Face Off

Leia couldn't help it. Her self-control slipped away, and the moment she was in the room was the moment her eyes were on Han Solo. His back was to her, but she would have recognized him upside down at a thousand meters in fog. Lando, who was facing the doorway, caught her brief look and gave her a half-nod of acknowledgement.

"Gentlebeings," Leia heard the Commerce Minister's voice distantly, "Why don't we begin introductions?"

Everyone around the table shifted to look at the two members of the Republic Cabinet. Leia tried to scan the room and keep her face relaxed. The blood pounded in her ears as waves of unfamiliar anxiety washed over her. Habit, however, had saved her before, so she hoped habit would save her now.

"Yes, please. Minister Nix, why don't you begin by introducing our support staff? Then the representatives of the New Trade Federation may introduce themselves?"

"Thank you, Minister Organa."

As Lisi introduced her assistants, Leia could feel Han's gaze. Now, she didn't dare look at him. The past few moments had changed everything. Besides the sudden nervousness, she felt indignant, hurt, scared, regretful – even delighted. She convinced herself long ago that she wouldn't ever see him again, and the unannounced reappearance of the man who had left her standing alone on a landing platform shortly after the liberation of Coruscant with hot, angry tears streaming down her cheeks was as unwelcome in her world as a Tdaapooni intestinal parasite.

Minister Nix moved to the head of the oval table and cued Leia to follow.

"Teely Dashoban, you are heading the delegation. Could you introduce your representatives?"

"Ah, certainly, Minister," Dashoban leaned his elbows on the table and grinned. He was a human hybrid, as far as Leia could tell, although she couldn't pinpoint his non-human species background. He had five metal studs in each narrow nostril and was dressed in impeccably tailored and horrifyingly expensive clothing.

"Nearest to you, Minister Organa," he continued, "is Lando Calrissian, our chief development officer. Next to him is Pel Pel, who runs our public relations department. I, of course, am Teely Dashoban, acting director of the New Trade Federation, appointed by our Governing Board. On my left are Asishimian Du and Han Solo, who are in charge of, respectively, our departments of natural resource development and interstellar trade. Finally, we have Riizniq Zoonav, our assistant director of finance."

Leia kept her focus on Dashoban, "Thank you for the introductions, Director. Now let's get down to business, shall we? Why are you here?"

"I'm sure you have reviewed our request for formal recognition by the Republic."

Leia leaned on the table to mimic Dashoban's posture. She secretly thanked whoever was responsible for installing self-adjusting chairs in the conference rooms – chairs that allowed her maintain the illusion of height in circumstances like these.

"I would like to hear your own version of the request, Director."

"Well, Minister, you know as well as anyone that we live in an unstable galaxy. Certainly things are more stable now than they have been in recent years on your end of things, but the economies of whole systems were destroyed by the Empire. With the dismantling of much of the Imperial trade networks and business guarantees, many at all levels of the galactic economy – from natural resource extractors and simply producers to interstellar traders and retailers – have had to, as they say, build again from the ground up. Now, your government can't do all of this, nor should it. That is where we come in."

As he spoke, Leia reached out with the Force and probed very gently at the surface of his thoughts. She and Luke had decided shortly after the victory at Endor to purposefully underplay her Force abilities. Most knew the Minister of State was a Force sensitive – and knew she was the daughter of Anakin Skywalker – but resisting the role of traditional Jedi allowed her to use her talents unnoticed.

Oddly, she found Dashoban to be in complete earnest in his speech. She had expected some level of deception and was surprised she found none. Nothing was blocking his thoughts.

Minister Nix spoke when Leia didn't, "We are aware of this problem, Director, and it is a laudable goal for the NTF to aid in the continued growth of the galactic economy. However, you could pursue this goal without the formal help of the Republic."

Both Ministers were expecting an answer from Dashoban, so when Han spoke instead, neither had time to completely cover the mild shock on their faces.

"Well, that's the trick, isn't it?" he pulled up one side of his mouth in smirk, "The thing is, we have some, ah … problems with security, and seein' as how we respect the sovereignty of the Republic and all of that, we don't have plans to assemble a private security force."

"So you want the armed protection of the Republic for your members, facilities, and ships."

"That's right, Sweetheart."

Even Dashoban gaped.

Leia, however, had years of experience dealing with an inappropriate Han Solo, "Well, that is going to cost you."

Lando broke in as Han and Leia stared one another down like two angry krayt dragons, "We are prepared to pay the price for the exclusive protection of the Republic."

A hesitant Zoonav finally spoke up, "We will contract to pay a discretionary additional five percent on top of existing Republic tariffs for all goods and trade."

"That's a start," Leia tore herself away from Han's fiery hazel eyes, "We will also need a position on your Governing Board and full access to all organizational records. Moreover, as a pseudo-private organization, you will be exempted from the usual allowances of financial or other giving to all officers of the Republic. Any and all policy changes and request would be made through the Ministry of Commerce. No exceptions."

"You drive a hard bargain, Minister," Dashoban leaned back.

"Director, you can't expect to walk into a meeting like this and get exactly what you want."

"True enough, Minister Organa, true enough. We will, however, have to spend some time discussing your offer amongst ourselves. You understand, of course."

"Shall we adjourn for the afternoon, then?" Lisi looked at Leia, "Perhaps we can meet again tomorrow."

"If that suits the delegation," Leia interjected.

"It does, Ministers. Thank you again for your time."

"The same. We look forward to a fruitful partnership, Director."

The room whirred with movement – the shuffling of clothing, bags, flimsies, and datapads. Leia cringed inwardly as Lando remained seated and turned toward her. He flashed her his best attempt at a charming smile.

"It's good to see you, Leia."

"You see everything as a business opportunity, don't you?"

"I think the NTF can do some very important work for the galaxy. We moved thirteen billion tonnes of products in the past three months."

"Thirteen billion? That's impressive. Why didn't you approach us earlier?"

"Honestly, the timing wasn't right."

"Huh. Well, I hope we will be able to work out a mutually beneficial arrangement."

"Speaking of mutually beneficial arrangements …"

Leia stood and stuffed her datapad in her bag. Everyone else was filing out of the room.

"No, Lando."

"Whoa, hold on – my wife and I would love to take you out to dinner, to catch up. She really wants to meet you."

"I can't."

"Drinks then. Late."

"I'll have to see. Comm my office with your contact information, and I'll let you know."

Seemingly satisfied, Lando nodded. As much as she hated to admit it, he was a good man. However, her slight amusement at the fact he had bonded with a woman gave way to a stab of cold panic. Had Han also picked up a wife at some point in the intervening years, too?

Shaking the feeling off, she left the room behind Lando who had struck up a conversation with the men identified as Pel, Zoonav, and Du. The commerce assistants has scurried out of the room as quickly as possible, and Lisi and Dashoban were standing just inside the doorway, conversing quietly. That left her unexpectedly in the hallway with Han Solo.

Leia cursed under her breath. She couldn't be personally rude to him in front of his colleagues, regardless of his own disrespectful behavior. But when her eyes traveled up to his face, she found more softness than anger. He looked awkward.

"Hey."

"I guess I should admit to being surprised?"

"Yeah …"

They stood in uncomfortable silence.

Lisi gave Leia a knowing look as she brushed by with Teely Dashoban. With their exit down the corridor, Leia was left alone with Han.

"So, princess."

"Minister," she corrected.

"If you insist, Your High-and-Mightiness. How's the galaxy been treatin' you?"

She really wanted to turn and walk away, but the open opportunity to get in a dig was too tempting. Leia slowly looked him up and down.

"Clearly better than it's been treating you."

His eyes lit up with an infuriating twinkle, "But you still want me."

"Good to see your ego has expanded right along with your waistline."

The look on his face told her she had completely missed her mark. The truth was that his thirties had treated him well – too well –and Leia was disgusted by the little part of her brain that acknowledged he looked better than the last time she had seen him.

"That wasn't exactly a denial."

"Why do you even care?"

He shrugged, "No reason."

"I have to go," she turned sharply and headed for the turbolift. She could feel his eyes watching her and had to subdue the sudden desire to shove him backward with the Force.

"Jas, who do I have left to see today?"

"Um, let me look. The Deputy Defense Minister to discuss the Tragos situation, then the Alderaan Memorial Fund, and then a staff debriefing. You're also invited to dinner with the Naboo delegation, and a party for the Minister of Culture's five-year-old twins."

Leia thought a moment, "Defense, yes. Alderaan, no. Staff, yes. Dinner, no. Party, no."

"So shall I send your regrets to the latter?"

"Yes. One more thing: if a Corellian male comes up here looking for me, under no circumstances should you let him in my office, no matter what he says. You'll know him if you see him."

It took a moment, but Jas's mouth slowly formed a perfect circle, and he whispered, "Han Solo is here?"

She pursed her lips and made the decision she'd been toying with since she first walked into the Chandrila Room, "Consider him persona non grata."

"But …"

"This office won't consider him part of the NTF delegation," she grinned, "because we don't have to."

"Yes, Minister."

The comm station was flashing before she even made it to her desk. She leaned over the front of it to activate the call.

"Yes?"

"Leia, I am so sorry."

"You're not the only one," she sighed, "It's not your fault, Lisi. It was a good strategy on the part of the NTF."

"What do you mean?"

"If you were sending a delegation to meet with the government's highest ranking diplomat, wouldn't you want to be able to keep her distracted and unbalanced?"

"Do you think Dashoban brought Han Solo along to do that to you?"

"I don't think, Lisi, I know."

"We can have him removed from the negotiations …"

"… Or I can remove myself."

"I couldn't possibly deal with that group by myself. You're good, Leia."

"No, no, I will send the Deputy Minister. He could always use additional experience, and we have all the briefing materials necessary. Anyway, my office is already considering Solo persona non grata. I can't make it a formal designation, nor kick him out of negotiations, because the NTF is not a diplomatic delegation, but the designation stands."

"I guess I didn't realize you could do that. Leia …" the Commerce Minister's voice trailed off, "He did look good, didn't he?"

"I don't really want to think about it."