Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars! Star Wars belongs to George Lucas, Lucasfilm, and all other rightful and respected owners!
P.S. There's some language in this chapter. Normally I won't do language unless I think it adds to the story like this. Let me know if you thought it was well placed or too much. I just thought it was perfect, because Han gets really pissed off.
Ch. 7
Luke sped quickly through the streets of Torak, trying to push the pain and worry that screamed to him from Han and Leia's minds. He couldn't figure out exactly why they were so afraid, but it was pretty easy to guess. Both of them had risked their lives to save him, and both of them had ended up getting caught by the Empire! But why, why had they saved him? Han only cared for himself and for his money, and Leia had much at stake being a rebel leader in the hands of Vader. It just didn't make any sense.
Out of nowhere, a police speeder flew into the lane behind Luke.
*Oh great,* Luke thought. *Vader must have the city officials out looking for me.* Luke throttled the speeder, zooming past many annoyed and terrified Toreeks. The police speeder did the same; weaving in and out of traffic. Glancing behind him, Luke saw that two more speeders had joined the chase.
*I just can't catch a break today,* Luke grit his teeth and revved up the speeder even more. Feeling the Force flow through him, he skidded and turned through the streets of Torak, barely noticing anything around him. The Force was guiding him, showing him the inches of clearance he had to shift lanes and when a sharp turn was coming up.
But as he was flying, he felt the presence of more police speeders waiting for him. Looking to his left and right, Luke felt that they had surrounded him. The only place to go now was down…or up.
*I must be crazy,* Luke thought to himself, slowing the speeder. He had to know exactly how much time he had before he would run into the police speeders waiting for him. As the speeder slowed, he saw hundreds of speeders along with Stormtroopers collected only 400 meters away.
*I hope this works!* Luke silently prayed to the Force, and then slammed on the throttle. As he raced closer and closer to the speeder, thoughts whirled through his head.
*Speeders aren't made to fly vertically! What if I crash? What if I don't crash and shoot straight up into the atmosphere? I'm going to die!* But Luke closed his eyes and then yanked the handlebars with all of his might, angling the speeder to go straight into a vertical climb.
*Here we gooooooo!* Luke grasped onto the handlebars as tightly as possible as the speeder ascended into the sky of Torak. After hooking his legs around the speeder, Luke clenched his teeth as he zoomed into the heavens. Then, summoning all the strength the Force had to offer him, he shoved the front of the speeder down so that it would lay horizontally. The momentum almost blew Luke right off the speeder, but somehow he managed to hold on.
Gently opening his eyes, Luke stared in awe. He had to be half a mile high above Torak. The crowd of police speeders looked like a colony of little ants. Luke giggled in spite of himself. He never would have thought he could have done that! Empowered by his new strength in the Force, Luke pushed the pedal on the speeder and zoomed through the skies of Torak, letting clouds block any view of him that the Stormtroopers might have had for him.
*I think I'll still head for the heart of the city,* Luke contemplated. *Lay low for a while, and when Vader leaves, I'll go to the Rebel Alliance and tell them everything I can. Then we'll be able to rescue Han and Leia!* Luke smiled. Everything was going to turn out okay.
SSSSS(Luke's totally wrong)SSSSS
Vader watched from his hotel room as the Toreek police converged below.
*A bunch of fools,* Vader thought angrily. They had helplessly watched as his son escaped from them into the skies above. Yet beneath all this anger, Vader felt a great sense of pride for his son. Not only was his boy strong in the Force, but he had the piloting skills of his father.
Father. Son. The words were so new to Vader. Of course he had heard them from time to time; officials had mentioned their children occasionally when pleading not to be killed and even Palpatine had a son, although Vader was pretty sure Palpatine wished he didn't. The Emperor's son was a fluke really, nothing short of a failure in the Sith…according to Palpatine anyway.
But it wasn't going to be that way between Vader and Luke. Vader would see to that. His boy would become the greatest Sith Lord of all time, and Luke would do it with a smile on his face and a maniacal gleam in his soon to be yellow eyes.
Suddenly Vader felt the Force around him richen. Someone powerful in the Force had just made their way into the heart of Torak. Vader carefully hided his presence as he felt his son's innocent, but strong Force signature settle in the main part of Torak. Luke needed to learn how to shield his feelings; Vader could sense Luke's decision to hide in the center of Torak from a mile away. But that would come in due time. Right now Vader would be sure to take advantage of his abilities in the Force where Luke was lacking. That would make turning Luke all the easier. That, and the fact that he now had something to bargain with. Speaking of which…
"Admiral," Vader boomed into his com link, "send the smuggler and princess up to my chambers immediately."
SSSSSSSSSSSSS
(Han's POV)
"Take a seat, Solo," I cringed at how venomously Darth Vader hissed my name. Leia and I had just been dragged up, not too nicely, to see Vader himself, which couldn't be good. Looking warily at Leia, I let go of her hand that I had been grasping for the past hour and went over to the chair where Vader was pointing. There didn't appear to be anything sinister about it; just a black cushioned chair. Sitting down, I tried to focus on Leia. Not the swarm of Stormtroopers behind her or the black monster in front of me; just Leia.
"Bring in the torture droid," Vader ordered. My muscles tightened with fear as Leia screamed, lunging for Vader as Stormtroopers grabbed onto her and held her back.
"NO!" Leia shouted fiercely. "DON'T HURT HIM!" I tried to get up to comfort Leia but as soon as I moved my legs, a wall of force slammed into me, pushing me back into the chair.
"Bind her to that chair," Vader said, pointing to a chair across the room that was identical to mine. My mind was slammed again as I came to a realization.
"You're going to make her watch?" I yelled outraged, glaring at Vader, but he just watched the Stormtroopers force Leia into the chair. Turning my head, I saw that Leia had already composed herself from her outbreak. She was not the kind of person to lose her head like that. Instead, she just glared at Vader darkly, and if looks could kill, we would be celebrating the end of Vader's reign over us.
When the troopers had finally finished tying up Leia, Vader waved his hand.
"Leave us," he ordered. After the Stormtroopers cleared out, the door slammed behind them, leaving Leia and I alone with Vader.
"Now then," Vader turned to me, and once again fear raked through me, but I tried not to show it. I would not give Darth Vader the satisfaction of knowing he intimidated me.
"I'm going to ask you some questions, Solo," Vader continued. "You may choose to answer them with or without torture. Your choice." I didn't say anything, but I knew I would have to play this carefully. The only reason Darth Vader would have Leia watch was so she would talk too, and I couldn't let that happen. So I had to answer some of his questions, just to give both Leia and I a chance of making it through this without giving much information.
"Question one," Vader said sharply, "where did you meet Luke Skywalker?"
*Here we go,* I thought to myself.
"I picked him up on Tatooine," I replied smugly, trying to pretend like I wasn't bothered by any of this.
Darth Vader turned to Leia. "You see princess, that wasn't so hard, was it?"
I had to bite my cheeks so I wouldn't open my mouth and say something stupid, like I knew I would.
Vader turned back to me.
"Question two," Vader hissed. "Has Luke Skywalker had any training in the Force whatsoever?"
*Damn.*
"How should I know?" I shrugged. "That was between the kid and the old man."
"I see," Vader got up and to my dismay, turned on the torture droid.
"That's all I know!" I argued.
"No Solo," Vader turned and walked up to me with the droid following behind. "That's not all you know. Now both of you listen to me, Luke might have put up mind barriers to protect your exact thoughts, but I can still feel your fear and I know you know more. You will tell me everything you know about Luke Skywalker."
Glancing over to Leia, it pained me to see the worry on her face. I knew she wanted me to tell; she wanted me to get out of this interrogation unscathed.
"We made a promise," I mouthed. She nodded, tears forming in her eyes. Suddenly my body was filled with 10,000 volts of electricity. Gritting my teeth, I tried to let out as little screams as possible so that Leia wouldn't give in.
"Tell me what you know, Solo," Vader ordered, and suddenly, I felt the strong urge to tell him. Thoughts of betrayal seeped into my brain, whispering at me to tell Vader everything. As blue clouded my vision, I tried to focus on Leia again. I could see tears rolling down her face. Why was she crying? Soon I would tell Vader everything and we would be out of here. Who cared about Luke anyway?
"We made a promise," Leia mouthed. Abruptly, my head became clear again, and I realized I was under the influence of Vader. Turning to the monster, I hissed as best I could,
"Over my dead body."
The electricity stopped as suddenly as it started. Gasping for air, I fell onto the floor. I was vaguely aware of Vader making his way over to the other side of the room. When I raised my head, my heart stopped beating as I saw Vader's hand closed around Leia's. She was looking at me fearfully, as if she knew what would happen next.
"What about over her dead body?" Vader growled and started to squeeze. I tried to lunge at Vader but my feet were knocked out from under me. I tried to focus on something else, but Leia's started gasps for air were unbearable. Anger started to simmer inside me, waiting to erupt.
"STOP!" I roared.
"Has Luke Skywalker had any training in the Force whatsoever?" Vader repeated, and suddenly Leia let out a pained cry so devastating that I couldn't help it.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK, DUMB-ASS? OF COURSE HE'S HAD TRAINING! HE'S BEEN TRAINING TO BECOME A FUCKING JEDI SO THAT ONE DAY HE'LL KILL YOUR SORRY ASS!" The words poured out of me, my rage making me explode.
Vader dropped Leia and before I could move, his hand was around my neck.
"You will never again use that language with me," Vader hissed venomously. "And if I find out you've been using that language around my son, you're a dead man, Solo." With that, Vader stormed out of the room, leaving Leia and me alone. Rushing to her, I hugged her tightly in my arms. Never again would I let that monster touch her. Never again.
"Han," Leia said, but I was too happy that we were alone.
"It's okay Leia, we're safe. We're alright."
"Yes I know," Leia rolled her eyes but still hugged me. "But Luke isn't."
"What do you mean?" Luke, right, remember the promise.
"Didn't you hear Vader?" Leia said worriedly. "Luke's his son! That's why he won't kill us!"
The horrible realization of the reason why Vader was letting Leia and me live and what he meant when he said he had "the perfect bait". We were the bait. And we were going to be used to lure Luke right into a trap.
SSSSSSSSSSSS
Luke watched from a rooftop as the sun slowly set over Torak. He smiled to himself.
*Soon everything will be okay.*
Suddenly, two Force signatures forced their way into Luke's mind. They weren't strong Force signatures, but they belonged to people he knew. As Luke focused, his smile widened.
*Han? Leia? They escaped!* Now everything would be alright. As long as he had his two best friends with him, nothing could stop them! Hopping enthusiastically from his seat, Luke made his way to the edge of the building. Looking around the streets, he managed to find Han and Leia amongst the crowd.
*They have escaped!* Luke laughed. This was perfect! Luke raced towards the emergency stairs that were on the side of building, unaware of the Stormtroopers watching him from the shadows.
(Han's POV)
I saw Luke climbing down the stairs of his hideout. Rage fumed inside me, but I couldn't do anything but walk forward. Somehow Vader was controlling both Leia and me, so all I could do now was pray that Luke would lose us.
I heard him call my name.
*Dammit Solo, you have to fight it,* I tried to move just a muscle, but Vader's invisible grip on me tightened. How could Vader control me from so far away? Was he really that powerful?
"Han! Wait up! Leia!"
*No kid, don't fall for it,* I silently begged as my legs kept moving forward. When I tried to turn my head, it was snapped back into place. I could only see Leia next to me, in just as much pain as I was. We couldn't speak; we couldn't move. We could only walk forward.
"Guys, wait!"
That did it. Summoning all the strength I had, I tried to whirl around to yell at Luke to run. And to my amazement, it worked. In fact, both Leia and I turned around, in full control of our bodies. Right as Luke was surrounded by a sea of white and grabbed by two black, gloved hands.
Alright, so this chapter was really long, but I really didn't want to break it up. I know Luke got captured, but I still don't know if I had should have him escape sooner than later. Hope you guys like it, please read and review!