Hey, you guys ever have a moment of deep existential doubt relating to your purpose or skill as a writer? Just wondering.
Enjoy the chapter!
Amela had never felt so euphoric, yet so terrified in her entire life. Her limbs hummed with energy as she tracked the Imperial shuttle nearing the hangar that she was standing at attention in. To her right was Moff Jerjerrod. In front of them both was Vader, facing down the long walkway flanked by hundreds of stormtroopers that served as a visual emphasis to the colossal occasion that they were party to. All of the station's most important officers, fire control crew, commanders, and supervisors were rigid and ready. She reflected on the fact that were it not for her position as head of Project Catalyst, she would be standing by the other supervisors, and not behind Vader.
The shuttle crossed the threshold into the hangar bay, and, with the deftness of a master pilot, touched down onto the ground. Her heartbeat increased. She noticed with a small panic that she was tapping her foot again, and immediately ceased.
Then, the ramp door opened. Vader began walking forward, and Amela and Jerjerrod followed.
The Emperor's personal guard went first- six blood-red knights, covered in cloaks, masks and helmets of the same shade, each one holding an old-fashioned pike. As they lined up on either side, a figure followed, emerging from the hissing steam. A short human, wrinkled and disfigured, his eyes blocked by the hood of the simple cloak he wore. He descended the ramp just as Vader reached it and they all knelt.
"Rise, my friend." The Emperor Palpatine's voice was raspy and old, yet contained a certain power within it that made Amela shudder.
Vader rose, and both of them turned, moving past both Amela and Jerjerrod. Still, Amela kept kneeling as she saw several other arrivals, clad in purple, pass them as well; these were the Emperor's chief advisors. Only after the last one passed them did they rise and follow. The brisk striking of boots on hard ground told her that the other commanders and officers were filing in behind them, forming a growing, hierarchical procession.
Vader and The Emperor began speaking, and despite herself, Amela strained her ears to catch a word or two. "You… done well, Lord Vader…" The Emperor was saying. The next words were quiet, but she caught the word, "Skywalker."
Skywalker…
"Patience… he will seek you out," was all that she caught after that, before the gravity of the situation caught up with her curiosity and she gave herself a mental beating for listening in to The Emperor and Lord Vader's conversation! She tried to block out their voices and focus on her footsteps. She had a lot more to worry about than what they were discussing. Her own hide, for one, was very much at risk. Project Catalyst was nowhere near completion, and the deadline was only a week away, now. If she failed in performing a successful test by then, it would be her father's, Vader's, and The Emperor's wrath against her.
She didn't understand why it wouldn't work! Everything was built according to the very detailed plans that Calvin had described to them. Everything was correct and double-checked, and yet her tests ended in nothing and her test subjects in injury.
She focused on those problems, yet one more thing drifted, now unwelcome, into her ear:
"Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen."
She closed her eyes, suppressing another shudder, and kept walking, the procession soon disappearing in the millions of corridors of the battlestation.
Fresh rainwater dripped off of the soaked leaves and vines of Dagobah's foliage, some trickles so strong that they looked like little streamlets born from springs in the trees' thick canopies. The ground was drenched and muddy. The only solid areas were the ones covered in blankets of moss. The nearby lake was once again still after the downpour and a thick fog covered its murky surface. Thunder, erupting every few minutes in the distance, reverberated through the swampy jungle.
Next to the shore of the lake, sitting upon a crushed colony of moss was Luke's X-wing, and a ways off, Hobbes' Y-wing. Yellow light, flickering from the nearby mud hut cast animated shadows upon the X-wing. Next to the hut, a few displeased beeps came from R2 as he once again had to wait outside. Warbles, both distant and near, made him huddle close to the entrance.
Inside, Hobbes and Luke sat on the earthen floor, unmoving, watching Yoda turning away from the fireplace with a noticeable lack in strength. Hobbes could sense that something had changed with the old Jedi, and it worried him.
"Hmm… That face you make. Look I so old to young eyes?" Yoda asked, the wrinkles around his eyes crinkling further. His voice sounded more strained, more… weak, but it still contained that cheerful tone that never seemed to leave him. Caught, Hobbes averted his gaze, his tail twitching. Luke said, "No… of course not."
Yoda's eyes widened, and he laughed. "I do, yes, I do!" he said, tapping his walking stick on the ground repeatedly before recovering. "Sick have I become. Old and weak… When nine hundred years old you reach, look as good you will not. Hmm?" He poked Luke in the belly, and gave a few unexpected coughs. Slowly, he hobbled over to his little bed, and with strenuous effort, sat upon it. "Soon will I rest. Yes, forever sleep… Earned it, I have."
"Master Yoda, you can't die," Luke said, looking at the green, wrinkled Jedi with disbelief.
"Strong am I with the Force…" Yoda said, "but not that strong! Twilight is upon me
and soon night must fall. That is the way of things... the way of the force."
"But I need your help. I've come back to complete the training," Luke said.
"No more training do you require," Yoda said, looking at him. "Already know you that which you need." With a weary sigh, he placed his head on his sack-like pillow, and closed his eyes.
Luke stared at the ground and his eyes lost their focus. "Then I am a Jedi," he mumbled.
Yoda opened his eyes wide to look at Luke, his pointed ears turning in a sudden manner. "Ohhh!" he said with an amused grin, and coughed lightly. "Not yet. One thing remains… Vader. You must… confront Vader. Then, only then, a Jedi will you be. And confront him you will."
Hobbes watched, preventing himself from speaking as Yoda and his final student shared what could possibly be their last few words together. To think that they had arrived only a few hours previously, just to find Yoda preparing for his journey to the other side… Yoda hadn't been surprised to see them, and had welcomed them inside promptly. Hobbes had asked him, as he and Calvin had decided upon, if he could tell them anything at all concerning the whereabouts of the Empire's DART.
They knew it was likely a futile method. Yoda was powerful, but not without limit. And living isolated on Dagobah would not help him obtain the exact location of a certain thing in the entire galaxy. Yet, perhaps there was something that Yoda did know, and so Hobbes asked him.
The outcome was expected- Yoda had no idea, and had only told him not to give up. Always is there a way, he had said. Trust in the force.
"Is Darth Vader…" Luke trailed off, looking at Hobbes.
"...I can go out," Hobbes offered, guessing what Luke wanted to say was strictly between him and Yoda.
"No… No, you can stay," Luke said, turning back to Yoda. He closed his eyes, and Hobbes watched as he and Yoda both seemed to enter a state of meditation. Luke's lips moved slightly, but he didn't speak. They seemed to be communicating, but Hobbes couldn't make out any words. Yoda let out a barely perceptible sigh. He turned over in his bed, facing the wall and the round window next to it.
Suddenly, Luke flinched sharply, and opened his eyes. Yoda said, "Told you, did he?"
"Yes," Luke said.
"Unexpected this is, and unfortunate…"
"Unfortunate that I know the truth?" Luke asked, staring at him.
"No!" Yoda rasped, turning back over to look at Luke. "Unfortunate… that you rushed to face him. Incomplete was your training. Not… Not ready for the burden were you."
"I'm sorry," Luke said, shaking his head with a regretful, reflecting look in his eyes.
"Remember… a Jedi's strength flows from the Force," Yoda said, each word labored. "But beware. Anger, fear, aggression. The dark side are they. Once you start down the… dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."
His voice now akin to a strained whisper, Yoda said, "Luke… Hobbes… Do not… Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor. Your machine… Hobbes… is his path to even greater power… Close by… his side, will he keep it… if it is… anywhere…"
Hobbes forced himself to soak in the words, to remember them. The tears in his eyes stayed, and continued to gather.
"Luke, when gone am I… the last of the Jedi will you be. Luke… the force runs strong in your
family. Pass on what you have learned…"
Every syllable was now forced, emphasized. Hobbes could feel Yoda slipping away. But, seeming to summon every last ounce of life, he whispered, "There is… another… Sky… Sky… Walker…"
He exhaled- his last breath. A shiver ran through the ancient Jedi Master, and his eyes closed. His lifeforce- something that Hobbes could actually feel in the hut- dissipated, the flames in the fireplace flickered weakly before dying down, and Yoda disappeared. Really disappeared; his body faded into nothingness, leaving only his robes upon the bed.
Hobbes figured that he should have been shocked, or amazed, but the sorrow that he felt consumed everything else. Luke looked at him, his mouth parted and his eyes reflecting his grieving soul where tears didn't. But Hobbes' tears broke free, and for a while, they both sat in the cold little hut, the rain beginning to fall outside.
The rain, only a brief, strong shower, had passed with the spontaneity that was customary of Dagobah's weather patterns. R2, having had to endure them for quite a few hours, was happy to be accompanied by Luke and Hobbes once more. His joy contrasted hevily against his companions' emotions.
They began working to check and clean the X-wing, when Luke sighed heavily and turned to face Hobbes and R2. "...I can't do it," he confided. "I need more training… I- I can't go on alone."
Hobbes was about to say something encouraging to Luke, when a mouthess voice sounded in his ears. A voice that was so familiar and so jarring that he couldn't move or breathe for a good few seconds. "Yoda will always be with you."
"Obi Wan," Luke murmured, his voice containing both surprise and the slightest trace of annoyance. He looked up, staring at somewhere behind Hobbes, and began to walk past him. Turning around, Hobbes, however, could see no trace of Obi Wan anywhere.
"Hobbes."
"What?" he asked, glancing at Luke.
"This time, if you could give me some privacy-"
"Sure! Of course," Hobbes nodded, and, reluctantly, began walking over to his Y-wing. Reaching it, he looked back at Luke, now some 40 feet away, and sighed. He would have liked to exchange some words with Obi-Wan. Instead, he began checking the ship's exterior, making sure that she was ready to fly back to the fleet.
Yoda's gone.
The fact struck him as strange to think about. He had stayed on Dagobah for several months, and, while not having formed anything more than a friendly relation with Yoda, still admired him. He had been wise, yet not prickly. Old, but with experience and at some moments still extremely agile. He had committed fully to training Luke, and Hobbes had found himself an indirect part of the endeavor, even learning several things about himself.
Every morning, they had gotten up in the darkness, and Yoda trained Luke in the gloom of the day, sometimes for more than fourteen hours. It had been the most rigorous, continually focused event that he had ever been party to, and every day left both him and Luke on his last legs, although Luke had it rather worse.
He spent another few minutes testing the thrusters and cleaning the landing gear, until Luke called out, "Hobbes."
"Yeah?" Hobbes asked, turning around and tossing away a clump of plant life that had accumulated on the forward landing leg. Luke was walking towards him, R2 trailing close behind him.
"Obi-Wan wants to talk to you," Luke said, and Hobbes noticed that Luke looked quite uneased, his eyes barely focused, his brow furrowed slightly.
"He does?" he asked, surprised, and at Luke's nod, began walking back to the X-wing. Once he reached the place where he had heard the voice, he stood and waited, wondering how in the heck Obi Wan could even talk to him?
"Good to see you again, Hobbes," Obi Wan's voice floated through the leaves, making Hobbes jump. He looked around in every direction. Nothing.
"Well, sadly I don't seem to be able to see you," Hobbes said, chuckling. "How am I speaking with you at all?"
"Dagobah is a place of extreme spiritual energy," Obi Wan explained. "Yoda did not choose to live here simply because of its isolation. He knew that here, a body's connection to the force, Jedi or not, would be very strong. You cannot see me, but I can communicate with you here."
"Okay…" Hobbes murmured. "Well, Obi Wan, I gotta say, it's nice to talk with you again. I wish that you'd made it off of the Death Star."
"My one duty, to set Luke on his path, had been completed as soon as I died," Obi Wan said. "It gave him the strength and motivation to carry on by himself. As you'll recall, I myself said that I was getting far too old to be running around on adventures, especially ones with force-traveling beings. But still, I'm sorry that I caused you and Calvin grief."
Hobbes was silent, reflecting for nearly a minute. Finally, he said, "So, I guess you know where we're really from?"
"Yes."
"I'm sorry for keeping it from you," Hobbes said.
"We all keep secrets for one reason or another," Obi Wan told him. "Just now, I revealed to Luke a few that I had kept from him since we met. Secrets are not inherently destructive- it is the reason that one keeps a secret that is most important."
"Then I guess our secret sucked," Hobbes said, shrugging. "Everything would have been a lot easier if we'd come clean a lot earlier."
"Well, I must agree with you there," Obi-Wan said in a humorous tone. "A lot could have been avoided."
"Thanks for the kind words."
Obi Wan chuckled, amused. "The truth can be bitter. But I would like to thank you and Calvin both for staying with Luke, and nevertheless being excellent friends to him. I know that he still remembers you as his first companions from the beginning of his journey."
Hobbes nodded, not quite sure what to say. "Thanks," he eventually said. "…It's gonna be hard to say goodbye, once we get the DART's plans back from the Empire and go home."
"Your friends will assuredly miss you both," Obi-Wan said, and his tone of voice suddenly became a lot more serious. "On the topic of your plans for securing your machine, I would like to emphasize what Yoda told you. The Emperor is a cunning, ruthless force of evil and a master manipulator. He is stronger with the dark side of the force than even Vader. Your machine, if he bends it to his will, will make the Empire unstoppable. Above all else, you must be wary of him."
"Okay…" Hobbes said, suddenly feeling quite nervous.
"And one more thing: The Emperor seldom miscalculates, but when he does, he never makes the same mistake twice."
Hobbes nodded.
"I'll leave you be, now. But remember what I have told you, and what Yoda told you. Give my greetings to Calvin, would you?" Obi-Wan said.
"Alright…"
"Goodbye, Hobbes."
"Wait-" Hobbes said as he felt Obi-Wan's presence disappear, much like his feeling in Yoda's hut. For another dozen seconds he stood, looking around at the dark swamps of Dagobah, before sighing. "Well, It was good to see him one more time."
He began walking back to his Y-wing, thinking about what Obi-Wan had told him. Be wary of him… Unstoppable, cunning… What exactly did he mean? He hadn't given the Emperor much thought yet. He seemed like a faraway concern, sitting so high up on the Imperial ladder. More terrifying to Hobbes was Vader, or the thousands of star destroyers that were everywhere. Of course, Calvin had told him about his ominous dream, but it wasn't something that he himself had experienced. He had no idea what the Emperor even looked like, and neither did most of the galaxy, it seemed. But Obi-Wan's words alarmed him.
Looking forward, he saw Luke walking towards him. "Ready to go?" Luke asked when he got within earshot.
"Just about," Hobbes said, and looked back at the X-wing. "You know, I don't think I'm ever going to see him again."
"Maybe, maybe not. I went to Tatooine again," Luke pointed out.
Hobbes chuckled. "Yeah, that's true. You alright? You look lost in thought."
"I… I just have a lot on my mind," Luke said, and gave Hobbes a small grin. "I'll be alright, though. Meet you up in space?"
"Yep," Hobbes said, and walked past him to his Y-wing. He kept turning what Obi-Wan and Yoda had told him over and over in his head, feeling as though he missed a crucial bit of information or an unclear meaning.
As he got into the pilot's seat and turned on the ship, he decided to find Calvin and review the whole thing with him. They needed to step up their game when it came to finding the DART and its plans; it felt like they were quickly running out of time.
The Y-wing's thrusters activated, and slowly, carefully, Hobbes lifted the ship off of the ground, and flew through the gap in the tree canopy provided by the lake. Soon, the ship disappeared in the cloudy sky.
The circular briefing room of the Home One was abuzz with the chatter and footsteps of excited personnel, ranging from starfighter pilots to the Rebellion's top commanders as they struggled to seat themselves for the unplanned meeting. Most of the circular room's benches were soon filled with orange-suited pilots, among which sat officers and other, higher-ranking rebels. Among the noise, Calvin struggled to find open seats in the stadium-like ring surrounding a central space and holo-table, Hobbes right behind him. Close to the table, he could see Mon Mothma, Ackbar, General Madine, and the other big shots conversing just as steadily as the rest of the room.
"Over here," Luke called, and he and Hobbes quickly made their way to where Han, Leia, Chewie 3po, and R2, the former two already clothed in forest camouflage, were standing together.
It had been a hectic time in the 24 hours since Luke and Hobbes had showed up, back from Dagobah. They had been rushing and preparing the assembled Rebel fleet for combat, with only a brief lunch and a half-dozen hours of sleep to serve as a break period in between the to-and-fro work. The Falcon, itself, had been almost as late as Hobbes and Luke when the message came through that the fleet had made a position change to the Sullust system. Calvin had been grumbling at all of the sudden work, left completely without a justification for it.
But then, just hours later, the announcement had been made. Every word was still crisp in Calvin's head:
All starfighter crews, generals, and other personnel with point-four and point-nine clearance, report to the main briefing room at 0900. Emergency UCI announcement from High Command.
'UCI' meant Unexpected Critical Intelligence, an acronym seldom used as a result of its importance. And the current circumstances certainly qualified for its application; Calvin would even go so far as to find the rare acronym at fault for understating the situation.
As they reached the rest of the gang, Lando walked in, wearing an outfit reminiscent of his old administrator's look, along with a fabulous cape that he somehow knew how to wear in the most natural way. Turning around, Han peered at the insignia on Lando's chest, and said, "Well, look at you, pal!… a general, huh?"
"Oh, well…" Lando tilted his head and shrugged. "Someone must have told them about my little maneuver at the battle of Tanaab." He stared at Han, putting a hand on his hip.
"Well, don't look at me, pal. I just said you were a fair pilot. I didn't know they were lookin' for somebody to lead this crazy attack," Han scoffed.
"I'm surprised they didn't ask you to do it," Lando said, and grinned.
"Who says they didn't? But I ain't crazy," Han said. "You're the respectable one, remember?"
Calvin was about to join the conversation, when the room silenced itself at a gesture from Mon Mothma's hand. He quickly faced the center.
Behind Mothma, a hologram materialized, displaying the sickeningly familiar shape of the Empire's ultimate weapon- The Death Star. Calvin and Hobbes had learned of it barely three hours before the current briefing, and it had shocked both of them to learn that this was what Leia had been referring to when she told them about the rumors of excessive imperial spending on a new project.
Not only had it shocked them, it had freaked them both out. Here was THE opportunity. The first Death Star, by some accounts, had cost more than 850 Quadrillion imperial credits, which alone would have accounted for up to 90% of the Empire's entire military spending and for the drastic increase in taxation across Imperial-controlled worlds. And now, after having that superweapon destroyed, they were building another. If it all amounted to practically nothing as well, the Empire's back would be broken.
"The Emperor," Mothma began, "has made a critical error and the time for our attack has come." Behind her, the hologram widened, showing another celestial body: A green planet, or moon, much larger than the shape of the second Death Star. "The data brought to us by the Bothan spies pinpoints the exact location of the Emperor's new battle station. We also know that the weapon systems of this Death Star are not yet operational. With the Imperial Fleet spread throughout the galaxy in a vain effort to engage us, it is relatively unprotected."
A tremendous wave of murmured excitement spread across the room.
"But most important of all, we've learned that the Emperor himself is personally overseeing the final stages of the construction of this Death Star," Mothma said.
The room erupted, whispering, gasping, speaking, momentarily ignoring the rest of the briefing in favor of processing this unbelievable, tremendous opportunity. Calvin looked at Hobbes, who looked back at him, and wide-eyed, Calvin turned back toward Mothma, who, at Bren Derlin's call for silence, continued.
"Many Bothans died to bring us this information," she said. "Admiral Ackbar, please."
The Mon Cala admiral stepped forward. "You can see here the Death Star orbiting the forest moon of Endor. Although the weapon systems on this Death Star are not yet operational, the Death Star does have a strong defense mechanism. It is protected by an energy shield, which is generated from the nearby forest Moon of Endor." Once again, the hologram changed as a yellow field appeared around the Death Star, originating from a spot on the green world nearby. The shield must be deactivated if any attack is to be attempted. Once the shield is down, our cruisers will create a perimeter, while the fighters fly into the superstructure and attempt to knock out the main reactor."
At that, the holographic Death Star exploded in a flash of blue, and disappeared. Calvin whispered, "Hobbes, are you getting this?"
"Every word," Hobbes mumbled, and Calvin could see that he, too, understood the gravity of the situation.
"General Calrissian has volunteered to lead the fighter attack," Ackbar finished, motioning towards Lando. Han turned and looked at him, eyebrow raised. So did Calvin. Lando smiled, and focused on the Admiral.
"Good luck," Han said, glancing at Lando out of the corners of his eyes.
Lando looked at him, raising an eyebrow at the witty tone.
"You're gonna need it," Han said, and stared forward. Close by, Leia closed her eyes and shook her head slightly at Han's words of 'encouragement.'
"General Madine," Ackbar said, moving away to allow the General to step forward. He was a man of about 40, with a red, confined beard and tired, serious eyes.
"We have stolen a small Imperial shuttle," he said, the hologram now displaying a standard Lambda-class transport. "Disguised as a cargo ship, and using a secret Imperial code, a strike team will land on the moon and deactivate the shield generator."
"Sounds dangerous," 3po remarked.
"I wonder who we found to pull that off," Leia murmured to Han.
"General Solo," Madine said, "is your strike team ready?"
Leia looked at Han, incredulous, and he glanced at her. "Uh, my team's ready, but I don't have a command crew for the shuttle."
Chewie's paw shot up, and he growled, irked.
"Well, it's gonna be rough, pal. I didn't want to speak for you," Han explained.
Chewie insisted.
"Well, that's one," Han said, smiling.
"General… count me in," Leia said, and Calvin noticed Mon Mothma sigh, probably tired of her volunteering for all those crazy rescue missions already.
Calvin turned to Hobbes. "Should we?-"
Hobbes nodded. "Let's stick with 'em."
"I'm with you, too!" came a familiar voice, and Calvin looked behind him to see Luke coming down the stairs into the room. "Hiya, Luke!" he said, and Luke smiled at him. As he reached them, Leia gave him a hug, and moved back to look at him. She must have noticed the same weathered and troubled expression that he wore because a second later, she said, "What is it?"
"...Ask me again sometime," Luke said softly, and moved to stand by Han and Chewie.
"And we're coming with you, too!" Calvin announced. "Count me and Hobbes in, General!"
"Very well," General Madine said. "The briefing is over. You are all dismissed!" At the General's words, the room began to clear out with a nervous hum in the air.
"Luke," Han greeted him. His body language, for some reason, was uncomfortable, stiff.
"Han," Luke said, smiling. "Chewie."
R2, turning, beeped a cheerful message to 3po.
"'Exciting' is hardly the word that I would use," 3po said, turning his nose up slightly.
Home One's grandiose docking bay was alive with the sounds of pre-battle work, as maintenance crews, pilots, and droids dashed from ship to ship, performing a variety of checks on every single one. The hangar held dozens of ships, from lightning-fast X-wings to the nimble A-wings to powerful new B-wings that could punch through the thickest of defensive shields. Most notably, however, was the alien Imperial Lambda shuttle parked close to the Millennium Falcon, which would be the ship that would take the infiltration crew down to Endor to deactivate the Death Star's shield generator. Most of the crew was already waiting next to the shuttle for the last few stragglers to arrive.
"Obi-Wan spoke to you?" Calvin asked, eyes wide, as he and Hobbes entered the docking bay, the former now dressed in green camouflage gear. Due to the fact that both the Falcon and Luke and Hobbes had been late in getting back, and that the whole fleet needed every Rebel they had to prepare it for the upcoming mission, they had had barely any time to exchange words. Therefore, Hobbes hadn't yet found a chance to tell Calvin about what had happened on Dagobah.
"Yep. Since Dagobah has a strong connection with the force, apparently he could speak to me," Hobbes said. "I couldn't actually see him, though."
"Well, why didn'cha tell me?" Calvin asked. "Oh, man! If I'da known that he'd be talking to you and Luke, you'd better bet I would have come! What did he say?"
"Well, I guess maybe I should tell you what Yoda said to me first, 'cause I want to get your thoughts on it," Hobbes said, and stopped near an X-wing to check his gear. He had lost his treasured carbine back during Calvin's rescue mission, and was now equipped with the Amban pulse disintegrator that Calvin had used on Tatooine. He wore a belt that held a pistol, binoculars, survival kit, and a signal flare, and had a bandolier slung across his chest, similar to Chewie, which held the 60-or so individual ionium cartridges that went into the disintegrator's loading chamber.
Calvin took the opportunity to do the same thing. He had found himself a new pistol, a model A-180, and a new vibroblade as well, although it was difficult convincing the Trandoshian in the armory to give him another. Hobbes would have thought that he would have forgotten about the armory incident, but apparently not. His belt contained the same things as Hobbes' did. Any other gear would already be stowed in the shuttle.
"So?" Calvin asked, finishing his inspection of his blaster and sticking it back into his holster. "What did Yoda say?"
"Well, he mostly spoke to Luke, but… well, actually, it's sort of been nagging at the back of my mind. He told me, "Do not underestimate the powers of the Emperor. Your machine, Hobbes, is his path to even greater power. He will keep it close by his side, if it's anywhere.'"
"Hmm…" Calvin placed a hand to his chin. "Well, I mean… pretty straight-forward, I guess. Emperor Palps is probably a super powerful guy, and he probably wants even more power. So, if the DART is his way to getting more, it would make sense that he'd keep it close by, where he can get to it…"
"Wait… that probably means it's on the Death Star!" Hobbes said. "If it's even completed yet, of course. But… either way, by destroying the Death Star, we'll probably stop the Empire from using the DART until we can get the information on it out of the Empire's databases!"
"Well, I guess we'll do just that," Calvin said. "But, y'know, for a dude who orchestrated the rise of a galactic-spanning Empire, he sure does seem to like putting all his eggs in one basket."
"Yeah…" Hobbes mumbled. "Actually, that brings to mind something that Obi-Wan said."
"Oh, right!" Calvin said. "What did he tell you?"
"Well, he said to say hello to you for him," Hobbes said, "and he also thanked us for sticking with Luke. Then he agreed with me that our decision to keep the fact that we're from another universe a secret was a terrible choice."
"Ah. That always sucks to hear," Calvin said.
"But what he said that's really making me nervous was that he warned me not to underestimate the Emperor either. He told me that he's a cunning, ruthless force of evil and a master manipulator, that he's stronger with the dark side of the force than even Vader-"
"Oh, jeez," Calvin murmured.
"-and that if he used the DART, it would make the Empire unstoppable. Then he said he doesn't miscalculate often, but when he does, he never makes the same mistake twice."
"I… wait, that seems wrong, 'cause why would he make another Death Star if the first one failed?" Calvin pointed out.
"Crzch!- 'All personnel, be advised: Endor Strike Team is departing in ten minutes. All strike team units, make your way to the Imperial shuttle. Repeat, Endor Strike Team is departing in ten…"
"I don't know," Hobbes said, and began walking toward the shuttle. "Maybe he thinks the shield's gonna save it this time. And anyway, he doesn't actually know that we know, and that we're coming."
"What if he does?" Calvin asked.
"Then it would be a trap," Hobbes said. "So, let's hope he doesn't know."
"...Something's wrong, here," Calvin muttered. "It seems too good to be true. I mean, the Emperor's betting everything on the assumption that we haven't noticed this drastic shift in Imperial funding? Or that we don't have spies on the inside who can tell us what's going on? Why? Why would he do that? Why entertain such a big risk? I sure wouldn't do that, right?"
"Well, there was the Noodle Incident."
"Are you kidding me right now, Hobbes?"
"Sorry," Hobbes laughed. "Yeah, you're probably right. But you know we're not going to be able to stop the mission now, so let's try and figure out what we're missing and still get that shield down, because one way or another, Lando and the others are counting on us."
At the ramp that led into the Imperial shuttle, the other members of the strike team were loading up the last of the equipment and weapons, and Hobbes could already see Leia inside, performing maintenance on the ship with Luke. Lando, Chewie, and Han were talking near the ramp, and Hobbes caught their conversation as he walked towards them.
"...Look. I want you to take her. I mean it. Take her. You need all the help you can get. She's the fastest ship in the fleet," Han was saying.
"All right, old buddy," Lando chuckled. "You know, I know what she means to you. I'll take good care of her- she won't get a scratch, alright?"
"Right…" Hobbes nodded. "I got your promise now. Not a scratch."
"Look, would you get going, you pirate?" Lando laughed, and saluted. "Good luck."
"You, too," Han said, returning the gesture, and gave him a smile before turning around and walking up the ramp.
"Hey, Lando," Calvin said. "See you on the other side."
"Likewise," Lando replied, and smiled warmly. "Now, don't get yourself killed."
"As long as you do the same," Calvin said, grinning, and ran up the ramp. Lando walked away, and Hobbes followed Calvin inside.
The interior of the shuttle was cramped, and consisted of a cockpit and a troop bay. Inside of the troop bay stood 16 rebel pathfinders; handpicked guerilla fighters that served a similar role to the Empire's many spec-ops units. All in all, the strike force consisted of 24 people. The cockpit had two seats, which Han and Chewie quickly occupied. Behind them, the ramp closed.
"You got her warmed?" Han asked Luke, who was finishing work on a maintenance panel.
"Yeah, she's comin' up," Luke said, and Chewie growled as he shifted around in the rather tight seat.
"I'm pretty sure the Empire didn't have Wookies in mind when they designed this thing, Chewie," Hobbes commented. Chewie growled agitatedly in response, and tried to adjust the back of the chair. It didn't budge. Calvin and Hobbes meanwhile, took seats next to 3po and R2. Leia did the same, sitting next to Luke, and looked at Han who was staring out of the canopy at the Falcon.
She nudged him. "Hey, are you awake?"
"Yeah," Han said, snapping back to life. "I just got a funny feeling. Like I'm not gonna see her again." Sighing, Leia put an empathetic hand on his shoulder. After a few moments, she softly said, "Come on, General, let's move."
"Right. Chewie, let's see what this piece of junk can do," Han said and turned his head to look at everyone. "Ready, everybody?"
"You got it," Hobbes said.
"All set," Luke said.
"Here we go again," 3po declared.
"Alright, hang on," Han warned, and activated the ship. The scores of dials and buttons and switches turned on, and the engines burned with tremendous noise. Hobbes could feel the vibrations in the floor. The shuttle slowly rose up, off of the docking bay's floor, and turned to face the large, rectangular exit. On a screen, Hobbes could see its wings shifting into flight mode. Han pushed the throttle forward, and the ship flew out of the Home One, heading for the correct hyperspace coordinates. A minute later, the Rebel fleet was a cluster of faraway specks against the starlight, and Han and Chewie began punching in the correct calculations.
"This is it, Hobbes!" Calvin said. "One more mission, and we're home free."
"You got that right," Hobbes said, and tried to calm his anxiety.
"Entering hyperspace in three, two…"
The stars elongated. The ship shuddered, and then disappeared as it went to lightspeed.
Thank you, CalvinZilla and Monster King, for the reviews!
:D