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Vacation Part 5: Trepidation
by Lianne Burwell
June 1999
Revised May 2003
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Renting an island-hopper was easy. The resort had their own 
rental vehicles for vacationers who wanted to go 
sightseeing in the area. Lando signed for the small 
vehicle, and as well as ordering 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. And you never 
knew; they might get hungry.

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." He 
showed no interest in what they might need privacy for, but 
at his age, he would have no interest in any reproductive 
activity, recreational or otherwise.

"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 around it.

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. If they were being 
watched, and chances of that were pretty good, that would 
be like painting a target on themselves.

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. It didn't matter to them that he was a 
smuggler. 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, and never made the same mistake again.

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 of crushed quartz that gave 
Sandrica's beaches their distinctive silvery hue. Under any 
other circumstances he would have considered it the perfect 
place for a little fun in the sun.

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."

Sometimes it amazed Lando just how much Luke could do; 
especially considering how little training he'd actually 
had. Most of what he could do, he'd learned to do on his 
own. "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 one 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 five hundred 
years old, barely older than the buildings at the site, and 
yet the 'saber felt ancient to him, as if many generations 
of hands had held it. That, added to the strange curve of 
the blade, was a mystery that he intended to solve, once he 
had time. Once he got back to Yavin Four and no longer had 
Lando around to take up his free time. He found that he 
didn't like the idea, but practicality said that they 
wouldn't be able to see each other very often. Luke had his 
duties, and Lando his business. Hopefully the relationship 
they were building would be able to survive those periods 
apart.

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, whether the 
vehicle was on or not.

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. Luke gave the hopper one last scan, then declared 
it clean.

When Lando got back to the hopper, he 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. If they kept low enough, they would avoid most line-
of-sight sensors, and the waves would confuse the 
satellites.

"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 a cocky grin. "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. It was the 
same thing he'd said, back when they'd been planning Han 
Solo's rescue from Jabba the Hutt. It had been a crazy plan 
and it had worked like a dream. Could this be any more 
dangerous? Luke snorted softly. That wasn't exactly the 
sort of question you should be asking, he reminded himself.

When Tronin had started his evasive maneuvers on the way to 
his excavation site, 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, each of which could be the right one. Once there 
he should have no trouble recognizing which one.

* * * * *

It took nearly an hour to reach the island. Luke kept the 
hopper low to the water to disguise their passage. It 
wouldn't succeed against a direct satellite scan, but they 
had to try. If the island was under surveillance, there 
wasn't much they could do.

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. It almost sang to him.

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 towards Tronin's campsite.

"Oh, no..." Lando moaned as they came around the edge of 
the island and saw the beach.

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 once stood, suggesting that the 
attack had come during mealtime. 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. After a moment, 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." Whoever 
'they' were, although there were a few likely candidates.

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." He stood and followed Luke back to the hopper.

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 small atmospheric fighters came swooping from out of 
the sun, already firing, almost before Luke realized that 
they were there. He 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 
before some enterprising soul had mounted blasters on them. 
They were faster and more maneuverable than their own 
pleasure craft, although not by much, but just as 
vulnerable to a lucky shot.

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 on a 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 of it, which was 
stronger than that 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, or at least aim it 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, dissipating.

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.

He dived again, waited, then started to surface. Or at 
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 of a variety 
that wasn't in use much anymore. 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, hampered as he was by his boots. Finally, he 
managed to kick them off. Lando had already done the same, 
he noted when he glanced over to his lover.

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 and the pressure of the water against his 
body was growing. 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, thankfully, since he and Lando would not 
have survived going much deeper. It wasn't until they were 
closer that he realized just how large the opening was. If 
the Millennium Falcon were 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 from them, 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 overhead. 
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 finally stripped down, and were sitting on 
Luke's clothes, with Lando's spread over them as best they 
could. Wet, they didn't do much to keep them warm, but it 
was better than nothing. 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.

"Gee-da?" he said, also barely above a whisper. An aquatic 
race, they obviously had to put a lot of effort into 
speaking in an air environment.

Luke stood up, ignoring the fact that he was naked. "I am 
Luke Skywalker. I'm a Jedi," he said, interpreting the 
strangely pronounced words.

"Why are you here, Gee-da?"

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 swimmer nodded sadly. "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. Obviously the native race was not as extinct 
as the syndicates would have liked, and if they'd known, 
they would have put all their resources into correcting 
that error. "They killed our friend and his students. We 
went to find out what had happened when we were attacked. 
Thank you for helping us."

"We help the Gee-da when we can. 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, Gee-da. Prepare to 
travel."

TO BE CONTINUED