Motives

"What took you so long?" ~Han Solo

Chapter 34

Corellia, a few weeks later

"That's some of your workers there," Han Solo pointed in the direction of a few green hats huddled together and pointing up at an aerial work platform.

"The ones in the green hard hats?" Valwyn K'ntarr ventured.

"Yeah," Han replied, smiling. In spite of the fact that Valwyn had pursued a marriage with Leia, Han somehow liked the man. "That's how we identify our trainees."

Val's gaze traveled across the large facility. The three of them, Han, Val and Leia, were standing on an elevated catwalk that afforded them a sweeping view of the factory. "And there are our parts over there," Val stated, pointing in the direction of a few large, fabricated pieces that were being placed together on an assembly line.

Han followed the line of Val's fingertip and nodded his head in affirmation. "Top quality spec," he said. The shipyard contract with Rydonni had actually improved quality and production. "Just as promised."

"And how is the resettlement going?" Leia interjected.

Han turned to her and smiled even more broadly. It was wonderful to be near her again, in public. This visit had been part of his plan and he longed to talk to her about it. In private. "Very well," he supplied. "We have Rydonnians, both from New Alderaan and the main planet, settling all over Corellia, some even filtering out to our other systems. We've been able to allow families and friends to stay together, when requested. It's been a smooth process, overall." He looked over to Val. "I think our departments of immigration and resettlement have worked well together."

"Agreed," Val replied. "This move was nothing short of a stroke of genius. The shipyard contract for Rydonni. The workers for Corellia and the land for the Alderaanians. It seems, in the end," he said, his eyes darting between Leia and Han, "almost everyone got what they wanted."

The two men levelled a look at one another, still friendly but with a hint of a challenge. Han easily guessed what Val was driving at and he didn't think that his guess was wrong. It seemed the man may have been interested in Leia for more than just closing a deal. Han looked over at Leia, she was trying her best to pretend like she wasn't caught in the middle of two prideful nexxu with their hackles up. Looking at her then, dressed in fire-retardant overalls that were two sizes too big for her and wearing a red visitor's hard hat, it was still no mystery to him why any man would be absolutely captivated by her.

She cleared her throat. "Didn't you say that we would have time to tour through some of the resettled neighborhoods?"

Han looked back to Valwyn, considering things. He was in a perpetual hurry to set things right between him and Leia, that was the goddess' honest truth, but it seemed that there might be an external factor that he hadn't counted on. His confidence that Leia wouldn't have her head turned by anyone was extremely high and old Goldenrod could probably quote the odds that Princess Leia would suddenly fall out of love with him and hopelessly in love with someone else, but his future with Leia wasn't something that he felt like playing the odds on.

"Yes," Han finally answered Leia and looked back her way. "As a matter of fact," he continued, turning his shoulders to walk next to her and leave Valwyn trailing behind them, "there were a few finer details I wanted to iron out with you. Would you be available for a private audience in my office later?"

The President's Office, Coronet City

"So," Leia said, looking around Han's extravagant office. She had met him last time in his home office, which had been stately yet a bit informal. This office, in the tallest governmental building in Coronet City and on its highest floor, was...intimidating and breathtaking all at once. She walked over to the large window and looked down over the vista that was the capital city of Corellia. "Duly elected President, huh?" she said.

"Hard to believe, isn't it?"

She turned around to look at him. He was dressed very sharply, which was becoming the norm for him now. He was handsome, no doubt. Han was smoldering in maintenance coveralls, she had witnessed that firsthand earlier today. But she missed his old, grimy, not-so-white-anymore buttoned down shirt. And his snug fitting blood stripe pants with the low slung holster. She actually missed that outfit! The irony of that wasn't lost on her. There had been several times she had teased him about owning anything, absolutely anything else to wear.

She shook her head. "Nothing is as we thought it would be, is it?" she asked with a sigh as she walked towards him.

"Yeah," he agreed, tapping his finger against the solid wood of his desk. "Maybe it's time we started rethinking things."

She stopped. That simple sentence wasn't so simple to ponder on. She didn't know anymore what she wanted or what she saw for her future. Building New Alderaan would be something that could keep her busy for a few years, but then? Would she be made Queen? Or return to Coruscant? Did she want to be an Ambassador or a Senator again? None of the options seemed perfectly right. For years she had charged forward toward a singular goal: defeat the Empire. But now, with so many choices and moving pieces, she felt more adrift than she ever had.

Being with Han, of course, had always been a constant in any thoughts of her future for a long time now. But it had been this nebulous certainty without any real substance behind it. She thought back to their conversation right before the Battle of Coruscant, even then before a child, wife and presidential office had been in the mix, they had been unsure of how they would build a life together. Maybe that was the real heart of the problem. She needed to start thinking of what 'being with Han' looked like. And what a life together could look like for them.

"I'm stuck here for my term as president," Han spoke into her silence. "And you'll be busy building New Alderaan."

"And?" She asked while taking a seat on the other side of the desk from him. She was certain Han had a plan, could practically see the gears turning in his head. And she was very interested in what it was.

His expression turned earnest. He walked around the desk and leaned his left hip against the edge of it, sitting nearly directly in front of her. "My hands are tied for the next few months." Fiddling with the black sash around his arm, he continued, "I'm officially in mourning, which I'm told can sometimes last for years."

Years. The word hit Leia like a laser bolt to the chest. It's not that she was surprised by the length of time, she was very familiar with the social mores of acceptable mourning periods, but they had waited so long already. She could feel the blood draining from her face, but she steeled herself. "We've waited this long," she said, half-heartedly. "We can-"

"No," he interrupted her, shaking his head. He moved so that he was leaning against the desk behind him, directly in front of her now, his feet on either side of hers. The proximity and body positioning was very intimate. "That's not what I was trying to say. Do you think I would be okay with waiting years?" He asked.

She felt the heat painting her cheeks. "I hope you wouldn't be okay with waiting minutes."

"Seconds," he said and smiled as he held his hand out to her. She accepted it and let him pull her out of her seat and into his arms. With him leaning back against the desk and her standing between his legs, their height was almost exactly the same. He smiled at her once again and then leaned into her and kissed her. She stepped further into his embrace and his hands wrapped around her waist and around her lower back. Her hands skated across his shoulder blades and into his hair.

Whatever else was wrong in the universe or whatever else stood in their way, kissing Han Solo had always felt right. Even nervous and terrified of the feelings he was stirring up inside of her, the kiss in the circuitry bay had been nothing short of magnificent. Both were guilty of having sharp tongues that wielded hard words. But when their lips met, it was all puddles of warmth and heat and desire. And love.

A knock on the door broke them apart. Han pulled away but took a long moment to look her in the eyes. Everything was there in the golden flecks floating against the hazel greens and browns. The universe, destined to be their playground one day, as a couple - perhaps later as husband and wife. But even that didn't really matter. It would all be theirs one day.

Han finally stood and walked over to answer the door while Leia walked toward the window, composing herself. As she looked back out over Coronet City, she could hear Han exchanging a few words with his assistant. Years of mourning. The words still sat uneasily inside of her. She was just beginning to wonder what plan Han might have in mind when she heard the office door close.

"I'm due at a meeting," Han said.

She turned to look at him and nodded, walking toward the chair and gathering up her things.

"Listen," he said and she looked up at him. "There's a press conference this afternoon, I want you to be there."

"Why?"

"Officially? To talk about your visit, everything you saw. Go ahead and give a plug to New Alderaan and all the work you're doing there. Drum up some tourism."

"And unofficially?"

He walked towards her. "We'll be seen together. Smiling. Shaking hands. Stories of our past relationship will be dredged up and people will start to speculate."

"And that's a good thing?"

He walked past her and around to the other side of his desk. "We'll be on two different planets," he explained. "The stories will have us together while work and responsibilities have us apart. I'll come pay an official visit to you in a few weeks. You'll make sure the press is there. We'll work to coincide a few trips to Coruscant. Everything, in the public eye anyway, well above board. But the idea, the story will take on a life of its own."

She sighed. She could see the thought process behind the entire plan. "Let the press work for us for a change," she offered.

"Exactly!" He replied excitedly, obviously happy that she appeared to understand. He walked around the desk to stand closer to her.

She tried to force a smile. He was trying, she knew. But anything short of right now or today fell short of her hopes. Han had always been full of ideas and surprises that seemed to defy reality, had she been wrong to think that that expectation of him would hold true now? That he would have some elaborate ruse planned instead of what it now looked like: her leaving again? The thought of returning to her little modular home on New Alderaan felt like a prison sentence. She couldn't help it. She would've liked more than a hurried kiss in his office. He was in mourning, but he wasn't married any longer.

He stepped toward her and took her chin in between his thumb and forefinger, tilting her head up to him. "I know it's not ideal," he whispered. "But, it'll break the ice for us and let us move forward more quickly once enough time has passed."

"I know," she said, feeling guilty for letting him see her disappointment. "I just-"

"I know," he said, reassuring her. "Trust me?" He asked, looking tentative.

She smiled, feeling better. Of course she trusted him and of course he would do all he could to make it right as soon as was humanly possible. "Implicitly," she replied and was rewarded with another hurried kiss before they finally had to part.

Coronet Spaceport, later than evening

Leia was standing in the large hangar bay along with her small entourage. Eaton, her personal assistant - a sarkhai. Ronin, her public affairs attache, a mirialan and Qylen, her photographer, a twi'lek. Their luggage was placed in small piles all around them. Her ship, The Repose, was sitting quietly in the distance. For some unknown reason their boarding had been delayed.

Finally, she saw her pilot, Vynh, a human male, walking toward them shaking his head and appearing quite dejected.

"What's wrong?" she asked, as soon as he was in earshot.

"We blew a gasket on the header during preflight warm-ups," he said.

Leia knew a little about starship engines and maintenance, mostly thanks to her time flying with Chewie and Han on the Falcon. "That's not good," she replied. "But better now than en route."

"You're telling me," Vynh replied grimly, giving a visible shiver at the idea of what that would mean in flight. "Anyway," he continued. "We're waiting on a part, and wouldn't you know, it's not one they make here at the Corellian shipyards."

The Repose was an elegant Naboo-designed cruiser. The Corellian shipyards specialized in outfitting armies with fighters and cargo haulers, so that made sense. "What's the ETA?" Leia asked, not feeling especially hopeful by the look on her pilot's face.

"Two, maybe three days."

"Three days?" It was hard to hide her disappointment and surprise. They were at the critical phase of several projects on New Alderaan. Her absence for even three days could be detrimental to progress and delays were costly.

Her pilot took her reaction in stride. His job made him wired to respond to crises with natural aplomb. "The Corellians have offered one of the presidential yachts for you."

"Oh," Leia replied, relieved and wondering why he hadn't offered that option up sooner. She began to pick up her luggage and her aides began to do the same. "Okay, perfect. We'll just-"

Vynh held his hand up, stopping her. "When I said: you. I meant that. Only you. I believe what they have available is the president's private H-Type Nubian yacht. Very fancy and very fast, but also very small with only one cabin."

Leia scanned over the faces of her entourage - her all male entourage. They could share a cabin, take shifts. But Leia had flown in H-Types before. They were smaller than the Falcon when it came to shared accommodations. Still-

"You should go without us," Eaton, her assistant offered.

"No, I couldn't possibly-"

"Don't be silly," he interrupted her. "We can catch a public flight first thing in the morning, I've already been looking and there are plenty of openings." The calm and poised sarkhai looked to his counterparts for agreement.

"Right," Ronin, the public affairs attache chimed in. "I have friends in Coronet City, actually. I could probably catch dinner with them if I hurry."

"And I could take more photos," Qylen, her photographer added. "The neighborhoods and factories will make a different show at night."

Leia shook her head, wanting desperately to leave but feeling guilty and awful at the thought of leaving her crew behind.

Her assistant reached out and squeezed her arm. "You know you have to go," he said. If anyone knew what Leia's calendar looked like it would be her assistant. Not to mention the cost! The land and planet may have been free, but the workers, equipment, materials and supplies were most definitely not. "Don't worry," Eaton soothed, "you can make it up to us when we get back to New Alderaan."

"Yes," Ronin chimed in. "I've had my eye on a certain lakefront property."

"And Corellia has the best photomods," Qylen teased.

"Okay, okay," Leia agreed with a smile. She looked at all of them. "Please be careful. You can put all the food and drinks on my tab," she told Eaton. And then she looked at Qylen, "And you can get a new mod. But Ro? We'll have to talk about that property."

"Of course, Princess," he smiled and bowed.

Vynh walked with her toward the H-Type yacht, The Intrepid, and handed her bags over to a casually dressed man who then carried them up the boarding ramp and quietly disappeared inside.

Leia looked at her pilot. It was late evening, but not so late, as the rest of her crew had pointed out, to grab a bite to eat or do some sightseeing and shopping. "You should take a bit of a vacation, as well."

He shrugged, looking over to The Repose sitting sadly in the distance. "I'll see what other maintenance can be done on her while we wait for the part," he said, before looking back at Leia. "Clear skies, Princess. Think no more of us. We'll be fine."

She smiled and nodded and then waved across the hangar to the rest of her group. They waved back as she turned around and ascended the boarding ramp.

As she approached the small lounge, a small part of Leia wondered if this might be some elaborate trick of Han's to get her alone. Hadn't she just been thinking of how he always seemed to come up with the best plans? The press conference had been fun. The both of them together in the public eye, fielding questions and completing each other's sentences. There was an obvious energy in Corellia and, no surprise to Leia, it seemed to be centered around its President. But it had made leaving all alone without seeing him again all the more depressing and difficult.

So it was that she felt a sharp pang of disappointment when all she found waiting for her inside of the small yacht was the young man who had taken her bags.

"I apologize for my dress," he said, "But we were not supposed to be traveling anywhere today."

"No apologies necessary," she replied. "I really appreciate the assistance."

He sighed and pointed his left hand down the adjoining hallway. "The kitchen is that way and is fully stocked, please help yourself," he said. And then he pointed in the opposite direction down a curved hallway and continued, "The cabin is around this bend. Ar-eleven has already placed your luggage inside, it has a full refresher and you should feel absolutely welcomed to make yourself at home during your stay."

"Perfect, thank you," she replied. "Are you the steward?"

"No, ma'am," he said with a smile. "I'm the pilot."

"Oh," Leia replied, a little embarrassed. "I apologize."

"The President usually has this ship piloted by just myself and the astromech. He's very self sufficient." The young pilot hesitated. "I hope that will be alright."

"Oh, more than alright, yes," she said. "Thank you."

"If you'll please strap in during takeoff, I'll let you know on the intercom when it's clear to move about."

Leia sat, strapped herself in and said, "Yes, thank you."

The Intrepid, en route to New Alderaan

It had been about thirty minutes since the captain had given the all clear. Leia had grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and pulled her datapad from her small bag. Folding her legs up underneath her, she drank the water and finished up her notes from the Corellian factory visit and caught up on her interplanetary communiques.

It was boring traveling all alone and eventually sheer curiosity had her walking the rounded corner to the private cabin to sneak a peek at how Han had become accustomed to traveling. The room was dark when she entered and as she fumbled for the light the door shut behind her as soon as the soothing cabin lights gently flooded the room.

The cabin, being the only one onboard, was large and luxurious. The bed was three times the size of the one she was currently sleeping in in her little home on New Alderaan and in addition to a small desk and office area, there was also a sitting area complete with a mini bar and a large viewport overlooking the muddled expanse of hyperspace. In front of the mini bar were a sofa, kaffe table and two, large loungers.

And one of the loungers was currently occupied.

The President of the Associated Systems of Corellia made a show of placing his hands behind his head and then crossing his feet at his ankles as he smiled at her and said, "What took you so long?"