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 10
The base shield doors were still open, half an hour behind schedule. The temperature drop within the hangar deck was becoming painfully uncomfortable but no one complained. The news of Commander Skywalker and Captain Solo's absence had spread throughout the base already. Although few believed either man would survive the night, Princess Leia was not alone in keeping a vigil within the cold ice cavern.
Leia was the only person, however, who had no official excuse to linger within the hangar and she was aware of that fact. She attempted to look busy but then admitted to herself that she wasn't fooling anyone and gave up the effort. She paced back and forth between two partially dissembled X-wings, her gloved hands clasped tightly to prevent them from picking at the seams of her cold-suit.
Without conscious volition, Leia paused to gaze upon the Millennium Falcon ensconced within a side alcove. More often than not, the old freighter was bathed in the harsh light of floodlamps as her crew labored to repair the latest damage inflicted by the Empire. Now she sat in more flattering shadows, any evidence of her age and abuse hidden. She looked sleek and powerful and full of potential. Mesmerized by the sight, Leia realized just how much the battered freighter embodied her captain; she'd never stopped to look closer and appreciate what wasn't so obvious at first glance.
Leia couldn't help but marvel at the change in her own opinion towards the ship. There'd been times when she'd outright distrusted the space-worthiness of the aged craft. Granted, she still had her doubts, but after two years of dodging Imperial pursuit along with the normal hazards of space, Leia had to confess a real admiration for the ship's durability, grace, and speed. She was beginning to understand Solo's affection for the Falcon. He seemed to know class when he saw it.
No sooner had the thought occurred to her than an unexpected blush tinted Leia's cheeks. Before she could counter the response, the heated flush escalated to welling tears. She steeled herself and drew a deep breath, refusing to get emotional. Tears were undignified and pointless. Crying wouldn't change the fact that Han and Luke were lost in the raging blizzard outside, nor would it erase the bitter untruths she'd said to Han because of a selfish fear of being hurt. Crying wouldn't fix all their stupid and wasteful arguments and it wouldn't rescue them now. She drew another deep gulp of air.
«Princess?»
Leia nearly jumped out of her thermal boots at hearing the gentle rumble at her side. She hadn't detected Chewbacca's approach. Aware that she'd failed to mask her emotions, her blush intensified into embarrassment. Although still not satisfactorily fluent in his language, Leia didn't need translation to understand the look in the Wookiee's blue eyes. Words were unnecessary right now.
The special affinity she felt with Chewbacca stretched as far back as their escape from the Death Star. During the following two years, he'd often sided with her during her arguments with Solo, though she suspected the Wookiee's motives to be more mischievous than noble. Chewie often served as an anchor of reality when others' obsessions threatened to overpower common sense.
«Will you be all right?» Chewbacca asked, careful in his enunciation for her benefit.
Not ready to trust her voice yet, Leia gave a hesitant nod. Despite the surge of friendly warmth from her friend, Leia needed to wrap her arms around herself in an effort to fight off the growing chill. She couldn't imagine a worse situation and yet here was Chewbacca, worried about her. She felt a pang of guilt at her own selfish indulgence. Pull yourself together, Organa. You can't do anything for them now except hope, and be strong for Chewie. She cleared her throat and offered a weak smile.
Chewbacca tipped his head as he watched the princess. For an immeasurable amount of time, they shared a silent communion of fear and hope. Then Leia closed her eyes and bounced on the balls of her feet as a strong gust of cold air swept through the hangar. Chewbacca shifted away to lean against a ceiling support strut, where he observed Artoo and Threepio as they returned from the base entrance, giving up on their own valiant attempts to detect Han and Luke. The princess resumed her nervous pacing. She then came to a stop, and Chewie followed her gaze to see the Deck Officer Tibbert as he trotted in her direction. She dared to hope for good news, but her hopes crumbled when the soldier stopped short and reported to Major Derlin first, who'd been overseeing their limited rescue operations from nearby.
"Sir, all the patrols are in. Still no—"
Major Derlin put up a silencing hand and both their gazes swung to focus on Leia, within earshot. The deck officer nodded once and finished in a more subdued voice. "Still no contact from Skywalker or Solo."
Leia turned away to avoid their looks of concern. She neither needed nor wanted their pity, and hated their obvious attempt to cushion the truth.
Threepio arrived at Leia's side. "Mistress Leia, Artoo says he's been quite unable to pick up any signals, although he does admit that his own range is far too weak to abandon all hope."
She was about to respond, but was distracted as Derlin and Tibbert finally approached her. She fought the impulse to run to her quarters and hide rather than bear the focused sympathy being directed toward her now.
"Your Highness," Derlin said. "There's nothing more we can do tonight. The shield doors must be closed."
While part of her was grateful for the major's consultation, the rest of her wanted to cry out in soul-wrenching denial. Why did the Goddess insist on leading her into making the final moves in this lethal holochess game, until she no longer had any stakes left to win or lose?
Major Derlin remained silent, awaiting her response, though they both knew the answer—there was no choice. At Leia's slight nod, he turned to the deck officer. "Close the doors."
"Yes, sir."
Leia felt as frozen in place as the surrounding stalagmites and stalactites, her eyes locked on the impenetrable blizzard of white outside that had begun with the setting of Hoth's weak sun. She loathed the feeling of utter helplessness that flooded her. Han and Luke had come to mean more to her than she could ever have imagined, and now they were lost out in the frigid night and there was nothing more she could do.
Too soon, the two huge shield doors began to slide shut, the gears audibly objecting to the cold with a reverberating grumble that Leia could feel through the soles of her boots. Off to the side, Chewbacca added his own mournful howl of protest when the doors met with a soul-rending metallic clash of finality. The sound sent a shockwave through Leia. Acting on instinct, she closed her eyes and put all of her awareness and hope into a silent mental plea for them to hold on, that help would come as soon as daybreak.
"Artoo says the chances of survival are seven hundred seventy-five…to one."
Leia opened her eyes an eternity later to find the glowing photoreceptors of Threepio observing her. She had no response.
"Actually," Threepio continued after an awkward moment, his positronic brain calculating that his timing was wrong. "Artoo has been known to make mistakes...from time to time." Accompanied by the protesting warble from Artoo-Detoo, Threepio shuffled away as he herded his noisome counterpart away from the princess. The two droids had finally picked up on the signs that Leia was in no mood to converse. "Oh dear, oh dear. Don't worry about Master Luke. I'm sure he'll be all right. He's quite clever, you know…for a human being."