Chapter 4 - Hit Me Like a Ray of Sun

The message came through while they were in the Kiffu system, en route to delivering the rathtars. It had not been a good week; Han was just thankful that the Eravana's containment systems seemed to be functional again, at least for now. He looked at the comms screen as the encoded message scrolled across.

SWLY: Need a pickup
Eravana: On a delivery. Rush?
SWLY: Red

Blast. Must be desperate. They didn't usually get called last-minute like this.

Eravana: Location?
SWLY: Imp junkyard

Aw, shit. Jakku was a hellhole. He'd had one of the worst days of his life in the kriffing Jakku system. He could go the rest of his days without being near that place.

Still. Han sighed.

Eravana: Details?
SWLY: Transmitting.
Eravana: On the way
SWLY: You know.
Eravana: You too.

Now he had to tell Chewie they were taking a detour to Jakku to find a kriffing droid. Great. Chewie was gonna love this.

They were about an hour outside the Jakku system when Chewie yowled something from the cockpit. That can't be what he just said, Han thought, and yelled back for him to repeat it.

He had heard Chewie right the first time. Han ran to the cockpit to find him looking over the readout from one of the scanners. Specifically, the scanner they'd had looking for the Falcon for the last four years.

Well, maybe this little detour to the Jakku system won't be such a bad thing after all. They got close enough to take over control and engage the tractor beam, then looked at each other as the Millenium Falcon docked.

[It could be a trap,] Chewie warned. Han nodded. They'd have to play this one carefully. Though their huge freighter and the threat of the rathtars probably wouldn't hurt. They readied their weapons and went to board the Falcon.

The hatch slid open, and it was like they'd been transported back in time. "Chewie," Han said, "we're home." Chewie growled in assent.

There was still the matter of the pilot, no, thief, who had taken possession of the ship. Whoever they were, they were unlikely to give up the Falcon without a fight. If Han had to guess, he'd bet they were probably in the maintenance bay or in the smuggling compartments. Chewie sniffed the air. [Better find them soon. There's gas leaking from the propulsion tank.]

Chewie ran down one corridor, and Han took the other, stopping short at the maintenance bay. The cover was slightly ajar. Han lifted it off to reveal two young humans, both wearing ventilation masks. Ah, letting the gases out was intentional. Han figured it wouldn't be too hard to get these two to give up their compatriots.

He pointed his blaster at them menacingly. "Where are the others? Where's the pilot?"

The young woman raised her hands defensively. "I'm the pilot."

"You?" Han was finding that a little hard to believe. Chewie, who had just come up behind Han, growled his disbelief as well. The young woman responded that it was true, and that they were the only ones on board.

"You can understand that thing?" asked the young man, gaping at her.

"That thing can understand you too, so watch it, " Han shot back. He was both impressed by her understanding of Shryiiwook and rather suspicious of how these two had ended up here. Although for some reason he was inclined to believe her when she said that there was no one else on their crew.

They hoisted the two up. Han did a double take when he got a look at her face without the mask, then chuckled and shook his head when he noticed their other companion, a BB unit droid with orange markings.

Two thoughts were competing in Han's brain:

Well, Sweetheart, it seems your wayward droid has found us.

and

I think I'm seeing a ghost.

Four years ago…

The holo they had was fairly blurry, but they'd recognized the girl easily when she'd appeared in the marketplace at Niima Outpost. Of course, there wasn't exactly an abundance of scavengers there matching her age and description; most of the scavengers were older, sun-wizened and wrinkled.

Someone from Lor San Tekka's band of Jedi groupies had been by the marketplace a couple of months ago and had recognized something in her. Most of Lor's groupies weren't particularly Force-sensitive, but they'd learned to spot some of the signs, and this young woman's presence was notable. They'd gotten word to Luke, who had asked Han and Chewie to find her and see whether she would be open to learning more about the Force. If she was so obviously Force-sensitive that Lor's group had noticed it, it wouldn't be long before someone tipped off the First Order. And Snoke.

Han seemed to have a way with those Force-sensitive beings who weren't quite sure about the Jedi; something about his gruff but kind manner and his overall bearing made it clear that he wasn't about to force anything (so to speak) on anyone. You could come with him and Chewie, or not, and Han gave the impression that it didn't much matter to him either way, but maybe you'd like to meet this kid he knew who was strong in the Force and wound up helping to save the galaxy, and maybe you'd like to know more about that light in yourself, too. And if you did, they'd take you to meet Luke Skywalker, and make sure you got there safely. Chewie's presence was comforting to the non-humans, and Jaina's natural talent for connecting with beings of all kinds set them at ease once they were actually on the way to Luke. But most of their success was due to Han.

This young woman might be a little tougher to convince, they knew. From what Luke had learned from Lor's group, her family had left her at Niima Outpost almost a decade ago now. Han was actually rather angry about that; who dumps their six-year-old kid in the desert with an asshole like Unkar Plutt? Then again, he'd ended up on the streets of Coronet City with Garris Shrike as a kid, and that wasn't his mother's fault. Things happened, people died, families got caught in impossible situations. Sometimes it wasn't really about choice, but about survival. Han understood that better than most.

Everything was going pretty much according to plan. As usual, Jaina was hiding out on the Falcon, monitoring communications and likely trying not to fall asleep from boredom. Han and Chewie had pretended to be on the search for parts and Imperial artifacts for one of their clients. The sun was setting, and most of the scavengers had just returned to polish up their finds before trading them for portions. The young woman looked just like her holo, slight but strong, and apparently had managed quite an impressive haul of engine parts today. Han was starting to approach her when they spotted the ship.

A First Order shuttle. Kriff.

He was lost in a blur of blaster fire and smoke and explosions and blood and….pain. Han wasn't sure how he'd ended up on the ground, but he'd tried to go in after the girl, and then the explosion –kriff, we can't let the First Order get her, we have to go in after her…. He needed to find Chewie, to tell him that, to rescue the girl if they could, but suddenly he realized that Chewie was carrying him, and running, and roaring into the communicator to Jaina, with the emergency code that meant "Start up the Falcon and get ready to get the hell out of here, NOW." They'd only had to use it one other time.

Chewie ran up the ramp, and sure enough, Jaina had started up the ship, but Han was only dimly aware of it all, drifting in and out of consciousness. He knew that his leg hurt like hell, and that they'd failed, and that Chewie was yelling instructions to Jaina in the cockpit while he worked on Han in the medical bunk.

[Girlcub, take off!] Chewie roared, and they did.

Amid his pain and confusion, Han was glad he'd acquiesced when Jaina had begged him and Chewie to teach her to fly, even though he knew Leia would probably not be thrilled at the thought of her thirteen-year-old alone at the controls of the Falcon. Chewie was still working on him in the medical bunk, struggling with a tourniquet and roaring in frustration, and Han felt like he was drifting away even more, delirious. In his fog he heard Jaina yell something, and Chewie respond, and then somehow Jaina and Chewie had traded places, and the way the ship was banking and maneuvering told Han that they were trying to evade a firefight.

Jaina was putting pressure on his leg wound; he saw her eyes widen with alarm when she looked down at it, and he felt himself fading away again. He was so cold, he was shivering; he hardly recognized the face in front of him – was that Leia? "'M sorry Leia," he moaned; "Sorry, Luke, sorry Jaina, tell Chewie 'm sorry…" The brown eyes looking at him were wet with tears, and he kept ranting apologies in half-consciousness, falling away, the darkness opening up, following a pinpoint of light….

Then, slowly, he felt himself coming back through the darkness. He opened his eyes to find Jaina bending over him, her eyes closed, her expression serene, her hand still putting pressure on his leg wound. But the pain had mostly subsided, and when her eyes opened, she smiled tentatively at him.

"Hey, baby girl," he said, smiling back.

"Hey, Daddy," she replied. She squeezed his hand tightly.

I must have been pretty far gone, Han thought a little later. Jaina hasn't called me "Daddy" in a long time. He still wasn't sure what had happened. He was injured, but judging from the looks on Chewie's and Jaina's faces when he got up off the medbay cot, he had made some kind of miraculous recovery.

"Go get cleaned up, sweetheart," Han said. "I need to talk to Chewie." It was a decent excuse; Jaina still had a lot of Han's blood on her from earlier. But Jaina, being thirteen, not to mention whip-smart, gave Han a skeptical look that said I know what you're doing.

"Go," Han insisted.

"I can handle it. I'm not a little kid anymore," Jaina said, still giving him that look, her chin stuck out defiantly.

So damn much like your mother, Han thought. Always trying to be so strong. "I know," he said gently. "Just give us a minute, 'k?"

Jaina sulked off to the 'fresher, and Han turned to Chewie.

"The girl?" began Han. "Any chance she made it out?"

Chewie looked grim. [Don't think so. They blew that thing to the stars. I barely got you out in time.]

Han ran a hand over his face. "Kriff," was all he said. They were both silent for a minute.

"Where are we?" asked Han.

[Hyperspace lanes,] answered Chewie. [I made a couple short jumps to throw them off the trail. We'll be at the Wallala system in about an hour.]

Jaina reappeared, still in a contrary mood. "Are you done with your super-secret talk?" she asked impatiently. Chewie laughed and ruffled her hair, then got up to go to the cockpit to check their progress.

She watched him go, then turned to Han. "Dad. We're going to be okay, right?" Despite her earlier bravado, she looked uneasy.

Han beckoned her over and wrapped her in a hug. "You feelin' something, Jai?" She nodded, and he patted her back. "I've got you, sweetheart. Trust me. It's gonna be all right," he assured her. But Han had a bad feeling about this, too.

Hit me like a ray of sun
Burning through my darkest night
You're the only one I want
Think I'm addicted to your light…
-"Halo," Beyoncé