The Summer Strikes Back, Part 12

As it turned out, Hank was right. Leia awoke early to a stunning, mid-80's summer morning. A fresh breeze blew into her windows as she and Luke started loading their car. By the time they arrived at Phineas Estate Park, it was the nicest day they'd had since they arrived.

The Phineas Estate, a sprawling mansion built in 1878, had been owned by a Philadelphia doctor and his family for generations. When the last of the family died in 1975, it had reverted to the city of Ocean View. After much deliberation, the city restored it and turned the lush grounds surrounding it, including the gardens and small duck pond, into a city park. The house itself became a museum and tea room. The park was wildly popular for civic functions, from the annual Easter Egg Hunt and May Pole Dance to the ending point for Ocean View's Halloween Parade.

“Mr. Rieekian!” Leia hurried over to the older man in the pale blue polo shirt and jeans who was supervising Ezra and a bunch of his buddies erecting tents. “Thank you so much for letting us use Estate Park for this. There isn't enough room around the Cottages for something this big.”

“You're welcome, Leia. Glad to help.” Rieekian shook her hand. “George Walker was a good friend of mine for years. He shopped in Shore Shoes every time he was down here. Bought your first pair of sandals there when you were up to my knee. It's the least I can do for you. I don't want to see this mall come in. My store's having a hard enough time competing with the shopping centers and malls on the mainland as it is.”

Hank was helping Charlie and the Rogues set up the yard sale booths. “No, no!” He took a basket of pots and pans from his best friend. “This one goes here.” He dropped it on a table loaded with plates, silverware, and ancient appliances. “That one goes there.” The other basket went down among Barbies with hair cuts, action figures with one limb missing, and slightly rusted Slinkies. “All right?”

Charlie sighed, brushing dirt off his Poison t-shirt. “All right. You don't have to get your knickers in a twist, mate.” He went off to gather more baskets from Kes and Hank's trucks.

“Well, your highness,” Hank began, “guess this is it. We're going back to the Falcon as soon as the party's over. Our stuff is already packed and in the truck.”

Leia nodded cooly. “That's right.”

Hank didn't know how to react. He finally grumbled angrily “Is that all you're going to say?”

“What do you want me to say?” Leia glared at him. “It won't do any good, anyway. You're going to run out, just like everyone else. It doesn't matter what we do. You know we could help you. You heard how they dealt with the Imperial Gang at the Cottages. We could get rid of this jerk.”

“Leia, it's none of your business or theirs!” Hank piled pots in front of a sign lettered in scarlet crayon that advertised them as being sold for fifty cents each. “They're lucky the Imperial Gang didn't kill the whole lot of them. These guys don't fuck around, Leia.”

“Uh, excuse me?” Luke was carrying two surfboards under his arm. “I wanted to ask you where these went, sis.”

“Over there.” Leia pointed near the dusty gravel path. “All of the beach equipment and clothing is being sold by the play house and Wagon House.” The play house was the tiny little building that local children often used as their personal play spot, away from the noisier playground near the duck pond. She turned to Hank. “Well, I hope you two are very happy together in Mexico.” She finally stomped after her brother. Hank's eyes never left her petite form in the white peasant blouse and pale blue shorts.

“Thanks, sis.” He gulped. “Uh, I need to tell you something important. I'm, um, going out of town for a week or so after the block party. I called Yoda Yamagachi last night. He said he'd be willing to talk to me and help me with my moves for the surfing contest.”

“You too?” Leia threw up her hands in the air. “Great. Why is it that everyone leaves me in the end? Fine, Luke, fine. You do what you want. You always do.”

“Leia!” Luke frowned. “You know this is important to me.”

“What about our uncle? What about the Cottages?” Leia went behind the tables with the beach equipment as Luke leaned the surfboards against them. “Guess who gets to deal with them? The person who is already going to be two weeks late getting into Drexel due to family emergencies.”

“You don't have to stay, Leia.” Her brother took a blue vinyl water raft out of her hands. “Leia, look at me. I'll be back in a week. It's not like I'm going to be gone the whole summer. We only have two weeks left until the surfing contest Labor Day Weekend.”

“I know.” She looked up at her brother, biting her lip. “Why don't we get these organized? I can already see Arturro and Chip letting the first customers of the day in at the gate.”

“If that'll make you feel better.” Luke squeezed her hand. “Leia, we're twins. We're a team. We're always going to have that connection, even when I'm rescuing people and you're the Governor of New Jersey.”

Leia gave him a wan smile. “All right.”

She turned her attention to their customers. For the next few hours, everything went beautifully. The advertisements and fliers seemed to have done the trick. Half the town that wasn't at the beach, especially those with children, came for the fair and the tours of the lovely old Phineas Estate.

Leia and Luke sold most of their surfboards in their first hour. “Mum, look!” Little Davy Wicket held up a bright blue boogie board, used by younger children and teens to ride smaller waves. “Can I have this one? Please? All me other friends have boogie boards!”

“I don't know, David honey. This one's kind of tall for you.” Leia had to hide her smile. Davy was short for an 11-year-old boy. She pulled out a smaller yellow board. “How about this one?”

“Oooh, I like that! Please Mum, can I have it?” Davy made his big brown eyes as wide as possible. “Please?”

“Well, all right.” His mother had been riffling through the totes and beach bags, finally coming up a straw tote for the beach and a heavier bag that looked like it was made from bottle caps. “What if we split this? You pay for half, and I'll pay for half. Your brother and sister will probably want to use it, too.”

“All right, Mum.” Davy's shining, round eyes looked up at Leia as he handed her his money. “Are you going to babysit me soon? I like it when you babysit me.”

“Not this week, son.” His mother patted his shoulder. “Maybe next week.”

Leia nodded. “I'll be leaving for school soon. I'd like to sit you one more time.”

“We'll see if we can arrange something.” Davy's mother laughed as he tried to pick up the boogie board himself. “Why don't we take that back to the car? It'll be too much to carry around, and I know you wanted to visit the playground and duck pond.”

“Oooh, that's right!” Davy waved to Leia, as well as he could with a boogie board under one arm. “Bye, Leia! I hope I see you soon!”

She waved, laughing. “Bye, Davy! Be careful with that! You don't want to hurt anyone!”

“I'll be fine...oof!” Davy hadn't watched where he was going and had run into Hank, who held a greasy bag. “Sorry, Mister!”

“No harm done, son.” Hank chuckled. “You have fun with that at the beach.”

“I will!” Davy waved and nearly ran into a tree before hurrying after his parent.

“Cute kid.” Hank dropped a bag on the table. “Here's your lunch order, kiddies! Come and get it!” He pulled out a long, cylindrical form wrapped in foil. “I have the crab cake sandwich and a Coke.” The next one was in waxed paper. “Princess, you have an Italian hoagie and a Pepsi Light.” He grinned up at Luke. “And the kid has a pizza cheese steak with an iced tea.”

“Thanks, Hank!” Luke started in on his right away. “How's the yard sale booth coming?”

“Not as well as you guys. We sold most of Chirrut and Baze's top-of-the-line stuff and more than half the toys that are in decent shape, but most people don't come here to pick up stuff they could get at home.” Hank's crab cake sandwich was already more than half-gone. “Hey Princess, want to check out our mystery DJ? I'm dying to know what she looks like myself.”

Leia nodded as she licked oil and vinegar off her fingers. “I've been sitting for an hour. I need to stand and stretch my legs.”

Her brother nodded, pizza sauce and mushrooms streaming down his chin. “You go do that, sis. I'll be fine here. It's kind of slowed down since lunch hour began and the music started.” He grinned, his lips rimmed with red sauce and green spices. “Besides, I've already talked to Ahsoka. She's going to tell me more about our brother when I get back.”

“I might have to talk to her myself, then.” Leia gulped down the last bit of salami and provolone cheese and picked up her soda can. “Let's go, before it's too crowded over there to hear ourselves talk.”

Billy Joel's new song “Tell Her About It” floated down from the gazebo on the other side of the park, near the duck pond, tennis courts, and play ground. Leia could already see Davy and his friends running around on the heavy wood and metal equipment, going down the slides head-first and pushing each other on the swings. Parents kept an eye on them from the green metal benches under the shady oak trees.

“You know, this is almost kind of romantic.” Hank gave Leia one of his lazy grins. “I wonder if Ahsoka takes requests? Something romantic. If we're going to do Billy, maybe 'She's Always a Woman.'”

Leia snorted. “How about 'My Life'?”

Ahsoka had her equipment set up under a navy-blue tent by the picnic grounds. “This is DJ Fulcrum, coming to you live, from gorgeous downtown Ocean View, for the Save the Island Block Party! Come and meet me, the mystery woman of the Jersey Shore, and dance to all your favorite hits. And speaking of parties, here's a boy who knows a little something about partying. We're gonna party like it's '1999', from new sensation Prince.”

A couple of Cottage residents had already abandoned their posts to enjoy the music. Hera and Kanan were rather impressive dancers, especially considering the tight biker shorts he was wearing. Jyn, Bodhi, and Cassian danced as a trio. The bandages from his cracked ribs were visible under Cassian's yellow OP beach-print tank top.

“Want to dance?” Hank grabbed her hand. “One dance, before I leave.”

“Well...” Leia didn't have the chance to say “no” before he pulled her onto the gazebo. She laughed as he twirled her around. “You're not exactly Fred Astaire.”

“Ehh, who needs to be? It's just fun.” Hank smirked. “You do know what that is, right? Fun?”

“I'll have fun when the City Council figures out what they're doing about those plans.” They finally stopped, both out of breath, as the song ended. “I haven't done that...in a while...”

“You need to worry less, Your Highness.” Hank took off the bandanna he was wearing as a headband and wiped his forehead with it. “Come on. Maybe we ought to talk to Ahsoka now.”

Leia nodded. “All right.” She looked up as the DJ put on “Let's Dance.” “What's that buzzing noise?”

“What do you mean?” Hank looked up...and over her his shoulder at the long rows of black and silver motorcycles on the road on Jefferson Road. “Oh shit. Princess...I think we've got company.”

The motorcycles blasted down the dirt path, sending people screaming in all directions. The biggest man, who wore gray and black with embroidered red and blue patches rather than the black and white worn by most of the others, rode right into Ahsoka's tent. They missed the equipment, but the tent poles were knocked down, muffing David Bowie.

Ahsoka brought her microphone stand down on the largest bike. “You bastard! What the hell are you doing? There's people here! Little kids!”

“Ahsoka? Snips?” Vader's hiss held a note of surprise. “I could ask you the same thing! Where have you been for the last fifteen years?”

“Skyguy!” Ahsoka's blue eyes widened in pure shock. “Why are you doing this? You're better than this!”

“Ain't none of your concern, Snips.” Vader didn't have the chance to jump back before Ahsoka lifted his visor. She let out a startled gasp.

“Oh Skyguy,” she barely breathed, “what happened?”

“You wanna know, Snips? Ask Kenobi. It's his fucking fault that I look like Michael Myers did facial surgery on me.” He pulled off the helmet...revealing the back of a burned, badly scarred, hairless head. “Ask him about the night the Order 66 Diner burned down. Ask him what happened when the fire spread to the Mufasar Hotel next door. Ask him why he left his so-called brother to die in that fucking inferno! You ask him, Snips! He friggin' left me to die!”

“Skyguy, no.” Ahsoka still held the microphone. “I can't let you do this, no matter what Ben did to you in the past!”

He put out a hand. “Come on, Snips. You have influence. You're smart. Join the gang. It'll be like old times.”

“Forget it, motorcycle breath. The Skyguy I knew would never have hurt people like this. Especially kids.” Ashoka's blue eyes dropped in sadness, and her voice softened. “I'm not like that. You aren't, either.”

“It's too late for me, kiddo.” He narrowed his eyes. “If you're not with us, Snips, you're against us. I'm gonna have to take you out.”

Her blue eyes narrowed. “Try me.”

Ahsoka was fast and flexible, easily sweeping Vader off his feet...but he had the advantage of sheer size. He pummeled her hard with his heavy leather-encased fists before the two assistants from WACZ, Kanan, Bodhi, and Jyn managed to drag him off.

“Ahsoka!” Leia started towards her, but Hank grabbed her hand.

“Are you crazy?” He yanked her down the paved road that wound through the park. “We have to get out of here, unless you're really in the mood for Vader to do the same to us. The guys from WACZ will take care of her.”

Leia tugged him off the path. “Come on. We can cut through the tennis courts and past the play house.”

They stumbled across the empty clay courts, the sounds of screams and wailing motorcycles slightly muffled by the reeds behind the chain link fences. “What the hell do the Imperial Gang think they're doing?” Leia climbed nimbly over the shortest fence. “We have a restraining order on them!”

“You have it on the Cottages.” Hank's long legs struggled over the fence. “It says nothing about the rest of town.”

Leia and Hank rushed through the reeds and past the tiny, one-room yellow-and-green structure local kids used as a play house. The motorcycle engines were even noisier on this side. “Oh no,” Leia groaned as they rushed down the road, turning onto the dirt path that lead to the Phineas Estate. “They've been here, too.”

The block party was in a shambles. Mothers screamed and dragged their children away, some hollering that they wanted a refund. The Imperial Gang rammed their cycles into every table they could, sending tables, food, toys, and beach equipment flying.

Luke, Wedge, Tycho, and Deak peered out from the remains of the beach equipment tables. “There's gotta be something we d can do,” Deak wailed. “They're totaling our party, man!”

Tycho nodded. “This is so rude. What the hell did we do to these guys?”

“Guess they don't take being egged well.” Luke grabbed the rope that had been used to tie down the surfboards. “Guys, I have an idea.” He tossed Deak the other end. “Get on the other side of the road and hold this out. Wedge and Tycho, follow us.”

“What in the hell are you doing, Walker?” Deak ran to the other side as Luke pulled the rope as taut as he could.

“There's no way we're going to take these guys down. Those motorcycles are too strong. We have to get 'em off.” Luke nodded as the first motorcycle roared in their direction. “Ok Deak...pull!”

The cycle had slowed down enough that the rope was able to knock it's rider to the grassy hill, sending the vehicle skittering down the path. The moment Ozzie Ozzel stood up, Hobbie wailed him with a surfboard.

“What the fuck are you jerks doing here?” Wedge grabbed him even before he could get to his feet. “This ain't funny, man! There's kids here!”

“Our boss Vader wants to have a little talk with that blond dork who thinks he's a surfer.” Ozzie managed to point to Luke. “That dude. Vader's gonna be here any minute. He's toast, man!”

“Shit.” Wedge dropped Ozzie and rushed over to Luke. “Maybe you ought to get out of here. Go somewhere. Anywhere. I heard Mexico City is nice this time of year. Or Acapulco. They have great surfing.”

“I'm not going to Mexico.” Luke gulped. “I think this would be a good time to leave for Dagobah, though.”

“Dagobah Bay? That swamp?” Wedge wrinkled his nose. “You're better off in Mexico.”

“Uncle Ben says there's someone who can teach me about surfing there. Yoda Yamagachi.” Luke started towards the parking on Adams Avenue. “He's supposed to be a local legend.”

“I've heard of him.” Wedge followed. “I thought he was dead. He'd have to be a million years old if he's still alive, man. He was the king of surfers in his day.”

“And I'm going to learn from him,” Luke added as the duo rushed down the dirt path to the grounds.

Chirrut and Baze were kicking Imperials away from their tent, dousing them with hot sauce as best they could. Sabine chased after two of them with aerosol cans, painting “Dork” on their backs in neon yellow. Charlie and Kris jumped aside just in time as two motorcyclist ran into the duck pond, sending bright yellow rubber ducks and small fishing poles everywhere. Charlie managed to get one off his bike and knock him out, while Kris pelted them with ducks. Kes and little Poe threw stuffed animals and baseballs and basketballs at the intruders, trying to knock them off their bikes. Poe, who thought it was a game, was the only one still laughing.

“Arturro! Chip!” Luke and Wedge found them on the porch of the Carriage House Tea Room. Chip was cowering behind the green wooden rails and trying to hold back Arturro from launching himself at the nearest Imperial. Luke came up to them first. “Are you guys all right?”

“For the moment. We were still selling tickets when those nasty Imperials drove their vehicles straight through our tables! They never even bought a ticket, the neanderthals.” Arturro let out a stream of angry gibberish that may have been cursing. Chip looked shocked. “Arturro, please! Bad enough the kind of language the Imperials are using around impressionable children. Really, there was nothing we could do. We gave the money box to Mr. Rieekian and helped him evacuate the Phineas Estate, then came here.”

Luke turned to Wedge. “Could you get the money box from Rieekian? You and Kanan are going to be helping Leia until I come back from Dagobah.”

Wedge saluted him. “You can count on me, General Patton.”

“Very funny.” Luke frowned. “Have you seen my sister?”

“There she is!” Chip pointed at Hank and Leia as they came at top speed across the tire-torn fields.

“Luke, has anyone called the police yet?” Leia's face was red, and her eyes were filled with so much fire, he was surprised anything in her path hadn't gone up in flames just from her looking at it.

Chip answered for him. “Mr. Rieekian did it about ten minutes ago. He's a member of the City Council and has considerable influence. There's also all the damage to the Estate grounds, which are city property. If anyone can bring the police here as quickly as possible, it's him.”

“I think the party's bloody over now.” Charlie's grimace was barely discernible under the hair. “We'd better blow this place, before these arses come around for another try.”

Arturro went after Luke as they all headed for the street. “Arturro, where are you going?” He shrugged and went on in his language. “You're going with Luke? This is a fine time to visit your relatives in Dagobah Bay! What about me?”

“You can come with us, Goldenrod.” Hank was already at his truck. “We'll stop at a pay phone before we leave town. You can call Maz and tell her there was an emergency and you won't be in for a few days.”

Leia sighed. “I'll see you next week, Luke. I hope everything goes well with Yoda.” Luke tried to hug her, but she ducked away and climbed into the back of Hank's faded red Ford truck.

Hank patted the boy's shoulder. “Good luck, kid.”

Luke gave him one of his sunny smiles back. “You too.”

“Damn it!” Wedge pushed Luke to his and Leia's Mazda as Vader and the rest of the Imperials roared down the paved road. “You guys get out of here, before the cops arrive and this thing turns into a blood bath.”

“I'll call you when I get to Dagobah!” Arturro jumped in the other side as they headed down Hamilton Avenue, followed by Hank's Ford truck. As soon as they got to the light at Hamilton and Schuyler, the Mazda turned south towards the beach, while the truck turned on Adams Avenue towards the nearest pay phone and the road out of town.