By Leela Starsky.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Wedge Antilles had been in Cloud City for several days now, sifting through the turmoil of the recently occupied city. Knowing that it would be too risky to fly his X-wing in, he had bought a passage to Bespin on a commercial transport from Duro. The journey had taken almost a week, but Antilles knew that the time was worth it for the security it ensured for the Rebellion. His subtle investigations in Cloud City had finally brought him to a man called Lobot, who had apparently been an aide to the administrator in charge of the city before its sudden and swift takeover by the Empire. Lobot had agreed to meet him in a nondescript tavern on one of the lower levels of the city as the new and unwelcome Imperial presence was almost non-existent there.
Antilles had been impressed by the city, but its inner levels were like industrial or lower socio-economic areas anywhere; darker, dirtier, and its inhabitants reflected this. The reason for the city's recent Imperial occupation was a mystery too. One that none of the inhabitants he'd spoken to so far could enlighten him on. Cloud City had remained beneath the Empire's notice for years, it seemed, and he couldn't help wondering if Solo and the princess had somehow been the catalyst. He hoped not, but suspected their arrival here to be too much of a coincidence to be otherwise. Why they'd come here, and where they'd gone, Antilles hoped Lobot would be able to tell him.
He wasn't sure what he'd expected Lobot to look like, but he hadn't expected the hooded man he found sitting in the part of the tavern they'd agreed upon. Then he glimpsed the cyborg attachments on the man's head and understood the need for the cloak. Lobot had clearly been an Imperial slave at one time.
Antilles placed the drinks he had bought on the table and sat opposite. Lobot accepted the drink without a word, and Antilles caught a glimpse of intense blue eyes.
"What can you tell me?" he asked in a low voice.
The hooded man slid a datachip across the table towards him and Antilles smoothly pocketed it.
"It's all on there," Lobot said, then met Antilles gaze with a piercing glance and added, "All of it."
"Imperial surveillance," Wedge said, and got a small nod. So now he had the unedited version of what Chambers had bought on Negavan. "Why did they come here?" he asked.
"Vader set a trap," he answered.
"Vader?" Antilles hissed, then wondered why he was surprised. Trouble followed Solo and the princess like a faithful pilgrim and, after the run-in they'd had recently with the bounty hunter on Ord Mantell, Wedge realised he'd assumed this to be something similar despite the obvious Imperial connections. More of Solo's past catching up with him. He sighed at his own arrogant prejudice.
"Vader himself orchestrated everything," the man offered tightly. "Wanted the one called Skywalker."
Luke?! Wedge held his breath momentarily, then he said darkly, "Skywalker was here?" What the hell had he been up to? Why hadn't he rejoined the fleet?
Lobot nodded. "He was the reason Vader set the trap." He took a long draught from his glass and muttered, "It's all on the chip. The smuggler came looking for help because his ship had no hyperdrive."
Antilles hid his astonishment by taking a swig of the contents of his glass. The Falcon had limped all the way to Bespin from Hoth? No, that couldn't be right… At sublight speeds that would have taken them years. The hyperdrive must have blown somewhere en route. No wonder they'd been missing so long!
"Were they followed?" he asked, then dismissed the question with a shake of his head. "Of course they were," he muttered apologetically. "Stupid question."
That earned him a bit of a smile from under the hood and he flashed one back.
"Vader was here several weeks before the smuggler," Lobot said flatly. "Skywalker arrived the day after."
Antilles frowned and shook his head, still unable to piece together what had happened. Had Luke stayed with the Falcon the whole way to Bespin? In which case, why hadn't he arrived with them instead of the next day? And, if he hadn't stayed with them, then what had prompted him to come to Bespin? And what game was Vader playing? Why the hell would he want Luke?
"Vader…" he murmured, then asked the question that worried him the most, "Are they prisoners?"
Lobot shook his head. "The ones who survived escaped in the smuggler's ship."
Antilles winced, afraid to ask who hadn't survived. "The Falcon?"
Lobot nodded, then added, "The smuggler was given to the bounty hunter who led the Imperials here."
Antilles heart sank. So bounty hunters had been involved. And Solo had been packed off with one. Then who hadn't survived?
"The princess?" he asked.
"The princess and the Wookiee escaped. Skywalker was killed."
Wedge didn't bother to hide his shock and dismay, and numbly forced the last of his drink down his throat. Unable to come to terms with the fact that Luke had been killed, he ejected it to deal with at a later date.
Realising that he'd probably stayed too long and was unnecessarily increasing their risk of discovery, he stood up to leave, but was stilled by a sudden flickering of lights from within the hood. Then he remembered the man's cybernetic enhancement and dismissed it, but was stopped from leaving by a firm hand on his arm. He looked back at the man and found the blue eyes regarding him intently.
"A Corellian YT-1300 just docked in the southwest sector," Lobot said, and Antilles sat down again. He didn't want to let himself hope, told himself there were plenty of YT-1300s still freighting and that it probably wasn't the Millennium Falcon, but couldn't stop himself from feeling excited.
"I asked to be notified every time one landed," Lobot explained. "In case it might be Calrissian."
"Let's go check it out then," Antilles said.
…
The Millennium Falcon arrived at Cloud City on Bespin under the false registration of Sunfighter Franchise. It was a name Solo had used on various smuggling runs for the Rebellion, one Leia knew that worked. She just hoped it wouldn't attract attention.
Leia had planned to return to the Rebel Alliance for the equipment and medications needed to safely revive Solo but, with her newfound knowledge of what Solo was suffering, no longer felt she could afford the time it would take to contact an agent and find the Alliance. Plus there would be all the extra complications of trying to explain exactly what had happened to Solo, not to mention the horror her rushing off to rescue him would be met with. So Leia had come to the decision to go back to the source of the problem.
Bespin.
Having Yoda come along had been an unexpected complication as far as Leia was concerned. But, so far, the Jedi Master had seemed happy not to interfere, and had in fact insisted on remaining aboard the Falcon when they landed, which suited Leia perfectly.
They landed without incident and, looking like any other freighter crew, entered the city unchallenged by the stormtroopers overseeing their arrival. The Imperial presence was no great surprise, nor was the dramatically reduced population. But none of that concerned Leia. She was only interested in getting the information and medication they required and getting out.
She sensed Luke's unease at returning to a place that had such life-changing and unpleasant memories attached to it. Felt somewhat that way herself. But the practicalities of what she was trying to achieve made it easy for her to dismiss.
What was harder to dismiss was how tired and ill she was feeling. The nausea had returned with a vengeance, and nothing she or Luke did seemed to help. Luke had come to the conclusion that it was because her nausea was now being caused by stress rather than just hormones, and Leia suspected he was probably right. But that didn't make it any easier to live with. Luke had suggested she get a medical check-up while they were here, but Leia had argued that spending a minute longer than they had to in the city was just too risky.
They wound their way through the various levels of the city until they found the medcentre that serviced all of the city's administrative personnel. Leia knew this would include the medics who serviced the prison section and set about looking for his face among the many listed on the electronic information board by the door.
Leia identified the one she was looking for just as a protocol droid approached them and asked in a softly modulated voice if it could assist them.
"Yes," she told it matter of factly. "We're looking for this medic," she said pointing at the small photo IDon the list. "I saw him a couple of weeks ago and he wanted me back for a check up. Said I should see him personally as he knows my case."
"And your name?" the droid asked pleasantly.
"Frozen Corellian," Leia said stiffly.
The droid seemed to pause for a moment, reconsider, then headed down the corridor containing the consulting rooms. Leia couldn't help wondering if the medic would have them arrested, and felt herself tense as the droid returned a moment later and directed them to one of the consulting rooms.
She could feel the fear from the medic who was waiting in the room for them, instinctively started to block the emotions she was receiving through the Force then reconsidered and consciously opened herself to it, seeing the value and truth-telling advantages to such empathy.
"It is you," the man said softly.
Leia got straight to the point. "I need to know what you gave him and how to decarbonise him safely," she said.
"I can tell you exactly what I gave him, but decarbonising?" the medic shook his head and told her honestly, "I have no idea. As far as I know, no human has ever been carbon-frozen before."
"Then you'll just have to give me your best guess," Leia said icily.
…..
Looking at the battered freighter sitting on the docking arm, Antilles knew without question that it was the Millennium Falcon. According to Lobot it had been registered in the landing records as the Sunfighter Franchise, but Antilles simply shook his head and said quietly, "That's the Falcon."
Unwilling to compromise his position any further, and feeling sure that Calrissian would contact him if he had returned, Lobot left Antilles to wait for the crew's return by himself.
The Rogue Squadron pilot settled down among the empty crates near the entrance into the city, and about an hour later two figures approached the ship. Wedge recognised Luke and the princess immediately and felt an overwhelming relief at finding his friend alive.
"Luke!" he exclaimed, and stepped out from among the crates.
Luke and the princess both looked alarmed and wary, but Luke smiled as he recognised his friend.
"Wedge," he said, acknowledging Antilles as he approached, then asked, "What are you doing here?"
"Looking for you!" Antilles told him. He glanced awkwardly at the princess and wondered if he could tell her about the incriminating datachip of her and Solo that had allowed him to track them to Bespin.
She smiled thinly at him and said, "Lieutenant."
Wedge ran a hand through his hair and uncomfortably corrected her, "Actually it's Commander." He looked apologetically at Luke and explained, "I got promoted when you didn't show."
Luke smiled wryly but was sincere as he said, "Congratulations."
"Where the hell have you been?" Antilles wanted to know. "We thought you'd been killed!"
"It's a long story," Luke replied evasively.
"I've been looking for you for weeks!" he complained without thinking, then made a conscious effort not to flinch as the princess focussed all her attention on him.
"What made you look on Bespin?" she asked suspiciously.
"That's…" Antilles threw a grin at Skywalker and replied glibly, "another long story." He indicated the Falcon with his head and said, "I could use a lift back."
Leia opened her mouth to say something, changed her mind and closed it again. Her eyes told Antilles that she knew he wasn't telling her something, but that she was too mentally exhausted to fight him for it.
Luke nodded and indicated that they should board the ship.
"Rieekan has been very worried about you," Antilles told the princess as she entered the codes to lower the ramp. "He'll be very glad to have you back safe and sound."
Leia simply nodded and they boarded.
Antilles couldn't identify the species of the small creature that was waiting for them in the ring corridor and felt vaguely alarmed when Luke offhandedly introduced it as 'Yoda the Jedi Master'.
"Get her warmed, Wedge, and I'll be with you in a minute," Luke said as they reached the arm that led to the cockpit, then he followed the princess into the main hold.
Sensing they needed a moment alone, and trying not to feel intimidated by the small green creature that followed him, Antilles carried on to the cockpit and set the engines warming.
…..
Luke followed Leia to the bunkroom and watched as she secured the bag the Cloud City medic had given her in one of the drawers under the medbunk. The bag was full of drugs and instructions for decarbonising Solo. Despite the fact that she had spent time in the bunkroom during their twenty-one hour journey from Dagobah to Bespin, Luke felt sure Leia hadn't slept. He was aware that she had spent a large part of the journey in the 'fresher, vomiting. Recognised it as a reaction to what she had felt from Solo; the revelation had left Luke wanting to throw up too. But, in her current condition, Leia was far more susceptible. She looked exhausted.
"Why don't you try to get some sleep?" he suggested gently. "Wedge and I can fly the ship."
"To Tatooine?" Leia asked, standing up straight and facing him.
Luke considered for a moment then said, "I think we should go back to the fleet first," then added hurriedly as she opened her mouth to disagree, "So they can see you're okay."
Leia's expression darkened. "We've been through this, Luke."
"We agreed it would take too long to find the Alliance, yes," he said, "but Wedge found us."
"I'd still like to know how," Leia snapped.
Luke chose to ignore that topic for the moment and insisted, "You need to see a medic, Leia. If we go back to the Alliance you could see Gizela-"
"If we go back to the Alliance they won't let me leave to look for Han!"
"But you've been so sick," he insisted.
Luke was genuinely worried, not just for Leia's health but that of her child as well. And there was her safety to consider too. Who knew what sort of lengths the Emperor would go to in his attempts to capture Leia's child?
Although he knew she would be outraged, Luke couldn't help suggesting, "Maybe you should stay with the Alliance."
"I knew it would come to this," Leia growled. "I'm pregnant, Luke, not an invalid. And I'm going to rescue Han whether you come with me or not."
Luke felt certain that if Leia took that path she would fail. Solo's rescue was something that needed serious planning.
"Leia, I've never seen you this sick," Luke told her, his voice thick with concern. "You've lost weight, you're not eating, you haven't stopped vomiting since we first left Bespin!"
"It's morning sickness, Luke. Vader's medic said it should stop at ten weeks…"
"And what are you?"
"Seven."
"Fine. A couple of weeks with the Alliance will give us time to plan and prepare properly, and give you time to get well."
Leia shook her head emphatically. "I'm not waiting two weeks! You felt Han too; you know the sort of hell he's in! How could you even suggest waiting two weeks?!"
"It could mean the difference between success and failure."
"He could be dead by then."
At any other time, the glare Leia gave him would have had Luke backing down, bowing to her greater knowledge and sophistication. But this time he stood his ground, secure in the belief that he was right.
He touched her face and said, "If something happened to you or your baby, Han would never forgive me. We're going back to the Alliance."
Leia jerked her face back out of his reach and snapped, "I outrank you, Commander. I could order you-"
Luke smiled and told her, "Sorry, Princess, I'm AWOL."
He turned and left the bunkroom and headed for the cockpit.
When he got there, Wedge Antilles was getting clearance from the port authority for their departure. He was sitting in Chewie's seat and Yoda was perched on the communication operator's seat behind him. For a moment Luke wondered what the Jedi Master might have said to Wedge, then dismissed his concerns and slid into Solo's seat. Luke felt Antilles glance at him and guessed he had heard the raised voices from the bunkroom, but busied himself with the procedures of raising ship. Questions and answers could be dealt with once they were safely in hyperspace.
…
In the bunkroom, Leia sat on the edge of the bunk and hung her head in her hands. In her head she knew Luke was right, but her heart just couldn't agree. Rescuing Han was something constructive she could focus on. Going back to the Alliance terrified her. Going back to the Alliance would require explanations from her, confessions, which she just wasn't prepared to give. Having to explain her pregnancy would be hard enough, but the whole Vader thing… Just contemplating that increased her nausea exponentially.
She felt and heard the ship rumble in preparation for lift off and quickly decided that the distractions of the cockpit would be better than the current turmoil in her head, and hurried in that direction.
As she stepped into the cockpit, Luke told her curtly, "Strap in." Antilles managed to throw her a quick smile over his shoulder, but Luke didn't look at her. Watching them raise ship, Leia couldn't help thinking how wrong they looked in Han and Chewie's seats. It just didn't seem right having someone else fly the Falcon.
It was early afternoon Cloud City time, and Leia found the bright daylight a welcome contrast to her other views of it at dawn or sunset. Fewer memories.
Luke guided the Falcon through the clouds and away from the planet and minutes later took them safely into hyperspace. Luke, Yoda and Antilles immediately relaxed, unbuckling their harnesses, but Leia didn't bother. She felt too tense and wound up to relax.
Antilles turned to face them and said, "Okay, please tell me Solo's alive."
Leia felt Luke look at her, knew he was deferring to her, and she said stiffly, "He's alive. We think the bounty hunter took him to Tatooine."
"And Chewie?" Antilles wanted to know.
This time Leia deliberately deferred to Luke. She had heard Chewbacca taken out of his cell during her time in the detention centre on Vader's Star Destroyer, but she had no idea where he'd been taken.
"Chewie and Lando were shipped out together," Luke answered quietly. "For Kessell."
"Crap," was Antilles succinct appraisal, and Leia couldn't help thinking, This is all my fault. Even Chewie thought so… She wanted to ask Wedge how he had known to look for them on Bespin, but was afraid to ask.
"Alright, start at the beginning," Antilles told Luke, then smiled and added seriously, "Consider it a practice for your de-briefing. Where did you go after Hoth?"
Luke threw a pointed glance at Yoda and said, "I found a Jedi Master."
Antilles looked warily at Yoda, started to say something then changed his mind and said simply, "How?"
"The Force," Luke muttered dismissively.
"How far away is the Fleet?" Leia asked, wanting to change the subject. "Did most of the Hoth cell get away?"
"Most of the transports got away. We lost a lot of ground troops." Antilles regarded her carefully. "There were reports of the Falcon flying into the asteroid belt."
Leia nodded. "We got away from Hoth and then the hyperdrive blew. We limped to Bespin and Vader was waiting for us."
"How did he know you were there?"
"I don't know. Maybe we were followed?" Leia wiped a hand across her face. "There were so many… problems… with the Falcon."
Antilles looked at Luke. "Why did you go to Bespin?"
"Vader wants me," Luke replied.
Leia could hear the reluctance in his voice and suspected Antilles would too.
"He captured Han and Leia and tortured them because he knew I would feel it through the Force," Luke continued. "Would rush to help them…"
There was a long pause and Antilles finally encouraged, "And?"
Leia looked at Luke, wondering how much he intended to tell his Rogue Squadron friend, and sensed he wasn't about to continue. For all his talk of accepting their parentage, it seemed Luke was not prepared to share the 'good news' just yet.
"We were all captured," she told Antilles flatly.
"And?" he said again when nothing more seemed to be forthcoming.
"We escaped," Luke said matter-of-factly, then climbed out of his seat and left the cockpit. A moment later, Yoda followed him.
Leia watched Antilles expression turn into one of consternation as he watched them leave, then he looked at her and asked, "How?"
"Luke used the Force," she told him honestly. "That's as much as I know, Wedge."
….
After an hour alone in the cockpit, and aware that Luke, Leia and the Jedi Master were sleeping, Wedge Antilles decided to break the monotony of their twelve-hour hyperspace journey skimming through the data that Lobot had given him.
Unlike the very selective data on Chambers' datachip, this one showed him everything. The Falcon's arrival, the Wookiee working on the Falcon with the Cloud City crew while Solo and the princess 'played' in the apartment's massive bed. Their dinner together, every word crystal clear…
If he'd ever had any doubts about the seriousness of Han and Leia's relationship, or Solo's feelings towards the Princess of Alderaan, Antilles had none now. There was no question that Solo loved her. Which made their betrayal and capture the morning following their intimate dinner even more tragic.
The data was multi-level, showing him each of the subjects under scrutiny on separate information threads and, when they were together, showing them from a variety of angles. That was, until Solo and Chewbacca were being tortured. At that point the princess' surveillance suddenly stopped, and didn't resume until she was thrown back into the cell with Solo and the Wookiee. Antilles couldn't help wondering what the Imperials had done to her while the smugglers were being tortured, and why it hadn't been recorded.
He watched with utter disbelief as Vader tested the carbonite freezing on Solo. How could anyone survive something like that? No wonder the princess was so traumatised! Then he watched with total shock as Luke willingly stepped up to battle Darth Vader! With lightsabres no less! It was hardly surprising that Lobot thought Skywalker had been killed…
That was where the recording finished. There was no footage of Vader successfully carbon-freezing Luke. No footage of their escape from Bespin. Nevertheless, Antilles knew that Rieekan would be grateful for the data. Particularly as he sincerely doubted that Luke or Leia would be very informative about what had happened. In fact the data would probably speed up the debriefing process for them.But how anyone would tell the princess about the existence of the data, Wedge couldn't imagine. On top of everything else, it was a blow she might well crumble under.
He tried to equate the tired and fragile looking woman he'd found on Bespin with the one he'd seen on the pornographic datachip and couldn't. But then he couldn't equate the girl who'd been rolling around with Solo in that datachip with the coolly efficient princess he kneweither. And the woman currently sleeping in the Falcon's bunkroom was neither.
Luke and Leia were at odds too, that much was obvious. Leia understandably wanted to rush off to rescue Solo while Luke was being the voice of reason. Fall back, regroup, and prepare a successful attack. Fighter pilot strategy.
Yet Antilles could understand the princess' reticence to return to the Alliance. Once she was back in the 'fold,' the hierarchy would not want to let her go. Especially not to rescue a smuggler. Antilles realised that the princess wasn't the only one who had changed; Luke's familiar exuberance had gone. Whatever had happened to him during their capture had left deep scars and, if what the princess had said was true, Luke's small time with his 'Jedi Master' had made him powerful.
The Jedi Master himself was an enigma, and Wedge wasn't sure how the Alliance would feel about him. Could they trust a Jedi who had inexplicably escaped the Jedi purge?
Grieving for his friends, Wedge sighed.