Hi there everybody. First of all, I am truly sorry that it took me so long to update on this story (it was for the various reasons, but I would spent months listing them all) and second: May the 4th be with you all :)

Disclaimer: If only…

Chapter 15 – Living heroes and fallen heroes

Obi-Wan Kenobi? And then she remembered. It all came back to her in a flashback. The mission, her father giving her the instructions,… That was the last time she saw her dad and now he was gone. So much had happened since then and yet at this point it seemed like only moments ago.

"He was a good friend of you father" spoke Dodonna, when Leia didn't reply.

"Thank you, I know who he is" said Leia uncharacteristically coldly.

"Princess Leia" spoke Obi-Wan and bowed slightly. "It's nice to see you again"

"Again?" she asked puzzled, before she would manage to reply to his greeting They've never met, surely she would have remembered if they did.

"The last time I saw you, you were just a baby. Of course you wouldn't remember."

As if he could read my mind thought Leia. He reminded her of someone, but it wasn't nice or comforting memory. That someone he reminded her of was Vader and nothing connected with him could ever be pleasant to Leia. She tried to shake the thought away, but goose bumps and constant feeling of alarm somewhere in the back of her conciseness prevented her from doing so.

She nodded to Kenobi and turned to Dodonna next to him. "General Dodonna" she spoke "would you happen to know where Chief of State, might be right now?"

"She's in her office" replied the older man.

"If you will excuse me gentlemen" said Leia, eager to leave as soon as possible. She turned on her heel and walked out of the room, leaving Jan Dodonna, Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi behind, all of them surprised about her fast departure.

She walked fast, but Han soon caught up with her. "Wow, I can't believe I just saw Obi-Wan Kenobi" he said with a excitement.

"You know who he is?" asked Leia.

"Yeah, who doesn't? I mean, you were just a baby back then, but I remember it all quite well. He was a Clone wars hero you know, along with that guy, what was his name again…"

"Listen Han that's great and everything" said Leia quickly, because she didn't want to hear another story of how heroic the Jedi were, "I need to go and apologize to Chief of State. "You could change you clothes in the meantime" suggested Leia. "You're drawing too much attention"

"Tell me about it" replied Han, beginning to get annoyed by the numerous suspicious looks he received since they landed but he also knew she said it just to get rid of him. Chief of State told her clearly that she wanted to speak with her in private. "I guess I can find something else to wear on the Falcon. I'll see you later, okay?" he added and when Leia nodded, they parted.

Very soon she arrived to Mon Mothma's office, knocked on the door and entered when she heard "come in". She found the Chief of State behind the table bending over a large pile of papers.

"Oh Leia, I just wanted to call you over. Please take a sit" spoke Mothma.

Leia sat down in front of the table and stared at her hands nervously. She lifted her face, to find Mon studying her intensively.

"I came to apologize for earlier" said Leia "I shouldn't have acted that way."

"Leia, I understand completely" replied Mothma. "You've been under a lot stress lately."

"No, I still shouldn't speak to you that way. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted" spoke Mothma and her face softened.

An awkward silence followed, which Leia decided to break: "A lot of work to do?" she asked

"Yes, as usually" replied Mothma and sighed. "I just hope I'll be able to finish this before the celebration."

"Celebration?" asked Leia.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. We are having a celebration for today's remarkable success."

"When exactly?" inquired Leia.

"Later today, in the evening"

"Alright" responded Leia, still failing to see what any of this had to do with her. "Can I help you with the preparations?"

"Kind of you to offer, but everything has already been arranged" spoke Mothma. "However, the members of High Council decided that you should be the one to present the medals for bravery."

Leia got slightly annoyed by the fact that she had nothing to say about it, but decided not to press the subject. She nodded in agreement. "Is there anything else I should know about it? Will anyone give a speech?"

"No nothing like that, we want it plain and simple. You will only present the award to Alliance's newest hero and that's it" explained Mothma.

"Luke Skywalker?"

"Of course, who else could it be?"

"Well…" started Leia, dwelling on whether or not she should speak her mind, but Mon apparently knew what she was about to say.

"Please tell me you were not thinking about Commander Solo" spoke Mothma almost desperately.

"Well… yes" admitted Leia. "I think he deserves it just as much as Skywalker does. You've heard what general Dodonna said, Captain Solo saved Skywalker back there and with that prevented the whole mission from failing."

"Leia, you're being unreasonable… again." Leia opened her mouth to object, as Han pointed that was somehow her habit, but Mothma spoke first: "That's absurd. Next thing you will expect me to tell him the locations of our bases for next ten years."

"But…" tried Leia.

"No but. He was once an Imperial and Imperials cannot be trusted. You of all people should know what they are capable of."

Leia bowed her head in resignation. Yes she knew all to well.

The ancient throne room of the Massassi temple, where the celebration was about to take place was huge. It took several hours and numerous soldiers to clean what jungle had done with the place in the centuries since it was abandoned. The whole temple was made of large dark grey stone blocks and was lit from the light that came from five longish openings in the wall at the end of the chamber. The sky that one could see from these openings was colored in warm shades of late afternoon.

Leia found herself standing at the end of the chamber on some sort of a podium. On her right stood See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo and on her left Mothma, Kenobi and Dodonna. General gave Leia an encouraging smile when their eyes briefly met. She scanned rows of lined up soldiers, technicians and officers, but she couldn't find the man she was looking for. Actually she hadn't seen him since he headed for the Falcon and she for Mothma's office. The soldiers stood facing the path that led to the end of the chamber and were silently whispering to one another. One could almost feel the anticipation trembling in the air.

The door slid open and immediately everything went silent. A young man appeared in the doorway, stood still for a brief second and then started walking towards Leia. He was wearing a yellow jacket with a black shirt underneath, brown pants, black boots and elegant belt clip made of light gray metal. Many eyes followed him and once Luke reached the stairs to the podium, as on sign everybody turned forwards. Leia though how he looked quite different now that he wasn't wearing those worn out clothes. She had heard he was from a moisture farm on Tatooine, but how he had ended up blowing the Death Star she had no idea.

Luke walked up and stopped two stairs under Leia. She tried to stay serious and she put on her best regal face, but failed. Once again she had to smile at Luke's nervousness which was beaming from him like a glow of a lightsaber. He smiled back at her.

Han was leaning on a doorway through which Luke entered not long ago. Nobody noticed him since everybody was facing the opposite way, so he was able to watch the ceremony without distraction. Truthfully, he wasn't really paying attention to what was going on, all he saw was Leia. His arms were crossed on his chest, his eyes set on the white figure at the far side of the chamber. Her white dress with long, lax sleeves fit her perfectly. Her necklace made of metal squares matched the belt that accentuated her figure. She wore elaborate hairstyle that ended in a long braid on her back and Han had to admit that it was stunning. Damn she was stunning head to toe. Han Solo was a man who had seen a lot of beautiful women in his life, but nothing, absolutely nothing could be compared to how beautiful Leia was at that particular moment.

He saw her put on her regal expression, the one that annoyed him and made him excited at the same time. Then he saw her smile to that stupid, bantha-brained, childish, wanna-be-hero farm boy and jealousy arose in him. This whole thing is stupid anyway he thought.

General Dodonna passed Leia the medal and after Luke lowered his head she slightly stretched out and placed it around his neck. When he lifted his head once again, his expression was one of pure happiness and pride. Leia would be happy for him, if there wasn't a constant thought in the back of her mind, that there should be Han right by Luke's side. Luke bowed to her, more gracefully than he did the first time they met and then smiled when he heard Artoo beeping excitedly. Leia too had to smile at the sight of little astromech droid restlessly shifting from one to another of his two front "legs".

Han saw Luke turn to the crowd of soldiers filling the chamber. At that moment every man, woman and droid gave full vent to their feelings and the place exploded in a loud applause. Cheering was especially aloud in the part where pilots were gathered and for a moment Han thought he even heard a wookiee growl. His memory jumped to the day many years ago, when he met a wookiee in a very risky situation and naturally ended up in big trouble. What was his name again? Thought Han. Wasn't it Chewbacca? I wonder where he might be now.

Tables were brought in the throne room, with large amounts of food and drinks on them. In a matter of minutes sun had set behind the highest trees of the jungle and the lights in the chamber had to be turned on. Music started playing and contagious celebration mood started to spread among everyone, even Han, but it wasn't until Mon Mothma and General Dodonna announced their departure, that the party finally started in full swing.

"Hey," called one of the rebel pilots "would you give me a hand with that?" he asked while carrying in two large crates filled with bottles.

"Sure" spoke Han and lifted one of the crates of pilot's arms "Corellian Whiskey, huh?" he asked as he checked the content of the crate.

"Home sweet home" replied man and smiled.

"You're a Corellian?" asked Han.

"Yeah" he answered "And judging by the way you fly, you're too."

"The way I fly?" asked Han who was prepared to defend his flying.

"Yeah. Bold, dangerous, suicidal. It was brilliant."

Han laughed and both he and the pilot put down crates on the table in the center of the chamber.

"It's Solo, right?"

"Yeah" answered Han and shook the offered hand.

"I'm Wedge Antilles. Come, I'll introduce you to the others." He said and motioned Han to follow him. "And by the way, I loved that maneuver you pulled up there, you've got to show it to me some day."

Han saw that Wedge was going to a group of people gathered by one of the great stone walls. He was pleasantly surprised to see Leia among them, and not so pleasantly surprised that Luke was there too. He was quickly introduced to Wes Janson, Derek Klivian, who everybody called Hobbie and at last shook hands with Luke. During the process Han tried to crush the younger man's hand or at least break some of his fingers.

"Are you the captain of Millennium Falcon?" asked Luke.

"Sure am" replied Han.

"You saved my life up there" continued Luke, admiration visible in his eyes. "Thanks"

"You owe me big time, junior" said Han. Then he was patted on shoulder and he quickly turned around to see who it was.

"Hello sir" said a golden droid. "My name is See-Threepio, human-cyborg relations. I'm fluent in more than six million forms of communication…"

"Then," Han interrupted rudely "you'll surely understand a simple shut up." That earned him a stern look from Leia, but he didn't have time to say anything else about this. From the corner of his eye Han spotted two figures coming closer to the group. First of the pair was Obi-Wan Kenobi and the second, who was quite a contrast to graying old man, a wookiee.

"I guess you've already met Ben…" spoke Luke, but then corrected himself. " I mean Master Kenobi. And this…" he continued, but before he managed to finish the sentence a huge form of fur rushed at Han. Luke fell silent. Leia didn't know whether or not she should call for help, mostly because she couldn't really tell what was going on. Those around her seemed to be dealing with a similar conflict. They all just stood paralyzed, observing a wookiee and what little could be seen from Han. After a few seconds Han surfaced from the sea of fur and Leia now understood that the wookiee was in fact hugging him. Still, she couldn't stop herself from thinking whether affection of a wookiee wasn't perhaps more dangerous than his aggression. It sure seemed so.

"Air" gasped Han and the wookiee finally released him. "Chewbacca?" he asked when he managed to catch his breath.

Wookiee growled with what seemed even to untrained eye as happiness.

"You know each other?" asked Luke.

"Sort of" answered Han and turned back to wookiee, who started growling again.

"I'm glad to see you too" he said and then after Chewbacca growled again: "Nah pal, that was nothing. You don't owe me anything."

"You speak Shriywook?" asked Leia surprised.

"Yeah, long story" replied Han and turned back to conversation with Chewbacca.

"What for Force's sake" spoke Wedge "are those two talking about?"

"If I may sir" cut in Threepio "Chewbacca claims that Captain Solo saved his life, therefore he owes him what can only be translated into Basic as a life debt."

"As I said" repeated Han "You don't need to repay me or anything."

"Hey" whined Luke. "Why do I owe you a big time then?"

"Don't interrupt, Lukie" said Wes mockingly "I want to hear this. It sounds like a hell of a story." Luke remained quiet as asked, but glared at Wes angrily for using that stupid nickname.

Han wouldn't quite meet their eyes. "I don't want to talk about this. I'm not really proud of it."

But Chewbacca already started the tale, See-Threepio translated and for once nobody complained about the droid. "Chewbacca claims" he started "that he had first met Captain Solo, when the latter was lieutenant in service of Imperial Starfleet."

Some nervous glances were exchanged, but Han couldn't blame them. Threepio continued: "Chewbacca says that about four years ago he attempted to free several wookiees that were captured by the slavers and intended to be sold into Imperial service. However Chewbacca's ship was intercepted by TIE squadron led by Lieutenant Han Solo and crashed into a nearby planet. The captives, most of which were wookiee children managed to escape, but Chewbacca lost his consciousness due to the impact and was captured. Solo's superior, Commander Nyklas was angry because of the escaped wookiee slaves and ordered Solo to kill Chewbacca. He refused and some months later stunned Nyklas, preventing him from whipping Chewbacca to death."

When Chewbacca finished the tale everybody stared at Han. Their looks however weren't mad or disgusted as Han expected, but warm and welcoming. As relieved as that made him, he still wasn't sure if they understood the whole thing correctly.

"You aren't proud of it?" asked Wedge "But you saved his life."

"True, but…" said Han "But you see… I was working for the people that did those terrible things to Chewbacca and other wookiees and…"

Hobbie interrupted him: "Well I also studied at the Imperial Academy and even worked for Empire for quite some time."

"And only few days ago I was about to apply for the Academy. It's often the only way to get proper education" spoke Luke.

"Yeah, It's really not about where you come from" added Wedge. "It's where you choose to be."

Han, who was until that moment feeling like an ugly worm not quite belonging in the company of those selfless people, now felt a wave of relief wash over him. The feeling of that warm acceptance was so nice that it made him smile widely.

"What happened then?" asked Luke.

"What happened when?"

"What did they do to you, the Imperials?" explained Luke impatiently, desperate to hear the rest of the story.

"I was marched to military court, held in custody for several weeks and kicked of my squadron, but I guess that would have happened anyway. You see Commander Nyklas wasn't really enthusiastic about some moderations I made to my TIE fighter. He was an idiot, I'll admit, but I was truly sorry that he wasn't my superior anymore, because the next few I served under made him look like a really smart guy."

From there on the conversation switched to more relaxed subjects. It variated from smashball, which was a popular sport in the outer Rim, to Luke's boasting about how he could "bullseye wamprats in his T-16, back on Tatooine." That naturally led to a huge argument in which Han and Wedge claimed that Corellians were born good pilots and no one could be more skilfull than them, while Luke, Wes and Hobbie contradicted them. Leia found the argument completely pointless and considered it as nothing but boys boasting about their abilities. She was getting to know this as more and more typical for male representatives of the human race.

She was grateful when Obi-Wan, who almost everyone forgot was there, finally decided to bring it to an end: "I hate to interrupt this particularly constructive debate, but I need to have a word with Captain Solo before I retire to bed."

As if on sign the argument ended and those involved stepped apart. However judging by the grumpy looks on their faces, Leia figured the debate wasn't over yet and would just need to wait for some other occasion to burst up again.

"I was told by Chief of State to tell you" said Kenobi turning to Han "that temporary quarters have been arranged for you in the east wing of the base." Then he added: "Ground floor, 9th door from the main entrance to hangar bay."

Han, who wasn't expecting this amount of hospitality from Alliance's leaders, was planning to sleep on the Falcon. Thinking for a brief second he realized it would be rude to decline such kind offer, so he said: "Thanks. I'm sure I'll be able to find it."

"Now I am going to leave you young people have some fun" spoke old Jedi Master with a weary smile. "Goodnight" he added and left.

"Finally" said Hobbie "I thought he'd never leave."

"Yeah" agreed Wes "Luke, where did you dig this old fossil anyway?" But before Luke could answer or argue his choice of words Wes spoke cheerfully: "Drink anyone?" He and Wedge then went away and returned each with two bottles of finest Corellian Whiskey. Hobbie helped them and they poured it into glasses and passed them around.

Han was only half surprised when Leia accepted the offered drink. She didn't look like she has ever had whiskey before, but on the other hand she was visibly tense and a drink or two might help her relax a bit. Others seemed to be a bit nervous to be in her company, but she was quiet all along so most of them just acted as usual.

"To Biggs" said Luke and everybody raised their glasses, repeating the name of the fallen hero.

Han happened to know who Biggs was. He was an Imperial Academy cadet two years after him and short after being transferred to the Death Star, Han heard the rumors that Biggs had stolen an Imperial ship and joined the Rebellion. When Leia went to see Mon Mothma, Han headed straight to the Falcon. On the way there he met a couple of pilots and they talked a bit. Names of those who have died during the assault on the Death Star were brought up and Han was sad to hear Biggs' name among them. He really seemed like a great guy. Han first glanced at Leia, who emptied her glass in a one long sip and then he glanced at Luke. Han saw he was fighting with tears and then remembered hearing that Biggs and Luke were close friends.

Silence fell on the group, mournful expressions on their faces. Wedge poured another round.

"If I hadn't fallen ill" said Wes sadly "Porkins wouldn't have died instead of me and he'd be here right now." Han knew he couldn't even imagine how guilty Wes must have been feeling. "So here it is, to Porkins" said Wes and held his glass high. Again everybody followed his lead.

This time the silence didn't last long. "Excuse me" jumped in Threepio "I think I am obligated to inform you, that if you drink a glass of 47% alcohol for every of the 23 Alliance's pilots that have died in today's battle, the chances of staying sober are about 1372 to 1.

"Whose droid is this?" asked Han annoyed.

"Mine" groaned Luke and Leia at the same time and it was hard to tell which one of them sounded more desperate.

Luke quickly corrected himself: "I mean, it belongs to Her Highness"

"For a hundredth time, it's Leia" she replied. "And you can have Threepio. I'll pay you" she added, her voice pleading.

That eased the tension in the air and some chuckles were shared in the group.

"Sometimes I just don't understand these humans" spoke the droid.

"Me neither, whatever your number is" said Han, thinking this was probably the first and the last time he agreed with that droid. "Indeed, Your Highness" he added mockingly and with faked formality "I fail to understand what happened with your 'be nicer to that droid' campaign."

Everybody laughed except for Leia who glared at him and spoke angrily: "Very funny, Solo. Very funny."

Threepio's odds however didn't seem to scare anyone in the merry group and they toasted to several other deceased pilots.

Leia, who felt burning in her throat from the previous glass of whiskey, was in fact the only not-so-merry member of the group. Even though drinking herself to death didn't seem like a bad idea, she pushed it aside for the time being and decided to leave as soon as possible. She couldn't make herself hear any more names of the pilots. She couldn't allow the number of the deceased become actual people. It was too much already.

She quietly left when others were about to drink a round for the third fallen pilot, Garven Dreis, who was the leader of the Red squadron. Leia didn't realize it, but Han observed her departure and saw her join the conversation of two officers and a female technician. From there on she didn't seem to be able to stay in one place for more than a couple of minutes.

Chewbacca left too, claiming that he was going to greet someone, but from the corner of his eye Han saw him approach a table covered with food and not leaving it since.

Soon there was no more sign of mourning in the group and large amounts of whiskey started taking its toll. Luke, who was most likely drinking for the first time, was already staggering around and talking way louder than necessary. Listening to Threepio's warnings would probably be a good idea, but the droid was sitting in a chair nearby not moving for at least an hour. Wedge, Hobbie and Wes got so annoyed with him, that they turned him off and were now laughing hysterically to nonsense Luke was saying.

Han too occasionally laughed watching younger Tatooine boy, but he just wasn't there wholeheartedly. While others drank whiskey and ale, he quite uncharacteristically didn't. He was more than delighted that rebel pilots took him as one of them and he lazily glanced at his surroundings. Everyone was talking, laughing, drinking, dancing and some couples were curled up in tight embraces, kissing. Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. Everyone but one person Han couldn't find in the crowd.

That's everything for today. Yeah this chapter originally didn't end here, but it was geting way to long so I split it in two. Becaus of this, next chapter is mostly written so it shouldn't take long to post it. Be so kind and let me know what you think of this chapter, it helps a lot :)