*To one of my guest reviewer, Heartbeat Stars. I do like your suggestion about Luke and I will try to make him more substantial. I'm usually a Han/Leia writer and tend to focus on them, but I wanted Luke to play a more important part in this story. I guess I'm failing. The reason he's not using so much of his Jedi power is because it's only been a little over a month since Luke received his light saber and Ben was killed. I thought it would make sense that he wouldn't be so proficient yet with his Jedi powers. Thank you for your suggestions. =) *

CHAPTER 7:

Han Solo headed toward the room where Redge said Luke and the princess were being held. He skidded to a stop and dunked into the closest open door when the Imperials stepped out of the room and escorted their captives down the hall. Han kept the door open so he could see the Imps and their prisoners when they walked by. He pressed himself against the wall next to the door and held his blaster ready.

"Solo is near the princess and Skywalker," Tycho informed the rebels. "There are two officers and four storm troopers."

Wedge chimed in, "You're outnumbered, Solo."

"We're always outnumbered," Han mumbled.

"What was that?"

Han's mind churned as he thought of a way to take out the majority of the Imps. Even if he managed to shoot several of the Imperials, Luke and Leia were unarmed and could get caught in the crossfire. Or used as human shields. He withdrew further into the room.

"Are you able to extract them, Wedge?"

"Yes."

"Make sure you get 'em out."

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"Captain, inform Lord Vader that we have captured the princess." Bulue ordered.

"Yes, sir."

Leia's body went cold. She discreetly inhaled and exhaled, her defiant stance revealing nothing she felt inside. Major Bulue looked disappointed, but he soon knew his disappointment would turn to adulation when he handed the princess over to Lord Vader.

"On to other business." The major paced in front of his captors with his hands clasped behind his back. "How many rebels are here?"

"We're alone," Luke answered.

Bulue nodded, and the closest storm trooper to Luke slammed the butt of his rifle into Luke's stomach. He bent over in pain.

"Lying to me will only cause you pain, right princess?"

Leia narrowed her large brown eyes at him but said nothing.

"How many?"

"Enough to surround the building." Leia tilted her head to the right.

The princess winced when the storm trooper hit Luke again.

"No, they're not." The major sighed. "Never mind. My troops out number yours and I know that they're in the building."

"We got what we came for," Leia smiled. "Luke and I were just the decoys. They're long gone by now."

Bulue pulled at his chin. "The rebels aren't known to leave their men behind, especially since one of those men happen to be Princess Leia." He frowned. "Now why would you rebels risk the princess' life by using her as a decoy?"

"I'm a soldier fighting for freedom like the rest of my comrades. I go where I'm needed."

"Huh." The major stopped in front of the princess. "I find that hard to believe." He stepped away from her and then glanced around the room. "Your rebel friends will come to rescue you. We'll just wait."

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Like all the other rebels, Han had heard the whole exchange between Major Bulue and Solo's friends. His teeth were clenched and his ire fired up. He wanted nothing more than to kill the major and then kill him again. Leia must be scared out of her mind, though her voice never betrayed her emotions. And Luke? He was expendable. They could kill him at any moment. Or Vader would torture the kid to get information out of him when the dark lord arrived. He had to get to Luke and Leia before...

"Redge?"

"The lobby. It's to the right and then the left."

"Hold your position, Solo," Wedge said. "We're taking care of it."

"Solo, get to the front of the building. Outside," Narra spoke up. "We may need your help there if the Imps catch on."

Han pressed his lips together. "Fine."

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Major Bulue took a seat, crossed his legs, and rested his arm on the back of the chair. Luke and Leia were standing in the middle of a squad of storm troopers. The major leered at the princess whose intense glare pierced his eyes.

"You're waiting for nothing."

"I'm not so sure." Bulue raised an eyebrow. "While we're waiting why don't you tell me what it is you came for?"

Both Luke and Leia stayed quiet.

"Must I beat the boy?"

"As I said," Leia's voice was low and venomous. "We are just decoys. We only know about our role in this mission."

"I find that hard to believe, Princess." The major swung his leg back and forth. "You're too high up on the food chain to not know." He tapped Luke's light saber on his leg. "And this weapon of a Jedi, is it yours boy?"

"It's mine," Luke answered.

The major nodded at the storm trooper next to Luke, and Luke braced himself as the trooper slammed the butt of his blaster into Luke's gut. Skywalker grunted, bent over, and put his hands on his knees to keep himself from falling down.

Leia clenched her fists. "You're going to pay for this."

"What is a boy like you doing with a light saber?"

Still bent over, Luke looked up. "I inherited it."

"So you're a Jedi?"

Skywalker managed to stand up straight. "I will be."

"Hmm…you'll will be….unless you're dead. Nevertheless, Lord Vader will be quite interested in you."

Just then the front doors of the lobby opened up, and were held in that position by the Imperial guards. In walked an Imperial colonel general flanked by two 501st storm troopers. Major Bulue rose to his feet and saluted.

"Are these the prisoners?"

"Yes, sir."

The colonel general signaled his storm troopers to retrieve the prisoners. "Lord Vader will be pleased."

Bulue blocked the troopers' path.

"Lord Vader's not coming here?"

"He's much too busy to deal with such trivial matters."

"Trivial?" He walked over to the princess and grabbed her arm. "But this is Princess Leia Organa."

"I'm just following Lord Vader's orders. Now please get out of the way and let us do our job."

The major smug expression melted away. Instead, his face was contorted in confusion and disappointment. Yes, sir," he mumbled as he stepped aside and signaled his troopers to allow the colonel general access to his captives.

One of the 501st troopers grabbed Luke's arm, and the other grabbed Leia, pulling them out of the circle of storm troopers.

"That light saber," the colonel general pointed to the weapon in Bulue's hand. "Where did you get it?"

"The boy had it on him."

"Lord Vader will want that." The colonel general held out his hand. "I'll take it."

Reluctantly, the major handed the light saber over. "There are still rebels out there. The princess claims that they stole something."

"What did they manage to steal…on your watch, Major?"

Bulue looked at the princess. "She didn't say what."

The colonel general shook his head. "You are not very good at your job. I wouldn't be surprised if Lord Vader demotes you. Again."

"Yes, sir."

"We'll be on our way now."

The colonel general turned on his heal and started to lead his prisoners out the door.

A junior officer approached the major. "Sir, we got word from Lord Vader."

The colonel general and his storm troopers stopped in their tracks.

Bulue narrowed his eyes on the colonel general. "Yes?"

"He said he will arrive in two standard hours."

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Han Solo stayed in the shadows outside the building listening to Wedge con the major. Wedge was right; sending Antilles' team in to extract the princess and Luke was better than blasting their way out of there. Han smiled and waited for them to exit the building. But his smile fell when he heard that Wedge's cover was blown, and Vader was on his way to Vivicus.

"Imperials coming your way, Captain Solo."

Great. Han cursed to himself. There went their chance to walk out the front door.

That left Solo with one choice: to blast his way in and out. He left the shadows of his hiding place and approached the closest security guard. He creeped up behind the guard and with lightning fast speed, Han wrapped his arm around the man's neck, twisted the man so he faced his comrade, grabbed his captive's arm, and forced the guard to shoot his comrade. Then Han tightened his arm around the guard and waited until the man was limp. Han dropped the man and retrieved the guards' weapons. The smuggler then busted through the front door.

At that moment, the lights went out. When they came back on, they were red and flickering, making it harder to see. An alarm began to scream as the fire sprinklers came on.

"Way to go Redge, Tycho!" Han exclaimed.

Narra and Hobbie removed their storm trooper helmets and joined Han in his assault against their surprised enemies. Wedge tossed Luke his light saber, and Skywalker ignited his weapon, swung it in highly controlled arcs and twists, blocking the incoming fire. Leia dropped to her knees and slid toward the nearest fallen storm trooper. She grabbed the trooper's rifle, jumped to her feet, and joined in the fire fight.

The battle was fierce, confusing, and there were few places to take cover. Still, in all that confusion, the rebels managed to take down all the storm troopers and most of the Imperial officers. Those left alive dropped their weapons and held their hands up.

"The Imps surrendered, Redge." Han touched his earpiece. "Send our coordinates to Chewbacca and get to the rendezvous point."

The lights continued to flicker, but the alarm died down and sprinklers ceased. The princess wiped water from her eyes, walked through the carnage, and check the faces of the Imperial officers. She stopped and stared down at Major Bulue who was cowering behind a desk.

"Get up," she demanded.

The major looked terrified. He held up his hands but didn't move.

Leia pointed her rifle at him as the other rebels looked on. Bulue stood up on his shaking legs. The princess glared at the man who terrorized her on the Death Star, her chest rose and fell with each breath.

"Your Highness," Bulue's voice was devoid of his earlier smugness. "You come from Alderaan, a peaceful planet, surely—"

"Alderaan's gone."

"But I'm sure you carry the mercy of—"

"Shut up!"

Luke went cold inside and an invisible weight pressed down on his chest. "Leia…."

"He deserves it." Han quietly said as he glared at Bulue.

"Reinforcements are closing in," Redge said in their ears.

"We need to get outa here, Leia," Luke told her, but Leia ignored him.

Narra, Hobbie, and Wedge held their breaths and stared wide-eyed at the princess. Would she…?

Leia moved closer to Bulue and held her rifled inches away from the trembling man's chest. She gritted her teeth together and her finger tightened on the trigger. The man at the other end of the rifle winced as he awaited his fate. Then the princess lowered the rifle and pulled the trigger. The blast hit the major in his knee. Major Bulue cried out in pain, fell to the ground, and grabbed his wound leg.

"Vader will do worse to you than I could ever do," she said, her voice low and venomous.

When the princess remained frozen where she was, Han went to her and took her hand. "Come on."

The rebels turned to the front doors to find a large squad of storm troopers approaching the tinted glass doors at a fast pace.

"We can't go out that way," Narra pointed out.

"But we can go out through the opening we blasted into the building," Wedge said.

"Where?" Luke asked.

"In the back of the building." Wedge frowned. "I'm not sure which way."

"I do." Han ordered, "Let's go."

Han released Leia's hand and took the lead as the group of rebels ran down the hallway to the right that broke off of the lobby. Narra took up the back, occasionally twisting around to check if any of the storm troopers were behind them. He saw none but heard the familiar clank of boots in the distance.

The flashing red lights provided little illumination but made great cover. With the Imps helmets on, Han hoped that they would have a harder time seeing. He figured the storm troopers would storm every path leading out of the lobby, and he hoped that they wouldn't turn into a hallway that led straight into the Imps' path.

Unfortunately, that was exactly what happened when they turned the corner. Han motioned the team back and readied the rifle he took from a fallen storm trooper.

"How many?"

"More than we can handle," Solo reported. "We need an alternate route."

"This place is a maze," Hobbie's frustration colored his voice.

"Where this opening you blasted?" The princess asked.

"At the back end of the building. The right side," Wedge answered.

"Follow me." Leia took the lead.

She led them back the way they came, stopped at a fork in the road, poked her head around the corner of the wall, and headed left followed by a sharp right. Each time she saw a squad of storm troopers headed there way, she changed directions until they reached the place where Wedge's team blasted through the wall.

"Nice work princess," Hobbie smiled.

"We're not clear yet," Narra pointed out. "They're gonna figure out where we went."

A thick chain link fence lay between them and their freedom. Obviously, the Imperials weren't worried much about security. But then, the damage they did to the structures surrounding the Bureau probably discouraged the beings in the area from breaking into the building.

"This way." Wedge took over as lead, crouched down next to the fence, gritted his teeth, and pulled back a tear in the fence with all of his strength.

Wedge held it open as his comrades crawled through it. He escaped through it after everyone got out. Then blaster fire exploded around them. Han and Narra stopped, turned back, and fired at the storm troopers coming through the hole, felling them two by two. But with every one they shot, another one replaced it, and Han knew that they couldn't stop them all. Wedge pulled out a grenade and tossed it at the blasted opening in the wall. Then Wedge and the others took off to the nearest cover behind piles of rubble. The grenade exploded near the impromptu opening, killing at least seven storm troopers. The other troopers pulled back giving the rebels time to clear the open field and find better cover.

Narra found cover in a building with blown out windows to the right of the building, while Hobbie moved closer to the left, finding cover behind a large pile of crumbled permacrete. Wedge, Luke spread out and took cover behind a burnt out speeder. Leia headed to the left, but Han grabbed her hand.

"I can take care of myself, Captain," Leia shouted over the blast fire.

"I know," Han answered but he didn't release her hand. "Dodonna and the High Command would have my head if anything happened to you."

She scowled at him but allowed him to lead her to advantageous cover.

Despite being outnumbered, the rebels were holding their own. The opening in the wall was small all around and the storm troopers had a difficult time getting through it. Narra and Hobbie fired at those troopers exiting the opening in the wall, and the others concentrated on the others that got through.

Then the worst possible thing happened; the storm troopers began pouring out of each side of the building, firing in the direction of the rebels. It took just seconds for several Imps to burn through the fence using a laser torch. Luke and Hobbie concentrated their fire on the storm troopers on the left while Narra and Wedge focused on the trooper coming from the right. Han spat out a Corellian curse as he and Leia concentrated on the ones coming straight at them.

The rebels kept enough fire coming to force the Imps to find their own cover. The rebels hit their marks now and then, and were fortunate that none of them had been hit—save for the occasional permacrete falling from the crumbled buildings above them when the storm troopers missed their mark—but Han wasn't certain how long they could hold out.

"Where's Chewie?" Han glanced up at the sky. "He should be their already."

While he didn't see the Millennium Falcon coming to their rescue, he noticed that Tycho and Redge got out and had joined the fight. Han was glad about that. They needed all the fire power they could get. Han laughed in relief as he saw the rocket launcher on Tycho's shoulder. The techie fired into a dilapidated building where a group of storm troopers were taking cover, bringing the building down on top of them. Redge let out a "whoop", and the other rebels winced as his loud outburst came through their earpieces.

Han looked over at Luke who was several meters to his left. Luke, who also picked up a rifle from a fallen storm trooper, was rapidly firing at the storm troopers. Solo looked out at the kid's targets and then at Luke. He noticed Skywalker was head was exposed as he fired.

"Luke, watch your head."

But Luke didn't seem to hear Han. Skywalker's brow was knitted in concentration, and his large blue eyes were half closed as if he were in a trance. He continued firing from his same position, and Solo couldn't help but be in awe of his friend's skill with the rifle. The kid managed to hit his mark nine times out of ten, even picking off the ones whose head popped up for seconds as they fired on the rebels. The farm boy was not only a highly skilled pilot, but quite adept with a fire arm and his light saber. It was hard to believe that the kid was fresh off the moisture farm and had no training in any of these activities.

Just then a dirty bomb was lobbed into the open field that separated the rebels from the Imperials. Han grabbed Leia, and she hit her head hard against the ground when Han threw his body over her. He wrapped his arms around his and her head as the dirty bomb exploded. Some of the building behind them fell in pieces, landing on Han.

Leia opened her eyes, "Han?"

"Call out!" Wedge ordered.

"Narra."

"Hobbie."

"Luke."

"Tycho."

"Redge. Tycho and I are trapped."

"Leia," the princess called out, her voice heavy with distress. "Han's badly hurt!"