Hello again, welcome to all new readers, and thank you to all of you that are keeping up with this fic - it's much appreciated. :) Everyone that reviews gets a shout-out; this week's lucky two are SerenityMoonPrincess and Unfathomable Chaos, so mince pies for you guys.

General note: I've had some inquiries in the reviews as to whether there'll be any romance developing between any of the characters at this point in time, to which I reply...wait and see! :)

Seeing as this will be my last update before Christmas (day after tomorrow!), I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a belated Happy Holidays for anyone that doesn't celebrate Christmas. :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or any of its characters. Only Alice is mine.


Alice looked hopefully at Threepio, "And by terminated you mean…?"

Han snorted, "What do you think it means, kid?"

Luke bounced upright, his hands clenching into fists, "We've got to do something!"

Han eyed them suspiciously, "Why? Who is this girl?"

"The droids belong to her, she's the one in the message," Luke said by way of explanation, forgetting perhaps that since Han wasn't there for that bit, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to him, "we have to help her!"

"She's a rebel leader who was carrying important information to Alderaan. When her ship was attacked she transferred the information to Artoo here and jettisoned him to Tatooine with a message to Ben to take the droids to Alderaan for her," Alice recited at lightning speed, pleasantly surprised and quite proud of how much she'd remembered.

Han grunted and pointed at Luke sternly, "Now look, don't get any funny ideas, the old man wants us to wait right here."

"But he didn't know she was here! If we could just find a way into that detention block..."

The smuggler collapsed nonchalantly into a chair, saying, "I'm not going anywhere."

"Oh come on, Han," Alice said, imploringly, "they're going to execute her! And she's only about my age! Would you honestly just let me die if you could stop it?"

He snorted, "Do you really want an answer to that question?"

"Ha ha! Son of a-"

Luke cut Alice off before she could finish her rather uncomplimentary sentence. "Look, a few minutes ago you said you didn't want to just wait here to be captured, now all you want to do is stay?"

"Marching into the detention levels is not what I had in mind!"

"But they are going to kill her!" Alice said, separating each word clearly, "God, you really are heartless, aren't you?!"

"Better her than me," Han said resolutely, and Alice threw her arms up to the ceiling in frustration.

She caught Luke looking at her and made a face, rolling her eyes at Han. They stared at each other for a moment. And then they both had the same idea. Alice's eyes widened. Luke cocked his head on one side, as if confirming whether she really was thinking what he was thinking. Alice nodded, and stepping up behind Han's chair, she rested her hands lightly on his shoulders. He tensed up, and glanced over his shoulder at her suspiciously.

"You know, Han," she said, persuasively, "she is a princess."

"So?"

"So," Luke said, leaning in towards the pilot, "she's rich."

Chewbacca growled. Han met the boy's eyes, curiosity clearly piqued, "Rich?"

Alice smiled, "Rich, powerful, influential…if you were to rescue her, the reward would be..."

"…What?"

"Well, it would be more than you could imagine," Luke said, vaguely.

"I don't know," Han disagreed, "I can imagine quite a bit."

"You'll get it," said Luke, instantly.

Han was still suspicious, and looked carefully between the two of them. Alice put on her warmest and (she hoped) most convincing smile.

"I'd better get it."

"You will! Every last penny, darling."

Slowly, Han nodded, "Alright, kid. But you'd better be right about this."

Alice made a silent victory fist. Success! Luke met her eyes, grinning; feeling gleeful, she leaned down and kissed Han on the cheek. "I knew you'd come round," she said, grinning.

"Alright, alright," he said, rolling his eyes (though Alice thought he looked a tiny bit smug), "what's your plan, farm boy?"

"Ummm…well…" Luke paused, considering for a second. Then suddenly, his face lit up again, "Threepio, hand me those binders over there would you?"

Alice watched as the droid passed the handcuff-esque items to Luke. The boy studied them, then strode over to Chewbacca, "Right. Now, I'm gonna put these on you-"

Chewbacca roared, and both Alice and Luke flinched away. Alice held up her hands soothingly towards the wookiee, "Hey, calm down, teddy bear. We're still in the middle of the enemy battle-station thingy, remember."

"You're learning fast," Han said, getting to his feet and taking the handcuffs from Luke.

"Yeah, well," Alice said, rolling her eyes, "I don't really have a choice, do I."

Han half-smiled, and said to Chewie, "Hey, don't worry buddy. I think I know what he has in mind." He held out the binders towards his friend. Chewie groaned briefly then extended his fluffy paws, and allowed Han to cuff him.

Alice watched the proceedings with a growing feeling of unease, which only got worse as Luke grabbed his helmet again and tucked his blaster under his arm. "Oh, dear. I think I know what your plan is too, Luke."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah...your plan is to walk straight into the detention levels, Chewie in tow and then somehow get past all the guards that there will undoubtedly be in a prison, rescue the princess and bring her back here, all without being spotted."

"That's about it."

"Well, that's just pure genius, isn't it."

Han raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"No. If a girl's life wasn't on the line, I would say this was the stupidest plan I'd ever heard. Still. If it works for George Lucas, it'll work for me."

Luke ignored her; it seemed that now he'd settled on a plan, he wasn't going to be put off it, not even by Alice's pessimism. Holding his helmet tucked under his arm, he rummaged around on the consoles before turning to Alice and showing her a pair of small, Dictaphone-esque items, just like the one she'd found in her belt when waiting for Luke and Ben to sell the speeder. "This is a comlink, it's paired with this one. When you press this button, I'll hear you. I'm going to need you, Artoo and Threepio on standby in case we get into any trouble, okay?"

"Right, sure. Okay. Only…what am I supposed to do if they find us here?"

"Lock the door," Luke said.

"And hope they don't have blasters," finished Han.

"Well," Alice said drily, "thanks for that, boys. Really helpful."

Luke patted Artoo on the dome and gave Alice a bright smile that wasn't half as encouraging as he seemed to think it was, "We'll be back as soon as we can."

"Alright," she said, watching as he pulled his helmet on, "good luck then."

"Wait," Han said, his expression suggesting that he resented himself for even speaking, but doing it anyway. He pulled a small blaster from the holster on his thigh and passed it to her. "The trigger's here. Just pull it and hold on. Oh yeah, and do try and aim."

"Thanks, I'll do my best. Be careful!"

With a whine from Chewie and a grudging, "See ya, kid," from Han, the three of them left.

Alice looked at the blaster in her hands, then up again at the two droids. She smiled brightly. "We're all going to die."

BREAK

Half an hour after Han and Luke had left found Alice lounging in Han's vacated swivel chair, her boots planted firmly on the desk in front of her and lazily spinning backwards and forwards. In short, she was bored.

"Well, this is turning out to be a lot more peaceful than I thought," she said, sighing. "I hope the others are okay..."

Artoo whistled, and Alice glanced at Threepio. "He says that if they had been caught, we would probably be having a worse time of it ourselves."

Suddenly, the com link in Alice's hand beeped loudly. Bolting upright in her seat, she pressed the receive button as Luke had showed her, "Luke? Hello? Can you hear me?"

Luke sounded extremely strained as he shouted, "Are there any other ways out of the cell bay? We've been cut off!"

Alice pointed Threepio towards the controls. He and Artoo studied them for a moment, then the golden droid said, in a tone of near panic: "A system wide alert has been sent out!"

"Luke! All systems have been alerted, they're looking for you!"

"What? I didn't copy that!"

"I said, everyone is looking for you! Oh, and as far as we can tell, the main entrance to the prison is the only way in or out – Artoo says all other information for the level you're on is restricted."

"Open up in there!"

There was a loud hammering on the thick door, and Alice jumped like a startled rabbit. "Oh, lord..."

"Alice?"

"Sorry, Luke, got to go!" Cutting off the link, Alice grabbed Threepio by the arm and shepherded him into a small supply closet. "Artoo, come on!" The little droid shrieked and raced after her. As soon as he was in, Alice slammed the door shut. "Okay, guys, stay calm. And keep quiet."

"Oh dear, oh dear," Threepio lamented noisily, "we're all doomed!"

"Threepio!" She hissed, "What did I just say?"

The com link bleeped again, and Luke's voice came thundering out, "Alice? Threepio!"

"Luke, could you please be quiet!" Alice spoke quickly into the device, "We're hiding in a cupboard and if you keep shouting they'll hear us!"

There was a loud bang from outside the cupboard door. Oh, no... As quickly as she could, Alice muted the com link and shoved it into her pocket. She was just in time. The door was flung open, and a very large gun was thrust, unfriendly-end first into Alice's face. Thinking quickly, she burst into tears.

It didn't take much effort, to be honest – she'd never been threatened with a gun before, and the experience rather lent itself to tears. The two storm troopers glanced uncomfortably at each other, and Alice was intensely grateful that whoever trained the Imperial soldiers had left whatever 'panic-when-a-girl-cries' reaction these two possessed untouched.

"You have to help me," she sobbed, "I was just…just delivering supplies to these men and then these two strangers broke in and they, they shot them!" She cast a hand tragically towards the bodies of the operatives that Han and Chewie had taken out earlier. "They're headed to the detention levels! Hurry, you might still be able to catch them!"

Looking frankly relieved to have an excuse to leave the room, the storm trooper on the right, clearly the leader, said, "Follow me! You, watch her."

Most of the soldiers went after him – only one was left behind to stand guard. Right. Time to prove I'm not as useless as I look. Alice thought. Still snivelling pitifully, she went over and tapped the man on the shoulder, "Excuse me…" As he turned, she had one moment to think, Sorry... before she punched him hard in the face. The man staggered back, but otherwise seemed fine, while Alice hopped away, holding her throbbing hand, "Ouch! Damn, that really hurt!"

"Miss Alice!" Threepio cried, "Watch out!"

The storm trooper was in the act of lifting his hand to his helmet, clearly about to call for help. In desperation, Alice grabbed him by the arm and kneed him in the groin – the only part, she noted, that wasn't really protected by the armour he wore.

This time, he crumpled with a little squeak of pain. She hesitated for a moment, but feeling determined, she hit him again at the nape of his neck, this time with the butt of the blaster Han had given her.

It was extremely unpleasant, feeling him go all floppy as the result of her blow, and she winced as his head banged hard against the floor. "I'm so sorry," she said, moving forward to take his helmet then searching him for any other methods of communication.

Satisfied he wouldn't be able to sound the alarm when he woke up, she grabbed him by the arms, and grunting, dragged him into the supply cupboard.

Um...problem...

She didn't know how to lock it, and she didn't want to shoot the control panel in case someone heard the noise. Searching for something, anything she could use, her hand lighted on the belt around her waist.

Huh…wait. Idea!

Alice reached into one of the pockets on the belt and pulled out the knife she'd examined earlier.

Not quite sure what else to do, she jammed it into the side of the panel, wiggled it and prised the metal cover off, leaving only the exposed wiring beneath. Alice flipped the knife in her hand, "What do you know, Threepio. It did come in handy." Gingerly, she reached into the wall socket, and yanked the wiring out, dropping it quickly just in case it shocked her or something.

It didn't; it simply lay limply against the wall, sparking slightly. "Phew," Alice said, with a smile, "well, job well done, I think. Luke would be proud of me-" She stopped, suddenly remembering the four people that were relying on her and who she hadn't thought of in about ten minutes, "Uh-oh..."

Reaching into her pocket, she unmuted the com link to hear Luke screaming at her at the top of his voice. "Alice! Threepio! Where are you?"

"Luke! Luke, I'm here! What's the matter, what do you need?"

"Some help you are!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but I was having a bit of trouble myself, as it happens!"

"Will you shut up and listen to me? Tell Artoo to shut down all the garbage mashers on the detention level!"

"Rude," Alice said, turning to Artoo, "well, you heard him, Wall-e, get moving."

Artoo whistled sharply and started work immediately. Alice waited, tense, listening with growing fear as Luke continued to scream for them to turn off the garbage crushers. "How in the hell did they end up in a garbage crusher?" She muttered anxiously, "Stupid, stupid...men."

"Oh dear…hurry!" Threepio sounded as nervous as Alice felt, and she gripped the droid's arm hard.

Suddenly, all noise from the com link stopped. Alice thought her heart might give out, and she leaned over the device, "Luke? Han? Do you copy? For the sake of all things…bright and beautiful, are you alive?"

Silence…and then delighted laughter echoed from the speakers. Alice staggered, closing her eyes, "You bastard, I thought you'd died!"

"We're alright, we're alright! You did great! Hey, could you open-"

Alice handed the com link to Threepio, saying, "You take care of whatever he wants now, I just need to breathe for a second."

Panting, her heart hammering, Alice leaned over the control desk, feeling adrenaline-fuelled tremors pass through her, making her shake from head to toe.

Right. Break into Death Star, check. Almost die, check. Now all we need to do is get out of here.

"Right, come on guys, we need to get back to the Falcon. Artoo, we can find another outlet if we need to open more doors for Master Skywalker, right?"

The droid whistled what she hoped was an affirmative. "Great, then let's go. Down the lift."

She took the com link from Threepio and slipped it into her pocket, but didn't mute it. I just hope that if Luke has any more requests he won't bloody scream them at me.

Together she and the two droids snuck out of the lift, and hid themselves behind a couple of large metal crates just across the hangar from the Falcon. If they needed to make a break for it, she was pretty confident they'd make it – dodging the little group of stormtroopers that stood in their way aside.

At her waist, the com link beeped quietly, and Alice pulled it from her belt, shielding the speakers with her hand to stop Luke's voice from carrying.

"Alice, do you copy?"

"Yup."

"Are you safe?"

"For the time being, yeah," she said, looking around, "we're back in the main hangar, across from the Falcon. It's being guarded. Six or so storm troopers."

"I see them," he said, reassuring her, "we're right above you. Stand by. We'll be down in a minute."

"Did you get the princess?"

"Sure did."

"Excellent. Bravo." She shut off the link and said, "They're coming."

"Oh, thank goodness," Threepio said, "the sooner we get off this dreadful space station, the better."

But in five minutes, the little rescue party still hadn't appeared. Alice bit her lip anxiously, her hand resting on the blaster Han had given her, "Damn it, where are they?"

No sooner had she spoken than she heard a loud crackling, humming noise, coming from across the hangar. She poked her head up from behind the crates, and her mouth dropped open. Oh my god…

Ben was fighting Darth Vader. The Darth Vader. He of the loud breathing and odd voice. The one that dressed all in black and used a red lightsaber. This is…this is really, really bad. And just a tiny bit terrifying.

The storm troopers, having spotted the disturbance as well, started running across the hangar, leaving the entrance of the Falcon clear. "Mistress Alice, we must go!"

"But…"

Threepio and Artoo started rolling across the shiny floor as fast as their legs (and/or tyre treads) could take them. But Alice hesitated – she was scared for Ben.

There was a clatter of feet to her left, and glancing over, she saw Luke and company barrelling towards her, with one new addition: a woman in flowing white robes and sporting a very unusual hairstyle. Han and the woman ran immediately for the Falcon, but Luke's eyes, like Alice's, were drawn to Ben.

He slowed, then changed direction, calling, "Ben!"

"Luke, don't-!" She scrambled after him, her boots slipping a little on the smooth floor of the hangar. Stumbling, she managed to grab hold of Luke's sleeve, tugging him back towards the Falcon, but he resisted, his eyes fixed on Ben.

The old man turned his head slightly at the sound of Luke's voice. He smiled a little as he caught sight of the two of them, and gave them the tiniest of nods. Then, as the stormtroopers surrounded him, and Darth Vader raised his weapon, Ben simply let his lightsaber drift to his side, leaving himself wide open for Vader's attack.

WHAT?

Alice let out a little cry of surprise as the red blade sliced through the old man's body like butter, frozen in shock as she waited for Ben's body to fall to the floor. But rather than toppling like a felled tree, as the laws of physics, biology and predictability dictated it would, Ben's body simply seemed to vanish, his cloak fluttering to the floor. There was a moment of deathly silence, in which Alice was suddenly very aware of Luke, and how still he was.

Then Luke screamed beside her, and within seconds, everything was chaos.

The stormtroopers spun towards them, blasters cocked and ready to fire.

Crapcrapcrap-

"Luke, come on!" She reached out to grab him but he slipped through her fingers, taking two steps forward as he raised his borrowed blaster and started firing it haphazardly at the oncoming troops. The return fire was swift and rather more accurate than Luke's, and only a timely half-crouch saved Alice from a laser blast through the forehead.

Dammit, Luke.

Alice could see Vader lurking just behind the stormtroopers; he was not advancing, just watching from behind a protective wall of stormtroopers with an air of extreme disinterest. Which was honestly just fine with her. In fact, she was very much keen on the idea of keeping him as disinterested in them as possible. Unfortunately, Luke was rather mucking up her plan.

I've got to get him out of here. Now.

Darting forward, she managed to get a firmer grip on his arm than before, and started pulling him back towards the Falcon. He struggled, but she persisted. Luke's aim was no better with her tugging on his arm, but he did somehow manage to shut a very large and solid pair of doors by hitting a panel just to the right of a stormtrooper. Rather conveniently, Darth Vader and most of the stormtroopers were on the other side of these doors. That left only two or three enemy troops, though it didn't look like they were gonna give up any time soon.

"Luke, come on, let's go!"

This time, he gave in, evidently aware that he was losing the battle, and allowed her to drag him up the ramp and into the safety of the ship; Alice watched as the gangway swung shut, blending smoothly into the floor and clicking solidly into place.

She let out a sigh of relief, only to shriek in alarm as the ship suddenly jolted forward, throwing her and Luke backwards. He staggered as she fell into him, but somehow they managed to stay upright. The motion of the ship steadied, which Alice guessed must mean that they'd gotten clear for now. With a low groan, she let her head fall forward against Luke's shoulder, too worn out by exertion and stress to worry too much about social awkwardness right now.

It was only when Luke suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her into a tight hug that she remembered what had just happened. Ben was gone.

Oh. Right.

Tentatively, she put her arms around Luke's neck and mumbled, "You were right. The Empire really does suck. I'm sorry, Luke. Are you okay?"

His back rose and fell under her hands as he sighed, his chin resting on her shoulder, "Yeah…I just can't believe- What about you?"

"Yeah," she said, taking a deep breath, and unwinding herself from his embrace, "I'm okay. Shocked more than anything. I've never-" Never seen anyone die in front of me…

He nodded once, and she knew he understood. Alice glanced around the room. Not two hours ago, Ben had been sat here with them. It felt strangely empty without him. It seemed that neither of them knew what to say next. Across the room, Artoo whistled quietly.


Thanks for reading, and please review!