Luke and Leia - Rebels [2]

30: Reckoning (Pt 1)

The X-Wing appeared amidst the stars with Bespin before it after it dropped out of hyperspace. Luke looked at the orange planet in the distance with a grim expression, having a feeling things were about to get much worse before they got better. Artoo whistled a worried inquiry that Luke read.

"No, Threepio's with them." He responded flatly, too focused on flying to really acknowledge the droid. Artoo beeped again and Luke sighed. "Just hang on, we're almost there."

Luke was a little surprised to not run into any interference on his way to the city; he expected it to be a little more guarded. But his reservations vanished as soon as the city appeared before him and his eyes went wide; it was an exact picture of what he'd seen in his vision. He swallowed hard and gripped his controls tight. "Artoo, can you tap into any comm frequencies?"

After a few moments the astromech replied that he couldn't track anything specific down, and Luke frowned. Another indication that things weren't right, but then again he knew that to begin with. Nevertheless, he couldn't suppress the shivers running down his spine.

Luke circled the area and spotted a landing pad at the largest building, and his senses told him this was the building where he needed to be. He slowly set the ship down and took in a deep breath before hopping out and onto the ground. Artoo also left the ship, and Luke looked around with a small frown.

The air was warm and windy, and the soft orange glow of the planet's sun illuminated everything around him. It would've been calming if he didn't know something bad was coming. He suppressed another shiver and unholstered his blaster. "Artoo, stay close."

Artoo automatically wiggled himself closer to the young Jedi wannabe as they slowly and cautiously entered the building. Blue eyes alert and shifty, Luke padded softly through the oddly abandoned building, the stark white colors giving way to no imperfections at all. It made him even more uneasy than he already was.

A warm feeling sprouted in his chest, and he paused for a second to feel it. "Leia." He murmured gently to himself, and Artoo let out a victorious whistle that immediately shut down after Luke's stern glare.

The duo carried on, with Luke following the feeling and sensing it become stronger and stronger. He peered around a corner with his blaster in hand, only to immediately retreat back behind it as a group started approaching. He slowly peered back out to see who all composed the group; several stormtroopers, a bald cyborg of some sort, a caped man, and... Chewie? With Threepio as a backpack?

Luke blinked but then felt his stomach drop as he saw Leia in tow. She had what appeared to be a bloody nose and was in her white jumpsuit from the last time he saw her, but without the vest and in a different hairstyle. She looked excruciatingly sad; a sadness he wasn't sure he'd ever seen before, and his anger rose at the idea of whatever had happened to her.

But then the next prisoner appeared and all Luke's questions were answered; a man encased in carbonite, and due to the process of elimination and Leia's desperate expression he could only assume it was Han. Finally, a bounty hunter rounded out the group.

Artoo let out another small whistle which Luke hushed with a stern look. He sighed, evaluating his options, before making a decision and turning the corner to follow the group. But before he could do so for long the bounty hunter popped out from behind the corner the group disappeared into and fired a shot right at Luke's head.

He jumped back behind the corner, startled, and started sprinting down into a side hallway to both evade the hunter and to catch the group. But by the time he rounded the corner the group was almost disappeared into yet another doorway. Leia turned and caught him just before she entered and stopped, grabbing onto the doorway to keep her head poking out as she screamed, "Luke! Luke don't, it's a trap!"