The Loyalty of the Dark

Chapter 44

Of the many things Luke expected to be doing again, being on the run from Darth Vader was not one of them.

But being on the run from more one manned fighters than anyone should be comfortable with? That he figured would happen again, Skywalker Luck and all. Luke had hoped his trusty X-wing would have been re-invented by then, but as far as ships go, Eclipse's was as good as any.

Besides, it gave him something to concentrate on.

He still wished they'd brought Artoo.

"Hey, Eclipse? We're going to need to enter lightspeed at some point if we plan on not getting blown up," he commented over the internal comm as he sped the ship away from the bulk of what he'd have called the Imperial fleet in another life, dodging blaster fire as he went. He wasn't able to stay completely clear of all of it, several blasts impacting the shields and jolting the ship.

"The navicomputer's already running the coordinates. Once we're clear of the gravity wells, punch it," came the response even as a handful of TIEs disappeared off of the scanners. "It'll give us a only few minutes in lightspeed but the hyperdrive's faster than the ones on the star destroyers. It'll be enough time for me to take over."

"You think they planted a tracker?"

"I wouldn't be surprised. The real question is whether or not those ships need a tracker...."

"What do you mean?"

"Later," came the tense reply. "See the—"

"Asteroids, sector five. This'll be fun," Luke interrupted, diving towards the group of floating rocks without hesitation. With a few sharp twists and careful maneuvering around and through the numerous asteroids combined with Anakin and Eclipse's shooting, the crowd trailing them started thinning out.

"Question: There's a TIE that doesn't look like all the other's and the pilot is way better, why?" Anakin's voice asked. He sounded calmer than Luke would have expected given the chaos of what was going on, but then again, it was his Father.

"That's probably the guy who dressed up as my Master and crafted a fake Force presence for it," Eclipse answered, her voice tense and annoyed.

"Fake Force presence?" Luke echoed, ship wobbling for a micro moment from his surprise.

"Mind on flying! Did you really think that it could actually be Vader?"

The thought had crossed his mind. Multiple times. In fact the young Skywalker had long since singled out the blip that was most likely to be the Sith and had been watching it closely.

He flew like Vader. Luke would know.

"Well, if it isn't Vader, how is he keeping up with us?" Luke countered.

"Believe it or not, Skywalkers do not hold a monopoly on the best pilots. Any Force sensitive—and regardless of who he is, he is a Sith—should be capable of this much. Get more creative."

"Well, I'm open to suggestions!"

"Get clear of the asteroid field and punch it," Anakin stated. "He can't follow us until after he regroups with the fleet, right?"

"No, that TIE model has a hyperdrive. He'll be right on our tail if there's a tracker. Force, I've always hated those particular eyeballs," Luke grumbled, even as he checked to make sure everything was prepped for jump. He must have not heard the chime that indicated the codernates were ready and waiting because everything was ready to go.

"What?"

"Squad lingo. Ignore."

"I always liked my Advanced," Eclipse commented.

"Well, you were the one doing the shooting and not the one being surprised because the thing has a shield."

"....Point taken. All the same, let's jump. I can take it from there."

"Got it," Luke said, peeling out for the nearest exit from the asteroid field. The moment they were clear, the ship shot to lightspeed.

The once Rebel let out a long relieved breath. Less than five seconds later though, Eclipse was hauling him out of the seat and taking his place.

"So what's the plan?" Anakin asked.

"First off, see if there is a tracker and whether or not the rumored new tech the Externals has been working on has been installed on the Executor."

"Should I get the computer working on the coordinates?"

"No. I've got a few tricks that will be better to operate with until we're sure," Eclipse responded as they dropped out of lightspeed. "Now let's see if—"

One of the screens interrupted the girl with an alarm as a diagram of the ship appeared, a red dot on the hull.

"Tracking device. As expected."

"So do we continue on to Koraband?" Luke asked.

"I haven't spent a year of my life destroying all recorded locations of my planets, including breaking in the Jedi's precious Archives, just to lead the enemy to the heart of my Empire," Eclipse responded, flicking a few switches before pressing a button. Luke blinked in shock. She's the one who'd been responsible for that?

"What are you doing?" Anakin asked.

"Getting rid of the beacon," she answered with a smirk as the red dot on the body of the ship turned green even as an alarm sounded to notify them that a ship was coming out of lightspeed nearby.

"He followed us," Luke commented, voice tinged with some panic, already sensing the too familiar presence.

"Has it occurred to you that I might possibly have a far better feel for the location of someone pretending to be my Master? Hang on," Eclipse ordered, launching the ship to lightspeed despite the fact cordernates had not been imputed. This time Luke managed not to cry out in terror though he was still freaking out about her action. Neither he nor Anakin spoke until minutes later, after the Sith had dropped them from lightspeed.

"How are you doing that?" Anakin asked.

"The Force. How do you think I got to Naboo on time?" Eclipse answered, pulling up a star map, though she didn't have time to look through it. The incoming ship alert blared again. "What?!"

"He's back," Luke noted. "New plan."

"He shouldn't have been able to follow us. They can't have already installed...." Eclipse fell silent even as she shot the ship forward, muttering Huttese curses. "They figured out how to skywalk!"

"They what?" Anakin asked.

"Skywalk. Use the Force to fly at lightspeed. Best way to get around the Unknown Regions and Sith Space if you don't have a wayfinder. My Master and I picked it up from the Chiss."

"Doesn't explain how he followed us."

"He followed my Force presence. I have to be open and connected to skywalk, and he took advantage of that. Find the nearest habitable planet and set the coordinates."

"On it. What's the plan after that?"

"We'll get to that when we get there."