The Falcon soared into a hanger of the Death Star silently and settled down at the edge of an empty space, to avoid being discovered. They shut down the ship swiftly, hurrying to the smuggling compartments. Han levered up one, Luke the other as Mara and Leia floated the cases out of the compartments. They thumped down on the deck, the girls swiftly opening the boxes as Han and Luke lowered the smuggling compartments back into place.

Inside the small boxes were assorted Imperial uniforms and falsified identities. A long time ago one of their mother's spy networks, the Angel Network had managed to insert a number of falsified identities into the Imperial system. They usually disappeared into the backlog but several identities had been transferred to the Death Star. Those were the identities that they would be assuming. Leia dispensed the various uniforms and disguises before disappearing into a cabin. When the group congregated ten minutes later in the central area they looked very different.

Han was dressed in a captain's uniform, regulation cap firmly pulled down over his somewhat unruly hair. He had several medal ribbons pinned to his chest besides his insignia, to further prevent any questioning of his position. Leia wore the same uniform, a blonde wig pinned over her dark braids. Her twin wore a black wig under his Lieutenant's cap, brown contacts and a small scar altering his face. Mara wore an ensign's uniform, red hair pulled tightly back into a bun, tucked into her cap. Each of them had a blaster holstered to their side, while the Force-Sensitive beings concealed their lightsabers among their clothing along with the small comlinks to allow them to communicate discreetly with one another.

The four of them conferred briefly before exiting the Falcon, R2-D2 rolling along behind them. As the Falcon's ramp lowered Luke, Leia and Mara cloaked themselves, Han and Artoo in the Force as they slipped off the ship into a turbolift.

Artoo disembarked first, rolling away beeping cheerfully as he blended into the sea of other droids. On another level Luke and Han ducked out of the lift, headed down to the detention level as Artoo, having plugged himself inconspicuously into a wall port, informed them where Elena Organa was being held. Leia and Mara had the more difficult job of infiltrating the Death Star's main control area. Which was why Leia wore a captain's uniform and Mara an ensign's. They could claim to be collating information, Leia in charge of an important task, conscripting Mara to help her, walking around confidently. Leia was very good at acting confidently when she was tricking her way into areas that she really shouldn't be in.

When they left the turbolift Leia was striding one step ahead of Mara authoritatively, Mara keeping her head ducked down as she appeared to be entering information into the datapad. Leia snapping orders over her shoulder as she strode towards the Command Centre, appearing the image of a harried Imperial soldier. The other soldiers scrambled out of her way as she strode towards the central console.

"Ensign," Leia ordered. "Keep up. I don't have all day. The General demands this report by the end of the day."

"Yes sir," Mara replied smartly, quickening her footsteps. The other ensigns gave her sympathetic glances as she hurried past them, obviously well used to demanding superiors.

Leia ordered an ensign out of their chair I in front of their computer console. Mara handed her the datapad and she plugged it in, appearing to gather minor information. In reality the datapad was equipped with high quality cracking software which immediately began burrowing its way into the Imperial systems and copying the information onto the pad.

Mara stood by Leia's shoulder to attention, her eyes straight in front of her. She appeared the perfect soldier, keeping her eyes straight in front of her, but in the Force she was scanning the surrounding area constantly for too-curious eyes on her. There were a few eyes on both her and Leia, but none were suspicious. Most were merely…appraising. Which made her skin crawl, but was not as bad as if they had been suspicious of what they had been doing there.

The turbolift slid open again and the grating tones of Grand Moff Tarkin filled the air as he barked orders to one of his subordinates.

Hurry up Leia, Mara hissed through their Force bond. Slimeball just walked in.

Hurrying, she replied, without looking away from the terminal, her fingers flying over the keys as she activated a number of fail safes the Angel Network had built in under her parent's orders.

Tarkin's footsteps passed by them and then retreated back to behind them just as Leia finished the codes she was inputting and reverted back to a nondescript backdrop.

"Captain," Tarkin's voice oozed. "Lovely to see such a young woman as yourself in such a high position. May I ask what data you are collecting?"

Leia carefully disconnected the datapad from the holo terminal and rose from the chair, turning and saluting the Grand Moff. Beside her Mara stood to attention as well, in her masquerade as an ensign.

"Sir," she said levelly. "I have been ordered to collect data pertaining to the energy output of barracks across the station in order for my superiors to determine the most efficient way to save power and so keep this station cost-effective. To that end I was instructed to take Ensign Mulcanin as an analysis expert to collect the data. All the relevant information has been collated and Mulcanin and I are returning our station to begin analysis. We hope to have a report prepared within 24 hours. Sir."

Tarkin's eyes had glazed over at some point during this spiel. Leia had engineered it for precisely this purpose. It helped that Tarkin's weakness for attractive young women was well known. "Excellent work Captain," he darted a look at her name tag. "Ludum. You are a credit to the Empire."

"Thank you sir," Leia replied, smiling the smile of a young woman proud to serve the Empire, and shy to be complimented by one of the most powerful men in the Empire. "My superiors will be demanding my findings sir. Ensign Mulcanin and I must return to our stations."

"Very well Captain," Tarkin conceded. Leia and Mara headed towards the door. "Ludum." Leia turned and Tarkin smiled at her creepily. "I hope to see you again soon."

Leia bowed her head. "Thank you sir."

Then she turned on her heel and strode to the turbolift, Mara beside her. They made an about turn in the turbolift and as the doors closed Leia caught sight of Tarkin still watching her. She shuddered internally. There were cameras in the elevator so they couldn't speak out loud.

Are you all right? Mara asked quietly through the Force, shooting a sideways glance at her.

I'm fine, Leia replied. Let's just get this over with.

Mara turned her eyes front again. Agreed. She said shortly.

They exited the turbolift on the engineering level, making their way into the control centre of the Death Star's weapons maintenance. On seeing Leia stalking along, Mara scurrying along behind her as they fell back into each persona. In the turbolift Leia had switched her insignia to that of a Commander, and Mara had transformed hers to a Lieutenant's. Only a Captain was in charge of the engineering level, masquerading as a Commander Leia would therefore outrank him.

"Captain!" she barked, striding forcefully up to him. "I require immediate access to your terminal for security checks."

The Captain swallowed and saluted. "Yes sir!" he replied, moving aside to allow Leia access to his terminal. She sat down and Mara took up a position at her back, one hand on her blaster in a clear warning sign.

Leia hacked into the systems swiftly, adding errors to the computer system to ensure that the firing sequence would not activate correctly. It would do a little to try and save Alderaan. At that moment the space station shuddered around her and she looked up in alarm.

Luke? She asked through their twin connection. What just happened.

We went into hyperspace, he replied. Han and I guessed this was about to happen, and we won't be able to get Elena out of here like this. So we're sabotaging the guns and ammunition.

Ok, she replied. We're nearly finished with the main array.

Her brother's presence faded away and Leia continued tapping away at the terminal.

On the other side of the Death Star and a few levels down Han Solo finished tinkering with the gun emplacements that he was pretending to inspect, carefully blocking the view of Luke Skywalker with his eyes shut concentrating on his conversation with his sister, from people walking by. Finally Luke exhaled and straightened up. He moved next to Han and pretended to be handing him tools.

"They're dealing with the main weapon," he murmured. "She knows now that we've entered hyperspace. She seemed…disturbed about something but I couldn't discern it."

"But she's ok?" Han demanded worriedly under his breath, holding out a hand for a wrench. Luke slapped it into his hand.

"She's fine," Luke reassured his sister's boyfriend.

"Alright," Han said reluctantly. "Let's just get these weapons sorted and move on."

They finished tinkering with that laser gun and moved on around the station.

Darth Tenebris could feel that something was wrong aboard the Death Star. There was someone Force-Sensitive aboard, but he couldn't pinpoint their location. Every time he tried to latch on to their signature they would shield so thoroughly from him that he wouldn't be able to discern their signature anywhere. It was immensely infuriating and so he had taken to prowling the levels of the Death Star in an attempt to find the owner of the elusive Force signature. The longer he couldn't find them the more damage they would have the opportunity to cause. And that was unacceptable.

Leia Skywalker carefully used her lightsaber to slice through an important component in the Death Star's main weapon. She and Mara, after sabotaging the main computer technologically, had decided that it would also be efficient to actually sabotage the main weapon, so it would take longer for them to fix then it otherwise would. Lightsabers left only thin slices, indicating where they had been, not something especially obvious, and Mara was cloaking the sound of the lightsaber, so they were undiscovered. She finished slicing through one of the conduits that led to the main weapon and then moved on to the next. They only made it to three of them before the Force flared with unmistakable danger.

Leia shut the saber down and concealed it in her clothing in seconds, Mara dropping the cloaking, as both of them shielded swiftly. Leia strode purposefully away from the conduit, appearing to carefully inspect other parts of the machinery. They rounded the circle of the machinery just as several officers came round the corner. They were having a hushed conversation about the mechanism, and its possibility of its firing soon.

Leia watched their six as Mara listened in, but after a moment Mara tugged on her arm, completely white, and mouthed 'Alderaan'. Leia turned a similar colour and nodded, pulling her around the corner. As soon as they were tucked down a side corridor under the pretence of checking the lesser machinery down there, Leia placed a hand on Mara's arm gently, and looked straight into her eyes.

"They are going to fail," she said urgently. "The General is waiting for them. They won't get within range of Alderaan."

Mara drew herself up and nodded firmly, a bit of colour washing back into her cheeks. A determined expression crossed her face, mirrored by Leia's as she nodded back and headed straight out of the corridor, marching along as they strode purposefully out of the engineering room and into the turbolift.

On the other side of the Death Star Luke Skywalker and Han Solo strode confidently into a turbolift and ordered it down to the detention level. Artoo had hacked into the computer mainframe and had not only told them exactly where Elena was located, but also how long until they dropped out of hyperspace. So now was the best moment for them to bust her out.

While they were in the turbolift Luke sent a faint pulse of warning to Elena's mind. While her Force-Sensitivity was muted during to her innate abilities being blocked as a child, she knew, had been taught, enough to recognise Force-Signatures and various emotions. Luke felt her acknowledgement and then withdrew into himself. He pulled out his datapad and flicked it on, pulling a tiny data chip out of his belt pouch and inserting it into an undetectable port on the side of the datapad. Instantly forged transfer papers appeared for Elena just as the turbolift ground to a halt outside the detention level. Han and Luke exchanged determined glances as the turbolift door slid open.

The men in the detention level control room looked up as they entered and snapped to attention on seeing the medals pinned to Han's uniform.

"Sir," the Lieutenant said, keeping his eyes straight ahead.

"Lieutenant," Han responded. "Prepare the prisoner in Cell 2-1-8-7 for immediate transfer."

The Lieutenant saluted, but then belatedly realised who the prisoner was. "Princess Organa?" he asked. "Lord Tenebris gave specific instructions that she was not to be transferred."

Han drew himself up to his full height. "Did I stutter Lieutenant?" he asked menacingly. "I have full authorisation from Lord Tenebris, he has personally ordered this transfer. Lieutenant Ceamul has the paperwork if you insist upon it."

The Imperial trembled under Han's hard stare but extended his hand anyway. "It's protocol sir," he said, voice shaking slightly.

Han sighed in irritation and motioned for Luke to hand the datapad together, as he did. The Lieutenant inspected it for a moment and then handed it back. "Very well," he said.

Luke tucked the datapad into a pouch and then pulled the binders off his belt, striding down the corridor to Elena's cell, an ensign scurrying along behind him to open the cell. The ensign entered the code and then strode in, ordering Elena to stand up and turn around. She did so, eyes widening imperceptibly as she caught sight of Luke.

Luke bound her hands behind her back as gently as he could, before grasping her upper arm and steering her out of the cell. They marched down the corridor and out into the main control room. Han nodded sharply when he saw Elena and the men of the control centre sneered at her. Luke pulled the Princess straight into the turbolift as Han nodded at the Imperials.

"Carry on men," he said sternly as the turbolift doors shut. Elena didn't say anything, she had clearly caught sight of the cameras in the turbolift, as they rode up. They stopped on a deserted level and ducked out. Luke undid her blasters and then he and Han boosted her into the vents, pulling themselves in after her. Artoo had already made his way back to the Falcon, and Mara and Leia were on their way, detouring only to check the tractor beam mechanism.

Artoo-Detoo rolled into the hanger bay, beeping happily to himself as he blended in with the hundreds of other droids aboard the station. He was specially equipped with a sensor that allowed him to see through the cloaking mechanism of the Falcon. The Falcon's ramp was down, preparatory for their arrivals. Artoo rolled to that corner of the hanger and pretended to be busying himself with some miscellaneous pieces of machinery as he used his sensors to scan for any eyes focussed his way. When he was satisfied that there weren't any he rolled quietly up the ramp and into the Falcon, slipping through the shielding.

Chewbacca growled cheerfully at him when he plugged himself into the Falcon's main computer, transferring all the information he had discovered. C-3PO was receiving it as well, and analysing it, recording his findings in his database, which was being similarly transferred to the main computer. Chewbacca continued priming the Falcon, as he had been doing the entire time they were aboard the Death Star, for the coming battle.

Han, Elena and Luke were in the vents around fifteen minutes crawling away from the hanger where the Falcon was when the alarm for an escaped prisoner went off. They exchanged glances and resumed crawling faster. They had a thirty minute window before they emerged above Alderaan, thirty minutes before they closed the hanger shields, thirty minutes at the end of which they had to be off the Death Star.

Leia and Mara heard the alarm as well and made their way calmly out of the engineering section they were in and into a turbolift.

The two parties made their way across the Death Star, feeling the clock ticking down. For them and for Alderaan.

AN: Sorry for being away for so long, the creative juices just weren't flowing. But I'm back in the swing of it again.

There might not be an update for a while because I have important exams coming up- so revision is needed for those. Wish me luck!

Please review!

The8thDalmuti