Han crossed the landing platform where the Falcon was docked. Chewbacca, examining the underside, growled at his approach.

"Did they all get away safely?" he asked sarcastically. Chewbacca vocally expressed his wish to have performed some dismembering moves on the Duke.

"I know, pal. Normally I would agree with you but we don't want to start an incident." Chewbacca grumbled that the Duke had started it, and turned back to his examination.

"I'm going to make our pre-flight plans and program our route so we can get away early tomorrow," Han informed him. "I'll contact Maz and tell her to expect us." Chewbacca nodded.

Han looked out over the scenery of the city, with it's lush state park embedded in the centre. The top of the landing platform offered an excellent view of it all and, this late in the evening, the calm began to seep into his mind. He wondered whether he would ever consider setting up home here, with Leia, if she agreed. It wasn't a bad place, and if he found a characterful cantina down town he could visit occasionally, he could be happy here. But then, he had visited a great many beautiful planets in his time. It would be a hard decision. He took a deep breath of the night air as he walked up the Falcon's ramp.

He checked the supply containers to make sure they were adequately stocked for the trip, ran over the basic fuel and power cell checks, hyper-drive etc, then sat in the cockpit and plotted their course into the nav-computer. He requested take off clearance for the morning. One more call and he would make his way back to the government building and park himself on the sofa in Leia's suite. He was uneasy about leaving her with just 3PO, even though the Duke had left. Her strange turns had got under his skin and he wanted to be nearby.

#

The female figure in the Alderaanian Security Force uniform stood shrouded in shadow in a secluded alleyway across from the government main complex. As was Bel Asarra's intention, her vantage point kept her out of sight of any late evening passers by. A place she had selected where she could stay undisturbed for some time, if necessary.

She hit the button on the personal communicator on her collar and placed a finger on the discreet ear-piece above it, pressing it further into her ear for better sound.

"Sir, do you read me?" she spoke quietly. A voice replied in her ear, confirming her connection. "The Princess has returned to her suite with the Killian Star." She listened as the person on the other end spoke briefly.

"No, the Jedi has left, but she has General Solo with her. I will have to wait." Another brief response. "Yes, sir. I will let you know when I have it. Asarra out." She tapped the communicator again and hunkered down in the alley to wait.

While her position was in darkness, the atrium and buildings around were subtly lit, allowing a good view of the interior. Her eyes focused on one point as someone came across the atrium and out of the front of the building, making towards the shuttle depot. Han Solo. Good, she thought. A little longer to allow things to go quiet and she would make her move.

#

Leia peered through the thick fog, waving her hand in front of her face in an attempt to clear her view. Her nose stung with an acrid smell and she tried to identify it; burning cloth, vegetation... flesh. She stifled the urge to vomit and covered her nose and mouth with her hand. A red glow tinged the fog and, as gaps began to appear, she could make out several fires burning.

She took a few tentative steps, stumbling over something, and caught her balance again. She didn't know where she was. She felt the sharp pang of fear as she turned to look about her, trying to get a fix on the landscape. As if helping her, the fog, or smoke as she was now, more accurately, identifying it, cleared enough to expose a sight more horrific than many she'd encountered on the battlefield.

The darkened landscape, baron and burned, was littered with bodies. Her sharp intake of breath at the sight brought with it the taste of the burning flesh and she retched, noticing as she brought herself under control that what she had stumbled over was a body. She bent down to examine the corpse. Jedi! Looking around, they were all Jedi, wounds burned and smouldering from a vast battle in which the antagonists had also used lightsabers.

Rumbling reached her ears, accompanied by vibration beneath her feet, increasing in intensity until she could no longer stand unaided and had to steady herself on a nearby rock. The noise got louder as she looked around for the source, spotted a torn banner blowing in the increasing wind and recognised it. The red wheel-shaped crest of House Thul. Cold shock rippled through her body as the realisation of where she was hit her hard. Alderaan.

With the realisation, the rock she was leaning on crumbled beneath her hand and she fell, the noise becoming ear-splitting. Gripping her hands tightly over her ears, she watched in horror as a blinding beam hit the ground and she was tipped into the abyss opened by the ensuing earth quake, towards a river of molten rock, along with everything around her. Her arm felt searing pain and she could hear herself screaming at her inevitable death.

#

Han could hear screaming before he opened the door to the suite. He drew his blaster, nearly removing the large door from it's hinges as he broke it open. 3PO had powered on at the sudden sound, noticed Han's entry and started to bluster. Han raised his hand to the droid to halt him and continued running across the darkened main lounge, leaping over the back of a sofa that was in his path and scanning the room for intruders as he went. Leia's screams filled his head. Bursting through the bedroom doors using both hands, he swept his blaster muzzle round the large room but quickly ascertained there was no one there except Leia herself, sitting up in bed, loose hair a mess of untidy curls, clutching her sheet to her chest and screaming so loudly, it was terrifying.

He threw his blaster on the bed and knelt in front of her, clutching her upper arms.

"What is it? Leia!" She was staring, not at him but through him, tears staining her face, and she had a look as if she had been faced with death. Her screams turned to uncontrollable sobbing as he shook her to get her attention, realising quickly that she wasn't asleep.

3PO was whirring about in the room behind, exclaiming in panic. Han ignored him. "Leia!" he shouted. "Snap out of it!" He lightly slapped her a couple of times on the cheek to rouse her.

#

Falling towards death, bodies falling around her, Leia could hear Han's voice; faint at first but growing louder. The environment around her faded and his face came into focus, slowly.

"Leia!" He slapped her face. Relief over took her and she couldn't stop herself sobbing. Han watched as her eyes focussed on his and she returned to the room. He pulled her tight to his chest and held her as she cried, like he would never let her go. "You had that vision again, didn't you?" It was a rhetorical question but she nodded into his chest. He wasn't sure how but he was going to find out why. This had to stop.

In the security of his arms, she began to recover but another problem now niggled at Han. 3PO had gone quiet. His senses alerted, he turned his head to listen. Leia looked up.

"What is it?" she asked, but was met with his finger up to his lips, telling her to hush. She sharpened her ears to listen.

Han jumped up, grabbing her hand and pulling her off the bed, flattening them both against the wall behind the bedroom door. He'd grabbed his blaster and held it, muzzle up, still listening intently. Leia held the sheet she'd dragged with her tightly round her naked body. "Han?" she whispered a nervous enquiry. He turned and put his hand gently over her mouth and scowled. Then he looked down at her. He'd had an idea.

Taking off his jacket, he passed it to her, beckoning for the sheet she had round her. She passed it to him, slipping the jacket on and holding it round herself. He silently crept to the bed and arranged the sheet and pillows to look like she was still asleep, then crossed back to their hiding place in a couple of long strides.

Leia could hear very faint movement now in the main lounge, getting closer, and a looming shadow of a figure fell over the bed, cast by the night globe in the other room. She caught her breath so that the sound of her nervous breathing didn't alert the intruder, ¥ and Han readied his blaster as the hiss and hum of an ignited lightsaber cracked as it hit it's target, slicing the figure from shoulder to waist. The body fell into the room. Leia's jaw dropped as she stared at the body and let her breath exhale.

Luke looked round the door.

"Good timing, kid." Han looked thankfully at him. Leia crouched next to the body and turned it over. It was Bel Asarra, her hand still holding a large vibro-blade.

"I'm sorry. I had to kill her." Luke looked at Leia's shocked and saddened face. She shook her head.

"She would have killed me," she stated to allay his guilt. "I should be surprised by this but, somehow, I'm not."

Pax must have sent the poor, disillusioned officer; must want the Star so badly he was prepared to assassinate her to get it. Asarra would have needed Leia's hand to open the box and the thought made her queasy. She rubbed her forearm subconsciously. "I don't want to think about what she was going to do with that." She directed her eyes to the blade.

Then she spotted something on Asarra's uniform. "Wait a minute... That's odd." She reached forward to the badge bearing the Alde crest, a blue eye-like sphere. The badge and material beneath had been damaged by the lightsaber strike and something red caught Leia's eye. Luke and Han leaned a little closer to get a better look as she peeled back the badge to reveal another crest underneath; a red wheel-like crest -  like the one on the banner. Leia looked serious. "House Thul!" she muttered. "That's not possible."

Han spread his hands and raised his eyebrows expectantly awaiting an explanation. Leia shook her head. "It would take too long to explain now but she isn't a representative of House Alde. Her uniform is fake. I just wonder how many others are imposters." Leia ripped the red badge off the uniform and shoved it in the pocket of Han's jacket. Standing, still clutching his oversized jacket round herself, she looked at Luke. "How did you know she would be here?" she asked.

"I didn't. I just had a feeling and waited down the corridor. I saw Han come in, heard screaming and was about to follow when I saw her. You guys heard her too then?"

"Han did," Leia elaborated.

"Actually, it's what I didn't hear. 3PO stopped panicking and I knew something must be up," he explained.

"She disabled him." Luke went back to 3PO and turned him on at the neck.

"Oh my! Princess. General... danger!" His programming spat out what it had been processing before the power failure.

"It's OK, 3PO," Luke reassured him. "It's all over. Everyone is alright."

"Oh, thank goodness!" he enthused, relieved. Registering the dead officer, he looked taken aback. "Oh my! Isn't that Commander Asarra?"

"Yes, 3PO. You might want to arrange to have the mess taken care of," Han instructed.

"Very well, General Solo." 3PO waddled off, giving the smallest of backward glances.

"Han, you remember when you said that if I gave you the nod, you'd get me out of here?" Leia enquired.

"Yeah."

"Well, I'm nodding," she said emphatically.

"Got it," he confirmed. "You wanna go like that or get dressed first?" He gestured at her bare legs.

"Oh. Right," she agreed. "Luke. Take the Star and hide it!" she ordered, pointing to the box on the sideboard. "I want that thing far away from me." Turning on her heel, she hurried to pull on some clothes.

Han waited until she had gone, then spoke quietly to Luke.

"She had the vision again. Much worse this time. I'm worried what's going to happen to her if this carries on." Worry made his face look drawn.

"It might be the proximity to the crystal enhancing her abilities. I noticed at the ceremony that it reacts to her. It doesn't account for the meaning behind the vision but would explain the frequency. She thinks the same, that's why she wants me to remove it so, perhaps, if I do, things might improve," Luke suggested.

"I hope so, kid. I don't mind telling you – she's scaring me."

#

Luke carried the Killian star, in it's secure box, down from the sideboard and placed it on the table while they waited for Leia. She was quick, throwing on a loose pair of trousers and long-sleeved top and emerging, handing Han back his jacket, and roughly tousling her half-curled hair. She attached her blaster and vibro-blade to her belt.

"We'll split up," Han directed. "Chewie and I will take Leia to Takodana. You hide that thing and we'll meet up afterwards," he spoke to Luke, waving at the box.

"No one should bother you if you are discreet," Leia encouraged. "They think I'm the only one that can open it so, if any more of them come after it, they'll be after me." Han rolled his eyes. They always seemed to be in this situation.

"Are you sure you're not the only one that can open it?" Luke questioned. She had only presumed it would work for them both but they hadn't tested it. As if in answer, Leia grabbed his hand and placed it across the access panel. The box opened with a hiss. She shut it again almost immediately.

"I told you. It's yours now." He nodded and picked up the box, hiding as much of it as he could under his robes.

"I'll put it somewhere safe. Catch up with you in a couple of days." Leia kissed him on the cheek.

"Take care." He smiled and left.

"OK, let's get you out of here. Come on, Golden Rod." Han beckoned to 3PO. Glancing out of the door cautiously to check the corridor was safe, he motioned them to follow. They made it all the way across the atrium and outside into the street before they had any hint of trouble.