Hey guys! So sorry for the massive delay - I went on holiday with my family in Turkey and we had no wifi, and then for the last two weeks I was at an Ancient Greek summer school (no judgement). I'm very happy to bring you the next installment of Alice's activities, and as always, I hope you enjoy it. :)

This week's shout-outs go to: randomreader WITH a profile, Booksnake3, ArtistsChild93, sarahmichellegellarfan1, Shannyrox101, Mistyx7, SocietyMember, Emonster94, Sarahfelixclaremordred, Nada, a very persistent Guest, thebeezekneeze and Laurel. Thanks so much for reviewing you guys, it's really touching to see how many of you are so keen on this story. :)

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


Alice didn't sleep well that night – whether it was fear for Luke or anxiety over their task tomorrow, she tossed and turned, kicking Han in the back several times by accident. This was impressive considering he'd been sleeping a good yard away from her. Eventually she gave up the effort when Han woke up enough to register pain and whispered grumpily at her to get lost.

Wrapping her blanket more tightly around her, she left the hut and went to sit and watch the sun slowly creep its way over the horizon. The top of its curve had just cleared the treetops when Alice heard footsteps behind her.

"I feel bloody terrible," she said, expecting Han or maybe even Leia to reply.

"I'm sorry to hear that, my girl."

"Ben!" Alice jumped in surprise, and nearly toppled off the edge of the rail she was sitting on, which would have resulted in a nasty and potentially fatal fall to the forest floor about fourteen meters below. Then she steadied herself and hopped down, for further safety. "Wait a second. You're a ghost. How did I hear you walking?"

"To those who are sensitive to the ways of the Force, I am more than a ghost, Alice," the old man said, settling down beside her.

"Which reminds me," Alice said suddenly, "why didn't you tell me I'm Force sensitive back on Tatooine? In fact, it's not even that you didn't tell me, it's that you actively told me I wasn't."

Ben smiled at her, "I said you did not wield the Force, Alice. Not that you could not."

"I-" she paused, and narrowed her eyes at him, "You're sneaky, old man, you know that?"

"I think you mentioned it," he said, amused.

"Smart arse," Alice muttered under her breath.

Ben's eyes twinkled briefly, then his expression turned serious, "Alice. You must not waste your energies worrying about Luke. It is his destiny to bring balance to the Force. He will not fail."

She sighed anxiously, "Yeah, yeah, I know, the Chosen One, Harry Potter, blah, blah, blah. But he didn't even say goodbye to me! What if he…what if he doesn't…he never…" She trailed off, unable to frame the words properly.

"Luke may never have spoken his love for you aloud, Alice," Ben said, with a wry smile, "but that does not mean he did not feel it."

Alice blushed.

Awkward!

"Yeah, well," she mumbled, "he still could have said something."

"Trust in the Force," said Ben, his outline beginning to blur and fade, "focus on your mission, and he will return to you."

She closed her eyes. Why is it that my most reliable source of dating advice is literally a dead old white guy?

"Alice?" This time it really was Han, staring apprehensively at her and rubbing his sore back, "Who were you talking to?"

"Um…" she glanced around, "heh. You know…myself?"

Han raised an eyebrow, "Right…you know, when I said get lost, I didn't think you'd actually leave."

"Couldn't sleep," she said, lifting one shoulder in a shrug, "don't feel guilty, honey. Leia up?"

"I'm here," Leia said, stepping out of the doorway behind Han, "and the sooner we leave the better."

"You told Threepio to talk to the lord of the little bears, right?" Alice asked, looking between the two of them.

He nodded, "I'll go and see if they've got the stuff I asked for."

He left, and Alice and Leia gazed each other, the tension suddenly ramping up tenfold. "So," Alice said, trying to steady her breathing, "I guess this is it."

"What do you mean?" Leia said, frowning.

"Luke's fighting the Emperor. We're taking out the Death Star – again. This'll be the one that decides the fate of the rebellion."

The princess fidgeted, "It is likely that if Luke does not…return…and if we do not succeed in destroying the Death Star…that the rebellion will fall." She looked up with a look of such blazing determination, Alice was surprised the trees around them didn't burst into flames, "But we will succeed. And so will Luke."

"Oh, he just better," Alice said, thinking of what Ben had said, "If he even thinks about dying on me I'm going to kill his Force ghost."

"Um…what?"

"Good news," Han said, swaggering up, "our furry friends have got everything we need. You two ready to go?"

Alice yawned, "Yeah, guess so. Let's go blow up a shield generator. Woo!"

They went to bid goodbye to their furry friends, but to Alice's surprise, and she guessed Han's consternation, a couple of the ewoks apparently wanted to come with them.

"That's very generous," Han said, sounding not very gracious at all, "but I really don't think-"

The chief ewok interrupted him with a stream of grunting, which Threepio translated as, "They really are most insistent. They have welcomed us into their tribe, General Solo. It would be a terrible insult not to accept their help."

"Go on," Leia murmured in Han's ear, a small smile on her face, "we need all the help we can get."

Still looking reluctant, Han glanced at Alice, "What do you think?"

"Don't see why not," she said, with a shrug, "who knows, they were pretty handy with those spears yesterday."

Han sighed, then nodded, "Fine. Threepio, tell them they can come."

This was met with cheers from the ewoks, and immediately three or four of them rambled forward and latched on to Team Jedi, babbling excitedly amongst themselves.

"Right," Alice said, rocking back and forth on her heels, ready to get this over and done with. The sooner they got this done, the sooner the rebels will blow up the Death Star II and the less time Luke would have to get killed in a climactic battle with his father. "Are we off then?"

Waving goodbye to the rest of their furry friends and feeling woefully Jedi-less they trudged off into the forest. Alice tagged along by Han's side, trying to concentrate while simultaneously glancing up at the sky, kinda hoping that if she stared at the Death Star hard enough she might be able to see Luke. No such luck.

Come on, Force powers, what good are you if I can't even-

"Alice."

Alice stopped dead still, her heart pounding, her eyes fixed at the sky.

Luke?

She waited, tense, unaware that ahead of her the others had stopped and were staring back at her in confusion.

Luke didn't reply. She wasn't even sure if it had been him anyway, or her own wishful thinking. But there was something, something that she could almost see in her mind's eye, the fleeting impression of a small green planet seen from above. That's Endor, she thought to herself, though she wasn't sure how she knew it, Luke can see it from where he is. Thank god, he's still alive…

"Hey, Alice!"

She snapped out of her reverie to find Han standing right in front of her face, his hands wrapped around her shoulders, as if he were going to shake her, "What?"

"What the hell, kid, we've got a job to do and you're just standing around-"

"Han," Leia snapped, as his voice rose. She was watching Alice carefully, as if she might suddenly go off into a daze again, "Alice, are you alright?"

Alice blushed, guilty and a little bit spooked by what had just happened, "Yeah. Right as rain. Sorry, guys."

Han looked doubtful, "Maybe you should just go back to the treehouses, huh?"

She frowned, indignant, "I said I was fine, Han. Now, let's go." One hand resting on the blaster at her hip, she strode off ahead of Leia, following their ewok guides, who were still a little way ahead still with Chewie.

A moment later, Leia caught up with her, "It's Luke, isn't it?"

Alice's breath caught in her throat. Damn, Leia's smart.

"Yeah. It is." She glanced at her friend, but Leia remained silent, waiting for her to go on. With a short groan, Alice let it all out in a harsh whisper, "I'm just so worried, and I can't stop thinking about the fact that he could die, really die, and he didn't even say goodbye and it makes me so angry because I love him and I never told him."

Silence fell between them, and she glanced over at Leia. When she spoke, the princess was sympathetic but firm, "I know Luke is very dear to you, and I'm sorry that he left without saying goodbye, but he did it to protect us. Remember, he's not the only one we're fighting for, and the rest of the Rebellion is counting on us to get this shield generator down."

Based solely on her anxious, aching heart, Alice wanted to object – but she knew that Leia was right. As important as Luke was to her, to them, to the whole of the rebellion, he was still just one man.

But he's my one man, dammit, she thought, wistfully.

She summoned up a smile for Leia's sake, "Guess we gotta get the job done."

Leia returned the smile, "Exactly."

They moved on. Not long later, Han held up a hand, halting their little procession as he scouted ahead, peering through the trees.

"Is this it?" Alice called in a half whisper.

He nodded, "I think so."

She heaved a sigh of weary relief. "Hallelujah, praise be."

"Who goes there?"

Han and Leia glared at Alice, as they heard the distinctive sound of blasters being cocked. Alice winced, "Oops."

"General Solo?"

"Lieutenant," Han said, lowering his blaster and looking relieved. There was a good deal of rustling from all around them and their misplaced squadron of rebels emerged from the bushes, all looking pretty happy to see them.

"Phew," Alice said, removing her hand from her blaster, even though she hadn't come remotely close to drawing it, "close one."

"We've found the generator, as instructed, sir," the lieutenant said, snapping a salute, "this way." He gestured to his men, who took up protective positions around Han, Leia and Alice as they beat their way through the brush.

"Here, sir." Ahead of her, Han and Leia had ducked down to the ground by a log, and with an eloquent sigh, Alice dropped down to join them.

Ahead of them was a huge piece of concrete and metal, towering above the treetops as the ugliest symbol of civilisation that Alice had ever seen. She wrinkled her nose.

Leia frowned, and whispered, "The entrance to the bunker is on the far side of that landing platform. This isn't going to be easy."

"Hey, don't worry," Han said, not sounding as carefree as Alice guessed he might have liked to, "Chewie and I have got into a lot of places more heavily fortified than this."

Their ewok companions, who had been muttering amongst themselves, suddenly turned to Threepio, and squeaked something to him. The droid cocked his head on one side, and turned to the humans, "They say there's a secret entrance on the other side of the ridge."

"Which ridge?" Alice said, craning her neck as she looked around, "This ridge?"

"Yes, this ridge," said Han, rolling his eyes.

"My bad. Just asking."

One of the ewoks burbled, and taking Alice by the hand, started to drag her away down the aforementioned ridge, apparently making the gross mistake of assuming that she was important or something. "Um…okay…follow me, guys!"

She saw Han and Leia exchanging amused looks, before traipsing after her, the rest of the strike team in tow.

Alice felt like she was in some kind of children's TV show as she and the ewoks tripped downhill through the mess of annoyingly bristly plants. At one point, one of them seemed to just give up on walking and rolled to the bottom. She shook her head, and whispered sternly, "Dude. We're on our way to break into an Imperial base. A little more decorum, please."

The ewok gave an embarrassed chitter, and got to his feet, dusting himself off apologetically. Then, the one holding her hand suddenly pointed at something, and tugged on Alice's hand so hard that she dropped to one knee, "Ah! What is it?"

The little creature continued to point earnestly, and peering through the foliage, Alice caught sight of the dull gleam of a metal door between some trees, only a few metres away.

She craned her head around and whispered, "Psst! Han! It's over here."

"Alice, I'm right here, I can see it."

"Rude."

They settled down in the ferns and studied the bunker: it was short and squat, made of concrete, and painted in a mottle of brown and greens. Alice tilted her head on one side, "I never got why they thought that decorating a huge hunk of metal in forest colours would make it blend in. It clearly doesn't."

"Hush," Leia said, her expression thoughtful as she surveyed the scene.

The chief ewok tugged on Han's sleeve and muttered something. Han raised an eyebrow, "Back door, huh? Good idea."

Alice's eyebrows shot upwards, "Woah. When did you stop needing Threepio to translate for you? That is slightly implausible, my friend."

He ignored her (of course) and edged forward through the ferns to have a closer look. A moment later, he turned back, and said in a hushed whisper, "There're only a few guards, shouldn't cause too much trouble."

"It only takes one to sound the alarm," Leia said, sagely.

Alice snorted slightly.

"Then we'll do it real quiet-like," said Han, grinning.

Alice raised an objecting hand, "Point of information. The last time you said that you stepped on a twig and blew your cover. I do not believe that you should be the one leading us on a stealth mission of this kind."

"Oh yeah?" Han said, looking disgruntled, "Well, who do you think should lead us, kid?"

"I think-"

"Oh my!" Threepio suddenly burst out, and this time all three of them turned as one to shush him violently.

"What is it?" Leia hissed, "And for goodness' sake, Threepio, keep your voice down."

"Oh, yes, princess. But I'm afraid our furry companion has done something rather rash." Chewie whined apprehensively, and Alice and Han exchanged doubtful looks.

"How bad is it?" Alice asked anxiously, "Like, Luke doing something rash bad, or…me doing something rash bad?"

"See for yourself," Han said, queasily. Alice turned and saw a tiny rotund figure wading through the ferns towards the three or four storm troopers hanging around at the entrance of the bunker.

"Uh oh."

Han looked grim, "Well, there goes our surprise attack."

To the horror of the watching party, the little ewok clambered up onto one of the several bike speeders, which were floating casually in plain sight of the storm troopers. Alice slapped a palm to her forehead with a groan.

A moment later, the storm troopers spotted him, and set off in hot pursuit of their furry fugitive as he gunned the engines and went rocketing away.

"Huh."

Han raised his eyebrows appreciatively, "A diversion. Not bad for a little furball – there's only one guard left." He pointed at Threepio, Artoo and the remaining ewok, "You, stay here. You three," he nodded at Alice, Leia and Chewie, "get round to the other side of the bunker. I'm going to fetch the rest of the strike team."

"Yes, General," said Alice, for once not making fun of him as she saluted neatly. As Han set off back up the hill a ways, to where the squad was waiting, Alice and Leia started picking their way as quietly as possible around the back of the bunker, keeping a careful eye on the one remaining storm trooper.

When they reached the far side, they knelt down in the ferns, and Alice found her gaze being involuntarily drawn to the sky again, where the Death Star Mark II was hovering like a big malevolent skull that might fall and crush them at any moment. Alice shivered.

"Alice?" Leia was looking at her apprehensively, perhaps worrying that Alice might space out again.

Alice gave herself a shake, and smiled at her, "I'm fine."

There was a slight rustle behind them, and they whipped round to see half the squadron creeping through the bushes towards them. Alice waved, "Right. Hello."

Leia frowned in confusion, "Where's Han?"

"Over there," one of the soldiers said, pointing carefully across the clearing in the direction they'd come from. There, just discernible over the distance, was a familiar mop of brown hair, edging closer to the guard.

Alice squinted, "What is he doing-"

But as she said it, it became abundantly clear what Han was doing. With apparently no thought to the gravity of the situation, he leapt from the bushes, and streaked past the storm trooper, tapping him on the shoulder as he went. Alice raised an eyebrow. "You have got to be kidding me."

The storm trooper, quite obviously alerted to Han's presence by the whack to the shoulder, turned and gave chase. Han, looking as gleeful as a school boy, came racing round the corner, where the strike team lay in wait.

"You're an idiot," Alice said, tapping Han upside the head as he skidded to a halt beside them. Over his shoulder, all the rebels were advancing on the storm trooper, blasters at the ready.

Han grinned at her, "Would an idiot have been able to come up with that?"

She stared at him, "Yes. Quite frankly."

Han dismissed her, and beckoned the strike team forward, saying, "Keep your weapons on that one. We don't want him running off to sound the alarm."

They all traipsed around to the front entrance of the bunker, the storm trooper surrounded by a sea of rebels. Alice lingered at the back, glancing twitchily around and half expecting an Imperial walker or two to come bursting through the trees. Something about this entire scenario felt off. Surely, if this generator was so important to the continued survival of the Death Star, there would have been more guards here…

Han opened the door to the bunker, and they crept inside. Alice drew her blaster and clutched it tightly. Inside it was dark, and again, surprisingly empty. Han and Leia glanced at Alice; she shrugged, and as one, they made their way deeper into the bunker. As they went, that uncomfortable feeling in the pit of Alice's stomach grew and grew, until she felt almost sick with nerves. "Han," she whispered, peering through the darkness, "I feel like I'm about to throw up. Something's wrong."

"What, just because you're getting jittery?" He asked, raising his eyebrows at her, "Honestly, you're as bad as Luke. Look. In here." He pointed to a large pair of double doors in front of them, and the rebel soldiers hurried to stand at his shoulders. "On three," Han whispered, "One, two…three!" He slammed his hand into the opening switch and burst into the room, shouting, "Alright, everybody up and out!"

There were several black-suited technicians within, and as Han and co. flooded into the room, they backed up, eyeing the rebels anxiously. Leia went straight for the control panel, Alice hard on her heels.

"Quick, Han," Leia said, as she inspected the controls before them at lightning speed, "the fleet will be here any minute."

"Charges," Han called to Chewie. The wookiee unhooked the small bombs from his gunbelt and chucked them to Han, who hastened to set them on the panel next to Leia. Alice watched anxiously, when abruptly, her heart seemed to squeeze – she flinched, and on instinct, whirled to face the door.

It was filled with storm troopers.

"Uh…guys?"

Han spun, his face going deathly pale beneath his tanned complexion. Leia's face was unreadable, but her lips tightened and her eyes glittered a little too brightly as she surveyed the troops before them.

The storm troopers surged into the room like a horde of white blood cells fighting an infection, an analogy that Alice was quite proud to have come up with in a moment of such severe stress. They picked out every last one of the rebels and herded them into the centre of the room; a whole team of them went to confront Chewie. And though the wookiee roared and flailed, there were simply too many of them.

So…I was right. This is a trap. Alice glanced at her friends. Would now be a bad time to say I told you so?


Thanks for reading and please review!