Chapter Three

 

 

“The problem’s here,” the squadron’s mechanic told Aerick, pointing at one of his ship’s engines, “not here.” Now the mechanic pointed at the wingtip laser-actuators. “Y’see, the power feed going into the lasers are fine, and the lasers themselves are ship-shape. The problem is, the feed is plugged in wrong.”

“Who was the last to work on my ship?”

“I dunno,” The mechanic shrugged. “Probably some yard puke that didn’t know what he was doing. I can have it fixed in an hour or so.”

“All right,” Aerick turned on his heel and was about to leave, when he bumped into Crystal, who was standing directly behind him. “Dammit, Crystal, don’t do that to me!”

“Sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Crystal fell into step as Aerick walked out of the hanger bay. “General Solo was contacting all the units attached to his fleet.”

“What did he want?”

“He wanted to let us know that he was pushing his schedule back two days. So, he gave all units two days shore leave before reporting for duty.”

“Yup, that’s General Solo all right,” Aerick said, chuckling.

“Sir?”

“I met General Solo just before he left on his mission to Endor. He struck me as a laid-back kind of guy.”

“But everyone knows that about General Solo.”

“No, I mean he is a really laid-back guy. He hated being called General Solo. Told everyone to call him Han. He detested wearing his uniform. And he looked…kinda scruffy.”

“Not exactly the model officer, then?”

“Well…not exactly. He was a great officer. He just preferred to be one of the guys.”

“I would think it hard to be an efficient officer if you’re ‘one of the guys,’” Crystal said, entering one of the many lift units that ringed the simulator complex.

“Yeah. Sector 135, megablock 27, subsector 7, unit 5,” Aerick said to himself as he punched in the coordinates.

“Where are we going?” Crystal asked, recognizing the coordinates of a major transport junction.

“I know a great tapcaf close to my home here on Coruscant.”

“Then why not just go straight there?”

“It takes twice the time. While I know the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, the lift system leaves something to be desired.”

“I agree,” Crystal sat down and tucked her legs underneath her. She peered out the transparisteel that made up half of the lift, watching as the lift flew past other levels, lift units, hover-transports, and many other, unidentifiable objects. As the lift slowed, Crystal recognized some landmarks. She saw the towering edifice of the Imperial Palace, the sprawling aggregation of docking units at the Eastport docking bay, and even some of the lights of the Golan defense stations in orbit.

The lift stopped just inside one of the many transfer points for the turbolift system. The door opened and the pair stepped out.

“Lift platform six. We can catch a hover taxi that’ll take us to our destination,” Aerick said, pointing at a platform a quarter klick from their present position.

“I never realized how big these transfer stations are,” Crystal said, gazing at the many platforms with at least twenty lift units per platform.

“Let me guess. You take hover taxis everywhere?”

“No. Normally I take the hovertrans from headquarters to my home away from home.” Her voice wavered as she felt a familiar twinge at the base of her skull.

“You okay?” Aerick asked, detecting the slight quiver in her voice.

“Huh? Fine,” The twinge at the base of her skull changed suddenly and she screamed, “GET DOWN!” She opened herself to the Force for the first time in several months, threw her arms into the air and projected a shield around her and Aerick of pure Force energy. A moment later, the ground shook violently as a thermal detonator exploded ten meters away, vaporizing the platform they had just left and collapsing two others. Crystal poured her strength into the shield as several tons of duracrete and transparisteel crashed around her and Aerick. She felt the weight of the rubble that rested on the shield build as more debris fell on top. Several moments passed, which seemed like an eternity, before the collapse subsided. Crystal saw Aerick speak, but couldn’t hear him. She realized that, somehow, time had slowed down for her. As soon as the shield was stable, time seemed to speed up again.

“By all the things that make a Hutt ugly…” Aerick breathed.

“Hey, I resent that,” Crystal snapped. Her shield contracted a few millimeters. She swore and tried reinforcing the shield.

“I mean…you’re a Jedi?” Aerick asked, shock evident in his voice. Crystal repressed the urge to wipe her brow. She needed every ounce of concentration she could muster.

“Mm-hmm.”

“Are we going to be okay?”

“Dunno.” She stabilized the shield. Now for the hard part. “Gimme…your…hand,” She said, slowly.

“What for?”

“No…time…to…ex…plain,” By speaking one syllable at a time, she was able to keep her shield stable.

“I hope you know what you’re doing.” Aerick reached out and, gently, took one of Crystal’s hands into his. He felt a tingling sensation in his hand. “What’re you doing?” Crystal didn’t answer. A moment later, Aerick heard the clatter of duracrete. “I see. I’ll be quiet.”

Slowly- almost painfully slowly- Crystal moved debris off of her shield. She heard muffled voices, but couldn’t make out any words. Under normal circumstances, she would’ve reached out with the Force to make sure, but she didn’t want to risk breaking her concentration. With each piece of debris moved, the shield contracted, almost imperceptibly. He heard more voices outside the pile of rubble.

“…ou hear…”

“Don’t…answer.” Crystal said. “Must…con…cen…trate.” Her voice started to crack.

“Hang on, Crystal,” Aerick whispered.

“So…hard.”

“Don’t give up on me, dammit!” The shield contracted visibly this time. Aerick grabbed her other hand, lending more of his strength. The shield stabilized and more debris was removed from the pile.

“Can you…me?”

“Don’t…answer.” Aerick felt Crystal’s arms trembling with effort.

“I know,” Aerick whispered. He pressed his forehead to hers. “We’re going to make it, you hear me!”

“Hush.” More debris flew off the pile and, again, the shield contracted a few millimeters.

“We’re coming!” Aerick could hear the voice clearly now.

As he looked into Crystal’s eyes, he could see her weaken with every passing minute. “Concentrate on our shield, Crystal.”

“Can’t. Must…move…debris. So…ti…red” She closed her eyes for a second. This time, the shield contracted a centimeter.

“Listen to me. We have to get out of here. We have to!”

“Need…sleep.”

“I’m ordering you not to quit on me, dammit! I won’t let you quit!”

“Hush!” More debris…and this time, Aerick saw a ray of light, seeing dust motes dancing in mid-air.

“Almost there, Crystal. Just a little more.” A furry hand appeared, picking up one of the chunks of debris and tossing it aside. A small tunnel in the debris widened as a group of rescuers moved debris. Aerick heard the roar of a Wookiee.

“You found ‘em, Chewie?”

“General Solo!” A metallic voice called. A growl, followed by a series of grunts and barks followed the voice.

“You sure, Chewie?” Hesitation. “Okay, hold on. Luke! Get over here!”

“We’re gonna make it, Crystal. We’re gonna make it.”

“Mm-hmm.” She was on the verge of blacking out when she felt a strong presence in the Force. A moment later, she felt a rush of energy as the unknown presence reinforced her shield and pulled more debris off the pile. A human head peered into the ever-widening tunnel.

“Well, I’ll be Kesseled,” A familiar voice, Aerick thought. General Solo? “Captain Needa, I presume?”

“General Solo?” Aerick asked. “Is that you?”

“The one and only. You okay, kid?”

“Yeah. My XO here…” Aerick gestured to Crystal.

“I know. Luke told me. Saved your life, she did!”

“Could you get us out of here…sir. Please?” A flood of debris lifted into the air and settled into a neat pile a few meters away. Exhausted, Crystal collapsed, allowing her shield to drop. Aerick immediately covered her body with his, feeling a mass of duracrete crash onto his upper back. Another chunk of duracrete bounced off the back of his head, knocking him out.

 

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“Captain?” Aerick slowly swam towards consciousness. He was confused. Where am I? He asked himself. How did I get here? “Captain Needa, can you hear me?”

“He’s waking up,” a second voice stated.

“Aerick? Aerick, can you hear me?” A third voice. Kind of familiar, too.

If only these voices would leave him alone and let him sleep. He felt someone clutch his hand. Hmm. Whoever it was had very soft, cold hands. A moment later, something brushed his forehead. Cold. Another hand?

He tried opening his eyes, but couldn’t. But, he was able to squeeze the hand in his, albeit very gently.

“He’s awake,” the third voice said. “Could you leave us, please?” And he heard the swish of the door closing.

“Aerick, you can hear me.” Squeeze. “That’s good. You know who I am, right?” Squeeze. “I wanted to thank you. You wouldn’t let me quit when I wanted to.”

This time, Aerick felt Crystal’s hand (it had to be her) brush his cheek. A moment later, the gentle (almost imperceptible) press of her lips against his.

“I’ll be back later. Thank you. I owe you one.”