August 31, 2007
I am reposting this chapter – after making a few corrections to the storyline. Chapter 14 is up next.
Everything seemed momentarily frozen in a horrible parody of a senseless tableau. Luke had watched it all unfold from within a sort of force-enhanced daze: Han's amazing and selfless action when he somehow took the shots meant to end Leia's life and his resulting abrupt collapse. Leia's scream of horror and the way she subsequently threw herself over Han's inert frame. The as-yet-unidentified female tech's quick and clinical reaction, and her terse words, confirming that Han was, of course, critically injured. Chewie's howl of anguish and his focused anger as he dealt with the threat of the huge man who looked set to kill them all and the immediate surrender to Wedge of the one remaining armed man. It all happened in an instant, and then everything just stopped.
Luke gave himself a mental shake, realizing that their next actions had to be quick and decisive, if there was any hope of saving Han's life. He nodded to the tech and responded, "Right. We've got a medical bay in a nearby shuttle. Can he wait to be treated until we can get him there? I don't think taking him to a local facility would be a good idea for any of us."
Jenina ran the scanner more slowly over Han's body, focusing on the blaster wounds, which were already beginning to bleed freely. She took a minute to compare the readings to her scan of a few seconds earlier and frowned, slowly shaking her head. "He needs help right now – I have some supplies with me. I was going to treat his other injuries before, ah, all of this happened." She looked around herself uncertainly, still somewhat bewildered by the events that had unfolded so quickly around her. Not having any idea of her own fate, nevertheless, she was determined to do her best for the only human who had ever treated her with an ounce of decency and respect.
Chewbacca, who was hovering over them all, quickly retrieved the med pack he had torn so hastily from the Falcon's medical bay and offered it to her, his sounds completely unintelligible to Jenina; even so she understood the giant creature meant her to use anything that would help the fallen pilot. "Thank you," she said softly, looking into the Wookie's intense blue eyes, and recognizing the gentleness and concern she saw displayed there, if not the words she heard.
Meanwhile, Leia sat back on her heels, with Han's right hand secured firmly between both of hers, as if she couldn't bear to lose the contact between them. "Please, just help him. We have to do something, anything. How could he? I don't understand. . ." Leia's voice trailed off as she saw the whole thing again in her mind, the incredible feat Han had managed, saving her life at the probable cost of his own. "He shouldn't have," she whispered, mostly to herself. "I'm not worth it." Chewie's acute hearing interpreted her words, as well as her body language. "Princess," he whuffed softly in her direction, "Han couldn't do anything else. It is who he is. He would do the same for anyone who needed help, but he could not live with himself if he had let anything happen to you." Leia just bowed her head, tears slipping unnoticed down her face, still in shock and unable to comprehend and accept what had just happened.
Wedge and Jeffries made short work of securing both Jimson, who remained mute, obviously terrified by the sudden turn of events, and Pix, who was unconscious and looked to stay that way for the foreseeable future. They checked the four Stormtroopers, making sure none of them were still a danger and remained on guard against any further threats.
Luke quickly shook off his sense of unreality, raised his comlink and spoke to Linder. "All clear here, any sign of trouble?" Linder responded after a moment of silence "Nothing going on. Everyone ok there?" Luke sighed and replied, "All but one, and he's critical. Please stand by and we'll keep you posted." Then he turned his full attention to his wounded friend, concern for Han's life making him impatient. "Well? What do you need? How can we help?" he barked at the tech. Before she could respond, all heads turned toward a sound that shocked each of them.
"Lay off her, Luke," the pilot lying on the floor managed to croak out between lips that were dry, swollen and bleeding. "She's got enough to worry 'bout without you growlin' at her…uhhh, oh man, what hit me?" And Han's words trailed off into a fit of coughing. His already pale face drained of any remaining color, as the choking seemed to reawaken all the pain centers that had momentarily been shut down right after he was shot. When his breathing became more and more labored, and it was obvious he was struggling to draw enough breath into his lungs, Chewie took action on his own. He slid behind his long time friend and using gentle pressure, eased his long arms around Han's middle and pulled him carefully into a half sitting position, leaning him back against his chest. "Easy, little brother," Chewie said softly. "You've really gone and done it this time. Now behave yourself, and let us help you."
Han leaned his aching head back against Chewie, inordinately glad for his presence, even though in his confused state, he couldn't quite recall how Chewie had gotten there. The last Han could remember, he had seen that Leia was in danger. . .Trave had been pointing the blaster right at her. Han couldn't really remember what had happened, he just knew he had flung himself at Trave, and then had awakened to Luke's harsh voice, ordering the med tech around.
"Leia!" he bolted upright, casting around frantically, looking for the princess, sure that she must have been hit. "Easy, Han," Leia's face swam into his vision. "I'm right here. Its ok, everything's ok. Luke's here now, and. . ." her voice trailed off as Han seemed to wilt again, sinking back against the Wookie. He gulped, and the blood from his wounds poured out faster in response to his accelerated heart beat. He felt things start to fade again, and tried desperately to hold onto his consciousness, wanting to make sure both Leia and the tech were okay.
"He's crashing," Jenina said. She rummaged frantically around through the items Jimson had laid on the cot, exclaiming under her breath, "Where is it? I need that stim." It was Wedge who reached a long arm across her, and pointed at a hypo spray set off to the side. "That it?" he asked. "It looks like the ones we have in the alliance's med kits."
"Yes," she answered. "And he needs it now. His blood pressure is bottoming out and he's going into shock." She grabbed the hypo, but looked toward Luke for permission to continue. Luke in turn, glanced at Leia, and raised his eyebrows. He knew she had a much better idea on medical procedure than he did. Luke didn't much like the idea of an Imperial stimulant being used on his friend, but he could see that urgent measures were called for.
Leia closed her eyes, knowing it was risky, but realizing Han would die right in front of her without it. She laid a shaky hand on Han's right arm and looking at Chewie for final permission, nodded to Jenina. "Yes, please, go ahead. And Jenina – whatever happens, thank you." Jenina accepted Leia's thanks, realizing it carried an assurance that she wouldn't be blamed, no matter what happened, and without any further delay, emptied the contents into the vein that was pulsing in Han's neck.
Nothing happened for a moment, then Han's eyes flew open again, and he groaned. "Ah, Chewie," he whispered, clasping the fur on Chewie's strong forearm. "I'm gonna be sick." And Han's misery was complete as he began retching, clutching alternately at Chewie's arm for support and at his own aching ribcage. After that, things proceeded in a blur for the wounded Corellian. His world was reduced to nothing more than horrible, pain-filled coughing and retching, amid the flurry of activity going on around him. Someone inserted an IV into his right arm, and though he frowned, he refrained from saying anything. Han hated needles, and would have protested, but right now he found it imperative to concentrate on breathing, and trying not to cough or throw up again.
He heard the others scrambling around, calling orders to each other, and it seemed like someone was always poking him, pressing on places that hurt, or asking someone else something about him. Han hated almost more than anything to be talked about, instead of talked to, but every time he tried to protest, someone either "shushed" him, told him to close his eyes and rest, or (if it was Wedge or Jeffries) said, "Shut up, Solo, and quit complaining. We're saving your life here."
Eventually, Han couldn't focus beyond anything other than the pain that pounded at him. He had thought it was bad before, with the injuries from the beating. But when Jenina started cleaning the blaster wounds, and finally told him to brace himself, just before spraying them liberally with synthflesh, he hissed with the agony, and if it hadn't been for Leia's continued presence, he would have yelled his distress for the entire world to hear. But once again, his stubborn Corellian pride kicked in, and he refused to do more than gasp out loud, and occasionally moan, while holding more and more tightly to Chewie's arm.
Finally, after a period that seemed to stretch into eternity, he heard Jenina say, "That's it for here. He's as stable as he's going to be. I'm giving him a pain killer, and then we can move him." As much as Han disliked taking pain killers, he wasn't about to argue this time. The next he knew, he was once again being injected with something, and this time, he almost immediately felt a blessed coolness enter his veins and rush through his system. It seemed one moment he was clenching his teeth to keep from crying out, and the next knew, he was floating on some sort of cloud and not feeling the pain nearly so sharply. It was reduced to something almost bearable, and he found that he didn't really care about it after the drug kicked in.
"Luke," Wedge asked, motioning to the Trave's body and the dead Stormtroopers, as well as to the unconscious giant, and the cowering man in the corner, "what about them?" Leia spoke up sharply, "I don't care what you do with them, you can shoot them, for all I care," and she indicated both Pix and Jimson in her disparaging gesture toward two of the mean who had tormented them for the past horrible hours. Jimson cringed back even further and raised his hands in supplication. "Now, Princess, don't be hasty," he stuttered. "I never, that is, I didn't mean, to hurt you. It was all his doing," he whined, jerking his head toward the very dead Trave. "Don't flatter yourself." Leia snarled. "You didn't hurt me, but for what you did to Captain Solo – I could kill you myself." Chewie roared, and turned toward the now terrified man, and in absolute terror, Jimson covered his face with his hands. "No!" he sobbed. "It wasn't me. It was all them. Pix did it, I just followed orders. I didn't want to, I didn't mean to…" and no one knew whether to be amused or disgusted when Jimson took one more look at the approaching Wookie and promptly fainted.
Leia turned toward Luke, "Just tie them up and just leave them all here. We can't risk any more exposure than we already have. The best thing to do is get out of here as quickly as possible, and get Han the help he needs. The faster we leave this planet, the happier I'll be," and Leia shuddered slightly, as she turned back and considered pilot lying so still on the floor. "That sounds good, Leia," and with a look from Luke, Wedge, Jeffries and Chewie moved to secure the two criminals who remained alive.
Han tried to follow the conversation, but kept fading in and out, feeling the "cloud" as he liked to call the fog that descended on him whenever he was given heavy painkillers, grow stronger with each passing moment. He had reason to be very glad for that cloud once Chewie and Wedge lifted him, and began the long trek to the back of the building where the three teens were anxiously waiting. Though they tried to be very careful, the halls were narrow, and he was jostled more than any of them liked. The lines of pain in Han's face deepened, as it kept breaking through, in spite of the medication. He was resigned to it, though and had almost managed to drift off, when there was a sudden shout, and a flurry of activity.
Han was quickly laid down on the hard concrete and Leia and Jenina knelt beside him, Jenina checking his vitals and Leia simply holding onto his hand – whether to comfort herself or him, she wasn't sure at that point. Luke moved to the front, listening intently to Linder's excited voice, as she explained "We've got company. You'd better wait there. We're going to stall them." Luke called out urgently, "No, wait," but he could tell it was too late; the three young people had already confronted who ever was out there. Luke looked at the others and shook his head. "I guess there's nothing to do but wait. How's he doing?" indicating the patient lying on the floor.
Leia had managed to scoot over and had eased Han's head onto her lap. She was gently rubbing her hand over his brow, which was hot to her touch. "Hey, princess," he managed to croak out, though he kept his eyes closed, enjoying her touch in spite of the circumstances, "wha's happen'en?" Han's words were slightly slurred, though whether from his pain and exhaustion, or the drugs, or both, she wasn't sure. "Ya' doin' 'kay?" Han managed to open one eye slightly, and squint in her direction as he asked the question that remained the most important one in his befuddled mind. "I'm fine, hotshot," Leia smiled down at him. "You just keep still and let us take care of things for a change." Han managed a small snort. "Yeah, sure. Whatever. You're all doin' such a fine job without me," he just managed to get the words out before giving in to a giant yawn, finally let his eyes slide closed. If he wasn't totally free of the agonizing pain, at least it was far enough in the background that he could deal with it. He decided for once, to let someone else handle things. "I'm gonna' go 'head and take … 'lil nap," he managed to mutter before giving in completely, and letting the control he had kept with an iron will, slip.
That was the last thing Han remembered clearly for more hours than any of them were prepared to deal with. For just when it had looked like things might go relatively smoothly in this rescue attempt, all hell broke loose outside the building.