Tales of the Gold Wookie, Part 11

After spending nearly a day in talks with Agent Rieekian and Lieutenant Madine of Los Angeles Police, they all managed to come up with the story that Yasmin was fried to death by faulty wiring in her special effects. Leia didn't think it was believable, but it was they best they could do to explain her bizarre death. Roberto Fettara and Barry Fortune were charged with a long list of infractions that ranged from smuggling to industrial sabotage to first-degree murder. Leia offered to sort through Yasmin's collection and make sure it went to respectable museums when she returned from Guatemala.

She, Harry, Laurence, Charel, and Clarence met with Dr. Mothma, Admiral Ackbar, and Lieutenant Madine at the meeting room in Royce Hall three days later. Madine shook Leia's hand. “We owe all of you a lot in capturing those gangsters. There's a reward for bringing in Fettara alive. I would be more than happy to give it to all of you to share.”

“You can donate my share to UCLA to fund our expedition to Guatemala.” Leia sat down at the round table, between Harry and Laurence. Harry looked rather dashing in his gray suit and battered brown fedora, almost as dapper as his friend. Even Charel had managed to find a clean shirt and tie. Clarence wore his usual yellow suit and was still moaning about the last remnants of his hangover. “My crew and I would like to leave for Guatemala as soon as possible. We've lost enough time as it is dealing with Mrs. Hutt and retrieving Captain Solomon.”

Dr. Mothma nodded. “We've received word that Chancellor Palpatine made a critical error. The time for our own expedition to leave has come. Vader and his men are in Guatemala as we speak, but they left most of their own police force in Coruscant to deal with the ongoing rebel attacks there and are relatively unprotected by local law enforcement. The Chancellor himself has joined the expedition to personally oversee the workers with Vader.”

Admiral Ackbar was a big, ruddy man in an ancient suit that smelled faintly of mothballs. His reddish pallor and the way his mouth hung open slightly made him resemble a squid. “Mr. Calarissian and Captain Wedge Antilles of England have volunteered to lead the group that will be bringing the supplies and acting as cover. The rest of you will go with Dr. Skylark and her group to the site.”

“Good luck.” Harry smirked at his old friend. “You're gonna need it.”

He nodded at the red-headed man in the navy uniform of the Los Angeles Police Department standing next to him. “Lieutenant Matt Madine.”

“You'll be using a delivery truck confiscated from a former crime lord whose main base was Guatemala, but died in a shoot-out here in the States.” He tapped a map hanging on the wall behind them. “The site where Coruscant is digging is heavily guarded and off-limits to most outsiders, but we may be able to pass you all off as locals or workers well enough to gain entry.”

“How do you plan on pulling that off?” Leia frowned. “They know most of us on sight.”

“Captain Antilles has supplied Coruscant uniforms confiscated by his unit in Europe.” Madine turned to Harry. “Captain Solomon, is your team ready?”

Leia looked at him in surprise as he grinned. “Just about. I need a crew to go along with me and Dr. Skylark to unload the supplies and help with digging.”

Charel grabbed his arm and let out a stream of excited Russian. “That's going to be rough, old friend. I didn't want to speak for you.” Harry shrugged and turned to Madine. “That's one.”

Leia patted his back with the hand covered by black cotton gloves. “I'm just glad you're with me.”

“Well, Char and I are out of work at the moment.” The pilot gave her that familiar little grin. “Who knows? It might be fun to wander around old monuments and play Jungle Jim. At least it'll be legitimate money, and you'll get some nice pieces of bric-a-brac for the living room.”

“I'm with you too!” Everyone looked up as Luke came in, followed by Artie and Yoda. Artie and Luke sported dark suits and looked fairly sober. “I just got my newest assignment from my boss, Miss Ahsoka Tano. I'm supposed to shadow you on your expedition and write about all the lurid details.” He pulled a card out of his wallet. “Here's my press pass, Dr. Mothma.”

“We're with you all the way!” Artie waved his own hand and raised Clarence's before he could sputter a feeble protest.

“Dr. Mothma, a pleasure to see you, it is.” Yoda, dressed in a light blue striped suit that went well with his greenish skin, waddled up to the lady and kissed her hand. “Last time I saw you, it was 1922. Just starting in the department, you were. Knew you would get far. Gumption, you had, and grit. Yes, much gumption.”

“I thought you were dead, you old reprobate.” The red-headed professor chuckled. “It's nice to see you again. You really should come up and visit us more often.”

“Retired, I was.” He nodded at Luke. “Came out to help young Mr. Skylark and Dr. Skylark translate the maps and writings at Alderaanian temples, I have. Good for these bones to get out and stretch.”

“All right, enough slobbering.” Dr. Mothma turned to address the group. “You'll be leaving on the San Diegan train line at 7 AM the day after tomorrow. You'll have the time to work on gathering the remaining supplies and hiring crew members. Any questions?” No one said anything. “Then good luck!” The older red-head gave them a small grin. “And as the Alderaanians once said, may the Force be with you!”

Artie gave Clarence such a huge hug, he actually lifted him into the air. “Ain't this exciting, Goldie? We're goin' on a treasure hunt, like in the movies! Maybe we'll meet head hunters, or Tarzan or something!”

“Exciting,” gasped Clarence, “is hardly the word I'd choose!”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Take her!” Harry waved his hand at the Silver Falcon, which reclined in it's usual rusted hanger back at Maz's Air Field. “I want you to take her! You'll need all the help you can get. She's faster than anything the Empire has.”

“All right, old buddy!” Laurence laughed. “You know I've driven her before. I'll take good care of her. She won't get a scratch.” He smirked a little. “In fact, I'll treat her better than you would. I seem to remember what kind of shape she was in the first time I let you drive her. There was barely anything left of her hull when we made it to that little silver mine in Mexico.”

Harry chuckled. “I remember that. That was when your girl Leslie decided her purpose in life was to start a revolution and freed all the workers at the mine, even the ones who wanted to be there. Wish she hadn't been shot fleeing the mine. She was something else.”

Laurence's face fell at the mention of Leslie. “I still miss her. She was a good woman. Feisty as hell. Spent most of the day lecturing anyone who would listen on the rights of women, Negros, Hispanics, and anyone else she thought was being persecuted. She was a looker, though, and a real demon in bed.” He rubbed the Falcon's shiny silver wing. “I wonder if Charel is right about her spirit being in the controls. There's just something about this old girl...”

“Wouldn't surprise me.” Harry grinned. “Would explain why the controls of this tub seem to have a mind of their own sometimes. Hey,” he added, “are you still writing that memoir of yours?”

“Writing?” Laurence snorted. “I finished it a year ago. I'm looking for a publisher. By the way,” he added as he started loading his luggage into the cockpit, “what happened with Clara? You never did tell me why you two broke it off.”

Harry looked away from his friend. Clara was still a bit of a sore spot with him. “She stayed with her boss. Some mysterious big-shot mobster from Budapest. Haven't heard from her since then. Probably married him, or killed him, or both.”

“She was a lot like Leia, wasn't she? Even kind of looked like her.” Laurence put a hand on his friend's shoulder. “She's not exactly like her, though. Clara was ambitious, but she was also ruthless. She'd do anything to get ahead. Even I could tell that. Leia...yeah, she wants to get ahead, but she also cares about the people in her life. She'd no more sooner cut you out than she would cut out her own heart.”

“Yeah.” Harry shook his head, then turned on a smaller version of the famous smirk. “You be careful, buddy, ok?”

“You too.” Laurence grinned. “Good luck!”

Harry just gave him the smirk as he headed for Maz's Bar. “Hey, don't worry, buddy. My luck hasn't run out on me yet.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Two days later, they were on the Atcheson, Topeka, and Santa Fe's brand-new San Diegoan train, on it's way across Southern California's sandy shores. She settled down in a seat near the window, admiring the view of cities and small shore towns as they flew past. She'd just pulled the remaining papers out of a folder in her purse when her brother plopped down next to her.

“Hey, sis.” Luke leaned over her shoulder, admiring the lapping turquoise waters beyond their vehicle. “This is some view, huh?”

“Luke,” Leia began, “I was really hoping to get some work done. Actually, I wanted to talk to your Professor Chiang about his translations of the reliefs at the Jedi Temple. Some of them are a little blurred in Papa Bail's photos.”

As if by magic, Yoda himself appeared at her arm. “Wished to see me, you did, Dr. Skylark? Looking forward to talking to you, I am.”

Luke asked the questions first before she could even open her mouth. “Did you know Vader is our father?”

Yoda made a face. “Perhaps, start with the translations first, we should...”

Leia glared at him. “Answer my brother's question. Did you know Vader and Dr. Andrew Skylark are apparently the same person?”

Yoda finally sighed, his weathered face looking beaten. “Your father, he is. Told you, did he?” The anger on Leia's face and disappointment on Luke's answered his question. “Unfortunate, it is...”

The twins both glared at him. “Unfortunate that we know the truth?” Luke snapped.

“Unfortunate that, incomplete is your training. Not ready for the burden were either of you.” Yoda sighed. “Ben and Arthur would have told you years ago, had I let them. We did not wish for Vader to come after you. Wanted you to live normal lives, your mother did.”

“No one ever told us anything!” Leia burst out so angrily, people in the seats around her stared. She quickly went on in a more controlled tone. “Uncle Owen said he died on some expedition that went wrong. Papa Bail and Mama Breha won't talk about him at all. Did you all think we wouldn't be able to handle it?”

“A dangerous man, Vader is.” Yoda sighed. “Feared he would think you both a threat.”

“I'm just glad you didn't try to separate us.” Luke put an arm around his sister. “I don't know what I'd do without her here to get me out of trouble.”

“You wouldn't know what to do.” Leia smirked. “You probably would have been in jail or floating face-down in a creek ages ago.”

“You're one to talk.” Luke nudged her playfully. “You pick a fight with everyone possible and do not know the meaning of the word 'no.'”

“Children, please.” Yoda rolled his eyes. “Important, this is. Your father, you both must face. Destiny, it is.”

“I don't give a rat's ass about destiny,” the young woman snarled. “I don't want anything to do with that man ever again. If he tries to attack my dig site, I will kill him on the spot.”

“Leia, please!” Luke groaned. “He's our father! What if we can change his mind?”

“Luke, he's a monster!” People stared as she raised her voice again. She had to go on more quietly. “What part of 'he almost killed us and sold Harry to some crazy gangster lady' don't you understand?”

“I love Aunt Bertha and Uncle Owen,” Luke began, “but Leia...haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to have real parents?”

“We do.” Leia glared at him. “Papa Bail and Mama Breha helped pay for college and took us to digs and taught us how to think and run and dream, and Uncle Owen and Aunt Bertha fed us and changed us and took care of us when we were sick or hurt. They were our real guardians, Luke. Vader was NOT there! He didn't even care!”

Luke's blue eyes widened. “Leia, he's still your father. Mine too. There's blood there.”

“And it'll be on the floor if he tries attacking us again.” Leia's gaze lowered to her glove-covered hands. “This hurt, Luke. I broke the stitches on it when I grappled with Yasmin. I had to get it re-stitched and re-wrapped. My fingers are still stiff. It's like it's made of metal now.” She bit her lip. “Like him. I'm just like him.”

“No!” Luke leaned over and rubbed her shoulder. “Sis, don't think like that! You're nothing like him. You wouldn't abandon us or kill people over a theory.”

“People have killed over smaller things.” She stared at her gloved hand. “If we encounter him again, Luke, and he tries to hurt one of us...I don't know if I'll be responsible for what happens. Especially if I have...well, that power with me.” Leia sighed and pushed the papers at Yoda. “Why don't we work on translating Papa Bail's papers? I really don't understand what he means in the first couple of pages.”

Yoda nodded, but the stubborn set of his chin indicated that the conversation about Vader was far from over. He pressed his shriveled finger against the tattered papers. “Yes...yes. The temples, sacred, they are. Only the Guardians and the Jedi are said to have been permitted to enter. Temples were for training Jedi and chosen Guardians. All those who were not worthy of the Force, not permitted, they were.”

“I figured that part out.” Leia followed along, pointing at one paper filled with Papa Bail's messy handwriting and a diagram of the temples. “What I don't understand is what these are.”

Yoda placed a pair of tiny gold-rimmed spectacles on his pug nose. “Traps, they are.” The little professor squinted over the faint writing. “Can't make out all of it, but it mentions rocks that fall, and water that flows backward. Traps are to prove true worth of Guardians and Jedi. Those who are worthy may pass. Only those who know the Force will be able to solve the mysteries.”

“Traps?” Luke grinned. “Like the serials or something?”

“That's ridiculous.” Leia made a face. “I believe there's traps of some kind. If I were the Alderaanians, I wouldn't want tourists and peasants invading my temple, either. I doubt the Force has anything to do with it. They're probably falling boulders and spike traps. They loved those.”

Luke looked disappointed. “Aw, I was hoping for magic! I guess,” he went on with a sigh, “that would be more believable for my readers than some hocus-pocus.”

“More to it than mere hocus-pocus, there is.” Yoda lifted his quivering chin. “Force, all around us, it is. Those who can access it have power beyond mere human knowledge.” His tiny smiled dropped. “Saw what happened when it is used for evil. Power can't be controlled by ordinary humans. Bit off more than she could chew, Mrs. Hutt did.”

Leia frowned. “And it came back and bit her.” They all looked up as a shrill train whistle was heard over the sound of the steam engine pulling into the station. “I think that's our stop.” The archaeologist gathered the papers into the folder and tucked it into her purse. “Let's go round up the others and our equipment and see if we can beat Vader at his own game.”

She ran into Harry as she gathered her suitcase from the overhead rack. “What was all that talk about, sweetheart?”

“Nothing. Just business talk.” She smirked. “At least I didn't spend the trip playing poker with Charel and Artie.”

Harry's little grin came out in full-force. “Hey, I won ten bucks off those two.” He took her arm. “Shall we, oh great and wise Guardian of Wisdom?”

“Keep calling me that, and I might get to almost enjoy it.” Leia took his arm. “We shall.”