Hi, everyone! I'm back, and WOW. 7733 words. Jeez. It just keeps getting higher!

First of all, if any of you are looking for some fanfics to read, I just found some that are very interesting. The first one's called The White Lotus Gambit, by Theodur, and it's based on the Netflix Show, The Queen's Gambit. It's ATLA in a modern world, where all of our main characters are Pai Sho World Championship players. It's really well-written, but I must warn you, it's rated M and has some explicit stuff.

Also, there's another fanfic: ARK, a tale of broken men and frozen blades, by DaRumpyBurr. It's really captivating, and has a strong main character along with interesting side characters. I'm looking at it right now to see how one could go about creating an ARK: Survival Evolved story, because I'm interested in writing one. The story is not rated M.

And finally, Mantle of Responsibility, by GeorgeQuartz. It's a Halo/Star Wars crossover which you may or may not have already come across, as it's pretty popular. It's a pretty accurate depiction, I would say, of what a meeting between the Halo galaxy and the Star Wars galaxy would look like. It's not rated M. If any of this media is interesting to you, I recommend checking it out and seeing for yourself if you like it.

Okay. Fanfiction endorsing aside, here's chapter 31.

"AAAARRRGH!"

Amela Va'ata didn't usually find this part of her job very interesting. When interrogating terrorists or criminals, she didn't bother with wondering what the secrets that she pulled from them meant or what the ISB needed them for, content with knowing that they would help protect and save Imperial lives. Already burdened with the morality of her intrusive interrogation methods, she didn't need her captives' ugly truths to weigh on her mind, too. She would interrogate prisoners that came her way, crack them open, and send whatever secrets they were hiding back off to the higher-ups.

But now, watching this boy grit his teeth as he endured terrible pain, her mind drifted to interesting notions. She hadn't ever seen such resilience in so young a person before, barring her own childhood. He was enduring terrible pain to keep the Rebellion's new machine, and the secrets to building it from her. He had tried time and time again to lie, saying that it wasn't a weapon and trying to convince her that he had built it. And, of course, there was this stupid claim that this machine could bend the fabric of time and space.

She snorted. The existence of such a magical machine was, as far as she was concerned, impossible. She didn't believe in magic. Although, there was Vader…

"Turn up the voltage by two," she ordered, and faced the boy, who was doubled over in agony. The buzz in the room grew slightly louder.

It had been almost two cycles since his first interrogation session, and Amela was starting to realize that Calvin had a lot more grit going for him than she ever expected. He had gone from a rough beating to electric shock to extreme temperatures, and now to nerve overstimulation. This last one seemed to be the most effective yet. Not that he was anything to stress over too much. After three years of interrogation with thousands of prisoners, this kid would be a cakewalk.

"Now turn it down," she ordered, and took a few steps toward Calvin. The buzz coming from the headset and the dozens of patches across his chest and arms died down. She waited for his spasming to calm down, then ordered one of the droids to hoist him up.

"So, Calvin," she asked, keeping her face neutral. "Change your mind yet?"

He continued to shiver, his head hung. The droid holding him up used one hand to grab the back of his head, and yanked it back. His face was red, stuttering. After a few seconds his eyes opened, and she almost leaned back at the sight. They were wild, darting about randomly. A fire burned behind them- one that told her that he was in terrible pain, but one that also whisked away the notion that he would break by the time that this session was over. He was still determined to stay shut up.

"Talk," she ordered, and when he didn't, she motioned for the droid to drop him back to the ground. "We'll give it another hour. I don't want to overwork his heart too much. Turn it back up."

She knew that she only had to be patient. Torture would make even the most stubborn creatures crack, whether it took an hour, a day, or a month.

"Hey, Hobbes."

Hobbes looked up from his seat on the bench of the U-wing. He had been spending that last hour or so focusing only on breathing slowly and rhythmically, trying his best to soothe his bristling fur and quell his fear of the mission ahead.

"We're exiting hyperspace in five minutes. Let's get ready," Leia said, and walked back to the cockpit of the ship, her body slightly stiff. There had been a clear tension between the two of them, and the fact that Leia never wanted to see him or Calvin again after the mission was like an iron weight, pressing down on his conscience.

He had experienced a slight drop of exultation when Leia had agreed to supply him and Calvin with the coaxium that they needed to get home, but it was diluted by the strange empty feeling in his chest.

He stood up and looked around at the rest of the crew in the hold. The U-wing was the Rebellion's main troop transport and gunship, featuring four Incom 4J.7 Fusial thrust engines and special forward-facing strike-and-stability foils that gave the ship exceptional maneuverability. They had considered taking the Falcon, which could- in theory- fit through the gap in the satellite bubble, but the chances of success were much too slim when they considered the size and bulk of the ship. Another problem was the submersible that they would use to dive down to the prison. An old Mon Cala sub, its design was quite antiquated, and they had had to do some work to even get the old thing running properly. Its measurements were slim, but very long, which meant that it couldn't have been stored in the Falcon's cargo bay. And were it fitted on the outside of the Falcon, it would decrease the chances of slipping through the net even further.

After some good old process of elimination, they had all agreed on the U-wing. It was slim and maneuverable, and able to fly through the gap like a dart- as long as it was timed right, of course. After a few modifications, the U-wing could carry the submersible on its underbelly via a set of clamps. The width of the U-wing was just over 27 feet, and the submersible was slightly slimmer. The height of the U-wing with the submarine attached to its hull was also within the required measurements; with the submersible it added up to only 23 feet, which was much less than the Falcon.

The ship's floor also had been modified, sporting an in-built circular hatch in the hold that would allow them to climb down, straight into the attached sub. Opening his bag, Hobbes checked that everything he would bring was in it. He strapped on his headlight, and put on a black vest and belt along with heat-resistant gloves and kneepads. Usually he didn't like wearing anything over his fur coat, but these would come in handy when the time came to navigate through the scorching heating pipes. He filled his belt, attaching two holstered RSKF-44 blaster pistols to it, as well as his carbine, which he slung across his back securely. Along with the blasters came a few smoke-and-flashbang grenades, medical supplies, and cutting torches. Everyone else, he knew, would also bring night vision gear.

Since Chewie was still too injured from their mission on Coruscant, he had also given him his Bowcaster and a small supply of his explosive quarrels. It was a weapon that Hobbes hoped would, if the situation arose, stave off any attacking TIE fighters sent from the prison's surface base.

"This is one heck of a jailbreak," Lando remarked from behind him, slipping into his own heat-resistant suit. "I mean, I've done some stuff like this before, but this is on another level."

"With your capes and you having been the administrator of Cloud City, I never would have known," Hobbes replied. "You just don't look like a smuggler to me."

"No?" Lando asked. "Did Han ever tell you the story of how he made the Kessel run? He didn't? Well, I was there with him, and when we get Calvin back…" his tone became somber for a moment. "...I'll tell you the whole story. It was legendary."

Before Hobbes could say anything, Leia walked back in from the cockpit, just as the beeping of a hyperspace exit warning started.

"Alright, everyone, listen up," she said. "I want to go through the whole plan one more time, from start to finish. Is everyone on board?"

"Sure," Hobbes nodded. "How long until the gap in the satellite net opens up?"

"Around forty minutes," Leia answered. "We'll drop out of hyperspace in a minute, and we're on schedule to get there in time. Lando, remember how much time we have to get down to the surface, drop off the sub, and get the U-wing back up and back through the gap before it closes?"

"Four minutes total," Lando answered. "We get in the submersible, get dropped off, and I pilot us down to 12,220 feet to the coordinates that were in the ISB datapad. We use only minimum light to see, in case there's any unkindly sea life that might see us as a snack, until we reach the three excess heating pipes that lead into the prison. We latch onto one of them with the sub's docking ring, so that the heat in the pipe is trapped."

"The heat will then build up," Hobbes continued, "until the Imperials notice it and shut the pipe off. When the vent is cool enough to the point where we wont get roasted alive, we crawl through it and use the thermal scanners to find the electrical room, which should be located right by the vent. We break into it, and with 3po's help, rig an EMP charge that, when activated, will overload and shut off the prison's whole lighting system."

"For around ten to fifteen minutes," Leia added.

"Then we go loud," Hobbes continued, nodding to Leia. "Lando guards our exit while 3po stays with the sub, and me and Leia make our way to the prison cells. We use cutting torches to break through any closed doors, where we use the thermal scanners to find Calvin. We break into his cell, grab him, and fight our way back before the lighting system restarts. If we're fast, we can get back up to the surface before the garrison at the nearby base is fully deployed."

"The U-wing picks us up, we get out of the atmosphere, and jump to safety," Leia finished. "Alright. Lando, are you ready to do your part?"

"I've run the simulation a hundred times," Lando said. "I'll get that sub to where we need it. Don't worry."

"Hobbes?"

"I'll have your back," Hobbes promised. Strangely, the words only put a slight scowl on Leia's face. "You?" he asked.

"I'm ready," Leia nodded, her frown quickly vanishing. "3po?"

"Well, to be honest, I am feeling rather uncertain about the whole mission," 3po admitted.

"Then let's go rescue Calvin," Leia declared.

A few seconds later, a shrill beeping came from the cockpit, drawing everyone's attention. As Leia moved towards the doorway, one of the U-wing's crew stepped through it and hurriedly said, "Ma'am, there's an Imperial ship approaching. Vigil Class."

"Has it seen us yet?" Leia asked.

"No, but we'll be coming in the range of its scanners in a few seconds. We're shutting off all power signatures now."

"Hobbes, power down 3po," Leia ordered. "Quickly!"

With a grasshopper's movement, Hobbes' paw hit the switch on the back of 3po's head, and the translator droid powered down, his eyes losing their glow. At his nod, everyone moved to the cockpit, where the pilots were just finishing with shutting off the ship. The lights went out completely, and everyone stood stock-still. Hobbes looked out of the canopy, trying to find the ship. Had they gone dark in time?

An ominous shadow drifted over the U-wing's nose, and Hobbes realized that the Imperial ship was passing directly over them. Looking up and squinting, he could see a faint triangular speck silhouetted against the system's yellow dwarf star, and marveled at the range that the imperial scanners must have. They waited for minutes, each one increasing his anxiety. The gap in the satellite net would open soon, and if they weren't there, they would have to call the mission off.

Finally the left pilot, who had been watching the ship pass on the backup-powered scanners, said, "Alright… we're out of his sight. We're continuing to the planet."

"Good," Leia said. "Go as fast as possible; the window's going to open soon, and we're behind schedule, now. Oh, and turn 3po back on. He has the calculations for slipping through the satellites."

The U-wing continued its path to Keilo-Three, the lapis, marble-sized dot becoming ever closer until most of the cockpit's canopy was filled with the white swirling clouds and deep blues of the moon. No matter how many times it occurred, the sight of a planet from space never stopped amazing Hobbes. A gigantic sphere, a sanctuary of life and warmth in a cold, endless universe. The ship continued to approach it, heading for a particularly dark spot of cloud; the location of the prison.

"How long until we reach the satellite net?" Leia asked the pilot.

"We're preparing to slip through it now, Ma'am. We'll cross it and the exoatmospheric border in about two minutes."

"Alright. Everyone, get into the sub; we're about to insert. 3po, give the pilots the calculations for the satellite gap," Leia ordered.

"Right away, Princess Leia," 3po said. Hobbes moved past him, following Lando into the hold. Stopping by the hatch to the submersible, he checked his gear and weapons. Carbine, pistols, flashbangs, torches, vest, scanners…

Verifying that he was all set, he took a step towards the hatch to the sub, which Lando had just climbed through. He stopped by the ladder, a slight dizziness overtaking him. His blood pumped faster, and his fur bristled. Closing his eyes, he realized the feeling: fear. He was afraid. He waited a few seconds for the feeling to pass, and after quite some time it did. Opening his eyes, he noticed Leia standing by the doorway to the cockpit.

"Are you alright?" she asked, the shape of her expression suggesting mild concern.

"Yeah. Fine," Hobbes nodded and opened his mouth to say something. He stopped, and instead said, "Let's do this."

He climbed down the hatch, into the submersible, and looked around. He had become familiar with its workings and design over the last couple of days, when he and Lando helped to modify it to be transported by the U-wing and to connect with the hatch on the heating pipe. It was cramped, with only one compartment which included the pilot's seat. It was shaped like an anchovy, slender and long, and its hull was made out of reinforced durasteel with a metal exoskeleton around it on the outside. The pilot's seat was at one end, in front of a canopy of angled glass, strengthened and refined to withstand the high pressures of the deep. Powerful lights surrounded the outside of the large canopy, mounted on the exoskeleton which gave the craft significant lighting.

It was an old design, perhaps more than a century behind, and so used the antiquated method of ballast tanks which were situated on either side of the sub, also on the exoskeleton. The propulsion was on the back, made up of four jet-stream propellers that gave the craft the ability to move forward, turn to either side, and reverse. A special modification was made on one side of the hull: the docking ring that would attach to the heating pipe. Its inclusion had posed a significant problem that had taken quite a bit of time to fix, as it weakened the structural integrity of the hull. As a result, the submersible's depth limit had decreased from 14,000 feet to 12,300- just barely deeper than the coordinates of the pipes.

Hobbes was trying to get over to the equipment locker when he banged his head on a metal component. "Ow!"

"Mind the ceiling," Leia advised, climbing down after them. Above her was 3po, doing the same. "Is everyone ready?"

"Yep," Lando replied.

"Yep," Hobbes nodded.

"Yes," 3po said, just reaching the bottom of the ladder.

"Alright. Here goes nothing," she muttered, and climbed a few steps back up to shout, "Turel, start the insertion."

"Yes Ma'am." The faint acknowledgement was quickly followed by a sharp increase in sound from the U-wing's engine, and a barely perceptible vibration that resonated through the submersible.

"Hold on, everyone," Leia said, and Hobbes latched onto a handle by the equipment locker. It was a good thing he did so, because the ship's instant acceleration nearly made him lose his grip. A shudder went through the sub, rattling his paws, and for a second he feared that the whole thing would break. Turning his head around, he saw Lando, securely strapped in the pilot's chair, the blurred, shaking image of Keilo-Three in the canopy beyond him. 3po, with his weaker grip, was kept from falling to the floor by Leia's steady grip on his gold shoulder. Her other hand clung securely to the side of the ladder.

Spinning, slowing, speeding up, the ship turned and reoriented again and again to slip into the moon's atmosphere perfectly. On a screen in front of Lando, Hobbes could see a model of the ship, quickly approaching a red border with a little green triangular gap on its surface. The satellite net. Finding himself focused on the little ship approaching what amounted to the point of no return, he followed along with the timer, counting down to contact with it. A change had just occurred, he realized. Silence. The U-wing's thrusters had been cut to prevent possible detection by their vibrations. Six… five… four..

Three… two… one…

The ship passed through the green triangle cleanly and precisely, touching none of the red. The next second, the U-wing was approaching the cloud layer and fast, the image of the moon in the submersible canopy growing exponentially. The sound of the ship's thrusters burning returned, and the ship slowed down to prevent possible damage to the craft from heat caused by atmospheric entry. A light, onionskin fog grew on the glass as they encountered the first freezing layers of moisture, which was quickly followed by a new view of the moon's swirling clouds, now so close that Hobbes could see microscopic strands of lightning flash every few seconds. The fog on the canopy began to coalesce, forming heavier droplets that immediately disappeared off of the sides.

Then they were in a maze of clouds. Rain thundered down. Wind shook the U-wing and the sub. A spider-web of lightning suddenly flashed across the canopy window, startling everyone with a boom. Amidst the tremors and the noise, a gruff voice from up in the U-wing said, "Ma'am, ETA is twenty-two seconds and counting. You can close the hatch now."

"Alright," Leia said. "Safe flying, and may the force be with you."

She turned and shouted, "Lando, close the hatch. Everyone else, get ready for a rough drop!"

"Aye, aye." Lando proceeded to interact with the various knobs, screens, and switches in front of him, and the hatch closed, a mechanical contraption whirring as it locked. Hobbes looked around searching for unstowed items, and, verifying that there were none, dropped to the floor as the U-wing came to an unsteady halt over the surface. By doing so, they would nullify any chance of a spinal injury from the thirty-foot drop that they were about to take. He could hear the rough crash of the folding waves just below them, churning and slashing.

"Drop in five," Lando said, having similarly flattened himself out on the ground. Hobbes counted down. Five, four, three, two-

He was a second late. A clank reached them through the metal hull and the chaotic storm, and Hobbes felt his organs float in mid-air for a few terrifying seconds. Then the sub smacked into the surface of the ocean like a large concrete pipe and a painful jolt forced the air out of his lungs. He could hear sheets of water hammering down on the top of them, and the floor pitched and rolled in accordance with the whimsical movement of the ocean surface.

"Flood the ballast tanks," Leia ordered, and after a few seconds there was a hiss of air. Slowly, the disarray became muted, and the violent lurching slowed. An unsettling silence fell, unsettling because it so sharply contrasted what was occurring on the surface. It was like a starship, having gone to lightspeed to escape a battle.

He got to his feet, his ribs and lungs still feeling boxed in, and looked around. Because of the storm, the bright ocean waters that should have been illuminating a part of the interior through the canopy weren't there, replaced with blackness. Instead, three lights provided a dim glow

"Is everyone alright?" Leia asked, looking around as well, and received affirmative responses. "Then let's go to phase two. Lando, what's our current keel depth?"

"67 feet," Lando said. "I'm keeping it there, for now."

"Ship's systems?"

"Engines, check. Oxygenator, check. Propellers, check. Electrical systems, all check. Heating, check. Hull integrity, a hundred percent. Backup systems are running properly. We're all green," Lando reported.

"Alright. Dim lights as much as possible, and begin our descent to 12,220 feet."

Hobbes walked to the strengthened glass in front of Lando, and looked out at the void in front of him. He was reminded of space, but without the stars. It was as if they had gone forward in time to the end of everything, seeing its unspeaking horror from inside of a tiny pill. It reminded him of the existential talks he and Calvin used to have, stargazing on a blanket of grass back home. It occurred to him that he hadn't thought deeply about home for a while, other than a few small instances. His heart tightened, like canvas being stretched over a frame, and he thought of how good it would feel to be back home once Calvin was safe with him. They had everything else, he realized. The machine, the kyber crystal, and now, because of Leia's desire to be rid of them both, the coaxium.

Again, that empty feeling hit his chest and stomach, and he noticed that he was still unhappy. He ought to be happy, he thought, but he wasn't, and that upset him.

It's probably because Leia's furious with me, he thought. I don't want her to hate me.

Yet, on the other hand, a piece of him still found anger with Leia for not speaking in favor of rescuing Calvin. Of course, he could understand her stronger desire to save Han. She loved him. And yes, she really did have a large responsibility, being one of the Rebellion's central leaders. But still, she could have at least given him the chance to rescue Calvin on his own. He would have stayed to help her rescue Han.

"Hey, Hobbes, are you feeling alright?" Lando asked, and Hobbes glanced at him.

"Yeah, just thinking about Calvin."

"Me, too," Lando said, reaching up to flick a switch. "Y'know, I'm really sorry for double-crossing everyone back on Cloud City. I really was a coward, then."

"I wouldn't say that," Hobbes said, his eyebrows raising. "You were thinking about the safety of your city, and everyone who you were responsible for."

"...I guess so," Lando said after a minute. "But I'll never forget how Calvin looked at me right before he was frozen. It was nothing but hurt and hate. He reminds me a lot of myself when I was young, actually."

"I can see that," Hobbes nodded. "He's confident, snarky… sort of rash at times. Always ready for some action. You and him would probably be best friends."

"Well, I understand that I'm never topping you. I've heard a few stories about how Calvin braved a whole Imperial base to save you. You guys are… Well, not to be childish or anything, but you're soulmates."

"Yeah. I know," Hobbes said, nodding almost imperceptibly. Then, after a minute, he said, "He'll forgive you, you know."

"Who, Calvin?" Lando asked.

"Yeah. Calvin," Hobbes said. "You're no coward. Otherwise you wouldn't be here, right now."

"Well, I don't feel very courageous, I'll tell you that," Lando said, scoffing.

"I don't think anyone ever felt brave when they did something brave," Hobbes said. "It's about doing what you know you need to do, even when you're afraid of getting it done. And that's why you are courageous right now."

Lando didn't reply. His body was calm, and his face suggested that he was reflecting. So, Hobbes looked back out at the darkness, thinking about those words himself.

As the submersible carried them deeper into the still, freezing waters, Hobbes became more and more nervous. He didn't particularly like small spaces, and couldn't shake the feeling of helplessness inside of him. They were keeping all light to a minimum, to the point where everyone besides Hobbes (with his night vision) could barely see anything besides the faint glowing of the sub's controls. That way, their presence wouldn't be picked up on by the possible deep-sea monsters that roamed the desolate waters. But there was always a chance that something would notice, and then they would all be helpless. They had no weapons or defenses to ward off natural predators, and even if a sea creature attacked them and then realized that the sub wasn't exactly a good meal, it might still do major damage to it by the time it retreated.

There was also the sub itself. Everything had been running smoothly so far, but they were traveling in an old design, which had barely ever been used since the formation of the Rebel fleet. Systems might secretly be faulty. The strong-looking capsule around them could breach. The hasty modifications that they had had to make certainly didn't help.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, trying to guide his thoughts back onto the path that he wanted them to take- focusing on saving Calvin.

For close to two hours, no-one spoke more than a few words to each other. Slowly, the seconds passed by, and slowly, the submersible descended deeper. For the most part, it was unremarkable, except for a singular, spectacular event close to 7,000 feet down. About an hour in, the stillness was broken slightly as lights- hundreds of thousands of little blips- showed up across the darkness, and Hobbes' earlier thought of the view looking like space with no stars went away. Now, it was just like space. No one spoke; just watched the show, and Hobbes remembered something from a channel that he and Calvin used to watch- a deep sea TV program, where the narrator had explained that all the lights down in the deep were simply creatures, using their bioluminescent properties to survive.

The lights disappeared at around 12,000 feet. Around five minutes later, Lando called out, "Two minutes to the required depth."

"How far until we reach the maximum depth limit?" Leia asked.

"Five more minutes of diving would get us there," Lando answered. "I'm going to start traveling over to the coordinates now. The straightest path should take only about fifteen minutes."

"Good," Leia said. "We're exactly on schedule. Use the sensors to look for obstacles. I don't want to use the external lights until we're right in front of the-"

A shrill beeping interrupted her, causing a tight, collective inhale. From his seat, Lando said, "Something big just came on the sensors. It looks like it snuck up on us from below."

"Creature, or Imperial?" Leia asked.

"Not sure," Lando said, scrutinizing the screen in front of him. "It just passed under us. I'm turning off all lights and stopping the sub. If it's a creature, hopefully it'll go away."

The faint lights in the sub turned off. So did the glow coming from the dashboard. The near-unnoticeable whir of the propellers stopped. Hobbes could see Lando keeping one hand on a handle in front of him, ready to bring back the power and move away if need be. Everyone waited, on edge.

"Where's the thing now?" Hobbes asked Lando.

"It's circling at the edge of the screen," Lando said. "Wait- it's starting to come back… I think it's going to pass in front of us. See anything, Hobbes?"

With his night vision, Hobbes searched the darkness in front of them, looking for anything- a shape, a movement…

When the thing did appear, Hobbes nearly stumbled backwards in fright. It materialized out of nothingness, heading towards them in a diagonal manner. It was like a large shrimp, with six spindly, bone-like, ghost-white appendages and dozens of pale fins along both of its sides, slowly rippling from front to back to propel it forward. But most terrifying was the mouth. A circle of hooked, talon-like teeth that Hobbes was convinced could latch onto anything, and two frighteningly squid-like eyes above it that seemed to stare through the glass, straight at him.

"Hobbes, what do you see?" Leia asked, looking at him. She placed a hand on his shoulder and he flinched, breaking away from his trapped gaze. He blinked, then looked out again. The thing was gone.

"It's leaving, I think," Lando said. Hobbes looked over at the screen, and, true enough, the creature was quickly moving away, beyond the limits of the close-range sensors. "I'll give it another five minutes to get all the way lost."

Five minutes later, they were back on the move, but making sure to keep all lights off. Inside, Hobbes sat in silence, trying to get the image of the creature out of his mind by checking all of his gear. He found the task to be impossible. He remembered how it had come at them. It had almost looked like it was going to attack the sub. But the next moment, it was gone.

He decided that he didn't like the deep sea.

Soon after, Lando said, "Leia, I'm coming up on the heating pipes now, but there's something in between us and them."

"What does it look like?" Leia asked.

"Well, it looks like balloons, or something," Lando said. "Just a massive field of balloons."

Leia peered at the screen, and after a minute, said, "Turn on the exterior lights."

Lando nodded and reached up an arm to flip a few switches. With each one, a faint clacking noise came through the hull, and the lights around the front of the sub turned on. Immediately, Hobbes saw the 'Balloons,' that Lando had seen on the scanners, and the sight made him realize that the Empire wasn't clueless to the weakness that their heating pipes posed.

"Oh, no!" 3po wailed. "A minefield!"

"Ferrik," Hobbes muttered, looking out at a forest of meter-tall, floating black dodecahedrons, each one 30 feet from the ones surrounding it and tethered to a thick, steel cable. Small, ghostly, silicone fish swam amongst them, darting away when the light shone on them.

"Those mines look like they're magnetically activated," Lando said. "Look: there are fish swimming in them, and they're not detonating."

"Probably proximity-based," Leia said. "Try using the radio-scanner. Check how big their field of detonation is."

"Maybe there's a gap we can worm through. An opening somewhere," Hobbes said.

"If there is one, then what would be the point of placing all of these mines in the first place?" Leia asked, frowning at him.

"I don't know, but it's worth a shot, isn't it?"

"Each mine has a range of about twenty-five feet," Lando said, looking up from the radio scanner. "They cover every space. Nothing can slip through that."

"Then let's look around a bit and see how big this minefield is," Hobbes said.

For a few minutes they adjusted positions, making sure to keep clear of the detonation radius. The minefield wasn't too big. It was, if the other end was right where the pipes were, 560 feet wide from all directions. They tried slipping under the mines, but found that their cable were of varying sizes. The shorter ones, tethered closer to the seafloor, were placed around the outside of the minefield, and they grew taller the further inward they were, forming a defensive half-dome around the pipes.

"Dank Ferrik," Lando quietly swore. "What if there's no way through?"

"I suppose that we'd have to abort the mission," 3po said.

"I'm not leaving Calvin," Hobbes growled, his brow wrinkling as he thought. "Look more around the sides. We're checking every inch of this minefield."

Lando nodded, and began to move around the perimeter again. Leia offered no objection. The terrain around the field, Hobbes noticed, was interesting. The bottom of the seafloor in their area was another 400 feet down, but because of the mountain on which the island sat, the minefield sat on a large plateau. The front and the left side of the plateau where they had approached from, which was also the side that sat away from the mountain, wasn't too steep- a 30 to 40 degree angle at most. The angle continued further downward into the deep, where it would eventually level out once it reached the seafloor. But the right side of the plateau (and the minefield) was a different story; a sheer rocky dropoff that went straight down. Erosion had long clawed away at the ledge. And it was there that they found a chance at getting through.

"There!" Lando shouted, pointing. The sub was now floating over the dropoff, its front directed at a spot on the left side of the minefield. "Look!"

Following Lando's finger, Hobbes noticed that there was a rather large chuck of rock that must have broken off of the ledge at some point. The space that denoted its absence stretched from the edge of the dropoff to just a bit into the minefield, the frontmost mines of which were placed only a few feet away from the edge. He didn't understand why Lando was so excited, until he noticed that the part of the ledge which had fallen off would have included the place where one of the mines should have been tethered.

Then he realized: When the rock had eroded and broken off, it had taken one of the mines with it!

"Sweet tigresses," he murmured.

"What?" Leia asked.

"Nothing," Hobbes quickly said. "Lando, can you slip through that?" he asked, pointing at the small opening. Lando quickly checked the sensors, looking at the field of detonation of the surrounding mines, and then sighed, his eyelids squeezing shut. "No. I can't."

"Why not?" Leia asked.

"Because the gap is still too small." Lando said, teeth clenched with frustration. "Look." He pointed at the sensor screen, which showed a 3d render of the area around them. The mines were marked by orange spheres, and each one had a transparent larger sphere around it that represented the area where, if they entered it, the mine would detonate. The terrain around them was blue and gridded. The submarine was also marked in blue, but with a darker shade. Analyzing the screen, Hobbes saw that, although one of the mines had given them space, it wasn't enough. On paper, the sub could slip through, but in reality, the surrounding mines' detonation fields made the gap so tight that an inch in any direction would set them off.

"So there's just no way in," Hobbes muttered. "That's it? We came down here to the bottom of the ocean with gigantic horror creatures swimming about in a tiny metal pill, all to get Calvin, and now we're checkmated by some minefield?"

"Hobbes, let's-" Leia began to say. Hobbes cut her off.

"No," he said. "No, this is stupid. There's an entire imperial base with TIE fighters and hundreds of imperials guarding the prison, and the thing that stops us is a minefield? I-"

He stopped, and his shoulders drooped. Closing his eyes, he kept back the sudden wave of tears that lined his eyes, and clenched his teeth. Calvin was in there, slowly getting tortured by the ISB, probably holding out because of the belief that Hobbes would get him. And here he was, so close and yet so darn far. He knew that if they turned back now, he would have failed; maybe he wouldn't have failed Calvin, who had given him the message to go home without him, but he would have failed himself, and every promise that he had made to himself to get Calvin back.

A hand touched his shoulder, and Hobbes said, "Lando…"

"Hobbes," Leia said, and Hobbes looked at her, his face betraying his aching heart and his surprise. "We'll find another way. C'mon, let's think of something."

"Like what?" he asked. "Maybe there just isn't a way this time. We can turn back, get off of this moon, and come up with another plan. Maybe the Imperials get the DAR- get what they're looking for, but we'll still find a way to stop them, like we did with the death star." He looked at Leia, trying to stay positive. "Right?"

Leia wrapped an arm around Hobbes, and looked at the minefield with him, sighing. "Maybe."

Leia, Hobbes, Lando, and 3po all looked out at the minefield as one, silent as the sea around them. No one said anything- they just stood, thinking about what would come next, their eyes following the outlines of those ghostly fish swimming amongst the mines.

"If only the mines were energy-activated…" 3po murmured to himself.

"What?" Lando asked, looking at the droid.

"Oh, pardon me," 3po said. "I just considered something, but-"

"What is it?" Leia asked, curious.

"Well, it's not like it could work, and-"

"Let's hear it," Hobbes said. "I mean… no one else has any ideas."

"Well alright, then," 3po said. "I was thinking that, were the mines activated only upon detecting the energy powering the submersible, it might be possible to widen the gap by shutting off the whole vessel, and then powering the propulsion system using a power source at the center of the ship."

"How would that help?" Leia asked.

"Well, the propulsion, as of now, is connected to the controls by electrical cables in the hull," 3po explained. "Much of the rest of the energy in the submersible is also found along the outside, erm, in the hull. By removing every source of energy that could activate the mines, and finding a separate one to power the propulsion from the center of the submersible, the outer hull could enter the fields of detonation without setting them off."

"So basically, we shut off the ship's entire power including backup so that the mines don't detect it, then find some sort of power source to power the propellers from the center of the sub which lets much of it pass through, giving us some breathing space?" Hobbes asked.

"Yes, but it is pure fantasy," 3po said. "The mines would need to be based on a system that activates only when it detects a significant source of energy, and we would need a power source separate from the submersible to both power the propulsion and restart the-"

"The mines are energy-activated," Lando interrupted. All eyes turned toward him.

"I thought you said that they were magnetically activated," Leia said.

"I said that they looked like they were magnetically activated," Lando corrected her. "I ran a scan with the sensors- they're definitely activated by a significant power signature, but it looks like something bumping into the cables tethering them with enough force could set them off, too."

"So it's possible," Hobbes muttered.

"I'm afraid not," 3po said. "Without a separate power source-"

"We have a separate power source," Hobbes said. "You!"

"Me?" 3po asked, incredulous. "Oh, no, I'm afraid that I simply can't-"

"Please," Leia said. "We need to get Calvin back, and we need your help to do it. Please."

"... Alright, I suppose," 3po said. "If it helps you, Princess Leia."

"Yes!" Hobbes cheered. "Thank you so much. What do we do first?"

The next ten minutes were spent preparing the sub for the slip through the mines. While Hobbes disconnected 3po's main power core from the rest of his body (making sure to shut him down first), Lando shut off everything. The lights, the sensors, even the oxygenator, which provided them with the precious air that they needed to survive. They could jumpstart it again with the power core, but for now, everything would go dark. They would have to use the hand-held thermal sensors that they had brought along to detect the mines and the signals that they sent out. Leia would hold it and slowly spin it around, while Hobbes would hold the power core in the middle of the sub. After connecting it to the propulsion system's electrical panel via a spare cable, and connecting it to the steering system via another, he stood up and said, "Power's connected. Are we ready to try it?"

"Fire it up," Lando nodded. Flicking the switch on the power core, Hobbes listened for the sounds of the propellers as Lando manipulated the controls. For a moment, he couldn't hear anything- the power core wasn't very powerful, after all. But then, he heard the faintest noise as the propulsion responded to the controls. The sub began moving forward at a snail's pace towards the gap in the mines, and Leia began to report what was on the thermal scanners.

"Forward," she said, and Lando moved the sub closer and closer to the gap. Hobbes focused his attention on keeping the power core in the center of the sub, and, catching a quick look at the thermal screen, saw that they were entering the minefield. Red, faint pings of energy were moving outward from the mines, only a few feet away from the few power signatures in the sub that could trip their alarms. Hobbes steadied his rapidly increasing breathing, and waited for Leia to tell him if he should move the power core in any direction to avoid a mine.

"Hobbes, move to the right side," Leia ordered. "No, your right!"

Quickly correcting his mistake, Hobbes rushed to the right side of the sub, and held the power core there as the sub shifted under him. They were going very slowly, checking every movement and painstakingly keeping the power away from the mines' detonation fields. "Lando, turn right, two degrees," Leia said. "Hobbes, move back to the center, and hold the power core close to the floor."

"Got it," Hobbes said, returning to the center. The sub shifted again, just slightly, and so it went. For five agonizing minutes, they floated only a few feet from death in every direction, slowly squeezing through. They nearly made a few deadly mistakes, only avoiding them in the nick of time. Hobbes clutched the power core so tightly that his hands began to tremble with the buzzing of the core's interior. Every time the sub shifted, he nearly forgot how to breathe. Lando, he knew, was probably going through the same ordeal. Without sensors in front of him or lights, he was practically blind, depending entirely on Leia to guide him through.

Finally, Leia said, "Full stop, Lando."

The sub slowed, then came to a complete halt, and Hobbes looked at Leia, who was turning in circles, holding the sensors in front of her. Finally she stopped and looked up. With his night vision, Hobbes could see her pale white face, and her shell-shocked eyes. A relieved sigh escaped her throat. "We made it past."

"We did?" Hobbes asked.

"Well, past the initial wall of mines. We still have to get to the pipes without bumping into the cables, but we're good to turn on the sub again.

Hobbes and Lando both exhaled, and Hobbes could hear all of their hearts beating like soundboxes. "So… I can jump start everything again?" Lando asked. We're in the clear?"

"Yes," Leia nodded. "Go ahead."

Hobbes unplugged the power core from the propulsion, and moved over to Lando where he replugged it into another socket. Lando then reached up, twisted a handle, and pulled down on it. The power core buzzed greater, the socket sparked, and then the lights came on and the electric engine resumed.

"Yes…" Hobbes breathed. "Alright! We're through!"

"Lando, is everything running properly?" Leia asked.

"Erm, there's a slight error somewhere around the propulsion, but I'm not exactly sure what it is. Everything else is running good, though," Lando reported. "I'll check it out further when we dock with the heating pipes."

"Then let's keep going," Leia said. "Hobbes, can you put 3po back together?"

"Sure," Hobbes nodded, and, as he attended to his task, heard the propulsion grow. The submersible began to move again as Lando began to navigate through the forest of cables that tethered the mines above them to the ground. Soon, Lando said, "Pipes are in view."

"Good," Leia said. "Keep going. Watch out for those cables, left side."

3po's head suddenly sparked as Hobbes connected two wires, and his eyes turned on. "Oh, goodness!" he shouted.

"3po, you okay?" Hobbes asked.

"Oh… hello, Hobbes. Are we still alive?"

"Yeah, we made it through!" Hobbes grinned.

"We did?" 3po asked. "Oh, thank goodness. Put the rest of me together, please."

"I'm docking now," Lando said. Hobbes looked up, and saw something in the light of the sub. A round circle… with bubbles coming out. The water around it seemed distorted… and then, two others came into view.

Slowly, as the sub approached the pipes, it turned so that the side of the sub with the docking ring (through which they would enter the leftmost pipe) was facing them. Some creaking suddenly reached them through the hull, and Hobbes' breath hitched. But it disappeared as soon as it came.

"Okay," Lando said. "The docking ring's aligned with the heating vent."

"Precisely?" Leia asked.

"Completely precisely," Lando nodded. "Here we go."

A few seconds of silence, and suddenly, a large, muffled clank as the docking ring connected. Hobbes reached a tentative paw out to touch the door of the docking ring, and found that it was already warm from the heat being expelled by the pipe.

"That was some steering, Lando," Leia told him, the corners of her mouth curling upwards just slightly. Lando grinned, too.

"Oh, thank goodness," 3po exclaimed. "I think the suspense has shorted out one of my wires!"

Then, as though something was taunting all of their hard effort, the sub shuddered, the hull and exoskeleton creaking horribly. Something metal snapped, something else bent, and for a heart-splitting moment everyone felt as though they were about to die.

Then the lights went out.

I feel like I rushed the end of the chapter just a tad, so please do tell me if everything makes sense. To clarify, they shut off the submersible's power and hold 3po's power core in the center of the sub because that way, there are no power signatures in the hull that could activate the mines. It gives them breathing room to slip through, because the fields of detonation of the mines can pass through the sub, as long as they don't touch the power core.

Also, thanks to Mando-Vet for the review. SmarmySmirk out.

:D