The Fall of the Falcon

The lush, rolling hills of Eriador had witnessed many strange things over the years. Nothing was new. The lands of the North had shouldered the fallout of the destruction of Númenor. They had seen the rise of Arnor, its battle with the hordes of the Witch-King and its eventual disintegration. Time never stood still for them. Nothing was new. The lives of men, dwarves and hobbits were like gusts of wind through the trees. They came and went. Even the immortal elves were not immune. Journeys to the Havens were constant, and death in battle was always a possibility. Nothing was new.

Yet on a bright, cold day in late winter, the hills looked up at the sun to see a huge mass of metal hurtling down from the sky. This was new and unexpected, for this was no common meteor or chunk of rock. Many of those had come crashing down through the years. This one was different. Something...came with it. A tremor in the wind. A whisper in the air. Was it a warning?

"That was one heck of a landing. I'm surprised we made it although it could have been a lot worse."

Han Solo leaned back in his chair with a sigh of relief. Emergency-landing the Millennium Falcon was not exactly easy. It put unnecessary strain on the ship. Something Han did not want to do.

"Am I supposed to be impressed?" asked the women sitting in the co-pilot chair.

"No one's stopping you, Princess."

Han Solo got out of his chair and moved out of the cockpit. "Chewie, how are we doing? How's the engines?"

He heard a loud growl from the engine room. Chewbacca walked out rubbing his side. "Hey, that was a great landing," replied Han. "What are you talking about? It was a little shaky but, overall, one of my better ones considering the circumstances."

"Oh, what a horrible landing!"

Han Solo looked to his right and saw crates sprawled across the floor. A shiny yellow leg protruded quite distinctly out from under the mess.

"Oh, what a horrible landing. I'm afraid my circuitry is fried. I can't move, I can't hear. Is anyone there?"

"Chewie, clean up that mess and help Threepio a bit. I'll look at the engines and...how are the engines? Oh, great."

Han went into the engine room shaking his head. A minute later he yelled back, "Man! This might take a while to fix. What is this...Ouch!"

Princess Leia walked up and started to help Chewbacca with rearranging the various boxes that had tumbled over. Chewbacca helped C-3PO sit up. The droid's right leg was rather crushed, and the wookie could see it would be in need of repairs.

"Oh, hello Chewbacca," said the droid. "It is so good to see a familiar face. Oh, Princess Leia. What? What are you saying? I can't hear you."

"Can't you hear me Threepio?" asked Leia. "Oh no. Chewie sit him over there. His leg looks pretty bad. We will have to work on him soon."

She held out here pointer finger in a gesture of patience to the droid who nodded. "Yes Princess Leia. Do whatever you have to do. I'll be here when you need me."

Leia turned towards Chewbacca when Han yelled out, "I found it! This is the….Oh, never mind. That goes here…"

"Han, where are we?" asked Leia.

Han Solo came out of the engine room wiping his hands on a towel. "I've no idea. I suppose we had better look at the maps. And the hyperspace route. Chewie, see what you can do with the engines."

Han walked back towards the cockpit with Leia in tow. "Were we knocked out of hyperspace or something?" she asked. "Because we came out before Bespin. That jump was too quick."

"I know. Something's not right," said Han as he slide into his chair. "Let's see. Hyperspace coordinates...Here it is. Ummm. Nothing unusual. We made the jump. Correct destination. Did our hyperdrive give out? Chewie, check the hyperdrive! See if it works."

There was a rumble in response as Han stood up and left the cockpit.

"Where are you going?" asked Princess Leia.

"I'm going to see what this planet is. We don't even know what it looks like. There are only two planets remotely near to our hyperspace route. One is gas and the other is a barren rock." He put on his gun belt and headed to the entrance ramp. "This planet is not on the maps."

The ramp lowered and Han Solo and Princess Leia walked down. A chilly wind welcomed them, and Leia shivered. The trees on the sides of the many hills in the area had no leaves and swayed and creaked in the wind. Han shaded his eyes against the light of the sun and looked around. Hills all around. A mountain in the distance. Everything was bleak and brown. Nothing of much use. However, after a few minutes, Han could just make out a path between the branches of the trees to his right. It was barely visible and if it had been spring the leaves would have blocked his sight.

"Well, nothing to go on so far except for a road way down there." Han pointed in the direction of the path.

Leia straightened and looked in the direction of Han's finger. "That must mean there is some kind of civilization here," she remarked.

Han itched his nose. "Yeah. But I wonder whether they are friends or enemies of the Empire. Or if they are actually civilized at all."

He stood there thinking for a minute and then headed back towards the Falcon. "Let's just hope the Millennium Falcon didn't take too much of a hit during that landing. I wouldn't want to be stuck on an unknown planet."

Unfortunately, the Millennium Falcon had been hit hard, and Han knew it. The outside looked horrible and, while the inside did look somewhat normal, Han knew that everything could fall apart at any moment. Not that he was going to tell Leia that right away. No need to worry her.

Later on, Han and Chewbacca had a long, private talk about the state of the ship. The wookie agreed that the ship was in terrible condition. Even if they could get the Falcon up and running again (a big if), it would take more time and more supplies than they had at the moment. The Empire was still searching for them, and Han was not confident that a failed trip through hyperspace would keep them off their track forever. One never underestimated the Empire. Furthermore, that weird exit from hyperspace had not been kind to the hyperdrive and the crash had basically destroyed the backup hyperdrive. Han did not want to say it but the Millennium Falcon had probably flown its last mission.

"Well, Han. How is the ship?" Princess Leia tried to mask her concern. She knew Han and Chewbacca had been talking and, from what she had heard, it had not sounded comforting.

Han took a moment to ruffle his hair. "They hyperdrive doesn't look good and the engines don't either. Chewie is working on the engines right now. It might take a bit."

Leia cocked her head. "So we are stuck here."

"Uhhh, I wouldn't go that far. There is still a good possibility that we can get the engines working." No there isn't. Just tell her. "Aaand…"

There was an awkward silence.

Leia smirked, "So we're stuck here."

There was another awkward pause.

"You might say that," Han finally answered.

Leia sighed heavily then tried to smile. "Well, at least the Empire won't find us."

Han looked towards the cockpit where the bright, grey-white sky peeped in. He sighed. "I hope not."