Their Lady Adyé [Star Wars]

Return to Mustafar

Part I

Athara forced a deep breath into her lungs before reaching to the control that would drop the Falcon out of hyperspace. It was certainly an odd feeling co-piloting the old freighter, especially with Han sitting in the pilot's chair, eying her like he was afraid she was about to break something. But regardless of the unassailable faith she had in Han and Chewie's piloting abilities, she was the one who had the first-hand experience with the planet-side approach they were about to undertake.

Hence the deep breath.

It had been years since she last set foot on the planet that hid one of the few places she'd ever even remotely considered 'home.'

Mustafar.

Hence her place in Chewie's regular seat.

She'd even been tempted to suggest that Luke pilot with her, knowing his own piloting talent and his Force-sensitivity would give him an advantage just as it did her. But asking Han and Chewie to give up full control of their baby even if it was to her and Luke? The smuggler and his co-pilot were still sore from the damage left on the Falcon from lending it to Lando for the attack on the Second Death Star.

It had been hard enough to get Han to agree to leave her to navigate the treacherous atmosphere they were heading for. She'd had to play the experience card pretty hard for that. And that was with added help of Han's prior knowledge of rumours about how unpredictable and violent Mustafar's atmosphere was...Athara might have played those rumours up a bit when he mentioned he'd heard them to get him to agree.

As the whorl of hyperspace stilled to starlines and then back to realspace, Athara was steeling herself for what she knew lay before her on the lava planet. It hung like a glowing ember before them, exactly as she remembered it.

"That's Mustafar?" Luke's voice was soft and uneasy, interrupting Han's quick breakdown from the sensor readings. Tersely Athara nodded.

She'd explained to all of them what Mustafar was and why she needed to go there, insisting that her Jedi and her two friends knew exactly what they were getting into when they volunteered to go with her. Truthfully, she'd been trying to discourage them, ready to go on her own...especially since it was a visit unsanctioned by the Alliance leadership... She had no idea what was waiting at Vader's Fortress and was wary of dragging those she cared about in blind.

Just like she wasn't interested in letting the Alliance try to storm the Fortress either. She knew it'd be a futile mission. There was a reason it was known as Vader's 'Fortress.' But even after she'd warned the Alliance leadership of as much when she'd caught wind of the plans to secure her Master's private sanctuary, they'd effectively brushed her off. She'd considered persisting, insisting that they needed to reconsider their plans or at least bring her in on the mission, but she was still looked on with suspicion by many within the Alliance. It didn't matter that her allegiance had been made perfectly clear. She still wasn't trusted.

Well, if they didn't trust her, that was their loss. But Athara wasn't about to let them run off on a suicide mission to take a facility that honestly didn't have any real strategic value—they hadn't listened to her on that score, either... It was then that she'd made the decision to scout ahead on her own.

It was certainly a reckless decision, and probably rather foolish. It wasn't going to improve her standing with Alliance leadership, that was for sure.

But if anyone was going to be able to get into the Fortress, it was going to be her.

If she could manage it, she was fully intending to open the door.

Her only reservations came from Luke, Han and Chewie insisting on joining her. She wasn't entirely sure she'd be able to get into the Fortress in the first place. For all that the Fortress was Vader's, it had been designed on the Emperor's orders. She wasn't keen on risking their lives on the chance that Vader might not have completely removed her clearance codes and permissions.