I WILL FIND YOU

Chapter 2

Leia discovered that posing as a bounty hunter was somewhat problematic, but it afforded some advantages as well. Generally, the population at large gave a wide berth to bounty hunters, as if by getting to close to one it would poison them, and in certain cases, they'd be correct. Leia wouldn't call it respect, but it wasn't the worst position to be in. She'd had to figure out which transports to which destinations would be least likely to dispense with her, or rather, dispense with Boushh; bounty hunters were not officially permitted in a number of places, but not many wanted to deal with them. This was as true for Stormtroopers as it was for Rebels.

Now that she was in Mos Eisley, she was nervous. Not about standing out - she'd have stuck out more in her Rebel Alliance garb. She observed a number of sentients who appeared to be bounty hunters and other affiliated scum; there was no shortage of them.

What was amazing was just how many sentients occupied Mos Eisley. It was a rabbit warren of sandstone and clay buildings, dried into permanent dwellings by the relentless heat. That was, Leia decided, absolutely one of the drawbacks of being clad in armor. The head mask was particularly uncomfortable; the sweat rolled down her face. But she dared not take it off in anywhere someone might see. Getting the armor back on after showering was enough of a challenge. She had to take all meals in private; she had no idea what Boushh ate or how he did it.

She swore she would burn the armor once she found Han.

Milling about Mos Eisley was mind numbing and more than a little irritating; it was very crowded, which allowed her to blend in, but it was making the search for a tavern with only the word 'cantina' marking the entrance. There were many drinking establishments. Some were polite enough to give their names at the entryways, but not everyone did, so process of elimination was going to be laborious. And smelly. With more species present than Leia could name, there were some that were fairly malodorous, either by the characteristics of a particular one, or just plain lack of sanitation.

The twin suns of Tatooine began to sink low in the sky, but to Leia's surprise, there was no relief from the high temperatures of the daylight hours. And she had yet to find her destination.

Leia was nearly ready to find somewhere she could spend the night when she stumbled across a nondescript building with sentients of all kinds heading inside.

There was a small sign with even smaller print that read 'Cantina.' Still uncertain as to whether this was the place she needed to be, she followed down the stairs and inside. There was a very large bar and many tables, some of which were set up to give its occupants privacy. The air was smoky, the noise level nearly intolerable. In a way, she felt more secure in these conditions.

I'm not in Alderaan anymore, she said to herself.

Her comm vibrated. She was going to need to look at it, but she had to admit that she was extremely thirsty, and there appeared to be ways for any and all in the bar to imbibe. She'd order her drink.

The bar was manned by an agile woman who seemed to be able to multitask over several orders of magnitude.

"Boushh! Long time no see," the woman greeted her as she sat down. "I can't say I've missed you." She produced a beverage and set it on the bar. "You want to run a tab?"

One of the best features of Boushh's armor was the voice synthesizer. No one would be able to claim to have identified Leia by voice.

She was tempted to say no, but she got the impression that Boushh would have done so. "Yes," she said to the woman. Leia was trying to remember if Luke or Han had mentioned her name, but nothing came to mind.

The drink was not as horrible as she'd anticipated. It was very sour, but there was a hint of sweet fruit in it. She sipped it, not knowing how potent the libation would be. She couldn't afford intoxication and she also wanted to avoid any confrontations. The place was rife with drunks, and it appeared that a number of them had discovered who they were spending the night with.

The other attribute her armor shared was enhanced hearing. It wasn't particularly good at filtering, but she was able to listen to some of the conversations in the place. She smiled at the thought of what her mother would say, with her daughter dressed up like the scum of the galaxy and trying to find out where her smuggler lover was. And Leia would have paid to bring her three crazy aunts here-they'd have the vapors.

But they had long been blasted into space dust. Alderaan had ceased to exist on that horrible day, the blackest day in her life...at least until Han had been frozen in carbonite and handed over to Boba Fett.

She'd never hated anyone more, and that included Lando.

Lando. Where the hells was he? He had said he'd get in contact with her, but so far, nothing. All the months of waiting and worrying and wondering. She'd been a fool to trust him. He'd probably stopped looking for Han a long time ago.

She then remembered she'd received a comm. Time to look at it.

It was Luke, on a secure channel. She hoped she could send a secure response from the cantina; she didn't need to draw attention to herself. There were plenty of patrons on their comm units, so she guessed that at least some frequencies were available.

His message read: 'Jabba's palace fifty-four kilometers west of Mos Eisley. Only set of buildings in the area. Have sent the droids.'

It wasn't a lot, and it was late, but Leia was going to get a transport to Jabba's palace at this godsforsaken hour if she had to pay a fortune for it. She couldn't let Han suffer a moment longer than he had.

Leia had read a little bit on hibernation sickness, and while most of its victims survived, sometimes they suffered permanent brain damage. Loss of hearing or vision was common but generally dissipated within a day or two. High fevers were not unheard of but in most species were temporary and easily treated with common medications. While death was not common, insanity was more so.

Leia refused to let her mind travel in that direction. Han was the toughest, coolest, and bravest man she'd ever met. She remembered all too well his expression as he was sunk into the freezing chamber. He wasn't worried for himself. He was worried about her.

Luke said he was alive. And she knew he wouldn't say something like that unless he was certain. Of course, that could change in a moment. But Chewie had sent the message, and that meant he was near Han.

What she hadn't been aware of was the clan system of the Hutts. They all competed against each other, and profit was the name of the game. Sometimes competition resulted in blood. She just hoped she had the right Hutt. Somehow, appearing in front of the wrong one could be disastrous, to say the least. But Luke seemed to have been doing applying his Force sense and maybe consulting a few databases. Leia had relied on word of mouth. She wanted to leave as few traces as possible.

It was not difficult to find a transport, but one that was willing to take her all the way to Jabba's was far more of a problem. Fortunately, she was in the guise of a bounty hunter, and all she had to do was draw a weapon, and finally she found someone nervous enough about that who'd take her the fifty-four kilometers, and she had promised to pay him double. Credits didn't talk, she said to herself. They swore. Loudly.

The dense population of sordid Mos Eisley gave way to barren stretches of yellow desert sand. This made Leia a bit uncomfortable; having grown up in Aldera, the capital city of Alderaan, had accustomed her to being around many sentients. And while the silence of forests or lakes were welcome, this was nothing but an eerie sort of one, the kind that made you think attackers were lurking in the darkness. Leia was grateful that no one could see her face. She was highly skilled at staying cool in stressful situations, but nothing - not battles, not asteroids, not the hyperdrive's constant failure - had prepared her for this sort of experience. It wasn't so much the danger that left her unprepared, though.

It was the experience of being in love that had her at such loose ends. Leia had never contemplated it happening to her. But then again, she'd never met a man like Han. He had a hypnotic power over her that terrified her in the beginning.

And now, she could not imagine living without him. Memories of their first kiss, the first time they made love, the last kiss before Han was cast into the pit...they rushed at her like warm, clear water. His soft lips, strong hands, silky body hair, all of what he was, what he felt like around her, next to her, inside of her, were bringing tears to her eyes.

Think clearly, she warned herself. That's what'll get Han back to you.

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Leia was grateful for a full moon. Other than the lights on the hovercab, it was dark as far as a human eye could see.

The driver came upon a series of windowless buildings. Or, if there were windows, they were dark. It was hardly welcoming. Leia just hoped she was at the right place. She handed the credit chits to the driver and stepped outside. The night air wasn't much cooler than the daytime.

She comm'd Luke one word, 'arrived.'

It was an interminably long time before she received a response. Whether it had been seconds, minutes or hours was hard to tell.

Finally, she could feel the comm vibrate. 'Wait for Lando. In guard uniform.'

'Tell him Boushh the bounty hunter,' was her response. She was extremely skeptical on that account; the compound was huge and the darkness held foreboding. 'I've got a bad feeling about this,' she told herself. She half wished she'd told the driver to stick around, but that wasn't how bounty hunters operated.

Leia hoped she wasn't going to have to pretend for much longer. All she wanted to do was find Han, release him from the carbonite, and get the hells out. She wanted the months of waiting and worrying to be over as quickly as possible. She wanted to take Han to a safe place where he could recover from being encased, where she could hold him, tell him things were going to be all right. The only thing that kept her fear at bay was to think about Han.

The night dragged on and on. Leia was tired, hot, sore, hungry and thirsty. But she had a mission to complete, and this was hardly the first time, and she was hardly the first person, to suffer that sort of discomfort. She had to save Han, and she didn't care what she had to do to reach that end.

Love had never been part of her plans, but fate had had other ideas.

Leia asked herself if she'd do it again. The answer was easy: a thousand times over.

"Leia?" a voice called out in a near whisper.

She looked up and there was a fully armored guard standing before her.

"Lando?" she asked, trying not to show that she was anything other than calm.

"Oh, thank the gods," Lando said. "Luke said your name was Boushh. While we're here, call me Tamtel Skreej."

"Is Han alive?"

"He's alive, still in perfect hibernation. What you're going to do first is bargain for Chewie."

"Where is Chewie?" Leia demanded.

"In one of the dungeons. I have to get back; everyone's pretty much passed out from the party last night, but Jabba wakes up easily and it's gonna be pretty obvious I'm not there."

"So what should I do?" Leia said quietly.

"Enter through the front portal as soon as it's light, in about twenty minutes." The suns were barely showing themselves above the horizon. "Bounty hunters get a pretty good welcome here."

"How nice," Leia said acerbically. "Let me guess: Boba Fett's a regular."

"Han may have been his largest bounty, but he's hardly the only one. Just wait a little longer. I'll be looking for you." Lando vanished quickly.

Maybe, Leia thought with some amusement, she could kill Boba Fett. It might actually be fun.