The transport lurched and tipped forwards, giving the sensation that they were going down a steep slope. It got markedly darker inside the vehicle. Han peered out of his view hole again in time to see a patch of light disappearing from view.

They came to a stop and, shortly afterwards, the thunking of the lock accompanied the opening of the rear door. They were ordered out of the vehicle into a damp cave, vegetation hanging from outcrops of rock, kept lush with water that ran gently and dripped off the cave wall. At the lowest part of the cave, a metal hatchway had been cut into the rock face revealing a brightly lit corridor beyond.

Leia hugged Jak to her as they were all filed towards the open hatchway and through into a sophisticated hidden underground base. The hatchway slid shut behind them as the last child was guided through at the end of an officer's blaster. This is why there had been no sign of stormtroopers on Takodana. They must have been hiding out of sight until now. Leia was quietly pleased that one good thing to come out of all this was that they had shown themselves and now would probably have to abandon this site as well as the one on Thyfeera.

They were led through a maze of corridors containing closed hatchways, most giving no hint as to what was on the other side but a few had small view windows. Leia tried to see inside each one but they were steered too quickly past them. Han had hung back behind all the children as a partial protective measure and she hoped his extra height would afford him a better view.

Taking advantage of a scuffling amongst the children as one of them tripped, she moved quickly to one of the doors and stood on tiptoe to look through the window, taking in as much information as she could. Rows of children sat in front of vertical holo-displays, each with headsets on that blocked any peripheral vision and each display flickering with changing information and images, although they were directed away from her so she couldn't make out the content. She was shoved sharply in the back by a blaster rifle muzzle and continued to walk, glancing back to catch Han's eye. He was indeed looking surreptitiously through all the windows as he passed, frowning occasionally at what was inside and he caught her eye, a troubled look on his face.

They'd been walking for several minutes and Leia got the sense that they were slowly descending as they passed from one corridor to another. The light in these latter tunnels was significantly dimmer now and the doors windowless and blank. They came to a halt next to one, the troopers separating them from the children. Jak was pulled roughly from Leia's arms, causing her to begin crying hysterically, reaching her arms back in Leia's direction as she was dragged away.

"It'll be ok. " Leia tried to reassure her but her face showed how much this was hurting her to watch the little girl's fear. Han took her hand and squeezed it, her worried eyes imploringly looking into his face.

"We'll come back for them," he whispered as they were moved on at gunpoint.

Bringing them to a halt outside a room further down the tunnel, their guards slipped wide metal bracelets onto their forearms which sealed as they were clasped together, a little light blinking green on a tiny console on the back. Han examined his, turning his arm over in puzzlement but, once they were directed into the room and he saw the larger console by the door and a metal strip embedded in the wall, it all became clear.

"Magnetic," he quietly explained to Leia as she looked at hers.

Apart from the metal strip, which ran the whole circumference of the cell at roughly Han's shoulder height, the room was completely white and featureless with no windows and rather aggressive lighting embedded in the high ceiling which gave it the buzz and feeling of a clinical medical centre. The thick metal door hissed shut behind them.

"Did you manage to see anything in those other rooms?" Leia asked quickly, wanting to clarify her thoughts.

"Yeah." Han had been quite disturbed by what he'd seen. "They've got kids strapped into those contraptions like the one they used on us on Bespin." Leia recalled the electro-shock treatment Vader had used on them to lure Luke into a trap.

"I saw holo-vid screens with directed images. Rows of them," Leia told him. "Those were two popular, and highly illegal, methods of Imperial torture and conditioning." Her face twisted with deeply worried thought and she folded her arms round herself. Han put his arm round her shoulder and hugged her to his chest. She looked pale and it occurred to him that she was being reminded of past experiences in rooms like this one. She clutched the back of his jacket tightly.

"This is bad," she said quietly into his shirt.

"Hey, let's not get black just yet. We'll think of something. We always do," he encouraged, holding her head to him protectively. Luke had said a similar thing to her a week ago. She was definitely the pessimist she realised and Han was ever the optimist, or the opportunist. Whichever one got them out of this situation, she didn't care. Still, the situation did seem hopeless.

"Chewie's never going to find us down here," she pointed out. Han gently moved her away from him, opening one side of his jacket and grabbing hold of a lump in the lining between thumb and forefinger.

"Chewie and I have an emergency back up," he smiled. She looked at it, her mouth opening in amazement.

"A tracker?" she asked. He nodded.

"I activated it in the transport. Never had to use it before but he should be able to trace it from the Falcon - if he remembers it's there, of course."

"Han, that's actually..."

"Smart?" he interrupted, anticipating her surprise at his ingenuity. She chuckled.

"I was going to say judicious." It wasn't like Han to plan ahead. He liked the excitement of spur of the moment, the thrill of flying by the seat of his pants. Smart he was. Resourceful, certainly but, run from it, sell it or, if in doubt, blow it up were about as far as he liked to plan. This showed caution and foresight.

She was still showing open-mouthed admiration when the door hissed open again to admit first two security forces officers and then a more familiar and unwelcome face. Leia's stance immediately stiffened and her expression became one of anger.

"I knew you were behind this. I didn't want to be right." She confronted the caped figure of Delcar Alde, his security raising their laser rifles and pointing them in her face at her aggressive approach, halting her in her tracks. "You're hurting these children. Why?" she questioned. He waved his hand at the officers to lower their weapons and back off and they stood by the open doorway, blocking any chance of escape.

"This," Delcar flicked his hand dismissively in the direction of the rest of the base. "is just a business arrangement."

"A business arrangement?" Han exclaimed, raising his eyebrows incredulously. "What business would torture kids? And what sick individual would agree to it?" He grabbed the duke by the lapels of his uniform, pulling an arm back and making a fist, preparing to hit him. The guards moved quickly, grappling him over to one wall where they pinned his arms to the metal strip and hit the wall console. The lights on the bracelets round his wrists changed to red as the magnetism took hold and he was fastened to the wall unable to move.

"Now we've got rid of your bodyguard, perhaps we can have a conversation." The duke was deliberately ridiculing. Leia raised her eyebrows, leaning her head forward in hostility. Han had been on the receiving end of this hostility before.

"Oh, you think Han is the one you need to worry about?" she challenged. Han hoped she would lay the duke out flat but as rifles were still trained on her, knew she wouldn't risk it. Instead it was to be a battle of wills. He didn't know much about the duke but his money was on Leia in that fight. The duke made a derisive noise.

"Your empty threats are pointless Organa. You have no power here." His body language was intentionally intimidating but Leia didn't back down or step back. "You're not as clever as you think. You may have foiled my attempt to get the Killian Star but your curiosity has got the better of you. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist that ancient text and that you'd turn up here eventually." Leia nodded, still defiant.

"You're right. I was blinded by my love of our home world and my trust in our friendship. I made a mistake on Chandrila and, until an hour ago, didn't associate you with that ridiculous document. It took me precisely ten minutes to realise it was fake and suspected it was a trap. If it hadn't been for the children, I wouldn't have been here. Rest assured I won't be making another mistake. Don't underestimate me Duke Delcar," she spat.

"What? No Pax?" he mocked.

"You lost the right to informality when you betrayed me," she pointed a finger at him. "We were friends, grew up together. You tried to have me killed and tainted the reputation of my peacekeepers." Her face twisted with contempt and disgust. "You've conditioned them to become assassins, haven't you, like you're doing with these children? Why? Just tell me that." She really wanted an explanation and hoped it was an easier one to swallow than pure greed.

"As I said. This is a business arrangement. I simply oversee these facilities, testing conditioning techniques for a group of people who are in a position to offer me what I want in return. I am not interested in their agenda or the outcome of the experiments, although, if the results are effective, they will be in a position to supply me with an army so perhaps they are useful people to be allied to."

Leia and Han exchanged a like-minded glance. Who could possibly be funding an operation like this? A desperate remnant of the Empire, a maniacal fan of the regime or just a slaver with enough resources to feed a twisted obsession? An army of obedient soldiers? Leia frowned. From children? She thought the idea of clone armies was reprehensible enough but there was no word to describe this.

"But you seem to have access to stormtroopers," she posited. "and whichever deluded security force officers you have persuaded to follow you. Is that not army enough?"

"Stormtroopers have a limited life span as the cloning facilities are all gone. This method has more longevity." So someone had long term goals. Leia began to feel hot from the horror of it but a few things were still unclear and her mind raced, mentally flicking between facts she already new and theories she was coming up with, as if she were flicking through reports on her datapad. She needed to get more out of him without exposing any of her existing knowledge just yet.

"I won't let you get away with this," she threw at him. He closed the gap between them and grabbed her chin hard with his hand, forcing her to grab his forearm. She winced at the pressure.

"You have forced me to abandon two facilities but it's of no consequence. I will still get what I want and you have a part to play in that. In fact, this way will be far more satisfying for me."

Han yanked hard on his wrist restraints in an attempt at loosening them, unsuccessfully.

"Take your hands off her," he warned. Delcar let go of Leia and moved to stand in front of Han, his face intimidatingly close but just out of reach of any kind of physical rebuttal Han might have considered.

"What do you think you are going to do from there?" he goaded Han.

"Why don't you let me out of these," Han spread his fingers wide to indicate the bracelets "and let's find out." His eyes widened in challenge.

"Don't worry, Solo. I'll get to you, in good time." Han imagined the pleasure of breaking the younger man's nose and wished he would inch his face a little closer, within head-butting range, but no luck. The duke  turned his attention back to Leia, gesturing the guards forward again. They followed his silent order, grabbing both her arms and pinning them either side of her head to the magnetic metal strip on the opposite side of the room, which accepted her bracelets with a securing thud. Furious, she looked at them, twisting her arms in a futile attempt to squeeze her hands free. The duke laughed scornfully.

"There's no escape, Your Highness," he mocked. She glared at him, her fighting instinct kicking in.

"I've escaped from chains before. You're going to pay for this," she said venomously. He smiled.

"Is that a death threat, Vader's daughter?" Leia was shocked. Where had he got that information? She thought that was a close-knit secret. "You're surprised I know? I've known a long time, perhaps even before you. You and I should be on the same side." It was her turn to sneer now.

"You are deluded. I am nothing like my father."

"With that temper of yours, is it so far removed an idea to consider? Perhaps, with a little persuasion, you can tap into your dark side."

"I'll die before that happens," she assured him.

Han felt the truth of this statement. Turning to the dark side was her worst fear for herself, and her father's betrayal of the Jedi one she would do anything to prevent repeating. She would certainly finish herself off if she ever saw it happening.

Leia changed the subject.

"I can't believe you're doing all this for a little bit of power. It's so sad. What can you possibly have been offered that makes hurting so many people worthwhile?" Han was right. He was just a little despot, but she had a feeling he was feeding something much more evil with his greed. Delcar looked ruffled for the first time since he had entered the room. She had managed to hit a nerve.

"You speak of power so lightly because you've had it all your life. Money, position, adoration. I had to watch you wielding power in the Senate from the age of thirteen. Why should you have been given that and not me? You didn't even deserve it. You were not born to that throne." He was pacing, angry. Han watched the duke unravelling. Trust Leia to find the raw spot and poke it.

"You're jealous?" She gave a disbelieving laugh. "Of what? Of a childhood devoid of freedom, of the loneliness and inevitability of duty or, perhaps, the pressure of responsibility for millions of lives? Which one were you hoping for most?" She hated that people never understood that a position like hers was not fun and luxury. It came with sacrifices. The desire for power was a misguided one and it was saddening that the whole galaxy ran on it; power to control, power to influence. With power should come responsibility and service to others, she truly believed that, hoped she lived by it. It shouldn't be an excuse for oppression and torment. Besides, Senate committee meetings; who actually enjoyed those things? Monotonous and long-winded affairs. She certainly didn't wake up thinking all she wanted to do today was thrash out regional government issues with hundreds of individual planetary systems for hours. They were a necessary sufferance for democracy.

Han shifted uncomfortably where he stood. The level of the magnetic strip was a little too low for his height and he had to bend his knees just enough for them to hurt. Leia had the opposite problem. Her arms would soon go dead from being held at a higher angle.

He had listened to her description of her royal position. He hadn't looked at it from this point of view. He had assumed that because she was good at what she did, she must also enjoy it but was beginning to see there was more to it than that. She would never fail to fulfil her duties and responsibilities to others as she saw them, but he began to understand why she was so attracted to his adventurous nature, why she sometimes sighed when he told her he was leaving on one of his slightly dubious missions; not because she wholly disapproved but because half of her wanted to join in. She never spoke of it, just took the burden on her shoulders and moved forward.

"I don't understand your jealousy and I refuse to believe that's the reason for all this," she continued. The sentiment was juvenile and it was just this sort of hard-done-by attitude that allowed the seductiveness of the dark side to plant it's seed in the mind. "House Organa has fostered a trusting relationship with House Alde. My father put your father in an influential position. It would all have come to you one day," she affirmed. The duke, who was still pacing, turned angrily to face her.

"I didn't want to wait for your charity. I wanted the throne. I tried to secure it the usual way but you refused my proposals." Leia lowered her head and shook it slowly in defeat. In hindsight, her intuition had served her well all those times.

"To be given the throne is a privilege that requires you dedicate your life in service to your people in return, not subject them to a life of enslavement. The throne should really go to the best person to rule not to someone just because they were born to the right parents. You need to prove your worthiness and you're not doing a very good job of showing compassion so far." Leia jerked her head in the general direction of the children. "You would simply have become a puppet for whoever it is that has promised you these things."

"Believe it or not, Organa, there are people who disagree with you there. People who believe in the royalist system, who believe that giving power to one pure bloodline cuts out the inexperienced and inefficient democratic time wasting and maintains order." Today Alderaan; tomorrow, the Empire. Leia thought ruefully.

Han voiced what she thought.

"You don't think your business partners would give you a whole Empire do you? They'd use you as a mouthpiece then squash you like a bug when the time came. Don't think you're the first to make that mistake." He'd been listening to this idiot for ages and now wanted to cut to the chase. The duke turned to Han but pointed at Leia.

"You think she would have been better?" Han raised his eyebrows in silent affirmative consideration. "She isn't worthy of it. She has spent years on the pretence of humanitarian missions when all the time, she was running guns to the rebels. She's a glorified smuggler. Maybe that's why she's chosen you." There was bitterness in his voice. "The throne was mine by right." He looked at Leia again. "but you sacrificed Alderaan for your self-righteous cause and took that away from me. Unfortunately, your intention to sacrifice yourself along with it didn't work and he saved you." He pointed at Han now. "forcing me to come up with other plans." Leia looked pained.

"I simply sacrificed myself for the success of the mission. I never intended for Alderaan to suffer, but it happened and I can't change that. Even if I could, you wouldn't be in line for the throne..." Her voice trailed off and Han saw comprehension in her face. "But you're not an Alde are you?" Her recurring vision played over in her memory, his image and the crests suddenly becoming clear. "I'm not the only one with a hidden history. You're a Thul." She didn't know the whys and the wherefores but was certain of it. The vision had warned her of their involvement, shown her the historical atrocity that came out of their alliance with the Sith – the battle against the Jedi. The duke's stance became proud, his chin raising at her realisation.

"I was fathered by a member of House Thul, unbeknown to anyone but my mother. She prepared me for my eventual ascension to the throne, feeding me with information she gleaned from my father's position as Bail Organa's aide. I have been biding my time," The duke elaborated.

Han thought back to their conversation on the Falcon about the feudal history of Alderaan. Was Leia right about the Sith involvement in this facility? He didn't know the exact detail of her vision but she had that look suddenly that Luke sometimes got when information mysteriously revealed itself to him, distant but oddly probing at the same time. She looked the duke in the eye.

"The Sith have promised you a Senate seat and a profitable trade route... in return for..." Her eyes seemed to fog over. "the crystal and a reliable method of mind-control." She refocussed, still looking deep into his eyes. "You have someone in the New Republic government." Han tensed. This was all sounding like history repeating itself, just when they thought things were beginning to improve. Leia's warning of complacency had some foundation.

The duke seemed satisfied with her summary of the situation. He moved closer until he was pressed threateningly up against her and spoke into her ear.

"Very good, but don't waste all that power on me. I need you to use it to get me what I want." Leia met Han's eyes and just stared. A blackness began to creep into her very being, chilling her.

"You need Luke." She fixed Han's gaze. "And for that you need... No!" she breathed. Han watched the colour drain from her face and fear fill her eyes. He examined his bracelets more intently, hoping for inspiration as to how to break the magnetic connection. Her expression was unmistakeable. She needed help and quickly. Hurry up, Chewie, he thought desperately.

"Leia. Look at me," he entreated. Her eyes refocussed on him, squinting as if it was hard to do. "It'll be OK." He tried to sound optimistic, to encourage her not to be frightened but she knew something he didn't and shook her head at him that it wouldn't be.

The duke beckoned the guards and a low humming sound filtered from the corridor outside into Han's ears. Leia started to struggle against her restraints, yanking her arms down as hard as she could, twisting her body and pulling at them when the first attempt failed. She stared in panic at the doorway as the hum got louder and Han looked too, craning his head to see what was approaching.

"Pax, you don't need to do this," she implored, returning to the more familiar name trying to remind his sub-conscious of their friendship. Her worst nightmare was about to be repeated but, as the interrogator droid floated into the room, it's terrifying hum filling her ears and transporting her memory back to the Death Star, she realised this was an altogether different machine, more sophisticated, upgraded. The door slid shut behind it, closing them all in and the feeling of claustrophobia that Leia seemed to have developed in recent years began to suffocate her. She continued pulling down on her restraints, in the vain hope that somehow she would be stronger than the powerful magnet, feeling welts appearing on her wrists from the rubbing. Panic wasn't going to do her any good she tried to tell herself. Control and defiance; they had both served her well in the past. She stopped pulling.

"You won't get anything out of me with that," she stated angrily. "Others have tried and failed." Yes, that was probably enough defiance to make herself feel stronger. The duke raised an eyebrow.

"I am aware that you are one of the few people to resist one of these, but this one is different, more powerful. I have been developing it and thought you would make an excellent test subject. Leia watched the liquid pain amplifier and hallucinogens trickle through tubes in the side of the droid, filling the syringe on it's needle arm.

"Why don't you leave her alone?" Han drew the duke's attention to himself. "She doesn't know where Luke's put the crystal." Leia's torture on the Death Star and her considerable resistance to it's pain and mind-control were much whispered about in the Alliance, by everyone except her. She fought a silent personal battle with the experience, one that Han knew caused the nightmares that led to her walking the base in the middle of the night unable to sleep, pretending she had work to do, brushing off her meagre two hours sleep as if it were normal for her. She didn't think he knew about them but he did; had heard her crying in her sleep from the next berth on the Falcon, and had gleaned a little information from Blake when he asked about her welfare. He never pressed Leia for information and didn't want her to have to relive the horror in front of him now.

"If you must test that thing, test it on me," he encouraged the duke.

"Han, no!" Leia beseeched.

"I don't need any information from her General. I just need to activate some of that power of hers and call her brother." The duke adjusted the controls on the droid as he spoke. Leia closed her eyes. She didn't want Luke to come now, hoped he hadn't heard her call him in the transport. He would walk into another trap like on Bespin.

"Someone's been feeding you Wampa dung, pal. She can't do that." Han lied as casually as possible, putting a smirk on his face as if the duke's assumption was ridiculous. "Luke's long gone with your shiny ball and ain't coming back." The duke looked at him, a thin smile on his lips.

"I've seen her use it, Solo. You forget I've watched her with that orb for years. But, even if you were right, her pain is going to be so considerable, Skywalker will feel it from whichever side of the galaxy he's decided to hide in." Leia pressed her lips together and her brow furrowed. That was true. Luke would feel it, whether she called him or not.

Han wasn't giving up. He'd decided the duke was a self-pitying howlbelly and he would push the guy's buttons until he blew, buying Leia time to be rescued. A little of her Force potential on the magnetic strip console would be handy right about now but he didn't think her abilities worked in the same way as Luke's.

"So, you're going to pick on a girl?" Han emphasised, raising his eyebrows. "I thought guys like you were supposed to be honourable but you're just a whining coward. Picking on women and children make you feel big does it?" Leia knew what he was doing. She gave him a warning glare for him to stop it and mouthed no behind the duke's back. He looked from her back to the duke. "Come on, big guy. You must hate me enough to want to give me some payback. It can't be easy for you – a beautiful woman like that choosing me over you. I mean, what does that really say about you?"

"I must admit, Solo," the duke nodded, still adjusting levels on the side of the interrogator. "I would greatly enjoy killing you. I was going to save you for last but maybe I should make her watch you die first."

"Don't listen to him, Pax," Leia insisted. "He wouldn't last five minutes." She was challenging, daring him to torture her instead, undoing what Han was trying to do. He spread his manacled hands out at her and made a what-the-hell-are-you-doing face. She ignored him.

"Think what they would say about you," she continued. "The man who managed to break me."

"Leia. Stop it!" Han ordered. She didn't look at him.

"Perhaps you don't think you can do it or, maybe, you're afraid of me." Her face mocked him. Han didn't understand it. Why was she signing her own death warrant? Why wouldn't she let him save her?

"Don't do this, Leia," he pleaded as she won the duke's attention back.

"It's touching to listen to you two trying to save each other." The duke mocked them both. "I think I'll just take her from you, Solo. Then I'll kill you and then her brother." He directed the droid forwards and stood back to let it do it's work. It's humming intensified and the needle arm extended towards Leia's manacled forearm. She looked over at Han almost apologetically, sympathetically, her body now calm.

I love you, she mouthed as she closed her eyes.