Chapter 11
"People, this is Endor," General Han Solo said, turning on the holo-projector in the Millenium Falcon's lounge. The image of the sanctuary moon rotated slowly, lighting with a greenish glow the beings reunited there to plan the first step in the fall of the Empire.
Luke Skywalker glanced sideways at Leia Organa. She had a very serious expression on her face, but he did not have to try actively to feel the powerful currents of emotion flowing from her to Han and back again. Even more, he had had to hastily raise his mental shields when Han had entered the room and the couple had locked eyes for a brief moment.
The tension-attraction they had for each other had been blatant for a long time and yet, this thing coming out from them now was and was not the same thing. Like hot crystal beads the different sensations had pierced through his mind: elation, pride, gratefulness, contentment, anticipation... He could not help but wonder if that was how love felt.
Other thoughts distracted him as well. She was his sister! Twin sister! It was easier to think of her as her sister when they were half a galaxy apart. Now that he had her at arms length, it was so hard to believe. The Princess of Alderaan and the farmboy from Tatooine were twins. Of course, it explained a few things, even the embarrassing ones. Like why it had felt so wrong when she had kissed him, once the initial exhilaration had vanished.
It was not all good news, though. At some point, she would have to know the truth of their origin and he was sure it was not going to be easy for her to hear it. It was a mystery of the Force how Vader had produced something as pure and beautiful as Leia.
The Princess turned her face slightly and returned his gaze. The Jedi smiled softly to her and she grinned back, blushing slightly.
The meeting was going all right. Fortunately, the plans for the Death Star included also the schematics for the shield generator. And Pherlen, the explosives specialist Madine had recommended, had lived up to his reputation: in less than an hour he had went through them and deduced a way to rend the installation useless without destroying it completely.
Beyond that, they had a standard day to land, get there and blow it in time for the Fleet to attack an unprotected main target. Easy, if it were not for the hordes of stormtroopers infesting the woods. He had no intention of turning his first mission as an officer for the Alliance a suicide one. If he had, he would not have accepted his friends in it and, above all, Leia. Anyway, Chewie and him had gotten into worse places and come out alive. There was no reason to think this time would be different.
The tricky part was really the landing, and it all depended of a string of numbers that composed the code, which may, or may not, be outdated. No way they could sneak through the swarm of Imperial ships protecting the monstrous battle station.
He glanced covertly at the Princess again. She looked so beautiful in those plain utility garments that he could barely believe it. But of course, it was in those simple attires where her true beauty came out so brightly that it almost took his breath away. To think that last night again she had been again in his arms so given, so trustful... Better not to think about that right now. With a voluntary effort, he turned his concentration to the task at hand.
It did not last for long, though. His eyes slid again towards Leia just in time to see her turn to Luke Skywalker and blush.
Han Solo acting as a general was the most interesting thing she had seen in a long while, putting aside the same Corellian's performance of last night. She had to restrain the urge of devouring him with her eyes, moreover that almost every time she lifted her eyes from her datapad she found his hazel ones looking back at her - or Luke's.
Luke seemed also to be spending most of his time staring at her and it was getting her slightly uncomfortable. When Han had encouraged his command crew and the strike team alike to voice their suggestions for the upcoming mission, she and Luke had finished each other's sentences in a way that had seemed funny at first, but had increased her discomfort at last. Her lover had looked slightly annoyed by that too.
They had distracted themselves by checking the weapons and equipment they would use next day and if Han Solo paid special attention to the Princess's blaster, nobody criticized him. Finally, everything was ready and they only had to wait for the moment when Home One would drop them on their starting point.
"See you tomorrow at 1000 in the hangar, people," Han said standing up. The soldiers stood with him, but nobody moved. "Dismissed," he added a little reluctantly. The strike team left the Millenium Falcon after saluting their commander.
The Wookiee and the remaining humans looked at each other for a second, unsure of what to do next. It had been so long since the four of them have been together with nobody shooting at them. The last time it had been at the med-center in Hoth, and nobody wanted to remember what had happened there.
Artoo warbled a little, breaking the silence.
"Yes, Artoo, you can go recharge now, and take Threepio with you," Luke answered him. "And we can all go to have dinner, can't we, General?"
His relaxed smiled changed the atmosphere in the room and Han Solo suddenly noticed how much the kid had matured. In other times - another life! – he would have been the one teasing him and not the other way around.
"Sure, Kid," he answered, patting Luke Skywalker's back and leading him to the ramp, followed by Chewie and Leia.
As they walked together to the mess hall, they slowly got back the old familiarity and by the time they arrived there, they were joking and teasing each other like a year before. Lando and Winter joined shortly after, and there was not a happier gang in the Rebel ship.
Nevertheless, before they could finish their meals, Solo and Calrissian's comm units beeped unmercifully. The High Command was summoning them again to finish the last details of the upcoming operation. Winter excused herself as well, assuming that Admiral Ackbar would probably need her as well.
Chewie and Luke were just gone to refill their plates and Lando and Winter had already started for the massive hatch when Han leaned down to whisper in the Princess's ear.
"Save some dessert for me, sweetheart," he said, grazing soflty at her earlobe.
"Don't knock, flyboy," she whispered back with a blush and a smile.
He crossed the room with his brightest grin plastered on his face, oblivious to the sights he was receiving from the other people there. He reached the doorway, but an irrational wave of longing made him turn around just to get a last image of her. It did not matter that he would see her again in a couple of hours, maybe less. He wanted never to part with her again.
You've got it really bad, Solo, he teased himself. But he glanced back nevertheless.
Luke was back at Leia's table, wrapping his arm around the Princess' shoulders, who was still blushing deeply and grinning at the kid.
"Hey, where are they going?" Luke asked the Princess, finding her alone at the table.
"Duty call," she answered coyly.
The Jedi locked eyes with her and again, he couldn't help but receive the echo of what she was feeling - the blend of pride and longing for the man who was walking away from her. The impulse to comfort her was suddenly stronger than his caution and he surprised himself by throwing his arm over her slim shoulders, something he had done very few times before, and in very special circumstances.
"So," he said in an even tone, "how are things going with Han?"
She looked back at him with a mixture of shock and embarrassment etched on her face, but soon she relaxed and her eyelashes hid her beautiful eyes, as if she was remembering a particularly private event.
"Perfect," she answered, and her blush became more pronounced.
"Good," Luke grinned back.
And with that, the awkwardness that had plagued them for months vanished and Leia knew with relief that she had been forgiven. After the ice of Mon Mothma, she did not know if she could stand the same treatment from Luke.
When Luke was recovering after the Bespin ordeal, she had tried to apologize to him for the Hoth med-center incident, as she called that shameful kiss in her mind. He had dismissed her with a few indifferent words and she had never been completely sure if she had been forgiven or not. He had remained emotionally distant after that and she had wondered if it was her fault.
But now, a little of the old Luke seemed to have come back and that was comforting and uplifting.
Yet, he had told her that he needed to talk to her privately, preferably that same night. She had made an excuse quickly, arguing that she was too tired, and he settled for having an early breakfast together.
After Luke and Chewie had finished plundering all the food available and went for a well-earned rest, she had pulled out rank and rescued a bottle of Freyin's from the small cache the High Command saved for special occasions.
This was a special occasion, she convinced herself. Not every day a scoundrel of Han's caliber became a general.
Heading for her quarters, with her small bounty of sparkling wine and fruit dessert she wondered what Han Solo was doing to her morals. Wonderful things, she decided. She felt like thirteen again, raiding the palace kitchen in the middle of the night with her cousin Trevin.
Reaching the sanctuary of her quarters, she wrapped the bottle in two chem-cooling compresses, which usually belonged in her med-pack. Her aunts would have been scandalized by her non-standard use of the units, but the Rebellion had made her resourceful.
She occupied the following minutes cataloguing her equipment for the mission tomorrow, and repacking in her case the few things she had unpacked the day before. Among those few things was the small collection of still holos gathered in the four years she had been underground. A few were scenes from her public life as they had appeared in the holo-news, rescued by a slicer after the censorship the Emperor had decreed over everything Alderaanian. But of them all, she loved best the first one someone had given to her, and the last one.
The first had been taken after the medal ceremony in Yavin and featured Luke, Chewie, Han and her smiling and cheering. She had slept with that holo-disc under her pillow many nights while Han was captured.
The second one was a cut-off of that holo-movie recorded on Alderaan, specifically the part that showed that embrace between her father and her, so many years ago. Chewie had given it to her on her last naming day and she had been barely able to thank him, so tight had her throat been with emotion. She turned it on now, caressing the disk softly and smiled back to Bail Organa.
"Father," she whispered in her native language. "Today's been the happiest day of my life..."
