Happy 20,000 words everyone! There's a new story poster to celebrate! I know it can't get that big but this one's got pretty much everybody on it - including Tess, played by the real-life Tess in a galaxy not so far away (which would be me!). This story has been so fun to write and just wait for what I have in store for you! You think everything about Tess was revealed in the prologue? THINK AGAIN!
Also as a secondary note, I apologize for any errors in the last couple of chapters. I normally read the chapters aloud to my buds across the hall because reading out loud is the easiest way for me to catch mistakes, but its kind of 3 in the morning so of course they are asleep. If you're reading this on the day it was posted, stay online because I'll probably finish up with Empire Strikes Back events tonight and maybe I'll start on Return of the Jedi section. As of now (though the RotJ section will be almost as long as ESB and considerably more revealing and eventful), I should be ending this story after RotJ. Might do a few one-shots of fun little moments of the group exploring some other planet or something, if I get some ideas.
Comments are encouraged and super appreciated!
Leia, Chewie, and Lando approached the door to one of the torture rooms with the upmost caution. Though they did not hear anything from where they were standing, there was still a good chance that the admiral was in the room with Tess.
Artoo, who Leia assumed had arrived with Luke and caught up to them around the East Platform, informed the others that the door was unlocked.
"What?" Lando said in disbelief. Expecting the droid to be wrong, Lando tried to pad the door open. He was surprised when it worked, but even more surprised at and unprepared for what he saw inside.
Leia and Chewbacca caught up with him from behind, sharing a glimpse of the unoccupied torture room. Both of their heads slowly turned to Lando.
"She was supposed to be held here!" Lando protested in his own defense. "They couldn't have taken her anywhere else!"
Leia pushed past Lando to further inspect the room. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of a shiny black droid plugged into the wall.
"And now, your highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden rebel base…"
The princess shook away that memory. She could not allow that to distract her now—Tess was in trouble.
Leia approached the durasteel restraint bed. Intuition told her that Tess was indeed here at one point.
Chewie, who had begun inspecting the room as well, called Leia over with a growl. There, in front of the Wookie, was a dark pool of blood. It was nearly dried and almost invisible above the floor's dark gray color. Once again, all eyes turned to Lando.
"Where else could they have taken her?" Leia demanded, her words slow and dark. Lando ran his hands through his hair.
"I don't know…I don't know," he muttered. "They must have taken her away on one of their ships somehow—I just checked with Lobot, my Chief Administrator, and all other holding cells are taken up by the stormtroopers we apprehended."
Chewie erupted into an angry growl, throwing Lando against the wall.
"You're mad at the wrong person!" Lando shouted, picking himself up.
"Really?" Leia spat, crossing her arms over her chest. "Because last time I checked, you were the traitor here."
The Baron Administrator stomped over to Leia, clearly fed up with being treated like an enemy.
"A traitor who has been helping you as of five minutes ago," he reminded her. "And a traitor who knows that we're all going to be blasted to pieces by imperial troops unless we get out of here fast."
"What about Tess?!" Leia demanded.
"There's nothing we can do for her here," Calrissian insisted.
Leia felt absolutely helpless. As if having to put her trust in a traitor wasn't enough, both attempts to save their friends had failed. Though Luke was quite capable of taking care of himself, Leia had not seen him and was growing worried. Still, if Lando was right about the troops, they needed to get to the Falcon—and fast.
Though Leia would rather die than give him the satisfaction of hearing it from her, Lando was right about the imperial troops. Fortunately, they were no match for Artoo. He managed a cloud of smoke to blur their target vision, allowing Lando, Leia, Chewie, and the helpful little droid to make it to the Millennium Falcon.
Lando and Leia let the others board, but they stayed outside the ship with their blasters to get rid of any remaining troops that might prevent them from taking off.
Leia's aim was even better than her usual nine-out-of-ten blaster accuracy when fueled by the thought that one of those stormtroopers laid a hand on Tess. She had no clue of what they did to Tess or why besides the IT-O, and she feared that was not the only torture that the girl had to suffer through. Leia could still hear the screams in her head—Tess' and Han's—the piercing screams of pain that she could not stop.
Lando's voice snapped Leia out of her vengeful haze.
"Leia!" he called out from across the ramp. "Go!"
Leia shook her head and returned to blasting the troops away—and not just because she would rather kiss a Hutt than take orders from Calrissian. They were going to pay. Those corrupted white robots of the Empire's demands would be destroyed for thinking they had the right to harm a fourteen-year-old girl and encase a man in carbonate.
"Leia!" Lando called again, now making his own way up the ramp. "Come on, we need to get out of here! There are more behind them—you're going to get shot if you stay!"
"Then let me!" the princess snapped. Leia did not even turn to look at him that time. As each white suit fell, she just wanted to make another one do the same.
Until a familiar voice called her name.
Leia spun around. At first, she thought she was hallucinating. Her mind had decided that Tess was either killed during torture or dragged away by the Empire, so seeing Tess at the top of the Millennium Falcon's ramp seemed nothing more than wishful.
The ramp started to close, and Leia quickly jumped onto it, letting it raise her up into the ship until she was looking at Tess from level ground. They just stared at each other, neither knowing what to do. Chewbacca and Lando had turned into the cockpit to bring the ship to life and get them off Cloud City.
The floor rumbled beneath them as the Millennium Falcon rose into the air. Leia and Tess remained standing over the boarding ramp. Leia noticed her stumble a bit, as she was always a bit clumsy with her flying legs.
"Shouldn't you be in a seat with acceleration straps?" Leia asked habitually. She only realized that she had broken the silence after the fact.
Her eyes glistening with approaching tears, Tess let out a short laugh at Leia's untimely use of the questions she had heard hundreds of times. This was the first time that question had not annoyed her. Tess ran forward into Leia's arms, her shoulders heaving with sobs before she even got there.
The two fell to their knees, still holding the embrace, each allowing the other to cry and offering the comfort of what could only be described as the love of their unconventional family.