Notes: I decided to expand on my first fic, "On Location" with a few multi-chapters that provide the background on that story. They can be read as stand-alone stories or together. This one is mostly(ish) Disney Canon with minor references to Claudia Gray's novels Leia: Princess of Alderaan and Bloodline. You don't need to have read those books, but they are both worth reading!
Chapter 1: WayPoints
Bittersweet Memories
Leia fidgeted in the navigator's chair as she, Han, and Chewy came out of light speed to prepare for their landing on the watery planet of Pamarthe. Goddess, it had been ages since she had been to Pamarthe as part of a Pathfinding course when she was 16.
It was precisely because of her prior experience on the planet as a teenager that she was selected to lead this mission to covertly meet with an anonymous high-level Imperial defector. This mission required finding and following dozens of navigational clues at waypoints using her pathfinding skills over what she could guess would be a lot of hard kilometers of rugged terrain.
Han and Chewy insisted on accompanying her since their occupations as pilots (and other less legal pursuits) would fit in well with the strong pilot and smuggling elements of Pamarthen culture. Plus, the anonymity of the contact struck Han as highly suspicious and dangerous, and he didn't trust anyone else but him and Chewy to keep the Princess safe. She and Han would pose as a married couple pathfinding across the islands on their honeymoon. Chewy would provide support from the space port, where the Falcon was parked.
She had been on a few missions with Han and Chewy in the past year and they worked surprisingly well together. She always got on well with Chewy, and treasured her easy and affectionate frienship with him. But around the handsome (human) smuggler, she felt off balance and uncharacteristically flustered. She trusted both of them with her life, and knew even Han Solo would follow her lead on a mission (mostly).
A nostalgic look briefly crossed her face as they approached their landing site – sadness and happiness both flitting across her features as she thought of Kier, Amilyn, and the rest of their Pathfinding Class. It had marked the end of her childhood really, and the beginning of her dogged service to the Rebel Alliance. Before she sagged under the weight of the universe on her shoulders and the ghosts of her people haunting her dreams. All of it informed her single-minded mission to destroy the Empire.
Chewy caught the look and asked if she OK.
"I'm fine, thank you, Chewy." She sighed. "It's been about 6 years since I was last here – it feels like a lifetime ago."
Of course, if Han had asked her the exact same question, she would have only provided him with a monosyllabic response just to make things difficult.
"What, you aren't getting sentimental about an old boyfriend, are you Sweetheart? How can you think of anyone else but a handsome rogue like me?" Han teased.
"And if I was…thinking about an old boyfriend, Captain Solo?" She teased back with a raised brow, hoping to release some of the emotion and tension that had built up. Han looked intrigued, as if her having a romantic past had never even occurred to him.
Han returned to the landing procedures with Chewy and the topic was thankfully dropped. They should be able to get their pathpacking permits in the spaceport under their aliases and hit the trails within the hour.
Liquid Courage
"Your Royal Craziness, have you lost your mind?" I am NOT crossing this bridge," growled Han, who jabbed his index finger at her to emphasize his discontent at crossing the ancient hand-crafted foot bridge that swayed over the churning sea below.
Pamarthe was a series of archipelago islands inter-connected by hundreds of these footpath bridges hanging over the turbulent water. They were not for the feint of heart nor those that suffered from fear of heights.
Leia smiled mockingly at Han. She secretly delighted besting Solo at anything, especially bravery.
"This should hardly be a surprise. I extensively described the footbridges to you in the ops package and our planning sessions."
"That's true, you did. But you failed to mention that they would be both rickety and swaying to and fro violently in a cutting and high wind. Specificity and details matters, your highness." He had a death grip on each side of the rope railing.
"I have some port in a storm if you need some liquid courage, Han." Leia offered. She actually did have a bottle of the famous Parmathen drink in her pack, not that she would ever drink the stuff. The bottle was actually part of their mission plan and neither of them would be drinking it.
Han scoffed at that – "No way am I drinking that caustic cleaning solution. I found out the hard way what that stuff does to you. You should ask me about that story sometime Princess…involves running around nude and other rebellious behavior. I'm sure it would heat you up better than that drink," He leered at her as she rolled her eyes.
"C'mon, we have to cover a lot of ground before our meetup tomorrow evening. This contact has vitally important information on the Empire's latest weapons technology. And from now on, we are Hansel and Lita Duo! Let's use our cover identities… Sweetheart." Leia nudged Han forward as she batted her lashes (as part of her cover, of course). She was enjoying the hells out of this. Leia 2 - Han 0 today!
"You could give me a kiss, wife, and then I'm sure I'll be brave enough to cross these kriffin' bridges." Han whispered as he wheeled back around into her personal space, a centim from her ear.
Their eyes briefly caught before Leia heard a claxon sound in her head, warning her to get a grip. The energy began to build between them as they involuntarily moved even closer together. Leia broke eye contact with a blink, wondering what the hells just happened, and gently shoved Han forward across the bridge.
Get your head in the game, Leia, she thought to herself. She remembered from her pathfinding trip here that there were dozens of bridges leading from this island to the others, so she wanted to make sure she followed the directions at each designated waypoint carefully, or they would miss their meetup tomorrow.
I Call the Shots!
After making a series of crossings and treks across several islands over increasingly uneven terrain over the past 6 hours, Han would add pathfinding as yet another thing Leia was really good at. It wasn't fair. Although he relentlessly gave her lip and mocked her royal titles, he did secretly respect the warrior princess more than an equal. He had long admired her toughness and brilliance. Leia was a natural leader and probably the only damn person in the galaxy besides Chewy he would follow into battle without question.
He appreciated how gorgeous she looked with her dark brown hair parted into two braids weaved closely into each side of her head that hung long over her shoulders, head covered in a purple wool cap. Her thick yellow pathfinding trousers, sturdy boots, and dark blue sweater made her like an outdoorsy and carefree honeymooner.
Six crossings and several kilometers later they came to a small beautiful thermal spring at the top of a wide meadow and backed by rugged woods. With a view of the choppy seas on the other two sides, it would be a believably romantic place for adventurous honeymooners to be alone.
"Your worship, I think we should stop here for the night," Han said, as he kneeled next to the spring to splash water on his face. "It'll be dark soon and I'm eager to get you into the tent. I can keep you nice and warm tonight." He added at that low register that made her blush and did other things to her not appropriate for a work trip.
Leia let out a harassed sigh and immediately put her hands on her hips, looking irritated and every bit the leader of this operation and a member of High Command. She worked so tirelessly to always project strength and leadership, to obscure her emotions and personal needs as much as possible.
"Let's get one thing straight here, Solo. I call the shots here, not you, me (she was jabbing her finger his now, now)! We can set up our tent over there about 50 meters up from that outcropping of rocks along the springs. And just so we are perfectly clear, if you make any attempts to 'heat me up' on this trip, I'll blast your kneecap and it won't be set to stun. Mm'kay?" Leia added icily.
She did not look happy with him. While they had made tortured progress being less guarded with each other, Han was frequently frustrated by her ability to put on her princess/general/senator/diplomat/member of high command mask if he made a comment she deemed too personal. He sometimes wondered if she would prefer to be a droid and escape the crushing sadness, guilt, and sense of duty she still seemed to struggled with. It was just so easy to rile her, and he took such joy reminding her as often as possible that she was in fact a person and not a droid. He had probably gone too far with that comment, though. As tempting as it would be to warm her up in his sleeping back, he well knew the Princess was off limits.
Han chuckled to himself at the imagine of her blasting him as he turned to walk towards the spot she indicated they should set up camp.
Princesses Don't Poop
It took them an hour of yelling at each other and fighting for control of the instructions, but they finally got the small tent set up on the third try.
Leia was looking forward to the campfire and dinner. She couldn't think of the last time she was able to just sit and stare at the night sky. Sure, she would need to review the mission details for the meet up tomorrow, but otherwise, there wasn't anything else she had to do tonight.
If she gagged Han, she could really enjoy the evening and the quiet. She wondered what she could bind his mouth with?
Han returned from his pack and dropped a hand-held trowel at her feet as she set up the hidden perimeter sensors that would alert them to any visitors in the night.
She just knew he was going to make some smart-ass remark, as his smirk grew more prominent.
"This is for…burying your…business." He said, winking at her and watching for her reaction.
"Captain Solo, you really are a space bumpkin. Hasn't anyone ever told you that princesses don't poop?" She asked in her most regal and proper voice, as she headed towards the woods to collect more kindling and wood for the fire.
She could hear him bark out a deep belly laugh as she walked away with an almost straight face.