Wow. Wow. Can you believe it? I have finally, after about three years(?), written one more chapter.

I can in no way promise that I will be able to follow this any quicker than I followed the last chapter - I can't even remember if I ever finished the rewrites that I planned to do of the earlier chapters or not. As I mentioned in my last author's note, the rest of this story is not written, and honestly I'm not sure where I'm gonna go with this plot. But since I'd written it, I thought I might as well post it.

To anyone who read the original story way back when, I just wanna say, hi! Thank you for reading it, I'm so glad you enjoyed it at the time, and if you're reading this now, thank you even more.

To the people who have favourited this story in the intervening years, god love you, I see the emails every now and then and it honestly means so much to think that people are still enjoying this silly thing that I first started writing when I was 16.

So, without further ado, here's one more chapter in Alice's story.


Saying goodbye to the ewoks actually turned into quite an emotional affair once all the teddies realised that they were going to have to let Threepio go. There was lots of weeping and bowing, which went on to the point where even Luke was looking a little impatient. Finally, after many attempts to fend off the piles of gifts the ewoks kept trying to pile on them, the rebels set out for their ships, each of them carrying a large woven bag filled with food and other small trinkets, apart from Chewie, who had three bags. Threepio was wearing a crown made of flowers and twigs.

"Look at all this stuff!" Alice said to Luke, who was walking beside her. They weren't holding hands, because Alice was currently occupied with rummaging through the sack of presents they'd each been given (plus it was getting warmer as the sun rose and she suspected sweaty palms might become an issue), but they were walking close enough that every now and then, their shoulders would brush. Each time this happened, their eyes met, and Luke gave her a big, beautiful, dopey smile, a mirror for the one on her own face.

She opened up a smaller bag nearer the top and was rewarded with a sweet, slightly spicy aroma: the bag was full of dried berries of a beautiful dark green colour. "Oh, bless them. They must think we're going on some kind of old-timey sea voyage," she held a berry up to the light filtering down through the trees, considering it for a second, then tossed it in the air and caught it in her mouth, "they want to make sure we don't get scurvy."

Luke didn't bother to ask what scurvy was, he just reached out and snagged one of her berries, "I'm not complaining."

"But I am," she retorted, indignant, "get your own snacks, thief."

"But Alice, don't you love me?" He said, startling a flustered laugh out of her as he flashed her a pair of big blue puppy dog eyes, "Don't you want to share everything you have with me, because you love me so much and I'm the light of your life-"

She gave him a light shove, cutting him off before he could get even more hyperbolic, "Alright, alright, tone it down, lover boy, you're embarrassing me." The outward dismissiveness of this comment was somewhat undermined by the big foolish grin that broke out over her face as Luke burst out laughing in response.

In fact, she felt so blindingly happy that she wondered if maybe she had died after all yesterday, because there was no possible way this could be real. The forest around them was wonderfully peaceful. The sun was shining brightly down through the trees, there were the sounds of birds and other small animals rustling about in the trees and the undergrowth; up ahead, Leia walked between Han and Lando, one arm linked through each of theirs, and behind them small groups of rebels, no longer rebels, chatted and laughed as they walked. Alice couldn't stop the smile that kept breaking out across her face as she enjoyed the simple feeling of not being in danger.

Of course, there was no way it could last.

She didn't notice that Luke had stopped for a second or two, so once she did she had to turn back to look at him. His head was tilted towards the sky, and there was a look on his face that was…not quite alarmed, but simply fiercely focused and a little confused.

Frowning, Alice cocked her head on one side, mimicking Luke's posture – and suddenly caught a hint of sound, something like whispering voices.

"What is it?" She whispered, unaware that Han, Leia and Lando had noticed that they'd stopped, and were now heading back towards them, all three of them reaching for their weapons.

Luke glanced around, his gaze flitting through the trees, "Someone's watching us."

As if realising they'd been spotted, their mysterious stalkers suddenly revealed themselves in a very loud, very attention grabbing way.

To Alice's right, a sudden explosion ripped through the trees, blocking the rebels' path to their ships and setting the canopy ablaze. A second later a series of smaller explosions followed the first, these ones lower to the ground. Before the smoke had even cleared, Alice heard the distinctive whistle of laser bursts coming from the general direction of the explosion and saw the hazy shapes of their attackers hovering on the edges of the tree line. She ducked instinctively, and felt Luke grab her hand.

"Come on!"

Together, they ran for cover, Alice pulling her own blaster out of the holster on her thigh as they went – Leia had made her put it on that morning, and now, she was very glad she had.

They headed out of the clearing and further into the trees, their friends and the other rebels hard on their heels.

"Imperial troops?" Han shouted, as Alice slammed her back against one of the huge trees, peering around to see what was happening back across the clearing. It was impossible to tell through the smoke how many were in the opposing force, but the air was thick with lasers.

"I don't think so," Luke called back.

"No," Leia agreed, "those aren't stormtroopers. This isn't how they fight."

"Then who are they?" Alice asked, but her words were drowned out by another explosion: this one came from somewhere behind them, throwing them all off balance and setting their ears ringing.

"They're blocking our retreat," Leia said through gritted teeth, "pinning us down. Luke, see if you can clear a path to the ships. We'll hold here for now while I'll try and get a message to the fleet ships up above."

Luke nodded once in acceptance of his sister's strategy, then turning to Alice, gave her a long, serious look, "Stay safe. I'll be back soon."

"Okay," she said, knowing full well this was no time to argue but feeling her heart squeeze in fear for him just the same, "be careful."

"Always. Lando, Han, Chewie, stay close."

"Artoo," Leia called the droid over to her, "I need you to boost a signal for me…"

Alice bit her lip and glanced around the tree again to see what was going on. A small band of rebels had accompanied Luke, Lando, Han and Chewie in the direction of the first set of explosions - by now they had already disappeared into the smoke.

What was going on? Who besides the Empire would want to attack them? Endor was uninhabited apart from the ewoks, and even if this was some other tribe of the little things, they didn't possess this kind of technology – yesterday they'd been using slingshots and trebuchets against the Empire for goodness' sake.

Whoever they are, they've got to be after something in particular. Or someone…

No sooner had the thought occurred to her than an arm wrapped tight around her waist, forcing a muffled grunt from her lungs. She opened her mouth to yell for Leia when for the second time in two days, she felt the muzzle of a blaster settle itself firmly against her temple.

"Drop your weapon," growled a voice that was deep and thick and harsh from somewhere two feet above her head. No human had a voice like that, not naturally anyway.

Alice glanced down at the blaster in her hand, still unfired, and caught sight of the arm that was holding her. It was huge, thick, and covered in scales. "Um, Leia?"

Leia's head snapped up, alerted by Alice's tremulous tone. Her expression went blank as she took in the scene before her, her hands freezing in the act of reconfiguring her commlink. Beside her, Artoo let out an anxious warble.

The figure holding Alice growled, literally this time, a harsh menacing sound that she could feel vibrating against her back, "I said, drop your weapon."

This time the words were punctuated by the clicking sound of the blaster's safety mechanism being switched off.

"Leia," Alice repeated, holding her friend's gaze.

"Alice," Leia was holding her hands out towards her, a plea to stay cool, to play it safe, "do as he says."

Alice swallowed, and let her blaster drop to the floor. The being holding her kicked it away into the undergrowth, but kept his blaster pressed against Alice's skull. The rest of the rebel troops not assisting Luke had gathered around, their weapons raised, but it was obvious from their anxious expressions that there was nothing they could do. They couldn't take a shot at her captor without risking her life.

Well, this isn't fair, Alice thought, too shocked by this turn of events to be anything more than mildly indignant, it was supposed to be over now, I was supposed to live happily ever after with Luke…

"What do you want?" Leia demanded, incensed now as she rounded on the interloper, "If you just let her go, I can offer you-"

"Spare me your bargaining," the creature snorted, "we want this one, and she's worth more money than you can spare."

Still, Leia persisted, "Why? Who's paying you for her?" When he didn't answer, she turned towards Alice, "Alice, don't worry, Luke and I…we'll find you, we'll follow-"

"If any of you come after us," the creature cut her off, backing up a few more steps and taking a reluctant Alice with him, "I'll kill her."

"No, you won't," Alice finding her voice for the first time and surprising herself with how steady it was, "you need me alive."

She had no idea whether this was true or not, but surely if he wanted her dead, she already would be…

"Alive is preferable," he conceded, impassive, "but dead works for me too. Whereas I'm sure your friends would much prefer you still breathing." He left the threat hanging in the air, and Alice watched dispiritedly as the last few rebel soldiers still resisting lowered their weapons.

She got one last look at Leia's desperate face before she was dragged backwards through the trees. As soon as the others were out of sight, she found herself pushed into a run, facing forwards now, staggering through the trees as her abductor dragged her on by the wrist. She could get a good look at them now, and she didn't like what she saw. The thing was tall, probably the same size as Chewie, but scaly rather than fluffy, with slitted reptilian eyes and a long, muscular tail. She swallowed hard and tried to focus on not falling over.

As they ran, she became aware of the sound of footsteps running alongside them, and suddenly two other figures burst through the trees: one human woman, wearing an outfit that was strikingly reminiscent of Boba Fett (before ole Boba had taken a swan dive into a carnivorous plant), and a droid, almost as tall as the lizard.

"Good work," the woman panted as she fell in beside the lizard, "now we've just got to get out of here before that princess alerts her honour guard."

"She's not the problem: it's the Jedi I'm worried about," the droid said twitchily, glancing over his shoulder as he ran, "I don't want him following us."

"He won't be able to," the lizard said, and somehow Alice got the feeling he was rolling his eyes, "we sabotaged their ships, remember? They'll have to wait to be picked up before they can follow us."

Alice held her tongue. As much as she wanted to scream and rail against these people for ruining everything, the more information she had, the better off she'd be. She hoped.

If only there was a way to tell the others what's going on…wait…maybe I can…like…telepathically connect with Luke or something?

She hadn't had any lessons yet, but if there was a time to take a chance on the Force, it was right now. Doing her best to concentrate while being dragged through prickly underbrush by a giant lizard, she shouted as loud as she could inside her own head.

Luke!

Her kidnappers were slowing down now – ahead of them a small, streamlined ship appeared out of the trees, not very expertly camouflaged with what looked like a couple of handfuls of mud and some ferns.

Not good. Luke!

"Alice."

Ben!

She barely noticed as she was bundled aboard the ship, didn't feel the manacles that locked themselves around her wrists with a magnetic hum, didn't hear the lizard mutter, "Not much of a rebel, this one," as he left her sitting there, silent on the floor. Her whole attention was focused inwards on her mental connection to the old Jedi.

Help me, I need to reach Luke, but I don't know how…

"Stretch out with your feelings, Alice," Ben said, his voice sharp and firm in her head, "make a connection. You've done it before, and Luke is looking for you."

Feelings… A thought flashed into her head, an image of herself and Luke sat in front of the fire just last night. She could feel the warmth of the flames, the slight buzz of fruit wine in her head, the press of Luke's back against her legs. Not really sure if this was what Ben meant, but deciding to go with the flow, Alice leaned into the mental image, doing her best to capture how she'd felt in that moment.

Luke?

She closed her eyes in relief as Luke's voice broke into her head, "Alice? Where are you?"

Luke! Listen, they've got me on a ship. There's three of them, a human woman with a suit like Boba Fett's, a big lizard thing and a droid. They're taking me off-planet, I don't know where…

"Alice, did they say anything about why they want you?"

No, no, I don't-

In the background, Alice dimly heard the engines start up, and then they were rocketing upwards. She could feel her connection with Luke getting weaker by the second – she wasn't good enough at this yet to maintain it at this distance. It made her want to panic, feeling him fade from her thoughts, but she fought to stay calm and think clearly.

I'll…I'll try to find out what I can and contact you with any information.

The strange thing about a mental conversation was that rather than hearing Luke's emotions in his voice, she could feel them bleeding through the link, his desperation and fear blending with her own, "Just be careful, Alice, please. I love-"

The ship rattled as it jumped to hyperspace and Luke's voice was gone; it didn't fade out, it was just…cut off. Alice slumped back, suddenly exhausted, the fading rush of adrenaline leaving her weak and shaking.

Letting out a long, wobbly breath, she sat up and looked around her properly, actually taking note of her surroundings for the first time. The ship they had her on was larger than the troop transport the rebels had flown to Endor, but still pretty small: they'd shoved her in one corner of the main cabin, from which she could see the cockpit and one or two smaller rooms branching off to either side where the wings of the craft must be.

Alright, stay calm, stay calm. Ignore the fact that you don't know where they're taking you or why, or that Luke is probably going out of his mind because you let yourself get bloody kidnapped like an idiot-

The human woman and the giant lizard were manning the cockpit – she could hear them talking quietly in short, staccato sentences. The droid stood in the cabin with her, ostensibly tapping away at a datapad, but obviously there to keep an eye on her. She listened hard but couldn't hear anyone else on the ship.

So it definitely is just the three of them. How did they create such a massive distraction with so few people?

Perhaps it was the fact that she'd helped kill the emperor yesterday or just the fact that she was pissed off at having her happy ending interrupted, but she found herself staring coolly at the towering robot opposite her, who looked up as though he could feel her watching him.

"Well? Would anyone like to tell me what's going on?"

"Ah," the woman said, craning her head around in the co-pilot's seat, "so she can speak."

"Yes, she can," Alice said frostily, "and she would like to know where she's going."

"Home, Lieutenant Miller," the droid said, "we're taking you home".

Alice blinked, more heartily confused than ever.

"Um, I beg your pardon?"


Leia had never seen Luke this worked up before. She'd thought he'd hit his peak when they were planning Han's rescue mission to Tatooine. After Alice had left the room having announced her startling intention to infiltrate Jabba's palace, he'd exploded into a rant that shook the room – literally. She'd noticed a datapad hovering a good two or three inches off the table top and had to hurry to snatch it out of the air before it dropped. He'd gone striding back and forth, shouting things like, "who does she think she is", and "why can't she just listen to me for once", and "why are you letting her do this?"

Right now, he was deadly quiet, but Leia found she didn't need words to understand the intensity of his emotions. She could feel the turbulence within him. It thrummed in the air like oncoming thunder, leaving her skin prickling and a metallic taste in her mouth.

"Luke," Leia said, doing her best to keep her tone steady and soothing. She'd always been good at calming people down when they were panicked, getting them to come out of fits of anger long enough to see sense. She wondered idly now whether she'd been using the Force unconsciously, all that time. How much of her diplomatic skill had been the Force and how much had been her?

Though I suppose they're one and the same. What was that old acolyte chant father used to say sometimes? I am one with the Force and the Force is with me.

"Listen to me."

Her brother – even in these dire circumstances, the word gave her a little thrill – paused in his silent stalking. As their eyes locked, Leia felt a sudden jolt and realised that she was feeling only a fraction of Luke's anguish in this moment: there was fear and anger and loss, but most of all there was guilt. She could tell him that it wasn't his fault, but she knew it would be a waste of time. Luke wouldn't forgive himself until Alice was back with him, safe.

"We'll get her back. Those were bounty hunters – if they'd needed Alice dead, they would have killed her on the spot." Luke flinched, but Leia pressed on, unrelenting, "But they didn't, so we can assume she's safe for now, as long as she keeps her head down. Our job is to figure out who wants her and why. If we can answer that, we can work out where they took her."

"Easier said than done," Han ground out. He was sitting on a tree stump, one hand pressing a medipac to his right upper arm; a passing laser burst had grazed it during the fight. "Of all the people to put a bounty on, why Alice? It doesn't make sense."

"If it was the Empire that sent them after her," Leia said, taking a deep breath to ease the tightness in her own chest, "they might want to use her as a hostage, a delaying tactic."

"To distract you from making a move on the Senate," Luke said, quietly. Leia was relieved to hear him speak. Though his shoulders were still tight with tension, at least he was thinking now, working on the problem.

"And you, from going after imperial officers," she replied.

Luke looked at Han, "Han, you heard Leia's description of the guy that took Alice. Before she got cut off, she told me that there was a human woman, a Mandalorian by the sound of it, and a droid too. Ring any bells?"

Han shook his head grimly, "But Lando and I have contacts all around the Outer Rim – someone will know who they are."

"Good," Leia said, decisively, "and once we're back with the fleet, I'll get in touch with our agents in the Inner Core. They can begin investigating who put out a bounty on her, if not the Empire. We will find her, Luke, I promise."


"Home? That's not possible."

"Oh?" The droid cocked his head. Though his expression (obviously) didn't change, Alice thought she detected genuine curiosity in his tone, "And why is that?"

"Well, for one thing, I don't have a home in this galaxy, so you can jot that one down."

"There's a very rich senator from the Inner Rim claiming otherwise," said the woman, getting up from her seat in the cockpit and wandering through to the main cabin, "lucky you."

"How many times have I told you two," the big lizard growled, sounding exasperated, "you can't just make light conversation with prisoners. We should gag her, throw her in the hold or something!"

"Simmer down, Sen," the woman said, rolling her eyes, "she's in cuffs and we're in hyperspace, she's not going anywhere. Especially not after all the trouble we went to tracking her down." She looked back at Alice, "I am sorry about this, by the way. But a job's a job."

Sen grunted doubtfully.

Alice wrinkled her nose, surprised. Now that none of them were pointing a gun at her, these three weren't particularly intimidating. Well. The lizard guy, Sen, was still pretty intimidating. But there was none of that stomach-churning dread she'd felt before Darth Vader, or even Boba Fett. Those feelings, she realised now, must have been the Force waving a 'Danger' sign in her face. These guys felt more like…well, like Han, or Lando. Criminals sure, but maybe not as bad as they'd first seemed.

She decided to chance another question, partially out of curiosity, and partially to see just how far she could push her luck. "What senator? I don't know any senators."

"That's your problem, not mine," the woman said, raising an eyebrow, "all I know is, she's hired us to bring you to her. Do that and we get one million credits each. That's worth putting up with a little chit chat," she raised her voice, obviously directing this comment at her co-pilot, who hissed rather alarmingly.

"That's enough, Chel. Now, we'll need to stop and refuel before we get to Santifar. I'm thinking Elforas – come here and plot a route."

Alice tuned them out as she thought frantically. Three million credits, just for her? What on earth did this senator want with her, and how had she found out about Alice in the first place? And what about the Empire? Even though the emperor was dead, the actual structures and manpower were still in place throughout most of the galaxy – the Core was enemy territory.

Well at least she knew where they were talking her now: Santifar. The only problem was, she had no idea where that was and had no way of telling her friends.

Looking on the bright side though, she did have rather a lot of experience in bouncing back from similarly isolating and baffling shifts in circumstance. And at least this time she had friends.

That's the spirit, Alice. Just stay positive…


Ta dah! Again, wow. Can't believe I'm actually updating this story. Thank you to everyone still reading - you're the greatest!