Alright guys, keep tight now."
"Luke!" Dak called frantically from behind him. "I have no approach vector! I'm not set!"
"Steady, Dak," Luke said, a touch of worry in his tone. "Attack pattern Delta."
"Going now," he responded, and began flipping the positioning switches.
The snow speeders flew past the first walker, and hit it with no reaction. They swung around, with Luke in the lead again.
"Alright, I'm coming in," he called, and guided the speeder down, firing, and flying through the legs of the walker. "Hobbie, Mara, you still with me?"
"Yeah," Mara called out over the comm. "We're with you, following in close."
They made several passes on the incoming walkers but each result was the same. Nothing was damaging those walkers.
"That armor is too strong for blasters," Luke called out.
"Thanks, Commander Obvious," Mara rolled her eyes. "What do we do then?"
"Use your harpoons and tow cables," he ordered out. "Go for the legs, it might be our only chance of stopping them."
They swung around again, and Dak fretted again, his nervousness rolling off him in waves. "Luke we have a malfunction in fire control. I'll have to cut in the auxiliary."
Luke gave a worried look, but focused in on flying once more. "Just hang on! Hang on Dak, and get ready to fire that tow cable!"
They were taking hits head on, and the shields were sucking power up trying to deflect them, and failing every so often as they became overwhelmed.
A hit landed on the back controls, and Dak yelled out before slumping over in his seat. Luke flew through the legs of another walker, and glanced back when Dak didn't fire the cable. "Dak? Dak!" He stretched out with the Force for Dak and found nothing. A small bit of guilt fluttered through his chest and wished he'd better prepared the young boy, before returning to the fight.
Wedge pulled up alongside him and Mara, as the three maneuvered towards the walkers once more.
"Rogue Three!" he called out.
"Copy, Rogue leader," Wedge responded.
"Wedge, I've lost my gunner," Luke informed him. "You'll have to take the shot. I'll cover for you."
Wes shook his head from his seat behind Wedge at the loss of Dak, before preparing to launch the tow cables.
"Set your harpoon," Luke told them. "Follow me on the next path." The three ships flew in and Luke distracted the walkers with intense firing as Wedge guided the speeder around the legs.
"Coming around Rogue Leader!" Wedge announced, and they shot the harpoon at the walker before flying circles. Luke and Mara broke away from the circle and prepared to come back to finish the walker off.
"Cable out, let her go!" Wes called from the back seat and Wedge pulled away from the walker. They watched as it fell to the ground, nose fist, crippled.
Mara and Luke guided their speeders back over the now shield-less walkers, and fired, causing an explosion.
"Yeah!" Wedge yelled out. "That got him!"
"Good work, you guys," Luke praised. Luke headed his speeder in towards another walker, as other speeders fell from the sky around him. "How's everyone doing?"
"Hobbie and I are taking a lot of hits," Mara said. "Our shields won't hold out much longer."
"Wes and I are in the same boat," Wedge said. "Luke, we gotta do this."
"I know," Luke said. "I'm going in for another round on the walkers. You hang back."
"Luke, don't be a hero," Mara chastised.
"I'm not looking to be a hero, I'm looking to take out the walkers," he told her. "My shields are mostly intact."
"A shot hit Dak, it could hit you," she scolded.
"And Darth Vader's my father," Luke said sarcastically. "Just hang back, I'll be fine."
He guided his speeder closer, and noticed Mara's speeder trailing him. "Hang back!"
"No, Hobbie is in agreement with me."
"This is a direct order, Jade," Luke commanded.
"Mara, just pull back," Wedge told her, and he heard Mara grunt angrily over the comm. He saw her speeder pull away from his and focused back in the fight. A shot clipped his electronics and send everything sparking.
"Guys, I've been hit," he called out.
"Dammit, Farmboy!" Mara yelled.
"Get to the rendezvous!" he called out, and prepared for crash landing. He hit the snow with a thud, jerking him back and forth. He pushed the top of the speeder open and saw the oncoming walker headed straight for him.
Widening his eyes, he quickly turned and grabbed the the ascension gun from the back, and jumped out of the way just in the time for the walker to crush the speeder under it's massive foot.
"Luke!" Mara called out over the comm as she watched his speeder crushed under the foot of the walker.
"Mara! He's fine, look!" Wedge called as they swung around the walker that crushed the speeder. Sure enough, she saw Luke running alongside the walker.
"What's he doing?" she asked.
"I don't know," Wedge said. "But they've just ordered a retreat. We're heading to the X-Wings now."
"What about Luke?"
"He'll be fine," Wedge assured her. "He always gets out of tight spots."
Mara bit her lip as she watched the walker they'd been passing explode and Luke running by it. The sight made her grin slightly and she flew off towards the X-Wings. They landed the speeders at the designated camp away from the battle field and prepared their X-Wings in a flurry of movement.
Mara ran over to her X-Wing and was pleased to note Luke's was parked just a few feet away from hers, Artoo tending to the engine and preparing it for take off. She turned to her own droid, who was working furiously to prepare her ship as well.
"Desix," she called and the little domed droid twittered. "Prepare the ship, and find the coordinates for Dagobah."
It whirled in an affirmative, and Mara scanned the horizon for any sign of Luke. She knew he was still alive; his presence was still glowing vibrantly in the Force.
Luke crested the hill over the base, and smiled slightly as the X-Wing camp came into view. Every few moments another ship would take off for the skies, headed for the opposite side of the planet away from the blockade.
A loud roaring sounded behind him and he turned, a pit of happiness in his stomach as he saw the Falcon fly away from the base safely. At least Han and Chewie got out of there, and with any luck, Leia caught her transport as well, though he didn't think Han would let her miss it.
Luke stumbled down the ridge, walking awkwardly in the snow. He reached flat ground and ran for his X-Wing, pleased to see Artoo had everything ready for him to take off.
"Artoo!" he called out, waving to the small blue astromech. "Get her ready for takeoff!"
"Farmboy!" Mara called and Luke turned to see her leaning against her ship, helmet off and under her arm.
"What are you still doing here?" he asked, walking up to her.
"Waiting for your sorry butt," she grinned. "Had to make sure you got out of here alive, Commander."
"Mara, you need to get to the Rendezvous," he said seriously. "Now. We can't risk the Empire ambushing us."
"I'm not going to the Rendezvous, Luke," she said. "I'm going with you to Dagobah."
"No you're not," he shook his head.
"Look, you can't stop me once I'm in the sky anyway," she said. "If there is a Jedi Master out there, then I think I deserve to at least learn something from him."
Luke inhaled deeply, and looked off towards the horizon before releasing his breath in a huff. She was right. She deserved to learn as much as she could to become a Jedi.
"Fine," he said. "Let's go."
Mara grinned and nodded, before clamoring up the ladder to the cockpit of her X-Wing. Luke ran off and did the same, shutting the roof to the fighter. He glanced at Mara as she maneuvered the fighter to take off.
He hit the thrusters and headed for the sky, and into the quiet vacuum of space. Artoo twittered uncertainly from his seat in the back of the fighter.
"We're not meeting up with the others, Artoo," Luke told him. "We're going to Dagobah."
Artoo whirled worriedly, but remained silent as they made the jump to Hyperspace, Mara following soon after.
Dagobah! We're going to Dagobah! I love Yoda. He's one of my favorite characters, and I can't wait for their training. I think the only time I don't like Yoda is in TPM. And that's pretty much only because the puppet was weird looking. I don't know what happened but that was a fail. But, despite much controversy, I actually really love the CGI Yoda. I'm kinda rooting that they'll CGI over TPM Yoda for Blu-Ray. (Blu-Ray! I can't wait!)
So yeah. Um, I also have some mildly horrible news for you guys. My writing muse is kinda run off to France or Brazil or Los Angeles since it's closer, so I'll be doing my best to get the next chapter out on schedule, but if I don't I'm sorry. This was the last complete chapter I had saved. I think alot of it is just the hassel of opening up the movie and using it to match the dialogue. Because even though I pretty much know every line to it, I still want to get the wording exact because it kinda bugs me when authors don't.
So, I'll be doing my best to finish the next chapter today and tomorrow so I can have it ready on time. Fingers crossed. Oh, and not to sound petty, but reviews are the biggest motivator ever. So review!