Chapter 19:

Leia sat on the floor of her cell, huddled in the corner. Lando lay on the floor on the other side of the room sleeping, mercifully. Leia couldn't sleep, though she wished she could; too many things were troubling her. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall, hopelessly.

"Leia."

Her eyes snapped open, and she looked around, uncertainly. "Who- who's there?"

"Leia." The figure of a man faded into existence beside her.

Her eyes narrowed. "General Kenobi?"

Obi-wan smiled at her, gently, then said, "Leia, there isn't much time. You need to leave now, or you will never escape. Now, there are soldiers everywhere, but the weak-minded are easy to influence."

Leia looked up at him, uncertainly. "Influence? Influence how?"

Obi-wan shook his head, then indicated that she should rise. "I will help you unlock your sleeping talents. It won't be easy for you, but you must, for the sakes of all your friends. Come, a guard is about to bring you dinner." Moments later, the door slid open, and a stormtrooper stood there, oblivious to Obi-wan's presence, while a droid set a tray on the ground. Leia looked up at Obi-wan, who told her, "Concentrate. Empty your mind, and allow it to fill with the idea you wish to suggest."

Leia frowned, trying to concentrate, then said slowly, "You're going to leave this door open and return to your quarters."

For what seemed like an eternity, the trooper stood there, his expression unreadable behind his helmet. Finally he said, "I'm going to return to my quarters." He then turned and walked away, leaving the door open behind him.

Leia looked at Obi-wan, who smiled approvingly, then said, "Go. There isn't much time."

Leia cautiously peeked around the edge of the doorway, up and down the corridor, then moved quickly across to the cell directly in front of her. With a hiss, the door slid open, revealing Chewbacca. "Come on!" Leia snapped. "We don't have much time. Get Lando." The wookiee picked up Lando easily, and followed Leia as she headed for the command center of the detention blocks.

No one was there but an officer, who stood with his back to the block they had emerged from. Leia stealthily creeped over, and slid a blaster rifle from the weapon rack on the wall next to the doorway. She froze as the officer shifted, then relaxed when he simply adjusted his uniform. Silently, she snuck up behind him, and smashed the rifle butt against the back of his head, and he fell to the floor without a cry. She then tossed a blaster to Chewie, and pulled the officer's security clearance cards out of the pocket of his uniform. Now for a diversion, she smiled, tightly. She dialed in a set of commands, and then called, "Chewie, let's go." She quickly headed off down a corridor, in the direction of the docking bays.

Luke and Vader both stared at the datapad. Neither of them had expected something like this. Luke ran a hand through his hair, a little dazed. "Sister? But that…. that's not possible."

"We must go to the cell block, and get the truth out of her once and for all!" Vader growled. His lightsaber snapped closed, and he turned and stalked out of the room. Han followed, a little shocked himself. Luke and Mara exchanged one last glance, uncertainly, then Luke followed the other two, leaving Mara to her thoughts.

They arrived at the cell block to find it in chaos and disarray. Leia's delayed-activation commands had unlocked all the cells in the detention block, releasing their prisoners. Luke searched for Leia amid the confusion, while Han attempted to get the security systems online. "She's not here," Luke reported.

"How can you tell?" Han shouted over the confusion.

Luke eyed him, but didn't have time to argue. "We've got to find her before she gets away!"

Leia and her friends arrived at one of the entrances to the docking bays. They had encountered relatively little trouble, with the attention of the ship's troops and crew being centered on the security breach in the detention block. Leia glanced up at Chewbacca. "You sure they'll have fixed the Falcon's hyperdrive?"

Chewbacca growled an affirmative. Leia understood his reasoning at once. Once Han was given his freedom, the first thing he'd do was make sure the Falcon was up to par…. just in case. "Ok, you know what to do, let's go." They walked steadily towards the Falcon, trying not to hurry. If they ran, they might attract unwanted attention from people wondering why they wanted to get to the ship so fast.

They made it on board with no trouble, and Chewie was powering up the ship's systems while she manned the turret, when she saw a sight that made her heart sink. Stormtroopers began to fill the docking bay, and just in the back, she caught a glimpse of a black-robed figure before he vanished. "Chewie, we have to go, now!" He roared a reply, and they took off, exiting the docking bay and out into the relative freedom of space. "How soon can we make hyperspace?" she asked, tersely, powering up the lasers on her turret. "We've gotta get clear of that tractor beam before we're hooked." Another growl came back through the comm: another minute, and they would escape. Finally, some TIEs began to drop out of the Executor's bays, and she vaped one right off before turning to the others. There were too many for her to get…. she was sure that one of them would get lucky before they could make it out. Then suddenly a blast which didn't come from her cleared their path.

"Don't worry, Leia, I've got our backs."

Leia smiled, tightly. "Good to have you up and about again, Lando."

Lando's reply was cut off by a growl from Chewbacca, and with a shudder, the stars bled into lines as they made hyperspace.

Luke glared dangerously at the Falcon as it escaped from the Executor. Through the Force he reached out to Leia's mind, sending a single dark thought. I will find you… my sister. There is nowhere you can hide from me, or our father… Leia Skywalker.