"Hurry up Golden Rod you're going to make us late!"

"Oh no! Captain So… that is Jarod I'm not designed for haste! If you'll just leave me behind I will eventually catch up!"

"Oh no," Han said. "You're not wandering off here. Not right now."

"Wandering off! I will have you know that I do not make it a habit of wandering off!"

Chewie barked a disagreement.

"Isis was an isolated incident!" Threepio protested. "And other times that I may appear to be absent I can assure you that I am merely following after Artoo! He's the one you should be chastising."

R2 merely warbled out some annoyed sounds at Threepio and then tossed in a frustrated raspberry for good measure. Threepio threw his hands in the air and shook his head.

"Found me in a what? I say Artoo! That's utter falsehood! You would never find me in such an establishment!"

Han did his best to drown the bickering droids out and instead focused in on Leia. She walked as fast as her feet would allow her to in the crowded thoroughfare, her brows knit together in frustration and worry. He had to admit, even without saying anything he shared a lot of her concern. The Empire could be coming down on this place at any time, and no doubt Obi-wan was in a race for his life at the moment. And of course to top it off, they still had to rendezvous with Luke. Assuming the kid actually made the appointment.

"Dammit," Leia muttered under her breath as she nearly tripped over a crossing Sullustian. She managed another few steps before she nearly ran straight into a gang of Twi'lek boys. They were entering the most crowded portion of the market, made even more so by the fact that virtually nobody was shopping but instead trading opinions of the vid they'd just seen with Obi-wan.

"I can't make it more than three steps without someone crowding me!" Leia grumbled.

"Probably because you're five foot nothing," Han shrugged.

"Do you really think that now is the time for jokes?" Leia glared back at him before almost tripping over a Dugg.

"No," Han said. "But that's sort of the point sweetheart. Besides, I can fix it."

"Fix.."

"Chewie?" Han glanced back at his furry companion only a step behind them.

The wookiee's shaggy face wore a look of delight face as he lumbered up in front of both Han and Leia with one easy stride. A couple of Iridonians almost got in his way but at this point Chewie just stopped moving and let out an ear splitting roar.

Instantly sentients fell over each other to clear a path for him, a path that Leia and Han found more than easy to trail behind. Any other time and Leia would have hated attracting this kind of attention but their schedule had grown thin and a distance that would have taken them much longer to cross, was suddenly traversed in minutes.

Once they finally reached the meeting place, a small stand vending moisture vaporators, Leia took a quick look around before casually patting the wookiee on the arm.

"Thanks Chewie," she muttered, not looking up at him but instead casting her eyes around the market.

"This is it," Han pretended to interested in the vaporators before glancing over his shoulder at Leia. "So where's the kid?"

"I… I don't know," Leia frowned and her eyes shot to her chrono. "We're a bit late but he should be here."

"You don't think that he got spooked after seeing Obi-wan's little performance?"

Leia shook her head. "You know Luke. He may be distrustful and erratic, but he's no coward. He wouldn't stand us up just because he saw a Jedi he doesn't trust."

Han nodded and glanced into the crowd, hoping to spot the guy they were looking for, or even his companions Winter and Cody. They were pretty much a package deal. Half the reason he wanted this to be a success was so he could get Winter back to Biggs so the flyboy could finally shut up about missing her.

Still, they did not show up after a few more moments, R2 and Threepio even managed to catch up without Luke or the others coming out of the crowd to meet them. They tried to busy themselves by looking at other stalls near the vaporators but neither of them could shake the tension in the air. Han wasn't the least bit Force-Sensitive but he knew when things weren't going to plan.

"I got a bad feeling about this," he glanced at R2 who still had their weapons stowed inside his rusty innards.

"Me too," Leia said.

"What about…" Han looked over both of his shoulders before dropping his voice to a near whisper. "… What about your Jedi thing? Can't you… sense him or something?"

Leia shook her head. "If there were less people, maybe. As it is, the Force is just a lot of buzzing noise to me right now. Not to say I haven't been trying."

Leia wrinkled her brow for a moment in concentration but gave it up moments later, taking in a couple of deep breaths to center herself again. Han just sighed and looked over the crowd.

"I hate to be the guy to say it but things like this would probably be easier if you actually did some of that Jedi training Obi-wan keeps trying to get you to do," Han muttered.

Leia cast him a look as if to question the entire statement based on the messenger, but in the end she just shook her head. "It's not that I don't want to train, but I don't exactly have a lot of free time to do it with. You know how busy the Alliance keeps me."

"Yeah," Han's brows furrowed a bit. "I do. The Alliance keeps you so busy you don't have time for Jedi training… or anything else."

"It's important Han."

"The Alliance will still be there if you and me go off and have a bit of fun," He suddenly recovered his rakish grin. "Hell, I know some places here on Coruscant that…"

"I'm pretty sure that what you and I find 'fun' are completely different things," Leia said. "And I thought we were talking about my training."

"Well…" Han said and eased a bit closer to her. "It will still be there too."

"Oh," Leia quirked a brow. "And I'm sure Master Kenobi will be just fine with us having your kind of fun."

"He doesn't have to know," Han shrugged. "He's good with secrets. Hell, you'd probably actually be able to get some solid training under your belt if he didn't insist on keeping the whole thing under wraps. If you actually told the Alliance-"

"No," Leia said and cast her eyes around as though afraid someone was listening. "They can't know. Not yet, Obi-wan is quite clear on that."

"Just saying it would help," Han shrugged. "But since we're on the subject , neither of you ever really explained to me why."

"You need to look at it from Obi-wan's perspective," Leia said. "For him, the end of the Clone Wars and Order 66 happened only a few years ago. He was betrayed by Darth Vader and watched just about everybody he knew die, then the Senate allowed Palpatine become the Emperor. He wants to play things close to the vest now."

"Yeah, I bet he's great at Sabaac," Han rolled his eyes but deep down, he had to admit that the Jedi probably was right.

"Maybe when Echo Base is finished next month and we all get settled in I can…"

Leia trailed off and her eyes widened and she suddenly looked around them, her fingers tightening into fists. Han immediately stepped closer and grabbed her arm. If the last couple of years had taught him anything it was that when she got that look, trouble was nearby.

"What it is it?" he scanned the crowd. "Is it Luke?"

"No," she shook her head. "But we're in danger…"

"Chewie," Han called over to the next booth where the Wookiee was examining some tools. "Double back, look for anything suspicious."

Chewie grunted and then set off into the crowd.

"Where are the droids?" Leia said and Han noticed for the first time in a while that neither Threepio and more importantly R2 were there.

"Threepio probably ran off again," Han said. "And Artoo went looking for him, taking our weapons with him."

"We'll deal with that later," Leia said. "Right now we need to get…"

She started moving a half second after trailing off. From out of the crowd a Falleen burst forward bearing a nasty looking vibroblade. Reacting with almost Jedi-like reflexes, Leia grabbed one of the nearby vaporator parts and sent it sailing into their would-be assailants face. The alien fell back only to have three more emerge from the crowd.

Han snapped into action, just as the crowd began to scatter around them. Nobody wanted to be in the middle of a fight with Falleen mercenaries involved. One of them leapt over his fallen comrade and made a b-line straight for the Princess. Leia fumbled for another vaporator part but she didn't need to. So focused was the attacker on his prize that he didn't even seen Han until the smuggler's fist broke his jaw.

"Leia!" Han grabbed her hand, trying not to wince at the fact that it was the one he'd just used to deck the mercenary. "Run!"

The pair broke into a run, hands clutched together. Leia turned over a cart in their way, doing what she could to impede the progress of the other two pursuing them. They weaved in and out of the crowd even going through stalls and booths. But the Falleen managed to stay on their tail.

Han kept glancing around. There had been plenty of security drones hovering about mere moments ago but for the life of him he couldn't spot a single one now. That was a bad sign. It meant that someone in the Empire had been paid off to look the other way. That kind of bribery didn't come cheap.

What he didn't get was why they were after them. If they were stormtroopers then he just would have assumed that their disguises hadn't worked as well as they hoped. But they were clearly hired guns. How would they have known to come here looking for them? Luke would never have ratted them out. Sure, the kid had been on the wrong side before but he got better. In the end there was only one real conclusion he could draw.

In spite of Obi-wan negotiating the payment of his debt with Jabba; the Hutt must have decided to collect the bounty on Han's head anyway. Only Jabba had the resources to get a group of armed mercs onto Coruscant to attempt something like this.

Up ahead of them, the crowd parted yet again and another trio of mercs emerged. More Falleen. Han, leading the way, jerked both Leia and himself into a stall of Derallian golden fruit. Leia made the jump over the fruit display just fine, but Han's foot caught the edge and he tumbled down, bringing Leia with him. Even as they were getting up, the mercs were nearly on them. There was no choice but to fight again.

The two Falleen from before had learned their mistake. One went for Leia and the other went for Han. Leia, surprising even her smuggler escort, struck out at the one coming for him with a vicious blow to the chin and Han followed suit, blocking a swinging blade by slamming his wrist against his attacker's and then delivering a right cross.

"We have to even the odds," Han said as the new trio advanced with their weapons. Leia wrested the dagger from one of the fallen merc's hands and held it like she was grasping a lightsaber. Han tried to go for another one of the daggers but the mercs rushed them.

In the flurry of fists, arms, and knives, Han lost track of everything except keeping from getting his throat slit. In spite of this, he tried to snatch a glance of Leia, only for one of the Falleen to get a grip on his vest. Han reared back as the Falleen pushed forward sending them crashing into a nearby booth behind them.

Landing in a clutter of arms, legs, and debris, Han still managed to kick the merc backward before rolling over and seeing piles of blasters all around them. They'd stumbled into the stall of fake blasters Threepio had been looking at earlier. Now, if only one of them were an actual blaster he'd be in good shape.

The sudden rush metal slicing through air was all the warning Han had of the next attack. Reacting purely on instinct he snatched up one of the fake blasters and blunted the dagger's force before it could split his head open. Kicking out, Han tripped the Falleen assailing him and rolled over. Then, his hand landed in a pile of weapons and he latched onto the only thing there that would actually help him.

The mercenaries going for him had managed to get up, even as he stood and brandished the vibrowhip he'd grabbed. Giving it a crack, Han was forced to reel back when the weapon nearly sliced his mouth open. He'd never been much good with these things. But it forced the mercs to keep their distance and finally gave Han the chance he needed to figure out what was going on.

He very much didn't like what he saw.

The mercs coming after him had their knives at the ready, holding them in various positions designed to best slice him open. The mercs going after Leia however either didn't have their knives drawn or only held them in defensive positions. That meant two things. They only wanted to kill him and they very much wanted to take Leia.

Han opened his mouth to warn her but before he could get a word out the mercs attacked in unison this time. The former smuggler snapped his whip furiously, only barely managing to keep it from taking off his own head. The mercs took advantage of ineptitude with the weapon and slinked around his wild flailing, intent on gutting him once and for all.

It might have worked if they hadn't been so focused on him that they didn't hear the angry hoots and whistles coming from the crowd. Moments before they reached Han, a black splurt of oil crossed their paths and the mercs toppled over their own feet. One tried to get up, only to receive a nasty shock to the face by a fiercely loyal R2 unit. Han didn't hesitate. Just as quickly as they started to get up, he kicked at their heads and delivered a thunderous backhand to the one Falleen that had managed to stumble to his knees.

"Good work Artoo!" Han said and then made for Leia's position, only to be stopped when the crowd around him parted and a new Falleen merc arrived, one far larger than all the rest. In his hands he gripped a two handed vibrosword which he swung with the deft ease of an expert showing off.

Han had had just about enough of this. His hands ached from punching and it was only a matter of time before he hurt himself with the whip. Instead of engaging the Falleen, he merely held out his hand in R2's direction and a second later felt the all too reassuring weight of his blaster.

With an almost lazy gesture he took aim at the remaining merc and started to squeeze the trigger… only to pause when the merc was yanked off of his feet and shaken like a ragdoll from behind by a seven foot enraged wookiee.

As large as the Falleen was, Chewie easily dwarfed him as he shook him until he dropped the sword. Then, with a disgusted grunt, Chewie hurled the Falleen across the thoroughfare, where he landed in a fruit stand. Han grinned and patted his friend on the shoulder but the wookiee glanced around and barked a few concerned sentences.

"What do you mean where's Leia?" Han said, moving to the other side of his wookiee companion to get a look at where Leia last position. Instead, he just saw a bunch of nervous market patrons and a discarded vibroblade lying on the ground. Han gripped his blaster tighter and let out a sigh.

"See, this is why I had a bad feeling," he shook his head.

"Captain Solo! Captain Solo!" probably the last voice he wanted to hear at the moment came through the crowd and C-3PO finally arrived. "I must warn you! The market is crawling with Falleen Mercenaries! We are in grave danger!"

"Now kidding," Han said then gestured to Chewie, who went a picked the merc up out of the fruit stand and threw him over his shoulder.

"Threepio," Han said. "You and Artoo wait by the vaporator stand in case Luke actually shows. Have Artoo scan for Leia, they can't have gotten far."

"Can't have gotten far!?" Threepio said. "You mean they have the Princess?"

"Not for long," Han said as he and Chewie started back the way they came.

"But… but where are you going?"

Han glanced at the Falleen then looked to the droid. "We're getting answers. Won't take long. Try to have a fix on her location by the time we get back."

"…When you come back?" Threepio said. "What if they come back?"

"Try using those fake blasters you were so fixed on earlier."

"Oh dear oh dear…"

It didn't take long to get to the airspeeder. It took even less time to climb it all the way to the top of one of the many skyscrapers Coruscant was famous for. And finally, it took no time at all for Chewie to clutch the merc by the ankle and dangle him over the edge of that building, waking him up with a loud wookiee roar.

The Falleen gasped and flailed his arms about before finally throwing them in front of his face.

"Trust me pal," Han said, easing the speeder so he was right next to the merc. "From up here, putting your hands in front of your face isn't going to give you much of a cushion."

"You have no right to do this! I demand you release me!" the merc hissed out.

"Listen…" Han placed the speeder in 'idle' and stood up, leaning on his knee so he could look the Falleen eye to eye. "…We can do this two ways. Chewie and I can play the good cop bad cop game with you, drop you a few stories. Or you can just save us all the trouble and tell me where you took the girl and why Jabba still has a bounty on me. He was paid in full and then some."

Then, to Han's complete surprise, the merc just blinked at him before breaking out in a fit of laughter loud enough to echo off the walls of the building he was suspended from.

"Y… you?" the merc said through chortles. "You thought this was about you? Do you really think that Jabba the Hutt would be so desperate to catch some low life rebel body guard that he would finance a squad of mercs to catch him? On Imperial Center of all places? That's just dumb, even for a human."

Han didn't reply, instead he just nodded at Chewie, who let the Falleen slip from his grasp. The merc's hands went over his face again as he started screaming. Taking a deep breath, Han sat himself back in the seat of the airspeeder and kicked it into high gear. Even as the merc plummeted downward, Han pulled the speeder into a sharp dive. The unfortunate merc may have hit terminal velocity but Han had the advantage of high powered repulsor jets.

Only a few meters from hitting a line of sky traffic, Han swerved the speeder beneath the merc, who hit the speeder's hood with a resounding thud. The merc blasted the air out of his lungs and then frantically clawed at the hood of the vehicle to keep from slipping off.

Han put the speeder into reverse and slowly started pulling up into an incline.

"See, now I'm just embarrassed for you," Han said as the merc struggled to maintain his grip. "I mean is this your first time being interrogated? Sure the Empire might just shoot you with truth serum and mind probes, but you're clearly part of a criminal organization. How could you have not known that something like this would happen if you got snippy with me?"

"You're a madman!" the merc cried as his clawed fingers scratched at the metal of the speeder. "You're attempting to kill a man in broad daylight! The Empire will be swarming here in no time!"

Han merely inclined the speeder a few more degrees.

"Somehow I think the Empire is going to be a little busy right now. There's a Jedi on the loose you know. Besides, my partner is on that building shooting any probe droids that might get close enough to record this. It's just you and me out here pal."

"I… if you kill me you'll have no other way of finding your companion!" the Falleen yelled as the rushing draft from a large supply speeder below nearly blew him off the hood he so desperately clung to.

"We left an entire pile of you guys back at the market," Han said. "If you don't talk, one of them will!"

"I'm a member of the Black Sun! We're the most powerful criminal organization on Coruscant! We'll hunt you down!"

"The Black Sun?" Han pulling the speeder into almost a full incline. The merc's legs flailed as he slipped down the speeder. "Tell me where you took the girl!"

"1313!" the merc shouted. "There's an old abandoned shop on level 1313! We were told to bring her there!"

"Why?"

"I don't know! Boss just said take her there for pick up! Inside job, not the Empire!"

"What does the Black Sun want with her?"

"I don't know! Pull me up!"

Han glared at the merc. Years of playing at the Sabaac table gave him all the experience he needed to know when someone was lying. This guy was tapped out. If he knew anything else he'd have spilled it by now. With a jerk on the clutch, Han put the speeder into the forward position and leveled out long enough for the merc to reestablish his grip.

The moment he did, Han throttled up as far as he could. The merc toppled over the front of the speeder and landed in a heap in the back seat. Certain the captive was secure, Han continued ascending until he reached the landing Chewie was on.

"Bad news Chewie," Han said. "It's not Jabba… yes, that's bad news! We're dealing with the Black Sun now… and they want her for some reason."

Chewie let out a nervous grunt as he lowered his lanky limbs into the passenger seat. Han could only nod, noticing out of the rearview display that the merc was getting up. He really hoped this guy wasn't as dumb as he'd shown himself to be.

"It gets better Chewie," Han said, pulling away from the building. "They've taken her to level 1313. No Chewie it's not haunted!"

The wookiee protested and began shaking his fists with each howl and bark that came out of his mouth.

"Chewie, you know we're going after her! We're dealing with one of the most dangerous criminal organizations in the Galaxy and you're talking about the Boogey Man. Besides…"

The merc, must have thought that their heated argument was a suitable distraction. With barely a hiss he snapped at Han with his claws, only to get hit by a blaster bolt at point blank range. He didn't even have time to scream as his body plummeted off the side of the speeder and Han tossed his blaster in the compartment between their seats.

"…Besides, you know what a cautious fellow I am."

Reviewer Responses:

Kathryn Renee

Hopefully this can tide you over for a while. Sorry this took me so long. I'm very flattered that you're so interested in this story. Thanks for reading!

Son of Whitebeard

He's not a hero, he's something more.

Mike3207

Actually the reason why the Emperor's Hand and not Vader will be going after Obi-wan has already been given in a previous chapter, but it will be elaborated on if coming updates. Thanks for reading!

Louie Pastiche

I'm a pretty big Star Wars geek but I would be lost without Wookieepedia, someday I'll probably lament the amount of time I've spent reading articles about lightsabers and clone troopers, but that day is not today. Your pick for Dangor seems suitably apt. Thanks for reading!

ErinKenobi2893

Yeah, I know you weren't thinking of Batman. I was just being silly. Glad you liked the Tarkin/Obi-wan confrontation! Thanks for reading!

Hurricane Jackson

The answers to your questions are pending! Thanks for reading!

mouse

There are plenty of tails for Obi-wan to kick! Thanks for reading!

Emperor Andross

Glad you liked the broadcast, you certainly liked it better than the Emperor and Vader did! Thanks for reading!

DarkLeia

What's even more awesomely funny is that I didn't come up with the word "Mofference" That's an actual thing from a Star Wars book! Glad you're liking the story!

The Sidhe

Tarkin, spice mines of Kessel. Just saying. Thanks for reading!

Legionary Prime

Happy to be continuing it! Thanks for reading!

Quathis

Yeah, Tarkin isn't exactly easy to have sympathy for, but he supplies another perspective, also it's fun to see Obi-wan actually make his life worse! So glad you liked this! Thanks for reading!