"Thought I'd find you here," Luke said to Han's feet. Han was in the spare cabin on the Falcon, half into one of the circulation ducts.
Han poked his head out and smirked. "Yeah, imagine that, finding me in my own ship."
Luke shrugged. "Hey, I come back and you're a fancy general now. You might be spending all your time being big and important somewhere, I don't know."
"Being a general don't make me fancy," Han corrected, "and you should talk, Fancy Jedi Knight." He grinned.
Not quite yet, thought Luke, but he left that one alone for the moment. He noticed the tools and supplies strewn around the cabin. "What are you working on? I thought Lando had finished fixing everything on the Falcon already. He was supposed to do that before we went to Tatooine."
"He and Chewie fixed all the major systems, hyperdrive, shields, all that. Air system in here has always been a little squirrelly, so I'm just checkin' it out. And I got a little project," he said, motioning vaguely to the pile of supplies behind him. "What brings you here?"
Luke was a little nervous. "Uh…wanted to talk to you. You got anything to drink?"
Han gave him a sideways look, but said nothing and led Luke to the lounge, where he took out a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.
He slid Luke a glass of whiskey. "Okay, kid, what in seven hells 's got you drinkin' in the middle of the day?"
Luke took a sip. How long do you have? he thought. But I'm not really ready to get into all of that…."I just—I wanted to apologize."
"Apologize? What the hell for?"
"Well, for what happened in Bespin. I—"
Han shook his head and set his glass down, a little hard. "Nope. Not doin' it."
Luke was taken aback. "You won't forgive me?"
"No, I won't listen to this bantha shit about you needin' to apologize for what happened."
Luke tried to explain. "Vader was torturing you to get to me."
"I know what Vader was doin'. But that don't make it your fault."
"Han, I—"
"I said NO." Han's face was kind, but stern. "Every single one of you thinks it was your fault, and I ain't takin' it. Lando—okay, it was a little bit Lando's fault, but Vader didn't give him much of a choice. Leia thinks it's her fault because I went back to the kriffin' command center to get her out, instead of leaving her to die on that iceball. Hell, Chewie blames himself because he took the Falcon apart when we were getting ready to leave and didn't notice the hyperdrive motivator was shot. And if you really want to blame someone— that bounty hunter wouldn't even have been interested if I weren't so deep in hock with Jabba." He took another drink. "You know who's to blame? Vader. That's who. Nobody else."
Luke cringed inwardly when he thought about telling Han about Vader. Definitely not today.
Han finished his drink and put down his glass. "Actually, I'm kinda glad we have a chance to talk. I—need to thank you."
Luke smiled, relaxing a little bit. "You already thanked me on Tatooine."
"That was for the rescue. Wanted to thank you for looking out for Leia while I was gone. Helpin' her out. And Lilya."
"Of course." Luke took another drink. "She's something else, isn't she. Lilya."
Han's face lit up. "She is."
Luke thought about telling Han about how strong Lilya was in the Force, that he was pretty sure she had the potential to be a Jedi herself. But he realized that this subject also involved Leia, and that he'd probably better tell her first. Leia wasn't even aware of the power she had yet.
Time to change the subject again. Plus, Luke was curious. "So, what's the project?"
"Huh?"
"You said you were working on a project."
"Oh, yeah. Just a little upgrade. Don't have the parts or the time to get it done before we leave, but it'll give me somethin' to work on when we get back."
Luke thought of the supplies he'd seen in the cabin. Crash webbing, anchoring bolts, a basin, pieces of an old medbay cot….he smiled and cocked his eyebrow at Han. "Han, are you building Lilya a nursery on the Falcon?"
Han grinned. "Tryin' to. Just gotta figure out how to make the crib secure enough. Thinkin' we can bolt it like we did Chewie's hammock, but I wanna be sure it's safe. You're pretty good with these things—you wanna help me take a look?"
"Sure." Luke followed Han back to the cabin.
"Alright, so usually I leave the speeches to Her Worship over here," Han said, nodding at Leia. "But since this is the first time we've all been together since Jabba's, I figure I oughta at least say thanks for gettin' me the hell out of there in one piece."
Leia, Luke, Lando, Chewie, Han, and Lilya had gathered on the Falcon for one last dinner before the Endor mission, and Han was gearing up for an after-dinner toast.
He raised his bottle of whiskey as he spoke. "Now, in the old days, I'd get you all hammered and call it a night. But, I'm thinkin' we've got a better shot against the Empire tomorrow if we're not all hung over, so – one drink, and we'll make it a traditional Corellian toast." He started to pour a small glass of whiskey for each of them.
Lando suddenly looked nervous. "It's okay to toast you now?" he asked warily. Han gave him a confused look.
Chewie laughed. [He tried to have us do a Corellian toast for you when you were frozen,] he explained. [You know, the one you do to remember the dead. Little Princess almost sent him out the airlock.]
"We both almost sent him out the airlock," Leia corrected.
"It was probably a good thing I was there to stop them," agreed Luke.
Woulda liked to see that, thought Han. "No, no, this is different." He held up his glass and began his toast:
"This drink be our pledge,
The four directions, four spirits,
Our health, our life, our love and blood,
Today and always."
They all raised their glasses, following Han's lead, then took a drink.
"So, Leia, I gotta know. How did you convince the Alliance to pay to spring this guy?" Lando asked, sipping his whiskey.
Han leaned in. "The Alliance funded the rescue?" Leia hadn't mentioned that.
Leia shrugged. "Pretty simple. I made an official request at a briefing. Not much to tell."
Luke almost choked on his drink. "Uh, remember, I was at that briefing. I'd say it was a little more badass than that."
"Badass?" Han didn't think he'd ever heard Luke use that word. "This I gotta hear."
Ten months earlier….
"Commander Organa, your new business?"
Luke looked up. It wasn't uncommon for Leia to bring up new business at the joint briefing – in fact, she was normally one of the more active participants in these briefings. But today's request was a little out of the ordinary, and he knew she'd been preparing for it for awhile.
Leia's voice was clear. "Yes, Chancellor, I have two items." Wait. Two items?
"Go ahead, Commander." Although most people referred to her with her royal title, Mon Mothma made a point of using everyone's military titles in these briefings. Luke knew Leia actually preferred that.
"My first item is to request Alliance resources for a reconnaissance and rescue mission for Captain Solo." Luke noticed the squad leaders around him sit up and pay a bit more attention. The Alliance had made it clear that they could not afford to be in the business of conducting individual rescues, and Han had technically only been a contractor when he'd been taken. Supporting a rescue effort for him would definitely be out of the ordinary.
Leia was making a hell of a case, though. "Instrumental in the recovery of the plans for the Death Star," "recognized with distinction for his role in the victory at Yavin," three years of service to the Alliance as a trusted contractor and trainer for Alliance pilots, key procurement (read: smuggling) contact for Alliance goods, endured torture at the hands of the Empire while on Alliance business.
Very smart, thought Luke. Leia had included multiple examples of Han's service to the Alliance, and had alluded to several of the times he'd helped rescue her and Luke, but had presented them in a way that emphasized his value to the Alliance as a whole. She doesn't want them to dismiss this as just a personal request.
It was also a good idea for her to bring this up in the joint briefing rather than directly with High Command; Han was well liked among the pilots, and the request could not be dismissed out of hand in front of the squad leaders without hurting morale.
Leia continued, switching to a different line of argument. "The reconnaissance and rescue efforts will also benefit us in the growing threat posed by bounty hunters and major crime syndicates." She went on to share some recent data on the Empire's increased use of bounty hunters against the Alliance; the threats posed by the Hutt syndicate and related crime lords, particularly if the Empire chose to engage with them more directly; and the need to sow seeds against these crime syndicates in order to secure Alliance support from systems controlled by them, particularly those in the Outer Rim.
Luke was impressed. Is this what she was like in the Senate? He knew she'd been poring over datapads and meeting with members of the intelligence team in her few hours of spare time recently. Obviously it had paid off.
Mon Mothma looked stern, though Cracken and Madine both seemed intrigued. Dodonna was scowling a bit. Ackbar was difficult to read. Rieekan was trying to maintain a neutral expression, although Luke could tell he was on the verge of a smile.
Mothma accepted the summary from Leia and handed the datapad to her assistant. "Thank you, Commander. We will add the request to our agenda at our next Review meeting. I assume that last point was your second item?"
Leia shifted in her seat, then sat up a little straighter. "No, Chancellor. My second item is a request for accommodations and a short leave of absence in a few months."
She's going to tell them, in front of everyone, Luke realized. Another smart move. "Certain members of High Command have an interest in my…continued suitability for marriage," Leia had told Luke. "For diplomatic purposes." Having a baby with a smuggler didn't really fit with that plan, and Leia feared pressure on her to make that complication go away, whether through marrying her off now or hiding her away until after she had the baby and pretending it had never happened.
"We will consider any leave for the proposed mission with that larger request, Commander." Mothma was clearly ready to move on.
Leia looked squarely at Mothma as she spoke. "This is a separate request, Chancellor. I will need some increased security accommodations and leave for the child I am expecting with Captain Solo."
Nobody gasped, but it almost seemed as if they had. The room was silent. Mon Mothma's mouth fell open for a second, then quickly closed. Rieekan's smile could no longer be contained.
Admiral Ackbar was the first to speak. "I assume congratulations are in order, Commander. We will take your specific request under consideration. And your earlier strategy regarding the crime syndicates was quite on point. I hope we can continue to count on your strategic mind to benefit the Alliance."
Leia smiled. "Of course, Admiral. Thank you."
The briefing ended shortly after. Luke was running late for patrol; Leia was engrossed in conversation with General Madine. Luke ran off, sending her a quick message through their connection: You were amazing. Han would be proud.