His hearing returned first. Deep mechanical breathing and a fog of indistinguishable voices behind the muffled tap of rain. Then slowly the feeling in his limbs returned. His fingers twitched, he turned his head, and he opened his mouth to inhale a gulp of air.

More mumbled words. He thought he heard his name. Tried to open his mouth to respond, but failed. Swallowed. Tried again.

"Shh…Han, don't try to talk. Just relax." A voice he knew well. She sounded obstructed. He willed his head to turn, and through filmy eyes saw the dark-haired beauty sitting at his bedside, holding a breathing apparatus to her mouth. She reached her hand out to grasp his.

"Leia…" he managed, the worry in his voice evident.

"I'll be alright," the princess assured him. "So will you. Now rest."

Through heavy eyes, Han saw her glancing down the hall. Clearly anxious despite her assurances. The Corellian recognized the layout of a Rebel Star Cruiser—white walls and a pristine look throughout. The same kind of ship that Luke, Leia, and Tess retreated to not long after his carbon freezing, so he was told. He found himself wondering if the Falcon was docked on it.

That was when the pain returned. First in his head. As if his brain was swelling against his skull, pressing against the entire circumference of his head. Then lower, in his chest. His arms. His stomach. Everything inside him was colliding with everything else—bone sparring with bone every time he moved, and the losing player would just shatter into pieces.

An answer to a prayer, Leia stood and retrieved a vial and needle.

"For the pain," she explained, injecting the liquid into the IV, which he just then noticed was attached to him.

Han instantly experienced a welcome combination of numbness and exhaustion. His vision swirled and he let his eyelids fall closed to relieve the dizziness. He felt the touch of his lover's lips against his forehead, and the click of her shoes against the floor as she left the room. He had almost fallen back asleep when he heard yet another familiar voice.

"Leia, get back in there and put that mask on."

Lando?

"I'm fine." A quick snap of a reply from the princess. "It's been almost half an hour—I'm going to find them."

"I can't let you do that."

Find who?

"Just try and stop—"

Leia was interrupted by a deafening crack that echoed throughout the entire ship. Han's eyes snapped open just as the crack turned into the bending of hard metal, so loud that his ears rung and all was silent for no more then a moment. Distant screams—it had to be hundreds—began to crescendo through the silence until a gigantic crash shook the ground beneath them. The Cruiser itself jumped off its landing gear and fell back to the ground, tossing Han out of his bed and ripping the IV from his arm. He cried out in pain, screamed for Leia and Lando—but could not hear his own voice over the rumble and crackle of whatever fate befell the world outside the ship.

The Corellian lifted his head from the ground, his hands over his ears, and pushed himself towards the doorway. He saw Lando and Leia struggling to get on their feet, finding their way towards the ship's ramp. Leia was screaming something. Crying. Lando grabbed her and forced her to the ground, wrapping himself around her like a protective shell while the terrestrial quake threatened their lives.

Han planted himself in the doorway, his back up against one of the frames while gripping the other. The electricity buzzed. The lights flashed off, then on, then off again—leaving them in complete darkness. The sputtering electric sounds continued in waves outside of the ship, and the screaming grew louder as the rumbling died down.

So much screaming…

The sound of his friends' voices returned.

"No!" Leia screamed, over and over again.

"Luke will get her here!" Lando replied. "You know he will!"

"I have to find them!"

"I promise you—we won't leave here without them! We'll all get out of here!"

The frequent flashes of light attacking the windows of the ship made it impossible for their eyes to adjust to the darkness, but during the moments of light, Han strained to see his friends. Lando had one arm wrapped tightly around Leia to keep her down, while the other offered comforting strokes on her back. But as she suddenly jumped up to relieve herself of his grasp, he had to hold her down with both hands.

"Luke!" Leia screamed. Han had never seen her so distraught. "Tess!"

Then she collapsed under Lando, sobbing, still screaming, bent over with her head in her hands.

"I can't feel her…Tess…she's just not there…" sobbed the princess.

"They'll be here!" Lando retorted.

Then, as quickly as it came, there was complete silence.

Nothing.

All three passengers on the Cruiser were holding their breath.

Was it over?

The lights snapped back on. Lando was the first to start standing up, leaving Leia on the ground with a gentle touch of reassurance on her shoulder. He caught Han's eye.

"Han, you alright, buddy?"

Han forced an untruthful nod. For all he knew, everything inside of him was broken and bleeding.

Chewbacca limped around the corner of the hallway opposite Han, a bandage around his middle.

"We're good, Chewie…" Lando assured the Wookie—but not before Chewbacca saw Han and raced to his best friend's side. He tried to help the Corellian back into his bed, but the patient resisted, unable to keep his eyes off Leia.

Suddenly, Luke—soaking wet—barreled up the ship's ramp and into the main hold with a bundle in his arms. Leia sprang to her feet and cried out her brother's name.

"She needs medical care—NOW!" Luke gasped, relieving his bundle on Lando's offered arms. The blanket around the bundle slipped slightly, revealing a white-pale face under a head of dark hair.

It was Tess.

Leia tried to follow Lando, but Luke grabbed her arm and faced her. He spoke to her—something soft, that Han could not pick up—before the Jedi Knight gripped his distraught sister into an embrace.

The Wookie said something as he helped his best friend to his feet, but Han lost consciousness before he could hear it.

Han Solo knew he could never forget that day. Especially when he woke up, and he was told what had happened to Tess. And what she had done. And what that city had done to every single one of them.

The thought fueled him as he inched along the left side of the Dantooine cottage, blaster in hand. He ducked under a window, crouching beneath it. Then he slowly raised his head to peek into the house.

He saw Leia—it was her for sure, even though he was only seeing her from the back. Her hair fell loose behind a chair that he assumed she was tied to, and at least seven officers were in the living room discussing something. Han had already choked out the one rogue Imperial standing outside the front door—now it was just the men inside that he had to deal with.

However, just as he reached to lift the window, the entire front wall of the house imploded, the rubble flying in as a burst of white lightening ignited the room. The Imperials were thrown to the ground. Tess raced inside, lightsaber drawn, and attacked the intruders.

Han quickly ran around the side of the house to enter through the front and reach Leia. The princess watched her sister with wide brown eyes while Han untied her. Once he was done, he was able to turn around and see what she saw.

Tess—she was not Tess. The figure that plunged her lightsaber into an Imperial had white-gray skin, with blue veins sprouting up from her hands and down from her forehead. She shot a glare in their direction, and the whites of her eyes glowed yellow. Her brown irises had brightened red. And that glare—it was inhuman.

Han watched Leia slowly pull open a kitchen drawer and retrieve a long cylinder hidden behind some cookware. A lightsaber. He found it an inappropriate time to question why the princess even had one. She darted to the last Imperial, cutting in front of her sister.

"I've got him," she told the younger girl, almost as if she was testing her.

Then the monster before them raised her hand and sent Leia flying backwards with a burst of Force lightening.

With a purposeful strut and her weapon in grasp, Tess slaughtered the last Imperial before pacing out of the demolished structure, towards the princess. Her hands rose above her head and pulled the cottage down on top of Han.