Luke holsters his blaster pistol and grabs his lightsaber. Compared to a lightsaber, blasters are clumsy, imprecise weapons in close quarters. In skilled hands, a lightsaber is twice as efficient and many times faster than any traditional weapon.
With a howl of determination, Luke activates the blade and leaps forward. Upon hearing Luke’s vicious yell, the charismatic human dives for cover – at Governor Parnell’s feet. Parnell draws his blaster pistol and presses it against the man’s body. Luke now stands face to face with the four surviving stormtroopers, his lightsaber humming impatiently. The troopers hold their weapons ready to fire, but await instructions from the general.
“Please,” the human insists quietly. “Let there be no more bloodshed on my account.”
Luke shifts to a defensive stance, tracing a shielding pattern with his energy blade. “Who are you?” he asks. not turning his gaze from the stormtroopers. “Why do these scum want you?”
“He is Erling Tredway,” hisses the general. “And the Empire’s business with him is no concern of yours, child.”
“It concerns me now, Parnell. Let him go,” Luks threatens, hoping his voice carries more menace than the situation warrants.
“You are in no position to make demands,” The general snaps.
“He is if he can handle that lightsaber,” growls a gruff voice behind Luke. “And I’ll back him up.”
The general turns his gaze on the speaker. Luke does not dare turn around to see his new-found ally.
“What will it be, Governor?” Luke demands.
Parnell looks from the gruff voice to Luke, then to his stormtroopers. Without hesitating a moment, he says, “Kill them!”
The first stormtrooper braces to fire and Luke springs into action. He moves with a combination of thought and instinct, sidestepping the trooper’s aim and bringing his lightsaber down in the same fluid motion. The blaster flashes and explodes as the saber cuts it in two, knocking the trooper back into his companion. Black smudges and gouges scar his armor. The armor appears to have absorbed the worst of the damage, but the victim’s knees buckle as if he has fallen unconscious.
A red blaster bold flashes in front of Luke, striking a stormtrooper dead-center in the breastplate. The impact hurls him against the wall, where he hangs for just a moment. Luke cannot look to see who fired the shot, for stormtrooper number has turned to face him.
The trooper fires, but the bolt strikes Luke’s lightsaber and ricochets away. Whether he instinctively moved the blade to protect himself or was just lucky, Luke will never know. He notices a slight tickling deep within his brain, then steps forward and slashes his saber blade across the trooper’s abdomen. The man falls immediately, his scream no less unsettling for coming through an electronic transmitter.
Luke turns to face the last survivor, just pushing past the trooper whose blaster exploded. The survivor holds his blaster rifle in one hand with no hope of bringing it to bear. Luke thrusts his lightsaber toward the stormtrooper so he can easily strike the blaster or the man.
“Drop your weapon,” he demands. “I don’t want to kill you.”
The stormtrooper hesitates. Luke almost sees the fear etched on the white helmet. A harsh oath crackles from the electronic transmitter. “Death before surrender!”
The trooper swings the weapon toward Luke. The young Rebel must respond; he flicks the saber and opens the armor like a crustacean’s shell.
Luke turns his attention from the dying trooper. General Parnell has escaped with Erling Tredway during the battle. The only sign that remains of them is the jammed lock on the pneumatic door.
“You’re not bad with that thing, youngster,” says the gruff voice that pledged support earlier. “But I’ve seen better.”
Luke deactivates the blade and turns to face the speaker. “You have? Where?” Could this man know a Jedi?
The speaker is the bearded human that was sitting next to Luke when Parnell entered the hospice. His eyes sparkle when Parnell entered the hospice. His eyes sparkle with curiosity and friendliness. “Right here,” he answers, “in the Belt. Yound Tredway’s father had a ‘saber. He called himself some sort of knight. That what you are?”
“I’m afraid not. Erling’s father, is he still alive?”
The prospector spits on the floor. “Nope. The Empire tracked him down years ago. It’s a dran shame, too.”
Luke shakes his head in disappointment, then attaches the lightsaber to his utility belt. It seems he will never find a Jedi Knight to instruct him in the ways of the Force. Ben Kenobi must have been the last Master. Forcing himself to turn his thoughts to the here and now, Luke asks, “If Tredway’s father is dead, what does Governor Parnell want with the son?” Luke has developed a certain feeling of kinship for the fiery-eyed human. Erling’s Jedi father, like Luke’s, probably died at Darth Vader’s hands.
A crowd has gathered around Luke and the prospector, anxious for a look at the men who defied the Imperial Governor. A yellow-furred biped with slitted eyes answers Luke’s question, “The Tredway is the great resistance leader.”
The mention of resistance grabs Luke’s attention. Although his present orders are to search for locations for a new Rebel base, space-faring personnel have standing instructions to investigate local resistance movements when possible.
“That boy don’t amount to the shine on his daddy’s boots,” thr prospector interrupts. “He fancies himself some sort of preacher; I say he’s just a coward.”
“The coward’s way is bloodshed,” the biped retorts casually. “The Tredway rises above such folly.”
“He’ll learn the error of his ways in Tol Ado,” the prospector replies. “The Governor sure as vac believes in bloodshed – and a lot worse, too.”
“Tol Ado?” Luke asks.
“The sector prison planet,” the yellow furred biped says, his short muzzle wrinkling in disgust. “He who enters never returns.”
A beetle-proprietor slips through the crowd and rubs its antennae together vigorously, creating a series of high-pitched squeals. The prospector listens for a moment, then bursts out, “Now hold on, birdsnack! You just send your bill to Sebastian Parnell. Gideon Smith ain’t paying a half credit to cover Imperial Damages.”
The beetle whistles its antennae again, then Gideon replies, “I ain’t coming back anyway!” He nudges Luke, then says, “We’d better skedaddle if we don’t want to join Tredway in Tol Ado.”
Luke pauses for a moment. “Maybe we do.”
The crowd utters a collective gasp and Gideon studies Luke as if he has just removed the safety switch from a thermal detonator. “Why would you want to do that?”
“To rescue the Tredway!” proclaims the yellow-furred biped.
Luke nods.
“One of those stormtroopers knocked something loose in that head of yours!” Gideon exclaims. “We can get in easy enough, but we ain’t coming back out. We’d best just get on about our business and forget that no-account.”
Luke does not reply immediately. Gideon is right: attempting to rescue Erling is foolish. Imperial prison planets are notoriously secure. Although his orders leave latitude to investigate local resistance movements, even their most liberal interpretation would not permit penetrating such an installation.
Of course, Rebel officers can always use their own initiative to abandon a mission to pursue an unexpected opportunity, as long as the opportunity is more important. But no matter how Luke looks at the situation, he cannot say Erling Tredway is more important than a new Rebel base. He knows little about the man except htat he has an unusually commanding presence and is urging the local life forms to passively resist the Empire. Only the probability that Erling’s father, like Luke’s, was a Jedi Knight prevents him from rejecting the rescue attempt automatically. It hardly seems appropriate to abandon his mission in order to pursue what is ultimately a very personal task.
If Luke forgets about Erling, Click Here
If Luke attempts to rescue Erling, Click Here