Chapter Text
Han felt Leia brush a kiss across his cheek and heard her sit back down behind him and take a few deep breaths, but other than that, she was silent. He double-checked the flight path, then the comm channel to see if there was traffic in this sector.
Han sat back in his chair, prioritizing. First, he needed to contact Rieekan. Second, he needed to double-check every single damned system to make sure he had an accurate picture of what the hell wasn’t working. Third, he had to fix what he could.
“Han, is this ship safe?” Leia asked quietly.
“Yeah,” he said thoughtfully. “We have some damage, but not nearly as much as we did coming into El Nath.”
“You nearly blew up coming into El Nath,” Leia pointed out.
Han laughed. “Well, we aren’t going to blow up,” he said, then, under his breath, he added, “Yet.”
Han glanced at Leia to see if she’d heard. If she had, she was ignoring him. Her eyes were closed. Her face was very pale, and the sockets of her eyes were a deep purple, the way they always were when she hadn’t slept in a long time. “I wish Luke were with us. I don’t like being so far apart,” she murmured.
Well, this is awkward, Han thought. Since you just kissed the hell out of me in the circuit bay. Our first good kiss. Maybe the last one, too, damn it.
He shifted in his chair. A lot of the things that have gone wrong today are not my fault. But at least one thing is, Han admitted, and he cleared his throat. “I owe you an apology.”
“You do? What for?” Leia asked, raising her head and looking at him. Then she frowned and said in a dangerous voice, “You’d better not be apologizing for that kiss.”
“No! Umm … no. No.”
Leia’s shoulders relaxed a little, and said, “For what, then?”
“For not coming after you sooner on Hoth. I’m sorry; I should have been more on top of it.”
Leia blinked at him, trying to sort out what he was saying. “It’s okay, and you don’t owe me an apology for that. I was supposed to leave in the last transport. We just ran out of time. And you aren’t responsible for me.”
“I sort of feel like I am,” Han said.
“You aren’t.”
“Well, then, I’m sorry you’ll have to spend a month in the middle of nowhere.”
“There are worse places to be … like Hoth, for instance.” Her head hit the back of her chair again and she murmured tiredly, “It’s okay. Long as I’m here with you …”
“What do you mean?”
“I hated being out of contact with you when you went to Gonlett. And I hated it when you went dark on Ord Montell.”
“I —“
She lifted her head and looked straight into his eyes. “I understand why, Han. But that doesn’t mean I like it any better. I’m not going to enjoy being out of contact with Luke or the rest of the fleet, but I am not anxious. If things had gone right and you were on your way to Tatoonie, I would be very anxious.”
“Why?” He asked, genuinely puzzled. “I have the credits, I have a plan, I have Chewie as my backup, I’ll be in and out in a day.”
“I have a bad feeling about Tatoonie for many reasons, some of which I may share with you later.” She sighed, then said, “Forget Tatoonie for a minute. Do you know anything about Degobah?”
“Wet. Snaky. Hard to land. No big cities. They have a lot of things that fly around — bats, bogwings — you’d hate it.”
“Oh — no — I’m not going.”
Han sighed, remembering Luke had mentioned some sort of mission or training on Degobah and guessed, “Luke’s there, isn’t he?”
“Yes. For Jedi training.”
“On Degobah?!”
“Yes. We met someone in Karza who …” she trailed off, then said cautiously, “This has to do with the Force. Are you sure you want to know?”
An alarm beeped on the console, and Han twisted around to check it, saying to Leia, “Maybe later.” He called out, “Chewie, there’s a ship at ….” He read off the coordinates as Chewie entered the cockpit and sat down in the co-pilot’s seat, quickly triangulating the other ship.
(“Got it. About 45 minutes out at our current speed if they don’t make any sudden changes.”) Chewie dropped a data pad in Han’s lap. (“I plugged C3PO into the main system. Here’s a list of repairs we need to make.”)
“Okay. Good.” Han started building a comm channel to the coordinates, then said to Leia, “Anything you want to tell Rieekan?
“No, just let him know we’re fine, and that Luke was planning on going straight to Degobah.”
“You don’t want to try to send Luke a message?” Han needled her.
“Like what? ‘Watch out for snakes and bats’?” Leia’s eyebrow elevated, which annoyed Han further.
“I would have thought you’d want to tell your boyfriend —“
“He’s not my boyfriend.”
“You —“
“I kissed him because I was mad at you. And also because Hoth’s Force made me a little mean.” Leia considered, then corrected herself. “A lot mean.”
“You sure it was the Force? Maybe you’re just mean all on your own,” Han said, testily.
“Maybe. I guess we’ll see. The further I get from Hoth, the better I feel,” Leia said truthfully, thinking the Force on Hoth was darker than she realized. Now that they were clear of it, she felt almost … normal.
(“Something was wrong on Hoth.”) Chewie agreed.
Han laughed. “Only one thing? I could list a half-dozen without even thinking about it, starting with the cold and ending with Imperial droid probes.”
(“The Force was out of balance. At least, that’s what we think.”)
“Who’s ‘we’?” Han asked.
(“The princess and me and Skywalker. And possibly Rieekan.”)
Han sighed, then focused back on the monitor. “Speaking of Rieekan … we need to check in, and I can get us a clear, secured channel for at least 90 seconds. Maybe longer, depending on what the other ship does. But we need to piggyback on this other ship’s comm signals — otherwise, our signals act as a beacon for anyone looking for us.”
Leia blinked. “Is this like the garbage maneuver, but with comms?”
Han laughed. “I don’t know that I’d call it a maneuver, but yeah, it’s another way to evade detection. If the other ship is sending comms or connecting with anyone else, we can ride their signals if we can get close enough.”
(“We must be close enough to communicate, but out of sight otherwise. Good thing our comms are still working.”)
Leia said, “Just let Rieekan know we’re okay for now, and when to expect us. If we’re lucky, he’s already heard from Luke, but … Luke may not have arrived in Degobah yet.”
(“With a good ship, you can get to Degobah in a few hours from Hoth. It’s Outer Rim, but with a functioning hyperdrive…”)
Han’s mouth quirked up in a half-smile. “Hey, now. If no one’s chasing you, a hyperdrive’s a nice-to-have, not have-to-have.”
(“When do ships not chase us?”) Chewie grinned back at Han, and their banter, more than anything else, helped reassure Leia. If they’re joking, we’re safe. Or safe enough, anyway, she thought, and sudden exhaustion hit her.
Chewie turned to look at Leia. (“Princess, would you like to rest? I had to use the Coles’s cabin for storage. I am sorry; I wasn’t expecting passengers. I can clear out enough of the supplies for you to lie down, though.”)
“No, I want you up here,” Han said to Chewie, then he turned to Leia. “You can use my bunk,” he offered, finishing the comm links. Once they were in range, it was plug-and-play, so he sat back and glanced at Leia. His eyes narrowed. “When was the last time you slept more than an hour or two?”
“I slept a few hours the night you were out with Luke. I guess that was … last night? The night before, I think I slept a couple of hours. I don’t remember the night before that.”
“Well, come on, I’ll get you set up.” Han rose and offered a hand to Leia, but he was surprised when she took it, and even more surprised that he had to haul her up. “You want some food first?”
“I’m too tired to eat. I guess everything sort of hit me … all at once. The mynock didn’t help.” She gave an involuntary shudder.
As they made their way down the hall, he noticed not only was she not walking straight, but she was dragging her feet. Leia always marched or stomped everywhere. She looks more tired now than she looked when we left the Death Star, he thought, and his eyebrows raised as she wobbled a bit. “You’re a liability,” he decided, and put a light hand on her back to guide her, but wasn’t expecting her to loop her arm around his waist for stability. She made a stop by the toilet, which was located in the cleaning room, and Han was worried enough about her that he waited outside … and waited … and waited.
He was about to knock when she finally opened the door, and he saw why she had taken so long. She’d managed to wash her face, and he figured she’d probably used his toothbrush, because there was a bit of toothpaste on her chin, which he wiped off with his thumb. Her clothing had apparently been a problem, and he realized he should have helped her because she’d had to fight through multiple layers. She’d unzipped her snowsuit to go to the toilet, then hadn’t bothered to pull the whole thing back up again; it hung on her hips, with the arms and belt dangling behind her.
He guided her into his cabin, which was next to the cleaning room. When he’d acquired the Falcon, the captain’s quarters had been both spacious and elegantly furnished. Han had reconfigured the quarters to accommodate an expanded cleaning room because Chewie required more space. Han hadn’t minded a smaller cabin; it was easier to clean, especially after he sold the furniture and installed a folding bed and folding desk. He’d added lockers that were flush with the wall, and instead of shelves, he had pockets made of netting that attached to the walls.
Now, Han propped Leia against a wall, and turned around to release the foldaway bed. When he turned back around, she’d slid half-way down the wall and her eyes were drifting shut.
“Come on, princess,” he said, inching her snowsuit down past her hips. He sat her on the edge of the bed and knelt down and unfastened her boots, then worked the rest of her snowsuit off. Underneath it, she was wearing a long-sleeved lightly insulated shirt and pants. “Nice socks,” he said, eyeing what could only be An’s work.
“Thanks,” she mumbled. She raised a clumsy hand and took a hair pin out, discarding it on the sheets. “Hair … hurts …”
“No — here — let me do that —“ And Han sat down behind her, efficiently plucking pins out of her hair and stowing them in his breast pocket. Must be muscle memory, he thought, remembering all the times he’d done this for his wife when she was pregnant and too tired to put herself to bed. His wife’s hair had been shorter, but thicker and wavy; Leia’s hair was as smooth as silk and fine as floss, making it easier to dismantle.
His hands deftly loosened Leia’s braids, which fell over her shoulders. She collapsed on the mattress face-first. Han got up, rearranged her so she at least looked more comfortable, turned the cot warmer to “low” and stowed her snowsuit and boots in a locker. He gave the room one more look for any stray articles, then he fastened the sleep net over her just in case of turbulence.
“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” he sighed, but he was talking to himself. Leia was out.
********************
(“Is our princess okay?”)
“Yeah, she’s just … exhausted, I guess. You think I should run a med scan?” Han asked, feeling a little uncomfortable doing so when she was not conscious.
(“It can wait till she wakes up. Maybe she only needs sleep.”) Chewie checked the console. (“We are 7 minutes out. No changes in the other ship. They are moving, but at a steady rate.”)
“Good, they’re probably on autopilot, then. Less likely to note our presence.”
They waited in silence, getting closer … closer …
(“We are in range.”)
Han pushed “connect” and waited for the call to route.
Instead of hello, Rieekan started with, “Is this call secure?”
“Affirmative, but we’re riding someone else’s comm line. We have to keep it quick and clean. We’re fine, just checking in.”
“Including your passenger?”
“Affirmative,” Han said, and he heard Rieekan expel a relieved breath. “Yeah, I felt just like that,” Han said, and Rieekan laughed.
“When can I expect you?” Rieekan asked.
“About a month. Over.”
Silence. Han clicked the mic and said, “You there?”
“Yeah, just a little surprised. You’re sure things are okay?”
“No worse than usual. We need some repairs and want to … uh … lay low for a bit.”
“Okay, then, see you in a month. Tell your passenger that I heard from our friend and he made it safely to his destination.”
“Good.” Han said. At least I won’t have to give Leia bad news about Luke, who may or may not be her lover, damn it, he thought. An alarm sounded, and he said, “Gotta go. Don’t expect regular comms.”
“Roger that. Over.”
Han hung up and looked at Chewie. “Let’s get out of here before someone spots us.”
*********************
The Falcon was a good ship, but she was also an old ship. She was still faster than some of the newer models, but newer ships had better tracking systems, with longer ranges and more precise imagery. So while Boba Fett was out of the Falcon’s range, the Falcon was definitely in Fett’s range. He slowly tracked the Falcon’s progress.
What would Solo do? Fett wondered.
There wasn’t a lot in the Anoat system, and the fact that the Falcon hadn’t gone to light-speed yet told Fett that it either lost an engine or the hyperdrive. Therefore, the Falcon would need to land somewhere with good mechanics to make the necessary repairs. Fett pulled up his maps and started looking at potential locations.
There were two logical possibilities: Triade or Bespin.
They were both pretty far, but they were both in the general direction Solo was going and feasible without a hyperdrive. If Solo went to Triade, he’d update his coordinates in the next 24 hours. If he chose Bespin, Solo would stay his current course. Fett hesitated, then, linking into the same communication stream Han had, he typed out a quick message to the Empire to let his handler know that he was on the trail.
Then he sat back and waited to see which location Solo would choose.