In that same instant, Han saw a YT freighter in the distance and jolted upright at the stick, only to realize it was a much later model than the Falcon.
Stop panicking, Solo, he berated himself roundly, before announcing out loud to the empty cockpit, "What the hell kinda trouble can the kid possibly get up to in one day?"
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Luke stared into nothing for a long time before finally placing the deactivated comlink gently down on the desk. He glanced at the Intel officer, who watched him in silence, understanding now what he'd done.
There were no external views available, so that when Han's ship had left the bay it was gone, leaving Luke to stare at the internal image of the still bay, aware only now of how truly alone he was here.
He wasn't worried that Han would come back for him; he would fly all the way to the Tyren Islands and wait for Luke there, as arranged. He would contact the Rebellion while he waited, as arranged, because he knew they'd have to get off-planet as soon as possible...and then Leia would tell him the truth.
She would tell him who Luke really was, and maybe Han would fly off the handle and rant and rave, but he'd go back to the Rebellion to pick up Chewie, by which time he would have calmed down, so Leia would talk some sense into him...eventually. And he'd stay, Luke hoped. Chewie would be fine with that--the Wookiee often admitted wryly that he was a sucker for a hard-luck story, and the Rebel Alliance was the archetypal lost cause. And anyway, it sounded like Han and Leia had finally decided to call a truce.
Funny--he had everything figured out for everyone else, but no idea what he was supposed to do next. It was amazing how quickly all those hopes and plans had fallen apart in this place...
All he knew was that he was, once again, completely and utterly alone in the universe.
He struggled with the uneasy mix of pride and frustration at having accomplished his goals so effortlessly; relief that he'd gotten Han out and uncertainty at the niggling doubt that he should have tried for more. But this had gone so smoothly only because he'd kept to realistic goals, he knew. Unexpected goals.
It could so easily have been a fiasco--there was no way he would have gotten out of here, he knew that. No way he could have gotten all the way down to Han before they moved him, or had enough guards in place to stop Luke. It just felt strangely empty, to have had all his careful planning work so perfectly...yet he was still here.
He dragged his injured left hand through his cropped hair...and wrenched it back, suddenly realizing how much it hurt as his adrenaline waned.
Realizing how exhausted he was, mentally and physically.
He really hadn't planned past this point--this was the end objective...
What did he do now?
The answer, strangely, was to duck. That message blared out loud and clear through the Force and he obeyed without question, grabbing the scruff of Arco's shirt and dragging him down beneath the console--
The wall exploded back towards him in a violent storm of fine debris, fragments stinging at his face and body despite the protection of the console, dust choking him as it clouded up, the room thrown into darkness as the sprinkler system came on.
His ears sang a single tone, bright sparks exploding before his eyes, reality a distant haze for long seconds... Finally he dragged himself up, grabbing at the swaying Arco and hauling the officer before himself, his blaster to the Imperial's head.
It took long, long seconds for the sprinklers to bring down the haze of fine, grimy dust--longer still for Luke to blink his own gritty vision into clarity.
The ops-room wall was completely gone, leaving it open into the wide corridor beyond, everything covered with dust and debris. A three-deep row of Royal Guards had run into the corridor as I had settled and were still now, weapons trained.
"We both know that you won't shoot him, and we both know that I'll not let you use him as a shield. I'll kill him myself before I'll do that." Palpatine's voice was hard and grating, barely-controlled anger all too evident.
He stepped slowly out into view, raven black against the wall of blood red cloaks of the Royal Guards, the scene eerily quiet to Luke's explosion-shocked ears. But he didn't really need to hear the Emperor's voice to know his words. Or his temper.
"Where is your precious friend?" Palpatine ground out, and Luke recognized that he must have only now realized that Han and Luke weren't together.
He glanced at the control console, a twisted wreck now. Either they'd saved Luke the trouble of destroying the only way they could possibly track Han, or they'd already pulled a dump of exactly what he'd done in here before they set off the explosive charge, which seemed unlikely, since Palpatine had asked where Han was. "What, you don't have him?"
The Sith's eyes narrowed at the taunt. "You should have run."
"I know," Luke said, knowing it absolutely now, but determined not to regret his decision.
Something's about to happen...
He glanced about the devastated room, for what, he didn't know... Palpatine took a half-step forward and Luke raised the blaster in his hand, pressing it against Arco's throat.
The Emperor only smiled. "Shoot him if you wish. You may gain some degree of satisfaction from it, if nothing else."
Luke heard the man's breath hitch in his throat at this, felt him tense in fear...
He relaxed his gun again. "I'm no murderer."
"Never leave an enemy at your back."
He wants me to kill him! Luke let his hold on the man loosen, felt Arco's wire-tight shoulders relax slightly.
He was almost, almost, drawn into the argument. But some tiny sliver of warning still worried at his thoughts...
Why isn't he coming forward? Why is he keeping me talking?
He looked again at the Sith, reaching out with the Force to touch that grim, unrelenting Darkness, no longer the jarring shock it had once been, no longer completely closed to him, and sensed...expectation; preparation... Darkness gathered to him, held in anticipation...in defense...
The tingle of warning in the back of Luke's mind turned into a blaring shock of realization and he dropped back to a crouch, pulling Arco down in the same moment as he pushed out with the Force instinctively, sensing Palpatine's own Force-shields raise that same instant...
The wall close behind Luke exploded with a jolt of phenomenal intensity, its fragmenting mass thrown against his hastily prepared Force-shield with incredible power and energy, whiting out his thoughts in shock--
Then blackness...
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To be continued...
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Chapter 16
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CHAPTER SIXTEEN
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Luke came round slowly, his ears still ringing, his skin smarting from a hundred tiny cuts and grazes.
He was laid on a clean, white floor, wearing clean white clothes, arms and feet bare, a scarlet smudge marking the spot where his bleeding face and arm had touched the ground. He rolled over onto his back, the motion lighting fireworks in his vision.
"You broke the agreement," Palpatine said simply, sense boiling with barely-controlled anger.
Luke glanced to the side, to see the Emperor sat on a solitary chair in the bright, curved-wall cell, no other features in the empty room. He considered trying to sit up, but instead stayed on his back and brought his hand up to shield sensitive eyes from the unyielding light, his head already pounding.
"The pact was over. I no longer owe you anything." His words misted before him in the cold air, chill enough to make him shiver against it.
"The pact will end at dawn today--exactly twelve weeks after your companions were freed."
"The pact came into effect at dusk the night before that, when we first shook hands. When you freed your hostages was irrelevant," Luke said dismissively, though he was well aware of the knife-edge he was walking.