Chapter Five

The ship lurched and groaned, waking up Amidala-Skywalker and throwing her out of her bunk. Landing in front of the door, she muttered curses in various languages as she brushed dust off her shoulders. Tightening her thin shimmersilk robe around her waist, she headed straight for the cockpit, her teeth grinding together.

"What the hell just-?" Her sentence was abruptly cut off as the ship lurched once again, pulling the freighter out of hyperspace. "I thought you said this ship could fly!" Leia snarled, taking a seat in the co-pilot chair.

"It does!" The prince lamely defended his beloved ship. "It's just…temporarily unavailable!" His hands flew over the control panel, desperately trying to shut off the buzzing alarms and red flashing. He cursed a blue streak as he read the diagnostics on the computer screen.

"What is it?"

"Hyperdrive's busted," He answered gravelly, slamming his fists on the control panel. "We're gonna have to stop somewhere nearby and fix it,"

She leaned closer to him for a better view of the computer screen. "What sector are we in?"

"Chommell,"

"Naboo," Leia breathed, pointing at the small planet on the nav screen. "My mother's from there; I'm sure we could stay with her sister for a few days,"

"There's not much there," He warned her.

"My family's there," She replied in a steely tone. "Naboo is safe, I can assure you that, Your Highness," She took a deep breath in hopes it would calm her down. "Now turn this ship around or I will," It didn't.

"Sure thing, sweetheart," He sneered, using the nickname he knew she couldn't stand.

"Don't make me use this!" Skywalker threatened, thrusting her lightsaber in his face. She gasped as the ship shuddered once more, flinging her into the prince's lap, her lightsaber falling onto the floor in the process. "Kriff, Solo!" Amidala growled, jumping up from his lap. "Droid fighters," She stated, hopping in the co-pilot seat.

"Stay here," He commanded, dashing out of the cockpit.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

"Turrets!" He shouted back. "Someone has to save our skins!" Hopping in the gun turrets, he slipped on his headset and flicked on the computer. "Solo to Skywalker," Han tested the comm, cracking his knuckles.

"Just shoot, dammit!" Leia screamed in his earpiece, bringing a smile to his face. If she was anything, she was persistent. And stubborn. Damn, was she stubborn. But then again, so was he.

"You got it, sweetheart," He grinned, shooting a couple of droid fighters. There weren't that many, and it was hard to tell where they were even coming from. The ship groaned once more, Solo's head slamming incredibly hard against the seat. He swore and tried to get a grip on the trigger, but his vision started getting cloudy, blackness at the edges of his eyes.

"Solo!" Skywalker barked, keeping him from slipping into unconsciousness. "One more hit to the deflectors and we're done for!" She took a deep breath, obviously not wanting to say the next words to the prince. "I think we're gonna have to use the escape pods," The lights flickered throughout the ship as the power slowly drained.

"A captain never leaves his ship!"

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but we have no choice," Her tone clearly suggested he shouldn't argue.

"I can't leave her!"

"Han, please! Do you want to die out here?"

"I thought you didn't care!" He countered, hitting another droid fighter.

"I don't, I can assure you that. But it would be very bad for my reputation if I came back to Coruscant without the prince,"

"Point taken," He gritted through his teeth. His vision was blurry, but he had to keep fighting. A wave of nausea passed over him, and he wondered if he got a concussion from the hit. He hoped it was a mild one; he seriously did not want to abandon this mission.

Leia's scream brought him back to reality. "Leia!" He shrieked into the comm, but it was no use. Her end was dead. All he heard was static from her. He immediately forgot about the ships attacking the Falcon, and he ran to the cockpit. The first thing he noticed was the smoking control panels. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, thanks," Amidala answered, sounding slightly shaken. She turned to Solo, an apologetic look on her pretty face. "Han, I don't think we have a choice. We're gonna die out here if we wait any longer-"

"You're right," He cut her off, grabbing the necessities out of the small compartments. "Get to the escape pod. I'll get our stuff,"

"But Han-"

He pointed a finger at her. "Just go,"

"You're bleeding," She stated emotionlessly.

"What?"

"Your head," She said slowly, getting up from the pilot's chair.

"We'll worry about me later," He pushed her in the general direction of the escape pods. "Go."

"Han?" Leia's soft voice pulled him out of unconsciousness.

"Yeah?" He replied groggily. The prince squirmed, shooting pain coming from every part of his body. He groaned in agony as the young Jedi helped him sit up. With a small hand on the back of his neck, she held a flashlight up and pointed it in his eyes.

"Doesn't seem to be too serious," She murmured, reaching for the bacta patches.

"Where are we?"

"We landed here about a day ago," She explained patiently, carefully nursing his wounds.

"Where exactly is here?"

"Naboo," He flinched in pain as the cold bacta touched his fresh cuts. "Sorry,"

"Its fine," He muttered, examining her delicate features, trying to memorize every curve. He observed her new outfit; tight black leggings and a simple white tunic, which revealed a decent amount of cleavage. "When'd you get this?" He asked quietly, tracing a scar on her neck with a feather light touch.

She shivered and bit her lip. "I got whipped,"

"Why?" He didn't move his hand from her neck.

"A mission to the mines of Kessel," She grimaced and closed her eyes just at the thought of it. "It was…torture, to put it lightly," She whispered, opening her wide brown eyes. "I don't want to talk about it," He nodded his head in understanding. "Enough about me," Leia quickly changed the subject. "Let's get you patched up, okay?"