Disclaimer: I know Grand Admiral Thrawn is considered cannon in the years between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope. However, the Trawn Trilogy which is now eu took place after Return of the Jedi.
2 years after the events of Return of the Jedi.
"Go! Go! Go!"
Han ran as fast as he could, Chewbacca beside him and Leia on his heels. Blaster fire echoed down the corridor from behind them. "Leia!"
"I'm here!" She shouted back, now running alongside him.
He grabbed her hand, pulling her along. Han looked over his shoulder, seeing the stormtroopers round the corner, their blasters firing. He pushed Leia in front of him, shielding her body with his.
"We're almost there!" There was the hanger bay where the Millennium Falcon was ready and waiting for their arrival.
They turned another corner, Leia getting a glimpse of more stormtroopers coming to cut them off. All three of them would not make it to the Falcon alive.
"Close the blast doors! Close the blast doors!" Echoed down the corridor from the troopers following.
"Blast it!" She muttered.
Up ahead more stormtroopers cut them off. Two stood on either side, activating the controls which would close the blast doors and trap them here.
Leia wrestled her hand free of his. As they approached the blast doors, which by now had started to close, she stopped right in her tracks. "Get out of here!" She shouted.
Han looked over his shoulder at that outburst. Then he felt himself flying through the air. "LEIA!" He crashed through the closing blast doors next to Chewie.
"LEIA!"
She stood still as the blast doors continued to close and stormtroopers surrounded her. "Leia!" He shouted again to no avail.
Han pounded against the blast door, through the closing hole that was the size of his head. "LEIA!"
"Go!" She shouted to him.
And as the blast doors closed, he saw the last glimpse of his wife's crumpled body laying below a stormtrooper holding his blaster pointed directly over her.
"Chewie we need to get her! Come on!"
[We must go.]
"CHEWIE!"
[We must go cub. The map must be delivered safely to the Republic.]
"But Chewie! You know Thrawn will torture her! And if she doesn't give him what he wants, he'll kill her!"
[The princess is a tough woman. She will take care of herself until we return.]
Han allowed himself to be led back to the Falcon, the data chip tucked securely in his belt. He would be back for her.
•••
Leia woke, her face smashed against a cold metal floor. "Well, what have we here?"
Leia could recognize his voice anywhere. The voice of a menacing killer. "Thrawn," she snarled.
"Princess Leia Organa of the destroyed planet Alderaan."
"Destroyed by your Empire!"
He laughed. "Oh yes I know. I'm sure you know it was necessary. We couldn't have those rebels acting out against us."
From the floor, Leia tried to roll over to no avail. Her hands were cuffed behind her back. "Thrawn you've lost. Your Death Star was destroyed, and the map to all your factories and labor camps is currently on its way to the Republic. You've already lost."
Thrawn let out a strange noise, which sounded like a cackle to her. He paced the small cell, his red eyes locked with hers. Under the dim light, his blue skin looked black underneath his white Imperial uniform.
"Have I lost? All of this will have just been a minor excursion when you give me the information I want."
He knelt next to her with his scaly hand now on her shoulder. Slowly, he sat her up, and marched her to the middle of the cell where there was a table. He pressed her against it, cuffing her hands and feet to it. "You can torture me, hell even kill me, but I will never give you what you want."
Leia swallowed, watching as he turned away from her and to the nearest guard. "Bring me a droid," she heard faintly.
As the beast walked swiftly over, a more powerful hated fueled inside her. Leia wanted to force choke the life out of the devil, but she couldn't expose to him that she was a force user, or a Jedi.
Stepping very close to her, he whispered barely audible, "you will give me what I want."
Behind him, the cell door opened, revealing one of the droids she would never forget. It floated towards her, with two needles sticking out of its circular body. "Now we shall begin."
Leia stared at the droid as it came closer and closer until its needle entered her body, injecting a serum that was designed to make her come out with the truth. But Leia knew he would have to do a lot more to get anything.
•••
Han made his way to the cell bay, cringing at his clanking armor. Passing a few stormtroopers, he entered the elevator that would take him to Leia's cell.
His heart beat out of his chest the whole ride. Leia could be unconscious when he arrived, of Thrawn hadn't already killed her. Han put the bucket helmet back on as the elevator doors opened.
Stepping out, he took a right down the cell bay. 2355, 2355. Trying not to be obvious, he scanned every cell door until he found the one that supposedly contained his wife.
He wasn't sure he was ready for whatever was behind that door. But Leia needed him, and they were going to get out of here, together. Han pressed the button as the door shot upward.
She was lying face down on the floor. "Leia," he whispered, sneaking in and kneeling at her side. "Oh Leia."
Han rolled her over, cringing at the sight of her face. Her eye was swollen and their were bruises along her cheek from where Thrawn most likely hit her. Her right sleeve was ripped off. Inspecting it, he saw the needle marks on the inside of her arm. "Leia!"
He shook her. "Sweetheart please."
Leia's head tipped to the side before her eyes opened. "Leia."
"I... didn't tell... him," she whispered. "I didn't."
She looked up at him, her big brown eyes wide in fear. "I swear... I-I didn't."
"Leia."
"Han?"
"I'm here sweetheart."
"Let's get out of-of here."
Han stood her up so she had most of her weight leaning against him. "Let's go."
•••
It took them a while to weave through the stormtroopers and steal a TIE Fighter. But by the time Thrawn noticed she wasn't in her cell and sounded the alarm, they were already in the soon to be stolen TIE Fighter and ready to take off.
After takeoff, Leia came around. Whatever she was injected with didn't do much more than cause her to be loopy. "Thanks for coming after me hotshot."
"You're welcome sweetheart," he answered, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I love you."
"I know," she whispered, pressing her lips against his.
