Han's eyes roved around the flight hangar looking for the now familiar petite frame clothed in white. Rieekan had sent him with a message and when he'd passed Luke, the Kid said this was where he'd last seen her. He nodded and exchanged greetings with a few of the Rogues, still unable to find Leia. "Anyone seen the Princess?" he called, throwing the question out to the hangar at large.

"Right here, flyboy." Her voice rang out behind him and he turned around, a grin on his face and a smartass reply on the tip of his tongue. Except the sight of her robbed any kind of coherent thought from his mind, rendering him effectively useless.

Whoa. She sat astride the nose of an X-Wing, hydrospanner in hand, the arms of her white flight-suit tied around her waist. The sleeveless top she wore under it was smudged with grease and grime. She seemed to glow from the sheen of sweat that covered her skin and highlighted her collarbones. Short wisps of hair stuck out of her braids and clung to her face, giving her a halo effect.

Han Solo was by no means a religious man, but if gods did exist, he was pretty sure they'd look like Leia Organa while she was sweaty and dirty and elbow deep in starship service hatch.

She cleared her throat and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Can I help you, Captain?" Her tone had an edge of ice, completely at odds with the heat sliding down his spine.

"Uh—you—uh," he fumbled, still not quite fully recovered from the sight before him. Why was he here again? Fuck. "Y'got engine grease on your forehead." Real smooth. Get your shit together, Solo. "Really brings out yer eyes," he teased, adopting a lopsided grin and cocky attitude. Snickers filled the air as several heads popped up from maintenance hatches and around X-Wings. Only too late did he realize he was just adding fuel to the gossip factory.

The glare she gave him might have killed a lesser man; Han just stayed where he was, smile intact. "And you're interrupting my work. Now that we're all done stating the obvious, I sincerely hope you're here to do more than piss me off and waste my time, Captain Solo, or else we're going to find out just how good your reflexes are," she said, flipping her hydrospanner up in the air and catching it with a gleam in her eye.

Gods, why was she so damned attractive while threatening bodily harm? He shifted his weight, heat creeping up his cheeks. "With your aim, ain't too worried, Sweetheart." That was a boldfaced lie, her aim was damn near perfect.

Whispered bets circulated around the hangar. Ten credits says she does it. Twenty says she misses.

Her lips curled into a feral grin, her eyes glinting dangerously as she flipped her hydrospanner up in the air again—the tool hitting her palm with a solid thump that sent a shiver racing down his spine. "Wanna bet? I rather like my odds."

Thirty says she nails him.

He swallowed hard, attempting a saunter as he stepped up to the side of her X-Wing and picked up a servodriver. "Nah, I'm actually here to help you," he said, leaning against the starship's hull as he twirled the servodriver between his fingers.

She narrowed her eyes, still looking like she'd very much like to hit him. "Does it look like I require your help?" she asked, gesturing to the open service hatch in front of her.

"Rieekan seems to think y'do," he said, pointing the servodriver at her seriously.

Leia rolled her eyes and leaned forward to continue working on her X-Wing. "Somehow, I sincerely doubt that," she muttered.

"Says y'need a pilot with devilish good looks." She closed her eyes and sighed, flexing her jaw.

"If I wanted a good looking pilot, I'd ask Hobbie," she said, giving him a sweet smile. A chorus of ooooooo's echoed around the hangar followed by more snickering. "What I need, however, is a pilot that can haul parts for a vee one fifty ion canon from Imperial occupied planet." She paused, grunting as she struggled with something inside the snubfighter. The way her muscles shifted and flexed under skin was damn near mesmerizing. "And I t just so happens that this planet these parts are on…" Color rose in her cheeks as she put all her weight behind the hydrospanner. "One attracts too much attention if one is a woman walking around without an escort." She glared down into the service hatch as if she could make whatever it was move by sheer force of will. Han half expected it to work too; whatever Leia Organa wanted, she usually got. More often than not by her unwavering willpower and a hefty dose of stubborness.

She huffed, and threw down the hydrospanner in the tool tray atop the ship's nose. "Give me that," she snapped, gesturing to the servodriver with a determined look on her face. Han stepped forward, handing over the tool wordlessly. Electricity hummed beneath his skin as her fingers brushed his, leaving behind a smear of engine grease. "So what I need, Captain Solo," she said, leaning even further into the service hatch and turning her face to the side as she worked by feel alone. Sweat dripped off her cheek and glistened in the light of the hangar. "Is a pilot to smuggle invaluable cargo, run a blockade, and have my back on a potentially hostile planet." Just then, her face lit up with a triumphant grin and she sat up, a bolt in her hand. She tossed it and the servodriver down before leaning back on her hands, cocking an eyebrow. "Think you can handle that, flyboy?" Just when y'think she can't get 'nymore damned attractive, she has t'go 'n fix a damn starfighter.

Han snapped his mouth shut, realizing it had been hanging open ever so slightly as he'd been watching. "Better watch it, Your Highnessness, gettin' dangerously closely to a compliment there," he drawled, cocking an eyebrow as he grinned up at her.

Leia rolled her eyes again, picking up the hydrospanner once more and reaching back into the service hatch. "If you're quite done wasting my time, might we continue this brief at a more appropriate time?"

"Sure thing, Sweetheart. Y'can debrief me anytime." He winked at her, pushing away from the ship and walking away.

A few strides away something hit the back of his head with a wet smack. "Oh, look at that. I don't think engine slime suits your complexion, Captain," she called out amid whoops of laughter. Han shook his head, unable to help the grin on his face.

He turned and gave her a sweeping bow. "Your Worship." Maybe he was going to have a hell of a time getting this slime out of his hair, but there'd be no forgetting the smug grin on her face. What a beautiful, frustrating, and absolutely infuriating woman.

He turned to leave the hangar and nearly walked straight into Carlist Rieekan.

"Captain," Rieekan said, his lips twitching as he tried and failed to hide a smile.

"General."