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| Pilot Emergency |
Pilot Emergency
Red Leader made a quick visual check of the fighters in his squadron. The resistance they had run into after the raid on the Imperial supply convoy was heavier than expected.
Right after they'd hit the convoy, a couple of Star Destroyers
had shown up with their accompanying T.I.E. fighters; and Red Squadron found itself in a
desperate fight for survival as they sought to escape to hyperspace.
Red Leader had taken over after the Battle of Yavin since the
original squad leader, plus most of the fighter pilots, had been killed in the Rebels'
now famous attack on the Death Star. He'd inherited the two remaining squadron members,
Wedge Antilles and Luke Skywalker, Red Two and Red Five respectively.
Since the destruction of the Death Star, Red Squadron had been very busy, racking up an impressive number of skirmishes with the Imperials. This one looked to be the worst they'd faced yet. Three members of the squad had already been destroyed.
As he pulled his X-Wing around, Red Leader caught a glimpse of Red Five diving in to take out a T.I.E fighter on Red Eight's tail. There was a flash as the Imperial blew up. 'Good shooting, Luke' Red Leader thought to himself. The first time he'd met Skywalker, he'd had a hard time believing this kid was the one who'd fired the miraculous shot that saved Yavin Base and destroyed the Empire's terror weapon. Luke had shown no signs of a swelled head after his famous shot and the honors that came with it. Since Luke was actually one of the least experienced pilots in Red Squadron, his squad leader tended to keep an eye on him to correct any dangerous tendencies he saw in Skywalker's flying. He'd be a great pilot... if he survived.
Red Leader's attention was yanked back to his own flying as a
tremendous burst of flak rocked his ship. One of the Star Destroyers had closed in on the
X-Wings and was bringing its lasers to bear with dangerous effectiveness. Sadly, Red
Leader watched as another one of his squad spiraled away to end in a burst of flames.
A message from his R-2 unit caught his attention as it scrolled
across the screen. It was a mayday from Red Five's astromech droid. Pilot Emergency.
This meant the R-2 unit was flying the ship because the pilot was unconscious or otherwise
incapacitated. Red Leader keyed open his comlink.
"Red boys. Mayday from Red Five. Pilot Emergency. Try to give
him some cover so the R-2 can get him out of here."
The rebel leader watched tensely as Luke's X-Wing slowly cleared
the combat zone. Something was wrong... the ship should have gone hyper by now.
"R-2, contact Red Five," the squad leader instructed his
astromech. "See if you can find out what the problem is."
The message from the droid flying Luke's ship was bad, very
bad. The X-Wing's hyperdrive was seriously damaged. The ship would have to land in order
to make repairs. Red Leader couldn't do anything for the crippled fighter and its injured
pilot. He had to get the rest of the squad back to base; and the other pilots couldn't
be endangered to save one life, no matter whose. Once the area was clear, a rescue ship
would be sent back to retrieve Luke... if it wasn't too late.
"Red boys, let's go home. We can't do anything more here."
All the ships began evasive maneuvers to break off the
engagement and get room to flee into hyperspace. All but one.
"Red Two. Form up. What are you doing?" Red Leader asked.
"Red Leader," Wedge Antilles' voice was strangely calm, "I want
to stay with Luke. If he's badly hurt, he may not last without help until medrescue comes
back for him."
The squad leader was aware of the strong bond that existed
between Wedge and Luke; it went beyond friendship. They'd been through hell together and
had been the only survivors.
"OK, Wedge. Good luck. I'll get someone back to you as fast as
possible." Frowning, Red Leader signed off. He'd probably lose both of them, but he
didn't believe Wedge would obey an order to abandon his friend.
Artoo beeped in relief as he managed to land the X-Wing in one
piece. It wasn't a great landing, but at least they were down. He scanned the readouts
from Luke's life support. Skywalker was still unconscious and his vital signs were
weakening.He needed help fast.
Artoo popped the canopy over Luke's head and rolled
himself forward along the fuselage. He couldn't get the pilot out, but maybe he could
treat him with the medkit. It wouldn't be easy to maneuver with his grasping arm, but he
had to try something or Luke would die.
As he struggled to position himself, a second X-Wing landed
with a roar. The pilot was out and running toward them almost before the engines died.
Artoo recognized his master's friend, Wedge Antilles.
"Easy, Artoo," Wedge said in answer to the droid's anxious beeping.
"Let me check him out."
When Wedge squeezed into the cockpit next to Luke, he could see
the problem right away. The X-Wing had caught a burst of flak, disintegrating the engine
and part of the wing on the port side. The force of the blast had also triggered explosions
inside the cockpit, damaging several systems including the hyperdrive. Artoo had gotten
as many of the backups operational as was possible, but shrapnel from the internal
explosions had torn through Luke's flight suit and into his side. He'd lost a lot of blood
already and fragments were obviously still lodged in his body. There was no way he'd have
survived until the rescue ship arrived. They would only have been able to return his body
to his friends.
Wedge took the medkit Artoo had been trying to use and got
the blood stopped. That was a start, at least. Any more extensive doctoring would have to
wait until he got Luke out of his ship.
Wedge looked out and scanned the immediate vicinity. This sure was a barren spot... no trees or vegetation, mostly rocks and more rocks. Hardly a welcoming sight for any pilot and certainly not for a badly wounded one. Wedge spotted a sheltered overhang a short distance from the ships. At least it would give them some protection from the wind that was beginning to scour the surface as night fell.
Wedge went back to his X-Wing to scavenge the cushions from
his seat, as well as blankets from the survival kit. He paused to instruct the R-2 unit
from his ship to come with him, reflecting as he did so on the uncanny independence and
loyalty Luke's R2 unit exhibited toward his master.
Artoo greeted his fellow droid with a series of beeps and
whistles as Wedge removed Luke's helmet and freed him from the restraints. As gently as
he could, he lifted his friend out of the seat and got him slung over his shoulder. With
the two droids trailing along behind, Wedge headed for the overhang where he'd already
placed the cushions and blankets. He had to lean into the steadily blowing wind to get
there, and was relieved when he was finally able to settle Luke in the shelter.
He made several trips to the two ships for the rest of the
survival gear, lights and a communications beacon.When the rescue ship showed up, he
wanted to be able to signal it quickly. Wedge had no desire to linger on this desolate
rock any longer than he had to.
Working quickly, he set up the issue shelter in the broadest
part of the overhang and got a portable heater going.
Luke's condition seemed fairly stable. No new bleeding had
started during the trip from the X-Wing. He appeared to be comfortable enough, and Wedge
decided to wait until morning before doing anything more. Darkness was closing in fast
and daylight would make any surgery easier. 'And who knows,' Wedge thought, 'the
rescue ship might just arrive.' Although he doubted it could possibly get here that
soon.
Wedge broke out the survival rations, deciding against trying to wake Luke to feed him something. 'Let him rest,' he decided. 'At this stage, he needs sleep more than he does food. Tomorrow will be soon enough.' Finally, Wedge curled up to sleep himself, leaving the two droids to keep watch in case Luke's condition changed.
When he woke the next morning, it was to find Luke watching
him.
"Hi, Wedge," his friend said weakly. "What happened?"
"Luke! You should have called me!" Wedge exclaimed. "How are you
feeling?"
"I've felt better," Luke admitted, "but... where are we? Last thing
I remember is being pounded by some flak."
"You took a hit that knocked out your hyperdrive," Wedge answered
as he knelt by his friend. "Artoo got the ship down in one piece after signaling pilot
emergency."
"Got to be pilot for a change, Artoo?" Luke smiled at the
little droid.Where did you land us this time?"
Artoo beeped indignantly at the implication that the choice of
landing place was his fault. Luke's laugh turned into a breathless cough.
"Take it easy, pal," Wedge cautioned as he tried to adjust Luke's
position. "You're carrying some pieces of your ship inside you. I was hoping rescue might
have arrived by now so I wouldn't have to go poking around myself."
,"Yeah," Despite the pain,Luke's grin was wide. I don't remember
surgery being listed as one of your military specialties. And I've seen you carve a Bantha
roast." Luke's look turned deadly serious. "Don't tell me you volunteered to follow me down!
Wedge, you're crazy!"
"Someone has to look after you," Wedge shrugged. "Since Han's not
here to do it, I figured I was elected."
Shaking his head, Luke studied his friend gravely. "Thanks, Wedge.
I owe you one."
"You might not thank me in a little while," Wedge answered. "I
think I better check out the damage."
It wasn't as bad as Wedge had feared, but it was bad enough. He was able to remove two large splinters of metal fairly easily, but there were smaller fragments that were beyond the range of the medpak's instruments. They'd have to wait until Luke got back to base.
Luke lay back, eyes closed, looking very pale and drawn.
Wedge hoped the medrescue unit showed up soon. There had been enough time for Red Squadron
to return to base and dispatch help. Assuming they had made it back, of course. He didn't
want to consider any other alternatives.
Wedge became aware that his friend was watching him, and tried
to look confident.
"Do you think you could eat something, Luke? We've got lots of
concentrates."
"I would like something to drink and then I think I'll rest, if
you don't mind. Letting you whack away took a lot out of me." He spoke lightly, but Wedge
knew Luke was tired and in pain. Where was that ship?
Once Luke had fallen asleep, Wedge decided to go back to his X-Wing and see if he could pick up anything on comm channels. He took his droid with him and left Artoo standing watch over his young master. If he didn't know better, Wedge thought, he'd swear that droid was worried about Luke. But droids didn't worry... did they?
With his R-2's assistance, wedge was scanning the communication channels looking for a signal from the Alliance rescue unit he was expecting when he heard something that stopped him cold. Imperial signals... coming from this planet!?! At first he thought they might be units from the fleet that had intercepted Red Squadron yesterday; maybe looking for survivors of the battle. Then he realized it was worse than that. As he listened, it became clear that the signals were originating from a base here on the planet. No wonder Red Squadron had stirred up such a fuss! They'd intercepted a convoy that was on its way to a secret Imperial base. Now it was clear why the rescue unit hadn't made it. The sector must be alive with Imperials today. No Alliance vessel was going to be able to sneak in. He and Luke were marooned on this planet. And it would only be a matter of time before the Imperials found them.
The first thing Wedge did was to rig some camouflage for the two X-Wings. The standard setup provided fairly good cover from the air, but on this barren pile Wedge wasn't at all confident of their effectiveness. Still it was something. He left his R-2 unit monitoring communications with instructions to contact Luke's droid if he heard anything suspicious.
Luke was still sleeping when Wedge returned to the shelter.
This wasn't a bad hiding place, if only the two X-Wings weren't parked outside announcing
their presence to any representative of the Empire that happened along.
He thought about getting further away from the ships, but decided
it wasn't worth it. If Imperial forces located the fighters, they'd scour the planet to
find the pilots, so distance wouldn't help. Besides, he didn't think Luke could be moved
just yet.
For a moment Wedge entertained the idea of surrendering to the
Imperials to get his friend the care he needed;but he dismissed it just as quickly. There
was no guarantee they wouldn't be killed immediately and Luke would be in great danger as
soon as he was identified.
As soon as Luke woke up, Wedge filled him in on the situation.
Luke was all for Wedge taking his X-Wing and getting the hell out of there.
"That's crazy, Luke, and you know it," Wegde told him. "With all
those Imperials up there, I wouldn't stand much of a chance of getting away. No, you're
stuck with me, whether you like it or not."
"At least consider getting away from here," Luke protested. "If
the Imperials do find us,you can travel all right."
"No, Luke," Wedge shook his head, "There are still two ships out
there. Even Imperials can count that high and they'd be looking for the other pilot no
matter what you could tell them. We're sticking together and that's final."
Sighing wearily, Luke gave up the argument, knowing he could not
change his friend's mind.
For several days, they waited. No one came to find them, neither Imperial nor Alliance. Luke was stronger than he had been, although he was nowhere near being fully recovered.
On the morning of what would be their fourth full day on the
planet, Wedge made a suggestion over breakfast.
"I've been thinking about getting us out of here," he told Luke.
"No kidding? And here I've been considering settling in and
raising a family," Luke said sarcastically. He was uncomfortable and feeling downright
grumpy about the whole mess.
Wedge scowled at his friend. "No, seriously. I've got a plan.
It's kind of risky, but it might get us safely off this rock."
"You're doing better than I am," Luke admitted. "I've been
racking my brains and haven't come up with anything. Let's hear your big idea."
"Well," Wedge began, "It's obvious that only Imperials can come
and go freely through this sector, so I suggest we go get ourselves some transportation
courtesy of the Empire."
"You mean steal a ship?"
"Sure," Wedge grinned. "If we take it slow and easy, you can
make it to their base. It's not far. Then we locate a ship and we're off. What do you
think?"
"I think you've been hanging around Han too long," Luke remarked
dryly. "This is an idea that's worthy of him at his most harebrained."
"You don't think it'll work, then?" Wedge looked glum.
"No, I don't think it'll work. But what else can we do? When do
we start?"
After they'd packed up the camp, Wedge suggested they leave his R-2 unit in his X-Wing, ready to take off and provide distraction for the Imperials if he and Luke actually managed to get their hands on a ship. Caught off guard by an Alliance fighter suddenly appearing in their midst, the Empire's forces might miss some strange behavior on the part of one of their own ships and both of them would get away. Luke figured the plan had possibilities, so they spent a little more time programming information about the Imperial base into the droid. If Wedge's R-2 escaped, at least the Rebellion would know what had happened to them, and would have some warning about the Empire's buildup in this sector.
At Luke's suggestion, they rigged his X-Wing so that they
could blow it up with a remote signal. The less evidence for the Empire to piece together,
the better; and the Alliance certainly wasn't going to get back here to salvage the ship.
Finally they set out, moving slowly so as not to overtax Luke's
strength. Artoo went on ahead, scanning the area to give them advance warning of any
patrols. There was no sign of Imperial scouts or regular patrols; obviously, the Empire
felt very secure on this world.
After almost two days of slow travel, they reached the
Imperial base. It looked like a typical set-up, like the ones Alliance Intelligence had
briefed them about. That meant they had a good idea where the ships were located and they
could head directly there without a lot of fumbling around.
Since it was near sunset, Wedge suggested they find a vantage
point and observe the base's routine until the next day so they could determine the best
time to make their move. What he hadn't said was that he wanted to give Luke a chance to
rest up before their desperate attempt. Antilles thought his friend had figured that out
anyway; but spying for a while was a good tactical move, too.
They climbed a small bluff overlooking the base where, hidden
among the jumble of rocks, they could see what was happening.
While Luke was watching the base, Wedge observed his friend
carefully. Wedge didn't doubt Luke's courage, but he was worried about his stamina. The
trek had taken a lot out of Luke. He'd fretted about the way he was slowing them down
until Wedge had teasingly asked his friend if he had a hot date back at their base. That
had shut Luke up, but they still had to stop fairly often for him to rest and Wedge had
to work on his wound when it had begun to bleed again. He sincerely doubted that Luke had
much left in the way of reserves. However, Antilles was determined to get his friend out
of here, even if he had to carry him the whole way.
"What do you think the best approach is?" Luke's question
interrupted his thoughts.
"See that building over there?" Wedge pointed to the right. "It
looks like a supply depot. It should be easy to sneak up there. Then we wait for a couple
of Imperials to show up and grab their uniforms. There's enough activity going on around
the supplies that we shouldn't have to wait long for the right opportunity."
"Maybe there are some uniforms in there," Luke suggested. "Then
we wouldn't have to risk giving the alarm when their people show up missing."
"Then tomorrow we'll go look." Wedge felt fairly optimistic. The
Empire expected no trouble here, as shown by the few guards in sight. Wedge figured if
they could get uniforms and blend in, they'd have a fair chance of pulling this off.
The next morning they got to the building without incident and sneaked inside. While Artoo kept a lookout, Luke and Wedge began to search the piles of supplies stored there.
Shortly after, two young Imperial Lieutenants left the supply
depot closely followed by an astromech droid. They walked casually over to the main
building and passed two guards who saluted them. One guard wasn't sure what security
officers were doing with the supplies, but he didn't want to ask any questions. You never
knew with security types.
"That was almost too easy," Wedge commented in a low whisper.
"Like you said before," Luke whispered back, "The Empire's not
expecting anything to happen here. But, don't worry, it'll probably get harder before
it's over."
"Thanks... that's a big comfort," Wedge beckoned to his friend.
"I think the hangars should be over this way - if they followed standard procedure."
Unfortunately this group of Imperials had not conformed to
the usual plans. When Wedge and Luke reached the large tract that should have been the
hangars, they found themselves instead in a factory area. Huge machines assisted by droids
were in the process of creating some kind of compound. There were warning and hazard signs
all over the complex.
"Artoo, plug in and see if you can discover what they're making,
" Luke told his droid. R2-D2 rolled over to a computer port and began to access the
requested information. What he learned showed up on a small terminal screen.
Wedge was impatient to get away and find the ships, but Luke
urged him to wait.
"This could be important. What've you got, Artoo?"
"Jumpin' Banthas," Wedge exclaimed, watching the readout, "Will
you look at this? They've got enough chemical poisons here to wipe out half the galaxy."
"Yeah, and I don't suppose they're just going to use them to kill
pests," Luke remarked. "We've got to do something about this, Wedge."
"Right. And I think I've got an idea." Staying in the shadows,
the two young pilots crept around to the control board. "Now, if I can just..."
Wedge was interrupted by a harsh, raspy voice. "You two! What
are you doing there?"
They turned around slowly to face a Scytherian wearing a
laboratory smock and a very suspicious look on his insect-like face. "I don't recognize
either of you." He pointed a small, but deadly, blaster at them. "Come on. Get away from
there. I want to know what you're up to."
Wedge found his voice first.
"We were just conducting a routine inspection, that's all."
"Routine inspection?" The Scytherian asked. "Since when do
security officers perform inspections? I think you're lying."
"What we were inspecting," Luke said in an assertive voice, "Is
your security procedures. Do you know we were able to enter this area and reach the main
controls without being stopped? Is that good security?"
The scientist seemed taken aback by Luke's question. "I don't
understand," he told them. "Security procedures are not part of my duties."
"No," Wedge picked up his friend's lead. "They are our concern.
We'll have to report this major breakdown to our superiors. It won't look good to your
department."
The Scytherian lowered his blaster. Non-humans were unusual
in the Imperial ranks and this one was obviously used to deferring to the humans around
him, especially if they were members of the feared Security units. "Now gentlebeings,
that's too harsh. If you'll come with me, I'll show you our back-up procedures. No one is
going to threaten our production." He led them over to another control panel.
"As you can see, if anyone tampered with the main controls, this
unit would not only take over, but would notify your forces of the sabotage. I'm surprised
you didn't know about this." His suspicions returned and he eyed the two rebels closely.
Suddenly, he pointed at Luke.
"There's blood on your tunic. What's going on here?"
Wedge grabbed him before he could aim his blaster. As they
struggled, the blaster went flying, but the scientist shoved Wedge away from him,
knocking him into Luke. They both fell over, as their opponent began to run. Suddenly the
scientist was thrown to the ground, shocked by Artoo's welder. Before he could get back
up, Wedge jumped him and knocked him out.
Panting, Wedge turned back to Luke who was getting up slowly,
holding his wounded side. There was blood on his hand as well as on the uniform's tunic.
"You OK?" Wedge asked quickly, concerned.
"I'll be all right," Luke replied painfully. "Let's see if Artoo
can disable this panel so we can set this thing to blow."
The little droid went to work and was able to bypass the alarm
system. Once that was out of commission, Wedge did a little bit of rewiring.
"Fortunately," he told Luke, "it's a straightforward process.
They don't have much imagination. I've seen this kind of setup before." After a little
more work he turned away.
"There," he said with satisfaction. "Good to know all those
circuitry classes my father insisted on have finally paid off. We better get out of here.
It's not going to be very healthy around here when this thing goes off."
They dashed across the corridor to find the hangars. So far,
no one had taken any notice of their activities in the factory. The droids and machines
continued their endless tasks.
"Now, we need to pick our ride out of here." Wedge looked at Luke
who was slumped against the hangar wall. "Can you hang on a little longer?"
"Sure, Wedge. No problem." Luke grinned at him. It was a tired
and shaky grin, but Wedge knew Luke meant what he said.
"Right. Let's go." They walked over to where an Imperial shuttle
was docked near the entrance.
"Sergeant," Wedge said to the trooper guarding it, "Have you been
notified about the sighting of a crashed rebel fighter?"
"No, sir," came the reply. "I haven't heard anything."
We have orders to check out the crash site. This droid should be
able to retrieve any information stored in the ship's log. We'll take this shuttle."
"Sir, I can't let you have the ship without proper authorization,"
The trooper answered.
"Damn it, they were supposed to have notified you!" Wedge turned
to Luke who had loitered behind to keep the sergeant from getting a good look at his
condition. "Look, you stay here with the droid and I'll go with the sergeant and get this
straightened out." He jerked a thumb at the Imperial. "Let's go."
With the sergeant leading the way, they stepped around the
shuttle, heading for the main control center. Then Luke heard a quiet commotion and Wedge
reappeared alone. "Come on, he said, grinning." "Get on board. I got our clearance."
Wedge took the pilot's seat, Luke the copilot's. A quick glance
at the controls assured them both that they could fly this ship. Wedge pushed a few
buttons and moved a lever, and the shuttle slowly and gracefully left the hangar.
As soon as they were away, Wedge had Artoo contact his ship
and tell his droid to fly it toward the Imperial base. At about the same time, the
commlink came alive with demands to know who they were and where they were going. Luke
asked Artoo to transmit some gobbledygook mixed with static to suggest their transmitter
was not working properly. The demands increased in tone and volume and then suddenly
changed as the Imperials began to track Wedge's X-Wing.
"We see it," Wedge said into the commlink. "It looks like a
Rebel fighter. We're going to track it." He turned to Luke. "Time to try your fancy idea."
At Luke's command, Artoo contacted Luke's X-Wing and got the
crippled fighter into the air. It wouldn't fly long, but it didn't need to. All around
the shuttle, Imperial fighters moved to follow the decoys. As they neared Wedge's ship,
Artoo brought Luke's X-Wing around in front of the wave of T.I.E. fighters. When they
closed in, he triggered the remote signal and the fighter blew up, damaging two of the
Imperials. The rest had pulled out to go after the remaining X-Wing, when the Imperial
base, very dramatically, exploded. Breaking off their chase, the Imperial ships turned
to protect their base before realizing that there was nothing left to defend.
"Looks like we might have overdone it a bit," Wedge told Luke. He
didn't sound the least bit unhappy.
"Yeah. You must have slept through a lot of those classes you
claimed you took." Luke studied the scanner. "Your ship's gone hyper. Why don't we get
out of here before someone remembers us?"
"Good idea." Wedge pulled a lever and the familiar starlines
surrounded the shuttle as it made the jump to hyperspace.
The two young men looked at each other, grinning in relief.
They'd made it!
Warned by the arrival of Wedge's X-Wing, there was quite a
welcoming party waiting to greet them when they arrived back at the Rebel base. Luke was
quickly whisked off to the medcenter to have his wound properly tended. Wedge was at the
center of a group of excited and admiring pilots when a hand clapped him on the shoulder.
"Wedge, you sure pulled that one off," Red Leader said. "I didn't
expect to see you or Skywalker again. Then I found out that the two of you also took out
a major Imperial factory base on your way out. I've got to hand it to you, boy... you sure
know how to stir things up."
Wedge didn't know what to say and was glad to be interrupted by
another well-wisher. It was Han Solo.
"Hey, Wedge, I just came from the medcenter and Luke's going to
be fine. He told me about your great tactics out there. I think you and me ought to get
together and, you know, compare notes. We think a lot alike."
'Now that,' Wedge thought, 'was really a frightening thought!'
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