Luke and Leia - Rebels [2]

1: Evacuation

The temple on Yavin 4 was teeming with life as people of all kinds buzzed inside of it like a batch of anxious bees. Everyone inside was still coming down off of the high of defeating the Empire in a battle for once, and if someone got lucky they could look up into the sky and see shrapnel from the infamous and dreaded Death Star get dragged into the atmosphere and fall onto the surface of the planet. Some people jokingly called them shooting stars because of the way the light reflected off of them and made them look like they were on fire as they fell.

But as Luke Skywalker looked up, he saw nothing. He'd never seen one, although apparently their appearances had been frequent for awhile before just recently slowing down. He sighed to himself and strapped on his helmet before hopping into his cockpit and starting up the engine.

Artoo Detoo swiveled his head around towards the front and beeped a cheerful greeting, acknowledging Luke's presence. Luke smiled halfheartedly and waved at the droid. "Hey, buddy. Still getting used to all your new parts?"

During the battle on the Death Star's surface Artoo had been blasted, leaving almost all of his inner circuitry steaming. Luckily his memory functions were still intact, but close to everything else had been obliterated. He'd been fixed quickly though, much to everyone's relief. The astromech gave Luke an affirmative, and he chuckled before turning to face front.

"Fighters, you are clear for take off." Mon Mothma's voice crackled to life over Luke's headset, and he immediately lifted up off of the ground and disengaged the landing gears. His X-Wing was still relatively new to him, but over the past few days it had been his reprieve from everything chaotic going on inside the Rebel base. It seemed like everyone knew who he was now: the pilot who destroyed the Death Star. It was both a blessing and a curse.

Luke sped off into the sky, and soon enough stars began to appear behind the atmospheric blue. It faded to black as the X-Wing completely and fully exited the planet, and he felt the subtle yet increasingly familiar shift of the ship's engines to accommodate for the lack of gravity. The Mon Cala cruiser where he'd be docking wasn't far, only drifting through space a few parsecs out from the planet.

He landed easily and hopped out, and Artoo used his little jets to pop out of his socket as well. Not far across the hangar was the Millennium Falcon, and Luke felt a smile grow in his face just by looking at the ship. A small part of himself was surprised that Han had decided to stay as long as he had, but for the most part he was expecting it. He'd learned that the man had a heart of gold, despite what he kept telling everyone.

Luke made his way across the hangar to greet his friend, ignoring the few stares he received on the way there and resisting the urge to pick up the pace. It had been about six days since the Death Star was destroyed, and although the stares were dwindling over time as more people became used to him they were still unnerving.

"Han?" He called as he walked up the ramp. A muffled mmph gave away Han's whereabouts, and Luke stopped dead in his tracks and looked down with a frown to see him in one of the smuggling compartments with a tool in his mouth. He looked up and gave the kid a wave before getting back to work on... Whatever he was doing.

Luke blinked at the bizarre scene and sat down on the edge of the compartment, letting his legs dangle down into it. "What are you doing?"

"Fixing a problem that's been consistent for awhile with this blasted thing." Han slammed a fist against the wall, causing a few sparks to fly. "Bad wiring. It's been so bad that any heavy goods that slam against the wall and stay there cause the lights to go out sometimes."

Luke frowned. "Sounds fun."

"Oh believe me, it is." Han scowled and slid the paneling back over the wall. "But I think it's mostly fixed now; I want a break anyways. Chewie, get out here!"