I see that a few readers have guessed what is coming next :) Thank you, everyone, for sticking with this story!
To the guest reviewer requesting something more lighthearted: Thank you for your wonderful words! My next fic, called Dawn to Dusk, will have angst but nothing traumatic, I promise :) In the meantime, I did a one-shot Valentine's Day challenge over at the Han and Leia fanfic writers' blog. It's fluffy romance, so perhaps that will satisfy you ;)
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Dressed in the olive colored uniform of the ground troops, Leia stood at the bottom of the transport's ramp, ready to board, along with her strike team. Although she had no insignia to show that she was the leader of this mission, the troops were well aware of who was in charge.
She ran through a mental inventory, a last minute check that nothing had been forgotten. Just as she finished a head count, a new party joined their ranks. Leia looked up to see Han Solo with a long, olive jacket over his standard black and white attire. He had a small travelpack slung over his shoulder and she realized that he had aligned himself with the rest of the group.
"What are you doing here?" she asked sharply.
"I'm going on the mission," he answered innocently.
Stunned, it took her a moment to respond. "But…you don't go on missions unless you're the pilot. And we have a pilot."
He shrugged. "Guess I do now."
Surprise turned to irritation. "What are you trying to do? Keep an eye on me?"
"Hey, I just heard they needed one more man on this mission, so here I am," he answered breezily.
A glance at her surrounding men showed that no one was paying them any mind. She was unable to keep her brow from tightening. "I am not some damsel in distress that needs saving."
"I dunno what you're talking about."
"You're not going on this mission just because we needed one more. You're here because you think I can't take care of myself."
Pushing all pretense aside, Han allowed the innocence in his visage to fade and his expression became grim. "All right, Princess. You're right. I'm not here for the good of the cause. I'm here to make sure you don't do anything stupid." His voice had risen and now, a few soldiers were glancing their way.
With an angry sigh, Leia stalked away from the group, beckoning him to follow. Out of earshot, she turned back to face him. "I am perfectly capable of making the appropriate decisions for the mission objective."
"I don't doubt that. But, I think you're willing to put yourself at risk. I don't think you're thinking clearly right now."
"Are you questioning my judgement?"
He stood up a bit straighter and his chin rose defiantly. "Yeah. Yeah, maybe I am."
"What the hell do you know?"
He took a step closer to her. "What I know is, you're working yourself to the bone. Whadda you get? Three, four hours sleep a night? You're practically working around the chrono. And now, you're taking on ground assaults? What the hell is that?"
"That, Solo, is my own concern, and none of yours."
"Fine! But I'll be right behind you every step of the way to make sure you don't get yourself killed."
"Why? What do you care?" she whispered angrily.
He faltered for a moment, and something vulnerable softened his eyes and pulled his lips from a frown. Then, he sneered at her. "It's what your father would've wanted."
She sucked in an angry breath. "Don't you dare bring my father into this. You know nothing about him."
"I know that he put you in a position of command so you wouldn't have to take a risk like this."
Rage was building inside her, a slowly churning whirlpool. "Father put me in a command position because he thought that was where I could best serve the Rebellion. But, I have decided that I can do more."
"Don't fool yourself. He wanted to keep you safe."
She drew up to her most regal stance. "As lead officer of this mission, I order you to remain behind."
Anger resounded in his eyes and he gave a derisive snort. "Yeah, but you're forgetting that I'm not a real member of the Alliance. So, I don't take orders."
She was seething now. "I don't want you on this mission."
"I'm sure you don't."
They stood in silence, venom spewing from their eyes, stubborn wills poised to defeat. Finally, Leia gathered her last few strands of self-control. Deciding that it was not worth the fight, she forced an aloof expression.
"Do whatever you want," she said in a dispassionate voice. "Just don't get in my way."
Head held higher than she currently felt, she marched back to the transport.
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As far as Han was concerned, his sole purpose on this mission was to protect Leia. She had tried to assign him to a squad other than hers, which he had flat-out refused. Now, all eight squads had gained access to the Imperial shipyard and were making their stealthy way to their assigned checkpoints.
During the journey to Montalto, they had argued over the diagram of the floor plan. Leia had mapped out the routes through the heating ducts, but Han looked it over and strongly suggested an alternative route. Back and forth they had bickered stubbornly, until he had finally tired of trying to fix her mistakes. Afterwards, she had taken him aside and lashed into him about undermining her orders in front of the troops.
Next, they had shared a bitter argument over who would lead her squad through their network of ducts. Eventually, he had given in and agreed to allow her to lead. She had assigned him to bring up the rear, and as he crawled through the narrow passage, he lamented the fact that his view consisted of the rear end of the male soldier in front of him, rather than the stubborn female in the lead.
Oh well, I didn't sign up for this mission for the view.
Crawling carefully forward on their hands and knees, the group remained silent, relying on typed-out messages to communicate when necessary. Up ahead, Leia had clipped a very small glow rod to her cap to light their way. Each member of the squad carried a pack that contained very powerful explosive devices.
The soldier crawling in front of him halted suddenly and Han bit back a swear when he almost crashed into him. His wrist comm buzzed and he held it up to read it.
Exit point ahead. Scan for life forms.
He sent Leia an acknowledging response and removed the scanner clipped to his belt. He turned it on, set the coordinates, and activated it. After examining the readout, he sent her another message.
Four. Two far left two far right.
This would be the tricky part. Taking out the Stormtroopers guarding this part of the large, multi-chambered hangar where the ships were stored, in various states of construction.
If all went as planned, they would deal a swift blow to the Imperial Fleet. If they failed, they would most likely be captured or killed. Han wasn't sure which of those two options was preferable.
Another buzz alerted him to Leia's response.
As per our position can we exit undetected?
He typed back to her: Exit yes. Approach will be tough.
Commencing exit, she responded immediately.
This wasn't going to be easy. Was she crazy, heading up this mission? It was a good thing he was here. He didn't trust these other Rebel buffoons.
Unable to see past the soldier ahead of him, Han waited impatiently. He hated being unaware of the situation. It wasn't his nature to simply wait. With little choice, he tried to force uncharacteristic patience.
After what felt like an endless time, his wrist comm buzzed again.
Exit clear. Guard update.
Han consulted his scanner again and sent her one last message.
Same positions.
Leia's final message told him she would begin the exit procedure. He saw dim light up ahead beyond the Rebel's behind, where Leia must have removed the grate at the end of the passage. There was no noise as they moved forward, each Rebel descending to the floor below.
At the drop, Han saw that the lights were lowered for night cycle, when all production was halted. He lowered himself lightly to the floor and scurried behind the partially constructed TIE Fighter with his comrades. He and Leia exchanged a sober glance, and instinctively, he knew they were thinking the same thing.
They would be unable to plant the explosives in the necessary areas without taking out the guards. This was the one step they were unprepared for, since all they had obtained was a blueprint, with no idea where the guards were stationed until they arrived. Not only did they have to eliminate these four guards, they had to hold out hope that the other seven squads would be able to accomplish the same.
Leia's eyebrows rose to his and he tossed her a grim look, thinking furiously. An idea came to him and he quickly sent her a message.
I sneak to other side. On my mark we shoot one and two, three and four. These two clowns backup.
He watched her read the message and could have sworn he saw one side of her mouth curl upwards. Eyes glimmering, she gave him a terse nod. Han nodded back then mentally mapped out his path to the other side of the hangar.
He was unused to tip toeing around, would have preferred a more direct attack. But, he had resigned himself to doing things Leia's way. He was generally much more impulsive.
He slipped around the TIE Fighter, peeked out and saw that he was in view of one of the Troopers. He waited with a silent sigh of impatience until the other Trooper spoke, causing the first one to look away. Han took that opportunity to sneak to the next vehicle, a finished TIE that was along his path to the other side of the hangar. From here, he was not visible to the guards, so he quietly moved behind the next TIE. He managed to make it to the final TIE Fighter undetected. He shot a quick message to Leia.
On my buzz shoot.
Copy, she sent back.
Blaster in hand, Han spied the Trooper farthest to the right and got into position. Ready to spring into action, he pressed the button to buzz Leia's comm then jumped out from his hiding spot.
He and Leia fired at the same moment, and Troopers one and four had no time to react. Number four went down quickly with a shot to the chest. As number three turned and raised his blast rifle, Han got off a shot to the shoulder, followed by one to the faceplate. He fell heavily to the floor and Han ran forward to provide backup to Leia as needed.
He should have known better. She had dispatched the two Troopers on her side, who now lay flat on the floor. Their eyes met and he tossed her a crooked grin that she responded to with a small, pleased smile. It disappeared quickly and she was all business again.
"Place your charges," she ordered.
The group scattered, making quick work of placing the charges in the planned spots, and setting them to detonate. Now, they just had to escape undetected.
Leia read a message on her comm. "All the charges are in place. Let's get out of here."
They followed her out the way they had entered, in the same order, with Han at the rear as they made their way through the darkness of night. They met at the clearing in the woods where they had first assembled. Leia did a head count then frowned. Han's eyes were on her the entire time.
"What?" he asked quickly.
She ignored him and began counting again. When she was finished, her brow furrowed. "We're short one."
From the edge of the crowd, a soldier spoke. "We lost Asham. He was shot in the leg and we couldn't take him out through the ducts."
Leia stepped up to him, expression hard, hands clenched. "Why wasn't I informed?"
A second soldier spoke from nearby. "There wasn't time, Your Highness."
"There wasn't time?" she echoed in a harsh voice that instantly cowed the man. Han saw his posture shift self-consciously as Leia continued speaking in a cold, angry voice. "I am your Commanding Officer. I am leading this mission." The fury was evident in her voice. "If there is any deviation from the plan, or any loss of personnel, I am to be informed immediately. Do you understand?"
His eyes were on the ground. "Yes, Your Highness."
The troops were silent in the soft light of the glow rods as Leia's gaze paused on each member, making certain that everyone had gotten her point.
"Now, all of you," she addressed the entire group. "Get to the transport."
Without a word, everyone began to rush in the direction where their transport had been set down. Han lingered back with her.
"Go on ahead." She gestured behind her with a raise of her chin.
"Yeah, c'mon."
"I'll be right there."
Suspicion crawled at the back of his mind. "What are you doing?"
Her expression was unreadable. "I have some unfinished business."
He had a bad feeling about this. "What business?" He allowed his suspicion to seep into his tone.
For a moment, she only looked at him, jaw taut, eyes shot through with irritation. "Don't question my orders. Get to the transport."
He stepped closer to her and his expression grew equally immovable. "You wanna go back for Asham."
The answer was obvious by the subtle tightening around her eyes but she said nothing.
"Dammit, there's no time to go back," he growled in a low voice.
That familiar hardness appeared in her eyes. "I'm not leaving a man down."
Thoroughly frustrated, Han slapped both hands at his sides and huffed a breath between his teeth. "You'll never get out before the explosives go off!"
"You don't know that for certain."
"I do know that, it's impossible."
"Every moment you waste on this argument lessens my chances."
"You don't have any chances cause you're not going back in there!"
"Get back to the transport, Han." Her voice was cold and crisp.
"Only if you're coming with me."
Her tone grew commanding. "That's an order. Get back to the transport!"
"I'm not going without you!"
"Fine. Then come with me for Asham."
"Do you have a death wish? We'll never make it in time!"
"I'm going in. If you wish to follow, fine. If you don't, that's fine, too."
She started to step around him, but he grabbed her by the arm and forced her to a stop. With ice in her eyes, she looked down at his hand as if she could freeze it with a glance. A lesser man would have let go; but, Han Solo was not easily intimidated.
"Let me go." Leia's voice was a deadly whisper.
"You're not going," he said in a low gnarl.
"You can't stop me." She tried to wrench her arm free, but Han tightened his grip.
"The hell I can't!" In one quick move, he encircled her, pinning her arms to her sides, and began dragging her towards the transport.
"What do you think you're doing?!" she raged, pushing up against his arms in an attempt to free herself.
"Saving your ass! Again!"
"Let me go! Put me down!" She struggled, thrashing and kicking.
She was stronger than she looked, which did not surprise Han. In this position, her combat moves were useless, but she managed to land a hard kick to his knee.
"Ow!"
"Let me go!"
A grunt escaped him as she bucked in his arms. "Not till we get to the transport, Your Worship." Dammit, she was strong. And as stubborn as a Fellucian hellcat.
Grunting and hissing with the effort, she continued to grapple in his arms, until finally, she relented and went still.
"All right!" she yelped. "All right! I won't go back! Now, put me down before the troops see this!"
Breathing harshly from the effort of holding her, he stopped and placed her on the ground. She spun to face him, murder in her eyes.
"How dare you!" she sputtered, seething.
Jaw set, he only stared back in silence, hands on hips, regaining his breath. She yanked her murderous glare away from him and stomped in the direction of the transport. Han watched her go, feeling drained both physically and emotionally.