Luke and Han sat on a bench in the city park, eating crispy strips of meat out of paper bags. Street fare, but not too bad. They sipped bottles of the local lager. It was dusk now, and the park was quiet.
"A few years ago, after we left Hoth," Han began, "Leia, Chewie and me ended up on Cloud City. Vader ambushed us there."
Luke interrupted quietly. "Can we talk about what happened today?"
"Well, as Leia said, it's a long story. And it began on Cloud City." Luke nodded assent, and Han continued. "Leia provoked Vader, and he decided to…well, torture her by torturing me, I guess." He paused. "I'm sorry, Luke, I know it's hard for you to hear this stuff about him."
"It's okay."
"Well, so, he put me in a room with a scan grid, the kind used for mining, and he electrocuted me. For a long time. Vader was standing next to me the whole time, but he didn't interrogate me. Not a single question. Maybe he figured I was too stubborn to talk to him, I don't know. The idea was that Leia would hear me screaming, and she would talk. Kinda stupid, that, since we both know she's even more stubborn than me. But anyway, they put her in a room next to mine, with a big one-way mirror, and made her watch her father torture her lover."
At this, Han paused again, and sipped some beer. Luke downed half of his bottle. "I'm so sorry," he said.
Han shook his head. "Stop apologizing for your father. You always do that."
"I know," Luke murmured.
Han went on. "So Leia was in this room with some stormtroopers and an Imperial officer who kept asking her questions—you know, where the fleet was, how many ships, where the next base was gonna be. Well, of course, she didn't talk. She just insulted him and, I don't know, probably gave him a good tongue lashing, like only she can. And this guy, this Lieutenant Sheckil, he got madder and madder. So he slapped her around a little, and got even madder 'cause she didn't react. So he…so he…had the stormtroopers hold her down while he, um…." Han trailed off. "He raped her."
Both men stared at the ground for a while.
"That guy today, that was Sheckil. It wasn't murder, Luke—it was justice."
"Revenge."
"Therapy. Post-traumatic physical therapy. Please, Luke, let it go. It won't happen again. And never, ever compare her to Vader; you have no idea how deeply that hurts her. And scares her."
"Okay," Luke acquiesced. He added quietly, "I might've killed him myself."
Han snorted. "You'd have to stand in line, buddy. I didn't recognize him at first, which is why I didn't go after him. But if I'd done it, it sure as hell wouldn't have been that quick. It's just as well that it was Leia. One more nightmare that she can put behind her."