Chapter One: Knight Fall.
Coruscant, 37 ABY
Seasoned by years of insurgency, political machinations and tutelage in the ways of the Jedi Knights Leia Solo, nee Organa-Skywalker leapt fully alert from her empty bed reaching out with the Force to open the bedroom door with surprising delicacy a few scant inches mere instants before the apartment door crumpled under the force of a breaching charge.
Whether alerted by the Force or merely aided by it the result was the same, clad only in a night-gown Leia lunged into a high guard, her lightsaber seeming to settle in her palm even as it ignited at nearly the same instant that the smoke created by the breaching charge wafted up to trigger the apartment's fire alarms.
Provided a clear line of sight to the apartment's only primary entrance she watched from the darkness as shadowed figures in full combat armor darted through the door single file, each clearing the apartment's first room in a classic breaching maneuver before turning to the center as four more swarmed to support them.
With barely a single pathetic bleat of warning having been issued the third man through the door raised a bulky pistol shaped device which he discharged silently into the main alarm panel disabling the whole system at which the fire alarm fell silent once more.
Choosing guile above strength the New Republic's first and third head of state, mother of three and Knight of the New Jedi Order visualized the coil of energy resting at the joint between the vertebrae of her neck and spine and released the pressure that she imagined to hold her command of the Force in check when not needed. The blue-white glow dancing behind her eyes flared as it unraveled until she imagined that the entire room lit by its radiance, with a quite exhalation Leia wrapped the energy of the Force around her body like a cloak to hide her from sight.
The second foursome assumed the positions of their predecessors as the first four men formed another single file alongside the living room's right side, from Leia's perspective, preparing to clear the hallway leading to the Solos' guest bathroom and offices'. As they moved Leia took stock of the invaders with the seasoned eyes of a life-long guerilla warrior.
Although heavily armed and armored the intruders moved with the graceful stealth of skilled covert operatives, the Force, not any noise arisen from carelessness or blundering had alerted her to the threat. Each carried an unusual blaster carbine, a new model Leia thought, with an under slung barrel which allowed them to simultaneously unleash lethal and stun bolts on its default settings. Bulky cylinders adorned their waists, blue with a white band for flash-bang to disorient and blind. White with a yellow band marking concussion grenades to deafen and also disorient targets. Their helmets must also be a new design, not one that Leia was familiar with for they clashed with any models in use by the forces whose insignia these men disturbingly sported on their left shoulder plates.
New Republic Armed Forces, Special Operations Division.
All this information flowed into her mind at a glance as she stood stock still hidden from sight by the Force.
Though the night gown, a gift without specific occasion from Han, was an excellent garment; it's open back allowing the pleasant feel of the silken sheets she shared with her husband to send shudders down her spine while the low cut neck line enflamed his attentions at the same time that the slit running from hem to hip made acting on those passions a much more expeditious endeavor it offered as much protection as nudity. A result that was sure to come to pass swiftly if she did battle wearing it.
Not that Leia had reason to remain anything other than proud of her body, which though she tried not to let it affect her emotions to any great degree she was. Despite the passage of three decades and the birth of three children Leia's body had maintained the graceful lines and musculature of a professional dancer, her breasts fought an ongoing battle and largely successful battle to remain elevated alluringly while her stomach, aided by years of the daily toil inflicted by her brother's Jedi Academy, had stayed flat and taut above hips that had refused to become matronly in spite of having borne three children. Aided by genetics as much as hard work or the Force Leia remained a vital and attractive woman who had eased gracefully into the latter days of middle age yet with reasonable effort could still shame a roomful of women two decades her junior.
All of which facts would present the Jedi Knight with neither clothing that could stop blaster bolts and vibro-blades nor the opportunity to change into clothing that could. Only the comfort of knowing that fighting was likely to arouse the men she might have to kill.
Clearly discretion was called for she decided, the only option truly present was to sneak past the strike forces as they moved to clear one of the apartment's rooms.
Eyes gently closing Leia expanded her mind further into the swirling flow of the Force disconnecting ever so slightly from her physical body as she pulled more of the radiant pulsing light she visualized to be the Force into herself envisioning that it coated her feet to allow for quicker lighter movement while making less sound.
The first four men to enter poured soundlessly and with disconcerting rapidity toward her office and Han's. They would clear the guest bathroom first, one would enter to find that the bathroom was not large enough to require his three team mates who would hold their positions before moving on to Han's office. All four would spill into the ten by ten unit one would go left through the door, the office's layout funneling the other three right where the second man through would find no one hiding under Han's desk.
Leia's slightly larger office, with its more centrist layout would allow a classic clearing action, two left, two right. Finding nothing there the team would pull back.
Meanwhile the second team would flow back into the dining room, unfortunately open to the kitchen allowing them to clear the large space simultaneously. The second bathroom might merit two men before flowing back the hall into the first of three bedrooms, situated opposite one another. If the SOD soldier's had studied the layout of her apartment Leia was confident that they would maximize the speed of their assault by clearing the bedroom on their left, knowing that by the time they did so the first team would be able to storm back up the hall and clear the right hand bedroom as the second team assaulted and cleared the master suite.
If they hadn't found her or others by then the first team would fall back to the entry way and main living area to provide area security with over-watch of both the garage entrance and the main entrance while the second team hit the master bath.
The garage would have already been hit silently by a third team holding position in the event that the Solo's had installed a secure passage of some sort between the bedroom and the garage as a contingency for circumstances such as this.
Which of course Han, a former smuggler on top of his years as an insurgent, even more paranoid than Leia herself had done with the aid of Lando and Chewbacca had done mere moments after unlocking the front door for the first time.
Still even if taking on a wary and highly trained tactical team mere feet from two more of the same was not the situation the escape route presented her with Leia thought she would be incredibly reluctant to engage, these were soldiers of the New Republic after all. A government she had fought and bled for the right to help build and eventually lead for two terms.
Having reviewed her tactical situation and escape options with the lightning quickness of a veteran warrior Leia decided as the tactical teams, with perfect co-ordination made their moves. She had to wait for the first team to reach her office, which ought to occur as the second team reached the left hand bedroom, then run cloaked, muffled and sped by the Force.
She would rush the front door, if she got that far the incredible physical feats granted her by the Force would ensure the failure of any pursuit through Coruscant's insane vertical maze of skyways.
Team two moved toward the second bathroom and Leia gathered herself for flight. Only for her carefully considered plan to crumble into dust.
As the second team moved Leia froze at the sight of the tall alien who strode through the front door. Though clad in the same armor as the rest of the SOD soldiers his uniform came with the addition of a heavy, flowing cloak of black cloth and substituted a cowl of the same material for the non-standard helmets worn by the rest of the team. He carried no rifle, though a heavy blaster pistol dangled languidly from his left hand. In his right he clutched a lightsaber, the thin cylinder topped by its focusing cup she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt to contain a crimson focusing crystal.
Sith Pureblood.
Dusky scarlet skin tones and sharp chiseled features, even the chartreuse eyes which narrowed as they moved toward her through the open bedroom door. All of these features could commonly be found in many aliens throughout the galaxy but the tentacle beard of rough osseous, yet flexible tissue was characteristic only of the recently returned Sith Purebloods.
Almost like a magnet his eyes seemed to be drawn to Leia as she stood rooted, invisible beneath the cloak she had created for herself. In a battle of wills, the Force against the Force alone Leia felt confident she could rebuff any attacks the Sith might make, but to do so she knew would require her full concentration. If he tried to pierce the cloak with the Force she would have to drop part if not all of it to prevent him, enough certainly to reveal herself to the alert commandos swarming through her apartment.
Leia made a split second decision to act, another hallmark of battle, knowing that her best option was no longer viable she dropped her cloak and dissipated the energy encasing her feet flowing smoothly into the violence of action.
Though nearer now to her sixtieth birthday than her fiftieth Leia held within her, mind and body, the incredible strength of the Force along with the decades of intense physical exertion which had allowed her beauty to flower instead of fade. Her muscles and reflexes boosted by the Force's might Leia pivoted through the partially opened door sending a powerful blast of kinetic energy into the two troopers stacked on the bathroom door as she did so. Without pause her wild pirouette transformed itself into a powerful, lightning quick leap carrying her the length of the twenty foot hallway and into the open kitchen and dining area in by the time the Sith had ignited his lightsaber.
Falling into a one handed low guard with which Leia was unfamiliar the Sith raised his blaster and his voice.
"Jedi Knight Leia Solo, by the authority of the Senate of the New Republic I place you under arr..."
He got no further as one of the massive hand-carved wooden chairs imported from Kashyyk defined his attempts to casually deflect it, clipping the Sith warrior's exposed throat as it spun off. Dropping effortlessly to a mid-guard Leia deflected the Sith's hasty return shots, falling to the floor on her back as she did so. Rolling to the side Leia grasped the sturdy, sectional dining room table with her mind, sliding it apart as she hurled pieces back the hallway toward the stunned Troopers, battering the two who had taken the brunt of the Force wave back to the ground and knocking down the trooper emerging from the bathroom back into his other team mate.
Her roll having carried her out of the path of the flurry of reflexively fired blaster bolts Leia gained her feet, shutting down her physical senses while furiously parrying a steady stream of bolts from the Sith Lord's blaster pistol. Another part of her mind, which now encompassed the entirety of the apartment narrowed in on the grenades hanging from the belt of the troopers behind her.
Their armor and helmets would be designed to dampen the blasts from their own munitions. With the Force Leia simply pinched the pins on all sixteen grenades carried by the four troopers from the second breaching team and yanked.
Cocooning herself in a shield of energy Leia rode the shockwave from the fractionally compounded explosion forward into the living room, releasing the block on her physical senses as the somersaulted to her feet.
"Surrender is your only option Jedi!" Snarled the Sith snapping a rising cut toward her from his curious guard position.
Leia wasted no breath in reply, instead aiming two quick thrusts directly at the Sith Lord's mouth as she dropped her rear leg back into a more classic fencer's stance. The harassing blows, never intended to connect clearly lay beyond the alien's experience with dueling and he responded accordingly frantically battering away the darting blade destroying his guard.
Pulling the energy of the universe into her muscles Leia rocketed forward her knee flexed. Backed by all the might Leia could muster the Force powered flying knee connected with the off-balance Sith Lord's sternum, shattering the breastplate of his armor and knocking him violently into the door frame with sufficient force to splinter it.
There would be no opportunity to rest, the first breaching team held secure positions with decent cover and concealment. They couldn't fire. Though her eyes had been otherwise occupied her awareness encompassed the whole of her surroundings and Leia knew that the team held fire because they found themselves positioned directly opposite the third team which had entered from the garage while she had been harassing the Sith Lord into compromising his guard.
Leia moved as the troopers realized their best option, setting their blaster carbines to stun only both teams opened fire almost simultaneously.
Interesting Leia noted, whatever their new armor is constructed from the commandos trust it to neutralize stun bolts. She filed the information away as her light saber danced, rapid beyond belief to create an azure sphere of plasma sword and deflected ion energy around her body. The ozone created from the impact of the ion energy on her light saber flared into sizzling clouds rather than neatly re-directed bolts and instead of continuing on its way without troubling her splashed hundreds of pinpricks of tingling numbness across the exposed skin of her throat, arms, belly and thighs.
Even successful defense was weakening her. With the exit from the garage clear Leia reached out, grasping the remains of the heavy Kashyykian wood furniture to create a brutal, battering whirlwind all about her body.
Deadening her senses once more Leia obeyed Han's oft repeated mantra muttering it to herself: "Don't mess with success Princess." A quick jerk with the Force and sixteen more grenades knocked their owners down like a pissed off Wookie, clearing the main entrance to the garage.
Leia rocketed forward, a powerful blast of kinetic Force energy hot on her heels even as it turned her whirlwind of shrapnel into a hail of improvised suppressing fire. As her head passed the threshold of the hanger one of the Sith Lord's Force powered fury hurled one of Han's many tool chests like a battering ram into her rib cage.
Storming through the door like an angry rancor the Sith Lord snapped high, low, high with his light saber, all intentions of capture and arrest seemingly abandoned in his rage. Leia stumbled to her feet, falling into the fencer's stance blearily but still managing to use his lack of familiarity with this particular style to foil his attacks. As she gained her feet and began to give ground Leia took in the Sith Lord's face.
Caught squarely by her shrapnel blast the Sith's previously sharp, even features were a wreckage on the left side, his left eye oozed a milky discharge stained red by blood while several splinters stood out, impaled into his face the rest had clearly torn right through his skin creating dozens of deep irregular furrows where previously there had been unblemished skin.
Moving at forty five degree angles the Sith's blade cut in radials, his movements seeming to shorten or lengthen the blade drastically over the course of a single cut. Pressed and struggling to breath around the ugly purple bruises growing on her ribs Leia abandoned the rapidly darting attack and retreat of the fencer's style and brought her blade up to the traditional high-guard as the Sith began hurling tools along with saber cuts. Matching blow for blow Leia dropped back then cut hard to the Sith's right side, placing the assault team commander between her and his remaining men, who beginning to recover began to attempt well aimed stun blasts only to watch their commander swat the blasts away himself with a snarl of rage.
"Bitch. Surrender, bow down and..." growled the Sith angrily even as Leia cut off his rant.
"No. Explain yourself or defend yourself Sith" came Leia's reply.
"I. Have. A. Warrant. For your. Arrest." Replied the Sith Lord, eyes smoldering with poorly suppressed rage.
With a cool look of disdain Leia ignored his tone as she responded. "With what precisely am I charged? And for what reason should I believe that I am being arrested by members of the Republic's Special Operations Division, rather than actual law enforcement personnel?"
"Both questions you should have asked before you mauled my face bitch" spat the Sith as he hurled his light saber toward Leia's head.
Caught off guard the New Republic's two term head of state and current Jedi Knight failed to see the tactic. The Sith Lord dove to the ground as Leia's blade snapped downward to parry the flying light saber and the remaining four commandos, nominally recovered opened fire from the doorway in a sustained volley of both lethal and non-lethal bolts alike.
Though she was off balance and off guard the commandos were still dealing with a Knight of the Jedi Order and a lifelong guerilla, veteran of nearly every battle any of the commandos could think of. Leia's saber skittered madly about her body, as the Sith Lord's own blade slapped into her open palm and joined the inhuman dance.
Exhausted, wounded, well removed from cover and faced with concentrated fire Leia's head swam as she picked off the first wave, then the second, reaching out with the last dregs of her energy to wrench the selectors of the commando's carbines from dual fire to stun-stun, almost lazily flicking the Sith's own light saber at his prone form as the last few lethal bolts ricocheted off of her own light saber.
Ion energy pulsed over her in waves, scrambling the electrical signals and sending her spiraling down into a spasming, twitching, near comatose heap. As she lost consciousness Leia was certain that she heard the Sith Lord scream in pain under the impact of his own light saber blade.