"Look, I want you to take her," Han said to Lando, both of whom were standing in the docking bay. "I mean it. Take her. You need all the help you can get. She's the fastest ship in the fleet."
"All right, old buddy," Lando said, holding up his hands. "You know, I know what she means to you. I'll take good care of her. She-she won't get a scratch. All right?"
"Right," Han said. There was part of him that seemed to be a little bit hesitant to give his prized ship to Lando, but there wasn't anyone else he could trust with it. After all, Lando was a general, and the leader of the assault, for a reason. "I got your promise now, not a scratch."
Lando smiled. "Look, would you get going you pirate," he said, waving Han off.
They both paused for a moment, and Lando saluted him. "Good luck," he said, and Han returned the salute.
"You too," he said, then walked up the ramp of the shuttle.
The Tydirium looked incredibly out of place in the docking bay, and those within it felt the same way. It was odd being inside of an Imperial shuttle and not being held against their wills inside. Already, the homeliness feeling of the Falcon was missed.
Anna and Leia were in the hold, while Luke was working on the control panel near his seat. Chewie was sitting in the copilot's seat, obviously not thrilled with the Imperial controls.
"Did he tell you anything?" Leia asked, lightly grabbing Anna's elbow. The other girl turned to look at the former princess.
"Yeah, but it's not of any concern," Anna replied. "It won't have any affect on the outcome of this battle, that's all."
Leia was not satisfied with the answer, but she didn't press for more. Anna did not want to talk about the death of Yoda, who had held a special place in her heart.
At that moment, Han walked up into the shuttle, and turned to go into the cockpit.
"You got her warmed?" he asked as he sat down next to Chewie.
"Yeah, she's coming up," Luke responded, still working on the control panel for a few more seconds before settling down. Chewie growled to Han, still trying to figure out the controls.
"No I don't think the Empire had wookies in mind when they designed 'er, Chewie," Han said, and both of the girls walked into the cockpit. Leia sat near Luke, while Anna settled into the nearest seat. She was trying to get into a meditation phase in order to calm her nerves. After all, what had just happened with Luke, she was still trying to settle down.
"Hey, are you awake?" Leia asked, and Anna looked up, but saw that the question was not directed to her. Instead, Leia was leaning over in her seat, asking Han.
"Yeah, I just got a funny feeling," he said. "Like I'm not gonna see her again."
Leia placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Come on General, let's move," she said.
Han blinked a few times and nodded. "Right," he said. "Chewie, let's see what this piece of junk can do. Ready, everybody?"
"All set," Luke responded.
"Here we go again," Threepio said, his voice carrying the usually dreading tone in it. Anna rolled her eyes, but said nothing.
"All right, hang on," Han said, and the ship lifted off, out of the docking bay and into space.
Everyone was silent on the flight to the Death Star and the forest moon. Anna had descended into a meditative state, something that she had been able to get to faster when she felt the familiar feeling of traveling at light speed. Her eyes were closed, and for a moment, she felt emotionless. Considering what had just happened, she needed to escape.
"You come here often?" the man across from her asked.
"None of your concern," she said, bringing the drink up to her lips, but kept her dark eyes trained on him.
"Secretive," he said, clutching his own glass. "I like that."
He smiled, but she didn't return it back to him. This was strictly business, as far as she knew.
"The Imperial's make any new advances?" she asked, taking a sip of the strong alcohol before setting it down on the table in front of her.
"Not really," he said. "It's been pretty dull. The Rebellion has clearly found a nice hiding spot, but I hope that they know how many we're killing."
Anna winced. "I wish you wouldn't phrase it like that," she said.
"What's wrong with it?" he asked, his voice getting darker. "It's the truth."
"I know," she said. "But still, it's not like I don't know what you're doing. Anyway, what did you call me here for? What do you need?"
"Well, I know that you're a neutral party in this war," the man said, and she watched his unchanging face. Even with the alcohol, it was clear that he was not giving anything away.
"What's your point?" she asked, taking hold of her drink again.
"Clearly, you must get lonely on those long flights," he said, dropping his voice.
"Absolutely not," she said, standing up. "As an Imperial, you should know better than to associate with those not of your allegiance."
"I could always bring you to my side," he said, standing up and taking hold of her elbow. She pulled away instantly.
"I don't want to be fueling your desire," she said, and backed away from him.
"But you already are, Anna," he called after her, and she shook her head, pulling her hood up, walking out of the bar and into the usual traffic of Coruscant's Undercity.
The jolt of slowing down from light speed pulled Anna out of her memories, and she let out a breath. It had been a long time since she had thought of her endeavours in Coruscant's Undercity, where she had met many high-ranking Imperials. After all, it was a place filled with crime, and most importantly to them, women. She stretched, and sat up to see the view of the Death Star almost completely obstructed by the amount of Star destroyers, TIE fighters, and transports that hovered around it, and, of course, the Super Star Destroyer.
"If they don't go for this, we're gonna have to get outta here pretty quick, Chewie," Han said, and Chewie growled in agreement as he flipped some switches.
A scratchy voice suddenly came over the radio. "We have you on our screen now, please identify."
Han leaned forward in his seat slightly. "Shuttle Tydirium requesting deactivation of the deflector shield," he said, keeping his voice confident.
"Shuttle Tydirium, transmit the clearance code for shield passage," the voice said again.
"Transmission commencing," Han said, and the sound of the transmission filled the room. Leia was watching Han, her face tense.
"Now we found out of that code is worth the price we paid," she said.
"It'll work," Han said, turning to look at her. "It'll work."
Chewie gave off a nervous whine, also not feeling as confident as Han was about the code. Near Anna, Luke was watching the huge Super Star Destroyer.
"Vader's on that ship," Luke said, and Anna too tried to sense the Dark Lord's presence.
"Now don't get jittery Luke, there are a lot of command ships," Han said. "Keep your distance though, Chewie, but don't look like you're trying to keep your distance."
Chewie growled in a questioning tone.
"I don't know, fly casual," Han responded.
"I'm endangering the mission, I shouldn't have come," Luke said. Anna looked over at him, surprised. She could feel Vader's presence as well, but it wasn't bothering her. She knew that if she could feel him, then he could feel both her and Luke.
"It's your imagination, kid," Han said with a dismissal tone. "Come on, let's keep a little optimism here."
Chewie barked nervously, and Anna turned away from Luke.
"You're not the only one that's putting his mission in danger," she said. She could feel him look over at her, but didn't turn to meet his stare.
For a moment, the entire group was tense. Not even the team in the back moved, as if they too knew exactly what was going on.
"Shuttle Tydirium, what is your cargo and destination?" the Imperial asked. Han looked a little bit stunned, but quickly recovered.
"Parts and technical crew for the forest moon," he responded.
There was another swath of silence, and Anna leaned back in her chair. She, like Han, didn't seem to be as worried as everyone else.
"They're not going for it, Chewie," Han said, disappointed. At that moment, the voice over the radio reappeared.
"Shuttle Tydirium, deactivation of the shield will commence immediately," the controller said. "Follow your present course."
The mood in the shuttle instantly lifted. "Okay," Han said, nodding. "I'd told you it'd work, no problem."
They started to fly a little bit faster, and Luke stood up, walking into the hold of the ship. Leia watched him go, but didn't say anything. Instead, she just turned to look at Anna.
"He was right, you know," she said, standing up. "About Vader."
"Just don't take too long," Han said. "And be mindful of the team that's back there."
"Han!" Leia hissed, but Anna was already out of the room. She walked back into the hold, and the team looked up at her.
"He went into the storage locker," one of them said, and she nodded, walking briskly over to the doors in the back. She grabbed the dark green cape that flowed out behind her and rolled her eyes. Surely, whoever had been designing the came outfits could've done a better job with not making them so much like her Jedi robes.
As promised, Luke was in the storage locker, sitting in the far left corner, his head against the wall. She shut the door behind her. The storage room was fairly bare, except for the other weapons that were on the right side of the doorway.
"I shouldn't be here," he said. "Neither should you. We've put this entire plan in jeopardy."
"You can only speak for yourself," she said, her voice coming across a little more harshly than she had expected, but she didn't stop. "Luke, I know that you think you've made a mistake, but I know that I haven't. I want to help this cause, and we can't do that on the Home One, waiting. They let us go, don't you think that it's a good thing?"
"It's not," Luke said, standing up. She watched him carefully. The space was not that big, and the dim light made it difficult to see him, but she could tell from the slight amount that was coming through the door where he was. "It's just made it easier for him. He knows that we'll be on Endor now, and all he has to do is send troops out. He wouldn't have known if we would've stayed away from this mission."
She didn't say anything. "Then you believe what you want," she said. "I'm not going to let my own guilt compromise this mission." With that, she turned and walked out of the storage locker, leaving Luke alone. He watched as she walked away, and he turned back to the wall. Just as she was with him, there were many things that he wasn't going to tell her. One of those things was that his emotions were starting to cloud his judgement, and they weren't just the feelings for her. He knew that there was a part of Vader that could be salvaged, and that was one of the only things that were holding him back from demanding Han to leave him on Endor as soon as they landed. However, his feelings for Anna also were keeping him back, and he leaned against the wall. Everything was so much simpler when she had not been in his life.
I hope you all had a good holiday, if you celebrate, and I wish you all a happy new year! 2016 will be the year I finish this story, so I hope you are all excited like I am to get there.