The Adventures of the Crimson Hawk, Part 16

Langdon Croydon was taking his home back. This deal had been a bad idea from the start. He thought he was saving Belle Vista, While the Coruscant soldiers were dragging Leia and Charles to Vader's vehicle, he ordered his valet Laurence to bring the stable boys and chimney sweeps and tell them he had an extra job for them to do.

They made it to the front parlor before Laurence and the boys surrounded them, all holding pistols or shotguns. “I'll take that.” He easily slid a pearl-handled revolver out of the head officer's shocked hand. “All of you, hands to your heads. You,” he waved the gun at the soldier holding Leia, “put that lady down. And no funny business.” The soldier did as he was told, too shocked to argue.

“What are you doing?” The beautiful woman in the red and white gown gave him the nastiest look she could muster, even as he tossed two rifles into her arms. “Are you trying to get us killed?”

“No.” Laurence handed his master the key to Charles' cuffs. “I'm getting us all out of here.”

Cedric was hobbling along behind Charles. “I knew it all along. It had to be a mistake. You're too refined of a man to take up with ruffians like Vader and his ilk.”

Leia disagreed. “You think that after you turned Henry in like that, we're just going to trust you?”

“You god-damn bastard!” The moment Charles' hands were free, they were around Langdon's neck. “I'm going to squeeze you until you pop for doin' this to us!”

Langdon dropped to his knees under the pressure of thick palms that were almost the same size of his head. “I...had...no...choice...”

“What are you doing?” Cedric tried to grab at Charles' arm. “Trust him! He's our only way out!”

Leia's dark brown eyes blazed. “Oh sure, let's trust him. He had no choice, right Charles?”

Langdon's face was starting to turn an unbecoming shade of purple. “There's still a chance to save He...he...Hen...”

“Charles, stop!” Cedric wailed. “It sounds like he's talking about Mr. Solo!”

“Fettson's carriage...in the stables...” The small man in the fine blue suit grabbed wildly at the angry manservant's hairy arms, trying to pull him away.

“Charles, let him go!” Leia held the rifle at Langdon's back. “Is this true?”

“Yes...” Langdon was still gasping on his knees, even after Charles reluctantly pulled his hands away. “I know this house...like I know the rules for every card game...”

“Good.” She held the gun to his chest as Cedric helped him to his feet. “You and your servants are going to take us there.”

“I would...anyway.” He grabbed a side chair, still puffing. “This town...is getting too hot...for me. Was going to close the house...and head somewhere with fewer Imperials...”

“Let's go.” Leia and Charles were already following Laurence out the door, even as Langdon continued to regain his breath.

Cedric leaned on him, helping him up despite his own sprained ankle. “I'm terribly sorry about all this, sir. After all, he's only a Wookie!”

They'd just made it out to the long row of stables on the eastern side of the house in time to see Fettman's armed ice wagon burst out of the gates. Everyone leaped out of the way, Leia just avoiding being trampled by the two red stallions pulling the wagons. The stallions burst through the curving entrance to Belle Vista, leaving dust in their wake as they galloped down the rocky road. She just caught a glimpse of Henry clutching the bars, his handsome face drooping in sorrow, his wrist still clapped in irons. She tried to run after the carriage, but the horses quickly outpaced her.

Cedric moaned as Charles helped him to his feet. “We're doomed! We'll never catch them now!”

“Yes, we can.” Leia swung over to Langdon, her rifle trained on him. “Ok, Mr. Croydon. Talk. Where is he taking Henry?”

Langdon gave the angry duchess a wan smile and slowly pushed the barrel of the gun away from his chest. “He's hauling him to Jenkins Huttman's shack in the Tatoonie Islands. Not the type of place a lady of quality like you should be hanging out at.”

“I don't care. I want Henry back. We need him.” She added softly, “I need him.”

Charles grabbed Langdon by his linen cape. “You're gonna take us there. You know where Huttman lives. You've gambled there before.”

“I'd be glad to.” The small mayor tugged at the cord holding his cape on. “If you'll just...” Charles dropped him, not lightly. He landed on the grass with a less-than-graceful “thud.”

“We'll take the Falcon.” Leia was already starting back towards the gardens. “Nothing else will get there fast enough.”

“I don't think that's a good idea.” Langdon had to hurry to catch up with her, despite her shorter legs. “My people aren't done with the engine yet. Henry made so many modifications...”

But Leia was already half-way down the path and didn't hear a word Langdon said.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Luke followed that fluttering black wisp through the misty stone paths lined with trees dripping with velvety moss and hedges clipped to resemble hearts or diamonds. The moisture hung of late lilies and jewel-toned rose bushes like diamond beads, sparkling wanly in the dim, watery light.

He came to the edge of the mountain, a stunning terrace flanked by rows of scarlet, creamy yellow, and dark gold late-summer flowers. The craggy cliffs were laden with drooping greenery and bordered by stonework stairs carved into the side of the hills. An elegant fountain with gleaming gold trim bubbled in the center, bordered by magnificent, ivy-and-rose-covered arches leading back to Bella Vista.

The hissing reached his ears before the deep rumble of a voice did. “Luke Skywalker.” His sizzling ruby red blade crackled in the dampness, the only sound other than an occasional bird. “You are not a Jedi yet.”

Luke pulled out his own sword as Vader leaped more nimbly down the hill than one might imagine, given his size and bulk. “Vader.” The young man stood his ground. “Where are they? Leia, Henry, Charles, and Cedric. My friends and my guardian. What have you done with them?”

Vader waved his sword at him. “I arrested Solo myself,” he hissed, “Golden Eagle. You're lucky I have plans for you, or you would be on your way to the Tatoonie Islands with him as we speak.”

“What about Leia?” Luke made his way cautiously up the stone staircase. “Where is she?”

“That's no longer your concern.” He lunged for the boy, who parried him with more ease than he would have believed possible. “Your destiny lies with me now, Golden Eagle. I know who you are...” He bowed before him. “Your highness, Prince Luke Quenton Amidala Skywalker of Naboo.”

“And you're nothing but a usurper and a traitor!” Luke pressed harder, lunging around the flowers. As he ducked through one of the beds, the vines wrapped around his feet, tripping him. He rolled just in time as Vader's red electrical saber came down where his head had been.

“I'm no traitor!” Vader slashed at him harder, this time enough to knock him off the edge of the cliff. “All too easy.”

He hadn't bothered looking over the cliff. Luke had grabbed a vine before he landed on the waiting Death Star Airship. He let himself down on a ledge that gave him just enough room to leap back into the garden, right before Vader.

“Impressive.” He lunged for the boy again, only to see him jump and grab hold of a clinging vine over their heads. “Most impressive.” Luke grabbed a vine and swung again, just barely missing Vader throwing his saber at his head. “Your hate has made you powerful, Your Highness. Release your anger. Only your hatred can destroy me.”

Luke grinned down at him from a tree. “You'll have to catch me first!” He swung away before Vader could throw again.

Despite his current terror, Luke was having a lot of fun. He felt like a monkey, swinging from tree to tree. Was this what it would feel like to live in the jungle, among the apes and snakes and squawking parrots? He and Wedge would have to visit one someday. “If I ever see Wedge again,” he added mournfully. It broke his heart to know the man he loved was in Vader's clutches because of him. As soon as he got Henry out of jail, they'd have to rescue him.

His mind was so focused on a plan to rescue Wedge and the others, he didn't see the heavy rock fly through the rapidly thinning fog. The missile hit him hard on the shoulder, enough to cause him to let go of the vine. He landed in a bed of soft moss with a hard thump!

At first, all he saw was a black rock on his chest. As his vision cleared, the black blur coalesced into a large booted foot. Vader stood over him, holding his electrical saber to his chest. “You are beaten, Your Highness. There is nowhere else for you to run.”

“Never!” Luke managed to concentrate long enough to make the fallen rock fly into his outstretched fingers. He slammed Vader's toes with it as hard as he could. It didn't really hurt him that much, but it distracted him long enough for Luke to scramble to his feet.

The two men continued dueling across the gardens, leaping over flowers and hedges, neither one giving an inch. Vader was good. He was very good. He'd had the years of training and experience that Luke lacked...and it showed. Vader barely seemed to be slowing down, but Luke was battered and bloody and weary.

Vader drove him back to the edge of the cliffs, this time on the southern border of the property, near the fields. Luke got in two more blows before Vader slammed his red blade cleanly through his right wrist. He let out a scream of shock and pain as his detached limb soared over the edge and into the ravine below, taking his sword with it.

“It's useless to resist, boy.” His archenemy's dark shadow loomed over him, menacing and terrible, turning the glowing red saber a deep purple. “Benjamin resisted, too. I offered him and your mother unlimited power, and they turned away from me. Turned on me. I thought they loved me, but they loved their country more.”

“What do you mean?” Luke clutched his hand, gritting his teeth against the searing pain. “My mother would never love a monster like you! She loved Father, and no one else! Ben told me so!”

“You're so much like her, Luke. So trusting.” He clenched his fist. “Luke, I am your father. Padme was my wife. Kenton lied. I never stole my titles. They've been mine since I earned them in the Alliance Wars.”

“No!” Luke shrieked at the top of his lungs. “NO! That's not true! That's impossible! Mother could never love someone like you!”

“Search your feelings, boy,” Vader hissed deeply. “You know them to be true.”

“No! Never!” Luke tried to pull back, but there was nowhere else go to...except... When he looked down, he noticed a bit of movement under him...a familiar patched balloon...

“Luke.” Vader held out his hand. “Come, my son. It's the only way.”

Luke drew himself up as regally as he could manage. “You're wrong, Father. There's always another way.”

He simply stepped off the cliff. Remembering the trick he pulled on the other side, he managed to grab a vine on the way down. He'd also had one more hand then. His remaining digits barely managed to hold on to the rough makeshift rope.

“Leia,” he begged, “hear me, please. Leia. Help me!”

It wasn't Leia he saw on the deck as the Falcon drifted closer to his feet. He didn't recognize the dark-skinned man in the pale blue linen suit, though he did make a note to discuss his tailor when he made it on the ship. That was a very well-cut outfit. Leia, to his surprise, was behind the ship's wheel, maneuvering the Falcon over to the cliff with an intensity that was almost scary. Charles hung off the ropes, while Rusty and Cedric waved from the fore deck.

“Luke!” Leia called. “Drop down to the ship!”

The man in the fine suit waved. “I've got you, kid!”

“Him too?” Luke muttered as he let go. His last thought when he passed out after landing in the man's arms was “Must be a friend of Henry's.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Luke hobbled into the smaller cabin in the Falcon, which he shared with Charles on long test flights. His arm throbbed...and when he tried to flex his fingers, he remembered why. Nothing moved. When his eyes focused, the blurs coalesced into the vision of Leia by his side, wrapping the stump that had been his right hand with bandages from the first-aid kit.

“What...where...” His eyes roamed, taking in the shots fired and the massive black airship coming up on their left. “What happened?”

“I don't know. I just...I heard you.” She'd traded her red gown for a red blouse, one of Henry's black vests, tight trousers, and her own button-up white and black boots. “In my head. It was like you were calling to me. I couldn't leave without you.”

Luke took her hand in his good one. “Leia...what happened to Henry? Someone hurt him really bad. I felt the burns, and I was nowhere near fire.”

Leia tried to look impassive, but she couldn't help the anger in her voice. “Vader found out he's The Crimson Hawk, probably from Bob Fettson. He burned his back and arm, then arrested him. Fettson's probably half-way to the Tatoonie Islands with him by now.”

They were both nearly knocked off the bed by cannon fire. “I'll be back.” She kissed him on the forehead and went up to the deck. Luke followed her, a dull ache in his chest.

The Death Star Airship, its silvery shark wings glinting sharply in the late-afternoon sun, was almost upon them. Luke ducked light fire that almost took off his head as he got on the deck. To his surprise, Leia was driving. Lando and Charles manned the cannons, trying to put dents in the Death Star's curving steel surface.

“Vader,” Luke whispered, eyes focused on the black monolith of a man driving the ship himself in the steerage quarters. “Father. He's come for me.”

Rusty's rotund rear poked out of the clockwork gears in the engine between the decks. “You don't know how to fix our turbo engines!” Cedric wailed, waving the cane he'd borrowed from Henry's closet for emphasis. “Charles or Her Grace could do it! I'm barely walking on this ankle, and you're having delusions of grandeur down there!”

“Aw, pipe down, you wind-up chatterbox.” Rusty poked his balding head out of the space, reaching for a greasy wrench. “I know what I'm doin'. I ain't gonna let Anakin get his hands on his kids just yet. He's got a lot to learn about bein' a decent father before he deserves them.”

“Anakin? The Baron? I thought he was dead!” Cedric groaned. “I knew you were insane!”

Rusty poked his head out of the deck. “Strap yourself down, Goldie, 'cause we're getting outta here.”

Even as he spoke those words, blue fire burst from the back of the Falcon! The ship suddenly streaked into the puffy white clouds, leaving nothing but sparkling dust in its wake. Luke and Langdon fell over – and into – each other. Leia had to hold onto the ship's wheel for dear life. Charles grabbed Cedric as Rusty fell backwards into the repair space.

“You did it!” Cedric managed to lean over and give Rusty the biggest hug his skinny arms could manage. “You're a hero!”

Rusty's pug face sported a dazed smirk. “I told you so, Goldie!”

“Well, where to now?” Langdon asked as he and Luke stumbled over to Leia at the wheel.

“Um, we're going to have to go back to the mansion first.” Luke's sweet face turned a bit red. “I left the Rogue parked in the garden near the front terrace.”

Leia nodded. “We could do that quickly. Hopefully, Vader's boys will be busy on the Death Star. Langdon, you go with him. Luke's in no condition to be flying anything.”

“What about after that?” Langdon waved a hand at Luke and the silver shark-like airship fading into the distant horizon. “Vader's still after us, and we need to do something about your friend's hand.”

“What's left of it.” The battered youth put out his remaining hand. “Luke Skywalker, Henry's ward. Wish we could have met under more pleasant circumstances.”

“Me too, kid.” The man in the linen suit had a solid, firm grip for such a slight fellow. “Langdon Croydon, mayor...well, I guess former mayor now...of Bespin.”

“All I want to do is go home, get a change of clothes, and rest this ankle, so I can return to performing my true occupation.” Cedric brushed off his tattered, yet immaculate pale gold suit. “I've told all of you time and time again that I'm not an adventurer or a storyteller. I'm a secretary. This gadding about in airships fighting off villains is not my line of work.”

Luke nodded at the others as Leia turned the Falcon towards Bella Vista. “Maybe we'd better split up here. For one thing, it'll make it harder for Vader to follow us. Langdon, you, Rusty, and I will stop in Lothal to get my hand looked at. They have a hospital, and we have...friends...there. Leia, you take Charles and Cedric to Chalindria Court to drop off Cedric and check in with your aunt and Mon Mothma.”

She nodded. “They may know people who could help us with Jenkins Huttman, or would be able to recommend people who can. From what Henry said, most of this Huttman's activities range from slightly criminal to blatantly illegal. Besides, my Aunt Breha must be worried sick about me by now.”

The Rogue was surrounded by at least ten Coruscant soldiers when they arrived. “You think we could take them on?” Luke asked. “I'm not exactly at my best right now.”

“Us well-dressed men?” Langdon pulled a gun out of a concealed pocket in his cape. “They won't know what hit them.”

“Good.” Leia dropped three ropes over the side as the soldiers realized there was a wide shadow overhead that was too big to have been created by a passing cloud. “You boys get down there!” She gave Luke a kiss on the cheek. “And may the Force be with all of you!”

Luke gave her a dazed grin. “You too.”

Langdon smirked as he grabbed one of the ropes, taking Luke with the other. “I think she likes you, kid.”

“Nahh, I already have someone.” He looked thoughtful as he dropped down next to Rusty. “Leia's more like a sister to me, ever since the day we met. It's strange. It's like I knew her before...a long time ago...”

“Kid, we'll talk about you n' the Duchess later.” Rusty whacked three men in the ankles with his greasy wrench, sending them screaming into the grass. “Right now, we have to get on that ship.”

“Right.” Luke leaped onto the upper deck of the Rogue as easily as he would leap onto the pommel horse at the gym in Corellia Manor. He took an idea from Rusty, whacking several men over the head with the flat side of hammer and tripping them over the side while they were still dazed. “All aboard for points south,” he called through his cupped hands, “including Lothal and the Tatoonie Islands!”

Rusty was still brandishing his wrench as he scrambled over the wooden gangplank Luke had just lowered. “Ok, kid. You go down in the main cabin and rest that arm. Croydon n' I will do the rest.”

Langdon grinned at Luke's face. “Don't worry about your baby. I've driven steam ships for years, and I have an airship of my own I, er, won off a friend in a Baccarat game, the Lady Luck. If we can, we might have to come back for her later. She's a lot bigger than this, but she's a good girl. Added a few more guns and amenities to her.”

Rusty pulled up the gangplank as bullets began flying. “You boys talk ships later. Right now, I think it would be a good time to get out of here, before we all end up in the hospital.”

The Death Star arrived just in time to see the Rogue take off into the sky, blasting half-way across the Bespin Mountains. Admiral Piett stood nervously in the main cockpit area as Vader watched the two ships separate, going in opposite directions.

“Which one should we follow?” Piett gulped. He could feel his boss' tension from half-way across the room. “Ground communications indicate that Mayor Croydon escaped in the smaller vessel with Luke Skywalker, aka the Golden Eagle, and a servant. Looks like Duchess Organa may be taking the other ship back to Naboo.”

Vader drummed his fingers on the motherboard. “Set a course for Nabarrie Palace. I need to contact General Hux and the Prime Minister. We have something...special...planned for The Golden Eagle and Her Grace. Remember too that they are without Solo and Kenton's protection, and Croydon no longer has the resources of Bespin at his disposal. They are vulnerable...which makes this the perfect time to strike.”

Piett couldn't help the relieved breath that escaped his lips. Vader had choked at least three of his predecessors after being displeased with their efforts. “I'll give the men the coordinates right away, Your Baronship.”

“Very well, Admiral.” Vader returned to gazing out the window as the Admiral scurried over to the pilots.