In Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 5

.

-He shouldn't be here- As he walked through his staff, Luke glanced to Admiral Joss, who had been waiting with Mara, "Battle Stations. Full alert."

The Admiral stared momentarily, taken aback- but to his credit, he was acting within seconds, pulling out his comm and issuing commands to other officers, everyone rushing to keep up. A siren blared through the massive hanger, red lights above the main entrance beginning to pulse then steadying to a scarlet glow.

Some distant feeling pushed at the back of Mara's thoughts, prompting her next words, "You should leave the ship."

He turned to her, not even breaking pace in his stride, Reese stepping closer beside him now, the blue-pauldrened stormtroopers who were his personal bodyguard pulling in about him. "How likely do you think that is to happen?"

Mara looked to Reece for support and he was quick to step in.

"Sir- is the danger connected to the Peerless?"

-Shouldn't be here- "Yes."

"Then let us do our jobs and deal with it, Sir. Please return to the shuttle- we'll have a phalanx of TIE's escort you back to the spacedock."

Luke paused to turn to Reece, tone dry; "You want me to leave so you can deal with a problem you had no idea existed and have no indication what it is?"

Reece had spent too long in The Commander's company to flinch beneath that gaze, and held firm, "Yes Sir. Protocol dictates..."

"Do you think that argument's going to work?" Luke asked distantly, eyes still scanning the bay.

Reece looked helplessly to Mara as Skywalker turned away again, starting forward. Mara reached out to place a hand on his arm - and everything stopped.

It was an incredible breach in protocol to even step within a certain distance of The Heir publicly- to reach out and touch him was unheard of. But Mara knew Skywalker and she knew what he would and wouldn't allow. She was one of less than a handful of people who could do this and get away with it- she hoped.

He turned to her, looming over her, expression fixed and unreadable, pale eyes locked on hers...

But he didn't chastise so she held her ground, making one last try, "Commander, please..." It was a personal request, laced with genuine concern, and as such it actually held his attention for a moment... but only a moment.

"It's up and aft of our position." He said, eyes roguish and teasing, the change mercurial as ever, knowing that she wouldn't be able to resist...

"Where?" she asked at last, and he set forward, grinning.

Shaking her head, feeling a reluctant smile come to her own lips, Mara followed him.

.

The corridors were all empty now, The Commander and his mixed band of aides, officers and stormtroopers roving the ship, Luke walking several steps ahead, closely followed by a very edgy Mara and Reece, everyone waiting expectantly - for what, no-one knew...

Finally, decisively, Luke stopped and turned to the access hatch to his right.

Mara stepped forward to the sealed hatch, "Give us a minute to check..." Skywalker made the slightest motion with his hand, eyes on the shoulder-height hatch, and it slid open causing her to whirl about, blaster levelling.

"There's no-one in there." Luke said calmly, stepping forward and ducking into the low hatch which would normally allow the ship's maintenance 'droids access to internal workings. Cursing roundly beneath her breath at his stubbornness, Mara followed...and nearly walked into him when he stopped dead just inside the entrance.

Inside, set within a clear cylinder within a clear cylinder, was an explosive compression bomb, resting against and wired into what looked like the shield and propulsion systems.

Mara stared at it for long seconds - it had no chrono, no visible timer to indicate when it would blow, no remotes, no visible workings... but two long chambers of silver-coloured fluid behind about a dozen tremblers within the cylinders and, judging from the greasy taste of the air in the restricted space, some kind of energy shielding. She took a half-step forward and broke her step mid-stride, realising what she was doing, Luke stretching his hand out to take her arm in the same moment-

"Floor." He said simply, though her eyes were already turning down to the deck plates. Three of the eight fine panel-locks were missing from the corners of the sheets, indicating they'd been lifted recently and replaced in a hurry...

Mara backed carefully out, followed by Skywalker.

"Big bomb." She said dryly to Reece. "Very big bomb."

The head of security was already on his comm, summoning the bomb squad, others comming commands to vacate the area, isolate or re-route command functions and close airlocks.

Reece stepped forward, glanced into the access hatch without stepping in then turned back to The Commander, "I think it really is time to go now, Sir."

-Shouldn't be here- Luke stared at him for long seconds, lost in thought, then turned to Mara. "You can handle the bomb squad? Keep me informed?"

"Of course." Mara nodded; that was way too easy...

"We'll bring the Fury alongside," Reece continued. "You can monitor the situation from there."

The Commander turned without speaking and set off down the long corridor, the security compliment in tow. As he turned to go, Mara reached out and grabbed Reece's arm, "You don't seriously think he's leaving the Peerless do you?"

Reece frowned, "Well then where's he going?"

Mara glanced after Skywalker. "I have no idea. Maybe you should ask him."

Reece turned and set off after The Commander at a run. "Sir, are we heading for the docking bay?"

"Roughly."

"Sir, are you intending to leave the Peerless?" Reece clarified.

"There's another bomb."

"You're sure?"

Luke glanced sideways at Wez, raising his eyebrows. "That one was placed to be found - who leaves a bomb in plain sight? And why in a clear casing? It had more trips on it than a Hutt's purse - and after going to all that trouble, would you be so careless as to leave locking catches out of floor panels? It was left to be found and slow us down. Nothing like a big bomb to concentrate your attentions."

Reece didn't miss the implication, "So there's another?"

"Yes. Near the forward bays somewhere."

Luke continued to scout the ship, aware that he was running out of time, that something big was looming - an event wrapped about by some indefinable nothingness... and the closer he walked to the fore bays, the more defined this void became... the less ambiguous, the more fixed. Like the future consolidating...

.

Mara's voice came over the comm as they entered the forward Troop Docking Bay, directly above the TIE's Deep Storage hangers, several 'techs pausing in their assigned duties to watch the trailing band of high-ranking officers. Scattered members of the 701st, also in the hangar, came to smart attention as their Commander entered the bay.

"Reece?" Mara's voice came out over Reece's comm, Luke tilting his head to listen. "We have the specialists here. The floor's up. They say it's a staged bomb - several separate detonations - but the trigger mechanism is behind tremblers and there are remotes on the floor under the decking. No sign of any timer yet. We'll keep you informed."

Luke turned and took the comm. "Keep going. Be aware there's another bomb in the forward Troop Docking Bay."

There was the slightest of pauses, "And where are you?"

"In the fore Docking Bay." -He shouldn't be here-

"Figures. I'll send the team there."

"No, keep working on that one. We don't have an exact location for this one yet. Be ready to split the team though."

"Acknowledged."

"Standby." As he had spoken, Luke had finished walking the length of the cavernous bay and was now changing direction, trying to lock the nebulous feeling down, time trickling away... Finally he stopped before one of the thick internal walls, hands flat against it. There were no marks on the wall, no signs of tampering - but it practically vibrated through the Force.

-He shouldn't be here- time ticked in the back of his mind.. counted down.

-Shouldn't be here- the words, the knowledge coalesced with absolute clarity in the centre of his mind, pushing his body for action, making Luke tense against the bone-deep need to leave..

-He shouldn't be here- His heart pound against his ribs, breath coming short;

-Shouldn't be here...

-Here...

"It's here." Luke backed up two fast steps, "What's on the other side of this wall?"

Reece turned to the Security Officer, who frowned, remembering, "Probably ordnance storage for the 701st - they're all around here. It may be munitions or fighters this close to the hanger."

Luke turned on him, "Probably!?"

The man paled and turned quickly, gesturing for a trooper to go and check, Luke stepping back from the wall and motioning for the officers to back up, catching Reece's eye,

-Shouldn't be here-

"Start evacuating the area." Luke lifted the comm as sirens began sound, maintenance crew who had been watching the strange gathering starting for exits, the 701st Deck Officer starting forward- probably to offer assistance; the whole company were theoretically his personal bodyguard. "Mara?"

Her voice came back reassuringly quickly, "We have a three-stage explosive device, connected into the defence and navigation shields - the connections to propulsion seem to peter out. There's no timer, it's a remote trigger device."

"Can they isolate the frequency, put up a dampening field?"

"No, it's receiving a constant signal; the moment it stops, it'll trigger automatically. They say about twenty minutes to diffuse it."

-Shouldn't be here-

"Too long." The whisper in the centre of Luke's mind was connected to every fiber of his body now like a live wire spiking, ever more demanding, spurring for action "This one will blow first. Evacuate everyone from that area and seal it. Do what you can to protect and re-route the defence shield system and get the bomb squad down to..."

.

In the access corridor nine storeys away and to aft, Mara frowned as she listened to Luke's order, hearing the tension in his voice. Grabbing the bomb-squad commander by the shoulder and gesturing for them to bug out, she turned to walk quickly down the corridor as they gathered their tools and specialist 'droids. From a distance, she heard an unknown voice over her comm as someone walked closer to Skywalker, 'Sir, the next hanger is 'tech storage. There's no device visible in there.'

"It's in the cavity." Skywalker's voice was tight with unease. There was a long pause, then... "BACK!!"

The distant explosion still held the power to rock the floors even at this distance, setting decompression warnings off in sequence, Mara's heart rising into her throat...

.

Luke frowned at the comm as Mara spoke, passing on a string of orders as the Security Officer stepped towards him, "Sir, the next hanger is 'tech storage. There's no device visible in there."

He glanced up, senses on edge, threat blaring out through the Force, "It's in the cavity..." Everything twisted with a spike of alarm so extreme that he flinched beneath it, "BACK!!"

The bomb detonated, the wall exploding outwards-

Already deeply immersed in the Force, Luke dragged it in so ferociously and so intensely that it seared through him, cutting like a knife-

In that same instant he threw it out, hands outstretched, creating two shields, one close to the bomb, the second to deflect the force of the massive blast in an arrowhead about himself and the small group of officers and troopers behind him, the power pushing him back, feet sliding against the smooth floor, massive chunks of debris thrown out about him as if they were leaves in the wind, glancing off invisible defences, embedding in walls and deck and docked ships. The floor below the bomb wrenched away, fissures ripping out, tearing solid ground from beneath his feet in a fraction of an instant-

Luke fell unprepared into the TIE hanger bay below, the shock of the blast and the massive drain of countering it leaving him stunned, darkness drowning his awareness-

The second blast detonated as he fell, the shockwave throwing him back mid-air, hurling shattered fragments toward and about him, propelling him into the side of a heavy transport which scraped across the already debris-littered bay into others-

He was oblivious before the brunt of the impact broke bones.