Logs of the Falcon: Personal Holo Records of Captain Han Solo
Log I: We Actually Did It
I'm not the kind of guy who keeps a journal. That's for the mushy, nostalgic, romantic types. Probably why Lando's made so much use of this captain's log, the old smoothy. But I've barely touched it. I live in the moment and I don't like to leave a trace when I move on. But so much has happened in the past few years. The past few days, even. I need to clear my head, and there's no better place to do that than in the cockpit of the Falcon. I'll say, it sure is nice to have her back, even if Lando did manage to knock off her communication array. "Not a scratch," he promised me. "Not a scratch." The damn fool.
Anyway, when I woke up this morning, I had a strange feeling. I didn't know why. Was it that we had actually taken out the backbone of The Empire after all these years, or was it that I was waking up in a glorified tree house with a bunch of little fur-balls? Maybe it was the woman lying next to me. When I looked to my left and saw her long brown hair flowing over the sheets, the only thing I could think was that 'she actually picked me.' She could have had any golden boy or piece of royalty from Coruscant to Onderon and she picked a scoundrel like me. Her heinous has good taste.
I thought about waking her up, but she was in a sleep so deep that a tie fighter could have docked right outside and she wouldn't notice. Besides, the girl had been through so much. She had earned a day to sleep in. I, on the other hand, needed some fresh air. I grabbed my vest and started to walk out the door of the small, fur-ball fitted room. Before I walked outside, I turned around to look at Leia one last time. For the first time in my life, I knew I'd be coming back to the woman who's room I was sneaking out of.
The sun was just rising, and the fog was still thick. But that sure didn't make the view from the heights of Endor any less spectacular. The natural green seems to go on endlessly. Damn, if Lando or Chewy heard me talking like this, they'd never let me hear the end of it.
It looked like I was the first one up, except for a couple of fur-balls running around. Some of them were just sleeping right on the ground. Sure was a wild celebration the night before. That's when I saw a figure in black, staring out over the brightening horizon at the edge of the platform. A smile grew on my face as I approached my old buddy. He looked like a real hero, looking off into the distance, standing tall with his hands behind his back, one covered by a black glove. We would go on to have, damn, perhaps the most important conversation we've ever had. Probably better if I just try to recall the whole thing.
"Morning Kid," was the only thing I could say to him as I smacked him on the back, sending his eyes open slowly.
"Hi Han," he answered back to me.
I asked if he got any sleep.
He said He'd gotten a little. He turned my way and nodded with a slight smile. Man, I can't believe how much I've seen this kid change, how much I've seen him grow. From a crop-dustin', starry-eyed farm boy to a real Jedi. I'll never have the gut to tell him to his face, but he had showed me that the force wasn't just about simple magic tricks…
It's real.
He asked me how Leia was.
I told him She was in a deep hibernation. "Deeper than a Smuggler in carbinite" and he chuckled lightly. Luke then remained silent as his sights turned back to the horizon. Now of course, the day before, Leia dropped the big one on me. Luke and Leia are brother and sister. Luke and I would at some point have to have a conversation… oh man, a very uncomfortable conversation about that. But I was quick to change the subject, just in the name of putting it off for at least a little while. "Look Luke," I said as I pointed toward the debris from crashed Tie Fighters, demolished AT-STs and from the fallen Death Star. "We took down the Empire," I put my arm around my friend and chuckled as I clucked his shoulder. "We actually did it."
He shared a smile with me and joined me in observing the Imperial wreckage. He quirped "And to think you started off doing it all for reward money." Luke's transition into savior of the galaxy has not cost him that subtle sense of humor.
"Hey, I'm still doing it for reward money," I told him with a slight smirk. "Think how much they'll pay me just to bring the Falcon to Starship shows for the adoring public to behold." I pointed to the sky with one hand while keeping my right arm wrapped around Luke's shoulder. "Who needs to be a Smuggler when you can just be famous."
Luke shook his head and looked back at me. "You know we're not done yet." He was speaking cautiously. "We tore down a government, now we have to build one. And Han, The Empire will not die easily. We may have won the war, but Imperial loyalism will linger. For years to come."
I felt Luke wasn't embracing his accomplishments enough. "Luke, we blew up another Death Star. The Emperor is dead! Everything else will slide into place. You killed Darth Vader, kid!" I placed both hands on Luke's shoulders, expecting him to lighten up. But in stead, the opposite happened. A… sadness washed over Luke's eyes that I had not seen in him since Vader killed the old man on the first Death Star four years ago. "What's wrong, Luke?" I asked him, somewhat concerned.
"It's nothing," he answered back and turned his gaze away. Now I knew something was off. Luke was behaving exactly the same way Leia did before Luke left the group to confront Vader the night before last.
'Luke, it's me." I gave my buddy a reassuring grin. "If this is about Leia and…"
Luke interrupted "It's not." He sighed and looked my way with what looked like the weight of The Galaxy on his eyelids. "I have to tell you something, Han. Leia is the only one who I have told, but you have a right to know as well."
I squinted in confusion, and shrugged slightly. "What is it, Luke?".
That's when I got my next jaw drop. "Darth Vader. He is my father."
There really is no right way to react to receiving that kind of information. I did the only thing I could think to do and apologized.
"No, Han. It ended." Luke was speaking with a more hopeful tone. "My father, he… he came back. There was a conflict within him, I felt it. In the end, my father came back from the darkness that swallowed him. He was the one who killed the Emperor, Han. He became a Jedi again. He was born Anakin Skywalker, and he died as Anakin Skywalker."
I did not know what to think. The shadowy, villainous figure who Luke had shared a rivalry with was his father. This was the creature that killed his mentor, destroyed a planet, cut off his hand and froze me in a block of ice and left me to be a decoration in a slug's palace. Luke was very quick to accept him as some kind of hero. I was more skeptical. But I wasn't going to tell Luke that, that's for sure.
"He was redeemed," Luke continued. "The good in him won. His last words were to tell Leia that 'I was right' about Anakin Skywalker still being alive within the black shell, within the armor, within; within the machine. I told Leia what happened up there last night, but it will take her longer to forgive him. She will, when the time is right."
I told Luke 'I was glad he could bring him back.' I tried to give him a reassuring smile. I actually don't know if Leia will ever be able to forgive Vader. That was when it hit me. Leia was also Vader's child. This was the man that blew up her home world. She must have been devastated. "How did Leia take the news?" I asked.
He told me that she hadn't quite processed it yet. That was understandable, to say the least. That was when the conversation that I dreaded to have… began. "She has handled the… news that we are twins with much more acceptance." Luke stated assuringly. Good for her, but I am still wrapping my head around this. Luke and I had long competed with each other for the affection of the beautiful Princess Leia. What are the chances that it turns out that the man who I thought of as a brother is actually the brother of her worshipfulness? Oh, probably going to have to stop calling her stuff like that now. Aw man, who are we kidding, The Falcon wouldn't dare tell on me, would you baby? Probably should encrypt these files just in case.
Well, Luke and I went down to the surface We just… walked through the woods. We talked about everything. Vader, Leia, the Galaxy, what was next for us. To be honest, I have no idea. Luke knew what he was going to do. He was going to teach a new generation of Jedi. Something about a little green guy who he made a promise to in a swamp. Kid gets involved in some damn weird stuff, that's for sure.
We saw Lando later in the day. He had drink a few too many Ruby Bliels the night before and it showed in the bags under his eyes. It was nice, the three of us able to talk over a cup of caf, not having to worry about the next place to hide or the next Star Destroyer convoy coming up on the scanners. Two scoundrels and a farm boy, sitting together as galactic heroes.
Well, I guess that's it for now. Chewy's calling for a hand with the motivator. Besides, I have to get back to Leia before she thinks I've jumped for Corellia. I'm curious what will end up being more high maintenance: The Princess or the Falcon?
Don't lose your temper Chewie, I'm coming!
…
