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Jun. 11th, 2008 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ishotfirstThey're in the cave for awhile. It's so dark (not like there's a sunrise or sunset to watch over the horizon when you're in space anyways) that he can't really tell how much time has passed, other than the fact that they all end up sleeping, eventually. The Falcon isn't built for a large crew, so the quarters are a bit tight. Chewie has his own bunk in one of the storage rooms off the corridor, Threepio is still trying to talk to the ship, which leaves Leia to sleep and Han to think about his options while lying awake in the bunk across the room from her's.
Sure, he's tired. He just spent the last who knows how many hours outrunning TIES and Star Destroyers --
The ground rumbles ever so underneath them, and he glances at the ceiling, half expecting to hear rocks falling on them. But nothing does, so he returns to his thoughts.
Of course he's tired. When he went to the 'fresher before lying down he opened and closed the door a half dozen times in hopes of finding Milliways. When that didn't happen, he settled for dinner, which was half a loaf of bread (which he shared with Leia, and brushed off her questions about where he got it from) and a slice of nerf, plus a cup of caf.
Maybe that's why he was jittery.
Either that or it was the rumbles that occasionally rippled underneath the ship. Bombing runs, he figures, trying to flush them out of the cavern. They're still up there, those kriffin' Star Destroyers and TIES.
Leia shifts underneath the blanket and sighs in her sleep, and Han lifts his head ever so slightly to watch her for awhile, making certain to stay very quiet. Eventually, his mind slows down (the caf wears off) and he falls asleep himself.
Waking, of course, everytime the ground shudders underneath them.
"Sir, I don't know where your ship learned to communicate, but it has the most peculiar dialect. I believe, sir, it says that the power coupling on the negative axis has been polarized. I'm afraid you'll have to replace it."
Han looks at Threepio as the droid relays this information. "Well, of course I'll have to replace it."
When the droid turns around, Han moves to the other side of the corridor to hand a bundle up to Chewie. "Here! Take this." And then he glances at the droid and lowers his voice. "And I think we'd better replace the negative power coupling."
Down another corridor in an access room, he spots the familiar blue sparks of a welding arc and steps into the door, watching as Leia finishes up a weld and tries to pull on a lever, struggling a bit. He steps closer, to help, only to be elbowed away from her.
"Hey," he protests. "Your worship, I was only tryin' to help."
"Would you stop calling me that?" She sighs and keeps pulling at the lever.
But there's something different about her tone, that makes Han react in a way he's not used to, himself. "Sure, Leia."
"Oh, you make it so difficult sometimes," the words come out quiet and strained as she works at the lever, then removes her hand and rubs it gently, obviously sore.
"I do, I really do. You could be a little nicer, though," he offers, keeping an eye on her hand. "Come on, admit it. Sometimes you think I'm all right."
Leia looks up at him and smiles a little. "Occasionally...maybe...when you're not acting like a scoundrel."
The sound of his laugh echoes in the small room, bouncing off the deck and the metal surrounding them. "Scoundrel? Scoundrel?" A smirk. "I like the sound of that." When he notices her hand still be rubbed, he reaches for it and takes it, eyes locked on hers as he starts to work out the knots in her palm.
"Stop that," she says quietly.
"Stop what?"
Leia tries to pull her hand away as a blush rises to her cheeks. "Stop that! My hands are dirty."
He shrugs. "So? My hands are dirty too," his eyes still on hers. "What are you afraid of?"
Leia blinks. "Afraid?"
"You're trembling."
"I'm not trembling."
Han pauses a moment and then leans a little closer, her hand closer to his heart, now. "You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life."
Leia shakes her head slightly, her voice a high whisper, shaking ever so slightly. Not fear, but excitement. "I happen to like nice men," she protests gently.
"I'm a nice man."
"No, you're not, you're..."
She doesn't finish the sentence. He doesn't let her, because his lips are against hers. This isn't a brash, rough kiss, but a slow one, her hand against his chest, one hand of his sliding up her arm to rest on her shoulder. Her fingertips brush his cheek as he tilts his head closer, heart pounding so hard he thinks it just might burst from his chest.
"Sir! Sir!"
The sound of a metallic voice drifts into the room as he's tapped on the shoulder by cold fingers. "I've isolated the reverse power flux coupling."
I should turn him into scrap and sell him for the credits, Han thinks as he turns and feels Leia slip out of his arms. "Thank you. Thank you very much."
"Oh, you're perfectly welcome, sir."
When he turns back, Leia is gone, and Han looks into the narrow passageway leading deeper into the Falcon for a long moment before he turns and follows the droid back to the control panel.
++++
Han is kneeling on the floor, coupling some wires together, with Threepio standing above him.
"Sir, if I may venture an opinion."
"I'm not really interested in your opinion, Threepio," he mutters, as he drops the floor panel back into place and stands up, and then looks up when he hears light footsteps.
"There's something out there."
"Where?"
"Outside, in the cave," Leia explains, then all of them glance up when a sharp noice strikes the outside of the hull.
"There it is! Listen! Listen!" The droid explains.
Han growls under his breath and moves towards the far wall. "I'm going out there."
Leia stares at him. "Are you crazy?!"
I thought we established that already. Before or after the trip through the asteroid field and charging headfirst at a pair of Star Destroyers. Oh, or sneaking onto a giant space station to rescue you in the first place.
"I just got this bucket back together," he bites out. "I'm not going to let something tear it apart."
++++
The cave is quiet, outside, with a mist covering the floor of it. Han pulls in a breath of the oxygen through his mask and glances over at Leia and Chewie, who are both moving slowly across the ground, which...doesn't really feel like rock or iron or anything an asteroid should be made out of.
He's seen weirder, though.
When Chewie barks, suddenly and angry, he points up at the cockpit where something is crawling across the surface of the ship.
Get off my kriffin' ship, and there's blaster fire, as Han fries whatever the hell that was and watches as it tumbles to the ground, smoking slightly from the blaster fire. "Just what I thought. Mynock. Chewie," he glances over at the Wookie. "Check the rest of the ship. They're chewin' on the power cables. Go on inside," he tells Leia. "We'll clean the rest off."
As she's walking back towards the ship, an entire swarm attacks. Leia runs and flails with her arms at the beasts while Han looks around, momentarily confused.
"Wait a minute..."
The shot he fires isn't at the mynocks, but at the wall of the 'cave', which rumbles and quakes stronger than before.
I've got a bad feeling about this...
Han runs after Leia, followed by Chewie, back up the ramp into the ship and then towards the cockpit.
"All right, Chewie, let's get out of here!"
"The Empire is still out there, I don't think it's wise..."
"No time to discuss this as a committee," Han cuts her off as he runs for the cockpit and his chair, the engines already whining as the power builds and Chewie prepares for takeoff.
Leia marches after him. "I am not a committee! You can't make the jump to lightspeed in this asteroid field!"
"Sit down, sweetheart, we're taking off." Han orders, before he pulls back on the throttle and heads for the surface, where the entrance is smaller than before, bordered by...
"Look!" Threepio shouts.
"The cave is collapsing," Leia urges, as Han pushes the throttle harder and the ship surges forward.
"This is no cave."
"What?"
Then it all makes sense. Not a cave, not a cave at all. Those are teeth. A space slug, probably dropped off by a smuggler years ago, grown to monster size. The Falcon slips through the jaws of the creature just in time, as Han breathes an inward sigh of relief.
Honestly, ending up as a main course for a space slug was not his idea of what should be (pardon the pun) on the menu for this trip. (Then again, neither was a soft glance shared in the cockpit, the way she looks when she sleeps, the feeling of her heart pounding against his chest and his lips moving over hers like it's just meant to be, none of that was planned but he's not complaining about that part of it at all.)
His time to think about that, however, is shortlived, as the ship bounces out into the asteroid field, and then it's time to do that dance, once again.
Focus.
Sure, he's tired. He just spent the last who knows how many hours outrunning TIES and Star Destroyers --
The ground rumbles ever so underneath them, and he glances at the ceiling, half expecting to hear rocks falling on them. But nothing does, so he returns to his thoughts.
Of course he's tired. When he went to the 'fresher before lying down he opened and closed the door a half dozen times in hopes of finding Milliways. When that didn't happen, he settled for dinner, which was half a loaf of bread (which he shared with Leia, and brushed off her questions about where he got it from) and a slice of nerf, plus a cup of caf.
Maybe that's why he was jittery.
Either that or it was the rumbles that occasionally rippled underneath the ship. Bombing runs, he figures, trying to flush them out of the cavern. They're still up there, those kriffin' Star Destroyers and TIES.
Leia shifts underneath the blanket and sighs in her sleep, and Han lifts his head ever so slightly to watch her for awhile, making certain to stay very quiet. Eventually, his mind slows down (the caf wears off) and he falls asleep himself.
Waking, of course, everytime the ground shudders underneath them.
"Sir, I don't know where your ship learned to communicate, but it has the most peculiar dialect. I believe, sir, it says that the power coupling on the negative axis has been polarized. I'm afraid you'll have to replace it."
Han looks at Threepio as the droid relays this information. "Well, of course I'll have to replace it."
When the droid turns around, Han moves to the other side of the corridor to hand a bundle up to Chewie. "Here! Take this." And then he glances at the droid and lowers his voice. "And I think we'd better replace the negative power coupling."
Down another corridor in an access room, he spots the familiar blue sparks of a welding arc and steps into the door, watching as Leia finishes up a weld and tries to pull on a lever, struggling a bit. He steps closer, to help, only to be elbowed away from her.
"Hey," he protests. "Your worship, I was only tryin' to help."
"Would you stop calling me that?" She sighs and keeps pulling at the lever.
But there's something different about her tone, that makes Han react in a way he's not used to, himself. "Sure, Leia."
"Oh, you make it so difficult sometimes," the words come out quiet and strained as she works at the lever, then removes her hand and rubs it gently, obviously sore.
"I do, I really do. You could be a little nicer, though," he offers, keeping an eye on her hand. "Come on, admit it. Sometimes you think I'm all right."
Leia looks up at him and smiles a little. "Occasionally...maybe...when you're not acting like a scoundrel."
The sound of his laugh echoes in the small room, bouncing off the deck and the metal surrounding them. "Scoundrel? Scoundrel?" A smirk. "I like the sound of that." When he notices her hand still be rubbed, he reaches for it and takes it, eyes locked on hers as he starts to work out the knots in her palm.
"Stop that," she says quietly.
"Stop what?"
Leia tries to pull her hand away as a blush rises to her cheeks. "Stop that! My hands are dirty."
He shrugs. "So? My hands are dirty too," his eyes still on hers. "What are you afraid of?"
Leia blinks. "Afraid?"
"You're trembling."
"I'm not trembling."
Han pauses a moment and then leans a little closer, her hand closer to his heart, now. "You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life."
Leia shakes her head slightly, her voice a high whisper, shaking ever so slightly. Not fear, but excitement. "I happen to like nice men," she protests gently.
"I'm a nice man."
"No, you're not, you're..."
She doesn't finish the sentence. He doesn't let her, because his lips are against hers. This isn't a brash, rough kiss, but a slow one, her hand against his chest, one hand of his sliding up her arm to rest on her shoulder. Her fingertips brush his cheek as he tilts his head closer, heart pounding so hard he thinks it just might burst from his chest.
"Sir! Sir!"
The sound of a metallic voice drifts into the room as he's tapped on the shoulder by cold fingers. "I've isolated the reverse power flux coupling."
I should turn him into scrap and sell him for the credits, Han thinks as he turns and feels Leia slip out of his arms. "Thank you. Thank you very much."
"Oh, you're perfectly welcome, sir."
When he turns back, Leia is gone, and Han looks into the narrow passageway leading deeper into the Falcon for a long moment before he turns and follows the droid back to the control panel.
++++
Han is kneeling on the floor, coupling some wires together, with Threepio standing above him.
"Sir, if I may venture an opinion."
"I'm not really interested in your opinion, Threepio," he mutters, as he drops the floor panel back into place and stands up, and then looks up when he hears light footsteps.
"There's something out there."
"Where?"
"Outside, in the cave," Leia explains, then all of them glance up when a sharp noice strikes the outside of the hull.
"There it is! Listen! Listen!" The droid explains.
Han growls under his breath and moves towards the far wall. "I'm going out there."
Leia stares at him. "Are you crazy?!"
I thought we established that already. Before or after the trip through the asteroid field and charging headfirst at a pair of Star Destroyers. Oh, or sneaking onto a giant space station to rescue you in the first place.
"I just got this bucket back together," he bites out. "I'm not going to let something tear it apart."
++++
The cave is quiet, outside, with a mist covering the floor of it. Han pulls in a breath of the oxygen through his mask and glances over at Leia and Chewie, who are both moving slowly across the ground, which...doesn't really feel like rock or iron or anything an asteroid should be made out of.
He's seen weirder, though.
When Chewie barks, suddenly and angry, he points up at the cockpit where something is crawling across the surface of the ship.
Get off my kriffin' ship, and there's blaster fire, as Han fries whatever the hell that was and watches as it tumbles to the ground, smoking slightly from the blaster fire. "Just what I thought. Mynock. Chewie," he glances over at the Wookie. "Check the rest of the ship. They're chewin' on the power cables. Go on inside," he tells Leia. "We'll clean the rest off."
As she's walking back towards the ship, an entire swarm attacks. Leia runs and flails with her arms at the beasts while Han looks around, momentarily confused.
"Wait a minute..."
The shot he fires isn't at the mynocks, but at the wall of the 'cave', which rumbles and quakes stronger than before.
I've got a bad feeling about this...
Han runs after Leia, followed by Chewie, back up the ramp into the ship and then towards the cockpit.
"All right, Chewie, let's get out of here!"
"The Empire is still out there, I don't think it's wise..."
"No time to discuss this as a committee," Han cuts her off as he runs for the cockpit and his chair, the engines already whining as the power builds and Chewie prepares for takeoff.
Leia marches after him. "I am not a committee! You can't make the jump to lightspeed in this asteroid field!"
"Sit down, sweetheart, we're taking off." Han orders, before he pulls back on the throttle and heads for the surface, where the entrance is smaller than before, bordered by...
"Look!" Threepio shouts.
"The cave is collapsing," Leia urges, as Han pushes the throttle harder and the ship surges forward.
"This is no cave."
"What?"
Then it all makes sense. Not a cave, not a cave at all. Those are teeth. A space slug, probably dropped off by a smuggler years ago, grown to monster size. The Falcon slips through the jaws of the creature just in time, as Han breathes an inward sigh of relief.
Honestly, ending up as a main course for a space slug was not his idea of what should be (pardon the pun) on the menu for this trip. (Then again, neither was a soft glance shared in the cockpit, the way she looks when she sleeps, the feeling of her heart pounding against his chest and his lips moving over hers like it's just meant to be, none of that was planned but he's not complaining about that part of it at all.)
His time to think about that, however, is shortlived, as the ship bounces out into the asteroid field, and then it's time to do that dance, once again.
Focus.
