Chapter Seven
A familiar roar greeted the couple as they exited the skycab and crossed the platform. A very excited Chewie was trotting toward them, his fur ruffling in the breeze.
"Don't worry, he's not coming on our wedding trip," said Han, "but I thought we should drop him off on Kashyyk so he can spend some time with his family, ok?"
"Kashyyk is on the way?" Leia asked innocently.
"Nice try. No more hints. But Chewie says Kashyyk does have a great treetop guesthouse built for humanoids that he's reserved for us tonight," Han said, his hand traveling from her waist to her rear-end, "which sounds pretty good to me."
"More than pretty good, if it means I get to watch you swing from a vine naked," Leia returned.
"I always knew you were a little kinky." Han stopped in his tracks as Chewie pointed excitedly at a ship on the platform. His eyes grew wide. "That one?"
Chewie chortled. Leia's gaze followed Han's to the object of his amazement. Sitting on the platform was one of the few luxury yachts the Alliance had 'acquired' to spy on a mid-Rim syndicate of oligarchs that had made common cause with the Empire. The yachts were some of the sleekest and most expensive ships in the galaxy, if one actually bought one with credits, which the Alliance, naturally, had not.
"A Kanata-29," Han whispered adoringly. "Rieekan lent us a Kanata-29."
Amused, Leia leaned towards Han. "Hey, do I suddenly have competition for your affections?"
"Yeah," Han said, still staring at the ship. "Carlist Rieekan."
She laughed out loud, prompting curious looks from the Alliance troops patrolling the platforms; many of them had never seen the Princess so much as crack a smile, never mind laugh heartily. Han hurried toward the ship with Chewie, eager to get a look at it and to start the pre-flight checks. Leia, seeing his boyish excitement at the fancy new toy, momentarily thought about the Falcon, wrecked on the Palace Landing Platform. This ship may have Han's momentary curiosity, but the Falcon would always have his heart…and hers too, she thought, as she silently blessed that old junker yet again. She reminded herself that they'd have to get started on repairs when she returned, assuming that they weren't running for their lives from angry Rebels looking for revenge on Vader's children.
She sighed and headed for the gangway, stopping as she saw another luxury shuttle landing several clicks away. Huh…most be 'begging the Alliance for forgiveness day' among Imperial sympathizer worlds… If she wasn't mistaken, the landing ship bore the insignia of Trequalit-2, a gem and mineral-rich world located in the outer Core. Long ago, the Trequali had a falling out with her father, and they'd later proven Bail's instincts right by becoming significant funders of the Imperial Treasury closely allied to Grand Minister of the Treasury, Cadaro Pault. Thankfully, they were no longer her problem.
As she climbed the gangway and entered the main hold of the Kanata, Leia heard Han, Chewie and Lando talking like two over-excited little boys…and one joyous Wookiee. They were somewhere in the back, giddy over the array of hyperdrive motivators that gave the small ship the ability to travel nearly point-one past lightspeed. Leia had no intention of joining them to hear about the genius of the harmonic colliders and the hadon reflector, whatever those may be. She'd let the boys be boys for a while, because that white liniten relaxation chair with a back massager droid powered down next to it was calling her name. She lay down, powered up the droid, and promptly fell asleep.
HHHHHHHHHH
Chewie tried to quietly instruct Han and Lando to keep their voices down as they entered the main hold. Unfortunately, Chewie's version of quiet was quite a few decibels above human quiet, so Leia jumped up, alarmed, and knocked over the massager droid just as Han and Lando walked in.
"What is it?" Han asked, seeing her confused look.
"I must have fallen asleep. That relaxation chair is pretty amazing."
Sorry to wake you, Princess Chewie growled.
Leia waved it off.
"Keeping it down isn't one of your best attributes, pal," Han noted.
Nor yours Chewie replied, guffawing at his own double entendre, as he headed off to the cockpit. Come on, let's get out of here.
Lando turned to Han and saw him gently kiss Leia's forehead. He remembered how he momentarily thought he might make a play for the Princess himself on Bespin. It hadn't taken him very long, though, to realize that despite the bickering that still characterized their relationship then, they were utterly in love with each other, no matter if they were willing to acknowledge it or not. Bespin…he thought. I still have unfinished business.
"I think Chewie's right, you too," Lando said, smiling. "Get going before Mon and Madine see what Rieekan hooked you up with and try to take it back."
Leia moved forward to kiss Lando on the cheek. "We'll see you on our return."
"Maybe," Lando replied. "I want to do some reconnaissance on Bespin. The remnants of the Empire are NOT going to hold onto it." He'd fretted over the fate of the people of Bespin repeatedly over the months since the Empire had taken control of the city and, during the battle over Coruscant, he'd promised himself that, should he survive that battle, that he'd return to free Bespin. Word on the grapevine said that although the detachment controlling Cloud City wasn't very large, it made up for its size by brutal treatment of those citizens who had not managed to obey Lando's order to flee. Lando knew that he'd been at fault for the city's fall, and, if it was the last thing he did, he intended to put it right.
Han shook his head, his exasperation clear. "Don't go running off half-cocked. Wait until I get back; we can talk Madine into making that an early liberation mission—"
Leia looked at Han sharply. She didn't want to discourage him from helping Lando, but she'd heard enough of Han's post-carbonite night terrors to think that his return to Cloud City right now seemed like a less-than-brilliant idea, unless Han promised he'd blow the carbon-freezing chamber sky-high while there. Maybe that would put some of the night terrors to rest.
"Just reconnaissance, buddy," Lando promised as he walked down the gangway and engaged its locking mechanism. He gave a little wave as the ramp closed. "Enjoy, you two."
"He's gonna do somethin' stupid," Han muttered. "I can tell."
"I let Luke know to keep an eye on him," Leia said while following Han into the cockpit.
Han turned back to Leia quizzically. She tapped her head, just has Luke had done earlier.
"Oh, yeah, right, the creepy stuff," he smiled as he sat in the captain's seat and flipped a few buttons. Then something out the corner of his eye caught his attention. Mon Mothma and Carlist Rieekan were crossing the tarmac toward a large and ornately-attired delegation disembarking from a tricked-out Trequali shuttle that put the Kanata to shame.
"What's that all about?" Han asked, turning to Leia. She stood stock-still behind him watching the procession. "Leia?"
"Thank the Force for Carlist and Mon," she whispered.
"Huh?"
"I suddenly think that may be about me," Leia shook her head. "Years ago, the Trequali tried to strike a bargain with my father – over me. He summarily dismissed them. It looks as if they wasted no time trying again now that the war is over and my father is conveniently out of the picture." She looked out the viewport at them with disgust. "The noble scavengers have begun to arrive."
"So Mon wanted us out of here before they did?"
Leia shook her head. "When I thought I'd lost you, I asked her – no, I begged her – to keep the noble scavengers away. She promised she would. And I'm fairly certain she's out there keeping her promise. I suppose easier to say "she's married," than to say, "she's in mourning" in any event.
"But these people – they'll leave you alone now, right?"
Leia nodded. Most of them would. And once news of Vader got out, she'd likely be completely free of the scavengers. Small favors…
"Remember, what I said, Han?" Her fingers brushed against his neck. "They think I'm ruined."
Han shifted in his seat as a handsome, young, very blonde man in ceremonial attire bowed before Mon. Leia laughed softly and put her arms around her husband.
"Besides," she said, whispering to him seductively, "I've got a thing for older men. Older, dark-haired, Corellian men who are reformed scoundrels, but not so reformed that they don't make my heart beat faster with excitement whenever they walk into a room, because I'm never entirely sure what they'll do."
"Reformed?" Han said. "So you're saying that I can't go out there and shoot him dead?"
She kissed his neck. Good thing Chewie was in the back warming up the hyperdrive or he'd be complaining about the public display of affection. "There's no need."
"I hate that 'ruined' thing, Leia. I really do. I hate that anyone can think that I 'ruin' you."
"I don't care what they think."
Han looked out at the younger, richer, titled man standing across the tarmac. He could see that the attaché to His Royalness was starting to look perturbed. Actually, royally pissed off was more like it. Han took a lot of satisfaction in that. He silently thanked Mon Mothma for about the sixth time today, but he couldn't help but feel a little – okay, a lot – insecure all of a sudden. He quickly ran a scan of the Trequali shuttle and found that it was filled with their two most precious gems: fantubis and pellegrite.
"I'll never be able to give you the things he can," Han said softly.
"No, you can't," Leia agreed, coming around from the navigator's seat to sit on Han's lap. She didn't need to use the Force to know that her husband was feeling insecure at the moment. She wished she could use the Force to let him see inside her mind and her heart so he could know that that there would never be a need for him to feel that way. "But he can never give me what I want for the rest of my days: to be with you. So the way I see it, I'm not ruined. I traded up. Way, way up."
Her lips found his and she gently kissed him. He closed his eyes and gave himself over to the warmth of her lips and the depth of his feeling for her. It didn't quite stop him from wishing that he had a pile of fantubis somewhere to give her.
She's warmed Chewie growled, entering the cockpit.
"Yes, she is," said Leia, laughing, to Han as she got off his lap. He caught her hand as she turned away to buckle herself into the navigator's seat.
"Leia," he replied quietly, "thank you for that."
She smiled and kissed his temple, knowing that if she didn't soon break the mood, he'd start to feel awkward about his open insecurity.
"Don't get too used to it, flyboy," she teased. I'm not always this nice. Now let's get out of here."
"Right," he said. "Chewie, let's give this fancy can a work out."
He revved the thrusters for lift-off, blasting the Trequali delegation with a little more thruster-dust than was strictly necessary, but he was pretty sure neither Rieekan nor Mothma would mind.