WARNING: You might want to read this sitting down.

"But doesn't Leia still need the medical facilities here?" asked Tess worriedly, stuffing her few belongings into a backpack—mostly weapons. Han was doing the same while Chewbacca guarded both hotel doors.

"She's still going to stay in the hospital," Han responded.

"I'm not leav—"

"We're not going off-planet," he clarified. "You and Chewie are going to stay on the Falcon. I'll go sit with Leia until she's well enough for us to leave. You heard what I said earlier. Zkab kills Imperials for public enjoyment, and the Emperor's kid is probably the best thing he can get his hands on for that."

Han swung his bag up onto one shoulder, then helped Tess do the same with her much heavier one.

"What makes the Falcon any safer than here?"

"Well, first off," Han began, getting irritated. "Zkab doesn't live four doors down from the Falcon. Secondly, there's only one entrance there to guard while here, there are two. Three if you could the door in between the two rooms. Third, I said so."

At that, Han took Tess firmly by the arm and lead her to the door. She shook him off and followed on her own.

"Chewie is going to carry you," Han told her. "Pretend like you're sleeping so people don't see your face."

Tess glared at him.

"What am I, five?"

"You're short enough."

"Shut up."

Knowing it was for the greater good considering her picture was plastered across the Holonet right now, Tess allowed Chewbacca to lift her into his arms. Compared to the seven-foot Wookie, Tess probably did look young enough to fall asleep on her hairy babysitter. She turned her head into his neck, covering her face more. It was a good thing the Wookie had taken a shower last night.

"Perfect," Han confirmed.

"Yeah," Tess agreed. "But I hope you don't mind if I get too in-character and actually fall asleep."

Though Tess tried to let herself relax as they rode the Rift Skyrail to the hangar, being out in public made her more nervous than she expected. Regardless of her contributions to the Rebel Alliance since she was eleven years old, this planet's violent hatred for Imperials would only see her as the Emperor's daughter.

"How precious," Tess heard a nearby woman say. "Your daughter?" For a moment Tess was offended, thinking the woman was asking if she was Chewie's daughter.

"My niece," she heard Han answer. Tess tensed, hoping the woman wouldn't recognize her somehow, even without seeing her face.

"How old is she?" the woman asked.

"Nine."

What the hell?! No one will believe that!

"Oh," the woman responded. "She's small for her age."

Kriff. There was no way Tess wouldn't be hearing the last of that once they were back on the ship.

Fear. Flashes of bright, blue light. Screams of so many names that she could not pick out one from the din. Screaming…screaming…

So much screaming…

Leia awoke with a gasp, bolting upright. She could still hear the screams, but a moment later she realized it was someone from across the hall. The princess vaguely remembered being brought into a hospital, but she wasn't sure if it was a dream or reality until now—unless this was a dream.

She wiggled her toes beneath the pale pink blanket, clenched her hands, and turned her head from side to side. Other than a stiff neck, she was relieved that everything seemed to be in working order.

Leia couldn't even remember why she was here. Noticing her hospital bracelet, she hoped it would give her some answers.

RAIMA MULX

TUROS NOTH MEDICAL CENTER

Well, that was at least something. She was lucid enough to remember that they were landing on Teyr, so unless Turos Noth was the name of the facility's founder, she assumed it was the city they were in. It sounded familiar enough. And of course now she knew what alias she had, which would definitely be important. The last thing she needed was to stay here longer with a presumed case of amnesia. She didn't know what alias Han was using, but for the past two years every time they had to go by an alias they were husband and wife, so she assumed now would be no different.

The hospital was loud. Leia suspected it was a bit crowded too, especially after seeing that she shared the room with two sleeping women.

As the patient down the hall whipped out another scream, Leia remembered her nightmare. It had no location, really. No specific faces. But there were people. Lots of people. Leia closed her eyes to focus. They were afraid. Terrified. Running. A dark sky. Bright flashes of lightening. A storm?

"Mrs. Mulx!" came a male medic's voice from the door. "I didn't expect you to be awake so soon. How are you feeling?"

"Perfect," Leia answered quickly, adding a convincing smile. The medic raised his eyebrows.

"Normally blastonecrosis has some lingering fatigue during the recovery days," he informed her, checking her vitals. "You really feel fine?"

"I never stay sick for long." She silently thanked her Force-sensitivity for the immune system boost, suddenly realizing that was probably why she almost never fell ill growing up.

"Well," the medic sighed. "It seems you're right. I had scheduled two more rounds in the bacta tank, but I guess I'll have to cancel those." Thank the Force for that. Bacta tanks were not kind to claustrophobia. Leia started to push herself to a stand.

"Good, so I'm released now?"

"Whoa… Not so fast," the medic chuckled, gently pushing her back down on the bed. "You need a couple of days of recovery. I'm sure your husband would agree."

Leia sighed. She should have known it wouldn't be that easy.

The medic took Leia's arm and began cleaning it with a damp alcohol pad.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"Sterilizing the area." The medic pulled a needle from his coat pocket and it might as well have been a wild Kath Hound. Leia immediately jumped to a stand on the other side of the bed, her hand over the trail of four-and-a-half-year-old injection scars from the IT-O Interrogator droid.

"No needles," Leia demanded.

"But it's just to draw blood and—"

"NO. NEEDLES."

"Alright, coast is clear," Han confirmed. Chewbacca growled a joking 'good morning' and set Tess back down on her feet. She looked around, a bit groggy after relaxing on the comfortable Wookie for so long. The first thing she noticed was that the hangar was completely empty.

"Shouldn't there at least be workers here?" she wondered aloud. Han nodded, clearly thinking the same thing. Before Tess could get ahead, he put a hand on her shoulder. He tossed Chewie a blaster.

"Check it out first, will ya?"

Chewbacca compliantly lowered the boarding ramp on the Falcon and walked up. Tess shook her head slightly.

"I have a bad feeling about this," she confessed. Han squeezed her shoulder.

"I bet it's just Zkab's big show," he guessed. "So big it's a holiday or something."

Suddenly, an angry Wookie growl and the sound of blaster fire exploded from the Millennium Falcon. Both Han and Tess were frozen stiff for a moment before bolting towards the ship. The blaster fire had stopped, which could only mean one of two things: Chewie had killed whatever intruders he had run into, or they had shot Chewie.

Fearing the worst, Tess bolted ahead of Han, whipping her lightsaber out of her backpack in the process. It ignited with a blue-green glow. She raced up the dock to find Chewbacca wounded and unconscious—she wouldn't for a moment let herself believe he was dead.

Tess was about to run to Chewie's side before she was snatched off her feet from behind, her lightsaber knocked out of her hand.

"Kid—!"

Another blaster shot. A thump as someone crumpled to the ground.

No.

Tess fought her attacker vigorously to at least let her turn around. For the first time since her encounter with the Emperor, she was glad that the Force lightening spurted from her fingers, weakening her attacker just enough for her to squirm away.

Tess turned around to a baster barrel between the eyes. Looking up, she recognized Zkab. She slowly raised her hands in surrender.

"That's more like it," Zkab sneered. "Tess Naberrie, spawn of the Emperor. This truly is a pleasure." He grabbed her around the shoulders with one hand, keeping the blaster in the other. Only then did Tess see Han, wincing in pain on the ground with a blaster wound to the chest.

"Han," Tess whimpered. For a second she fought against Zkab to go to him, but as he pulled her back she remembered who had the blaster. "Please don't kill him. Please, I'll go with you—just don't kill him!"

"No…" Han protested. He tried to rise to a stand, but fell back down in pain. Three of Zkab's men moved to his side to prevent him from doing it again.

"I'll accept your conditions," Zkab told her condescendingly, sadistically amused. Suddenly, Tess squealed as a needle entered her arm. She turned to the source and saw another one of Zkab's men injecting her with something. "A mild sedative, Tess. Just to assure that there will be no more Force business that dear old daddy taught you. Don't think I can't find your friend again and kill him."

Instinctively, Tess weighed the odds of escaping. There were at least one of Zkab's men behind her, the one at her side, and three by Han. Not great. Especially watching one of the men by Han put her lightsaber in some sort of safe.

"Don't try anything," Zkab whispered eerily, as if reading her thoughts. His breath on her ear sent chills all throughout Tess' body. "Though part of me wants to see that power inside you."

"If you touch her…" Han muttered.

As if it was all a game, Zkab ran his hand slowly down Tess' cheek, passing a few streaks of tears.

"Touched her."

A furious Han fought through the pain, scrambling to his feet. He lunged at Zkab for just a moment before Zkab's men shoved him back into the wall.

"Han!" Tess sobbed. At this point she didn't care if they took her, as long as her friends were alright. She choked up her fear, fought through the sedative that was quickly setting in, and met eyes with Han. "It's okay. It will be okay." All Han could do was shake his head. They both knew what awaited Tess if she went with Zkab. "Don't blame yourself. Don't let Leia or Luke blame themselves either." She paused, refusing to break down any further. "I love all of you."

"Very touching," said Zkab insincerely. "Now let's go." He started to drag Tess off the Falcon. She heard Han try to get up another time, but she couldn't bear to turn around and look at him.

Gods, what would he tell Luke and Leia? Leia in particular would kill or die to save her sister. Tess knew as well as anybody because she would do the same. Then, it hit her as they left the hangar.

I'm going to die.

Tess surprised even herself with her resolve. Today, she would die. Not because she was the spawn of the Emperor, but to save her friends' lives. That was the only logic that made it bearable.

Then suddenly, Zkab pulled out a comlink.

"Kill him."

A blaster fired.

Tess just froze, mouth agape. Then, she erupted into an inhuman scream that could be heard from the Rift Skyrail.