Harry Potter and the Dark Lord of the Sith

Chapter 28.

Ron and Chewbacca were locked in a cell, along with pieces of Threepio. Shrill noise filled the room. Despite that, Ron tried to concentrate. He wanted to know how much magic he could do without his wand. He remembered that Luke claimed he used "the Force" to guide the torpedoes into the Death Star exhaust port, but even Luke said that it required training, and he could only focus it only in rare circumstances. Ron spent the past half-hour trying to unlock the cell with his mind. They were still here. If only I didn't draw my wand, he thought, and then laughed at himself. If wishes were galleons, I'd own half of England.

Suddenly the noise stopped. Chewbacca moaned quietly. Ron patted him on the back. "It's all right," he tried to reassure him. The words rang hollow. Chewbacca whimpered and began to repair the droid.

After several attempts, Chewie got Threepio's head onto his body. The robot's eyes lighted up and he began to make unintelligible sounds. Chewie tinkered a bit more, and finally, Threepio began speaking in his ordinary voice.

"Stormtroopers?" he said. "Here? We're in danger. I must tell the others. Oh no! I've been shot!"

"Well," Ron commented, "not everything has gone to pieces.

"How can you say that, Master Ron," Threepio insisted. "I am in pieces!"

Ron ignored him, and Chewbacca continued repairs. He was nearly done reattaching the arms when the droid complained again. "Oh, something is not right, because now I can't see. Wait. Wait! Oh my! What have you done? I'm backwards, you stupid furball. Only an overgrown mophead like you would be stupid enough--"

Chewie, having had enough, turned Threepio off and growled at Ron.

Then the door opened and stormtroopers threw Han in. The Corellian looked like he was about to collapse. Chewbacca rushed to support his stumbling friend. "I feel terrible," Han said weakly.

The door opened again and Leia was shoved in. She embraced Han and kissed him, before carefully laying him down on the hard plank extending out of the wall.

"Why are they doing this?" she demanded.

Han groaned. "They never even asked me any questions."

"Can you help him?" Leia looked at Ron. "That pain-relief spell... oh..." she realized. "Sorry."

"It's all right."

The door opened for the third time. "Lando," Leia told him.

"Get out of here, Lando!" Han found the strength to say.

"Shut up and listen!" The other man looked them over. "Vader has agreed to turn Leia, Chewie, and Ron over to me."

"Over to you?" Han was incredulous.

"What about Han?" Leia demanded.

"Vader's giving him over to the bounty hunter."

"Vader wants us all dead!" Leia insisted.

"Vader doesn't want you at all!" Lando countered. "He's after somebody called Skywalker."

"Luke?" Ron asked in disbelief.

"Vader set a trap for him," Lando informed them.

"And we're the bait!" Leia finished, although that part was obvious.

"Well, he's on his way," said Lando.

"Harry!" Ron gasped. "Is Harry with him?"

Lando didn't answer.

"You fixed us all pretty good, didn't you," Han spat. "My friend." He leaped up and rushed Lando, punching hard enough to tumble him. The fistfight was furious. After several exchanges of blows, one of Lando's guards knocked Han down with the butt of his rifle. The other aimed his. Chewbacca and Ron were about to join in when Lando gestured to the guards to back off. He straightened out his clothing and rubbed one of the bruises. "Stop," he said. "I've done all I can. I'm sorry I couldn't do better, but I've got my own problems."

"Yeah," Han snarled, "you're a real hero."

When Lando left, Leia, Ron, and Chewie laid Han back onto the bunk, and started tending to his injuries. "You certainly have a way with people," Leia commented.

"Harry will probably come with Luke," Ron thought aloud, "and Vader will have all of us."

"What about Hermione?" Leia asked.

"When she finds out what happened, she'll try to get us also. Isn't that just convenient?"

Han clenched his fists. "Lando..."

The door opened, again, and stormtroopers marched in. Their officer ordered them to follow him. All four did so, with Chewie carrying Threepio on his back. Ron and Leia supported Han on either side.

XXXXXXXX

Two X-wings appeared over the gas giant planet of Bespin.

"You made it okay?" Luke asked his friend.

"Yeah," Harry answered. "Let's find them."

"That's odd..." Luke said.

"What?"

"There are no vessels in orbit. None taking off, either. Something is not right here."

Harry thought Hermione was here. He didn't know whether it was the Force or wishful thinking on his part, so he kept it quiet. They descended in silence.

At first, the platform didn't look very big, but soon, Harry realized that the flying metropolis was enormous. Bigger than anything (except for the Death Star, of course) than he'd ever seen before. Everything appeared to be in order, but Harry felt uneasy. Then he laughed at himself for not realizing it sooner.

"What's so funny?" Luke demanded.

"Not funny. It's just that... nothing looks wrong with this place, and that's how I know that something is wrong."

"I know what you mean. Sort of the reverse of Dagobah, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Harry agreed. "So what do we do? Just land?"

"I guess so."

"Strange that a place like this has no traffic control."

"Maybe they just didn't hail us."

Harry felt Luke's discomfort through the Force. He doesn't believe everything is okay anymore than I do. He activated the repulsors and lowered his X-wing on the landing platform.

Luke was already out of his ship, and was stretching out. Harry quickly joined him. "Should we leave the droids here?" he asked.

Luke gave it a thought, but both Artoo and CueSeven made shrill beeps protesting the idea. Luke shook his head. "No, we'd better not. We're being watched, I feel it. They won't take long to come here." Harry didn't ask who "they" were.

As Harry lowered his astromech down with the Force, the droid chirped something. Artoo beeped a reply. CueSeven expressed his annoyance with a long whistle.

"Great," Luke shook his head. "Be quiet, you two! This is no place for an argument about which one of us is the better master!"

Imagining the possible contents of that argument made Harry laugh. Luke grinned as well, but then got serious again.

"Got everything?"

"Yeah. Just..."

"What?"

"We've come to rescue Han, Leia, and Hermione. Who'll be rescuing us?"

"Let's go, Harry. We'll try to make sure we don't need rescuing."

Harry nodded, and followed Luke inside the city.