CHAPTER 14:
Completely focused on Han Solo's faint heart beat, Leia remained utterly oblivious to the goings-on around her. Not that she cared anymore. Caring only caused her more pain and grief, and even more pain and grief for those she cared about. Han lied motionless beneath her head, suffering because of her. Maybe on the verge of death. She wasn't certain how much of that torturous poison entered his system before she removed it and threw it at General Serin. Chewie was going to hate her. She hated herself. Luke would mourn, but his feelings for her wouldn't change, and that made her hate herself even more.
Shouting and a steady cadence of footsteps ensued around her. The only reason Leia was even minutely aware of the noise was because it was making it difficult to hear Han's heart beat. She was on the verge of yelling at everyone to shut up, but it all stopped without her intervention. She closed her eyes, and her breathing grew slow and steady as if she were drawing breath for Han as well. The texture of his shirt against her cheek reminded her of the soft rag doll her adopted mother had made her when she was very young. Although Leia had many beautifully expensive dolls, the little rag doll was the only one that ever sopped up her tears and brought her comfort during dark, lonely nights. The doll that traveled everywhere with her was now loss with the Tantative IV when the ship was captured by the Star Destroyer. Lost to her like her family, Alderaan…Han. Suddenly, the girl felt so tired. Now did she have time to sleep? Could she finally take time to mourn?
The princess felt a presence approach too close to her and Han. Without opening her eyes, she snapped up the hand extending toward her with hers. The cold armored claw shocked Leia's eyes open, and she sat up with a start. She immediately retracted her hand, freeing that of the storm trooper that now stood in front of her. Her heart skipped a beat as she took in the scene. Two storm troopers flanked Serin's guards whose hands were bound. An Imperial officer and another storm trooper hovered over the still body of General Serin, checking for signs of life. A lone storm trooper, a very fidgety one at that, stood guard at the door Leia had rushed through earlier.
The storm trooper that stood before her crouched down again and reached for Han. Despite the fact that the odds were stacked against her, Leia prepared to pounce. When he was in easy reaching distance, the princess jumped over Han and toppled the surprised storm trooper. But before she could do any real damage, she was ripped away from the fallen trooper by another one. She twisted and kicked around, but the storm trooper had a firm hold on her. He carried her away from the fallen trooper and Han.
The storm trooper awkwardly pulled himself to his feet. He stared at his fellow trooper who was stumbling around by the force that the small girl in his arms was generating. The trooper held his hands up, "Please calm down, Your Highness."
But Leia took no heed to his pleas. She continued kicking and lashing out. She twisted and wiggled around until the storm trooper could no longer keep his hold on her. As she dropped out of his arms, she slipped the heavy blaster from the trooper's holster. Leia brandished the cumbersome weapon with both hands and aimed it at the storm trooper closest to Han, preparing to pull back the trigger.
"Please drop the weapon, Your Highness," the Imperial officer held a blaster pointed in her direction.
Leia surveyed the young man. He must have been new to all this, the way the blaster shook in his hand. It was a slight tremor, but Leia noticed it. The small distraction allowed the storm trooper behind her to disarm her. She cursed herself for her carelessness. Her chest rose and fell as she tried to regain her composure.
The storm trooper knelt down next to Han, "He's still alive, but he needs immediate medical attention."
The Imperial officer returned his blaster to his holster and nodded. He glanced back down at the fallen general, "General Serin's dead." The officer turned his eyes, his very concerned eyes, upon the princess. He then signaled the storm trooper assisting him to attend to Han.
The storm trooper who inspected Han's vital signs moved to stand at his head while the other storm trooper stooped down and grabbed Han's legs. When the first's arms were securely fixed around Han's torso, the two troopers lifted Han. Leia watched them all the while screaming inside, wanting nothing more than to rip Han out of their hands, but she was frozen where she sat, all the fight in her drained, every nerve in her body numb. Leia's eyes remained on Han's limp form as one of the storm troopers bound her hands together and pulled her to her feet.
The fidgety storm trooper guarding the entrance motioned the other Imperials with a wave of his hand, "Time's up."
The Imperial officer signaled the two troopers carrying Han to leave. He looked back at the storm trooper who now held Leia by her arm, "Pick her up. She's not wearing shoes."
Effortlessly, the storm trooper lifted the girl into his arms. The officer retreated out the door, followed by the storm trooper carrying Leia. Once they cleared the threshold, the Imperial officer took the lead, and the two storm troopers with no prisoners to attend to took up the rear.
From her position, the princess watched the troopers that carried Han, minimally comforted by the care they took despite their hurried pace. As for herself, she barely noticed the jarring she was receiving let alone had a concern for what was going to happen to her. She didn't care. She deserved every horrible nightmare they would thrust upon her. She had freely chosen to join the insurgency, to fight with every ounce of her being against the vileness of the Empire even if it cost her life.
But Han, well, he made it clear that he didn't want any part of "her" revolution. He just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. If she hadn't failed in her mission, hadn't been captured by Darth Vader, she would have never sent a distress message to Obi Wan Kenobi. And the great Jedi general would have never gone looking for a pilot in that wretched city, Mos Eisley. Han and Chewbacca would be up to no good, probably smuggling something illegal, maybe even supplies for one of the rebel cells, but only for the right price.
She squeezed her eyes shut tight against the horrible accusation against Han's character that crossed her mind. It was unfair. He didn't ask for any monetary compensation when he helped Luke destroy the Death Star, and he didn't come after her here for any reward money this time.
Nevertheless, Captain Solo and Chewbacca were somewhat-innocent bystanders, caught in the cross-fire, because of her failure on the original mission. Even Luke, that poor naïve farm boy, was zealously risking his life because of that failure. Who in their right mind would ever send such an inexperienced pilot—inexperienced everything—on that dangerous mission of destroying the Death Star? Despite the fact that he not only managed to survive but finish the mission, he was just a teenager. He should be out having fun, like Han always said.
Han! Leia opened her eyes just in time to take note of another approaching garrison of Imperials. The officer leading her garrison stopped and each storm trooper halted in unison. The on-coming garrison mimicked the same military precision.
"Captain," the Imperial officer leading the other garrison saluted. "We were ordered to remove the rebels from Grel, sir."
"Lieutenant," the Captain returned a stunted salute. "My troops have procured the rebels," he waved a careless hand toward Han and the princess. "There are two locals we found fighting the rebels, but as you will see, they weren't very successful. There is also a dead rebel suspect. You have my permission to detain the locals and investigate the remnants of the scuffle."
"Yes, sir," the Lieutenant bowed his head slightly, and he led his garrison passed the Captain's.
The captain continued on with his retinue at a slow, steady pace until they rounded the corner. The captain looked back at his company, "That was close."
Leia's large brown eyes widened as her senses returned to her. The military precision of the garrison was abandoned as they picked up their pace. She was certain that had she eaten something, she would have surely lost it with the jarring she was receiving. The storm trooper that carried her as he ran was clumsy and awkward. When they reached a large duasteele door that opened to an outdoor court, the Imperial officer held it open to let his garrison through.
The princess blinked a couple of times as she watched the storm troopers carrying Han pass the officer who tipped his head to his inferiors as they passed by.
Leia looked at the blank mask of the storm trooper carrying her. "Aren't you a little short for a storm trooper?"
The trooper tried to shrug but almost lost his balance. Leia wrapped her bound hands around the trooper to secure herself. She tried to contain the smile that threatened to escape. After all, she was a "prisoner" of the Empire.
As they were about to exit through the heavy door Leia leaned close to the audio input on the storm trooper's helmet, "Stop." He did as he was told. Leia twisted her head slightly and let the words slip out of her mouth without moving her lips much, "Imperial officers don't hold doors open for their troops."
The officer's mouth stretched into a grimace before returning to normal. He let the door go and quick-stepped his way to the front of the small parade. No one around the mostly-deserted courtyard took much notice of the Imperial officer's faux pas, mainly because those around did their absolute best to avoid any Imperial attention and didn't look up at the passing garrison.
The rogue Imperial troops filed into a large, military-style speeder. The storm troopers carrying Solo entered first and carried him to the rear of the vehicle. They carefully laid him on the medical pallet and began pulling off of their armor as if they couldn't rid themselves of the loathsome costume fast enough. Leia climbed in on her own accord and began forcing her way toward Han.
"Captain Solo was injected with a paralysis agent," Leia sidled up to Han's side, grabbing his wrist to check his pulse. "He's suffering from a burning sensation, and he has…I don't know, maybe ten minutes left before hypoxia sets in." I hope.
Wedge reached for a medikit and retrieved an incubator and began opening Han's airwaves, "There's nothing we can do about the pain at the time, Your Highness, but we can keep him breathing for the time being."
Leia placed a hand on man's shoulder, "Thank you, Wedge."
"Leia!" The princess turned around and found herself smothered by Luke's embrace, "I—we were so worried about you."
"I'm fine, Luke," she disengaged herself and favored him with a small smile. "I'm afraid Han's not."
The princess moved out of the way so that Luke could inspect his injured friend. She followed him, but seeing Han in the state that he was in pained her to her core. She had to look away before she let her emotions get the best of her.
Luke's shoulders slumped, "Is he going to be okay?"
Wedge continued his ministrations, unable to answer his friend's question. Leia wrapped her arms around one of Luke's, "Come on, Luke." She whispered, "Let Wedge and Calin take care of him."
Luke's blue eyes stayed fixed on Han, but he allowed himself to be led away by the girl. She sat down on one of the velvety seats, pulling him to sit next to her, "Luke," she placed a hand on his cheek to get his attention. This minute action worked immediately. He reached for the princess' hand.
"How did you know where to find us?" Leia inquired.
"Chewie," Luke said and paused as he took another look in Han's direction.
Leia's eyes closed and she expelled a shaky sigh. "He's going to hate me," she whispered, barely audible.
Luke's brow furrowed, "Oh…no, Leia. He'd never hold any of this against you."
The princess shook her head and tried to change the direction of this conversation, "So where is he?"
"He couldn't return here," Luke explained. "He's a wanted man---I mean, Wookie."
"That doesn't surprise me," Leia commented, her hands tightly gripping the seat.
Luke didn't seem to notice her distress, or decided not to notice it, and continued on, "Artoo told me what happened."
"R2-D2?" Leia's head tilted to the left.
"Yeah, well, with Threepio's help. Artoo was the one who told Han about…," Luke's mouth closed for a second and his eyes fell to his hands. "I'm so sorry I wasn't there with Han, Leia. Artoo and Threepio told me what happened after I returned from my shift. I should have been there."
"It was out of your control, Luke," Leia placed her hand on his arm in an attempt to comfort him. "You had your responsibilities to the Alliance."
"Leia—"
The princess placed a finger on his lips, "If you had come after me with Han, who would be here now?"
Luke shrugged but favored her with a repentant smile.
Leia looked around at the men attending to Han and handling their escape, "Speaking of responsibility…"
Luke chuckled as he read her thought, "It's the Rogue Squadron. I don't think the Alliance will punish its best pilots for going AWOL, especially when we bring you back."
Leia allowed herself to laugh, "It's good to see that you're still the humble farm boy you've always been." She looked back toward Han. Wedge and Calin buzzed around Han's pale form. "How long…" The words caught in her throat, "How long until we get back to the base?"
"We can't go straight back," Luke explained. "We…uh…borrowed a shuttle. We can't fly it back to the base."
Leia's eyebrows rose, "Should I ask?"
"Definitely not," Faren, the "Imperial officer", answered.
Leia pursed her lips and nodded silently. She wondered just how much trouble this group of rebels had brought upon themselves. Once again, she is the cringed inside at the thought of more people in danger because of her.
But feeling sorry for herself was pointless and definitely not very "Organa", and she had already wasted enough time doing that. The princess lifted her chin and rose from her seat.
"Where ya' going?" Luke caught her wrist.
The princess turned to the young boy, disengaged her hand from his and briefly touched his head, oblivious to the sour look that small gesture incited from Luke. Leia braced herself with a hand on the ceiling of the vehicle and held her skirt up with the other as she made her way back to Han.
"Your Highness," Wedge's face was covered with sweat as he continued to manually pump air into Han's lungs.
"Why are you respiring for him manually?" Leia's question came out more like an angry interrogation.
"I'm afraid we weren't prepared for serious injuries, Your Highness," Wedge continued focusing on Han.
"You look tired," Leia moved next to him. "Let me take over."
Wedge continued the rhythmic squeezed on the air bag attached to a tube going down Han's throat as he moved so the princess could take his place. She grabbed the bag and never missed a beat. Please be okay, she silently pleaded. I'm so sorry…
The large speeder violently swerved, knocking Leia into the cabin. Her head slammed against the hard surface, but she paid no mind to the sharp pain. She frantically struggled to reclaim the same rhythmic squeeze of the air bag. The other rebels found their footing and pulled out their blasters.
"We've got a problem!" Faren yelled as the vehicle screeched to a stop.
Like the other rebels, the princess took a moment to glance out tinted window. Her heart dropped at the sight of the line of storm troopers that blocked their destination.
"We need to get Han to the shuttle!" Leia ordered as she continued her ministrations on the wounded man. Han's fingers were now cyanotic, and she wondered how long it would be before his body gave into shock from the excruciating burning sensation the paralysis poison caused.
"There's nothing we can do!"
"Captain Solo needs medical attention now!" She screamed. All her fear and anger and desperation could no longer be hidden. Keeping her own dark eyes focused on Han, she ignored the shocked looks of the other occupants in the vehicle.