Here it is, folks, the last chapter of Cloud City Interlude! I hope you enjoyed reading it. I certainly have enjoyed returning to writing in the Star Wars universe and making some lovely new friends along the way. There may be a follow-up piece in the works if I can find the time and energy – YT1300


It was Fett who came to claim him. Fett and a backup squad of four stormtroopers.

"What's the matter," Han sneered at the bounty hunter. "Too scared to come alone?"

Fett laughed. "You always were an arrogant shit, Solo." He waved the stormtroopers over. "Cuff him."

Fett pointed his blaster squarely at Chewbacca as two of the stormtroopers edged closer. He knew the very real risk the Wookiee posed to anyone who threatened Han. But, although Chewie snarled softly, he remained still. Leia stood silent and stony-faced, her hands clenched into small fists. Han could feel her trembling slightly beside him and he ached that he was the cause of it.

"Wait," Fett said suddenly, as the troopers moved to bind Han's arms. "Take his jacket off first. We need those binders tight."

The stormtrooper closest to him came up behind Han and yanked the jacket backwards, ripping it from his aching arms and, in his weakened state, almost making him overbalance.

"Hey!" he protested. "Watch it, pal. I like that jacket."

"You won't be needing it," Fett growled. The stormtrooper dropped Han's jacket to the ground then slowly, deliberately, stood on it. Another of the stormtroopers snapped binders on Han's upper arms, his wrists.

"A little over the top, don't you think?" said Han, grimacing as the cuffs pinched his skin.

"Can't be too careful," intoned Fett. "Bring them," he instructed the stormtroopers.

Han blinked in confusion. He had fully expected to be taken to Fett's ship alone, to be whisked off to Jabba's palace on Tatooine to face his fate. Hadn't Lando said that Leia and Chewie would be staying on Cloud City? A glance at Leia told him she was equally uncertain. Surely, they weren't all going to Jabba's? A tiny flicker of hope flared to life in Han's heart at the thought. Although he certainly didn't want Jabba getting his clutches on Leia, aboard the Slave I the three of them might have a chance of overpowering Fett if they were smart about it.

"Move, Solo!" the muzzle of a blaster jabbed him painfully between the shoulder blades, interrupting his thoughts, and he stumbled forward. Leia and Chewie were similarly encouraged until, reluctantly, the trio moved towards the door, Chewie pausing only to scoop up Threepio.


They walked in single file; Fett leading, then Han and Leia, then Chewie carrying the protocol droid slung over his back. The stormtroopers walked behind, all four of them with blasters at the ready. They were jumpy and nervous around the Wookiee.

As Fett led them through the maze of corridors, Han's eyes flicked desperately around him, searching for any possible escape route or solution to their current predicament. He saw none. The corridors were straight, brilliantly lit, exposed and uncluttered. They'd be shot down in seconds if they tried to make a run for it. If it had just been the stormtroopers he might have considered it, but not with Fett in the mix, ruthless bastard that he was. He would aim straight for Leia and Han couldn't, wouldn't put her at risk like that.

After what felt like an endless trek across Cloud City's lower levels, they followed Fett up a sloping metal walkway into a dark, cavernous space lit only by the orange glow emanating from a circular grid below them. Jets of steam shot at intervals from unseen outlets above their heads; their ominous hissing filling the air, punctuated by mechanical screeches and whines. An acrid, metallic stench assaulted Han's nose. He felt a cold dread start to settle in the pit of his stomach, tendrils of unease unfurling in his chest like a rathtar's tentacles. What is this… what the hell is this? There was a saying in Olys Corellisi - Ofax ets burrin tehn – "the air is too heavy". Well, if this place didn't fucking sum that up, he didn't know what did.

He hyper-focused on his surroundings, blocking out Threepio's prattling and his own pounding heart, trying to get a sense of what might be in store for them. He could see some kind of metal apparatus now – the source of the whining noise – retracting back up into the gloomy ceiling. Below him, on the grid, little porcine Ugnauts bustled about, adjusting dials and levers. Han counted another three stormtroopers standing off to the side, and Lando of course, the traitorous bastard.

The metal walkway they were on abruptly ended in a staircase leading down onto the glowing orange grid. Han could see now that there was a round pit at its centre, with a platform that raised and lowered. As they descended the stairs and were directed to the side of the pit, Han caught side of Vader approaching from the opposite side of the room. The shadow-rathtar in his chest suddenly raged to life and he found himself hardly able to breathe. What if Vader wanted to torture Leia before Fett dragged Han off to Jabba's? Is that why they'd cuffed him, because they knew he would fight until his last breath to stop that from happening? He forced himself not to panic.

Lando was standing directly in front of him, his posture stiff and tense.

"What's going on…Buddy?" Han spat at Lando's back, wishing he could get his hands around Calrissian's neck.

"You're being put into carbon freeze," Lando muttered, unable to look Han in the eye.

Han felt many things, then, a jumble of emotions in quick succession: relief that they weren't planning to hurt Leia; regret; confusion; sadness; and – if he was honest with himself – a sickening fear. Han wasn't familiar with the technicalities of carbon freezing, but he had heard enough about it to know that he didn't want to experience it first-hand. It was an obsolete technology. Nobody in the galaxy used it on people anymore, and when they had – back in the days before hyperdrives were invented and they needed to do long-haul flights – they had used all kinds of life support systems to make sure people survived it. This place had none of that. It was for freezing gas, not people.

He didn't need Threepio to tell him the odds of survival. It was one-in-no-fucking-chance.

His eyes met Leia's. Beautiful, brilliant, indomitable Leia. He wanted to hold her, kiss her, throw himself at her feet and tell her everything. But he couldn't do that to her. She needed her fight now, not grief and tears. Hold your shit together, he told himself sternly.

He dimly registered Fett talking, but he refused to give the bounty hunter any of his attention. If these were his last moments, he wanted to spend them looking at Leia. But then Vader said: "Put him in!" and the stormtroopers headed his way.

And Chewie went ballistic.

Stormtroopers went flying ahead of the giant Wookie's rage. Chewie was bellowing his battle cry, his arms flailing. The big lug was going to get himself killed if he kept going like this, and for what, for what?

Han shoved himself in front of his friend and shouted in his face: "Stop! Stop, Chewie, STOP! Listen to me! STOP!"

I will honour my Life Debt! I will not let them do this!

"Hey!" he yelled again, over Threepio's panicked screeching. Chewie was still bellowing, but at least he'd stopped throwing stormtroopers.

I will not let them DO THIS, Cub!

"Listen to me, Chewie! This won't help me!"

That got the Wookiee's attention at last and he stopped roaring, but when the Stormtroopers attempted to wrestle cuffs onto his wrists he snarled again.

"Hey!" Han snapped, bringing his friend's focus back to him. Then, more gently, "Save your strength. There'll be another time." He didn't believe that for one second, but it was what Chewie needed to hear. The Wookiee stopped resisting the cuffs.

Cub… he growled, and there was such grief in his voice that it pierced Han's chest like a knife, but he ploughed ahead, pushing the one button he knew would make Chewie back down completely.

"The Princess, you have to take care of her." He forced himself into his friend's field of vision. "You hear me? Huh?"

Chewie looked at him, devastated, the battle fire going out of his eyes. I hear you, Cub, he said reluctantly. He looked down at Leia, who had appeared silently at his side, her eyes huge and fierce and terrified. Han felt such a wave of fear that it nearly overwhelmed him. What were they going to do to her…after…? He did kiss her then, fiercely, desperately, trying to memorise the feel of her lips, until the stormtroopers physically tore him away from her and pushed him onto the platform. It was all moving so fast, and he was going to fucking die without having had a chance to show her what she meant to him.

Clearly, Leia was having none of that.

"I love you!" The words sounded like they had been ripped from somewhere deep inside her. She wasn't crying, no, not Leia, not in front of Vader, but there was such devastating heartbreak in her voice. He had wanted to hear those words from her for so long, but not like this, never like this.

He fixed his eyes on hers. "I know." It was true. He did know, had known for a long time. The fact that she hadn't said it hadn't mattered; he'd believed it with every fibre of his being. It was there, in the way she kissed him, the way she looked at him, the way she whispered his name into his skin, and before that, even, it had stoked the fires of their heated arguments and bitter words. He only wished they had settled their differences earlier.

The platform began to move, and he tried to fill his mind with her, only her, and not what was about to happen, savagely shoving down the terror that threatened to consume him. His eyes were locked on hers.

I love you Leia.

I'm so sorry.

The platform hit the bottom of the chamber and stopped. His heart was hammering like a battle drum in his chest, but he kept looking up at her. Keep her safe, Chewie, please, he silently begged. There was a deafening hiss of steam and Han squeezed his eyes shut as his body seized in sudden, breathtaking agony. Icy pressure compressed him; harder, harder, until he thought it would crush him. Panicking, he tried to scream but he couldn't breathe.

His last conscious thought was of Leia.

And then, there was nothing.