Chapter Nineteen
Four days after he returned home, Jim was sitting at a small table in The Captain's Table with Bones and Nyota, when he suddenly had a flash-forward vision. He saw a city suspended in sunset-hued clouds, he saw Leia, and Han, and Chewie, he saw Luke. He saw them in trouble, he saw Han being tortured, Luke hanging from a gantry, tears staining a bruised face. Jolting back to the present, Jim almost knocked his chair over.
"What happened, Jim?"
"It hasn't happened yet, but my family's in trouble!"
"Where are they?"
"I don't know. I saw a city in the clouds, I saw Luke hurt, and Han being tortured."
"Well, what are we sitting here for? Let's blow this party and do something useful!" Bones slammed back his drink and they left after paying the tab. The Enterprise was undergoing intense repairs, they couldn't take her, but their X-Wings were in prime condition. Jim rallied Wolf Squadron and set off to help if he could. Hitching a ride with the USS Titania, they headed for the Outer Rim Neutral Zone. Once out of the Neutral Zone, they set course for and reached the gas-planet of Bespin. Jim saw the Hound's Tooth II speeding away from Cloud City as they closed in on the floating metropolis and sent three of his pilots after the ship.
"Follow Boba Fett and tell me what he's doing. The rest of you, keep your eyes peeled!"
"TIE-fighters, ten o'clock!" Sulu yelled. Three TIE-fighters had come to pester them, Jim took care of that problem.
"Hey, Jim, I've got the Millenium Falcon on scanners, she's heading for the bottom of the city." Bones spoke up
"Let's go." He changed course and they caught up with the freighter in no time. Jim saw something hanging off a weather-vane at the bottom of Cloud City and felt a stab of fear, "It's Luke!"
"Is he okay?"
"No, no he's not." Jim maneuvered his fighter as close as he could, "He's hurt really bad."
"Like what you saw, Jim?" Nyota was not far behind him, bless her.
"Exactly." Exactly like what he'd seen back on Earth.
Luke Skywalker heard a strange, but soothing droning sound, and registered the sound of fighters. But that wasn't a TIE-fighter. Opening his eyes, swollen by bruising, Luke made out several shapes, blurry but identifiable. X-Wings, Alliance X-Wings. But no one in the Alliance knew he was out here.
Luke, brother, stay strong. Help is on the way. Oh. Luke closed his eyes.
"Tiberius."
Luke, we're all here with you, just hang on, little brother.
"Hang on?" Luke laughed bitterly, "Sure!" As he felt his grip slip more, three of the X-Wings closed on his precise position, standing guard. Luke felt the weather-vane sway and heard it groan. "Tiberius…" Suddenly, the vane broke under his weight and he tumbled from a precarious perch. But he didn't fall to a long death, he landed on the nose of one of the X-Wings. Instinctively, he clung to the smooth hull, sliding his legs around it to hold on when his one hand proved weak, resting his cheek against the warm metal.
"Luke!" he heard the pop of the canopy, the hiss as it opened, and opened his eyes as Tiberius appeared. He had a safety-tether in one hand, and clipped it to Luke's belt, "It's gonna be okay, little brother, we'll get you out of here!" He felt the idle thrum of the fighter beneath him and closed his eyes, drifting in and out of consciousness. All he wanted to do was sleep, or die. But Tiberius was there, Tiberius would protect him, Tiberius would make him whole and safe again.
The first thing Leia thought when they registered seventeen fighters on the radar was that the Empire really did want them dead, but those fighters weren't TIE, those were X-Wings. They were all clustered very oddly, some were drifting, others were pacing. She hailed them, and got her brother Tiberius.
"Tiberius! Where did you come from?"
"Earth. Luke's been hurt really bad, we need to get him to the fleet as soon as possible."
"We can take him on the Falcon, Tiberius." Leia looked over her shoulder at Chewie, who rumbled with concern.
"That's gonna take some fancy maneuvering to get up alongside those fighters."
"We have to make it work, Lando." Leia glanced at Lando Calrissian, who frowned at the fighters, "That's my brother out there." Through very careful maneuvering, in the end bringing the Falcon up under the nose of Tiberius' X-Wing, they brought Luke aboard the Millenium Falcon and put him in one of the cabins to rest. Escaping the TIE-fighters and Vader's flagship, they set off for the fleet to get Luke the help he needed.
It was a long journey back to the fleet, but Tiberius and his pilots never left them to fend for themselves. Leia was very grateful for that, more than anyone would ever know.
"So, who's this brother of yours?" Lando asked once, just out of curiosity.
"James Tiberius Kirk. He calls himself Skywalker more than Kirk these days."
"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute! Kirk? Your brother is Captain James Tiberius Kirk?"
"Captain?"
"Yeah! Kid got a medal and everything!"
"For what?"
"Taking on Romulans, I heard. Didn't you know?"
"Uh-uh." Leia wondered how she could have missed that and decided she would celebrate with Tiberius and his pilots when it was safe.
"Yep. Damn gutsy of him, too. Killed both of the Commanding Officers, blew the ship right to Kingdom Come, and never blinked."
"Oh, Tiberius."
"Your brother's a hero, Princess!"
"Our father must be so proud of him." Leia just smiled and wondered if their father had been there when Tiberius was made a Captain and rewarded for his bravery.
Leia didn't see Tiberius or his pilots until they reached the fleet and docked with MedStar 1. Luke's hand had to be replaced with a prosthetic, and though the procedure was performed by 2-1B, a surgeon-droid, it was overseen by Doctor McCoy, Tiberius' space-phobic physician friend from Dusaria.
"It's not the real thing, but it's damn near close enough. How's it feel?" Doctor McCoy asked as Luke curled his fingers and tested reflexes.
"It feels so weird."
"It'll take some getting used to and we'll have to watch for symptoms of rejection, but I think you're good to go."
"Thanks, Doctor McCoy."
"No problem, kid. And I thought Tiberius was the only one who got himself into trouble."
"Luke, Tiberius, we're ready for take-off." Lando's voice filtered over the comlink clipped to Tiberius' belt.
"Good luck, Lando." Luke piped up.
"When we find Darth Vader and that bounty hunter, we'll contact you."
"I'll meet you at the rendezvous point on Tatooine."
"Princess, we'll find Han, I promise." Lando's voice got softer, and Leia looked briefly at Tiberius. He didn't look at all surprised.
"Chewie, we'll be waiting for your signal." Tiberius folded his arms as he turned to the window, spine ramrod straight. Chewie's roar crackled over the pick-up and Leia had to smile. That was Wookie-speak for "Don't worry!". Leia went to the window and stood with Tiberius. He looked so sharp in his gray Class A-2 uniform. His rank-tabs were different than they had been when she had seen him on Hoth, and she knew Lando had been right. She looked at her brother, "Lando says you've been made a Captain. Is that true?"
"I don't know how word would have gotten to Imperial space so quickly, it's only been four days, but yeah. It's true." Tiberius smiled a bit sadly, "I would have brought the Enterprise, but she's up in dry-dock undergoing full-scale repairs and of no use."
"You came, that's what matters, Tiberius." Leia hugged her brooding brother and wished he wasn't always so serious. But if anyone understood the necessity of loyalty to duty, Leia did only too well. Luke joined them and they watched the Millenium Falcon soar away from the MedStar 1 on it's mission to find Han, or at least the men who had captured him. With Chewie and Lando gone, she knew Tiberius wouldn't stick around long since Luke was on the mend. Wolf Squadron had to get back to Federation space soon. But as long as they were around, Leia would take that time to be with her family.