Episode IV S : The Rebel Retreat - COMPLETED

IX

The ship the group had left on to escape Renn and the Imperials worked, but she didn't fly too great. The hyperspace unit malfunctioned quickly after they left the orbit of Corellia, but it was enough to get away from the threats on the planet for the time being.

Luke said copilot to Chewie in the cockpit; the Wookie felt bittersweet about the boy sitting in Han's chair, but knew he deserved it after everything they had been through together. It wasn't as though it was the Millennium Falcon, anyhow, so it wasn't personal.

When the stars slipped into view again as the ship kicked out of hyperspace to cool down, Luke had rummaged through the back of the old ship to see if Renn had stored any parts that might help them fix it up, but he had no luck. Artoo had addressed the problem from the control monitor down the hall from the cockpit, announcing that the radiator of the communications panel was overheating and needed a patch in order to have the connections of the ship work properly. Luke guessed that Renn had never installed it correctly.

"If I may, sir," Threepio had told him when he was in the rafters looking for whatever he could find. "That radiator unit on Corellia would have been a good bargain, especially in this situation." Leave it to Threepio to kindly put you down.

"Chewie, where are we exactly?" the boy asked.

Chewie brought up a holographic map of the surrounding systems. It didn't venture far, but that was okay; there wasn't a way for them to get very far that quickly, anyway.

A low rumbly sound came from Chewbacca's throat. Luke still couldn't understand Wookie talk, but he tried his best. He could guess.

"Not too far from Correllia, huh?"

Another growl from the carpet.

"Artoo will get her patched up in no time," Luke promised.

Then, the anticipated interruption from the golden droid.

"Master Luke! Master Luke!"

Luke spun around in his copilot chair and met Threepio at the door. He leapt onto his feet to match his entrance, nearly stumbling.

The doors to the cockpit slid open and revealed an excited Threepio, his arms flailing around with energy.

"Princess Leia has awoken!" the droid informed his master.

Luke's eyes widened, but he was thankful, not frightened, for once. He thanked his droid for alerting him and asked Chewie to monitor their path and alert him if anything changed or Artoo finished repairing the communications panel. Then, he made his way through the big hauling space and a few more hallways and made his way to the bunk Leia was occupying.

When the doors slid open, Luke met her eyes instantly. They were pale with exhaustion, but still held life. The Princess sat up slowly in bed, but was able to push herself up after a struggle.

"You should lie back," Luke told her softly.

Leia's brow furrowed; she hated being told to sit back. She may be a princess, but she was no girl.

"I'm fine," she argued.

Luke let it go and took a seat on the stool next to her bed that he had placed in the room earlier. He read her vitals on the display monitor on the side of her bunk and lowered a temperature on a cooling unit in used above her head; the poison had given her a fever which had since reduced, so there was no need to freeze her.

"Where are we?" Leia asked, realizing she last remembered being on Corellia.

Luke continued to mess with the cooling unit, keeping his attention overhead. "The freighter Renn had in the warehouse. We got caught in the middle of Vader and some other commander."