A/N: Sorry to leave you in suspense for so long. This is a shorter chapter, so I might update again sooner than usual. Again, thanks for reading!

Chapter 3: Caliya

"You what?!" Leia screamed, making Han wince. A hangover was bad enough without your nephew missing and your wife yelling her head off. Not that Leia was at fault here; in fact, she was completely justified. But even C-3PO's metallic face looked a little intimidated by Leia's anger.

"Look, sweetheart, I'm sorry. I'll find Ben, I promise, I just need to get rid of this headache."

"Headache? Ben is gone and I'm supposed to wait until your head feels better?"

Han held the ice pack up to his swollen eye and sighed. Ben had been right, last night had not been a good idea.

"And what am I supposed to tell Luke? That you went out drinking in some lower level bar with his son and got him abducted by some criminal ring?"

"Well, that sounds like the truth. So, no."

"So yes! We aren't going to lie to my brother about Ben. And I'm not telling him, you are!"

Han nodded, accepting the inevitable. He stood shakily and walked out the door of the apartment building, leaving Leia seething behind him.

Luke was with a group of younglings when Han found him.

"Hey, Luke. Can we talk for a minute?" Han asked. Luke stepped out of the classroom, leaving an older apprentice in charge of the students.

"How'd it go last night? You snap Ben out of it?" Luke asked with a smile, not seeming to notice Han wasn't returning the expression.

"I think I might have…"

"I haven't seen him, did he crash at your place last night?"

"No Luke, he didn't. I don't know how to tell you this, but Ben and I went down to the Outlander Club last night-"

"You what?! You told me you guys were going to the space opera!"

"You believed that? Never mind. I'm really sorry Luke, but Ben is missing."

"WHAT?"

Han braced for verbal impact. A few of the Jedi milling about turned their gazes to the Grand Master, but Luke didn't seem to notice.

"He went outside to hail an air taxi, and when I came out a minute later, he was gone. For what it's worth, I'm really sorry Luke."

"Alright, what exactly happened? We need to find him." Luke knew that he would have felt his son's death in the Force, but he could still be in danger. As a Jedi, he knew that Ben could take care of himself, but as a father, he was starting to panic.

"I know, and I'll do whatever I can. The Falcon is completely at your disposal."

"Look, I know you didn't mean for this to happen, you were just trying to help. But please don't take my son out drinking again, alright?"

"Deal," Han agreed. "I don't think I'm going out drinking again," he added, pointing to his black eye.

"I'm not even going to ask…"

#

His head was going to explode, Ben was sure of it. The world was dark, and he didn't especially want to open his eyes, knowing that the potential light would cause even more pain. But he faced the fact that he couldn't keep his eyes shut from reality forever, and cautiously lifted his lids a centimeter, then all the way.

He was in a ship, that much he could tell; he could feel the vibration of the engines underneath his body, and he could see hyperspace flowing past him through the small window above.

He wasn't alone, in fact, far from it. He found himself lying in a large compartment with maybe twenty or so beings. The majority seemed to be humanoid, but Ben recognized a Sullustan and several Barabels among them.

Ben sat up, reaching down to see if he was still in possession of his lightsaber. He wasn't surprised to find his belt empty.

What happened last night?

He couldn't remember much, just fuzzy images. Han playing sabacc…a strange blue colored drink…red hair, not Mara's.

He looked around. A fair-skinned girl sat next to him, staring blankly into space with an angry glare.

"Hi, I'm Ben," he introduced himself, extending his hand.

Her glare shifted to observe him. She rolled her eyes, then returned to her original position. "Caliya," she answered, leaving her arms folded across her chest. Ben awkwardly returned his to his side.

"Do you know where we are?" he asked.

"On a ship of some kind, and if you can't figure that out, I'd say your chances of survival are pretty slim."

"I realize we're on a ship," Ben said, trying to keep from snapping at Caliya. "I was wondering if you knew why we're on this ship and who's in charge."

"Nope. No clue. Don't know if I really want to know. My advice to you would be to be patient. Captors like to brag, so I'm sure we'll know soon enough."

Drat her…logic. He didn't enjoy being lectured by his peers.

Ben looked over at her, but she didn't return the gaze, staring straight ahead as though her life depended on it.

That was fine with him. She was too crabby to be of any help anyway. Ben had just begun collecting his thoughts when a young woman entered the room through an almost invisible door to his right. Red hair…she looked so familiar.

The bar. She'd been in the bar.

Ben stood, moving to face her. "What's going on?" he asked, his tone leaving no room for discussion.

"Now why would I answer a question like that?" she replied, her voice sickeningly laced with fake sweetness.

"Because we have a right to know!" This time, it wasn't Ben who spoke, but a lanky dark haired man who'd been sitting next to Caliya.

"You don't have a right to know anything!" the redhead replied. "You're prisoners, and you'll be told things on a need to know basis. And right now, you don't need to know."

"Prisoners of whom?" the man demanded.

"Need to know…"

Ben watched silently as the man's eyes grew dark. He lunged forward, grabbing the woman by her throat.

"Tell me!" he screamed, squeezing tighter. The woman gasped, fear in her eyes. Ben saw too late that the fear was an act; the woman lifted her pistol from its holster and shot the man in the ribs.

He fell backwards, blood beginning to seep from the wound. Ben rushed forward at the same moment that Caliya let out a blood curdling scream. "Trevin!"

The redhead left through the door, unwilling to subject herself to another angry prisoner.

Caliya knelt on the other side of Trevin, holding his head in her lap. "Trevin, it's alright, you're going to be okay, I promise."

She looked across at Ben, her eyes silently asking if there was anything he could do. Ben shook his head, the shot had come from such close proximity. The woman obviously knew what she was doing; she'd shot him in too critical a location to save his life. Especially considering they had no medical supplies.

Trevin opened his mouth, blood coming out with the words. "I…love…you…Cal…" Trevin's eyes widened, then closed, his chest still.

"No!" Caliya yelled. "Bring him back!"

The other prisoners remained where they sat, knowing there was nothing they could do. Trevin's death only extinguished their hope further.

Ben reached out for Caliya's hand. "I'm sorry," he whispered, knowing there wasn't anything else he could do. But if any of them were going to get out of this situation, they all needed to stick together.

"Don't touch me!" she screamed. "He was my brother, and now he's dead. And it's all your fault!"