The Solo Children: Book One

Chapter 8: Tractor Beams And Trash Compactors

"Hey, what are you-Argh!" The startled deck officer's voice is cut off by a Wookie tackling him to the ground. Before the technician can react, I blast him with the stormtrooper's blaster. "Artoo, Threepio, find out where we can shut off the tractor beam from." Luke instructs, a slight quaver to his voice as he sits down in a chair.
"Nervous?" I smirk.
"What? No-no!" Luke stammers "I'm not nervous, like, just, you know, cautious, oh fine, I'm terrified!"
"Well, I'd be worried if you weren't." I smile, sitting down in another chair and typing in a few override commands "I think that if you're afraid, it helps you focus, which makes you stronger, and effectively, braver. Which is why I think nerfherders, like my dear sweet brother, who go charging fearlessly into battle without a second thought, are complete, idiotic doofuses."
"Hey!" Han yells "I'm right here, you know!"
"That's the point." I smirk, causing me and Luke to burst into laughter.
Obi Wan sighs, before checking the monitor in front of me. "Looks like we've managed to get into the main computer system for the tractor beam."
"Indeed we have, sir!" The golden droid exclaims "The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in eight locations in a square power shaft, two in each corner. A power loss at two parallel terminals will allow the ship to leave."
"So, it sounds like two people should go, to ensure that we get out of the station as soon as possible." Obi Wan muses "I can shut off one of the terminals."
"And I can shut of the other." I say, before adding "I've had experience with something like this before."
"Great, Hannah and Gramps are shutting off the tractor beam. What do we do?" Han asks.
"Stay here and keep quiet till I comm you." I reply.
"Ready?" Obi Wan asks, having already opened the door.
I take a breath and stand up "As I'll ever be."
With that, we walk out of the control room, the door slamming shut behind us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The further we walk into the Death Star, the more uneasy I become, until I'm physically shaking. "Hannah?" Obi Wan asks "Are you ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." I mutter "Just...cold."
His brows furrow slightly and his mouth opens slightly as if to say something, before he pulls me into a doorframe. Voices reach my ears, but how could he have heard them?
"She lied! She lied to us!"
"I told you she would never consciously betray the Rebellion."
"Terminate her. Immediately!"
I look at Obi Wan. His eyes are sad...like he's remembering a long gone friend. "Obi Wan?" I whisper, somehow knowing that the owners of the voices have gone "Come on. The terminals aren't that far."
He slowly nods and steps out into the hallway; our trek continues.
We part ways to get to our adjacent terminals, both above a seemingly bottomless chasm, spanned by walkways with no handholds whatsoever. One of the things the Empire does not take seriously is personal safety. Using cables and uneven ridges sticking out of the walls as handholds, I climb carefully along, praying I do not fall into the abyss. After what seems like decades, I clamber onto the terminal and begin the necessary procedure to shut it off. Once I pull down the final lever, the subtle noise of whirring mechanics slowly ceases and comes to a halt. I quickly scramble back along the wall and leap back onto the walkway, where Obi Wan is waiting. "Quick, come on." I whisper "Stormtroopers will come here on patrol any minute!"
"Go back to the others." Obi Wan says "There's something I need to take care of first."
"But-" I protest.
"Hannah." He cuts in, with the tone of voice that adults use saying shut up and do as you're told.
"You'll never get past all the stormtroopers on your own. It was luck that we managed to get here undetected before." I add.
"In my experience, there's no such thing as luck. Only the Force." He replies "Now go. It would be unfortunate if, like you said, a patrol found us."
I briskly nod and begin to jog back along the walkway.
"Hannah?"
"Yes?"
"May the force be with you."
"...may the force be with you too."

After ten wrong turns and a near death encounter with a squadron of stormtroopers, I arrive back in the control room to find...the two droid's, but no Han, Chewie or Luke. "Where are the others?" I ask, confused. If they had been captured, wouldn't the droids have been too?
"Oh! Miss Hannah!" Threepio exclaims "Master Luke, Captain Solo and the Wookie left in an attempt to rescue the Princess. Though honestly, the odds of the mission being a success are 2,345 to-"
"Wait, what princess?" I enquire.
"Princess Leia, of course." The droid replies.
Princess...Princess Leia..."Of Alderaan?"
"Precisely."
I bite my lip. She's hardly a princess anymore, now that Alderaan is effectively space dust. Suddenly, a voice emitting from a discarded comlink on the monitor jolts me back to my senses. "Threepio! Threepio! Do you copy?"
Luke's voice! I quickly snatch it up and speak "Luke? What's going on?"
"Hannah! Shut down all the trash compactors on the detention level! Shut them all down!"
"Trash compactors? What?"
"Shut them down! Please!" His voice is pleading, more desperate now.
"Alright, on it. Threepio!" I yell.
"Yes?" The golden droid responds.
"You heard him! Shut down all the trash compactors on the detention level!" I half scream, half snap.
The droid quickly types in a few commands. Within seconds, screams echo through the comlink.
"Oh goodness!" Threepio gasps "Listen to them Artoo! They're dying!"
Artoo beeps in response.
Luke's voice laughs through the comlink "It's alright! We're alright! We're all alright!"
I roll my eyes and elbow the clueless protocol droid "Looks like they're gonna be around a bit longer, droid."
Artoo whistles. If droid's could laugh, well, that's it. Whoops emit from the comm and I quickly respond "Guys, can we escape now, party later? You may not be squished, but we're still in the middle of the Death Star! What's the number of the trash compactor you're in?"
"Three-two-six-eight-three-seven!" Han yells.
"Got it. Meet you in the hanger bay." I reply, before typing in the commands to open the doors to the trash compactor.
"Pardon me, Miss Hannah, but shouldn't we be heading to the hanger bay as well?" Threepio asks incredulously.
"Huh?" I ask "Oh, yeah right. But we need to stay out of sight. And keep quiet."
I walk over to and unlock the door, before stepping out into the hallway alongside the two droids. As the door slams shut behind us, a sickening sense of dread washes over me.