Redamancy - Han Solo [3]

Chapter 17: I Don't Have to Take This

The Emperor's nearly broken him. Your last hope.

Their connection was still buzzing, poison being fed to her already overactive mind.

The imperials marched the band of rebels out of the bunker, hands on their heads. Tasha's cheek was still flushed from the officer's slap. Her mouth dropped open as they walked out the doors. The landscape was so different. White troopers were crawling over the forest, hundreds of them, impossible odds, and imperial walkers; tanks on two legs that didn't look too structurally sound but were practically indestructible, more portable versions of what they'd fought on Hoth. Fought and lost against.

Tasha glanced at Han, but he was just as awestruck as she was, pausing for a moment to look at the scene.

"Alright, move it!" barked the trooper behind them, gun poking into Tasha's back harshly, "I said move it! Go on!"

"You guys have a real chip on your shoulder, you know that?" Tasha said back, turning and looking at the stormtrooper head on.

He's weak, like you. He cares too much.

Nobody can ever care too much. Her mind flicked to Han, to Leia, to all the people she was fighting to protect. To Kes and Shara. Their son. The reason they were all fighting was because they cared too much. It was that that pushed them.

It's a weakness. What about that time on Bespin, where'd she'd been willing to give up anything to keep them safe. Was it?

Says you and your precious emperor. You're still a slave, Anakin, you just changed masters.

A wild whistling from the undergrowth up on the ridge broke Tasha out of her retort.

"I say, over here!" shouted a tinny voice, "are you looking for me?"

"Threepio?" she said incredulously. He wasn't exactly one for grand heroic gestures. The butt of a blaster hit her hard in the stomach, knocking her to her knees. Again the rebels yelled in protest, but the troopers ignored them.

"Bring those two down here!" shouted the trooper that had hit her. The protests didn't die down, she heard a blaster click near her ear, still too winded to really notice what was going on.

"Shut up or she gets it!" the rest of the rebels shut up.

Impulsive. Maybe she was.

Emotionless robot.

Your cause will lose. You can't win this fight. You don't have what it takes. Did she? It wasn't the first time she'd wondered...what if they didn't? all their grand plans had led up to this moment? What if they weren't enough?

We have more than you. They did. She truly believed that. They had each other. They had the people across the galaxy who were counting on them, every member of every system oppressed by the empire was counting on them.

What weakness... Their cause was their strength. That was what they all drew their fighting power from.

I'm stronger than you are! Was she? No, she was. She believed she was. She had to be.

Tasha, you really think you can beat me? I was always stronger than you. He was. He had always been stronger, more powerful... no. she was strong. She had her power. She fought and clawed for it.

And I've always been more balanced than you.

Silly girl... that's true. Her last statement was debateable at best. But... wasn't her passion what made her stronger than him. Her conviction? Her belief in herself, in her cause? He was insignificant. He had no power over her and what she could do. For the first time in years...