ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES ANOTHER
The claw-spanner slipped and caught Han Solo's fingers in a vise-like grip. The Corellian winced and dropped the tool, catching the injured fingers between his lips in a futile effort to ease the pain and nurse the wounds, thereby muffling the blast of the curses he uttered.
Rubbing his aching fingers, Han peered into the enclosed area in which he had been working atop the FALCON. A glint caught his eye and he reached to retrieve the broken part. "So…THAT'S what gave way." He muttered, eyeing the jagged piece closely.
Voices broke his concentration and he looked over the edge of the hull to see Leia talking with three rebel soldiers. Momentarily, the soldiers left to carry out their assigned tasks.
"Hey….your Majesty." Han called. The Princess surveyed the empty area around her for the owner of the voice as the echo faded in the cavernous docking bay. "Up here." He instructed. She looked up to see the self-confessed smuggler leaning over the edge of his ship.
"What do you want?" She spoke curtly, obviously, her mood was not the best.
Han made his way down the access ladder, so they could speak face to face. "Would you do me a favor?" He asked.
"A favor?!" She sounded extremely skeptical.
"It's really important. I just broke a very vital part while working on the FALCON, and I need a replacement as soon as possible." He held up the broken piece for Leia to see.
It didn't look very vital to her. "I'm no errand person," she retorted .. "go get it yourself."
"I can't." He explained patiently. "I have to keep pressure on the broken end, or the whole system'll freeze up. Chewie isn't here, or I'd ask him to do it. It won't take but a minute-the guys in Supply'll have the part."
"You're not keeping pressure on it now." She challenged, raising a suspicious eyebrow.
Han took a deep breath… "I've got a tool box on it.. keeping the pressure steady, but it won't last long that way."
The Princess eyed him warily. He seemed sincere enough, but…she sighed. "Oh… all right." She snatched the bit of metal from his hand.
Han smiled and climbed up the ladder, calling back over his shoulder. "Just ask for a doffel-mor."
Leia mouthed the word and shrugged her shoulder. Grinning….Han settled down atop the FALCON to wait.
"Jorin, I need a new piece like this." Leia placed the broken object she'd taken from Han on the count of the Supply Room service desk.
While the female clerk examined the part closely, Leia looked around the room; the shelves filled with various boxes and metal components. "I've never seen anything like this." The clerk told her. "Where did you get it? It sure didn't come off any X-wing."
The Princess cleared her throat. "It didn't. It came from Captain Solo's freighter. He called it a 'doffel-mor'."
The clerk shook her head. "I don't have anything like this."
"Can you order one?"
"No. There won't be any more orders going out for a while. All the ships that were damaged during the DEATH STAR battle have already been repaired, and everything's packed up for shipment to Hoth."
Leia looked up in surprise. "How did you know we were relocating to Hoth?"
The clerk shrugged. "Word gets around."
"What am I going to do, then? Han…uh.. Captain Solo said this piece is very important to the operation of his ship."
"You might try Donley in Engineering" The woman suggested. "Sorry I couldn't help."
Making her way to the generator room through the maze of people, equipment, barricades, and partitions, Leia toyed with the piece in the palm of her hand.
"Good afternoon, your Highness." She was greeted by an aide as she entered the roaring power supply area. "Can I help you?"
Leia grimaced at the deafening noise. "Is Donley around?" She shouted the question. The aide pointed to the enclosed control room. Leia nodded in acknowledgment and skirted her way around leg-thick cables to the booth. Closing the door behind her, she was surprised that the roaring could be reduced to a mere hum.
"What brings you to this part of the base, your Highness?" Engineer Donley asked, rising politely as she entered.
Leia regained her composure and opened her hand to expose the metal component. "I need a part like this."
The engineer took it and looked it over carefully. "I've never seen anything like this" He told her.
"I've heard that before." Leia commented. "Do you know where I night find a replacement like it?"
"Did you try Supply? Donley suggested.
"They sent me to you."
He thought for a moment. "Maintenance. They might have something like it."
Leia began to fume inwardly. This search that Han said would take 'but a minute' was beginning to take up more and more of her time. Still, she spoke graciously, thanking the
engineer on her way out.
As she stepped over the snaking, twisting power cables on her way to Maintenance, the put-up-on Princess heard her name called.
"Leia….Leia! Wait up." She stopped, and saw an eager young Luke Skywalker hurrying in her direction. Tapping an impatient toe, she waited for him to reach her before moving on. "Where are you rushing off to?" He asked, following.
"I'm running an errand for Han." She explained, making her way down the long hallway.
"What?!" Luke was both puzzled and surprised. He couldn't imagine Leia doing anything for Han.
Once again, she produced the broken part. "He needs a new 'doffel-mor' for the FALCON." She explained. "He can't leave the ship, so I'm doing him a favor and going after the part. I've gone to Supply and Engineering, but they don't have anything like it, so I'm going to Maintenance."
Once inside the Maintenance garage, Leia waited patiently while the person in charge finished his work on a large piece of machinery. The gruff rebel set aside the bulky device and wiped his greasy hands on an equally greasy rag. "What can I do for you?"
He asked, not looking at them.
"I need a doffel-mor." She told him.
"Never heard of anything like that." he said unperturbed.
"It's this." She handed the part to the older man.
Bushy eyebrows raised as he eyed the metal skeptically while turning it over and over in his hand. "Where did this come from?"
"From Captain Solo's ship, the MILLENNIUM FALCON."
The man laid the piece on the shop table. "Even if I had something like that, he couldn't it." He told her matter-of-factly,. "Everything that pirate has on that broken down scrap heap he calls a ship is either, outdated, obsolete, hand-made, or 'modified', as he calls it.
Luke laughed in spite of himself. "That's Han's ship all right."
Leia retrieved the object and left. "Let's see if we can find Chewie." Luke suggested. "Maybe he knows where to find a replacement. He does a lot of work on the FALCON, too."
"Why not." Leia agreed. "We've tried everything else."
After combing nearly the entire base, Leia thought she'd explode with impatience before they happened upon Chewbaccca, who was talking with a couple of new Rebel recruits.
"Chewie." Luke called. "We need your help."
The Wookiee barked a welcome. Leia nodded to the speechless recruits as she handed the ship part to him. "I've looked everywhere for another doffel-mor to replace that one." She explained. "Han said he needs it desperately to finish fixing something on the FALCON. Can you help me find one?"
A low, rumbling laugh began deep in the Wookiee's chest as he peered at the object.
Then, he turned to one of the recruits and woofed a reply, which the young man translated. "Chewbacca says to tell you that isn't a special part. It's nothing but a piece off a broken cinch bolt. There are hundreds of bolts like these in the FALCON'S tool cache- and there's no such thing as a 'doffel-mor.'".
Luke was impressed with the man's ability to translate the Wookiee's language. He watched as the Princess' face turned a dozen shade of red as she absorbed what Chewie told her. She was very nearly unable to speak.
"You mean that…lousy..no good…stuck up… son of a ….!?" The furious Alderaani paced in front of the group, clench fisted and ready for battle. "Just WAIT until I get my hands on that….I'll tell him EXACTLY…He can't make a fool of me and get away with it!" She stomped off toward the FALCON'S docking bay.
Luke and Chewie followed at a respectful distance. They weren't going to miss THIS confrontation, though they had enough sense to stay out of the line of fire. Behind them, the recruits whispered among themselves. In their brief association with the Alliance, they'd already heard rumors of how things stood between the Princess and Captain Solo, but now, they had an opportunity to see for themselves. They followed at an even more respectful distance. Curious techs, pilots, officers, aides and other workers glanced at the entourage as they passed. The Princess muttered to herself continually, and with her hands exhibited graphic examples of what she'd do to that obstinate Corellian once she got to him.
In the docking bay, Han heard the echo of approaching footsteps and roused from his comfortable cat-napping position on the FALCON'S hull.
"HAN SOLO! GET YOURSELF DOWN HERE -RIGHT NOW!"
"Why Leia." He began, patronizingly as he followed orders and descended the ladder to face her. "You sound upset.. couldn't you find the part?' Innocence shadowed his features.
"Couldn't I find….." She sputtered, beginning to pace as her anger was refueled. Han
glanced at Luke, Chewbacca and the recruits, who were smiling smugly at the side of the bay.
"There's no such thing as a 'doffel'mor' and you KNOW IT!' The Princess roared at him.
"Chewie told me what it was.' She paused to catch her breath, and Han feigned an air of betrayal toward his partner, who snorted at his false, playful display.
"You wasted my valuable time and flaunted the authority of my position!" Leia went on.
Han leaned against his ship, cockily shutting out the rest of her diatribe. She finished with both a threat and a promise as she made her way to Han and said as she poked his chest with her finger, emphasizing each word. "One day, I'll get even. When you least expect it, or think I've forgotten about it-and in a way you wouldn't even dream of! You'll never see it coming!" She turned on her heels and left without another word.
Luke ambled over to the totally unrepentant smuggler. "She means it, you know." Referring to the Princess' last words.
"I hope so." Solo replied with a wicked, self-satisfied grin. "At least now I KNOW she'll be thinking about me.
A 'GET HAN BACK' PIECE ENTITLED 'TEMPER, TEMPER…will be published shortly.