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Title: Four Walls and a Blaster
Fandom: Star Wars
Rating/Warnings: PG (Character Death.)
Characters: Han. Leia.
Summary: Han left, and Leia couldn't fault him. What might have happened if he never came back at the battle of Yavin.
Author's Notes: Well, this is awkward.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
knightedrogue, this was supposed to be finished and posted much, MUCH earlier this last year. Hope you like it, even if it has been delayed for far too long. My sincere gratitude to annerbhp, who helped see the light of day by refusing to let it die several times, and whose birthday gave me a new deadline.
Leia had watched Alderaan die, and today she watched as the Death Star crept slowly around Yavin, ready to strike the Rebel base as soon as it was in range. It seemed like her death might be delayed by only a few days after all.
Leia put that thought away for now, for after, assuming there was one. She let the pilots' chatter wash over her, and found herself focusing on Luke, even though he wasn't taking the first run at the target. He seemed so young, and she knew he was inexperienced, but that didn't come through over the comms. He was in his element, no longer a naive farmboy but a confident pilot.
The others sounded like that, too, but it didn't seem to matter. One by one, they were shot down. On the tactical boards, the icons that represented the X-wings dwindled, while the TIE fighters seemed to be everywhere. Leia knew they were doing well, considering how few fighters they had, but it wasn't enough. Wedge was hit, and then it was just Luke and Biggs in the trench.
"Hurry, Luke, they're coming in much faster this time. I can't hold them!" Biggs said.
Leia checked the boards. The TIE fighters were gaining, and the Death Star was nearly in range.
"Hurry up, Luke!" A second later, Bigg's last cries cut off abruptly as his ship exploded around him.
Luke was still racing down the trench. Leia exchanged distracted glances with the others in the control room, her mind focused on the display. All of her muscles were tensed, as if she was ready to run--a futile idea that almost made her laugh.
She nearly jumped when one of the others spoke. "His computer's off. Luke, you switched off your targeting computer. What's wrong?"
Luke's voice crackled over the radio. "Nothing. I'm all right."
But he couldn't be all right. Leia's mind screamed at her, calculating the distance between Luke's X-wing and the TIE fighters, knowing that the Imperial pilots couldn't possibly miss at that range. And no one was a good enough shot to hit that exhaust port under those conditions--the targeting computer was Luke's only hope.
A strangled electronic scream over the speakers, and then Luke shouted, "I've lost Artoo!" There was no time to think about what that meant; Luke was still flying toward the end of the trench, the TIE fighters on his tail, racing to see who would take the first--and the last--shot. Leia closed her eyes.
Leia heard Luke gasp, and then metal screeched just before the speakers cut out.
The control room was perfectly quiet for a moment, and then one of the technicians said, "We've lost him."
"Death Star in range," another said.
Leia waited for death.
It never came.
Instead, the Rebels were rounded up. Some were executed on the spot, and others brought to Coruscant to be executed publicly, broadcasted to the Empire as a warning to anyone else who thought about crossing the Emperor.
Leia was taken on board the Death Star and held for months. They kept her constantly drugged and half-aware of her surroundings. In her mind she relived the battle, Rieken's execution, Mon Mothma's torture and subsequent murder at the end of a blaster.
One day, Vader himself appeared at the door to her cell. There was no interrogation droid behind him this time, but she recognized the symmetry of the moment anyway. Her head was clear for once, and she managed to sit up.
"Vader," she said. "I didn't know you paid social calls."
He ignored her remark. "I have come to offer you a place by my side."
"No," Leia said.
Vader was silent for a moment, and then he turned away. "Very well."
He stepped out of her cell, and inclined his head. A medic stepped in, along with a guard. Leia tried to escape, but it was pointless. The guard grabbed her and slammed her head against the bulkhead so hard she barely felt the needle pierce her skin.
The new drugs reduced her existence to a dream-like state, and she followed Vader wherever he went, largely unaware of anything around her. She watched without understanding as Vader tightened his grip on system after system. He never even had to say a word; one glance at Leia's serene countenance and emissaries acquiesced to whatever he demanded.
Even though Leia had been kept drugged constantly, she occasionally remembered who she was. Each time, she felt the sharp sting of hope, but Vader somehow sensed this, even when she kept her face perfectly still, and the doses were increased until she couldn't feel anything again. She had almost accepted she would never be free again, had almost resigned herself to a lifetime of non-existence when she was given the key to her prison.
They were in the Emperor's chambers. Vader and Palpatine had both sensed a great uncertainty, one that might mean danger or an even greater success. Their attention was focused on the future, trying to unlock its secrets. While they were striving toward knowledge of what might be, Leia's drugs eased out of her system, and she was fully in the present for the first time since her capture.
Without knowing what she was doing, she fell into a sort of trance, and she saw how to combat the drugs, how to keep them away from her mind and render them inert in her body. Then, as if someone had shown her a schematic, she saw how to keep Vader or Palpatine from seeing her mind.
Another month she followed Vader, first keeping herself under tight control until she barely had to think about what she was doing, and then she listened. She had listened to Vader and Palpatine talking about the Force for what she knew now had been years, but for the first time she knew that she could sense it. She learned how to draw on it consciously, still without eliciting notice from her captors.
She was never alone. When Vader wasn't around, three Imperial guards kept watch over her. It seemed that Vader didn't leave anything to chance, not even when he had good reason to believe that she was still mentally locked away.
Even so, Leia was sure there would be an opportunity for escape. She absorbed the movements of her guards, the layout of the ship where Vader spent most of his time. When they were on Coruscant, she watched carefully for a break in routine that might be her way out.
She got one, a heartbeat of inattention on Vader's part when one of the planetary governors momentarily grew a spine, for all the good it did him. Vader squeezed the life out of him. Leia was next to the door. She just had to take a step, maybe two, and she would have been around the corner.
She swallowed, her first voluntary movement in what felt like forever.
One of the shadows moved.
Leia froze, panic sending her back into herself, slamming her defenses in place. Her heartbeat thudded rapidly: one second, two seconds, and she knew Vader was going to sense it.
The shadow had eyes, the suggestion of a face like a grimace, and Leia could see the vague shape of... something. And then it was gone, as if it never existed at all.
Leia finally managed to slow her heart, and retreated into herself just in time for the body to hit the ground. She watched as low-ranking officers dragged it away, not paying any attention to the scene before her, her eyes straining to catch another glimpse of the creature she saw earlier.
She didn't know what species it was, didn't know what it was doing there, and she was sure it hadn't left. Out of the corner of her eye, she barely caught another flicker of movement. There. Now that she knew it was there, she could sense it in the Force.
Actually, she realized, she could sense several, and now she saw hints of their movements--shadows that flowed just slightly more than was possible, arranged around Vader. His true, hidden guard.
Vader finished with the council. He rose, and Leia was commanded to follow. She walked behind Vader, her thoughts racing as she noted the shadows following around them--why hadn't they already told Vader that Leia was aware and a threat?
The next weeks gave her no answers to that question, but they proved her initial thoughts correct over and over. Even knowing there were other guards around her, she could barely see them--didn't, in fact, see them most of the time, and her control over the Force wasn't good enough to do much besides hide herself away. She realized in despair that she might be able to outrun the human pursuit, but the aliens, whatever they were, could catch her before she could even sense them.
She only saw them in action once. Ironically, Vader was not even in the room. He was in the inner chamber, using the long-range communications system to talk with the Emperor.
Leia was watching the shadows, so she saw when they moved, rushing out into the room to take up positions around her. They moved so fast that it took her a second to realize they were responding to a threat.
There were three assassins: small, quick, but they were no match for the shadows. The shadows struck from the corners, and the intruders were dead before they took three steps into the room.
Leia felt their necks snap as if it were her fingers doing the work. A part of her was astonished that she just watched, while another part was convinced her survival depended on it.
One of the shadows turned. The creature's face pulled back into a frightening grimace, as if a nightmare had become real. It bowed to her.
"My Lady," it said, its voice a low hiss.
Leia barely noticed what it had said, she was so intent on her own questions. Her throat rasped as she spoke, "Wha--Who are you?"
The creature bowed again. "Khabarakh," he said. "We are Noghri."
"Why didn't you kill me?" Leia whispered, still afraid to move.
"You might be useful," Khabarakh said.
"But if you serve Vader--"
A low growl interrupted her, from the second Noghri. "He is not worthy of our service. He deceived us."
"Then why do you protect him?"
Khabarakh answered. "We gave our word. While he lives, honor demands we protect Lord Vader." There was a pause, and then Khabarakh added, "And his heir."
A chill ran down Leia's spine. Vader's heir? She knew of no such person, and she knew the Emperor could not have known that such a threat to his power existed.
"Why--" Leia began, but there was only another growl, and both of the Noghri melted into the walls. Leia drew back into herself just as Vader's door opened. When he saw the bodies on the floor, his mask turned first to the shadows, and then to her, but he said nothing.
It was, Leia heard later, a last-ditch effort, probably backed by the Hapan Consortium--Vader's latest target. There was, of course, no tie back to the Queen Mother, or even the court, but within days the message came: an offer of an alliance.
They bartered. Vader took Leia to Hapes, a gift for the Queen Mother and the Chume'da, a reminder of the reach of the Empire. They landed just before the party began. There would be no elaborate welcoming party, no rest in lavish quarters, just a summer evening and the numerous members of the Hapan court, there to pay their respects to their future queen.
Leia was barely aware of the cool breeze that flowed across her arms. She did not think about how her feet hurt from standing in the reception line for hours. There would be no point; her body barely belonged to her anymore. She had been bathed and dressed, her long hair swept up in an immaculate style, the barest trace of cosmetics applied to her skin. She stood by Darth Vader, and she felt his control of her body as yet another courtier escaped from his notice into the crowd of her engagement party.
The Hapan Consortium was the only entity strong enough to consider the possibility of resisting the Empire, and tonight they were crawling on their bellies to lick Vader's feet.
"My Lord Vader."
She was not thinking about the dark figure next to her, even though he now prompted her to turn and extend her hand. Leia resented the invisible command, but the resentment slid off of her like water, as if she had never felt the emotion at all.
Prince Isolder stood before her. As the Chume'da, he was the last to arrive save the Queen Mother herself. When Isolder took her hand, his palm was sweaty. "Princess Organa," he said. As he released her hand, his eyes met hers for a brief moment. He was terrified.
She knew what he saw: Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan, the woman who once defied the Empire and lied to Vader as her home was destroyed, now an empty husk, a puppet that moved wherever the Lord Vader commanded.
"Prince Isolder," Vader said. Leia felt his enjoyment of Isolder's fear. She wished she could afford to let her mask fall, give him a measure of hope, but she had little enough to give herself. "How do you find your future bride?"
Isolder blanched. Without looking at Leia, he inclined his head. "The Princess of Alderaan has always been highly respected in the Consortium."
Leia didn't allow a hint of emotion to reach the surface, but Isolder's response surprised her. It was perfectly innocuous, except for the fact that Leia was a traitor. It was almost... rebellious.
The Queen Mother arrived just in time to distract Lord Vader from thinking too closely about Isolder's statement. She was more in control of herself than her son, wary and calculating. Even to Leia's senses, she was hard to read. She exchanged pleasantries with Vader, and then gave a nearly invisible command. The music, which up to now was a subtle counterpoint to the ebb and flow of conversation, picked up volume and tempo.
Isolder offered Leia his arm. It was time to dance, to show the Hapan Court their Prince and their new Queen, to tighten the collar of fear around the necks of these people. Leia let herself be guided through the steps, feeling Isolder's revulsion at her touch. Leia moved gracefully, but she had seen recordings of herself before, and knew she looked wrong--as if she had no substance, or as if someone had drawn her in where she was supposed to be.
She supposed she would be repulsed, were she in Isolder's place.
The dance ended, and she was returned at once to Vader's side. Prince Isolder was already moving away through the gathering to the entrance. She watched him go without turning her head, thinking about how there was no real escape for him, either.
Intent on his progress, Leia only noticed that something felt off when he had disappeared from view. She could sense something was happening, but wasted precious time on her own thoughts and now scrambled to take in everything at once. Vader stirred beside her, turning to scan the crowd, and Leia was compelled to turn with him.
She only caught the barest flicker of movement before Vader stretched out his arm. A few feet away, a red-headed woman in a flimsy gown went rigid, held in place by the Force. Leia was confused, but then the woman's arm twitched. Her hand opened, and a small thermal detonator dropped to the ground with a soft thud, not yet activated. Vader's fingers squeezed, and he crushed the woman's throat. She slumped to the ground, dead before anyone else reacted.
For several long seconds, the only sound was the hiss of Vader's respirator as he gazed at the woman. When he spoke, everyone in the room jumped, afraid for their own lives, of being associated with the assassin.
"Remove the body," he commanded.
Seconds later, servants gathered up her body and the thermal detonator. The courtiers began to murmur, speculating about the woman's target. Was it the Queen Mother or Lord Vader? They were used to assassination plots against their Queen, but Vader was a far greater threat, and killing him might bring about far greater opportunity, if the Emperor weren't waiting just behind.
Leia wasn't sure what it was that caught her attention: the Force, or a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. Vader was focused on the would-be assassin, and Leia was still watching, her mask firmly in place. Still, she moved her head a fraction--a move that could have cost her everything, if Vader noticed. It was almost involuntary, and she panicked for a second before she saw him.
Han Solo.
Han with his familiar crooked stance and even some of his former cocky attitude. He was within a few feet of her, incredibly close, a lot closer than he ever should have been able to get without Vader noticing. It hit her, then, that the other woman was a decoy, a distraction. It still shouldn't have worked, but here he was.
She stared at his face, a face she would have known anywhere. He had left before the battle, and Leia hadn't been able to fault him. She had been wildly irate at him, disgusted with him, and certain that he was the lowest kind of, of... smuggler, but she couldn't fault him. The Rebellion's chances were slim to none, and the best Han could hope for was an honorable death.
It seemed he was trying for one now.
Han had been watching Vader, or maybe the woman, but now he turned and looked straight at her, his mouth set in a grim line, his right hand twitching, and Leia knew that he had a blaster.
He was here to kill her.
Leia felt a rush of gratitude, and it was so overwhelming that she was sure Vader would feel it, turn and kill Han as quickly as he killed the woman. She waited an agonizing moment, and then realized that her mind's defenses were still in place. The thought that someone still cared enough to send him, to make this small gesture of defiance, filled her with a fierce joy.
It had only been a fraction of a second since she saw him. His eyes finally met hers, and Leia took another risk, letting her mask fall, her emotions spilling out of her. Han's eyes widened in surprise, and his astonishment rippled through the room.
Leia knew he never expected this, that all his plans were based on one fact: she was beyond hope. In that moment, she realized the plan was about defiance, but also about her, about ending her own torment, at least for Han.
She willed him to do it, communicating without words that she was ready to die. Han hesitated, and Vader finally noticed that his trophy had escaped his grasp.
Leia's defenses were shattered, and she couldn't stop looking at Han. She wanted to laugh, even though she sensed Vader gathering the Force, binding it with his anger and preparing to release it against them both. Han's lips quirked up just slightly, and it was almost like sharing a joke.
There was no more time, and then Han's blaster was in the air, crossing the few feet to her hands. Her fingers were clumsy, but she managed to catch it and turn. She pulled the trigger, and Vader, Master of the Force, Apprentice to the Sith Lord, fell at her feet.
It was so sudden, so anticlimactic, that it took almost a full ten seconds for anyone, Leia included, to react.
Han touched her shoulder, she jumped, and it was as if her reaction set the world moving again. Someone screamed. The Queen Mother was ushered out the door, her guards reacting as if she was a target.
Vader's lightsaber was still in his hand, his thumb almost on the switch. Leia reached down and grabbed it, handing Han's blaster back to him. She kissed his cheek, whispered, "Thank you," in a voice rough from disuse.
"I hear there's still a reward for rescuing princesses," he said, the ghost of a smile flashing across his face. It was astonishing how the comment brought up memories of that day--both the terror and the hope. Without Vader, even the Emperor was vulnerable, and Leia felt numb with possibility.
The sharp noise of blaster fire reached her, and Leia flinched. A few stormtroopers were pushing back through the crowds, Vader's former lapdogs, wanting revenge or just to gain favor with the Emperor.
"I hope you have a plan for getting out of here," Leia said.
Han shrugged. "Didn't think it would go this well," he said. "Got any ideas?"
She ignited the lightsaber and twisted it without thought, catching a blaster shot and reflecting it back at the stormtroopers. One of them went down. Han gaped at her.
Leia stared back for a second, equally as surprised, and a bolt singed past her ear. She looked ahead, seeing more and more white armor--the stormtroopers had managed to reverse the flow of people through the entrance and were fanning out around the crowd, hemming Han and Leia in. They were never going to make it.
Leia stopped and closed her eyes, feeling the Force flow around her. She tried to relax into it, but there were so many stormtroopers, and she could feel Han's impatience and her own fatigue working against her.
There was the sense of the space around them, the stormtroopers still hampered by the crowd but making progress, and a familiar presence...
She opened her eyes and looked down to find Khabarakh standing in front of her. He bowed, and beside her, Han startled.
"Where did--"
Khabarakh ignored him. "Lady," he said, "Our eternal gratitude." He bowed again and seemed to melt into the room.
"What--" Han sputtered. Leia touched his arm, drawing his attention to the crowd and the stormtroopers. As they watched, there was a blur and the nearest stormtrooper fell, and then the crowd seemed to ripple as more of the soldiers joined the first on the ground.
Han whistled. "Friends of yours?"
Leia shook her head. "I don't know," she said, then reconsidered, remembering While he lives and You might be useful. "Allies, maybe."
"I'll say."
Even with the Noghri clearing the way, there was still a lot of blaster fire--and now Leia could see that the palace guards had taken up positions and were firing on the stormtroopers, too, although that wasn't necessarily helping them at the moment. She clicked off the lightsaber--at this point, she'd rather not be that easy a target--and said, "You know that plan you wanted?"
"Yeah?" Han said, taking out another stormtrooper behind them.
"I've got one." She grabbed his arm and said, "Run!"
*_*_*_*_*_*
Fandom: Star Wars
Rating/Warnings: PG (Character Death.)
Characters: Han. Leia.
Summary: Han left, and Leia couldn't fault him. What might have happened if he never came back at the battle of Yavin.
Author's Notes: Well, this is awkward.
knightedrogue, this was supposed to be finished and posted much, MUCH earlier annerbhp, who helped see the light of day by refusing to let it die several times, and whose birthday gave me a new deadline.Leia had watched Alderaan die, and today she watched as the Death Star crept slowly around Yavin, ready to strike the Rebel base as soon as it was in range. It seemed like her death might be delayed by only a few days after all.
Leia put that thought away for now, for after, assuming there was one. She let the pilots' chatter wash over her, and found herself focusing on Luke, even though he wasn't taking the first run at the target. He seemed so young, and she knew he was inexperienced, but that didn't come through over the comms. He was in his element, no longer a naive farmboy but a confident pilot.
The others sounded like that, too, but it didn't seem to matter. One by one, they were shot down. On the tactical boards, the icons that represented the X-wings dwindled, while the TIE fighters seemed to be everywhere. Leia knew they were doing well, considering how few fighters they had, but it wasn't enough. Wedge was hit, and then it was just Luke and Biggs in the trench.
"Hurry, Luke, they're coming in much faster this time. I can't hold them!" Biggs said.
Leia checked the boards. The TIE fighters were gaining, and the Death Star was nearly in range.
"Hurry up, Luke!" A second later, Bigg's last cries cut off abruptly as his ship exploded around him.
Luke was still racing down the trench. Leia exchanged distracted glances with the others in the control room, her mind focused on the display. All of her muscles were tensed, as if she was ready to run--a futile idea that almost made her laugh.
She nearly jumped when one of the others spoke. "His computer's off. Luke, you switched off your targeting computer. What's wrong?"
Luke's voice crackled over the radio. "Nothing. I'm all right."
But he couldn't be all right. Leia's mind screamed at her, calculating the distance between Luke's X-wing and the TIE fighters, knowing that the Imperial pilots couldn't possibly miss at that range. And no one was a good enough shot to hit that exhaust port under those conditions--the targeting computer was Luke's only hope.
A strangled electronic scream over the speakers, and then Luke shouted, "I've lost Artoo!" There was no time to think about what that meant; Luke was still flying toward the end of the trench, the TIE fighters on his tail, racing to see who would take the first--and the last--shot. Leia closed her eyes.
Leia heard Luke gasp, and then metal screeched just before the speakers cut out.
The control room was perfectly quiet for a moment, and then one of the technicians said, "We've lost him."
"Death Star in range," another said.
Leia waited for death.
It never came.
Instead, the Rebels were rounded up. Some were executed on the spot, and others brought to Coruscant to be executed publicly, broadcasted to the Empire as a warning to anyone else who thought about crossing the Emperor.
Leia was taken on board the Death Star and held for months. They kept her constantly drugged and half-aware of her surroundings. In her mind she relived the battle, Rieken's execution, Mon Mothma's torture and subsequent murder at the end of a blaster.
One day, Vader himself appeared at the door to her cell. There was no interrogation droid behind him this time, but she recognized the symmetry of the moment anyway. Her head was clear for once, and she managed to sit up.
"Vader," she said. "I didn't know you paid social calls."
He ignored her remark. "I have come to offer you a place by my side."
"No," Leia said.
Vader was silent for a moment, and then he turned away. "Very well."
He stepped out of her cell, and inclined his head. A medic stepped in, along with a guard. Leia tried to escape, but it was pointless. The guard grabbed her and slammed her head against the bulkhead so hard she barely felt the needle pierce her skin.
The new drugs reduced her existence to a dream-like state, and she followed Vader wherever he went, largely unaware of anything around her. She watched without understanding as Vader tightened his grip on system after system. He never even had to say a word; one glance at Leia's serene countenance and emissaries acquiesced to whatever he demanded.
Even though Leia had been kept drugged constantly, she occasionally remembered who she was. Each time, she felt the sharp sting of hope, but Vader somehow sensed this, even when she kept her face perfectly still, and the doses were increased until she couldn't feel anything again. She had almost accepted she would never be free again, had almost resigned herself to a lifetime of non-existence when she was given the key to her prison.
They were in the Emperor's chambers. Vader and Palpatine had both sensed a great uncertainty, one that might mean danger or an even greater success. Their attention was focused on the future, trying to unlock its secrets. While they were striving toward knowledge of what might be, Leia's drugs eased out of her system, and she was fully in the present for the first time since her capture.
Without knowing what she was doing, she fell into a sort of trance, and she saw how to combat the drugs, how to keep them away from her mind and render them inert in her body. Then, as if someone had shown her a schematic, she saw how to keep Vader or Palpatine from seeing her mind.
Another month she followed Vader, first keeping herself under tight control until she barely had to think about what she was doing, and then she listened. She had listened to Vader and Palpatine talking about the Force for what she knew now had been years, but for the first time she knew that she could sense it. She learned how to draw on it consciously, still without eliciting notice from her captors.
She was never alone. When Vader wasn't around, three Imperial guards kept watch over her. It seemed that Vader didn't leave anything to chance, not even when he had good reason to believe that she was still mentally locked away.
Even so, Leia was sure there would be an opportunity for escape. She absorbed the movements of her guards, the layout of the ship where Vader spent most of his time. When they were on Coruscant, she watched carefully for a break in routine that might be her way out.
She got one, a heartbeat of inattention on Vader's part when one of the planetary governors momentarily grew a spine, for all the good it did him. Vader squeezed the life out of him. Leia was next to the door. She just had to take a step, maybe two, and she would have been around the corner.
She swallowed, her first voluntary movement in what felt like forever.
One of the shadows moved.
Leia froze, panic sending her back into herself, slamming her defenses in place. Her heartbeat thudded rapidly: one second, two seconds, and she knew Vader was going to sense it.
The shadow had eyes, the suggestion of a face like a grimace, and Leia could see the vague shape of... something. And then it was gone, as if it never existed at all.
Leia finally managed to slow her heart, and retreated into herself just in time for the body to hit the ground. She watched as low-ranking officers dragged it away, not paying any attention to the scene before her, her eyes straining to catch another glimpse of the creature she saw earlier.
She didn't know what species it was, didn't know what it was doing there, and she was sure it hadn't left. Out of the corner of her eye, she barely caught another flicker of movement. There. Now that she knew it was there, she could sense it in the Force.
Actually, she realized, she could sense several, and now she saw hints of their movements--shadows that flowed just slightly more than was possible, arranged around Vader. His true, hidden guard.
Vader finished with the council. He rose, and Leia was commanded to follow. She walked behind Vader, her thoughts racing as she noted the shadows following around them--why hadn't they already told Vader that Leia was aware and a threat?
The next weeks gave her no answers to that question, but they proved her initial thoughts correct over and over. Even knowing there were other guards around her, she could barely see them--didn't, in fact, see them most of the time, and her control over the Force wasn't good enough to do much besides hide herself away. She realized in despair that she might be able to outrun the human pursuit, but the aliens, whatever they were, could catch her before she could even sense them.
She only saw them in action once. Ironically, Vader was not even in the room. He was in the inner chamber, using the long-range communications system to talk with the Emperor.
Leia was watching the shadows, so she saw when they moved, rushing out into the room to take up positions around her. They moved so fast that it took her a second to realize they were responding to a threat.
There were three assassins: small, quick, but they were no match for the shadows. The shadows struck from the corners, and the intruders were dead before they took three steps into the room.
Leia felt their necks snap as if it were her fingers doing the work. A part of her was astonished that she just watched, while another part was convinced her survival depended on it.
One of the shadows turned. The creature's face pulled back into a frightening grimace, as if a nightmare had become real. It bowed to her.
"My Lady," it said, its voice a low hiss.
Leia barely noticed what it had said, she was so intent on her own questions. Her throat rasped as she spoke, "Wha--Who are you?"
The creature bowed again. "Khabarakh," he said. "We are Noghri."
"Why didn't you kill me?" Leia whispered, still afraid to move.
"You might be useful," Khabarakh said.
"But if you serve Vader--"
A low growl interrupted her, from the second Noghri. "He is not worthy of our service. He deceived us."
"Then why do you protect him?"
Khabarakh answered. "We gave our word. While he lives, honor demands we protect Lord Vader." There was a pause, and then Khabarakh added, "And his heir."
A chill ran down Leia's spine. Vader's heir? She knew of no such person, and she knew the Emperor could not have known that such a threat to his power existed.
"Why--" Leia began, but there was only another growl, and both of the Noghri melted into the walls. Leia drew back into herself just as Vader's door opened. When he saw the bodies on the floor, his mask turned first to the shadows, and then to her, but he said nothing.
It was, Leia heard later, a last-ditch effort, probably backed by the Hapan Consortium--Vader's latest target. There was, of course, no tie back to the Queen Mother, or even the court, but within days the message came: an offer of an alliance.
They bartered. Vader took Leia to Hapes, a gift for the Queen Mother and the Chume'da, a reminder of the reach of the Empire. They landed just before the party began. There would be no elaborate welcoming party, no rest in lavish quarters, just a summer evening and the numerous members of the Hapan court, there to pay their respects to their future queen.
Leia was barely aware of the cool breeze that flowed across her arms. She did not think about how her feet hurt from standing in the reception line for hours. There would be no point; her body barely belonged to her anymore. She had been bathed and dressed, her long hair swept up in an immaculate style, the barest trace of cosmetics applied to her skin. She stood by Darth Vader, and she felt his control of her body as yet another courtier escaped from his notice into the crowd of her engagement party.
The Hapan Consortium was the only entity strong enough to consider the possibility of resisting the Empire, and tonight they were crawling on their bellies to lick Vader's feet.
"My Lord Vader."
She was not thinking about the dark figure next to her, even though he now prompted her to turn and extend her hand. Leia resented the invisible command, but the resentment slid off of her like water, as if she had never felt the emotion at all.
Prince Isolder stood before her. As the Chume'da, he was the last to arrive save the Queen Mother herself. When Isolder took her hand, his palm was sweaty. "Princess Organa," he said. As he released her hand, his eyes met hers for a brief moment. He was terrified.
She knew what he saw: Leia Organa, Princess of Alderaan, the woman who once defied the Empire and lied to Vader as her home was destroyed, now an empty husk, a puppet that moved wherever the Lord Vader commanded.
"Prince Isolder," Vader said. Leia felt his enjoyment of Isolder's fear. She wished she could afford to let her mask fall, give him a measure of hope, but she had little enough to give herself. "How do you find your future bride?"
Isolder blanched. Without looking at Leia, he inclined his head. "The Princess of Alderaan has always been highly respected in the Consortium."
Leia didn't allow a hint of emotion to reach the surface, but Isolder's response surprised her. It was perfectly innocuous, except for the fact that Leia was a traitor. It was almost... rebellious.
The Queen Mother arrived just in time to distract Lord Vader from thinking too closely about Isolder's statement. She was more in control of herself than her son, wary and calculating. Even to Leia's senses, she was hard to read. She exchanged pleasantries with Vader, and then gave a nearly invisible command. The music, which up to now was a subtle counterpoint to the ebb and flow of conversation, picked up volume and tempo.
Isolder offered Leia his arm. It was time to dance, to show the Hapan Court their Prince and their new Queen, to tighten the collar of fear around the necks of these people. Leia let herself be guided through the steps, feeling Isolder's revulsion at her touch. Leia moved gracefully, but she had seen recordings of herself before, and knew she looked wrong--as if she had no substance, or as if someone had drawn her in where she was supposed to be.
She supposed she would be repulsed, were she in Isolder's place.
The dance ended, and she was returned at once to Vader's side. Prince Isolder was already moving away through the gathering to the entrance. She watched him go without turning her head, thinking about how there was no real escape for him, either.
Intent on his progress, Leia only noticed that something felt off when he had disappeared from view. She could sense something was happening, but wasted precious time on her own thoughts and now scrambled to take in everything at once. Vader stirred beside her, turning to scan the crowd, and Leia was compelled to turn with him.
She only caught the barest flicker of movement before Vader stretched out his arm. A few feet away, a red-headed woman in a flimsy gown went rigid, held in place by the Force. Leia was confused, but then the woman's arm twitched. Her hand opened, and a small thermal detonator dropped to the ground with a soft thud, not yet activated. Vader's fingers squeezed, and he crushed the woman's throat. She slumped to the ground, dead before anyone else reacted.
For several long seconds, the only sound was the hiss of Vader's respirator as he gazed at the woman. When he spoke, everyone in the room jumped, afraid for their own lives, of being associated with the assassin.
"Remove the body," he commanded.
Seconds later, servants gathered up her body and the thermal detonator. The courtiers began to murmur, speculating about the woman's target. Was it the Queen Mother or Lord Vader? They were used to assassination plots against their Queen, but Vader was a far greater threat, and killing him might bring about far greater opportunity, if the Emperor weren't waiting just behind.
Leia wasn't sure what it was that caught her attention: the Force, or a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye. Vader was focused on the would-be assassin, and Leia was still watching, her mask firmly in place. Still, she moved her head a fraction--a move that could have cost her everything, if Vader noticed. It was almost involuntary, and she panicked for a second before she saw him.
Han Solo.
Han with his familiar crooked stance and even some of his former cocky attitude. He was within a few feet of her, incredibly close, a lot closer than he ever should have been able to get without Vader noticing. It hit her, then, that the other woman was a decoy, a distraction. It still shouldn't have worked, but here he was.
She stared at his face, a face she would have known anywhere. He had left before the battle, and Leia hadn't been able to fault him. She had been wildly irate at him, disgusted with him, and certain that he was the lowest kind of, of... smuggler, but she couldn't fault him. The Rebellion's chances were slim to none, and the best Han could hope for was an honorable death.
It seemed he was trying for one now.
Han had been watching Vader, or maybe the woman, but now he turned and looked straight at her, his mouth set in a grim line, his right hand twitching, and Leia knew that he had a blaster.
He was here to kill her.
Leia felt a rush of gratitude, and it was so overwhelming that she was sure Vader would feel it, turn and kill Han as quickly as he killed the woman. She waited an agonizing moment, and then realized that her mind's defenses were still in place. The thought that someone still cared enough to send him, to make this small gesture of defiance, filled her with a fierce joy.
It had only been a fraction of a second since she saw him. His eyes finally met hers, and Leia took another risk, letting her mask fall, her emotions spilling out of her. Han's eyes widened in surprise, and his astonishment rippled through the room.
Leia knew he never expected this, that all his plans were based on one fact: she was beyond hope. In that moment, she realized the plan was about defiance, but also about her, about ending her own torment, at least for Han.
She willed him to do it, communicating without words that she was ready to die. Han hesitated, and Vader finally noticed that his trophy had escaped his grasp.
Leia's defenses were shattered, and she couldn't stop looking at Han. She wanted to laugh, even though she sensed Vader gathering the Force, binding it with his anger and preparing to release it against them both. Han's lips quirked up just slightly, and it was almost like sharing a joke.
There was no more time, and then Han's blaster was in the air, crossing the few feet to her hands. Her fingers were clumsy, but she managed to catch it and turn. She pulled the trigger, and Vader, Master of the Force, Apprentice to the Sith Lord, fell at her feet.
It was so sudden, so anticlimactic, that it took almost a full ten seconds for anyone, Leia included, to react.
Han touched her shoulder, she jumped, and it was as if her reaction set the world moving again. Someone screamed. The Queen Mother was ushered out the door, her guards reacting as if she was a target.
Vader's lightsaber was still in his hand, his thumb almost on the switch. Leia reached down and grabbed it, handing Han's blaster back to him. She kissed his cheek, whispered, "Thank you," in a voice rough from disuse.
"I hear there's still a reward for rescuing princesses," he said, the ghost of a smile flashing across his face. It was astonishing how the comment brought up memories of that day--both the terror and the hope. Without Vader, even the Emperor was vulnerable, and Leia felt numb with possibility.
The sharp noise of blaster fire reached her, and Leia flinched. A few stormtroopers were pushing back through the crowds, Vader's former lapdogs, wanting revenge or just to gain favor with the Emperor.
"I hope you have a plan for getting out of here," Leia said.
Han shrugged. "Didn't think it would go this well," he said. "Got any ideas?"
She ignited the lightsaber and twisted it without thought, catching a blaster shot and reflecting it back at the stormtroopers. One of them went down. Han gaped at her.
Leia stared back for a second, equally as surprised, and a bolt singed past her ear. She looked ahead, seeing more and more white armor--the stormtroopers had managed to reverse the flow of people through the entrance and were fanning out around the crowd, hemming Han and Leia in. They were never going to make it.
Leia stopped and closed her eyes, feeling the Force flow around her. She tried to relax into it, but there were so many stormtroopers, and she could feel Han's impatience and her own fatigue working against her.
There was the sense of the space around them, the stormtroopers still hampered by the crowd but making progress, and a familiar presence...
She opened her eyes and looked down to find Khabarakh standing in front of her. He bowed, and beside her, Han startled.
"Where did--"
Khabarakh ignored him. "Lady," he said, "Our eternal gratitude." He bowed again and seemed to melt into the room.
"What--" Han sputtered. Leia touched his arm, drawing his attention to the crowd and the stormtroopers. As they watched, there was a blur and the nearest stormtrooper fell, and then the crowd seemed to ripple as more of the soldiers joined the first on the ground.
Han whistled. "Friends of yours?"
Leia shook her head. "I don't know," she said, then reconsidered, remembering While he lives and You might be useful. "Allies, maybe."
"I'll say."
Even with the Noghri clearing the way, there was still a lot of blaster fire--and now Leia could see that the palace guards had taken up positions and were firing on the stormtroopers, too, although that wasn't necessarily helping them at the moment. She clicked off the lightsaber--at this point, she'd rather not be that easy a target--and said, "You know that plan you wanted?"
"Yeah?" Han said, taking out another stormtrooper behind them.
"I've got one." She grabbed his arm and said, "Run!"
*_*_*_*_*_*
