Chapter Eight

Two days later, with five credits left in his pocket, Han was back at Lando's office. When he entered he was surprised to see him out of uniform and cleaning out his desk. "What happened? Mon Mothma finally decide to investigate your past and court-martial you?

Calrissian turned his gaze toward Han slowly, and gave an appraising look. "That's a very odd thing for you to say, Evin. Do you know President Mothma personally?"

Han felt like kicking himself, knowing he'd made a stupid mistake and almost revealed his identity to Lando. He'd decided the day before there was no way he was going to tell Lando his long, if unbelievably true story in the event the gambler actually believed him. He was certain Lando would promptly tell Chewie and Luke, and then Luke would tell Leia, and everything would unravel for people he still cared about, even if they didn't care about him anymore. Chewie would leave his important new job, Leia ... well, he was certain Leia wouldn't leave her handsome new husband. Still, it was important that Chewie was free of his life-debt, at least in Han's mind.

"No," he replied, shuffling his feet and looking down. "I was just kiddin' 'round. Bad joke. Sorry."

"Not a problem," Lando said lightly. "I told you I was going to quit being a General when I became your agent. I've resigned my commission. Where have you been, anyway?"

"Trying to find a sabacc game where the buy-in is ten credits."

Lando laughed. "High finances there, Evin."

"Yeah, well, I'm kinda broke."

Calrissian laughed. "Not anymore, you're not. Got the record label to re-do your contract, and your advance is eight thousand. I tried getting ten thousand, but they wouldn't budge past the eight. Still, sixteen hundred for me isn't bad for a few hours of negotiating." He walked over to his desk and handed Han the new contract. "Sign on the dotted line and initial the dozen or so places they have marked."

"Eight thousand?" Han asked, taking the flimsi in shock. "For one song?"

"Song and dance number. If it sells, which they think it will, the option kicks in for a second song, and that will be a ten thousand credit advance. A third puts your advance up to fifteen."

Han blinked in shock. "They might want three songs?"

"Yes, they will. And guess what?"

"What?"

"You.. we, actually, get a royalty on each sale and each time it shows on any program on the holo-net. They tried offering ten percent, but I insisted on fifteen percent." Lando grinned widely. "A successful song can earn Coruscanti Labels a million or more credits."

"That's... a hundred thousand..." Han gasped. More than enough to buy a ship. A very, very nice ship.

"A hundred thousand would only be ten percent. I got us fifteen," Lando pointed out quickly. "Sign that contract, and let's get it to the company before they can change their minds." Lando frowned at Han. "And then you need to buy new clothes. Yours are disgusting. Just follow my lead, son, because I know fashion and if you're going to become a celebrity music sensation the likes this old galaxy has never before seen you'll need to look the part."

It turned out that learning how to dance was a lot harder than learning how to fly a ship through hyper-space, at least in Han's opinion. Coruscanti Labels had allowed him to choose between four songs and he picked the one closest to his heart, a snappy tune about a smuggler that ends up in jail and when he's finally released from Imperial prison he finds his girl had up and married a Moff. Han figured in his previous life something like that could very likely have happened to him. The words to the song might have been depressing if not for the fact the smuggler in the song hit the Corellian lottery- 'Hyper Billions' - a week later and ended up rich while the Moff ended up imprisoning his bride in the mines of Kessel. It worked out well for everyone in the song, Han figured.

The song had been recorded earlier so he wasn't expected to sing and dance at the same time, just lip-sync along to his own voice. It was a good thing, since he truly was a terrible, awful dancer, and Marvis Pruitt was getting impatient with his new singer.

"Why can't you remember your marks?" Pruitt bellowed at Han, pointing to the nervous director, a fat balding man with a bulbuous nose. "Lenart!" Pruitt shouted at the director, "Didn't you get Evin to work with Stella at all?"

Stella was a willowy twi'lek dance instructor with a lavender skin tone. She happened to be an excellent dancer and tried, initially, to guide Han through the nuances of the dance routine. Even she was reaching the limits of her patience after three days of rehearsals and a full day of attempting to holo-record the number. Han felt pity on her as she tried, day after day, to deal with his clumsy attempts at something everyone on set called 'a routine.' It sure wasn't routine for Han.

"Stella has been working with him!" Lenart complained in a nasally whine. "Why don't we just use his voice and hire a professional for the holo-vid? This guy is the worst dancer I've ever worked with!"

This sounded like the best idea Han had ever heard. "Can you do that?" Han asked eagerly, wincing as he hobbled over to where the producer and the director were having their heated discussion. His feet were killing him, and he'd developed blisters on top of blisters by this point. He thought back a few days, to when he'd signed his contract. At Lando's insistence he was hustled by his 'agent' into clothing store and now was the new owner of several sets of fancy, Lando-inspired clothes and new boots. He also moved up from the lower level flop houses to a small, mid-level apartment, which he liked since chig bites were no fun.

However, on this 'set' he was forced to undergo 'fittings' for costumes, and what was even worse - and this was where Han had almost bolted for the unknown regions as a stowaway on a Hutt's spice ship if necessary - he had to wear make-up. Make-up! There was absolutely no way in all the hells of Corellia Han Solo would ever have allowed himself to be led into a room with a door sign declaring 'Make-up.' Fortunately, or perhaps perversely, Han was learning to pretend he was someone else entirely, this weird stranger called Evin Daysun, and no matter what happened to him it wasn't actually happening to him, Han Solo.

"No," Pruitt replied stubbornly. "We are not doing that. The Executives want the entire package."

Han blinked, confused. "What package?"

The Producer sighed. "You, Evin. You are the package. Now get back there and try this again. In fact, don't TRY! Just DO IT ALREADY!"

"Kriff," Han groused, limping back toward the set. "You don't have to yell." What did I get myself into?

Much later in his life, Han would often wonder why he didn't disappear once he had the four thousand credits in his pocket. It would have been the far easier thing to do, and certainly more in keeping with his normal style. Something held him here on Coruscant, though. Maybe it was the memory of the last place he'd seen Leia, talked to her, held her. Maybe it was because Chewie was living here, only fifty kilometers away. Maybe it was the comfort of interacting with someone still connected to the person he'd been before, even if that someone was only Lando.

For whatever reason or reasons, Han Solo stayed and recorded music, and bumbled his way through the first of many holo-vids.

And he would get rich. Richer than he could ever have imagined.

Three years later...

Inside an office much larger and fancier than anything he'd had as a General, Lando Calrissian, agent to the galaxy-famous Evin Daysun, energetically shook the hand of his old friend, Jedi Luke Skywalker. "Luke! How're doing? I can't believe how long it's been... Last time we saw each other was ...?" He frowned, trying to remember.

"Han's funeral," Luke finished for him. Three years, but it still caused Luke a pang of sadness when he thought about Han Solo.

The Corellian's face fell for a moment. "Yes, yes, that's right. I must have blocked that out." Then he smiled again. "So, I hear you've found a lady?"

Luke flushed slightly. "I don't think Mara would appreciate being called a 'lady.'"

Lando gave a hearty laugh. "Ex Imperial assassin. Right?" When Luke nodded, Lando added, "Picking dangerous spouses must run in the Skywalker genes."

"She's not my wife yet.'

"But you're engaged, so that's close enough," Lando said. "How's Leia doing, by the way?"

"She's fine," Luke replied carefully, not wanting anyone, even Lando, to know how unhappy his sister was on Hapes. Leia was adamant about keeping up her false image as the ruler of Hapes and beloved wife of Isolder.

"Her baby is a year old now." Luke had given up trying to convince her to divorce Isolder and leave Hapes once she announced she was having a baby. It was frustrating to see his sister waste her life, but everyone had the right to make their own choice, no matter how wrong those choices were.

"Time flies," Lando said, nodding. "Little girl, right?"

"Isabell."

"Cute name."

Luke decided to move the subject away from Leia, lest he slip and reveal that life was not all it appeared for her, "How's your new career coming?"

Lando's grin grew even wider. "I'm rolling in the credits, Luke. This is the job I was meant to do my entire life." The Corellian was obviously proud of what he'd accomplished in a relatively short amount of time. "You've seen Evin Daysun's latest holo-film, right? Only his second role and already he's the leading man. He's going places, Luke, let me tell you."

The Jedi smiled. "And he still does those music holo-vids, too?"

"Yes, he does. Great singer and dancer," Lando said proudly. "And he's starting his next concert tour in a month. In fact, I have him booked to travel the Hapes Consortium. He seems to be very popular over there." Lando leaned closer to Luke, talking in a conspiratorial manner, "I've been hiring your X-Wing friends to work for Evin."

Surprised, Luke asked, "Who?"

"Corran Horn, for one. Hired him as Head of Security. Every day, Evin seems to need more and more protection from a security team. You wouldn't believe some of the threatening letters he gets from beings all over the galaxy. Women seem to love him and men either want to be like him or want to kill him, no in-between."

"Kill him?" Luke asked, astonished. "Why would anyone want to kill a singer? Does he know any of these people threatening him?"

"Not a single one," Lando said with a sigh. "Beings can be crazy, Luke. I'd say most of them are just jealous males. The guy's as handsome as a Alderaanian god, and that pisses some types off."

Luke took a second to process this information before asking, "And who else have you hired?"

"Wes Janson," Lando said, twisting his lip. "I wasn't sure about him at first but he wanted the job as Road Manager. In charge of packing up equipment, flying it to location, and setting up the stage."

"I had no idea," Luke said truthfully. "Well, it's been nice talking to you. Much success, Lando."

"Wait," Lando said, putting a hand out to stop Luke from leaving. "If you stay for a few moments you can meet Evin. He's on Coruscant right now and is coming over to pick up the Hapan concert itinerary before heading home to Corellia. He bought a huge estate out in the countryside. You should see it. Rolling green hills as far as the eye can see. And to think, only three years ago he was a dirt-poor nobody."

Luke was about to reply that Mara was waiting for him back at his apartment and meeting celebrities wasn't really something he cared about when the lift swooshed open and 'Evin Daysun' stepped into the office. The younger man's expression went from neutral to guarded in a heartbeat upon seeing the Jedi standing next to Lando.

"Evin!" Lando said heartily. "I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine, Luke Skywalker. Luke, this is my one and only client, Evin Daysun."

Luke reached out to shake the celebrity's hand, and noticed in Evin's expression a reluctance to take his hand, but the man finally reached out.

Upon physical contact, Luke understood the reason for the dark-haired man's reluctance. Although he had no idea how, Jedi Luke Skywalker knew he was touching the Force-sense of a very much alive Han Solo.