Leia paced before the wide window that offered a magnificent view of Cloud City. She was within the living quarters that had been assigned to her and she wore fresh clothes, all courtesy of Lando Calrissian. From the skylight that dominated the circular room’s ceiling, natural light poured in and illuminated the interior and its comfortable furnishings. The entire room and all its contents were white and immaculately clean.

Leia didn’t like the place one bit.

The room’s main door slid open and Han entered. “The ship’s almost finished,” he said as Leia crossed the room to him. “Two or three more things and we’re in great shape.”

“The sooner the better,” Leia said. “Something’s wrong here. No one has seen or knows anything about Threepio. He’s been gone too long to have gotten lost.”

“Relax,” Han said. He took Leia by the shoulders and gently kissed her forehead. “I’ll talk to Lando. See what I can find out.”

“I don’t trust Lando.” Leia pulled away from Han and sat on a plush white couch.

“Well, I don’t trust him, either,” Han said as he sat down beside Leia. “But he is my friend. Besides, we’ll soon be gone.”

Trying to keep the sadness from her voice, Leia said, “And then you’re as good as gone, aren’t you?”

Han looked away, then looked back to Leia’s troubled face. He didn’t know how to respond to her question, so he just gazed into her eyes and remained silent.

Like any large metropolis, Cloud City had to deal with unwanted junk. But because Cloud City was not built upon solid ground and had no land-based natural resources, dumping was not an economical option. Virtually everything—from outmoded technology to broken appliances—was recycled into usable materials. And the recycling process began in the junk rooms.

Chewbacca found the junk rooms on a level below Lando Calrissian’s headquarters. The Wookiee had already visited every other accessible part of the building. He was determined to find C-3PO. As Chewbacca entered a junk room and saw the piles of scrap metal that were heaped throughout, he wished C-3PO hadn’t wound up here, of all places. But where else could C-3PO be?

Chewbacca made his way past the scrap heaps, keeping his eyes peeled for gold-plated metal. He picked up several pieces, but nothing was from a protocol droid. He tossed the scraps aside and kept searching.

Then he heard a roar. Not an animal sound, but a noise made by intense fire.

Chewbacca edged around a high stack of crushed metal and found a conveyer that moved scrap from a garbage chute to the other side of the room. Four small, porcine humanoids—Chewbacca recognized them as Ugnaughts—were stationed on both sides of the long conveyer, from which they selectively removed valuable scrap. Anything the Ugnaughts didn’t want was fed through an open oval-shaped door into a blazing furnace, the source of the roaring sound.

Chewbacca sighted a flash of gold on the conveyer and realized he was looking at the blaster-scorched remains of C-3PO. The Wookiee pushed his way past the scrap heaps and Ugnaughts to grab C-3PO’s headless torso. Then he quickly knocked the droid’s other dismembered parts off the conveyer.

One of the Ugnaughts had seized C-3PO’s head. Chewbacca barked a command at the Ugnaught, but rather than hand over the head, the Ugnaught tossed it to one of his fellow workers. Chewbacca tried to intercept the catch but missed, and failed to prevent the droid’s head from being thrown to another Ugnaught. That Ugnaught threw it to another, who missed, and C-3PO’s head clattered against the floor.

Chewbacca howled with rage. And the Ugnaughts quickly learned the hard way that it’s pure foolishness to play keep-away with a Wookiee.

Leia and Han were still in the bright white living quarters when Chewbacca entered, carrying a packing case. The case was crammed with C-3PO’s parts.

“What happened?” Leia gasped, rising from the couch.

Chewbacca set the case onto the circular table at the center of the room, then grunted an explanation.

“Where?” Han said.

Chewbacca repeated himself.

Han said, “Found him in a junk pile?”

Leia shook her head as she peered into the case. “Oh, what a mess. Chewie, do you think you can repair him?”

Chewbacca examined some of C-3PO’s pieces, looked at Leia, then shrugged.

Han said, “Lando’s got people who can fix him.”

“No, thanks,” Leia said, a bit surprised that Han had even considered the idea. From what she’d seen so far, Lando dealt with most of his responsibilities through his aide Lobot, the bald cyborg with the cranial computer bracket. According to Lando, Lobot’s headband kept in constant contact with Cloud City’s central computer. She had as much reason to trust Lobot as she did Lando, which was not at all.

Just then, an electronic chime sounded and Lando stepped down into the room. Standing in the doorway, he said, “I’m sorry. Am I interrupting something?”

“Not really,” Leia said.

Lando cast a long, appreciative glance at Leia, then beamed and said, “You look absolutely beautiful. You truly belong here with us among the clouds.”

“Thank you,” Leia said coolly, thinking, I wonder how many times he’s used that line.

Lando said, “Will you join me for a little refreshment?”

Han looked at Lando suspiciously. Chewbacca answered with a hungry bark.

Lando added, “Everyone’s invited, of course.” He offered his hand to Leia, but Han stepped in and Leia took his arm. Lando was turning to lead them out of the room when he noticed the gold-metal limbs in the case on the table. With a quizzical expression, Lando said, “Having trouble with your droid?”

Leia and Han exchanged a quick glance, then Han looked at Lando and said, “No. No problem. Why?”

Han and Leia exited the room, and Lando and Chewbacca followed, leaving C-3PO’s parts behind. The group proceeded into a window-lined corridor, where long shafts of light fell across white walls and columns. As they walked past a group of uniformed laborers, Lando gestured at the surroundings and said, “So, you see, since we’re a small operation, we don’t fall into the…uh…jurisdiction of the Empire.”

Leia said, “So you’re part of the mining guild, then?”

“No, not actually,” Lando said, leading the way down another corridor. “Our operation is small enough not to be noticed…which is advantageous for everybody, since our customers are anxious to avoid attracting attention to themselves.”

Han asked, “Aren’t you afraid the Empire’s going to find out about this little operation and shut you down?”

“That’s always been a danger looming like a shadow over everything we’ve built here,” Lando said as he approached a closed pair of doors, “but things have developed that will ensure security.” Chewbacca sniffed the air and growled. That rotten smell again.

Lando stopped at the double doors and said, “I’ve just made a deal that will keep the Empire out of here forever.”

The doors parted at the middle and slid sideways into the wall to reveal a white-walled dining room with a long, neatly arranged banquet table. At the far end of the table, rising from his seat, was Darth Vader.

Chewbacca roared. Leia froze. And Solo made his move, quick-drawing his blaster pistol to fire at Vader. But the dark lord, moving with incredible speed, raised his right black-gloved hand and deflected the fired bolt into the wall. Han rapidly squeezed off three more shots, but all were just as easily nullified by Vader. Then Han felt an invisible tug as his blaster was torn from his grip. The weapon flew through the air, straight at Vader, who caught it by the barrel.

Facing Leia and her allies, Vader lowered the blaster to the table and said, “We would be honored if you would join us.”

A figure stepped out from an alcove behind Vader. It was Boba Fett. Clutching his blaster rifle across his armored chest, the masked bounty hunter moved so he was just off to Vader’s left side.

Leia, Han, and Chewbacca were still standing in the open doorway when they heard a clattering of footsteps behind them. A squad of blaster-wielding stormtroopers had taken up position outside the dining room. Near them stood Lobot, who was unarmed.

Even though Leia had already expressed her mistrust for Lando, and heard his talk of deals that would keep the Empire out of Cloud City, it was only upon seeing Lobot with the stormtroopers that she realized…Lando set us up!

She looked at Lando, as did Han and Chewbacca. Lando looked Han square in the eye and said grimly, “I had no choice. They arrived right before you did. I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too,” Han said, his expression blank. He took Leia’s arm, and together they turned, stepped toward the banquet table, and faced Darth Vader. After all, there was nowhere else to go. Then Chewbacca and Lando entered the dining room, and the double doors slid closed behind them.

Luke’s X-wing starfighter raced across space. Although no one had told him the location of his friends, his vision had been crystal clear. They were in a city in the clouds. He was certain he would find them on Bespin.

Through his cockpit window, Luke sighted the giant gaseous planet in the distance. Behind him, R2-D2 beeped and whistled. Luke consulted the scope that displayed the translation for the astromech’s language, then answered, “No. Threepio’s with them.”

Sounding more distressed, R2-D2 whistled again.

“Just hang on,” Luke said. “We’re almost there.”

Luke couldn’t stop thinking about his vision, how his friends were in pain. He accelerated toward Bespin and hoped he would arrive in time to help them.