by Alex Wheeler
Not that the Commander believed in applying his own force. He preferred a more elegant style of punishment.
X‑7 suppressed a shudder. "Tatooine," he said, with a certainty he didn't feel. Extensive analysis of Luke's computer records had turned up traces of a deleted communication from several weeks before. An invitation to attend a gathering of old friends on his home planet, conveniently set for this week. There was no other evidence that Luke was there—along with no evidence whatsoever that he was anywhere else. It was X‑7's best lead, and it would have to do.
"This delay is unacceptable, X‑7," the Commander said.
"Yes, Commander," X‑7 said obediently.
"You will go there now, and you will kill him."
X‑7 nodded. "Am I still to maintain my cover as Tobin Elad?"
"If possible," the Commander said. "But your first priority is Skywalker's death. If you need to reveal yourself to do so—" His face wrinkled in distaste, and X‑7 knew exactly what he was thinking. X‑7 had been given a mission, and he had proven himself inadequate to the task. The Commander was now easing his standards. If you need to reveal yourself meant If you're so incompetent that you can't do what I wanted you to do. X‑7 would pay for that later.
He was paying for it now, with a deep, throbbing pain radiating from his chest and head, so intense it was nearly paralyzing. The Commander had taught him well, and X‑7's body remembered as well as his brain. The Commander's displeasure was X‑7's agony, whether they were in the same room or halfway across the galaxy from each other.
"It will be done, Commander," X‑7 said.
"And then you will report to me," the Commander said.
"That's not necessary—"
"You defy me?" the Commander asked in a level voice, raising his eyebrow. The ghost of a smile passed across his face.
"Never," X‑7 said.
"Then when the job is done, you will report to me," he reported. "For further training. You seem to need a refresher."
Further training meant further pain. Meant further hours in the dark, with the needles and the blades. It also meant returning to the only place he would ever call a home.
"Yes, sir," X‑7 said in a thin voice. "I look forward to it."
And deep down, in a dark, hidden corner of his mind, this was true.
The stormtroopers didn't know what hit them. They were expecting to find Han behind the bulkheads—not crashing through the ceiling of the shuttle bay, blaster blazing. He took down the two nearest stormtroopers before they had time to react. Chewbacca, storming in with two of the prisoner Wookiees on his heels, took care of the other six. Laserfire streaked across the shuttle bay, sparking and sizzling against the durasteel of the shuttle bodies. Alarms blared, but—as they'd originally planned before Lore's betrayal—Chewbacca had disabled the poorly protected shield systems that would have prevented an unauthorized departure. All they needed to do was select a shuttle, and they were good to go.
Han picked the ugliest of the ships, a Lambda with scarred wings and a gaping hole in the cargo unit. Something about it reminded him of the Falcon. And, he rationalized, if it had endured this much damage, it must be able to really fly.
"Whoa there," Han said, as the other two Wookiees tried to pile in after Chewbacca. "Where do you think you're going?"
Chewbacca growled, and gestured for the Wookiees to come inside.
"What do you mean they're coming with us?" Han asked, with a pointed look at the useless cargo hold and the cramped cabin. "Does it look like we have room for strays?"
Chewbacca growled again, pointing out that the Wookiees had helped him escape and now he was returning the favor.
Then he reminded Han that if it wasn't for his help, Han would be stewing in an Imperial interrogation chamber right about now.
Han sighed. He'd always had a soft spot for Wookiees. It couldn't hurt to help a couple of them break free.
Even if it would mean spending the return journey with a mouth full of fur.
"Well, what am I supposed to do, Chewie?" Han asked, leaning back in his chair. It should have felt good to be back on the Millennium Falcon, but something still felt off. A strange, queasy feeling, like everything was off-balance.
It's got nothing to do with Luke and Leia, he told himself. Probably he was still unsettled by Lore's betrayal, and the thought that once, he might have done the same thing.
Or maybe he'd just eaten some bad meatlump.
"You expect me to power up the hyperdrive and speed off to Tatooine?" Han asked. "All because I overheard something that may mean Luke is in danger?"
Chewbacca's response made it clear this was exactly what he expected Han to do.
"You know who else is on Tatooine?" Han said. "Jabba. You realize that puts my life in danger, right?"
Chewbacca barked a dismissive reply.
"No, Jabba doesn't scare me," Han retorted hotly. "But he's got half the bounty hunters in the galaxy out looking for me—and you want me to show up on his doorstep? Without his payment?" Han shook his head. "Besides, don't you think it's just a little convenient that we stumbled onto exactly the information we were looking for? That of all the Imperial stations in all the galaxy we ended up on this one? A little too convenient, maybe?"
Chewbacca growled a final answer and, as if to make clear this was last word on the issue, turned his back on Han and began monkeying with the dented power cell housing.
"Don't know why you're so sure I'll do the right thing," Han muttered, staring blindly at the navigation computer, trying to decide which coordinates to enter. "Not like I ever have before."
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I would know if Luke were dead, Leia kept telling herself. I would know. I would know.
Three words, repeated over and over again, got her through each moment and the next. They meant everything to her—and nothing to anyone else. As darkness fell, Luke's friends were ready to give up on him, but Leia insisted on staying and searching the area of the crash, seeking some clue to Luke and Jaxson's fate.
Of course, their broken skyhoppers were a clue. The fiery shards of durasteel were clues. The scorched desert, gashes in the ground, the smoldering ruins, all clues.
But not the kind of clues Leia was looking for.
While Luke's friends poked halfheartedly through the wreckage, already mourning the lost pilots, Leia and the two droids scoured the crash site.
Suddenly, R2‑D2 beeped eagerly, twirling in circles on a patch of empty ground. C‑3PO tottered over to him, then waved a golden hand at Leia. "Princess! Artoo says he's found something!"
Leia hurried over to the droids. "What is it?"
R2‑D2 let out a long string of beeps and trills. C‑3PO waved his index finger through the air. "Are you certain?" he asked the astromech. "We don't want to be too hasty—"
R2‑D2 beeped indignantly.
"Of course you wouldn't be reckless at a time like this," C‑3PO said. "I only meant that perhaps in your eagerness to help—"
R2‑D2 cut in with a series of high-pitched, angry beeps.
"Fine," C‑3PO gave in, and turned to Leia. "He says that he's picked up traces of an airspeeder, heading away from the crash site."
"Traces?" Leia looked around, seeing no telltale signs of any other vehicle. "What kind of traces?"
"Oh, patterns in the sand, trace amounts of baridium, any number of things," C‑3PO said. "We droids are very sensitive to minor changes in the environment. Why, I once found a Zenji needle buried in a thirty meter high stack of—"
"Enough!" Leia snapped. "Can he track the airspeeder?"
R2‑D2 beeped, then rolled a few meters toward the west. He paused, as if waiting for Leia to follow him.
"He says if we follow him, we'll find Master Luke," C‑3PO said.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Leia asked Luke's friends, as she hopped into the rusted landspeeder. "Let's go."
Fixer and the others hadn't moved.
"What is it?" Leia asked impatientl
y.
"Those are the Jundland Wastes out there," Fixer said finally. "You don't know how dangerous they are. We'd have to be crazy to head out there at night."
"Luke would do it for you," Leia said.
"And I'd do it for him," Fixer said, "but…"
"But what?"
No one spoke. Fixer and Windy looked awkwardly at each other. Finally, Windy cleared his throat. "But we don't know that Luke and Jaxson are even out there," he said. "You have to admit, it doesn't make much sense. Where would an airspeeder come from out here? And why would Luke and Jaxson ride off on it?"
"That's what we're going to find out," Leia said.
"How?" Fixer asked. "By following your crazy droid?" He shook his head. "Look at this crash, Leia. I know you don't want to believe it, but—"
"They're not dead," Leia said firmly. "How many times do I have to tell you?"
"And we're supposed to trust you enough to risk our lives in the Jundland Wastes?" Fixer asked.
Leia shook her head in disgust. "Don't bother," she said. "I'll go myself. I don't need the help of a bunch of cowards." The droids clambered into the landspeeder, as she started the engine. "I assume you don't mind me borrowing this?"
Fixer glanced at Windy and Deak. Camie shook her head. "You can't," she told Fixer, pleading. "It's too dangerous!"
"I can't let her go out there by herself," Fixer said. He lowered his voice to a loud whisper. "And she called me a coward."
"I assure you, I'm quite able to take care of myself," Leia said indignantly.
"That's what you think," Fixer said. "You've never seen the Wastes." He jerked his head at Deak. "You ride back with Camie. Windy and I'll go with Leia."
"We will?" Windy asked. He looked nervously into the distance, where dark clouds billowed on the horizon, hanging heavy over the Wastes. Then he sighed. "I guess Luke'd do it for me. Let's go."
As they steered the landspeeder deeper and deeper into the desert, shadows played against the canyon walls. The unbroken stretches of sand, which had been blinding in the light of the setting sun, now faded into the night, as if the world ended in nothingness only a few meters away. The ground grew rockier, the landscape increasingly barren, but R2 claimed they were still on track, and so they pushed forward.
After they'd gone several kilometers, a warning light flickered on the landspeeder's instrument panel.
"The booster coils are failing," C‑3PO said worriedly.
"That's it," Fixer said. "We have to turn around, head back—before it shuts down completely."
"Artoo can fix it," Leia said calmly. "Can't you?"
R2‑D2 beeped proudly.
"He says he can fix it," C‑3PO translated, "but it could take some time."
"Just make it fast," Leia said, and slowed the landspeeder to a stop.
"We can't stop here!" Fixer yelped. "Are you nuts? The Sand People are everywhere. If they catch us…"
But Leia had already jumped out.
"Lady, you don't want to be wandering around here," Fixer said. "Not in the dark."
Leia reached into her utility belt and flicked on a small glowrod. The dim light illuminated the underbelly of the landspeeder. "It's not dark anymore," she said. "Let's get to work."
But there was little work for any of them to do, as R2‑D2 fiddled with the booster coils. Moments later, a high-pitched screech rent the air. Windy's eyes bugged out. "Krayt dragon," he whispered.
Another screech, louder and closer this time. It echoed through the canyons.
"Oh dear, oh dear," C‑3PO moaned, diving into the landspeeder. "Don't just stand there, Artoo, climb in," he urged the little astromech. Together, they huddled beneath a tarp of coarse eopie hide and waited for disaster to strike. Windy and Fixer looked like they wanted to hide as well.
"There might be a cave over there," Windy said, gesturing toward the desert. "We could hide out 'til morning."
"We don't have time for that," Leia said. "Luke and Jaxson are out there somewhere. Unarmed."
"We're unarmed," Fixer pointed out.
"You are," Leia said. "I'm not." She pulled out her blaster.
Fixer held out his hands. "How about you let me handle that?"
"I don't think so," Leia said, as a keening howl shook the night. The krayt dragon lumbered out of the shadows. Leia froze. The last krayt she'd seen was just a baby, but this was a full-grown dragon, ancient and terrifying. A cloud of dust billowed in its wake as its massive paws pounded the sand. Windy and Fixer dove for cover behind the landspeeder, but Leia didn't flinch. As the dragon charged toward her, she steeled herself and took aim. The beast's thick scales would repel her blaster shots, but Luke had once told her that krayt dragons did have one small area of vulnerability: the sinus cavity. She scrutinized the creature's face, looking for the point between its crest of horns—each one easily as big as she was—and the bony armor of its dermal face plates. If she could aim her blast correctly, the laserfire would bore straight through the cavity and into the krayt dragon's brain.
The ground shook as creature closed in. Its jaws gleamed in the moonlight. Leia had time for one shot, and one shot only. She'd have to make it count.
Leia squeezed the trigger and a bolt of laserfire blazed across the darkness, smashing into the krayt dragon's sinus cavity. Its roar of rage tore through the night. It reared up on its hind legs and threw its head back, shrieking in pain. Leia readied the blasterfor another shot. But it wasn't necessary.
With a final ear-piercing scream, the krayt dragon toppled over on its side. It heaved a great shudder, and then was still.
Windy and Fixer peeked their heads out, wide-eyed. "You killed it!" Windy said, sounding shocked. "By yourself!"
Leia was a little shocked herself, but she did her best not to show it. Instead she just shrugged and holstered the blaster, like slaying unstoppable wild beasts was something she did every day. "Just a krayt dragon," she said, trying to stop her voice from shaking.
Windy and Fixer just gaped at her. There was something new in their expressions: respect. "You sure you're Skywalker's first mate?" Fixer asked.
Leia nodded. "Why do you ask?"
Fixer gave her a bashful grin. "Just seems like maybe he should be yours."
R2‑D2 got the landspeeder running again and they picked up the trail without further incident. It was only a few kilometers later that they came upon the campsite, and the smoking wreckage of an airspeeder. They climbed out of the landspeeder, Leia flicking on her glowrod.
The airspeeder remains lay a few meters beyond a low-slung cave. And in the mouth of the cave: a body. Leia caught her breath for a moment, then let it out in a whoosh when she realized the body couldn't be Luke's. It was too large, for one thing. And as she drew closer, she could see its skin was covered in scales.
The body twitched.
Leia flinched. Then drew a step closer. Had she really seen a sign of life, or was it just a trick of the night? The creature was lying motionless, its arm and leg severed. Surely it couldn't still be alive. What kind of monstrous beast had left him in this condition?
"This is Jaxson's bag!" Windy shouted from behind her, holding up the tattered remains of a canvas sack. "And Luke's electrobinocs. You were right—they survived the crash somehow. They're alive!"
They're alive, and they were here, Leia thought, slowly turning in place and gazing out at the charred, vacant landscape. But where are they now?
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Luke and Jaxson had agreed that they had the best chance of survival if they kept moving. It would be one thing if it was just a matter of making it through the night until rescuers arrived in the morning. Then they could wedge themselves into a cave and wait out the darkness. But there was no guarantee that anyone would come for them, no guarantee that they wouldn't have to spend another day and another night in the Jundland Wastes. They would have to sleep sometime, and it would be far safer to do so with the twin suns above the horizon.
It was about the only thing t
hey could agree on.
"I told you this was the wrong way!" Jaxson hissed, as they trod through the dark and empty landscape. The glow of Luke's lightsaber led the way. "We should have gone east." Both had the skills to navigate by the stars. But knowing which direction you were heading didn't help without knowing where you started. And they had no idea how deep into the Wastes the bounty hunter had taken them—or in what direction home might be. Their only hope was to choose a direction and start walking, in hopes that in another few hours, or another few days, they would reach the border of civilization. They chose west, at random, knowing that choosing wrong would mean death. They had no food and no water, which meant a few days might be a few too many.
On the other hand, if they survived a few days in the Jundland Wastes, without getting eaten by a krayt dragon or besieged by Sand People, they would be lucky.
They would be lucky if they made it through the night.
"We just have to keep going," Luke assured Jaxson, with more confidence than he felt.
"What do you know?" Jaxson retorted. "You don't even live here anymore. Who are you to tell me what we should do?"
"You have a better idea?" Luke snapped.
There was a pause.
"Then we keep going," Luke said.
They walked several paces in silence.
"You got a problem?" Luke finally asked.
"Yeah," Jaxson spit out. "I'm stuck in the Jundland Wastes. In case you haven't noticed."
"I mean a problem with me," Luke said.
Jaxson just grunted.
"Because if you do—"
"I don't like traitors," Jaxson growled.
"But I told you—"
"And I don't like people who tell me what to think," Jaxson added, glaring at Luke. "Especially people who think they're better than everyone else, just because they can break orbit."
"I don't think I'm better than anyone," Luke protested.