(no subject)

[acts_of_gord]

One thing for sure about the Bar: wherever it's teleporting things in from, the warehouse is top-notch. When Gordon went up to inquire about a movie, it produced not only a DVD of Star Wars, but an appropriate player and television to go with it. Rentals, of course, clearly marked as such, but still.

"I probably should've asked for some popcorn too," Gordon notes as he gets the last few cables plugged in. "Then again, I think we're both full at the moment. Are you ready?"

Comments

[vance_prime]

And then it's off to Mos Eisley--"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy... we'd best be cautious"--and the cantina.

"So these are all humans in costumes too, right?"

[acts_of_gord]

"If they're not costumed humans, they're puppets," Gordon says. "Mostly costumes, though."

With a crowd like this you just know a fight's gonna break out eventually. "Don't insult us. You just watch yourself. We're wanted men. I have the death sentence in twelve systems." Might as well say 'gentlemen, start your engines'.

Though most car races don't generally end with an arm on the floor and an old man giving an entire room the 'do NOT fuck with me' faint little smile Kenobi offers the suddenly much more polite spectators.

"... do the patents he gave you let you do that?"

[vance_prime]

"Not yet. All I've got so far are schematics for a system to grow the crystals that make the blade," Alyx murmurs, obviously impressed. "I should get to work on that."

Now Luke and Kenobi are talking to a thirtysomething human in a rumpled shirt and vest. "Fast ship? You've never heard of the Millennium Falcon?"

"Should I have?"

"It's the ship that made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. I've outrun Imperial Starships--not the local bulk cruisers, mind ya, I'm talkin' about the big Corellian ships now..."

Alyx quirks an eyebrow. "Astronomy isn't my specialty, but isn't a 'parsec' a unit of distance?"

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon gestures towards the screen. "He's bullshitting. Kenobi isn't buying it. Luke, maybe, but Kenobi knows when he's being lied to."

As the bargain's concluded and Kenobi and Luke get up to leave, someone else enters the scene. "Oota goota, Solo?"

Bar, unlike Lucas, appreciates a real masterpiece. On this DVD, Han shoots first.

[vance_prime]

Another huff of laughter from Alyx. "Nice."

A couple of short scenes later, they've evaded the Stormtroopers--just barely--and are prepping to make the jump to lightspeed.

"So how is FTL travel supposed to work here?"

[acts_of_gord]

"Hyperspatial travel of some kind. As nearly as I can tell the ship drops partly or mostly out of realspace and passes through a dimensional zone where the normal laws governing relativistic travel don't apply." Gordon shrugs. "You got a lot of dimensional casualness in science fiction when you were talking about space travel."

[vance_prime]

"Kinda like the Xen relay system," says Alyx with a nod. "I gotcha."

And now we're back on the Death Star.

"Governor Tarkin. I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash... I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board."

"Charming to the last. You don't know how hard I found it signing the order to terminate your life..."

Alyx makes a face. "Ugh. Now he reminds me of Breen."

[acts_of_gord]

"He gets worse," is all Gordon says.

"You would prefer another target? A military target? Then name the system! . . . I grow tired of asking this. So it'll be the last time. Where is the Rebel base?"

". . . Dantooine. They're on Dantooine."

"There. You see, Lord Vader? She can be reasonable. Continue with the operation. You may fire when ready."

"What??"

"You're far too trusting..."

[vance_prime]

Alyx says nothing as the Death Star is powered up and Alderaan is obliterated.

But her face has gone utterly bloodless and her grip on Gordon's hand is tight enough to hurt.

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon does his best not to flinch, but the breath does hiss out of him at that. He moves his other hand to cover hers.

And as it happens, Alyx isn't alone. On screen, as Luke attempts to fend off the zapping of the bobbling spherical drone, Ben Kenobi flinches and staggers, looking very much as if he wants to be violently ill. Luke puts up his saber immediately, concerned. "Are you all right? What's wrong?"

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force...as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."

[vance_prime]

"Dr. Stantz had a training drone like that too," Alyx murmurs.

Now Kenobi is putting a helmet on Luke's head. "With the blast shield down, I can't even see!" Luke protests. "How'm I supposed to fight?"

"Your eyes can deceive you; don't trust them," replies Kenobi. "Stretch out with your feelings."

"...huh. He talks about it like the Vortigaunts talk about the Vortessence."

[acts_of_gord]

"The what, nnnnnn-"

He has heard that word before, now that he thinks about it.

"Oh. What that Vortigaunt in the cave was talking about. Yeah, he sort of does, doesn't he."

[vance_prime]

"What was it he said earlier? 'It surrounds us, penetrates us, holds the universe together'? Something like that? Sure sounds like the Vortessence to me."

Meanwhile, back in the movie...

"That's no moon. It's a space station."

"It's too big to be a space station."

"I have a very bad feeling about this..."

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon just sort of looks away during the tractor beam sequence. Getting pulled somewhere with no say in the matter... not really his idea of fun right now.

"There's no one on board, sir. According to the log, the crew abandoned ship right after takeoff. It must be a decoy, sir. Several of the escape pods have been jettisoned."

"Did you find any droids?"

"No, sir. If there were any on board, they must also have jettisoned."

"Send a scanning crew on board. I want every part of this ship checked."

"Yes, sir."

The dark figure's voice grows speculative for a moment. "I sense something... a presence I haven't felt since..."

[vance_prime]

Alyx bursts out laughing at Han and Luke's 'knock out the guards and steal their uniforms' maneuver.

"Oh, for the love of--Civil Protection is harder to get past than these morons."

[acts_of_gord]

"I think they make the smart ones pilots," Gordon says. "That or officers. You don't get to show your face unless you're smart enough to notice."

[vance_prime]

"I dunno, the officers were dumb enough to buy the 'my transmitter is broken even though it worked just fine ten seconds ago' excuse..."

R2, who is plugged into the control room's console, starts beeping and squealing frantically.

"What is it?"

"I'm afraid I'm not quite sure, sir. He says 'I found her' and keeps repeating 'She's here!'"

"Well, who?"

"Princess Leia."

"The Princess? She's here?!"

"...yep. Definitely the smartest one."

[acts_of_gord]

"I always liked him."

"This isn't going to work."

"Why didn't you say so before?"

"I did say so before!"

There's something fairly satisfying about seeing Chewbacca tear into the armored and other goons in the room when they finally let him loose. Gordon adds, "He might possibly come in second."

[vance_prime]

"I might have to agree with you on that one."

Our heroes are pinned down in a corridor with a metric assload of Stormtroopers covering the only exit... until Leia grabs Luke's gun and blows a hole in the nearest vent cover.

"Ahh, the vents. Of course."

[acts_of_gord]

"Of course," murmurs Gordon, who's just remembered what's coming next.

Yeah. That's going to be fun.

"Oh! The garbage chute was a really wonderful idea. What an incredible smell you've discovered!"

Alyx isn't the only one who can squeeze hands tightly.

[vance_prime]

Alyx squeezes back, looking over at Gordon with obvious concern.

"Y'know, it's not gonna take 'em long to figure out what happened to us."

"It could be worse."

A low, gurgling rumble echoes through the room, like the call of some unseen but massive creature.

"...it's worse."

[acts_of_gord]

"... okay, they didn't have one of those in the Black Mesa trash compactor..."

[vance_prime]

"--the what??"

[acts_of_gord]

Gordon exhales. "I got ambushed. I was- my blood sugar was tanking, my blood was tanking, I'd been ambushed by these ninjas or black ops types or something, I don't even know- I thought I was hallucinating them. When I saw a corridor with a health station at the end of it I was too out of it to even think of looking for an ambush, and I got jumped." He nods at the trash compactor scene on the screen. "I woke up when two Marines were dragging me off to throw me into a trash compactor so they wouldn't have to account for my corpse."

[vance_prime]

Alyx grabs the remote and hits 'Pause,' freezing Han and Leia in place braced between the walls.

"...we don't have to keep going if you don't want to," she whispers, putting her other hand on top of Gordon's.