Invisible Smoke ➵ l.s. (editing)

four

Luke held out a hand to help Elara from the compactor. He gently helped her into the hall.

She brushes the bits of trash from her clothes. The bits of trash – and whatever kind of 'water' they'd encountered in that compactor – turned places of her white outfit into a grey – and not that pretty shade of grey, either.

She stands against the wall, letting Leia pick out the pieces of metal stuck in her hair.

"If we can avoid any more female advice, we oughta be able to get out of here!" Han glares at Leia.

"Well, let's get moving." Luke fluffs the water out of his hair.

Noises from the creature still echoed from the compactor. They frightened the Wookiee, who howled and ran down the hall. "Where are you going?"

Han aims his blaster at the open hatch. "No, wait. They'll hear!"

The smuggler fired into the compactor anyway, the noise echoing down the corridor. "Come here you big coward," the Wookiee shakes his head no, and remains huddled in a corner "Chewie! Come here!"

"Listen," Leia snaps, "I don't know who you are, or where you came from, but from now on you do as I tell you. 'Kay?"

Han scoffs. "Look, Your Worshipfulness, let's get one thing straight! I take orders from one person! Me!"

"It's a wonder you're still alive," Leia glanced at the Wookiee, "will somebody get this big walking carpet out of my way?"

Leia begins down the hall, fuming at the stupidity that may just get them caught.

Leia came to a stop by a window at the end of the deserted corridor. The window overlooked a large smuggling ship. Han smiles. "There she is."

Luke pulled out his comlink again. "C-3PO, do you copy?"

Elara could barely hear the droid's response, but saw the familiar droid standing in an area near the ship, out of sight from the Stormtroopers milling around it. "We're right above you. Stand by."

Leia pointed to the large ship, which, based on her experience, appeared much nicer than most smuggling ships. "You came in that thing? You're braver than I thought!"

"Nice. Come on!" They ran around the corner and down another corridor, before finding themselves face to face with a squad of Stormtroopers.

"It's them! Blast them!"

°°°

Elara followed after Han and Chewie down the hall that led to the hangar, stopping at the end of the hall to wait for the other two.

They finally appeared from the other end of the hall. "What kept you?"

"We ran into some old friends." Leia remarked, sarcastically.

"Is the ship alright?"

"Seems okay, if we can get to it. Just hope the old man got the tractor beam out of commission."

As if on cue to allow them to escape, all of the Stormtroopers milling around the ship left her side, toward something the group couldn't see. "Now's our chance! Go!"

Han ushered the group out of the hall, and they ran out into the hangar. Now they caught a glance at what caused the troopers to abandon their posts - a lightsaber duel between Darth Vader and a familiar cloaked figure. Luke stops in his tracks. "Ben?"

The blond boy became a statue as the old man made eye contact with him, raised his lightsaber, and allowed Vader to slice right through him. "No!"

Luke's yell tore the Stormtroopers' attention from the battle. They began firing at him as the group pleaded for him to get on the ship. Come on!"

"Luke, come on!"

Elara ran back off the boarding platform toward Luke, dodging the laser blasts as best she could. Blast the door, kid!" Han yells out as she does so. The second his blast hits the door's control panel, Elara grabs his arm and pulls him onto the ship. "Come on, Skywalker!"

In the process, a laser blast nails her in the arm. The girl winces in pain, and runs back into the ship, allowing Han to finally take off.

•••

Leia finishes wrapping the gauze around Elara's arm, and tapes it gently into place. "There you go, Ellie."

"Thank you." Elara turn around to see Luke sitting solemnly at the table behind them.

A heartbroken expression etched itself across his face and he stared blankly at the details of the table.

Elara grabbed a blanket from where she sat, and wraps it around Luke protectively. She sits down next to him and wraps her arm around him to comfort him. "I can't believe he's gone."

Elara offers him a consoling smile. "There wasn't anything you could've done, Luke."

Han from the cockpit with a sense of urgency. "Come on, buddy, we're not out of this yet."

Several TIE fighters tail the ship as the blond follows Han down a ladder to the ships guns. The two young women made their way to the cockpit. "Here they come!"

Blasts from the fighters violently shake the ship, almost too many for them to fight back. A blast knocks out something in the ship, and a computer screen blinks an urgent warning. "We've lost lateral controls!"

a/n
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