Epilogue: The Undercover Pathfinders
Leia and Han sat together, waiting to be called in to debrief Generals Rieekan and Dodonna the morning following their return from Pamarthe. Leia had so many questions about the operation. She had obviously been played by Chassellon Stevis, who did not seem at all surprised to see her. How did he know she would be on the op? Did High Command or Intelligence set her up and have her walk into an ambush? Why did Chassellon give them such sensitive intel in the first place? What were the terms of this deal?
And then the more private concern that nagged at her. What had happened to the potentially incriminating holos that had been transmitted from the comm device of one of the fancy suit people that had tailed her an Han? Were the holos going to get out? Should she disclose the holos they had collected to High Command?
She had had a chance to review them and she and Han had undeniable chemistry in them. They were convincing as a couple in love …and couple that appeared to be sleeping together. She was supposed the be the future Queen of Alderaan had the Empire not blown up her home world. These types of images would have been positively scandalous if her world still existed, but even so, she had a diaspora of her people that probably expected her to conduct herself with some modicum of deference to their culture. At least her hair was braided in all of them. She could see her aunties rolling in their celestial graves if she had let her hair down in front of Han.
She was already a continuous target of the gossip and rumor mill on base. Had been, really since she was a teenager. It was an exhausting burden to always be "on." Always a topic of discussion. If they focused on her personality, her ability to command and lead, fine. But it had always been about what she wore and who she might be dating. And rumors of her and Han being an item had plagued her since after the battle on Yavin 4.
What if she could weaponize the holos to the Alliance's advantage as a propaganda tool, would it be worth it? Would Han agree? She knew that a convincing love story between the tragic Princess of Alderaan, the face of the rebellion, and a gorgeous scrappy smuggler was exactly the story of hope the Rebel Alliance was attempting to tell.
To empower the beings of the galaxy to take charge of their own destiny. If a tragic figure like the Princess and an orphaned smuggler like Solo could find "love" and hope, couldn't anyone?
Han…she sighed. Something had changed on that trip. She had been awful to him at times, and she was hating herself for it. She could just be Leia with him so effortlessly, and then she would get terrified of letting him too close and slam the door in his face repeatedly. How could she be so cruel to him? He was no picnic most of the time, but she had been hurtful to him and he had been one of the most loyal and constant beings in her life since the Death Star. He was the only being around her that showed her absolutely no deference whatsoever for her royal upbringing, and at the same time she had no doubt that Han respected her as a person and leader, however frustrated he could be with her stubborn shutdown of emotion. She had to control and channel her friendship with him and squash any romantic inclination with him. She didn't have it in her to do the romance thing and run a rebellion against an evil galactic empire. Still though, those holos were powerful tools.
"Captain Solo, I have an idea, but…"
"Stop." He interrupted her. "Why are you reverting to the Captain Solo title again? It's Han."
"We are at work! In a military hierarchy. We are supposed to use titles! Fine, Han..I have an idea but I'm not sure how much you are going to like it. Especially after some of the ways in which I was an asshole (she whispers the word because Princess' shouldn't swear on base) this op."
Han rolled his eyes. He was certain whatever she was concocting, he would hate it.
"I don't like it! And I'm used to you being an asshole (he does not whisper this because he's not a princess) – it's sometimes your default." Han smiled at her and Leia scowled.
"You haven't even heard my idea yet!" She ignored the dig in favor of keeping the conversation moving.
"You have that gleam in your eye, Worship. Those bottomless kaffe brown eyes are positively shining right now. I'm going to hate it, aren't I, Sister?"
"Well yes, but it's for the good of the Alliance. I think I know how we can improve recruitment and goodwill for the Alliance across the galaxy! But I don't think you'll want to call me Sister after I pitch it to you." She smirked at this, daring him to ask her to continue.
"Fine, shoot. I'm curious to know what that brain of yours has schemed up this time."
"Those holos we confiscated from the fancy suits that tailed us on Pamarthe…you were right, they certainly painted a certain picture of romance. Even though we were just acting and are just friends, colleagues, whatever, the chemistry in the holos is undeniable, convincing."
At this point, Leia is really getting into her pitch. She is speaking enthusiastically, hands gesturing in the air.
"Think how much hope we could generate if we used those holos to our advantage. A tragic rebel princess like me and a handsome hard scrabble but noble smuggler like you that find each other in war and still have enough hope to be together. Romance sells, Han. This would be a powerful recruitment and goodwill tool. I think we can use the holo of us dancing, maybe the land bridge kiss that Twi'lek woman conned us into doing? Leak it to the tabloids ourselves and control the narrative. Well? Would you be ok with that?
"You think I'm handsome. Princess, does it involve kissing you again?" He leaned into her personal space with his most charming lopsided grin.
Leia blushed. She needed better armor against that low rumble thing he did to his voice. "Well no, it's pretend, see? That kiss was for maintaining our cover."
"Uh huh, sure. Look, Sweetheart, as much as it would be a fantasy for billions of guys "like me" to end up with a Princess like you, do you really think once we start pretending you won't get swept up in my roguish charm? What if we dated for real? We could give 'em some real holos to have hope about." He winked at her, shamelessly.
In reality, Han was apprehensive. Did she really only think about the Rebellion? Had she never spared a stray thought for the possibility that they were pretty great together when they didn't get in their own way? Question why that chemistry jumped out so clearly in the holos? He had a bad feeling about this.
"You know what, forget it, Hotshot. I knew you wouldn't just go along with this without making it a whole thing."
Han sighed. He really could not tell this woman no, especially when her Leia personality came out a bit. She was being professional, but engaging and fun today. A change from how she shutdown on him on the way back from Pamarthe last night.
He hoped she knew what she was doing. His face was going to be plastered everywhere, such was the interest in Princess Leia's love life. It would make covert ops and smuggling runs even more difficult and dangerous. She was right though, he could see this story taking off and helping her cause. And a part of him secretly wished pretending to be in a romance with her could manifest into the real thing. A guy like him could dream. He carefully composed his face back into that of a carefree smuggler who was in it for himself.
"Fine, I'll do it. But you owe me a bottle of Whyren's to make up for the shitstorm of teasing and harassment I'll have to endure from the Rogues. Are we pretending to everyone we are together, or just to the public?"
"Just the public. If you try to kiss me in the hanger, I'll drop you like a sack of grain, Solo." She gave him a real Leia genuine smile so he would understand she was teasing and not trying to be the Ice Princess.
"One more thing. Before this gets out, let's get Chewy to put a bet on the kriff, kiss, or kill pool Wes set up, make the bet for kiss. We can split the earnings after the photos come out."
"Done. Are you fine with everything else in my report before we get called in?"
"Yep."
"Let me do the talking."
"Yes, Highnessness." Han rolled his eyes at her again but smiled. Of course Leia would have come up with this ridiculous propaganda scheme. She had a compulsion to control all narratives about her life, why should this be different?
"Your Highness, Captain Solo, the Generals will see you now. Please come in." The staffer interrupted their shared smile.
Leia and Han entered the debrief room to find the two generals, plus the head of Alliance Intelligence, Colonel Madine.
"Your Highness, Captain Solo, please sit."
"Thanks for submitting your report. I'm sure you have extensive questions about the contact that met you on your op, Chassellon Stevis. Colonel Madine is here to brief you on that."
"Princess, I have uncovered a double-agent in our intelligence unit. She was having a secret affair with Chassellon Stevis while undercover on Coruscant. I understand you knew Stevis from your time in the Senate on Coruscant. The double-agent was able to convince Stevis to provide extremely valuable intel on Imperial Weapons systems related to Coruscant City and Imperial buildings and the Treasury by threatening to expose their affair, which obviously would have attracted the attention of the Empire. She also demanded a substantial payout of credits from Stevis for her continued silence. While the intel Stevis provided will give us an incalculable advantage to our future efforts, his careless handling of the intel tripped an alarm and the Empire Intelligence was also tracking him. The double-agent's subterfuge put you and Solo in the crosshairs. We were able to exfiltrate the double-agent when she alerted us to the Empire's awareness of the intel leak, and sanitize her quarters before Empire intelligence raided her place yesterday." She nodded for him to continue.
"However, we also uncovered a further plan to blackmail you. The double agent manipulated her command into choosing you to run this op based on your pathfinding experience and your preference for Captain Solo to act as your pilot and op partner. Forgive me, your Highness, but it was her hope to find you and Captain Solo in a compromising position on this trip, based on rumors you were secretly together. The double-agent has confessed that Stevis was eager to pay you back for an incident when you were elected to the Senate."
Leia took a deep breath, trying to control her temper and embarrassment. She would provide the least amount of detail necessary to close out this issue. "Chassellon Stevis and the Coruscant Senator he worked for attempted to blackmail me into dropping out of the race when I was running for the Senate."
"Can that source of blackmail come back to harm the Alliance, Princess?" Madine asked?
"No."
Han was surprised to see Leia and Rieekan meet eyes very briefly before they looked away. Rieekan knew something. Gods, she was such a mystery.
They could pry the full story out of her cold dead fingers before she'd give them any more details. She still couldn't believe Chassellon and his Coruscant Senator had tried to blackmail her to drop out of the Senate race with threats of leaking security holo-footage of Kier taking her braids down in that garden on Coruscant when she was 16. On pretty much any other home world, the act itself wouldn't have caused much scandal, but even if it was the only thing on the holo, it would have been enough to cast her in shame, such was the weight of virtue signaling and tradition she shouldered.
She had told her parents just enough to request their help. Rieekan, her father's closest security advisor, had arranged for the Palace's best slicer to run down and obtain any trace of evidence. She had always had a lingering doubt about how Chassellon and the Senator had known to look for that security footage. Had Kier told someone? Given his betrayal at the end, she couldn't discount the idea, but neither did it feel exactly right. Did someone see them enter and exit? She'd likely never know. In any event, the damage had been done - a hard lesson in guarding her heart and privacy had been learned and applied going forward.
Obviously, any friendship she might have had with Chassellon had died with the blackmail attempt. She didn't leave it there, driven by her need to come out on top. She paid him back by leaking holos of teenagers doing spice at the lavish parties he threw when his mom was off planet. It had almost ruined his career and he had hated her ever since. She had thought often of how formative that time in her life had been. How kids who were friends at 16 had drawn a line in the sand by majority on right or wrong, Empire or Rebel Alliance, Hope of freedom vs Authoritarianism.
Leia was eager to change the subject.
"Well I certainly hope that you will conduct a thorough review of your intelligence personnel, Colonel Madine, so Captain Solo and I might not be dangled out there to be shot at and blackmailed as pawns of double-agents?"
"Yes, Princess, of course." Han smirked at this as Madine cleared his throat uncomfortably. Damn, she was a boss.
"As you all saw in the report of this op, we recovered two comms devices from Stevis' team. What I hadn't disclosed is that the devices contain holos that appear, falsely, I might add, of Captain Solo and me appearing to be in a relationship. For the record, we are not in a relationship. Anyway, we want to pitch you on an idea we have to use those holos to the Alliances' advantage…"
FIN