On the Wings of Valkyrie

Chapter CXXVIII

"Luna, why are the doors closing?!" Luke shouted, sounding worried as he crossed blades with one of the many Hands. The girl chose not to respond, stabbing her sword into the chest of an adversary. He was right to be a bit concerned, they were trapped in relatively close quarters with a sizable section of the Emperor's servants, the others having been left behind on the other side of the door behind them.

Is she actually.... Luna mused to herself even as she Force shoved a group of the Hands back a few meters. The gamble was well chosen, as the enemies hadn't landed there for a moment before the door on the ceiling opened and allowed lava to splash down onto the Hands, killing the lucky ones instantly.

"Chuba!" Luke cursed, apparently having very different views than her on this new development.

"Stay calm. It's not that bad," the girl huffed in response, Force shoving another group into the lava fall and cutting the head off of another. The actions paired together successfully narrowed down the number of immediate enemies though both the lava and heat was quickly rising. "Cut out a chunk of the wall."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it! Make it big enough for both of us to stand on!" she shouted as she took care of another few Hands while watching Luke's back. In very little time, the two Rebels were standing on the safety that was the circular piece of metal from the tunnel's wall while the remaining Hands were basically burning alive, having failed to act quickly enough to get a raft of their own. Luna was merciful enough to snap their necks before the screams got too far into her mind and the images scared Luke for life.

"Alright," the girl began as she and the Rebel Pilot began making their way across the basic balance beam to an opening on the wall that would likely lead back into the palace proper, much like Luna did last time she was in this very situation—strange it had happened to her twice, "Luke, we keep this little lava escapade to ourselves. Your Father would have a heart attack if he learned of this."

She wasn't exactly joking. If the King of Shu-Torun had still been alive when she'd reported the first incident, the man would have wished to be dead rather than meet the Sith Lord's rage. Even if this had been done by Trios with the clear understanding that if it hadn't killed Luna the first time it wouldn't get her the second, Vader would still react rather poorly. Especially since Luke was involved.

"Noted," Luke responded as they entered the side tunnel. "How the hell do we get out of here?"

"Leave it to me."

~*~

"What?! How could they escape that?!" the Imperial Captain exclaimed in outrage. Trios kept her face smooth even as she found herself suddenly glad that no one who knew of her Father's attempt on Eclipse's life still lived. She wouldn't have been able to convince the Imperial that it was a good idea otherwise.

"It's impossible!" she shouted, milking the performance for all that it was worth. "They must be coming here next! Seal the doors! Call more guards!"

"They aren't headed to the throne room you fool! Look, they're going for the landing pads!"

"Are you certain?"

"Am I—? This is your palace!"

Trios pretended to look up the location of the hallways the two Rebels were racing down. "Oh! You're right, but there are no ships on those landing pads. Why would they be heading towards them?"

"Are there any incoming ships?!" the Imperial Captain barked at a nearby guard. The soldier looked to Trios.

"Check on it," she ordered, glad that at least to her people she was Queen. They waited in silence, watching Eclipse's escape as the Hands fell further and further behind, Vader's Shadow taking shortcuts as though she'd grown up running around the palace and escaping her own guard as Trios and her siblings had.

"The scanners are picking up nothing," the soldier eventually answered.

"Shoot anything that it picks up," Trios ordered, knowing that she could not afford to appear as though she sympathized with Vader's Shadow. The feats of Eclipse's Master were well known when it came to flying, the Queen could only hope that he'd passed on those traits to his apprentice.

She needn't have worried. The moment Eclipse stepped foot on the landing pad with her companion and an R2 unit that had appeared from next to nowhere, a ship flashed into existence.

"WHAT?!?!" the Imperial Captain shouted in disbelief.

"A cloaked vessel," Trios murmured. "There will be no catching them this day."

The Captain did not appear pleased. The Queen only silently contemplated how she planned out how to explain what just transpired to the sector governor as she watched Eclipse board the ship over the holo before it disappeared. After all, Trios hadn't been informed of anything by Imperial who had orchestrated the entire event and could therefore not be held responsible for the failure.