A/N: Reviews are always helpful...I would love to know if you think I've captured the essence of their characters well enough! Happy reading to you all!

Chapter I

The air crackled with an electric static as a storm built up in the dark clouds that hung overhead. A city was staring up at a night sky as the system moved in. The stars slowly faded behind the thunder and lightning, leaving the ground to rely on the lights from the building to illuminate the air space.

Black robes blew gently behind a thick figure that stood in the window of a tower in the center of the city. They whipped and snapped at the air when he suddenly spun around. An echo of his breathing bounced off the walls of the dark room.

Vader strode towards the table in the middle of the room. The holo that was displaying in the middle of the flat surface sparkled a bright blue, the only color that didn't resemble the ambitions of the Dark Side. They showed a system; a galaxy full of milky ways, stars, and planets. Around this, Imperial officers sat, studying the display.

With a wave of his hand, one of the officers, who sat across from where Vader was standing, enlarged the holo to focus on one particular planet; Coruscant.

Suddenly, a red ring appeared around the blue planet. The black helmets of all in the room reflected the red light that was added on the table.

"The shields are up, my lord," the office spoke.

His voice seemed to tremble at the end; not from lack of confidence, but from the fear of what the Dark Lord would do to him if their plans failed.

Vader noticed.

"Good." His voice rumbled, heavy and stern. Breathing followed as it always did.

"Shall we proceed with our plan?" the office asked.

The Empire was moved to Coruscant after Luke Skywalker , who was now a rebel soldier, had destroyed the Death Star almost a year after the Battle of Yavin. Putting up a force field around the planet was the best option the Imperials had in order to regroup safely. Most of the fleet was destroyed when the old base was, but Vader had escaped on his TIE Fighter and was able to rejoin the Emperor. He was not happy with the Dark Lord for his failure, but he valued his apprentice too much to destroy him just yet.

When no answer was received, the officer continued speaking, his voice faltering once again.

"The Empire will be well protected." He was unsure of where to end. "For now."

Finally, Vader's voice rumbled through his helmet once more.

"We will never be safe until young Skywalker is dead."

"But, sir-"

Vader swept his hand through the air violently, and as he did so, the officer was shoved out of his seat and onto the floor, where he lay, still alive, but dazed.

"You will find them," Vader ordered.

"Yes, sir," the officer choked. He stumbled back to his seat and added, "we will send out Rykin right away, my lord."

"Good."

The black robes swung around again as Vader tossed his body around and stormed out of the automatic doors and took off down the hallway that exited the holo room.

In another system, the hunt for Imperial troops was continuing. The rebellion was desperately trying to rid the planet Chad of the Empire, needing to claim the planet as their base for the new rebel camp.

The jungle like atmosphere provided protection from the elements and made it harder for them to be located by Lord Vader. The only inhabitants of the planet resembles rodents called Chadra-Fans, which would most likely throw the Imperials off guard and send them passing by. No humans had ever lived on Chad, so it would be perfect for hiding.

After Luke had destroyed the Death Star and temporarily rid the galaxy of the Empire, Leia and Han had accompanied him on a search to relocate the Rebellion. They feared Vader would be able to rebuild his fleet and attack, knowing very well where they had launched their ships from.

Leia wandered the jungle with her blaster up and ready to shoot. She had to retreat a couple yards in order to take down her share of Stormtroopers. The battle had been going on a while; they landed shortly after the sun had risen, sending the camp into a frenzy when their scanners picked up the incoming ships.

Han and his ridiculous courage had placed them in the middle of the attack. He had planned a full on charge, hoping that they knew the terrain better than the Imperials and would be able to launch a surprise attack. He also underestimated their numbers.

Leia felt her anger build as she remembered him getting her into such a situation, but it was tossed aside by an overwhelming fear that she was in the presence of another soldier. Blaster up and straight ahead, she proceeded over the massive tree roots and ferns. She stepped lightly over the ground so she wouldn't make any noise.

A strange kind of bird yowled in the sky and took off into the branches overhead. Leia jumped at the sudden movement and pointed her blaster up. She didn't shoot; she had a stability that the Rebellion didn't see in most women soldiers.

When she recovered, she moved her sight back to the landscape in front of her and stepped to her side to avoid tripping. She held her breath and hoped the bird hadn't alerted an Imperial fleet of her location.

A branch snapped behind her and she spun around to face it. She pointed her blaster at the sound and slowly pulled a giant fern to the side to reveal whatever was behind it.

To her surprise, a young, male figure was crouched below the plant. He held his own blaster over the root of the tree he leaned against and aimed at a Stormtrooper in the distance until Leia had alerted him of her arrival.

"Leia!"

The blood stripes on his blue pants gave him away.

"Han!" Leia shouted in disbelief and annoyance.

Her blaster didn't waver, and her tone wasn't any kinder than usual.

"Happy to see me, sweetheart?" Solo asked.

He smiled his half smile and looked Leia over, knowing full well he could make her madder than anyone else she knew.

She ignored his question. "You almost gave us up!"

"Me?!" Han was genuinely shocked. "I was about to take out these Imperial robots until you started throwing plants around!"

Leia looked in the distance at the white armor of the Stormtrooper. He fell to the ground almost as soon as she laid eyes on him. A blaster was heard from the other side of the jungle right before he dropped.

"You gonna shoot me?"

Solo threw his hands in the air in fake surrender. His eyes opened wider as he raised an eyebrow and extended his head towards her, letting her know he was awaiting her reply.

Leia looked at the blaster and then back at Han and frowned.

"I should only hope to be so lucky," she retaliated. "I could have killed you, you imbecile!"

"Admit it," Han said sarcastically. "You know you'd miss me."

"Miss you!" Leia snorted in outrage. "I'd sooner miss the Empire than your sorry mess!"

"Hey, now," Solo warned, his temper rising. He brought his arms to his sides and pointed a finger at Leia as he put his blaster back in his holster. "I've saved your behind more times than you've thanked me for."

Leia wanted nothing more but to tell him she could have managed on her own, but she was interrupted before she could even begin.

"Guys!"

The voice that called to Han and Leia was desperate, yet familiar. Luke.

"Quit your bickering, we have company!" he shouted as he passed on a long speeder that roared loud when it came close.

The two watched as Luke, who was trying to be as camouflaged as he could while on the vehicle, whipped in and out of the trees and made a sharp turn, coming back at them. They ducked as he shot his blasters at something out where the Stormtrooper he had just killed had been.

A figure in a silver cloak and black, cotton mask leap into the air like a ninja, avoiding Luke's shots. The figure had a jet pack and a shotgun blaster that had a nice scope on it, from the looks of how accurate his shots were. Fortunately, he didn't shoot so well in the air.

A beam of red light broke into the tree trunk directly over Han's right shoulder, throwing pieces of wood splintering into the air. Leia flinched and ducked. She felt Han's hand grip her arm as he dropped down, too, and immediately shook it off without saying anything.

"I think he's after us!" Luke yelled, again coming at the two on his speeder.

"Us?!" Solo shouted. "Are you sure you don't mean me? That shot was pretty dead on!"

"Don't be so full of yourself," Leia complained.

Han didn't care to argue anymore; there was no point in sticking around to annoy his ally just to get his head shot off. He grabbed her arm again and stood her up as he jumped to his feet.

"Luke, get us out of here!"

Luke fired again, missing just by inches. The figure jumped high into the trees and vanished from sight, but the red lasers continued to rain down, each time missing Han and Leia by just a foot or so.

"I can't!" Luke yelled from his speeder. "This thing won't brake!"

There was no time to roll his eyes, but Han wanted to.

"Get ready to run, Princess!" he ordered before he tugged at her arm and pulled her into a sprint.

They raced back to the dugout entrance to the temporary rebel base at the edge of the river ahead of them. Each step was left unbalanced as a beam from the enemy's blaster shot down before their feet. Leia stumbled, but caught herself each time with grace.

She ducked without warning as a shot raced over her head.

"Nice dodge," Solo complimented.

She didn't reply.

The two kept running, wood flying through the air around them as they continued to out think their attacker.

Luke sped past, unable to stop, and made a leap off of the speeder to safety by the door to the hidden bunker. His speeder continued on without him, eventually plowing into a tree trunk and exploding into bits. Smoke filled the air where it hit.

Thankfully, all three entered the bunker safely. The door was open and ready and was shut and immediately sealed behind them when they slid into the base.

Luke stood with his back against the wall as he unbuckled his helmet and caught his breath. His camouflaged attire was now covered in dust. Leia, who had fallen to her knees, got up and shook her arm to get Han to let it go. He scowled. Then, she dusted herself off with dignity and shook her head to get the branch that was caught in her hair bun to fall out.

"Master Luke!"

The voice of Threepio greeted them as the feeling of safety eventually washed over the trio. His shiny, gold body clanked down the ramp that was the hallway to the main section of the bunker. He lifted his arms as far as he could in happiness.

"Threepio!" Luke was always excited to see his droid.

"Artoo shut down the main power component!" Threepio informed him. "The doors should be sealed shut for quite some time."

"Thank you, Threepio." The Jedi in training was sincere.

"Not a problem, sir, but it was really all Artoo's doing, so you should be thanking him..." he paused. "Wherever he is."

Luke laughed. "I will."

Suddenly, the droid jumped as if the droid had only seen his master.

"Ah! Commander Solo and Princess Leia! I'm terribly sorry for all of this-"

Threepio was cut off quickly.

"I thought you said their sensors wouldn't pick us up here!" Solo snapped as he brushed off his jacket.

"Our radar shouldn't have been detected," the droid promised him. "Perhaps they guessed and-"

"Guessed? Guessed?!"

"Han!" Leia scolded.

"Oh, don't you start on me, too, your Worship. I had everything under control until you came barging along back there!"

Leia huffed and glared at Han, but was pushed aside by Artoo racing down the hall before the argument could get heated again. The little droid rushed over her feet, making her flinch away from the hard stare she and Solo were locked in. He beeped and chirped a message only Threepio and Luke seemed to understand.

"Artoo wants to know who that was coming after Commander Solo and the Princess," Threepio informed the group.

"I haven't the slightest idea," Luke replied with a frown.

His childlike eyes closed as he focused, trying to pick up any sense of what had just been shooting at them, but he hadn't quite grasped the use of his Jedi background well enough yet to do that.

"It was silver and accurate and I didn't like it," Solo said mater-of-factly.

Luke ended the discussion swiftly. "Well, whatever it was, it's gone now."

The dark storm that was engulfing the tower on Coruscant continued to rage. Lightning flashed and brightened up the command center momentarily, then left it dark again.

Vader stood where he was earlier in the day, against the glass window that overlooked the city. He felt a great power burning within him that let him know Luke was still alive. The plans of the Empire to seize the rebels had not worked.

"Lord Vader..."

The officer that had originally put up the shields around the planet quietly addressed the evil lord in attempts to inform him that the spy had locked in on Skywalker and his alliance. Vader gave him no chance to speak, though.

"If you've found them, why haven't you caught them?!" Vader's voice roared loud and clear throughout the now empty room.

"Rykin landed on a planet in the outer rim, sir..." the officer mumbled. "The Rebel Alliance is located on Chad."

"Find them and bring them to me," the Dark Lord gravely ordered without looking away from the city. "Alive."