Disclaimer: Not mine. I'm just playing. I'll put'em back when I'm done.

Rating: G

Synopsis: Star Wars IV - A New Hope from Leia's point of view.

She had never thought that she would get caught. Not like this. Marching along between the two stormtroopers, she tried to keep her mind off what would happen to her once she met Vader. It was not like it would be the first time that she had encountered the dark Jedi, but these were different circumstances. Different and quite dangerous. Thinking back on what had happened, she scolded herself silently for her carelessness. She knew that she would not have been able to obtain the plans of the Death Star more easily, but she could have gone about it more carefully. It might not have been obvious to those imperial bastards that the plans had been copied until she and her crew had been light-years away. Despite the fact that she was merely eighteen years of age, she did not consider her obviously imminent death a loss. No, what she considered a great loss was the deaths of those surrounding her. The people who obeyed her. They should never have been dragged into this.

A pang of a feeling never felt before made her next step a jerky one. Something familiar yet unknown had wormed its way into her subconscious mind. Something...! She blinked, a frown furrowing her brow for a moment. What had that been? It had been there for a moment and then it had again vanished. She had actually felt it before but much more subdued than now.

The stormtroopers turned another corner with the young princess between them and were met by what Leia had always considered to be a terrifying, yet loathsome sight. Lord Darth Vader, Dark Lord of the Sith, stood near the entrance of the cruiser he so bluntly had attacked, waiting for his men to bring him the prisoner. Leia put on her most patronizing expression, staring up at those blank-polished eye holes with a relentless hateful stare.

"Lord Vader, I should have known. Only you could be so bold. The Imperial Senate will not sit still for this, when they hear you've attacked a diplomatic..." she began, but he cut her off sharply.

"Don't play games with me, Your Highness. You weren't on any mercy mission this time. You passed directly through a restricted area. Several transmissions were beamed to this ship by Rebel spies. I what to know what happened to the plans they sent you."

Putting on an air of innocence, Leia raised her chin up high. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm a member of the Imperial Senate on a diplomatic mission to Alderaan..." she tried again and was again cut short by his wheezing voice.

"You're a part of the Rebel Alliance...and a traitor. Take her away!"

The stormtroopers ushered her on and Leia hoped that she had given Vader something to think about. The troopers took her directly to a detention cell on the Star Destroyer and left her there to ponder Vader's accusation. Who was he to throw threats about, she thought angrily. Clenching her delicate hands into fists, she forced some calm into herself. It would do her little good if she tried to defy them all now. No, she would have to wait until she met whoever was holding Vader's leash. And she was somehow convinced that it would not be the Emperor himself.

The feeling that had entered her mind before she had met Vader, again rose out of the murky depths of her subconscious mind. What had it been? What could the explanation be for such a feeling? After pondering a possible explanation for a while, she gave up on it. There was no connection between that feeling and any other she had ever felt before. Except perhaps...! A sinister memory rose up to the surface, making her feel the pain of that incident again. Much more subdued as when it had happened, but painful non the less. Her mother's death when she had been a mere five years of age. Her real mother's death.

To keep herself from becoming vulnerable, Leia forced her feelings back, shoving them into a small room in the back of her head and slamming the door on them. She would never allow anyone to abuse these feelings and use them against her. She would not grow weak on account of a loss which lay so far back in her past.

***

What seemed like a lifetime after, Stormtroopers once again came to pick her up. Leia knew that the time of her destiny was drawing nearer, but as long as the plans reached her father safely, there would be nothing to worry about. She would go to her death if need be as long as she knew that her father would avenge her death.

To Leia's slight disappointment, she realized that she would not meet whoever was in charge at once. She was transferred to another detention cell and left to her own devices there. Dropping down on the cot, she looked around the cell. This wasn't any different than the one she had just left, but something about the whole place felt bigger. Bigger? she wondered silently. How could anything be bigger than Vader's flagship?

As if on cue, the door suddenly opened and Vader stepped in, followed closely by two Stormtroopers. For a moment, Leia almost imagined that she could see him smile. She sat up straight, defiance glowing in her eyes. But then a hum of something big followed the dark Lord into the cell. A torture droid floated into the room after him, a large hypodermic needle glowing viciously at the end of one of its mechanical arms.

"And now, Your Highness, we will discuss the location of your hidden Rebel base." Vader's words oozed with a promise of pain and Leia pulled back against the wall, her defiance smoldering away to fear. Despite all she had learned, a torture droid was not exactly what she had planned on meeting at this point.

But her resolve to keep her feelings at bay resurfaced as the monstrous thing drifted toward her, extending the needle. No, she would not give in to them. She would never tell them anything worth while. Not even if it killed her. The door slid shut as the stormtroopers grabbed her, preventing her from fighting the droid's attack.

The needle was thick compared to most and the fluid it injected burned like fire in her veins. Allowing herself the small pleasure of acknowledging the pain, Leia screamed, writhing under the horrendous onslaught of the mind-boggling drug. It would try to force her to speak but she clung with all her might to the mere thought that she would not speak. She would be silent. Better to be silent than to speak and later learn that what she had said had been the wrong thing to say. As the drug did its job, Leia remained silent except for her screams of pain. She fought and held on and eventually, after an seemingly unending period of time, the effect of the drug slowly started to wear off again.

Breathing hard, Leia was satisfied at realizing that she had indeed not spoken. She was exhausted from fighting the drug and Vader would never know how close he had come to breaking her. A little more and the pain would have become too much for even her. She would have either talked or died. Whichever came first. She raised her head laboriously to give Vader a triumphant smile. The dark Lord cursed under his breath, grabbed her arm and forced her to her feet. Without a word, he pushed her toward the door and she stumbled into one of the stormtroopers, her triumph making her stronger.

***

Leia was lead down corridors which seemed too long for a Star Destroyer. Even Vader's Star Destroyer could not possibly be that long. She frowned at the curving of the walls here and there, but decided to keep her curiosity at bay until she met her true tormentor. Vader walked behind her, keeping whatever opinions he had to himself. Eventually, he stopped her and opened a door off to the right, shoving her through it.

The moment she saw him, she cursed herself silently for not having known earlier. Again raising her chin up high, she stepped forward to face Grand Moff Tarkin, who was in her opinion even worse than Vader.

"Governor Tarkin, I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench the moment I was brought on board." She spoke the words with dignity, yet also displayed her dislike for the man.

Tarkin smiled overbearingly. "Charming to the last. You don't know how hard I found it signing the order to terminate your life!"

Leia had only scorn left for that. She had long since been prepared that this day might come soon. "I'm surprised you had the courage to take the responsibility yourself!" Spoken like a true princess. Her father would have been proud of her.

Tarkin continued to smile and Leia found that a little unsettling. The smile bore no good promises. "Princess Leia, before your execution I would like you to be my guest at a ceremony that will make this battle station operational. No star system will dare oppose the Emperor now."

So, that was what this was. A battle station. She should have known. Feeling cold anger rise in her, she leaned a little closer. "The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers."

Still that smile lingered on his lips as he turned to face the viewport behind him. "Not after we demonstrate the power of this station. In a way, you have determined the choice of the planet that'll be destroyed first. Since you are reluctant to provide us with the location of the Rebel base, I have chosen to test this station's destructive power... on your home planet of Alderaan."

The words took a second to sink in. Leia felt the color drain from her face as she recognized the outline of the planet which could be seen from the battle station's viewport. "No! Alderaan is peaceful. We have no weapons. You can't possibly..." she yelled, only to be interrupted by Tarkin's angry tone of voice, as Vader grabbed her shoulder, holding her back.

"You would prefer another target? A military target? Then name the system!" Turning back to face her, Tarkin waved an angry finger in her direction. "I grow tired of asking this. So it'll be the last time. Where is the Rebel base?"

Leia looked past Tarkin's shoulder at the peaceful curve of her home planet, feeling her hopes sink. Whatever should she tell her father if she revealed the hidden Rebel base? Making a decision which might very well still be fateful, she looked back at Tarkin, her eyes burning with emotion. "Dantooine," she whispered softly, then lowered her eyes. "They're on Dantooine."

Tarkin's expression became slightly softer. "There. You see, Lord Vader, she can be reasonable." Turning away once more, he turned his attention to the admiral standing by. "Continue the operation. You may fire when ready."

"What?" Leia almost screamed. She couldn't believe he would do such a thing. Not even him. Trying to take a step forward, to do anything to prevent him from carrying out the order, she again felt Vader's hand on her shoulder, holding her back.

Tarkin gave her an overbearing smile. "You're far too trusting. Dantooine is too remote to make an effective demonstration. But don't worry. We will deal with your Rebel friends soon enough." His careless tone of voice made Leia feel dizzy, as she stopped fighting against the relentless pressure of Vader's hand and let herself be pulled back against him.

"No," she almost whispered, turning now tear-filled eyes on her home planet. As she watched, faintly hearing the countdown in the background, a ray of pure blue shot out of the battle station, hitting Alderaan and blowing it into a million pieces. She stared at the destruction until she was again lead away.

***

While she was being walked back to her cell, Leia sensed nothing. The pain in her was too great. But one thing she promised herself. She would not let Tarkin win. The secret of the hidden Rebel base would die with her. If only she could escape, get out, find a way to warn the Rebels. But they would hear about the destruction of Alderaan soon enough. The loss of her father would be great, but there were others that could and would continue his life's work. Others. Like Mon Mothma. They would go on and they would free the galaxy of the Emperor and his henchmen. Leia was just sorry that she couldn't be there to see it. As the door of the cell closed behind her, she dropped down on the hard, uncomfortable cot and sighed deeply. There was a time for everything. A time for living and a time for dying. Now was a time for rest. She would mourn later if there was a later.

***

Some hours later, Leia was torn from her sleep by the sound of the opening door. She raised her head, looking up at the rather short stormtrooper standing there. Something about the uniform didn't really fit and since he made no move to tell her to get up or anything else, she felt slightly amused at his posture. "Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" she then asked him.

"What?" he asked, sounding confused. "Oh... the uniform," he then added, reached up and pulled off the helmet. "I'm Luke Skywalker. I'm here to rescue you."

Leia felt more than a little confused about the whole thing. "You're who?" she then asked.

Getting a bit nervous, the young man glanced at the door. "I'm here to rescue you. I'm here with Ben Kenobi," he repeated.

"Kenobi. Where is he?" Leia wanted to know, getting to her feet and up to the door.

He grabbed her arm, gently pulling her outside. "Come on," he said, starting down the corridor with her close on his heals.

The whole thing was slightly confusing for Leia, but she was on her way out, rescued by nothing but a boy.

Further down the corridor, a serious of explosions and laser blasts made both of them slow down. Then another man and a wookie came racing around a corner and stopped to return the fire. Leia glanced at young Luke, then at the man who had just turned up. He looked back at her, briefly meeting her eyes, then turned to Luke. "We can't get out that way," he informed him.

Leia chanced a look around the corner, seeing Stormtroopers advancing through the thick smoke at the end of the corridor. "Looks like you managed to cut off our only escape route," she said, looking at the Corellian. It was obvious to her that he had to be Corellian. She didn't know how she knew this, but she did. Besides, she found it difficult to contain her disappointment at the turn of the situation.

He gave her a sour glance. "Maybe you'd like it back in your cell, Your Highness," he said sarcastically, again returning blaster fire, trying to keep the Stormtroopers from advancing any further.

Luke raised a comlink to his mouth, shouting over the noise. "See-Threepio! See-Threepio!" and pushing Leia into an alcove to protect her from the approaching blaster fires.

A small voice replied almost instantly from the comlink. "Yes, sir!"

Leia glanced at Luke, wondering what would happen next. Somehow it made her angry that these men were trying to rescue her and now were cornered due to some kind of silly mistake.

"We've been cut off! Are there any other ways out of the cell bay?... What was that? I didn't copy."

Luke kept yelling into the comlink over the noise, firing blast after blast at the Stormtroopers. The Corellian did the same and so did the wookie. Leia felt a little left out. She was as good as the next person with a gun and would have loved to have one right there and then.

Speaking to nobody in particular, Luke then said "There isn't any other way out!"

The Corellian fired another couple of blasts down the corridor, cutting two of the Stormtroopers down. "I can't hold them off forever! Now what?"

Something about his manner annoyed Leia. Looking from Luke to the Corellian and back again, she couldn't help an angry outburst. "This is some rescue. When you came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?" she asked, ending the sentence with looking at the Corellian.

The Corellian jabbed a finger at Luke, saying "He's the brains, sweetheart," and continued to fire down the corridor.

Leia looked back at Luke, who looked a little sheepish. She knew he meant well and she also realized at that moment that he wasn't experienced in this kind of thing. Not at all. "Well, I..." he began, but at that moment Leia decided to take things into her own hands, grabbed the blaster out of his hands and blew out a grating on the other wall. It was pretty close to where the Corellian was standing and if he hadn't moved, she would probably have singed his leg with the assault.

"What the hell are you doing?" he snapped angrily, giving her a brief, somewhat surprised glance.

Leia decided that she would either begin to like him or kill him. "Somebody has to save our skins. Into the garbage chute, fly boy," she said and dove headfirst into the opening. Rattling down through the tube, she could faintly hear him yell something else and then she hit the garbage chamber. The smell was not of the best, but in her opinion it could be worse.

Luke tumbled into the chamber after her and took a moment to find foothold on the miniature mountains of garbage and muck. He looked around for a moment, saw a hatch and raised his gun to fire at it. The shot glanced off the hatch and raced around the room until it hit the garbage. Leia had ducked out of view and only resurfaced when she realized it was safe again. Then the wookie came through the opening at the other end and howled mournfully as he covered his nose with one paw, waving the other one in front of his face. He looked around too, saw the hatch and headed straight for it.

Then the Corellian came diving into the garbage chamber and scampered to his feet with a revolted expression on his face. The wookie was working on the hatch, trying to break it open. "Oh! The garbage chute was a really wonderful idea. What an incredible smell you've discovered!" he said turned to Leia, then turned toward the wookie. "Let's get out of here. Get away from there." The wookie dove to safety as the Corellian raised his gun to fire.

"No! Wait!" Luke yelled, trying to stop him, but to no avail. The laser blast hammered into the hatch and started to ricochet wildly around the chamber, missing each of them in turn. Leia dove into the garbage again, swearing that if they came out of this one alive, she would personally wring that self-centered idiot's neck.

The bolt finally exploded into the garbage and both Leia and young Luke rose out of the muck to yell at the Corellian. Luke went first. "Will you forget it? I already tried it. It's magnetically sealed," he yelled.

Leia agreed perfectly with him. "Put that thing away. You're gonna get us all killed," she snapped at him, angry at him for being so stupid and angry at herself for losing control.

Making a mock bow, he glared back at her. "Absolutely, Your Worship. Look, I had everything under control until you led us down here. You know, it's not going to take them long to figure out what happened to us."

His whole manner was really starting to bother her. He had no respect. "It could be worse," she grumbled, looking away.

Just then, a loud, inhuman moan drifted through the air, making them all stall. Leia suddenly wanted more than ever to be out of there. The Corellian gave her a saying look. "It's worse," he promised.

Luke stood to his knees in water, looking around, more jumpy than the rest of them put together. "There's something alive in here!" he then yelled.

The Corellian started showing signs of nervousness, too. "That's your imagination," he tried without sounding very convincing.

Just then, Luke jumped, turning his gun on the greasy surface of the water. "Something just moved past my leg!" he yelled, then pointed further on. "Look. Did you see that?"

Leia stood up on the garbage and tried to see what he was talking about. So did the Corellian, who was now visibly nervous. "Wh he yelled back.

So suddenly, that neither was prepared and neither could react, Luke was suddenly yanked beneath the murky surface of the chamber's low water level with a startled cry for help. The Corellian jumped forward, sifting through the garbage floating on the water, yelling Luke's name repeatedly. But the youngster seemed to have disappeared. Leia felt quite alarmed by this development and let out a startled yelp when Luke suddenly resurfaced, sputtering, trying to get rid of a big, slimy tentacle which was wrapped tightly around his chest and throat. "Luke," she yelled, reaching out for him without really being in range. She picked up a long piece of pipe and held it out to him. "Luke. Luke, grab a hold of this."

He waved his left arm about while trying to free himself from the tentacle. "Blast it, will you? My gun's jammed," he rasped.

The Corellian grabbed a hold of him, pulling him up on his feet. "Where?" he yelled back, not knowing what to shoot at.

"Anywhere!" he rasped, clawing at the tentacle. Again he was pulled down into the murky depth of the water, while the Corellian desperately tried to find him again.

"Luke, Luke," he kept yelling, moving through the water at random and eventually fired a shot into the water. A sudden sound made him stop dead in his tracks and Leia looked around too, having heard the groan of the walls as they moved for a second. She shot the Corellian a worried look and received one back from him. Then suddenly Luke resurfaced close to the Corellian in a rush of bubbles and muck.

"Grab him," Leia yelled and that was just what the Corellian was doing. He hoisted Luke out of the water, helping him to his feet. "What happened?" she demanded loudly.

Luke coughed and sputtered, pushing soaked hair out of his face. "I don't know. It just let go of me and disappeared..." he almost yelled, jerking his head to get water out of his ears.

The Corellian glanced at Leia, then around the room. "I've got a bad feeling about this," he said quietly.

As if on cue, the walls started to rumble again and started moving in on them, pushing the garbage ahead of them.

"The walls are moving," Luke yelled needlessly, his encounter with the garbage monster all but forgotten.

Leia felt panicky as she scrambled on top of a growing pile and tumbled down the other side. "Don't just stand there. Try and brace it with something," she yelled, trying to think of a way to stop a garbage crusher. With the Corellian's help, she managed to bring up a pole, which seemed at least to slow the walls down. But the relentless pressure of the walls would eventually break its hold.

Luke was mumbling something to himself, raised the comlink up to his lips and yelled "Threepio! Come in, Threepio! Threepio." There was no response and he sent Leia a helpless glance. "Where could he be?" He kept trying to raise the droid while Leia desperately tried to hold onto the more and more deformed pole. Suddenly the ground beneath her feet started to sink as she lost her hold on the pole.

"Get to the top," the Corellian yelled helpfully.

"I can't," Leia yelled back, desperately trying to free herself from the pressure of the garbage and climb on top of the ever growing pile, but the more she moved, the more she sank. Suddenly some of the garbage gand droids alike showed their joy over having beaten the enemy. Once again, the Rebellion had triumphed, another important victory achieved. Leia ran from the war room to receive Luke and -- much to her surprise -- Solo, who had returned at the last possible moment to help him out. If he hadn't been, Luke would surely have died.

She ran toward Luke's battered X-Wing, shouting his name and threw her arms around him, when he turned to her. Then Solo turned up, giving Luke a big hug and slapped him on the back.

Luke laughed, caught up in the elation everybody was feeling. "I knew you'd come back. I just knew it," he said to Solo, laughing at the same time.

Solo looked as happy as the rest of them, when he said "Well, I wasn't gonna let you get all the credit and take all the award."

Leia moved in between them, feeling that this could be the start of something great. Looking up at Solo, she could not hide her happiness that he'd come back. "Hey, I knew there was more to you than money," she told him, smiling brightly at him.

He smiled back, giving her a cocky, crooked smile.

***

The honor ceremony was something Leia had looked forward to. After changing and re-arranging her hair, she stood at the top of the stairs in the main throne room, waiting for the heros of the Rebellion to receive their medals. As she watched the three of them, Luke, Solo and the Wookie, slowly walk toward her through a crowed of soldiers, she held her head up high, keeping her posture regal, her expression serious. They mounted the stairs and stopped in front of her and she looked from one to the other, still serious. Then she met Solo's eyes, saw his smile which was slightly insecure and finally smiled back. Handing out the medals gave her a good feeling and she counted on that all three of them would remain. Behind her, Luke's two droids turned up, newly polished and eager to join the rest. As she hung the last medal around the Wookie's neck, the crowed cheered and clapped, showing their appreciation. For a moment, an irrational thought entered Leia's mind. My heros, she thought and smiled, blushing.

THE END