Nothing Ventured
by Erin Darroch and Justine Graham
A/N: So. First things first: do you trust us? =) You know we are Han/Leia shippers from waaaay back and we have zero interest in seeing either of them with anyone else. However, in chatting about such things, as we often do, we became intrigued by the notion that, at some point, Han had to make a conscious decision to put an end to his casual pursuits of other women and seriously set his cap for Leia, if he was ever going to win her over. So, this story is about that moment. Warning: it does feature Han and another woman who is not Leia but...well, just...trust us, would ya? =D
Also, we owe thanks to Sue Zahn, who contributed to an early draft of this story over a year ago (yes, we've been sitting on it a while) and whose distinctive voice may yet be detectable in places. Thanks, Sue.
Finally, more heartfelt thanks to the a-mazing beta reader LoveTh!s whose detailed and insightful comments really helped us make this story better. And also maybe saved us from the flames!
Chapter 1:
"Will you watch what you're doing, you big mop head! You nearly took my arm off!" Han Solo snarled, snatching the fusion cutter out of Chewbacca's hands and sitting back on his heels to glare at the recalcitrant hyperdrive motivator they were trying—without much success—to remove. He ground his teeth. "What did you do to this, anyway, weld it in place?"
It was the third time in an hour that Han had erupted in a string of complaints and furious Corellian curses, but it was the first time his ire had been aimed directly at his friend and co-pilot, and Chewbacca was not amused.
Chewie growled low in his throat and reached one long, shaggy arm over to snatch the cutter back. Han squawked an angry protest, but let the tool go without a fight. In his experience, wrestling with a Wookiee for physical possession of any item was always a fruitless exercise—and was generally a bad idea, too. Han settled for merely glaring and scowling as he prepared another verbal assault. But as he drew breath to speak again, Chewie swiveled his big head around and fixed his friend with a cold azure stare that arrested Han's momentum.
"What?" Han snapped instead.
*I told you I would do this myself. You're in the way,* Chewbacca rumbled, then turned his attention back to the task of extracting the Millennium Falcon's old Tak-Simm generator.
On the deck next to the Wookiee lay its replacement—a shiny new Isu-Simm SSP05 hyperdrive motivator, which was a significant upgrade that had been arranged by Leia Organa in partial payment for services rendered to the Alliance in the year that had passed since the Battle of Yavin. Under ordinary circumstances, Han's mouth would have watered at the mere thought of securing such a component for the Falcon, and he would have wasted no time in installing it. Indeed, he'd made a special stop at Cularin to do just that, on the way back from completing a personnel transfer between the Rebel base on Karatha and the one on Falleen. But now that they were up to their elbows in what should be a highly enjoyable task, the whole process of extracting the old unit and installing the new one wasn't giving Han the usual thrill of satisfaction. In fact, the job felt tedious and frustrating, rather than exciting.
*I thought you were going out to meet your friend anyway,* the Wookiee grumbled, his eyes once again fixed on the task at hand.
Han felt a prickle of annoyance at the reminder, and frowned. Then his scowl deepened, feeling a second wave of frustration because he couldn't figure out why Chewie's suggestion annoyed him so much in the first place. His decision to upgrade the hyperdrive here in the city of Sallachan had been made only partly because the portside facilities had the latest simulation and diagnostic equipment they would need to test the new installation. Before the Empire's oppression had forced him and Chewie to eke out a living as smugglers, they'd run a fairly successful freighting operation together, and Sallachan had been one of their regular stops. As a consequence, Han still had a few contacts here—although he would go so far as to call only one of them a friend. He dropped that line of thought, shrugged in irritation, and reached for another cutting tool from the open tray on the deck.
"Yeah, well. I changed my mind."
*Change it again.* Without turning his head, Chewbacca extended one massive, hairy arm, effectively blocking Han's access to the work site. *Go. I'll finish this myself.*
"Like hell you will."
Chewbacca gave an impatient chuff, stopped what he was doing and then shifted around in his squatting position so that he was facing Han more directly. The long russet fur that covered his thick neck and broad shoulders bristled visibly as he fixed his friend with a piercing stare. Curling his upper lip, he showed Han a glimpse of white fang as he growled a response.
*Only one person is required to do this job.* he rumbled ominously, * Is it going to be you? Or me?*
After a failed attempt to intimidate the Wookiee with a snarling glare of his own, Han gave another irritated shrug of his shoulders and threw the tool back down.
"Fine. Do it yourself."
*Go see Nik already.*
"I'm going."