Star Wars: from conversations / reader requests

5: From Afar

A/N: I have not played SWG (Star Wars Galaxies). Other than the vitality of the mission for retrieving the crucial contact list (though perhaps I am amplifying its importance), this is entirely AU.

There are more breaks (***) in this than the other fics. 

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Background: 2 ABY (before Episode V and Luke's fateful encounter with Vader). Luke and Leia are on Naboo for their newest mission: to retrieve an extremely sensitive contact list left by the captured Rebel spy Simo Oron from the Imperial Base of Naboo. The twins (of course, their relation is unbeknownst to each other) have managed to seize the list, but the size of the Imperial base is considerably large, and patrolling stormtroopers are abundant.

***

"Hurry up!" Luke yelled over the chorus of pew-pews, swiftly dodging the blaster fire. An ignited lightsaber that illuminated the rather dark hall clumsily reflected a few bolts back to the swarm of stormtroopers; in the rowdiness, he thought he heard a distant groan from a fallen trooper, whose white armor now adorned a searing hole. His blaster clattered on the bland grey floor.

Now, Luke wasn't exactly proficient with the Jedi weapon- the civilized weapon, as old Ben would put it - for he had no instructor and could only resort to self-teaching. He would have preferred using his blaster, but that had been destroyed by a stormtrooper that either was a great shot (but how can they even shoot in that helmet? I couldn't see anything! Luke had thought to himself) or had a whole lot of dumb luck. When Leia saw the scorched blaster, she decided it was the latter.

"Got it!" Leia screamed after the metal door finally slid open and pulled her companion down to the ground. Disgracefully, the two rolled through the slit and into the empty storage room.

"Stop them!" Some trooper yelled. Blaster fire hailed down, the storm of lights fierier than ever before. Luke yelped as a bolt hit his lower right leg, but still made it into safety.

Leia shut the door down and slid some crates up against the heavy metal, so troopers could not burst in through the only entrance. The two were enclosed in the darkness of the storage room; they remained silent, waiting for the troops to leave.

When the last trooper left, knowing that they had no way to barge in, the Rebels breathed a sigh of relief and turned on the lights. The young woman helped Luke stagger to a crate of ammunition, where he could sit while Leia did her best to treat his wound.

Organa scoured the place, scouting for bacta patches, or any sort of available treatment. To her disappointment, it seemed that the hangar stored only weaponry. Sighing, she tore off a large strip of fabric off her uniform and bandaged it onto Luke's wound, which the young man was clutching with a grimace on his face. That looks nasty, she thought to herself with a scowl.

"Thanks," he muttered.

Leia nodded casually. "It's nothing; you're welcome." She paused to make sure the datapad containing the information was still attached on her belt. Relieved, she murmured, "at least the list is safe."

Luke removed his hands from the cauterized wound. Looking around, he saw no way of communication back to the Rebellion; their commlink had also been destroyed by the Imps, and nothing was in the hangar. "There are more forces than we thought; there isn't much chance that we'll get out of here alive with no backup. I guess until we think of something, we'll have to stay here in safety. It's night, perhaps we should rest?"

Pushing one crate against another to create a makeshift bed, Leia agreed.

***

Outside, a stormtrooper cried, "Oh, when Lord Vader arrives and learns of this incident, we'll all be doomed."