Chapter Three: The Amrandian Base
A gloved hand was clamped over her mouth. Janice found it hard to breathe as whoever was hauling her scuffled into the dark hallways of the Amrandian base. From her angle, she could see nothing of the man's features, only his black uniform that told her he was a soldier. And a strong one, at that, to be able to carry her on his shoulder the whole way through. Then he let go of her face and shifted her a bit to adjust the weight.
Janice took the opportunity to flip backward, behind him, out of his grasp, bounce to her feet off the palms of her hands, and strike the man under the chin.
He sagged to the floor and lay limp.
The princess fixed her hair promptly, regarding the man a moment, with an air of contempt. Then she turned back the way they had come.
A steel wall.
"That's odd," she thought. "I could have sworn we just walked right through there."
Then she turned around to gaze into the darkness.
"Han! The outside area is clear!" Luke called into his radio. "Get over here and help me out!"
"Luke, I'm coming!" Han shouted back into his communicator. He quickly turned to Chewie. "Stay here with them," he said, pointing at the other three. Chewie approved, and Han darted off to help Luke. Rosie seemed a little frightened, so R2 whistled reassuringly to her. Chewie stood guard while C-3PO panicked.
Rosie paced by R2 back and forth.
"There's got to be SOME way we can help them," she pondered.
"I really think we should stay here," crossed 3PO. "Odds are it is safer here than in that prison."
Rosie almost wished there was someone who could think of something inventive. She glanced at him curiously.
"What ARE the odds?"
"Between 140 and 163 to one, depending on guard hours and—"
"As far as I know, they guard the base twenty-four seven."
It satisfied her dark side to see 3PO a little more distressed. "Janice would kill me for that," she thought. Then her mind strayed back to Janice. What had become of her? Rosie almost shed a tear, but she brushed it away. Crying is not fitting behavior for a Junior CoCaptain, possibly soon-to-be Captain, if both her sisters were out of commission. But she tried not to think about that.
Luke and Han tried hard to stay together, but this proved difficult as Amrandians also seem to like maze-style corridors. Each found himself wandering alone in unfamiliar territory, Han with only a blaster in self-defense. Not a soul was in sight.
Luke stumbled into a dead end.
"Han, where are you?"
"That's what I was wondering."
Luke sighed and banged his head on the wall. It sounded, not thick, but thin and hollow.
"Gah!"
He pulled out his lightsaber, and, with one flick, there was a gaping hole in the wall, revealing a secret entrance.
"Han..."
Rosie continued pacing back and forth until R2 beeped loudly.
"What is it, Artoo?" she asked.
"Artoo says we are nearer to the bostanite now than we were before," translated 3PO.
"Great idea, Artoo!" congratulated the Junior CoCaptain. "We can help them and stay here all at the same time!"
"But, how would we obtain the mineral?" worried 3PO. "Janice said that it was highly unstable, which means it could—"
"Which means that we'll need a special container for it," Rosie pushed in. "You got anything, R2?" she asked with a friendly pat.
R2 beeped shortly. A metal plate slid underneath his top, and a bluish, tinted cylinder poked out.
"Cool!"
Then from his side projected something that resembled a metal detector. R2 strolled around them as the beeping from the device grew louder and faster. Finally, R2 paused, retracted the detector, and started a whirring noise that came from beneath him. Immediately he began to sink into the ground. Just as the ground was level with himself, he stopped, as did the whirring, and pushed the container with a mechanical arm into the side of the ditch, pulling it out. Then his legs grew suddenly taller and he pushed himself out of the hole, rolling back to ground level and victoriously presenting the container of silvery material to the Junior CoCaptain.
"You're something else, R2," said Rosie sweetly. "You better keep that in there," she said after a pause, pointing to the space from which the container came. R2 whistled promptly and quickly complied.
Luke wandered alone through the secret passage. He held a green, flickering lightsaber in one hand and the other dangled pointlessly at his side.
The walls of the base were steel, straight, and boring. Luke wondered why he couldn't find anyone. And the only audible noises were that of his own footsteps and whizzing weapon, which only made the place twice as creepy.
Without much thought, Luke glanced at the ceiling. It was not plain and boring like the walls. There were holes, big enough to slip a pencil through, lined evenly down the corridor, about two feet apart. Every tenth or so hole was a slit that spanned the whole ceiling. Luke marveled at what they might be used for until it was too late.
Steel bars came down from the slits in the ceiling, trapping him between two. A thousand alarms rang at once, their piercing echoes almost deafening. In spite, he thought he heard a female voice cry out for help further down the corridor.
"Janice?"
"Luke, I know that's you. Your lightsaber can cut the bars! I can't reach mine!"
Before he could respond, troops came storming down from Janice's end of the corridor.
"Luke! Help!"
Luke did not respond but he slashed the now seemingly thin steel bars left and right, reaching Janice just before the guards. She was pinned to the ground between two bars, lying flat. Her lightsaber was turned off and lying a foot beyond her reach.
Luke quickly released her from this hold and she grabbed her lightsaber.
"Thanks," she said briefly.
Luke was too focused to notice. Before you could count to three he had pushed back half the Amrandians, using the force, as he dodged their stun lasers. He was holding the onslaught of struggling guards in place, when he turned to Janice, beside him, cringing with worry and holding her face in both hands.
"What?" he asked her, as if nothing was wrong.
She opened her mouth to speak, but what came out changed from a reply to an alarmed cry.
Luke froze in front of her and became as still as a statue.
It immediately registered with Janice that, while Luke was distracted, one of the guards' stun blasts had come through his force barrier. She glanced anxiously in their direction.
"Luke? What's going on?" immediately Han asked through Luke's speaker, as if he had sensed something wrong.
"Han!" Janice yelled back, glancing sideways at the quickly recovering guards. "Do you know how to get out from where you are?"
"I think so..."
"Well, try to get out. Luke's down, and there's no telling how long it'll take to get to the center of this prison."
Han sounded appalled. "Luke is down?"
"Yes. Stun gun."
"Oh, I see."
"Hurry up!"
At this the guards had almost reached her. She took her lightsaber out of her hilt and turned it on, its bright blue hue reflecting on the metal walls around her. She began slashing the guards coming at her, with trained speed.
But she was no warrior, so, slowly and surely, they were gaining ground. Janice fought hard and barely avoided a few laser freeze blasts, but she could not hold off an army, even when they were in a small passage way.
Yet she had hope. The slain guards were starting to block their path.
It was then that she saw her only chance. She grabbed ahold of Luke's wrist (even though he could not move, she could move HIM) and began to pull him, on his feet, towards the end of the hall.
Luke, his only disability being the lack of muscle coordination, watched Janice, a bit troubled. His dominating thought was what would happen if Janice went down.
Then it happened. In her effort to pull him to safety, Janice was hit.
But not with a freeze gun.