A Long Time Ago, In a Galaxy Far Away

Chapter 41

Anakin looked at Obi-Wan.

"Should we...." Anakin began to ask. He felt like that letting Luna go off on her own was an awful idea, but he reminded himself that they were currently in her turf, per se. She knew exactly what was going on and hopefully what she was doing.

"Let's just hope she knows what she's doing. Come on," Obi-Wan muttered, hoping Luna knew what she was getting them all into.

The three of them did as Luna directed, and waited in the shadows for the son of Jango Fett to arrive with his prisoner. Anakin suddenly realize while they were waiting that they didn't even have a name for whoever they were supposed to be rescuing or who they were meeting up with.

Seriously Luna? Anakin thought to himself. Before he could voice his concern with either Obi-Wan or Padmé, a man in Mandalorian armor appeared accompanied by two officers and two people in what looked like clone trooper armor. The officers were pushing a block of something.

In unison the three of them sprang into action before the group was halfway to the ship. The officers and armored men fell victim to Padmé's flawless aim before they even knew what was happening. The Mandalorian, who Anakin had decided was Boba, was much harder, but with both Anakin and Obi-Wan fighting him, he was down fairly quickly.

"What do we do now?" Padmé asked as she inspected the carbon block that held a man captive.

"We could unfreeze the prisoner," Anakin suggested, coming over as Obi-Wan got the blasters from the fallen soldiers for later use, mumbling something about being "uncivilized."

Anakin lowered the block of carbon to the ground as he began messing with the controls. It didn't take long for the unfreezing process to start and it was nearly complete when the door to the building opened again, revealing a woman that looked a lot like Padmé. Behind her was a man and a wookie.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked angrily pointing a blaster at them.

"Friends," Obi-Wan replied. Right then, the unfreezing process was finished and the man who was previously encased in the carbonite moaned.

"Han!" Leia yelled, forgetting about the three strangers for the moment as she ran to Han, enveloping him in a hug and kissing him which he unsurely returned.

Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé traded glances. So this was the Corellian smuggler that Luna had named one of the kittens after.

"Leia?" Han asked once the kiss had ended, blinking. He couldn't see anything.

"Yes, it's me," Leia replied pulling away and looking at him concerned as Lando and Chewie slowly came out onto the platform watching Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Padmé suspiciously. "What's wrong?"

"I can't see."

Leia moved her hand back and forth across Han's vision and frowned when his eyes didn't follow the movement.

"Hibernation sickness," Anakin said. "It usually happens after being frozen in carbonite for awhile."

"I told him it was a crude facility," Lando muttered under his breath.

"Don't worry, your sight will return in time."

Chewbacca barked comfortingly as he came over and helped Han to his feet.

"Just what I needed," Han muttered. "Who are you?"

"I'm Obi-Wan, this is Anakin and Padmé," Obi-Wan said, more for the other three's benefit than Han's. "We're with the Alliance."

"Oh no!! Chewie!! They're behind you!!" a familiar robotic voice said, interrupting further conversation. Everyone, but Han, who got shoved behind Leia and Chewie to much of his protests, reacted instantly, blasting the troops as they came at them. Anakin also noticed a blue and white R2 unit dodging the cross hairs.

It looked a lot like Artoo, but he ignored it for the moment, just like how he had decided to ignore the other droid that was strapped to the back of the wookie.

***

Luna snuck through the city, praying that she could figure out her way to the carbonite freezing chamber. Amazingly, she made it to the chamber in good time. Unfortunately, she knew from the way it looked that Luke and Vader had already ran into each other.

She quickly made her way to where the next part of the battle would be, ignoring the constant throbbing of her leg as adrenaline began to course through her veins in preparation for what she was about to face. She put her hood down as to see better, clutching the humming viroblade Anakin had given her in her hand, wishing that she had bothered to ask for a lightsaber.

But then the three of them would have come after her. If what happened originally still happened, the last thing Luna wanted to do was explain the Empire Secret.