The Death Star, Alderaan System
Luke watched as Leia and Danielle started talking about something, both of them walking ahead of Han, Luke, and Chewbacca. Danielle had summoned more X-Men armor from the Falcon, and Leia was dressed now in what appeared to be a black knee-length armored dress with black leggings underneath and matching boots. The most unique part was the black cloak she wore over it. It was leather and it came down to the middle of Leia’s palms, the bottom reaching the top of her boots. It fit the princess perfectly.
Luke looked back and forth between Leia and Danielle, frowning. They looked a few years apart, and Luke guessed that Leia was his age, nineteen. He looked at Han. “How old is Danielle?” he asked curiously.
“Sixteen,” he replied. “She joined us when she was fourteen.”
“Why did she?”
Han sighed, scratching his head. “She was tortured about her mutations. The Imperials on the planet thought it was just more magic, and when she said it was in her DNA, they went crazy to try and get it out of her. When the blood transfers didn’t reveal her mutations, they did everything that they could to make her feel pain.” He shuddered. “Some of which scar her for life.”
Luke frowned, looking at Danielle. “It doesn’t look like that’s what happened.”
Han’s face darkened. “Trust me, a Danielle mad you could deal with. Storm in a rage is something you never want to deal with. Believe me, Luke, she’s a monster when she’s mad as hell.”
“I believe you,” Luke assured him. He remembered the Tusken Raiders, and the furious look on Danielle’s face that he could see even in her blank, pearly eyes at the time. “I believe you.”
***
Leia and Danielle rounded the corner of the hallway and ran right into a stormtrooper squadron. Their blasters came up, but so did Leia’s hand. She felt the Phoenix stir inside of her, unleashing her telekinetic abilities and crunched their blasters into bits of metal nothing. One of the stormtrooper commander’s grenades unhooked from his belt and exploded in midair, taking out three of the company.
Leia smirked, reveling in the Phoenix’s power before forcing her down. “How about that?” she asked out loud.
The stormtroopers turned tail and took off running down the hallway they had just come from. "Get back to the ship!" Han barked to them all before taking off after them, Chewbacca at his heels.
"Hey, wait!" Luke shouted, about to go after them.
A pull on his suit stopped him. Danielle shook her head as he looked over at her. "There's no stopping Pyro," she told him, backing up. "You'll have to find your own way back."
"Our own way back?" Leia echoed. "You're not coming with us?"
Danielle shook her head. "No." She looked up, and there was a snapping noise. The metal covering for a vent overhead dropped down, and Danielle bent her knees and jumped. She did a backflip in midair, apparently using her magnetism abilities and sticking her feet onto the ceiling. She smiled down at Leia. "I've got my own way."
She disappeared inside the vent, most likely heading back towards the Falcon. Leia sighed. "I wish I had that ability."
"Not unless it somehow gets anyone killed," Luke replied, grabbing her arm. "Come on, let's go."
They took off down the rest of the hallway, and Leia wished desperately that this way led to the Falcon.
***
Obi-Wan walked through the halls of the Death Star, his hand on his lightsaber. He knew what was coming. He knew how it would end.
He just wished it would give enough time for the new X-Men to get away.
He stopped short when he saw the black-clad figure in front of him, a mask and helmet hiding his head, a blood red lightsaber at the ready.
Obi-Wan gave a sad smile. Darth Vader. "I knew you would come, Obi-Wan," Vader commented, stepping forward. Obi-Wan ignited his own lightsaber, his brilliant blue blade springing to life. "But this time, I am the Master."
"Only the Master of evil, my old friend," Obi-Wan replied.
Vader struck, but Obi-Wan's old instincts guided his actions. He deflected each one easily, only stumbling once.
Vader lowered his blade. "You still have your reflexes. You shouldn't."
Obi-Wan shook his head. "That wasn't a mutation of mine, It just happened under vigorous training." Vader's fist clenched, but Obi-Wan shook his head again. "The Force is the only telekinesis you have now, my friend. There's no one else in your head to help you now."
"Say what you will," Vader snarled, swinging again, but Obi-Wan blocked yet again. "Once a mutant, you're always a mutant."
"Not when they've gone when you've been betrayed," Obi-Wan countered, backing up and taking the battle further down the hallway. "Just like the third was."
Vader kept swinging furiously, and Obi-Wan kept on parrying. They were evenly matched in the fight, but Obi-Wan knew what had to happen would happen. He was taking the battle where it would end, like he knew it would.
He kept steadily backing up towards the hangar of the Millennium Falcon.
***
Han raced after the stormtroopers furiously, then slid to a halt when he saw where the stormtrooper squad had led him to.
All of the squads of stormtroopers turned away from their weapons drill and started aiming for Han. "Oh, hell," he cursed.
Blasters started firing everywhere, and Han raised his hands. The bolts stopped just inches from him, turning into a wall of fire instead. The lasers in his eyes came out and swept across the front squads, taking out as many as he could. "Beast, turn around!" he yelled.
There was a startled roar, then Chewbacca turned tail and took off even faster. Han waited, then followed.
"Close the blast doors!" voices started calling.
Chewbacca managed to run through all of the doors before they closed, Han behind him. He blasted his lasers at the floor, creating a wall of fire. There were shouts of surprise, and Han heard the doors close behind him. He turned and ran, bracing himself for an impact.
He smirked when he never did through all four sets of blast doors. "Phasing, thank the skies for mutations," he murmured, catching up to Chewbacca.
Together, they ran through the now-abandoned halls towards the Falcon.
***
Occasional sounds from the ventilation shafts were usually ignored by stormtrooper patrollers. That would've happened to Squad 10145 had they not heard a banging sound and a colorful curse above their heads.
The stormtrooper commander called a halt and raised his blaster towards the ceiling. He gave a shout of surprise when the blaster was yanked from his hand and crushed into nothing. The same thing happened to all of the other stormtroopers in his squad. Then their grenades lifted off of their belts and started detonating.
By the time all of the grenades had gone off, Stormtrooper Squad 10145 was no more.
The grate covering the ventilation shaft fell onto the ground, and Danielle dropped nimbly after it. She grimaced at the fallen stormtroopers. "Sorry bout that," she murmured, then took off running towards the Falcon.
***
Luke fired more and more bolts after the stormtrooper squad that had been tailing them for a while, then blasted ice to block the bolts coming back at him.
"Luke, up here!" Leia called from the doorway she was standing in.
Luke teleported to her side, then she slammed the controls for the door, closing it. Luke blasted the controls afterwards. "That'll hold them," he muttered, then turned to the path they were going onto.
He nearly fell when he saw the drop-off. Leia grabbed his arm, pulling him back. "I think we made a wrong turn," he muttered.
Leia looked around. "And you probably just blasted the controls for the bridge," she muttered.
Luke looked across the chasm to see where they had to go. "And that's pretty far for me to concentrate on teleporting." He felt the grip on his armor tighten, then looked back at Leia, and he yelped. A faint glow had surrounded her, and her eyes were glowing with dark fire. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Do you trust me to get you over there?" she asked, a rough tone in her voice.
Luke glanced over his shoulder to the drop-off. "As long as you don't drop me," he replied.
He felt his feet get lifted off of the ground, then flew with incredible force towards the platform that would have connected to the bridge. His feet landed solidly, and the telekinetic grip on his armor vanished. He turned, then his eyes widened.
The glow around Leia vanished, and from her back, dove white wings of a 13 foot wingspan emerge. She smirks at him. "You did know I was a three-way, right?" she asked.
Luke shrugged. "Couldn't guess what number three was."
"Now you know." Leia jumped into the air, then tucked in her wings and flew across the chasm, landing next to Luke, her wings folding into her back. "Now let's get moving."
Luke punched the door controls, and they darted down the halls, hoping they ended up at the Falcon at some point.
***
Han skidded to a halt just outside of the hangar bay to see a full stormtrooper squad guarding the Falcon's ramp. He narrowed his eyes. "Didn't we just leave this party?" he asked angrily.
Chewbacca raised his furry arms in a gesture of helplessness. "All stormtroopers look the same to me."
Running footsteps came from behind them. and Han raised his blaster only to see Danielle run up, her black, silver, and white hair looking windswept. "Did you tornado out or something?" he asked curiously.
Danielle glared at him. "I will blast you with lighting the next time we land on a planet," she growled.
More running came from behind them, this time Luke and Leia. "What took you so long?" Han asked.
"Ran into some old friends and had to get across a drop-off," Leia replied, clutching a stitch in her side. Han raised an eyebrow when he saw the feathery white wings against her back. "Nice wings there, princess."
Leia narrowed her eyes, then looked at Danielle. "Can I hurt him?"
"Be my guest," she replied.
Chewbacca urfed in laughter, then stopped short, whining a little. "What is it?" Han asked.
Chewbacca tilted his head a little bit, then whined again. "Sounds like electricity clashing. Like when Storm's do when her lightsabers cross."
Danielle's eyes widened, then she looked at Han, the blood draining from her face. "Obi-Wan's a Jedi. Vader's a Sith."
"Sithspawn," Han muttered, looking out into the Falcon's bay again. He blinked in surprise as the stormtrooper squad took off running for the far side of the landing bay. "They're leaving . . . "
Danielle poked her head out around the corner, and her face drained of all color. "Not very far."
Han looked out, too, then grabbed her arm. "Come on," he snapped, darting out and making a run for the Falcon.
She didn't need telling twice. She ran after Han, her cloak billowing out behind her. Chewbacca was right on their heels, followed by Luke and Leia. Electronic beeps came from close by, and Threepio and Artoo came from their hiding place and approached the Falcon.
At the ramp, Han got everyone inside, then noticed Danielle still at the foot of the ramp, watching the duel between Vader and Obi-Wan take place. Her eyes glazed over, and Han was afraid that she was going to go on an all-out electricity failure when she swallowed and looked down at the ground.
Right after she did, Vader's blade swept and cut Obi-Wan in half.
The man's body disappeared, his lightsaber falling onto his outer cloak. Han's eyes widened, and he looked at Danielle in horror. Tears were leaking from her eyes, and her skin had drained of all color. "Dani," he whispered, "come on."
Danielle nodded numbly, but she stretched her hand out towards the door controls. The doors that kept Vader from coming into the bay slammed shut, right in the stormtroopers' faces. The stormtroopers shouted in surprise, turning to face the two remaining X-Men. Danielle ran up the Falcon's ramp, and Han closed the ramp after her. Both of them headed for the cockpit, ignoring Luke and Leia's questioning glances. "Where's Ben?" Luke finally asked.
Han looked at Danielle, who still had the glazed look in her eyes. "Not coming back," she whispered so low that Han could barely hear her, then she disappeared into the cockpit.
Han didn't stay around to see the kid's reaction. He entered the cockpit after her.
She dropped into the navigator's chair and started flipping through the coordinates Leia had given through Artoo and got a lock on the planet they were headed for. "Did he say something to you?" he asked, sitting in the pilot's chair.
Danielle didn't say anything for a while. Han shrugged and continued piloting away from the Death Star when she finally spoke: "He said that he was proud of the next generation of X-Men."
***
Yavin 4, Yavin System
A few standard days later, the Falcon dropped out of hyperspace. Danielle leaned over Han's shoulder and nodded her approval of the planet in front of them. "Yavin 4?" she asked.
Han nodded. "That's Yavin 4," he confirmed, piloting the Falcon into the atmosphere. "What was the code to let us down there?"
Danielle rattled it off, and the Rebel sentries gave the landing bay coordinates for them. Han brought the Falcon in, and Danielle raised an eyebrow at the men waiting for them. "The code must have been the princess's," she noted. "They're higher-ranking."
"And you know that how?" Han asked.
Danielle hit the back of his head with the palm of her hand. "You know what high-ranking men look like after you've been around the Imperials for a few years," she snorted.
Han raised his hands. "My bad," he told her, standing and lowering the ramp. "Let's go meet these high-ranking overlords then."
Leia was down the ramp in seconds. One of the men - a white-haired man with a beard and a tan jacket - hugged her when she hugged him. "You're safe," he breathed, talking more to himself than her. "When we heard about your father, we feared the worst." He pulled back, then took in the black armor she was still wearing. "What is it you're wearing?"
"Oh," Leia commented, chuckling a little. She looked over her shoulder at Danielle. "Not that I don't like the uniform, but could you get it off?" she asked sheepishly.
Danielle smiled at her. "Sure thing," she replied, getting a lock on her armor. The metal plates fell off, zipping back onboard the Falcon, followed by the leather. Leia nodded approvingly.
The man looked over Han, Danielle, Luke, and Chewbacca. "Who are these four?" he asked.
Leia smiled. "These, General Dodonna," she replied with a note of pride in her voice, "are Pyro, Storm, Iceman, and Beast." She pointed to each of them in turn. She turned back to Dodonna, whose jaw had dropped in understanding. "I think you might know them better as the X-Men."
"Oh, we're famous out here, too," Han drawled. "Great."
Luke snickered, and Danielle had to cover her mouth with her her hand to stifle her laughter, too. Dodonna didn't have any words, he just gestured them in. "Nice job," Leia murmured to them as they went in. "You actually made the general speechless."
"I take that as an accomplishment?" Luke asked.
Leia nodded. "Not much can silence him. Apparently having the X-Men's presence grace them, that caused an interesting reaction."
"So glad," Han muttered.
Wisely, Leia didn't comment. Danielle grinned, snickering to herself as she followed them into the temple that was headquarters for the Rebel Alliance.
***
Luke paid close attention to the briefing General Dodonna gave, and when the pilot next to him - Wedge Antilles - commented on how hard it was going to be to fire the torpedoes they had into the small opening into the Death Star, Luke countered with how wamp rats on his planet were smaller than the opening and he could shoot them just fine with a computer. With that, the pilots were all dismissed to head for their ships.
Luke took one glance at the orange flight suit they had to wear and instantly raised an eyebrow. He somehow felt more comfortable in the X-Men suit he had worn. Just as he was thinking that, he watched as the X-Men uniform turned a shade of orange. His eyebrows shot up, and he dropped the flight suit in a pile on the floor. "How about that?" he wondered.
"Like magic, Master Luke," Threepio commented.
Luke smiled. "Keep telling yourself that, Threepio," he replied, walking out with his flight helmet under his arm.
As he looked over all of the X-wings and Y-wings standing ready to fly around the hangar, he saw a flash of black metal and brown fur in the corner. He walked over to see Han and Chewbacca were loading a couple dozen boxes up into the Falcon. The money that Obi-Wan promised, he thought dimly, then shook his head. I can't believe he's gone. He walked up closer. "So, that's it?" he asked. "You're taking the money and just flying off?"
Han looked up and nodded. "That's pretty much it, yeah."
Luke shook his head incredulously. "Look around you here. These guys need a good crew like you."
"We can't stay, Iceman," Han told him, standing straight and crossing his arms. "Dani's telling the generals what she can about the battle plans she knows, then we're out of here."
Luke sighed. "There's nothing I can say to stop you, is there?"
Han shook his head. "Afraid not."
Luke thought about saying something else, then shook his own head, heading off.
"Hey, Luke."
Luke turned back, raising an eyebrow at Han. The older man seemed debating on something, then he sighed. "May the Force be with you."
Luke blinked, a little surprised that was coming from Han. "Thanks," he replied, starting to turn.
"And kid?"
Luke sighed, turing around again and cocking an eyebrow. Han grinned. "You can keep the suit."
Luke snorted. "Thanks."
He turned and started walking again. This time, Han didn't stop him.
Up ahead, he could see Danielle talking with General Dodonna and Leia, holding a datapad and showing them something. He stood, watching them for a few minutes. After a while, the group seemed to come to a conclusion, and the general and Leia turned to leave. Danielle looked at Luke, and a shadow crossed over her face, and she walked up. "Han told you what's going on?" she asked.
Luke sighed, nodding. "Yeah. I just can't believe that you're not staying."
Danielle shrugged, continuing to walk with Luke towards his X-wing. "Trust me, I'm not exactly giddy over it, either. If it were up to me, I'd slap some sense into him and get him in the Falcon and get him up there with you while I help with the ground work down here." She sighed. "That's not gonna be how things go."
Luke shook his head. "I just hope things go well for you while you're out there."
Danielle didn't say anything for a while, and when he looked down at her, he noticed that her eyes had a glassy look in them. He stopped, grabbing her arm and stopping her, too. "What's wrong?" he whispered.
Danielle shook her head, wiping at her eyes. "Did Obi-Wan ever tell you anything about other mutants?" she asked, her voice shaking a little.
"No," Luke replied. "Why?"
Danielle swallowed, looking at the ground. "He said that he was proud of the new generation of X-Men right before he died."
Luke sighed, then pulled her into a hug. She resisted at first, then relaxed and hugged him back. "It'll be all right," he told her, kissing her forehead. "Trust me, everything will be fine."
Danielle pulled away, smiling up at him. "Thanks."
"No problem," he replied, squeezing her hand and turning to go.
Her hand tightened in his and she pulled him back. He raised an eyebrow, then her other hand came up around his neck and pulled him down, and she kissed him quickly. He kissed her back, then pulled away a little to see the sad smile on her face. "And good luck," she whispered.
Luke smirked. "Thanks," he told her, and she let him go, and he ran off towards his X-wing.
***
Danielle watched Luke go, then shook her head, heading back towards the Falcon. She couldn't wipe the grin off of her face.
Han noticed it, too. He raised an eyebrow at her. "What're you so giddy about?" he asked.
"I've just got a feeling," she replied, looking over the ships ready to leave. She smiled at Han. "You know what I mean?"
"Heck no," Han retorted.
Danielle laughed and disappeared into the cockpit.
Han looked over at Chewbacca, raising an eyebrow. "What got into her?" he asked.
***
"Hey, Luke!"
Luke stopped short when he heard the familiar voice call his name, then turned and smiled real big when he saw who was approaching. "Biggs?" he asked incredulously.
"Hey!" Biggs replied, smiling just as big and hugging his friend. "I couldn't believe it when you showed up!"
"And I can't believe you're here!" Luke replied, smiling when he saw his friend in the orange flight uniform. "You're up there, too?"
"Right up there with you," Biggs assured him.
Luke grinned happily. It faded when he looked back and saw the Falcon's landing ramp go up, and it flew away out of the hangar. "I could use that," he admitted.
Biggs saw where he was looking and smirked. "You got a girl before I did?"
"She did it first," Luke told him, but he was flushing red just the same.
Biggs chuckled and punched Luke in the arm. "Just playing with you, Icy."
"Iceman," Luke corrected. The suit he was in turned black for a split second, revealing the criss-crossing X's before turning back to orange. "X-Man and proud."
"Hey, Skywalker!"
Luke turned to see the commander of their squadron - Garven Dreis - come running up to them. "Hey, Commander," he replied.
"You sure you can fly one of these?" Dreis asked, jerking his thumb in the direction of the X-wing Luke had been assigned to.
"Commander, Luke's the best of the pilots on Tatooine you could get," Biggs replied.
Dreis broke out in a huge grin and held a hand out to Luke. "You'll be fine."
"Thanks," Luke replied, smiling as he reached his starfighter.
"When we get back after blowing that thing out of the sky," Biggs told Luke, "you're going to have to tell me what's been going on since I left."
Luke smiled, thinking about Obi-Wan and when they'd rescued Leia aka Rogue, and the new era of X-Men. "I'll tell you all about it," he promised, jumping into the cockpit and lowering the cover. "You all set, Artoo?" he asked.
Artoo beeped a confirmation from where he was in the droid socket behind him. "Good," Luke replied, flipping a few switches.
It was time to get the Death Star out of the galaxy.
***
Leia watched as the X-wings and the Y-wings flew out of the hangar bay, then ran towards the control room. Threepio was close behind her.
Leia leaned over the control board to see that the Death Star was already in the area. She closed her eyes, suddenly wishing that at least Danielle had stayed.
She had a feeling that something was going to go wrong. Everything will be fine, the Phoenix whispered in her head.
That's what I'm afraid of, Leia told her. It'll go too well. And come crashing down on us.
She desperately hoped that wasn't what would happen.
***
Han watched as the X-wings and Y-wings emerged into space and watched as the S-foils locked into position. Danielle leaned over and pressed a button on the control panel.
The voices of the pilots chattering filled the cockpit. Han looked to his right at Beast.. "Nice job with hacking the system," he told him.
Chewbacca roared. "Anything for Rogue and Iceman."
"And now we wait in case they need us," Danielle murmured.
Han nodded miserably. "And now we wait."
He just hoped they wouldn't have to wait until the last minute to jump in.
***
Not much left to go here! One more chapter - for those of you Star Wars fans, try not to be disappointed, I'm terrible at the trench scene - then an epilogue split in two. One for the good guys, one for the bad. And then comes The Empire Strikes Back. :)
Like the Luke/Dani thing going on? Ice Storm. :) And Pyrogue for Han and Leia. Yes, I made my own ship names, who cares. It fits their names.
Now I'm gonna stop babbling and get to the dedication. KhaleesiSkywalker. There are, like, not many Star Wars stories on here at all. Hers was the one that I love the most. After going through editing it is going to be totally boss. And it was already awesome before the editing. :) Thank her for getting me to post this story, because I was hazy about posting this story at all.
Anyway, hope you like! Thanks!