Thirty Stormtroopers, two imperial guards, a bothan, a wookiee, a mammoth-like humanoid named Kee, five mercenaries, and one Lando Calrissian charged down imperial corridors unimpeded. With alarms blaring and lights flashing the way was clear of non-military personnel, and the stormtroopers seemed eerily absent.

They stopped at a large door. Han pulled up his mask and looked to Lando. "Those stormtroopers have got to be hiding somewhere..."

"I've got a bad feeling about this..." Lando replied.

"This is the fastest way to the throne room," Lyrkk assured them.

"Is there another way?" Han asked.

"Yes, but it takes longer to get there."

"Which way?" Lando asked.

Lyrkk pionted down the hallway to the right. "You have to go around the senate room, which is considerable in size."

"And that's behind that door?" Lando asked.

Lyrkk nodded.

"I'm going," he said, then looked to the troopers. "I need about ten of you to come with me."

Ten soldiers stepped forth, and four of the mercenaries, excluding only the black-skinned bounty hunter.

"Come on," Lando said, and headed off. Kee followed the small battalion.

"Good luck, old buddy," Han called after him.

"May the force be with you," Lando called back.

Quolle reached out a red-gloved hand and pressed the button to open the door.

The room was dark and cavernous. Han, Quolle, Chewie, Lyrkk, and the Jedi killer stepped in first.

Doors opened up all along the hallway from which they'd come, and to either side. Stormtroopers poured out, opening fire on the backs of the disguised rebels.

The door to the senate room closed, leaving the twenty rebels pinned in the middle of the ambush. One of them pounded the button to open the door, but it didn't budge.

Han turned to the door. "What happened?"

"Sounds like an ambush," Lyrkk said. They could hardly see their surroundings in the dim light coming from the senate chairs, which lined the inside of the room like pockets of an oval insect hive. "We can take a floating senate chair across this room and--"

A blaster fired, cutting him off. Chewbacca roared as Lyrkk hit the ground.

The Jedi killer pulled his saber and turned it on, illuminating the scene. Quolle removed her mask while training her handgun on Han.

"Quolle..."

"You know, the emperor's offering a small fortune for you two, but for some reason he insisted that you were captured alive."

Chewbacca grunted.

"It's just too bad Vader got to your Jedi friend before I did," said the Jedi killer.

"Luke..." Han said solemnly.

"By now he's probably dead," Quolle said.

"I would've enjoyed having the honor of killing the last Jedi," said the bounty hunter.

"Luke's on this planet?"

"He's in the palace," Quolle said.

"I can't believe all this time you've been working for the Empire," Han said.

"Well believe it, Solo. Now let's go. The emperor has a nice, small cell waiting for you and your monkey friend."