High Heavens (Star Wars - Luke Skywalker)

XV - Loss

The small group of rebels moved as quickly as possible through the Death Star hallways, turning each corner with blasters raised. Han lead the group down an empty corridor, having taken the lead with the reassurance that he knew 'exactly where to go'. To everyone else's relief (and surprise), they finally stopped in front of a large window overlooking the hangar they had been captured in. The Falcon sat proudly below, still surrounded by swarms of Imperial workers.

"There she is," Han said.

"C3PO, do you copy?" Luke said into his com-link, looking down at the hangar.

The protocol droid's voice came in through the device: "Yes, sir."

"Are you safe?" Luke added.

"For the moment... uh, we're in the main hangar across from the ship."

"We're right above you," Luke replied. "Standby."

Mara carefully watched the dozens of stormtroopers and such, who mulled in, out, and around the Falcon, trying to spot any kind of pattern that could give them an advantage. But there were too many for her to try to believe that getting down there was going to be easy.

Leia tapped Han's shoulder, getting his attention. "You came in that thing?" she asked in disbelief, gesturing to the smuggler's ship. "You're braver than I thought."

Han gave her a dirty look. "Nice. C'mon."

With that, the five continued down the hall, going through more twists in turns, moving in the vague direction of the hangar. It was then that Mara was reminded that - despite Han's ego - none of them truly knew where they were going. Not a moment after she thought this, they rounded a corner to find a small group of stormtroopers standing in their way.

"It's them! Blast 'em!"

Luke and Leia jumped back, while Mara, Han, and Chewie raised their weapons, keeping the troops at bay. When they began to retreat, Han ran after the fleeing soldiers like a mad man, hollering,

"Get back to the ship!"

"Where are you going? Come back!" Luke yelled after him, watching helplessly Chewbacca run off, too.

"He certainly has courage," Leia said, although it seemed to pain her to say so.

"What good will it do us if he gets himself killed?" Luke said.

"You're telling me, Skywalker," Mara sighed, heading off in the direction Han and Chewie went. She turned back to Luke and Leia as she ran, pointing at the former, "Take care of her! I'll be right back!"

"Mara, wait!"

Mara paid no mind to either of them, running down the hall to track down her friends. She found Han by the sound of his arrogantly loud battle cry, but by the time she caught up with him, the battle cry had morphed into a cry of alarm, and she realized that the two speeding figures were Han and Chewie, running right towards her. When a hoard of stormtroopers came around the corner, following them, Mara quickly turned tail as well, sprinting the other way even faster then she had come. The trio sent flurries of random blasts behind them, tripping through the gray halls. Hopefully, they were faster than the hoard of stormtroopers following.

"Dammit, Solo!" Mara couldn't help but yell at him. "You just had to go and play hero, didn't you?"

"Hey, don't go blaming me, Mar'!" Han shouted back, shooting lasers sloppily over his shoulder.

"Well, whose fault is it exactly?"

There was no chance to continue their bickering with the stormtroopers gaining on them, so they ran faster, dodging and ducking the shots whizzing past them. Soon, Mara spotted a pair of blast doors ahead, closing rapidly. Han jumped through the closing doors first, followed by Chewie, and Mara - who made it by just a hair, diving through and landing on the ground just as the doors shut behind her.