Part I: Tatooine
Chapter Two – Mos Eisley
Han Solo leaned back on the bench and sent a smile over to the attractive waitress who had just served him his drink, she grinned back and turned toward her next customer with a swing of her hips. He looked, for all the world, like a self-confident, freewheeling pilot with nary a care or concern.
It was amazing how deceiving looks could be, he thought.
The fact was that he was scared. Getting off Tatooine was a primary concern right now, but he needed—more than anything—a solid, good-paying run to pay off Jabba's debt. Since none of the big names would trust him till he got back into Jabba's good graces (why trust a pilot who might not survive the night?), he had been forced to lay low and look for other "opportunities". Mos Eisley was one of those places where opportunities seemed to present themselves all the time, and the fact that Jabba was close by didn't change that.
He
took a sip of his drink, barely noticing the bitter aftertaste, and glanced
over to where Chewie was talking quietly (well, quietly for a Wookie) with an
old man. The man looked like one of the native farmers, with his long robe and
wind-swept hair, and Han couldn't imagine that he was all that wealthy. Then
again, he thought with a grin, looks could be deceiving.
The conversation was abruptly interrupted by the sound of an argument at the bar and Han glanced over, while discreetly moving further into the shadows of his booth. An innocent looking native farmboy had somehow managed to pick a fight with two of the most unsavory characters in the place and the argument was quickly become violent. Han fingered his blaster, thinking he might let a "stray" bolt off in the direction of the attackers; it was just a kid, after all.
Suddenly there was a blur of motion and Han could barely see the old man Chewie had been speaking with launch himself into the fray, a long, bright lasersword in his hands. Before anyone could even gasp, the fight was over. The boy and the old man stood unscathed and one of the attackers lay howling, his arm a bloody stump at his side. The boy looked just as shocked as anyone else, but the old man simply powered off his sword and, taking him by the arm, led the boy back toward Chewie.
Han could tell from Chewie's posture that the old man had earned his respect
and, as the three came towards his table, he had to admit his own admiration as
well.
"You're pretty handy with that saber, old man," he said with a nod.
The man shrugged almost imperceptibly in response and Han was immediately
struck by the realization that it wasn't false modesty. For all his confidence,
the old man simply didn't think much of himself.
"I'm Han Solo, captain of the Millenium Falcon." Han switched straight
into business mode, offering his hand to the man, and then, as an afterthought,
to the boy as well. "Chewie tells me your looking for passage to Alderaan."
The old man nodded. "If it's on a fast ship." With that he seemed to lock eyes
with Han, as though he would be able to tell just by looking whether or not the
pilot was telling the truth.
Han felt slightly uncomfortable under the gaze and suddenly felt the
overwhelming desire to impress the old man.
"Fast
ship? You mean you've never heard of the Millenium Falcon?"
Han
internally grimaced at the amused expression on the old man's face. "Should I
have?"
Immediately,
Han's defenses went up. "It's the ship that made the Kessel run in less than
twelve parsecs! I've outrun Imperial starships and Corellian cruisers; I think
she's fast enough for you, old man."
The
man seemed to back down a bit and smiled indulgently. He was clearly willing to
take the pilot at his word. But Han still felt about ten years old.
"What's
your cargo?" he asked.
The
old man shrugged. "Only passengers. Myself, the boy, two droids, and..." The
man paused and his eyes seemed to glaze over for a moment. He turned his head
slightly as though he had just heard something that he hadn't been expecting.
Han wondered if he had some sort of listening device in his ear. Finally, the
man continued, "And one other passenger—no questions asked."
The
last didn't exactly surprise Han, though the boy seemed surprised by the
additional passenger. Han could tell he was trying to get the old man's attention;
the man laid a hand on his shoulder and the boy reluctantly turned back to the
conversation.
"Local
trouble?" Han asked, noticing the still somewhat distant expression on the old
man's face.
"Let's
just say we'd like to avoid any Imperial entanglements," the man replied.
Imperial?
Han was almost relieved to find out that the old man was of enough importance
to be significant to the Empire at all. It was no wonder that he intimidated
Han. Maybe he had been a spy, or even a political figure from the old Republic.
Han dismissed that idea; the man was a warrior, there was no doubt about it.
A
Jedi.
Han
could almost hear the whispered word from his youth. His friends trying to dare
him into walking into an old, unused building at the edge of town, telling him
that a Jedi had been killed there.
No,
the man wasn't a Jedi. The Jedi, if they had ever existed, were long gone now,
everyone knew that.
Han
shrugged off the thought. Regardless, he was certainly going to make the most
of the situation that had presented itself.
"No
Imperial entanglements? That's going to cost you a little extra." He sat back
trying to think of a price high enough to be bargained down to within a
reasonable amount. And more than enough to pay his debt. "Ten thousand, in
advance," he decided, finally.
The
old man didn't blink an eye, but the boy reacted like a seasoned bargainer.
"Ten
thousand! We could buy our own ship for that!"
Han
was more comfortable with the boy's reaction, somehow, than with the man's.
"Yeah?
And who would you get to pilot it, you?" he countered.
The
boy bristled and stood up, clearly used to the haggling that went along with
any transaction on the planet, but taking it a bit too personally, if Han was a
judge. "You bet I could! You know, I'm not such a bad pilot myself. I don't..."
The
old man put his hand back on the boy's shoulder and he immediately quieted,
though it was clear to Han that he didn't much like it.
"We
don't have that much with us now," the man said softly, "but we could pay you
two thousand now...plus another fifteen thousand when we reach Alderaan."
Han's
throat went dry. The old man must really be desperate; Han had never imagined
he could make this much on a simple passenger run.
"Seventeen
thousand?" he breathed. "Where are you going to get your hands on that kind of
money?"
"From
the government of Alderaan itself," he insisted.
The
man said more, but Han wasn't listening. He was right. The man must have been
something in the old Republic. Everyone knew that Alderaan was a hotbed for
rebel activism, but the government? Han shook his head; the man must really
have been something.
"Alright,
I'll chance it. You've got yourselves a ship." At of the corner of his eye he
noticed a blur of white and knew he was about to lose his newfound fortune if
they didn't act quickly. "As for avoiding Imperial entanglements, you'd better
get out of here or even the Millenium Falcon won't be any help to you."
He leaned forward and whispered, "Docking bay ninety-four."
By the time the four Imperial troopers reached his table, Han and Chewie were alone again.
* * *
Leia
sat rooted to her seat for a few moments, even after the old man and the boy
had left. There was something about the conversation that had bothered her. She
just couldn't put her finger on what it was.
She
glanced over at the stormtroopers still making their way through the cantina
and sipped at her drink. It had been easy enough to find the boy once she'd
reached Mos Eisley, simply by focusing her master's power in on him again. And
it was clear from the list of passengers that the droids were still around.
But, unfortunately, by the time she'd reached the cantina, there were
stormtroopers crawling all over the place and the droids were nowhere to be
found.
She
shrugged her shoulder; it hardly mattered, because now she knew where to
find them.
But it didn't explain what made her so uncomfortable about the conversation
she'd just heard. The destination of Alderaan was certainly no surprise to her,
it was the logical place to take the plans, nor was the amount they were
willing to promise the pilot. The destruction of the new battle station would
be a real blow to the Empire, moreso than anything the Rebels had managed to
achieve so for, and the secret to its destruction (if there was one) would be
in those plans somewhere. Even the inclusion of an extra passenger shouldn't
have bothered her; there were surely Rebel contacts in the area other than an
old man and a farmboy.
But
there was something. Something in the way the old man had tilted his head in
her direction, something in the way he had said those words, "Myself, the
boy, two droids and...and one other passenger—no questions asked." Almost
as though he knew she was there, almost as though he knew she would follow
them.
She
shook her head; it just didn't make any sense, it just wasn't possible. How
could he have known that, unless ... She quickly downed the last of her drink
and dropped a few credits on the table. The pilot seemed to have been detained
by a trigger happy Rodian who wasn't terribly bright, from the looks of it. The
pilot had managed to sneak one hand under the table. Now would be a good time
to get on that freighter without anyone seeing her.
She didn't miss a step when the blaster fire erupted behind her. She ducked out of the cantina and headed straight for docking bay ninety-four.
* * *
It
was impossible to read emotions through the bounty hunter's facemask, but Leia
felt sure she had surprised him.
"Waiting
for Solo?" she asked softly, staying in the dark shadows of the ship's
underbelly. "Or maybe the Rodian?"
Boba Fett gazed at her for a moment and then turned away without a comment.
Leia
sighed and leaned against one of the sensor's protruding from the ship to wait.
She hadn't really expected Fett to answer—he rarely spoke—but she preferred
making herself known to him, to having him discover her and reveal her to the
Hutt. As it stood now, he wasn't likely to turn her in. They had reached
somewhat of an understanding the few times they'd encountered one another over
the years. As long as it didn't interfere with their ability to perform their
"jobs", they let each other alone—generally, not helping each other, but not
hindering each other either.
She
had learned over the years that it was far better to have allies than enemies
in the underworld—or anywhere else for that matter—and had done her best not to
bring the wrath of anyone down on herself; you never knew when it could come in
handy.
Her
"understanding" with Fett had come early on, during one of her first
assassinations. She'd never tried to find out what it was the woman had done to
deserve the Emperor's personal vengeance, but it didn't really make a
difference. Leia discovered quickly that the woman's lover had a price on his
head and that Fett had been trying to prevent her from finding them while he
went for the capture. Thanks to her Imperial contacts, Leia had quite a bit
more information on the two than Fett and a temporary alliance had been made.
Fett collected a large reward for returning the man, alive and intact, to a
crime lord in the Serellian sector, and Leia had...disposed of the woman as
quickly and quietly as possible.
Their
"understanding" had been profitable for each of them on different occasions, so
Leia knew that Fett would not be quick to throw it away. Especially, not since
she had proven herself by sneaking up on him unawares. If she had been stupid
enough to get caught, it may have been different.
Besides,
Fett had a thing for her. He'd propositioned her once—at least she had been
fairly sure that's what he was doing—and, though part of her found the idea of
actually seeing his face perversely tempting, she'd simply pretended to misread
his advances. The first time she voluntarily allowed a man get that far
with her—if ever—it would, at the very least, not be in a seedy port
hostel. And that had been that.
Right
now, though, Fett was studiously ignoring her, while allowing her to stay
hidden from the circle of bodyguards the Hutt had brought with him. She had
meant to slip onto the ship before the pilot returned, but now it seemed as
though her plans would be slightly altered. She wondered briefly if it would be
a better idea to try capturing the droids on planet rather than waiting for a
more opportune time. Finding the boy again would be easy and the droids were
surely with him. Of course she would probably have to kill the old man and
the boy, before getting her hands on the droids.
She
bit her lip for a moment. It was probably the most efficient idea and, yet,
something seemed wrong about it. It couldn't be the killing, she'd done that
dozens of times before, two more lives on her hands wouldn't make much
difference...
The
memory of standing in that pool of light in the desert suddenly surfaced,
unbidden. She couldn't...shouldn't kill the boy, she decided. Someone
who shone in the Force? Her master should know about him. Yes, and she
shouldn't kill him without her master's command. Besides, they would surely
lead her straight to the rebel leaders and what better gift to her master would
there be than to return with, not only the droids, but that information as
well?
Leia
felt the tension that had been building up within her relax a bit. She could
concentrate on her mission much more efficiently now that she was sure of the
proper course of action.
She
was about to attempt breaking into the ship in spite of the presence of the
Hutt and its men, when she saw Solo, leaning casually against the wall on the
opposite side of the docking bay. She cursed herself for not detecting him up
until now, but quickly took advantage of the distraction he caused by
announcing himself. Barely listening to the conversation that followed between
the Hutt and the man, she moved silently towards the aft of the ship, away from
the boarding ramp.
There was more than one way to get on a ship.
End Part One
A/N: Padme – I guess you'll have to keep reading to find out!
Cali – Thanks for the review, hope you continue to enjoy!