ONE NIGHT on BESPIN
by LeelaStarsky.
CHAPTER FOUR
As she walked between Solo and Calrissian towards the dining room, Leia tried to quell her feeling of unrest. Han was probably right. She probably was worrying unnecessarily. But the fact of the matter was that, despite the droid's penchant for pissing people off, Threepio had never quite managed to get himself blasted to bits before. Solo and Chewie, and possibly even Luke, would probably claim that to be a miracle in itself but, nevertheless, it disturbed her. Particularly since it had happened here and with no obvious provocation.
Leia wished she'd had more time to quiz Chewie about it further, but she was not about to discuss it in front of Calrissian.
There was some small talk between them about the acceptability of their accommodations and dinner the night before, but Leia wanted to know more about Cloud City and how it managed to avoid Imperial interest.
Calrissian seemed more than happy to prattle on about the positive aspects of his city and, as he led them into a section that was part of the administration complex, he explained, "So you see, since we're a small operation, we don't fall into the…uh…jurisdiction of the Empire."
Leia sensed a chink in his armour and pounced. "So you're part of the mining guild then?"
"No," he admitted, and Leia sensed a definite evasiveness from him. "Our operation is small enough not to be noticed… which is advantageous for everybody since our customers are anxious to avoid attracting attention to themselves."
Isn't everyone? Leia thought facetiously, but held her tongue.
They turned into a long, wide hallway, off which were several pairs of massive doors. Calrissian showing off for Han's benefit Leia supposed, but found herself disturbed by the inappropriateness of such a display of prosperity. They were going for breakfast for goodness sake!
As they approached one of the massive doors Chewbacca sniffed the air in alarm and growled at his partner.
Ignoring him, Solo asked, "Aren't you afraid the Empire's gonna find out about this little operation and shut you down?"
"That's always been a danger," Calrissian agreed. "It looms like a shadow over everything we've built here. But things have developed that will ensure security." He paused with his hand on the panel that opened the doors. "I've just made a deal that will keep the Empire out of here forever."
Leia looked at him. She was aghast that someone with his apparent business acumen would even consider making such a preposterous claim. Then the doors opened and it became painfully apparent just what Calrissian's 'deal' must have entailed.
At the far end of the long dining room, at the head of an elegantly set table, sat the Dark Lord of the Sith himself.
The Wookiee roared and Leia's flight reflex kicked in as Vader got to his feet. She jerked her hand off Solo's arm but he gripped her wrist protectively with his left hand in the same heartbeat as his right hand cleared his blaster from its holster and fired off two blasts. Both hit the Dark Lord, yet somehow exploded harmlessly against his upraised palm, then an unseen force ripped the blaster out of Solo's hand and swept it across the room and into Vader's.
The shock of losing his blaster so dramatically caused Solo to drop Leia's hand, and he watched with dread and disbelief as the Dark Lord calmly placed the blaster on the table.
"We would be honoured if you would join us," Vader said.
Stepping out of an anteroom to stand beside the Dark Lord was Boba Fett, the bounty hunter from Ord Mantell, while in the hallway behind them a squad of stormtroopers had moved into place.
Solo threw his meanest look at Calrissian who responded, "I had no choice. They arrived right before you did. I'm sorry."
Solo traded a heartfelt look with Leia. They were both aware of the momentous calamity that had so suddenly overtaken them and knew there was no escape. Not this time.
He took her hand and glared at the administrator again. "I'm sorry too," he said, then he and Leia stepped into the dining room.
...
Surprisingly enough, Vader chose not to bandy words with them, instructing Calrissian to remove them immediately to a prison cell. Even more surprising, they got to share a cell. Solo had sarcastically surmised that this was because anyone who had seen or heard anything of the Imperials arrival in the city had been summarily imprisoned, leaving the detention centre uncharacteristically full.
Calrissian had simply scowled at him and left. Solo suspected his friend was feeling guilty. He looked like he was feeling guilty. And so he damn well should!
Then the door had shut and the full impact of their predicament hit him. Lando had sold them out. Into Imperial incarceration, undoubtedly followed by torture to force them to reveal what information they knew about the Rebellion. And, then ultimately, execution. For a moment Solo wondered what he could do to piss Vader off enough so that the Dark Lord would jump them straight to the third step. Then he looked at Leia and decided he wanted a chance to kill Lando first. Solo didn't care what happened to himself, but what Lando had brought upon Leia… He couldn't even begin to imagine what Vader would do to her.
The princess's dignified demeanour had vanished with the closure of the cell door. To say she looked terrified was an understatement. She was hugging herself in a vain attempt to hold herself together, and Solo went straight to her and wrapped his arms around her. The truth was he needed to hold her as much as she needed to be held, but he also knew this was bringing back all too vivid memories of her Death Star incarceration.
For a moment Leia resisted him. But just for a moment. Then she burrowed into his embrace, trembling helplessly. Solo held her tightly, unable to think of anything he could say that would make her feel better. He couldn't say that everything would be fine, that they'd escape somehow, because it wasn't going to happen. Not now. So he simply held her and said nothing, and shared an understanding look with Chewbacca.
Leia pushed away from him, suddenly angry. "Some friend," she snapped.
Solo initially thought she was talking about him. Then he realised she meant Calrissian. And that she was trying to control her emotions the best way she knew how; by getting angry.
"I knew we couldn't trust him," she said.
"You were right," Solo conceded sadly.
Leia touched a small panel on the wall and a hard, metal bunk slid out. Hugging herself once more, she sat on the edge of it. Solo moved over and sat next to her, putting an arm around her shoulders.
"I can't do this, Han," she said in a very small voice. "Not again…"
"Don't think about it."
"But I know what to expect this time," she argued. "I know what he'll do…"
"Don't think about it."
"Stop saying 'don't think about it'!" she yelled, pulling away from him and starting to pace. "How can I not think about it?"
Answering her literally, Solo said, "By thinking about something else."
Leia glared at him. "And what do you suggest?"
"I can think of one or two things," he said in a low voice as he approached her. "Last night for example."
Leia glanced awkwardly at Chewbacca who was watching them carefully, then shook her head emphatically. "If I think about that I'll…" She put her hand to her mouth suddenly to hide the trembling of her lip, then took a deep breath and finished quietly, "I'll cry."
Solo swept her into his embrace again and held her close. "No you won't," he said, softly touching his lips to the top of her head. "You're strong, Leia. Stronger than all of us."
Leia shook her head against his chest. "No."
"Yes," he insisted. "You are."
She stayed in his embrace a little longer, then gently disengaged. Returning to the metal bunk, she pulled her flimsy cloak tighter against the chill in the cell and sat on the edge again. Solo sat beside her and wondered how long they would be left to wait. The waiting was an integral part of the torture, he knew, and although it was definitely easier to endure than physical pain, in its own way the mental pain could be just as agonising.
Solo became aware that Leia's trembling had turned into very definite shivering. The cell was surprisingly cold and her dress was only a fine material, hardly designed to keep out the cold, so Solo removed his jacket and put it around her shoulders.
"But you'll get cold," she protested.
"Not as quickly as you will," he assured her.
[Would have helped if we'd got to have breakfast,] Chewbacca warbled quietly and Solo felt Leia shudder at the prospect of sharing a meal with Vader. Solo looked at his partner with mild disgust.
"Good one, Chewie," he muttered. "Thing's can't be too bad if you're still thinking about your stomach."
Chewbacca made a rude hand gesture at him and Solo threw one straight back, then the door opened suddenly and they all jumped.
An Imperial officer and a stormtrooper entered carrying the box of Threepio parts and dumped it on the floor. On top of it all was the princess' snowsuit and boots. The officer pointed at it and said, "The administrator sent the lady's clothes." Then he sneered and added, "Seems he wants the new ones back."
Lando, you lousy son-of-a-sith, Solo thought.
Chewbacca roared threateningly at the Imperials and the stormtrooper's blaster immediately covered him.
"No, please," the officer begged as he unholstered his own weapon and pointed it at the Wookiee, his voice full of ridicule and disdain. "Allow me. It really would make my day, you know."
Solo pulled the Wookiee into line with a fierce look. He was trying to figure out how he could wrestle the blaster from the officer without getting shot by the stormtrooper. Not that they were likely to get very far even if they did manage to overpower both Imperials and escape from their cell. Still, it was more hope than he'd had a moment ago so it was better than nothing.
Neither Imperial had moved and it quickly became obvious to Solo that they would remain there until the princess had changed her clothes. Leia must have come to the same conclusion because she abruptly shed her cloak and the burgundy slippers.
Solo couldn't see the trooper's eyes, but the way the officer was looking at the princess while she removed the long pants she'd been wearing under the dress made his blood boil. He stepped into the officer's line of sight, ostensibly to pick up the snowsuit and hand it to Leia, but really to block the man's view of her.
"Get out of the way, you rebel scum!" the officer snapped, waving his blaster threateningly at Solo's head.
Solo scowled at him then turned to give Leia her suit. He was still in the Imperial's line of sight but, with his back to the officer, could no longer see the man's impotent threats.
The officer took a step sideways to clear his view as Leia, planning to at least remain half dressed at all times, started to put her feet into her suit.
But the officer shook his head. "No, no, no," he said. "No cheating."
The eyes Leia turned on him were colder than Hoth and Solo half expected to see the man freeze on the spot. But instead the officer took a step closer to the princess, openly leering.
"Been watching you all night, sweetheart," he said, then added nastily, "We all have."
A surge of adrenaline rushed through Solo as comprehension rapidly sank in, swiftly followed by revulsion and blind fury at the violation that had been visited on them. They'd been bugged. Despite his scan of the apartment, somehow the Imperials had managed to 'bug' it.
"Best porno I've seen in years," the Imperial taunted.
Leia seemed to recover from the revelation quicker than Solo and replied, "Then it's nothing you haven't already seen."
The Imperial took a step closer. "Maybe I need to teach you the difference between a smuggler and a real man, Princess. Bet you'd love to know what an Imperial cock tastes like."
Solo's sense of reason vanished and he slammed his fist into the Imperial's face. The officer lurched backwards with blood pouring from his nose and Solo felt a flare of satisfaction to see that he had broken the man's nose. He swung a follow-up punch at the officer's stomach but was foiled from connecting by Chewbacca who grabbed the Imperial by the collar of his jacket and dragged him out of the Corellian's path. The stormtrooper, who had briefly taken his aim off the Wookiee when Solo hit the officer, assumed the Wookiee was running amok and promptly fired a stun blast at him. Chewbacca collapsed in a heap.
Solo was gathering himself for another swing as the officer disentangled himself from the Wookiee and the stormtrooper hastily switched his aim to Solo. The Imperial officer, having caught the edge of the stun blast, had to struggle to stay on his feet but managed to glare at the Corellian.
Caught between a desire to deck the little prick and the need to stay 'un-stunned' for the sake of the princess, Solo fought to keep his rage under control and couldn't believe it when Leia seemed to taunt the Imperial by removing her dress.
"I don't know," she said, now in only her underwear. She took a step closer to the Imperial and asked, "Do you think it'd be worth your life?"
The spectre of Vader suddenly loomed large in everyone's mind and the officer backed off, wiping ineffectually at his bloodied and broken nose. Leia pulled on her snowsuit and zipped it shut. She then handed the Imperial the clothes she had borrowed from Calrissian and smiled grimly as the Imperial proceeded to bleed all over them. With any luck, Solo hoped, the sight of the blood on the clothes would make Calrissian feel even worse.
The Imperial and the stormtrooper left without another word.
Leia looked at Solo and he shook his head. "I'm sorry," he murmured. He bent to check Chewbacca and Leia helped him straighten the Wookiee's limbs into a more comfortable position. Solo couldn't believe the inadequacy of the word, but it was the only thing he could think of to say. Sorry that his scanner hadn't picked up the surveillance devices. Sorry that the Imperials had been watching them make love, probably since they arrived yesterday. Sorry that the Falcon's hyperdrive had died and that he'd had to bring them here. Sorry that Vader could protect her from the threat of rape better than he could…
Solo sat on the edge of the hard bunk and wiped a hand across his face. "I'm so sorry," he repeated.
Leia picked up his jacket from where it had fallen on the floor and put it over his shoulders as she sat beside him.
"It's not your fault," she said, and Solo couldn't help wincing at his own well used line. "At least I don't feel as cold," she added softly.
Solo looked at her and wondered how things had turned from him comforting her to her comforting him.
"He'll want to take us to Coruscant, Han."
Vader. "He'll want to take you to Coruscant," Solo corrected, pulling his jacket on again. "I got the distinct feeling I'm headed straight to Jabba."
The look of worry on Leia's face increased dramatically. She opened her mouth to say something but was interrupted as the door opened again. This time it was no social visit; this time there were two officers and a squad of stormtroopers. This time they meant business.
They were led to a room at the end of the cell bay and both instantly recognised the scan grid set up there. Pain by nerve induction. The sort of pain that felt like you were being flayed or burned alive without doing actual physical damage.
Leia regarded it with blatant terror while Solo thought that if he had to watch them torture Leia with it, he didn't know what he would do. Then Vader stepped into the room, closely followed by Boba Fett.
"Put him on the grid," Vader said matter-of-factly, "and take the princess to the observation room."
Solo winced. So it was him they were going to torture and they were going to make Leia watch.
Just like Alderaan.
He looked at Leia and found her looking at him with outright despair. Oh, Sweetheart… "You can do this," he assured her as they dragged him towards the grid. She was shaking her head. "You can do this," he said, and she was led from the room.
Well, at least he couldn't tell them anything useful about the Rebellion…
As stormtroopers strapped him to the upright platform, Solo stared at the glowing panel in front of him and swallowed the sudden bile that rose in his throat. You can do this! he told himself. It's only pain…
Vader was staring at him. Sadistic son-of-a-bitch, Solo thought. He wanted to glare back at the Dark Lord, but the glow from the panel was increasing with the hum of power being fed to it as one of the officers adjusted the settings. Maybe he could work up enough saliva to spit at the Sith bastard before it started. Solo felt his scalp prickle as he broke out in a sweat.
The platform started to tilt forward and Solo's breathing became a rapid pant in anticipation of the pain. Vader moved closer and touched the panel, activating the scanner which rapidly mapped Solo's nervous system. Almost immediately, the grid started firing bursts of electricity at him.
Solo was aware of Vader leaning in close, watching him, and part of him was waiting for the Sith Lord to start asking questions. But very soon the bursts from the grid left him unaware of anything but searing pain. Solo knew he was screaming, but was helpless to stop it.
...
Calrissian found himself waiting outside the interrogation room with Boba Fett. A situation which struck him as more than a little bizarre. He heard Solo start screaming on the other side of the door and his mouth formed a hard line. The volume of the screams increased dramatically a moment later when the door opened and Vader stepped out.
"Lord Vader-" Calrissian started, but Vader ignored him completely, turning instead to the bounty hunter.
"You may take Captain Solo to Jabba the Hutt after I have Skywalker," he said.
Calrissian was shocked to realise that Vader was not in Cloud City for Solo and his princess at all, but in their usefulness as bait for some other poor fool. Immediately he wondered if he might not be able to salvage the situation, for Chewie and the princess at least.
"He's no good to me dead," Fett replied sourly
"He will not be permanently damaged," Vader said, heading for the elevator.
Following him, Calrissian asked urgently, "Lord Vader, what about Leia and the Wookiee?"
"They must never again leave this city," was the succinct reply.
"That was never a condition of our agreement!" Calrissian snapped. "Nor was giving Han to this bounty hunter!"
Calrissian found himself with Vader's full attention and felt himself quail a little.
"Perhaps you think you're being treated unfairly?" the Dark Lord suggested facetiously.
"No," Calrissian replied tightly.
"Good," Vader said, stepping into the elevator. "It would be unfortunate if I had to leave a garrison here."
The elevator door closed and Calrissian's fists clenched in frustration.
"This deal is getting worse all the time," he growled.
...
The black uniformed officers manning the observation room all looked up as the princess was brought in, and it only took Leia a moment to realise where she was. Spy central. These were the officers who had been watching her since she arrived on Cloud City. Watching every intimate moment she had shared with Han. The thought was too crippling to contemplate, so she pushed it aside to deal with later.
Instead, she ignored the officers and focussed on the screens in front of them. On one screen she could see the Millennium Falcon and, on another, the cell she had been in minutes before. Chewbacca, it seemed, had recovered from the stun blast and was suffering a form of aural torture. She couldn't hear it, the Imperials had obviously turned it down for their own comfort, but the Wookiee was vainly trying to cover his ears in an attempt to escape.
Why? she wondered. It was purely malicious on the Imperials part. For them, she guessed, that was reason enough.
On the other screens she could see Han. See him from every angle imaginable. Screaming on the scan grid. She could hear him too. Although low, they had left the sound on and Leia felt like her heart was being ripped from her chest. Vader was beside Han, watching him, then abruptly he turned and left. No questions. Nothing. That confused her. If Vader wasn't going to ask the questions, who was? Nobody apparently as they all seemed content to leave him screaming.
Leia moved closer to one of the screens, ignoring the officers around her. She could feel their lascivious intentions towards her and ignoring them was the simplest way to deal with it. Instead she pressed her hand against the screen in an attempt to be as close to Han as she could. To be with him in spirit if not body. Willed her strength to him while struggling to stop the tears of fear and frustration from rolling down her cheeks. Her fear that he would die on the grid was a real one. While the scan grid caused no direct physical damage, heart failure was very common result. And the fact that they weren't asking him any questions suggested to Leia that they were using the grid as a sadistic form of execution.
Then she realised; they weren't asking him questions because they knew he couldn't tell them anything that they probably didn't already know. But she could. It was Alderaan all over again.
On the screen, Solo screamed afresh then turned his head sharply to one side in an attempt to protect his eyes, and Leia pressed her hand hard against her mouth to stop herself from sobbing. The flashing and sparking from the scan grid, the grimace on Han's face. In a surreal way it reminded Leia of how he had looked last night, while they were making love during the thunderstorm. And she was appalled with herself for thinking like that. But another part of her wanted to cherish the thought, to focus on her love for Han rather than her fear for his life.
The door to the observation room opened and Vader stepped in. Leia glared briefly at him over her shoulder then turned back to watching Solo. Felt the Dark Lord take up position at her back. A moment later the Corellian passed out but no attempt was made to remove him from the grid. They were going to wait for him to regain consciousness then start again.
"Why are you doing this?" Leia asked coldly, her voice barely audible despite the fact that Solo had stopped screaming.
"Leave us," Vader ordered the officers, and the room cleared in a matter of seconds. Now the only sounds in the room were the soft noises of the computers.
"Do you know, Princess, that on a small, insignificant planet in the Corporate Sector, there is a race who boil their own kind alive just so they can meditate to the sound of their screams."
Leia regarded the Sith Lord with pure revulsion then asked him sarcastically, "Friends of yours, are they?"
"I have studied them."
"Is that what this is?" she demanded, her anger flaring despite her attempts to keep it under control. "Some sick sort of meditation?"
"No, this is a test."
"A test?" Leia shook her head. "Of what? His ability to withstand pain?"
"No, Princess. I am testing you."
For the first time since Vader had entered the room, Leia actually turned and faced him.
"What?"
"You can stop it," Vader said.
"What?" Tarkin's voice was ringing in her ears: Perhaps you would prefer another target? A military target? Then name the system!
"You can stop his pain."
"How?" Leia demanded. "By betraying everything we've fought and suffered for?"
"This is not about the Rebellion."
"Then what is it about, Lord Vader?" Leia's anger towards the Dark Lord had far outweighed her fear of him. "What?" she demanded.
"Anger and hatred are powerful tools, Leia Organa," the Dark Lord replied cryptically. "Look where they have got me."
For one bizarre moment, Leia got the distinct impression that Vader was warning her. Warning her not to take the path he had taken. Outraged, she demanded, "What the hell does that mean?"
"It means you can turn the grid off. Using your anger and the Force."
"The Force?" Leia was so incensed she wanted to hit him and laugh all at the same time. "If I could use the Force to turn things off, Vader, I'd be starting with your respirator!"
Leia got the distinct impression that Vader was amused.
"You are using the Force all the time, Leia Organa," he said. "Albeit in a simplistic and untrained manner. You used it a little while ago when you projected an image of me into the mind of the officer who was threatening to rape you."
Leia frowned. "If he thought of you, that was his own doing, not mine."
"I suspected you of being Force sensitive on the Death Star. Last night you confirmed it."
Leia felt a tingle of dread travel up her spine. It was one thing to have nameless Imperial officers watching her make love to Han, but to know Vader had been watching…
"How?" she asked, dreading the answer.
"I think you know the answer."
So he had been watching. And now he was getting some sort of perverse enjoyment out of telling her he'd been watching. Leia focussed her embarrassment into outrage and hissed, "Is that how you get your kicks now? By watching others?"
"I was not watching you, Princess," the Dark Lord said calmly. "As a Force sensitive, I could not help but feel your Force bonding with Captain Solo."
Force bonding? Leia wondered then, with a shock remembered the feeling of 'oneness' she and Han had shared during the storm. From Solo's reaction to it on the Falcon, Leia realised it was something he had never experienced before, but it had never occurred to her that it was something unusual or abnormal. She'd assumed it was because they loved each other. But, thinking about it rationally, Leia realised what a ridiculous assumption that was. Neither she nor Han were telepathic; why would sex suddenly give them that ability?
She found herself unable to look at the Dark Lord and observed resentfully, "It has a name?"
"It has a name. And is a powerful skill. One the Jedi reserved for bonding rituals only. To use it on a non Jedi without a prior bonding was a punishable offence."
"Why?" she wanted to know, but her voice was almost a whisper.
"Because it can be used as a form of coercion."
Coercion? Leia felt a tightness around her heart and focussed on her unconscious lover. Had she forced Han somehow? Were the things he'd said and done professing his love for her somehow less valid now? She felt a renewed flare of anger towards Vader because he was making her question the validity of, not just her own feelings, but Solo's as well.
Then she wondered why she was giving Vader any credence at all. This was the Dark Lord of the Sith, the Master of Deceit. The idea of him thinking she had Force potential would be laughable if it wasn't so frightening. Had been just as laughable when Luke had suggested the same thing to her on Hoth.
Was that why the accusation scared her so much? Because Luke had suggested it too?
There was no denying that Solo's recovery after almost being killed during the cave-in on Hoth was nothing short of miraculous. But Luke believed Leia had used the Force to heal the Corellian. Said he had felt it. As Vader claimed to have felt her last night. A wave of nausea washed over Leia and she put a hand on the console in front of her to steady herself. Could they both be right?
The princess shook her head, taking refuge in denial. "It's impossible," she told Vader without taking her eyes off Solo. "I was never tested. There were no Jedi in my family."
"Your mother had some Force talent," he replied quietly. "Not enough to be trained as a Jedi, but enough to learn some of the simpler tasks. Enough to put a protective block on your fledgling abilities."
That revelation shocked Leia more than the suggestion that she was Force sensitive herself. She looked at the Dark Lord with a mixture of dismay and loathing as her mother's death made sudden and horrible sense. It had happened well after the initial Jedi Purge but, as an unclassified Force sensitive, that would not have been surprising. It had taken the Emperor and his Sith puppet years to rid the Galaxy of it's former protectors. It also made sense that the information would have been kept from her daughter. Kept from her to keep her safe.
For a moment Leia wondered if even her father had known then asked flatly, "Did you kill her?"
"No," he replied.
"Liar," Leia snapped. Even if Vader had not killed her mother himself, he had been the force behind it.
She heard the scan grid hum to life and hastily looked back at the screen. Solo had regained consciousness although he looked far from 'with it'. His head was hanging limply and she could see strings of spittle falling from his mouth to the grid below. Then the grid started firing at him again and Solo howled.
Leia struggled not to sob and, without taking her eyes off the screen, begged, "Please stop this."
Vader reached across and activated a command which pulled Solo's vital statistics up on the screen. They all pointed towards him being severely traumatised.
Flatly, Leia diagnosed, "You're killing him."
The door to the observation room opened suddenly and the black uniformed officer, Rosonger entered.
"My apologies, Lord Vader," he said hurriedly, "but you wanted me to inform you the minute the facility you required was found."
"Thankyou, Commander," Vader said and headed for the door. "Take the princess back to her cell. I will speak with the administrator."
"Yes, my Lord."
"What about Han?" Leia demanded.
Vader considered for a moment then said to Rosonger, "Have the pilot taken back to the cell as well."
"Yes, Lord Vader."