Splinter of the Mind's Eye: The Review

Splinter of the Mind's Eye was the first ever EU book, coming out only a year after the first movie came out. This book came out before I was even born and this was the first time I'd read it. This means I have been avoiding reading this book for my entire life until Push made me after she thought up this EU book club idea and said we weren't allowed to skip this one.

Interesting bit of trivia I found while researching this: this book was written originally as a possible low-budget sequel if Star Wars wasn't successful. That is why Han isn't in it - Harrison Ford never signed a contract for multiple movies - and why it all takes place on one stupid planet with pretty limited action or big-budget elements. Other unfortunate fact: Obviously this occurs before anyone had any idea that Luke and Leia were siblings, so expect ickiness throughout.

I first discovered the existence of Star Wars books when I was sixteen, and there were plenty of EU novels already out there to choose from. But the ones I read all took place after the movies. If I didn't buy them myself I'd borrow them from my cousin who already had the ones that had come out, mostly nice, fat hard covers. Then one day I noticed a small little paperback with Luke, Leia and Vader on the cover. "Is this book any good? When does it happen?" "Oh, that one is after the first movie. It's... kind of weird." "Is Han Solo in it?" "No." "Okay, I don't care, then."

So, a synopsis. Luke and Leia are flying near Mimban and wind up crash landing. They are both in separate vessels, Leia with Threepio and Luke with Artoo (just about the only thing that actually makes sense or resembles what Star Wars usually is). They wind up wandering around until they find a mining town and steal some clothes to look like miners. Some creepiness ensues right away with changing clothes in front of each other, or at least pretending to look away.

They have to spend a night in the woods which requires the building of a fire and... wait, I threw up a little in my mouth... sleeping in each other's arms. Luke has lots of un-brotherly thoughts about the sister he doesn't yet know about.

They wind up in a bar to get some food and an Imperial comes and starts asking them some questions. Luke tells him that Leia is his servant. At some point during this exchange for some reason Luke finds it necessary to slap Leia across the face. Yep, he hits her. I still can't figure out exactly what he was hoping to accomplish there and it just comes out of nowhere. Eventually the Imperials leave them alone and this old woman, Halla, comes over and starts talking to them when she senses that Luke is a Force-user. She takes out the Kaiburr crystal which magnifies and focuses the Force. She only has a small piece of it and it is agreed that if Luke and Leia help her find the rest she will help them get off planet. Apparently they don't have Han's number on the Falcon to call him so he can come pick them up.

Upon exiting the bar, Leia kicks Luke in the shins to make up for his slapping her - which I don't think at all makes them even. And then she just quickly goes, "No hard feelings?" Oh, yeah, sure, that makes it okay to slap a woman. It doesn't end there though, as for some reason they start fighting in the mud. Now they're eleven I guess or something, being brother and sister fighting in the mud. Because, you know, that will never draw unwanted attention. Oh, but wait, that backfired because they are noticed and arrested by Imperials.

Once they are in jail they get questioned some more and Leia takes another beating from the supervisor. She gets kicked around some and then he threatens to punch her before Luke finally admits that she means something to him and he doesn't want to see her get hurt. There is talk of an Imperial governor and Leia starts to have Vader and Tarkin interrogation flashbacks and is so overwhelmed that she.... faints. That sounds like the Leia you know, right? The crystal is confiscated and they are thrown in jail with some big, hairy aliens that might have killed them if Luke didn't communicate with them. One of these guys is named Hin. Maybe so we sort of feel like Han is in the book.

Halla helps them all escape and they get into a stolen vehicle to go where Halla believes the rest of the crystal is and they drive for literally days. They get attacked by some weird creature and all scatter, leaving Luke and Leia to escape by some floating thing in a lake, and they paddle and paddle and stay on the stupid thing for so long that they sleep... for twelve hours. When they finally go to get off the boat, Leia freaks out and Luke carries her like some damsel in distress with her eyes shut tight and she tells him she can't swim and is afraid of water. Yes, most princesses with privileged childhoods don't know how to swim. But the farm boy who grows up on the planet that is so dry that they have to farm water apparently has no problem with it.

Luke has to fight some Coway - think the weird South American guys by the City of Gold in Indy IV - in a sort of gladiator-esque match once they meet up again with Halla and the droids. Of course he wins (that's why we got a second movie) and then the Coway become their allies, much like the 180 with the Ewoks in Jedi from wanting to eat them to welcoming them to the tribe and helping them defeat the Empire.

Luke eventually senses Vader arriving, and he shows up with some other Imperials but the Coway help make the battle a bit tougher than anticipated and Vader winds up retreating. Yeah, that sounds normal, too. They make it to the temple where they think the crystal is. Rubble falls from the ceiling and hurts Luke and Vader shows up. So what now? Leia grabs his lightsaber and steps up. Somehow, randomly, she apparently knows how to spar well enough against a Sith as powerful as Vader and avoids getting her arm and/or head sliced off.

She does not, however, do well enough to prevent Vader from getting a few hits in, mostly slicing away portions of her clothes. This definitely reminded me of one of the few things I recall about Episode II - the part where Padme's shirt is gratuitously ripped perfectly at the bottom to expose her midriff. As if I needed another reason to lose complete respect for the prequels.

Leia is fairly badly injured and Luke finally steps up and takes over, somehow not only holding his own but cutting off Vader's arm. What is it with Jedi and arm severing? Vader falls into a pit and Luke has to use the crystal to heal a badly wounded - and dangerously overexposed - Leia and of course they make it out alive.

There is.... so much wrong with this book. It's hard to even know where to begin. For starters, the two main characters? They're not Luke and Leia. You'll never convince me that they are, and for so many reasons. Leia goes back and forth between acting all high and mighty to acting like a helpless little girl, needing the big strong man to keep her warm at night and carry her over the water because she's so scared. She flips out at the memories of her torture on the Death Star and she cries a whole bunch even though seeing her own home planet destroyed in the movies didn't seem to give her cause to shed tears.

And the swimming thing. You know, in some form of EU it is implied that each one of these characters can't swim, except they are all contradictory as to which one. Here, Leia can't swim but Luke can. In the Han Solo Trilogy, Han can't swim until she-who-must-not-be-named teaches him. In the Marvel comics it's Luke who can't swim and Han and Leia have no problem with it. Of all the characters it makes the most sense to me that Luke wouldn't be able to swim. I mean, aside from the fact that there is no water on Tatooine, I also doubt Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru were taking him to the Y for swim lessons. I'm sorry, but a princess growing up in a well-to-do family would know how to swim.

Luke is all self assured and confident and just nowhere near the insecure farmboy we knew in ANH. He's running the show and Leia is following along. Maybe Leia wouldn't completely lead the mission in something like this, but I'd think they'd at least operate as equals. And for gods' sakes, Luke, stop thinking about your sister like that! Our only consolation is that they do not kiss. He gawks at her in her sleep and gets disappointed when she doesn't change clothes in front of him, apparently. None of his thoughts or dialogue really sound like Luke to me. Plus, I'm sorry, I really don't think that Luke would ever slap Leia, even if they were supposedly playing these little roles. Just... no.

The book is generally written well - as in the author knows how to nicely string together sentences and paragraphs - but other than that, it has pretty much no redeeming qualities. There was not a single moment that made me smile or made me think I was seeing an example of a good moment for these characters I usually enjoy so much. The characterizations are scary bad. They don't speak or act anything like the people I know from the movies. The story itself is just plain boring. It's probably the shortest complete book in the entire EU and it moves slow. The beginning takes forever with Luke basically just wondering where Leia is after she crashed. Then it is another eternity of camping for no other reason than making sure that they have to sleep together (in the literal sense, not like sleep together) and Luke can think about how she isn't hesitating when touching him or wrapping her arms around him.

Then they're in the bar forever. Then they fight in the mud for no reason and go to jail where Leia can get kicked around some more. Then they drive for days. I think we can all be eternally grateful that Star Wars was the success that it was and this atrocity was not made into a cheap sequel.

Another obvious, glaring problem? No Han! I'll admit it is not 100% required for Han to be in a book in order for me to like it, as evidenced by Shadows of the Empire (which we will read in a few weeks). But if you're leaving him out, you better write a damn good book for me to be interested. And this is definitely not it. Han is mentioned literally once when Luke thinks about how he and Han were the ones who rescued her. Other than that, neither one ever thinks or speaks of him. Apparently in this book he really did high-tail it out of there after the award ceremony to pay off Jabba and go back to smuggling and sleeping around.

Luke and Leia, without much or any lightsaber training, don't have much trouble facing Vader in a duel. Sure. Let's leave out the fact that by now Vader would've known that those two were his kids, but it also gets distracting when they keep referring to Luke's lightsaber as "his father's lightsaber." It just makes you see again why this book should be burned and we should pretend it doesn't exist in much the same way the powers that be pretend there was never any Star Wars Holiday Special.

And maybe it was just because my reading comprehension was low on this one due to being in denial at just how bad it was but I didn't care about the story in the slightest. There was a crystal and they were trapped and they went to jail for some reason and then Vader showed up out of nowhere but first lots of random alien creatures attacked them... it just had no cohesive narrative. Or none that I picked up.

I've read most of the EU books. There are a few that I've strongly disliked and one or two that I hated. But even in those books I've never been able to bring myself to deny that there might have been one or two things in there that I liked. Maybe one little kiss between Han and Leia or even one lousy little sentence about one or both of them that I liked. This book has no redeeming qualities. It's not even in the "so bad it's good" category. To foreshadow a bit, I really, really didn't like The Crystal Star. The book takes place much later, after they have the kids and they're kidnapped and weird stuff happens.

I promised myself I'd never have to read that book again (but Push is making me) but if someone I knew decided they wanted to read the EU books I'd still tell them they should read it just to understand what it was about and why it was so weird. And there are probably a few little things in it I enjoyed, although I can't remember. Wait, I think at one point Han at least goes to great lengths to try and save Leia. There is nothing in this book that I could say, "Yeah, you should at least read it for that." You should do yourself a favor and not bother.

So, this makes rating the book pretty easy. I'm seriously giving it a zero. I mean, on the Han and Leia scale, the woman in it is not Leia and even if she was she seems to have completely forgotten that Han existed and you can't blame her since the book treats him like he doesn't exist. Any and all incestuous sexual tension happens between Luke and Leia, or at least the fake Luke and Leia in this book. I guess the only good thing I can say about this book is that it was short!

"Are You Ready?"

CHAPTER XXIX

High Court, New Republic, Coruscant, Six Months Later…

Some of the last of the remaining Imperials were standing trial in court as the New Republic continued to establish itself as the new galactic government.  Leia Solo sat in the courtroom next to her husband, his hand laying protectively over hers.  It had been months and months of trials and guilty verdicts and although Leia and Han hadn’t found it necessary to be present at every single one, there were a few that they couldn’t miss.  This was one of them.

After so much of the Imperial Remnant had been swept away, this particular group of engineers and commanders had not only been difficult to find, but their capture had been highly anticipated by many.  They were responsible for the development and deployment of most all of the Empire’s sadistic torture machines and weapons of mass destruction, including the interrogator droid that Leia had faced on the Death Star, the scan grid that Han had been strapped to on Bespin and the planet-destroying terror that was the Death Star itself.

As a tidy list of the expansive and gruesome devastation that the creations of these men and women had created was read aloud, Leia placed her hand upon her swollen belly and caressed it.  As much as she tried to remain impassive and removed from the proceedings, clearly her discomfiture was being felt by her highly adept, Force-sensitive son that was growing inside of her.  Han squeezed her other hand and glanced at her worriedly.  She offered a reassuring smile as the judge called the courtroom to silence to announce the verdicts.

She and Han rose to their feet along with the prosecution, defendants and the rest of the spectators.  It had been much easier to pursue justice on the Grand Moffs and other leaders who had ordered the total annihilation of entire cities or the torture of innocent citizens, but these cases and charges were not as clear cut.  Many of the engineers asserted that they had no idea what the Empire was doing with their research and discoveries.  However, with names like Death Star and The Agony Inducer already penned in their laboratories, it had been argued that it was nearly impossible for the inventors to be completely oblivious to their final uses.

The most damning evidence, in the end, was the fact that this same research facility recreated a bigger and better Death Star even after the destruction of Leia’s home planet of Alderaan by the first one of the same name.  There was another twitch in Leia’s abdomen as she waited for the judge to read the final verdicts.  She did not wish to see these people face corporate punishment, but she certainly hoped that they would spend the rest of their lives in a New Republic prison contemplating how they had chosen to utilize their goddess-given gifts. 

Nothing could bring back that which these people had taken away, but at the very least, justice could be served and as these were the last to stand trial, this part of her life, of everyone’s life, could finally be laid to rest.  After today’s proceedings, the New Republic and the galaxy with it, could truly begin anew, no longer with their attention focused on the past but with their eyes to the future.

The judge read the first of the charges.  Leia’s stomach tightened.  “Guilty,” the judge stated flatly and Leia slowly released the breath she had been holding.

Han wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed.  Leia ran her hand over her stomach.  The judge read the next set of charges.  The word rolled off the judge’s lips again, “Guilty.”

“It’s almost over, sweetheart,” Han whispered in her ear while the judge read the next set of charges.  Some beings in the courtroom had begun whimpering, sniffling and some others even exclaiming in triumphant outbursts. 

The judge had to call for order before he read the next verdict.  Leia felt a twinge run along her stomach in anticipation.  “Guilty,” was pronounced once again.

Leia closed her eyes and pressed her face against Han’s chest.  He hugged her more tightly and kissed the top of her head.  She would not let the tears come forth.  All her tears had been shed years ago, all her grief released.  Today was not about her loss or her pain but about freedom and closure.  A million guilty verdicts wouldn’t compensate for the lives taken by the hands of the Empire and a million years may not heal all of the physical and mental wounds. 

“Guilty.”  She heard the word once again and it rippled through the crowd like a tumultuous wave. 

She and Han had been sitting in an audience chamber that was supposed to be separated from the general populace but after the judge had begun to announce the verdicts it seemed that security had been overwhelmed by agitated beings.  The noise of the courtroom had reached a crescendo and her stomach twisted painfully.  The large human next to her jostled against her roughly and she had to struggle to maintain her footing as off-balanced as she was in her current state.

“Han, I think we should go,” she said, pulling away from him and looking up at his face.

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” he agreed as he began to guide her cautiously through the maddening crowd.

The exit was deadlocked in a bottle neck of beings trying to leave the courtroom and Han and Leia patiently tried to work their way through.  Another pain, this one shooting and sharp, rippled across her stomach nearly making her hunch over from its affect.  Disassociating herself from the emotional turmoil of the courtroom, Leia centered her thoughts on her body and concentrated.

“Han,” she breathed out, squeezing his hand to get his attention.  “We need to get out of here.”

“I know, sweetheart.  I’m trying.”

“No, I mean,” she hesitated, working through another wave of pain.  “We need to get to a hospital.  I think the baby’s coming.”

Han’s face blanched white for a quick moment before it was replaced by the grim determination she had had so many occasions to witness throughout their relationship.  Suddenly the wall of humans and aliens that had stood before them began to part as if by a miracle or some sort of Force trick that Luke would’ve done.  But it wasn’t the Force, or any miracle, just an overprotective, crazy Corellian that let nothing stand in the way of safety and those that he loved.

Han was letting out low, guttural growls of warning that would’ve made Chewbacca proud as he led Leia through the wide path that people had begun to make for them.  As soon as they were in the great hallway of the courthouse, Han began calling for a medic on both his comlink and into the air for anyone within a parsec away to hear. 

As the crowd thinned, Han had picked up his pace still speaking rapidly into his comlink, but Leia was hard-pressed to keep up with him, especially in her current condition.  “Han, slow down.  I can’t keep up with you,” she pleaded.

He turned back to look at her, almost as if he had forgotten about her in his hurried panic.  What exactly he saw, she didn’t know.  But it was enough to motivate him to scoop her up in his arms and head for the exit in long, loping strides.

Once outside, they were finally ushered into an awaiting ambulance and the medics began to hook Leia up to scanners and various monitors.

“Han?”  Leia called out.  Now, lying on her back she could only see the metal ceiling of the ambulance and three strangers hovering over her busily.

“I’m right here, sweetheart.”

She heard his voice and felt him squeeze her hand and she breathed a little easier. 

“How is she fellas?”  Han asked, from what she could tell he was hovering somewhere around her stomach.

“Her heart rate is elevated, keep talking to her.  We’re trying to get a read on the baby,” one of the medics answered, the one to her left who was currently poking her in the arm.

“Her heart rate is always elevated when I’m around, that’s what got us into this mess in the first place,” Han joked, giving her hand another squeeze.  “Try to calm down, sweetheart.  They’ll be plenty of time for that later.”

Leia shook her head and smiled.  If she wasn’t currently tethered to a million different monitors she would’ve slapped him.  Her stomach tightened and she concentrated on working through another contraction.  As the fist of pain loosened its grip on her, she replied, “You may never get another chance to get me in this condition, flyboy.”

“You’re doing great.  Your heart rate is leveling.  The baby’s sounding fine.”  This came from the medic on her right and she breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

“Call Luke,” she whispered as the ambulance turned a corner and began to climb up an incline.

“Already done.  He pinged me about ten seconds after you asked to go to the hospital.  You’d think he was in labor, too.”

“Chewie?”  She asked.

“Covered.  And Rieekan, Lando, Mon Mothma, the entire Alliance is on alert.  It’s like another Death Star is entering the galaxy.”

“Not funny,” she replied as her brain began to catch up with the entire situation.  After nine months of waiting it was hardly conceivable that the time was finally here and no matter how much they had planned and talked about this, it still seemed…unexpected.  “Are you ready for this?”  She asked, trying to lift her head and find him.

“Would it matter if I said no?”  He joked back as he slid a little forward so that she could see his face.

“I guess not.”  She laid her head back down on the pillow and breathed deeply.

He ran his hand along her forehead and then down her cheek.  “How 'bout you?  Are you ready?”

She nodded her head and smiled at him.  Out of every role that had been thrust upon her in her life, princess, politician, rebel, none had seemed to come easier and more naturally to her than wife and now mother.  “I can’t wait to meet our son,” she finally answered him as another crushing contraction began to bear down on her.

Han held her hand and watched the monitors spike in distress.  “I think the feeling’s mutual,” he muttered as he stood helplessly by her side.

To Be Continued....

Quickie Challenge (#4)

The following story was submitted by PUSH

Okay, so this is my contribution to the "Quickie Challenge"
I'm still looking forward to a few more submissions!
In fact, if you want to read Zyra's,
we would really like to get at least ONE more submission....

Meanwhile...enjoy:

Han and Leia Solo were on Mirial, a small planet in the Outer Rim that hugged the arcing end of the Hydian Way right before it entered the Corporate Sector.  They were there on New Republic business, a dynamic duo when it came to making things happen, they were in high demand by the Galactic Chief of State.  So long as they were allowed to travel together, that suited them just fine.

Their assignment had them staying on Mirial for two standard weeks and they were wrapping up their visit with an evening to themselves, free from conferences and after-hour engagements.  It would just be the two of them, on a planet that hardly recognized them as anyone of substance.  There weren’t many beings who would understand what a novelty it would be to be able to walk around, dine and dance without it being a galactic spectacle.  For Han and Leia, to be ordinary was a particular treat.  

Han hadn’t been especially pleased that they would be spending their one day off dressing up in fancy clothes.  But he complied mostly without complaint, especially after accepting a promise from Leia that she would find a way to make it worth his while and when she appeared in their living room suite with a low cut dress, he decided the night might not be a total loss after all. 

They took a rented hover limo to the Planetary Arena a few dozen city blocks away where the Galaxy Faire happened to be in town.  Lando Calrissian had gotten them tickets, apparently he knew the owner of the traveling show.  Not that Han and Leia Solo couldn’t have gotten tickets themselves, but this way provided them with some much appreciated added obscurity.  Leia had been delighted to find out that the faire happened to coincide with their trip, having remembered attending the event during her childhood. 

The Galaxy Faire was basically a large arena or ballroom transformed into a miniature replica of the universe.  Music, artworks, history and cuisine all spread out like an encyclopedia come to life.  It was a black tie affair, usually only attended by the planetary elite and attached to some fundraiser or charity.  There was a greater chance that this group would be more apt to recognize one of the Solos, but the crowd would be substantial and of course, the upper crust of Mirial was sure to be a far cry from the aristocracy of Coruscant or most any other Core World.

After checking their coats in, they entered the arena near the end of the Sanctuary Pipeline and began their tour of the galaxy with local delicacies from Bakura, Rattatak and Endor.  They meandered along the Corellian Trade Spine stopping at Nkllon, Devaron and ending up, of course, with a visit to Corellia.  A few planets away, there was an elegant display in the Caamasi cluster in remembrance of Alderaan.  Leia was pleased to find them serving Alderaanian fire water and Han accepted a large mug of Alderaanian ale.

Everything on the displays was complimentary and there was no shortage of server droids and humanoid waiters.  As the couple traveled along the Perlemian Trade Route they found their glasses being refilled after nearly every planetary orbit.  Han noted with pleasure that Leia seemed to be especially giddy and relaxed and he decided that getting dressed up had been well worth the price of seeing her enjoy herself and let loose a little bit, even though this particular festivity wouldn’t have been his idea of a night out on the town. 

He left Leia near an aquarium display at Mon Calamari in search of the men’s refresher.  On his way back to her, he was stopped by a long-winded bureaucrat who recognized Han not from his infamous galactic exploits, but as the ‘consort’ of Princess Leia.  Several refills of Alderaanian ale later, he finally broke free from the man only to return to Mon Calamari to find that Leia was no longer there.

He ambled slowly through the exhibits, targeting those that they had not already visited.  A quick check of his chrono and he realized that nearly a standard galactic hour had passed since he had seen his wife and he began to get worried.  Opting to try to clear his head a little, he set his glass down on the ledge of an exhibit and headed across a blank expanse of the Unknown Regions, something he wouldn’t have done in the Falcon without calculating a series of long and complicated hyperspace jumps.

Somewhere in the distance Han could hear a jizz band wailing on their instruments and the lighting of the arena had dimmed to a nice rendition of a misty twilight evening.  Han finally spotted Leia standing by herself at the end of what he thought might be the Corellian Run near a table that he suspected to be Tatooine.  His own navigational system was a bit distorted by a drunken haze and he walked through the displays like the Falcon through an asteroid field.

“What’s a nice girl like you doing in the Outer Rim?”  He whispered into the curtain of tresses that spiraled down the back of Leia’s neck.

When she turned around and giggled and splashed a bit of fire water on the arid table that was Tatooine, Han considered thoughtfully that it was lucky for them that they had sprung for a hover limo that night. 

“Waiting to be rescued,” she breathed out, trailing one arm around his neck while she brought her full glass of fire water up to her mouth with the other.  Her eyes were lidded over with an alcoholic lust that sent pleasant signals straight to Han’s nether regions.

He took a moment to enjoy the warm, pliable body pressed up to his, while he deftly took the drink from her lips and set it down on the table.  “I think you’ve had enough of that, Princess,” he chided her.  When one of them wasn’t thinking clearly, the other obviously had to; it was a rare occasion when this responsibility fell on him.  “Do you even know how many of these you’ve had?”

She shrugged.  “Every time I looked up, my glass was full,” she explained whimsically, waving her hand like an assistant at a magic show.  “Like a perfect reflection of my life,” she added, both arms around his neck now and a look of pure bliss stamped across her face.

Han planted his hands low on her back and reveled in the sight snuggled up against him, with the weight of the universe seemingly lifted from her shoulders she looked like the young girl he had met on the Death Star all those years ago.  He smiled down at her, returning her toothy grin with a sideways smirk of his own.  “You’re drunk,” he stated without accusation or judgment.

She seemed unperturbed by his assessment.  “And what do you intend to do about it, Captain?” 

When delivered not with the edge of irritation or anger, but with the sultry, throaty tones usually reserved for their bedroom, their pet titles made for a stronger aphrodisiac than a Falleen’s pheromones.  The pleasant warmth that had been simmering in his pelvic region flared hot.  He stared down at her. “Have I told you how beautiful you are?”

“Only about a dozen times,” she quipped.  “Although your eyes have never quite managed to make it up to my face.”

Guilty as charged, he dragged his gaze up the length of her neck, weighted down as it was by the tantalizing valley of skin that disappeared in a triangle of blackness to the pleasure-filled depths beyond – its gravitic pull rivaled only by that of the maw.  “It’s your beauty within,” he drawled as he squeezed her hand in his and ignored the dubious roll of her eyes.

Leia’s hand snaked underneath his jacket, finding its way to his lower back.  “I like you…within,” she purred and with the novelty of height afforded to her by some very high heels she curled her tongue around Han’s earlobe before nibbling on it playfully.

      

The fog in Han’s head had begun rapidly lifting.  Leia probably had no idea how much she had drank while the attentive servants at this party kept substituting half-empty glasses for full ones.  Lucky for them, between the mood lighting and the crowded dance floor, no one seemed to be interested in hanging around the Outer Rim, so at least her current shenanigans wouldn’t be on the headlines of some gossip holo tomorrow.  But he knew it was probably time to get her out of there while they could both find some humor in the situation come sunrise.  And, although she was playfully flirty right now, Han had visions of her snoring and drooling on his lapels by the time he got her to their rented limo.

He placed a hand on her lower back and guided her toward the exit far past the Unknown Regions.  “C’mon, sweetheart.  Time to bow out gracefully.”

“We’re leaving?”  She asked, clearly unhappy with the news.  “But it’s not over.”

“It is for us.  Don’t worry, you’ll thank me in the morning.”

“Aw-oh,” she hiccupped and steadied herself against him, her arm sinking lower down his back until her hand was buried beneath the waistline of his trousers.  She wiggled her fingers and attempted a pinch as she giggled against his shoulder.

Han discreetly removed Leia’s roaming hand and cradled it into his own.  “I think your alcohol resistance training could use a refresher,” he said in a low voice as he kept a pleasant smile plastered on his face for the benefit of the rare passerby.

“Not as much as my Han Solo resistance training,” she whispered in the direction of his ear, trying for a sexy purr and only half succeeding. 

“You’re such a tease,” he countered, wrapping her up underneath his arm.  “You’ll be asleep by the time we hit the skyway.”

“Will not,” Leia argued with a playful slap to his midsection.  “There is no way you’re not getting lucky tonight, flyboy.  Mark my words.”

“If you ever paid your wagers, I’d take you up on that bet.”

“I do so,” she exclaimed loudly enough, even in her drunken state, for her to realize that it was too loud.  Stifling a laugh with a hand to her mouth, she then continued on with a much lower voice, “I do so pay my wagers.  It’s just so happens that I rarely ever lose, that’s all.”

Not caring to argue with his soberly stubborn, but drunkenly downright obstinate wife, he took a quick step forward and opened the door for her instead – they had reached the ends of the universe.

The large atrium of the public arena was deserted, it seemed Han and Leia were the first to leave the party.  Han waved at his valet and the tall, lanky humanoid scrambled through the double doors leading outside inviting a cold burst of the frigid nighttime air into the lobby.  Han felt Leia shiver against him as the chill wrapped itself around her naked arms. 

“Oh, our coats,” Han said, snapping his fingers as he remembered them.  “C’mon.”

He pulled Leia along.  She seemed to be just inebriated enough to remain pleasantly compliant.  In fact, Han thought that the bright lights of the atrium and the cool evening air may have sobered her up a bit, especially since she hadn’t propositioned him or grabbed him inappropriately in the last several minutes.

Han found the coat check room unattended.  “Wait here.”  He leaned Leia against the counter and disappeared into the large closet.

Fumbling through a legion of dark coats, Han cursed under his breath when the closet door thumped closed, dousing most of his lighting.  His eyes were still adjusting to the darkened conditions when a small, yet familiar set of hands trailed along his shoulders, down his midsection, over his rear and snaked around to the front of his thighs.

“Remember what you did to me on Serenno?”  He heard her whisper.

Serenno.  It was a similar situation but it was before they were married.  They had found themselves on an out of the way Outer Rim world with a broken hyperdrive and stalled New Republic negotiations.  Leia had been wound up tighter than the repulsor engines on a Hutt’s grav sled and Han had taken her out for a good time to a part of town that couldn’t even spell the word princess much less recognize one.  He hadn’t even had the decency to commandeer a respectable closet then, getting Leia halfway through his foreplay routines in a dark corner booth at the back of a pub and marking up her neck so badly that she had to wear high-collared outfits for a month.

“Yeah, and you made me promise never to do that again,” he replied, turning around to face her – the whites of her eyes glistening in the dim lighting.  He could smell her, the intoxicating mixture of her unique scent wrapped around the lingering bouquet of her fading perfume.

“Promises are made to be broken.”

He could tell by the way she had said the words that he was in big trouble even before her hands starting traveling resolutely toward their destination and her lips began to explore his neck and jaw line.  “Sweetheart, we’re only a few minutes away from the hotel.”  Even to him his voice sounded far too capitulating but he was trying his best to remain the responsible one.

“I have a bet to win,” she whispered, ushering the last syllables into his ear with a delightful swirl of her tongue.

“Leia, we’re in a coat closet.”  He stated the obvious, hoping that would be enough of an argument.

“Your point being?”

Her hands were quicker than his retort and as his belt came undone there was no longer enough blood flow above his waistline for his mind to form an intelligent response.  Cool hands coaxed things along from semi-erect to full attention and pleas of resistance fell dead upon his lips as his mouth devoured hers and his trousers slipped down to puddle around his ankles.  He took a moment to revel in her expert ministrations before begging her off, lest things end a tad messy and a bit too early.  She relented obediently as she began gathering the silky material of her gown up in fistfuls and he assisted her until her midsection was swimming in fabric. 

They fell forward, the soft comfort of a thousand strangers’ outer garments cushioning Leia’s introduction to the opposite wall.  Han had to shuffle step, his ankles wrapped up in his tailored trousers but his lips never left hers.  Leia was doing her best to dance out of her panties and when Han hitched one of her knees up to his waistline he heard the distinctive sound of expensive lace being stretched beyond its limits. 

She whispered something decidedly dirty in Corellian as he slid inside of her and he groaned in frustration from the sensory overload – there was only so much that one man could take.  Utilizing her arms on his shoulders as leverage she hitched herself up a little higher.  Their height difference made sex standing up difficult at best on a good day, but Han Solo was never one to back down from a challenge.  He hoisted her up a centim more, cupping her lovingly with his warm hand against the cool fleshy skin of her hip and pressing her against a gentleman’s thick wool overcoat. 

He felt mostly certain that it was the alcohol talking, but regardless he found Leia to be in a particularly verbal and complimentary mood.  Each thrust brought on a new term of endearment, some nice but mostly naughty and it did little to improve his stamina.  Perhaps that was the idea, he thought fleetingly, they were in a coat check closet after all.

His mouth had been exploring the soft skin along her neck and collarbone and one hand had worked one of her breasts free, his fingertips rolling the hardened nipple.  She quieted, leaning her head back against the softness of a coat with a fur-lined collar and he pulled away just enough to study her.  The sight before him was stimulatingly erotic.  Her eyes closed, lips slightly parted, a sliver of pearly white teeth glistening in the glow of the faint lighting.  He watched the rise and fall of her chest in its heavy, erratic rhythym, her alabaster skin gleaming with a sheen of perspiration and flushed pink with pleasure, evidence of his attentions marked with blossoms of red. 

When she opened her eyes and clenched her legs around his waist he began to work his way back up her body, his mouth blazing a trail up her throat before kissing her hungrily as he helped her ride out the wave of her orgasm.  Her limbs now limp with exhaustion, he let go of the hold he had on her hip.  Using the weight of his body to pin her against the wall and shortening his stroke, he skillfully guided himself to release, muttering his own Corellian sweet nothings as he spilled himself inside of her.

When he was done they remained pressed against each other, chests heaving and their breath coming out in gasps, each seeming to be waiting for the other to begin the complicated task of disengaging.  Han was the first to make a move, pressing his hands against the jacketed wall behind them and angling himself away from her.  She fumbled with the breast that Han had been playing with, plopping it back into her corset.  Their eyes traveled down to their conjoined hips and intertwined legs, studying them like a puzzle that needed to be unraveled - unsure which piece to remove first lest the entire thing crumble.

“I can’t believe we just did that,” she said looking up at him, still a little breathless.  If the cool air hadn’t sobered her, it certainly seemed the sex had.

“I don’t think we’re finished yet,” Han replied smartly as he levered himself further away from the wall slowly separating himself from her. 

Leia’s leg slid from off of his waist and her body dropped a few centims until her feet hit the floor.  She kicked the torn panties from off of her ankle and let the material of her dress fall back into place.  Save an uneven rash of blushes along her neckline, she looked ready to address the Imperial Senate; meanwhile Han was still pulling his trousers up over his thighs.

“Where’s our jackets?”  She asked casually, as if Han had been slacking off on his coat check duties.

“I don’t know, I got a little distracted,” he replied over the sound of his zipper traveling northward.

She swooped down and picked up her panties before she began rummaging through the army of jackets.  She stole a glance in his direction, shaking her head a little.  “What is it about us and the Outer Rim?”  She mused.

“Not enough oxygen in the atmosphere?  I don’t know.”  He had fastened his trousers and joined her in the hunt.

“Well,” she said as she turned around, their long overcoats in her arms.  “I did tell you that I’d make it worth your while.”  She held her coat out to him, one eyebrow arched devilishly.  “And once again…I didn’t lose my bet.” 

Han took her coat without a word and helped her into it.  After all – what could he say?  Losing a bet with Leia had never felt so good.  When they emerged from the closet, the coat check girl looked at them sideways, Han handed her their receipt and tipped her generously before hastening Leia out the door. 

Early the next afternoon, when the Falcon finally slipped into hyperspace headed for the Core Worlds, there was a moment of thoughtful silence while the couple bade farewell to the carefree anonymity that they always seemed to find tucked away somewhere in the Outer Rim.

**

Several weeks later…

“And the last item on the agenda,” Mon Mothma stated to the small conference room of her closest contingents.  “We’ve just received a last minute request for a New Republic Representative to act as mediator in a border dispute.”

The entire room groaned and every set of eyes glanced at their counterparts offering preemptory sympathies to the unlucky party.  Border disputes were usually deep-seated issues that spanned generations and mediating the opposing sides to a solution was a thankless job at best.

“I’ll take that auditory response as a declination of interest?” Mon replied.  “Very well, you all know the drill.  Call up your calendars, last to serve will be first to go.”

Han and Leia didn’t even bother powering up their datapads, they had just gotten back to Coruscant from a scenic tour of the Hydian Way.  Leaning back in their chairs they crossed their arms in triumph.

“Where is this border dispute anyway?” One of the Bothan ambassadors asked.

“Polis Massa, in the Outer Rim,” Mon replied, her head still buried in her datapad.

This information garnered another groan from around the table, except from a certain infamous couple.  Han ticked his eyes over toward Leia and turned his head when he found her looking at him.  Images of a coat closet on Mirial and a dark corner booth on Serreno flashed through their minds simultaneously. 

The pair smiled and then turned to Mon Mothma and said in unison, “We’ll take it.”

***

Hope you enjoyed it.

Remember:  We still have Zyra's to look forward to...

Julz??? 

Didn't you say you might have something???

It's a...

CHAPTER XXVIII

Han loved making Imperials speechless. There were certainly some doubts in his head about whether or not they’d be successful in the mission, but he should’ve known that his luck was always on his side. Not to mention Leia, Luke and several other of the bravest and most intelligent people he’d ever met.

Leia. He still hadn’t heard her voice throughout the entire exchange. He felt his chest tighten. It was very likely that she was perfectly fine. She was with Luke, after all. But that didn’t stop him from feeling the need to hear her voice or see her face in confirmation that she was okay. He had to resist the urge to ask for her over the Imperial communications.

Not wanting to sit around and wait any longer, he was about to go and find her, but he had only gotten the door to slide open when the object of his desires appeared in front of him, once again as though she had read his mind.

“You okay?” he asked, pretty sure just by looking at her that that was the case.

“Sure, you?” She smiled and he simply pulled her into a hug.

“What are you doin’ up here? Wandering the corridors by yourself?”

“Luke is fine, he can handle things down there. I needed to make sure you were okay. And right now all we really have to do is wait for confirmation that the air strike team is on its way.”

He leaned back to look at her. “You think this is really it? You think we’re really all gonna be okay?”

She nodded. “I have a good feeling about this, Han. I really do.”

“Good. I like it when you have good feelings.”

“Well, speaking of feelings, if you like that, you’re going to love this,” she began.

“Han, Leia? Come in!”

Luke’s voice came over their private comm channel and Han immediately went to answer. “Solo, here. Go ahead.”

“Why don’t you two come back to the Command Center. We got word that the fleet is headed this way with reinforcements from Corellia and Duro, a few others to follow soon after. It’ll make things easier if we’re all in the same place.”

“Understood,” Han replied. “We’ll meet you there in three minutes. Solo, out.”

It felt good to have everything coming together and Han took Leia’s hand and led her towards the door before stopping abruptly. “Wait, were you gonna tell me something?”

She hesitated for a moment and then shook her head. “It can wait.”

“You sure?”

She pulled his hand along. “Come on, let’s go.”

***

Leia felt as though a tremendous weight had been lifted off her shoulders. They’d done it. There were still a few things to take care of but the first part of their plan had worked. She reached down and rubbed her stomach, smiling and giddy with anticipation of telling Han what she had sensed.

Just knowing they were having a baby at all gave her all sorts of things to think about for the future. But knowing its gender gave it a much more concrete reality. Maybe sometime soon they could start to pick out clothes and she’d even be able to picture them on her child.

She felt slightly devious when she looked at Han, feeling like a little girl who had a reason to tease someone with, “I know something you don’t know!” Just to drive them crazy. She couldn’t wait to see his face.

They made it to the Command Center where Luke had remained and Lando, Chewie and a few of the other Wookiees had already arrived. There were general greetings of congratulations and pats on backs and handshakes, although there was still some apprehension as there was still some waiting to do before they’d know that things were entirely under control.

“Luke, have you heard from Madine yet?” Leia asked.

“They should be here in the next thirty minutes. They’ve got quite a fleet with them. It shouldn’t take long. They figure that they’ve got the Imperials backed up against a corner. With the core worlds turning on them it would be impossible for them to maintain control. They just don’t have the resources. And once the big ones start joining in with us, it will make it easier for the others to follow.”

“Gods, I’m so glad to hear that,” Leia said. Her body was pressed up against Han’s side and she wrapped her arms around him when she heard the good news. It seemed that things were finally going to be all right.

Han turned her to face him. “I knew you’d figure out how to save us all again,” Han said.

“Me? Hardly. There were a lot more people involved than just me.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know if anyone else would’ve come up with that whole server droid thing.”

She laughed. “Leave it to the pregnant lady to be completely preoccupied with food. It’s enough to drive a mother crazy already. First our son likes to make me want to throw up, and then he gets hungry…”

Han suddenly looked incredulous. “Wait, did you say son?”

She looked up at him, smiling and nodding.

“So you know?”

She nodded again. “Just before we sprung the attack I sensed him. He feels a lot like you.”

Han was torn between laughter and tears, but he still remained speechless.

“We’re going to have a baby boy, Han.”

He pulled her into a hug and squeezed her as tightly as was appropriate without crossing the boundary into crushing her bones. Her voice was muffled against his chest when she spoke. “I guess maybe you’re happy about the news?”

She felt his body shake in laughter before he kissed the top of her head and leaned back to look at her. “I’d be happy either way, but it’s still just even more exciting to know what we’re having.”

“Do you want to tell everyone else?”

Han looked around the room and took some time to consider his answer. “How about we enjoy this victory first, then we can get everyone excited about my baby boy.”

“Your baby boy? Which one of us is doing the work here?”

“You know I’m only kidding, sweetheart. I can’t wait to meet him.”

“Me neither.”

Choices of One: The Review

This book is a sequel to Timothy Zahn's previous book, "Allegiance." Also taking place between A Hew Hope and Empire. The Rebels need a new base and Governor Ferrouz of Candoras Sector proposes an alliance, offering the Rebels sanctuary in return for protection against the alien warlord Nuso Esva. Han, Leia, Luke and Chewie are sent in to evaluate the deal.

At the same time, Mara Jade along with the stormtroopers known as The Hand of Judgment from the previous book are also on their way to punish Ferrouz for his treason and take down the Rebels. Mara is of course featured prominently in this book, as she has been known to be Tim Zahn's pet character - as she kind of maybe should be, since he created her - but not nauseatingly so. I feel as though ever since they killed her off in the books I don't mind her as much in anything else anymore. Except when she and Luke get a great marriage... but that is another rant for another time.

This book continues with Han and Leia's blossoming relationship, though it never starts to cross the line to the romantic, which at this point seems totally appropriate. They spend a lot of time in this book together, just the two of them, working as a seamless team under cover. They communicate effectively and efficiently in a way that only two people who are in tune with each other could. They get good banter, and Han certainly pushes her buttons but never crosses into sexual harassment territory. It's subtle sexual tension and it works perfectly.

Poor Luke is sort of left behind and not doing anything interesting. It does sort of remind you that he is pretty much still a kid at this point. He's unsure of his abilities, he hasn't really been trained in the Force or even used his lightsaber. So he spends some time wrestling with his inadequacies and how he is supposed to become a Jedi when there is nobody to train him.

This book also strongly addresses the long-time conflict of whether or not Han is going to officially join up with the Alliance. In typical Han fashion, he resists. But of course, someone is keeping him there. Leia maintains a very business-like manner with her dealings with him, although right from the beginning, Han thinks to himself, "But Han could read beneath the tone. Whatever she said, whatever she did, she was crazy about him. He was pretty sure, anyway."

Han wants to maintain his independence, but doesn't enjoy the fact that he is left out of important meetings due to his unofficial rank. He and Rieekan share some conversations that, had this book been written years ago, would be a very good source for why we all write Rieekan as taking a liking to Han. He wants him to join, but he doesn't talk down to him or try and force him, he simply tells him the facts of how things operate and allows him to come to his own conclusions.

I love Zahn's portrayal of Han. I would venture to call it flawless. He just acts so... Han. He's slowly softening, but it doesn't show very often and mostly he just acts like his typical, scoundrel self. He's working for the good guys but still doing things without really thinking them through, and yet he always seems to turn out okay. I also like that while Leia is certainly not all soft and emotional, she is also not entirely cold and distant. At one point she calls Han on the comm to ask if he's all right. In regards to whether or not he'd be delighted about something that will make the governor happy, Leia: "I'm sure he'd be delighted. Doesn't sound like you are, though."

"Not really, no," Han said. "But since when does that matter to anyone?"

There was a short pause. "It matters," Leia said, her voice carefully neutral. "Watch yourself, okay?"

"I always do, sweetheart."

See, I enjoyed how she does still treat him as though she cares to some degree. The only thing she's careful of is not to make him think that there is anything more to it. I prefer this to the Leia we sometimes get who seems as though she'd willingly push Han in front of a moving speeder if he said something irritating and walk away laughing while he bled to death. She doesn't have to despise him in order to hide her developing feelings for him. Not to mention the fact that she also seems to respect him already. It is noted by others that she has a personal influence on him that nobody else seems to have - that she is the one he's most likely to listen to. But she refuses to manipulate him into joining. And it's not because she doesn't want him to join, or that she doesn't want to make him think there is more to their relationship, it is simply because she doesn't want to use her influence to take advantage of good people.

A whole lot of other stuff happens in this book, but frankly, I'm not going to recap it. It has to do with Mara and her troopers and the governor's family being held hostage. It all comes together to a pretty cool climax, but since this is a Han and Leia blog, that's what I'm going to focus on here. Luke also has a near-run-in with his future wife.

Basically, as far as the Han and Leia factor goes, I think Zahn writes them pretty much exactly how I'd see them acting in this time frame. They're stuck alone for a pretty extensive period of time and have a lot of interaction, but they are mostly focused on the mission, though working in close to perfect synchronization. Han annoys Leia at times, but he usually knows what he's doing - which is why it irritates her so much. He makes some risky moves which also annoys her but also adds some to her respect for him, which is bothersome because she really doesn't want to like him too much. Han still maintains in his own head that she is crazy about him, but again, he isn't actively trying to push her buttons as much as he is when we see them in ESB. That makes sense to me because if he was already acting like that, well, I don't see how the sexual tension could remain unresolved for another two years.

In the end, Han goes to see Rieekan and very matter of factly states that if they want him, they've got him and he officially joins the Alliance. So, this confused both Push and I a bit and we don't have answers for you. Does this mean he was already an official member in Empire and we just always assumed he wasn't? Does something happen in between where he ditches his rank? No way really to tell right now. He doesn't outright say it, but at the very end of the book, after he talks with Rieekan, he sees Leia across the hangar and it gives you the distinct impression - in case it wasn't already obvious - that she is the reason he finally committed.

This is one of the best characterizations of Han in the entirety of the EU and I thoroughly enjoyed his interactions with Leia, not to mention the fact that that covered a fairly significant portion of the book. So I'm going to give this one 3.5 stars.

If You Have to Ask...

CHAPTER XXVII

Chewie and the group of Wookiees began to unload the food service droids, which would in itself be a normal activity that shouldn’t have aroused any suspicion.  In the meantime, the four humans began to deactivate the security cameras.  Simply disconnecting them would sound the alarm too quickly, so Lando and Han hotwired them to replay a loop from earlier in their meeting.  Unless the security drone working the monitoring room knew that they should be eating and not meeting, which was highly unlikely, the false feed should pretty much cover their tracks indefinitely.

In order to sneak in the devices they needed to complete their mission, several items were hidden within their alien disguises.  Several coma gas canisters were housed inside Han’s Devorian horns, for example.  So, while Han and Lando worked on the security cameras, Luke and Leia began to remove their disguises and collect their hidden paraphernalia.  By the time Han and Lando were finished with the cameras, all the food service droids had been disassembled and Luke and Leia were out of their disguises with their detonators, weapons and communication devices laid out on the conference room table.

The Wookiees were standing around eating, knowing that their next meal may be a long way’s off.  Lando began removing his disguise.  Han, however, needed help removing the coma canisters from his forehead.  Both Luke and Leia approached him as he began to peel the synthetic flesh from his face.

“You, go eat something,” Han said to Leia in a tone that brooked no argument.  “Luke got these things on me.  He can get ‘em off of me.”

There was a flicker of something across her face, and for a moment Han regretted his brusqueness.  But then her face softened, she nodded and then headed toward the table where the food had been unloaded.

“You alright?”  Luke asked, as he began to work at the coma-gas-filled horns that adorned Han’s head.

“Yeah.  I shouldn’t’ve snapped at her like that, though,” he said, almost more to himself than to Luke.  Han was staring across the conference room at his wife as he spoke.

“Everyone’s on edge.  She understands.”

Han looked down at his brother-in-law.  Lately he wondered just how much Luke and Leia could convey to each other without the constraints of normal communication.  He would be lying if he said he wasn’t envious of how in-tuned they seemed to be with each other. 

The first of Han’s horns snapped away from his face with an audible pop and Han’s head felt lighter and slightly off-kilter.  Luke stared down at the contraption for a moment, studying it intently.  Han took the time to glance over at Leia, she was talking with one of the Wookiees and eating a small sandwich.  The muscles in his face relaxed into a small smile as he realized that even before Luke had told him that she understood, he had known anyway - without needing any mystical Force connection.  And that being jealous of Luke now was just as silly as his jealousy of Luke several years ago, even more so, in fact.  Almost as if in confirmation, Leia turned and looked at him from across the room and gave him a warm smile.

**

The plan had called for at least ten food service droids, with an ideal of nineteen.  They had been sent twenty.  Fifteen of the droids were wired with coma gas and explosives and were programmed to be dispersed at tactical locations such as building entrances, turbolifts and other highly trafficked areas.  Four were emptied and prepped for human occupancy and they sat patiently waiting as the four humans triple-checked their comlinks, timing and strategies and said their final goodbyes.

Leia hugged Lando first.  They had come a long way in their relationship since their first meeting on Bespin and as the handsome rogue wrapped his arms around her tightly she felt the first hint of tears bursting forth as the overwhelming emotion of the moment swelled inside her chest. 

Lando pulled away from her.  “I want to be the first to buy you a drink on New Republic credits,” he said.

“Make it Blumfruit juice, and we have a deal,” she replied.

“Right,” he said quietly, squeezing her arm before letting her go.

Lando was quickly replaced by Luke, who had been waiting right behind him.  He stood in front of her, only smiling for a moment before he finally spoke.  “Keep your mind open and your thoughts clear.  I’ll be right there with you.”

She nodded her head and he pulled her into an embrace.  Somehow Luke brought out the soldier in her.  Maybe it was his words or the fact that they were partnered in this mission, or perhaps he was bolstering her through the Force, but hugging him quelled the emotions that Lando’s embrace had just recently stirred up and with her twin in her arms she felt balanced.

As Luke stepped away, she saw her husband standing and waiting several paces away and when it seemed as if he wasn’t going to do anything more than stand there and stare at her, her knees buckled a little in anticipation of running into his arms.  He must’ve read her movements because in two long strides he was suddenly standing in front of her.  And then it was his arms enveloping her, her face pressed against his broad chest, the smell of him and the sound of his breathing and the beat of his heart and the whole of Imperial City dropped away. 

She willed herself not to cry as she tightened her arms around him.  He made her feel dizzy and terrified and excited and…loved.  And although Luke’s sense of balance felt safe and secure, in Han’s arms she felt invincible.    

He kissed the top of her head and loosened his grip, a signal for her to let go but she held on just a moment longer.  When she pulled away and looked up at him, she felt a single tear trail down her cheek.  Han didn’t comment on it, he only bent his head down to hers and kissed her deeply.  It was the kind of kiss that made her knees weak and her insides quiver.  She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back in kind.

“I love you,” he whispered as their kiss finally broke.  He held her face cradled between his hands.

“I love you, too.”

He looked as if he wanted to say something else and perhaps he did, they had always had a way to communicate without words, even when they had been at each other’s throats and now his expression, his hands and his presence expressed everything that he couldn’t find the words to say. 

The rest of the room had been respectfully quiet as the couple said their goodbyes, but time was of the essence and it was Chewbacca who finally broke them apart with a long, low growl that Leia recognized as a tender show of affection.  She went from her husband’s arms into Chewie’s and then, donning her coma gas mask and double checking her comlink one last time, she crawled into her droid.  From then on out it would be all up to their planning, their intel, perhaps the Force and definitely a little bit of luck.

**

The first thing that went wrong was their ability to communicate.  Some sort of descrambler had wreaked havoc with their comlinks as soon as they entered the Command Center.  Leia tried to remain open and calm as her brother had advised her. 

They were each supposed to be keeping a manual count as a failsafe.  Not perfect but it would be close enough should all communications fail.  If the three groups, Han, Lando and she and Luke, were at least a few seconds apart, the plan would still work.  The problem was, since she and Luke were together on the same floor, in the same room, they had to be perfectly synchronized.  Maybe this is why Luke had had his vision.  Perhaps through the Force they could still communicate and time their attack.

Leia had kept her manual count.  Her droid was definitely in the Command Center and had stopped moving.  Of course, a normal food service droid would begin dispensing its fares, but so far no one had noticed the malfunction.  According to her internal calculations, they were less than two minutes away from starting. 

She drew in long deep breaths through her nose and released them slowly through her mouth as she counted down.  There was a pressure, like a heavy hand on her shoulder that held her back.  Luke?  The momentary grasp to feel for her brother made the heavy presence disappear and she panicked, unable to remember where she had left off on her count.  She tried again to slow her breathing, but it felt forced and she was unable to relax.  Although the cramped innards of the droid were totally dark, she closed her eyes and tried to find her center once again.

Calmness and inner peace seemed as far away as Nal Hutta and Leia’s mind reeled through the complex chain of emotions that her panic had ignited.  If the mission failed because she couldn’t concentrate…no, she couldn’t allow herself to think that way.  Obviously Luke had had his vision for a reason and she was supposed to be with him so that they would be able to communicate.  She still had time to calm down, to make it right.  She tried once again to control her breathing, in through her nose and out through her mouth…    

The first time she felt it she dismissed it as nausea.  It was the smallest of flutters down deep in her abdomen.  When it happened again she concentrated on the sensation of it.  There was a presence, an aura surrounding the area that exuded tranquility and confidence.  It reminded her of Han and what it felt like to sense him through the Force.  The heavy handed pressure returned, pressing down on her shoulders in a signal to wait.  She was once again open to Luke and instead of fumbling with his connection she accepted it, trusting that she would know when he gave the signal.

**

The Imperial Council, along with Executor Nalc, was meeting in the executive conference room discussing the foolish attack on Kuat by the insolent Rebels when the conference room door quite literally burst open.  When the shards of transparisteel and puffs of smoke had cleared, several large Wookiees filed into the room and flanked the Imperial officers, growling and howling as they did so. 

Executor Nalc turned to his assistant.  “What is the meaning of this, Dolfin?”

Dolfin, the undersecretary responded grimly as he tried to press himself further into his chair in an effort to disappear.  “I’m afraid I don’t speak Wookiee, Executor.”

“That’s okay, I do.”

All heads turned to the holocomm at the center of the table.  There stood a small holoimage of a tall, male human.

“Who in the blazes are you and what is the meaning of all of this?”  Executor Nalc stood so as to tower over the flickering image.

“Han Solo, General of the New Republic and the meaning of this is you’re under arrest for crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.”

Nalc didn’t even flinch.  He thumbed the switch of his private comlink.  “Get me security.”

The image of Han Solo stood calmly in the center of the table as Nalc’s comlink crackled to life.  “New Republic Security, Coruscant.”

“New Repub-?”  Some color drained from Nalc’s face.  “Who is this?  Who patched me through to you?”

“The answer to your first question is Lando Calrissian, General of the New Republic and currently in charge planetary security.”  The voice over his comlink replied cheerfully.

“And in answer to your second question,” the tiny image of Han Solo said.  “I patched you through, seeing as I’m in charge of planetary communications now.”

Nalc dropped slowly into his seat. 

The Imperial Council had remained quiet under the watchful eyes of the Wookiees, but it was Lord Dangor who spoke next.  “What about the Command Center and Grand Vizier Pestage?”

“I’d be glad to put you through,” General Solo replied.

The group around the table sat with baited breath as the infidel patched their comm transmission through.  Most of them seemed resigned to their fate and were no more anticipating Pestage to answer that call then the late Emperor himself.  But some seemed to hold out a glimmer of hope.

“Imperial Center, Command Services,” a uniformed Imperial, albeit a nervous-looking one, flickered to life on the other side of the comm.

“Who’s in charge up there, Lieutenant?” Executor Nalc snapped, a faint ray of optimism buffeting his resolve.

The Imperial’s visage was replaced by one every single member of the Council recognized.  “If you have to ask, you probably don’t want to know,” Luke Skywalker answered cheekily.

**

(I didn't have any conditions from Zyra on this one.  I know I totally avoided writing the action on this, sorry!  It's not one of my favorite things to write...)