Star Wars: Remix version
Chapter Forty-One: Saving Luke
Suddenly Luke was sucked into an exhaust pipe in the side of the shaft. When Sky aw this, he turned and hurried off the platform. Luke tumbled through the exhaust pipe. He slid to the end of the slickly polished pipe and stopped as his feet hit a circular grill and knocked it open. Luke clawed at the surface of the pipe, trying to keep from sliding out into space.
Unable to hang onto the pipe, Luke tumbled out, emerging at the undermost part of Cloud City. Reaching out desperately, he managed to grab onto on electronic weather vane.
"Ben... Ben, please!" Luke whispered. Luke tried to pull himself up on the weather vane but slipped back down. He hooked one of his legs around the fragile instruments. All the while, a powerful current of air rushes out at him from the exhaust pipe.
"Ben. Leia!" Luke cried in desperation, trying to reach his sister with his mind. There was an ominous cracking sound from the base of the weather vane and a piece broke off, falling into the clouds far below. Luke closed his eyes and concentrated. "Hear me! Leia!"
Leia seemed to be lost in a fog, her expression troubled. Chewie was busy operating the ship. Lando stood next to the Wookiee, watching a readout on the control panel.
"Luke..." Leia whispered. She turned to Lando. "We've got to go back" Chewie growled in surprise.
"What?" Lando asked, eying her.
"I know where Luke is" Leia said softly.
"But what about those fighters?" Lando asked, worriedly. Chewie barked in agreement with Lando.
"He is my brother" Leia said. "We have to help him" Chewie growled in agreement.
"All right, all right, all right" Lando said, conceding. The Falcon made a graceful banking turn back toward Cloud City.
Anna and Padme were looking out the window when they felt the ship turn around.
"I'll see what's going on" Anna said. She made her way to the cockpit.
"Why have we turned?" She asked.
"Luke" was all Leia would say, but that was all she needed to say. Anna understood perfectly.
"Bring my shuttle" Sky told his attendants. They nodded and hurried to do his bidding.
Nearly unconscious, Luke hung upside-down on the weather vane as his body shifted in the wind.
The Falcon dove to the underside of the floating city. Three TIE fighters closed in on the starship.
Leia tried to remain calm as she spotted them..
"Look, someone's up there" Lando pointed to a weather vane.
"It's Luke. Chewie, slow down" Leia said quickly. "Slow down and we'll get under him. Lando, open the top hatch" Lando, not caring that she was giving the orders, hurried to do as she said.
Luke hung by one arm from the crossbar of the weather vane. He slipped from the bar and grabbed onto the pole of the vane as the Falcon banked toward him. The Falcon positioned itself under Luke as Lando moved up through the opening of the hatch. Luke began to slide and finally fell from the vane into space.
Out the cockpit window, Leia saw Luke falling from the bottom of the city. The ship gained on him.
"Okay. Easy, Chewie" Leia said gently. The Falcon closed in on Luke.
Three TIE fighters raced toward the Falcon, firing away.
The hatch popped open with a hiss of pressure. Lando reached out to help the battered warrior inside the ship. Flak burst all around it as the Falcon banked away from the city. Leia and Chewie struggled with the controls.
"Lando?" Leia questioned into the comlink.
"Okay, let's go" Lando replied back.
The Falcon raced away. It was closely followed by three TIE fighters, all of which kept up a heavy laser assault on the fleeing starship.
Explosions erupted all around the cockpit, buffeting the ship wildly. Chewie howled as he frantically tried to control the ship. Leia and Chewie turned to see Luke, bloody and battered, enter the cockpit supported by Lando and Anna. Leia jumped up and hugged her brother while Chewie barked in joyous relief.
"Leia" Luke whispered, accepting her hug.
"All right, Chewie. Let's go" Lando said. Leia and Anna helped Luke from the cockpit as another huge blast rocked the ship.
The Falcon, still followed by the three TIE fighters, raced away from the cloud-covered city.
Luke rested on a cot, his injured arm wrapped in a protective cuff. Padme gently wiped his face. The ship lurched again. Anna and Leia watched him worriedly as Padme kissed his forhead.
"I'll be back" Leia said, slipping out of the room.
All over the ship muted alarm buzzers sounded. Lando anxiously watched the flashing lights on the control panel and hurriedly adjusted some switches. Seated next to him, Chewie pointed out a new blip appearing on the panel. Leia, watching over their shoulders, recognized the shape.
"Star Destroyer" She pointed out.
"All right, Chewie. Ready for light-speed" Lando asked.
"If your people fixed the hyperdrive" Leia said. Another explosion rocked the ship. Leia noticed as a green light on the panel next to her flashes on. "All the coordinates are set. It's now or never" Chewie barked in agreement.
"Punch it!" Lando ordered. The Wookiee shrugged and pulled back on the light-speed throttle. The sound of the ion engine changed...it was winding up. Nothing happened, and the engine went off. Chewie let out a frustrated howl. The flak still violently rocked the ship.
"This is Sky's fault!" Lando said. Chewie howled and left the cockpit.
In the distance the TIE fighters continued their chase, still shooting lasers. Sky's Star Destroyer moved behind them, determinedly following the Falcon.
Sky stood on the bridge looking out the window as Admiral Piett approached him.
"They'll be in range of our tractor beam in moments, my lord" Piett said.
"Did your men deactivate the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon?" Sky asked.
"Yes, my lord" Piett replied.
"Good. Prepare the boarding party and set your weapons for stun" Sky ordered.
"Yes, my lord"
Beeping while he worked, Artoo was busy connecting some wires to Threepio who now had one leg attached. Chewie entered through the doorway, grunting to himself.
"Noisy brute. Why don't we just go into light-speed?" Threepio asked. Artoo beeped in response. "We can't? How would you know the hyperdrive is deactivated?" Artoo whistled knowingly. "The city's central computer told you?" Threepio scoffed. "Artoo-Detoo, you know better than to trust a strange computer" Artoo jabbed him. "Ouch! Pay attention to what you're doing!" Threepio snapped.
Chewie was in the pit. He was trying to loosen something with an enormous wrench. Frustrated, he used the wrench like a club and hit the panel...
Leia and Lando, seated in front of the control panel, were suddenly sprayed by a shower of sparks.
Sky stood on the bridge of the destroyer, watching as the Millennium Falcon was chased by the TIE fighters. As his Destroyer drew nearer, Sky's breathing gets slightly faster. He narrowed his eyes.
"Luke" He said.
Luke realized that Sky's ship is very near. He turned to Padme and Anna.
"He's following us" Luke whispered.
"Lando and Leia will get us out of here" Padme reassured her son.
Lando and Leia were at the controls of the Falcon. Meanwhile, in the ship's hold, Chewie continued to work frantically on the hyperdrive mechanism.
"Chewie!" Lando said into the comlink. The Falcon raced through space followed very closely by the TIE fighters and the huge Imperial Star Destroyer.
Before they could stop him, Luke got up and left the sleeping quarters. He entered the cockpit and looked out the window. He was almost unconscious with pain and depression.
"It's Sky" He whispered. He heard Sky's voice in his head.
"Fulfill your destiny"
"Alert all commands. Ready for the tractor beam" Piett told the crw.
Artoo raced to a control panel and started working on a circuit board. Furious, Threepio stood on one leg, yelling.
"Artoo, come back at once! You haven't finished with me yet! You don't know how to fix the hyperdrive. Chewbacca can do it. I'm standing here in pieces, and you're having delusions of grandeur!" Artoo ignored him and moved a circuit on a control panel. Suddenly, the control panel lit up.
Leia and Lando were thrown into their seats as the Millennium Falcon unexpectedly shoot into hyperspace. Padme and Anna grabbed Luke gentle and pushed him back towards the sleeping area.
The ship tilted up and Artoo toppled into the pit on top of Chewie.
"Oh, you did it!" Threepio exclaimed.
The Falcon soared into infinity and away from the huge Star Destroyer which seemed, by contrast, to stand still.
Admiral Piett and another captain glanced at Sky in terror. Sky turned slowly and walked off the bridge, his hands held behind his back in a contemplative gesture.
Much later, They reunited with the rebels and began planning thier rescue mission to save Han.
The Millennium Falcon was attached to a huge Rebel cruiser by a docking tube. Rebel fighters moved about the giant cruiser, and a Rebel transport ship hovered near the fleet.
Lando sat in the pilot's seat as he talked into the comlink. Chewie busily threw a variety of switches in preparation for takeoff.
"Luke, we're ready for takeoff"
"Good luck, Lando" Luke replied.
"When we find Jabba the Hut and that bounty hunter, we'll contact you" Lando told the youth. Luke was getting a new hand attached, and was speaking into a comlink that Leia held for him. Padme and Anna were seated at a table, watching.
"I'll meet you at the rendezvous point on Tatooine" Luke said.
"Leia, we'll find Han. I promise" Leia's smile was watery, a single tear trickling down her cheek.
"Chewie, I'll be waiting for your signal" Luke said. "Take care, you two. May the Force be with you" The connection broke and Luke looked down at his hand. A metalized type of bandage had been wrapped around his wrist. The medical droid made some adjustments in a tiny electronic unit, then pricked each one of Luke's fingers.
"Ow!" Luke exclaimed, amazed. He wriggled his fingers, made a fist, and relaxed it. His hand was completely functional. He stood and walked over to his mother. Leia joined them. Together they stood at the large window of the medical center looking out on the Rebel Star Cruiser and a dense, luminous galaxy swirling in space, while Anna and the droids looked on. The group watched as the Millennium Falcon moved into view, made a turn, and zoomed away into space.