Continued.....
And then, when Tarkin ordered Alderaan destroyed anyway, Vader forced Leia to watch. Later, when Tarkin found she had lied about Dantooine, she was scheduled for termination. In shock, Leia barely noticed.
When her cell door in Detention Block AA-23 opened, Leia was surprised to find a short stormtrooper ogling her. She soon found out it was Luke Skywalker, there with Ben Kenobi to rescue her. Unfortunately, Kenobi was elsewhere, and the rescue attempt was being made by Luke, a grating Corellian named Han Solo, and his giant Wookiee companion Chewbacca. Still, for all its bumps and starts, the rescue worked. Though Kenobi was killed by Darth Vader, in death he allowed a way for the others to escape on Solo's Millenium Falcon.
Using the plans still stored in R2-D2, the Rebellion quickly mobilized an attack plan and against all odds destroyed the Death Star.
In a special ceremony, Leia presented medals to Han and Luke for their bravery in the battle. She smiled at the Corellian, who had the audacity to wink at her in front of the entire assembled throng of the Alliance.
Leia had now been exposed as a member of the Rebel Alliance, so she was drafted to work as a diplomat to get new worlds to join the Alliance. But on the way to one of her first direct diplomatic missions, Leia was forced to make an unscheduled landing on the jungle planet of Mimban. With Luke, Artoo, and Threepio, she was caught up in a race to find the Force-powerful Kaiburr Crystal in the Temple of Pomojema.
At the temple, Leia faced the source of her nightmares: Darth Vader, who had come for the crystal as well. Luke was trapped by a fallen stone, so Leia clumsily used his lightsaber to help defend herself against Vader. Untrained and undisciplined, Leia was wounded badly by the Dark Lord before Luke finally freed himself and drove Vader to fall into a pit. He then used the power of the crystal to heal Leia's wounds.
Over the following three years, Leia would become more of an important force in the leadership of the Rebel Alliance. With Alderaan gone, she took on Luke, Han, and Chewbacca as her new family. Leia had numerous adventures, both with and without her fellow Alliance heroes. She was a little confused, though, by her feelings for Luke and Han. As difficult and coarse as Han could be, he ignited a fire inside her, a siren call to adventure and passion. She also had strong feelings for Luke, but they weren't romantic. Something else was there, some connection she was unable to fathom.
When the Alliance moved its headquarters to the frozen world of Hoth, Leia went with them. Han came along, and the sparks of their relationship grew more frequent. All too soon, though, the Empire found them, and the base had to be evacuated. Cut off from their transport ship, Leia and Threepio were forced to board the Millennium Falcon.
Leia would have found Han's problematic escape attempt humorous if her life hadn't been on the line. Still, he did get them away from the Imperials, even if he did get a little too close to her in the process. Cornering her as she helped make repairs on his ship, Han moved through her defenses. Protesting that he was a scoundrel, Leia had to face his answer that she might just like scoundrels. They had just kissed --the most incredible kiss in Leia's life-- when Threepio interrupted. The moment was gone, but the feelings weren't.
Shortly thereafter, they landed on Bespin's Cloud City, where Han's old buddy, Lando Calrissian, flirted with Leia. Unfortunately, he also betrayed them to Darth Vader. Leia finally admitted her love to Han as he was forced into a carbonite freezing chamber. His last words to her were "I know."
Han's body, frozen in a block of carbonite, was given to the bounty hunter Boba Fett to take to Jabba the Hutt. Despite Lando's change of heart and rescue of Leia, Chewie, and Threepio from the Imperials, it was too late to save Han. Rocketing away from Cloud City aboard the Millennium Falcon, Leia felt a familiar presence in her mind: Luke. Lando and Chewie piloted back, using Luke's connection to Leia to guide them to a weather vane underneath the city. They rescued Luke and returned to the Rebel fleet.
Leia, Lando, Chewie, and Luke all went on various missions to support the Alliance and find information that would help them mount their rescue of Han. Each of the core Alliance heroes was to infiltrate Jabba the Hutt's desert palace on Tatooine. Leia gained entrance while masquerading as the Ubese bounty hunter Boushh, who was bringing Chewbacca the Wookiee to Jabba for the reward.
Leia did free Han from his carbonite prison, but her identity was discovered and she had to endure the humiliation of being Jabba's slave for a time. She got revenge for these indignities during Luke's escape, strangling the sluglike crime lord with the very chain that held her captive.
Returning to the Alliance, Leia got involved in the plot to destroy the second Death Star. She was surprised and pleased to find that Han Solo had accepted the rank of general in the Alliance forces, and volunteered to accompany him on his strike team. They traveled to the forest moon of Endor, where Leia's diplomatic skills helped gain the favor of the furry little Ewoks that lived in the forests. With their help, the Rebels were able to destroy the energy-shield generator that protected the orbiting Death Star, allowing the Rebel starfighters to destroy it.
On Endor, Leia found that she was truly in love with Han. She also learned news that she would have difficulty coming to grips with in the future: she and Luke were the twin heirs of Anakin Skywalker, the man she knew as Darth Vader. She too had the power and the potential to become a Jedi Knight. She came to understand, though, that as an ambassador for peace, perhaps she was more important than she would be as a Jedi.
The day after the Battle of Endor, the New Republic received a plea for help from Bakura, a planet whose main export was repulsorlifts. Leia accompanied a strike team to the planet, which was fighting an invasion force of reptilian Ssi-ruuk, and won a permanent truce with the Bakurans, who united with the Alliance soon after the Ssi-ruuk were defeated.
The truce wasn't the most important part of the trip for Leia's mental health; Anakin Skywalker's spirit appeared to her in her suite on Bakura. The man who had once been Darth Vader begged her forgiveness, trying to take away her anger. "Anger is of the dark side," he cautioned, adding, "I do not ask for absolution. Only your forgiveness." But Leia refused to forgive the man who had tortured her, helped destroy her world, and frozen Han in carbonite.