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Hunter in the Shadows, part 2 of 3
Leia watched Han pace her office floor. He had gone beyond worried a week ago and into
furious, when the last of the patrols had checked in. Three weeks of searches and sensor sweeps for Luke had been fruitless. She was worried too, but Han seemed to be taking it as a personal affront. At times like this, she knew it was best to stand back and let him rail against the niverse until inspiration struck.
Abruptly, he stopped, staring out the window at the traffic. "That's it. That's it! The Force is energy, right? All energy has a specific signature and all living beings process energy in a unique way. That's why scanners work. Oh, sweetheart!" He caught her up in a hug and spun
them around. "We're gonna find him now."
"Han," Leia was almost shocked at the idea, "Are you suggesting the Force can be
quantified?"
"Why not? It's just energy. We'll calibrate up some scanners, run you, me and Lando
through them, find what's unique to your energy signature, which should be the Force, and then
start hunting for that same thing ." He paused halfway out the door. "Get Winter,
Mothma, Chewie and anyone else you can think of who would be willing to give a couple minutes
to find Luke. The more people with different signatures, the better. It will make it easier to
pinpoint the Force in yours. I'll be right back."
Leia started making comm calls. After explaining Han's idea for the fifth time, she shook
her head at its insanity. But then, dashing out into a Hoth blizzard hadn't exactly been the act of a sane man. Nor had marching into an Imperial detention block. Han seemed to go a little crazy
whenever Luke needed him. She sighed. He was never like that for her.
An insidious thought crossed her mind, one that had crept up on her more and more in the
last week. Corellians were notoriously flexible. Was it possible that Han was interested in Luke as well as her? He did act like it sometimes. Putting the thought out of her mind as ridiculous, she continued making comm calls.
Han returned to Leia's office with a portable scanner and found half a dozen beings
waiting for him. "Winter, honey, I need your help with the final tweaks," he said beckoning the
white-haired woman in the corner to come to the desk. The two of them bent over the scanner for
a moment until Winter pronounced the adjustments complete.
"Scan me first, Han," Winter suggested. "Then we can recalibrate it if we need to."
Han ran the scanner over Winter, taking her energy signature before turning to Lando.
"Relax, buddy. It doesn't hurt."
Lando shut his eyes and breathed deeply. "How's this gonna help Luke again?"
"I'm finding the energy signature of the Force, and we're going to do a planet-wide sensor
sweep for Force users."
"Who authorized this?" demanded Madine. Only Leia's urgency when she asked him to
help find her brother had persuaded him to help. Anything that put him in good with Leia Organa
was worth doing, in his mind.
"I did." Leia's gaze was pure steel. "As Chancellor of the New Republic, I have the
authority."
"General. You're next. No Jedi in your lineage, right?" Han swept the sensor over
Madine, inwardly smirking at the way his jaw clenched.
Madine ignored the question. He'd never much cared for Han, thinking him well beneath
the Chancellor's dignity, even if the Alliance had promoted him to General.
"Councillor Mothma, if you would?" The leader of the Senate graciously relaxed and let
him scan her.
"Sweetheart. I need you to reach out and touch the Force, maybe try to lift a datapad on
your desk or something." Leia concentrated, and the one nearest her wobbled as Han scanned her.
"I'm sorry, that wasn't very effective. I was never much for levitation, and I'm out of practice."
"It's ok. Now just relax." He saved the second scan as well.
"Thanks, everyone, I'll let you know when we have something solid." Han dismissed their
friends.
"Good luck finding him, Han," Lando said as he left.
Slowly, Han turned to Chewbacca, knowing his request was way out of line. He'd never
make it if it wasn't a matter of life and death. "Chewie, I know Wookiees have a deal where they
talk to the trees clear across the galaxy. I want you to do that while I take the reading."
*Han, that ritual is very private.*
"I've seen you do it, pal. But we can go to the antechamber if you're uncomfortable with
the Princess watching."
*I will do it. For the young one's sake.*
Chewbacca sat down on the floor of the office and traced a circle around himself. A basso
rumble from his chest signaled the start of the ritual. He crooned softly, and lost himself further in the meditation.
Leia watched, amazed and awed by the simplicity. She meditated regularly, sometimes
even substituting it for sleep as Luke did. She lowered herself into meditation, and found
Chewbacca in the Force. He sang, and the trees of the whole galaxy sang back to him. He sensed
her, drew her close by his side and encouraged her to join.
Han scanned Chewie, noticing the energy readings were different for a Wookiee than a
human, and then turned to Leia. Seeing that she was deep in meditation, he took a couple more
quick scans to get a good baseline.
Leia and Chewbacca came up together, and looked at each other for a long moment
before Leia impulsively hugged the Wookiee, long and hard.
"Thank you. That was absolutely incredible."
Han wished her eyes would have that same look for him. While he could picture it,
somehow the eyes were blue, looking at him with such amazement and love that he had to catch
his breath before banishing the image.
"It's going to take some computer time, Leia. I'll camp out in the lab until I have results."
Han ran the scanner over himself.
Leia left Chewie and stretched up to kiss Han. "Thank you. I know you'll find him. You
always do."
He held her for a moment, her body feeling wrong in his arms. She was too small, too
fragile. Too soft in places. He shook his head to clear it. She felt the same as she always had:
velvet with a core of pure durasteel.
"I gotta go."
Leia stopped him with a solemn look. "Han, I'm leaving Coruscant for about a month. It
may be longer. If you want to get your own place, I'll understand."
"What are you saying?" It was a stupid question, and he realized it the second it was out
of his mouth.
Leia was typically blunt. "We're not working, are we?" At the beginning of the
relationship, they had decided to not bandy words but to come to the point at once. "I'm too busy.
I thought things would slow down in a month or a year. But even after four years, there's no end
in sight. Maybe there isn't an end. I can't be the woman you want and the Chancellor the Republic
needs."
Han nodded. It figured. He'd seen it coming. "And Leia the woman always loses to
Chancellor Organa. I know that." He held her just a little closer, taking in everything, her feel, her
scent. "What two people want isn't worth a Tatooine sandpile to the rest of the galaxy."
"I did love you, you know." She smiled up at him.
"That's past tense, sweetheart." He bent and kissed her forehead. She tasted of memory.
"That's all right. I know when to cut the drive." He let her go reluctantly. "Be the best damn
Chancellor the galaxy ever had. Now, I have a missing Jedi to find." The thought of Luke, still
missing, probably still ill, drove any regrets to a place where he could worry about them later.
He walked out the door, Chewie tailing him.
*Little one, you took that very well.* The great Wookiee had seen many women come and
go over the years. He had hoped this might be the last one, even as he had scented she was not.
"Hells, Chewie, how can I be mad at her for picking the whole galaxy over a guy with the
clothes on his back and a beat-up ship? We haven't had an hour together since Endor, and you
know it."
*On the contrary, Han, there have been many stolen hours. But no more than two days
together at a stretch. That is always a bad sign. You smell worried but not angry.*
"Of course I'm worried! You didn't see the kid. He was barely able to walk. It was like he
was mostly asleep even when he was awake.
*You see? The Young Magician has drive all thoughts of your princess from you
already.*
"Leia will be fine on her own. Luke needs me right now. I don't know how in the Sith he
slipped out on me. Let's see what the computer tells us."
*Little one, there is something you should know. When the computer center was liberated,
Winter-of-the-Computers found--* The rest was lost as the door of the computer center hissed
open.
"Hi Cap'n! Long time no see!" piped a childish vocorder from the console.
*I was about to warn you ahead of time.* Chewie chuckled at the dazed look on Han's
face. *Not all your old friends have heard of your promotion.*
A small, deep blue probe sat on the console, its red photoreceptor blinking with pleasure.
A satiny black general labor droid with a slightly simian appearance stood nearby, almost
protectively. Years before, Blue Max, and his mobile counterpart, Bollux, had been involved in
some of Han and Chewbacca's more dubious adventures, including the destruction of a top-secret
prison facility and the recovery of the legendary treasure ship, The Queen of Ranroon.
"Blue Max. Of all the computer labs in the galaxy, how'd you end up in mine? And you
too, old-timer. Not obsolete yet?"
"A long story Captain Solo," came the slow drawl from Bollux. "We were working with
Mistress Winter, when she said you might require our help again."
"I don't want to know. After ten years, I don't even care how you got here. I just want you
to help me find Luke." Han plugged the datapad into the main computer and began transferring
data. "Max, these are energy scans taken of various people. I want you to find the signature that
appears only in Leia's scans, and only in the ones marked. Use any computer capacity you need."
Han sank into a chair, and propped his feet on a nearby desk. As Max and the mainframe
conferred, he thought about Luke. The kid could be dead, probably was. And it was his fault for
sitting on his hands. The official search parties and sensor sweeps had found nothing, and he'd
waited far too long for that no-update.
He thought of the last time he'd seen Luke. Asleep on Han's chest, years stripped away.
His hair soft, his breath a light tickle. Solid, but too cold in his arms. The lips, barely parted in sleep, tempted him in memory. He jerked back to reality. What sort of sick bastard was he? Fantasizing about the brother not an hour after the sister had called them quits?
He got some kaf from the food synth, and settled in to watch the analysis. Chewbacca was
watching him with endless patience.
The computer beeped, and Max let out an excited squeal. "We have it, Captain! Right
there." The probe brought up a diagram. An odd double bump appeared on Leia line that didn't
appear on any of the others.
"Good job, Maxie. Now, program that frequency into the main sensor bank, and have it
scan the planet."
The probe sent a burst to Bollux. "Captain, that will take considerably longer. You should
go home and sleep in preparation for the search."
*Go,* Chewie urged. *I will stay.*
"All right. But call me the minute you have anything."
Han was halfway down the corridor when he realized he had no idea where he was going.
He had never established a residence on Coruscant, always living on shipboard or in Leia's
apartment. He wasn't sure exactly where Chewie had docked the Falcon. He couldn't go back to
Leia's place. He turned to go back and ask Chewie where the ship was, then remembered the
passkey in his pocket. He could go to Luke's.
The apartment was even staler than it had been the first day. He turned on the air
circulating unit, made quick trip to the synth for a bite to eat, and swiped a beer out of Luke's
cooling unit. If, no, *when* he found the kid, he'd buy a case to make up for it. He cleaned up
after himself, and stared at the barren apartment. Apparently Jedi didn't need much in the way of
entertainment.
Maybe it would be best to take Bollux's advice and sleep. The computers could work
endlessly, but Han Solo could not. He stretched out on the bed, thinking of the nights he'd slept in it. Luke had needed him then, and he'd been all too eager to oblige. Too many lonely nights of his own had left him with a desire to be close to another, if only to sleep and nothing more.
He settled into Luke's pillow, wondering if he wanted it to be more. The answer came
back, clear as starlight. He'd wanted them both, Luke and Leia, but he'd wanted Luke longer.
That stillness, the unnatural calm even before he'd become a Jedi. The way Luke had looked right
through him, seeing not only the surface he was showing the galaxy, but the person he really was.
Seeing, too, the man he could be, then somehow making him want to become that man. That
mouth. Full of insults and retorts at first, then smart and wheedling. He'd dreamed about that
mouth half way to Alderaan. The eyes, like unruffled forest pools. Wanting to see approval in
those eyes had sucked him into near-fatal heroics on the Death Star. Fear of the galaxy losing that particular shade of blue had drawn him back to Yavin for a last-minute save.
Then everything had changed. Leia had been beautiful and feisty, burning hot enough to
distract him from the cool quietness of Luke. They'd been pretty good in bed, but unable to do
much of anything except argue outside of it. The increasing distance of the past year hadn't hurt nearly as much as Han would have thought.
But that morning he woke up to find Luke gone, it had been like Chewie punching him in
the gut. His head had reeled, his chest had hurt and he'd had to fight to catch his breath.
Somewhere, on this planet of thirty billion sentients, a very ill man was alone.
He fell asleep, thinking of Luke's warm weight in his arms and dreaming of sweet kisses in
the dark, knowing the search was in the galaxy's most capable processors.
The computer pinged him awake. Han looked at the chrono and cursed. He'd slept for ten
hours. He'd been more exhausted than he'd thought. Waiting was the most tiring thing he ever
did.
"Captain," came Bollux's slow drawl, "We've found him. First Mate Chewbacca and the
astrodroid R2-D2 are en route to your location now."
"Thanks, old timer. Good work, Maxie."
"A pleasure working with you again, Captain," piped the probe over the link.
Han barely had time to use the fresher and grab some kaf from the wall unit before the
door chimed. "Hey Chewie. OK, Artoo, show me where he is." The astromech rolled in and
plugged into the house computer, and began broadcasting locations on a portable readout. Han
watched as the information rolled across it, unable to do more than stare. "The surface? What in
the name of the Star-eater of Sullust is he doing on the surface?'
*The coordinates are perpetually moving, Han. The signal is fading as well. Go now. The
Blue Probe will continue broadcasting to this one. It is very near where you saved him from the
drouger pack.* Chewie's furry face was grave.
They left the apartment and took an elevator as low as it would go. Getting to the surface
was no easy matter, involving three changes of lift tubes, from the upper levels of Luke's three
klom tall apartment building. In the lower reaches of Coruscant, natural light never penetrated,
but garish signs offering a variety of services, legal and non, made up for it.
A man alone would be easy prey during these changes, but casual observers took in Han's
swagger and quick-draw rig, and the towering Wookiee behind him, and looked for easier targets.
They reached the surface without incident. Artoo listened for a moment and headed off down a
passageway.
Trusting that the machines knew what they were doing, Han and Chewbacca followed
Artoo into the gloom. The searing lights of the upper levels were gone. Eterna-lumas glowed
dimly at measured intervals, their design millennia old. Han paused to examine one to see if he
could take it with him, should the light fail further down. Artoo beeped warningly.
The comm pinged. "Captain," Bollux's voice was staticky, "Don't handle the lights. They
run on old-fashioned radiation, lethal to humans in large doses."
"Thanks for the safety tip, officer," Han grumbled, and went after Artoo. He was farther
down than he thought. Up top, all the lights were run by solar batteries. The droid threaded a
cautious way through the rubble strewn corridor, pausing at intersections, but never stopping.
Without warning, the air exploded in howls of fury. Pale things, all teeth and claws, leaped
on them. Han drew and was firing before he could think, and Chewie's bowcaster sang its deadly
one-note song. Artoo used his electro device on any that ventured near him.
As suddenly as they had attacked, the drouger pack retreated. A lone shape walked
through them, not in the leaping animalistic way they moved, but too feral to be quite human.
It was pale, but not the near-albino of the rest of the pack, and the eyes had not taken on
the lamp-like luminosity. Still they burned pale and hot, ready to slide out of the upper blue
spectrum and into pure white fire at any second. They looked like a HO class star Han had once
flown too near, and he had no doubt they could devour him just as easily.
"Luke?" Han said, barely recognizing the barefoot man who stood in the ruins of his
sleep-pants.
A drouger twitched out of line and Luke spun on it with a slashing gesture and a violent
hiss. He seized Han around the waist. The nails on the flesh hand had grown far too long in the
weeks he had been missing. He ran one of these talons down Han's chest, drawing blood.
Chewbacca snarled behind him.
"Mine!" he informed the rest of the pack, tracing the bloodtrack with his tongue. "Mine!"
They backed away, seeming to grumble in their language. Luke fired off a series of guttural
phrases punctuated with hisses. "Mine!" he barked one last time at the pack, although Han
suspected this repetition was more for his benefit than the drougers'.
"Luke, what happen--" The rest was lost in a ferocious kiss. Luke's mouth was cold on
his, his tongue insistent and slick. When Han opened to it, the taste of blood on Luke's mouth
sickened him. This was not how he had wanted it, not this possessive, repulsive claiming.
Chewie rumbled a warning behind Han and Luke broke away to see one drouger sidling
up and preparing to pounce. Before Han could move, Luke sprang.
He tumbled over and over with the pale creature, talons flashing, before gaining the upper
hand and ripping its throat out with his claws. The rest of the pack made no effort to help or
hinder. Han wanted to turn away, but what he saw next in the dim light held him spell-bound.
Luke knelt over the drouger, and cradled its face in his hands as it died. He breathed deep of its
last breath, a look of orgasmic satiation on his face. Then he raised the fallen creature's arm to his face and licked it, leaving a trail of black blood gleaming in the wake of his tongue. He licked it away, before rising and kicking the corpse into the shadows.
"Chewbacca," Luke's voice had changed, flat and harsh on certain sounds, as if he was no
longer accustomed to standard, "take Artoo and return to the upper levels. Han must stay with
me. The pack knows he is my mate."
Chewbacca snarled a negation. Han pulled him aside. "Do as he says, Chewie. Luck willing
we'll be seeing you in a few days."
*Little One, I know you want him. I have scented it on you. But this is not the man you
knew. This creature is more drouger than human. We can take him together.*
"It's the virus working in him. If we try to take him, we could hurt him and that would
only make things worse. And we can't take him without killing the whole pack. If I can get him
back to the med-center, we can reverse this. But he won't pay attention as long as you're
nursemaiding me. Go on. I'll be fine. It's Luke."
*I hope you are right, Little One.* The Wookiee didn't move.
"Chewie." Han tapped the scratches Luke had put on him. "It's passed through saliva. I
have it now too. If I don't get him back in time, it's better we're both here than up top killing and infecting."
The big hairy head nodded gravely. *I smell it working in you. Make haste. The Trees
keep you until I see you safe.* A furry Wookiee hug swallowed him in affection. *I still could
carry you both out.*
"Those things would rip you apart if you tried. Will you go?" Han gestured impatiently,
feeling Luke's eyes burning into his back.
Chewbacca turned and the little droid whistled encouragement for the men to follow.
"No Artoo, you go on. We'll follow later." Luke tried to maintain some of his old self for
the droid, to Han's surprise. But the burning gaze that turned on him held nothing of farmboy or
Jedi in it. "Come with me."
The pack began drifting off, melting into the shadows. Luke never took his arm from
around Han's waist as they went deeper into the corridors.
Luke waited until the entire pack had left them before stopping and pushing Han back into
an alcove. Cold hands ran over Han's chest and cool lips claimed his own. As Luke pressed
against him, he could feel the hard ridge against his thighs and pulled back from it.
"Luke, no. Not here. Not like this."
"You want me." Luke smiled, his lips paler shadows in his pale face. "I can smell it on
you." He rubbed up even closer. "They can smell the wanting too."
Han caught his hands at the wrists and held them away. "I want you. I won't lie. But I
want you like a lover, not like a ten-credit whore in a back alley. A real bed, and time to explore, you know?"
"No time. When we return to the pack, you must smell of me. I claimed you as my mate in
front of them. If you make a liar of me, you become prey." Luke was not aware that a feral look
of pleasure had spread across his face at the last word. He twisted out of Han's grasp with no
effort.
"Like that thing?" Han gestured back toward the drouger Luke had killed.
"No. I become like him: outcast. He earned death for attacking me. I would earn it for
lying. The People do not lie to each other." He stole another kiss. "Less talk." The solid ridge of his erection pressed even harder against Han's leg.
It wouldn't be the leisurely lovemaking Han had dreamed of that night in Luke's empty
bed. But this would keep them alive until they could enjoy that moment. Han pressed his back to
the wall and got himself as comfortable as he could. He parted his legs and Luke stepped between
them.
Luke opened both of their pants, and teased out Han's coiled cock. Treacherous brute that
it was, it responded to the touch and stiffened to meet Luke's own. Han drew in his breath sharply
as the hand closed around him, pressing the sensitive underside against the cool underside of
Luke's. The right hand was the only part that remained even close to human temperature. Han had
no time to think on the irony of it.
He reached down and wrapped his own warmer hand around the matched shafts. Together
they set up a stroke that left Han dizzy. He stared down into the fiery blue eyes, seeing nothing
but the heat of stars and the depth of space. He wrapped his free arm around Luke before bending
in for a kiss of his own will.
Han tasted the cool lips that opened for him, and slid gently into the bitterly metallic
softness of Luke's mouth. He stroked and explored, drawing this one moment out, a single thing
to savor about their first time.
"Wanted you for a long time, Luke," he whispered as they parted. "Don't hold back." He
saw the flutter of eyelids and watched as Luke's eyes rolled a little. "Come on, kid. Come for me."
Sticky wetness erupted under their hands. Han used it to continue stroking himself. He felt
Luke's wet fingers trace a slow line to his groin and up over his belly before sliding down to work a languid, intricate tracery on his thighs. Hi lover's eyes were still closed.
"Marked as mine," Luke's voice was a satisfied purr. He opened his eyes and looked at Han, a
half-smile on his face "Let me finish you." Luke dropped to his knees and had his mouth around Han's erection before Han could process the statement. Ever so delicately, the cool tongue danced over the sensitive spot under the head, teased the corona, and stroked the length of him. He could resist no longer and buried his hands in Luke's hair as he came.
Luke did not swallow, but stood up and licked two fingers, coating them with spit and
ejaculate. Han tensed a moment, wondering if the claiming would have to go quite that far here in
the corridor, then relaxed as Luke traced an intricate pattern over his own bare chest, with
occasional swipes at Han's own belly.
"The People await us." Luke offered a hand and Han took it, letting Luke lead him deeper
into the catacombs of the surface level.
They came to a large room, the elaborate decorative carvings blunted by millennia of use,
the once-bright frescoed floor obscured by filth and dim with age. In the center, the pack sat in a silent circle. Han saw adults and children, their luminous eyes following him.
Luke spoke in the drouger language, and they rose silently. One by one, they came to the
men. Each one licked Luke on the cheek, and he returned it. Then each drouger sniffed Han long
and hard, before touching a tongue-tip to his cheek. He stood quietly, trying not flinch under the
chill and foul breath.
One adolescent male sniffed Han and sneered. He tucked his tongue behind his top teeth
and a sharp, needle-like organ came out of a sheath on the bottom. He aimed it for Han's
cheek. Wondering if it was a test of his courage, Han held still. Luke saw the confrontation,
snarled and cuffed the male. The drouger snarled at Luke and licked his face, a gesture both
submissive and possessive, then gestured at Han and spoke in their language. Luke held firm and
cuffed him upside the head again. Blood from Luke's claws running down his face, the male
touched his tonguetip to Han's cheek, but slouched away with a sulky look.
Once the pack had experienced Han and returned to their circle, Luke said a few things in
their language, and wrapped his arms around Han. In full view of them, he licked Han's whole
face before kissing him long and deep. The drougers set up an eerie howl.
"They approve," Luke said. "You are to become one of us."
He pulled Han toward one of the dark side passages off the main chamber. One of the
drougers, a female, stood up and began a keening that sounded bizarrely like a Corellian wedding
song Han half-remembered.
"The language will come to you," Luke assured him. "Shilrak sings of love and the hunt,
unending desire and sharing forever. It is the oldest song of the People, sung when a mate is
taken."
The others joined the song, and the harmonies made the small hairs on Han's neck were stand
up as they entered a large room dominated by a bed. Luke shut the heavy door, muffling the sound from the main chamber.
"My den. Now ours. Come to bed with me, Han."
Han had a million questions, but the first in his mind came out. "What if they hadn't
approved?"
"We would be digesting you." The simple inclusion of this brutal statement chilled Han to the
bone. Luke's eyes
were flat and steel-grey, nothing human behind them. The hands that gripped him were too tight.
Getting Luke
back was going to be more difficult than he had thought.
The feral virus sang within Luke, telling him of warm blood his for the taking, and warm body, his for the claiming. He felt the tension in his mate, and it excited him. The faint smell of fear teased him, making his hesitation painful. With an effort, he shook off the influence, and saw the well-hidden terror in Han's eyes as he tried to pull away.
Luke felt Han shudder and drew him in closer, the grip no longer so tight, and his eyes shading back to blue. "I am glad they approved. I couldn't defend you against all of them. That's why you need to stay here, unless I'm with you, until the change is complete. You'll be safe once you're one of the People. For now, you're still prey. Sinian doesn't like you. He wanted to be my mate."
Luke's tongue on his neck was not reassuring as Han remembered the needle-organ. He let
Luke push him onto the bed anyway. The more compliant Luke thought he was, the easier it would be to learn the pack's habits and routines. The more he knew, the easier it would be to circumvent them.
Han opened to the kiss, and took control. He rolled Luke onto his back, never breaking
the kiss, feeling the corded power beneath him, Luke's erection hard against his belly, arousing
him.
He slid a hand down to grip the cool shaft, feeling its weight. Silky and solid, just as he'd
always known it would be.
"Wanted you a long time, Luke. Took me long enough to figure it out."
"Han," was all Luke said before drinking in the warmth of his mate's body, the velvet heat
of his mouth. Han pulled away, his heat sliding lower, his pulse a roar in Luke's ears. The hot
mouth that wrapped around his cock threatened to drive him into hunt-frenzy from its intensity.
Luke held his control precariously under the onslaught of tongue and teeth, only to relinquish it
with a splitting howl as he came, clutching Han's shoulders.
furious, when the last of the patrols had checked in. Three weeks of searches and sensor sweeps for Luke had been fruitless. She was worried too, but Han seemed to be taking it as a personal affront. At times like this, she knew it was best to stand back and let him rail against the niverse until inspiration struck.
Abruptly, he stopped, staring out the window at the traffic. "That's it. That's it! The Force is energy, right? All energy has a specific signature and all living beings process energy in a unique way. That's why scanners work. Oh, sweetheart!" He caught her up in a hug and spun
them around. "We're gonna find him now."
"Han," Leia was almost shocked at the idea, "Are you suggesting the Force can be
quantified?"
"Why not? It's just energy. We'll calibrate up some scanners, run you, me and Lando
through them, find what's unique to your energy signature, which should be the Force, and then
start hunting for that same thing ." He paused halfway out the door. "Get Winter,
Mothma, Chewie and anyone else you can think of who would be willing to give a couple minutes
to find Luke. The more people with different signatures, the better. It will make it easier to
pinpoint the Force in yours. I'll be right back."
Leia started making comm calls. After explaining Han's idea for the fifth time, she shook
her head at its insanity. But then, dashing out into a Hoth blizzard hadn't exactly been the act of a sane man. Nor had marching into an Imperial detention block. Han seemed to go a little crazy
whenever Luke needed him. She sighed. He was never like that for her.
An insidious thought crossed her mind, one that had crept up on her more and more in the
last week. Corellians were notoriously flexible. Was it possible that Han was interested in Luke as well as her? He did act like it sometimes. Putting the thought out of her mind as ridiculous, she continued making comm calls.
Han returned to Leia's office with a portable scanner and found half a dozen beings
waiting for him. "Winter, honey, I need your help with the final tweaks," he said beckoning the
white-haired woman in the corner to come to the desk. The two of them bent over the scanner for
a moment until Winter pronounced the adjustments complete.
"Scan me first, Han," Winter suggested. "Then we can recalibrate it if we need to."
Han ran the scanner over Winter, taking her energy signature before turning to Lando.
"Relax, buddy. It doesn't hurt."
Lando shut his eyes and breathed deeply. "How's this gonna help Luke again?"
"I'm finding the energy signature of the Force, and we're going to do a planet-wide sensor
sweep for Force users."
"Who authorized this?" demanded Madine. Only Leia's urgency when she asked him to
help find her brother had persuaded him to help. Anything that put him in good with Leia Organa
was worth doing, in his mind.
"I did." Leia's gaze was pure steel. "As Chancellor of the New Republic, I have the
authority."
"General. You're next. No Jedi in your lineage, right?" Han swept the sensor over
Madine, inwardly smirking at the way his jaw clenched.
Madine ignored the question. He'd never much cared for Han, thinking him well beneath
the Chancellor's dignity, even if the Alliance had promoted him to General.
"Councillor Mothma, if you would?" The leader of the Senate graciously relaxed and let
him scan her.
"Sweetheart. I need you to reach out and touch the Force, maybe try to lift a datapad on
your desk or something." Leia concentrated, and the one nearest her wobbled as Han scanned her.
"I'm sorry, that wasn't very effective. I was never much for levitation, and I'm out of practice."
"It's ok. Now just relax." He saved the second scan as well.
"Thanks, everyone, I'll let you know when we have something solid." Han dismissed their
friends.
"Good luck finding him, Han," Lando said as he left.
Slowly, Han turned to Chewbacca, knowing his request was way out of line. He'd never
make it if it wasn't a matter of life and death. "Chewie, I know Wookiees have a deal where they
talk to the trees clear across the galaxy. I want you to do that while I take the reading."
*Han, that ritual is very private.*
"I've seen you do it, pal. But we can go to the antechamber if you're uncomfortable with
the Princess watching."
*I will do it. For the young one's sake.*
Chewbacca sat down on the floor of the office and traced a circle around himself. A basso
rumble from his chest signaled the start of the ritual. He crooned softly, and lost himself further in the meditation.
Leia watched, amazed and awed by the simplicity. She meditated regularly, sometimes
even substituting it for sleep as Luke did. She lowered herself into meditation, and found
Chewbacca in the Force. He sang, and the trees of the whole galaxy sang back to him. He sensed
her, drew her close by his side and encouraged her to join.
Han scanned Chewie, noticing the energy readings were different for a Wookiee than a
human, and then turned to Leia. Seeing that she was deep in meditation, he took a couple more
quick scans to get a good baseline.
Leia and Chewbacca came up together, and looked at each other for a long moment
before Leia impulsively hugged the Wookiee, long and hard.
"Thank you. That was absolutely incredible."
Han wished her eyes would have that same look for him. While he could picture it,
somehow the eyes were blue, looking at him with such amazement and love that he had to catch
his breath before banishing the image.
"It's going to take some computer time, Leia. I'll camp out in the lab until I have results."
Han ran the scanner over himself.
Leia left Chewie and stretched up to kiss Han. "Thank you. I know you'll find him. You
always do."
He held her for a moment, her body feeling wrong in his arms. She was too small, too
fragile. Too soft in places. He shook his head to clear it. She felt the same as she always had:
velvet with a core of pure durasteel.
"I gotta go."
Leia stopped him with a solemn look. "Han, I'm leaving Coruscant for about a month. It
may be longer. If you want to get your own place, I'll understand."
"What are you saying?" It was a stupid question, and he realized it the second it was out
of his mouth.
Leia was typically blunt. "We're not working, are we?" At the beginning of the
relationship, they had decided to not bandy words but to come to the point at once. "I'm too busy.
I thought things would slow down in a month or a year. But even after four years, there's no end
in sight. Maybe there isn't an end. I can't be the woman you want and the Chancellor the Republic
needs."
Han nodded. It figured. He'd seen it coming. "And Leia the woman always loses to
Chancellor Organa. I know that." He held her just a little closer, taking in everything, her feel, her
scent. "What two people want isn't worth a Tatooine sandpile to the rest of the galaxy."
"I did love you, you know." She smiled up at him.
"That's past tense, sweetheart." He bent and kissed her forehead. She tasted of memory.
"That's all right. I know when to cut the drive." He let her go reluctantly. "Be the best damn
Chancellor the galaxy ever had. Now, I have a missing Jedi to find." The thought of Luke, still
missing, probably still ill, drove any regrets to a place where he could worry about them later.
He walked out the door, Chewie tailing him.
*Little one, you took that very well.* The great Wookiee had seen many women come and
go over the years. He had hoped this might be the last one, even as he had scented she was not.
"Hells, Chewie, how can I be mad at her for picking the whole galaxy over a guy with the
clothes on his back and a beat-up ship? We haven't had an hour together since Endor, and you
know it."
*On the contrary, Han, there have been many stolen hours. But no more than two days
together at a stretch. That is always a bad sign. You smell worried but not angry.*
"Of course I'm worried! You didn't see the kid. He was barely able to walk. It was like he
was mostly asleep even when he was awake.
*You see? The Young Magician has drive all thoughts of your princess from you
already.*
"Leia will be fine on her own. Luke needs me right now. I don't know how in the Sith he
slipped out on me. Let's see what the computer tells us."
*Little one, there is something you should know. When the computer center was liberated,
Winter-of-the-Computers found--* The rest was lost as the door of the computer center hissed
open.
"Hi Cap'n! Long time no see!" piped a childish vocorder from the console.
*I was about to warn you ahead of time.* Chewie chuckled at the dazed look on Han's
face. *Not all your old friends have heard of your promotion.*
A small, deep blue probe sat on the console, its red photoreceptor blinking with pleasure.
A satiny black general labor droid with a slightly simian appearance stood nearby, almost
protectively. Years before, Blue Max, and his mobile counterpart, Bollux, had been involved in
some of Han and Chewbacca's more dubious adventures, including the destruction of a top-secret
prison facility and the recovery of the legendary treasure ship, The Queen of Ranroon.
"Blue Max. Of all the computer labs in the galaxy, how'd you end up in mine? And you
too, old-timer. Not obsolete yet?"
"A long story Captain Solo," came the slow drawl from Bollux. "We were working with
Mistress Winter, when she said you might require our help again."
"I don't want to know. After ten years, I don't even care how you got here. I just want you
to help me find Luke." Han plugged the datapad into the main computer and began transferring
data. "Max, these are energy scans taken of various people. I want you to find the signature that
appears only in Leia's scans, and only in the ones marked. Use any computer capacity you need."
Han sank into a chair, and propped his feet on a nearby desk. As Max and the mainframe
conferred, he thought about Luke. The kid could be dead, probably was. And it was his fault for
sitting on his hands. The official search parties and sensor sweeps had found nothing, and he'd
waited far too long for that no-update.
He thought of the last time he'd seen Luke. Asleep on Han's chest, years stripped away.
His hair soft, his breath a light tickle. Solid, but too cold in his arms. The lips, barely parted in sleep, tempted him in memory. He jerked back to reality. What sort of sick bastard was he? Fantasizing about the brother not an hour after the sister had called them quits?
He got some kaf from the food synth, and settled in to watch the analysis. Chewbacca was
watching him with endless patience.
The computer beeped, and Max let out an excited squeal. "We have it, Captain! Right
there." The probe brought up a diagram. An odd double bump appeared on Leia line that didn't
appear on any of the others.
"Good job, Maxie. Now, program that frequency into the main sensor bank, and have it
scan the planet."
The probe sent a burst to Bollux. "Captain, that will take considerably longer. You should
go home and sleep in preparation for the search."
*Go,* Chewie urged. *I will stay.*
"All right. But call me the minute you have anything."
Han was halfway down the corridor when he realized he had no idea where he was going.
He had never established a residence on Coruscant, always living on shipboard or in Leia's
apartment. He wasn't sure exactly where Chewie had docked the Falcon. He couldn't go back to
Leia's place. He turned to go back and ask Chewie where the ship was, then remembered the
passkey in his pocket. He could go to Luke's.
The apartment was even staler than it had been the first day. He turned on the air
circulating unit, made quick trip to the synth for a bite to eat, and swiped a beer out of Luke's
cooling unit. If, no, *when* he found the kid, he'd buy a case to make up for it. He cleaned up
after himself, and stared at the barren apartment. Apparently Jedi didn't need much in the way of
entertainment.
Maybe it would be best to take Bollux's advice and sleep. The computers could work
endlessly, but Han Solo could not. He stretched out on the bed, thinking of the nights he'd slept in it. Luke had needed him then, and he'd been all too eager to oblige. Too many lonely nights of his own had left him with a desire to be close to another, if only to sleep and nothing more.
He settled into Luke's pillow, wondering if he wanted it to be more. The answer came
back, clear as starlight. He'd wanted them both, Luke and Leia, but he'd wanted Luke longer.
That stillness, the unnatural calm even before he'd become a Jedi. The way Luke had looked right
through him, seeing not only the surface he was showing the galaxy, but the person he really was.
Seeing, too, the man he could be, then somehow making him want to become that man. That
mouth. Full of insults and retorts at first, then smart and wheedling. He'd dreamed about that
mouth half way to Alderaan. The eyes, like unruffled forest pools. Wanting to see approval in
those eyes had sucked him into near-fatal heroics on the Death Star. Fear of the galaxy losing that particular shade of blue had drawn him back to Yavin for a last-minute save.
Then everything had changed. Leia had been beautiful and feisty, burning hot enough to
distract him from the cool quietness of Luke. They'd been pretty good in bed, but unable to do
much of anything except argue outside of it. The increasing distance of the past year hadn't hurt nearly as much as Han would have thought.
But that morning he woke up to find Luke gone, it had been like Chewie punching him in
the gut. His head had reeled, his chest had hurt and he'd had to fight to catch his breath.
Somewhere, on this planet of thirty billion sentients, a very ill man was alone.
He fell asleep, thinking of Luke's warm weight in his arms and dreaming of sweet kisses in
the dark, knowing the search was in the galaxy's most capable processors.
The computer pinged him awake. Han looked at the chrono and cursed. He'd slept for ten
hours. He'd been more exhausted than he'd thought. Waiting was the most tiring thing he ever
did.
"Captain," came Bollux's slow drawl, "We've found him. First Mate Chewbacca and the
astrodroid R2-D2 are en route to your location now."
"Thanks, old timer. Good work, Maxie."
"A pleasure working with you again, Captain," piped the probe over the link.
Han barely had time to use the fresher and grab some kaf from the wall unit before the
door chimed. "Hey Chewie. OK, Artoo, show me where he is." The astromech rolled in and
plugged into the house computer, and began broadcasting locations on a portable readout. Han
watched as the information rolled across it, unable to do more than stare. "The surface? What in
the name of the Star-eater of Sullust is he doing on the surface?'
*The coordinates are perpetually moving, Han. The signal is fading as well. Go now. The
Blue Probe will continue broadcasting to this one. It is very near where you saved him from the
drouger pack.* Chewie's furry face was grave.
They left the apartment and took an elevator as low as it would go. Getting to the surface
was no easy matter, involving three changes of lift tubes, from the upper levels of Luke's three
klom tall apartment building. In the lower reaches of Coruscant, natural light never penetrated,
but garish signs offering a variety of services, legal and non, made up for it.
A man alone would be easy prey during these changes, but casual observers took in Han's
swagger and quick-draw rig, and the towering Wookiee behind him, and looked for easier targets.
They reached the surface without incident. Artoo listened for a moment and headed off down a
passageway.
Trusting that the machines knew what they were doing, Han and Chewbacca followed
Artoo into the gloom. The searing lights of the upper levels were gone. Eterna-lumas glowed
dimly at measured intervals, their design millennia old. Han paused to examine one to see if he
could take it with him, should the light fail further down. Artoo beeped warningly.
The comm pinged. "Captain," Bollux's voice was staticky, "Don't handle the lights. They
run on old-fashioned radiation, lethal to humans in large doses."
"Thanks for the safety tip, officer," Han grumbled, and went after Artoo. He was farther
down than he thought. Up top, all the lights were run by solar batteries. The droid threaded a
cautious way through the rubble strewn corridor, pausing at intersections, but never stopping.
Without warning, the air exploded in howls of fury. Pale things, all teeth and claws, leaped
on them. Han drew and was firing before he could think, and Chewie's bowcaster sang its deadly
one-note song. Artoo used his electro device on any that ventured near him.
As suddenly as they had attacked, the drouger pack retreated. A lone shape walked
through them, not in the leaping animalistic way they moved, but too feral to be quite human.
It was pale, but not the near-albino of the rest of the pack, and the eyes had not taken on
the lamp-like luminosity. Still they burned pale and hot, ready to slide out of the upper blue
spectrum and into pure white fire at any second. They looked like a HO class star Han had once
flown too near, and he had no doubt they could devour him just as easily.
"Luke?" Han said, barely recognizing the barefoot man who stood in the ruins of his
sleep-pants.
A drouger twitched out of line and Luke spun on it with a slashing gesture and a violent
hiss. He seized Han around the waist. The nails on the flesh hand had grown far too long in the
weeks he had been missing. He ran one of these talons down Han's chest, drawing blood.
Chewbacca snarled behind him.
"Mine!" he informed the rest of the pack, tracing the bloodtrack with his tongue. "Mine!"
They backed away, seeming to grumble in their language. Luke fired off a series of guttural
phrases punctuated with hisses. "Mine!" he barked one last time at the pack, although Han
suspected this repetition was more for his benefit than the drougers'.
"Luke, what happen--" The rest was lost in a ferocious kiss. Luke's mouth was cold on
his, his tongue insistent and slick. When Han opened to it, the taste of blood on Luke's mouth
sickened him. This was not how he had wanted it, not this possessive, repulsive claiming.
Chewie rumbled a warning behind Han and Luke broke away to see one drouger sidling
up and preparing to pounce. Before Han could move, Luke sprang.
He tumbled over and over with the pale creature, talons flashing, before gaining the upper
hand and ripping its throat out with his claws. The rest of the pack made no effort to help or
hinder. Han wanted to turn away, but what he saw next in the dim light held him spell-bound.
Luke knelt over the drouger, and cradled its face in his hands as it died. He breathed deep of its
last breath, a look of orgasmic satiation on his face. Then he raised the fallen creature's arm to his face and licked it, leaving a trail of black blood gleaming in the wake of his tongue. He licked it away, before rising and kicking the corpse into the shadows.
"Chewbacca," Luke's voice had changed, flat and harsh on certain sounds, as if he was no
longer accustomed to standard, "take Artoo and return to the upper levels. Han must stay with
me. The pack knows he is my mate."
Chewbacca snarled a negation. Han pulled him aside. "Do as he says, Chewie. Luck willing
we'll be seeing you in a few days."
*Little One, I know you want him. I have scented it on you. But this is not the man you
knew. This creature is more drouger than human. We can take him together.*
"It's the virus working in him. If we try to take him, we could hurt him and that would
only make things worse. And we can't take him without killing the whole pack. If I can get him
back to the med-center, we can reverse this. But he won't pay attention as long as you're
nursemaiding me. Go on. I'll be fine. It's Luke."
*I hope you are right, Little One.* The Wookiee didn't move.
"Chewie." Han tapped the scratches Luke had put on him. "It's passed through saliva. I
have it now too. If I don't get him back in time, it's better we're both here than up top killing and infecting."
The big hairy head nodded gravely. *I smell it working in you. Make haste. The Trees
keep you until I see you safe.* A furry Wookiee hug swallowed him in affection. *I still could
carry you both out.*
"Those things would rip you apart if you tried. Will you go?" Han gestured impatiently,
feeling Luke's eyes burning into his back.
Chewbacca turned and the little droid whistled encouragement for the men to follow.
"No Artoo, you go on. We'll follow later." Luke tried to maintain some of his old self for
the droid, to Han's surprise. But the burning gaze that turned on him held nothing of farmboy or
Jedi in it. "Come with me."
The pack began drifting off, melting into the shadows. Luke never took his arm from
around Han's waist as they went deeper into the corridors.
Luke waited until the entire pack had left them before stopping and pushing Han back into
an alcove. Cold hands ran over Han's chest and cool lips claimed his own. As Luke pressed
against him, he could feel the hard ridge against his thighs and pulled back from it.
"Luke, no. Not here. Not like this."
"You want me." Luke smiled, his lips paler shadows in his pale face. "I can smell it on
you." He rubbed up even closer. "They can smell the wanting too."
Han caught his hands at the wrists and held them away. "I want you. I won't lie. But I
want you like a lover, not like a ten-credit whore in a back alley. A real bed, and time to explore, you know?"
"No time. When we return to the pack, you must smell of me. I claimed you as my mate in
front of them. If you make a liar of me, you become prey." Luke was not aware that a feral look
of pleasure had spread across his face at the last word. He twisted out of Han's grasp with no
effort.
"Like that thing?" Han gestured back toward the drouger Luke had killed.
"No. I become like him: outcast. He earned death for attacking me. I would earn it for
lying. The People do not lie to each other." He stole another kiss. "Less talk." The solid ridge of his erection pressed even harder against Han's leg.
It wouldn't be the leisurely lovemaking Han had dreamed of that night in Luke's empty
bed. But this would keep them alive until they could enjoy that moment. Han pressed his back to
the wall and got himself as comfortable as he could. He parted his legs and Luke stepped between
them.
Luke opened both of their pants, and teased out Han's coiled cock. Treacherous brute that
it was, it responded to the touch and stiffened to meet Luke's own. Han drew in his breath sharply
as the hand closed around him, pressing the sensitive underside against the cool underside of
Luke's. The right hand was the only part that remained even close to human temperature. Han had
no time to think on the irony of it.
He reached down and wrapped his own warmer hand around the matched shafts. Together
they set up a stroke that left Han dizzy. He stared down into the fiery blue eyes, seeing nothing
but the heat of stars and the depth of space. He wrapped his free arm around Luke before bending
in for a kiss of his own will.
Han tasted the cool lips that opened for him, and slid gently into the bitterly metallic
softness of Luke's mouth. He stroked and explored, drawing this one moment out, a single thing
to savor about their first time.
"Wanted you for a long time, Luke," he whispered as they parted. "Don't hold back." He
saw the flutter of eyelids and watched as Luke's eyes rolled a little. "Come on, kid. Come for me."
Sticky wetness erupted under their hands. Han used it to continue stroking himself. He felt
Luke's wet fingers trace a slow line to his groin and up over his belly before sliding down to work a languid, intricate tracery on his thighs. Hi lover's eyes were still closed.
"Marked as mine," Luke's voice was a satisfied purr. He opened his eyes and looked at Han, a
half-smile on his face "Let me finish you." Luke dropped to his knees and had his mouth around Han's erection before Han could process the statement. Ever so delicately, the cool tongue danced over the sensitive spot under the head, teased the corona, and stroked the length of him. He could resist no longer and buried his hands in Luke's hair as he came.
Luke did not swallow, but stood up and licked two fingers, coating them with spit and
ejaculate. Han tensed a moment, wondering if the claiming would have to go quite that far here in
the corridor, then relaxed as Luke traced an intricate pattern over his own bare chest, with
occasional swipes at Han's own belly.
"The People await us." Luke offered a hand and Han took it, letting Luke lead him deeper
into the catacombs of the surface level.
They came to a large room, the elaborate decorative carvings blunted by millennia of use,
the once-bright frescoed floor obscured by filth and dim with age. In the center, the pack sat in a silent circle. Han saw adults and children, their luminous eyes following him.
Luke spoke in the drouger language, and they rose silently. One by one, they came to the
men. Each one licked Luke on the cheek, and he returned it. Then each drouger sniffed Han long
and hard, before touching a tongue-tip to his cheek. He stood quietly, trying not flinch under the
chill and foul breath.
One adolescent male sniffed Han and sneered. He tucked his tongue behind his top teeth
and a sharp, needle-like organ came out of a sheath on the bottom. He aimed it for Han's
cheek. Wondering if it was a test of his courage, Han held still. Luke saw the confrontation,
snarled and cuffed the male. The drouger snarled at Luke and licked his face, a gesture both
submissive and possessive, then gestured at Han and spoke in their language. Luke held firm and
cuffed him upside the head again. Blood from Luke's claws running down his face, the male
touched his tonguetip to Han's cheek, but slouched away with a sulky look.
Once the pack had experienced Han and returned to their circle, Luke said a few things in
their language, and wrapped his arms around Han. In full view of them, he licked Han's whole
face before kissing him long and deep. The drougers set up an eerie howl.
"They approve," Luke said. "You are to become one of us."
He pulled Han toward one of the dark side passages off the main chamber. One of the
drougers, a female, stood up and began a keening that sounded bizarrely like a Corellian wedding
song Han half-remembered.
"The language will come to you," Luke assured him. "Shilrak sings of love and the hunt,
unending desire and sharing forever. It is the oldest song of the People, sung when a mate is
taken."
The others joined the song, and the harmonies made the small hairs on Han's neck were stand
up as they entered a large room dominated by a bed. Luke shut the heavy door, muffling the sound from the main chamber.
"My den. Now ours. Come to bed with me, Han."
Han had a million questions, but the first in his mind came out. "What if they hadn't
approved?"
"We would be digesting you." The simple inclusion of this brutal statement chilled Han to the
bone. Luke's eyes
were flat and steel-grey, nothing human behind them. The hands that gripped him were too tight.
Getting Luke
back was going to be more difficult than he had thought.
The feral virus sang within Luke, telling him of warm blood his for the taking, and warm body, his for the claiming. He felt the tension in his mate, and it excited him. The faint smell of fear teased him, making his hesitation painful. With an effort, he shook off the influence, and saw the well-hidden terror in Han's eyes as he tried to pull away.
Luke felt Han shudder and drew him in closer, the grip no longer so tight, and his eyes shading back to blue. "I am glad they approved. I couldn't defend you against all of them. That's why you need to stay here, unless I'm with you, until the change is complete. You'll be safe once you're one of the People. For now, you're still prey. Sinian doesn't like you. He wanted to be my mate."
Luke's tongue on his neck was not reassuring as Han remembered the needle-organ. He let
Luke push him onto the bed anyway. The more compliant Luke thought he was, the easier it would be to learn the pack's habits and routines. The more he knew, the easier it would be to circumvent them.
Han opened to the kiss, and took control. He rolled Luke onto his back, never breaking
the kiss, feeling the corded power beneath him, Luke's erection hard against his belly, arousing
him.
He slid a hand down to grip the cool shaft, feeling its weight. Silky and solid, just as he'd
always known it would be.
"Wanted you a long time, Luke. Took me long enough to figure it out."
"Han," was all Luke said before drinking in the warmth of his mate's body, the velvet heat
of his mouth. Han pulled away, his heat sliding lower, his pulse a roar in Luke's ears. The hot
mouth that wrapped around his cock threatened to drive him into hunt-frenzy from its intensity.
Luke held his control precariously under the onslaught of tongue and teeth, only to relinquish it
with a splitting howl as he came, clutching Han's shoulders.