Jedi Leia: Part 4 – If It’s a Fast Ship…

Back on the Death Star, Vader and Tarkin stood in a dimly lit room. A holo-image of the Emperor hovered above a circular console in the center of the room, a brief occasional glitch occasionally blurring his image momentarily.

“Lord Vader, you disappoint me. I believed we were perhaps past the period of your being useful only as a blunt instrument. Yet despite the capture of the girl and her ship, you remain woefully unable to even extract a simple location from her, and managed to let the stolen plans slip though your fingers…”

“Both are only a matter of time, my master”, Vader replied, doing his best to conceal his rage for the man in front of him.

“I certainly hope so… for your sake, my apprentice”, the Emperor replied in a tone that held both contempt and an almost wicked glee at his power over Vader. “If you fail me again, I shall be forced to take sterner measures than simply placing you under Grand Moff Tarkin… Much sterner.”

“I will not fail you, my master”, Vader replied.

“See to it you do not”, Palpatine snapped. He turned his attention to Tarkin. “Send another squadron of ships to Tatooine. I want every effort made, maximum resources and maximum force”.

“As you command, my Emperor”, Tarken replied, bowing at the waist.

Side Note: the revived Star Wars comics by Marvel (which are somehow canon) detail quite a bit of tension between Vader and Palpatine, including Palpy actually telling Vader he was only useful as a blunt instrument. Vader hated Palpatine, but always got out-maneuvered by him and was kept in check by realizing he didn’t have the power to confront his master directly. Keep in mind that Palpatine did all he could right from the get go to keep Vader in pain an in check. Vader is “Father” in one of the Germanic tongues and was probably meant to carry over to some Star Wars language that Anakin understood; reminding him that Vader had killed his own wife and child (neither of them knew that Padme was carrying twins).

Minutes later Vader walked purposefully down the hall of the Death Star’s central detention block, led by two black clad security troopers. They stopped half way down the hexagonal shaped hallway. Both security troopers pivoted to the left and stood on either side of a prison cell door. One guard keyed in the security code and the door opened with a hiss.

Vader stepped through the door and was greeted with a scene of a battered Leia, backed up seated against a wall, trying to escape an Imperial interrogations officer. Leia’s gown was torn in places, and she clutched it to her chest.

The interrogation officer had a swollen eye and was doubled over in pain. He immediately did his best to get to an attention position as Vader entered.

Vader looked back and forth between the two. In an instant, he felt a flash of rage rise within him for no apparent reason. With inhuman speed, Vader raised his fist and backhanded the officer across the tiny prison cell.

“Put this filth in a cell of his own”, Vader snapped at the guards escorting him. “I shall deal with him later”. The two guards nodded and then swiftly carried out their orders, dragging the semi-conscious officer from the room. Vader turned his attention back to the princess. There, for just a moment, with her guard down and feeling vulnerable, Vader felt a vague sense of connection and familiarity. He paused for a moment, discarding the thought before continuing. “Now, you highness… we will discuss the location of the hidden rebel base”, he said menacingly. As he spoke, a spherical torture and interrogation droid floated into the room and headed towards Leia.

Back in Mos Eisley…

Kenobi piloted the landspeeder in from the outskirts of the city. Maintenance and other droids went about their work, as beings of numerous species walked the streets. All were closely monitored by hovering Imperial surveillance mini-droids zipping around like flies. Swoop bikes and assorted beings riding beasts also moved along the street at varying speeds.

As the speeder approached the center of town, they were waved to a stop by a squad of Stormtroopers manning a checkpoint.

Kyle sighed. “I guess it was only a matter of time before our luck ran out”, he said as his hand slid towards his blaster.

“Patience…”, Kenobi said, waving him off. Kyle shook his head slightly and moved his hand back away from his blaster.

The lead Stormtrooper waved them to a full stop and then spoke. “How long have you had these droids?”, he demanded.

“Seems like forever”, Kyle replied in a smug tone.

“They’re for sale, if you want them”, Kenobi added quickly, eliciting a start from Threepio.

“Let me see your identification”, the Trooper demanded.

“You don’t need to see his identification”, Kenobi said calmly with a slight wave of his hand.

“We don’t need to see his identification”, the Trooper told his squad in an absent tone.

“These aren’t the droids you’re looking for”, Kenobi said.

“These aren’t the driods we’re looking for”, The Trooper echoed.

“He can go about his business.”, Kenobi said.

“You can go about your business”, The Trooper replied.

“Move along”, Kenobi said.

“Move along, move along.”, the Trooper ordered, waving them on and motioning for the next vehicle to approach the checkpoint.

Kenobi and Kyle traveled in silence until far out of range of the checkpoint and then Kyle broke the silence.

“What the hell happened back there?”, he half-demanded. “I thought we were going to have to shoot our way out of there for sure”.

“The Force can be a powerful influence on the weak-minded”, Kenobi answered.

“You’re telling me that was some sort of Jedi mind game?”, Kyle asked in disbelief.

“A… trick of sorts”, Kenobi replied with a wry smile. “We’ll head to the cantina down the street to the right, he added. All the best space pilots can be found there”.

“Whatever you say…”, Kyle added, trying to process what he’d just seen.

The speeder pulled to a stop in front of a nondescript building with a pink neon sign of a busty female Twi’lek outline glowing near the doorway. Above the door was a modest sign that read “Chalmun’s Spaceport Cantina” in Aurebesh (galactic common) in The pair unleaded the droids from the back of the speeder and then proceeded inside. Kyle looked backwards to check on the droids for a moment, only to find Kenobi had already vanished into the crowd.

“Just great…”, he muttered. He started to head further into the cantina, the droids right behind him, when the bartender suddenly barked at him.

“We don’t serve their kind in here”, the bartender snapped.

“wha…”, Kyle managed to fumble out before the bartender interjected.

“Your droids, he snapped. We don’t want them here. They’ll have to wait outside.”

Kyle put his hands out in front of him. “Sure, sure… No need to blow a hyperdrive. I’ll send them outside.”

The bartender scowled, then offered a brief nod before returning to wiping down glasses.

Kyle turned to Artoo and Threepio. “We don’t need any more trouble at this point. Head outside, wait there… and watch your six” he ordered.

“Our six what, sir?”, Threepio asked confused. Artoo responded with a sarcastic beep.

Kyle shook his head and sighed. “Just stay alert and avoid any Imperials”, he said in an exasperated tone.

“Yes, sir”, Threepio replied sheepishly. As they began heading back toward the entrance, Artoo beeped something at Threepio. “Just you never mind”, Threepio snapped.

Kyle watched the exchange, shook his head and then headed to the bar. “Gimme a Lothal Spicebrew”, he said to the bartender, tossing a couple of credits onto the bar.

The bartender made the drink and then placed it in front of Kyle. Kyle took a sip and glanced down the bar, noticing Kenobi talking to a human in a flight suit. The human walked away, motioning for Kenobi to talk to the large Wookie standing at the bar behind him. Kyle raised an eyebrow at the exchange, and then was tapped hard on the shoulder from behind. He turned to be confronted by a burly looking Aqualish thug and a older human with a badly disfigured face.

The alien growled something in his native language. Kyle didn’t understand it, but he recognized and disliked the tone.

“He said you must be a real effete piece of dung to drink something like that”, the scarred human interjected.

“Well, now we know he’s as stupid as you are ugly”, Kyle replied, taking another sip of his drink.

The human snarled and got up in Kyle’s face. “You just watch your mouth. We’re wanted men. I have the death sentence on twelve systems!”

“So you’re saying I should collect the bounty or your worthless hides then?”, Kyle asked using his most snarky tone. The bartender looked uneasily between them and stepped back.

The Aqualish roared angrily, and drew his blaster, only to have Kyle’s vibroblade slash across his wrist, then open him up like a gutted fish across his midsection. The human thug let out a cry of rage of his own as his partner fell dead to the floor. He tried to draw his own blaster. Kyle sprung up off his stool, grabbed the thug by the wrist and neck, and slammed his head into the bar 5 or 6 times before letting him collapse to the floor.

Kyle shook his head. “Idiots”, he grumbled.

The human groaned and stumbled for the fallen Aqualish’s dropped blaster.

“No blasters, no blasters!”, the bartender yelled.

Kyle quick drew his own blaster and shot the thug as he raised the weapon. The thug’s shot went high and wide, impacting the ceiling and leaving a char mark. Kyle quickly searched the bodies and retrieved their chain code IDs.

Kenobi walked up beside him. “I can’t take you anywhere, can I?”, he quipped.

“They didn’t leave me alot of choice”, Kyle replied. “They wanted a fight and one way or another, they were going to get it.”

“Be that as it may, you were the one reminding me how we needed to more discretely and urgently”, Kenobi said. “Let’s head towards the back. Chewbacca here is first mate on a ship that just might suit us”, he added, motioning to the Wookie behind him.

The pair followed the Wookie back to a booth near the rear of the cantina.

A tall Correlian human in a black vest and pants and white shirt sat at the booth, casually stretched out with his back to the wall. “Han Solo; Captain of the Millennium Falcon, he said, introducing himself. Chewy here tells me you’re looking for passage to the Alderaan system”.

“Yes indeed, if it’s a fast ship”, Kenobi replied.

“Fast ship? Han scoffed. You’ve never heard of the Millennium Falcon?”

Kenobi shrugged slightly and shook his head. “Should I have?”

“It’s the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs”, Han replied. He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. “I’ve outrun Imperial starships. Not the local bulk cruisers, mind you. I’m talking about the big Correlian ships. She’s fast enough for you, old man.”

“Wait a second, Kyle interjected. A parsec is a measure of distance, not time.”

Han rolled his eyes. “Yeah, and the Kessel Run through the Akkadese Maelstrom is 20 parsecs for a normal ship to navigate safely. The Falcon is fast and tough enough that I was able to plot a route that shaved almost 8 parsecs off the usual course”.

Kenobi nodded slowly

“What’s the cargo, old man?”, Han asked.

“Just passengers, Kenobi replied. Myself, him and two droids… and no questions asked”.

Han grinned. “What is it, some kind of local trouble?”

Kenobi’s tone turned more serious. “Let’s just say we’d like to avoid any Imperial entanglements”.

Han sat back upright. “Well, that’s the real trick isn’t it, and it’s going to cost you something extra… 10,000. All in advance”.

“10,000… are you snorting that spice you’re hauling? We could almost buy our own ship for that”, Kyle said, incredulous.

“And who’s going to fly it, you?”, Han mocked. “You can’t be much of a spacer if you don’t even know what the Maelstrom is like”.

Kenobi replied, trying to keep things from getting heated. “We can pay you 17. Two thousand now and another 15 when we reach Alderaan.”

Han’s head tilted slightly as a slightly incredulous grin washed over his face. “…17 huh? Alright, you got yourself a ship. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready. Docking Bay 94.”

Kenobi nodded. “94.”

Solo glanced towards the bar. “Looks like somebody’s taking an interest in your handiwork.”

Kenobi and Kyle glanced backwards and saw a patrol of Stormtroopers at the bar, questioning the bartender. He nodded to them and pointed in the direction of the booth everyone was seated at.

To Be Continued…