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| The Rescue |
The Rescue: Alternate Reality #357 Goes On
INTRODUCTION:
Alternate realities are different, all right. Different in development,
different
in results. But, curiously enough, the center remains the same. Fate, or
Destiny, or the working of the Force, move
the stream in ways predetermined, even thought the play may differ,
Or, in more scientific terms: the Main Probability Line is the statistically
highest, even while peripheral circumstances may vary.
In the Alternate Reality I have called #357, even though Han Solo was
eliminated
by five gained minutes, Leia was not lost. Rescue still took place, because
rescue was the main probability
even if, this time, it happened in a very different way.
And, another thing: balance must be kept. Since Han Solo went out, the Force
kept
Ben Kenobi in- a life for a life. Which makes for a rather interesting variant
reality..
So, let us now look in on...
" You stay in here, Vic." Said Obi-Wan Kenobi, pushing that worthy behind a panel in the control room's wall, heedless of his protests. " I promise you, no one will even look in your direction. Come, Luke." He pressed the buttons to open the airlock, walked down the gangplank. Luke and the two droids following in single file.
Luke stepped down with trepidation. It was all very well for Ben to say that nobody could see then, but what if the Imperials did? They were in the very thick of the Empire-inside a monstrous military space battle station, as big as a moon, which had swallowed them as soon they had come out of hyperspace. The tractor beam was still holding the Asteroid Queen immobilized.
" We must go out to find a way to free the ship and hurry on to Alderaan." Kenobi had said after the Imperials had ransacked it, ignored the small group of humans and droids in the corner, and left again to report that it was probably a decoy. " We must deliver the plans, and also pay you , Vic."
Vic's face spoke volumes. Ben had smiled gently,
Luke had thought that Ben seemed to ignore the fact that they were in enemy
territory. He
still couldn't believe that the soldiers couldn't see them.
They walked silently, and unhindered, through the immense hangar; and then,
Ben pointed up.
Observation bays looked down on them. Inside the bays must be the monitors they
neded to show them where to go to reverse the ray holding them.
They were, indeed.
They stunned the two oblivious techs sitting at the controls, and one officer
walking around,
by hitting them on the head with spanners from behind. Luke found a recess
behind the wall panels, and they
squeezed the three unconscious men into it; closing the panels seamlessly.
" All right, now let's see. Plug into this outlet, you may be able
to access the main computer." Ben said to Artoo. Artoo beeped, his arm went
into the socket, turning
the mechanism. Schematics appeared on a screen, almost too quickly to follow;
but Ben was reading
them keenly
" This is it." He said at last, with satisfaction. " Come, Luke. You two, stay
here until we come back. We do not want to endanger the plans."
" But, General Kenobi, what if we're discovered?" Threepio demanded.
" Walk out, both of you; as if on an errand. This place is full of droids;
nobody will think
anything of two more." Kenobi answered the dubious Threepio. " And if you do,
remember to meet us back at
the ship. Here's the comlink. Let us go." He pressed the button, and the doors
clashed open. " May the
Force be with us. " He and Luke disappeared down the corridor
Threepio was more than dubious. He didnt like the situation at all.
" Artoo, see if you can find us a more secure hiding place. We can inform the
others
of where we are later. " Artoo beeped and acessed the vast Death Star computer
again.
He started to beep excitedly, levitating up and down. Threepio, after a moment
of confusion,
understood what he was saying.
" The Princess. Our Princess? Here?" And Artoo beeped affirmatively, unable
to suppresshis excitement." Oh, Artoo, quickly; where is she?"
Artoo''s beeps told him: she had been taken to the Main Control Room, to meet
the station's
Commander, Admiral Motti, and the Governor of the Outer Regions, Grand Moff
Tarkin.
"We must free her! Artoo, how can we do it?" As susal, when in a jam, Threepio
relied on his counterpart
who had already gone into action. His beep triumphant, Artoo turned a final
relay in the socket.
Every alarm on the Death Star went off.
Ben and Luke had just finished turning the relays, that hel their ship
immobilized, back to 'off' Some stormtroopers, on the crossways that led to the
tower rising from the abyss on
which they were, were looking the other way( as promised by Ben). Now, to get
back to the ship.
Suddenly, Luke's comlink whispered at him in Threepio's voice.
" Master Luke, they have the Princess here. She's in the main Control Room;
she's
being held by the Commanders of this place."
Simultaneously, Luke almost lost his footing as, deafeningly, every siren
on the Death Star cut loose.
To be precariously balancing over an abyss- the core of the Death Star, where the atmosphere was recirculated- with his head in utter confusion at the noise and two stormtroopers nearby- scary! Luke put out his hand and grabbed a handful of Ben's desert coat. Ben grasped him by the arm, and Luke felt, suddenly, that he was safe.
They made their way back to the walkway, one step at a time, which seemed
to take hours. There was a great deal of rushing around by stormtroopers who,
fortunately, went on
not noticing them.
the intercom system was out. The troopers running past, in threes and fives,
had
no idea what to do or where to go; confused by sirens, beepers, howlers and
bells that gave a
thousand contradictory signals at once.
" Ben!" Luke, trotting next to Ben, tried to get through to him through the din
without shouting. " Did you hear, before? The Princess is in the Main Control
Room!"
" We may not be able to localize it- to find her." Ben panted back. " We don't
have your
droids with us."
" We must save her!" Luke was aghast. " Let's go back to the control
post and get Artoo!"
At that moment, all the lights went out.
" Governor Tarkin! I thought I recognized your foul stench when
I was brought onboard!"
Senator Organa- Princess Leia Organa- stood regally in her irons; defiantly
looking up at the much taller man in green Imperial unifor, a sinister smile on
his face.
The Control Room of the enormous battle station seemed full of people.
Operating
officers of elevated posts, some uniformed bigwigs,( the Admiral commanding the
Death Star, two
Generals), Tarkin- and Darth Vader.
Darth Vader- who had met her as she was captured. Darth Vader, who had
questioned her under drugs. Darth Vader, giving off the cold of outer space,
and who was the worst feature
of this scene.
She held herself very straight and still, so she wouldn't shake with fear and
loathing.
" Charming, to the last. You don't know how hard I found it to sign
the order terminating your life!" Tarkin smirked and pinched her cheek.
She freed herself from the clammy touch: " I'm surprised you had the courage
to take the responsibility yourself!"
Tarkin orated theatrically: " Princess Leia, before your execution, I would
like you to be my guest at a ceremony that will make this battlestation
operational. No star
system will dare oppose the Emperor now."
The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin; the more star systems will slip
through your fingers!" Leia said smoothly and venomously.
" Not after we demonstrate the power of this station. In a way, you have
determined the choice of the planet to be destroyed first. Since you are
reluctant to provide us with the location
of the Rebel base, I have chose to test this station's destructive power- on
your home planet of Alderaan!"
Dismay, then horror, went through her; so great she almost lost consciousness for a moment. Now she recognized the image on the immense viewer; the image of a blue planet, wrapped in fleecy white weather...
She surged forward, and two immense hands in black leather gloves held her, effortlessly, by the upper arms. She took a deep breath, not knowing whether she was going to expostulate or to scream.
The display of the blue planet on the giant viewport went out. Alarms rang
deafeningly. The beeps
of equipment malfunction. The siren for 'red alert', and the bells for
proximity alarm.The whole seasoned
with pings and clangs and drum effects.
" We're under attack!" howled Tarkin.
" That's impossible!" Shouted Admiral Motti. " No one would dare! Watch
Officers,
report!" But the intercom was out.
" They must be out for suicide, they can't have the plans yet!" Darth Vader
said,
musingly. He, alone, staying calm in the milling confusion and the inhuman.
Princess Leia moved in his hands,
slowly inching her arms out of his grasp.
An officer ran in, followed by three stormtroopers.
" Sir, the displays report malfunction not only for the intercome, but
for all the weapons systems! And we can't get through to the computer itself!"
" That's it! This is no attack- it's sabotage!"
Darth Vader had understood. He lifted his head now, listening inside
himself.
" I sense something- a presence I haven't felt since...That ship was captured!"
He moved to the door like lightning, leaving a stormtrooper to point his
blaster
at Leia.
" Officer, take three men-and come with me!"
" Woe to whoever is responsible!" Tarkin was in a cold fury. " I shall
personally
supervise his interrogation!"
All the lights went out.
Someone bumped into Leia in the darkness- metallic fingers grasped her hand,
" Quickly, Highness, follow me." Came a whisper in her ear; and she realized
that this was Threepio. " I can see by infrared, just take my hand and we'll
get out of here!"
Swallowing her questions, she ducked under the outstretched arms of the
troopers and
went around Tarkin and Motti,followed the droid, stumbling in the absolute
darkness he could pierce so easily.
When they reached the main corridor, Threepio increased his pace. She panted
in a whisper: " Is
there anybody around?" The alarms still were dinning lustily.
" No, nobody's here, Mistress Leia. The corridor is deserted."
" Then slow down." She found it exhausting to run in the dark, though a
measure of perception was returning as her eyes adapted. " I must know what's
going on. How did
you get here ? Do you know why there's an alarm?"
" That's Artoo, Highness." Threepio chose to answer her second question first.
" He
has turned on the alarms and switched off the lights, so I could fetch you back
to the ship."
She stopped, panting, holding him up.
" Artoo's here too? What ship? Who are you with?"
" Captain Vic, Master Luke and General Kenobi, Highness."
" General Kenobi! What are we waiting for?" She jerked on his hand and he
resumed
his trot that was, for her, a headlong pace.
Luke and Ben stumbled through absolute darkness, following the metallic walls
of the corridor. The reason they had made any progress at all was because,
after the first five minutes,
emergency lighting kept cutting in and getting shut down again. This made it
even harder for eyes to adapt to the d
darkness when it returned.
" I wish I had my lamp with me instead of the macrobinoculars!" Luke mumbled
under his
breath, then.." Wait a minute!"
Luke stopped suddenly, Ben running into him from behind. Steadying himself
against
the wasll, he ignited his lightsaber. An eerie glow sprang up, straight up, a
want of lighting.
Greenish-white, it turned the metal corridor into a reflecting cave, and the
human figures into ghosts.
" Good thinking, Luke!" Ben complimented him. " Now, let us find our way."
At that moment, in a cross-corridor, a huge, dark figure had become separated
from his men
in the dark. He did not care, as he was following the tremor in the Force he'd
first felt in the Control Room. The
tremor that was so strong that it was difficult to believe that it emanated
from just one, old an.
Obi-Wan Kenobi? His 'signature' was there, all right; though he must by now be,
what, seventy four? Expectation filled Darth Vader. This time, he'd get him;
the sanctimonious ould
preacher. This time was endtime for Jedi Ben Kenobi.
He turned right in the corridor, then left.
There he was! Lit by his ignited lightsaber. Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Old, old was Obi-Wan; nothing like the Teacher who'd trained him; but
his eyes were the same. In the livid light , those eyes seemed to flame out of
his face, to engulf him.
" I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. the circle is
now complete." He ignited his saber. " Whan I left you, I was but the
learner-now I am the Master!"
" Only a master of evil, Darth." Obi-Wan now moved slightly forward, igniting
his own
saber. Taking on an offensive stance, Vader realized that he was not alone;
there was someone else
with him, someone else's lightsaber lighting up the corridor. The saber
shedding light was that of a boy
by his side.
For just a moment, this fact gave him pause. Who was this boy? Short and fair and looking vaguely familiar, he held the lightsaber very steady; but Vader could distinctly feel that he was unaccustomed to it. He probed the boy's mind, his feelings were a mixture of apprehension and anger; but under it, there was a mind like a flame. The tremor was stronger now, very strong. This boy made the Force vibrate around him like the circular waves of water in a pond. An odd, extraordinary boy!
Obi-Wan and he were now standing shoulder to shoulder, their backs to the wall. Darth Vader, master of the Dark Side, advanced on them; menace radiating from his huge,black figure. For awhile, they all stood still; then, almost simultaneously, the swords moved together, humming and sparking-two on one side, one on the other.
His saber's light was red, the boy's greenish. Obi-Wan Kenobi wielded a pure, white ray. As they clashed and hummed in the empty corridor, the light was extraordinary; the figures outlined in sparks, like denizens of the Deeps in Yellow Hell.
This was the sight that greeted Princess Leia and Threepio who, cuatiously following the eerie glow they had perceived from the cross-corridor, were coming up behind Vader.
Leia Organa was never to forget that sight. A Knight of Light stood against Darth Vader, supernormally beautiful and strong, fighting the Darkness. Outlined by the glow, like the saints of Hedlil's precious icons, his hair golden, his eyes like flashing bluestones, his garb white, his weapon,Light. She stood entranced, her breath gone; forgetting, for a moment, all about the circumstances of this meeting.
The lights went on, suddenly, and stayed on.
Leia realized that their corridor gave right in on the enormous hangar that
was the entrance bay to the space station. There was a ship in the bay; an
old,tired freighter, looking
very peaceful and innocent. And there was a container for tibanna gas standing
freely, close to her
side of the wall.
Without giving herself time to think, she seized the container and lifted it
to bring it down on Vader's helmet from behind.
Vader, surprised, staggered, and Ben closed in on him with his lightsaber.
Vader
parried and they stood, their sabers clashing, humming loudly, locked together.
" Your powers are weak, old men." Vader applied the full pressure of his mind
on Ben's; but Obi-Wan Kenobi was still a powerful Jedi.
" You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful
than you can possibly imagine!"
Luke was looking for a way to re-enter the fray; and the troopers guarding the
ship had become aware of their presence. Leia snatched Luke's blaster from his
belt and shot at them.
That was when Luke realized she was there. His heart leapt up with incredulity
and
gladness.
" Princess! You're safe!" He shouted, scarcely believing his eyes.
She looked back, fleetingly, at the ordinary young man the Knight of Light had
turned into.
" Get Vader! I'll hold them off!"
But it was the sight of their Lord, outnumbered by lightsaber-wielders, that
kept the troopers at bay. Obi-Wan and Darth Vader had resumed their duel;sparks
and electricity humming,
and LUke trying to get back into the fight.
" Just hit him on the head with your saber!" Leia was exasperated. " What's
the matter
with you?" But Luke found that he just couldn't kill Vader from behind.
The stormtroopers were advancing slowly, speaking into their comlinks. Only
seconds remained before they'd have reinforcements, when a small
whirlwind-laser rays flashing and beeping
deafeningly- appeared in their midst from the other side of the corridor and
knocked Vader down.
" Run, Luke, run!" Ben Kenobi panted at him. The whole party turned and ran
while
Artoo was still distracting the troopers, and Darth Vader , who had
ignominiously fallen on his back, lightsaber
flying wide.
" Hit the door lock!" Ben told Luke, who took his blaster from Leia and did
just that.
The door irised shut in Vader's face, and that of the three stormtroopers; but
there remained two more troopers
inside the bay proper. Before they reached the ship's gangplank, Luke
dispatched them with his blaster.
They rushed inside the ship to be greeted by Vic, who was in a state of extreme
agitation.
" Get strapped in, quickly, all of you. We're taking off! Did you
reverse the tractor beam?"
At Ben's nod he slammed the airlock and signaled Luke to take the usually
deserted
co-pilot's seat. The ship moved forward, then out the enormous airlock and
reached for space.
Two TIE fighters appeared to block their way, but Vic and Luke ran into the
side-bay and made good use of the two laser cannons installed there.
The TIE's shot at them, scoring a hit that disabled a deflection shield and
made a hole in the hull. Artoo moved rapidly to plug the hole with a makeshift
patch made with one of
the wall panels. One of the TIE's was hit by Luke, and limped back to the Death
Star. The other
moved in, but Leia, assisted by Threepio, had already pulled the lever that
shot them into hyperspace.
" That was close!" Luke felt exhilirated. " And I did hit one of them!"
" They let us go." Leia vacated the pilot's chair and Vic plopped into it with
a bump.
" There's no other explanation for the ease of our escape."
" You're quite right, girl." Said Vic." They let us go because they think their
tracer will lead them to your Base."
" What do you know of my Base? What tracer?" Leia was so upset
she let the informal address ,to her royal and senatorial person, pass.
" Just what I heard the technicians say when they installed it." He rose
and'left the
cockpit, the others following.
He climbed on the hold's table with some difficulty, reached inside a
ventilation duct over it.
" The Cap'n was right, too- they never saw me; but I saw them, and
heard them. Here it is." He handed the tracer to Luke, who disabled it with
three quick motions.
Leia now said to Luke: " I don't know who you are, or where you came from,but
I'm grateful. You saved my life." Searching for the magic Defensor Knight, the
figure of light she'd seen in the
darkness, in this fresh-faced tow-head; without realizing it, she was reaching
out to him with her mind too.
Luke was enchanted. This was She, in reality! The lovely, incredible image he'd
first seen in his garage, then in Ben's house, stood before him made of flesh
and blood! Her starlike eyes
looking into his own, he thought he could feel her being, touching his own in
an unknown place.
" Princess, I'm Luke Skywalker; and this is Ben Kenobi-General Kenobi..."
" I know who it is." Leia went over to Ben. " Thank you for answering my call.
It is
a great pleasure, and honor, for me to be able to report to my father that I
have not only contacted you, but
brought you along!"
" I don't think I can be much good to your father anymore." Ben smiled at the
beautiful girl in the way he usually looked at him, Luke though. " But I shall be very
happy to meet my old friend again. I see he has done very well with you!"
" Thank you." Leia looked long at him. " I've always wanted to meet you and
ask about you myself. Where do I come from, who were my real parents? You never
did tell my father."
" The time is not yet. You were entrusted to Bail to keep you safe." He sighed.
"Yet you have chosen to go out into the Galaxy's perils sooner than expected."
" I've been an agent of Alderaan's Intelligence for over a year. Ever since we
saw
the situation deteriorate terminally. Our System is, by now, practically a
System under occupation." Princee Leia
said soberly.
Luke stood, openmouthed, listening. What was this they were saying? When he'd
asked Ben, back on Tatooine as they were speeding toward Mos Eisley: " Who is
she?", he remembered
his long, long silence. He'd thought Ben was not going to answer at all, but
then he'd said: " She's the daughter
of Prince Bail Organa, the Head of Alderaan's government, and my friend."
But this was not quite true, was it?
" Is your Base still on Dantooine?" Ben was now asking.
" No, we left Dantooine three months ago. We're on Yavin now. The
most secret place in the universe. I hope it stays that way."
That was when Ben staggered; then sat down abruptly, turning completely
white. Luke and Leia rushed to hold him up, alarmed by his seizure.
" Are you all right? What's wrong?" Asked Luke.
" I felt a great disturbance in the Force- as if millions of voices suddenly
cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has
happened.."
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