The High Price of X-Wings

Set one year before ESB

The stars changed from a swirling blur to defined sparkles in a heartbeat as Captain Han Solo pulled the Millennium Falcon out of hyperspace. "There it is, everyone," Han declared rather unnecessarily, waving toward the blue and pink planet. "Tovar Prime, a true undiscovered gem in this charming galaxy."

"It's pretty," Luke replied, leaning forward to get a better view. "Why is it pink?"

"To lure some lady planet into its orbit," Han shot back quickly. "Can't blame a guy planet for tryin', can you?"

"Or maybe it's already a lady planet, and it doesn't need a male planet at all," Leia put in, biting her lip to keep from laughing.

Han twisted in his seat to look directly at the Princess. "Then that'd be one mixed up lady planet. All ladies need a man to keep them inside their proper orbit."

"Is that right?" Leia asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're under the delusion all females need a man for some outdated, boorish, Corellian reason?"

"Females that don't need a male don't know what they're missing." That comment was met with a loud guffaw from the Wookiee co-pilot, which caused Han to point his finger at Chewie. "Don't take her side again!"

*It's so hard not to,* Chewie barked out.

"Hey!" Luke interjected. "I wasn't trying to start another argument. I just said the planet was pretty. Have you ever been here before, Han?"

The Corellian shifted to face the viewport, his jaw clenching as he tried to remember details. "Uh, once. Long time ago."

*It was not all that long ago,* Chewie put in.

"And what, pray tell, went wrong with that transaction, a long time ago?" Leia asked, blinking her eyes innocently.

"What makes you think something went wrong?" Han asked, sounding mildly annoyed.

"Doesn't it usually?"

"NO!"

Chewie woofed in amusement. *Sure, Cub. Every single time we made a delivery, things just go swimmingly.*

"Oh, who asked you, furball?" Han said, frowning down at the controls while hoping things went better this time around. "We delivered some contraband hyper-drive connection sensors, got paid and left. Nothin' went wrong." He stared over at the Wookiee. "What do you remember going wrong?"

*Nothing much, that particular job, anyway.* Chewie licked his lower lip. *Except a bunch of local authorities tried to arrest us on the way back to the ship, which forced us to steal a landspeeder, and that caused the owner of said landspeeder to start shooting at us, which then caused a stray herd of nerfs to panic and stampede down the middle of the main road and pretty much destroy everything in their path - *

"Your memory is too damn good," Han snapped, interrupting Chewie's recollection.

"It was just an average day on the job, in other words," Luke said, grinning.

"You got it, kid."

"Remember, Captain," Leia told the Corellian, "you stay with Chewie on the ship and let me and Luke handle things once we land. We don't need stampeding herds of nerfs this time around."

"Sure, Sweetheart," Han quickly replied, repressing the urge to roll his eyes. "Whatever you say."

The planet was quite stunning. Instead of green grass and leaves, vegetation were shades of pale pink all the way to deep purple. Luke, with his overnight satchel in his hand, eagerly followed Princess Leia off the ramp and watched as a rather stout, elderly man dressed in brown robes headed in their direction, accompanied by a tall, beautiful woman with long silver hair. The woman was wearing a stunning, low cut gown that was obviously designed to match her hair. She stared openly at Luke as she approached, barely acknowledging the Princess. For a brief moment, Luke harbored the hope that the man walking next to her was a long-lost Jedi Knight, but as they both got closer Luke realized he was nothing of the sort.

The portly man scowled up at Luke, pointing toward the ship. "Is that dilapidated garbage scow yours?"

Leia was the one who replied, "No... it's our pilot's ship."

"YT-1300 freighter," the man commented. "Seen better days."

"So have you, buddy," Han was heard replying as he ducked down, exited the Falcon with his hand resting pointedly on his blaster. "You got a problem with my ship, you got a problem with me." Han's eyes darted over at the woman, taking a moment too long to linger at her cleavage, at least in Leia's opinion. She felt a rush of something she couldn't define - it certainly wasn't jealousy! - as the tall woman focused her full attention on the lanky pilot.

The Princess quickly stepped between the older man and Solo, glaring daggers toward Han for not remaining onboard. "I'm sorry, but we haven't been properly introduced. My name is Kait Lantry, and this is my associate," she waved at Luke, "Jake Guztoff." Indicating Han, she added, "And our pilot is, uh, Rusty... Kessel." Although the contacts knew they were dealing with rebels, High Command had decided that it would be wiser not to reveal the names of Leia Organa and Luke Skywalker, just in case things turned in the wrong direction.

"Welcome to our planet. May the sun never fail to warm your heart," the Countess said in a pre-determined greeting code.

"And may the moon of Yavin shine bright on those you love," Leia responded.

"My name is Countess Marchatti Carbonn," the woman said in a sultry voice, her eyes still on Solo. "I own the starfighter repair company, and you will be negotiating your deals directly with me." She finally turned her full attention at Leia, nodding toward the older man. "Introduce yourself," the Countess ordered her employee.

"Name's Xircon Willie, and I'll be escorting you to your room." He turned back toward Han. "Your daddy must have named you after your ship... Rusty." The man threw his head back laughing at his lame joke, which only increased Han's hostility.

"What'd your daddy name you after?" Han asked, sneering. "A Hutt's reproductive organ?"

Luke shot Han a shocked look while Xircon stopped laughing, his face turning a bright red at the insult. He raised his fists, almost daring Han to physically attack him, at least until Chewie appeared, walking down the ramp to stand behind his pilot while baring his fangs. Xircon lowered his arms and cleared his throat, glancing at the Countess, who seemed to be slightly annoyed at the exchange of insults.

"This way, Gentlebeings," Mr. Willie said addressing Luke and Leia while glaring briefly at Han. "I'm sure you'll find your accommodations quite pleasant, at least in comparison to what you've had to endure to arrive here."

As soon as Xircon, their sullen escort, slammed the door shut, Leia dropped her bag on the floor, turning her attention toward Han. "Are you incapable of listening to simple directions? What part of remain on the ship was too difficult for you to understand?"

"He was insultin' my ship!" Han protested. "Did you think I was just gonna listen to that kriffer say those things about my baby and not respond? And what's with calling me Rusty Kessel? You couldn't come up with somethin' better than that?"

"This is a really nice room," Luke commented, gazing around the vast, expensively decorated living area. He walked over to two sets of doors, peering inside each one. "It even has two bedrooms. And it has a balcony overlooking the entire city. I've never seen a pink city before." He looked down at his feet, bouncing up and down on his toes. "The carpeting is so thick and plush. I'll bet it's almost as soft as one of those giant beds."

"I was caught off-guard," Leia said defensively to Han while trying to ignore Luke's ramblings about their apartment. "You try to make up an alias that fast and see if you can do any better." Leia's lips quirked in amusement as she thought about Han's comment, despite her annoyance at his disobeying her orders to remain on the ship. "Your baby? I guess that explains the constant care it requires."

"The Countess is beautiful," Luke put in, still hoping to belay an argument. "Do you think she noticed me? I think she noticed me."

"Sure, kid," Han said, sighing. "You should go and ask her for a date later on."

"No one is asking anyone for a date," Leia snapped. "My meeting starts in thirty minutes, and I expect both you and Luke to behave while I'm gone. No drinking, no gambling, and no asking the local women out on dates. Do you understand me?"

"I don't drink and gamble!" Luke protested. "Except when Han makes me do those things."

"Why aren't you including Chewie in this lengthy list of orders?" Han asked, trying to appear put out.

"Chewie is an adult, so therefore he doesn't require supervision," Leia replied. "In fact, I expect Chewie to keep a close eye on you two."

*I will make them behave, Little Princess.*

"I always behave!" Luke argued loudly.

"I'm not gonna ask whose side you're on, ever again," Han groused at the Wookiee, who only patted the top of Han's head.

Two hours later,

Leia Organa was furious. She entered the room in such a huff that Luke could almost see the storm clouds shooting lightning bolts out of her eyes.

"We're leaving," Leia snapped. "Are you packed?"

"Uh..." Luke muttered, backing up a bit. "We just got here a few hours ago. I haven't had time to unpack anything yet."

The Princess whipped her head around, glaring. "Where is that worthless Corellian?"

Luke Skywalker bit his lower lip nervously. When Leia had left less than an hour earlier to negotiate some supplies with a rich trader, she had been in a good mood. She had even traded light-hearted jabs back and forth with Solo, and neither one seemed to take it personally. What had occurred between now and then was anyone's guess.

"Han and Chewie left to pick up some dinner and bring it back to the room," Luke explained. "They should be back soon."

"Good. As soon as he gets here, we're leaving this system, and hopefully never coming back."

"So I take it the trade deal fell through?"

Leia flushed. "It barely got off the turf. She wanted something I couldn't ... I mean, the rebellion couldn't give her."

"Well, fifteen re-conditioned X-Wings are quite valuable," Luke said. "She must've been asking for a lot of credits and the rebellion didn't have enough money?"

Leia stomped over to her own separate bedroom, flinging her satchel on the bed and stuffing her clothes inside. "She offered us thirty X-Wings."

"Thirty?" Luke asked, eyes wide in shock. "Wow.. are you sure you couldn't negotiate?" He'd never known Leia to give up this quickly in the past.

"I'm sure," Leia shot back hotly.

"So, how many credits was she asking for?"

"Nothing. Zero. Zip."

Luke was confused. "Nothing? As in, no money?"

"No. No money," Leia said, refusing to turn around to face Luke who had followed her and was standing just inside the doorway.

"Free?"

"Nothing is free, Luke."

"What did she want?"

"I can't... I can't tell you."

"Why?" Luke prodded.

Leia spun back to face Luke, her jaw working and her eyes blazing. "If I tell you, you can never, ever repeat this."

"Won't you have to tell High Command?"

"I guess I'll tell Rieekan, but that's it. He'll understand why I left so quickly. I hope so, anyway."

"Sooo?"

"She wanted a six month commitment for a, um, companion, I guess you could call it that."

"Companion?"

"A LOVE SLAVE!" Leia yelled at her clueless friend while her face flushed.

"She wanted you?"

"GODDESSES, NO!"

"Chewie?"

"Are you crazy?" Leia shouted, exasperated at her friend. "Not me or Chewie... she likes men. Good looking men to play the part as her little pet while she orders them around."

"She wanted me to be her love slave?" Luke asked, his eyes nearly popping out of his head, completely unaware of how hopeful his tone sounded. He thought back on their brief meeting with the elegant and beautiful Marchatti Carbonn, the wealthy and sole owner of CarbonnSystems Enterprises, when they disembarked from the Falcon only a few hours ago. Luke certainly hadn't gotten the impression she'd taken an instant liking to him, at least not in that way! He wondered, somewhat sullenly, why Leia couldn't have at least asked him if he'd consider the offer before flatly turning down the nice, lonely lady's offer. Miss Carbonn obviously had great taste in men, and Luke was about to point that out when Leia rudely interrupted his musings.

Leia sighed then looked up at the ceiling. "Not you either, Luke."

Understanding, which felt a bit like a punch in the gut, finally dawned. "Oh... OHHHH. Han!"

"Yeah?" a deep voice said from the main room. "I'm back. What's the matter? Why is Leia back so soon?"

Leia glared at Luke, her face stony. "Not a word!"

"Okay. Got it." This was something Luke didn't mind one bit promising, since he was quite certain Han would find it necessary to brag and point out what a superior male specimen the galaxy-wise Corellian was compared to the naive kid from Tatooine.

The Princess grabbed her satchel and stormed out of the bedroom, pushing past Solo. "If you want that food, then you'd better bring it to the Falcon, Flyboy. We're out of here."

With that proclamation, Leia exited the room, leaving the two men and the Wookiee staring after her.

"What's her problem?" Han asked, none too amused at having taken a long space trip with nothing to show for it but for several bags of dinner.

"I hope you're happy. You really need to stop upsetting Leia all the time," Luke snidely informed his befuddled friend, grabbing his own baggage from the floor before hurrying to catch up to the Princess. Annoyed at this turn of events, the young Jedi preferred not making small talk with the Corellian right now, and it was now quite obvious that Miss Carbonn had poor taste in men.

Han stood for a few moments, glaring down the now empty hallway. "Why am I always the only sane human being on the planet, Chewie?"

Chewie shrugged as he entered the corridor. *Don't leave the food behind, Cub.*

Back on the Rebel Base of Noir Yeto

Leia avoided all contact with Han during the trip back to base, claiming she had a headache and needed to rest. Although she had desperately wanted to only meet with General Rieekan for her debriefing, both General Dodonna and General Madine insisted they were entitled to be present in the conference room when Leia went over her short and disastrous negotiations with Countess Carbonn.

The Princess kept her eyes focused on the tabletop as she relayed her meeting. "She offered us thirty X-Wings."

"THIRTY?" Dodonna gasped. "That could make a serious difference in our upcoming military engagements."

"At what price per unit?" Madine quickly asked, his head bobbing in eagerness.

"She didn't, uh, ask for credits."

"A trade then?" Carlist Rieekan asked gently. Something felt off with this entire mission; Leia had never seemed so reluctant to disclose whatever issues had come up that put such a fast halt to negotiations.

"Yes, I guess you could call it a trade," the Princess replied, still not meeting anyone's eyes.

"What kind of trade? Was it so unreasonable you had to walk away that quickly?" Dodonna prodded.

Leia took a deep breath. "Yes, it was pretty unreasonable. At least I think it was."

"Can you be a bit more specific?"

"I'd rather not. Can't you just trust me on this?"

"It was something that idiot Solo did, wasn't it?" Madine snapped. "He must have offended the Countess."

"No, not exactly."

"Then, what exactly did he do?"

"He left the ship after I asked him to remain onboard," Leia replied testily. "He never listens to me. This wouldn't have happened if he'd listened!"

"So, something insulting immediately came out of that cad's mouth," Madine surmised smugly. "I knew it."

"He didn't say anything at all to the Countess. He did insult her Aide, but she apparently wasn't too upset about that, considering the fact her Aide insulted Han first."

"Could we get to the point instead of all this dancing around?" Dodonna questioned, his fingers tapping impatiently on the shiny black tabletop. "What happened?"

"She said we could have thirty X-Wings if, um, someone agreed to stay on Tovar Prime for six months and keep her company."

"I don't understand," Dodonna said, his face blank. "Company?"

Rieekan rubbed his forehead. "I think I understand. The Countess saw Solo, then decided she wanted him for her concubine." He looked closely at Leia's flushing face. "Am I guessing this correctly?"

"Yes," Leia choked out. "Exactly."

"Why, in all that's holy in everyone's otherworldly realms, would any sane woman want Solo!?" Dodonna screeched out.

Leia's head snapped up as she glared at her fellow rebel leader. "As a sane woman, I can assure you that he's not that undesirable, you know."

"Wait a second," Madine said, holding up his hand. "Six months? She only wanted a six month commitment from him?"

"That was her offer, and she wouldn't budge." Leia sighed, staring at the stone wall which had copious amounts of gray mold slowly oozing down in the corner. The stately home where the Countess lived was a million times nicer than any base the rebels had in the past, or were likely to reside in the future. For a brief moment, Leia wished she could be back there in that expansive mansion. "I tried to reason with her. I tried to offer her credits. I tried to point out we can't sell someone, even for six months, in exchange for X-Wings."

"Did you ask Solo if he'd do this?" Madine questioned. "For the good of the rebellion, of course. After all, it would only be for six months."

"ASK HIM?" Leia yelled, standing up to glare down at the now somewhat abashed Corellian general. "I should've ASKED Han if he'd mind being a PROSTITUTE for SIX MONTHS for the GOOD OF THE REBELLION? Are you insane?"

"Leia," Rieekan put in, "please keep this discussion professional. Calling someone insane is rather, uh, rude."

Madine scowled at the Princess. "Yes, I suppose if he heard this woman's demand, his already huge ego would explode."

Leia threw her hands up in the air, spun around and headed toward the exit. "This meeting is over. We'll have to get X-Wings from somewhere else."

"Apparently this meeting is over," Rieekan repeated as he watched the Princess slam out of the meeting. "No one is to tell this to anyone on base. Half the beings will think it's a joke, and the other half will have the opinion he should have gone along with it. You know, for the good of the rebellion." He directed his statement at Madine.

"I won't tell Solo, so don't worry about it," Madine groused, grabbing his datapad and storming out of the room.

"I'm too old for this, Carlist," Dodonna stated, clutching his chest.

Two days later...

"So, were you ever gonna tell me?" Han asked casually, crossing his arms and leaning up against the wall of the cafeteria while Leia filled her cup with kaffe.

The Princess took a moment to gather her wits, then slowly lifted her gaze up at Han. "Tell you what?"

"That I'm so irresistible to the women of the galaxy that they'll try to come up with whatever schemes they can to catch me and keep me around 'em," Han said smugly. He gazed into his reflection on the metal of the kaffe maker, stroking his chin in contemplation. "Can't say as I blame 'em."

Leia felt her heart start hammering in her chest. Was this about what had happened back on Tovar Prime? If so, who had spilled the kaffe and told Solo the details of her meeting? Perhaps Madine had decided to ask Han directly and find out if his fellow Corellian would agree to the Countess' demands and return for the X-Wings. "Yet again, I... I don't know what you're talking about. If you want to leave, then leave already. I don't find you irresistible, and I'm not trying to keep you around!" The Princess glanced up toward the craggy, stone roof, wondering if a rock would fall on her head for speaking such obvious lies aloud.

Solo gave a wide, cocky grin. "Sure you aren't tryin' to keep me around. That's why you told the rich an' beautiful Countess what's-her-name to go jump outta an airlock when she asked to have me for her lover."

Someone had told him! When Leia found out who talked, they were dead. That's all there was to it. In the meantime, she needed to practice damage control. "I told her no such thing! It wouldn't have mattered who she asked me for, I would have turned her down. The rebellion isn't a slave trader, and we place a high value on all of our members, including those that won't formally commit." She narrowed her eyes at Han. "Who told you, anyway?"

"Janson," Han answered with a shrug. "He found out from Luke during a sabacc game ... you remember him, Luke Skywalker? The farmboy pilot that claims he never gets drunk or gambles?"

"I should never have confided in Luke," Leia mumbled under her breath.

"Prolly not," Han agreed. "But, just so you know, I'm worth way more'n thirty old X-Wings. You should've held out and you might've gotten two hundred new ones, and a few Corvette transports thrown in for good measure, too."

"You aren't even worth one rusty old landspeeder, Rusty Kessel," Leia declared as she turned to hurry away from the egotistical pilot. "The Countess obviously has mental issues if she wanted you in exchange for anything at all."

Han got in one last comment as he loudly shouted across the crowded cafeteria, "I think the Countess has great taste in men, Princess! It's the females that refuse to see my multiple charms that have mental issues!"

Face flushing and while trying to ignore the many open stares, Leia said through gritted teeth, "I'm going to kill Luke."

THE END