NOTES: Hello! I want to thank everyone who reviewed on my last chapter, especially the Guest who suggested I capitalize "Force, and "Jedi", I will do that from now on. So anyway, thank you for reading, enjoy and reviews will be greatly appreciated.
"If we want to know what's going on, we have to be on Tatooine. So, we have two choices, either we convince Mon Mothma to permit us to issue a Rebel mission to rescue Han, where we will have access to a decent amount of supplies, and everything will be able to be done far more efficiently. The second option is we leave and quit the Rebel Alliance, which of course will leave us with… really no guarantee of supplies and the chances of success significantly lower, but we can leave whenever we want." Leia explains to Luke, Chewie and Lando, they sit crammed around the Dejarik table aboard the Millennium Falcon.
"Will it be difficult to convince Mon Mothma?" Lando asks.
"Of course, but we have to try," Leia says.
Luke looks into Leia's eyes, evidently expressing concern, not for what they were currently planning, but for the matters they discussed this morning,"Why wouldn't Mothma want to help us, why does this even have to go through to her?"
Chewie growls in agreement with Luke.
"I don't really know, but her not thinking it's worth it to risk multiple Rebel lives, just to save one may be the reasoning," Leia rolls her eyes,"I doubt she'll be too enthusiastic about this whole ordeal especially since Han never officially joined us. But any missions must go through to Mon Mothma especially if they are extremely high risk, or the Rebels executing the mission are reporting from the main space station. Our mission most likely falls under both categories."
"Do you think she'd be more willing to allow us to go if we had more people on our side? I mean, I can't name anyone here that doesn't like Han. I'm sure if I ask a few guys, they will be more than willing to help us, not only to convince her but also to help out during the mission." Luke says.
Lando nods,"I think that's a great idea."
"Yes," Leia says quietly, her blank gaze adverts to Luke,"I think there are a few aspects about your suggestion that I noticed that could just cause everything to fall through."
Everyone's eyes are on Leia, their gazes questioning, willing her to elaborate.
"Well, Mon Mothma can be quite unpredictable, especially when missions like these are brought to her." Leia explains,"But I have gotten to know her tendencies fairly well. I know she won't like that there will be more valuable Rebels at risk, or that we will need more supplies for them. Mon Mothma is a very skilled politician, there's a reason why she is the leader of the Alliance. She can easily pick out any faults in a plan she doesn't deem necessary, so we have to expect her to shoot ours down with everything she has."
"So, what are we gonna do?" Lando asks after a few seconds of silence.
"We have yet to even make our plan," Leia states, evidently frustrated, she was beginning to break down,"We made no progress whatsoever, Han is to the best of our knowledge nowhere to be found, it's been nearly three weeks since we last saw him. And here we are, just sitting around talking nonsense. For Force's sake, I can't even think straight."
Leia slumps down, and rests her chin in her hands, her elbows on the table. Chewie puts a comforting hand on Leia's shoulder,"Princess, we are not talking nonsense. We are all doing all we can to get Han back. We are trying to plan this rescue, but of course it's not easy, we don't know anything, you said it earlier, we have to be on Tatooine in order to."
Leia grumbles in response.
"I think we all need a break, some time to think." Lando says.
"No," Leia sighs, her eyes are focused on the round, ivory and ebony table,"All we had was a break, we've been thinking for almost three weeks. I'm just… so frustrated."
Leia looks up, everyone's eyes are on her. She inhales, and exhales. Leia thought of where the planning should start.
"We need to really think this plan through, it needs to be impeccable,"Leia begins,"We need to gain access to Jabba's Palace somehow."
"Guards!" Chewie growls, exited.
Leia quickly realizes what he meant,"Yes, yesterday you said Jabba always has plenty of guards. We can have someone become a guard, somehow. That way, we'll always know what's going on in the palace."
"I think I have an idea of how I can do that." Lando offers.
"Okay," Leia begins, her face radiant with hope,"I don't doubt it."
Luke and Leia emerged from the Millennium Falcon,"I can't believe that we actually blocked out the whole mission today." Leia's voice was slightly upbeat.
"Me neither, I really have a good feeling about this." Luke says. Leia ignores the slight somber gleam in his eyes that she hadn't seen before.
Leia nodded,"Me too, I am convinced that Mon Mothma will allow us to put our plan into action."
Luke nodded, with that a slightly awkwardly silence fell upon them as they walked back to their quarters. Leia knew Luke was dying to discuss her Force abilities; however, Leia also knew that Luke was aware that she didn't, and she was so thankful that he respected that and remained silent.
"Well, goodnight, Luke. Don't forget to ask a few guys If they're willing to help, make sure you tell them the plan, and that we will be presenting it to Mon Mothma tomorrow." Leia breaks the silence at the point where their paths split.
"G'night, Leia," Luke offers a feeble smile,"And you can count on me, I'll have the best pilots at breakfast with me tomorrow."
Leia waits for Luke to begin walking straight forward, to his quarters before she turns to the left, making her way to her own.
Leia exhales heavily as her door thuds to a close. She leans back again the thin metal panel, exhausted yet restless, nothing new to her. Leia softly slides to the floor.
Her mind is in shambles as Leia begins to call to Han. Don't let anyone else hear, be calm, those thoughts along with countless more race about Leia's mind. Han, Leia knows that her call is successful when she feels her throat constrict, just what she anticipated. Leia takes slow breaths, calming her, and unknowingly, she is also easing the fear and confusion that plagued Han. Han, I am going to save you, and prevent anything like this from happening again, Leia promised.
Leia just sits there, on the cold floor for a while, her mind was with Han, it calmed both of them. She wishes she could stay in this tranquility forever, but also wishes that Han were actually with her, in the flesh. Leia reluctantly ceases her unity with Han, she had other things she had to do, not necessarily better, but important if she wanted the promises she made to Han to carry out.