Title: A Real Classic
Fandom: Star Wars
Pairing:
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jaina Solo gets something she's always wanted.
"Lando, forget Jag. I'm gonna marry you." Jaina Solo stood in the middle of Jagged Fel's personal hangar bay, smiling a smile so large that she felt like her face could split.
Standing beside her, one of her father's oldest friends and partners in crime returned her smile with equal enthusiasm.
"If it's all the same to you, beautiful, I'd rather not have to explain that to your father."
Jaina snorted, stepping back, admiring the ship that Lando had towed with him all the way from a shipyard near Ord Mantell.
The YT-2400 Corellian Stock Light Freighter sat, heavily, in Docking Bay Aurek-12. The rust-coated exterior, and the occasional piece of loose paneling on her hull attested to the age and eventful life of the freighter.
It was the most beautiful thing Jaina had ever seen.
"What's her name?"
"Well, she's yours now." Lando shrugged, gesturing grandly towards the ship. "It's whatever you want it to be."
Jaina shook her head.
"Nope. I want to know the original name. Names are important."
"She's the Double or Nothing." Lando nodded, handing over the datacard containing the access codes for the on-ramp.
"I like it." Jaina nodded emphatically. "It's fitting. I'll keep it."
"Keep whatever you like." Lando threw an arm around her shoulders. "It's your ship, honey."
"Don't call me honey." Jaina strode forward, entering the access code to lower the boarding ramp.
The ramp activated with a loud and laborious clunking sound. It disengaged from its locked position and slid slowly, and haphazardly, to the ground. Jaina ascended the ramp, undaunted by its apparent lack of fortitude. Lando followed, slightly more cautiously, behind.
She moved from bulkhead to bulkhead, taking in every aspect of her new ship with the delighted air of a child on their birthday. She touched each control panel, running her fingers over the buttons.
Lando smiled as his mind drifted, almost involuntarily, back to her father's reaction to the Falcon the first time that he saw her. The two's expressions were almost identical. Jaina was in love with this ship.
"How much of her is in need of repairs?" Jaina spoke without turning around, examining the tiny galley from it's rusted and peeling doorway.
"She's about 42% viable right now." Lando crossed his arms. He thought about leaning against a bulkhead, but couldn't even begin to imagine how long it would take to remove the resulting stains from his clothing.
"Do you think I can find the parts?"
"It'll be tricky. I'm not going to lie to you." Lando shrugged. "Even with the nice little discount I'm giving you on the ship itself, it's going to put quite the dent in what's left of your trust fund to get them."
"But doable?"
"Between me, Mirax Horn, and Booster Terrik?" Lando raised an eyebrow. "Anything is doable."
"Excellent." Jaina nodded, striding down the cylindrical corridor to the cockpit with a determined air.
Once she was there, she exhaled a breath that she didn't even know she was holding. She stepped forward, running her hands over the back of the pilot's chair. She sighed again.
"It's mine."
"As soon as you pay me it is." Lando smirked, stepping up behind her.
"The money'll be in your account before you're even back home to spend it." Jaina shrugged. "Don't harsh my buzz, here."
"Sorry."
Whatever response Jaina might have had, was stifled by the sound of a familiar voice calling from the base of the ramp.
"I'm looking for the captain of this crate!"
Jaina snapped out of the trance into which she'd seemed to settle, and ran down the boarding ramp, tackling her father in an enthusiastic hug.
"Daddy, have you ever seen anything so fantastic?"
Han crossed his arms over his chest, leaning back to observe the ship as a whole.
"It's something, all right." He allowed Jaina to pull him up the ramp to explore the interior of the Double or Nothing. He greeted his old friend with a hug at the top of the ramp. "So, you brought this thing all the way here, huh?"
"Eh." Lando shrugged. "She's enough like her mother that I know better than to try to talk her out of something."
"Well said."
"Of course. I've seen what happens to you when you try it."
He went with her to examine all of the crew quarters, the main cabin, the galley, the 'fresher, the lounge, and the cockpit. All the while letting his daughter prattle on about this feature or that feature.
He even climbed down, with her, into the engine compartments to help her assess which parts were going to need to be completely replaced, or which parts were salvageable.
Lando watched the entire exchange with a bemused expression, maintaining a safe distance from the grease-covered interior of the engine compartment.
By the time they all descended the ramp a few hours later, Jaina had, with her father's help, inspected every component of the ship.
Han turned around, esting a hand on Jaina's shoulder.
"Well, kid. I'll tell you this. She might not look like much--" Han trailed off, examining a scratch on the hull.
"But?"
"No, that's it." Han shrugged. Lando dissolved into chuckles.
Jaina whirled around, indignation etched into her facial expression.
"How dare you insult my ship!" She smacked her father on the shoulder. "That is my baby. It might take me some time, but she is going to fly and she's going to be spectacular. And she is, without a shadow of a doubt, going to have it where it counts."
Han looked from his daughter to Lando and the two men traded a knowing glance.
"You know what, sweetheart? I believe you."
"I think you'd be crazy not to." Lando nodded in agreement.
"I say we need to get drinks to celebrate!" Han added, wrapping an arm around his daughter's shoulders.
"Oya!" Jaina cried out, ignoring her father's involuntary twitch at her usage of Mando'a.
When the three of them got to the hangar door, Jaina turned around, taking one more look at the ship before they left.
"I'm almost afraid to leave her."
"Yeah," Han nodded sympathetically, guiding her out the door. "That's parenthood for you."