Star Wars_ Rebel Force 05_ Trapped - Alex Wheeler [17]
The words were proud, but the tone was ashamed. Ferus lowered his head. Lune was just trying to wound him, Ferus knew. He was lashing out, angry about the past, angry about having a reminder of all the things he'd worked hard to forget. Angry that Ferus had left in the first place, then had had the temerity to come back. They were just words.
But shame flooded him nonetheless. The truth hurt.
Luke opened his eyes. The world was blurry. "What happened?" Gradually, the blurs of color before him resolved themselves into faces. Ferus and Div peered down at him, wearing curiously similar expressions.
"You passed out," Div said, then hesitated. He locked eyes with Ferus, and for several moments, a heavy silence settled between them. "You must have hit your head harder than you thought," Div said. "In the ship."
Luke rubbed the spot where his head had slammed into the bulkhead. He felt a small lump, painful to the touch. Still, something seemed off. "My head doesn't hurt that much,"
he said dubiously.
"Head injuries can be tricky," Ferus said quickly, helping him off the cot. "All the more reason to return to the Rebel Base. And quickly. We have work to do."
"Work? What do you mean?"
Ferus and Div exchanged another of those mysterious glances. Luke wondered how long he'd been out and what had happened between the two of them. It was as if they'd known each other for years rather than minutes.
"That ship you commandeered was on a rendezvous course with an Imperial Star Destroyer," Ferus explained.
"I noticed," Luke said, rubbing the lump on his head again. If they hadn't escaped in time…Speaking of which…"What were you doing in a TIE fighter?" Luke asked suddenly. "And how'd you find us? And—"
"It's a long story," Ferus said. "And I can tell you on the way. Right now all you need to know is that the pilot of that ship—the one who kidnapped you, Div—was an agent of Darth Vader. The information he gathered is crucial to the Rebel cause. To you in particular, Luke. It's the key to saving your life…and, if we're lucky, to ending Vader's."
CHAPTER SEVEN
It had been foolish to hope that Leia would be happy to see him. Ferus knew that.
But he'd hoped anyway.
Was it his destiny to seemingly disappoint everyone he cared about?
It was so good to see Lune again— Div, he reminded himself. And to see him with Luke and Leia, as if the Force itself was drawing them together, readying them for the fight to come.
But it was also unsettling. Years before, Ferus had worked hard to bring Jedi and Force-sensitives together, to draw them out of hiding, prepare them for battle. Obi-Wan had warned him against it, had said it was too soon. (Just as he now said, from beyond the grave, that it was too soon to alert Luke and Leia to their destiny.) But Ferus had gone forward anyway—and they had all died.
Was it all happening again? Was the Rebel Alliance just another doomed resistance?
Were Luke and Leia marked for death, or worse?
No, Ferus thought, stepping into the Rebel briefing room, readying himself to face the Rebel leadership. It's different this time. It has to be. Two decades earlier, a preliminary version of the Death Star had destroyed the kernels of a resistance movement—and nearly everyone Ferus trusted and valued.
But this time, Luke had destroyed the Death Star.
The tables were turning. Ferus and Obi-Wan had waited a long time. But Ferus sensed that their wait was almost at an end. He knew well that what felt like instinct could easily be wishful thinking, desire overwhelming good sense. But nonetheless, he needed to believe that this time, they would win.
They would survive.
The Rebel leaders sat at a long table, watching him expectantly: General Rieekan, General Dodonna, Wedge Antilles. Luke, flanked by Leia and his friend Han. Ferus had watched carefully as Leia saw Luke, safe and sound, for the first time. He saw the tears of relief welling in her eyes, and noticed how quickly