Heirs of the Fallen {1} (Remastered)

Chapter 11

Two weeks later

Luke rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair with a small sigh. Artoo beeped questioningly, swiveling his head to look at him.

"I'm alright buddy, just tired." The Jedi stood up and stretched, casting a glance to Han who was sound asleep on the couch with an arm dragged on the ground. Leia's quarters were sectioned off for searching with no signs of stopping anytime soon, so Luke and Han were sharing Han's quarters until then since Luke was staying with Leia beforehand.

Luke felt a pang of sympathy for the former smuggler; Han liked to think he was, but he really wasn't ever good at hiding his worry, especially from Luke and Leia. Luke wasn't entirely sure what the relationship between Han and his sister was nowadays but either way they still cared deeply about each other, and he could tell not having Leia around or knowing where she was was really taking a toll on Han.

"Master Luke? Sorry to interrupt, but I believe you are being contacted." Threepio piped up. They had managed to get the protocol droid out of interrogation after the security team had accessed his memory banks.

Han started at the sound of Threepio's voice, then sat up and grumbled about him not having any sort of volume control. Luke chuckled and nodded at the droid before pressing the projection button on the main holo table of the room.

A face he wasn't expecting popped up in front of him and he blinked in surprise. "Senator Mothma." Luke greeted quickly with a frown.

Mon Mothma nodded politely. "Master Skywalker, Solo." She smiled lightly. "And as of now it's Council Member Mothma."

Luke could tell by her tone that she was half-joking and he chuckled. "My apologies, Council Member. But what can we do for you?"

The humor between the two faded quickly as Mothma frowned worriedly. "I've heard the news about Council Member Organa; I'm sorry."

"Thanks." Han replied curtly, walking next to Luke and crossing his arms. "But what can we do for you?"

"Actually, it's what I can do for you. We've managed to track down a few different possible locations where Leia's kidnapper might have taken her, or at least made stops to refuel along the way. The security team managed to track down the make and model of the ship used based on cross-referencing landings and departures with the time of the kidnapping and size of the ships, and came up with a small two-man fighter along the lines of a Y-Wing or a small cargo ship.

"From there the team calculated how much fuel each ship could hold and determined that if either ship had refueled on Klemied then they would have had to stop somewhere in the close Outer Rim."

"How do you know where their destination was? For all we know they could've gone anywhere which makes refueling stops almost impossible to track down." Han pointed out skeptically.

"This is all based on assumption, but Klemied's outer planetary scanners detected debris from one of the Outer Rim systems on a small cargo ship departing the planet soon after Organa's capture."

"Well why didn't you open with that?" Han muttered under his breath.

As per usual, Luke ignored him. "But that still doesn't narrow it down too much; the Outer Rim is massive."

"Based on how much fuel the tanks could hold and how far and fast the models of ships could travel, the team has narrowed the refuel stops down to only three different planets: Narium, Nar Shadaa, and Carlac."

Luke nodded slowly. "Are there any teams out exploring?"

"Unfortunately our forces are thin, and several explorers have already narrowed it down to those three planets along with the calculations but needed to be called away to other tasks. Which is why I am asking you two to finish out the exploration and help to track her down."

"That's what we've been trying to do for the past two weeks." Han snapped. "Why did you keep all this information from us?"

"I called you as soon as we had narrowed the chase down; no one wanted you two to go search the galaxy with no leads. But now you have three."

Han huffed but didn't reply, and Luke took it as a chance to diffuse the situation. "Thank you for your information, we'll start investigating and get back to you once we have anything to report."

Mothma nodded. "Happy hunting. Bring her back safely."

The hologram fizzled out and Han sighed. "Of course she waits forever and until it's late at night to call us about Leia's whereabouts. Where was her interest before now?"

"She was probably interested the whole time, just busy juggling everything. Helping to run the New Republic isn't easy, as we both have seen with Leia."

"Maybe, but still. You'd think she'd show more initiative when one of the poster figures for the New Republic gets kidnapped; probably can't be a good PR message to the rest of the galaxy."

Luke shrugged. "Look, either way she gave us leads and we should follow them." He shot Han a glance. "What're you thinking?"

Han pointed at himself. "I'm thinking Nar Shadaa's smack-dab in the middle of Hutt Space, so probably not a good place for either of us to be. Especially me."

The Jedi frowned thoughtfully. "Also probably not a good place for the droids or Chewie; the slave market's still active and Wookiees are good for labor, and anyone and everyone on that planet could sell either droid for a hefty prize."

"Looks like that leaves you, Jedi Knight." Han clapped him on the shoulder while walking past. "Just try not to get yourself killed."

"I'll have a harder time with that than you will."

"Don't get cocky on me kid; just because you're a self proclaimed Jedi doesn't mean you're better at staying alive than me."

"Not at all." Luke grinned as the two men exited the room, leaving the droids and Chewie behind. "I'm just better at most other things."

Han scowled and shoved him lightly, and Luke chuckled and pushed his hair back into place. For a moment the stress of the situation was forgotten, and it was a nice change of pace for them. But then they got to the hangar and all levity disappeared as they prepared to separate.

Luke and Han glanced at their ships, then back at each other. "Well, kid... I'll see you when I see you. Hopefully with your sister."

Luke shook his head. "Not if I find her first."

"I doubt you will." Han gave him the faintest hint of a smirk. "You couldn't even find your own hand without the Force to help you."

After a moment of thinking Luke blinked and showed Han his gloved robotic hand. "I think you're right, I bet definitely can't find this one now."

Han snorted and rolled his eyes. "Alright, get out of here before you drive me up the wall."

Luke chuckled and waved farewell. "Good luck, Han."

"You too, kid."

And with that the two men parted ways, with Luke strapping himself into a small freighter because the X-Wing wouldn't be welcome in Hutt Space. Meanwhile, Han slid into the Falcon's cockpit. Luke set course for Nar Shadaa once he left the atmosphere, and shot into the stars while Han did the same for Carlac.