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Leia openly admitted her belief that they got off too easily from Death Star - they only sent 4 fighters after them instead of hundreds. So she knew she was being tracked (the 1976 novelization 100% confirms that with more details).

If so, why in the world did she make Han fly Millennium Falcon straight to Rebel main base on Yavin, leading Death Star straight to it? (they didn't know where the base was before that!) - instead of, say, having Han fly her and Luke to some waypoint and changing ships on the way, or at the very least, scanning Millennium Falcon for tracking devices thoroughly for a week while hanging out in the middle of uninhabited space?

NOTE: Leia clearly did NOT give up Yavin to Imperials during interrogation, otherwise Vader and Tarkin wouldn't need the tracking device so much:

" I'm taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work."

So, there doesn't seem to be any rush to reach Yavin ASAP.

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  • Have you ever used a bathroom in an apartment shared by two bachelors? Now, imagine it with an airplane toilet and one of the bachelors is covered in fur. You'd be in a hurry to get where you're going, too.
    – Politank-Z
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 18:42

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You don't need the novelization. She says so in the film:

"They're tracking us! It's the only explanation for the ease of our escape."

Han refuses to consider that the Falcon is being tracked and shuts down the conversation.

"Not this ship sister."

So - she turns to banking on the info in R2.

"I hope when the data is analyzed a weakness can be found. It's not over yet..."

We don't know if she gave up the Rebel base after the Death Star popped Alderaan but it seems clear that she doesn't care or simply defers to Solo. In fact, in some ways it helps - by bringing the Imperials to them, the Rebels can fight on their terms and territory. Saves fuel costs too...

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  • If she gave the info, they wouldn't need to worry about the tracking device, which they are.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 18:44
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    Except they aren't really. Since, as you rightly say - they (apparently) just continue on their merry way to the secret rebel base. She is a politician after all - she may just be establishing plausible deniability... ;)
    – NKCampbell
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 18:45
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    " I'm taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work." - yes they are.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 18:46
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    The novelisations don't have "dubious canonical pedigree", they've always been considered to be G-canon and now Disney Canon where they explain the events of the films.
    – Valorum
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 18:51
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    (sidenote: don't forget to @-reply; you get all notifcations here, because this is your post, but I don't). Del Rey Books? theforce.net/story/front/… Admittedly I can't remember when the new novelizations were announced, but I'm fair sure it was in 2015, after those tweets from Del Rey
    – Jason Baker
    Commented Dec 2, 2015 at 20:00

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