Luke and Leia - Rebels [2]

6: Old Friends

Leia awoke with a start, her eyes snapping open and her body becoming stiff and alert to fight herself nodding off. She blinked several times to clear her vision and looked around, realizing that the hum of the ship's engine was gone.

The bounty hunters entered into the area, with one switching on the lights. "Alright, listen up. We're making a pit stop to fuel up and will leave again shortly, and if I hear so much as a gasp out of any of you I'm removing your brain via blaster fire. Understand?"

A flicker of nods spread through the crowd, but Leia's head was not among them. Instead she scowled. This was her chance to get out, she felt it. How she felt it she couldn't understand, but then she recalled her conversations with Luke and the dreaded Darth Vader aboard the Death Star. Maybe it was the Force itself that was tugging at her, hinting for her to act now while she still could.

She pursed her lips in a frown, eyeing the bounty hunter closest to her's blaster holstered safely on the hip facing her. If she moved fast enough she could grab it and shoot him, but that wouldn't account for the other hunter. Leia quickly looked to see the other one turned the opposite direction and observing the prisoners at the end of the line, and knew that it was now or never.

Not wasting time to think, Leia let her instincts take over. She kicked the bounty hunter's knee in, but panicked when it didn't even budge. The bounty hunter slowly looked over at her. "Did you really think that was a good idea?" He asked patronizingly, looking Leia up and down and taking in her small stature.

Leia's face flushed with anger and embarrassment, but she stayed calm, formulating a new plan. "Not really, I just wanted to grab your attention."

The hunter stayed silent for a few seconds before responding. "You have it, but you'd better say something important or else you can say goodbye to your head."

Leia acted quickly, gathering all the saliva she could inside her mouth and spitting it viciously at the hunter's helmet. He made a disgruntled noise, and Leia had the blaster in her hand before she even knew she'd grabbed it. She shot him in the head, not having time to process the repercussions, and sprinted away but paused just enough to turn around and shoot the other one in the chest. The other hunter collapsed, and all of the Rebels stared at her in shock.

"What are you looking at? Go!" Leia snapped, continuing to run out of the ship. She didn't check to see if anyone was following, but did slow down to take in the area around her. It was a musty docking hangar, and the humidity of the air made it almost hard for her to breathe. After observing the hangar she realized she wasn't in any danger, at least outwardly, so she relaxed reluctantly and put her blaster down at her side.

Leia took a deep breath in and brushed a hair behind her ear, then started walking. "Excuse me, what planet is this?" She asked one of the nearest people to her, a Rodian.

The Rodian gave her an answer in a language she didn't understand, but luckily it had a protocol droid with it. "You are currently on the planet of Taris, a fuel center for the Outer Rim systems."

Leia thanked the droid and went on her way, sighing in relief. The Outer Rim for the most part was nowhere near Imperial space save Tatooine, Scarif, and a few other planets but not Taris. As she exited the hangar she noticed that the planet had an all-encompassing fog, most likely due to excessive pollution. She narrowed her eyes against the sting of the fog and pulled her hood up, hiding her blaster under her jacket by placing it in her belt.

The hangar was vast, with several different docking bays that Leia had to walk past in order to exit it. Just as she was passing the last one she frowned, feeling that tugging sensation again. Stop it, you're being foolish. She chided herself firmly, continuing to walk away but feeling more and more unsettled as she did until finally she gave up and turned to look at the last docking bay in exasperation.

But her exasperation was quickly replaced with shock when she saw an Imperial transport and two bounty hunters loading a large crate onto it. Next to the transport a large humanoid alien Leia had never seen before was talking with what looked to be a human, but his back was turned to her. She frowned, wondering what could possibly help her here, but then the man turned around and she saw his face.

Her eyes widened and her mouth went agape, because boarding the ship and nodding in acknowledgement to the bounty hunters leaving it was none other than Han Solo himself. Leia waited in anticipation for the hunters to leave, then ran to the ship and boarded just before the ramp closed.

But now that she was on board Leia realized she didn't think this through at all. What if Han wasn't happy to see her? What if she was jeopardizing something? What if he wasn't alone?

Leia decided to solve this problem by slowly approaching the cockpit and peering in, and resisted the urge to sigh in relief when only Han and Chewbacca were inside. She froze for a moment, unsure of how to greet him. Finally, she braced herself. "Han?"

Han Solo practically leaped out of his chair and whipped his blaster out, pointing it at Leia's head. But once he saw it was her his eyes popped and his jaw dropped. "...Leia?" He asked incredulously.

Leia didn't move her head, but her eyes drifted up slowly to the blaster barrel pointed at her. Han seemed to shocked to move it, so she slowly lifted a finger and pushed it away. Only then did he come to his senses, blinking and bolstering the blaster. "Right, right. Sorry." He paused and stared at her. "What..?"

Chewie interrupted him with a cheerful rumble, and Leia smiled at the Wookie before turning back to Han. "Long story. Where are you going?"

"Well, I was uh... Going to drop off a weapons shipment."

"In an Imperial ship?"

"We had to pass through Imperial territory." He explained, still not fully past the shock of Leia being there.

"Are you not anymore?" Leia cocked a brow.

"Well that depends... Your Highness." Han smirked slightly, the shock wearing off. "Do you have somewhere important to be? I doubt you with all your prestige in the Alliance won't be missed."

Leia scoffed. "Oh, please. I'm already wishing I hadn't boarded."

Han's smirk faded. "Seriously, what caused you to end up here? And where are you going?"

"I was traveling to another base and it went wrong, and apparently wherever you're going." She gestured to him and Chewie.

"Alright, well in that case strap in. We're going to Teth to deliver a weapons shipment to a crime lord."

"Teth?" Leia repeated incredulously. "That's wild space."

"If it pays well, it's worth it." Han sat down and started priming the engines.

"It's nice to know you haven't changed much." She responded sourly, sitting down in the chair behind Chewie. "I'd best not keep us waiting, then."

Chewie barked out a laugh, and Han shook his head as he lifted off from the hangar and sped out of Taris's atmosphere.