Author's Note: This is another on-the-way-to-Bespin story that absolutely refused to be shoehorned into Three Long Weeks. For those of you who have read that story, and begged for more, there will be more. I swear. And in the meantine, I hope the vignettes that don't fit together are as entertaining on their own as the larger story has been.
One
Han Solo sat on a stool in the Falcon's galley and glared at the computer display on the wall. He'd been querying the culinary program in vain for nearly a half hour now. It kept coming up with the same answer... or rather, the same non-answer. The inventory of fresh food and staples in the hold had nearly been depleted.
Their predicted arrival in the Bespin system was still three days away. And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't come up with a menu plan for the next three days that didn't involve a lot of ration bars.
They'd managed to stretch the food much longer than he'd expected, and he'd nearly begun to believe it might last the trip after all. But there was no arguing with the facts: two humans ate more than one did
It wasn't that he begrudged the Princess her share of the food. Not even on her worst day, he didn't hate her enough to wish she'd starve. She was here, after all, because he hadn't been able to leave without checking on her before they left Echo Base.
No one was in danger of starving, anyway. There were more than enough rations in the hold to last them three days, enough to get them all to the rendezvous if it turned out there wasn't time to restock in Bespin.
Complete and total failure of the hyperdrive definitely qualified as a genuine emergency, one they'd have had to deal with even without the Princess on board. At sublight, he and Chewie might well have used up all the fresh food, anyway, before they made it to Tatooine.
He knew it wasn't rational. It was just that the mere idea of tapping into the emergency provisions gave him a sour feeling, right in his gut.
He hated to arrive in need of supplies. It wasn't as if he or Chewie could go food shopping in Mos Eisley - not without being recognized. And that would shoot the hell out of Plan A, which was to hole up somewhere in the desert and stake out Jabba's place until he came up with a better plan.
There was nothing for it, though. They'd just have to wing it.
Right now he had a choice to make, and it was a choice that he and Chewie would have customarily made together. Han didn't have much doubt what the Wookie's opinion would be, but he still felt he should observe the tradition. In fact, since there were three on board...
Hmmm... Han scratched his jaw idly as he considered the situation.
Technically, she wasn't actually part of the crew. But she wasn't quite a passenger either. He thought it over and decided that it didn't matter what her status was - de facto crew member, unscheduled passenger, invited guest, stowaway - this was a decision that would affect them all, and she should be consulted.
Tradition, he told himself, could be interpreted to require a unanimous vote in this situation. It was time for a staff meeting.