"Han, listen...please--"The kid sounded like he was trying to validate his actions as much to himself as to Han. "Palpatine agreed to release everyone except one person, in exchange for my staying."
"Staying?" Some of the fire went out of Han's eyes at the realization of what Luke had done, but he was still seething.
"For twelve weeks. I stay here for twelve weeks."
"And then what? You think he's gonna just let you go?"
"No. But he wasn't going to do that anyway," Kid said wryly.
Han softened a little at that, knowing that the kid had no real choice; that he'd tried to make the best out of a raw deal in a bad situation. Gain something out of nothing. "I dunno. Twelve weeks is a long time, Luke."
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Luke remained silent for long moments. Only now, when someone else voiced that fear, was he becoming aware of just how long it really was.
The thought that Luke had been dreading finally occurred to Han. "Who stays?"
Luke didn't look up, unable in that moment to meet Han's eye, ashamed of the fact that the decision had been made, that Luke had agreed. Wishing--hoping that his friend would...
"I'll stay," Han said firmly, meaning it.
The relief escaped Luke in a quiet sigh and he blinked slowly, thankful for Han's good heart. He nodded gently, still wracked with guilt, unable to speak in that moment.
Probably realizing he'd made an impossible decision for his friend, Han reached out to put a reassuring hand on Luke's shoulder, his other having to follow somewhat comically because of the binders.
"Hey, it'll be just like old times, huh? Remember that crappy dead-end planet we had to hang around on? The one where we had the cook-outs every night 'cos your stupid friend was five days late with that detonator shipment?"
Luke could only laugh at that. "You make it sound so rosy," he said dryly.
"Well, y'know...it wouldn't have been. But we made it okay. Me and you. We're a good team." Suddenly very embarrassed at his momentary camaraderie, Han made light again. "And besides, I'm charging the Rebellion for this. Hourly rate. And after the first ten hours, I'm on overtime. Plus danger money."
Luke smiled. "You can bill me."
"Yeah, like you got that kinda currency," Han dismissed easily, glancing around again. "But see that painting there? If we take that with us when we leave, I'll call it even."
Luke glanced at the huge painting of a night battle under moons and stars, realizing that he too vaguely recognized it--which meant it really must be incredibly well known.
"Fine," he said, judging the size of the massive canvas, about twice his height and four times that length. "But you're carrying it."
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"We need a comlink," Leia said, breathless from running, mind still swimming at the outrageous events of the day.
"We need a ship," Lando corrected, glancing meaningfully back to the spaceport as they huddled back into the shadows of the side street.
"If you get me a comlink, I can get us a ship," Leia said.
Lando turned back to her. "Hard as I find it to refuse those big brown eyes, I'd like to point out that in order to get us a comlink, I'm gonna have to steal it, and if I'm going to steal a comlink to get us a ride, I may as well just steal a ship, right?"
He glanced up at Chewie for support and the Wookiee keened, his nodding head indicting that it made perfect sense to him.
"Stealing a comlink and stealing a ship are not the same thing," Leia maintained.
"I beg to differ. If someone's fool enough to leave a factory-standard locking system on a valuable item--" Lando began, but Leia cut him off.
"Just get a comlink, okay?"
Lando looked at her for long seconds, clearly sure he was right... "Fine," he said at last. "Chewie?"
They disappeared from sight and Leia was left to draw back into the shadows of the busy Cat Dato Spaceport, glancing around nervously, expecting to see that familiar white armor any second.
Worrying where Han and Luke were...
She, Lando and Chewie had been taken from their cells and grouped together into a prison transport at some point in the early hours of the morning. Each relieved to see the other, their excited whispers had ceased as they tried to listen to the stormtroopers speaking to the pilots outside.
It had become obvious pretty quickly that they were heading on a long trip--
"Twenty-four days," Leia had whispered.
"Twenty-four days! That can't be right," Lando murmured, frowning. "Maybe that's the round trip?"
Chewie whuffed a reply--the first time Leia ever remembered his doing anything quietly--and Lando nodded knowingly.
"Kessel's about that from here, in this small transport," he translated, voice tight with trepidation.
Leia frowned at the mention of the Emperor's favored gulag, eyes searching the stormtroopers at the bottom of the ship's ramp. Why take them to Kessel? She'd expected a very public execution designed to clarify for all that there was no escaping Imperial justice. Why this? Disappearing off the face of the galaxy to a prison planet in the back of beyond?
Any further discussion had been cut short by the arrival of eight stormtroopers in the hold, all of whom appeared about as happy to be making this trip as Leia was.
Twelve hours later they'd made a stop off in what turned out to be Cat Dato Spaceport on Neimoidia, where the stormtroopers watching them had risen and walked casually down the ramp to stretch their legs, and to speak to another two who were waiting, a Bothan prisoner in tow--and Leia decided it was all the opportunity she needed.
"Chewie... "
Although they were the only prisoners there, several empty rows of hard seats in front of and behind them, they had been sat in line on a single row, an unbelievable opportunity. Leia was in the center, held sitting by a long, meaty restraint bar which ran through holders in the arms of their row of seats, her and everyone else's wrist binders tethered by threading the same bar through them, effectively tying their hands and holding them seated at the same time.
There was no way Leia could have broken her own binders, nor Chewie his--which were considerably thicker--but Leia had spent the last four hours wondering whether Chewie could break the metal cord on her human-scaled binders, and trying to communicate that fact to him with elbow nudges and meaningful glances.
He reached over now, able to slide his own binders along the continuous bar to the edge of his seat as she did the same with hers. Taking her binder cable in his huge hands he heaved it apart, bulky muscles knotting to massive lumps in his powerful arms...
It took four attempts before it sheared away, making Chewie's own binders clatter noisily against the bar as they pulled taut. Everyone froze, glancing nervously at the ramp...
Hands now free to lift above her head, Leia had been able to shimmy like a limbo dancer beneath the bar at her lap, struggling to squeeze her shoulders past and turning her head to one side as she nimbly slipped free.
She headed immediately for the cockpit, knowing the two pilots were likely armed but preferring her chances against them rather than against the stormtroopers at the bottom of the ramp.
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Lando, who had watched all this with a mix of fascination and surprise, was left to glance up to Chewie... It took seconds to get his priorities in order. "D'you think she'd do that shimmy thing again if I asked her nicely?" he said, making the Wookiee grin.
Moments later when the arm catches which held the long bar in place released on some automated system, enabling Lando and Chewie to step free and slide their own binders off as quietly as possible.
Lando headed to the cockpit to give the Princess a quick prompt, and as she'd followed him out she'd passed Chewie, and dropped one of the two blaster she was holding into his massive hands.
"Hey, don't I get one?" Lando whispered.