Leia fell back onto the floor of the ship, eyes wide as she shook her head. "No, no, no…"
In an instant Luke was next to her, arms around her shoulders. "Leia, it's okay. We made it." Already Solo was speeding away, heading for the southern hemisphere of the planet.
"He's supposed to be dead."
"Who?" Luke hugged the trembling princess tightly.
"Vader. He was down there. I saw him."
Luke frowned. "We knew he survived the attack on the Death Star. I'm sorry, Leia- I didn't realize that you didn't know." He started to help her to her feet. "He won't catch up with us, I promise."
She took a step back, biting her lips. "You don't know what he's capable of."
"I think I do. He killed my father."
"I'm sorry." She should have anticipated that. Han told her that the young man believed himself to be the son of a Jedi, and her father had shared the true history of Vader's slaughter of the knights that the Emperor had twisted into a tale of treachery and heroics by the Empire's finest.
"Hey, kids, hate to break up the party but we're not out of the woods yet," Solo bellowed back at them. "Sure be helpful if you could lend a hand in the turrets."
Splitting up, Luke and Leia each slipped into a gun turret and threw on the headsets connecting them with the cockpit. Chewbacca had jumped up when Luke arrived, ceding his seat and dashing back up to join the captain.
"TIEs at eleven o'clock!" Solo shouted. Leia saw the fighters swooping out of the sky and aimed her gun, holding down on the trigger so a steady stream of laser blasts hammered the unshielded fighters. One burst under her onslaught, the exploding shrapnel forcing its wingmate to swing back briefly. Solo took the opportunity to angle the freighter around, hammering the TIE with the forward lasers and sending it plummeting in pieces to the forest below.
Two bombers dove in above them, and the proximity alarm in the cockpit screamed, warning Solo and Chewbacca of a lock. "Get those bombers now!" he shouted, juking up to throw off their targeting computers. Luke swung his gun around, aiming for the more vulnerable wings. He knocked one back, and Chewbacca followed up with a torpedo blast that left little but dust as it hit its mark square on.
"Hold on, kids!" Solo shouted. Luke, who had experienced his piloting antics before, double checked his crash webbing as the Falcon flipped into a vertical climb, then looped back around to barrel up behind their remaining three pursuers. Following him upwards, the TIEs fired a barrage of laser blasts after the freighter. As Solo dove back into the atmosphere, one TIE followed directly, the pilot realizing his mistake as the fighter was blown back upwards by the force of the jetwash created as the Falcon shoved billions of molecules of nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide out of the way while it accelerated its downward trajectory. The other two pilots held back, giving Solo ample time to ambush them from behind.
"Now we see what this baby's got in her," Solo said, checking the scanner readout to verify the locations of the Star Destroyers. Directly above them, the Victory class destroyed hovered in a geosynchronous orbit. Hatching a plan, Solo set a course directly for the capital ship.
Luke and Leia stumbled into the cockpit, both flushed with adrenaline.
"What are you doing?" Leia demanded as she saw the Star Destroyer growing larger in the forward viewport. "We're supposed to be getting away!"
"They've got the whole planet surrounded, sweetheart," Solo told her tensely. "Trust me, I've got an idea."
Leia slumped back into one of the passenger seats. "Great."
Solo sped up as they drew closer to the large ship, zipping back and forth and hoping this wouldn't be the moment that the Imperials decided to open up with their turbolasers. He had shifted his shields forward, but that would leave the rear flank open to laser fire if he had to retreat back to the planet.
An old smuggler with whom he and Chewbacca had spent a convivial evening in a bar on Carratos had described the Victories as being like a bugfish, a type of small freshwater crustacean common in the swamp regions of Corellia that was prized for its culinary value, provided one knew how to catch them without falling victim to the creatures strong, sharp claws. The trick was to know exactly where to grab their backs. Similarly, the old man had said, there was a spot on that particular design of Star Destroyer that was covered by neither turbolasers nor tractor beams.
Of course, thought Solo, as he continued his charge, the trick was what do after you found the sweet spot. They could hardly spend the rest of their days hovering in the ship's blind spot. That was where the TIEs came in.
Solo's luck held, and he glided the Falcon along the Destroyer's flank. He could see the deployed tractor beam extending towards them, and heard Leia whimper slightly. "It's okay, they can't reach us here," he reassured her. "Now we just need them to send out the TIEs."
On cue, a bay opened and a full squadron of TIEs spilled out. In a flash, Solo reconfigured the shields for full coverage, draining power from the quad lasers, and dove straight into the middle of the melee. The TIEs opened fire.
Luke unbuckled himself, planning to head for the gun turret, but Solo shouted for him to sit back down. The ship rocked under the heavy fire as Solo watched the TIE formation carefully, occasionally shifting position to keep them between him and the nearby Star Destroyer as he sped for space.
Seeing their ruse, the Star Destroyer reactivated the tractor beam, but only managed to catch two of their own fighters before they turned it off and looked to the TIEs to continue the pursuit.
"Okay, c'mon baby, let's do this." Solo quickly plugged in some coordinates and pulled nervously back on the lever. True, he was afraid of being captured by the Empire, but the stony look on Leia's face suggested that his trouble would begin long before they were boarded by stormtroopers if this didn't work.
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"Lord Vader is not going to be happy about that, Captain."
Lorth Needa continued to look out the viewport in the bridge, staring at the empty space where the light freighter had just made its jump to lightspeed. His lieutenant had a reputation for being overly frank with his superiors, but Needa didn't have the heart to scold him at the moment. Not twenty minutes previous, all the ships in the fleet had received a communication from the Dark Lord telling them to watch specifically for a YT-1300 light freighter and to take all necessary means to capture it and its occupants.
"Track its trajectory," he ordered. "Send any information you have over to Executor."
"Yes, sir." The lieutenant scuttled off, and Needa contemplated his next move. The battle with the rebels continued below them, though the Empire had moved into a cleanup phase. A few fighters still harassed the TIE squadrons as they made for deep space, but the vast majority of the remaining Rebel vessels were either destroyed or disabled. Reports of man-to-man combat as troopers boarded the disabled ships or made their way through the enormous compound flickered over the comms system. Vader, he knew, had joined the surface attack with General Veers.
"Sir!" A second lieutenant came running up to him. "Admiral Piett wishes to speak to you."
Needa winced. Admiral Piett? That must mean something had happened to Ozzel. The animosity between those two men was familiar to much of the Imperial command structure, and Needa has thrown in his lot with Ozzel several years previous. He couldn't imagine that Piett would stand up for him against Lord Vader.
"Admiral," he said into the comm, trying to keep his voice obsequious without being patronizing. "Congratulations on your promotion."
"Your ship transmitted hyperspace trajectories here a moment ago without details," Piett said brusquely.
"Yes, sir," Needa said. "The YT-1300 freighter that Lord Vader identified as a prime target evaded us and jumped to lightspeed. We tracked their trajectories so that the fleet can pursue them as necessary."
"You lost the ship?"
"Yes, sir."
"I think," said Piett slowly, "That you should give your report to Lord Vader personally. I will inform you when he returns to the Executor and you can join us then."
"Yes, sir." Needa gulped. He knew Piett desperately wanted to get rid of him, and he had handed him the perfect opportunity. He turned to his lieutenant. "Prepare my shuttle."
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"Yeeaw!" Solo couldn't help but shout in victory as the Falcon accelerated into hyperspace. Not that he had been worried….
"I can't believe you pulled that off," Luke said incredulously. They both turned to look at Leia, who had been uncharacteristically silent. She was slumped over in her seat, her head falling limply.
"Kriff!" Solo jumped up and gently slapped Leia's cheek. "I didn't mean to scare her that bad." He ran his hand along the scar on her neck, feeling for a pulse. It was steady. "I think she's okay."
"I guess we should let her rest, then," Luke said, unbuckling her crash webbing and gingerly lifting her out of the seat. He stepped towards the cockpit door and accidentally bumped her foot against the frame.
With a bloodcurdling scream, Leia awoke. Luke fell back into the cockpit, nearly banging his head against the seat as an unseen hand shoved him backwards. Leia scrambled away, looking around wildly.
"Whoa, calm down, sweetheart." Solo stood and walked towards her slowly, as though approaching a wild animal. Leia squeezed her eyes shut for a moment and then stared at the captain.
"Han? Where am I?"
"You're on my ship, remember? We made the jump to hyperspace. You passed out."
Leia let her head fall back against the wall, relishing the cool solidness of the metal against her skin. "I thought we were going to be captured."
Solo turned to Luke, who was dragging himself up off the floor. "You okay, Kid?"
"Yeah," he replied, watching Leia. "So that was what you warned me about?"
"That was nothing, Kid. I saw her throw Chewbacca three or four meters."
"You know," Leia interrupted, "I'm still here."
"Sorry." Luke rubbed his head. "Where did you learn to use the Force, anyways?"
"I don't know how to use the Force," Leia told him, confused. "Is that what that is….the Force?"
"Definitely. I could feel it. But it felt different than what Ben taught me….did someone teach you?"
Leia shook her head, and Luke thought back to something the old Jedi had told him right before they left for Endor.
"You must always be aware of your intentions, Luke," Ben had said somberly. "Anger, fear, aggression- these lead to the Dark Side of the Force. The Dark Side is at its most potent when you allow your emotions to take control. Stay wary, Luke. The path to the Dark Side is not always obvious, nor is a fall to the Dark Side always immediately clear. But once you start down that path, it can haunt your soul forever."
"Han," Luke said, "Can you take us to the Dagobah system?"
"The what system? Never heard of it. Why do you want to go there?"
"There's supposed to be a Jedi master there. I think he can help us."
"You can go where ever you want after you drop me off on Alderaan," Leia announced, crossing her arms.
"Leia, you have to come to Dagobah with me," Luke insisted. "I think you have the power of the Force too, but…"
"But what?"
"I think you may be using the Dark Side." He saw her eyes flash, and quickly continued. "I don't think you mean to, but if you've never had any training….well, it's dangerous, Leia."
"It doesn't matter," she said tersely. "I'm not going anywhere but Alderaan."
"You have to!" Luke's voice rose with frustration. "Do you want to turn out like Vader?"
Leia was in his face in a flash. "What did you just say about me?" she asked, her voice dangerously quiet.
"I didn't say you are like Vader," Luke back peddled. "It's just, the Dark Side, it's sneaky and it feeds on fear. I wish I knew more, but that's why you have to come with me."
"We. Are. Going. To. Alderaan." Leia straightened her shoulders and stared at Luke.
"Hey, break it up." Solo stepped between the two of them. "It's my ship, and as I recall I didn't invite you" he pointed to Leia "on board, and I wasn't expecting you" he pointed to Luke, "as a passenger. So, we are going to Nar Shadda and we'll sort things out there."
"Nar Shadda?" Leia was indignant. "You expect me to set foot on Nar Shadda? If my parents ever found out that you were taking me against my will to that disgusting planet, I'd be concerned for your safety, Captain."
"Look, your Highnessness," Solo said, resenting the imperious tone that Leia had been using more and more since her rescue, "Perhaps you'd like it better back on Endor?"
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She's alive.
There were few things that could distract Darth Vader from his hunt for his son, but the sight of the dark haired girl with the unmistakable red scar trailing up her neck was one of them. He should have known she would find a way to survive the Death Star: she was too wily to allow something like an enormous explosion to do her in. Suddenly it struck him: the friendly fire from the TIE fighter that had knocked him away just as his son made his final run into the trench. Somehow, she had stolen a TIE fighter. Rather than angry, he found himself bemused by her tenacity. She'll make a fine apprentice yet.
Now he had to deal with the question of what to do with his son. He still wanted the boy at his side when he took the throne from Palpatine. It was his birthright. But naturally there would be a rivalry, and likely a deadly one, if he tried to train two apprentices simultaneously.
The advantage with choosing Leia was that Palpatine had never suspected the girl had any powers in the Force, and that-like Vader himself had until today—he believed she was dead, perished in the Death Star. Her conversion to his apprentice would be difficult though, considering the animosity of their relationship. It would take a serious effort to tame her into obeying him, rather than plotting to destroy him along with the Emperor.
His son, on the other hand, might be more easily swayed to join his father's side. But Palpatine knew about the boy and his potential, and would watch their every move. The Emperor might even try to convince Luke to slaughter his own father and take Vader's place at Palpatine's side.
Before he could ponder the answer any longer, a bell chimed, indicating a visitor to his private chambers on board the Executor. "Enter," he called.
Newly-minted Admiral Piett and Captain Needa entered, each bowing as they crossed the threshold into the Dark Lord's chamber.
"Report."
"Milord," Captain Needa started, a slight tremor in his voice, "I regret to say that the freighter you identified as a prime target made it past our blockade and escaped to hyperspace. We tracked its trajectory and are analyzing possible destinations."
Vader turned to stare at him. "What means did you use to capture it?"
"We deployed all our tractor beams," Needa told him. "Unfortunately they located our blind spot, and so I deployed TIE fighters to disable them. They were able to sustain their shields under heavy fire and flee."
"I instructed all units to bring me the occupants of that ship alive, Captain," Vader said, his anger growing. Heavy fire? Unbidden, a vision of Leia suffocating as the ship's hull opened to vacuum flooded his mind.
"Milord, I specifically instructed the fighters to simply disable the ship, not destroy it," Needa protested. Piett looked askance at him. That tidbit wasn't in the briefing the Captain's lieutenant provided. He made a mental note to mention this to Vader later, but it was unnecessary. Needa began to cough, his hands flying to his throat.
"Lying to me is a poor career move, Captain." The body collapsed with a thump on the ground, and Vader pushed him out of the room with his foot, gesturing to some stormtroopers to move the remains.
Piett stood at attention. "General Veers reports that the Rebels have been fully routed, and they are conducting a meter by meter search of the base for useful information."
"Very good, Admiral." Vader thought for a moment. Luke was gone from the planet, he sensed, and he had no idea to where the boy had escaped. The Force, and logic, were pointing him towards the Princess, and he had a good idea of exactly where she would head next.
"Set course for Alderaan," he ordered. "It's time that I paid the royal family a visit."