The Adventures of the Crimson Hawk, Part 10

It was pouring when Charles picked up Leia in their small but well-appointed covered cart. He held a wide black umbrella over her head as they dashed through the entrance. “What terrible weather.” Leia shook the water off her pale blue day dress. “And it was so nice yesterday!”

“It was hot and muggy yesterday,” Charles might have said. That thick native accent of his was hard to understand at times. “This is an improvement.” He opened the door. “Shall we, miss?”

“Thank you.” Leia had barely stepped through the dark, heavy wooden door when she was almost knocked to the floor by an enthusiastic blond blur.

“Leia!” Luke gave her a big hug. “I'm glad you were able to come. I thought you might have stayed home because of the weather.”

“Wild horses couldn't keep me away.” Leia chuckled. “Do you think I'd turn down the chance to see inside real bachelor quarters? I may never get an opportunity like this again!”

That wasn't the only reason Leia's aunt and hostess had encouraged her visit. “Find out what Henry's up to,” Mon Mothma told her the night before at dinner when she mentioned her visit. “We want to know more about that airship and what he plans to do with it. I think it's a lot more than shipping.”

Breha stirred her iced tea. “Those young men...there's something...odd about them. Did you notice that it's been almost a month since anyone has heard from the Crimson Hawk and his men?”

Leia's laugh sounded hollow. “Surely you don't think Henry Solo could be the Crimson Hawk? He has that bad leg. Not to mention, he's a legitimate businessman, with a ward and a company to protect.”

“I don't know what to think.” Mon Mothma turned her gaze to Leia. “I do know that the Crimson Hawk hasn't been seen since he and his men rescued you.”

She shook out the morning paper. “There's other concerns as well. Vader has vowed to capture the Crimson Hawk and the Golden Eagle and bring them both to justice. He blames them for the destruction of the first Death Star Airship and the sabotage on the second one.”

Leia peered over the senator's shoulder. “How are the repairs on the second Death Star going?”

“He says he's hoping to have it done by the time of the coronation next month.” She put her newspaper aside. “Hopefully, we should have figured out what to do about it by then. We can't keep up with these random acts of sabotage. We need a bigger plan...and Henry might be the right man for the job.”

“Leia?” She shook her head as Henry's voice echoed from down the long, dark wood hall and her mind returned to the present. “Hey there, Your Grace! Glad you could come. I'm working on a new type of train and boat fuel made from condensed khyber crystals. Should run ten times faster than coal or gas...if Junior and I can figure out the exact formula from Ol' Kenton's notes.”

“Han,” Luke began as Leia followed them. “I've been meaning to ask you something.”

His employer hobbled rather fast for his condition. “Yeah, Junior, what?”

“Henry, I...I want to take my leave.” He finally took Henry's shoulder. “After the Regatta. I need to find Yoda.”

Henry looked up from his notes. “Is that a new science society or something?”

“No,” Luke explained, “it's a Jedi. A great warrior. I want to find him and learn more about the Force and the guards.”

Henry frowned. “You do what you want, kid. You're of age. I can't stop you.” He clapped the boy's shoulder. “But after the Regatta, ok?”

Luke's sunny grin returned. “Ok! Don't worry, Henry. I'll come back as soon as I've finished training.”

“Liang Yoda?” Leia followed the men into a room towards the end of the hall. “He was one of the heads of the Jedi Council, the Queen and King's top advisers. Uncle Bail used to talk about him. I thought he was killed with the other guards.”

“So did I.” Luke grabbed a heavy, dark apron off a hook. “Right before he died, Ben told me Yoda was still alive, and might be willing to teach me about the ways of the Jedi Guards.”

“Wouldn't he be at least a hundred by now? He wasn't young when I was a kid.” Henry hobbled over to a vast networks of chemical tubes, pipes, beakers, burners, and glass bottles. The chemistry set took up the entire end of what was otherwise a fairly normal parlor. Fizzy blue and green liquids, like the ones Leia saw in the Falcon's tubes, bubbled along, dripping into two glass beakers at the end of the room near the door.

“It doesn't matter how old he is.” Luke took one of the beakers, inspecting the contents. “What matters is, he knows more about the Jedi than anyone.”

Leia sat gingerly on a heavy wooden chair that was streaked with a long bright blue stain. “How do you know you can trust this person? He may not even want to see you.”

The young man looked up from the fizzy cerulean liquid. The pale blue eyes were hard and determined. “I have to try, Leia.”

The trio worked on the liquids for the better part of an hour. Leia hadn't really taken much chemistry in school, but she picked up enough to at least understand why one liquid fizzed, another wouldn't mix with it. “Careful!” Henry took one beaker from Leia as she was about to pour it into a larger glass. “You drop that, and this place will go sky-high. We've had enough explosions around here as it is.”

“Explosions?” Leia chuckled. “Is that what happened the day I met you?”

“Uh, yeah. Rusty n' Junior n' I were workin' on our cutting machine.” Henry winced as he handled a hot tube of effervescent green liquid. “Let's just say our first version didn't like the fuel we were usin'.”

“It was all over everything.” Luke groaned at the memory. “Took us days to get it clean. The windows were a total loss. Ben was so upset. He loved this place. I didn't know there were so many words for 'idiot' in Scotch Gaelic.”

“I'm pretty sure he made most of them up.” Henry limped over to a small metal box, laden with tubes. “Stand back.” Luke handed him a set of goggles, which he pulled on quickly. As soon as he poured the liquid into a small funnel on the side of the machine, he pushed the other two back towards the wall. “Here it goes.” He picked up a long box the size of a cinder block and pushed a lever.

The gears in the machine whirred, then crackled. After a few minutes, it sizzled to life, blue and green electricity starting a small storm around the casing. A jagged blue light sizzled through a block of scrap metal sitting on the table. “It worked!” Henry threw his arm around Luke's shoulder. “Junior, it worked! Do you know what this means?”

“He might, but I don't.” Leia shrugged. “What does it mean?”

“That's what I was telling you about at the party a few weeks ago, Your Grace, the machine that can cut through anything.” He handed the box to Luke. “Walk around with it, kid. Let her see what it does. Go get another piece of scrap.”

“All right.” As he made his way around the steel table, the machine let out a beep, then a whir, and then another crackle. One of the tubes lifted, sighted Luke...and shot a blast of blue liquid straight at his chest! It hit him directly in the center of his apron.

“Well,” Henry admitted sheepishly, “it's not a hundred-percent perfect yet.” He took off his own goggles, hanging them on a wooden peg board. “But we're getting there.”

Charles's furry head ducked into the door. “How would you folks like some lunch? You've been working in here for nearly an hour. We'll be having roast beef sandwiches on my own fresh sweet bread, peas and carrots, and chips with vinegar.”

“Sounds good to me.” Luke set the control box on the table and removed his own goggles. “I'm starved!”

“Me too.” Leia got to her feet.

“I'm game.” Henry took his cane. “Come on, kiddies. Grub's on.”

Leia spent a very pleasant rainy afternoon with the trio of inventors. Charles in particular was such a gentleman. He pulled out a chair for her and always offered her the food first. Luke prattled on about their entry in the Regatta and spending time with Wedge. Henry said very little, mostly either talking about his engines or making poor attempts to flirt with her.

The rain was picking up as Luke lead her to a small house in the back of the main building, just hidden between a circle of asters. “This is the place I pointed out to you the day you arrived.” Luke held an umbrella over his and Leia's head. Charles and Henry shared the big black one the tall manservant had used for Leia earlier. “Our main workshop is upstairs. That's where we sketch our blueprints and develop our ideas.”

“I'll bet that must be interesting.” Leia shook off the rain as Charles pushed the screen door open.

“Oh, it is.” Henry let Luke help him in. “But it's not open to the public. You wouldn't like it, anyway. It's mostly very dull and dusty up there, just papers and desks and maps and pencils.”

“Maps?” Leia hung her wet lace wrap on a clothes tree in the foyer. “What do you need maps for? Your business?”

“How else am I going to know where all the stuff I'm shipping is heading for?” The disabled businessman limped down a hallway that was a bit brighter than the one in the main house, painted a sunshiny yellow. “I have a company to keep track of.”

Luke lead her to the open room in the very back of the house. “I think this will interest you a lot more.”

The wide room had been converted into something like a gym, with a hobby-horse, a rope to climb, three sets of boxing gloves hanging on a series of hooks near the door, and shelves and shelves of fencing sabers and epees and masks. A series of long windows gave them a wonderful view of the thunder and lightning dancing over the gardens and the edge of the river. “Oh my.” Leia walked around the room. “I'm impressed. They won't even let women into the men's gymnasium at home. We have our own, but it isn't as big or well-stocked as this.”

“You're the first woman who's ever been in here,” Henry admitted as Charles settled him into a plush chair on one side of the room. “It's usually just the three of us, or Wedge and the Rogues. You should see Rusty do handstands on the hobby horse. He's a lot more agile than you might think from a guy the size and shape of a fire hydrant.”

“I'm surprised you don't make the men let you fence with them.” Luke tossed Leia an epee and a mask. “How are you with these?”

Leia caught them easily. “Better than you might think.” She easily strapped the mask over her braids. “Ahsoka taught me fencing, before she got the reporting job. She used to be with the Jedi Guards, but she quit a year before they were disbanded over an altercation with another member. She doesn't really like to talk about it.”

“That explains your style.” Luke pulled on his mask. “It's like Ben's, but it isn't. It's more...aggressive.”

“That's Ahsoka for you. She can be relentless, whether she's getting a scoop or dueling with one of my uncle's guards.” Leia turned to Henry. “What about you? I guess you can't fence now.”

Henry shrugged, but the hazel eyes darkened. “I know my way around a sword, but I prefer guns. They're a lot simpler than all that messing around with form and style.”

Luke saw the downcast expression on his guardian's face and knew it was time to change the subject. “Shall we begin, Your Grace?” He bowed for her.

She bowed for him. “Absolutely, Sir Skywalker.”

“Sir Skywalker.” Leia could almost see the gears grinding in his gold-topped head. “I like that.” He jumped out for her, almost getting her shoulder. She pulled out just in time. “First lesson.” His grin was nearly feral, illuminated by a bolt of lightning in the long windows behind him. “Always expect the unexpected.”

Henry and Charles watched the two combatants go at each other, pushing each other across the room. It was almost enthralling, the way the two anticipated the others' every move. “You know,” murmured Charles, “those two cubs are right strange. They fight like one body split into two.”

“Yeah.” Henry had to admit, they were good together. Leia's pale, dark looks were perfectly complimented by Luke's tanned golden-boy complexion. They moved as one, Leia's aggressiveness more than a match for his ward's quiet but deadly efficiency. The lightning flashed and thunder boomed, outlining their amiable duel.

Their audience gave them rousing applause when they finally collapsed on a long, padded wooden chest. “Bravo, kiddies!” Henry's smile was genuine and proud. “You're both first-class Jedi. Ol' Kenton would be proud.”

Charles wrapped his hairy arms around them. “I know I am!”

“You're...you're really good, Leia.” Luke was panting as he took off his mask, his face flaming red. “I haven't had a fight like that in ages, even before Ben died. His technique was flawless, but he couldn't really move that fast anymore.”

Leia bowed for him, giggling. “Thank you, Sir Skywalker. You know, it's too bad the Jedi were disbanded. You'd make a great Jedi, and not only because your father was a member of the group. You are very good at this, and Mon Mothma says you're a big help to Henry and to her.”

Her partner turned even redder. “Thank you. I believe in doing all we can to help others.”

“You know,” Leia began, “my aunt and Mon Mothma and I are going into Theed Town tomorrow to visit the cafe and talk to some of her senator friends. She's known a few of them for years. Would you like to come with us?”

Luke started to open his mouth, but Henry spoke first. “Sorry, sweetheart, but we have business matters to attend to tomorrow.” His gave her his most innocent smile. “But I wouldn't mind it if you came to the Regatta with us. It'll just be Charlie and me. Luke and Wedge are entering on the Rogue.”

“It won't be any fun without you!” Luke took her hand. “We'll need more people cheering us on. There's a lot of competition, including Baron Vader's entry. I heard it's the biggest ship in Naboo.”

Leia put her arm around him. “We were already planning on going to the Regatta anyway. Of course I'll join you. I'll have to ask Aunt Breha, but I don't think she'll mind coming. Mon Mothma's coming, too. She's sponsoring Hera Syllendulla and the Ghost.”

“Great! We'll make a whole day out of it.” Henry waved to Charles, who helped him stand. “And now, why don't we have some lemonade in the kitchen? Rusty made it up a few days ago. He makes the best lemonade. Says he learned it from an old employer in Tatoonie years ago.”