Chapter 8

5 BBY

Buffy was thrown roughly into an empty cell. Groaning, she sat up and gently massaged her aching muscles. "Geez," she muttered, "can't they just let a girl die in peace?"

A concerned rumble came from the cell beside her, and Buffy jumped up.

"Chewbacca!" she yelled happily.

He growled something, his tone concerned, and she made her best guess as to his question. "I'm fine, Chew. Apparantly, I died briefly, but I'm all better."

Chewbacca bellowed, and the noise made Buffy's head ring. Rubbing her temples, she said, "Shh, Chewbacca. I'm fine, really. A little sore, but I'll be okay. They said they were going to leave us here to recover, and then they'd torture us, so really my death bought us a bit of time."

Chewbacca growled, a low threatening sounds, and Buffy reading the threat in his voice said, "Yeah, I want to rip them limb from limb too, but these stupid collars are preventing us from doing much damage. They just push a button, and its 'bye-bye, Buffy.' I tell you what, Chewbacca, if they give me half a chance..."

Chewbacca growled his agreement.

Groaning, Buffy sat against the wall, and said, "Hey, Chewbacca? I'm dead tired. I think that happens when you come back from being dead. Wake me up when they come back, okay?"

Chewbacca rumbled quietly, and Buffy wearily closed her eyes. Things were not looking good for the home team.


Commander Nyklas marched to the control room. "Leave me!" he bellowed at the guards, and quickly, the stormtroopers left the room. He then walked to the center of the room and kneeling, pressed a button. Almost instantly a three-dimensional figure appeared in front of him. The sounds of breathing filled the room, and Nyklas shuddered as the black-robed figure looked down upon him.

"What is the reason behind this interruption, Commander?" a deep voice growled.

"I have come upon an enigma of the strangest kind, Lord Vader," Nyklas said, trying to hide his nerves as much as he could. Darth Vader had always given him the creeps. "We have captured a girl who is far stronger than a normal human with reflexes that defy logic. I would almost call her a..."Nyklas paused, afraid to say the forbidden word.

"A Jedi?" Darth Vader supplied it for him.

"Yes, my Lord." Nyklas confirmed. "But for the fact that she seems even stronger than a Jedi. I am sending you the Dr. Littlerock's analysis immediately."

Darth Vader's consul beeped, and for a few moments, he scanned the readings. As he did so, Nyklas continued, "At first, we thought perhaps she was another species of alien, but all of the information indicates that she is definitely human."

Vader continued to read quietly, and then asked, "What is her name?"

"We have not yet obtained that information, my Lord."

"This is indeed impressive information. Do you have a S-1 collar in your possession?"

"We do, my Lord."

"Key it to the Emperor's frequency. I think he will desire to interrogate this prisoner himself. We will arrive within the next few days. Well done, Commander."

"Thank you, my Lord. You honor me."

"Yes. Do not disappoint me, Commander."

With that, the image disappeared, and Nyklas shuddered. It seemed the prisoner was more important than he thought. They had better be especially careful that they didn't lose this one.


A while later, Buffy woke up to hear a warning rumble from Chewbacca, and she jumped quickly to her feet, facing the front of her cell. She balled her hands into fists and glared dangerously at the door which slid open to reveal Nyklas and Dr. Littlerock. She eyed the doctor and saw the device in his hand that controlled her collar. So, calmly, she folded her arms and stared them both down.

"Did I invite you into my cell?" she quipped, "I think not. Sheesh, can't you bad guys even learn to knock?"

Nyklas lunged forward and back-handed her across the face. Her face jerked with the force of it, but the rest of her body didn't move. Instead, she turned her head back toward him, arched one elegant eyebrow and said, "Bad temper, much?"

Nyklas smirked. "I'm going to enjoy breaking you. But, first things first. What's your name?"

Buffy smirked, "You tell me yours, and I'll tell you mine."

Nyklas' smirk faded slightly. "Insolent creature. You will learn to fear me. Know the name of your captor. I am Commander Nyklas."

"Is that like Saint Nicholas? 'Cause you just don't have the disposition for it. There's nothing very jolly about you."

Nyklas growled and beckoned to someone outside of the cell, and a stormtrooper entered with a different collar in his hands. Buffy recognized the stormtrooper outfit as belonging to Han Solo.

"Wait a second," Buffy said, holding her hands up defensively. "I've already got me one of those. I think it goes much better with your outfit."

Nyklas just smiled. "Immobilize her, Doctor."

Littlerock smirked and pressed the button. Again, Buffy felt the shock course through her small frame. She collapsed on the ground, and the stormtrooper came forward and put the new collar on her neck an instant before he pressed a small device to the old collar and it dropped off her, leaving Buffy gasping painfully on the ground.

"Congratulations, slave," Nyklas said, "you've managed to gain the attention of some very important people. This new collar is very special. It can only be removed by the Emperor himself. It has been specifically modified for your level of pain tolerance. Now, once more, if you don't speak, we will begin inflicting pain upon the Wookie."

"You wouldn't dare," Buffy glared, her hands balling into fists.

Nyklas smirked. "Watch me," he said, and pushed a different button. From the next cell, Chewbacca began to howl, pain obvious in his voice. Protectively, Buffy took a step forward, and Nyklas laughed and raised up Chewbacca's control and said, "I wouldn't if I were you. Not unless you want your Wookie friend to be a pile of smouldering ashes."

Buffy froze, and with a down-right evil grin, Nyklas cranked Chewbacca's switch up a little. Chewbacca's howl turned into a scream of agony, and Buffy shouted, "Stop it!"

Chewbacca's screams echoed through Han's helmet, and as a pair of warm brown eyes filled Han's vision, he couldn't take it any more, and without thinking he lifted his weapon and fired a stun blast at Nyklas.

As Nyklas dropped to the ground, silence briefly seemed to fill the cell. Even Chewbacca's screams seemed muted in the shocked atmosphere that followed. Littlerock turned and stared in surprise at the Lieutenant. "Solo, what are you...?"

Now moving purely on instinct, Han hit him with a blast as well. Then, he rushed over to the controller and flipped it off. Chewbacca's scream died down to a soft whine of pain.

"What are you doing?" Buffy asked, surprise clearly written all over her face.

"I'm getting you two out of here," Han said. "Come on, we don't have time for you to stand there lallygagging. Let's get the hairball and go!" With that, he turned and rushed out of the cell.

"Lallygagging?" Buffy repeated as she ran out after him.

Han quickly keyed open the cell door and used his key to release the slave collar on Chewbacca's neck. Chewbacca grunted, and heaved himself to his feet. He was panting, and his eyes glittered with pain, but he was mobile.

"You alright, big guy?" Han asked. Chewbacca nodded, and Buffy quickly threw one of his hairy arms over her shoulders to help support him.

"Which way now?" she asked.

Without answering, Han turned and left the cell, and Buffy and Chewbacca followed as quickly as they could. They turned quite a few corridors, and Han would motion them back when stormtroopers would come toward them. Casually, Han would lean against the wall, and the stormtroopers would usually salute and keep going. Afterward, Han would wave them out, and then they would continue on their harried path.

They had almost reached the docking bay when the alarm began to sound. "Lieutenant Solo!" a stormtrooper cried behind them, "the prisoners have..." Then the man stared shocked at the sight of Buffy and the Wookie behind Han. He reached down to his communicator, but a large, spider-like object fell from the ceiling and skewered it with a long metallic leg. That gave Han the time he needed to fire his stun blaster at the man. As the man fell, the object jumped off him onto Buffy's shoulder.

"Mis...Buffy!" it cried in its robotic voice.

"Mr. Gordo!" Buffy said happily.

Han decided that the robot could wait since it obviously wasn't an enemy and quickly punched the door open, and the three of them ran into the bay. Han rushed toward the only vessel that could fit two humans and a wookie, and shoved Buffy and Chewbacca into the freighter. "Hurry up," he muttered, and as soon as the two were inside, he closed the door and dived into the pilot's seat. He quickly opened the docking bay's doors and began to start up the freighter. It wasn't fast, but it was fast enough. Han could only hope they had enough of a head start. The alarms continued to blare as the freighter rose from the ground and sailed off into space.

"Engaging hyperdrive," Han said, and the freighter shot off into hyperspace, barely missing a tractor beam that was fired after the vanishing ship.


Nyklas smashed his hands against the consul as the ship vanished into hyperspace.

Instantly fear replaced his anger and he gulped as he thought about a certain black-clothed man who was soon going to be visiting. "After them!" Nyklas shrieked.

"Where, sir?" one of the stormtroopers dared to ask. "We don't even know where they're going!"

In an instant, Nyklas drew his blaster and fired at the unfortunate man. The man's eyes opened in shock, and then slowly glazed over and he fell from his seat dead.

"You," Nyklas said, pointing at another soldier, "take his seat. Quickly follow that ship. When I get my hands on Solo, I..." Nyklas' voice trailed off as he could only hope that Darth Vader wouldn't do to him what he planned to do to Solo.