"Want me to grab that for you?"

They were standing in the doorway of their house, packed bags at their feet. Leia smiled up at Han as a residual warmth from earlier that morning spread throughout her body. She recalled being lured out of slumber by the feel him shifting behind her and by the low roughness of his voice informing her that if she insisted on sleeping naked next to him all night, he couldn't help the effect it had on certain parts of his anatomy. Perhaps, if she were feeling generous, she might help him out?

When am I not generous? she had murmured as she turned in his arms. He had encircled his body around hers eagerly, leaving her breathless as his lips and hands and cock brought her to full alertness. Was it always like this early on in a relationship, deliriously uncomplicated, every word and action haloed with a easy glow? Her less-than-abundant experience wasn't much help in that respect and she doubted Han would respond seriously were she to ask him.

"No, I've got it." She hoisted her bag on her back and let her eyes linger on his as she stepped outside. Han winked at her, as if he had guessed exactly what she was reminiscing about, and followed her to the village. It wasn't long after dawn and weak light filtered through the trees as their packs jostled in time with their strides.

As they turned onto the main road, Leia's steps stuttered as she saw Yavcik on the opposite side of the village, talking with two smaller figures.

"Are those—?" Han moved closer to her.

"I think so," she whispered. "Quick, before they get away."

Hurrying as casually as they could, Leia strained to hear the low conversation between the trio. Instead of the General giving orders as she might have expected, he was nodding at length in response to something one of the women said. As best as Leia could tell, they were the same ones she and Han had spotted yesterday in the makeshift camp.

"Ah, Princess. Captain Solo," Yavcik greeted as they drew up. "I was just finishing up here and then we can be on our way." He bent and murmured a final low remark before the women turned and started walking away.

"Wait. Stop." This was getting ridiculous. Leia advanced determinedly and planted herself in front of them, treating them to her most gracious expression. "I'm Leia Organa of the Alliance. Please don't rush off; I would hate to miss this opportunity to meet you both before I leave." Out of the corner of her eye she saw Han gesturing urgently at Yavcik in an attempt to delay him. "Do you work for the General?"

The taller of the two women looked down at her evenly. "We work for the Kyrols. We report to the commanding officer present at the time of our assignment."

"I didn't see you at the roast last night. Were you patrolling the surrounding area?"

"Jena and Erran make up one of our reconnaissance teams," Yavcik announced as he approached noisily. "We have found that using woman in this way gives us an unexpected advantage against Veroni insurgents."

"Why would that be an advantage? Couldn't they just do the same?"

"Ah, but this is an example of Kyrol enlightenment that doesn't extend to our enemies," Yavcik explained. "We have several all-female teams that, were they to be intercepted, are near enough to villages to provide a cover for their activities. They can claim to be merely foraging or performing their household duties."

Leia couldn't shake the feeling that this conversation was a rehearsed demonstration for her. But to what end?

"Surely your enemies are smarter than that," she shot back. "After all, they were able to successfully attack our party just two days ago. Were the reconnaissance teams working elsewhere?"

"Defense against attacks is the responsibility of our strike teams," Yavcik stated. "We have many different types of forces and their actions and responsibilities have to be carefully coordinated."

"Bureaucracy strikes again," Han nodded in sympathy. "You wouldn't believe the hoops I have to jump through to avoid all the red tape in my daily life." His tone was conversational and Leia knew he was trying to prolong the discussion but she glared at him nonetheless.

"Why don't we talk further about how we can be of assistance to your enlightened military structure?" Leia offered to the women. "I'm sure others in the Alliance would be delighted to learn more. You can accompany us on our way back to Ilia and we can get to know each other along the way."

Yavcik stepped firmly in front of her. "I'm afraid that's not possible right now, Princess," he said. "Erran and Jena have assignments they need to carry out here. But," he paused and gazed thoughtfully over her head, "I will discuss with my superiors the possibility of including them when our encryption team meets with your Alliance."

Leia managed to cover her disappointment. "We would be happy to extend the invitation to you," she said.

"Excellent," Yavcik declared. "Let me round up my men escorting us to Ilia and then we will get underway."

"And I," Leia said firmly, "will walk with Jena and Erran on their way to their reconnaissance point." She assumed her most upright, diplomatic bearing and steered the two other women toward path back to her and Han's house.

The conversation proved to be less than fruitful and she returned only minutes later to Han, unable to mask her frustration.

"I'm not sure if they're hiding something or just under orders not to divulge anything of significance," she muttered as they waited for Yavcik.

"What's the difference?" Han looked confused.

"I can't explain it exactly," Leia sighed. "Only that there is a difference." She folded her arms and looked back to where Jena and Erran had vanished into the trees. "Any sign of Biron?"

"Nope. Does this mean he's off the hook for charges of sedition?"

Before she could respond, Yavcik reappeared from one of the houses trailed by a retinue of armed soldiers. "Princess, Captain — shall we?"

The hike down was far less eventful than the trip up and Leia let her mind wander in the hope that the disparate threads of intelligence she had gleaned over the past few days would assemble themselves into a coherent whole. She knew that High Command would view this mission as a success: her diplomatic overture had been accepted; the agreed-upon visit from the encryption team had the potential of significantly assisting the Alliance; and the effort to establish a peace deal on Caldira was no real hinderance to wartime operations. And yet dissatisfaction stubbornly tugged at her as the hike wore on. She decided that she would talk to Rieekan when they returned and articulate her suspicions to him. Perhaps he would see something that she had missed.

Several wheelers were waiting at the base of the trail and Leia managed to maneuver her and Han into the backseat of one that didn't include Yavcik. The ride was mostly subdued, the two Kyrols in the front conferring quietly from time to time about a significant landmark or in advance of the checkpoints. The silence between her and Han was distant but companionable, each lost in their own thoughts as the last glimpses of the fertile landscape rushed by them.

It was a relief to see the familiar form of the Falcon when they pulled up to the hangar. Han was so eager to get on board that he hopped from the wheeler without so much as an acknowledgment to their drivers, so Leia was left to go through the motions of a formal departure even though their escorts had no previous involvement with their visit.

When the rituals were complete, she climbed up the ramp, the noises from Han's pre-flight routine sharpening as she reached the hold. The familiar hum of the engines began to vibrate under her feet as she tugged the pins out of her hair and pulled the wrap from her head for what she hoped was the final time. After smoothing stray hairs back into place, she made her way over to the cockpit and leaned against the hatchway, observing Han as he darted from Chewie's chair to his own and then back again. His fingers ran across the consoles as he brought the ship back to life system by system.

"Turn the circulators on, will you?" he called over his shoulder.

"Where? Here?" She swiveled to the interior wall and stood on her toes in an attempt to read the faded labels above her head.

"This one." He lunged over and reached up to flip an anonymous switch near the ceiling. "Has anyone ever told you that you're too short?"

"Has anyone ever informed you that nothing on this ship is properly identified?"

"Nope." He slid his hand along the seam of the cockpit and anchored his forearm above her head. "But if someone were to, I'd be tempted to charge them with insubordination." Without giving her a chance to respond, he kissed her fully against the hatchway. Leia grabbed hold of his shirt to keep herself upright between the force of his embrace and the narrow strip of durasteel pressed into her spine. The kiss was passionate but all too brief, his free hand barely starting a circuit over her body before he pulled away.

"You're one to talk about insubordination," she muttered in return. He grinned in agreement before sliding back into his chair, one hand poised above the throttle as the other keyed in the final commands. Within a few seconds the engines were at full power and the low vibrations had transformed into a full-on shaking. He threw her an expectant look. "Ready?"

Leia settled into the co-pilot's seat as Han guided them out of the hangar. The Caldiran landmarks diminished in size and then disappeared entirely as the Falcon shot over the snow-capped mountain range. As the ship rose, dense clouds obscured the view from the cockpit until they broke through to the final thin blue layer, as transparent as the most finely polished viewglass, before quickly fading to the blackness of interstellar space.

Han paged through the nav chart that had been hastily welded to the controls. "Let me just—." Before he could finish, the ship jolted sharply forward almost launching Leia on top of her console. At the same instant a blur of motion streaked over the cockpit viewport.

"Kest." Han craned his neck as two more ships shot over them. "Those are definitely Imperial fighters. What the hell are they doing all the way out here?"

Leia braced herself as the ship rocked again under the assault. "There's a lot more of them coming in."

"Take the guns," he ordered tersely. "Just distract them enough to give me time to make the jump."

She fired furiously as the Falcon shuddered and lurched. Fighters were now swarming over them in coordinated attacks of twos and threes with more spiraling around from all directions. The fore and aft cannons shook with the frequency of her shots and several of her attempts winged the fighters, causing them to spin out of control and vanish out of range.

"Where's the —?" She searched wildly through the viewport as Han accelerated past a closely assembled swarm of enemies. They both knew the fighters wouldn't be out there on their own.

"There it is." Han's voice was grim as the star destroyer glided into view from the port side. Leia's stomach dropped at the sight of it as she reflexively fired into the continuing assault. Was Vader on it? Barely suppressed memories from her time as an Imperial hostage coursed through her as she tried to focus on the immediate task of keeping the Falcon intact until they could make the jump.

The cockpit tilted as Han threaded a narrow gap between two fighters, granting them a brief lull before the enemy pair circled around and headed squarely toward them again. Leia pounded her trigger, praying that at least some of her shots would land, when the fighter closest to them suddenly exploded into oblivion.

"What the —?" Han jerked the throttle and veered sharply to avoid the debris.

"That wasn't me!" she insisted.

"I know." He was priming the hyperdrive and scanning the nav chart while steering them back around from the direction they had come. "I think it came from Caldira. We must still be in range of their orbital array."

There was another explosion off the starboard side and then another. Whoever was shooting was making quick work of the fighters and yet Leia could see the star destroyer looming just within view. Another wave of panic washed over her. "Can't you make the jump yet?"

"I'm working on it!" he barked back. The ship rocked and Han's curses started up again as he coaxed the hyperdrive into readiness. "Just hang on," he growled. "Almost…"

And then she felt the familiar lurch followed by a blissful cessation of all activity. Silence descended on the cockpit as the streaks of light out the viewport lent a comforting glow to the dimness within.

Han leaned back in his seat and ran a hand through his hair. "Kriff." He glanced over at her motionless figure before straightening up to jab at his console. "We seem to be stable," he reported after a minute. "Shields, engines, thrusters…" His voice trailed off as he scrolled through the readouts flashing in front of him. Keying in more instructions, he finally nodded in confirmation. "All systems are online to at least their minimum specs. I think we managed to avoid the worst of it."

Leia nodded automatically without taking in the details of what he said. Head swimming, she rose from her chair and started for the hatch.

"Hey." Han caught the side of her leg, stopping her progress out of the cockpit. He studied her from his chair and she looked down on him with a hazy expression. The quick rise and fall of his chest mirrored her own. She reached out to cup his jaw only to discover that her hand was shaking. Her eyes slid above his to rest on the streaks of stars, on the absence of the star destroyer, as it fell limply to her side.

Han's hand on her thigh moved up her body possessively as he rose to his feet. He hovered a hair's width away and took her hand in his. "Come with me."

He led her through the Falcon, dimming the lights as they went. On the Death Star it was always daytime, the harsh lights in her cell unrelenting in their naked glare. In the aftermath of her interrogations, Tarkin and Vader had appeared as dark blobs enveloped by stark brightness. There had been no softness, no possibility of forgiveness, in such an environment.

In his cabin he undressed her methodically, his fingers nimble over the hooks and fasteners of her clothes. The shock faded from her limbs as she moved leisurely under him on his bunk, his hands and mouth roaming across her skin. Once he entered her their bodies stayed pressed together, her head bowed on his chest, his heart beating warm and alive against her palm. Her climax rose from within wave by wave until she arched against him one last time, her cry breaking the hushed silence of the room, of the entire ship.

And then he was tucking the blanket around her and whispering a murmured reassurance in her ear before pulling on his clothes and retreating to the corridor.

Hours later she made her way from his cabin over to the booth, the blanket she had brought from the bed nearly swallowing her up. Han was nursing a drink and watching a holonews report on the uprising on Iphema. He glanced up at her wordlessly and lifted his arm in invitation.

She settled against his side and took a sip of his whiskey. Insurgents had taken out life support systems on the Ipheman Imperial base. The news reporters' disdain for the rebels was palpable.

Han muted the holocast as images of marching stormtroopers filled the screen. Leia vaguely recalled previous reports from Iphema filtering into High Command briefings hinting at the possibility of organized action.

"Han." She had no desire to talk about the news or even the Imperial attack they had recently escaped. The question she had harbored for a while now rose to the surface. "You never — made a move on me. A real move," she clarified, casting back to the months of teasing and provocations he had unleashed whenever she was within earshot.

He turned the datapad facedown on the table and rested his chin on top of her head.

"Yeah, I know," he said quietly. "I always thought that if I had tried something on the wrong day, when we weren't seein' eye to eye.…" He paused and fingered his glass. "That would have been it. I always knew that I wasn't gonna get a second shot."

Is that really how she came across? Moody and unforgiving, her temper a risky bet even for someone like him?

"You don't think I would have given you another chance?"

He huffed wryly. "Have you met yourself, Sweetheart? You're not exactly all sweetness and light when it comes to men."

She had no idea what that was supposed to mean. He must have felt her stiffen because his hand tightened on her arm. "But that's why I like you. You've got nerves of durasteel and don't take any bullshit from anyone, including me. And," he lowered his voice, "you're damn sexy even though you pretend you're not."

She chose to ignore the last part. "I don't think I have nerves of durasteel. At least not all the time."

"Yeah, well, no one does. You've got more than anyone else despite having plenty of reasons not to. 'Sides, I like you being a little soft with me." There was a smile in his voice. "Especially if I'm the cause of it."

"Hmm." She tilted her head up to steal a kiss. "It sounds like you've given this some thought."

"Me?" He drew back in mock ignorance. "Nope, no thought. I never once thought about you since the day we met." He held up his hand. "I swear on my honor."

"Don't say that." Her initial impressions of his honor, or lack of it, had evolved into a reliance on his willingness, reluctant as it might be, to take the right action when called upon. After all, from the first day they had met, he had been presented with choices, some more difficult than others, and she could barely recall an occasion when he had chosen wrongly according to her moral compass.

Han shifted in the booth to allow her to recline against him, his arm falling down around her waist.

She idly traced the vein on the back of his hand. "Aren't you tired?"

"A little bit. I'm always pretty wired right after a fight."

Now it was her turn to smirk. "You could have fooled me."

"Well, that's the best way to unwind. Better than a stiff drink."

"Speaking of." She nodded at the empty glass. "Come back to bed with me?"

He gazed at her tenderly and brushed a ribbon of hair away from her face. "You got it, Princess."


The Falcon had docked at Echo Base at the dinner hour allowing Han and Leia to avoid a hangarful of welcomers. Neither was particularly eager to leave the ship. Leia sent a message to Rieekan summarizing the mission and promising a more detailed report the following day. Han sat close to her in the booth as she frowned at her datapad trying to sort through the sequence of their eventful departure.

"You think someone there betrayed us to the Empire?" Han wondered.

There wasn't a single person she could confidently rule out. "It would seem that way. But someone also chose to attack those fighters before we made the jump."

"But then why didn't the star destroyer just take out Caldira's orbital defenses? They could have done that easily."

"I don't know. Maybe there's a Kyrol faction sympathetic to the Empire but still a minority within the ranks."

He rubbed his forehead. "A faction of a faction. Why can't everyone just get along?"

She couldn't help laughing to hear that coming from him. "If they did then there wouldn't be anything for us to do. But I'm sure we'll hear more from our sources on the planet."

"The intrigue never ends, does it?" He dragged his hand over his face before peering at her, his expression softening. The arm draped around her shoulder pulled her closer. "When can I intrigue you again, Princess?"

She smiled up at him. "You always intrigue me."

He dropped his head to hers as his tongue traced the shell of her ear. "Then how 'bout I intrigue you later tonight?" His teeth nibbled up and down her neck languidly. She stifled a moan as he found a particularly sensitive spot. "Or right now?"

"Hey! Han!" A voice bounced from down the Falcon's corridor.

Leia pulled away. "Tonight," she whispered and then turned toward the sound, her face newly composed.

Luke emerged into the hold and stopped short in surprise. "Oh. Hi, Leia. Didn't think you'd still be here." He nodded at the table. "You guys finishing your report?"

"You might say that," she answered drily. "Or you might say that I'm finishing it without any help from this nerfherder." It was safer to slide back into well-worn patterns in front of others.

"That sounds about right," Luke agreed. He eased into the booth next to them. "So how'd it go?"

Leia glanced over at Han automatically before catching herself. He leaned back casually. "Overall, not too exciting," he said. "Just the usual trouble and a surprise appearance by the Imps at the end."

Luke looked a little confused. "Well, did you get the deal you wanted?"

"Not everything," Leia admitted. "But we did make some arrangements that should help in the short term and I think we're in a good position to negotiate more in the future."

"Oh. Okay."

"How was everything here?" Leia asked quickly. "Did Wedge finish his sim training so he can fly the next offensive?"

"Yeah, he did. But then Janson slipped on some ice and is stuck in the medcenter for a couple of days, so we're still at the same numbers."

Han was eyeing Luke cheekily. "Hey, kid, how's it going with that girl of yours?"

Luke's normally cheerful face reddened instantaneously. "None of your business."

"Hey, I'm just asking as a friend." Han's tone was wounded.

"Well." Luke gamely recovered his poise. "It's going pretty well. But I'm not giving you any details," he warned sternly.

Han held up his hands. "Alright, alright. I'll get my kicks somewhere else."

"And what about you? Did you —?" Luke stopped suddenly and glanced at Leia as if in mute apology. She kept her expression a studied neutral.

"Nah." Han waved his hand dismissively. "All the women there wore this —." He circled his finger around his head. "Too complicated to get off and it would just get in the way."

Leia bit the inside of her lip as she felt Han's fingers brush her leg under the table. She ignored Luke's eyes on her and changed the subject. "Han, have you heard from Chewie since we got back?"

Luke laughed delightedly. "Oh, this is a good one. Han, you may not see him for a day or two. He went on a crazy sabacc streak and not only won everyone's credits, but by the end he was winning nights in the warmest bunks. I think he'll be sleeping off-ship for the next couple of days."

"Figures," Han grumbled. "I bring him back something nice and he just ignores me."

"Well, I bet you'll be getting visits from the losers looking for that vac-thingy you use for his fur."

"I should rent it out for a fee," Han mulled. "Let me come up with a pricing plan and then you can start sending them over."

"And what are they going to pay you with? Chewie already cleaned them out."

Leia rolled her eyes and stood up. "I'll leave the two of you to your half-baked schemes. I have to go check in with a few people. Han," she added for Luke's benefit, "I'll send you the final draft of our report later tonight. Please take the time to actually read it."

"Got it, Your Highness. I'll definitely pretend to read it."

At the top of the ramp Leia was zipping up her jacket when she heard Han. "Hey, Princess! You forgot your bag."

He jogged toward her with the bag slung over his shoulder. "Here." He lowered his voice. "You, uh, think we were convincing?"

"Well, I was. At least I could keep my hands to myself."

He shook his head. "I can't make any crazy promises like that. Not when it comes to you."

She blushed and snuck a look out in the hangar to check if they were being watched. "I should go."

"Yeah." He stepped back. "But I'll see you later tonight?"

She nodded and met his eyes a final time before turning back down the ramp. The after-dinner shift was starting up and as soon as she hit the floor pilots and crew approached to welcome her back and fish for details of her mysterious mission. Acknowledging them all politely, she made her way through the hangar while steering her thoughts back to the lingering tasks that required updates at tomorrow morning's briefing. On top of that, the Rogue configurations desperately needed review before the next push, and technical challenges with the external radar systems were likely still unresolved, and had the pregnant tauntaun finally given birth, and —.

Leia halted at the edge of the hangar and tried to quell the swirling in her head. From experience she knew that assignments would be completed and new requests would arise and fires would be extinguished all while the machinations of war relentlessly ground toward some unknowable outcome.

Yet despite the uncertainty of so much in her life, she now carried within her the promise of tonight.