STAR WARS: Presage of the Force (A Fan Fic by Michael Holiday)

Chapter 4

Nineteen days later.

Modified YT-1300 freighter, the Millennium Falcon sat guarded by a pair of Stormtroopers, its spiderweb canopy cockpit glinting in the bright lights of the enormous hangar. Obi-Wan trembled at image of the bloated battle station when the powerful tractor beams had locked-on to the ship. Now tasked with the job to deactivate the tractor beam, he allowed the Force to guide him.

Obi-Wan balanced on the ledge of the tower that housed the tractor beam, scanning the control levers before him. A gaping chasm stretched far below, down through the subdecks of the Death Star. Cylindrical magnets coated in high grade durasteel ran from the heart of the station, stretched past his perch, and continued just as far overhead, gathering at a narrow port where the station's surface touched the blackness of space. When charged with electrons, the two hundred tractor beam shafts magnetized, primed to snare megaton-class vessels in their grasp. The Force told the Jedi that one disabled device would not ping any warnings, at least not until the tractor was activated. And then they could make their escape.

He pulled down the levers one-by-one and turned a pair of knobs. The console hummed in decrescendo as if the energy were being sucked from its core. This was easy.

Before he could celebrate, a patrol of stormtroopers crossed onto the catwalk, boots clanging on the steel bridge. He slipped back into the shadows.

"Over here. Let's check out those readings."

"Roger that," the other replied.

Obi-Wan twisted dial and restored the switches to their on positions. The tractor beam came on-line, humming as it powered up just as the troopers swept past the area, and reported in.

"SA0513 and SA0413 reporting in. All clear. We're moving on to the next sector."

Two deep breaths later, the stormtroopers pounded across the bridge and disappeared into the bowels of the Death Star. Again, Obi-Wan deactivated the tractor beam. He peeked around the tower and then hurried toward the door. Near the end of the bridge, he stopped walking, hands to his chest. Obi-Wan stumbled forward and leaned against the wall just inside the corridor. He stroked his beard. There's a presence here I haven't felt for a long time.

He diverted from his plan to head back to the Millenium Falcon. Instead, he snuck down the hallway, working his way toward the faint blip of consciousness that beckoned his attention. A radio crackled, and he ducked into an alcove.

White and menacing in their helmets and armor, the squad of stormtroopers marched past his hiding place, boots stomping in rhythm. Obi-Wan drew in a long even breath, before dashing across the passageway. Once across, he crept into the shadows behind a column of durasteel.

I'm getting too old for this.

An Imperial Officer strode past. The Officer's polished boots blended with the mirror-shined floor, black on black. Her uniform was neat but snug, and she buried her head in the data pad she carried, so much that she probably would not have realized the Rebel infiltrator if he were standing out in the open.

Obi-Wan gestured with his hand and whispered, "Move along." When the woman disappeared around a corner, he continued his cloak and dagger movements—sector by sector.

Level by level, he drew closer to the familiar signature in the Force. Four levels later, Obi-Wan stopped abruptly. He checked around to make sure he had not been discovered, holding up below the doorway hatch marked HSDC. High Security Detention Center. Just my luck. He pressed the button to activate the door.