QueenOfAces: Haha, yeah, Leia is being kinda stupid - but whatevah.
SailorLeia: Thanks! 3 the compliments on my writing.
CHAPTER FOUR
Han Solo had rushed to find Chewie, and was unaware that the Princess had run in the other direction.
"Chewie!" he called, and nearly ran into the large, angry Wookie. "Dammit, Chewie, hurry!" he shouted, running to the cockpit, looking over a series of lights. Something strange caught his eye. 'HYPERDRIVE: ENABLED' said something next to one of the red lights. Han was immediately confused. "What...?" He was interrupted by anxious barks from the Wookie.
"'Where's Leia?'" he repeated. "Isn't she...?" he turned around, and found that Her Worship had not followed him, like he assumed. "Dammit!" he cursed, yet again, before tearing out of the cockpit.
"I suggest you stop right there, Solo." said an accented voice, and Han turned around, furious.
"...An Imp? Aren't you guys dead?" he asked, amazed.
"Not quite, Solo. Where is the Princess?"
"What Princess? I ain't got no idea what you're talkin' about, Scruffy."
"Don't play games with me, Solo." said the Imperial, as more rushed past him, searching the ship. "I know for a fact from a mole on Coruscant that the Princess was leaving from Platform 27F and heading to Yavin IV, starting at 1500 hours, this day."
"Well, that mole of yours doesn't seem to be doing his job very well, is he, Scruffy?"
"Don't smart mouth me, Solo - " he started, but looked around curiously as he heard voices coming from another room. Chewie took this chance and roared, throwing the Imperial against the wall while Han quickly drew his blaster and shot the guy. Something hot whizzed past his ear, and after three more shots, he killed more Imperials rushing onto the ship. He could hear another shot, coming from somewhere else, and then he felt a great pulling as air and small object rushed past him.
"Chewie! Come on!" he shouted, but like Leia, no sound escaped his lips. He rushed to his quarters, and Chewie pried the door open just as it was about to close, bracing it. Han looked around to see another Imp dangling from a window, then Princess Leia clinging for dear life onto a metal pole, and looking as if she was losing the battle. Han reached in, grabbing her arm and roughly pulling her away. He had difficulty with this, as the vacuum was stronger than ever in this room, but it was managed, and he threw her onto the floor, shortly collapsing onto his knees afterwards. Both him and Chewie were breathing like Banthas during a heat wave on Tatooine, but what worried Han was that the Princess didn't seem to be breathing at all. He bent over her, but then she suddenly coughed, gratefully sucking in the air.
"Han..." she said, weakly. Han seemed to understand her confusion.
"If I didn't rescue you I would have a price on my head so large that Boba Fett would come back from the dead just to get me." he said gruffly, standing up. "And it would be very hard to live peacefully with everyone after my tail."
Leia sat up, annoyed. "Well, I'm glad to see that you have somewhat of a heart." she said irritably. Chewie pulled her to her feet, but then more Imperials rushed in, once noting that their prisoners weren't being rushed on board.
"Well, you should have just let me die in there." she shot at Han, once all of them threw their weapons on the floor.
"I think I already explained this scenario to you, your Worship." he shot back, as binders were placed around their wrists and they were forced out of the Falcon.
"I don't know what happened, Princess." Han said, ignoring their strict orders not to talk as they were led to the detention block. Leia held her head high, refusing to look intimidated. "I mean, I went back to the cockpit, and it said the hyperdrive was working."
"Maybe your junkie ship isn't to blame, after all." she said cooly, as all three were shoved into the same detention block.
"What are they doing in the same cell?" asked a muffled voice.
"This ship is too small, sir, all the other cells are taken, sir."
"Then shoot the Corellian and the Wookie."
"I can't, sir, her Empress told us directly to bring any of the Senator Princess' companions along, sir."
Han heard more grumbling, then sat on the hard, steel cot.
"So I suppose you've already gone through this whole procedure, your Highness?" he asked, lazily, referring to her time in the Death Star.
"Yes, Han, except the company was much better that time." Leia replied icily, sitting on the cot also, crossing her arms and her legs. Chewie let out a roar. "Except you, Chewie." Leia said, smiling at the Wookie, who grunted and sat next to the Princess. Han interrupted the short silence.
"What happens now?"
"We wait, Han."
"For this Empress?"
"I suppose so."
Another silence.
"What do you know about her, anyhow?"
"Not much." admitted Princess Leia. "She was in league with Palpatine - "
"Who?"
"... The Emperor, Han."
"Ah. Yes. I knew that. Go on."
Leia snorted before continuing.
"After Palpatine was killed, she retreated to a planet still under Imperial control. Now she reigns. She's doing a good job at it, from what I hear, instilling fear into every heart that comes within a parsec of her."
"What's her name?"
"Jade. Mara Jade."
"Hm. Can't say I've heard of her."
"Well, if you'd watch the holo-news every once in a while, maybe you would have." Leia snapped, quite annoyed.
"Whatever, Leia." Han said, resting his head against the cold steel wall.
They waited in silence again, and this went on for another hour... perhaps more, it took so long to pass that Han eventually lost any way of tracking the time. Then the door slid open, and five or six storm troopers marched in, as well as the Lieutenant that captured them.
"Take them to Her." he ordered the stormtroopers, who immediately marched forward, tugging the three people up. Leia complied silently, but Han and Chewie were having trouble giving in. Chewie roared, tossing the one trying to take him out of the door, causing everyone to duck. Then five blasters were pointed in his direction.
"Chewie!" yelled Han, ceasing to attempt to jerk his way free, finally seeing sense. "You're fighting a losing battle there, pal." he told his friend, who let out a pitiful moan, then allowed himself to be escorted out with Han and Leia.
Han couldn't help but admire Leia, the way she kept a casual and cool face on, while Han kept sneering at his captors, and the way that she held her chin high, and that the way she walked made it seem like these stormtroopers were a royal escort, and a necessity for her safety. In other words, she was acting like she had total and complete control over them all.
They were led through the halls, and then through a large door, where there seemed to be a makeshift throne room for this new Empress. Han made sure he put on a look of boredom and amusement on his face, trying not to let his fear show through, and Chewie just growled at anyone who dared so much as glance up at him. They were brought before the throne, and were forced on their knees - Han was much less graceful in this than Leia, who dropped onto one knee at a small push from the clone behind her. Han at least tried to fight his 'escort' in this aspect, but, like he told Chewie, he was just fighting a losing battle. Soon enough, he submitted. He looked up at the Empress that was responsible for all of this, and was quite surprised that she looked nothing like the Emperor that Luke had described him. She was a young woman, twenty-three or twenty-four was Han's guess, with shining red hair and a malicious smile plastered onto her red lips.
"So, Organa and Solo." she said, her smooth voice cutting the silence like a knife. "I thought you two broke up?"
"We did." said Han, rudely up at her.
"Oh? Then I suppose she's using you for a little fling, seeing as she can get no other man and you'd come crawling back to her on all fours?" Han was about to retort to this, but Leia beat him to it.
"I wouldn't use Han for that, Jade, and I also feel no need to be a whore and take a different man to my bed each night." she shot at the Empress, whose coy smiled instantly vanished from her face.
"Did you just call me a whore, Organa? Or shall I say Skywalker? Your brother is on Yavin, is he not?" Han watched Leia's face contort in fury, and he credited her for the fact that she let no fear, which he knew she felt, slip onto her features.
"Luke will always be a much more advanced Jedi than you, Jade, and if you try to take him he'll strike you down so fast that you wouldn't know what hit you. In fact, you're not even at Jedi status. You're a Sith puppet with too much ego."
Han snorted. Not more of this hokey Force business.
"What?" Shot both women at him, with identical, stubborn glares. Han looked in between the two, shocked.
"Nothing." he muttered, raising his eyebrows at the pair of them. "Don't get excited." he added, letting out an exasperated sigh. Leia rolled her eyes.
"Great choice in guys, Princess, that one's a real charmer."
"Glad you think so." Han said, this time beating Leia to a counter.
"Princess, you will be interrogated while your two friends here are executed. Shortly afterward, you will join Solo and the Wookie."
Chewbacca let out an immediate roar of protest, while Han looked up sharply.
"Well, I'm glad it will be an end to this monotonous journey."
"I'm surprised that your brain can process such a multisyllabic word." said Jade swiftly.
"I mean, you can at least put holovision in some of the cells, then maybe your prisoners won't be so cranky when you interrogate them." Han continued, as if he didn't hear the Empress. "And who knows, you may have a chance to bed a few, considering how much you seem to like to do that."
Mara Jade stood, withdrawing her purple lightsaber and turning it on. Its hum made its own melody, and with each move the hum got more intense, than ceased. Han eyed the lightsaber without any fear.
"I'm going to be executed anyway, so I suppose having it done sooner wouldn't make much of a difference, save the endless hours of boredom heading my way."
Jade looked absolutely furious. Corellians. They're all the same. "Take them away." she ordered the storm troopers, who heaved Han and Chewie to their feet.
"Wait, Empress, I have one question. Can you answer me, seeing as I only have a few hours to live? A dying man's request?"
"What?" Jade snapped. What harm could it do, anyways? Solo spoke the truth; he wouldn't be living much longer anyways.
"Exactly how small is your head without all that makeup?"
Jade let out a scream of fury, summoning a metal pipe to her hands and heaving it with all of her might at Solo, who ducked, causing it to ricochet off the storm trooper's white helmet and to the wall. Solo just laughed, as another trooper quickly took his companion's place and roughly pulled Solo out. Leia couldn't help but chuckle, amused. She knew that Han Solo would do nothing but dish out his wit since he was going to die in a few hours anyways. Die,Leia thought, the resolution finally hitting her. Would I be able to handle that, considering all the help he has given me over the course of this journey? Not even this little trip, but to the Rebellion and Luke? Leia would never be able to forgive herself for acting so horribly to Han when he died, and the amused chuckle from moments before seemed suddenly far off. She looked up to see Jade watching her closely.
"You're sad that Han is going to die. I can sense it." Jade said.
"And why do you care?"
"I don't." Jade said, smirking down at the Princess. "It just gives me satisfaction, I suppose."
"Yes, well, once you feel love, you won't be so amused. That is, if you ever feel love."
"You love him, all of the sudden? What happened to you dumping him?"
"...That was a mistake. I was afraid."
Jade laughed. "Fear? Fear classifies weakness. Therefore, you are weak. I do know love, Leia."
"Right." Leia said, sarcastically.
"Of course. I love myself, my Empire, everything that the Force has given me!" she exclaimed, holding her hands up in the air as if welcoming all the gifts.
"Your greed will backfire on you, Jade, you know that. The Force has no room for greediness, so therefore all this will come back to you at one point."
"That I doubt, Skywalker."