Between the Lines

by suezahn

Disclaimer: All characters depicted herein are the property of Lucasfilm, Disney, etc. My only profit is in the form of readers' feedback. Please be generous!

Note: This story was originally written in 1995 and has now be revised and updated for consistency with the rest of the Kismet series. Please note that the OC name Kristin Aldritch = Keris Aldric now. I decided the old name was too "Earthy." A very special thank-you to my lovely proofreaders: Erin Darroch and Marjorie Joyce. The original story was awarded STAR aWARdS Best Long Story 1995.

Chapter 8

You've done some truly idiotic things in your life, Han berated himself, but this is by far your best effort.

As the Corellian stormed down the carved-out corridor in the direction of the hangar bay, he paid little attention to the base personnel diving to the sides to avoid a collision.

Like a fool who didn't know when to quit, he'd basically thrown himself at Leia's feet. What did you expect? A full confession—another full confession!—right there in the middle of the Command Center? It was quite clear that Leia Organa's affections were conditional and he couldn't meet her terms. Any sensible man would've cut his losses and left. She was as much of a lost cause as her precious freedom fighting…so why couldn't he just give her up as lost?

His pace slowed and he watched his breath puff out in a frosty cloud of white. Only three days and already he'd grown to loathe Hoth. The climate seemed to match Leia's disposition—she'd become about as malleable and passionate as an icicle. He knew she struggled to maintain her chilly facade; he hadn't forgotten how much she'd responded on that hotel couch, and he wasn't deaf. Princess Leia still wanted him, that was a fact, but he had to leave and he couldn't think of a single damned thing he could do to fix anything.

Han reached the hangar bay just as the personal comlink clipped to his holster belt gave a high-pitched chirp. He unhooked the small device, raised it to his mouth, and triggered the link. "Solo here."

"You need to come back to the Command Center." The feminine voice, alto and all-too-familiar, sounded contrite, almost.

Han scowled down at the comlink as he ground to a halt. "What I need, Your Worship, is to get as far away from this Gods-be-damned chunk of ice—"

"Han, would you just shut up and listen for—"

The satisfaction Han experienced as he switched Leia off mid-tirade was short-lived. Now angrier with himself than with the original source of his annoyance, Han resumed his march through the length of the ice cavern. You are one prize-winning fool.

The ambient light and air temperature within the hangar bay was dropping with the advance of night outside. Han wove his way through the parked X-wings to avoid getting trampled by one of the returning Tauntaun patrols. He spied his copilot standing beneath the Falcon's hull, surrounded by a jumbled assortment of tools and scavenged parts. Chewbacca must have found something to occupy his time after all, but as Han drew near, he saw the Wookiee's solution to boredom and his precariously balanced temper tilted.

"Chewie, what're you doing?!" Frantic, Han ducked under the hull of the Falcon and ran a hand through his hair as he eyed the present state of his ship's disassembled central lifters. It would be a full day's work just to put everything back together.

Chewbacca looked up, mystified. «You told me to find something to do.»

Amazed that he hadn't yet developed a persecution complex thanks to the combined efforts of his best friend and the princess, Han explained as if to a child, "I meant refasten the cable housing…flush the hyperdrive coolant…polish the decks!" Han furiously waved at the Falcon's dismantled lifters. "Why do you take this apart now? I'm trying to get us out of here, and you pull both of these?!"

«Don't yell at me,» Chewbacca defended himself. «It isn't my fault you can't make up your mind—»

"Excuse me, sir." See-Threepio butted in with his usual atrocious timing, seeming to appear out of nowhere.

Now mad at his partner's accusation, Han ignored the interruption and pointed a commanding finger at the scattered parts. "Put them back together. Right now!"

"Might I have a word with you, please?" Threepio insisted.

Still raging, Han swung around and directed a cross expression at the golden protocol droid. "What do you want?"

Threepio seemed to only now register Han's mood. His took a defensive step back. "Well, it's Princess Leia, sir. She's been trying to get you on the communicator."

Han glowered even more. Now the Ice Princess was sending Threepio after him—a dirty tactic, even for her. "I turned it off. I don't want to talk to her."

"Oh." Clearly not certain how to interpret the Corellian's answer, Threepio continued. "Well, Princess Leia is wondering about Master Luke. He hasn't come back yet. She doesn't know where he is."

Baffled that a protocol droid this incompetent could ever make it off the assembly line, Han shook his head. "I don't know where he is."

"Nobody knows where he is."

All of Han's anger washed away in a tsunami of concern. "What do you mean 'nobody knows'?"

"Well, uh, you see—"

Not waiting for Threepio's long-winded explanation, Han stepped past him and headed for the flight line. "Deck Officer! Deck Officer!"

"Excuse me, sir." Threepio turned to follow the smuggler, even as the on-duty deck officer trotted towards them. "Might I inqui—"

Han clamped a hand over the droid's voice-coder, muffling his chatter as Deck Officer Tibbert snapped to attention before him.

"Yes, sir?"

"Do you know where Commander Skywalker is?" Han asked.

"I haven't seen him." The Rebel soldier relaxed as he shrugged. "It's possible he came in through the south entrance."

"'It's possible'?" Peeved by what he considered a lax attitude, Han pointed a stern finger at the officer's chest. "Why don't you go find out? It's getting dark out there."

"Yes, sir." Chastised, Tibbert nodded and raced off to carry out the civilian smuggler's orders without question.

Threepio, now released from Solo's muzzling hand, trailed after him as the Corellian headed for the Falcon's boarding ramp. "Excuse me, sir. Might I inquire what's going on?"

Mind already elsewhere, Han simply answered. "Why not?"