Hi everybody!

This chapter is a bit shorter than the others, but I hope you'll like it. Thanks for all reviews, they really make me very happy.

There won't be any updates (for this story and for Staying with the Solos) for at least two weeks since I'm going to Serbia for my archeological »field practice«.I don't think I'll be fighting Nazis or searching for the Holy grail as Indiana Jones did… Thanks for selling me that lie George Lucas… Just kidding :D

Since it's ridiculously hot outside, I can't guarantee I'll make it back alive, but if I do, I promise to update my stories. So, see ya then.

Disclaimer: Jee Hagwa Bedwana Star Wars (That would mean - "I didn't buy Star Wars" in extremely bad Huttese)

Chapter 17 – Nighttime terror

She was running through the palace. Walls, doors, columns, gardens and fountains were passing by in a grayish blur. Her steps were echoing in empty chambers and corridors. She was looking for something, or someone, she wasn't sure, but somehow she couldn't find it and panic started to rise inside her. She had to find it. She had to find it before something terrible happened.

She found her father lying on the ground and kneeled beside him. He seemed lifeless. His skin was pale and cold, his eyes were closed. She touched his forehead and his eyes flashed open.

"Help me, Leia" he whispered quietly.

She wanted to say something, but no voice came from her mouth. Dark red liquid came streaming from every part of his skin and Leia realized she was kneeling in a poll of blood.

"Help us" spoke Bail again, "Leia, please" he pleaded. His voice terrified her more than blood.

She realized they weren't alone. There were others encircling them, their skins just as pale as her fathers. They were staring straight into her, their eyes accusing her. She recognized some of them, her history teacher, her aunts, the gardener, her friend from primary school, little boy and girl that gave her flowers when she became a senator. But others she did not know. There were people of all ages, man and women, there was a little girl holding her fathers hand and a mother with a baby in hands. In front of her stood another girl, whom Leia immediately recognized, though it shocked her. It was herself, but she was younger, and when she spoke her voice was the voice of the crowd around her, but her lips were the only one moving.

"You didn't want to help us" she spoke with thousands of voices. "You killed us."

Again Leia couldn't speak. She looked at her hands and saw her father's blood trickling from them and then she looked into his eyes. Their dark brown color was fading and they became grey and cold. And then she was on Death Star standing in front of Tarkin once again, staring into those same cold eyes. His lips moved slowly and his voice seemed to come from far away: "You may fire when ready."

There was a green flash of light and she was dying all over again. Thousands of screams were raging trough her head and there was death and terrible feeling of nothingness. Everything was dark, there was no air and…

She awoke with a gasp and sat bolt upright in bed. Realizing that she wasn't on the Death Star and that Tarkin wasn't there she breathed quickly, but the panic remained. Feeling nauseous she only managed to get to the 'fresher in time, when her stomach convulsed.

A few minutes later she flushed the toilet and slid to the floor beside it. She was light-headed, so she leaned on the wall, trying to steady her gaze. She felt sweat running down her forehead and wiped it with her sleeve. Her arm was heavy when she did that and her entire body felt extremely overheated, but that was nothing compared to faces from her dream that were still before her eyes even though she was in a brightly lit room and fully awake. She was still hyperventilating and her heart felt as if it was about to burst through her chest, but after several minutes she felt strong enough to stand up.

Turning off the light behind her she went back to her bedroom. In the darkness she lay down on her bed, curling into fetus position. Panic was withdrawing, leaving behind sensation of emptiness and heath flash was being replaced with feeling of coldness and numbness.

The images from her dream were once again crawling back into her mind and whishing to forget them she fixed her gaze on the chrono by her bed.

3.14.

She was trying to keep her mind as blank as possible, but it wasn't easy. It reminded her of meditation. Her father once insisted that she should try it, but it didn't work out. Her instructor had a nervous breakdown and it wasn't pretty.

No, Organa stay focused, she though and forced her mind to return to blankness, or as close to blankness she could manage.

3.15

3.16

3.17

At 3.18 she heard loud voices from the corridor. The party was apparently still up, that she could assume from the sounds coming from the main chamber. Now however it was evident that it moved to the corridors as well.

"Who was that?" she heard a loud female voice outside. Since this part of the Massassi temple was meant for quarters of High Command, it didn't take Leia long to figure out whose it was.

"You come back here right now" yelled Mothma again.

The walls of the base were thick and steel doors offered good sound isolation and yet Leia could hear Chief of States voice very clearly.

"Wes Janson. If you knock on my door one more time, I swear I'll rip of your empty head and stick it on a spear by my door, so that the next rogue that gets the idea of messing with me will think twice before doing it" yelled Chief of state.

Leia heard laughing and a very drunk sounding "Yes, ma'am".

The situation was funny; Wes' not very intelligent prank and Mothma's yelling on top of her lungs. Once, a lifetime ago, Leia would have found it entertaining.

She was still and the voices eventually moved away, as their owners went to make a racket in some other part of the Rebel base.

Minutes slipped by and at 3.58 Leia had to admit that her desperate attempt of not thinking at all wasn't really paying of. She got up and turned on the lights. Her quarters were at best impersonal. That was an understatement because everything that was in there was standard Alliance High Command furniture. The room seemed somehow void and since Leia literally had no belongings of her own, there was no way she could change that.

Leia paced restlessly through the room, with nothing to occupy herself with. To her great surprise her body tired up very quickly, her mind of course did not. She turned off the lights once again, deciding that she preferred darkness after all and lay back down. Lack of light proved out to be just as horrible as fully lit room. The only sound she could her was her own breathing and in silence she once or twice though it was a respirator. Vader's respirator. Burying herself deeper into the pillows she thought Vader's dead. Tarkin's dead. They are dead and can't hurt anyone.

Party in the main chamber continued for about half an hour more until every last drop of alcohol had been consumed and now everything was silent. No more footsteps in the corridors in front of her quarters, no more laughter and Corellian drinking songs. It could have been peaceful, even soothing if it hadn't been for the faces from her dream and the green flash of light constantly in front of her eyes, whether they were opened or closed. And with the beam came remorse, grief and terrible feeling of guilt. These feeling were holding on her throat as if they wanted to strangle her right then and there. Walls seemed to be coming closer, the room itself shrinking and thoughts slowly but unavoidably crept into her mind. She wondered, not daring to ever figure out, what time of the day it was. Were people on Alderaan awake when it happened?

5.17

It was still very early and Princess wandering around at such hour would attract unwanted attention. Leia forced herself to stay in her room until 6.00, but then she couldn't do it anymore. She took a quick shower, got dressed and headed out. The base looked like a ghost town and even though there would usually be lots of people already on duty, this wasn't the case, because of the party the night before.

She stopped at Mon Mothma's door for a brief second considering if she could knock and ask for an assignment or two… or ten. She wanted to occupy her mind with something useful, but due to the early hour and knowledge of Wes' prank, she knew it wasn't a good idea.

She went on not sure where she was going, but she knew she couldn't return to her room. Deciding that Han probably wouldn't be angry if she woke him up, she headed for his temporary quarters assigned by the Alliance. Arriving there she knocked and waited. Several seconds passed and she knocked again, this time louder.

He lied, she figured. He didn't go to sleep, but rejoined Wedge and the others and has probably passed out.

She knocked again, but then not very enthusiastic about waking the whole base, she typed in the universal security code. She opened the door, but there was no Han collapsed on the floor with a bottle as she pictured it in her head. The room was empty and so was his bed. It was still untouched.

Maybe he decided to sleep on Falcon she thought and headed for the main hanger near by. The spot where they landed hours ago was empty and there was no sign of the Captain or his ship.

Her legs suddenly felt as if they couldn't support her any longer, but she knew it had nothing to do with her nightmare.

He left.