Han held tight to Leia's hand as they ran, admiring the endurance of the young man who led them. Must have been on a cross country team or something, he mused, looking down as he heard the princess trying to stifle a coughing fit.

"You okay?" he asked, slowing down. She nodded, urging him to keep up the pace.

"Just got some crud in my lungs. Been hanging out in too many places unsuitable for human habitation," she explained, panting. He nodded and then let go of her hand, sprinting ahead to catch up with Ty as they dashed around another corner.

"I think we lost them," Han said, breathing heavily, "Not that anyone seemed to actually be chasing up." Ty skidded to a stop. "Where are we headed?"

"My place," he whispered, "If that's okay."

"We need to get to the spaceport," Han told him, "Can you take us?"

Leia jogged up behind them, catching the end of the conversation. "Why would we need to go to the spaceport?" she asked critically.

"Because we're loading up and getting out of her, sweetheart. I'm calling off the mission."

"I beg your pardon?" Leia's hands went to her hips. "First of all, this isn't your mission to call off. And secondly, I am not just abandoning these people to the Empire."

"I fail to see how us sticking around is going to keep the Empire off their backs now," Han retorted. "Finding us here isn't going to endear them, you know?"

"Well, then we're just going to have to figure out a way to keep them from finding us here, aren't we?" Leia said tightly. Which meant finding out what Carrella had done with the biometric sample she had taken, but that wasn't something that was going to be resolved while they stood in the rain arguing on a street corner. "Ty, can we get into your home without being spotted?"

"Definitely," the young man responded, grateful that the subject had changed. "But it'll be easier if we get there before sunrise. C'mon."

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"Now this is preposterous," Heath Dolmin said as Carrella Starn walked into the small windowless office where he had been escorted by the police officers. "Are you a cop now too, Carrella?"

"Cut the crap, Heath," she snapped at him. "I want to know who you have on the inside of my organization."

"I thought I was arrested because I supposedly vandalized your office," he sneered.

She stopped pacing to smile at him. "My office was vandalized, it's true." Catching her meaning, Heath rolled his eyes. "But you have someone feeding you information, and I want to know who it is."

Heath was half tempted to confess to Ty's involvement, mainly because he knew it would kill Carrella to know her son was dating a no-good hippie treehugger, but the situation with Kesia and Sas made him hold his tongue. Members of the Rebel Alliance, she had said…and Carrella was in league with the Empire. Kesia was right when she told him that he really didn't want to know what was going on.

"I really don't know where you think you get the right to interrogate me like this, Carrella," he said finally.

"Oh, I don't have any right," she said sweetly. "But I'm doing it anyways. I'm going to find out your secrets, Dolmin. And trust me—whoever it is that's been spying on me had better watch their back." She patted him on the head patronizingly before stepping back out the door. "Have fun in jail, Heath."

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"Nice digs, kid." Han whistled. Apparently being executive vice president of a huge company was pretty lucrative, given the size and outfittings of Ty's apartment. He'd led Han and Leia in through an unmanned service entrance and up to the penthouse suite, giving them a bird's eye view of Retacy's sun peeking up over the clearing clouds on the horizon.

"Thank you again, Ty," Leia added. "Now that we're in the clear, can I ask how exactly you got mixed up in all this? I thought you worked for your mother."

"Oh, I do," said Ty with a nod, heading into his bedroom to pull out some dry clothes. "But not politically. Of course, she doesn't exactly know that."

"I take it then that you were the one who told Our Retacy about the venue change for the rally?"

He blushed. "I'm sorry you got arrested. No one intended for that to happen."

"It's all right," she assured him. "The police officers were very gentle and polite."

Ty's curiousity was piqued. "Have you been arrested before?"

"Why don't we get out of these wet clothes?" Han interrupted. Still annoyed at Leia's insistence on staying on the planet, he wanted to a chance to discuss next steps with her without any eavesdroppers.

"Of course!" Ty handed them each a small pile. "I don't know how well these will fit, but they'll do for now. Toss me your things and I can put them in the dryer." Leia took the proffered clothes with a smile and disappeared into a lavish 'fresher just off the entry way. Han waited, watching as Ty went into his own room and shut the door before following Leia.

"What the hell?!" she shrieked as he walked in on her, turning his back to shut the door as she pulled a towel across her bare chest.

"Grow up, princess," he whispered. "You don't have anything I haven't seen before. I needed to talk to you without that little twerp around."

"That's a likely excuse," she hissed back. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking?"

"But you're so cute when you're surprised." She seethed, watching him carefully to ensure he didn't turn around as she dropped the towel and buttoned the fresh shirt.

"So what do you want to talk about?"

"What are we doing here?"

"We still need to secure the terrellium for the Alliance," Leia said adamantly. "And Carrella gave the Imperials some kind of DNA sample from me. We have to stop them from doing an analysis on it—if the Imps discover that I'm here, a lot of innocent people could be killed."

"Is that all?" Han sighed. "You don't make things easy, do you?"

"Nope."

"Okay, well, I know where the Imp is staying. We could try to get into his room and find whatever it is Carrella gave him. Do you have any ideas?"

"Probably hair. I didn't have any mysterious scratches or anything."

"And that just leaves the terrellium. Any ideas there?"

Leia nodded. "Actually, yes. But I don't think you're going to like it."

"Why?"

"Because it involves making sure Carrella Starn wins her election."

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An hour later, the three of them sat around Ty's kitchen table drinking coffee when there was a rap on the door.

"There's a closet in the bedroom," Ty whispered. "I'll come get you when the coast is clear."

Leia grabbed their mugs to hide the evidence of company, and, ever mindful of his rumbling stomach, Han brought along two of the breakfast pastries that Ty had set out for them. They scurried into the bedroom and pulled the closet door shut behind them.

Unlike the rest of the apartment, this particular closet wasn't huge. Han settled himself to the floor, propping up his knees against the wall and taking one of the mugs of coffee from Leia. He patted the carpet in front of him, inviting her to sit down, but she remained standing and leaned against the door to hear what was going on outside.

"Mother, good morning! I wasn't expecting you," Ty said, kissing Carrella on the cheek.

"Good morning, my darling." She walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a mug, pouring herself some coffee from the half full pot. "You shouldn't have so much caffeine—it's not good for you."

"I didn't sleep well last night," Ty said, making a show of rubbing his eyes.

"Me neither, love. I had a terrible night actually—someone broke into my campaign headquarters!"

Ty did an admirable job of feigning surprise. "That's awful! Was anything stolen?"

"I don't think so, but still, it rattles you. The police think it might have been someone involved with that group that showed up to protest my endorsement event. Can you imagine?" Ty just shook his head, an expression of disbelief on his face.

"There's something else I need to talk to you about as well, dear." Carrella sat down at the table, noticing briefly that the chair seemed oddly warm. "You know those Alliance representatives, the one who were helping with my campaign? They've disappeared. I'm afraid we may have been double crossed."

"What do you mean, Mother?"

"One of the project managers out on the Trelm project said that they had been contacted by a surveyor who claimed to have been sent by the Imperial government. I think someone, and I don't know who, let them know of my overtures to the Alliance." A few unshed tears pooled in her eyes. "Apparently if we don't do something quickly to demonstrate loyalty to the Empire, they may seize the entire company."

"What are you going to do, Mother?" Ty knew her outreach to the Empire had begun in earnest weeks beforehand, but her distress made him wonder if perhaps she was more innocent than he originally assumed.

"I'm afraid we have no choice but to sign an exclusive contract with them."

"But what about the partner companies? Starncorp isn't the only one with interests in mining in Trelm."

"I suppose that all hinges on the election then. If Morrs wins and votes to maintain the moratorium on shipping minerals off planet, we'll have no choice but to break our contract with the Empire, and who knows how they'll react."

"And if you win?"

She smiled. "My darling, a contract with the Empire will put us in an excellent position to buy out the rest of the companies in the partnership. Then Starncorp will have exclusive control over terrellium and mondnapium, and well, you know what that does to prices." With a slight chuckle, she added. "That'll show the Retacy Grows people for endorsing Morrs."

Leia's face was unreadable as she strained to hear Carrella's words. Ty didn't seem to be giving any indication of betraying them, but she was his mother and that was enough to leave Leia concerned. As Ty shifted the conversation to more mundane topic, she finally accepted Han's invitation to sit. She tried facing him, but her knees smacked awkwardly into his chest, nearly making her lose her balance. With a soft sigh, she turned around, settling between his legs and leaning into his chest so they could talk.

"She still seems to think Ty is on her side," Leia whispered nearly inaudibly. "Hopefully that will bode well for getting her set up for victory."

"I still don't get how that's going to help us if she's planning on giving exclusive mineral rights to the Imps," Han whispered back.

"Ty can help with that too. They were prospecting, didn't you notice? I'd bet the Imps don't trust that the minerals here are actually worth their while. That's why they're letting local companies get involved instead of just coming in and strip mining the place."

"But the minerals are worth something, right?"

"Yes. But if we can get Ty to alter the test results, maybe we can get the Imps to back off on their end of the bargain."

"And the election?"

"We'll need cooperation from Heath Dolmin. Carrella was still down three points in the last poll. If we can get Heath to confess publicly to sabotaging her, and drop out of the race while endorsing her, we can probably regain the advantage."

"Is that all?"

"No. We need to make sure the Imps don't find the Falcon, either. Carrella knows where it's stored, remember?"

"Is that all?"

"Unless you have something to add, hot shot?"

There was a muffled thump near the bedroom door, and both of them startled, Leia pushing herself deeper into Han's embrace. Instinctively he threw an arm around her, reaching for his blaster and putting one hand over her mouth to silence her completely. She glared up at him but remained still. After nothing happened for a moment, they relaxed.

Suddenly the closet door opened, leaving them blinking in the light. "She's gone," Ty said, looking down at them with some amusement. "Unless you two want some more privacy?"

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Carrella had returned to the police station to give her report when two young Our Retacy volunteers walked in, looking around shyly.

"Excuse me," one of them asked a woman sitting behind a tall desk. "Is this where we come to bail someone out?"

"I'll get someone to help you, dear," the woman chuckled.

Carrella could overhear them whispering furiously to each other. "I don't know! I'm usually the one to get bailed out, not do the bailing. She seemed nice anyways."

"You're here for Dolmin, aren't you?" Carrella said imperiously, walking over to the young people and scowling. "Breaking and entering is a serious crime. I doubt you, or he, can afford bail right now."

"That's none of your business!" The young woman stood nose to nose with Carrella, drawing looks from the officers around the room.

"Now, now," one of them called out. Wrinkling her nose, Carrella backed off.

"This way, dears." The receptionist gestured for the two youth to follow her, and they stalked off, giving Carrella one last glare. Dolmin must be draining his meager campaign account to get out of this, she thought smugly.

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"You came in the back, right?"

"Of course. I'm not an idiot."

Ty sighed with relief and then bustled Heath into his apartment. "You look terrible."

"Thanks, babe. Right back at you."

Ty smiled at him fondly, giving him a quick kiss before pouring the remains of the coffee into a mug and adding copious amounts of sugar. "Just like you like it."

"You're the best." Heath sank into one of the kitchen chairs. "Thanks for bailing me out."

"Of course. I'm sorry it took so long. I had to arrange to get cash from my private account so Mother wouldn't notice."

Heath took a long sip of coffee. "She was kind enough to pay me a visit."

Leia, who had been in the 'fresher changing back into her own clothes, now dry, walked in. "Carrella did? Why?"

"To taunt, I guess. She all but admitted she trashed her own office. Then she asked me who had been feeding information to my organization."

Ty blanched. "Do you think she suspects?"

Heath shook his head. "I sincerely doubt it. You're probably at the bottom of her list of possible leaks, if you're on the list at all. You're the apple of her eye, you know?"

Han joined them from the bedroom, back in his clothes as well. "Hey," he said to Heath. "Thanks for taking the heat back there." Heath simply nodded curtly.

"So now that we're all here, let's talk strategy," Leia said, sitting down at the table. "Heath, I appreciate what you did to help us get out last night. I know we didn't get the best start…"

"What you told me…." Heath started, then looked at Ty. "Does he…?"

"Yes, he knows we're with the Alliance," Leia stated. "I understand that puts you in an uncomfortable position, and I hope you'll take my word that we will do everything we can to keep our presence here a complete secret. But we're going to need your help."

"On one condition." Heath gave her a hard look. "I want to know what it is that the Alliance wants here on Retacy."

Leia took a deep breath, looking at Han—he couldn't tell if the look was for approval, or forgiveness. "Terrellium," she said finally. "We need terrellium."

Heath stood up, slamming his cup down on the table. "And that's why you were helping Carrella? You knew about the mining plan all along?"

"No." Leia rubbed her temples with her fingers. "We just needed access to the frozen supply. Carrella is the only one who would vote to release it back onto the galactic market. I had no idea about how that would affect mining."

"Of course you didn't," Heath spat. "Why would the fate of our little planet concern you?"

"Heath, Retacy isn't the only planet at stake here. We're fighting for the freedom of billions of beings."

"Yes, at the cost of our planet. Why don't you go mine your own damn home planet? Maybe then you'll understand the meaning of sacrifice."

"Hey, watch it." Han stood up, stepping between Heath and Leia. "You can't say that to her."

"Everybody calm down!" Ty held up his hands. "This is getting us nowhere, and in the meantime my mother is mortgaging our planet to the Empire. So can you please just hear her out?"

Han could see Leia was fighting against an instinct to lash out at Heath—something he fully supported in general, but he knew she'd regret it soon enough. "Why don't you start with the plans for derailing the Imperial mining contract?" he said gently.

Leia smiled at him gratefully. "Good idea. We need to get the Imperials off planet, and the best way to do that at this point is to convince them that there's nothing here that's worth their while. They're clearly doing an independent analysis of the natural resources in Trelm, but Ty confirmed earlier that the standard minerals that they'll use for comparison are held by Starncorp. It's simply a matter of swapping out the standards that they'll use for a baseline, and they'll find that there's nothing of value in the Trelm region."

Looking slightly mollified, Heath nodded. "Go on."

"From our perspective then, we need to make sure that the Imperials have no evidence that we're here. Carrella told me that she passed some sort of DNA sample to the Imperial rep that's planetside. He's already been tracked, so we know where he's staying. It's just a matter of getting into his room and finding and destroying the sample before it can be used to identify me."

"And what's the big deal about identifying you?" Heath asked. Leia didn't respond.

"We also need to get our ship away from the spaceport. Carrella knows where we parked, and the Imperials might be able to track us down from the ship."

She looked at Heath. "Finally, it's still critically important that we get access to the terrellium the Alliance needs. Unfortunately, that means we need to make certain that Carrella wins her race."

"Hm." Heath crossed his arms. "And how do you propose that?"

"She's still down by a few points, but this supposed break in at her office will earn her a lot of press. We need you to help us make sure it's good press."

"How?" asked Heath suspiciously.

Leia took a deep breath, bracing herself for his reaction. "You'll need to drop out of the race, confess to vandalizing her office, and endorse Carrella Starn."