10January 29, 1925 - Nome 8 PM
Leia sighed wearily as she adjusted herself for the umpteenth time on the uncomfortable chair pulled up to her daughter's hospital bed. If there was one thing she hated, it was not being in control of a situation, and she had never felt more out of control in her life, outside of her parent's deaths. If she was an outsider to what was going on in the tiny Nome hospital Leia would have to admit that things weren't catastrophic yet, only two more positive diphtheria cases had turned up over the past few days, a good sign that it wasn't spreading as quickly. But Leia wasn't an outsider here, her sickly daughter lying in the bed next to her was a testament to that. Jaina was a fighter that was for sure, Luke had told her so when he was here a few hours ago, trying to comfort her and keep her company. She takes after her father Leia had replied. But Luke smiled and shook his head, Actually I was talking about you. Leia had quickly scoffed at that but Luke wouldn't let her doubt herself, telling her how she had survived briefly being an orphan, Bail and Breha's sickness and then subsequently their deaths, and now this new challenge. Leia had simply shrugged and had turned back to trying her best to make Jaina feel better with the limited means she had, which mostly just consisted of draping her forehead with a cool washcloth in hopes of cooling her down. Jaina had become a ghost of herself and as much as she missed Han she was relieved he didn't have to see his daughter like this. He wouldn't have recognized the small little girl in bed now, the girl who always woke up her parents by jumping in their bed, who liked to race down the street in her sled, who helped her father with his carpentry by handing him the tools he asked for. No, Jaina was a far cry from that now. The once vibrant little girl was now dreadfully pale and covered in sweat, her hair plastered on her forehead no matter how many times Leia brought the washcloth over. Jaina had gone to a place that Leia couldn't follow, she mostly spent the days in and out of sleep in the white hospital bed, whimpering to herself. Though Leia had to admit that the whimpers were better than when she would get into horrific coughing fits that seemed to last for hours. Leia's reverence over Jaina was broken when she felt a small weight being thrown into her lap. Startled, Leia looked up to see Jyn Erso looking down at her, a small grin on her face.
"Jyn," Leia moved to get up but her actions were shooed away as her fellow nurse dragged the extra chair in the room next to Leia and sat down.
"I haven't seen you in awhile."
While the words weren't accusing in any way, Jyn still felt guilt creep up in her body, "I know, I'm so sorry Leia. I've been meaning to sit with you, it's just been so-"
Horrified at Jyn's implications, Leia immediately began to shake her head, "No, no, no! That's not what I meant at all. I know how busy you've all been especially with me not working and Shara still out."
Jyn shrugged her shoulders, "Yeah, but-"
"No buts. You're here now, that's what matters. Besides I haven't been alone, Luke and Winter have been great, and Mara stops in when she's able to."
A mischievous look came across Jyn's face as Leia brought up the red head, "I've noticed she always darts out of the room whenever your brother walks in."
Leia let out a laugh for the first time in weeks, "Yeah, she's not as stealthy as she likes to think."
"What's going on with those two anyway?"
Leia shrugged, "Who knows. I tried asking Luke about it the other day but he somehow managed to turn the conversation around to me."
"Sounds like the Luke I know, never wanting to talk about himself"
Leia nodded and shifted again, when she noticed it caused whatever Jyn had thrown at her to slide off of her lap. Beinding over to pick up the object, Leia saw it was a copy of The New York Times, the headline in bold read DOG SLED RACE UNDERWAY TO SAVE CHILDREN OF NOME.
"That's what I came in here to show you. Looks like people are quickly finding out about our small corner of the world. There are some journalists crawling around town."
Leia chuckled to herself, "I heard Mara told one reporter to shove it after they tried to interview a parent without asking for permission."
Jyn let out a loud laugh, "You should have seen it Leia, I've never heard such foul language coming from her before, Rieekan looked like he was about to pass out at the end of her tirade, and the news person practically ran out the door."
"It serves them right, if one of them tries coming in here I'll rip them a new one."
"They won't know what to do with themselves facing 90 pounds of pure female fury."
Raising her eyebrows in amusement Leia shook her head, "I definitely weigh more than 90 pounds now," as she gestured to her belly.
"Oh please, I know I could still pick you up without a problem."
For a while it was silent, the room only filled with the sounds of Jaina's labored breathing.
"How is Han?"
Jyn regretted the question as soon as it was out of her mouth. Leia's whole body seemed to tense up, "I don't know."
"Oh Leia," Jyn's voice was laced with sympathy and helplessness.
"I mean," Leia let the venom seep into her words, "Would it kill him to send me a telegram?"
Jyn didn't say anything in reply, knowing her friend needed to get this off of her chest.
"Of course I can't complain about this because then I'm a bitch." Leia laughed bitterly. "And don't get me wrong, I understand that he is the best racer that we have and that he is doing this for Jaina but I just- oh God Jyn I just feel so alone here." And with that Leia promptly burst into tears.
Startled, Jyn was always used to Leia being a pillar of strength and seeing her so unglued unnerved her, and she quickly pulled her seat right up next to Leia's and put her arm around her shoulder. Leia turned into the embrace and leaned her head to the left against Jyn's shoulder, letting the sobs run through her body. The pair of them sat like that for a while before Leia sat up and turned to face her friend, her face blotchy from crying and took a shaky breath, "I'm okay, hormones and all that"
A look of doubt crossed Jyn's face, "You're okay?"
Leia sighed before shaking her head, "I guess I'm not okay."
"Leia, you don't have to constantly have it together all the time, no one expects you to, you're human."
Leia nodded, "I used to be able to control my emotions but then-"
"But then you met that scoundrel of yours?"
Leia laughed again to Jyn's relief, "Yes, even if he makes me crazy, I just miss him and I wish he was here."
"I know you do, and if you ever need to curse him out again I'm your girl."
The pair of them laughed again as Jyn handed Leia a tissue, "Now blow your damn nose woman, this is starting to get gross," Jyn joked.
"Mommy?"
Leia whipped her neck around so fast she almost gave herself whiplash, "Jaina!"
"I'll let you two have some time alone," Jyn whispered to Leia before slipping out the door, not that Leia heard, her attention now completely focused on her daughter, this was the most she'd been awake in days.
"My little dove," Leia spoke as she stroked Jaina's forehead, "How are you?"
"I had a bad dream, I couldn't see you or daddy and I kept trying to find you but I kept getting pulled away, I don't want to go away."
The weight of Jaina's words almost caused Leia to stagger back into her chair. You won't go away, you won't, you won't little dove.
"Daddy and I would never let you be taken away from us okay?"
Jaina nodded slowly to herself, "O-tay."
"Mommy?"
"Yes little dove?"
"Can I see the big star, Powaris? I want to say goodnight to daddy."
"Yes, we can see Polaris," Leia gently corrected, "and say goodnight to daddy."
Leia hoisted Jaina from the bed and carried her over to the window in the room and pointed to the brightest star in the sky.
"There it is. I know daddy is looking at that star too and thinking of us."
"Goodnight daddy" Jaina whispered out. Goodnight Han Leia thought to herself.
The pair stood in front of the window before Jaina told Leia that she was cold. Leia carried Jaina back to bed and wrapped the blankets snugly around her daughter before pressing a kiss to her forehead. Leia settled back in her chair and tried to get some sleep as well, wishing she was back in bed with Han snuggling her.
January 30, 1925
Since the previous day, the medicine had been first delivered to Tanana by Horn and had then been handed off to six other drivers encompassing 170 miles in total from Tanana to Galena where it reached the next driver, Tycho on the 30th, very early in the morning. Tycho carried the medicine another 18 miles to Bishop Mountain arriving at 3 AM. There he handed off the serum to Hobbie. Unfortunately, Hobby was the one who began to bear the brunt of the blizzard that had overtaken Alaska. With poor visibility, he headed out into a patch of ice fog when the waters of the Koyukuk River broke through the surface of the ice. Forgetting to properly cover up his lead dogs they collapsed from frostbite and Hobbie himself ended up leading the team onwards to Nulato, but on their arrival at 10 AM both of his lead dogs were dead. Unable to continue without his lead dogs, he sent a telegram to Wedge, who was next on the relay, to meet him at one of the outposts near Nulato to hand over the medicine.
Meanwhile in Nome, things had taken a turn for the worse. Despite previous hopes from Rieekan and his nurses, cases were now on the rise and the entire antitoxin supply had been depleted. This led to the medical staff only being able to rely on aspirin to try and reduce pains and fevers. The worsening crisis spurred Mayor Dodonna to call another emergency town meeting. The idea of flying the medicine in was brought up again but then ultimately rejected by the town council for safety concerns. This rejection led to scathing newspaper headlines, Leia's personal favorite read, MAYOR LEAVES TOWN'S CHILREN TO DIE.
In an attempt to save face, Governor Ackbar decided to add more drivers from Nulato to Nome, putting the responsibility to the superintendent of health to decide which drivers to be included. There was only one person to choose from, the only person who would be able to make it to the second to last checkpoint for Nome if they left soon, and that person was Luke Skywalker, which left Leia alone.
Han was not surprised when he saw the state of the Kessel River, but the sight he saw made him extremely apprehensive. There was a reason Han was chosen to cover this part of the race, only the most experienced of mushers would be able to survive the challenges put forth by the Kessel River. The ice on the river was in continuous motion thanks to currents from the nearby sea and constant wind. The quality of ice ranged from smashed-together to glassy ice, where it was difficult for the dogs to maintain their footing. The problems didn't stop there, Han knew that small cracks in the ice could widen without warning and him and his team could be plunged into the icy waters. If a strong gust of wind came in from the east it could reach speeds of 70 miles per hour, flip over his sled, and push the dogs off course as well as causing a dangerously low windchill at -100 F/-73 C. That same strong wind could also push blocks of ice out to sea and if Han and his team were on drifting ice, they could be left stranded in open water. I've got a bad feeling about this Han thought to himself.
Quickly surveying his team, Han knew he was only delaying the inevitable and delays weren't something the kids back in Nome could afford right now. But he was also thinking of Millenia, while this shortcut would expedite the arrival of the medicine it might also expedite her life. She looked much better after that rest stop with Maz, seeing her put the old dog in high spirits. Han looked over at her now, she was standing in the front with Chewie looking alert and focused, and he knew he couldn't cross the river without her. As if knowing Han was thinking of her, Millenia looked back at him over all of the other dogs and gave him a look that said, Are we doing this or not?
Well if she was ready then he was ready. Taking a deep breath Han yelled out, "Hike!" as him and his team stepped out onto the ice.