"Thank the force we are almost there, because I'm going to pass out from heat exhaustion if I have to stay in this robe any longer," Luke said, wiping sweat from his face.
Currently they were riding in a speeder to the land just outside of Jabba's Palace. Luke found himself highly grateful for the breeze, no matter how hot it was, because he was currently outfitted in a Jawa disguise. The attire made him feel utterly ridiculous, but Leia said it was appropriate for his size and would make him stand out less. At least he now had a blaster hidden on his person to defend himself if things didn't go according to plan, which they usually did. He would rather have a lightsaber though. Maybe after this whole mess was done he could learn how to build a new one.
Bringing himself back to the present he looked at Leia. Her outfit covered every inch of her and was even equipped with a voice changing device to make her gender unidentifiable.
"Hey, I'll trade you, Luke. This helmet smells like a dewback stall." Lando complained adjusting the aforementioned headpiece that obscured half his face. He also wore a pair of gauntlets and a chest plate.
"Enough whining you two." Leia said, her voice changer currently powered off.
"Hey, at least we were able to convince Threepio to go back to the inside of the Falcon or else we'd have to listen to him complain." Lando replied.
In the middle of hunting down disguises, everyone had gotten tired of the droid insistence that this was a bad idea. So when he began telling Leia the odds of this being successful the princess had asked him if he would go back and clean the inside of the Falcon. Threepio had been shocked and had not wanted to be by himself in such a sketchy space port. But with Luke and Lando's help they were able to persuade him that the Falcon would be much safer and his cleaning would help them out a great deal.
"Chewie, how much longer?"
Chewbacca's fur had been dyed a temporarily darker color and he had been given an eyepatch to help disguise him further. He had only just stopped grumbling about the sticky feeling the dye gave him.
The Wookie barked the answer and pointed ahead. Everyone followed his finger to the large vehicle hidden behind a sand dune.
"There's our pirates." Lando said.
"Is that a Sandcrawler?" Luke asked as they came closer to it, "They must have stolen it from some Jawa's and retrofitted the inside."
"Pirates will be pirates." Leia sighed, "Stop here, Chewie. We'll hide our speeder behind this dune and walk the rest of the way."
The pirates were waiting conversing and laughing loudly in the shadow of the Sandcrawler. Their leader, Runel, smirked at the approaching group. She shouted out a phrase and held up a dusty bottle of beer before downing half of it.
"Someone seems excited." Lando said.
"She's making fun of our disguises." Luke whispered.
"Let her. As long as we get what we came for she can laugh all she wants." Leia then said in a louder voice, "Captain Runel, is your crew prepared?"
Luke translated Leia's words into Huttese and listened to her giddy response, "She says they are all ready and that some of her men are already awaiting us inside as they have been working undercover for a few weeks now. She also says it's time for you to hold up part of your end of the bargain. What is she referring too? I thought you paid her already?"
"I promised her I would come up with a way to sneak the rest of her crew inside." she answered.
"Which involves me using the Jedi mind trick, right?"
She nodded, "Tell her we have, and for her and her crew to follow us."
Luke relayed the message and soon the now significantly larger group approached the front gate of the palace. Leia signaled for everyone to hide out of sight. Then she and Luke approached the gate. For a moment Luke thought the gate would remain closed, but it slowly started rising. The two walked inside and the blond could immediately feel the temperature drop a few degrees due to the shade. Two Gamorrean guards glared at them and raised their weapons as they approached.
"Alright, Luke, do whatever you have to do." Leia whispered, powering her voice changer on.
Luke took a deep breath. He had never tried mind tricking two people at once before, but Yoda had said things like that were only different in his head. All he needed to do was concentrate. He reached out to the force and felt the two guards' presences in front of him. The beings began harshly jabbering at them in Huttese.
"Any time now would be great." Leia whispered, her voice distorted.
Luke blocked her voice out and concentrated harder. The force swirled and reached his fingertips, awaiting his manipulation. Slowly, he waved his hand, "You will stand here and allow everyone you see to pass without saying anything."
The two guards slowly lowered their weapons and blinked once before returning to their positions on the wall. Leia was in awe.
"Luke…that was amazing."
The Jedi couldn't help, but blush, "Thanks. We have one more person up ahead to get through, then we're in."
Luke walked up to the Twi'lek that stood between him and the entrance to the main area. He could hear the music playing and see multiple people drinking and having a good time. The Twi'lek examined them with a look of distrust then snarled revealing his pointed teeth. But before the Twi'lek could say anything, Luke reached out and performed the same mind trick on him. He realized this time it came a lot easier to him.
He smiled to himself under the hood. Ben would be proud; Yoda as well. And his father...Luke's shoulders sagged a bit at the thought of the man, but he quickly straightened back up. There would be time to think of his father later. He had to keep his mind in the present.
With the Twi'lek now leaning docilely against the wall, Leia turned around and motioned to Chewie whose head was poking out from the front gate. He immediately crept inside followed by the pirates. Luke raised an eyebrow at Lando who stayed behind and crouched down next to Artoo and whispered something to him. The droid's lights flashed and it rolled back against the wall. The gambler stood up and jogged to catch up with the others.
Runel came to a stand next to Leia and gave her a thumbs up. Luke carefully listened as she began speaking.
"She says good work and that she's ready to ruin this slug's day."
"Alright we are going to go in a few at a time." Leia said in a hushed voice, "This will hopefully stop things from looking too suspicious."
Runel tapped two of her men on the shoulder before pulling a hood over her head and strolling inside. After waiting a few minutes, Leia signaled to Lando and three other pirates to follow. The process continued until only Leia and Luke remained.
"Ready, Luke?"
"Let's do this."
The two slowly walked in, receiving only a few looks from the patrons. The smell that wafted past Luke's nose was atrocious. Clearly none of these thugs had ever heard the word 'bath' before. The young Jedi caught a glimpse of Chewie in the corner, but made a conscious effort not to look in his direction. As they entered further into the room Luke saw Jabba the Hutt sprawled out on a pedestal. The grotesque being laughed and ate some squirming creature as two Bith simultaneously performed acrobatics and played instruments in front of him.
He felt a somewhat rough shove from Leia and looked up at her. She discreetly gestured her head at the wall on the opposite side of the room. Luke's eyes widened because hanging there frozen was Han Solo.
It was unsettling seeing the normally lively man just frozen in place like that. Not to mention his face was one that looked as though it were screwed up in pain. Luke had to push down the urge to ignore the plan all together and free him now.
Slowly and inconspicuously as possible, Luke and Leia began making their way over to Han. They were almost there when Leia was suddenly seized by the shoulder.
A sentient with a scarred up face snarled at her, "I ain't never seen you two 'round here, especially the Jawa."
"I don't know why you sound so surprised. With Jabba's influence constantly expanding I would think one would be used to new faces." Leia said, her voice sounding like a low croak as she shrugged off the hand. She was going out on a whim, but it was a good bluff, "How long have you been working for him?"
The sentient smirked, "I've been working fer him 'bout three years."
"Great, then maybe you can tell me what's with the boss's interesting taste in decor." She said tossing her head in Han's decoration.
"That one of a kind piece serves as a reminder for what happens if ya try and double cross ol' Jabba. The body of a pathetic smuggler named Han Solo is trapped there in carbonite." The sentient let out an obnoxious laugh, "The Great Jabba has joked before about shattering the legs and arms on him then unfreezing him to see what would happen. Of course, that would only be when he no longer finds the wall piece amusing."
Luke felt his skin bristle at the cruelty. He wanted to punch the man right in his smug face, even if it was very unbecoming of a Jedi. Judging by Leia's clenched fist, she wanted to hit too.
"That would be interesting." She said, the voice changer hiding all emotion.
"So what, is your Jawa buddy here mute or something?"
"No, he just doesn't like to talk much."
"What's Jabba's use for a Jawa anyway?"
"He's my partner and he has more connections than you would believe. After all, who would suspect a Jawa?"
Another burst of laughter, "That is brilliant."
Luke was starting to wonder how they could shake this guy when Lando showed up, "Hello, my friend. Wow those are some wicked scars! From one troublemaker to another, tell me, what's the story behind those?"
The man fully turned around and seemed to inflate with pride, "It's not a story for the weak hearted! I almost didn't make it out of that gundark infested cave alive!"
"Gundarks!" Lando said, putting on a performance of acting interested.
As the man continued to brag, Leia and Luke snuck off. They finally reached the area near Han and slowly hovered there against the wall. All that was left was for Runel to give the signal which made Luke wonder...
"Hey," he whispered, "What is the signal Runel's supposed to give anyway?"
"I have no idea, but she said it would be obvious." Leia said scanning the room for the pirate captain, "I really wish she'd hurry up though before someone notices us lurking here."
Luckily, they did not have to wait long for mere seconds after those words left Leia's mouth Runel stood up on top one of the splintering tables. She began stomping on its surface until the entire room quieted down. She then looked straight at Jabba and began speaking, her voice full of mirth.
Luke didn't have to wait for Leia to ask, he immediately began translating, "Runel says that everyone must listen up because she would like to say something. Now she is going on about how the Great Jabba runs a tight shift and does not allow for failure. That he has double crossed many people to get to where he is today." Luke listened as she went on, "She says that all worked well for him until recently."
Runel lowered her hood to reveal her smirking face.
"She just told Jabba that he double crossed the wrong pirates."
Then, surprising them both, Runel finished her speech by speaking in Basic, "What a lovely day for revenge."
The pirate captain pulled out a blaster and fired a shot into the air. All her crew leapt from amongst the crowd and shadows whooping and yelling. In a matter of seconds Jabba's throne room transformed into a battle field.
"That's as good a signal as any." Leia said jogging over to the side panel of Han's carbonite encasement. She quickly pressed some buttons and stepped back.
It was an odd sight to watch. The carbonite appeared to heat up as it turned a bright red and Han's fingers began to twitch. A moment later it melted away and Han plummeted forwards. Luke quickly jumped out of the way as Leia shot forward to catch him, sending her and Han crashing to the floor.
Han was shaking and appeared to be coated in a sticky residue. Was it sweat?
"What the hell." His voice was shaky, "W-where am I?"
"Jabba's Palace." Leia replied helping sit him up, "Try to calm down."
His head snapped in her direction and he tried rubbing his eyes, "Jabba's –kriff! I can't see."
"That is the hibernation sickness. You won't be blind for long."
His head snapped in her direction as he tried to scoot away, "Who are you?"
In that moment she seemed to have remembered her voice changer was still activated. Quickly she ripped off her helmet and said, "Someone who loves you."
"Leia…" He sounded relived.
"Save the reunion for later." Luke said, flipping down his robe's hood, "We've got to get out of here before Jabba realizes his favorite wall piece is missing!"
"Who is-" Han began before Leia interrupted him.
"No time, Han, stand up!"
Wobbling slightly, he got to his feet with Leia supporting him. Han's hand blindly reached out in front of him as Leia dragged him forwards.
"This is going to be hard! It's chaos in here!" Luke yelled over the laser blasts, "I'm not sure how we are going to cut a path through all the fighting!"
The blond could practically see the wheels turning in Leia's head as she calculated a plan, "Maybe if we stick close to the walls we could-"
"You traitors aren't going anywhere." it was the scarred faced man from earlier. He cracked his knuckles and approached them, "I don't think Jabba's going to be too pleased with you trying to make off with his prize."
Growling, he threw a punch at Leia, but she ducked, pulling Han down along with her.
Luke didn't waste a second to retrieve his hidden blaster! Quickly he took aim and fired it into the man's leg. He let out a scream of pain and crumpled to the ground.
Leia retrieved her own blaster and began working her way through the crowd.
"One second, I'm in Cloud City getting screwed over by Lando, then I blink and suddenly I can't see a thing and am in the middle of a giant shoot out!" Han shouted as he stumbled over a fallen pirate, "This is the third worst situation I've been in."
"I probably don't want to know the first two." Leia grunted, shoving someone out of her way.
There was suddenly a roar that could be heard over all the chaos. It was deep, angry, and belonged to Jabba.
Luke couldn't see the crime lord due to the crowd towering over him, but he couldn't mistake those words. They had been found out.
"Leia, we're in trouble! Jabba's spotted us!" he shouted as several of the Hutt's gang turned away from the pirates they were fighting to reach them. Luke and Leia began shooting in all directions, but could feel that they would be over powered any minute!
"It's hard guarding Han and fighting them back at the same -move left!" she forced Han away from an oncoming laser blast.
"Being pushed around by you ain't exactly a joyride for me either!" he replied, recovering from the shove.
"We're getting surrounded!"
Big hairy arms came swinging down, knocking three thugs out of the way. Chewie stepped forward as his eyes honed in on Han.
Rushing forward he scooped up the smuggler and roared as he began barreling over people to reach the exit.
"Whoa! Chewie? Put me down you big lump!"
Luke swiftly followed after Chewie with Leia right behind him. They just had to get out of here and then they'd be able to race back to the speeder and be in the clear! The Jedi heard a muffled yelp behind him and spun around to find Leia being pulled back against a man. She wiggled in his hold before smashing her foot down on his. He released his grasp of her and she sprung forward turning her blast on him. The man reacted quickly and grabbed the weapon and wrestled it away from her. Luke was preparing to force push the man away from Leia when Runel came bounding across two of the few tables that somehow remained upright throughout the brawl. Leaping off of it she planted a boot in the gangster's chest and pushed him to the ground. She winked at them before turning back around to throw a punch at another approaching sentient.
Jabba's voice could once again be heard over the crowd and Luke turned to see the Hutt smirking directly at them. He sounded oddly…happy?
"That's strange?" Luke said, "He just said 'It looks like our plan has hit rock bottom.' I'm not sure what he means, but it can't be anything good."
"Right, let's-" Leia's sentence turned into a scream as the floor dropped out beneath them sending the two crashing down into a chamber below them.
Luke's head smashed into the hard ground, sending black spots dancing across his vision. They had been standing on top of a trap door the whole time.
Leia sat up slowly, wincing at the pain. Carefully she made her way over to Luke's side, "Are you okay?"
The Jedi moaned, but sat up and nodded, "You?"
"I've been better." She smiled.
Holding his aching head he looked up, "We fell a long way. Do you think-"
A low growling cut him off. Luke and Leia's eyes widened as they shot gazes to the shadowy corner the sound had emitted from.
They weren't alone. The ground vibrated as if it had a pulse and from the dark a large beast emerged.
"That's a rancor!" Luke shouted scrambling to his feet.
The rancor stood towering over fifteen feet tall! Spittle mixed with blood from an earlier meal clung to its mouth as it let out a piercing roar!
Luke raised his blaster and began firing at it. The lasers did no damage to the creature's thick skin, only serving to further enrage it.
"My blaster's no good!" Luke said, taking several steps back, the bone covered ground crunching beneath his boots, "We've got to think of something fast!"
If only Leia wasn't trapped down here with him, then he could have attempted to use a force jump to leap back out. A lightsaber would be pretty useful now as well. But there was no use thinking about any of that now.
"This way!" Leia said, grabbing his smaller hand and pulling him towards a gate. She released her hold of him and began yanking on the bars, "It's locked!"
On the other side, Lando came running down a set of stairs, his helmet now missing.
"I saw you guys fall!" Looking around he found the gate's opening and closing mechanism, "Just hold on and I'll get you out of there!"
As the gambler reached the operating panel, Luke noticed a shadow appear on the wall at the top of the stairs. Someone was coming down!
"Lando, behind you!" Luke shouted in warning.
Lando spun around on his heel as a Weequay appeared holding a large blaster. With one quick motion Lando had retrieved his own blaster from a holster on his waist. Both men fired, but Lando had the better aim. The Weequay grasped at his chest where the laser had struck him before toppling down the stairs, landing in a lifeless heap at the bottom. Unfortunately, the now dead being's shot had grazed Lando's shoulder and ultimately hit the gate's control panel.
Shaking off the pain, the man turned back to the now sparking mechanism, "Stang, the darn thing is shot to hell! We can't open the gate this way."
"Well you better figure out a way soon because we're currently keeping a rancor company!" Leia yelled.
In that moment, a large hand started to lower towards them. Gripped with panic, Luke threw out his hands. The monster stumbled backwards as the force push contacted him. It crashed into the opposing wall causing the entire structure to shake and bits of rubble to fall from the ceiling.
Lando blinked away a shocked expression before he grabbed the bars and gestured behind him with his head, "I am going to find, Artoo. I told him to wait near the exit. There is an access point into this place's system near there. Using it we can raise the gate."
"Hurry, Lando, we don't have much time! It's getting back up." Luke said watching as the rancor rose to its feet.
"Hang in there you two!" The gambler yelled running back up the stairs.
Leia turned around to face the rancor that was now back on its feet, "We have to buy some time."
"Here, take my blaster." Luke said tossing the weapon her way.
"But it's useless!" Leia said raising an eyebrow as she caught the pistol, "You saw so yourself, it can't penetrate its thick skin."
"We're not trying to kill it though. We just need to keep it from having us as a late afternoon snack." Luke explained scanning the environment for something useful, "Bones are scattered all over the place; I can use those. If I can get behind him, we can flank him from both sides."
"Luke, that's too dangerous. You won't be able to get there fast enough like that."
He knew what she meant by "like that." She was referring to his de-aged body. He may not look like much of a threat, but he was still capable enough.
The rancor was starting to reach down for them again, "You're just going to have to trust me!" he did not give her time to answer as he immediately took off running, aiming for between its legs, "Cover me."
He knew Leia was probably furious with him, but he could worry about that later. Right now the rancor had noticed him as a closer target and was trying to grab him. Thankfully before he could reach him, Leia fired several shots at the beast's face. It shrieked and straightened back up. The rancor took one more step towards Leia as the young Jedi had reached the wall behind it.
"Luke…" he heard Leia call out in warning as it reached for her.
Closing his eyes, the blond concentrated on a large bone. The sounds of the battle faded away as he put all his energy into his connection with the force. He could feel the bones presence and lifted it. Opening his eyes he was pleased by the sight of the femur hovering a foot above the ground. A second later he sent it hurtling towards the back of the rancor's head. It cracked against the thick skull and shattered. The semi-sentient being turned around, roared, and stalked towards him.
"Your turn, Leia." Luke said looking around for another decent sized bone.
She began shooting once again at the rancor and it quickly changed directions and once again began moving towards her again. The Jedi then took his chance and hurled an enormous chunk of rock at it. The rancor was furious now and began blindly swinging its long arms. They smashed into the walls sending pieces of rock and metal cascading to the floor.
With speed Luke did not think it capable of it approached him. Leia fired laser blasts at it, but the rancor completely ignored the hits. Its rage was focused in on Luke.
"Lando better hurry up." Luke said, concentrating on dodging the creature's hand. In the process of avoiding one hand, the blond did not see the other in time. Fingers wrapped around his torso and painfully squeezed. Luke grunted in discomfort as he was raised to the rancor's face. The reptile opened its mouth wide revealing jagged and chipped teeth.
"Luke, catch!"
The Jedi looked just in time to see Leia throw a bone towards him. Stretching his arms as far as they would go and using a little help from the force, Luke caught the object. Quickly turning, he thrust the solid bone into the rancor's mouth. Surprised by its inability to close its mouth, the rancor opened its palm sending Luke toppling to the floor.
He landed on sharp piece of metal and gashed his leg. Leia was at his side in a second helping him to his feet.
A loud clank echoed against the walls, and the two were relieved to see the gate rising. They sprinted towards it with the rancor hot on their trail, the bone now crushed by its powerful jaws. The creature lunged forward after them as they exited the pit! Luke was sure it would succeed in grabbing one of them, but Leia aimed her blaster at a bunch of cables that were transferring power to the gate and fired. Sparks flew and the gate slammed shut –right on top of the rancor!
Luke slowed trying to catch his labored breath, but Leia pulled on his upper arm, "We are almost out of here, we have to go."
Luke merely nodded and followed her up the stairs. They reached the top and ran down the hall that led to the front entrance. Lando, Chewie, and Han, who was now standing on his own two feet, stood around Artoo who was disconnecting from the wall.
"Don't let them escape!" Luke heard someone yell from behind.
Lando and Chewie pulled out their weapons and opened fire on the men that were chasing them. As Luke and Leia reached their group, they all hurried for the exit. Intense light blinded them as they rushed out of Jabba's Palace.
"Hold on, Artoo, shut the front gate!" Lando yelled.
"Wait, what about Captain Runel?" Luke shouted, distressed by the thought of locking their allies inside.
"Don't worry, they are pirates— trust me they will be fine." Lando said.
Artoo swiveled his head in Luke's direction, awaiting his approval. Sighing, the boy nodded. The droid rolled back inside and plugged into the wall as they covered him. Within a few seconds, the gate began lowering and Artoo hastily exited before the gate shut all the way.
They quickly made their way across the sand, not stopping to look behind them. Luke pushed his feet to go as fast as they could to keep up with the others! After they had made a little bit of distance they began to slow their pace.
"Woo!" Lando cheered, pumping a fist into the air, "We did it!"
"How's your sight, Han?" Leia asked, unable to mask a grin of her own.
"I thought it was back to normal." Han said, "But now I'm not so sure, because I think I see a kid running next to you."
"Oh that isn't your eyes, pal." Lando laughed, "In fact, it is someone you should know very well."
"What?" Han said looking around at everyone's amused expressions and appearing thoroughly confused.
"Maybe we should wait until we get to the land speeder to explain." Leia suggested, "After all, Jabba's gang could show up at any minute."
"I don't think so, sister." Han said shaking his head, "I want to know who this runt is now."
"Han it might-"
Luke really did not want the two of them to start arguing, especially so soon after rescuing Han, so he spoke up, "Han, it's me Luke."
The bickering fell silent and Han began to slow his jogging down to a stop as his eyes widened, "…Kid? What the heck happened to you while I was out of commission?"
"A psycho invented a machine and I was the guinea pig. This is the result."
Han stared blankly at him and Luke was ready for him to demand more information. What he was not expecting however was Han to start hysterically laughing.
Luke glared at him, "Hey, it's not funny."
"Are you kidding me, this is hilarious!" he gasped out clenching his stomach, "I mean, I know I have always called you kid, but now?" He broke out into another fit of laughter.
"Cut it out, Han." Luke said, his face turning red.
"And your voice is so high!"
Luke sighed, shaking his head in defeat. He knew Han would make fun of him, he just didn't think it would start at this very minute, but…he had missed Han too much to really get mad. His annoyed look turned into a sincere smile, "It's good to have you back."
Han's laughter slowly stopped and he looked slightly taken aback by Luke's change, "Yeah well, it's good to be back, kid." Scratching the back of his head, he continued in a more flustered tone, "Listen everyone, I just –uh- you know….thanks for coming after me."
"What are friends for?" Lando said, clapping him on the back. Chewie sounded out in agreement.
"The galaxy just wouldn't be the same with one less scoundrel." Leia smiled.
Han looked at her with uncharacteristically soft eyes and returned the smile. After a moment of sharing looks he cleared his throat, "Anyway, enough of this mushy stuff. Where are we headed?"
"The speeder should be behind this sand dune." Leia pointed.
Luke was grateful because he needed to sit and catch his breath. This day had been full of excitement and he couldn't wait to get back to the Falcon, have a good meal, and sleep. But when they reached the speeder's location all they found were a couple of pieces of scrap metal.
"Where-what happened?" Leia said coming to a stop.
"Oh no." Luke slumped forward, "It's been raided for parts."
"Great, just great. I get rescued only to get stranded out in the middle of the desert." Han said throwing his hands in the air.
"The town will take hours to walk to." Leia said folding her arms.
The Jedi looked up at the setting suns, "Night is almost here, and we're all beat. I don't think it would be safe for us to travel." Luke thought out loud, "We are going to have to find a place to hold out until dawn."
"Got any cave around here in mind?" Lando asked.
"Well…Ben's house isn't too far from here." Luke said, his heart panging slightly at the thought of his old mentor.
"That seems to be our only choice." Leia said, "We need to start moving, or else Jabba might find us. Lead the way, Luke."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Night had fallen over the wasteland, causing a dramatic decrease in temperature. This made Luke highly grateful he did not ditch his Jawa robe earlier. The group had passed the time by catching Han up on everything he had missed from their escape from Cloud City to what happened to Luke to the bounty hunters. Han had made a surprised comment about Vader being human, stating he thought he was a robot.
"So let me get this straight." Han said scratching his nose, "Both big, scary Vader and Luke have been de-aged, the machine is somewhere out there just waiting to fall into the wrong hands, the Empire is cooking up something big, and bounty hunters are after Luke and we don't know who sent them. That about cover it?"
"Basically." Luke nodded.
"Oh…good, didn't want things getting too easy for us."
Luke looked up at the star filled sky. There were so many questions and so few answers. It sometimes was hard not to feel overwhelmed by it all.
A chuckle pulled Luke from his musings and he looked over at the smuggler.
"You know," Han said with a lopsided grin, "when Lando said Luke was someone I should know, I thought he meant he was, like, my illegitimate kid."
Luke made a disgusted face, "You have children!"
Han shrugged, "I really hope not."
"Don't we all." Leia said, "The last thing anyone wants is mini Solos running amuck."
"Oh come on princess, there could be plenty of worse things than my offspring."
"Oh really?" Leia said challengingly.
"Yeah, like little Vaders. Those would be pretty volatile."
Han and Lando started laughing, but no one else joined them. Luke felt his heart stop. Leia and Chewie cast glances in his direction, both clearly thinking the same thing. Luke knew he'd have to tell Han of his relation to Vader; he was his friend after all and it wouldn't be right to keep something so important from him.
Han broke off from laughing, "Why the grim expression, Luke?"
"Han, Lando…there is something I have to tell you." Luke said, feeling a knot form in his stomach, "Leia and Chewie already know."
For a group of five people and one droids, things became awfully silent.
"Alright, kid, I'm listening." Han said giving him his full attention.
"Vader is…my father."
There was no sense in sugar coating it or beating around the bush. Han was the type that wanted things said flat out, so Luke had done just that. And now that it was out there he watched as Han's face changed from confused to shocked to disgusted. Lando just stiffened and starred at him. This was obviously not what either of them had expected him to say.
"Hold on Luke, I think that carbon-freezing might have affected my hearing because I thought you said that Darth Vader was your father."
"That's why he didn't hurt me when we were traveling together." Luke said shaking his head.
"I thought your father was murdered by Vader?"
"So did I until he told me the truth on Bespin."
Han scoffed at that, "Right, the Emperor's right hand psycho tell you the truth."
"I could feel it through the force. I know it was the truth."
Leia came up and placed a hand on Han's shoulder. The smuggler merely glanced down at it before his eyes focused back on Luke. He then paused before answering, "Well, Luke, if you believe him then I guess that's good enough for me."
"I'm sorry…" he cast his gaze towards the ground.
"There is nothing to apologize for, kid. So you got a rotten sperm donor, can't say I don't either."
"Ew, Han, do you have to word it like that?" Luke said disgusted, but secretly happy for the man's way of making a difficult conversation lighter.
"Point is, that scumbag might be your old man, but that doesn't change the fact that you're the same old dumb kid I've known for the past however many years." He said reaching out and ruffling Luke's hair. The boy quickly ducked out and moved away annoyed albeit smiling.
"Speaking of years, how many is it going to take us to get to this house, Luke?" Lando asked, successfully changing the topic for which Luke was very grateful.
"Actually, we're here." Luke said squinting at the building in the distance.
Luke could feel their collective relief as they approached Ben's old home. As they got closer Han took notice of the structure's small size.
"Uh kid, do you think we are all going to fit in there? I mean I know you can, being ankle biter size and all, but us grownups take up a little more room."
Would this teasing never end?
He pursed his lips, "It will be a tight fit, but we'll have to make it work."
The door to the house was cracked open and upon closer inspection, Luke could tell someone had forced their way in, but how long ago that was, he was not sure. The boy went to enter, but stopped when a hand was placed on his shoulder. Looking up he saw it belonged to Chewie who was knelt down beside him shaking his head. Slowly, the Wookie entered the abandoned house first, shimmying the door all the way open. Closing his eyes, the Jedi reached out through the force and felt out the home. He could feel no force presence other than Chewie's inside. The Wookie eventually came back out and gave everyone the all clear to go inside.
Like worn out cattle, shivering and tired, the group trudged inside. The front room was a disaster. A skylight illuminated the area to reveal a mess of overturned objects and all covered in a thick layer of dust. Something or someone had clearly rummaged through here at some point. Luke couldn't imagine they had found anything of much value. Ben did not seem like the kind of man to keep expensive things around.
"A bit of dusting and some bright paint would do wonders for this place." Han said, punctuating his sentence with a sneeze.
Leia manually slid the door closed. Turning around she exhaled tiredly, "Alright everyone. Let's try to clear the middle of the room so we can have space to lie down. Han, Lando, and Cheiwe, help me move all the furniture against the walls. Luke and Artoo, see if you can find rations or anything useful."
Luke and Artoo started in the small kitchenette area where they were only able to recover a few outdated rations. The blond placed them on a table Lando had just finished putting upright and watched as Chewie hefted a large wooden chair into the corner.
As Luke watched he began to hear something, it was almost like a quiet whisper. It appeared like no one else had heard it. Turning around he listened carefully, it was coming from a back room. Carefully he walked towards the room. Artoo followed him into the space that turned out to be Ben's room. It was shrouded in darkness and Luke could barely make out the mattress on the floor.
"Artoo, can you give me some light?"
The droid beeped and activated one of the lights on its domed head. The beam light up part of the room and Luke walked further in, feeling drawn to the corner. When he reached the spot he discovered a small, wooden chest that had somehow remained untouched.
"Shine the light over here." Luke said, reaching to unlock the clasps. Artoo complied and rolled closer to the boy.
The Jedi felt as if he were in a trance as he lifted the creaking lid open and peaked inside. Buried in a chest were various spare gizmos and gadgets which Luke immediately recognized.
"Lightsaber parts. They're lightsaber parts, Artoo! I can finally build my own lightsaber!" Only one problem remained…how did he build a lightsaber? Well, he had promised Yoda he would return. He supposed he could ask him how to do it. "I need you to hold on to these for me."
An empty try slid open from Artoo's body and Luke carefully placed the parts inside, "Come on, let's go see the others."
They ate the ration bars in silence, everyone looking equally eager for sleep. Once they finished they spread out across the house and called it a night.
Sleep came quickly for Luke. He couldn't remember much of what he dreamed about, but his dreams were interrupted by a bad feeling that woke him. He opened his eyes to see the shadowy figure of a tall man, the side of his face vaguely illuminated by the starlight that trickled into the room.
He went to gasp only to have a hand cover his mouth and before he could think of what else to do he felt the familiar force presence. Luke's eyes widened as the figure leaned in closer revealing itself to be none other than his father.
"You are coming with me, son."
*Gasp* Vader's back! Thank you all so much for your reviews, you guys are truly the best! This is the longest chapter I have ever written reaching over 6,700 words! I hope you guys enjoy it! Please let me know what you think! :D