What Could Have Been Part III: The Destined Warriors

Han vs. Blast

       Leia

       For most people, it was unlikely to ever jump into a garbage shoot within their life spans. It was even more unlikely to jump into two garbage shoots. Yet here Leia was. Trapped in a slimy, smelly pile of trash with the same Nerf herder she had dived in with the first time. Boy was she lucky.

       "Nice thinking Han! Now instead of putting up a fight, we'll just wait until the trash compactor squishes us flat!" Leia hollered as her boots sank into the heaps of waste around her. Her eyes hadn't adjusted to the darkness but she could have sworn she saw Han roll his eyes. "We got out last time and we'll get out this time!" he assured her as he climbed a mountain of scrap metal. Leia scurried up behind him to avoid getting soaked with the grimy water at the bottom of the container-like room.

       "Oh of course! I'm sure Master Kenobi will show up out of nowhere to save the day!"

      (Too soon? Sorry guys)

      Leia could see Han well enough now to see his smiling face as he leaned closer to her. "Is this a bad time to tell you how beautiful you are when you're angry?" he asked with fake sincerity. He returned to climbing the pile of junk until he was close enough to a hatch in the ceiling. He went to work fiddling with it as Leia cringed at the sewer water seeping in through her boots. "Have you lost your mind, Laserbrains? Those hatches lock from the outside," she pointed out. Han ignored her and continued working at the unbreakable hatch.

       And that's when the walls started closing in.

       "Oh would you look at that Han!" the young Jedi exclaimed, unsurprised. "The trash compactor is turning on. Just. Like. Last time. I don't know about you, but the novelty has really worn thin. About as thin as we're gonna be when this thing crushes us! Are you even listening?" As the walls crawled closer and closer, the hatch suddenly hissed from above and popped open. Han hoisted himself out of the compactor. "Nope. Not listening at all," he answered shamelessly. "May I offer you a hand, Your Highness?" he asked with a haughty smirk. Leia instantly silenced. She was both relieved that she would not be crushed among piles of filth and refuse but also extremely irritated that Han had just made her eat her own words. "You know I meant 'Laserbrains' as a term of endearment, right Darling?" she said quickly.

      Just as Leia reached for Han's outstretched hand, he suddenly disappeared from the mouth of the hatch. Leia could sense impending danger even before a pair of navy arms shot down and yanked her up by her shoulders. Upon being hauled out of the pile of trash beneath her, Leia found herself blinded by the glowing lights illuminating a spacious room. She could sense the presence of about a dozen bodies standing over her as the nose of a blaster prodded the side of her head. "Han!" she called out. Han's voice replied from somewhere behind her. "I'm right here, Leia." She twisted her neck around to see Han with his wrists cuffed behind him. He smiled nervously. "Anymore escape plans?" he asked. Leia opened her mouth to say something when she felt a tremor in the Force. Her skin crawled at the presence of someone all too familiar. Someone she could pick out even in a sea of people all with his exact DNA.

      "Thought you could skip out on me again, huh Sweetheart? And I see you brought your boyfriend along with you. How romantic!"

      "Blast!" Leia snapped. "How'd you find us so quickly?" Blast circled her with a prim smirk pasted to his tanned face. His metallic eyes gleamed cruelly. "Oh that was the easy part. I'm afraid you've gotten quite predictable with your escape methods. Tell me, did you actually think that the garbage chute would work a second time?" He laughed lowly to himself. "We've been watching you, Leia. Midas has been watching you. Everything you and your brother have done for the past eight years has been monitored by our spies." The hairs on Leia's neck stood on ends. Was that really possible? Had Midas had the upper hand on them this whole time?

       "We haven't been hiding from the Alliance, Leia. We've been hunting you." Blast hissed. Leia took in a shallow breath and lowered her head. As she did, she glimpsed Han who had a peculiar expression of reassurance on his face. "You've been watching me this whole time?" she asked glumly. The clone boy leaned down to her level and forced her chin up with the end of his blaster.

       "We know all your moves."

       "What about Han's moves?"

       "Huh?"

      It was hard to tell what exactly happened after that, but from what Leia could tell, Han had freed himself of his handcuffs and knocked out a clone solider with nothing but his shoulder blade. Smugglers, she thought, had a way of defying odds just enough for it to make sense. The fallen soldier's gun was now in Han's hands as he took out two more navy bodies. Leia was temporarily free for the moment as Blast and the solider holding her at gun point had turned their attention- and blasters- toward Han. She ignited her emerald saber and swung it backwards, literally disarming the soldiers behind her. Han continued to fire until it was just her and-

      "Leia!"

      Leia wasn't exactly sure at what point it had happened, but suddenly, in the midst of the firing, her arm started to burn. First a tingle, unnoticed for a moment, but before she knew it, unbearable. She then realized that it was Han who had screamed her name in sheer horror, and that it was Blast who had aimed his dreadfully accurate pistol at her, and that it was her who was collapsing onto the ground with a hand over her upper arm as something red stained her sand colored tunic. A flash of heat and then a shiver left her feeling paralyzed for a blurry moment as the pain in her arm numbed her brain into absolute stun. After a second of blinking away her shock, Leia gazed up at Blast; now with his gun aimed at Han. It took a second to figure out why a shot had yet to be fired, but then Leia also noticed that Han's own gun- or at least his stolen one- was in turn, pointed at Blast.

      And that's how time seemed to remain for a long instant. Two men left standing. Suspended suspense. A shoot out paused the way she and Luke would pause their favorite holofilms when the other had to use the bathroom. Blast stood in a wide stance with his arm stretched straight out. Leia couldn't see his face but she imagined his silvery eyes staring daggers at Han, who stood with knees bent and his gun peeking out from beside his hip. His finger twitched ever so slightly over the trigger, daring Blast's focus to waver for just a second. Han's eyes were wide and full of life and risk and fear and a whole mixture of emotions that Leia was too dazed to identify. And then the clone boy spoke.

      "I suppose you think you're some sort of hero, huh pal?" he asked Han, who remained silent. "Saving the girl, taking down the bad guy. Let me ask you, how heroic is it to let her bleed to death right in front of you?" Han's glance shifted from the blaster directed at him, to Leia on the ground, and back to Blast in all of a fraction of a second. Blast's words coiled around his mind like a serpent strangling its prey. "Drop your gun and I'll let her live."

       Leia's eyes fell to the ground. If Han surrendered, they'd be captured. She'd never make it to Luke. She had to think of something. If only her arm would stop burning long enough to figure something out...

      She needed a gun.

       And there were plenty lying around.

       Blast continued taunting Han. "You were killed too quickly above Mandalore, weren't you, S7? Or would you prefer I call you, Wolf Leader? That's right. I was there. Who do you think shot you down?" he chuckled cynically. "And oh how I'm gonna love doing it again..."

       "Not as much as I'll love this!"

       Leia fired one of the downed soldier's guns right into the clone boys back. He fell forward with a thud as Han remained frozen in disbelief at what had just happened. After a moment, a crooked grin formed on his faced as he looked down at Leia.

      "I love you."

      "I know."

       Guys, if you're even still reading this story, God bless you. I am such a sporadic writer. This is awful. I'm super sorry. I'm gonna try hard these next few days to post as much as I can and get this story done. Thank you all for being patient. Again, sorry!