Harry Potter and the Dark Lord of the Sith

Chapter 27.

"What, Chewie?" Han stared at his companion. "You haven't seen him?"

"Not since we've arrived," Ron told him. "Have you?"

"No... all right, go look for him," he said reluctantly. "Maybe that's why it's been so quiet lately..." Han mused, but Ron and Chewie were already gone.

"Maybe they put him with the city's droids," Ron suggested.

The Wookiee barked back, skeptical.

"You're right, we can't look everywhere, we need a clue. Where did you last see him?"

Instead of answering, Chewie trotted back towards the landing platform. Ron followed, until the Wookiee stopped, pointed forward, and issued a series of excited growls.

"So by this time, he wasn't behind us," Ron said thoughtfully. The grunt in response was affirmative.

"Good. So we just inspect each doorway to see if he passed through." Chewie nodded, and they began the search.

On the sixth door, they got lucky. As soon as they opened it, the Wookiee gave an impassioned bark. "Here?" Ron asked. Chewie confirmed it and pointed off to the side. Ron saw a dirty, rusty-looking piece of gold plating. He picked it up.

"It's from Threepio, all right. Now where's the rest of him?"

Chewbacca growled back, worried. "What?" Ron took a closer look at the droid part he held. "Damn, you're right. Those are blaster scorch marks. But if they shot him, they might have tried to cover it up. Where would you dispose of broken machines?"

Chewbacca yelped.

"Recycling?" Ron gasped. "As in, melt down for the metal?"

Chewie nodded. "Let's hurry," Ron urged him. The pair headed for the nearest lift.

They were almost too late. Pieced of Threepio were on a conveyor belt, along with all sorts of junk, and they were heading towards a glowing furnace. One of the robot's arms was already at the very edge of the inferno.

"Accio!" yelled Ron, sending the arm flying to him. He caught it and set it at his feet.

The aliens who were serving the conveyor belt were pig-headed, literally and figuratively. They got agitated and loudly yelled at Ron and the Wookiee. Ron raised his wand.

"Accio!" he shouted, and most of Threepio's torso flew across the room. This made the aliens even angrier, and when Chewbacca tried to get the droid's head, they started tossing it like a ball, getting closer to the furnace with every pass. Chewie managed to grab the head just in time. Ron looked at the Wookiee. Chewie already had both legs stuck under his arm.

"Looks like we have everything," Ron said, picking up the arms. "Don't even think about it." He aimed his wand at the aliens. "Stupefy!" he stunned the one in the lead. They headed out of the processing room, back to the upper levels of the city.

Han and Leia appeared to be arguing about something when Ron and Chewbacca entered. The Wookiee set pieces of Threepio on the table and gave Han a long growl.

"You found him in a junk pile?" Han said skeptically. Ron nodded.

"What a mess," Leia remarked. "Chewie, do you think you can repair him?"

The Wookiee made a sad grunt. Ron could only shake his head in appreciation. It certainly wouldn't be easy.

"Lando's got people who can fix him," Han suggested.

"No thanks," Leia declined. At that moment, Lando entered the room.

"Sorry, am I interrupting anything?" he asked.

"Not really," Leia said coldly.

"You look absolutely beautiful," he complimented her. "You truly belong here with us among the clouds."

"Thank you," she politely replied.

"Will you join me for a little refreshment?" Lando asked, and, noticing Han's scowl, quickly added, "Everyone's invited, of course."

They turned to leave, when Lando saw Threepio. "Having trouble with your droid?"

"No," Han waved it off. "No problem. Why?"

They departed, leaving Threepio behind, Ron's feeling of unease suddenly got heavier. He dismissed it, since it told him nothing specific, but remained watchful.

"...we don't fall under the jurisdiction of the Empire," Lando explained to Han.

"So you're part of the mining guild, then?" Leia asked.

"No, actually. Our operation is small enough not to be noticed."

"This is small?" Ron said quietly enough so no one but Chewbacca could hear him. "They found our Hoth base, didn't they? It certainly wasn't bigger than this."

The Wookiee smelled the air and huffed at him.

"I know something is wrong. Can you be more specific?"

Chewie shrugged apologetically.

"...I've just made a deal," Lando told Han, approaching a pair of large doors, "that will keep the Empire out of her forever."

At those words, Ron nearly panicked. But then, the doors opened. Inside the large room was a long table, and at the far end sat Darth Vader.

Han drew his blaster and fired at him. Ron immediately whipped out his wand. "Stupefy!" he roared.

Vader stopped both his spell and Han's bolts with his hand. Then, both the wand and the blaster were yanked out of their owners' hands by a mysterious force, and hurled into Vader's palm. The armored figure set the implements on the table next to him.

"We would be honored if you joined us," he said.

XXXXXXXX

Wedge had to struggle to concentrate on the situation around him. That may have been because of the bruise, but he didn't think so. What he wanted more than anything else was to tell Hermione that he was in love with her. He couldn't tell exactly when it happened, nor did he care. He wanted to tell her... and to find out if she shared these feelings. Well, Wedge? What're you waiting for? Are you afraid? Yes, he admitted to himself. He remembered what she told him about Hogwarts. If you make her angry, she can make you forget you ever knew her, he realized. That was the worst fate he could imagine. Oh, stop being so pessimistic. She wouldn't just kiss you like that and turn on you like some sort of witch. Great word choice there, Wedge. That kind of slip just might make her mad, seeing that she actually is a witch.

They approached the entrance to the building. Wedge listened. Everything inside was quiet. Then the door flew open. Wedge jumped off to the side, ready for stormtroopers to come out shooting. They didn't. Wedge glanced inside. "Nothing," he muttered.

"Come on," she said. They walked inside, weapons at the ready.

The room was empty of everything save a few large crates and another door at the far end, about ten meters. It was dimly lit, and had a gloomy feel to it. Wedge kicked at the floor. "No dust," he commented. "Someone was here recently."

Just then, when they stepped into the center of the room, the door through which they entered slammed shut. "Uh-oh..." Hermione said. "This doesn't feel right. Is it locked?"

Before Wedge could get there and check, a floor panel slid away, revealing a hole in front of them. Wedge couldn't believe what he saw next, since a woman leaped out of that hole, spun in the air and landed on her feet without crouching in front of them. She was tall, had flaming red-gold hair, and was dressed in a green jumpsuit with an impressive assembly of weapons on her. Wedge stepped back.

"You will come with me," the woman said, and Wedge got an urge to do just that. What am I doing? I've never met her. Hey! he told his legs. Obey me! The state, somewhat like drowsiness, passed over and he looked at Hermione. She winked at him. Wedge raised his blaster and fired. At the same time, Hermione aimed her wand and shouted, "Stupefy!"

The woman moved faster than Wedge thought possible. She actually dodged his bolts, as well as Hermione's spell. She jumped behind a crate, then stood up, and something yanked Wedge's blaster out of his hand. He looked at Hermione, and saw she was standing there, also empty-handed. The woman raised her arm, and Wedge felt a sharp point impact his neck. Then he fell.

Pain surged through his left arm. He wanted to scream, but couldn't. He tried to blink, and realized with a horror that he couldn't do that either. He could see, hear, and feel everything... but he had absolutely no control over his muscles. Not being able to clench fists, grit teeth, or anything else made the pain ten times harder to bear.

What does that woman want with us? he thought. Does she work for the Empire, or is she some sort of bounty hunter? Of course, he reminded himself, the two are not mutually exclusive.

Then Wedge was terrified. The woman was heading towards the other door in the room, and she was carrying Hermione. The witch was in an awkward position, in which it would be impossible to remain for long normally. She must have been drugged the same way I was, he realized. He knew now that Hermione wasn't kidding when she said that seeing his body and thinking him dead was the scariest thing she ever saw.

The door in the back opened, and Wedge mentally cursed himself. The trap is obvious, once it's sprung. He caught only a tiny glimpse there, but it was enough to realize that it was a ship. The other half of the building was an empty cover for the vessel. Great, Wedge thought. Even if she leaves me alive, which is doubtful, I'll have no clue where she went.

The woman stepped out of the door, alone and headed towards Wedge.

Then Wedge heard a loud explosion behind him. The woman turned and ran back into her ship. The door shut behind. The wall fell apart, and Wedge saw open sky, with the ship blasting off. A blaster fired behind him. Wedge saw the bolt hit the ship, naturally doing no damage.

A large, brown-haired bearded man he didn't know got on his knees next him. He waved his hand in front of his face. Wedge still couldn't blink.

"Substance 93," the man said, and reached into his belt. Before Wedge could think anything, he felt a needle sticking into his shoulder. Then, all of a sudden, he regained control. "Yaaoow!" he screamed in pain.

"Let's get him to the ship," he heard Tycho's voice, and then felt being picked up and carried. An Imperial shuttle stood outside the building. If Wedge didn't hear Tycho already, he would worry.

"Hello, Boss," Wes Janson greeted him when he was brought in. "Welcome back." Wes turned away and the shuttle took off. Tycho and the unknown man laid him on the couch. He looked up and saw Jan Ors. He felt another needle enter his arm and lost consciousness.

When he woke up, he was rested and felt no pain. He stood up. The room was empty. He recognized the familiar hum of engines, and nodded. They were in hyperspace. He headed forward.

In the cramped cockpit of the shuttle sat four people: Tycho, Wes, Jan, and the bearded man, who was the first to see him. "Welcome back, Major Antilles," he said.

"Wedge, this is Kyle Katarn," Jan introduced the man.

Wedge nodded. "Hello. Thank you." But before he could satisfy his curiosity about the man, he had to know something. "Hermione. The woman took her."

"We'll go rescue here as soon as we make it back to Calamari and pick up Hobbie," Wes assured him.

"And where will we go?"

Tycho stepped in. "We don't know... yet. We'll find out soon enough."

"How?"

Tycho raised his finger and took out a rifle. "What do you think this is?"

Wedge looked. He recognized the weapon. "An ordinary flechette rifle, 20-mm caliber. Is it special?"

"The rifle? No. The ammunition is what's special. This"--Tycho took a shell out of the weapon-- "is something Intelligence cooked up. The galaxy's smallest homing beacon."

"Are you saying..." Wedge trailed off.

"Yep. I tagged that ship. Once we're both out of hyperspace, we'll get the signal."

Wedge breathed out. That's a relief. "What happened after we crashed?"

"Well, we flew to the other side of the planet in the atmosphere, but we ran into a slight problem. The imperials placed a Lancer-class frigate there. We managed to get past it, but I got clipped. The wing of my fighter is still floating somewhere in the Suran system."

Jan answered him this time. "When they got to the rendezvous, they didn't bring back as much data as we'd hoped. Most of the commandos hesitated to go forth. So Kyle went in... alone."

"The info was sufficient," Katarn said. "It did the job."

"You destroyed the complex? By yourself?" Wedge was stunned.

"The Dark Troopers were harder," Kyle said discreetly.

Wedge leaned back. We're coming for you, Hermione. He wished he told her this before they fell into the trap, but an attempt to send a mental message across the light years would have to do for now. I love you.