Chapter 10
There were times when Luke still doubted the Force. As he observed another attempt by Yoda to interrogate Arica, the mysterious Dark Jedi, he realized that it was not such a time. The Emperor seemed to have trained his charge to resist even the Jedi. After a week, Yoda still felt hope that he could somehow find a way to break through Palpatine's training, but the medics once again sedated her and returned her to the high security holding cell.
Yoda sighed, leaning heavily on his gimer stick. "Strong is the Emperor," the Jedi Master said.
Luke, leaning against the durasteel wall of the drab interrogation room, was dressed in a standard black flight suit. Only the lightsaber he built himself hung from his belt. It was his only weapon. He needed no other.
"Maybe we're not doing something right," Luke suggested.
Yoda looked to the last Jedi Knight and asked, "An idea, you have?"
Luke shook his head. "I wish I did," he admitted. "But at least admitting we are making a mistake is a step in the right direction."
"Hmm, right you are, Luke," Yoda said with subtle admiration. "An enigma, Arica is. Perhaps there is more purpose to her presence than has been revealed."
Luke narrowed his gaze. "Could she be a beacon of some sort that can only be tracked by Darth Sidious?"
"A disheartening idea, that is," Yoda said, punctuating the statement with a sigh. He looked to Luke and said, "The eyes of the Emperor, far reaching they are. But major shifts in the darkness, I have sensed in meditation. A time bomb waiting to explode, this could be."
"But why hasn't he moved against the fleet?" Luke asked. "This is the greatest opportunity to destroy the Jedi."
"Perhaps a greater threat, Lord Sidious perceives," Yoda said.
Dread filled the pit of his stomach. Luke tasted ashes in his mouth. "Leia," he said.
Yoda nodded. "Seek to turn the situation to his advantage, the Emperor will. She is the focal point of the dark shift. One way or another, change will come."
A Lambda-class shuttle emerged from hyperspace near the planet Fondor. Leia was alone in her first independent assignment since her capture at Bespin. A black cloak covered her TIE pilot uniform, a garment that would provide her concealment as she moved through the streets of the industrial planet.
Leia ignored the activity at the orbital shipyards. Her conversation with the space traffic controller was brief. Everything was meaningless save her mission. Darth Vader charged her with the responsibility of delivering credits to Boba Fett. Vader told Leia he had secured a deal that would lift the price on Han's head if Fett delivered Han Solo to Fondor.
The politician in Leia was skeptical. Promises of reward that included monetary kickbacks were true signs of corruption. But the woman in Leia yearned for Han Solo, the man she loved. She had difficulty recalling the structure of his face, but the feelings were still there.
As Leia guided her shuttle towards her designated docking platform, she contemplated the possibility of killing Boba Fett for his crimes against the Rebel Alliance. Though officially an agent of the Empire, Leia still considered herself a member of the Alliance. Surely she would be rewarded for slaying the man that was responsible for capturing so many members of the Alliance.
But most of all, Leia hungered for personal satisfaction. The flames of revenge rose from the pit of her stomach and seared her brain. She did not just want revenge against Fett, but Jabba the Hutt as well. The crime lord was a blight upon the galaxy and brought harm to her personal interests.
"One thing at a time," Leia told herself before setting her shuttle down on the docking platform. She disengaged the shuttle's engine and lowered the boarding ramp. She pulled the hood over her head, grabbed the credit case underneath her seat and exited the shuttle.
No one was on the docking bay to greet her. Most dockworkers simply ignored Leia as she left her shuttle. Fondor was one of those planets in the galaxy where apathy reigned supreme. Since the Empire dropped the price on her head, even the bounty hunters walking the streets and alleyways paid her no heed. The dark aura she exuded forced most potential predators to shy away from her.
Leia stepped into a rundown cantina. Dockworkers, shipyard mechanics and bounty hunters alike drank in one place, most looking to drown their sorrows, but others looking for opportunity. Boba Fett stood at the far corner of the cantina, waiting for his fifty thousand credits. Leia approached the infamous Mandalorian.
"Lord Vader's new errand runner?" Boba Fett asked.
"More or less," Leia replied coldly. "Where's the package."
"Probably hidden in his ship," another bounty hunter said.
Leia turned her head slightly to the left, recognizing Dengar as the man who spoke. With him were Bossk, Zuckus and 4-LOM.
"We're here to take Solo off your hands and bring him to Jabba," Bossk hissed.
"I'd think twice about that if I were you, Bossk," Leia coldy told the Trandoshan.
Boba Fett let out a rare chuckle. "You don't seem to realize what you're dealing with," Fett told the other bounty hunters. "Vader's offering a bigger purse for Solo."
Bossk growled, "Hand him over Fett."
Leia set down her case of credits and glared at Bossk. In a flash, her lightsaber was in her right hand. Red plasma burst from her fist before she cut Bossk down in a fit of rage. The Trandoshan barely had time to react.
Patrons streamed out of the cantina in panic, leaving only the heavily armed bounty hunters. Blaster fire erupted as each ambitious hunter sought kill the other for a chance to capture the purse being offered for Han Solo.
Leia fell into her training, drawing on the dark side to drive her movements. Her red blade deflected oncoming blaster bolts and, in a flash, she cut through 4-LOM. The protocol droid screamed before it ceased functioning.
Boba Fett fired with both his blaster pistols, trying to even the odds so he could make it to the exit. He holstered one of his pistols and grabbed the credit case. He quickly left the cantina, leaving a furious Leia behind.
Every movement was a blur for Leia. Her bloodlust brought her a surge of power unlike anything she had ever known. Not a single blaster bolt pierced her defenses. Only the deadly glowing blade found its mark. One bounty hunter went down, then another. Some wisely escaped and before long, Leia was alone in the cantina.
The racket of blaster fire died. Only the hum of a lightsaber sang in Leia's ears. She realized that Fett double-crossed her. She rushed out of the cantina, eager to punish him for his folly.
Leia disengaged her lightsaber as she ran through the streets in hot pursuit of Boba Fett. She tracked the bounty hunter to another docking platform where Slave I rested.
"A bounty hunter betraying his client," Leia said coldly. "That's not smart business."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Fett retorted. "Vader wanted me to deliver Solo to him directly."
Leia ignited her scarlet energy blade. "If you don't give him to me, I will take him from you," she threatened.
Fett pulled both his blasters from his holsters and began firing.
Leia's lightsaber moved like a cyclone of red light as she swiftly began deflecting blaster bolts. She could easily match Fett's precision with her own.
But Fett had a few tricks of his own. The Mandalorian fired his jets and blasted into the air as he continued to fire at Leia.
Leia tried to anticipate the bounty hunter's next move as he flew away from her. She released her left hand from her lightsaber and unleashed a burst of Force lightning on Fett.
Caught by surprise, Fett screamed and fell towards the cold durasteel of the docking platform. His rocket pack was fried, completely useless to him.
Leia stalked towards Boba Fett and placed the tip of her lightsaber centimeters from his throat. She recalled that members of the Alliance did not execute their prisoners. Capital punishment was wrong, no matter the crime. She hesitated, knowing deep in her heart that if she gave into her rage and slew Fett, she would slide deeper into the dark side.
And then Leia heard laughter in the back of her mind.
Use your aggressive feelings, girl! a deep, raspy voice screamed through the Force. Give in to your anger!
"I shouldn't," Leia said. "It's wrong."
He hurt the man you love, he told her. You must make it right!
Leia stared at Boba Fett, focusing on the t-slit of his helmet. She could sense the fear in Fett. The cold Mandalorian feared death, but was too proud to beg for mercy.
Leia's right arm moved forward fluidly, piercing the bounty hunter's throat. Boba Fett became the victim of her first cold-blooded murder.
After a brief pause, Leia deactivated her lightsaber and walked into Slave I. She found the storage chamber and what she sought: Han Solo. Her love was still encased in a block of carbonite and hanging on a wall.
Leia promptly input commands on the block's keypad to thaw the carbonite's contents. Then, she observed as the gray carbonite surrounding Han's body glowed red-white as it thawed. After a few minutes, Han moaned and fell to the floor. Leia was there to catch him.
"It's okay," Leia said to sooth him.
Han looked to the direction of her voice, but it was obvious he was blind due to his lack of focus. "Leia?" he asked.
Leia leaned towards Han and pressed her lips to his. For a brief moment, she forgot her first murder. She did not think of Darth Vader being her father. Not even the Force mattered. Only the electric fire she felt registered in her mind.
After they broke the kiss, Han said, "I can't see."
"You have hibernation sickness, Han," Leia told him. "It will pass in time."
Han raised his right hand and felt for Leia's face. He touched the fabric of her hood before Leia grabbed his wrist and guided it to her cheek. "Where are we?" he asked.
"Fondor," she replied. "I had to kill Boba Fett to get to you."
Han sighed with relief. Leia realized there must have been some bad blood between the two in the past. "I just wish I could have done it myself," he admitted.
"Don't worry about anything, Han," Leia said. "Let me take care of you for once."
