Asteroids, Swamps and Scoundrels

The Millennium Falcon sped through space, closely pursued by four TIE Fighters and a Star Destroyer. Juno and Kali were manning the quad laser cannons in an attempt to fend the pursuers off, while in the cockpit, Han was trying to do several things at once as his ship was buffeted by exploding flak. Chewbacca gave a howl and pointed at something ahead.

"I saw 'em, I saw 'em!" Han told him.

"Saw what?" Leia asked.

"Star Destroyers, two of 'em comin' right at us." Han replied, and sure enough, two more Star Destroyers were charging straight towards them.

Just then, 3PO came hurrying into the cockpit. "Sir, sir!" he began. "Might I suggest..."

"Shut him up or shut him down!" Han ordered Leia, in no mood to listen to the droid's complaining. "Check the deflector shield." he ordered Chewbacca, who readjusted an overhead switch. "Great." Han grumbled when he saw that the deflector shield was on it's last legs. "Well, we can still outmanoeuvre 'em." He flew straight at the two oncoming Star Destroyers and threw the Falcon down into a steep nose dive. The TIEs followed suit but the three Star Destroyers weren't so lucky and had to take evasive action to avoid crashing into each other.

"Hey, Han, we can't keep these fighters off our back forever!" Kali said over the comlink as the TIEs continued to chase the Falcon.

"I know." Han replied. "Prepare to make the jump to light speed." he ordered Chewbacca.

"But sir...!" 3PO began to object.

"They're getting closer." Leia warned

"Oh, yeah?" Han replied with a glint in his eye. "Watch this!" And he hit the switch to engage the hyperdrive.

There was a strained, spluttering sound and the hyperdrive failed to engage. Han and Chewbacca looked at each other and were thrown into a state of concern. "Watch what?" Leia asked Han lamely.

"What's going on back there?" Juno asked over the comlink. "Why haven't we jumped to hyperspace?"

Han tried the switch again, but still nothing happened. "I think we're in trouble." he said quietly

"If I may say so, sir. I noticed earlier that the hyperdrive motivator has been damaged." 3PO told him. "It's IMPOSSIBLE to go to lightspeed!"

"We're in trouble!" Han said worriedly, getting to his feet. "Girls, get down here." he said into the comm. "Chewie and I are gonna check the hyperdrive." And he hurried into the aft main hold, Chewbacca hot on his heels.

~8~

Han was soon under the floor in the hold, checking the Falcon's systems. "Horizontal boosters?" he asked, and Chewbacca growled a negative answer. "Alluvial dampers?" Han tried. Once again, negative. "No, that's not it. Bring me the hydro-spanners." he ordered. Chewbacca placed a tool kit beside the open floor grating and Han popped up to grab a hydro-spanner. "I dunno how we're gonna get out of this one." he admitted, then went back down under the floor to get to work. Suddenly, the ship gave a tremendous lurch. The tool kit fell into the opening and walloped Han right on the back. "OW! Chewie!" he yelled, climbing back up to the top. More turbulence rocked the ship. "That wasn't a laser blast, something hit us!" Han realised.

"Han, you'd better get up here!" Kali urged over the comlink.

Han quickly jumped out of the hole. "Come on, Chewie!" he urged, and he and Chewbacca hurried back into the cockpit.

Juno was manning the controls when they arrived. "Asteroid field straight ahead." she told them as she and Han swapped places. Sure enough, the Falcon was heading straight for an asteroid field.

"Chewie, set 2-7-1." Han ordered as Kali and Chewbacca changed places.

"What're you doing?!" Leia stared. "You're not actually going into an asteroid field?!"

"They'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't they?" Han retorted as he pushed the ship further into the asteroid field.

"You're insane, Han!" Kali burst out as another asteroid thumped against the ship.

"You don't have to do this to impress me!" Leia told Han, trying to make him see sense.

"Sir, the odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field are approximately 3,720 to 1!" 3PO said anxiously.

"Never tell me the odds." Han retorted casually.

"How a reckless maniac like you is still alive I'll never know." Juno shook her head at him as he turned the ship straight into the asteroid storm.

The Falcon continued to fly through the asteroid field, miraculously avoiding the huge clumps of rock. The four TIE Fighters rather stupidly tried to follow the freighter, but one collided with an asteroid and exploded in a spectacular fireball, flinging the pilot out to their death in the cold vacuum of space. Another TIE struck another asteroid and went spinning out of control before crashing into another asteroid. Inside the Falcon's cockpit, the Rebels watched as a huge asteroid missed them by inches. 3PO was yelling and screaming in terror and even Chewbacca was anxious. "I should've gone with Luke." a terrified Kali whispered to herself, gripping the edge of her seat, while Leia and Juno could both only stare stone-faced at the near-misses going on all around them.

"You said you wanted to be around when I made a mistake, this could be it, sweetheart." Han said grimly

"I take it back." Leia said anxiously. "We're gonna get pulverised if we stay out here much longer!"

"Ain't gonna argue with that." Han muttered.

"Pulverised?!" 3PO whimpered.

"Oh, what're you doing now?!" Juno demanded to Han as the smuggler adjusted his controls.

"I'm going in closer to one of the big ones." Han replied.

"Closer?!" 3PO and the women all said together, while even Chewbacca gave a surprised howl at Han's intentions.

Han piloted the Falcon straight towards the surface of a moon-sized asteroid. The two remaining TIEs continued to give chase and fired at the Falcon as the freighter dived into a chasm and flew through a canyon. As the canyon narrowed, Han expertly piloted the Falcon into a barrel roll and made it through the narrow opening. The TIEs weren't so lucky and collided with each other.

3PO was nearly in hysterics. "Oh, this is suicide! There's nowhere to go!" he wailed.

"There. That looks pretty good." Han said, more to himself than anyone else.

"What looks pretty good?" Leia asked apprehensively.

"Yeah, that'll do nicely." Han continued to mutter to himself.

"Excuse me, ma'am, but where are we going?" 3PO asked Leia, who could only shrug.

Han piloted the Falcon into a loop the loop and dived straight into a crater on the asteroid's surface. "I hope you know what you're doing." Juno said to Han as they plunged into the darkness.

"Yeah, me too." Han answered.

"That isn't very reassuring." Kali muttered, hoping that Luke was fairing much better than they were.

~8~

Luke's X-wing dropped out of lightspeed and approached a murky grey-green planet. R2 turned his dome back and forth with some anxiety. Luke watched the droid's words as they were translated and screened on Luke's scope. "Yep, that's it. Dagobah." he said.

R2 beeped a hopeful inquiry, telling Luke that it wasn't too late to turn back.

"No, I'm not gonna change my mind about this." Luke told him, then checked his instruments. "I'm not picking up any cities or technology." he observed. "Massive life-form readings, though. There's something alive down there."

R2 beeped a worried question.

"Yes, I'm sure it's perfectly safe for droids." Luke chuckled, and piloted the X-wing into Dagobah's atmosphere. Almost immediately, a thick mist surrounded the fighter, obscuring Luke's view of the ground. R2 beeped and whistled frantically. "I know! I know!" Luke said. "All the scopes are dead, I can't see a thing! Just hang on. I'm gonna start the landing cycle."

All R2 could do was grumble to himself and brace for impact as the X-wing plunged deeper into the mist. Through the cloud, Luke could just make out tree branches racing past, then with an almighty splash, the fighter came to an abrupt stop. R2 gave a low beep, sarcastically congratulating Luke on his landing.

The cockpit canopy opened and Luke looked around to see that the X-wing had nose-dived into a muddy swamp and there was not a single sign of civilisation to be seen. Luke rubbed the bridge of his nose and gave a sigh, annoyed at himself for not being more careful. He then unfastened his restraints and climbed out onto the fighter's nose. He could see solid ground just within reach, so he began to walk across the nose towards it. He head a beep and turned round to see that R2 had climbed out of his socket. "No. R2, you stay put. I'll take a long around." Luke told him, removing his helmet.

Suddenly, the X-wing shuddered and R2 lost his balance and plunged straight into the swamp.

"R2?" Luke hollered. "Where are you? R2?!"

R2's periscope suddenly popped out of the muddy water and the droid gave a beep, assuring Luke that he was ok.

"You be more careful." Luke scolded him. R2's periscope moved through the water in a random direction. "R2, that way." Luke told him, pointing to the bank, then he tossed his helmet into the cockpit and made his way across the fighter's nose to reach the bank, not noticing a black shape appear in the water behind R2. Luke climbed onto the bank and turned round just in time to see the black shape come up right behind R2 and the droid gave a shrill beep as his periscope disappeared underwater. "R2!" Luke hollered, drawing his blaster pistol.

The black surface of the swamp was as still as death itself and Luke assumed the worst until a few bubbled began to appear, then R2 came flying out of the water and landed with a crash in a patch of weeds nearby. Luke quickly rushed over to find the Astromech lying on his front, beeping dreadfully.

"Oh, no." Luke grimaced as he helped the droid upright, "Are you alright? Come on." He pushed R2 upright to see that the droid was covered in mud but otherwise looked undamaged. "You're lucky you don't taste very good." Luke remarked. "Anything broken?"

R2 responded with feeble, soggy beeps.

"If you're saying coming here was a bad idea, I'm beginning to agree with ya." Luke said, looking around at the desolate swampland all around them. "Oh, R2, what're we doing here?" he sighed as he sat down, "It's like... something out of a dream or... I dunno. Maybe I'm just going crazy." he muttered as he cleaned some mud out of R2's visual receptor.

All R2 could do in response was eject a stream of muddy water out of one of his cranial ports.

~8~

Death Squadron maintained a holding position outside the asteroid field. Aboard the Executor, Admiral Piett entered Darth Vader's quarters to find the Sith Lord sitting in his meditation chamber with his back to the Admiral and his helmet off. Piett wisely averted his eyes as Vader's helmet was lowered onto the Sith Lord's head then he stood to attention as Vader turned to face him. "Yes, Admiral?" Vader asked briskly.

"Our ships have sighted the Millennium Falcon, Lord," Piett reported, "but it has entered an asteroid field and we cannot risk..."

"Asteroids do not concern me, Admiral." Vader told him bluntly. "I want that ship, not excuses."

"Yes, my Lord." Piett bowed nervously, and left to follow Vader's orders.

~8~

The Millennium Falcon had landed inside a dark, dripping asteroid cavern. "I'm gonna shut down everything but the emergency power systems." Han announced as he flipped switches on the control console.

"Sir, I'm almost afraid to ask, but does that include shutting ME down too?" 3PO asked nervously.

"No, I need ya to talk to the Falcon, find out what's wrong with the hyperdrive." Han told him in a patronising tone.

Suddenly, the ship gave a tremendous lurch, nearly knocking everyone over. "It's quite possible this asteroid is not entirely stable." 3PO couldn't help but state the obvious

"Ten out of ten for observation, 3PO." Juno deadpanned. "C'mon, let's get to work before Hotshot comes up with yet another hare-brained idea." And she, Kali, 3PO and Chewbacca went into the main hold to begin repairs.

The Falcon suddenly lurched again. This time, Leia lost her footing and fell into Han's arms. "Let go." she hissed.

"Shh." Han waved her off, listening to the rumbles as the asteroid continued to shudder before suddenly settling.

"Let go, please." Leia demanded.

"Don't get excited." Han snorted.

"Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited." Leia retorted irritably.

"Sorry, sweetheart." Han commented as he let go of Leia. "I haven't got time for anything else." He grinned wickedly at Leia, then went off after the others, leaving Leia grimacing. Although she didn't want to admit it, she actually enjoyed being held by Han.

~8~

The worst of the mist on Dagobah had cleared, allowing Luke to return to his downed X-wing and grab some emergency supplies. He'd removed his flight suit and was now wearing beige fatigues. He gathered up the last of the supplies, closed the fighter's canopy and made his way to a nearby clearing where R2 was waiting with the rest of the supplies. "Ready for some power?" Luke asked, starting up a fusion generator. "Ok, let's see now..." He took a cable out of one of the crates and plugged one end into R2's recharge socket and the other end into the generator. "There you go."

R2 whistled his appreciation at the charge-up.

"Now all I have to do is find this Yoda..." Luke said as he stood, "If he even exists." He removed a box of food supplies and sat down next to R2. "It's a really strange place to find to a Jedi Master." he remarked as he looked around at the lonely swamp.

R2 beeped something which Luke didn't understand.

"This place gives me the creeps." Luke shivered as he took a bite out of a ration bar. "Still... there's something familiar about this place. I dunno. I feel like..."

"Feel like what?" a voice said suddenly.

Quick as a flash, Luke spun round with his blaster pistol at the ready to see a little wizened green creature with large ears and dressed in rags standing on a tree stump behind him. "Like we're being watched." he said grimly.

The creature cowered at the weapon being pointed at it. "Away put your weapon, I mean you no harm." it said. "I am wandering, why are you here?"

"I'm looking for someone." Luke replied, slowly lowering his weapon.

"Looking? Found someone you have, I would say, hmm?" the creature tittered.

"Right." Luke said slowly, holstering his blaster.

"Help you I can, yes." the creature said.

"I don't think so." Luke waved it off. "I'm looking for a great warrior."

"Ahhh, great warrior." the creature laughed, slowly climbing down off the stump. "Wars not make one great." It hobbled over to where Luke was sitting and picked up the ration bar Luke had been eating.

"Put that down." Luke told it, but the creature ignored him and took a nibble out of the bar. "Hey! That's my dinner!" Luke said indignantly, snatching the bar away from it. He then closed the food tin and moved it out of the creature's reach, then he tossed the ration bar away, not wanting to eat it now that the creature had taken a bit out of it.

"How you get so big eating food of this kind?" the creature asked as it digested the bite it had taken.

"Listen, 'friend', we didn't mean to land in this puddle and if we could get our ship out, we would," Luke said grumpily, "so why don't ya just..."

"Aw, cannot get your ship out." the creature said in a teasing tone and began rifling through one of the supply containers.

"Hey, get outta there!" Luke demanded, but the creature ignored him and continued to rummage through the container. "Hey, you could've broken this." Luke grumbled. "Don't do that. Ya makin' a mess."

R2 could only beep to himself in amusement. He knew who this creature was and was wandering if it had gone a bit mad in the time since he's last seen it.

The creature found a flash lamp in the container and began playing with it. "Hey!" Luke protested, moving to grab the lamp, but the creature snatched it away out of his reach.

"Mine!" it said sharply. "Or I will help you not."

"I don't want your help. I want my lamp back." Luke retorted. "I'm gonna need it to get out of this slimy mud-hole."

"Mud-hole? Slimy?! My home this is!" the creature said indignantly.

R2 began beeping wildly, trying to inform Luke of the creature's true identity. "Not now, R2." Luke waved him off, and turned to the creature. "Will ya move along, little fella? We've got a lot of work to do." he told it irritably.

"No! No, no! Stay and help you, I will." the creature said. "Find your friend."

"I'm not looking for a friend." Luke grunted. "I'm looking for a Jedi Master."

"Ohhh, Jedi Master. Yoda. You seek Yoda." the creature said.

That piqued Luke's interest. "You know him?" he asked, kneeling in front of the creature.

"Mmm, take you to him, I will." the creature nodded. "Yes, yes. But now, we must eat. Come." And it began to hobble merrily away. "Good food. Come." Luke watched the creature hobble away apprehensively, not quite sure what to make of it. "Come, come." the creature urged.

Luke made a decision. "R2, stay and watch over the camp." he ordered, and set off after the creature.

R2 could only beep to himself, wishing 3PO was here to translate what he'd been trying to tell Luke.

~8~

"Gah! Where is R2 when I need him?" 3PO grumbled as he worked at the Millennium Falcon's engineering station.

"Problem?" Juno asked as she joined him.

"Ma'am, I don't know where this ship learned to communicate, but it has the most peculiar dialect." 3PO replied. "I believe, ma'am, it says that the power coupling on the negative axis has been polarised. I'm afraid we'll have to replace it."

"Great." Juno grunted. She grabbed a coil of wires and walked over to where Chewbacca was working in an overhead conduit. "Here, Chewie..." she called, passing the wires up to the Wookie. "We've gotta replace the negative coupling. I'm gonna see to that now." She pulled on a pair of gauntlets and headed off to carry out the necessary work.

Leia meanwhile was in an alcove, finishing up some welding on a valve. Having accomplished that task, she tried to re-engage the system by pulling the lever, but it was stuck fast. Han noticed her struggling and moved to help her, but Leia roughly pushed him away. "Hey, Your Worship, I'm only tryin' to help." he said indignantly.

"Would you please stop calling me that?" Leia grunted as she continued to struggle with the uncooperative lever.

"Sure, Leia." Han said casually.

"Oh, you make it so difficult sometimes." Leia grumbled.

"I do, I really do." Han smirked. "You could be a little nicer, though. Come on, admit it. Sometimes ya think I'm alright."

Leia gave up on the lever. "Occasionally, maybe." she conceded, rubbing her sore hands. "When you aren't acting like a scoundrel."

"Scoundrel?" Han laughed, taking Leia's hands. "Scoundrel. I like the sound of that." he smirked as he began massaging the Princess' hands.

"Stop that." Leia told him, though she made no effort to pull her hands away.

"Stop what?" Han asked innocently.

"Stop that. My hands are dirty."

"My hands are dirty too. What're you afraid of?" Han asked.

"Afraid?"

"You're trembling." Han said as he inched closer to Leia.

"I'm not trembling." Leia lied.

"You like me because I'm a scoundrel." Han said knowingly. "There aren't enough scoundrels in your life."

"I happen to like nice men."

"I'm a nice man."

"No, you're not." Leia began. "You're..." She was suddenly cut off when Han leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. Leia made no effort to resist and began to reciprocate the kiss, both her and Han enjoying themselves.

Suddenly, 3PO appeared in the alcove's doorway. "Sir, sir! I've isolated the reverse power flux coupling!" he said excitedly.

Han turned to face the droid. "Thank you. Thank you very much." he grunted sarcastically, not at all happy at the interruption.

"Oh, you're perfectly welcome, sir." 3PO said, oblivious to the sarcasm.

Han turned round to see that Leia had quietly slipped away.

~8~

A flustered Leia entered a room at the back of the Falcon, where she could see Kali's legs sticking out of a conduit. "I kissed Han." Leia blurted out, then she heard a sudden smack, no doubt Kali hitting her head in shock at this news. "Kali?"

Kali scrambled out of the conduit like a Kowakian Monkey-lizard. "You did what?!" she stared, rubbing her head.

"It-it was a spur of the moment thing." Leia blustered. "He started it and..."

"And you didn't stop him?" Kali pressed.

"I-I couldn't..."

"Didn't want to stop him, did ya?" Kali smirked.

Now it was Leia's turn to stare. "What?"

"Oh, come on, Leia." Kali snorted. "I've seen the way you and him bicker. Only people with a serious thing for each other would go at each other the way you two go at it. We all know that you like him and it's about time the two of ya did something about it."

"It's not like that..." Leia tried to protest, but she knew that her friend had hit the nail on the head.

"Oh, pull the other one." Kali smirked. "All I can say, it's about damn time!"

~8~

The Executor held position just outside the asteroid field. The flagship was too big to safely navigate it, so Vader had sent some of the standard Destroyers in to search for the Falcon and was currently talking to a hologram of Captain Lorth Needa of the Star Destroyer Avenger. "That, Lord Vader, was the last time they appeared on our scopes." Needa reported. "Considering the amount of damage we've sustained, they must have been destroyed."

"No, Captain, they're alive." Vader told him. "I want every ship available to sweep the asteroid field until they are found."

Needa could only bow, and the hologram shut off. Just then, Admiral Piett came hurrying over. "Lord Vader."

"Yes, Admiral, what is it?"

"The Emperor commands you to make contact with him." Piett reported.

"Move the ship away from the asteroid field so that we can send a clear transmission." Vader ordered, starting to head back to his quarters.

"Yes, my Lord." Piett acknowledged.

The Executor was soon clear of the asteroid field. In his quarters, Vader stepped up to the holographic transmitter and knelt down as a hologram of the hooded form of Emperor Sheev Palpatine appeared before him. "What is thy bidding, my Master?" Vader gave the traditional Sith greeting.

"There is a great disturbance in the Force." the Emperor told him.

"I have felt it."

"We have a new enemy... the young Rebel who destroyed the Death Star. I have no doubt this boy is the offspring of Anakin Skywalker."

"Yes, Master."

"He could destroy us."

"He's just a boy." Vader said. "Obi-Wan can no longer help him."

"The Force is strong with him." the Emperor said. "The son of Skywalker must not become a Jedi."

"If he could be turned, he would become a powerful ally." Vader suggested.

"Yes..." the Emperor said slowly, mulling this over, "yes. He would be a great asset. Can it be done?"

"He will join us or die, Master." Vader replied.

"Do what must be done, Lord Vader." the Emperor ordered.

"Yes, my Master." Vader acknowledged, and the hologram shut off.

Author's notes: And here's the asteroid field scene. Luke has now reached Dagobah and met Yoda, though he doesn't know it yet! Juno and Kali don't get to do much here, but I'll try to feature them more in the later chapters. So, goodbye for now!