• "The Empire Strikes Back," Donald F. Glut

'Another plan shot to hell.'

Han Solo sighed silently as he locked the landing gear down in the asteroid cave he had just so deftly flown into to shake pursuing Imperial TIE fighters. What he thought was going to be just a hop, skip, and jump to hyperdrive--getting Leia off Hoth and to the Rebel rendezvous point at Hector--had gone horribly awry. Not only had he discovered the hard way that the hyperdrive wasn't working, but the Falcon's deflector shields had been seriously damaged by too many Imp hits during their escape.

'This should do nicely, allright. Time to work on the hyperdrive, the shields...and the Princess.'

A savvy sabacc player, Han didn't like the odds of having to throw himself at Leia's feet on the way out the door on Hector. He had already learned on Hoth that she responded to that kind of pressure with precision coldness.

'Damn Her Royalness. She's not gonna make this easy. But when has anything in my life been that?'

Another female--more essential at the moment, though--wasn't making things easy for Han: the Millennium Falcon. Where to start? It came to him as most of his good ideas did--in a flash.

"I'm gonna shut down everything but the emergency power systems," he announced as he stepped into the cockpit, where the Princess, Chewbacca, and See Threepio had already started on repairs. With the flick of a few switches, Han powered down the engine and electronic systems, then admired the darkened cockpit and the Princess in this equivalent of candlelight. A convenient segue for him. He was nothing if not able to instantly make an association, then exploit it.

"Gettin' kinda romantic in here," Han flashed a quick grin to her. Leia rolled her dark brown eyes.

'That wasn't bad,' he thought to himself.

"Sir, I'm almost afraid to ask, but does that include shutting me down, too?" asked Threepio.

"No, I need you to talk to the Falcon, find out what's wrong with the hyperdrive," Han swiftly answered.

Before Threepio could make his way toward the cockpit door to perform the task, the Falcon lurched, sending the golden droid and the rest of the crew flying.

"Sir, it's quite possible this asteroid is not entirely stable," offered Threepio.

"Not entirely stable? I'm glad you're here to tell us these things. Chewie, take the professor in the back and plug 'im into the hyperdrive," Han said with a jerk of his thumb toward the hold.

"Oh, sometimes I just don't understand human behavior. After all, I'm only trying to do my job in the most..." Threepio trailed off as Chewbacca led him out of the cockpit. The door slid close behind them, ending the droid's monologue.

Suddenly, the Falcon lurched again, this time more violently, and this time sending the Princess' petite frame flying into Han, who reflexively put his arms around her as he landed in a passenger seat with her on his lap.

'My luck was bound to get better.'

Predictably, Leia struggled to be free of his hold. "Let go," she said.

"Sshh!" Han answered, raising a hand, trying to figure out why the ship was lurching like this. Could the Imps really be that close?

"Let go, please," Leia continued, trying to move forward and out of his arms.

Annoyed at her negative response to his touch, Han looked at her and said without thinking, "Don't get excited." Mistake.

"Captain, being held by you isn't quite enough to get me excited," she shot back.

Now thoroughly annoyed at his leaving himself open for another cold blast from the Princess, Han lifted her from his lap--standing in the process--and set her firmly on the deck.

"Sorry, sweetheart. We haven't got time for anything else," he leered and exited the cockpit before he could see the thoroughly offended look on the Princess' face.

'Damn. Mistake number two,' he said to himself on the other side of the door. 'What do you expect, laser brain? Of course she's gonna fight fire with fire. That's one of the things that turns you on about her. You've just gotta be nice.'

But just then he had to be nice to the female that was already his--the Millennium Falcon--and find out what was going on with her hyperdrive. Han's lanky body made quick strides to the hold to join Threepio and Chewbacca.

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