Flaws of the Jedi

Solo - Part 2

The base was cold, just as she remembered. Everything was iron or some silver color. Well, most things. The floor was a sleek black. She hated being there so, so much, but she had to do this. If she didn't kill her parents, she would absolutely kill some of their Stormtroopers and any generals they may have.

Astoria continued through the empty halls on high alert, sticking close to the walls. It wasn't weird that the halls were empty to her. The last time she had been stuck here, not many people had walked through very often. She found it quite eerie, though. A dark, empty corridor with no one in sight and the only noises being her light footsteps. It was very creepy, to say the least.

Nonetheless, she carried on throughout the corridors until she found a wide, somewhat tall door. It could only be opened with a code or an ID card - neither of which Astoria had. But that wasn't an issue. About a year ago, Obi-Wan had taught her a way to hack things like this lock without even needing to know much math. I mention this because Astoria never went to school. She never learned any math skills, and her ability to read came strictly from Obi-Wan teaching her. Anyways, she walked to the lock and entered the number of turns she had taken to get to this door through the hallways: five. She then entered how many doors were along the way: three. Next, she entered zero three times and immediately the lock turned from a soft blue to a harsh red and the door in front of her opened.

The room was dim, but not dark. It was full of bright technology but the lights were off - despite this, the lights of the technology were enough to keep the room decently lit. She slowly entered and went quickly to the back of the room where she found another door. This one was metal, but had a classic handle and no lock. She cautiously opened the door and found it to lead to an outdoor ramp that stuck to the wall and jutted out from it about six feet, giving enough room for about two people to walk down it. But Astoria wasn't looking to go down it.

Astoria smiled a little to herself. "This is where the fun begins..."

She stepped out onto the ramp - which had a solid top the entire way down - and climbed carefully onto the outside of the metal barriers that were meant to keep you from falling off the edge. She glanced down from where she was and saw two Stormtroopers marching to a small, square building in the center of the outdoor hangar that the ramp led down to. She then looked up. The roof of the ramp was solid, so it wouldn't give under her weight. She then turned around to be facing the ramp again, rather than the hangar, and stepped up onto the middle bar of the metal barriers. Once she did this, she reached up to the ramp's roof and pulled herself up.

She once again looked to the ground, looking for guards. The two she saw before were just entering that building at the center. Perfect. They didn't notice her! She smiled a little to herself again and looked up. Just above her - about 15 feet up - was a balcony that would likely lead to her parents' room.

Looking at it and knowing what was up there caused a knot in Astoria's stomach. But she was too far in to quit now. She backed down the top of the ramp a few feet, then used the Force to jump up to the balcony. She landed on the balcony in a crouched position. She was relieved to see that the room was empty and the lights were off.

She stood and cautiously entered the room. It wasn't perfectly dark, just dim. She walked slowly to the center of the room. She stood there for a moment in silence, listening for any noises or signs of her parents' return, when she finally heard them. The knot in her stomach grew tighter. She looked up to the ceiling and saw three support beams that she could hide on. As the voices grew nearer, she quickly used the Force, once again, to jump up to the beam farthest to the left of the room, just above the bed in the room.

Just as she settled and stopped moving on the beam, the door opened and the lights came on. Astoria held her breath as she saw her parents enter.

"No, Darrow. The plan is in action now; there's no going back now!" Her mother shouted at her father.