Star Crossed

III

The smell was annoyingly strong, and clouded her head the second she landed among the garbage.

"Oh God-" She groaned as she stepped down into several inches of water. "This is utterly disgusting." Her lips pulled back into an ugly snare as she looked around. But her discomfort was put on hold as Leia wrapped her arms around her friend.

"What took you so long?" Jo barely had time to return the hug when Leia pulled away and glared at Jo. "I thought you had died!"

"You can't get rid of me that easily." Jo told the young girl. Leia laughed at her friend as she helped her down the massive pile of trash.

The two girls moved just in time, as Han Solo fell in the exact spot Jo previously occupied.

Jo gripped onto Leia as they both navigated over the sharp pieces of discarded metal and left over meals.

"Who knew a Death Star could be so disgusting." Jo grumbled under her breath as she nearly tripped over something in the water.

"Oh! The garbage chute was a really  wonderful idea." Han's sarcasm bounced off the thick metal walls. It seemed even he found the stink unbearable. "What an incredible smell you've discovered!" He tripped over the pile of junk as he tried to move away from the chute's entrance. "Let's get out of here!" Han decided as he looked towards the door Luke was trying to pry open. When Luke's attempts proved useless, Han picked up his blaster and aimed it at the door. "Get away from there-"

"No! wait!" But Han didn't hear Luke's cries as he fired his laser pistol at the hatch. The laser hit the hatch and bounced off, heading in the opposite direction.

Jo and Leia held onto one another as they ducked just in time for the laser to hit the wall behind them and deflect off of it. The laser bounced off several more walls before it exploded over the top of a hill of metal.

"What a grand idea," Jo whispered for only Leia to hear. When the two girls lifted themselves up, they looked less than pleased.

"Will you forget it?" Luke screamed at Han who gave a slightly embarrassed grimace. "I already tried it. It's magnetically sealed!" He looked back towards the door.

"Put that thing away! You're going to get us all killed." Leia ordered Han.

Han didn't seem pleased by the commanding lady, and as he looked between the two girls he was starting to figure they were more trouble than they were worth. "Absolutely, Your Worship- or is she the actual Princess?" He looked towards the girl with two differently colored eyes. When neither of them said anything he figured he'd never know the difference. "Look, I had everything under control until you led us down here."

"Under control?" Jo gave the man a crazed look. "We were out gunned five to one with more troopers on the way. You said it yourself- Luke is the brains. You had nothing under control." She bit back angrily at him. She hated the grimy stench and the feeling of something slimy between her toes and she took her anger out on the nameless man.

"You know what?" Han stepped towards Jo with a look of anger flashing in his eyes. "It's not going to take them long to figure out what happened to us. It seems I'm not the only one who doesn't have things under control.. Doll." 

Her eyes narrowed in on the man in front of her. "How dare you-"

"It could be worse..." Leia tried to break up the tension between the two. She's always known her handler to ignore a bad situation, but now it seemed even she was uneasy.

It almost seemed as if Leia's words called upon something worse, for merely seconds later a loud, horrible moan bubbled up from the depths of the garbage chute.