Rebel Force_ Hostage Part 1

Rebel Force #2.

Hostage.

by Alex Wheeler.

CHAPTER ONE.

Day never came to the swamp. The dank air, thick with swirling fumes, shrouded the land in eternal fog. The distant sun emitted only a dim glow, turning the sky a sallow green that matched his skin. Until, all too soon, night fell once again.

He, who had devoted his life to the light, now lived in darkness. It seemed the universe liked a good joke.

And so he laughed.

"Too dark to see my breakfast, it is," he chortled, stirring some rootleaf and gnarltree bark into the bowl of butcherbug stew. He wrinkled his nose at the foul stench. "Perhaps lucky, I am, hmm."

He spoke to himself often here. Another joke: That he, who had taken such joy in others, was alone. Alone in an empty swamp; alone on an empty planet.

Alone, yet not alone: He still had the Force.

It was a Padawan's first lesson: Learn to trust your senses-and learn to reach beyond them. He did not need light to see.

Nor did he need to see the faces of his allies to know they were there.

"Waiting for you, I have been," he said softly, hunched over the makes.h.i.+ft stove. His stew bubbled over the flame. Another Padawan lesson: When the time comes to eat, eat eat.

Food runs out. So does time.

His modest hut had been empty for a long time. For many years, his shuffling footsteps had been the only ones to cross the threshold; his halting wheeze had been the only breath to mist across the still air.

He was alone still-and yet, not alone.

"I have failed, Master," the voice said.

He shook his head. "Failed, we all have," he said. "Succeed, we all may.

Undetermined, the future is." He had seen the future in his dreams. Cloudy visions of blood and fire, terror mixed with hope, death with awakening.

"I have much to tell you," the voice said urgently.

He rummaged through a pile of junk, pulling out a misshapen spoon. He had crafted it himself from a fallen gnarltree branch. "Patience, Obi-Wan," he said, finally turning to face the spirit of the fallen Jedi. "Talk, we will, hmm, yes. But first, eat, I must."

As Obi-Wan Ken.o.bi's s.h.i.+mmering figure looked on, casting a soft glow of light around the dark cave, the great Jedi Master Yoda shuffled over to a narrow wooden table. He lowered his frail, stooped body onto a wobbly stool.

And he ate his breakfast.

"He's powerful, Master Yoda," Obi-Wan said. "I can sense it within him. Young, but-"

"Young, yes." Yoda nodded. "And old, too. Yes, yes. Too old?" Never had a Jedi begun his training as an adult. Brought to the Jedi Temple as infants, they grew up knowing nothing but the Jedi way. In Yoda's long memory, only one exception had been made on this front. One Padawan so promising that it seemed foolish not to train him, though he was already nine years old, with memories of a different world and attachments to a different life.

The Jedi Council had allowed the training to proceed, though they'd had their doubts.

Rather than trusting his judgment, Yoda had put his trust in Qui-Gon Jinn-and Anakin Skywalker.

Yes, they had all failed, one way or another.

"He's impatient," Obi-Wan admitted. His face was webbed by deep creases, his eyes underlined with dark hollows. Death had not relieved him of the burdens he carried. "And stubborn."

"Remind me, that does, of another young Jedi."

Obi-Wan frowned. "No. The boy is nothing like his father."

"Not Anakin," Yoda said mildly. "You." He smiled, remembering the brash young man who, from the start, had wielded his lightsaber like it was a part of him.

"The boy must be trained, but he is impulsive," Obi-Wan said. "Courageous, bright, loyal, yes-and yet, quick to anger, impatient. Perhaps too willing to choose the easy path."

"Human, he is," Yoda pointed out. "Flawed, all living beings are."

"He has greatness in him," Obi-Wan said. "Of that I am sure. But as to what form the greatness will take..." He hung his head. "I was sure about Anakin, too. Once."

"Responsibility, we must all take," Yoda said firmly. "You, for your choice. Me, for mine. Anakin-only Anakin-for his."

Obi-Wan paused, the guilt plain on his face. Yoda knew he blamed himself. For Anakin, for Darth Vader...for all that followed.

"We need Luke," Obi-Wan said. "But if we proceed too quickly...if we make the wrong choices..." He sighed. "I sense great power in him, perhaps greater even than Anakin's."

"Search inside yourself," Yoda said. "Know the answer, you do."

"He is too old for us to shape," Obi-Wan said slowly, as if sifting through his thoughts as he spoke. "He is neither Padawan nor Master. He has grown into his own person, without our help or interference-now we must give him the s.p.a.ce to grow into his own man." Obi-Wan sighed, gazing out at the murky bog, then up at the stars. "He will be tested-I cannot save him from that. He must must be tested. Perhaps this was our mistake with Anakin. Not that we found him too late, but that we put too much upon him too soon. We burdened him with power he could not control, with responsibility he could not bear. This time, we must be cautious-let Luke become the man he needs to be. And hope that this is the man be tested. Perhaps this was our mistake with Anakin. Not that we found him too late, but that we put too much upon him too soon. We burdened him with power he could not control, with responsibility he could not bear. This time, we must be cautious-let Luke become the man he needs to be. And hope that this is the man we we need him to be." need him to be."

Yoda nodded. This was the same judgment he had reached. "Ready, he is not," Yoda said. "Patient we must be."

They could not let fear of Luke's future prevent them from training the boy. But they could equally not let their own eagerness for a champion fool them into seeing something that wasn't there.

And, of course, Luke was not their only hope.

There was another.

CHAPTER TWO.

Princess Leia Organa felt a p.r.i.c.kly tingle run up her spine-someone was watching her.

She didn't turn around. "See anything that interests you?" She kept her eyes focused on the datapad in her lap, but the screen might as well have been blank. She hadn't been able to concentrate for hours. The closer they got to their destination, the faster her thoughts seemed to swim away from her.

"Not a thing, Princess." Normally, Han Solo's sarcastic drawl made her want to put her fist through a bulkhead. But at a moment like this, Han's voice-his presence was almost a comfort.

Almost.

"Well?" she snapped. "What is it?"

"You asked me to let you know when we dropped out of hypers.p.a.ce," he reminded her. "This is me, letting you know."

Leia suppressed a shudder. Or, at least, she tried to.

She heard Han take a step into the cabin. Then another. "Leia..."

"I'll join you in the c.o.c.kpit in a few minutes," she said coolly, keeping her back to him and her posture rigid. "I want to watch the approach."

"It'll be a rough one."

"I think I can handle it."

"You think think you can handle anything," Han countered. "That's the problem." you can handle anything," Han countered. "That's the problem."

"No, the problem is you you trying to tell me what I can and can't do." The banter was making her feel more normal than she had all day. trying to tell me what I can and can't do." The banter was making her feel more normal than she had all day. Guess being trapped in s.p.a.ce with a Guess being trapped in s.p.a.ce with a nerf-herding laserbrain has its advantages nerf-herding laserbrain has its advantages, she thought.

"Maybe you forget, Your Highnessness, but I'm captain of this bird. That means I say what everyone everyone can and can't do." can and can't do."

"And I I say I'll be joining you in the c.o.c.kpit in a few minutes," she said, durasteel in her voice. say I'll be joining you in the c.o.c.kpit in a few minutes," she said, durasteel in her voice.

She heard his footsteps retreat toward the door. "You know, you don't have to do this."

Leia brushed a hand across her cheek, enraged to find it dotted with moisture. She shut her eyes and took a deep, shaky breath. Then she finally faced him. "Yes," she said, in a low, dangerous voice. "I do."

"Suit yourself, Princess." He snorted. "You always do."

She waited until he was gone, then wrapped her arms across her chest, encasing herself in a tight hug. "Pull yourself together," she murmured. "It's just another landing."

And it would be. Landing on Delaya would be total routine-but to get there, they would have to make it through a dangerous storm of debris. Millions of whirling meteors, some no larger than her fist, others several times more ma.s.sive than the Millennium Millennium Falcon Falcon. A collision could prove fatal.

Except it wasn't debris debris, Leia thought. It wasn't trash trash.

It was all that remained of the planet Alderaan. What had been a thriving planet, home to two billion people, was now nothing more than a few rocks spiraling through the emptiness of s.p.a.ce.

Leia set the datapad beside her on the bunk. She twisted her hair back into two long braids and wrapped them around her head. Then she stood.

She wasn't ready-but the moment had arrived, ready or not.

It was time to go home.

Han muttered a silent curse as Leia climbed into the c.o.c.kpit. With the densest debris field this side of the galaxy to navigate, the last thing he needed was a distraction.

Especially the worrying-about-Leia kind of distraction.

He wasn't supposed to have to worry about anyone but himself. And now, all of a sudden, he was mixed up in this ridiculous Rebel Alliance business, saddled with a handful of trouble-making pa.s.sengers and their annoying droids.

In addition to the princess, there was Luke Skywalker, who fancied himself some kind of Jedi warrior-and who was lucky he hadn't sliced off an arm with that lightsaber of his.

Yet. There was Tobin Elad, the resistance fighter they'd picked up on the way to Muunilinst-an impressive pilot, an even more impressive fighter, a quick thinker, no friend to the Empire...Han might even have enjoyed having him around. Might Might-if the princess hadn't made it so painfully clear that she found Elad superior in every way that counted. He could do nothing wrong. While Han, as far as Leia was concerned, could do nothing right.

Fine with me, he thought. It was time to start treating this like any other job. He would drop them on Delaya, as promised-but that would be the end of it. He had a life of his own, after all. People to scam, places to go, Hutts to repay.

"Entering the Alderaan system." Han cut the thrusters to reduce speed. "Delaya's on the other side of the debris field. No way around but straight through." The storm of whirling rock loomed in the viewscreen. Delaya lay just beyond. Once it had been Alderaan's sister planet.

Now it was an only child.

Leia's face paled. Luke's jaw tightened. Chewbacca let loose a mournful howl.

Han couldn't blame him. You could almost feel it pressing in around you: death death. Two billion lives, gone up in a ball of flame. For a single, horrifying moment, he imagined their faces-pale, terrified, dead dead-flattening themselves against the c.o.c.kpit window.

I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced terror and were suddenly silenced, the old man had said. Like he could sense it happening.

Han shook it off. You're starting to sound like Luke You're starting to sound like Luke, he warned himself. You're not You're not sensing anything but a rough landing. And if you don't start focusing on these rocks, sensing anything but a rough landing. And if you don't start focusing on these rocks, there might not be a landing at all. there might not be a landing at all.

"Better strap in," he warned his pa.s.sengers. As he spoke, the s.h.i.+p lurched as a large rock slammed into the starboard deflector s.h.i.+eld. Caught off guard, Leia toppled forward.

Han caught her just before she crashed into an instrument panel. "You okay?" he said, trying to steady her.

She ripped her arm away. "I'll be okay okay when we land this thing," she snapped. "How about you try focusing on that." when we land this thing," she snapped. "How about you try focusing on that."

"Yes, ma'am," he said sarcastically. "But only because you asked so nicely." She had some nerve, giving him orders on the bridge of his his s.h.i.+p. Who did she think she- s.h.i.+p. Who did she think she- "Whoa!" Han swore, jerking the Falcon Falcon sharply to the port side, moments before cras.h.i.+ng into a s.h.i.+p-sized asteroid. "Focus. Right. Good plan." sharply to the port side, moments before cras.h.i.+ng into a s.h.i.+p-sized asteroid. "Focus. Right. Good plan."

Chewbacca growled at the viewscreen.

"I see it, buddy," Han said, steering the s.h.i.+p around another asteroid. They were hurtling toward him from all sides now. He eased the Falcon Falcon through the gaps, diving and weaving to avoid the larger rocks. The smaller ones battered the s.h.i.+elds. The s.h.i.+p shook and shuddered, the controls vibrating in his grip. Behind him, somewhere in the bowels of the s.h.i.+p, there was a soft hissing noise, then a loud bang. A moment later, the acrid scent of smoke trickled into the c.o.c.kpit. "Chewie, the aft deflector must have taken a hit. Get back there and check it out!" through the gaps, diving and weaving to avoid the larger rocks. The smaller ones battered the s.h.i.+elds. The s.h.i.+p shook and shuddered, the controls vibrating in his grip. Behind him, somewhere in the bowels of the s.h.i.+p, there was a soft hissing noise, then a loud bang. A moment later, the acrid scent of smoke trickled into the c.o.c.kpit. "Chewie, the aft deflector must have taken a hit. Get back there and check it out!"

The Wookiee was already in motion. Luke's astromech droid followed closely on his heels.

"Captain, may I recommend that you avoid cras.h.i.+ng into anything else?" the protocol droid C-3PO suggested.

"May I recommend you take a long walk through a short airlock?" Han growled, swerving to starboard and then sharply to port, as another flood of debris washed over them.

"Oh dear, my circuits simply can't take much more of this," C-3PO cried, as the s.h.i.+p shook beneath him. "At least the situation can't become any more dire."

Han slammed a fist against the control panel "Don't you know better than to jinx us with-" A blaring alarm drowned out the rest of his words, and the air thickened with a foul gray smoke. "What was that?" C-3PO cried.

Han groaned. " That That was the situation about to get more dire. A was the situation about to get more dire. A lot lot more." more."