SailorLeia: Han and Luke not in trouble is the frightening thing. Thanks!

owphoenix: I'll try!

dm1: Yeah, kinda reminds you of ANH, right? Thanks!

GreatOne: Nope. Of course not. Leia's the great mind out of the three! Thanks!

Hewgleymom: Nope! I still post regularly here. Although, in truth, we are very, very close to the end . . . Welcome to PwtD! Enjoy!

Starrunner: Can I just say that it's awesome how I can always count on you and GreaOne to review and respond wherever I post? I love your support! Thank you!

You all crack me up with your responses. Thanks very much! I really do appreciate every single one of them!

On a sadder note, this story is nearly finished. I know, I know - I'm depressed, too!

Don't worry, it doesn't happen today, but I'm just warning you!

Thank you!

Leia, fully suited down in black and hair braided up at the base of her neck, fell exhaustedly down into the copilot's chair of the Falcon. She looked down her arm at the blast helmet in her left hand. How do we wind up in these situations? The more renegade part of her mind sneered back at her question, and, in order to ignore that side of her consciousness, she turned her head to regard Chewie. He was setting up coordinates and supervising the Falcon's starting cycle – who knew what was likely to disintegrate on this wreck – and then focused on her and waited.

She inhaled deeply. "Okay. Here goes nothing."

Closing her eyes, Leia stretched out and forced herself to concentrate on the light, the ebb and flow of the Force, the all-encompassing power of the life forms in the galaxy. She faltered for a second, awed by the overwhelming grandeur of it all, and felt suddenly secure in her mission. She lost herself in the Force, allowed it to flow through her, over her, around her, until she could no longer distinguish where she ended and "it" began.

Then she connected with the spacestation, felt its mechanical innards as well as she knew the Falcon's hold, and isolated what she needed. The power core. She looked deeper, seeking something specific. Immediately she found the core, discovered the thin strip of broken connection between the power feed and the initiating cap. Tapping the connection very lightly, Leia moved in into its proper alignment. The connection's intact, but where's the power? Narrowing her search, she discovered a small crack in the connection, where a power leak had obviously begun. Aha! Fusing a scrap of durasteel onto the connection, she secured the entire connection and felt a vibration shudder through the Falcon.

She opened her eyes and enclenched her hands and sincerely hoped she had accomplished what she intended. Her supreme goal was to force the power core of the spacestation to work, as Chewie had assessed it was the fundamental issue at hand. If the core was fixed, the station would move on its own, creating an ideal distraction for the Falcon's latest rescue mission.

And with my luck, we'll just explode instead.

She hesitantly opened her eyes. "Chewie?"

Chewie's eyes were locked on the display panels on the board in front of him, eyes wide and mouth open. He turned toward Leia with a surprised look and softly whoofed.

She forced a trembling breath out, overexerted from the task. "What did you expect?" She shakily smiled. "Let's get them out of there, Chewie."

He growled his concurrence and exited the Falcon out of the station and into open space.

"Are you sure you're set, Chewie?" Leia screamed from the outer dock of the Falcon. "It sounds terrible out – " Her words were drowned out by the bellows of a very stressed and agitated Wookiee. Leia winced. They were running relatively free of interference on Anselm proper, just a few patrol craft that hadn't been ordered to intercept the spacestation. Overall, pretty clean entrance, thanks to the spacestation.

That lack of opposition, however, did not lessen Chewie's anxiety. Leia knew he was more worried about their exit strategy, which was, in essence, to leave, and she couldn't quite put down her own fears on the subject.

Another loud and distressed growl came over the intercom, and quickly reigned in her thoughts and prepared the dock for release. "Right, Chewie. Departure ready at your signal."

Chewie roared, and Leia overrode the dock hatch security and opened it as the Falcon hovered over the security compound in which she had been imprisoned before. Swallowing an irrational paranoia that suddenly settled in her stomach, Leia lowered the viser on her helmet, double checked her weapons, and jumped out of the Falcon.

It was an interesting experience, Leia thought, freefalling through atmosphere. It was not nearly as invigorating as zero-g maneuvering, but an exquisite terror pronounced in every muscle that failed to achieve its command. Somewhere between her clenched teeth and tightened fists, Leia fell into the Force, trusting it with her life, as she fell towards the prison complex roof. She slowed almost immediately, and, as she struggled to keep her eyes open, she landed heavily, but safely, into a quick roll.

I can't believe I just did that. Han owes me big.

Well, then again, maybe not.

Taking a second to ascertain that no bones were broken – a small miracle – Leia quickly jumped back into her mission. Keeping her helmet on to disguise herself somewhat, she grabbed her lightsaber off her belt and ignited the blade. Standing up, she shoved the saber into the roof, circling with her lightsaber until a rather oval chunk of metal clunked onto the next level of the building. Saluting the cockpit of the Falcon, Leia herself jumped through and landed much more softly onto the top level of the complex.

Okay, first life-endangering feat done. Only about a dozen more, and we're home free.

She sighed.

That's what I get for being involved with these two particular men.

With that thought came a grin and a sprint to try to find her brother and her – no time for that train of thought. Just find them.

Han was thoroughly frustrated with the turn of events. He was imprisoned in a room with Luke, who was preoccupied with those creatures in the corner, and no visible means of escape.

They aren't even opening the door to talk to us. Han assumed that was how Leia had escaped; attacking a guard with that pipe he'd seen on the floor. He ardently hoped that she had managed to get off-world and back to Coruscant. Knowing that she had at least attempted escape made Han feel infinitely better about her. If she's fighting, she must be at least alive, and probably very angry.

He chuckled to himself at that thought. Very, very angry.

"Hey, kid. When you gonna entertain your human cellmates around here?"

Luke glared laserbolts at Han, then turned back to the animals in the cages. Han remembered Luke mentioning something about a "bubble in the Force" before he had resumed his Jedi-cryptic act and focusing on the creatures. He supposed Luke was trying to figure out something related his inability to touch Leia with the Force, but he really didn't care to delve much deeper than that. And he hadn't been able to properly communicate his knowledge of Leia's attempted escape to Luke, either, without risking the chance that Hovett had some kind of bug in the room. He obviously wants us to think that Leia's here. I'm sure I can find a way to exploit that.

Han's musings were interrupted by a sound by the door. He searched in vain for some kind of weapon, briefly annoyed that the pipe was no longer a possible resource, and gave up the search as he glanced in Luke's direction. Both men stood up, ready to do whatever necessary to get out of the complex.

The door swung open, and a rather petite black-clad figure hurried into the room, complete with helmet and military-issue boots. Han stopped. It couldn't be –

The human removed the helmet and threw it to the floor, and offered a dazzling smile to Han and a pointed look at Luke.

"I'm Leia Organa. I'm here to rescue you."

Hmm . . . so. Whadd'ya think?

KR