Chapter

1

32:5:3 ABY

The Graveyard.

Though it had been only a year since his last pilgrimage to what had once been his home with his sister, Tash, and their teacher, Luke Skywalker, Zak had almost forgotten what the place was like. It was nothing like it had been when it had been whole.

Alderaan had been a vibrant world of greens and blues and whites. Sunsets from the Killik Peninsula beyond Castle Organa and the surrounding city were brilliant, full of life and colour and the promise that it would return the next day. The sparkling, reflective blue of the vast oceans were calm on the warmest days, choppy when beset by storms that in themselves there was majesty.

Now all that remained of Alderaan was a debris field of rocky chunks, varying in size and shape and movement, which had been, over the past thirty-two years, slowly spreading through the orbital ellipse that had once been Alderaan's path around its star.

There were no more green fields and forests. There was no more blue ocean. There were no more beautiful sunsets. It was a dead world; destroyed by the Galactic Empire by its disgustingly overpowered space-station, dubbed the Death Star; destroyed by a Grand Moff called Tarkin for the sole purpose of proving a point to Leia Organa and the Rebel Alliance.

Zak bit down on his anger as he eased the Silent Hunter to a solitary position near one of the more stationary chunks within the field.

Besides himself, there was a small party of others aboard the small gunship-turned-transport. Jaina Solo was with him, merely to assist in flying the ship, as it required two pilots in most cases and she was just as familiar with its workings as Zak was. Standing behind them was Zak's older sister, Tash; her long, blonde, braided hair hanging over one shoulder and her blue eyes wet with restrained tears as she stared out through the cockpit's viewport.

In the main hold behind them all was a family of four; Matilda Perisca—a Jedi apprentice that had once attended the Praxeum with Zak and his friends—her younger, non-Force sensitive sister Ariana, and their parents. Though neither Matilda nor her sister had ever lived on Alderaan, they accompanied their parents to The Graveyard every year to pay their respects to all the Alderaanians who had been unfortunate to be on the planet when it had exploded.

"Holding station," Jaina informed him quietly. She understood what being here meant to the Arrandas. Though he didn't reply, he did nod to let her know that he had heard her. He keyed in the thrusters controls to set them to automatic—ensuring that they would maintain a constant distance from the nearby rock if it shifted. "And here comes Dad," she added as he was getting out of his seat.

Zak turned and looked out through the viewport to see the disc-shaped Corellian transport swing around a few chunks of asteroid; showing off the skills of the pilot behind the controls, Zak recognised. He couldn't suppress the grin as the Millennium Falcon eased up underneath the Silent Hunter.

"Set up the docking tube," he said to Jaina. "I'll go greet our new guests, shall I?"

She grinned. "Be right with you."

The docking hatch was just behind the midpoint of the ship. Tucked into an alcove near the main hatch, it could have been—and often had been—mistaken for a second escape pod. Zak's friend—Jaina's twin brother—Jacen Solo had certainly thought so his first time aboard. Zak waited by it for a few moments. There was a thud and a shudder through the deck, followed by clanging sounds as locking mechanisms connected with the mating tube extended from the Falcon.

Jaina caught up to him. Tash wasn't with her, so he assumed she was with the other passengers. "Green light," she told him.

Zak nodded and entered the command on the nearby control panel to open the hatch. It swung upwards from the back towards the wall, stopping within centimetres of touching it.

"Yeah, yeah, hold that thought," a voice travelled up the tube. Looking down, Zak saw the top of Han Solo's head; his hair a mess as was the apparent standard of his roguish personality. He could see nothing yet of the Wookiee who was like a brother to Jaina's father.

When his head popped out from the tube, he looked up at the two of them standing there and grinned, the few wrinkles in his face bunching up. "Well," he said cheerfully, "mind giving an old man a hand?"

"Old man my foot," Zak muttered as he and Jaina reached down simultaneously to help him up onto the deck.

Truth be told, neither Han Solo nor Chewbacca had ever been on board the Silent Hunter before. It wasn't from a lack of interest, merely a lack of opportunity. And after the Wookiee appeared on deck a couple of minutes later and looked around himself, he let out a low grumble that might have been his equivalent of a high whistle of appreciation, and then growled something at his companion.

"You're damned right," Han said. He did whistle as he looked around, admiring the inner work. "It's a mighty fine ship you've got here, kids," he said, looking first to Jaina and then to Zak. "A mighty fine ship. But I bet I could still run circles around you."

Zak chuckled, Jaina scowled. He knew why. He knew that, though most of her childhood had been spent in and out of the Millennium Falcon, and she loved the ship more than any inanimate object in the universe, she had her own ship now, a ship that she was fiercely proud of. It would, naturally, sting for her father to make such a challenge, because she would be torn between her loyalty to the ship of her childhood, and the ship of her adulthood.

Challenge accepted, she thought across the silent bond between them. At a more appropriate time, of course.

Zak smiled. "I didn't think you would be here," he said to her father.

Han's easy smile quickly melted. He didn't frown, he didn't scowl. His features were solemn, sad even. Chewbacca rested a furry hand gently on Zak's shoulder, conveying the same level of remorse.

"The Falcon was the first non-Imperial ship to see this destruction," he pointed out. "Luke, that old Ben Kenobi, myself and Chewie all saw this when we came out of hyperspace from Tatooine. I've come here to pay my respects every year since. And believe me, it's not always easy."

"Pirates," Zak guessed. He'd already seen evidence of piracy and illegal mining the past couple of years. Exposed mineral veins had great swaths taken away from them that could only have happened after the explosion. There were derelict ships floating through the field that had been abandoned after they'd been stripped bare by pirates.

Zak's prejudice against the Empire made him suspect Imperial involvement—further desecrating the world they had destroyed so callously. But reason told him that it was to be expected. With the peace that had been signed between the Republic and what remained of the Empire, they wouldn't dare sabotage it with such a blatantly disrespectful act of desecrating Alderaan.

And, anyway, any number of unscrupulous groups would see profit in the destruction of a world. It was an inevitability that put a foul taste in the back of his throat.

"Thanks," he said. Han smiled at him.

"So, are you going to show me around?"

"Nope," Zak said with a cheeky grin. "I thought I'd let you wander around and take a look for yourself." The four of them spent a moment laughing together at the small attempt at humour before they all became serious once more. "I would be honoured to, good sir."

"Oh, knock it off," Han said with a small smile. He gestured, and Zak and Jaina turned and led them down the corridor to the main compartment at roughly the midpoint of the ship.

"Who do we have here?" Han asked from behind them when he saw the small congregation that awaited them.

"Dad," Jaina started as the two groups closed the gap between them, "these are the Periscas. You remember Matilda, from Uncle Luke's academy?"

Han's eyes drew across the group until they came to rest on Matilda; her hair tied back and her hand out in greeting. The Solo patriarch smiled in recognition and accepted her hand, shaking it gently before releasing it.

"Good to see you again, young lady. I trust you've been keeping out of trouble?"

"Yes, sir," Matilda replied. "Most of the time, anyway."

Han chuckled. "Good girl. And I suppose these are your parents?" He reached out towards Matilda's father, took his hand, and gave it a firm squeeze and a simple shake. "Good to meet you. Han Solo."

"Oh, believe me sir …" the other man said. "It's an absolute pleasure!"

Oh, boy, Zak heard Jaina think to herself. He could just imagine the roll of the eyes that had accompanied the statement, and he could sympathise. He, like Han Solo, had made quite the name for himself.

Though, while Han Solo had made a name for himself for his role in the rebel movement against the Empire—leading complex campaigns to force the Imperials out of various systems, aiding Luke Skywalker in the destruction of the first Death Star and indirectly being responsible for the destruction of the second and third—Zak had made a name for much the opposite reason.

Not long after he had joined Luke Skywalker's Praxeum on Yavin 4, he and Jaina had been kidnapped by agents of the Second Imperium, under the command of the Sith: Darth Pravus. After effecting their own escape, and after Zak had brutally destroyed Pravus on Coruscant, Zak had turned on all of his friends and peers at the praxeum. He'd taken the title of Sith for himself and had led a campaign of terror amongst his former peers that had lasted weeks.

After his recovery from those events, he'd soon discovered just how widespread the news of those events had become. The Republic Senate on Coruscant had apparently even debated what to do with him, before they had been put in their place by allies of Jedi within the Senate.

Every time Zak met a Republic delegate for the first time, or even other, older Jedi like Keyan Jace and Talesa Valara, they all seemed to know more about him than he had been aware of. Many on the High Council had been anticipating their first meeting with him when he had gone there for the trials a year ago.

Conversely, the Periscas only knew of him what they had been told by their daughter, and apparently that information didn't extend to the misdeeds he had been responsible for during his days as a self-proclaimed Sith. And they were far more interested in the fact that both Zak and Tash, despite their ages, had been born on Alderaan before it's destruction.

Han Solo seemed to have expected such a reaction, however, and smiled and shrugged it off. Zak wondered idly if that was all he had to do; bear it all as best he could without comment. He wondered if Han Solo was as uncomfortable as he in such situations.

"Tal Perisca," Matilda's father said when he and Han unclasped hands. "This is my wife, Delira, and our youngest daughter, Milessa."

Zak wasn't entirely sure, but he thought he caught the beginnings of a sideways glance from Han Solo at the last name. Zak didn't respond. Already, they had been on the ship for hours with the Periscas. He and Tash had already grown accustomed to the girl's name. It had shocked them at first, though they had not explained to them why. But that shock had since worn off. She was Milessa in name only, Zak had reminded himself more than once in those hours.

"Charmed," Han Solo said, kissing Delira's hand—the perfect gentleman … HA!, Zak thought—and roughing up little Milessa's hair with a chuckle. She tried to duck out of the way but wasn't quite fast enough to escape from the Kessel Run record holder.

"This is the main lounge," Jaina told her father after the introductions were out of the way.

Solo looked around him at the large room amidships. A large holoterminal sat in the middle of the room; currently set to sleep mode, lights blinked intermittently on the control panels. Three passenger seats sat against the wall to the left and forward, and in the corner diagonally opposite was a quarter-circle lounge and single chair on opposite sides of an active and unattended djarik table. The little holographic creatures had grown bored and were declaring an every-creature-for-itself war. To Zak, it looked like the Rancor would win.

Han Solo cleared his throat loudly, drawing Zak's attention away from the chaotic game board. "Quite the sizeable lounge," he said, sounding a little stunned. "Got enough room?"

"I don't know, Dad," Jaina said with a wink to Zak that her father couldn't see. "I think it could be bigger."

Zak tried, and failed, to contain the snort of laughter that bubbled up at the deadpan serious look on her face as she said that. Her father mistook it for a disagreement and nodded along with him. "Where do people eat? Not in here, surely."

Jaina made a disagreeing sound of her own. "Please!" she said, annoyed at the suggestion. "Over there"—she pointed to the open doorway on the port side—"is the mess hall. Well … less of a hall, more of a room. Table, chairs, food dispenser, water recycler."

"And, on the starboard side," Zak started, turning to the room on his right and pointing, "is the med bay. It's got some rudimentary equipment—a bacta tank, work bench, operation and recovery bed."

"Of course," Jaina added, "we're lacking a medical droid of our own, so we've had to learn how to operate the equipment ourselves."

Han grunted at the comment. "Med droids aren't cheap. You asking for a loan, young lady?"

It was said with a grin, but Jaina thought he was being serious. "My god, Dad, NO! I was just pointing—" Han's laughter at how serious she had taken the comment stopped her, and she glared at him and slapped his shoulder playfully. "Don't do that!"

"I'm impressed," he said, looking around again. "I'm very impressed. She's a fine ship. How does she handle for speed?"

Naturally. Zak had been expecting that question to eventually crop up. He smiled and gestured to the door leading forward to the cockpit. "Come with me," he invited.

He led the two visitors down the short neck, past his and Jaina's bedroom and the escape pod, and into the cockpit. Tash stood up from the co-pilot's chair and turned to face them.

"Good to see you again, Mister Solo. You too, Chewbacca," she said with a smile.

"Han," Solo corrected. "You call me Han. And it's good to see you too. Been keeping this brother of yours out of trouble, I hope?"

"Someone has to."

Zak shot her a glare. Han Solo chuckled and began his examination of the spacious cockpit.

"She's not built for atmospheric flight," Zak started, gesturing to the pilot's seat. Han accepted the invitation and sat down, sighing when he felt how comfortable the chair was. "Not to say she's not capable of it—just that she's more sluggish in atmosphere, and can only reach up to about eight hundred and seventy K an hour."

"Sluggish, you say," Han muttered.

Zak held the grin back. He knew the Falcon was faster in atmosphere, and could clock speeds over a thousand kilometres per hours. "As for space flight, she can reach as high as point four nine eight past light. Not quite as fast as the Millennium Falcon, but she gets pretty damn close."

Han Solo whistled appreciatively. "And that's standard? You haven't been tinkering with the engines?"

"Other than standard maintenance, and a repair job after escaping from the Yavin System four years ago, no," Jaina replied. "No actual tinkering."

"Damn, girl," her father said, patting the control panel in front of him gentle to show the ship his appreciation. "I had to spend hundreds of credits getting the Falcon's engines capable of point five beyond light. I'm a little envious to think of what this ship could do if you put your minds to it."

Zak shared a look with Jaina. She nodded to him, and he returned it before they both turned to her father and said, simultaneously, "We're happy with her the way she is."