Harry Potter and the Dark Lord of the Sith

Chapter 6.

"Well, let's hope that old man knocked the tractor beam out of commission, or this'll be a real short trip," declared Han as he got into his pilot's chair. "I need a copilot. Princess, can you handle the controls?"

"Do I have a choice?" sarcastically asked Leia as she got up and headed for the cockpit.

"Yes, your Highness." Han was equally sarcastic. "You can get recaptured, and experience all the pleasures of Imperial captivity again."

"When you put it that way..." Hermione heard, and then almost fell when the ship took off and flew away from the station.

"C'mon," said Ron, helping her regain her balance. "Let's help Chewie."

The Wookiee was sitting at the medical station in the back of the lounge area. Hermione drew her wand. "I don't know how something designed for a human will work on a Wookiee, so I'll just use a simple pain relief spell. Narcosio!"

Chewbacca made a happy-sounding growl.

"I wish we could understand him," said Ron, handing Hermione bandages to dress the Wookiee's wound.

"I can help you there." The gold-plated robot came up to them. "I am See Threepio, human-cyborg relations. I am fluent in over six million forms of communica--"

Threepio's speech was interrupted by a very loud growl.

"How am I supposed to translate if I shut up, you hairy--"

Chewbacca made another, angrier growl.

"Oh. Well in that case," the droid told the Hogwarts students, "Chewbacca said 'thank you very much' and asked how you made his pain disappear so fast."

"That could be hard to explain," commented Ron. Hermione opened her mouth, but at that moment, Han ran into the room.

"Come on, we're not out of this yet," he said. "Four imperial TIE fighters are after us!"

Luke, who was quietly talking to Harry about something, leaped up.

"Right." Han scowled. He glanced at the young wizards. "One of you better get on the belly gun."

"I'll do it," said Hermione.

"Great," Han grumbled as he ran back to the cockpit. "A farmboy and a fifteen-year-old girl against the best Imperial pilots."

"I'm eighteen!" Hermione shouted indignantly from the bottom of the gun well, already strapping herself in. Han did not reply.

She was surprised how naturally getting into the gun turret came to her. She put on the communications gear and took the controls. She swung the gun turret back and forth to get a feel for it.

"Hermione, do you read me?" Luke asked over the intercom.

"Copy, Luke," she replied. "Reading you loud and clear."

"Here they come!" Han warned.

On the targeting screen in front of Hermione, four small triangles appeared. Then she saw them through the viewport. The TIE fighters looked like balls with large hexagonal panels attached to their sides. Hermione pulled the triggers. The four barrels of the turret released a stream of orange bolts, which streaked through space. Hermione swore, since the bolts missed the imperial fighters.

The ship rocked. Another fighter flew past the bottom turret, firing bright green bolts. Hermione fired and missed again. The fighter quickly flew out of sight. The ship rocked, heavier this time.

"Hang on," Han called out. With that, the ship twisted around and leaned forward, turning over completely. Hermione realized there was no up or down here. Suddenly, the enemy fighter was blinking in the center of her targeting screen. Almost automatically, her fingers pressed the triggers. The imperial ship exploded in a huge fireball.

"I got him!" she yelled triumphantly.

"Good job!" Luke congratulated her. Then the whole ship structure shuddered. The remaining fighters were still shooting at them.

"We've lost the rear deflector shield!" Han informed them. "Keep them away from there!"

Hermione looked, and sure enough, a fighter was coming in for another pass. She fired a stream of bolts, all of which missed. But almost as soon as it went over the edge of the Falcon, an explosion flashed from there.

"Yaaahoooo!" Luke yelled.

"Nice shot, Luke!" Hermione complimented. "There's only two left."

"There's one of them... blast it!" Luke was furious.

The fighter that Luke missed was suddenly in Hermione's sights.

"I see him!" she said, opening fire. The TIE flew right into her bolts and exploded.

"Hey, you're really good at this!" Luke encouraged her.

"Thanks," she answered.

"Where is he?" Luke wondered.

His question was answered with the Falcon shuddering as if it was about to break apart. The shudder increased as Han put the ship through another twist.

Hermione saw the TIE fly buy, managing to evade her bolts. This pilot was either better or luckier than the other three, since a moment later, she heard Luke swear under his breath. The Imperial evaded Luke's firing, and hit the Falcon once more.

"Come on, baby, hold together!" Han was urging his ship, which rocked like it was making its own earthquake. Hermione put that out of her mind and, seeing the enemy again fired in a zigzag pattern. The enemy pilot, however, managed somehow to evade every single bolt she sent towards him.

"Damn!" she swore as the fighter first came out of range and then disappeared beyond her view.

"Shoot him down!" Han was frantic. "We won't sustain another hit!" Then Han turned the Falcon around, heading towards the fighter. Hermione fired another, tighter zigzag pattern. She didn't hit him, but only because the pilot immediately made to maneuver out of her range. She followed him with laser fire until he vanished out of sight.

That paid off, as the pilot didn't realize that he came into Luke's field of fire before he escaped Hermione's. Luke was ready, and quickly turned the TIE into a ball of hot plasma with a well-placed barrage of bolts.

"That's it, we did it!" he shouted with joy.

"We did it!" echoed Leia

"Nice work," Han offered. "Whoever you three are, there's more to you than meets the eye."

"Thank you," Hermione was unsure whether Han was saying that simply out of politeness, or if he really meant it. "I'm eighteen, not fifteen, by the way."

"Yeah, I heard you then. Sorry. Won't happen again."

"It better not," forcefully said Hermione as she headed back to the lounge. She wondered for a moment whether she should threaten Han a little, and decided against it.

"Now," Han declared, "It's a nice, safe, quiet trip through hyperspace all the way to--where is again, your Highness?"

"Yavin Four," answered Leia.

Hermione shook her head. Despite the victory, she felt that their troubles were only beginning.