Han frowned in silence, uneasy at her words, and Leia finally looked up. "Did you mention anything--any safe way to get off the Capital?"
"Not a safe-house--I didn't even know there was one on Coruscant. I said I knew a place we could hide 'till we got a pick-up from the emergency transmission, but it was a smuggler's place."
"The Tyren Islands." Leia nodded. "We've used them a few times. We can't anymore."
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Han stared in silence as the Princess kept her eyes on the scanner she was setting up, avoiding his eye. In the long silence, Han's mind recalled fragments of conversations with Luke. He'd never once mentioned the exact co-ordinates of the Tyrens...and when he'd escaped they'd magically given him a ship and a reason to fly to there. Their choice of ship...with any tracking devices they damn-well pleased aboard it, so they could stay nice and close. Close enough for a short-range tag to work if there was a booster on the ship he'd flown there in, so they could track him even if he left the skimmer.
In the hanger, hadn't Luke limited his choice of escape craft to two or three, though the hanger was full? He hadn't thought about it at the time--hadn't even considered it.
And where were all the stormtroopers? 'Cos they sure as hell weren't chasing Han when he was wandering through the Palace. He frowned, freshly uncertain...
"No," he said at last, shaking his head. "No, I know him. The kid's not that guy."
"Take your jacket off."
"Okay, why wait twelve weeks?" Han asked, shrugging his borrowed Rebel jacket off--he didn't even have any of his own clothes anymore.
Leia sighed, starting a slow sweep with the scanner. "You and I had been alone for weeks before Bespin--maybe they figured they could pump you for any information I'd given you in that time. Keep you talking, keep you trusting."
"If they wanted information, why didn't they do all this with you?"
"Because I already knew who he was, Han. They'd made a mistake that day, in taking me up to his apartments--in letting me see who he really was...what he was."
Han set his head on one side emphasis in her words. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Leia sighed, stepping closer, pausing in her methodical sweep of Han's body with the sensor. "This is not common knowledge, and we intend to keep it that way. What I tell you is between you and me, understand?"
Han nodded, chest tensing...waiting for the next blow, he realized.
"You know Luke...sometimes did things. Unexplainable things. You know what his reflexes were like, how he played hunches..."
"I know he was...a Force-sensitive, a Jedi..." Han paused, still uncomfortable with saying these things out loud, "...whatever. Like Kenobi."
"No," Leia said, voice solemn. "Not at all like Kenobi."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Han heard the belligerent tone in his own voice.
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Looking into his eyes, seeing the outrage and offence and that dogged Corellian loyalty, Leia realized she had no idea how to say this--so she just said it. "He's Vader's son. We think Luke is Darth Vader's son."
Han didn't say anything--which was somehow worse than an explosion, to Leia.
"We haven't verified it, but then I think it would be pretty hard to do. Since it isn't already common knowledge, we assume they don't want it to get out. The Bothans are trying to get a DNA key of Vader's blood--we already have one of Luke's from our own records, but getting hold of one from Vader is proving difficult. We do know without a doubt that he's the son of a member of the Emperor's personal entourage. That comes from a separate, reliable source..."
"Who the hell said Luke was Vader's son?" Han growled, voice low.
Leia swallowed against her dry mouth, guilt still welling up inside her at this. "Me. I found it out when we were being held on Coruscant. Someone let it slip...I wasn't supposed to hear."
Han looked at her, eyes dark and stormy. "So you came back here and you told them."
It was an accusation of betrayal and she knew it.
"Yes," Leia said, her own voice rising, determined not to feel guilty about this. Luke was a spy--an Imperial agent. She owed him nothing.
She resumed her scan, turning him to smooth it over his back, listening to his voice, rough with anger.
"You'd better be damn sure 'cos even if it's true, this is the biggest load of..."
The scanner squealed momentarily and Leia pulled it back to a point just below and between Han's shoulder blades. It shrilled again--a positive trace. Han fell silent.
"It's medium range. A new type we haven't seen before. Compact, short life. Maybe four or five weeks before the power cell runs out. Chewie, Lando and I had them taken out when we got here. The Empire was supposedly taking us to Kessel," Leia said neutrally into his questioning eyes. "On Neimoidia, we thought we'd managed to break free and contacted the Alliance cell there, to pull us out. Less than an hour after we'd left Neimoidia the Empire did a big sweep--took down two of our three bases there. We lost about fifty people. The bases they hit were the two bases that Chewie, Lando and I had passed through."
She didn't look to Han as she said this, unable to meet his eye. He raked his hand through his hair, shaking his head firmly.
"I can't do it--I'm not gonna do it.... I'm not gonna turn on him. You're wrong."
"What would it take to convince you, Han?" Leia asked, frustrated all over again simply at having to churn this up one more time. "Look at the facts! You won't believe it until you have Luke standing in front of you, telling you."
"Damn straight I won't. You say that like it's a bad thing!"
"Han, he was selling us out--he was never one of us in the first place!" She knew her voice had risen in response to his own, neither giving ground.
"You believe what the hell you want, Highness, but I know I'm right."
"Against all of this?!"
"Yeah, against that! You know why? 'Cos that's just extrapolation and after-the-fact guesswork, and he's worth more that all your precious Intel reports and anything the Bothans just happen to unearth all of a sudden, 'cos I know him. He's like a brother to..."
Han didn't finish, only swept his hand in a gesture of dismissal and stormed out.
Leia was left to stand alone in the room, lost in her own thoughts, until eventually there was a light knock at the door. Sighing, she lifted her hand to the wall panel and it slid open. Han still stood in the corridor, head on one side, expression a wry mix of chagrin and embarrassment.
"I don't have anywhere to go," he said quietly. "I don't have a ship anymore."
She smiled sadly, leading him back into her room. "We'll get you a bunk, flyboy."
"Not with Chewie," Han managed a lopsided smile as he followed her. "He snores like a cranky swoop motor."
Leia sighed, her momentary smile melting away as she shook her head, unable to look Han in the eye. "What do we do with this?" she said, asking of the argument rather than the facts. She didn't want to lose what had only just begun over this difference, and she didn't think Han did either.
He sighed, looking to the floor. "I dunno, Leia. I really don't. I guess we'll just wait and see."
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Palpatine watched the boy come round as Jade took her leave from the dimly-lit cell, bowing to her master, though he didn't bother to acknowledge it.
He was well aware of the conflicting emotions welling up in her, but confident that she would always do as he ordered. As such, it had become another minor entertainment, a diversion acted out for his own personal amusement. In the future, it would be twisted to serve his intentions, but for now it held little use other than to confirm that everything he wanted, even his most far-reaching goals, were attainable.