Dear all: first of all, Merry Christmas. I'm so, so sorry it's taken me so long to put this chapter up. Cambridge has been absolutely mental, and some of my work got deleted accidentally which really made me lose motivation. But I'm delighted to finally be putting up this chapter, and thanks again for your patience.

This weeks' shout-outs go to: Sky-65, SaltiQuill, SCE2AUX (loving the Greek), Society Member, Mistyx7, ArtistsChild93, Laurel, a number of different Guests, thanks to all of you, Booksnake3, sarahmichellegellarfan1, Concrete63, Starry Dragon, Kennayil, Emonster94, Nania,Reploid Avenger, Beatlefan110, Meeeeeeee (?), Dreamstar and Miriel Tolkien. Thanks for your support and your patience with me :)

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


Right. So, this whole thing was an elaborate trap. Now what.

Team Jedi, having been caught in the act of trying to blow up the Imperial shield generator, were hustled back into the sunshine, to find an entire platoon of storm troopers waiting for them. Alice caught her breath as she took in the sheer numbers of white suited figures. Where in the hell were they hiding?

"Guys," she muttered, "I hate to say it. But we are in serious trouble."

"Yes, thank you, Alice," Han snapped, glaring around at all the Imperial commanders, who were eyeing them with evident disdain, "I think we all realised that."

"You know," she said, grumpily, "it's times like these, Han Solo, that I wish you had a fedora and a bullwhip. And better hair."

"Quiet," the storm trooper behind Alice said, poking her in the back with his blaster, "get moving."

Touchy, Alice thought, as they moved into the centre of the clearing, where the other half of the rebel strike team were gathered. The soldiers looked at them glumly, and Alice felt a little guilty as their groups merged.

Suddenly, a voice called out timidly from somewhere above them, "Hello? I say, are you looking for me?"

'I say'…? Alice (and everyone else) turned and saw Threepio standing on the top of the hill that enclosed the clearing, gazing uncertainly down at them, Artoo by his side. "What the-?"

"Quick, get them!"

Six or so storm troopers broke away from the group and headed up the hill towards the two droids. "What are they doing?" Alice hissed at Han.

"I don't know," he said, thoughtfully, "but if I know Artoo, it's sure to get us all killed."

Alice sighed, "Story of my life."

Everyone waited. The storm troopers did not reappear. Alice cocked her head on one side. Then suddenly, a tiny little piping noise sounded across the clearing, like a miniature trumpet being blown. Leia raised an eyebrow. Han shrugged, and Alice said, "This entire situation is just getting out of hand."

Never had truer words been spoken than these as a moment later an entire tribe of enraged ewoks burst from the shrubs and started shooting arrows at the storm troopers. Alice stared for a moment. Huh. Works for me.

As the entire clearing descending into confusion, with the storm troopers trying to regroup and take on their tiny opponents and the rebels breaking free of their bonds, someone grabbed Alice by the shoulder. She squeaked and wriggled free – the storm trooper that had grabbed her stumbled, and seizing the moment, she slammed him hard in the chest with her shoulder. With a yell, he toppled, pin-wheeling his arms desperately for balance. Alice wrenched his blaster from his grasp, and quickly scuttled away in case he got up again.

Within minutes, the carefully laid Imperial trap had been put to ruin by the rebels and their fluffy companions. The ewoks dropped out of trees, and rained arrows on people, and used slingshots to take storm troopers out from several meters away. Chewie was on fine form, bashing skulls together, picking soldiers up bodily and flinging them across the clearing. Alice, feeling she would be safest not on her own, stood back-to-back with Leia, taking random shots at stray storm troopers and actually hitting one every once in a while.

Han snatched the two of them by the arm and dragged them back towards the now defenceless bunker entrance. "Phew," Alice said, flicking her hair out of her eyes, "well, this is going well."

This statement was contradicted, because life hated her, by the appearance of several Imperial walkers, lurching gracelessly through the trees. Han and Leia glared at Alice. Damn it…

As she surveyed the clearing, trying to judge how likely it was that the walkers would reach them, Alice spotted, to her alarm, Chewie standing slap-bang in the middle of the clearing. As one of the walkers pushed its way between two young trees, the wookiee roared a challenge, apparently flatly refusing to back down. "Oh, fluffy idiot," Alice muttered under her breath.

Gathering all her stupidity together, she dashed out in to the open towards Chewie, Han's shout of "Alice! Get back here!" trailing out behind her.

Ducking stray arrows and laser blasts, she skidded on a pile of leaves and managed to stop herself from falling over by catching Chewie's arm. "Dude," she shouted over the squeaking of ewoks, hissing of lasers and crashing of machinery, "come on! Roaring at them isn't going to make them go away!"

Chewie turned to look at her, and let out an anxious whine, his eyes fixed somewhere over her head (not surprising, considering how tall he was).

"Wha-?" Realisation struck, and with a speed that frankly startled her, Alice ducked just in time to avoid a punch from a disarmed storm trooper. A little dazed, she had no time to prepare for Chewie's enraged roar as he grabbed the offending soldier and threw him at least ten feet. Wow. I mean…wow.

A fluffy hand closed around her wrist, one far too small to be Chewie's. Before she knew it she was being dragged deeper into the forest – and further from the bunker – by a whole squadron of ewoks. Alice shot a glance over her shoulder, hoping Chewie would save her from this madness, but he had turned away, his crossbow raised over his head in defiance. "Guys, guys, where are you taking me? Seriously, whatever plan you've got going on, I don't think I'll be much help-"

They crashed through some more of those giant ferns and came to a halt in a little hollow, their backs up against a fallen tree. There were already four or five ewoks there, looking for all the world, to Alice's battle-scrambled mind, like a painting from a storybook. Her arrival was met with eager little shrieks, which Alice was quick to hush. "Alright, alright, calm down. I'm assuming you brought me here for something, so if you could somehow communicate what that thing is…damn, where's Threepio when you need him? I just pretend to know what you're saying, but I don't actually…"

The closest ewok biffed her on the ear to get her to shut up (fair enough, I guess) and gestured frantically at something over the lip of the hollow. Carefully, and ready to duck any more stray laser bursts, Alice peeped her head over the natural barricade; they had circled around the clearing where most of the fighting was taking place, and were now almost midway between the nearest approaching walker and the bunker.

"Yeah, trouble. Coming this way. I see it. And you need me to do what exactly?"

The small fluffy creatures started all squeaking at once in a way that made it impossible for Alice to even guess what they were trying to tell her.

"Shh, one at a time!"

One of the ewoks, just about distinguished from his fellows by the exact shade of the hood he wore over his ears took a step forward, gesturing imperiously at the others with his spear. They fell silent and he turned his attention to Alice, who waited impatiently for instructions.

The ewok pointed emphatically at the walker. Alice nodded. He turned a little and pointed at the nearest towering tree, and pantomimed climbing it. "Uh-huh…"

Satisfied she was with him so far, the ewok performed a little mini jumping jack and brandished his spear again. Alice raised an eyebrow. What? What is that? "You lost me." She shook her head for extra emphasis on her lack of understanding.

The ewok shot a worried glance at the walker which was getting ever closer, then gave a huff and shrugged dramatically before grabbing her hand and dragging her over to the tree. She got the message: "I don't have time for this idiot." Why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like this plan?

Without further ado, a few of the ewoks bent down to offer boosts to their leader. He placed one furry foot on the step they created and was catapulted up the trunk to a convenient branch which he hauled himself on to. Then they turned and looked expectantly at Alice. "Um…" The ewok in the tree babbled impatiently; feeling the urgency of the situation but certain that she was about to squash some sentient teddy bears, Alice placed her foot on the laced together paws of the four ewoks at the base of the tree.

They staggered for a moment under her weight, then with a sudden heave, launched her upwards. Wowzer, gee and golly gosh. Alice didn't fly as far as her fluffy partner in crime, but she managed to snatch the branch; with a helping paw, she swung herself up, panting a little bit at the strain. Not giving her time to recover, the ewok turned and faced the trunk, which split off into enough branches to make climbing not too much of an issue…

Right. Captain Starn, don't fail me now. How did I get caught up in this ewok plan again?

Taking a moment to check that her stolen blaster was safely strapped to her hip, Alice grabbed a branch and started to climb. It was tricky work; the tree's bark was pitted and knotty, which gave her good grip, but tore her palms to pieces. I didn't come this far to get beaten by a tree. Gritting her teeth, she found a good foothold and shoved herself up another few feet.

By the time she reached the branch where her irritating ewok friend was already waiting, the walker was almost underneath them. Out of breath and straddling the branch, Alice had two sudden realisations: firstly, they were extremely high up. And secondly, she thought she knew what the ewok's plan was. "You want me to jump on that thing, don't you."

He gave her a complacent little chuckle, and jumped lightly from the branch, landing squarely in the centre of the walker's top as it passed directly underneath them.

Show off. The ewok squeaked, and Alice knew that if she didn't jump right now, she would miss her opportunity entirely. Taking one quick, terrifying moment to acknowledge the fact that if she missed her jump, she would splatter, or rather crunch, all over the ground below, Alice closed her eyes and hopped off the branch. She landed seconds later on the flat metal top of the walker, and the relief she felt was something she thought she'd never be able to describe.

The ewok commando had already taken out the soldier in the command seat, and was in the process of finding a way to bring down the walker itself. "Here," Alice said, fumbling her blaster free of its strap on her thigh, and offering it to the little creature. He cocked his head on one side, and pointed to her, then down into the cockpit.

"You don't want much, do you?" She muttered, scooting her butt carefully forward over the metal surface to peer into the walker's cockpit. Inside, it was a complicated mess of bright lights, buttons and screens. There was also a large control board, like the one on the Falcon,right at the front by the window – that seemed like it would be the best target.

Right. Let's do this. Alice narrowed her eyes, poked her tongue out from between her teeth and put four careful shots right into the heart of the machine. There was a loud bang, and sparks flew out of the trapdoor. Alice flinched away, and snatched hold of the barrel of the cannon mounted to the walker's front as a huge, prolonged creaking noise echoed from the legs below.

Suddenly, the whole thing lurched. The ewok slid smoothly across the metal surface, screeching, but stretching out, Alice was able to catch him by the foot before he went over the edge. Bloody hell, you're heavy.

The walker continued to groan as it toppled forward, and all of a sudden, Alice had a very frightening premonition of what exactly was going to happen when it hit the ground. Moving quicker than she thought she ever had in her life, she snatched the ewok up in her arms, and leaped off the front of the falling walker. They hit the ground together, rolled, and sat up just in time to see the machine explode into red-orange flame behind them.

"Woah," Alice said, staring with wide eyes at the smoking ruins of the walker. Then she punched the air, "Yes! I am an action hero!"

At which point she was nearly shot by a rogue storm trooper and only a shove by her more attentive ewok companion saved her from a laser through the chest. "Thanks," she said breathlessly, as Chewie's familiar furry paw yanked her to her feet. He burbled something at her, which she guessed to mean something like, 'Good job, awesome, but that's enough excitement for one day', and shoved her off in the direction of the bunker.

"You got me into this mess in the first place," she called over her shoulder, as she raced towards Han and Leia.

She skidded to a halt, and grinned breathlessly at her two friends, who were eyeing her with some disbelief. "Alice," Leia said slowly, "you just destroyed an Imperial walker."

"Yeah," she said, flipping her hair nonchalantly, "I know." Her eyes tracked to the left, took in Threepio, then fell upon- "Artoo!" She knelt beside the battered astro droid, instantly upset. He was leaning back against the wall of the alcove, his circuits smoking, his lights dim. "What happened to him?" She said, forgetting they were in the middle of a life or death battle.

"He got blasted," Han said grimly, "very helpful. Now I've got to try and hotwire this thing myself."

"Oh yes," she said, hurt, "a great inconvenience to you."

"Alice," Leia said, warningly, from where she stood, blasting stray storm troopers foolish enough to wander into her line of fire, "need I remind you exactly what hinges on us being able to get into this bunker?"

Alice glared at the pair of them, then sighed, "Yeah, I know. Sorry." She gave Artoo's dome a gentle pat, then went to help Leia defend Han while he worked.

"I think I got it!" He shouted, pressing two sparking wires together. Alice and Leia looked up hopefully, and watched as the thick metal blast doors slid shut, making the bunker even more inaccessible than it already was.

"Hey Han," Alice said, sardonically, turning back to the battle, "I don't think you got it." She was lining up her aim to shoot a distracted storm trooper, when suddenly Leia recoiled behind her with a cry of pain.

"Leia?" Han, instantly distracted from his task, grabbed Leia by the shoulders and pulled her out of sight. Alice shuffled slightly to the right to compensate for her absence and tried to shoot straight whilst glancing anxiously over her shoulder at her friend. It didn't work.

"Freeze!" Alice flinched as the scorching hot muzzle of a blaster pressed up against the back of her neck, and promptly froze quicker than she'd ever frozen in her life. A tiny mad part of her brain wanted to shout something about Simon Says, but she hushed that part as quickly as she could. The storm trooper that had somehow snuck up on her plucked her blaster from her hands, whilst his companion pointed his weapon steadily at Han and Leia.

Then suddenly, she heard Han say, in a tone entirely too cheerful for the situation, "I love you." Alice raised her eyebrows as Leia replied, "I know."

"Is this really the time, guys?"

She didn't get a reply, as the storm trooper beside her suddenly toppled. Alice whipped around and saw Leia holding a smoking blaster in one hand, a grin on her face.

"Well," Alice said, leaning forward to recover her blaster from the downed soldier, "if there's one thing I can say about this battle business, it certainly keeps you on your toes."

"I'll say," Han agreed, grinning at Leia.

"Mistress Alice! It's another of those terrible walkers! Look out!"

"You were saying?" Leia said, gritting her teeth and weakly raising her blaster with her unwounded arm.

Alice and Han turned and found the walker towering above them, its guns trained squarely on their little corner. "Joy," Alice muttered, raising her hands above her head. She felt a hand on her shoulder as Han pushed her gently back into the alcove next to Leia, "Stay back."

He stepped forward, his hands also raised. Alice peeped around the corner to watch, her heart pounding. Well…it's been fun knowing you guys…

There was a loud clunk inside the belly of the walker, and slowly, the trapdoor at the top flipped open. For one tense moment, nothing happened. Then absurdly, Chewie's furry head popped out of the top. He trumpeted down at them, shaking his fist above his head in triumph.

Alice laughed with relief and sagged back against the door next to Leia, who was craning her neck to try and see what was going on, "Who is it, Alice?"

"Chewie," she said, holstering her blaster, "and I have never been happier to see him."

"Chewie!" Han yelled, "Get down here! Leia's wounded!"

Alice turned her attention to Leia, "How bad is it?"

Leia proffered her arm for Alice to examine, "Not too bad. The blast clipped me." Alice winced – unlike with Luke's wound when he'd lost his hand, there was blood on Leia's shoulder; not much, but it was there, lightly dappling the singed edges of her jacket.

"Alice," Leia said, sounding amused. Alice glanced up, realised she must look more than a little queasy and smiled weakly, "You're right. Not that bad at all."

Leia's smile faded, and she looked up at Han, "We need to get inside this bunker, Han. Lando and the others can't blow up the Death Star until we do."

"I know," he said, thoughtfully, staring up at the walker.

"We could try blowing it up with the walker," Alice suggested quickly, thinking of Luke. The sooner we destroy this thing, the sooner I'll see him.

Leia shook her head, "It's built to withstand that sort of thing. We'd never get through."

"Don't worry," Han said, suddenly, his face lighting up, "I've got an idea."

"Oh Han," Alice said, shaking her head, "never say those words."

"What is it?" Leia said, quickly, "What's your idea?"

"We'll lure them out," said Han, turning back to face them, "Alice," Han said, briskly, "I need you to go and gather up all the ewoks you can find. Leia, stay with me. Chewie, find me a rebel soldier not too badly injured. We need to transmit a message to the bunker from inside the walker."

Alice raised a hand, "What am I doing again?"

"Finding ewoks," Han said, impatiently, "as many as possible. Quickly."

"Sir," she said, saluting him. She jumped up and hurried off into the forest, calling, "Ewoks! Little furry creatures! Hello?" She heard a small chitter, and recognised the teddy bear who had helped her blow up the walker, "Hey dude! Listen-"

"Mistress Alice! Mistress Alice!" She turned and saw that Threepio was hurrying up behind her, "Allow me to assist you." He bent down to the ewok she'd found and spoke quickly to it in its language.

The creature burbled, and rambled off into the underbrush, twittering loudly. Alice glanced at Threepio and smiled, "Thanks, old buddy."

"I am happy to be of assistance," he said, humbly. She grinned, and clapped him on the back. Within five minutes, the ewok they had sent out was back, with about fifty of his fellows in tow. Alice raised her eyebrows, "Good work. Right, Threepio, tell them we're going back to the bunker."

She waited for him to transmit the message, then called, "Alright, come on guys, it's go time! This way!" And off they went, one droid, one human and about fifty child-sized grizzly bears. Alice felt like the Pied Piper of freaking Endor, with all her little ewoks frolicking along behind her.

"I've got the teddy bears!" She called as she emerged into the clearing.

"Bring them round here!" Han's voice came from somewhere unidentifiable, but close by. Obediently, Alice set off after the sound, eventually tracking her friend down to the top of the bunker.

"What are you doing?" She asked, eyebrows raised.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" He said, leaning over the edge to talk to her, "Send up the furballs."

"Threepio," Alice said, gesturing to the droid, "if you would?"

Threepio quickly translated the short command and half the ewoks immediately swarmed up the side of the bunker. Leaving the commanding of the ruse to Han, Alice went to go look for Leia. She found the princess back beyond the tree line, resting in a hastily constructed bed of leaves behind a log, her upper arm bandaged.

"Hi," Alice said, settling herself down.

"Hello," said Leia distractedly, her eyes fixed on the Death Star. Alice followed her gaze and twitched anxiously, "Don't worry. Han's got things well in hand. It'll only be a bit longer before we can destroy the generator."

And then we can get Luke back, she finished in her head, safe and sound. I hope.

"I just don't-" Leia hesitated, then looked at Alice, "Luke's told you about…me and him, hasn't he?"

"That you're brother and sister?" She said, raising an eyebrow, "Yes."

"Yes," Leia said softly, "I thought he would."

Alice frowned, and was just trying to work out if the pensive expression on Leia's face was good or bad when there was a loud clanging from behind them. She glanced over her shoulder, and grinned. The operatives from inside the bunker, presumably drawn out by whatever message it was that Han had devised, were now surrounded by legions of small fluffy creatures brandishing bows, not to mention several rebel soldiers.

"Hey, Leia," she said, getting to her feet, "we're in."

"At last," Leia said, eagerly. She tried to get up, then winced, and collapsed back against the log. "Relax," Alice said, patting her friend's uninjured shoulder, "I've totally got this." It's explosion time.

She jogged out into the open and started edging her way through the crowd of ewoks, "Han!"

"Alice!" He paused, waiting at the entrance of the bunker, and handed her a couple of charges as she reached him, "Here, take these. Let's go!"


And on that cliff hanger...thanks for reading, and please review!