Here we go! Ten down, three to go! Yes, That's right! Three more until the next installment, which is hardly even written. But I seem to accomplish alot of writing at my mom's since I don't have my editing program to make videos with here. Go figure.

Chapter Ten

Three Hours Until Rogues Arrive

Leia sighed as she stood in front of the wall length mirror in the quarters she normally resided in when staying at the Temple. Her dress was draped over her belt and her back was turned so that she could see it in the mirror. Angry red dots lined her spine and on some, purplish bruises were beginning to form. She'd have to deal with them for at least a week, if not two. She reached around her side and touched one lightly, hissing sharply at the fiery pain that licked up her spine.

She winced as she twisted back around, the skin around the wounds stretching painfully along them. A knock sounded at her door and she jumped, hastily yanking at her dress to pull it back over her exposed chest.

"Uh, just a minute!" she called through the door. She rehooked the clasps and hit the release for the door, her face turning quizzical as she saw Han standing there.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Brought you some more Bacta since you refuse to go to the med bay," he said, holding up a translucent bag with Bacta and Syntheskin patches, as well as a jar of what looked like a standard pain reliever.

"Oh, thank you," she said in a relieved tone.

"Can I come in?" he asked and she stared at him for a moment. Han almost thought she wasn't going to let him in when she stepped to the side. He walked through the door, noting the sparse belongings in the room; just a bed, night stand, wardrobe and mirror. A single holo of her family sat glowing lightly by her bed. "I figured the pain killer in the Bacta had just about worn off by now, and you should probably get those fixed up again about now anyway."

"You haven't…" she swallowed heavily. "You haven't told anyone, have you?"

"Not a soul," he responded, looking her in the eye. "Why are you so ashamed of them?"

"I'm not," she protested but sighed as he gave her a knowing look. "Fine, I just, don't want to look weak. I don't want to be the tortured girl. Okay?"

"Fair enough," he shrugged. "Sit down and let me refresh the Bacta."

She did as he said, sitting down with her back towards the mirror so as not to have her bare chest reflected in it. She needn't give the Captain any more charges to work with. He unclasped her dress before she could, sliding it gently down her arms. If her back weren't in such fiery agony, she would have thought he'd be making a move on her.

"They certainly look better," he noted, examining the tiny injection sites down her spine. "Less red."

"Really?" she asked. They had looked fairly angry when she'd looked at them nearly a minute ago. If they were less than before, she didn't want to think about what Han had seen while they were in Hyperspace.

"Yeah," he replied, already laying the icy Bacta on. She hissed at the cold and the feeling of the medicine invading her cells. "Sorry," he mumbled but she just shook her head. "So you don't plan to tell anyone?"

"No," she said immediately. "Not my family, not Luke, no one. If I could've avoided it, you wouldn't have even known either."

"I'm not the enemy, Leia," he said, using her real name to show how much he meant it. "Neither is your family. They wouldn't let it get out."

"They don't suspect anything as bad as this, so they won't know, okay?" she answered, anger leeching into her tone. Why didn't he understand?

"Fine," he said. He smoothed out the Bacta over a particularly nasty looking wound, and almost flinched as she let out a controlled whimper. "How many times did they inject you here?"

"Six," she responded and he had trouble keeping his anger at bay. How could they do something like this to someone, especially a woman? If only he could get his hands on the horrible bastards that had done this to her…

"It's not your fault," she said, and he paused for a moment, looking at the back of her head. "I can feel your emotions through the Force. You're kinda broadcasting them."

"I know it's not my fault," he said. "But the monsters that did this to you… They had to be pretty sick to justify this."

"They view us as an enemy, Han," she said. "To them, this is the official beginning of a war that started during the clone wars."

"Who is this Empire?"

"What's left over from the Separatists as far as I can guess," she replied. "I don't think they are the Separatists though. They want completely different things. They mentioned Wilhuff Tarkin once though, and he went into hiding after the end of the Clone Wars. No one really knew what happened to him. I guess he's been running this show."

"Kest," Han mumbled, resuming his application of the Bacta. "And now they plan to come here and eliminate the Jedi because I was too arrogant to listen to you and make a dummy jump and check for trackers."

"It's not your fault," she repeated.

"Yes it is," he said. "This whole kriffing thing is my fault. You got taken because I went to Tatooine and took you into Mos Eisely, one of the most Bounty Hunter filled cities in the Galaxy after Nar Shadda. It started this chain of events that led to endangering a whole sect of people who I happen to think are pretty decent. You… You got tortured because I couldn't protect you."

His voice sounded so defeated at the end that Leia's heart felt like it would break. She turned around, holding her dress to her chest and looked into Han's eyes. They were glassy, a moment of weakness in them few ever saw.

"Don't blame yourself," she said firmly, her own voice cracking.

"Leia," he started but she cut him off, leaning in and capturing his lips with her own. He responded immediately, kissing her back with pent up fervor. The feeling of his lips against hers sent an electric feeling down to her toes, igniting her in a way she never knew possible. She pulled back, resting her head against his, their faces still close together, panting for air.

"Han," she murmured but he kissed her again, her free hand winding its way up into his hair. He let out a grunt, pulling at her hips to draw her closer to him.

He pulled back and looked her in the eyes, a smile on his face that reached his eyes. "You have no idea how long I have wanted to do that."

She let out a small laugh and shook her head, happiness filling her up inside.

"Let's finish putting that Bacta on, alright?" he asked and she nodded, spinning back around in the bed. He resumed the placement of the Bacta on the lower wounds, careful to put an even layer on. He finished, putting the lid back on the small jar. "All done."

"Thank you," she smiled at him. "When did you plan to put the syntheskin on?"

"Probably in a day or so," he said. "These are still too fresh for that. They need air that the syntheskin won't give them."

"Oh," she said, pulling her dress up her shoulders. Han grabbed it, pulling it carefully over her wounds and reclasping it. "Thanks."

"Anytime, Princess," he said, flashing her a grin.

"I told you, I'm not a Princess," she shook her head, turning around to face him fully.

"Yes you are," he nodded, "to me."

She started to protest when he kissed her again. She froze for a moment before reacting and kissing him back.

"What are we doing?" she asked when they pulled apart.

"Right now I'm kissing you," he said, leaning back into the kiss.

"No, Han," she pushed him back, tilting her face away. He gave her a quizzical look.

"No, I mean, I don't want to be in this if this is just some fling, alright?"

"Oh, just because I've got a shady past, I'm ultimately just using any girl nearby?" he asked, his anger rushing up to the surface.

"No, just, ugh!" she grunted out. "That wasn't what I meant at all you big Bantha! I just meant that I don't want this to be a fling! I just want a real relationship."

"So do I!" he responded, his voice getting louder. "Listen, Leia, I'm not out to use you, alright? I thought that much was obvious as I was helping you out with the Bacta."

"It was!" she yelled back but sighed, calling on the Force to help deflate her anger. "It is," she said more quietly. "I just wanted to know where we stand, alright? Is it so much trouble for me to know what we are doing?"

"No," he sighed. "Look, I'm sorry. I just thought—"

"No, it's alright. Look, let's just forget it, and we'll just move on from here," she suggested. "I want this, I really do."

"So do I," he nodded, leaning down and kissing her again. She responded to the kiss, losing herself again in it. She pulled back when she needed air and let out a small laugh. "What?"

"We're never going to get anything accomplished at this rate," she said and he smirked.

"I'm alright with that," he said, his voice dipping lower as he leaned back in. She reached up, tangling her hands in his hair and pushing against his chest. She moaned lightly into the kiss, feeling all the tension in her body relax. Han's hands trailed lazily against her hips, making small designs before they fell to the small of her back.

"Ow!" Leia yelped, jumping back away from him.

"Oh, kest, Leia, I'm sorry!" he said, immediately realizing he'd brushed against her spine.

"No, no," she assured him, waving a hand between them. "It's okay, really. I forgot too."

"Kriff," he mumbled, running a hand through his hair. "I feel like a schmuck."

"Han, it's okay, really," she said, laying a hand on his arm.

"No, it's not," he shook his head. "It would be okay if you didn't have those damn wounds on your back in the first place. But you do have them and that certainly makes things not okay."

"You're still beating yourself up over this?" she asked and he let out a scoff and shook his head, looking away.

"Han Solo, answer me," she demanded, putting her hands on her hips and stepping up towards him.

"Yes, okay? I am," he said. "As much as you don't want to tell people about them, I'm blaming myself. Alright?"

"Gods, we are so stubborn," she sighed, looking up towards the ceiling. "Aren't we a pair?"

He let out a chuckle and looked back towards her with a crooked grin. "So we're a pair, are we?"

She rolled her eyes and shoved his arm playfully. "Watch it, Flyboy."

Padme entered the control room and immediately spotted her husband at a computer terminal, hunched over with his hand on his chin studying something.

"How's it going?" she asked, sitting next to him and running a hand soothingly against his back.

"Fine," he replied, glancing up at her. "Certainly better now that you're here."

She smiled and leaned in, kissing him chastely against the lips before nodding back to the work. "Those the death star plans?"

"Yes," he nodded. "I don't quite know where the biggest weakness is. There are certainly a handful of them within the actual engine and hyperdrive connections. The guys that looked over these first were right about the hyperdrive speeds though and we're still looking at the same arrival time. But I can't find a weakness on the outside yet. I know there is one!"

"You'll find it," she assured him. She leaned her head against his shoulder, closing her eyes against the familiar comfort. "I know you will."

He sighed, and turned his head to kiss the top of hers. "How is the Youngling evacuation going?"

"They're all gone," she said happily. "Every youngling in the crèche is gone, every child without a master is gone, and every Padawan under fifteen is gone. All the others are here and ready in case of a ground attack."

"I don't think there will be one with that Battle Station," Anakin sighed. She nodded against his shoulder.

"I can't think about Luke being up there with you," she said after a quiet moment. "I don't want to risk losing you two."

"And I wouldn't risk losing any of you if we didn't need fighters and people to lead the assault from down here," he replied. "I love you and Luke and Leia too much…"

Padme nodded again, her eyes still closed. She didn't want to have to go through losing Luke and Leia again, even if the first time she didn't even know they were her own. It was still hard for her to think about them time-traveling. The Force was such an odd thing to someone on the outside of it, and the future they had described in the letter….

"Anakin!" Padme cried out, her eyes snapping open as she sat up abruptly.

"What, is everything all right?" he asked, startled by her sudden movement.

"The letter! They talked about the Death Star in the letter!" she cried out.

Anakin's eyes lit up as he recalled the letter, immediately flipping through the pages of plans in the computer.

If they follow the original schematics, an exhaust port is just wide enough for a proton torpedo to make the shot.

He stopped on the plans for the engine exhaust following the small tube up and out of the battle station. It was a straight line all the way to the trench that lined the equator of the station. It was only a meter wide, but as promised in the letter, a torpedo should be able to make it.

"Padme, you are a genius!" Anakin cried out happily, grabbing his wife's hand in his own and squeezing it lightly. "Here it is! The weakness. We won't even have to penetrate the station to get this. A simple Proton shot should cover it, just like they said! Oh, this is fantastic!"

He wrapped his arms around her tightly, relishing in the comfort the simple action brought before pulling back. "I have to tell Master Yoda and Mace!"

"Go!" she encouraged and he leapt up, jogging up and out of the room happily. She shook her head at his child-like antics but remembered that it was that enthusiasm that made her love him so much.

He could feel it. The adrenaline rushed through his veins so quickly, pumping him up for the firing of that Torpedo into the exhaust port. He had to make it. The entire Rebellion relied on him. Leia was down there, and he had to make sure she lived. Something told him she'd be an important factor in his life and he want to make sure they lived to find out what that was.

The scanner on his dashboard read the incoming TIE's behind him. They'd taken almost everyone else out, now they were after him.

'Calm down, Luke, you can do this!' he thought to himself. He gritted his teeth and pushed the fighter forward down the trench. He'd flown trenches like these a million times back home, he could do it now. The lack of friction against the ship was new, and he didn't have to worry about the warm down gusts that made smears of so many unfortunate pilots before him against the canyon walls. It was the same, but different.

Almost there, he reminded himself, focusing on that fleeting feeling Ben had tried to teach him before Vader had so ruthlessly cut him down. One day he'd face Vader and do the same, but until then… No. Jedi don't seek revenge. He just needed to focus on helping the Rebellion take out this station before it fired off that shot.

Green plasma shot past him and against the wall and he glanced back in time to see one of the ships careen into the trench wall. What?

A whooping 'yahoo!' sounded over the comm system, and he smiled lightly as he recognized that voice. Han had decided to return after all.

He pushed forward, glancing out the corner of his eye as one of those Imperial fighters spun off into space uncontrollably.

'You're all clear, Kid!' Han's voice sounded over the comm. 'Now let's blow this thing and go home!'

Luke shook his head and grinned, the Force crackling around him in anticipation. The crackling hit its peak and Luke fired, the torpedo shots racing out in front of him and getting pulled in by the gravity of the hole beneath it. The warning sense he'd always written off as gut feeling tingled and he pulled out of the trench, quickly flying away from the station. He glanced over his shoulder to see the sparking ball of fire expand behind him, the trapped oxygen and power igniting in the space behind him. They did it! They'd destroyed the—

"Farmboy! Get up!"

Mara's sharp voice shook him out of his dream and he shot up in bed, glancing around for danger.

"Only you could sleep at a time like this," she rolled her eyes.

"What time is it? Is the Empire here?" he asked and she chuckled, tossing his discarded shirt to him from its spot draped over a chair.

"No, we have two and a half hours before the Rogues even arrive yet, relax," she said. "But your Dad just discovered the weakness in the battle station. Get this, it's an—"

"Exhaust port," he said and she stopped short, giving him an odd look.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Dream," he shrugged, though it hadn't felt like a vision or even a warning. "Never mind. Where is he?"

"Control room," she said. "As soon as the rogues arrive, there's going to be a debriefing. You might want to be in a flight suit and ready."

"Yeah, whatever," he waved dismissively. "Let's go."

She nodded once and they left his room, headed for the control room.

Alrighty, super happy right now, and eager to write, mostly because I finally named the next story. I've had trouble with that since October when I began planning it out. So I'm off to write as soon as this is posted.

Quick movie for you to watch: Working Girl. Circa 1988, and one of Harrison Ford's best. Also has the lovely Sigourney Weaver in it, and how can you deny her? She is one of my favorite actresses, really. Anyways, I watched it and really liked it. It is incidentally the only movie besides Indiana Jones 3 to explain Harrison's scar. It is Watch Instantly on Netflix right now, and that's where I watched it.

Anyways, next chapter brings in the lovely Rogues, the first line being Wes Janson's. How I do love his character. If you get the chance, I posted a one shot two weeks ago entitled "The Origin of the Bet" starring him. Just a little self promotion. Otherwise, have a lovely week! REVIEW!