The Adventures of the Crimson Hawk, Part 22

Wedge Antilles couldn't remember the last time he saw sunlight. It had been three weeks since he and the rest of the League had been tossed into the dungeons at Nabarrie Palace. The dungeons were one of the remains of the original Nabarrie Castle, which had been torn down a hundred years before to build a more up-to-date residence for the royal family. The dungeons were still used for the most vicious criminals. The were in the oldest wing, under the military and security offices.

He and Wes looked up when they heard voices. Probably a changing of the guards or a new warden, he thought. A short figure in a gray uniform carried trays, while another was shrouded by a black cape. A third, a dark-skinned man in a general's white outfit and cape, stood by the main entrance, keeping a look out. “We've brought you your lunch, rebel scum,” said a soft woman's voice trying hard to sound male.

Hobbie raised an eyebrow. “You don't sound like the regular guard. You sound...cute.”

The figure in the cape lifted a glowing stick. “I am here to give you the last rites, my son.”

Wedge gulped. “I guess it had to happen sometime. Vader's getting rid of us. Just...Father, if you see a fellow named Luke Skywalker in your travels, tell him I love him and I miss him more than you can imagine.”

“I don't know,” said the soft voice, chuckling. “I can imagine quite a bit.” The man lowered his hood, letting the purple twilight fall on his golden hair and gentle smile.

“Luke!” Wedge managed to reach out of the cell and hug him. “I knew you'd come for us!”

“I'd never leave you. Besides, we need you.” His lover pulled out a leaf-green electrical saber, hacking away at the lock on the cell door. The woman carrying the trays put them aside and started unlocking the door to the other cell that held Tycho and the others.

Hobbie nearly knocked Luke over with his embrace. “Hey there, Sunshine! Glad to see you!”

Tycho smirked as he followed him. “What took you so long? We've been squashed in here for weeks! Do you know how badly these guys need a bath?”

“We'll worry about that later.” Luke tossed Wedge a gun. “You're coming with me and Rusty. Everyone else is going to take the Falcon and the Ghost to the Takodana Inn on the edge of Alderaan and Naboo.”

“Where's Solo?” The woman handed Wedge a gun that was almost larger than she was. “He loves these jail breaks. They're some of his favorite things to plan.”

The officer in gray pulled off the top of her uniform, revealing Duchess Leia Organa. “Henry's sick. He's in the captain's cabin at the Falcon with Charles and Cedric. Mon Mothma pulled strings and got Dr. Kalonia to make an airship call. Jenkins Huttman gave him drugs that blurred his eyesight and weakened his muscles. She says he'll recover in a few days, when he gets them out of his system, but he's not up to rescues right now.”

“Duchess?” Hobbie grinned. “I knew you were one of us at heart.”

“And I am officially now.” She handed guns to two more of the men. “Call me the White Swan. I'm leading this expedition until the Crimson Hawk is back on his feet.”

The other man in the white uniform hurried over, brandishing a pearl-handled pistol. “First of all, we'd better clear out. Vader's on his way with the head of security. Second, can I keep this?” He tugged at the white cape. “Coruscant officers always did have impeccable taste in suits.”

“Sure! Why not? It is impeccably tailored, and it might be useful for the Diamond Gala Ball.” Luke turned to a confused Wedge. “Oh, Wedge, this is Langdon Croydon, former mayor of Bespin. Langdon, this is Wedge, my...my lover.”

“You're a lucky man.” He shook Wedge's hand. “You have a good man here.”

“Thanks.” They both ducked as gunshots were heard in the hall, followed by Vader's raspy breathing. Wedge shot his light gun into the hall. “Ok, I'm glad to have met you, but how are we going to get out of here?”

“I can handle that.” Leia pulled a brass ball out of her pocket. “Henry was working on this before we arrived at Bespin. He calls it a 'smoke bomb.'” She threw it directly in the path of the oncoming officers. The second it hit the ground, the hallway was filled with a stiffling, heavy white smoke.

“Search the area!” Vader boomed. “Find them! Find my son!”

Unfortunately, by the time the clouds vanished, the entire group was gone. The head warden was turning several shades of white and purple. “Find them! Search the entire area!”

“No.” Vader's rolling hiss overrode the man's screams. “Let them go. This is all according to my master's plan.”

The officer was about ready to have a tantrum like a two-year-old. “But they're getting away!”

“Have patience.” The hiss deepened. “They will come to us.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Luke was grateful that he, Wedge, and Rusty didn't encounter anywhere near the trouble they had the first time they went to Dagobah. Indeed, it only took a few days to get there, even just with the Rogue in boat mode. There were a few alligators that tried to take a bite out of their boat. Luke used the Force to direct them back further south, where they belonged.

He was glad to have Wedge along, too. Wedge had lived in the Alliance countries for most of his life. The boat pilot easily navigated around obstacles that even Luke couldn't see without considerable use of the Force.

Besides, it felt great to have his and Rusty's encouragement. Luke wasn't sure how well Yoda and Ben – or Ben's spirit – would receive him. On one hand, he was glad to have helped rescue Henry and procure the Paradise for their use. He couldn't get the nagging thought out of his brain that Henry wouldn't have needed rescuing if he hadn't stumbled into Vader's trap in the first place.

Luke picked his way to Yoda's hut the moment they arrived at Dagobah. “You two stay on the Rogue,” he warned. “Rusty learned the hard way the last time we were here that there's some nasty monsters in and around this peninsula.”

“Kid, I'm never setting foot on that ground again.” Rusty winced. “I'd rather not end up being lunch for some hungry critter.”

“And I don't know the area as well as you two.” Wedge frowned at the tangle of vines and dripping moss in the marshes. “Are you sure you'll be all right, Luke?”

He smiled, making Wedge blush. “I'll be fine. I know my way around pretty well by now.”

Yoda was at his home when he arrived, trying to read a book. It was upside-down. He looked older and more care-worn than ever. “That face you make.” The small, greenish man frowned. “Look I so old to young eyes?”

Luke tried to give him Henry's famous reassuring smile, but it came out more worried than anything. “No, of course not. You'll never be old to me.”

“I do.” Yoda coughed. “Yes, I do. Sick, I am. Sick, I have been. Sick for years. Old and weak.” He managed to wave a bony finger in Luke's face. “When 98 years old you reach, look as good you will not, hmm?”

He could almost hear Rusty crack that Yoda looked more like he was 900 than 98, but he kept that to himself. “Master Yoda, you can't die.”

Yoda shook his head. “Strong am I with the Force, but not that strong. Fear death, I do not. It calls us all. That is the way of things. The way of the Force.”

Luke helped him into his small sleeping couch. “But you can't die now. I've come back to complete my training.”

The little master's breaths were coming faster, rougher. He coughed again, this time so hard, Luke was sure a lung would come out. “No more training do you require. Already know that which you need.”

His pupil raised an eyebrow. “Am I a Jedi, then?”

“Jedi, you are not.” Yoda's cough sent him into spasms. “One thing remains. Vader. You must confront Vader. Only then, will you become full Jedi.”

“I can't do it.” Luke shook his head. “I can't kill him. He's all the family I have.”

Yoda lay further down in the bed, trying to pull the cover over his wrinkled forehead. “Then told you, did he. Your father, he is.” He shook his head. “Warned you, I did. Incomplete was your training. Not ready for the burden, were you. Obi-Wan would have told you years ago, had I let him. Was worried...you would fall.”

The little man's dull dark eyes were mere slits now. “Luke...when gone am I, last of the Jedi will you be. Pass on...what you...have learned.” He leaned closer into the little man, trying to hear his last gasped words. “The Force is strong...in your...family. Strong...with...father...strong...with...you...with...sis....” The second the words left Yoda's lips, he settled down, his last breath spent. Luke watched in sadness as he vanished before the youth's eyes.

Wedge and Rusty found Luke digging a hole in the marshy ground, tears in his blue eyes. “Are you all right?” his lover asked quietly. “And what are you doing?”

“Yoda died.” Luke's eyes were red-rimmed from crying. “I'm giving him a proper burial. Well, actually, I'm burying his blanket, since he vanished. I don't know if I could get away with burning it in this humidity. Great masters were always burned as a sign of respect...”

“Here.” Rusty emerged with a second shovel from the hut. “Let me help you there, son.”

The ground took a while to yield, but when it did, they lowered a small box into the ground. Luke read a few verses from a book of the Force he found in the hut. Wedge held his hand, leaning into him for comfort.

“Yoda was a cantankerous old cuss,” Rusty confessed as he tossed a lavender marsh flower into the hole. “Hard to get along with, but I never met a wiser guy. Little ones thought he wonderful. Almost every Jedi Guard respected him, if not flat-out loved him. He was living history. Wars, peace, love, death...if it happened, he was there.”

Luke emerged from the hut first, wiping his eyes. They'd packed anything they could use for themselves and their journey southward to the Takodana Inn. Everything else would remain at the hut. Yoda seldom talked about himself, other than he had no living relatives in Asia. He had no idea what would happen to it now.

“I can't do it, Wedge,” Luke whispered to his lover as he sat on a log. “I can't go on alone.”

His head shot up as a voice blew through the sodden leaves. “Yoda and I will always be with you.”

Wedge's jaw dropped. “Sir Kenton? But he's dead!”

“It's his spirit.” Rusty waved to the trees. “Hi, Ben. Sorry about Yoda. He was one of a kind.”

Luke ignored both of them. “You told me Darth Vader betrayed and murdered my father and half the order.”

“The part about him killing the order was true enough.” Ben's sighs shook the leaves over their head. “Baron Anakin Skywalker had once been a good man, a good husband, and the best friend I ever had. I don't know the whole story, but I'm guessing that towards the end of the Alliance War, Palpatine, who had just become Prime Minister of Naboo, offered him more power in exchange for betraying the order. Yoda and the other members of the Naboo Council wouldn't grant him more duties in Guards, and the Senate considered him a maverick and refused to make him a full king with his wife.”

Luke shook his head. “There is still good in him.”

“Luke, he killed an entire school of Jedi trainees. Ask Kanan. He was one of the few survivors of that holocaust.” The wind blew towards Rusty. “Ask Mr. Arlington here. He's been our handyman for years.”

Rusty groaned. “You had to implicate me in this. I kept my promise. I haven't told the kids, and Goldie doesn't remember where he is half the time.”

The golden-haired lad grabbed his shoulders. “You knew my parents, and you never told us?”

Wedge smirked. “How old are you?”

“Old enough, son.” He wrenched his shoulders from his friend's metal hand. “Anakin Skywalker was one of my best friends. In some ways, he was a lot like you, kid. He loved machines. He could make clockworks and steam engines do anything. We worked together a lot in the 1840's and 50's. I had a job as the repair man for the Jedi Guards and the royal family until Anakin went off his nut.” He glared up in the sky. “That doesn't mean the kid's gonna do what he did. You forget, Ben, he's got a lot of Padme in him, too.”

“Yes, but as you may remember, Richard, Padme couldn't bring Anakin back. I couldn't, either.” Ben's sigh was resigned. “He's more machine now than man, twisted and evil.”

Luke shook his head. “I can't do it, Ben. I can't fight my own father.”

“Are you crazy?” Wedge lifted Luke's metal hand. “How many limbs do you want him to lose?”

“You can't escape your destiny.” Ben's voice in the trees was more strident. “You must face Baron Vader again.”

Luke squeezed Wedge's hand, then lifted his head to the trees. “I can't kill my own father.” He closed his eyes, recalling Yoda's final words. “Yoda mentioned a sister.”

Wedge raised his eyebrows. “I thought you were an only child.” Rusty coughed. A hand smacked him in the back of his head. “Do you know something about this, Rustbucket?”

“Uh, well,” Rusty started, “that's something else I wasn't supposed to tell them. Ben wanted them to figure it out on their own.”

“Padme argued against it. She never stopped believing in her husband, even when she was too sick to move, but we had no choice but to separate you. Richard, Yoda, Bail and I knew that if Anakin knew he had offspring, they would either be a threat to him, or he would seek them out and corrupt them as he had been corrupted.” The breeze blew around Luke. “That is the reason why your sister remained anonymous...until you and the rest of the League encountered her on the road in May.”

Luke closed his eyes. “Leia. Leia's my sister. I think I've known for a while. There was always something so...familiar...about her.”

Wedge chuckled. “No wonder you two are so much alike. You fight the same, get the same crazy ideas, and get attached to the same causes.”

Rusty nodded. “Yeah, son. Bail took her and Padme in as his adopted sister and her daughter. Padme wasn't in good shape, even then. She didn't live to see Leia's first birthday. People in Alderaan say it was the fall after Vader squeezed her windpipe or having twins under too much stress that killed her, but Bail, Breha, and I knew better. Padme died of a broken heart. She just loved her man too much.”

The errant breeze blew comfortingly across Luke's shoulder. “Bury your feelings deep down, Luke. They give you credit, but they could be made to serve the Emperor.”

“I'll be all right, Ben.” He took Wedge's hand. “Come on. We have to meet with the others.” The infectious sunshine smile returned. “We have to make plans with my sister.”