Darth Vader was on his ship.
No, that was still too horrifying to consider. Break it down into smaller pieces.
Darth Vader. Han had never met the man. He had seen him once or twice in the news, and had once desperately hidden in an Imperial admiral's closet while the admiral was brutally murdered by the Sith.
On his ship. His ship, the Millennium Falcon. He was captain, he got to decide who boarded his ship, usually after a negotiated payment. Chewie got a vote. The old man he picked up in that dive back on Tatooine (and that planet was still as much of a dump as ever) shouldn't get a say in it. The kid and the princess certainly didn't get a say, the old guy had shut down their arguments quickly and quietly. But he had talked to Han first, because it was his ship he was bringing Darth Vader aboard.
So now Darth Vader was here. On the Falcon. Sitting on a bench away from the others, not hiding, but definitely not wanting to interact with them. Luke had yelled something about Vader killing his father, and Vader had acknowledged that he had done so. Though Kenobi had muttered something about "from a certain point of view". But that wasn't any of Han's business. He had a Jedi, a farm boy, a princess, and Darth Vader to deliver to the Rebellion.
His business was delivering them to Yavin, getting the remainder of his pay, going back to Tatooine, paying off Jabba, and hoping the Hutt wasn't too vindictive about the whole mess. If he did like he was told, and brought Jabba the money, he would probably be allowed to live, maybe even keep working.
Han looked around the Falcon's cockpit, seeing that, for the time being, he and Chewbacca were alone.
"Hey Chewie, I've heard stories about Jedi. They can make you do things with their Force hocus-pocus. You don't think that old guy…?" He trailed off. It was nonsense really. Magical space knights with mind control powers.
Chewie barked a laugh, then told Han a story about a Jedi Master he'd known during the Clone Wars.
"Yoda, huh? Think I've heard of him," Han mused. "The leader of their order, some kind of Jedi politician then?"
The Wookiee shrugged his massive furry shoulders, he hadn't asked how the Jedi picked their leaders, he had just been happy to have the Jedi and their clone trooper allies fighting alongside him on Kashyyyk. The point was, he explained, while fighting the Separatist forces with Master Yoda, he had seen that mind trick, and a thousand other things Jedi could do. And he was certain that, however shrewd Obi-Wan had been in talking Han into allowing Vader aboard, there had been no element of coercion.
"No mind trick huh? So I'm just crazy enough to let the guy on my ship. Not sure that makes me feel any better pal. I actually let Darth Vader on my ship of my own free will. And I didn't even think about asking for more money for another passenger." Han shook his head, still half in a daze from the day's events. "The hell was I thinking?"
His partner grumbled a little at this. Chewie hated the Empire more than most, having lived as a slave under Imperial rule before Han had freed him. And he could remember the early days of the Empire, when Darth Vader had come to Kashyyyk seeking the Jedi hiding deep in the forests. He had killed many Wookiees himself, had ordered countless more killed. But only those who had joined the resistance against the Empire and sought to stop him from hunting the Jedi, and never civilians or children. No Wookiee would call the Sith Lord friend after what he had done on Kashyyyk, he explained to Han, but Vader had acted with honor, in his own way. Unlike the Imperial commanders who had come after him, who had bombed cities and slaughtered any who tried to escape. That he now turned away from the Emperor was encouraging, as the Empire now possessed one fewer nightmarishly powerful Sith lord with which to threaten the galaxy. Furthermore, Chewie pointed out that Vader had been helpful since he had joined with them.
Han thought on that. The Sith Lord had ordered the stormtroopers guarding the Falcon to stand down and allow them to leave, and had done… something to their communications systems, preventing the troopers from reporting in or receiving instructions. It had bought them time after leaving the Death Star, time enough to jump to light speed without being harried by TIEs. Vader had even mentioned a plan to plant a tracking beacon aboard the Falcon, but that must have fallen through. A thorough search after the jump to hyperspace had revealed nothing added and no sign of tampering anywhere on the ship, and Han knew his baby well enough to see when it had been messed with.
Han was willing to give Vader the benefit of the doubt for now, although he would keep an eye on the armored man whenever he could. A memory flashed through his mind, the voice of an admiral begging for mercy while being slowly choked to death, and the rumor that Vader had been the one to kill him. Han had heard the voice of the man who killed the admiral, deep, mechanically intoned, interspersed with heavy breathing aided by a respirator. He had recognized that same voice upon meeting Vader. Admiral Greelanx hadn't been a friend by any measure, but the actions he had taken, after a sizable bribe, had saved Han's home and friends (and how hard he tried not to think about those friends anymore). Yes, definitely better to keep an eye on the Sith. Maybe he'd leave Chewie to watch the cockpit and head back. Not a bad idea to check on his other passengers either, he didn't need a fight breaking out between Vader and anybody else on his ship.
They were safe enough from the Empire for now, as long as Vader could be trusted not to kill them all. If Han could just keep his passengers from killing each other (not an easy task based on the look Luke had shot Vader as Obi-Wan led him away for 'training'), he could get his pay and forget this bizarre trip had ever happened.