Gert found her crewmates and went to her quarters to get organized. Leia had her dress on the Falcon with her gown so she had one less thing to worry about. She thought about Wes while she unpacked. It didn't really bother her much to be attracted to the man, he was good looking, what bothered her is that she was attracted to someone so annoying she wanted to punch him already. And what was with the sneaking up on her thing anyways? She was going to have to spend her time chronically aware of the people around her so he couldn't do that and it was exhausting to constantly be on guard. Why can't I ever be attracted to sweet unassuming guys like Tycho she wondered. It's always the smart asses that got under her skin.
She'd had a horrible crush on Han when she was little more than a girl and He'd found it funny but thankfully, only teased her a little bit about it. The Solo and the Yonsz families were now so many generations removed the cousin status was nothing more than habit. She knew very little about Han's family. She knew most of them were gone. When she'd asked her father about it he had frowned sadly and said it was best forgotten. Her mother had glared angrily at her and told her to stay out of it. The best answer she got was from her brother who swore her to secrecy that he'd overheard their parents talking one night about it before she was born. As far as he could figure out, Han's parents and uncle had been trying to get a Jedi to safety and had been betrayed by another family member. He'd been very small at the time and their nanny had caught him skulking around and marched him back to bed. Even his most casual questions about it had also put their parents on the defensive and they decided to not speak of it to their little sister at all. There were several years between each of the children and Gert still missed both of them very much but most of all, like Leia, she missed her father. He'd been her stabilizer to her mom's constant need for attention and reassurance that she was perfect in every way. Her mother's needyness had developed in Gert, a profound mistrust of complements. She found them shallow and often contrived. She knew it was just her mother's upbringing but that didn't make it any less annoying.
Gert would have been surprised to know she was as much on Wes' mind as he was on hers. More surprised had she known what he thought of her. He had not been making it up when he'd said he thought her pretty. She was on the small side though not really petite. Her legs went on forever. He couldn't wait to see her in a dress to see if they were as shapely as the rest of her was. He liked how expressive her large grey blue eyes were and wondered if she knew how easy it was to read her thoughts just looking at her. Her face was almost elfin with the way her eyes tilted up on the outside and her pert nose. He would have called her attractive rather than pretty except when she smiled she took his breath away. Her eyes twinkled and her whole body shook with mirth when she laughed and he decided he'd try to make her laugh as often as possible just to see that. He even found himself liking her uppity mouthyness. If she were a little less defensive she'd almost be Leia's match in personality. He'd noticed her discomfort at him calling her pretty and decided he should figure out what she would appreciate being complemented about.
He'd stood on the balcony of his room daydreaming so long that his stomach finally growled in protest. He rolled his eyes and hoped they didn't have anything too spicy on the menu tonight. The bout with Hesken Fever had left him leery of anything spicy as it tended to make him desperately wish he'd not eaten. Even watching Gert bolt food down as tidily as she'd been doing it had made him a little queasy just thinking about eating that much food that fast. No hope for nerf burgers though he figured as he walked to the fresher to get cleaned up for dinner.
Wes ran in to Tycho in the hall outside of his room. "Pretty nice digs for a bunch of pilots."
"Yah, ever feel like the locals are trying too hard?" Tycho asked dourly.
"Beats the last place. Dormitories at a run down old school no one has lived in for ten cycles." Wes looked around the wide well decorated hall. It was all soft gold shades and white. It quietly shouted classy and Wes wondered how many rich hotel guests had been displaced to house all the members of their Cell. From what he had heard, ground crew and technicians and commandos had also gotten rooms as nice. The Senali were trying too hard. Wes wondered what they were trying to hide with all the gloss and polish.
Hobbie poked his head out of his room. "Food?"
"It crossed my mind." Wes said simply.
"Glad something does."
Wes rolled his eyes. "No respect…"
"Why do you expect any?" Tycho asked him softly.
"Possibly because I'm one of the hottest pilots in the Rebellion?"
"Sure, but you missed the party last time." Hobbie said with a grin.
"I was sick!"
"Excuses… excuses…"
"Ok, you spew your brains out and see how you feel."
"So that's what happened to them." Tycho said.
"Hey! I didn't mean it that way. I meant…" he was interrupted by Wedge who had followed the sound of their voices.
"Do you think you could talk a bit louder? I don't think they can hear you down in the basement of this place yet." Wedge grinned at Wes' look. It was hard to embarrass Wes but it was possible. Hobbie just laughed. Tycho shrugged non-commentally. "Anyways, Han and Luke seem to have hashed out the game plan for the aerial display so we need to sit down with the rest of the unit and decide who's flying where and which kind of remotes we're going to vape."
"But I was hungry." Wes said frowning.
"You'll get over it Wes. Grab a ration bar or something."
Wes sighed at the thought of a lovely appetizing nerf burger he wouldn't be eating with the side of fires that were now but a distant dream and plugged his brain into the flight plan Wedge was describing.
Han was sitting in General Reekan expressing the same impression Wes had gotten. "It's just too pretty sir." Han finished with. He'd told the General his impression of the security and echoed Wes' opinion of their temporary quarters being far nicer than should be expected for fugitives.
"I'm not disagreeing Han but without knowing their motives I can't just pull everyone up and make them stay on the ships. It's possible they only wish to impress us with their ability to support our cause and we need that support. There are only so many credits to go around."
"All I'm saying is I don't trust this Prince Leed. He's slick like a freshly greased hutt. I especially don't like that he tried to separate Leia from the rest of us."
"Agreed, we need to keep tight security on the princess to ensure her safety. She's already established you and Commander Skywalker as her personal military coordinators, that gives you both good reason to be around her without arousing too much suspicion."
"Yah, until we have to sleep."
"So have her sleep in your room."
Han choked on the caf he'd just put to his lips and sputtered something incoherent.
"Put a security detail on her at night Han." So it's that way between them Reekan thought. Well, that makes things easier I suppose. He'll have a vested interest in keeping her safe.
"I'm not putting her in my room General. But I will tag some of the Rogues for body guards." Han glared at the other man for suggesting what he had. The last thing he needed was that insufferable stuffy little princess chattering at him morning noon and night.
"Negative. I want the Rogues fresh for the combat display and you as well Solo. Have some of our ground commandos do it. It's what they are trained for."
"I was hoping it would keep some of the more riled up ones out of trouble but that's fine. We'll do it that way. General, one other thing, Why are the Senali offering us help?"
"That Captain Solo, is as much a mystery to me as it is to you. Perhaps Princess Leia knows."
"I'll ask her. Something just isn't adding up. And it seems like every time things are this fishy the Empire shows up to shut us down."
"Agreed. Find out. You'll have opportunity to. I'm sitting you with Commander Skywalker and the Princess during the formal dinner after the show."
"Terrific." Han's tone said otherwise.
Unable to resist the urge to take at least one small dig at the pilot Reekan smiled. "Glad I have your support Captain Solo."
"Yah, I'm all about taking one for the team."
Reekan chuckled and dismissed the younger man so he could get back to his paperwork in relative peace. He agreed with Captain Solo but was just as puzzled as to the reasons why. Something wasn't adding up. Something important, and he hoped Princess Leia figured it out soon because the life of a Rebel became very short when they didn't have the right answers to the problem.