Chewbacca was in agony.

The Wookiee was in a Cloud City prison cell and a high-pitched siren was screeching and echoing off the cell’s durasteel walls. He pressed both hands hard against the sides of his hairy head, trying in vain to protect his sensitive ears. He felt like his skull was about to split wide open.

Chewbacca started pacing back and forth within the large cell, his arms flailing in useless effort to ward off the violent din. Desperate to escape, he reached up to grab the thick, black metal bars that crisscrossed overhead and separated him from the upper ceiling. He tugged at the bars but they wouldn’t yield. Suddenly, the siren ended, but it took Chewbacca a moment to comprehend it was over. The noise was still ringing in his ears.

The Wookiee shook his head and moaned, waiting for the pain to drain off. Exhausted, he looked down to a metal bench, on which rested the case that contained C-3PO’s parts. Who had taken the case from Leia’s living quarters and delivered it to his cell? Why hadn’t the stormtroopers just returned the parts to the Cloud City junk room? Chewbacca had no idea. He was more relieved that the parts hadn’t been smelted than curious about how they’d arrived in the cell. And now that the siren was silenced, he could concentrate on reassembling the droid.

He reached into the case and removed one of C-3PO’s hands, then set the hand aside and picked up the droid’s head. He contemplated it for a moment, looking into the droid’s dead eyes as if they held some secret. Without any tools at his disposal, Chewbacca doubted he could do much for the droid. But he could try.

He reached for the droid’s torso and placed it on his lap. Then he examined the scorched metal at the bottom of the head and found the neck ring was unbroken. He stuck C-3PO’s head into the torso’s neck socket and began to reconnect the wires and adjust the circuits.

The lights in C-3PO’s eyes sparked on and then flickered out. Chewbacca made another adjustment and the eyes switched on again. This was followed by a flurry of almost unintelligible words, uttered at varying speeds and tones, from C-3PO’s mouth: “Mmm. Oh, my. Uh, I, uh—Take this off, uh, don’t mean to intrude here. I, don’t, no, no, no…please don’t get up. No!”

Chewbacca twisted a wire and C-3PO’s eyes switched off. Then he squeezed a circuit as he pulled a wire, and the eyes illuminated again. But this time, C-3PO’s head moved from side to side in the torso’s neck socket and the droid spoke clearly: “Stormtroopers? Here? We’re in danger. I must tell the others.”

Then C-3PO tried to move, and realized the awful truth. “Oh, no!” he cried. “I’ve been shot!”

Darth Vader watched as two stormtroopers prepared an elaborate mechanism in the prison entry area. The mechanism consisted of an adjustable rack that stood vertically and faced a slanted panel of assorted instruments, including chemical injectors, microsurgical vibroscalpels, diagnostic scanners, and an electroshock assembly. All the instruments were designed to induce pain, which was appropriate since the mechanism was engineered for torture.

Han Solo was strapped to the rack. Unable to move his arms or legs, he studied the pain-inducing instruments on the facing panel and tried to brace himself for the worst. From what he’d heard about Imperial torture devices, the diagnostic scanners would be used to anticipate loss of consciousness and the chemical injectors would keep him awake. That way, he wouldn’t pass out, and would experience every measure of pain.

Darth Vader walked around the instrument panel and stood close to Han. Because the rack elevated Han’s body, Vader had to tilt his own head back slightly to stare directly—through the lenses of his black helmet—into Han’s eyes. Han glared at Vader and clenched his bound fists.

A red light illuminated on the slanted panel, and the rack tilted forward. Han’s head and neck were not restrained, so he twisted his face away and squeezed his eyes shut as the rack lowered his upper body into direct contact with the horrendous instruments. Vader leaned in closer and watched Han’s facial responses with interest.

A spark flashed at the top of the instrument panel, and Han winced.

A second spark flashed, and Han screamed. The pain was overwhelming.

The third spark came, and Han learned there was pain beyond overwhelming.

Han didn’t pass out. And the torture mechanism was just getting started.

Solo’s piercing cries filtered through the closed door that separated the prison entry area from the holding chamber. In the holding chamber, the closed door was guarded by two stormtroopers. Lando Calrissian and Lobot stood a short distance from the stormtroopers, as did Boba Fett. Hearing Han’s screams, Lando and Boba Fett slowly turned to look at each other. Lando tried to keep his face as expressionless as Fett’s helmet.

The door slid open. Darth Vader ducked his head as he strode through the doorway and entered the holding chamber.

Lando said, “Lord Vader.”

Brushing past Lando, Vader stopped to face Fett and said, “You may take Captain Solo to Jabba the Hutt after I have Skywalker.” Then he walked off.

“He’s no good to me dead,” Boba Fett said, following Vader into a corridor with Lando and Lobot in their wake.

“He will not be permanently damaged,” Vader assured him, passing two stormtroopers as he entered an open lift tube.

“Lord Vader,” Lando repeated. “What about Leia and the Wookiee?”

Turning to face Lando, who stood just outside the lift tube, Vader said, “They must never again leave this city.”

Lando was stunned. “That was never a condition of our agreement, nor was giving Han to this bounty hunter!”

“Perhaps you think you’re being treated unfairly,” Vader said.

Lando knew there was only one answer he could give. “No,” he said.

“Good,” Vader replied. “It would be unfortunate if I had to leave a garrison here.” The lift tube door slid shut.

Boba Fett turned and headed back to the holding chamber, leaving Lando and Lobot standing in the corridor near the lift tube. Watching Boba walk away, Lando muttered, “This deal is getting worse all the time.”

In the large cell, working without tools, Chewbacca had managed to make some progress with C-3PO. More wires had been sorted, some had been reconnected, and the droid’s right arm—like his head—had been reattached to his upper torso. Chewbacca had the torso propped up on his lap as he adjusted the circuits that were housed in the middle of the droid’s back. C-3PO’s audio and visual sensors seemed to be working fine and, as he faced the cell’s far wall, he was able to comment on the Wookiee’s handiwork.

“Oh, yes, that’s very good,” C-3PO said as the Wookiee tweaked a circuit. “I like that.” Suddenly, the lights in the protocol droid’s eyes flashed off. “Oh! Something’s not right because now I can’t see.” After Chewbacca made another adjustment, C-3PO continued, “Oh. Oh, that’s much better.”

Then C-3PO tried to wiggle the fingers on his right hand, but something about the action felt awkward. “Wait,” he said, and twisted his head to look down at his chest. “Wait! Oh, my!” he cried. Where he’d expected to see his chest, he instead saw the exposed circuits on his back, and was suddenly livid. “What have you done? I’m backward, you flea-bitten furball. Only an overgrown mophead like you would be stupid enough—”

Chewbacca threw the circuit breaker at the base of C-3PO’s neck, and the droid’s eyes and voice switched off. The Wookiee was about to resume the repairs when he smelled something in the air, then heard the sound of approaching footsteps. As he placed C-3PO’s upper body with the rest of his parts, the cell’s door slid up into the ceiling. Turning to the doorway, he watched as two stormtroopers hauled in Han.

Han’s arms were draped over the stormtroopers’ shoulders. His eyes were open, his jaw hung loose, and the toes of his boots dragged along the floor behind him. The troopers dumped him into the cell and left, sealing the door behind them.

Chewbacca barked with concern as he kneeled down to hug Han.

“I feel terrible,” Han mumbled.

The Wookiee gently lifted Han to his feet, then helped him over to a bare metal slab, a retractable resting platform that projected from the wall. Han winced as Chewbacca lowered his aching body upon the slab.

A second door slid open, and two stormtroopers shoved Princess Leia into the cell. Instead of the clothes that Lando had given her, she was back in the same insulated jumpsuit she’d worn when she’d arrived at Cloud City. She saw Chewbacca standing beside Han’s prone form. Chewbacca whimpered a sad greeting.

Leia moved to the metal slab, then knelt beside Han and gently pushed her fingers through his hair. His eyes briefly locked on hers. She said, “Why are they doing this?”

“They never even asked me any questions,” Han said.

Leia kissed his forehead. Then the door slid open behind her. Leia turned to see two blue-uniformed Cloud City guards enter, followed by Calrissian.

At the sight of the caped man, Chewbacca roared.

Han was having difficulty raising his head, so Leia turned back to him and whispered, “Lando.” She remained beside Han as Lando and the two guards walked to the center of the cell. Leia noticed Lando wasn’t wearing his customary smile, and that his expression was downright grim. But after the way he’d handed them over to Darth Vader, she didn’t much care whether Cloud City’s administrator was having a bad day.

Han struggled to rise from the slab and said, “Get out of here, Lando!”

“Shut up and listen!” Lando shouted. “Now, Vader has agreed to turn Leia and Chewie over to me.”

“Over to you?” Han said with disbelief.

Leia wondered, What’s Lando trying to pull this time?

Lando said, “They’ll have to stay here, but at least they’ll be safe.”

“What about Han?” Leia asked.

“Vader’s giving him to the bounty hunter,” Lando said.

Leia glared at Lando. “Vader wants us all dead!”

“He doesn’t want you at all,” Lando said. “He’s after somebody called, uh…” Lando had to search his memory for the name Vader had said in the holding chamber, but quickly remembered. “…Skywalker.”

“Luke?” Han said, sitting up on the slab.

“Lord Vader has set a trap for him,” Lando said.

“And we’re the bait,” Leia immediately concluded.

Lando said, “Yeah, well, he’s on his way.”

“Perfect,” Han said as he slowly rose to his feet. On shaky legs, he stepped toward Lando and said, “You fixed us all real good, didn’t you? My friend!”

Han moved fast for a man who’d just come off an Imperial torture rack. His right fist connected with Lando’s jaw, sending Lando stumbling back into one of his guards. But Han’s coordination and sense of balance were all off, and he tried to grab Lando as he fell forward. He only managed to snare Lando’s cape before he hit the floor.

There wasn’t any trouble with the guards’ coordination. Han tried to push himself up from the floor, but one guard drew a blaster and slammed the weapon’s butt into Han’s back. The other guard drew his blaster and aimed it at Chewbacca. The Wookiee roared and Lando shouted, “Stop!”

The guards held their fire and Leia moved beside Han’s fallen form. Lando pulled his cape back around his shoulders and said, “I’ve done all I can. I’m sorry I couldn’t do better, but I got my own problems.”

Han looked up from the floor and sneered, “Yeah, you’re a real hero.”

Lando, looking more grim than ever, walked out of the cell with his two guards. After the door slid shut, Chewbacca knelt down beside Han. As Han caught his breath, Leia shook her head and said, “You certainly have a way with people.”

Han tried to offer a smile, but after everything he’d been through, even smiling hurt.

Even without Darth Vader’s sinister presence, the windowless carbon-freezing chamber was among the least inviting places on Cloud City. The dark chamber was an effective but inelegant device, used to mix Tibanna gas with carbonite, then flash-freeze the mixture into solid blocks that could be easily transported. The mixing and freezing were done in a deep pit at the center of an elevated circular platform that dominated the chamber, and the carbonite blocks were removed by retrieval tongs—large retractable manipulator claws—that were housed in the high ceiling above the central pit.

Steam blasted and billowed from various vents throughout the chamber, which was ringed by a narrow catwalk. Two stairways descended from the catwalk to the elevated platform’s surface: a concentric design of embedded red lights, air intakes, and black metal. The combination of the red-illuminated metal floor and rising steam made the platform resemble an immense heating element that was set on “hot.” If the chamber’s inhospitable design were not enough to discourage tourism, the platform’s perimeter was also without a guardrail.

Darth Vader stood at the platform’s edge, gazing down at the sheer drop to the metal pipes and hoses that laced across the chamber floor. He turned and walked through rising steam to the platform’s center, where Lando, Lobot, and two stormtroopers stood near the open pit. In the pit, two Ugnaughts busily readied the control casing for the mixing and freezing process.

Vader said, “This facility is crude, but it should be adequate to freeze Skywalker for his journey to the Emperor.”

An Imperial soldier stepped onto the platform and approached the dark lord. “Lord Vader,” said the soldier, “ship approaching, X-wing class.”

“Good,” Vader said. There were many carbon-freezing chambers on Cloud City, but Vader had chosen this one for its strategic position: It had the advantage of being closest to Platform 327, where the Millennium Falcon would be easily sighted by Skywalker. Confident that Luke would walk right into his trap, Vader ordered, “Monitor Skywalker and allow him to land.”

The soldier nodded, then walked quickly from the platform.

Lando said, “Lord Vader, we only use this facility for carbon freezing. You put him in there…it might kill him.”

“I do not want the Emperor’s prize damaged,” Vader said. “We will test it…on Captain Solo.”

Vader moved across the platform, and the two stormtroopers followed. As they passed by Lobot and Lando, one stormtrooper gave Lando a mild shove to stand aside.

Understandably, Lando didn’t shove back.

In his X-wing starfighter, Luke descended through Bespin’s upper atmosphere. Behind him, R2-D2 beeped with excitement as the X-wing flew through beautiful white clouds and emerged within visual range of a great, floating metropolis.

Cloud City was straight ahead.