The X-Wings came out of hyperspace, Bespin appearing in their viewports. Leana took a breath, preparing herself for the duel that would occur below. I hope everyone's all right, she thought, knowing the torture Vader had in store for them. Please, please, let Lucas, Lumina, and Ben be okay.

"See it?" Luke's voice said, coming over the comlink.

"Yeah," Leana replied. How could I miss it?

"They have to be there," Luke said, worry tinging his tone.

"They will be," Leana said, conviction filling her voice. "They will be, Luke." They will be there because that's exactly where Vader wants you.

****

Lucas moaned. Instead of the earsplitting siren he was expecting, a horrid rap song was playing at a deafening level and there was nothing either Lucas or Chewbacca could do to escape it. They were both stuck in the same cell. Chewbacca was barking in pain as Lucas lay in the corner, his head pressed up against the wall with his sweatshirt hood pulled up, hands squeezed against his ears. His efforts accomplished next to nothing, but there was nothing else he could do.

Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up....

Lucas had no idea how long he laid there until gradually, the rap song seemed to have been turned down. Cautiously, he unplugged his ears and rolled over, grimacing at the awful choice of lyrics. Chewbacca seemed to be experiencing the same disorientation and disgust he felt.

"Did they turn it off?" Lucas asked, his voice loud even to him. He felt like he had lost most of his hearing, and couldn't tell if the song was still there or not.

Chewbacca moaned and nodded before shaking his head as if to rid himself of the remnants of noise.

"Ow," Lucas groaned, easing up onto his feet and pulling off his sweatshirt hood. "That hurt. I can still hear the echoes of the beatboxing."

As the two glanced around the cell, they both noticed the case filled with C-3PO's parts sitting on the metal bench. With nothing else to do but listen to the awful song fade away in their ears, Lucas and Chewbacca headed over to the bench and sat on opposite ends, beginning to go through the parts and assemble the droid.

Lucas welcomed the distraction, welcomed the option to focus his mind entirely on something else. He loved working with machines, anything from car engines to dirt bikes to appliances, figuring out how everything worked. The familiar routine was comforting, especially since he was currently residing in space jail.

The Wookiee and the boy worked in companionable and much welcomed silence, Lucas holding the head in place as Chewbacca connected the wires on the front, then switching as Lucas figured out the wires on the back while Chewbacca balanced the droid's head. As soon as he flicked on the circuit controlling the vocorder, words sputtered out of C-3PO's mouth, falling over each other in swift succession.

"Oh my. Uh I, uh – don't get up, please don't! I don't mean any harm! Oh! Stormtroopers? Here? We're in danger. I must warn the others."

"Bit late for that," Lucas muttered, as C-3PO's eyes began to glow with life.

"Wait a minute, I've been shot!" the droid exclaimed.

"Again, no duh," Lucas sighed, earning a wuffle of agreement from the Wookiee as C-3PO launched into a tirade of complaints.

****

Ben wasn't sure what to expect when he and Han were forced into a chamber, filled with Imperial torture devices. He knew that he should be expecting torture, given the circumstances, but was really hoping to get off with a warning this time, maybe a slap on the wrist.

As long as Vader didn't cut off his wrist.

Han was strapped to a torture device by two stormtroopers, but Ben was only handcuffed and held by the two Imperials, Dan and Fred. He swallowed uneasily.

Vader swept into the chamber, his black cape billowing out behind him. In his gloved, mechanical hand, he held the broken hilt of Ben's lightsaber.

"Well, Jedi scum, now I can throw things at you," Vader said with relish, throwing the piece directly at Ben's head.

It struck Ben's forehead and bounced off, falling onto the floor. Ben winced at the pain, grimacing. He would definitely have a bruise from that. "Ouch."

Vader turned away from him, placing his hand on the control panel for the torture device. "Now you will watch as I torture the Rebels you had so much faith in, you chose to sacrifice yourself for them. Now witness their failure."

And the torture device hooked up to Han was turned on.

Ben couldn't help it; he flinched at the first scream.

****

Lucas and Chewbacca were engrossed in fixing C-3PO when the door slid open, two guards dragging in Ben and Han and releasing them once inside the cell. Han collapsed to the floor, but Ben merely staggered and mostly kept to his feet as the guards turned and exited.

"Ben!" Lucas exclaimed, jolting to his feet. "Han!"

Chewbacca barked and ran to his friend as Lucas hurried over to Ben. "Hello?" C-3PO called. "I cannot see. You have me facing the wrong way, Chewbacca."

They all ignored the droid. "What happened, Ben?" Lucas demanded. "How did Darth Vader get you? And why does Vader think you're Obi-Wan?"

Ben sighed. "Good to see you, too, Lucas. It's been one heck of a crazy day. I don't know the whole story of how I wound up with Vader, for one second I was crashing my speeder back on Hoth and the next I was waking up in a prison cell on the Executor and Vader was talking to me like I was Obi-Wan Kenobi. Apparently, because Obi-Wan told him that he would return ten times stronger if struck down, Vader thinks he meant return physically, not join the Force. And the red hair didn't help." Ben grinned ruefully. "I thought Vader trained at the Jedi Temple – shouldn't he know that there is no death, there is only the Force? Anyway, what's been up with you?"

"I flew the Falcon," Lucas told him, which sounded really anticlimactic and lame now. "But aside from that, most things have resembled the film. Only some things have changed. It's been weird."

Chewbacca moaned as he helped Han over to the bench. Lucas and Ben moved C-3PO's parts to the floor, over the droid's protests, and the Wookiee eased Han down onto the bench. Ben and Lucas sat up against the wall, on the other side of the bench, as the door opened again and Leia and Lumina were pushed inside.

Leia ran to Han, but Lumina hurried over to the two boys. "Hey," she said, sliding down beside Ben and giving him a hug. "I thought you were dead."

Ben tiredly hugged her back. "Hey, Lu. No, I'm not dead. Vader captured me, after the crash, I guess. And since he thought I was Obi-Wan, he decided not to kill me." He explained briefly the confusion to her.

"Why are they doing this?" Leia asked.

"They didn't ask Ben or me any questions," Han told her, Ben nodding in agreement.

"They didn't interrogate me or Lu either," Leia said, frowning.

"Next time, listen to me," Lumina said to them forcefully.

"Well, it wasn't like you had much of a plan otherwise," Han retorted, but his tone was weary. "And if you knew all this was going to happen, you could have given more information."

"I have to admit, Lumina, you were right," Leia said.

Han gave her a betrayed look. "What else were we supposed to do, with a busted hyperdrive?"

For the third time, the doors opened and they all jerked toward the entrance as Lando stepped inside, two guards behind him.

"In and out," one of the guards muttered. "Why couldn't we have just done this all at once?"

"Why are you here?" Lucas asked, although he knew very well the reason why.

"Get out of here, Lando," Han snapped. "We don't need you." Chewbacca snarled in agreement.

"I knew he was trouble," C-3PO commented. "He wouldn't even look me in the eyes when we met."

"Shut up and listen to me!" Lando said forcefully, ignoring the protocol droid. "Leia, Chewbacca, and Lumina are going to stay here. The bounty hunter Boba Fett is taking Han, and Vader is taking Obi-Wan and Lucas."

Lumina, Lucas, and Ben exchanged alarmed looks. "This isn't good," Lucas muttered.

"Well, it could be worse," Ben admitted. "They have snacks on the Executor. I got to go into the readyroom, when Vader forgot his morning coffee? Anyway –"

"I wonder if Leana stopped Luke," Lumina pondered, cutting Ben off. "Otherwise...."

"I hope she didn't stop Luke," Lucas muttered. "I want to be rescued." Ben elbowed Lucas, and he shot a glare at his friend as he muttered, "Ouch. Not necessary, Ben."

Lando turned to Lumina, his eyes narrowing. "Luke?"

Lumina nodded. "Skywalker."

Recognition flared in Lando's eyes, and he drew back slightly. "How did you know it's a trap?"

"Trap?" Leia and Han repeated, glancing from Lumina to Lando.

Lumina shrugged. "Same way I knew you would betray us."

"How?" Lando demanded. Lumina frowned and stayed silent. "Yeah, well, it's a trap."

Leia frowned, the pieces seeming to click into place. "And we're the bait."

"Yeah," Lucas agreed bluntly, glaring at Lando. "We are the bait, the Empire is the hunter, and Cloud City is the trap. And Lando is the game warden who is supposed to be on our side, but decided to bend the rules in favor of the hunter, despite the fact that it's not Rebel season."

"It's always Rebel season," Lando snapped back. "And what was I supposed to do, tell Darth Vader no?"

"You could have tried it," Lucas shrugged. "Could have gone either way."

Lando sighed. "Regardless, Skywalker is on his way, along with another Rebel Vader wants to capture."

Lumina, Lucas, and Ben exchanged startled glances. They all were thinking the same thing. Leana.

"How nice," Han seethed. "You fixed us all real good, didn't you? Old friend!" Hurling himself off the bench, Han stumbled as he threw a punch at Lando, catching him in the jaw. Lando toppled over, Han falling on top of him, attempting to throw another punch.

"Whoa! Whoa!" Lando exclaimed, as Han punched him in the stomach.

"How do you like that, huh, flat leaver?" Han snarled. "Lumina was right about you."

"Guards!" Lando called, and the Cloud City guards grabbed Han and hurled him backwards, one of them pointing his blaster at him while the other pulled Lando up. Lando gave Han a cold stare. "I've done all I can for you and your friends. If you don't like it, too bad. I can't worry about that. I have my own problems. So good day!"

Lando swept out the door, his guards following him.

"What a jerk," Lucas muttered. "Aren't our problems bigger than his?"

"Well, he is dealing with the Empire," Ben pointed out.

"No excuse," Lumina declared, crossing her arms. Chewbacca growled, striding to the door and banging his fist against it angrily.

"Han, you certainly have a way with people," Leia sighed, kneeling beside Han and easing him slowly up into a sitting position.

"Yeah," Lucas agreed. "A way of driving them away."

And despite their situation, a slight laugh rippled through the prison cell as Han groaned.