Mastermind

Part One

Erda's life flashed before his eyes as a tentacle latched around his right leg and hoisted him up from the slippery sand hill to hang him over the Sarlaac's mouth. It wasn't until the bounty hunter who delivered Han accidentally flew into Erda, who grabbed onto the trousers of the bounty hunter. The bounty hunter used his wrist flamethrower to burn the Sarlaac's tentacle, sparing him from being dragged down with Erda as the bounty hunter landed to the barge where Han, Chewbacca and Lando were. While this was going on, Leia had failed to reach Erda's blaster as Jabba kept pulling her back to him until she wrapped the chain around his neck and strangled him to death. 

When Luke noticed the turret blowing up the barge his friends were on, he leapt onto Jabba's barge and climbed aboard to disable the turrent and fended off the pirates attacking him while Erda clashed with the bounty hunter. Artoo freed Leia as the two droids followed her above deck where they came across Luke when he ordered her to point the cannon at the deck. Once Luke finished dealing with the pirates, he grabbed a rope and held onto Leia before kicking cannon's trigger which caused a chain reaction as they swung onto a fully functioning barge when they spotted Erda losing the fight with the bounty hunter. As Erda was grabbed by his neck and held over the barge, he reached his arm out at a spear, summoning it towards him which hit the bounty hunter's jetpack instead. 

This caused him to fly over the Sarlaac but only Erda was spared while the other rolled into its mouth as Luke used the Force to safely levitate him to where his friends were before making their escape with the droids. In the confinement of the Millennium Falcon, Erda escorted Leia to her room where Luke made himself busy with his prosthetic hand that got shot. A slight embarrassment fell over Leia and Erda as in her room, she undressed in front of him with little discomfort as Leia addressed her male companion. 

"I'm glad you're safe now, Leia. After Jabba had you chained like a slave, I-I swear I would've gotten you out if--" Erda stuttered, his gaze solely fixed on Leia's face as her brown eyes hypnotised him into submission. 

"Erda, Erda. It's fine. I'm fine. We got Chewie and Jabba's dead. We've got nothing else to worry about right now." Leia spoke over him, shushing the raven-haired man and stood a few inches apart. 

"Hey, uh, um... I-I was wondering this... thing you and I are. Like, are, are we a thing, or... 'cause I just wanted to tell you something - despite going against the Jedi code I once swore to. But since that Order is dead, there is no reason for me to uphold it, which is why I've been wanting to tell you this for a long, long time - I have been... ever since I met you when I was just fresh out of Raxus Prime, I've had feelings for you. In other words, I l-lo... I love you." 

Heartfelt, Leia tilted her head which almost sent him the wrong signal. Almost ready to withdraw his confession until her hand came up to cup his cheek. 

"Well... I've been meaning to say something myself to you, Erda. Ever since you walked in that store, I've been attracted to you too ever since." 

"R-R-Really?" 

"I love you." 

With two hands on his cheek, the brunette kissed him. Euphorically, the two made eye contact again as their foreheads remained in physical contact before he started to undress her right after she finished getting changed. While the two made passionate love, the crew were flown to Sullust without Luke and Artoo - as he had some personal matters to attend to - to meet with the Rebel Alliance for its assault on the second Death Star. In a meeting room full of high-ranking Rebels and the Rebel Counsel along with Lando, Chewbacca, Leia, Han, Luke and Erda, this meeting would be most important as the brink of the fall of the Empire was on the horizon. Knowing how exhilarating the mission was, it was most important as the galaxy depended on the Alliance. 

"The Emperor's made a critical error and the time for our attack has come," announced Mon Mothma. "The data brought to us by the Bothan spies pinpoint the exacty location of the Emperor's new battle station. We also know that the weapons systems of this Death Star are not yet operational. With the Imperial Fleet spread throughout the galaxy, in a vain effort to engage us, it is relatively unprotected. But most important of all, we've learnt that the Emperor himself is overseeing the final stages of the construction of his Death Star. Many Bothans died to bring this information. Admiral Ackbar, if you please?" 

The Mon Calamari admiral then took over, where Admiral Ackbar brought the attention to everyone in the room every important detail. "You can see here, the Death Star orbiting the forest moon of Endor. Although the weapon systems on this Death Star are not yet operational, the Death Star does have a strong defence mechanism. It is protected by an energy shield which is generated from the nearby forest moon of Endor." 

A holographic projection of a shield protecting the Death Star was shown, from where an enlarged visual image of the Death Star was shown, providing a route into the core of the battle station. 

"The shield must be deactivated if any attack is to be attempted. Once the shield is down, our cruisers will create a perimeter while the fighters fly into the superstructure and attempt to knock out the main reactor. General Calrissian has volunteered to lead the fighter attack." 

"Good luck," bid Han to his friend. "You're gonna need it." 

A general took over from Admiral Ackbar to explain that the ground crew would land on the planet on a stolen Imperial shuttle disguised as a cargo ship by using secret Imperial codes to bypass the moon's defences in order to disable the shield generator. A small strike team including Leia, Erda, Luke, Chewbacca and Han would land on the planet ahead of the fleet. Once everyone was dressed accordingly for the mission, the strike team assembled in the shuttle. Leia noticed how uncomfortable Han was leaving in a ship that wasn't his own, knowing how much he adored the Falcon.