Luck
It was the middle of the day in the middle of the week as Leia threaded her way through the hangar in pursuit of yet another round of signatures and sign-offs from the squadron leaders. She was starting to think the war itself had fallen into the same dreary precipice: several battles had been fought recently, some won, some lost; negotiations with potential new Alliance members were on pause for various reasons; strategic decisions were waiting on circumstances beyond her control. Progress was behind them and momentum hopefully ahead, but she couldn't quite banish a feeling of stasis that hung over the entirety of her efforts.
After another futile loop around the cluster of ships, she ended up where she often did these days: within throwing distance of the Millennium Falcon, sneaking a look at its entrance, wondering if a need to seek out its captain would manifest itself.
Luck was with her today as she was greeted with the sight of Han at the top of the ramp, legs straddled farther apart than she would have thought possible, groping toward a metallic block hanging from the ceiling.
She sauntered closer, enjoying the witness of his struggle.
"Need a hand?" she called pleasantly from the base of the ramp.
He swiveled his head fruitlessly in an attempt to meet her eye. "Yeah. I do. Chewie was right here and seems to have disappeared into thin air."
She tried not to focus on the way his pants hugged his backside as she walked up. "I don't think I'll be able to reach whatever it is you're aiming for."
"I don't need you to." He nodded toward his extended leg. "Clamp that lever." She knelt down and grabbed the handle that was depressed by his foot and pressed it toward the deck plate. "Hold it down but don't let the metal tip touch the opposite end." Centered more firmly over both feet now, Han threaded a thick cable through a bracket on the ceiling and tugged it toward a rudimentary electrical box.
The lever burned warm against her palm. She watched as he peeled back the rubber casings from a bouquet of wires and smoothed them together before aiming at the housing. "Almost got it," he grunted. "Ready? Just keep it like that."
She nodded and braced for a minor detonation.
The cable of wires met the junction, his hands twisting this way and that to secure the connection. "There." She glanced in surprise at the absence of sparks over his head. "You can let go now."
Releasing the lever, she flexed her fingers and straightened up. "Did the ramp break?"
"Nah." He pulled a roll of electrical tape out of his pocket and unspooled a length, tearing it with his teeth. "It's been a little jumpy lately so I wanted to switch out the cable. But I couldn't find a long enough one, so instead I installed a new housing here and split the connector into two."
"Hmm." She watched him secure the tape around the coax head. "No wonder Chewie was nowhere to be found."
He flashed her a look. "He better be finishing up the pre-flight checks. We're about to take off for Haseid."
The punch of disappointment caught her off guard. "You're leaving? But you just got back yesterday." She cast back to the dinner in the mess last night. Han had been in peak form, narrating his close brush with the stormtroopers who had been assigned guard duty for the section of the hub that held the waiting crates. Chewie had created a diversion and the Imperials had fallen for it as usual. The crowd around the table had laughed as Han imitated their obliviousness.
"Miss me?" She flushed under his grin. "We're just doing a day trip to the bazaar there. There were a few things on my list I didn't get at the hub, and I wanted to test out the new hyperdrive converter I installed this morning."
"And the ramp." She nodded at their feet.
"Well, that's a minor adjustment. There's always a way off the ship if it doesn't work." He cocked his head at her. "Hey, you wanna come too? It's just a few hours round-trip. We'll be back in no time."
The invitation was the last thing she expected. Say yes, a voice inside her ordered. She hurriedly overrode that impulse by running through her schedule for the afternoon. It was unusually light, consisting of a huddle with her team and dedicated time to finish the briefings she would deliver tomorrow.
He was looking at her expectantly when she refocused on him. "Yes. All right."
"Great." Caught off guard, he motioned helplessly. "Uh, you need to grab anything before we leave?"
She eyed the pilots and crewmen now milling about below them, anticipating the looming threat of interruptions if she went back to her quarters. "No. I'll just comm my team from here and let them know."
He was unusually chatty as they made their way through the corridor and into the cockpit, explaining the reasoning behind the upgraded hyperdrive converter and the critical in-flight steps that would indicate victory or failure against the gods of light-speed travel.
His other motivation behind the jaunt was more nebulous to her. "What do you need to get at Haseid?" she interjected. It was a sparsely inhabited planet and she had been there once before, but not to the desert city where the bazaar was located. "There weren't any items missing from the inventory when you returned yesterday."
"I wanted to pick up a few things for myself." He nodded over at Chewie in the co-pilot seat as the Falcon rose and hovered over the hangar floor. From her perch behind them, she watched as the Wookie retracted the throttle and glided the ship out of the base. "And Wedge keeps demanding more of that spicy stuff he pours onto his food. Says it's too bland otherwise."
That line of conversation halted as the Falcon cleared the atmosphere and the two pilots started trading terse commands. The shift to hyperspace was approaching, and she held herself still to ascertain whether his enhancement made any noticeable difference from a passenger's perspective.
The familiar lurch jolted her back in her seat. "There." Han turned to Chewie with a satisfied nod. "Did you feel that?"
Leia could feel the sarcasm rolling off the Wookie's reply.
"Whadya mean it wasn't necessary?" He swiveled around to where she was sitting. "Back me up here, Princess. Isn't an optimization in engine throughput worth it even if sentient beings may not be able to tell the difference?"
"It sounds like you need a droid to make your case for you." She smiled at the memory of that awful movie they had watched not long ago. "Shall we find Threepio when we return and have him deliver the final verdict?"
"No." He got up and stretched, his long limbs illuminated by the streaks of stars outside the viewport. Hands on hips, he studied her as she stood too. "Hey, you want to fly her once we leave hyperspace?"
"You'd actually let me touch your ship?" she asked incredulously. She had flown shuttles of course, but had less experience with longer-distance crafts and Han was notoriously possessive of the Falcon.
"Sure, why not." His grin was infectious. "I'm feeling lucky today." She started to object to his choice of words but he just waved her toward the hatch. "Come on, let's review a few things. Once we get closer, I'll hand her over to you."
"You still haven't told me why you're going to Haseid."
They were back in the cockpit after a brief lesson around the holochess table. She sat in Chewie's chair, trying to hold the multitude of instructions straight in her head.
"I told you. I need to grab a few things."
She propped her chin on her hand and studied him closely. "I don't believe you."
"You accusing me of lying?" He was clearly amused.
"Mmm. Not lying so much as leaving something out."
"And what would that be, Princess?" His tone shifted from lighthearted to serious.
"I think you're planning to pick up something. But you don't want anyone to know. A secret." She had no idea where that idea sprouted from. Certainly not wishful thinking on her part. Absolutely not.
"A secret, huh." He leaned back in his chair and gazed at her thoughtfully. "Maybe you're the one with a secret and that's why you thought of it."
"I have lots of secrets, Captain." Well, that at least was true.
"I don't doubt it. But most of them are probably pretty boring." He winked at her. "At least tell me you got one or two juicy ones."
"Maybe one day I'll let you in on them," she said airily.
He shook his head in wry resignation and leaned toward the door. "Chewie!"
The Wookie stuck his head through the hatch. "What do we think of the security at this place? In case anyone gets any ideas about going after the Princess."
Irritation flashed over her. "I'm right here, you know."
"Sorry." It was half-hearted at best. "I'm trying to remember the layout of the bazaar. We should have a back-up plan in case we get separated."
She shook her head. "I don't need a bodyguard. Just give me a blaster and I'll be fine."
"Oh, I'm definitely giving you a blaster." He nodded at the waistband of her trousers. "Do those come with a holster?"
Her stomach twisted under his scrutiny. "Why don't you gawk a little longer and then decide?"
"Can I get that in writing?" His gaze lingered another few seconds before he snapped his fingers. "The northwest corner. That's the one that opens onto the plaza. It's too exposed for someone to try anything sneaky."
Chewie rumbled a skeptical response.
"No, the southwest one has all of those columns. And the other two are right next to the stalls. Northwest it is. I'll point it out when we get there." He turned in his chair and made a minute adjustment to the throttles. Motioning to the switches on the center console, he looked over at her. "Now. Have you ever executed a reverse maneuver coming out of hyperspace?"
The dry desert air of Haseid was invigorating after living for months amid a swampy dampness that infiltrated into every nook and cranny of the base. Currents in the lower atmosphere drew the clouds swiftly across the horizon and bathed the bazaar in dancing stripes of light and shadow. Leia stood at a booth, fingering a sun catcher patterned with finely textured glass. Shards of colored light darted through the air and landed on her shirt.
"Find something?"
In her absorption she hadn't noticed Han approaching. The bazaar was uncrowded, the grid of stalls surrounded by sand and scrub on three sides and adjacent to a plaza that hosted a few sturdier structures. After an initial loop around the perimeter revealed no major security concerns, she had turned her focus to a few of the booths that had caught her eye.
He stopped at her side, his upper arm barely touching her shoulder.
"Just looking at this." She turned the sun catcher around and examined the other side.
"You got an exterior wall in your quarters that I don't know about?"
"No," she murmured. "It's not very practical, I suppose. Maybe for another time and place." She hung it back on its hook.
He didn't respond and didn't move either. They were still touching, neither of them shifting away from the contact. It felt new, not quite like the night when they had slept outside curled around each other. At times she forgot that had even occurred and then was surprised when she remembered. It was a discrete event and so much had happened since then that no further meaning could be wrung from it.
But now his arm was warm and real against hers. She noticed that he was cupping something in his hand. "What's that?"
It was a wooden star, eight-pointed, several centims thick. Bands of carvings followed the pattern of spikes and gave it a pulse-like quality. He pulled it apart to reveal two halves with a hollow interior.
"It's made of Corellian hardwood," he explained. "At least according to the seller. I bought one here years ago and then had a streak of good luck." He closed the star. "At least it felt like luck at the time. Now it's hard to tell."
"What are you going to put in it?"
He shrugged, the motion causing his arm to ride up and down her own. "Hadn't thought that far ahead."
There was something endearing about that. "Are you in need of good luck now?"
He turned to face her directly. "I'm not sure. Kinda feels like —."
"Like what?" She was facing him too, no longer touching any part of him.
His eyes stayed on hers a moment before lowering to the table. Picking up the sun catcher, he dangled it in front of the seller. "How much?"
As they boarded the Falcon, she watched him toss the bags of spices, pouches of dried fruit, and various personal effects into an open crate near the ramp. The wooden star and the sun catcher, though, were carefully laid out on the table side by side, barely touching.