Chapter XL: Rogue Squadron
Han wasn't one hundred percent sure he was acting accordingly, but at this point there was no turning back.
He needed to pay Jabba; he needed to get that constant worry off his back.
Han was no stranger to lies and deceit—when deemed necessary—he could use those pesky tools. Yet now he couldn't help the odd wave of guilt that sunk in his stomach every time the princess smiled at him. What's more, he could hardly return those smiles, so he dedicated mostly to fly his ship. Leaving her to the company of someone else…
"No, that's stupid," she was saying to the prince. "Let me do it."
"Shut up, it's my droid," he replied, an annoyed look on his eyes.
She tried to push his hands away and he slapped hers instead.
"Fine! Do it wrong, then," she growled and crossed her arms.
The two young people were arguing over how to handle the little blue droid. Han wanted no part in that, yet he couldn't help turning his eyes on them every now and then.
There was no point in lying to himself, he was immensely curious to see what the dynamic would be between the two royals. It was very different to what he expected, to say the least.
"Technically he's not yours, it belonged first to my father," she said, a feisty tone in her words.
"It belonged to a Jedi actually, if we're being technical," Luke smiled.
Han wondered if he meant the green Jedi or the old man.
Chewbacca growled next to him, urging him to concentrate and stop staring at the young couple like a creep. Han prayed Leia's growing understanding of the Wookiee didn't go so far.
"What if we switched droids for the trip?" Leia said, turning to her golden droid, seemingly looking for some amusement.
"Hm, I don't see how Threepio would do in a battlefield?" Prince Luke said with a grin.
"You'd be surprised. And Artoo deserves a small break, don't you think?"
"You are not taking Artoo with you."
This conversation descended into another childish argument. Han knew not what to make of it. He had hated the prince for what he had done to Leia; but mostly because Han could tell the princess still loved him. Nevertheless, their interactions made the former smuggler think he ought not be worried. There was no romantic tension between the two. Perhaps the long separation had cooled the relationship.
"Hey prince," Han called.
"You can call me Luke," he said.
"Yeah, come here, then. Why don't you come to Alderaan and have the rogues meet you out there?"
"I don't want to bring attention to the planet. A group of rebels—particularly us—would draw attention immediately. So just help me meet them, then go on your merry way."
Han saw the princess was biting her nails. "Suppose they don't show up? Or they don't arrive in time? Will you stay and wait?"
"They'll be there." Luke assured her.
"I hate that planet," Leia said. "I don't want to be there for more than a few minutes."
"Oh come on, Leia. After Hoth I would think a little sun would suit you."
"A little sun, yes. Two of them? No!" Han agreed with her.
The princess had thought she'd never set foot on Tatooine again. She resented the place, it was easy to associate it with the beginning of the downfall of the old life. Besides, it was so bloody hot. Ridiculously hot.
The sudden change of climate was enough to put her in a bad mood. Never mind the fact that they were there to drop Luke off to meet a group of rebels. To top it off nicely, Han kept acting stubbornly and annoyingly.
"I can't be here for too long," he said. "If Jabba finds me, I'd be praying at last—even if for some imperials."
"Shut up." Was all Leia could reply. She wondered for a moment if she was being inconsiderate, but rest assured Han was overreacting as to the importance of some crime lord from that forgotten planet. What could anyone do to him while herself and Luke were there? She also, not for the first time, wished Han wouldn't mock the Force.
A little faith would do him good. It would calm his nerves at least.
"I'd be praying to the Force if I were you," Luke commented, but of course the only response was a derisive laugh.
"Where exactly are you meeting them?" Leia asked, gladly changing the subject, though the new one was so thorny. "Are you sure it's safe?"
"It's the last place anyone would think to look for us, Leia. Trust me, there's not a safer, more remote place in the galaxy."
"It's not Mos Eisly?" Han questioned, nervously.
Luke stared down with a look of contempt. "Of course not. I'm not an idiot—I know what I'm doing."
Luke landed the ship in what seemed to be just the middle of the desert. Walking for a few minutes brought them before a moisture farm. A homely, little place.
"Here?" Han said, unimpressed but relieved.
There was a young boy working, looking tired and sweaty. He could've been anywhere between fourteen and seventeen years of age. When he saw them, he immediately ceased his work.
"Mr. Lars!" he cried at once.
A sunburn, aged man appeared. He had a rough look about his face. There was recognition in his eyes, though not a hint of hospitality.
"You've arrived," he said, as if they were a plague. "Boy, you may go home now. You can continue with the work tomorrow."
"Really?" the boy said, as if something impossible had happened. "Thanks, sir!"
The man called Lars slipped some money into the boy's hands, and then the boy was gone.
"Come at once, Luke, and be done quickly."
They all entered the humble abode.
A woman, about the same age as the man, sat on table, cutting some vegetables. She froze in the act when she saw them. "Dear boy!" she smiled. "You arrived early, I'm not done making your dinner! Oh, anyway; Come here, Luke, let me kiss you!"
Luke smiled, a little embarrassed, but he allowed this strange woman throw her arms around him and kiss his reddening cheek. He gave her a hug, a long one, "Thanks Aunt Beru, don't worry, I am not that hungry."
Leia's mouth dropped in shock. Aunt?!
The woman turned to see her. "Is this?" she asked, her eyes watering.
"Yes," Luke nodded, he gave Leia a special look, as if asking for her to not hurt the woman's feelings.
"Leia, darling! oh she's so beautiful! She looks the very image of Senator Amidala when she entered this house, all those years ago."
"I wonder if she brings as much luck," the man commented, sharply.
"Luke, who are these people?" Leia asked, breathless.
"This is Owen Lars," Luke placed his hand on the man's shoulder. "Anakin Skywalker's stepbrother."
Leia audibly gasped. This had been the last thing she expected.
"But don't say it aloud," the man growled.
Luke ignored the remark. "And his wife, Beru Lars."
"You," Leia checked her voice, which had cracked; "could have told me that on the way here."
"Yeah, I somehow couldn't find the words. This was easier than I thought."
"For you," again her voice failed. Damn it.
"So… all family here," Han's voice brought her back. "That's good."
"Mind if I sit down?" Leia asked, her throat very dry.
"Oh yes, dear," the woman—Aunt Beru as Luke correctly deemed her—helped her to a chair. "You mean boy, should have told her, Luke."
"I don't argue with that. So has there been any sign of a rebel today?"
"Not a one," the man—Uncle Owen? — said, rather crossly.
"Hm, so they're a little late… don't worry, they'll come."
"That's what worries me."
His wife shot him an angry look.
"In the meantime…" she said, "I'll bring some milk."
"Got anything stronger?" Han asked.
Leia shot him an angry look, similar to the one that passed from wife to husband just before.
Sunset passed giving way to evening. Everyone shared a meal together, Luke conversing with the Lars as before. Leia being very quiet. Han almost as much. He could still find moments to whisper in her ear, always asking the same question. "Can we go now?"
She shut him up all the same. "I am not leaving him stranded here," she whispered back. "I know that feeling—not very pleasant."
He would only groan as response.
"Trust me, I am in the same hurry as you, Han—"
"Oh how lovely," Mrs. Lars said. Han and Leia turned to see her. "You two make a beautiful couple!"
"Oh actually…" both stumbled on their words: neither had a concrete answer.
Leia saw Han turn his eyes from Luke to her. At length he smiled. "Thank you," he threw an arm around her. "Would you believe we actually met here?"
"Did you? That's odd—one hears a lot of tales about the princess's previous stay at Tatooine… none mention romance."
"Thank the gods," Leia muttered.
"Well, we know how to keep appearances," Han continued. "Though it becomes harder every day," he smiled, stared directly at her frowning face, and kissed her on the lips.
She turned, embarrassed. Mrs. Lars was smiling; her husband not giving them attention; Luke cringed.
Han looked victorious. "Stop," she said. "This is not the time or place…" he tried to kiss her again but she dodged it.
"Alright you two!" Owen Lars stood up abruptly. "I want no spectacle in my house! On my table! Luke, wait for your rebel friends outside, and you better leave my home as you found it, Skywalker boy!"
"I am not a boy!" Luke rose. The air seemed to evaporate. "Don't worry, this will be the last favor I ask from you. This will be the last time I ask your home for sanctuary. I'll be gone!"
He stormed out, it seemed to Leia it was not the first time he had argued with the old man.
Han also rose slowly. He took Leia's hand, "Perhaps we should also go…"
Leia nodded.
"Oh Owen, look what you did!" Beru was saddened. "Luke! Luke!" she called out.
"Let him! He's just as his father, that boy. I told you when he first came, looking like a mirror of Anakin, asking questions, like he owns the world."
"Can't blame the boy, it's his upbringing."
Leia and Han exited the house, barely hearing the Skywalker name and the Jedi being slandered.
So he also doesn't like the Jedi? Leia thought. Well, we have that one thing in common.
"Where's Luke?" Leia asked the droids when they entered the Millennium Falcon.
"He hasn't come back, Princess," Threepio explained. "I thought he was still with you."
Leia opened her mouth wide and she drew her hands into fists. "I'm gonna kill him." The droids were startled. "I will actually kill him this time!"
"Where you going?" Han cried as she left the ship again.
"To find him!"
Han lingered back, muttering, "I have a very bad feeling about this," still he followed after her.
The night was barely illuminated. Leia walked the dunes, too angry to let her fear dominate her. How could he do this?! She had many ideas of how she would unleash on him when found—some grim and violent but never mind that—
"Luke!" she screamed, repeatedly.
"Leia!" she heard Han behind her. "Stop!"
She came to a halt for some moments. Taking breath in, she accidently swallowed a lot of sand. She cursed as she coughed and gasped. "I hate this sand hole!" she exclaimed. She fell to her knees. Han picked her up. "Then let's go," he said.
She nodded. But something held her back. Her brother. No matter what he did, she couldn't abandon him. "He couldn't have gone too far," she said.
"He clearly knows the planet better than you do. Let's not tempt luck—"
"I see a light! Look, it's coming from afar but I see it!"
"It's a car—let's return to the ship—whoa! Ah!"
From a flying car came blaster fire.
Leia pulled out her lightsaber, the red of it dodging the fire, looking like splattered blood as sand clung to it. "Duck!" she cried. Han yet stood in front of her as they walked back.
The car followed them and two men jumped from it. They looked filthy and common but they were armed.
"Bandits," Han muttered. "Your prince sure picked a great place to hide!"
The first man came close to them and Leia choked the life out of him. The second she mutilated from an arm and then the same.
"Okay," she said, "I'm convinced… let's get out of here—"
The sound of steps came near, Leia kept her weapon at hand, Han likewise had his blaster ready.
Luke appeared out of nowhere. "I swear I could shoot," Han said.
"I'm not sure I would stop it," Leia answered.
"Guys, we said we would try to not bring any attention," Luke said, as if scolding them for making too much noise.
Leia punched him.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"We almost got robbed! This planet is forgotten for a reason—we need to go. Now."
They decided to walk back to the house. Han stared at the bodies of the bandits for some moments. Leia urged him to move. He was silent all the way.
It was no use telling Luke the rebels wouldn't show up, he was determinate on waiting for them. And so Leia had to wait… and so Han…
Beru was handing him glasses of milk. Mr. Lars had gone.
"Oh yeah crime is all too common," she was saying. "At least it wasn't the sand people… I don't forget the way they robbed dear Mrs. Skywalker from us—"
"Mrs. Skywalker?" Leia pulled away the blue milk—which was surprisingly good—and the realization came. "She was buried here, I suppose."
"Yes, you might visit her grave in the morning if you want."
Leia had decided she would leave Tatooine as soon as possible. This changed things somehow…
"I can see things I don't like in your eyes, Sweetheart," Han whispered. "Please don't—"
"I would love to."
"Damn you."
Han's attitude only grew more nervous afterwards. "Leia, there's something I've been meaning to tell you. Those bandits that tried to rob us… I know them."
She disregarded this fact as unimportant.
"What's this about bandits?" Owen appeared and said. Leia explained what had happened. He grabbed a blaster and walked outside. He returned some fifteen minutes later and said that there was nobody outside.
This worried Han. Leia admittedly found it a bit unnerving.
"Are those rebels ever appearing, Luke?"
Luke had not lost his faith on his squadron.
"Well, I ain't waiting here any longer. I'll wait for you in the ship, Princess."
Han left.
Leia didn't like this.
She felt a sort of pain over her chest, a premonition of evil; she walked outside, and she saw the car from before had come back, alongside a few others. In one of them they were carrying Han away, Leia wasn't sure if unconscious or dead.
"Han!" she cried after him. She ran but the vandals were flying away, laughing and posing obscene gestures at her.
She cried out and ran back to the house. "You!" she pushed Luke. "We did this for you! He did this for you!"
"Leia, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"
"They took him!" she pushed him again. She banged her hands against his chest. "He knew this would happen!"
"Who? What?"
"The crime lord! He has Han!"
"How?!"
"Does it matter?" she wiped her tears but they would reappear.
"What crime lord?"
"I—I don't know… oh what's his name… Jabba! Something Jabba!"
"Jabba the Hutt?" Owen and Beru Lars said at the same time, a look of horror passing their faces.
"Yes," Leia nodded, again attempting to clean her face. "Han owed him some money."
"Oh dear," Beru sighed.
"He's as good as dead," Owen said. "I should hope."
Leia groaned aloud and she tried to hit Luke again but he caught both her angry fists on his hands.
"I'll help you rescue him," he said.
The noise of ships flying above the home invaded them. She cleaned her tears one more time, dragging her skin as she did so. "They have arrived."
Did it even matter?
Leia saw the rebel ships as they carefully landed in the farm. The wind was making a mess of her hair but she was such a mess already she didn't care.
A group of young men, uniformed and armed as she expected, walked towards the house with an attitude and air so nonchalant she felt sick. She wanted to spit on the face of each one.
The rebels circled around her, as if measuring how much of a danger she was.
She was prepared to show them…
But then they did something completely unexpected. They took a bow.
Quite perplexed, she saw as each rebel bent on one knee before her, the strange sight riddling with constants, "Your Highness."
Reverence was something she had come to never hope for from them.
But their supposed alliance was soon enough clear, as they all burst out laughing, while Luke threw a few defensive complaints at them.
"Shut up—it's not funny anymore!" the prince cried as he actively wrestled to bring the soldiers up. "By the way, you guys are really late!"
"Sorry, Prince, got caught up in the war we're still fighting. How's your holiday been?" said one of them, a man a bit overweight, with just the hint of reproach.
"Yeah, we could've used your help, Lead," said another one, watching Luke. "Dare you scold us for being a few hours late! As if travelling were the easiest thing at this point in the war. You'll have to make Captain Solo explain how he scurries from the Empire all the time."
"Perhaps we ought to change an X-Wing for a Corellian freighter!" another one mocked.
"You might be on to something, Janson."
"Perhaps travelling with a princess instead of a prince helps, too," the man called Janson said, as he stared at Leia.
This mention of the princess caused every men in the group to regard her. She didn't like the examination, and she just wished she would find her tongue so she could tell them off—
"Well, she's prettier than I expected," the rogue Janson continued, "I thought being your twin she'll be less fortunate, Luke. Mighty gods, is she pretty!"
"Cut it out." Luke said with an angry face.
"Fine," Janson sighed. "So are you really on our side…? That's the rumor circulating the galaxy right now. How foolish can folks be! If we really had two Skywalker Jedi on our side, we would've won this thing by now!"
"I believe she's a Sith, actually," a rogue interposed.
"Well, we can't afford to be strict on which religion we abide. I guess this one would do fine?" there was an irreverent quality to his words, as if everything that came from his mouth wasn't to be taken seriously, as if it were of no importance. But Leia didn't find it funny.
The other soldiers seemed to realize the stupidity of this one taunting her so, but he ignored them.
"She might be an imperial but she is yet a woman," another rogue tried, "be more respectful, will you."
"Seriously," Luke pressed.
Leia stood there motionless.
Janson regarded her austere countenance, "So if she didn't get the emperor's blond curls—as was rumored—she at least got her temper?" he grinned.
Leia punched him in the face.
The rest of them startled and went whoa! but did nothing to defend him.
"Well, you had that one coming."
"If she didn't do it, I was going to."
"Shut up, Antilles!" he looked at the princess as he massaged his nose. "I'm sorry, Leia."
"It is Your Highness, Princess Leia," she at last found her voice, which had come amidst gritted teeth, but immediately she regretted her haughty words; they filled her with an odd feeling of timorous shame.
"I see, you really aren't nothing like your brother."
"Let it go, Janson," a man, she later on knew as Wedge Antilles, seemed as done with him as Leia was.
"I will not impose my title upon anyone," Leia said. "neither will I force submission. You must all understand that it is hard going from a castle where people serve you to the outside where rebellions thrive."
She didn't know why she had needed to explain herself to a man that had just mocked and disrespected her. Her cheeks colored and her muscles tightened as she waited for the rebels' response.
"We already experienced that with Luke, Princess Leia. Ignore Janson—that's what we usually do anyway—he might seem like a dangerous fool, but I can assure you, he is only a fool."
Everyone nodded and agreed.
"I'm Derek Klivian, but you can call me Hobbie," he extended his hand to her, and she didn't know why but she took it.
"I know not of how the rumors of you helping the Alliance started, but all I care is that you for a fact saved our friend Jule after the battle of Yavin. And again alongside her brother in Corellia—"
"It might be more fitted to say they saved me," Leia said without thinking. Again she colored excessively. She had shocked even herself.
Hobbie saved her from any embarrassment and resumed, "You were of great importance during the recent battle in Kashyyyk. The ornament you gave a fallen pilot came to help a lot after being almost stranded—again, thank you for that."
Luke stared at him confused.
"I briefly met her, Luke, and she gave me an earring that avails a million credits."
Everyone started murmuring things.
"Are you really thankful?" she asked.
"Yes."
"Good. Because I will ask something from you—from all of you. And I will not command, I know I can't."
The rebels looked at each other.
"We have a place to be… we have to return to Hoth," Wedge Antilles said.
Leia watched no one in particular. "You claim to be revolutionaries. You claim to fight for peace and freedom. There is a man who you must admire, though when you mentioned it before it was mockingly, surely there must be some truth to the admiration you half-assedly professed. Han Solo has done what you for years have been struggling to do: he fools imperials after him. He survives the Emperor's wrath. He is the finest pilot in the galaxy. And he's been taken. I will, whether I am aided or not, go and free him. I might get him quicker… if you help me. Will you help me?"
Everyone cried out, "Yes!" they got in formation and followed the princess, as a bewildered Luke lingered behind, shaking his head, widening his eyes, pinching himself as if to awake from a weird dream.
"To be admitted, she has a way with words." Janson said at his side. "I like her."
He and Luke followed the others.