Author's Webpage: http://adult.dencity.com/lianne/
Pairing: Lu/Lando
Rating: PG
Series: The Vacation Series, #5
Summary: When Tronin doesn't answer their calls, Luke and Lando head to the excavation site to investigate.
Renting an island-hopper was easy. Lando signed for the small vehicle, and ordered a picnic lunch and a map of the local islands. Neither was really necessary, but after their run-ins the night before, and especially the warning about 'leaving the past alone', he wanted to cover their trail, at least for the time being.
He met up with Luke at the landing pad. The Jedi was obviously thinking along the same lines, since he was wearing rather skimpy clothes and was carrying a bag with towels showing on top. He gave Lando a quick kiss as the valet arrived with the hopper.
"Your lunch is in the cooler in the back," the valet, a young Krith neuter, told them. "The auto-pilot is programmed with a variety of the resort-owned islands in the area. Once you've picked one, enter it in the system. The hopper will take you there and mark it on the resort system as occupied. You will have complete privacy."
"Thank you," Luke said, loading his bag while Lando tipped the youngling. They climbed in and took a look at the map display.
"You choose," Lando said in a bright tone. There was always the chance that the hopper was bugged.
Luke examined the choices, then selected one. It wasn't the furthest from the resort, nor was it on the direct route to Tronin's excavation, but it was in the right basic direction, and it wasn't within sight of any of the other islands available.
Immediately, the hopper's engine hummed into life. It lifted up from the pad and set off at a sedate pace. Lando settled back in his seat, and wrapped his arm around Luke's shoulders. They were the picture of a loving couple on a dream vacation.
Inside was a different matter. The trouble they'd had the night before, combined with the fact that he hadn't been able to contact Tronin, had left him wound up tight. This was the sort of stress that he usually felt right before going into battle. He had to resist the urge to turn off the auto-pilot and increase their speed, since that would alert any watchers.
Tronin was an old, old friend, and one he didn't want to loose. They'd met nearly twenty standard years earlier, back before he'd won Cloud City in a game of sabacc and turned respectable. It was even before the first time he'd lost the Millennium Falcon to his long-time friend and rival, Han Solo.
He'd been carrying a cargo that had turned out to be very hot, with the rightful owner hot on his tail. He'd gotten away, but the Falcon had been damaged, and he'd needed to find someplace to land for repairs. What he'd found was a backwater planet that was supposed to be uninhabited. It had been, except for a small group of archaeologists led by Tronin.
The group had welcomed him with open arms, if only because he was a new face and had fresher news of the universe than they'd had. They'd helped him repair the Falcon, even supplying him with a couple parts that he hadn't had on board, then they'd sent him on his way with a huge party.
He'd managed to deliver his cargo, although the crook had docked his fee because he'd been late. Arguing that he'd been late because of damage caused by hostiles he hadn't been warned about hadn't made a difference. He'd been young at the time, so he'd chalked it up as a learning experience.
But afterwards, he'd stayed in touch with Tronin. Over the years, they'd gotten together on a number of different worlds. A couple of times, Tronin had run afoul of the authorities on worlds who didn't like him looking into their pasts, and he'd called on Lando for help. That help had always been willingly supplied, in memory of help given.
When Tronin had contacted him from Sandrica, hinting at what he'd found and asking for Lando to arrange for a Jedi to come validate the site, he'd expected a pleasant vacation on a resort world, and a chance to spend time with two old friends, even if he'd practically had to kidnap Luke to get him to come along. And now it was looking like they were in a world of trouble, and he wasn't sure if it's because of who they were, or because they'd been in contact with Tronin. He didn't know if Tronin was in danger because of his own work, or because Lando had contacted him. The uncertainty made his stomach churn.
"Relax," Luke said quietly, reaching over to touch the back of his hand. Lando could feel that touch go right through him, and immediately the tension started to drain from his body. Lando glanced over at Luke and mouthed 'thanks', and was answered with a smile.
A few minutes later, the hopper landed on a small island on the edge of a brightly colored reef. The island's small beach gleamed in the sunlight, made even more brilliant by the heavy concentration in crushed quartz that gave Sandrica's beaches their distinctive silvery hue.
Once the hopper was down, they quickly climbed out and moved away, heading into the heavy greenery that covered the interior of the small island.
"The hopper will have a tracer," Lando said once they were out of sight of the vehicle. "And after last night, I wouldn't be surprised if there was an audio pickup as well. We need to find them and remove them before we leave here."
"Right," Luke said. "I shouldn't have any trouble finding them. With the hopper powered down, the energy of the transmissions should be obvious through the Force."
"Good. Let's get going."
Luke stood next to the hopper, his eyes closed. He reached deep inside for the calm he needed, letting go of the physical and embracing the Force. Once he was ready, he extended his senses towards the hopper, scanning it lightly.
The first thing that he felt, shining in the Force, were the two lightsabers in his bag. His own was bright from personal association, long handling in the years since he'd first built it. It was the 'saber he'd built after his first 'saber -- his father's lightsaber before he was turned to the dark side -- was lost in his duel with Vader at Cloud City.
But even brighter was the lightsaber he'd found at Tronin's excavation site. The mechanics of it were only three hundred years old, barely older than the buildings at the site. And yet the 'saber felt ancient to him. That, added to the strange curve of the blade, was a mystery that he intended to solve, once he had time.
Dismissing the lightsabers from his mind, Luke turned his attention to the rest of the vehicle, categorizing everything that still used power, even though the hopper was turned off. Some were to be expected; the starter and the computer both drew power constantly.
But there were other power sources, ones that shouldn't be there.
Luke opened his eyes, and moved to the back compartment. Using the Force, he unscrewed a panel, lifting it away silently. He reached inside with his mind and lifted out the transponder that let the resort -- and anyone else with the right sensors -- locate the hopper. Lando held out the hastily emptied cooler that had held their picnic lunch. Luke placed it inside, careful not to jostle the tiny device.
Then he repeated the process twice, removing the audio pickups in the cabin, again placing them inside the cooler. Lando closed up the box and headed for the door. Moving slowly, so as not to trigger any warning signals at the monitoring station wherever that might be, Lando carried the box into the wooded area, leaving it there so that anyone who checked would think that they were still on the island.
When he got back to the hopper, Luke already had it powered up. Lando climbed into the passenger seat, closing the canopy over them. Immediately, Luke had them in the air and heading away, low to the water and paralleling the reef.
"You sure you can find the island?" Lando asked, his hand twitching as if he wished he had his blaster with him. Knowing the man, Lando no doubt felt naked, heading into a potentially dangerous situation unarmed.
Luke gave him the cocky grin he remembered from the planning sessions for the rescue of Han Solo. That had been a crazy plan, but it had worked.
"Trust me," he said before turning back to the controls. "I memorized the route. Besides, it's one of the few islands on the edge of the deep sea trench that is divides the two main island chains."
"You're the Jedi," Lando replied, settling back.
When Tronin had started his evasive maneuvers on the way to his excavation, Luke had memorized the route automatically. Now he tapped into the memory, overlaying it over a mental image of the map of Sandrica that he'd also memorized. That presented him with a small cluster of three islands, and once there he would have no trouble recognizing which one.
It took nearly an hour to reach the island. Luke kept the hopper low to the water, hoping to disguise their passage from any satellites that might be trying to track them. It wouldn't succeed against a direct scan, but they had to try.
As they neared the island, Luke reached out. Through the Force, he could feel the life that filled the island. The trees, the animals, the creatures in the ocean surrounding the small bit of land.
Sometimes it amazed him how second nature using the Force had become for him. From time to time he wondered if that casual expectance of being able to use the Force would lead to the sort of sense of self-importance that was a step towards the Dark Side.
But then the young boy from Tatooine would rise up in his mind, full of wonder at it all, and his worries would disappear.
Suddenly, Luke frowned. While he could feel signs of life all over the island, one kind that he couldn't feel was the distinctive spark of intelligent life. With heavy trepidation, he aimed the hopper at Tronin's campsite.
"Oh, no..." Lando moaned.
The camp had been destroyed. Scorch marks covered the ground. The tents were in shreds, and all the equipment was beyond repair. The damaged buildings that had been excavated had been completely flattened, finishing the job that had been started centuries before.
But worst of all were the bodies. They were clustered near where the cook- tent had been, suggesting that the attack had come during dinner. Luke landed the hopper a short distance away.
"Tronin!" Lando shouted as he left the vehicle. Luke followed a little slower, full of pain for the death of the enthusiastic archaeologist and for the grief of his lover. Up ahead, he could see that one of the bodies had the distinctive blue skin-color of the Selean.
Lando dropped to his knees next to the body. A laser blast had torn apart most of Tronin's lower body, but the face was almost untouched, still showing an expression of outrage and horror. He reached out a hand and closed the empty eyes.
Luke stood behind him, resting his hands on Lando's shoulders. He closed his eyes for a moment to wish the spirits of the dead peace.
Then he was all business. "We have to leave, Lando. It's not safe."
Lando opened his mouth, but nothing came out. He brushed a single, angry tear from his face and stood up.
"Right," he finally said. "They'll be watching to see if anyone else shows up. We don't have much time."
Luke nodded. "We need to get off-world. The New Republic council may not have the authority to intervene on Sandrica, and most of them probably won't even care, but the people behind this attack won't be willing to take that chance. They're going to try to stop us from leaving."
Lando's expression hardened. "They can try," he snarled. "Let's go."
The expected attack came sooner than expected. The enemy, whoever that might be, obviously had armed vehicles on a nearby island, since they had barely taken off when the attack came.
Three fighters came swooping from out of the sun, already firing. Luke threw the hopper into evasive maneuvers, but the tiny pleasure craft was not designed for combat, and there was no way it would be able to lose their attackers.
"Take the controls!" he called.
Lando reached over him to grab the controls. Luke squirmed out of the way, while Lando moved into the pilot's seat. Luke grabbed for his bag and the two lightsabers there.
Against a proper fighter, a lightsaber wouldn't be much use. But these craft were originally designed for transport, but some enterprising soul had mounted blasters on them.
Luke clipped the older lightsaber to his belt for safe-keeping, and popped the hopper's canopy, allowing him to stand up. He ignited his own 'saber, and turned carefully to face their attackers.
The pilots were nothing if not predictable. Given an obvious target -- such as a madman standing up in the moving vehicle -- that was what they aimed for. The first blast came directly for him, surprisingly accurate. Luke automatically swung his saber to deflect the bolt, staggering a moment under the force which was stronger than from a hand-held blaster.
The deflected bolt went exactly where he wanted it, striking one of the other attacking fighters. One of its engines burst into flames, and the vehicle spun downwards until it hit the water.
One down, two to go.
Unfortunately, it was a losing battle from the start. Their hopper was just too small and not maneuverable enough. Lando was an excellent pilot, coaxing more out of the tiny vehicle than the designers had intended, and Luke did his best to deflect the blaster bolts, but in the end a shot landed, sending the craft out of control.
"Hang on!" Lando shouted.
Their attackers backed off, seeing that they were going down. Lando's hands flew across the controls, trying to slow their descent so that the impact wouldn't kill them, and Luke used the Force to help his efforts. Unfortunately, between their momentum and the damage, he couldn't do more than to help cushion them as they hit the water.
The impact knocked them both from the vehicle, and they immediately dived deep. Behind them, one last blast destroyed their hopper, and the shockwave transmitted through the water knocked the air from them.
They surfaced for a moment, taking a few deep breaths of air before diving again. A blaster bolt seared through the water after them. Luke could feel the heat of the flash-boiled water as it passed by.
Luke met Lando's eyes, which were full of regret. It didn't look like they were going to get out of this one. Neither of them could breathe water, and the two fighters above would eventually succeed in picking them off when they surfaced for air. Their luck would run out eventually.
They surfaced again, and this time two blasts missed them by so small a margin that Luke's skin was mildly burned by the boiling water.
They dived again, waited, then started to surface. Or at least they tried. Luke felt something restrain him, and looked down.
A three-fingered hand was wrapped around his ankle. He was staring into blue eyes that seemed to glow in the underwater light. The other hand held something out to him, and he realized that it was a water breather. He took the device and fitted it into his mouth, taking grateful breaths as the breather extracted air from the surrounding water. He could see Lando doing the same.
Another of the sea creatures, humanoid in shape, but very powerfully built, held out Luke's lightsaber, which he'd lost his grip on when they'd hit the water. Luke accepted it gratefully, and clipped it to his belt beside the one already there.
That seemed to satisfy their rescuers. Two of them grabbed Luke under the arms, and two more flanked Lando. Then they started diving lower, driving themselves with strong kicks from the heavily muscled legs that ended in long, webbed feet. Luke kicked to help propel himself, but their rescuers were built for the water, and his efforts didn't do much.
He quickly realized that their evasive maneuvers had brought them out over the deep sea trench. They were heading deeper and deeper, the light from above already starting to fade. Up ahead, he could see the side of the trench, dropping almost vertically. As they approached, he could see the dark spots that no doubt indicated caves in the side of the underwater cliff.
The group of swimmers headed directly for the largest of the black spots. It wasn't until they were closer that he realized just how large the opening was. If the Millennium Falcon was submersible it would fit inside.
They entered the cave, and were immediately plunged into near total darkness. Their companions' eyes glowed an eerie silver-blue as they reflected what little light there was. Fortunately, they knew where they were going, and when they turned into a side tunnel, luminescent algae clinging to the tunnel walls supplied a cool green light bright enough for Luke and Lando to see by.
Their rescuers took them down three more side tunnels, each a little smaller than the last. Every so often Luke caught sight of dark flicker as someone swam away, but other than that they saw no one else.
The last tunnel took a turn upwards, and he finally saw the glow of light reflecting off of a water surface ahead. They burst through into a small air-filled cavern with no exits. One of their rescuers held out his hand expectantly, and Luke handed over his breather. Lando looked reluctant, but followed his lead.
"Wait here," the being said in a whispery voice; the first time that they'd heard one of them speak. The entire group dived under the surface and were gone.
"Well," Lando said, starting to pace around the small pool entrance. "Are we better off than we were before, or worse?"
Luke sat down and took off his light shoes. If the room had been warmer, he would have stripped to his skin. As it was, he could already feel the chill seeping through his soaked clothing. "Better, I would say. They haven't tried to kill us, for one thing. Besides, they seemed to recognize what my lightsaber was, but they let me keep both of them."
Luke checked his personal 'saber, and wasn't surprised to find that it was shorted out. Once it dried out it would work fine, although he would have to remember to clean it thoroughly once he had time. The other 'saber was fine, since it hadn't been turned on when they'd gone under.
"So what do we do now?"
The corner of Luke's mouth curved into a small smile. "We wait," he said.
Three hours later, they were both shivering in the cool air. They'd stripped down, and were sitting on Luke's clothes, with Lando's spread over them as best they could. They huddled together to share body heat in an embrace better suited to the bedroom, although there was nothing sexual about it under the circumstances.
A small splash alerted them that they were no longer alone. They looked up to find another of the unknown water people standing there.
This one looked older than the others. He -- assuming that it was male -- was wearing the same small loincloth that the others had been, but he was also wearing an ornate necklace around his neck which seemed to indicate that he had a position of importance.
"Jedi?" he said.
Luke stood up, ignoring the fact that he was naked. "I am Luke Skywalker. I'm a Jedi."
"Why are you here, Jedi?"
Luke glanced over at Lando, then turned back. "We came to visit a friend. He was studying the remains of a small colony on an island near here."
The male nodded. "The killers destroyed it, long ago. They came and destroyed all such places, and anyone they found there. They killed all of our kind that they could find, anywhere. If they knew we were here, they would come again."
Luke nodded. "They killed Tronin and his students. We went to find out what had happened when we were attacked. Thank you for helping us."
"We help the Jedi when they need it. What will you do now?"
"We need to get off-world," Luke told him. "If we stay, the attackers will eventually manage to kill us. If we get off-world, we may be able to do something about them."
He waited for a response. The male looked at him, almost as if he could see right into him. Then that gaze turned on Lando, who met it unflinchingly.
Finally, he nodded. "We will help you, Jedi. Prepare to travel."