"We've Got an Idea..."

CHAPTER XXIII

With only three weeks before the Wookiee delegation was expected to appear on Coruscant and two separate missions to prepare for before then, Han and Leia were glad that they had taken the time to enjoy each other when they had all those days ago.  Between the never-ending meetings and Leia’s waning stamina, the only time the pair got to spend together was either next to each other in a conference room or sleeping in the quarters of the Falcon – and for Leia, that meant really sleeping. 

Han had never seen her sleep so much or so soundly and though her body had not yet changed in any way to indicate her progressing pregnancy, this change in her physical resilience left him even more worried about her presence during their mission.  Of course, he had expressed his concerns and their conversation went a little like this: 

“What do you think I’ll do, Han?  Fall asleep during the mission?”

“No, but I can see the change in you, you’re not the same.  I know you can feel the difference and don’t tell me you can’t.”

“I can feel the difference, yes.  And I know my limitations.  I made a promise to you and I intend to keep it.  How about you try and do the same?”

Han could feel his jaw set and he could see in her eyes that she knew he didn’t like it, but he had relented and they hadn’t talked about it again since.

**

Leia’s eyes kept darting to the door.  They were in yet another meeting.  Still trying to figure out how they would transform a conference room meeting between fifteen Wookiees and a few Imperials to an attempted coup.  They had split into two groups.  One group was handling the invasion of Kuat and one group, the one Han and Leia were in, was handling the takeover on Coruscant.

Admiral Ackbar was heading up the Kuat mission and had dubbed his team Operation Commo.  It was short for commotion, of which they planned on making a lot of.  The Corsucant Team had been named Operation D.F., which stood for down fall.  As with anything, the two teams had become competitive – keeping tabs on each other’s progress. 

Currently Operation D.F. was losing miserably, unable to figure out how to capitalize on their free pass inside Imperial Center.  With their deadline fast approaching and with Han and Lando on Team D.F., two infamous gamblers who hated to lose, the tensions building during their meetings had been rising to a crescendo.  Still, Leia’s attention was divided between what was being said at their meeting and keeping tabs on the conference room door.

Had she been pressed to admit why she was so distracted, she would’ve made up any assortment of lies to escape admitting the truth.  But the truth was, she was hungry - starved, even - and the server droids were late.  This pregnancy was wrecking havoc on her body and she hadn’t even gained a kilo yet.  Basically if she wasn’t sleeping, she was hungry…or nauseous and sometimes she was all three at once.  She did her best to hide it, not wanting to worry Han or appear frail to anyone on the team, but more and more she felt less and less in control of her changing body.  Luke seemed to pick up on her distress the most, probably some Force thing, she allowed.  Her perceptive brother had been sworn to secrecy, but that didn’t stop him from eyeing her curiously every time she looked his way.

Finally the conference door slid open and the parade of boxy, food-service droids wheeled into the conference room.  The mere smell of impending lunch caused her hunger pains and nausea to go into overdrive.  As usual, the group around the table kept talking, waiting for an opportune time to break and eat lunch. 

She saw Luke fidget in his chair as if her discomfort were pounding him from across the room like waves against the shore.  But it was her husband who surprised her when he leaned over and said, “You want me to get up and fix you a plate?”

She shook her head.  “No, I can wait.”

“Right,” he said sarcastically.  “That’s why you look three shades whiter than usual.”

She opened her mouth to argue, but Han pressed his hands on the table – cutting Crix Madine off mid-sentence – as he stood up and said, “I’m starved.  How ‘bout we table this til after lunch?”

Leia was momentarily appalled, but when several other people around the table grumbled in agreement, she let it slide.  As everyone started to move she felt Han’s hand on her shoulder and he leaned down and whispered to her, “Sit tight, I’ll get you a plate.  Oh, and you can thank me later.”

Leia smiled and not for the first time thought about how lucky she was to have found Han Solo.  But her ray of happiness was brief and soon clouded over by thoughts of this mission.  She was missing something, she knew.  It was something so simple yet she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. 

Everyone was looking to her for ideas and information since she had been one of the last people to legitimately spend time in Imperial Center as Senator from Alderaan.  Every waking minute and every night before she succumbed to her exhaustion, she would play the logistics of a delegation meeting over and over in her mind.  She thought of air ducts and smoke bombs, but all of that would be expected and covered with Imperial security countermeasures.  It was the unexpected, the unthought-of that she was reaching for and unable to find.

“Here you go,” Han’s voice broke into her thoughts as he slid a plate in front of her and sat down with one for himself.

Her husband had made her a plate of food that was bigger than his own.  His heart was in the right place, but she couldn’t fail to comment on it.  “I’m pregnant, sweetheart.  Not a Wookiee.”

Han winked at her and something tingled in the back of her mind.  It was as if someone was whispering for her to look.  She heard Han say, “I’ve heard that the way to a pregnant woman’s heart is through her stomach.”

The feeling was stronger now, almost overwhelming.  This was it, it was practically screaming at her.  But she was missing something.  Look at what?  Her vision blurred out of focus as she concentrated.  The last few minutes of her life began to swirl around her.  Han’s wink, her plate of food, her comment about Wookiees, his comment about the way to a pregnant woman’s heart, lunch arriving, the tension.  It all started clicking into place. 

“That’s it,” she whispered, the first hints of the picture coming into view.

“What?” Han asked.  “What’s it?”

“What you just said.  The way is through her stomach,” Leia repeated his words, more to herself than to Han, still trying hard not to lose the vision.  It was so strong, so adamant.  Was this a Force thing?

“What’re you talking about?”  Han’s voice was sounding worried now and he put his hand on her forearm.  “Leia, you’re scaring me.  What’s wrong?”

And then she had it.  She blinked, turning to look at Han.  “What you said,” she explained, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth.  “It’s brilliant.”

Han’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.  “You know I didn’t make that up, right?  And the saying really doesn’t even go like that.”

“Yeah, I know.  But it’s the answer.  It’s so simple…and it’s been here the entire time.”

**

She, Han and Luke brainstormed her idea while they ate lunch.  The only thing that surprised her more than how much they had figured out during that time was how the food on her plate had somehow disappeared while they talked.  If she continued to eat this way, she would be Wookiee-sized before she knew it.  How could something that was still too small to expand her waistline, make her this hungry?  She would have to ponder on that later, for now; they had a plan to pitch.

The idea was that, after deactivating their conference room’s security feed and over-taking the few Imperials that would’ve been assigned to them, they would utilize the food-service droids to penetrate Imperial Center.  With a delegation that included fifteen Wookiees, the number of food-service droids would easily give them a comfortable number of units to work with.  The majority of droids would be modified and equipped with remote detonated coma gas/bomb capabilities and strategically dispersed throughout Imperial Center once the Rebels reprogrammed them.

It would be impossible for any-sized Wookiee to fit into one of the droids. That would leave Han, Lando, Luke and Leia, the only humans on the mission, to place themselves inside a few of the droids and infiltrate key areas within the building. 

The war room, which was located at the top floor of Imperial Center and acted as the brains behind all of the planetary defenses and shields would be their number one priority and the group agreed that two people should probably be assigned to take it over.  The second target would be the security level, located on the fifth floor with the third target being the communications center housed in the basement. 

With only the four humans capable of fitting into the droids, that would leave two people for the war room and one each for security and communications.  They would reveal themselves at a pre-programmed time, detonate the coma gas where necessary and have the bombs as leverage/back-up.  A contingent of Wookiees would be assigned to each level/area to be let in as soon as the Rebels had control of the situation.

By the time their own food-service droids had left the conference room, the four of them felt pretty confident in the success of their plan.  Even though it had been Leia’s idea, it was Han that got the nod from the group to pitch the proposal.  And so, as the door slid shut on the conference room, Han stood and called the meeting back to order by uttering the words that everyone - whether they had realized it or not, had been waiting to hear - when he said, “We’ve got an idea…”

(P.S.  I did not have any conditions from Zyra on this....she was really bad about giving conditions...)