Han had been waiting with Chewbacca in the darkened cell and he was listening to the commotion of the pirate leadership as they planned to repel a possible attack. He kept pulling at his large shackles that were now cutting into his wrists with no give at all. He had never felt so frustrated in his life. He was relieved to get out of this cell when he was put on trial. At least something was happening, but now he was just a prisoner again.

He sat down and leaned his head back against the iron wall and tried to think of his next move. No ideas were coming when he felt an odd sensation. The wall was beginning to vibrate. He placed his ear up to the cold metal and heard strange squeaks. An instant later a spot just above his head turned a bright orange and began to sizzle out and turn to a bright burst of sparks and smoke. Han jumped back just in time as the long bright blue blade of a lightsaber burst through the wall and moved slowly down to where he was just sitting. He laughed aloud and hit Chewbacca who had fallen asleep next to him.

"C'mon, ya big mook! Wake up! It's Luke!" Han said excitedly pointing to the bright shaft coming through the wall, which was now illuminating the room. Sparks flew everywhere while some of the metal dripped down and sizzled onto the floor leaving a strong burnt metallic smell. "Brother, I gotta get me one of those," Han spoke softly to Chewie. After a moment the lightsaber drew back beyond the wall.

"Han? Han, you in there?" Luke's voice had never sounded so good. Han ran and pushed his face up to the newly created gap in the metal wall.

"Hey Kid! Am I glad to see you! How did you find us?" Han asked excitedly,

"I had some help from an old friend of yours," Luke answered. "Now step back, and let's get you out of there."

Luke continued to cut a path through the metal inch by inch. After a few seconds, the lightsaber grew unbearably hot. The heat even penetrated his pilot's gloves and began to radiate from the molten metal along the wall. He struggled to keep the beam steady and keep it strong. The more he focused the tighter the beam became. He had to rely on the force to get the beam as tight as he could make it, but he was struggling. He closed his eyes and thought of Ben, of the first time he held this lightsaber in Ben's house on Tattooine. The next time during his short training on the Falcon. It was an extension of his arms, and he could actually feel it cutting through the metal. He could feel the solid steel structure of the wall giving way to the power of the force.

When he opened his eyes the lightsaber was focused and the metal melted away as he quickly moved to open a hole down to the floor. When he reached the bottom he was careful to try to leave some remaining to prevent the large chunk of metal from crashing down and keep things quiet. Despite how Luke tried, the weight of the piece buckled down under its own weight and it cracked and slammed into the cell with a giant clang.

Luke quickly bent his head through the hole in time to see the far door swinging wide open. As Han and Chewbacca backed away, a large pirate came charging in swinging a long sword while drawing his pistol. He quickly aimed and fired at Luke, who was able to dive out of the way. With his lightsaber before him, he ducked his head, yelled out and rushed through the hole and charged the pirate.

Han was already doing battle. He was swinging his chains and trying to wrap them around the huge man's head to no avail. Chewie was chained much closer to the wall and could not get close enough to help at all. He growled loudly as he pulled at his chains that did not give way. Luke came in and was about to strike the man down when the pirate grimaced and yelled in pain and fell down at Luke's feet. Behind him stood Mister Grillo with a long stick that had large arcs of streaming blue streams of electricity encircling around its top.

"That'll put him out for a while," Grillo stood taller and smiled. "Well Han, it's good to finally have a proper reunion."

"You can say that again. It's Chase, right?" Han asked the man.

"That's right, Chase Grillo," he answered as he shook Han's hand. He had to further reach because of the shackles. "I haven't heard the name Chase since you were here, before Antilles started calling the shots."

"Those were better days," Han said as he raised his bound wrists up a bit.

"You said it, brother. Much better days." Grillo answered.

"I think I can take care of that," Luke motioned to Han's chains as he stepped up and ignited his lightsaber.

"Hold on kid- now be careful," Han said as he lurched his body back and stuck out his chained arms forward.

"Don't worry, just hold still," Luke said as he nervously steadied himself and tried to focus on striking just the shackles. He took a few slow practice swings causing the lightsaber to buzz loudly and singe the dust hanging in the air.

Han looked at the size of the blade and the tightness of the shackles around his already sore wrists and decided it was best to just look away. Luke knew the best way to do this was fast. He raised the lightsaber high above him for a sweeping down cut. Unfortunately, the saber struck a long lighting fixture that was hanging down, throwing sparks and debris all over the cell. Luke backed away as the broken light, with its burning edges, dropped down and swung violently on its wires. As Luke brought the lightsaber back, it swung dangerously close to Chewbacca's head. Chewie had to duck down and he growled loudly at Luke.

"Hey! Will ya' watch where you're swinging that thing!" Han yelled out.

"Sorry- I'm still getting the hang of it."

"No kidding," Han replied.

"Gentlemen," said Grillo who was crouching over the knocked out guard. "Let's say we do this the easy way." He stood up and produced a very large key. Luke and Han looked at each other and laughed in relief.

They exited the rear of the cell through the hole and found their way outside. Above them the huge gas giant filled in any shadows left by the bright sun with a greenish glow. They were standing on a large flattened planetoid, but it was small enough that one could see all of its edges. They could see some pirates who went to the edge and just walked right over to the other side, relying on the artificial gravity to field hold them down. Some were going to the edge and simply kicking off and floating straight up, grabbing ropes that were dangling from nearby rocks and pulling themselves along. A few jumped so fast that they didn't need ropes, and they were jumping from one rock to the other.

Luke looked at the some of the shields that held all of the air in and noticed that the main power and gravity field generators were ray shielded, but even so, the entire setup seemed very vulnerable. This was something he would have to keep in mind if they became desperate and needed a way to destroy many pirates at once. That idea seemed so wrong to Luke that he dismissed it from his thoughts.

"Gents," said Mister Grillo as he stood near the hole to the cell, "this is as far as I am gonna go. Just keep to the edge and head over the side to get to the docks and your ship. You boys are on your own." He leaned forward and handed large guns to Han and Chewie. " If the Imps are comin', like you say, then I've got to defend the base as best I can." Grillo stood and looked around. "It's not much, but it's home to me."

"Okay, but you might have better luck coming with us," Han replied.

"Thanks Solo. Consider us even?"

"Alright," Han said as he extended and shook Grillo's hand. "Good luck."

"Luck? You're the ones who are going to need luck," Grillo said as they parted ways.

Han, Luke, and Chewie quickly made their way between structures and tried to stay out of sight as they reached the edge of the oblong planetoid. They peered over to see the large dock on the under side. There was tremendous activity below, and it was clear why they weren't spotted yet. Most of the pirates were there, running around on the docks and manning hundreds of ships of all sizes. In the middle of all of the ships was docked the Millennium Falcon. There were a couple of droids loading supplies into the ship and Luke noticed that one of them was none other than R2-D2, who was obviously put right to work in his absence. They thought for a moment on what do to. Han sized up the pirates and Luke had an idea.

"We need a diversion," Luke said as he pointed to the supply depot where he had been hiding earlier. "I think I can get back over there, and there might be some weapons, or ordinance-" but before Luke could finish the thought Han had already jumped over the edge and was running full speed in a straight line towards the Falcon. Chewie, who was listening intently to Luke, saw this and turned to Luke to let out a few nodding grunts before he too jumped over and did his best to catch up to Han. Luke was dumbfounded for a second, but he too jumped out and readied his blaster.

Han was focused on reaching his Falcon as quickly possible. He trained his blaster on pirates who didn't notice him at first. Some even looked twice as he ran past, and most didn't think much of the stranger. It wasn't until Chewbacca thundered past that some yells started to go up. By the time Luke was running through any surprise was gone. Luke got off a few shots sending the pirates for cover. Some larger brazen ones stepped in front of Luke and drew their long metal swords to cut him down. Luke flew to one side and traded his blaster for lightsaber. In a flash he ignited the sword and spun and swung his Jedi weapon right through oncoming blades, splitting them easily and sending molten metal spilling all over.

Han was now shooting his way forward as well. Pirates were jumping out of their ships as shouts went out for all hands. Han was darting in and out of supply piles gathered along the dockside. Chewie caught up to him and they both were pinned down behind some crates half way to the Falcon from an onslaught of pirate laser fire. By the time Luke arrived several gun blasts narrowly missed them from above. A couple of the pirate ships that had just left the port had turned around and were heading back in to deal with the escapees. It was clear who was giving all of the orders when Captain Antilles could be heard yelling from a distance near the front of the docks.

"Breakout! It's a breakout! Blast the mongrels! Bring me Solo dead and his loot is yours!"

The last statement by Antilles drew a roar of approval as pirates began to leap from the ships over head. Others were diving in from nearby planetoids and barges, guns blazing and swords in hand. Han and company ducked behind the cargo as best they could but they were running out of cover fast. Han turned around and took a shot at Antilles that knocked the pirate's hat clean off and sent him scurrying for cover. Han eyed his own ship which seemed miles away now. He turned to Luke.

"What were you saying back there, kid. I got caught up when I saw the Falcon again," Han yelled out.

"Right- sure. I don't think it matters now, but thanks for asking!" Luke yelled back as he kept firing at men running to surround them.

Then a huge explosion shook the entire dock. Men on all sides left their feet and many were thrown up and out of the gravity field, flying up and out of sight. Han, Luke and Chewie grabbed hold of the cargo around them as another huge explosion rocked the planetoid. It was coming from the other side of the planetoid, the top side where the base's headquarters was, and where Luke and company had just left. The edges of the planetoid turned orange with flame. Fire and smoke flowed around the edges. The pirates who were shooting had now run for cover as flaming debris from what was left of the base's main building began to stream across in all directions.

Flashes of light lit up the dock from above as huge ships began to jump in from hyperspace right outside the pirate's air shield. They were Imperial battle cruisers and they were launching dozens of shining white personnel battlepods. These were long tube-like vessels that were packed full of shock-troopers, the elite commando stormtroopers that were used to being dropped into warzones, ready to fight.

The battlepods were coming in through the air shield everywhere. As soon as they were inside the base the sides of he pods exploded out and dozens of Imperial shocktroopers in all black uniforms leaped out with laser rifles in hand. They landed on the dock by the hundreds, shooting at the pirates in all directions. Some had gathered near the Millennium Falcon and were charging forward in formation to surround the ship. They turned and formed defensive stances around the Falcon, cutting off the three rebels from their escape.

"Stormtoopers- in black now," Han leaned next to Luke as they peered from behind the cargo, "Man, I am really starting to hate those guys."

Just then massive cannon fire erupted from high up, directed onto all of the troopers, The largest ship on the docks slowly rose high up and turned broadsides. It was a majestic clipper ship with rows of high flowing sails and turrets that were full of pirates armed with small weapons. They were all shooting randomly at anything that moved. Hundreds of side panels on the main body of the ship were lifted up and long cannons protruded out. Standing on the railing at the bow of the mighty ship was Captain Antilles. This was his flagship, Venturous, and he was proud to be able to show off her guns. He was holding tight with one arm onto some rigging just above a beautifully carved siren goddess that leaned out at the front mast of the ship. He was pointing his gun of an arm out towards the dock and blasting it.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" Antilles yelled out repeatedly and all of the long laser cannons came alive and set forth a wide barrage of brilliant energy onto everything and everybody along the surface of the docks. Most of the shocktroopers surrounding the Falcon were caught in the open and disappeared in blasts of raw energy.

Chewbacca dove on top of both Han and Luke behind the small group of supply crates that was their cover. The front crates exploded and shattered to bits. The blast was so loud and so close to Luke that he momentarily lost his hearing in one ear while the other was ringing loudly. He went down on his side to try to recover. Chewie grabbed him and pulled him up and to get him back on his feet, and he could see why.

Han had bounded up and out of his position. He was yelling out and rushing towards his ship. He fired as he went, taking out several remaining troopers who didn't see him before. More Imperial pods were dropping in from above, exploding their doors and raining down white uniformed stormtroopers everywhere. Han was firing as fast as he could while dodging the onslaught of laser fire. He dove behind two small fighters docked next to the Falcon and was quickly surrounded by troopers. Luke and Chewie were far behind and running to catch up. A battalion of stormtroopers turned to face both of them. Luke instinctively put his blaster down. He calmly took a breath and reached for his lightsaber.