Leia folded her arms across her chest and rigidly determined not to panic. “What's this?” she asked quietly.
Cale smiled innocuously at her from across the candle lit room, his black eyes glistening in the flickering light. “Dinner.”
Leia shifted her weight from foot to foot nervously. This was no ordinary dinner. A fabulous view of the stars lay behind thick transparisteel to her right, and in the room before her was an elegant Alderaani banquet, complete with her favorite dish and an aged wine from her destroyed planet. Cale sat on the opposite side of the table for two, his smile hungry. All that in itself was enough to make her tense, but what hit her hardest was that it was the perfect recreation of the evening Han had prepared for her on their wedding night. All that was missing was Han.
She brought one hand to cover her mouth, feeling ill. She had no idea what game Cale was playing, but using her memories against her wasn't a good way to make her cooperate.
“Come, sit,” he urged.
Leia looked around and caught sight of the two guards who had escorted her to his quarters. The weren't moving from their perch at the exit. It seemed as if she had no choice. Still she didn't budge. “Do you mind explaining what you're doing here?”
“Well, I thought we might enjoy a nice dinner together. You are hungry, aren't you?” he prodded.
The growl of her stomach was almost audible. She hadn't been brought food in almost three days. This was the first time it had even been offered. She was at the point of feeling utterly anemic. And he knew it, too. Leia realized now that it had all been carefully arranged, assuring that she would be very unlikely to turn down sustenance in any form.
“A little,” she admitted dryly, still unmoved. They stared for a dozen heartbeats before she sighed and took a seat opposite him at the table. Even if she was suspicious, the tantalizing aromas made her mouth water.
He began to eat quietly, watching her as she indulged in her favorite dish, exquisitely prepared. “So tell me, how have you fared since you sent away that dear husband of yours?”
Leia stopped chewing and stared at him over the dim dancing wicks. “I didn't send him away. You did.”
“Oh on the contrary,” he laughed around another mouthful, “that was very much an independent decision on your part. You could have tried to escape with them. Might have even been successful if that Jedi had a trick up his sleeve. Probably not, but there was a chance.”
Leia licked her lips and sat down the eating utensils. She folded her hands in her lap and fixed him with a stern stare. “I love my husband. He is my life. I did what I did to save him and this galaxy.” She leaned forward minutely, trying to drag some emotion out of her tearing heart and into her face. “Let me help you, Cale. Let me help the Baci. We can make a deal, give you all you need without any war. There doesn't have to be death! I can give you everything if you'll only let me,” she pleaded.
He cocked his head to one side and let his grin become gentler, understanding even. “Perhaps you're right.”
Leia was taken aback. She had expected a myriad of things, but that response was not one of them. “Really?” she gaped.
He leaned forward, grinning from ear to ear. “Of course. You have to know I would do anything...for you.”
A very awkward silence fell over the room. Leia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I'm not sure I understand.”
He sighed, doleful. “Neither do I, really.”
She swallowed, the Force prickling her skin in warning. “What are you saying?”
When he met her eyes she saw nothing but honesty in them. “That somehow, in all this ridiculous mess, you've managed to ensnare my heart. I love you, Leia.”
She stood, horrified, knocking the chair over in her haste. He followed suit, extending one hand in her direction. She scurried away from him, almost tripping in her haste. “I don't believe you,” she whispered. “And even if I did...I am very much in love with Han. This just isn't something I can do. You have to understand that. But, Cale...Cale I can still help you.”
She ran out of room to run. He was less than a step away from her then, one slender hand grasping her shoulder, eyes imploring. “You're right. You can help me.”
Fear swelled inside of her like a raging flood. The Force sang in her head, screaming at her to run, get out while she could. “Let go of me!” she gasped, struggling away. She crashed into a side table, bruising her forearm and knocking off the glass vase. Not caring, Leia whirled, making sure she kept him in her sight.
“I am sorry,” he whispered. “I didn't mean to scare you.”
“Just, you just stay over there,” she ordered, holding one hand out to ward him off.
He held up his hands, palms facing her. “I'm sorry.”
They stayed that way for at least a minute before Leia stood, regaining her composure. “It's all right.”
He lowered his arms and sighed. “This doesn't change the fact that I love you.”
“Stop saying that,” she hissed. “I don't know what your motive is, but you do not love me.”
His jaw squared. “Do not tell me what I do and do not feel.”
Leia felt nauseous, and a little dizzy. She reached for the Force and found its comfort elusive. Something wasn't right. Her eyes roved to the dinner, half eaten. Something about the dinner...
The spread beget her to remember her wedding night, the fabulous joy of knowing the man she loved more than anything was now hers, for life. Their future had been so sure, so certain. Nothing could ever come between them. He was a part of her, their hearts beating with a single rhythm. There had been no comparable bliss in her life then like the feeling of laying in his strong arms that night and knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was truly, deeply loved.
“Leia?” Cale's voice interrupted her reverie.
She turned back to him, his form fuzzy and wavering in her sight. “What's wrong with me?” she muttered, touching her forehead and blinking, trying not to faint. Her senses were muddled and confused. Something was terribly wrong. She found her eyes drifting back to the dinner table…
His hands soothed her worried brow and her limbs would not obey her command to push him away. “Don’t worry,” he whispered, his lips against her ear. “It’ll be all right.”
She found a last modicum of strength and pulled away enough to look him in the eye. Instead of her tormentor she saw the face of someone she trusted above all other’s. Han’s brown eyes grinned at her, the scar on his chin stretching gently as he smiled. “Han?” she gasped.
His big hands ran gently through her hair. “It’s all right, Princess. I’m here.”
Tears pooled in her eyes with relief. “Oh, Han,” she wept against his shoulder. He pulled her near, his broad chest always her refuge. She reached out in the Force to touch him, feel his soul; instead she hit a ferrocrete wall.
He didn’t give her time to think about it. “Are you all right, sweetheart?” he crooned.
Leia nodded, so glad to be back in his arms. For some reason it didn’t strike her as odd that he had left her here three days ago, or that Cale had vanished without a trace. No, it was all okay as long as he kept holding her. “I am now.”
He held her chin tenderly, tilting her face up to look him in the eye. “I love you, Leia.”
A solitary tear trailed down her face and across her lips. “I love you too, Han.”
He kissed her.
- * *
“Call Chewie.”
Jacen’s head snapped up, eyes wide as he tried to pretend he had not been asleep. “What?”
Mara sat serenely in the pilot’s couch, her red hair tied in a fiery mass atop her head and jade eyes focused on nothing. “Luke wants us to call Chewie before we land. They don’t need him.” She paused as both Anakin and Jacen held their breaths. “They’re coming home.”
Despite the fact they were approaching reentry and he needed to be seated and safely buckled, Anakin stood with a whoop of joy, pumping his fist in the air triumphantly. “I knew it! They’re bringing Mom home.”
Mara snapped out of her trance, features forlorn. “I don’t think so, Anakin.”
That halted both boys. Jacen blinked at her, trying to understand why his father would ever come home without Leia. “Why?” he stammered.
She shook her head, refusing to look at them. “I don’t know.” Her hands were already flying back across the control panels, preparing for the descent into Coruscant’s atmosphere. “But they’re coming home and Leia’s not. I’m sorry, guys.”
Jacen inhaled deeply as he extended his mind in the Force. He could still feel his mother there, alive. She wasn’t dead. So what had happened? Did they just give up?
On an unexpected note, Jacen felt the presence of his twin, much closer than she should be. In the Coruscant system. “Jaina’s here,” he interjected.
Anakin had sat back down, dazed. “What?” he blinked.
“Jaina,” Mara repeated for him. “One of you get on the HoloNet and let Chewie know he can head home.”
Jacen moved to comply, his mind still whirling with implications. Everything was happening so fast. It seemed for every answer they got two more questions were posed. He didn’t know how or why Han and Luke would ever abandon Leia, but whatever it was could not be good. He supposed he should be thankful they were coming home at all. And Jaina shouldn’t even be close to done with the negotiations by then. Things were going all wrong and he had no idea if there was even a way to stop it.
- * *
The turbolift was already fifty floors down when Jaina dropped through the chute. She cursed him with every violent insult she knew as the car roof rushed at her with dizzying speeds. She tapped into the Force, using it to buoy her descent so that maybe she might live long enough to kill him.
You can’t kill him a voice whispered in her ear. You still need him.
Jaina ignored the voice and concentrated on the exact moment of impact. It came as a shock, even though she was expecting it. Her boots met the roof of the unmoving car hard enough to dent the durasteel. She absorbed the impact through her knees and let the jolt pass through her whole body before expelling into the air. The Force had cushioned it enough to let her stand almost immediately. Her lightsaber was alive and humming through the roof even as her feet hit.
When the metal heated to a sizzling orange Jaina tugged the hilt around in a rough circle, making sure to bevel the edge inward to create a lip. After the loop was complete Jaina withdrew and grasped the cover in a Force grip. It didn’t budge for a second, then gave a terrible screech as it tore free, bouncing off the walls of the tiny enclosure.
She hurdled into the car head first, somersaulting to land in a crouch, one hand on the floor for balance and the other gripping her kindled saber. Jag was nowhere to be seen. “Damn,” she muttered, striking out at the open switch. The doors parted and she rushed through.
It was an ordinary Coruscanti thoroughfare, complete with swarms of sundry beings and rushing hovertaxis. The few closest to Jaina’s exit stopped to stare at her sweat-stained jumpsuit and blazing lightsaber, but most didn’t. But so much more importantly, there was no sign of the Chiss colonel anywhere.
Her mind blanked. She felt the Force rush over her like a cool summer wind, taking away all thought and emotion. There was a memory of her childhood on Yavin IV. The Force whispered in her ear, reminding her of the lessons so ingrained through her training. It spoke in Uncle Luke’s voice, his guidance filling her with one thought: Your eyes can deceive you. Don’t trust them.
The crowd became a translucent collection of matter in her eyes, walls and buildings turned diaphanous. She didn’t move, barely breathed, just searched. At the same time a tendril of her thought swept the area, grasping at any human male presence that in any way resembled his signature.
And there he was, a glowing red beacon two hundred meters away and counting. She saw him like he was right in front of her, dodging foot traffic in a headlong run, ducking in and out of buildings before entering an upscale hotel. Jaina licked her lips and stood upright before letting go of her Force Sight.
Then she moved, flying through the crowd, hell-bent. She wouldn’t let him ruin this. She wouldn’t let her mother die so the stupid Chiss could keep their kriffing secrets. Nirauan had been her mission and the success now hinged on whether or not she could keep Jag Fel in her custody.
A speeder whizzed by overhead. Jaina drew the Force around her and pushed, leaping fifteen meters in the air to grasp the foot railing on its bottom side. Her weight tilted it off balance, listing to the port side. This tugged the speeder in the general direction she wanted to go, hurling through the traffic lanes to pass over the hotel Jag had entered. As they swung by the enormous structure Jaina let go.
She landed precariously on a window ledge, clutching the ferrocrete sill as hard as she could. Taking a moment to catch her breath, Jaina rested against the building and stretched out for Jag in the Force. He was in the turbolift, anxious but not at all panicked. She could easily feel the calculations running through his head, knowing that she would be hunting him and realizing he had to do something before he was found. His main objective was to find a HoloNet transceiver and call his father and report. He would be given instructions from there.
Jaina wondered at the regimented order of his thoughts, how nothing was random or unpredictable. He was a sure as stone, reliable to a fault. He would do his duty till the end. She grimaced at this, knowing it would only mean more chases through the Coruscant streets.
Having once again found her center, Jaina pulled her lightsaber from her belt and pressed the business end against the window. She pressed the button and fragments shot everywhere, in the hotel room and back out at her. Many of them she managed to deflect with her mind but some cut into her skin, leaving slow blood trails leaking down her arms and from under her hair. She ignored the minor pains and jumped inside.
A terrified Bothan couple screamed when she ran through the room, lightsaber still lit. She didn’t even acknowledge them, just dashed through the door and into the corridor. She stopped at the turbolift access and waited.
Thinking something with more immediate effects might be more suitable in this situation than a lightsaber, she clipped it back on her belt and pulled out her blaster. When the doors opened Jag Fel’s surprised face was met with its muzzle.
His green eyes widened in astonishment, making her grin. “Colonel Fel, how nice of you to stop by.”