Specter of the Past: The Review

It has been a very long time since I wrote one of these. Let's see how I do. Probably not that well, because while I totally appreciate that Timothy Zahn is an iconic writer of Star Wars novels and a good writer, his stories tend to involve a lot of political stuff that I don't always follow along with so clearly.

Since this is Timothy Zahn, his favorite original characters are featured prominently. Admiral Pallaeon, Talon Karrde, Grand Moff Tarkin, and of course, Mara Jade. For those of you who didn't read these books as they were being released, this duology was the last of the Bantam run of Star Wars books before Del Rey took over. At the time all we knew was that they were planning something larger scale and moving the timeline forward, so in a way these books were to serve as sort of closure for this first 15-ish years after ROTJ.

The Empire is basically at the end of its rope. They are struggling, to say the least. Everyone wants in on the New Republic. The first of our heroes we come across is Han, flying his beloved Falcon and approaching the planet Iphigin. He's with Chewie, and Luke comms him when he arrives and they have a fun little conversation where Han mentions Leia:

 "Just coming in nightside," Luke said. "What’s wrong with Chewie?"

"Nothing much," Han said. "Small difference of political opinion, that’s all."

"Ah," Luke said knowingly. "Been calling President Gavrisom Puffers’ again, have you?"

"Now, don’t you start," Han growled, glaring at the comm speaker.

Chewbacca rumbled a question. "Well, for one thing, he never seems to do anything except talk," Han said.

"That’s what Calibops are best at," Luke pointed out. "Face it, Han: words are the tool of the task these days."

"I know, I know," Han said, making a face. "Leia’s been pounding it into me forever." His voice drifted into an almost unconscious parody of his wife’s. "We’re not the Rebel Alliance anymore, with a handful of people running the whole show. We’re negotiators and arbitrators and we’re here to help system and sector governments be all nice and friendly to each other."

"Is that really the way Leia put it?"

"So I paraphrased a little."

I thought that was cute. Han calling some president "Puffers" and unconsciously parodying his wife's voice. Then Han admits to Luke that Leia isn't with him on this little mission:

"Look, Luke, I am official liaison to the Independent Shippers Association," Han reminded him testily. "It’s net like I haven’t done this sort of thing before. And Leia hasn’t had any kind of real vacation in a long time-she and the kids need some time off together. And just for once, I’m not going to let her get dragged away on some stupid diplomatic thing, especially when she’s supposed to be on a leave of absence. She deserves better."

I like that Han would make sure that Leia would get enough time off with the kids. They go to some negotiations and for some reason they do not want Luke involved, because he is a Jedi. At some point Luke suggests they should call Leia in because things aren't going well, and Han outright refuses. Which brings us now to Leia. Apparently she was not even aware that was what Han was off doing:

For a long moment Leia Organa Solo just stood there, the restless breezes of the Wayland forest rustling through her hair, staring at the gold-colored protocol droid twitching nervously in front of her. There were, she reflected distantly, very few things in the galaxy anymore that could shock her speechless. Han Solo, her husband and father of her three children, was apparently still one of them. "He did what?"

It was a rhetorical question, of course. Possibly a way of confirming to herself that her voice still functioned. C-3P0 either didn’t realize that or else didn’t want to risk guessing wrong. "He and Chewbacca have gone to Iphigin, Your Highness," the droid repeated, his voice miserable. "Several hours ago, shortly after you left on your tour. I tried to stop them, but he wouldn’t listen. Please don’t deactivate me."

Leia took a careful breath, stretching out to the Force to calm herself-apparently, she looked angrier than she actually was-and tried to think. Han would be on Iphigin by now, probably already engaged in a dialogue with the Diamalan and Ishori delegations. She could have her honor guard fly her there in one of their ships, calling ahead and telling Han to declare a recess until she arrived. The children she could leave here; the rest of the Noghri could look after them until she and Han returned. Alter natively, she could get in touch with President Gavrisom and have him send someone else out there to take over. But either approach would make Han’s effort an obvious and embarrassing false start, hardly the sort of thing that would bolster the already low opinion the Diamala had of New Republic capabilities. In fact, depending on how seriously the Diamala chose to take it, it could easily make things worse than if she just left Han alone.

I love that Han can still shock her. And he is not afraid to sneak off and do things he knows she wouldn't be happy about. Threepio then tells her that Han called Luke to go with him, and she seems happy to learn that he wouldn't go entirely alone.

Threepio was still standing there looking nervous. "It’s all right, Threepio," she soothed him. "Once Han gets an idea in his head, there’s no stopping him. He and Luke should be able to handle things."
The droid seemed to wilt with relief. "Thank you, Your Highness," he murmured.

Leia turned away from him and looked back across the clearing. Her youngest son, Anakin, was crouched down beside one of the slender airspeeders the group had just arrived in, and even at this distance she could hear the mix of seriousness and excitement in the eight-year-old’s voice as he discussed the finer points of design with the Noghri pilot. Standing a little way to one side beside the Mobquet speeder bikes that had flown escort for them, the twins Jacen and Jaina were watching with the air of st ressed patience that came naturally of being a whole year and a half older and wiser than their younger brother. Grouped around the children and vehicles were the short gray figures of their Noghri escort, the bulk of their attention directed outward. Even here at the edge of a Noghri settlement, they were continually on the alert for danger. Beyond them, rising above the forest, Leia could see the top of Mount Tantiss.

Oh, the Solo kids. Very cute to have Leia with her kids, who are just being kids. But don't get too used to them because this is one of those books where they are sort of like those sitcom children that are born late in the series in an ill-advised attempt to boost ratings. You know they have them, but we don't really see them much. Leia has a conversation with her Noghri bodyguard, and I keep forgetting that she has those. She thinks about how Han has never been entirely comfortable with them, but she always feels really safe with them. And this is just a cute paragraph about Leia looking at the kids:

"The children are doing fine right where they are," Leia assured him, looking back at the group. Anakin was halfway underneath the airspeeder now, with a pair of Noghri legs sticking out alongside his. The twins still had that strained-patient look as they talked quietly together, but Leia could see Jaina’s hand fondly stroking the saddle of one of the speeder bikes. "Anakin has inherited his father’s love of puzzles," she told Cakhmaim. "And the twins aren’t nearly as bored as they might pretend."

Leia has to attend to a little business, and there is a moment where Jacen comes and interrupts:

A presence brushed at the back of her mind, and she turned as Jacen came into the room. "Mom, when are we going to the mountain?" he asked, throwing an incurious look at the Devaronian. "You said we’d be going to see the mountain after the other tour."

"We’ll go soon, honey," Leia said. "Just a little business to clear up first."

Jacen frowned. "I thought we weren’t going to have any business here."

"It’ll just take a minute," Leia assured him.

"But I’m bored," he insisted. He looked at Lak Jit again, and Leia could sense the effort as the child reached out with his limited abilities in the Force. "Are you my mom’s business?" he asked.

This reads like a pretty typical mother/son interaction. Mom promised something, and kids never let them forget it. The meeting drags out a little longer and Jacen continues to be impatient. I guess one thing I liked about this was that Leia doesn't shut the kids out, they always have access to her even if sometimes it is annoying. As Leia is going over a document, she is struck by the words Hand of Thrawn:

 She stared at the label, a sudden chill running straight through her.

Four words, with the dirt already brushed off. The Hand of Thrawn.

"Mom?" Jacen asked, his voice not much above a whisper. Young and inexperienced in the Force, he nevertheless was keenly attuned to his mother, almost as closely attuned as he was to his sister Jaina. "What’s wrong?"

Leia reached out to the Force, calming herself. "I’m all right," she told her son. "Something on this card just startled me, that’s all."

Jacen craned his neck to look. "The Hand of Thrawn.’ What does that mean?"

Leia shook her head. "I don’t know."

"Oh." Jacen frowned up at her. "Then how come you were so scared?"

It was a good question, Leia had to admit. Could the simple if unexpected appearance of Thrawn’s name really have thrown her so hard? Even coupled with her memories of his near victory, it didn’t seem likely. "I don’t know that, either, Jacen," she said. "Maybe I was just remembering the past."

"Or seeing into the future," Cakhmaim said softly. "The Mal’ary’ush has great powers, secondson of Vader."

"I know," Jacen said gravely. "She’s my mom."

"And don’t you forget it," Leia admonished him mock-severely as she ruffled his hair. "Now be quiet a minute and let’s see what this is all about" Pulling her datapad from her pouch, suddenly not caring at all about possible dust contamination, she slid the datacard in.

I liked this little exchange, especially the "she's my mom" part. Like, duh. I also kind of like that he can sense when something is wrong with her. A few moments later there is some sort of commotion, even Jacen knows right away he needs to be worried about his siblings and Leia grabs his hand and they run to find that someone snuck in and set of a smoke grenade. Fortunately, she finds the other children are all right.

 Of the nine Noghri Leia had left there, six remained, pressing in a tight defensive circle around the children. "Jaina, Anakin," she breathed, dropping to one kite beside them and giving them each a quick but tight hug. There was no need to ask if they were all right, her Jedi senses had already confirmed that.

Threepio was also taken out, Anakin is concerned for him which was kind of cute. Leia leaves the kids and tries to chase down this guy and they fly off and force him down. Also during this scuffle she comes across Talon Karrde and Mara Jade, because this is a Zahn book. The guy who set off the grenade claims to be with Karrde, which is weird because Karrde is standing right there and he doesn't recognize him, so the jig is up there. They're all talking about the Hand of Thrawn and some artifacts that are really important and stuff. Leia asks Mara something about Palpatine and I forgot that she and Palps were totes BFFs for a while, which is still so weird to me. Anyway, Leia needs a ride because of course Han isn't there and she asks if there will be room for the kids. Karrde knew that Chewie and Han were gone and Leia says this:

Leia made a face. "Was I the last one on the planet to find out Han had left?"

I just think it's funny that everyone knows Han is gone and he didn't tell her. He was just trying to make sure she got some time off.

Apparently everyone is interested in the Caamas document, which was a recording of some horrible incident way back when. Leia actually remembers it happening back when she was a senator. A group of Bothans (it's always Bothans) helped Palpatine blow up some shields on Caamas. This is all a very big deal for the Bothans, and they want to find out exactly who was involved.

This has nothing to do with Han and Leia but this line happens when Wedge is wandering a marketplace and I just thought it was funny: She was short, she was furry, she was loud, and she was determined to sell him a melon.  Ok now, moving on.

Leia is at some senate meeting and politics, politics, politics. Then it's over and she is alone and runs into Threepio.

"But I do have a message from Captain Solo. He has returned, and will be waiting for you."

Leia felt her heartbeat pick up. "Did he say anything about his mission to Iphigin?"

"I’m afraid not," Threepio apologized again. "Should I have asked him?"

"No, that’s all right," Leia assured him.

"He did not seem inclined to be overly conversational," the droid mused. "He may not have answered even if I had asked."

Leia smiled. "Probably not," she agreed, a hundred fond memories of her husband flashing
through her mind. She’d been planning to head straight to her office to sift through some of the mountain of datawork waiting on her desk. Now, suddenly, she decided it could wait. Han would be waiting for her in their quarters.

Yay, Leia is excited to see Han and doesn't care about going to her office anymore. And has at least a hundred fond memories of him, so that's pretty good. Han is actually waiting for her in her office:

The way Senate meetings usually went, Han had expected to be stuck hanging around Leia’s office for at least another hour before she returned. It was therefore to his mild surprise that he’d barely gotten comfortable in his wife’s inner office when a flicker of displaced air pressure announced that the door from the outer office had just opened.

He swiveled his feet off the corner of her desk and landed them quietly on the floor, getting up just as quietly from her chair and padding his way to the door that separated the sections of the office. In the old days, he would have tried to surprise her by jumping out and giving her a big hug and kiss. But her increasing Jedi skills had long since made trying to sneak up on her a pretty futile exercise.

Besides which, embarrassing her with some silly schoolkid prank would make her madder at him than she probably already was over the Iphigin thing. Especially if she’d brought company with her.

She had. With his ear pressed against the door, he could hear at least two other voices besides Leia’s.

Aw, kind of sad that he can't sneak up on her anymore, but cute to think that he used to like to do that. While Han is waiting, he gets a call on his private comm channel, which is very private and he assumes it is one of his kids and is surprised when he answers and it is Karrde. They talk about Han and Luke's run in with the pirates and some mention of his incident with Leia earlier. Han asks Karrde:

"What’s it going to take to bring you over to our side, anyway?"

"Oh, I don’t know," Karrde said consideringly. What did it take to lure you away from the carefree life of an independent trader?"

Han made a face. "Leia," he said.

"Exactly," Karrde said dryly. "Now, if she had a sister-I don’t suppose she does?"

"Not that I know of," Han said. "Though with the Skywalker family you never know."

Funny line from Han about how you never know with Skywalkers, there could be more of them out there. Then we get one of my favorite things in the EU, Han and Leia reunion scenes:

He started as the door to his left hissed open. "Hi," Leia said softly as she came into the room.

"Oh. Hi," Han said, scrambling to his feet and throwing a belated look at the intercom display. Engrossed first with Karrde and then with his own thoughts, he hadn’t even noticed Leia’s guests departing. "Sorry-I got distracted."

"That’s all right," Leia said, stepping into his arms for a quick hug.

Or not so quick. She remained there, pressing close to him, holding him tightly. "I just talked to Karrde," Han said, her hair tickling his lips. "He told me what you found out about Caamas."

"We’re in trouble, Han," Leia said, her voice muffled by his shirt. "They don’t realize it yet, most of them. But this could be the biggest threat the New Republic has ever faced. It could literally tear us apart."

"It’ll be okay," Han soothed her, feeling just a tiny bit smug despite the seriousness of the moment.

I like the little mention about "quick hug" that turns out to totally not be quick at all. And of course Han soothing her. Leia ruminates a little more on what she has been worried about, and how she has been meditating and trying to figure out what's been going on. Then we get this little moment:

"Mm," Han said, wishing now that he’d tried to talk Luke out of his private pirate hunt. He might have been able to help Leia focus this feeling of hers. "Well, don’t worry, you’ll get it. A little quiet time-a little husbandly affection-and it’ll pop right out at you."

Leia smiled at him, some of the tension leaving her face as she did so. "Is that what you want right now? A little wifely affection?"

"First thing I want is to get you out of here," Han told her, taking her arm and starting her toward the door. "You need some peace and quiet, and once the kids get back from their classes, there’ll be precious little of either. Let’s grab it while we can."

"Sounds good to me," Leia sighed. "I don’t imagine they’re doing anything out there right now except arguing about justice and revenge. They can do that without my help."

"Sure," Han said. "Nothing important’s going to happen in the galaxy for the next hour."

"You sure?"

Han squeezed her arm reassuringly. "I absolutely guarantee it."

Yay, implied sex! Because of course what else is going to make Leia feel better? Also nice is that she seems very amenable to Han's suggestion. Missing moment alert for anyone who needs a writing prompt.

Later on Leia is sent on a mission. She thinks how of course Han will want to go with her, and thinks the trip could be a good opportunity for them to spend some nice quiet time together and says that Chewie can watch the kids. This sort of made me laugh, only because back when I was a teenager reading these books, one of my cousins read them too and we would joke how Chewie's only job in these books seemed to be babysitting. Although I guess your kids probably couldn't be in safer hands than a Wookiee's.

Luke later has a vision that Han and Leia are in trouble. We all know that his history with that doesn't usually turn out so well for them. So he decides he needs to go after them. But of course Leia and Han have already arrived for their mission, and the visit is unexpected:

"You have the letter from Gavrisom," Han put in gruffly. "You have the letter from Fey’lya. What more do you want?"

The secretary threw a sideways look at Han, and despite the seriousness of the situation Leia had to fight to keep from smiling. Han was at his absolutely most intimidating: standing stiff and tall, scowling unblinkingly, his hand resting on the blaster holstered at his side. The knuckles of his gunhand were slightly whitened with pressure as he gripped the weapon, a subtlety she’d suggested to him on the trip here from Coruscant and one that clearly wasn’t lost on its intended audience.

I like that Leia notices that Han is being as intimidating as possible but it just makes her want to laugh. I'm sure Han knows how to look intimidating. He spends the better part of this little exchange being fairly demanding. They are led to an archive room where they need to look for some documents. Then they hear what sound like a large crowd and Han decides to go check it out and leaves Leia behind. It doesn't look good out there as there is a huge mob forming outside and lots of commotion. Some bad guys see him from the crowd and realize it's him and this is the description of him, which seems accurate: Hero of the Rebellion, New Republic shipping liaison, and general all-around troublemaker.

Han is still outside but someone goes to get Leia to ask her to come protect them because she is a Jedi, which frustrates her. She just wants to talk to them. But then she hears a blaster shot, and it turns out the shot was aimed at Han. It missed him but hit the wall behind him and sent things flying into his shoulder. They had also shot someone else, and they accuse Han of being the murderer. Han always get himself into trouble. Leia, as you can imagine, is definitely worried.

"Han!" Leia blurted as the second blaster shot rang out. If he’d been the target...

No, she realized with a flood of relief. She could still feel his presence, alert and tense. But somebody out there had been hit, she could sense the waves of pain. Stretching out with the Force, she tried to locate it.

Must be nice to be able to tell if a loved one is all right through the Force. Leia has her lightsaber with her, and we get a little badass Leia moment:

"Citizens of the New Republic," she shouted, holding the lightsaber high. "I’m New Republic Councilor and Jedi Knight Leia Organa Solo. I call on you to stop."

Unfortunately, while momentarily they listened, the chaos gets worse and the crowd went even more crazy after more shots are fired. Realizing there isn't much more she can do at the moment, she tries to find Han.

And then, through all the chaos that surrounded her, she caught a faint hint of something different. Someone not far away; someone quietly terrified for her safety.
 
Han.

I don't know why but I liked the addition of the fact that she can sense he is "quietly terrified" for her. When she finally spots him, still fairly far away, she can see that his eyes are anxiously searching for her. Then we get a pretty impressive moment of them working together as a team. I'm not entirely clear whether Han actually knows what she is "thinking" toward him or if he just kind of gets it, but it is still a great example of them working so well together:

Han half rose from his crouch, his mouth working with shouted words she couldn’t hear. I’m all right, she thought desperately toward him, risking her grip to try to wave him back. If he or the Noghri headed down into that chaos, they’d probably get torn apart.

But no-he understood. Sinking back into his crouch, he waved the Noghri back, his eyes locked on hers across the atrium. All right, that expression seemed to say, If you don’t want us to come get you, what do you want?

Here, she thought toward him, risking her grip again and unhooking her lightsaber. For a moment she fought against the bushy tendrils trying to entangle it; then she got it free and held it up. Cocking her arm over her shoulder, she threw it across the atrium, catching it midway in a Force grip and guiding it the rest of the way to drop into Han’s hand. For a few heartbeats he fingered the weapon, frowning across the distance at her. She gestured and sent her thoughts toward him . . .

And abruptly he got it. Nodding his understanding, he ignited the weapon and turned the blade to point down.

And began cutting the stairway free from the balcony.

The action hadn’t gone unnoticed. Someone in the crowd roared, and a pair of blaster bolts lanced out, missing Han by bare centimeters as he ducked away. The Noghri at Han’s side-the second Noghri, Leia noticed with mild surprise, had somehow pulled a vanishing act-fired back, and the other blaster went silent.

Something brushed the back of Leia’s head. She twisted around, her mind flashing back to the deadly vine snakes of Wayland.
But it wasn’t a vine snake, or for that matter any other kind of creature, it was a length of synthrope, dangling from one of the windows directly above her.

With Barkhimkh’s anxious face looking down at her from behind it.

Grabbing the rope, she started to climb. She was nearly to the window when, behind her, the stairway crashed to the floor.

End scene. As usual, they survive the ordeal. When we get back to Han and Leia, Leia is putting salve on Han's shoulder wound. Because she is a good wife and loves Han. Also probably because he wouldn't let anyone else touch him. Unfortunately they are still accusing him of being the one to shoot. Which he staunchly denies, and they are for some reason at least for now taking his word for it. There is also a cute little reference to Cloud City because once again Threepio had a little trouble, and is in pieces:

"He’ll be all right," Leia murmured to him. "It didn’t look like any of his major components had been seriously damaged while they were being kicked around. Most of it is cosmetic."

"We can repair him, if you’d like," Orou’cya offered.

"No, thanks," Han said, wishing Chewie were here instead of back on Coruscant minding the kids.

Or maybe not. The last time the Wookiee had had to put Threepio back together, the droid hadn’t exactly bubbled over with gratitude. "We’ve got people on Coruscant who can do it."

Then this:

"Speaking of Coruscant, Councilor Organa Solo, Clan Leader Rayl’skar has been in contact with the New Republic government. President Gavrisom would like to speak with you at your earliest convenience."

Han looked up at Leia. "You want me to need some extra looking after?" he murmured, just loud enough for her to hear.

Leia made a face, but shook her bead. "No, I’d better not put it off," she said, handing him a bandage. "The sooner we get our side of the story to him, the better. May I use your communications room, Secretary Orou’cya?"

I kind of liked that little exchange. Han offering to be her excuse for missing the meeting. After Leia leaves, Han is shown why he was blamed for the shot. They had planted something, and shot IT and then that shot at the target, which is why Han got blamed. Whoever actually did the firing wasn't even shooting in the direction they blamed Han for.

There is concern that Grand Admiral Thrawn is back, which of course means big, important meetings and more politics. In the middle of all of the politics, and more potential blaming of Han for what happened with the mob scene, Leia is interrupted on her private comm channel.

 If this was Anakin asking if he could open a new package of cookies, she promised herself darkly as she touched the switch, he was going to be grounded for a week.

I thought that was cute. And a little touch of normal, kid interrupting Mom's meeting to ask about cookies. Except it was just Talon Karrde again. So she didn't have to ground anyone.  Later Lando comes to meet them and Leia has a moment of remembering Alderaan.

Thirty-eight stories tall, the Orowood Tower had originally been planned to be the nucleus of an elaborate and extensive colony of Alderaanians who bad been off-planet when the first Death Star destroyed their world. But though the architects had painstakingly crafted every facet of the Tower to fit the Alderaanian style, Coruscant’s crowds and near-total land development were simply too alien to their life view for most of the refugees to feel comfortable living there.

Though the rest of the project had been abandoned, there had been hopes that enough Alderaanians would remain on Coruscant to keep the Tower itself occupied, particularly given its spectacular view of the Manarai Mountains. But that final dream bad been dealt its death blow by Grand Admiral Thrawn’s short-lived but terrifying siege of the planet. When the siege was finally lifted, virtually all the Alderaanians left Coruscant, going to New Alderaan or scattering out among the stars. As one of them had e xplained to Leia, they had been lucky enough to escape the destruction of one world, and had no desire to settle on an even more tempting target.

And so the grand experiment had settled into vague obscurity, joining the host of other residential centers clustered beneath the mountains, most of which provided secondary or vacation homes to rich industrialists and government officials. Offworlders and aliens, most of whom bad never even heard of the fabled oro woods of Alderaan, let alone ever walked among them.

Over the years, the ache of that irony had mostly faded from Leia’s heart. Mostly.

Sad but also of course very realistic that Leia still has sad moments thinking back on her home planet. Ok then more politics, talking about who was doing the shooing, worries that Grand Admiral Thrawn is back and whatever. Later Leia and Han are talking with Lando and Karrde at their apartment but they have an intruder who sneaks into the boys' room. The good news is that the boys and their sister are with Chewie on Kashyyyk. Because like I said, Chewie is always taking care of the kids. But they don't know that yet, and Lando and Karrde disappear to that room for a private conversation while Han and Leia wait in the next room:

"Okay, I give up," Han said, a puzzled look on his face. "What was that all about?"

Leia shook her head. "I don’t know," she admitted, replaying the last exchange between Lando and Karrde in her mind as she gazed at the hallway where the two of them had disappeared toward the boys’ bedroom. "Some kind of secret they don’t want us to know about."

"Yeah, I figured that much," Han said. "What I meant was what’s the secret?"

Leia threw him one of her vast repertoire of patient looks, an inventory created by a lifetime of diplomatic service and honed to a fine art by ten years of dealing with three boisterous children. "You know I can’t just go in and dig things out of their minds," she reminded him. "It’s not even ethical with enemies, let alone friends."

"You Jedi are no fun sometimes," Han said. His tone was bantering, but she could tell from his eyes and mood that he was still uneasy about the situation.

"We’re not in the business to have fun," she pointed out.

"You couldn’t just sort of, oh, stretch out and get a feel for what they’re talking about in there?"

Leia smiled wryly. "I wish you wouldn’t do that," she admonished him.

He pulled out one of his own repertoire of innocent looks. "Do what?"

"Suggest that I do something unethical right when I’m trying to persuade myself that it wouldn’t hurt anyone," she told him. "That’s very disconcerting."

"Specially coming from a guy who isn’t supposed to have near as good a conscience as you do?" he suggested blandly.

Leia rolled her eyes. "I swear, Han, I think you can read my mind better without Jedi senses than I can read yours with them."

He waved a hand. "Professional secret. One of the things you learn as a scoundrel."

"Of course," Leia said, looking in the direction of the hallway again. "I wonder how unethical it would be to send Threepio in to take notes for them-"

I like that exchange a lot. Very cute, and the idea that Han can read her better than she can read him. Just, like I said, very cute. Anyway, their intruder, who is eventually discovered in the room, is a woman named Shada who claims this was the only way she could get there to talk with them, and she can help them with their issues. She really didn' mean any harm because as Leia said, her "danger sense" would've picked up if she had wanted to hurt any of them. She also claims that she helped get the plans for the turbolaser on the second Death Star. That, and apparently she was in the Cantina when Han shot Greedo, so if you remember a woman in the Cantina in that scene, that was her.

So then there is another conversation and Shada is going to go off with Karrde, but they tell Leia that Luke has gone after Mara, who was in trouble. There was a lot more Luke and Mara in this that I'm not going to get into. For those of you not aware, at the end of the book that follows this one, they decide to get married. I remember it coming out of nowhere and reading this book again, there didn't seem to be much hint of romance happening this time through, either.

Things are getting more war-like out there, and Leia and Han are alone in their apartment, knowing that the shooting has started and talking about what had happened with the mob:

 "We didn’t demand that the Bothans punish the surviving guards who fired on the rioters,
either," Leia reminded him.

She sensed his flash of gruff embarrassment. "Yeah," be growled. "Because of me."

Leia squeezed his knee reassuringly. "Not just because of you, dear," she said.

If I remember Zahn for anything, it's for lots of Han and Leia "squeezing" each other. Arms, legs, knees, hands. Really almost anything to avoid actual kissing. But then we get massaging in the middle of what is, really, a boring conversation about stuff.

 "Here, turn around a little." Pulling his arm from behind her neck, he started massaging her shoulders.

"It was," Leia said, feeling her taut muscles softening reluctantly under the pressure of Han’s fingertips. "That feels good."

Well that is nice of Han to give her a little massage. After more boring stuff finally Han brings up a better idea, taking a vacation.

Leia smiled. "You wouldn’t be worried about Karrde, would you?"

"No," Han protested. "Course not. He can take care of himself."

"It’s all right, dear," she soothed him, patting his leg again. "I like him, too."

"I don’t exactly like him," Han said, still protesting. "I mean, he can be a real pain in the neck sometimes."

"So could you, dear," Leia reminded him. "Still can, for that matter. You know, I sometimes think Karrde is sort of what you would have been if you hadn’t joined the Rebellion."

"Maybe," Han said. "Except for the beard."

"Thank the Force for small favors," Leia said dryly. "Anyway, that’s how I spent my day. Aside from chatting with smugglers, how did you spend yours?"

"Thinking, mostly," he said. "I was thinking it was about time we got away for a while."

"And a lovely thought that is," Leia murmured. "But Gavrisom would have a fit if I tried to leave right now."

"That might make it worthwhile all by itself," Han said. "I don’t think I’ve ever seen Puffers throw a fit."

Leia smiled. "I appreciate the offer, Han, I really do. But you know we can’t."

"You give up too easily," he reproved her casually. "I’ll bet you I could arrange something."

Leia pulled away from the massage, tuning to frown at him. There’d been another change in his emotions just then . . . "And assuming I took that bet," she asked suspiciously, "what else would you tell me you did today?"

He favored her with one of his innocent looks. "Me? Oh, nothing much. You taking the bet or not?"

"Out with it, Han," she said, putting some intimidation into her frown. Where did you book us a flight to?"

As always, the intimidation bounced off without noticeable effect. "Nowhere important," he said, a smile now lurking beneath all the innocence. "I just thought we could take a little jaunt out to Kanchen sector. Pakrik Major, to be exact"

Leia searched her memory. She’d heard of Kanchen sector, and vaguely remembered Pakrik Major being the sector capital. But that was about it. What’s out there that we’re interested in?" she asked.

"Absolutely nothing," Han assured her. "Well, I mean except for an annual sector conference that a New Republic official really ought to attend. You know-diplomatic courtesy and all that."

She sighed. "And what crisis are they going through that they need me to mediate?"

"That’s the beauty of it," he said, grinning openly now. "There isn’t one. Everything out there’s real peaceful. We’d sit through a few boring meetings, then head off into the silence and relax."

"You assume there’s silence somewhere nearby that we can get to."

"There is," Han said. "Pakrik Major’s got a twin planet, Pakrik Minor, where they’ve got nothing but farms, a few resorts, and lots of undeveloped countryside."

This was sounding better and better. "Farms, you say?"

"Fruit and tallgrain, mostly," Han said with a nod. "And forests and mountains and all the silence you want And no one here even has to know we’re going."

Leia sighed. "Except Gavrisom," she said, feeling a twinge of regret. "And he’ll never approve."

Han’s grin turned smug. "Sure he will. Fact is, I called him this afternoon and set it all up. He loves the idea."

She blinked. "He loves the idea?"

"Well, maybe he doesn’t love it, exactly," Han backpedaled. "But he’s letting us go, and that’s what’s important. Right?"

"Right," Leia said, eyeing him. "You going to drop the other glove, or not?"

Han shrugged. "He didn’t exactly say it outright," he admitted reluctantly, "but I got the feeling he wouldn’t mind if the two of us sort of disappeared for a while."

"Even with Thrawn on the loose?"

Han made a face. "Especially with Thrawn on the loose."

Leia sighed, wrapping her arms around his neck. She should have guessed that there would be something like that behind it. Between the Bothan shooting controversy still clinging to Han and her own support of Lando’s unsubstantiated claim about seeing Thrawn, the two of them had become political embarrassments. No wonder Gavrisom was jumping at the chance to get them out of the public eye for a while. "I’m sorry, Han," she apologized. "I always ask that one question too many, don’t I?"

"It’s okay, hon," he said, squeezing her tightly. "We don’t have to let them take the shine off this, you know. It was our idea to take a vacation, no matter what they think it is."

Leia smiled tightly. "You can’t throw me out; I quit,’" she quoted the old joke.

"Something like that," he said. "Anyway, I talked to Chewie, and there’s no problem with keeping the kids on Kashyyyk a little longer. It’ll be some time just for the two of us."

Leia smiled tightly into his neck. "You know, that’s almost exactly what I told myself when Gavrisom sent us to Bothawui," she said. "You saw how well that turned out."

"Well, this time it’s going to work," Han said positively. "No Bothans, no riots, no one shooting at us. Guaranteed."

"I’ll hold you to that," she warned, pulling out of the hug for a quick kiss. "When do we leave?"

"As soon as you’re packed," he said, squeezing her arm. "And hurry up, I’ve been packed for hours."

"Yes, sir," Leia said, mock-seriously, as she stood up and headed for their bedroom. Some quiet, peaceful time away from trouble and controversy. Yes, it was exactly what she needed.

The tallgrain farms of Pakrik Minor. She could hardly wait.

And the last chapter is bad guys and stuff so does anyone care? No? Good. This was a cute exchange, of course. Han being sneaky again, a way to get Leia away under the guise that it is "work" but it totally isn't and everything is quiet. It sort of sounds like something I'd write in a fanfic, so it's always nice to see a scenario like that show up in an actual book. And hey, we took a break from the knee squeezing for an actual kiss! Yay!

Wow, as Push said, it has been a LONG time since I wrote one of these and it seems harder than I remember. Neither of us can believe we used to publish them weekly.

Now, Han and Leia rating? I guess I'm going to go with a three. There isn't a ton of Han and Leia in this book. At one point there was a significant stretch where we heard from neither of them. But the times we do see them, they do seem in character and happily married and working well as a team. And any book where they discuss wifely and husbandly affection, implying that they are about to have some sex, is just going to have to get a little bump in the rating. I could go as high as 3.5 for this if anyone has any thoughts on that, feel free to interject. But I don't think there is enough of them to warrant any rating higher than that.

Finally, I'd like to ask that we keep the comments on this post related to the book and the contents of the post instead of turning this into another rant-filled section of comments. These book reviews take a lot of effort and it would be nice to keep the comments related to that, thanks.

2016 Valentine's Day Challenge - Submission #3 by Jaina Durron

 

Thanks to Jaina Durron for sharing a story for our challenge! 

****

It was just a rock. Gray, hard and rough-surfaced and sparkling with minerals in some places, it was. Yes, it was just a rock. Or so it may have seemed. Or so Leia may have wished. It was just a rock, so she tried to convince herself, but staring at it was like watching a holodrama in slow motion. Memories young and old were revived and played in Leia's head over and over until she thought she could take it no more. It was a rock, that much was true, but there was more to it and Jaina and Jacen had known that.

 As special as the rock was to her, just the mere fact that her own children had gotten it for her doubled the value she held it at. Had her twin children asked her if they could venture into such a dangerous asteroid field, she immediately would have started ranting out a list of every reason why they shouldn't- and wouldn’t- and how dangerous it was and, most likely, even borrowed See-Threepio to assure them of all the horrible odds. Then, she would have kissed both on their foreheads and sent them off for bed. But the two had purposefully gone behind her back to find her the greatest gift they thought they could give her. Not to mention that they faced all those dangers Leia probably would have warned them about before. And that was what made this particular rock special to her, that her own kids had gone to so much trouble for a rock they knew meant something to their mother. The twins could have gotten it from Mustafar and Leia would still have had it proudly displayed on the wall of her bedroom.

 Her fingertips automatically went to her eyes where she felt salty wetness already dripping from them, down her cheeks. Hurriedly, she wiped them off on her sleeve and took a calming breath, sniffled, attempting to calm herself, but Leia couldn't figure out what it was that she had done to deserve such wonderful children. She closed her eyes, smiling at the holodrama of memories for a long moment until something quickly wrapped itself around her waist and she gasped aloud. "Hey, Princess," his hot breath whispered against her ear, like a light wind gently blowing through her hair.

 "Flyboy," she acknowledged her husband and turned in his arms to stand on her toes and kiss him.

 "Are you having a good birthday?"

 Leia managed a nod, bringing her arms up to wrap around his neck, staring into his hazel eyes. "Yes. Of course. Today’s been wonderful. By the way, if I didn't say so before, I really love the necklace you got me." Leia brought a hand to her chest and played with the necklace's charm, an Alderaanian flower, between her fingers. "It's beautiful."

 "Well," Han held the charm in his own palm and looked at the jeweled aralute for a second. His eyes found their way back to hers and he smiled, tickling her neck with kisses until he got to her jawline, at which point he skipped the rest to meet her mouth with his. "I thought I'd get a beautiful jewelry piece for my even more so beautiful wife. I'm glad you like it. I wanted today to be special for you. You know this has to be the first time you've had work off for your birthday."

 "I had my birthday off during our second year of being married."

 "Yeah," Han chuckled. "Except, you were pregnant and the twins were just about ready to come."

 Leia laughed, resting her head on his shoulder and fell into a rhythmic sway, their arms wrapped around each other. "Yeah. Only a couple days later I got the greatest birthday gift of all."

 "Speaking of our wonderful children and birthday gifts, what did they get you?"

 Leia pushed back from Han so she could look up at Han, smiling euphorically. "You didn't see?"

 "No. I missed it while I was ordering dinner. Your favorite."

 "Mmm. I can already smell the gorba melts. Now, you have to see what they got me. Han, I don't know what Winter did to them while they were with her, but I think we might have the wrong kids."

 Han stopped, planted his fists on his hips and asked, "Did Jacen chase a rock lizard down and give it to you?"

 Shaking her head and quirking a brow, Leia picked up the rock from the dresser to show Han. "Our wonderful children got me this."

 "Sweetheart," Han eyed the rock with a skeptic eye and hesitantly accepted it when Leia held it out to him. "I love our kids too, but I thought we were over with telling them that their preschool finger paintings were better than Killik Twilight."

 "No, Han," she swallowed over a lump in her throat, beaming in pride. "It's from the Alderaan’s graveyard. Jaina and Jacen literally got me a piece of Alderaan." She shook his clasped hands around the rock to emphasize her own words and stared at Han, waiting for his reaction.

 "Wow," Han remarked when he had finally found words, unfolding his hands’ tight hold on the piece of Alderaan. "So, we're not punishing them for going without permission?"

 Leia was either ignoring the question or oblivious to it being asked as she swept the artifact from Han's hands to look at it again for herself, telling her husband, "It feels weird, actually holding a piece of my home planet in my hands, seeing it up close. It makes me wonder what part exactly this was from. Was this small, little piece once a part of Crevasse City or Aldera? Or was it the tip of one of the mountains I always used to dream of climbing?" A dark shadow crossed her features as her gaze turned to the floor and she quietly muttered another possibility. “Or the only remnant I have left of the palace?” Turning back to Han with more tears pooling in her soft eyes, she continued and Han listened intently. "I miss it all, Han. The palace, the art, my old friends. I love you and the kids and everything I've gained since I met you and Luke, but . . .  I miss home."

 From his pitiful expression, Leia could tell how awful he felt, how he wished he could sweep away all her torments with a brush of his hand, but, thinking about it from a different angle, he couldn't imagine not meeting her if she'd never left her home either. It was something that Leia was currently trying to wrap her mind around too, but it was one of those moments when she wished more than anything that she could run into Bail Organa's arms and just cry. If only this all could be some kind of nasty dream and she’d wake up in her old room in the palace and Breha would be shaking her awake, asking her why she was crying, assuring her that everything was fine. But, again, Han wasn’t there.

 Whether it was the words she'd left unsaid or all the things she shouldn't have told the Organas, Leia couldn't push back the rush of regret washing over her. If it wasn’t her wishes of it all being a long nightmare, it was the feeling of regret that came swiftly to make her wounds bleed afresh. And that was almost worse, in Leia’s mind. But Han stayed, offering her comfort, facing the pain with her as he muttered any words or phrases of comfort that came to mind. "Hey, relax, Princess. Okay, maybe that wasn't the best choice in terms of endearment just then, but-"

 "Han," Leia interrupted him, raising a slim finger to Han's lips to silence him. "No. It's okay. When I do start thinking about Alderaan, I can't ever stop  running my last days with my family over and over, thinking about all the things I wish I'd told Mama and Papa. I wish I'd told them I loved them more than anything and given them my biggest hugs." Leia gave a short laugh and told him what else she was thinking. "I wish I'd told my aunts I appreciated all the advice they'd ever given me. They made growing up a horrible burden, but I know they only meant to help me. I wish I'd stuffed myself full with as many of Memily's treats as I could manage, said bye to my Fess Ilee, sown Madame Vesta I really did pay attention to all of her lessons, hugged Sabé." She shuddered in his arms and Han instantly buoyed her back up.

 "To be honest," Han started, stroking Leia's head in comfort. "I wish I'd gotten to meet them too. Your parents, I mean. Whenever you talk about them, it makes me wish I'd grown up with parents like that."

 "Han-"

 "No, listen. I would have liked to meet them before we married. I think it would have been nice for the kids to have grandparents."

 "Wow. Way to make me feel less depressed," joked Leia as the two sat down together on their bed. "But I get what you mean. For me, I guess it would have been nice to have parents who could have helped me out when I fell in love with you, when we married, had the kids. I think it would have been a memorable first meeting between you and my parents."

 Grinning mischievously and pulling her closer to himself, Han asked her, "Do you think your father would have approved of me?"

 "I think my father wouldn't have liked you around me, but he eventually would have to admit he liked you for me. My father always knew a good man when he saw one. He would have liked how protective you can get over me, how much you care about me. Breha would have been really thrilled that I found you. SHe would have really liked you, probably had to talk to Bail for some time to show him how great you are. They both would have liked you a lot." She put out a finger, a smirk crossing her lips and started again, "Now, as for my aunts . . ." Just thinking about it, her eyes went wide in alarm and she let loose a long snort.

 Han reached out and pulled Leia down onto the bed with him. "I think they could have learned to deal with it."

 Laughing, Leia fell into his grasp and pulled him around so his body was leaning over her smaller one. "I'm sorry you miss them so much,” Han apologized. “If I'd grown up that lucky, I would miss it, too. If I ever lost you. Or the twins or Anakin . . . I would miss you guys."

 Leia grabbed Han by the collar of his shirt and pulled his mouth to hers, tears once again filling her eyes. "I don't even want to think about it. Han, never leave me. Please. Stay with me, help me. You, Jaina, Jacen, Anakin, Luke. You're all I have left. I don't want to think about losing a second Alderaan. Han, I don't think I could make it through this time."

 "Don't worry," Han held Leia's head in his hand, lowering his mouth to meet hers. "I don't plan on it." But before their lips could really meet, Leia suddenly pushed him back, murmuring, "Jaina's coming." Han jumped off the bed just in time to see his only daughter striding towards the doorway. She knocked and approached Leia. The mother took her daughter in for a hug as she asked, "Mom, are you mad at me and Jace? We really wanted to get you something special-”

 "It’s okay, Jaina. And it is special. Very." Leia pushed her back to arm's length and told her, "I love it. It might just be one of the greatest gifts I've ever gotten." She planted a soft kiss on Jaina's forehead. "Thank you, sweetie."

 "You're welcome. And happy birthday, Mom. I love you."

 "I love you too, Jaya. Now, come one. Why don’t you help me set the table for dinner. It shouldn’t be long before someone arrives with our food. Then, we’ll get out the cake and call Uncle Luke.”

Thanks again to Jaina Duron for sharing!

2016 Valentine's Day Challenge - Submission #2 by PUSH

Had to dust off the old keyboard for this, it's been awhile.  One thing hasn't changed, though:  my inability to write anything short!  Hope you enjoy.

****

Leia Organa Solo sat at her desk.  Her gaze was directed at the empty calendar on the holo-screen but her vision had long ago blurred as her thoughts wandered far away.  There was no movement outside of her office, not the usual clamor of conversation and comm chatter or of footsteps and laughter.  Outside her window, several stories below, it was the muted din of the sparse weekend pedestrian traffic and the occasional zealous speeder that finally tore her thoughts back to the present.  She began to scan through the pages of the contract she had been reviewing, skimming over words until she could locate the spot where she had stopped paying attention and had only pretended to read.  By the time she reached the beginning of the document, she was ready to admit defeat and give up. 

She rested her chin in her hand, looking askance toward that date on her calendar and releasing a heavy, forlorn breath.  Once again she felt her thoughts being tugged back into the gulf they had gotten lost within earlier yet this time she refused to answer its tempting call.  Placing her hands on her desk, she pushed herself up to standing.  It was already after lunch and she hadn’t even eaten breakfast or gotten a single thing done.  She gave one more perfunctory glance at the unfinished contract lying accusingly on her desk before she grabbed her jacket off the back of the chair and headed out of the office. 

The droid at the front of the building held the door open for her and expressed a polite greeting as she walked by.  Leia smiled and nodded at him as she slid her coat on and fastened a few of its buttons.  She turned up the avenue and began walking face first into the cool, crisp autumn wind.  The dry air was refreshing and she felt instantly invigorated as she made her way through the city, cutting down rarely used alleyways and angling across open courtyards toward her destination.    

Before long, she reached a large nondescript building with a formidable entrance.  Barely hesitating, she continued on, nodding her head and accepting the warm, familiar wave of salute from the building’s one lone, visible security guard.  The man turned to an unseen panel and entered a code as she in turn pressed her palm print on the scanner.  A great door began to rise up slowly and Leia approached.  She had only to bend down slightly in order to walk beneath the still rising door.  Once inside, she could barely hear the sound of her own footsteps over the sound of the heavy door now slowly lumbering its way back down behind her. 

Once inside, she undid the buttons on her overcoat thoughtlessly as the tarmac of an extremely large airship hangar opened up ahead of her.  The Solos’ personal docking area was big enough to fit Luke’s X-wing when he happened to be on-planet as well as Lando’s yacht and a few other friends’ starships, if necessary.  But today, like most days, it held only one ship, nestled as far back as possible in a lazily lit secluded corner of the expansive space.

The sight of the familiar ship was calming and as it grew in size in her vision as she approached, the chill from outside seemed to abandon her completely.  She shrugged her jacket off and slung it across her arm.  The Millennium Falcon’s ramp was down and several of her top access panels were left open on her hull, leaving her looking a little sad, exposed and vulnerable.  Cable lines and wires were strewn about, hanging out of her like intestines from a belly wound.  Scattered beneath her were odd tables and workbenches with tools and instruments lined up upon them as if patiently waiting for the absent surgeon to return. 

Without hesitation, Leia climbed up the opened access ramp and rounded the corner of the main corridor with every intention of heading toward the lounge and living quarters, but was stopped short before she got there.  Small, excited voices coming from the direction of the cockpit made her stop, turn right and head down that way.

“Millennium Falcon to Rogue Leader,” she heard one voice say.  “Watch your tail.”

“Rebel Base,” said another.  “Ready your shield generators.”

Then the first voice again, “Rogue Leader, you copy?”

Leia entered the cockpit quietly so as not to disturb the dogfight.  Her oldest children, the twins, sat in the pilot and co-pilot’s seat of the Falcon.  The pilot, Jacen, was sitting on his knees so that he could see out the viewport while tugging furiously on the control yoke, twisting it this way and that as the stock light freighter juked and jinked in his child’s vivid imagination.  Leia shuddered in sympathy just a little for the ill treatment of the old ship at the hands of her offspring.  Meanwhile, in the co-pilot’s seat, sitting cross-legged with a too-large headset on her small head, was her only daughter, Jaina, jamming random buttons and flipping and twisting odd levers.

“Shields are up,” the co-pilot confirmed.  “Go get ‘em, Uncle Luke.”

Leia smiled, walking further up into the cockpit before bending over and planting kisses on two reluctant cheeks.  The children barely acknowledged her, save the annoyed groans and the quick, chubby-handed swipes against their faces to erase her kisses away.  As she pulled away and stood, she didn’t bother asking where the rest of the Falcon’s crew was, as an Imperial Star Destroyer had apparently just dropped into the system.

Leia quietly turned around and headed back toward the ship’s main living area, finding the lounge to be a veritable mess.  She keenly surveyed the damage.  There was a hurricane of sticky evidence that indicated that Han had indeed fed the children (or attempted to) somewhere along the way.  She paused halfway through, considering an impromptu cleanup effort, but a noise emanating from the main cargo area dissuaded her and prodded her on. 

Passing the crew quarters and circuitry bay, she casually entered the main hold.  She had expected to find her husband there to greet her but only discovered their youngest, barely one year old, sitting all by himself.  Anakin gurgled at her contentedly while he gummed on some old piece of something that she’d much rather not guess at and slapped his hand in a conveniently placed puddle of something else of dubious color and foul odor right next to his knee.

She paused once again for a moment, taking in the entire tableau.  It wasn’t that long ago, for the first two especially, when the sight of an unidentified object in the mouth of one her children would’ve caused an outright hysterical reaction and initiated a decontamination routine that even the remediation teams on Taris would be impressed by.  But this was their third and even if the first two had come as a packaged set, they had cured her of much of that over-zealousness and protectiveness.

“And just what have you got there, huh?”  She whispered, tossing her coat aside and scooping the baby up in her arms, not caring about the smudgy hand grabbing at her face and her blouse.  Once in her arms, third child or not, she began to surreptitiously attempt to extract the newfound toy from the toddler’s tight grasp.  The effort proving to be frustratingly futile.

“You’ve gone awfully quiet out there, lil rascal.”  Her husband’s familiar voice came from somewhere within the bowels of the ship.

There had been a time as well that the sight she had just stumbled upon would’ve had her questioning her husband’s ability to keep an effective eye on their children.  Once again, however, years and experience had taught her that universally fathers did things differently than mothers and although Han’s parenting style certainly differed from her own in the end the kids benefited from experiencing both. 

She heard Han’s voice again, this time seeming to come closer.  “What have you gotten yourself into, huh?”

Before she could reply the tousled-haired head of her husband came poking out of a maintenance hatch, his hazel eyes lighting up at the sight of her standing there.

“Hey,” he said excitedly and then, as if remembering her cautious warning that she might not be home until dinner, added, “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” she replied with a shrug of her shoulders, feeling as if she were lying and not quite wanting to admit why.  “I just wanted to get out of the office for a bit.”

Han eyed her suspiciously and then continued to extricate himself from the small hatchway without saying another word.  He stood, brushing either his hands off on his clothes or his clothes off with his hands, or both because both needed it after crawling within the innards of his ship.  He clapped his hands together when he came to stand before her and then held them out toward their son.  “Come here, big guy.  You’re getting your mom all dirty.”

The baby leaned excitedly toward his daddy and she let Han take him into his arms.  “What’s that?”  Han asked, pulling at the item that Leia had not been able to wrestle away from the child.  “No, no,” Han said patiently, “that doesn’t go in your mouth.”  The baby relinquished his treasure reluctantly and Han took a second glance at it before he carelessly threw it toward the opened hatch.  He then took a pinlight out of his pocket and gave it to the inquisitive baby before turning to Leia and asking, “So, what’s up?”

She enjoyed for a moment the sight of her husband bobbing a toddler on his hip with such comfort and ease.  And then she sighed and said, “I don’t know.”

“Hmmm,” he replied.  “The dreaded, I don’t know, huh?”

She raised her eyes to his, he looked amused.  “It’s nothing, really.”

He grinned, appearing even more amused.  “Uh-huh.”

She made a face at him.  It was no use trying to hide anything from Han Solo, she knew this.  But she couldn’t exactly hide what she couldn’t explain.  And she couldn’t explain. 

He studied her for one moment longer before he wiped at something on her cheek, probably a present from Anakin, and then kissed her on her forehead and turned toward the Falcon’s lounge.  “Come on, you can help me clean up.”

She followed in silence, watched as he bent and put the baby down on his feet along the curved banquette in the lounge.  Anakin proceeded to motor himself along unsteadily, still grasping the treasured pinlight in his chubby hand.

Han began talking as he started to clean up the mess on the table.  “Anything happen at the office?”

Leia joined in, picking up the small cups and bowls, each a favorite of one of their children, they provided a clear picture of the rumpus that lunchtime must’ve looked like in the tiny lounge.  “No, I was the only one there,” she offered.

Han made a derisive snort and disappeared into the galley.

“You know I had to get that contract done.”  It wasn’t often that she worked weekends, but she couldn’t deny that she was a bit of an…overachiever.

“And did you?”

Leia entered the small galley and slowly handed Han the contents of her arms as he placed them into the sink.  “No.”

“Hmm,” was his only maddening reply.

Han deftly washed the children’s dinnerware, his method clearly born out of much patience and practice.  Leia leaned against the curved wall of the ship and marveled at how tiny the small dishes looked in his large hands.  She looked down at her feet and finally added, “I couldn’t concentrate.”

“Uh-huh,” Han answered enigmatically, but somehow it sounded smug.

She pushed herself away from the wall and grabbed a wet towel befroe returning to the lounge.  How could it be that it seemed he knew what was going on in her mind when she didn't even know, precisely?

“You always get this way right about the time the kids start walking,” he called from the galley.

Leia was about to hurl a rebuff at him when, as if providing corroborating evidence, Anakin chose that moment to let go of the seating and clumsily stumble across the lounge floor to the engineering station.  Leia made a face for no one’s benefit but her own as she finished wiping the tabletop and vinyl seats.  “Two data points does not a trend make, Solo,” she finally said.  “And what way am I acting exactly?”

“Mopey and distracted,” he shot back quickly.  Too quickly, for her taste.  “And I know a trend when I see one.  It usually means you’re ready for a vacation,” he said and then stopped, jutting his head out around the corner and catching her eyes before waggling his eyebrows and adding, “Or another baby.”

“Pffft,” Leia replied, finishing up in the lounge and joining him back in the galley.  If the word vacation had intrigued her, the ‘another baby’ part had doused the idea altogether.  “Try again, hotshot.  You’re way off your mark.”

The pair teamed up on the remaining cleanup in silence.  He washed, she dried and put away.  When they were done, she leant against the counter and he stood opposite of her pressed against the wall of cabinets. 

“I guess I could use a vacation,” she reluctantly admitted.  “I have felt…”  She trailed off, she’d be damned if she would admit to being mopey.

“Yeah,” Han replied, running his fingers along the ridge of a cabinet longingly.  “It’s been awhile since I took her out for a run.”

“Uh-hmm,” Leia agreed, watching Han’s long fingers caress his ship.  A lesser woman might actually be jealous, she thought.

Casually, too casually, Han’s eyes wandered back over to hers.  He stopped the movement of his hand but kept his grip on the edge of the counter where he had stopped.  “Was there something else?”

She made a face and shrugged her shoulders.  A vacation would be nice, there didn’t have to be a specific reason, yet her mind went back to that date on her calendar.  She shut her eyes briefly against the reminder and shook her head.

Han pushed himself away from the cabinets and stepped towards her, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking down at her.  “I can’t fix it unless you tell me.”

“There’s nothing to fix.”

“Uh-huh.”

“What?”  She questioned a little too defensively.  She hated when he analyzed her like the inner workings of his ship, even if he was almost always absolutely correct with his diagnostics.  She lifted her chin a little.  “There’s nothing to say.”

There was a long silence while they stood that way.  She, looking defiant.  He, looking amused but curious.  Finally upon hearing Anakin banging on something mercilessly, Han let go of her, turned toward the lounge and said, “It doesn’t matter.  You know you always tell me eventually.”

Leia followed and watched as Han redirected Anakin’s inquisitiveness to something less critical than the engineering station.  He remained crouched next to the toddler as he looked up at her expectantly.

Leia sighed and damned him for always being right.  “It’s Amity Day,” she said, shrugging her shoulders dismissively.  “I know we don’t,” she stopped and corrected herself, “No one really celebrates it.”  She left off the word ‘anymore’.  It had been an Alderaanian thing.  “But for some reason it hit me today and I…”

Han stood up and walked over to her.  “I see,” he said gently, running his hand along her jawline.  “You okay?”

“Yes, I just,” she started and then closed her eyes and leaned into his touch. “I just…don’t know.”  And she truly didn’t know.  Didn’t know what it was that she wanted, what she needed – didn’t know why she’d felt so irritated and mopey.  She just knew that it seemed to dissipate in his arms and virtually disappeared beneath his touch.

He cupped her cheek in his hand and caressed her soft skin with his thumb, once again wiping away at the greasy remnant of Anakin’s exploration of her face and neck earlier.  She opened her eyes and watched him as he worked at the mark on her skin and waited until his gaze traveled back to meet with hers.  After a brief moment of silence he whispered, “I could have the Falcon ready to go by tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”  She scoffed, thinking about the unfinished contract on her desk and all the reasons that flitting off-planet with her husband was not a good idea.  She remembered the state of the ship as she had approached it.  “What about that mess outside and whatever it was you were doing crawling inside the maintenance corridor?”

“Cosmetic,” he answered and waved his hand dismissively.  “I was running new wires for the onboard communication system, nothing we need for a short flight out.”

She sighed, the thought of a vacation sounding more and more tempting.  But Amity Day was a celebration of love and lovers and even with his recent modifications to the living quarters, a family vacation onboard the Falcon did not instill visions of naked arms enveloping her in warmth as she nuzzled against his bare chest for hours on end.  In fact, it precluded that vision entirely.  They were more likely to find only a few quick moments behind a storage crate in the main hold with the bare minimum of body parts exposed and naked for only the minimum standard amount of time.  Or even less, she thought derisively. 

“What?”  Han asked, honing in on the slight disappointment on her features and exasperatingly seeming to read into her other, more intimate thoughts as well.

Leia opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted as the twins made a loud and rambunctious entrance both making a beeline to their little brother and Jaina swiping his newest prized possession away. 

“I saw it first,” Jacen whined as he chased after his sister.

“No, it’s mine,” Jaina countered, twisting away and ignoring the bloodcurdling cry of her youngest brother as he made known his opinion of the pinlight’s rightful owner.

“Guys, c’mon,” Han said, turning toward the children. “Your mom and I are talking here.  Jaina give the light back to Anakin.”

Leia walked over to the baby and scooped him up attempting to soothe him as he leaned away from her, arms outstretched towards his sister, or more specifically to the treasure she held in her hands.

“But, Dad,” Jaina argued.

“But nothing,” Han replied.  “Jaina, now.”

Every Solo watched as Jaina walked over to her brother and handed, none-too-gently, the pinlight back to his awaiting grasp. 

“And apologize,” Han directed.

Sorry,” Jaina said in a huff.

“Now, you two,” Han said crouching down to eye level with the twins.  “Can you go wash your hands up real good like I showed you in the ‘fresher and then we can walk mommy home?”

“I can!” Jacen said excitedly as he raced off toward the crew quarters.

“I don’t wanna go home,” Jaina replied.

Han stood and tousled his daughter’s hair.  “I know, sweetheart.  But if you’re real good we can come back tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”  Jaina whined, saying it as if it were a hundred years away.

“Yes, now get,” Han said, turning her around by her shoulders and scooting her off toward her brother.

As Jaina disappeared down the corridor, Han looked over to Leia, the first hints of exhaustion finally starting to show.  “Where were we?” He asked.

Leia smiled, bouncing Anakin on her hip.  “Vacation on the Falcon,” she clarified and suddenly she seemed to know exactly what she did and did not want.  “But, I think I know what it was I wanted to tell you.”

“Oh, yeah?” He asked, standing and walking towards her.

“Do you think that we could maybe,” she whispered. “I mean, it is Amity Day.  You think we could…go alone, just you and me?” She asked and then, looking down at Anakin, she added quickly, “Is that awful?”

Han’s face brightened and he kissed the head of his youngest son.  “No, sweetheart,” he said.  “That’s not awful at all.  Everybody needs a break, even from these little angels.”

“I know, I just,” Leia replied, hugging Anakin to her tightly and kissing his head as well.  Anakin was oblivious to the attention he was getting as he pointed the pinlight at Leia’s blouse and against her skin.  “I feel selfish, like I’m a bad parent for even thinking it.”

“Don’t,” Han answered quickly.  “You’re the least selfish person I know.  Believe me, I know selfish and I know a thing or two about bad parenting and this ain’t it.”

It was at that moment that the twins ran back into the room, both of their clothes and hair was soaking wet and they were giggling.  “We’re clean!” They announced in unison and the Solo parents exchanged a knowing glance.

There was a galaxy of significance behind that shared glance and Leia was positive that they were both heading down the same train of thought.  As much as they might enjoy the idea of going off together, there were good reasons that they usually didn’t.  The main and most obvious one was that Leia knew as well as Han did that they could not leave their children with just anyone.  And, as the empty Solo hangar indicated, the usual suspects were all off-planet.  That didn’t exactly mean that they were all alone on Coruscant, it just meant that it might take some creative thinking to enable them their time away. 

Leia looked at her husband inquisitively; it all depended on just how badly he wanted to entertain her want of togetherness.  She studied him, only able to hold his smoldering gaze for one moment longer before she felt a wave of heat wash across her face and she had to look away.  Turning her attention to the children, she began to ready them for their walk across town, all thoughts about the previous topic of conversation behind her.  Leia had seen and could recognize just about every emotion that Han Solo had ever set his jaw to and, by the look on his face, she didn’t have a thing to worry about.  The promise of a trip alone together and the mere hint of where her thoughts had gone earlier…

He would most definitely find a way.

 ****

Mon Mothma was walking down the hallway when she passed Carlist Rieekan’s opened doorway.  A surprising sight caused her to stop her forward progress and do a double take.  On the general’s lap sat a chubby toddler, pulling and tugging at the communicator at Rieekan’s ear.  Upon seeing Mon, Carlist held his hand up, in a silent gesture asking her to wait.  “No, the Rogue Squadron is not available at the moment,” Carlist was saying, battling patiently with the curious child in his lap, “they’ve just been pulled onto a very important mission.”

Mon ventured further into her friend’s office, recognizing the youngest of the Solo brood and holding her hands out to the small child.  Recognition lit up the toddler’s face and he squawked and jumped towards her.  Carlist pushed himself away from his desk and willingly relinquished the infant from within his grasp.

“Yes, that’s correct,” Carlist continued saying.  “I know they’re on furlough, but this was an unexpected assignment, strictly voluntary.”

Mon bounced the delighted infant in her arms, pacing the office, quietly cooing and whispering to him as Carlist finished his conversation.

She turned to Carlist with concern when he had finally terminated the call. “Trouble?” She asked.

“Nothing I can’t handle,” he replied, standing up and bringing a small toy to the infant in Mon’s arms.

“Babysitting?”  Mon inquired as she helped the infant grab hold of the toy and held onto a small corner of it to prevent the child from dropping it.

“Yes, overnight,” Carlist supplied.

Mon arched an eyebrow.  “Overnight?  You’re kidding.”  She looked down at the infant in her arms.  “Just the one?”

“No, all three,” he said, walking toward the back window of his office and looking out the large viewport that overlooked the main military hangar. 

All three Solo kids at once?  There are not many more frightening prospects in the galaxy at the moment, she thought.  Mon loved Leia and Han and adored their children, but there were just so many of them and they were as intelligent and as incorrigible as both of their parents combined – a lethal combination to be sure. 

She walked toward Carlist.  “Where are the twins?”  She asked, before joining him at the window and taking a look over the hangar bay for herself. 

There were no less than a dozen Republic X-wings scattered across the tarmac and an equal number of Rogue Squadron fighter pilots milling around in a strange sort of formation, the likes of which she had never seen.  Two small figures seemed to be within the center of all the activity and Mon leaned further in to get a better look. 

“Carlist!”  She gasped, drawing back and looking at her friend.  He didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed.  “You didn’t!”  She accused, and then recalling the conversation she had overheard, added, “Is that the super-secret assignment?”

“They’re on leave,” Carlist said, taking the baby from Mon’s arms and talking to him in a sing-songy voice while answering Mon Mothma, “and it was strictly voluntary.”

“I hope,” Mon began and then stopped.

Carlist readied himself for her admonishment.  He was sure she had meant to say: I hope no important Republic business was delayed for this frivolous need.  Or something similiar.  Mon hadn’t gotten as far as she had by being a complete softy, but she wasn’t the krayt dragon that most pegged her as, either. 

He shrugged, recalling Han Solo’s desperate plea followed by an uncanny amount of sage like parental advice.  Carlist would have all three kids alone tonight in his quarters; allowing the twins to run amuck around the tarmac with the Rogues was an integral component of his personal survival plan.  Looking back down at the sight of the Rogues chasing the two small figures about, he shrugged again, Mon Mothma he could handle and he regretted nothing. 

Mon looked at the baby in Carlist’s arms and then at the man himself.  “I hope,” she continued and then looked back down at the hangar bay herself, before adding, “that Rogue Squadron is up to the challenge.”

Carlist smiled.  They were the best damn fighter unit in the galaxy.  The cream of the crop.  But Han Solo and Princess Leia had deigned to unleash the product of their combined personalities on the universe three times over.  Kissing the child in his arms on the side of the head, Carlist responded, “I hope so, too.”