Oppressive heat and a strong, acrid smell greeted Leia as she struggled into consciousness, then wished she'd stayed in pain-free oblivion. Her chest and right side ached abominably and she couldn't feel her right hand at all. Alarmed, she forced her eyes open to see if it was still there. It took her a moment to figure out she was looking at a rough wooden ceiling, complete with small crawling things and something spiderish.
The spider thing moved and adrenaline flooded her body. Leia looked around and wondered where the hell she was. She remembered the monster... the vine... Her hand! She lifted her right arm and was rewarded with white-hot pain. She moaned and hastily lowered it again. Her hand was still there; she could definitely feel it now.
Where was she? Despite the sophisticated technology lying around her, Leia could not believe this was a medical facility. And yet... She gingerly felt her ribs. They hurt, but they definitely weren't broken any more. Someone had been busy. The natives? Leia didn't think so.
She rolled carefully to her left and sat up, swinging her legs off the... she looked again... bench. She was on a workbench? Stars sparkled happily across her vision and a wave of nausea swept over her. Leia took a deep breath to help it pass and was rewarded with excruciating pain. It took her mind off the nausea but it was some moments before she could move again.
The nausea didn't leave completely but it receded enough for her to try and take stock of her situation. She was sitting on a workbench in some sort of shack in the jungle. Where were Han, Luke and Chewie? How long had she been here? She was naked from the waist up and the bruising across her chest looked spectacular. She looked at her hand and decided the bandaging was an immobilisation. Which suggested that it was still a problem. Leia sighed and looked around again. It looked like a one-room hut, the majority of which had been actually carved into the tree. The front and part of one side were animal hide over a frame of wood. There was a single bed in the back corner, almost like an afterthought, surrounded by clutter.
She frowned at the small nest of electronic equipment nearby. Field study? Universities did that sort of thing, didn't they? In which case she was very lucky to find herself in the care of someone who obviously knew medicine.
Carefully she climbed off the bench and for a moment the world spun, but she hung onto the bench and it settled down. Her shirt was on the floor near her feet; in pieces, so she awkwardly draped the sheet, which had been covering her on the workbench, around her shoulders.
A closer study of the technology left her almost certain that her benefactor was not a student. This was hi-tech stuff. So what was it doing in the jungle? Maybe it had something to do with the sudden Imperial interest in Galadan?
There was a small mirror, hanging over a large wooden bowl that looked like it was doing duty as a washbasin near the bed and, catching her reflection in the mirror, Leia was appalled. The bruising looked much worse than she'd imagined it would be and she was absolutely filthy. She wiped her face with her good hand and quickly gave it away as futile. The nausea was getting worse and she sat down on the edge of the bed and considered the room from this angle. She wished Han and Luke would appear.
At something of a loss as what to do next, Leia absently looked through the top shelf nearest the bed, hoping to find some sort of identification for her benefactor. It was a jumble of software and handwritten notes, none of which made any sense to her. The next shelf was the same. On the third shelf she found a small, old-fashioned holo-plate and activated it without a second thought.
It produced a fifteen-centimetre portrait of a young man, wearing a well-decorated Imperial Naval Academy uniform. Each of the honour points was so clear, Leia could have identified them easily, but she was too caught up in his face. Not that it was odd or remarkable, it was just that it looked like Han. And the more she studied it, the more like him it looked. His hair was shorter and he looked younger, but the stance, the slight quirk to his mouth... Leia glanced around the shack again in total consternation, hoping the explanation would leap out at her and knowing it wouldn't. She looked back at the holo in her hand and frowned. It looked so much like him!
The low rumble of male voices alerted her to their approach and she hurriedly deactivated the holo and put it back.
Her initial reaction to the large man who entered first was that she knew him. She didn't know where from, but his face was familiar. Dark eyes and closely cropped grey hair... Except it wasn't close cropped now; it was long and wispy. Like he hadn't bothered with appearances for a while. He looked for her on the workbench and looked vaguely surprised to find her sitting on his bed.
"I see you're feeling better."
Leia stood and immediately regretted it. "Thanks to you, I guess."
"And a little help from the Camp Surgeon," he said, and smiled as he approached. "Perhaps you should consider adding one to your kit?"
She looked over the man's shoulder as he inspected her chest and ribs, trying to get some gauge from Luke and Han of how she should regard this man. Luke smiled reassuringly but Solo looked totally uncomfortable. Chewie just looked alert.
"Mm, bruising's receding nicely."
Leia looked sharply at the stranger. "Receding? It was worse?"
He smiled and closed the sheet. "Much. Should be gone by the day after tomorrow, I expect." He rifled through a drawer and handed her a lightweight shirt. "Here, put this on," he said, throwing a disparaging look at Luke and Solo. "Before one of them jumps you."
Leia glanced at the younger men, trying not to smile at the expression of affront that had taken up residence on both of their faces. She took the shirt and turned away to put it on. It was much too big, but it was better than the sheet. Turning back to him, she indicated her bandaged hand. "Tell me about this."
"I've given you a shot of antidote but the poison's still there. I'll take you to the university in the morning and get it cleaned out."
Leia asked pointedly, "You're a researcher then? With the university?" His voice reminded her of ... who?
The smile he gave her told her she wasn't going to get any straight answers. "The kibrivask vine is quite deadly, you see. Leaves little capsules of poison behind. You should be dead, Princess."
Leia's eyes widened slightly and she shot a furious look at Luke and Solo.
Solo bridled and snapped, "Don't give us that look. He recognised you when we brought you in."
Leia looked back at the stranger. So she did know him from somewhere! He was looking amused.
"Actually, we've met," he said. "I don't expect you'd remember. It was about two years ago on Hetat. The conference on metasync and genetic enhancement."
Leia frowned at the floor, thinking hard. "I remember the conference..."
"Professor Perron Solo. I spoke on - "
Abruptly it all fell into place. Leia took a step back, looking repulsed. "Shenegar's apprentice."
"Indeed," the man replied darkly. "That's what he had in mind."
"Are you saying you're not?" Scepticism was heavy in her voice.
"Of course I'm not." He stalked away from her then turned back, his arms folded defensively across his chest. "Do you seriously think that any self-respecting researcher could ally himself with someone like that?"
Leia's eyes were full of condemnation as she said scathingly, "I heard you received the Emperor's Biogenetic Achievement Award for the genocide of Rinicha Four."
"I had nothing to do with Rinicha Four," he snapped and held up a warning finger as Leia opened her mouth. "And, no, the silla-bugs weren't mine. Biological warfare was always Shenegar's forte."
Unconvinced, Leia regarded him arrogantly. "Do you mind if I ask why you're here?"
"I'm in hiding; what does it look like?"
A surprised flicker of concern flashed across Solo's face.
Leia needed to clarify. "From Shenegar?"
"From anything Imperial. Do you think, once I got that sort of attention, I could do anything else?"
Leia had heard of countless cases of Imperial interest in research or development coercing or destroying new talent. Either the unlucky recipient worked for the Empire or they never worked again. So many brilliant minds just... disappeared. She was close to being swayed by his story. Then she remembered the computers and looked at them pointedly.
"Yet you have all this?"
"That's from the university."
"So you do work for the university?"
"Unofficially, yes." A lot of the defensiveness had left him and he regarded her in a vaguely amused fashion.
"As what? A gene player?"
"It's what I do best."
"With the natives?"
She was deliberately baiting him, and he growled at her, "No, not with the natives. Plants mostly."
"Bigger and better poisons?"
He looked her in the eye; dark eyes that reminded her of whom? Himself? Leia decided that maybe she did remember him from Hetat.
"I constructed the cure for Rearner's Syndrome here."
That floored her. "You...?"
"It was credited to the university of course."
Leia regarded him and a slightly lopsided smile touched his lips. She glanced at the others and got no answers there. Perhaps this renegade geneticist would be able to shed some light on the sudden Imperial interest in Galadan? Certainly he'd have a vested interest in hoping they went away. She started to take a deep breath and quickly changed her mind.
Perron Solo noted the change and said gently, "You ask an awful lot of questions for someone just out of surgery." Leia nodded and let herself sit on the edge of the bed. The adrenaline had ebbed and she was sweating profusely, her vision beginning to swim.
"You'll have to stay in my hut for the night; if you go out the Kivvies'll kill you."
Leia looked up at him, tiredly, "Kivvies?"
"Kividans. The natives."
"Oh." Her gaze fell on the small holo-plate on the bookshelf and she frowned. Then looked across at Solo and found him watching the professor. The holo was of him. It had to be. But there was no way she could ask the question without them knowing she'd been... well... snooping. And why would an eminent professor of genetics have a holo of a smuggler? A smuggler in an Academy uniform… Leia frowned.
"May I ask you a question?" the man asked gently.
Leia looked back at the bearded man and decided she didn't really have much choice. "I guess that's only fair," she said.
He looked amused. "What is the Princess of Alderaan doing on Galadan?"
Leia looked quickly at Luke and Solo, wondering what they had told him. She looked guiltily back at Perron, opening her mouth to answer, no idea what she was going to say. He obviously read her reluctance, because he waved his hand dismissively and changed his question.
"Alright, I'll give you an easier one to start with..." he said and shook his head at her. "What the hell are you doing with my son?"
Leia stared at him for the time it took to sink in, and that was a couple of seconds. Then she frowned as her mind, unable to accept the obvious, went in search of a more appropriate solution... and came up empty. She started to shake her head in total consternation. "Your son-?" And it hit her. Leia's gaze flashed around to Solo, who had suddenly found something of particular interest somewhere off to his left to look at, then back to Perron, incredulous. "Han is your son?"
Perron shot his son a disparaging look. "I know. Hard to believe, isn't it?"
Solo glared at him.
Leia was floundering. It was so obvious! The holo, their names... good grief, they even looked alike!
"I had no idea... I mean... It never occurred to me."
"And why would it?" He leaned back against the bench. "You're hardly likely to keep the name of some obscure geneticist at the front of your brain." He smiled, that shockingly familiar lopsided smile. "And I doubt you'd have found me anywhere near as interesting as I found you."
Leia blanched. What was he suggesting? Solo was apparently thinking along the same lines, because he bristled and stood up straight, glowering at the older man.
"What?!"
Perron looked at his son and rolled his eyes, "Oh, don't be ridiculous!" He looked back at the princess. "No, you intrigued me because you were nothing like the rest of the Organas." Leia's heart lodged in her throat and Perron held his hands up in a helpless gesture. "A challenge hard for a geneticist to ignore."
Leia tore her eyes from his and looked to the others for a distraction. Anything to change the subject. She caught Solo watching her and he quickly looked away. She swallowed, wishing everything didn't hurt so much. It made it hard to think clearly.
"Your son is working for us..."
The look on Perron's face clearly said, 'working?', but he said, "Us?" He waved his finger between Luke and Leia. "You two?"
Leia regarded him, wondering what could have happened between Han and his father. For Perron to hold him in such contempt... But then, she guessed, a son with the sort of Academy honours the holo suggested, turning to smuggling would be pretty disappointing. She decided to throw a few well-earned points in Han's direction.
"For the Rebel Alliance."
Perron Solo's eyes widened and Leia had to stifle a smile. He looked at his son and Solo snorted, "Don't get excited, Dad. They hired me."
But Leia wasn't going to let him get out of it that easy. "He was integral to the destruction of the Death Star," she said.
Perron all but gawped at his son and Luke grinned openly at Solo's discomfort.
"Is this true?" Perron demanded quietly.
"Well, you're hardly going to believe anything I say, are you?"
Perron glanced at the princess then back to his son. Maybe there was something going on between them? His eyes narrowed as suspicion began to set in. "Death Star was over five months ago."
"Tell me about it," Solo muttered.
"You'd never hang around for five months."
Solo rolled his eyes. "I've had a few problems with my ship - "
"Balls! You wouldn't hang around if you didn't want to."
Luke snickered and Leia slipped her arms around her ribs in an attempt to protect them, frightened she would laugh.
Solo was scratching for something to say. "It's not that simple."
"There's something going on between you and her, isn't there?"
"No!" Han and Leia both looked affronted.
Perron turned to Luke who was looking amused. "Is there?"
Luke shook his head, trying unsuccessfully to keep a straight face as his mind tried to wrap itself around the ludicrous image of Han and Leia necking between fights. "Not that I know of," he said.
"I'd never have dreamed the Rebellion could pay so well," Perron muttered.
Solo steamed, glaring at his father, and Perron turned to the princess, looking for denial or confirmation in her face, and found pain. The medic in him swept to the fore. "I'm sorry," he said, contritely. "I'll get you something for the pain."
Leia considered refusing, then changed her mind. Whatever it was, it would have all night to wear off.
Perron left the hut and Solo followed him out. Leia looked at Luke and he walked over and sat beside her.
"Why didn't Han tell us his father was here?" she asked.
"He didn't know." Leia looked sceptical and Luke added, "From what I could drag out of Han, they haven't spoken for over ten years." Now she looked appalled. Luke smiled, "I don't know who was more upset. You should have seen their faces."
A smile whispered across her face but was deeply underscored with pain. "I wish I had." She ran a hand over her mouth and sighed. "How much time have we lost?"
"We've been here about half a day, Galadan time, but the truth is it's actually saved us time." She looked at him, eyebrows raised. "Han's father is flying us into the university tomorrow because of your hand." He shrugged. "We'll be there a whole day earlier than we expected."
Leia stared at the hand in her lap and murmured, "Maybe it was worth it..."
"Don't say that."
She looked sideways at him and caught the anguish in his eyes before he looked away.
"I thought you were going to die..." he murmured.
"I thought I was going to die," Leia agreed, quietly.