Chapter 31 - Han Does Something Heroic
It took Han several minutes to get his voice back. He remembered hearing stories of Jedi when he was a youngling. They were the heroes to many tales. But when he was about Luke's age the empire rose to power, and for a while after such tales could get you arrested. There was a time when an old wookiee taught him about her religion. An all-powerful Force supposedly controls everything. She seemed to think that Han had a powerful destiny, thanks to this Force. 'But she was wrong. Hokey religion, there's no mystical energy field controlling my destiny.'
And so Han faced one of his old heroes, long since given up on. He crossed his arms and looked down on the little man.
"Feel the Jedi have failed you, you do," said Yoda.
"What?" Han squinted at the man.
"Apologize, I do. Good peacekeepers, we were not. Failed you, no doubt, we have," Yoda finished. Han glared at him and was so engrossed in this interaction that he didn't hear another man approach.
"Han, it's Anakin, nice to meet you again. And you've met Yoda." Luke's father, who he'd met earlier, greeted him. Han stopped glaring at the Jedi and shook hands with Anakin. "We'd like to invite you to have dinner with us. Luke has already given us a recount of his grand adventure on the Millenium Falcon, and Leia is very interested in helping you with your political assignment."
Han was going to make an excuse about needing to do work on the Falcon, which fortunately always needed work, but before he could say anything Chewy growled, "Graaaaahraaaaawraah."
"That's good then, I'll have them set two more places." Anakin then walked away into the next room.
Han learned over dinner that night, this strange family he was almost certain he'd blame Chewy for getting them involved with, were almost all Jedi. Not just Master Yoda, their weird friend, but Anakin was a knight, and all three of the children, Luke and Leia, and even the youngest Leo, who proudly insisted he was six and a half, were all training to be Jedi.
"They'll have their next trials when they are between ten and twelve, or whenever their teachers say they're ready. They'll build a lightsaber as part of it and then they'll officially be eligible to become Padawans." Anakin explained.
"The old way, that was. How to recreate The Gathering without Ilum, we must figure out," Yoda hummed.
Han found all he could do was nod along, not having anything to add to the talk on Jedi ways. Chewy then insisted on getting a detailed account of what happened to the Jedi after Yoda left Kashyyyk, and how they got to Tatooine. Most of the story went over Han's head, told in the difficult backward-speak of Master Yoda.
"A sight on Melren at last, I had set up. A place to gather together in the real world, we finally had. His secret relationship, Then Anakin revealed."
"Wha-" Han uttered without thinking, as he rushed to put the sentence back to a logical order, trying to make sense of the words secret relationship.
"To the Jedi originally attachment, and thus marriage, were forbidden." Anakin specified.
"Never good at following rules, you were," Yoda coughed.
Anakin smiled cheekily. "By then the twins were two and Leo was on his way. There was a bit of a ruckus over whether to kick me out or not, and it did separate us for a time, but now we're together again." Anakin looked down and everyone was quiet for a moment.
Han felt an awkward weight to the silence. Almost as if there was more to the story than what they were prepared to share. Anyways, if Han became aware of it, it must have been obvious to everyone. Han knew he was never the best at socializing or dinner parties. He was impressed by Anakin's story, though. Always a deviant from social norms himself, he liked the story of one who got away with it. "Ah, I take it you, Ma'am were not a Jedi. What did you do back then, and how did you two meet." Han turned to Padme and asked.
"I've been a politician for as long as I could talk, practically." Padme started. "I was a senator, representing Naboo in the republic. And my life was in danger when rivals were threatening to kill me. It was a bit much, but I was persuaded to take a Jedi protector, Young Anakin and Master Kenobi."
'Master Kenobi… She doesn't mean...' Han thought, but their conversation didn't stop for him to contemplate this.
"Bit much, they weren't merely threatening to kill you then. They attempted! TWICE!" Anakin interjected. "And that was not even how we met. We met ten years prior. I was a nine year old and she was pretending to be the handmaiden to the Queen… Then I raced in the podrace so they could get the part for their ship, and I won. Because of this they won my freedom too. And they brought me with them when they left Tatooine, so I could become a Jedi… And then we were standing in front of the Gungans, asking them to help defend Naboo and she stepped out and revealed that all this time she was the Queen!"
Han's eyes opened wider. 'A Jedi, a Queen, a Princess, and two Princes, all slash Jedi Initiates. This family isn't crazy. It's insane!' Han thought, though somehow he didn't doubt their truthfulness. The whole thing was too unbelievable to make up.
In the coming days Han sunk into the routine of attending his classes, and tutoring sessions with Luke. They'd been given a room at the Center to study in, and Han appreciated it. The room was quiet and rather bland. It had nothing to distract him, or his nine year old tutor. Then afterwards, if the boy's mother granted them permission, Han would take Luke out to the Falcon and let him playfully explore the ship.
He and Chewy had moved their ship to another docking bay closer to the Center, and fortunately he hadn't seen any traces of the people following him since that first day with Padme and Luke. Infact, he'd almost completely forgotten about it, when he saw them again.
"But please." Luke whined.
"No. Today you and your sister have your annual check-ups. We are already near running late. I told your father to take Leia ahead of us and said we'll meet them there."
Luke tried unsuccessfully to pout.
"It's okay kid. You can come to the Falcon tomorrow," Han tried. "Where are you going? I could fly you if it'll help."
"We don't need the ride. We're going to the med-center. It's a block from here, and we can walk there. Come on now." Padme took her son's hand and led him out of the building.
Han began to pack up his things. Since starting classes, he'd found it useful to carry a large bag with him, which he lazily stuffed all of his notes and books into. When he was finished, he went to pick up the bag and swing it over his shoulder, but then he noticed the round silver item left behind. Luke had forgotten his trainee lightsaber.
"Oh droyk," Han picked up the item. He had seen Luke demonstrate with it a few times, and he knew it was important to the kid. "Lets see, they were going to the med-center. If I run, maybe I can catch them."
Han didn't spare another minute. He ran out through the hallway and the entrance of the Center, then to the street outside. Padme and Luke were nowhere in sight, so Han turned and jogged around the bend in the street. That was where he saw them.
Padme was wrestling with a Klatooinian, while another two thugs restrained Luke. Three more pranced around checking the bag Padme must have dropped when they attacked. Han immediately pulled out his blaster and dropped the practice saber belonging to Luke. He fired at one of the men holding Luke. That man fell, but the other thugs then pulled out blasters and fired back at Han. Han backed up a step, taking shelter behind the corner of a building as he fired back at them.
'These look like the brutes that were following me when I first got to Anchorhead. Why are they now attacking Padme and Luke. Unless - They were never following me at all. Wait, one of them is a Klatooinian. Most of klatooinians work for the Hutts. But why would the Hutts be after Padme and Luke?' Han wondered. He didn't have the time to name the other species, but there were a few of them amongst the group Han was shooting at.
"Wrap them!" the Klatooinian thug ordered. Han could see them put a sack over Padme's and Luke's heads.
Padme cried a shrill yell as she reached out and failed to grab her son. Luke reached out in the direction of Han, and for a second he was confused about what the boy intended. Then the practice saber flew out of the sand where Han had dropped it and into Luke's hand. The boy activated it and began swinging it around. He still had his eyes covered, but Han noticed the boy had remarkably good luck, managing to whack a few of the thugs in sensitive parts left uncovered by their armor.
Still, the weapon was merely a child's toy and it did little more than loosen their grips on Luke. Han pushed forward, using a set of crates as a shield. He managed to get one more of the thugs to fall, when he was finally close enough to reach out and grab Luke. "It's me, Han," he said. Thankfully Luke didn't fight him and fell back behind Han.
"Thanks." Luke pulled the sack off his head. "Where's mom?"
Han wasn't listening. He was crouched, watching the Klatooinian thug pull Padme onto a speeder, while Han was trying to shoot it down. "Skrag!" he let the old Corellian expletive slip. The speeder had a hardy plating and he couldn't disable it with just a lucky blaster shot. Last minute he changed his mind and aimed his blaster at the thug who was driving. As the speeder started up, the shot hit the driver in the back of the neck and he fell backwards onto the sandy street. But it was no use. Another thug jumped up and took over.
"Mom!" Luke cried as they watched the speeder disappear in the distance.
Hello Everyone,
Lately it seems that this site has been having an issue with it's views counter. The general stats have been lower, and repeat views have completely disappeared. Others have noticed this glitch as well on the forums. I'd just like to encourage you to take the extra effort and leave reviews on whatever fanfiction you read this month. We writers really do appreciate the feedback.
I hope you liked my second Han Solo POV chapter. I used the few flippant words Han Solo says about Jedi in A New Hope, and create his backstory and feelings reflecting Jedi from that. I hope it is believable to you. And I figure someone predicting Han Solo has a 'powerful destiny,' which he initially dismisses as 'hokey religion,' to be an interesting way to foreshadow. After all, in the original trilogy he married a princess and helped take down an empire. Big destiny for a street kid. No spoilers as to what will happen in this AU. ;) ;)
In my next chapter we will be going back to Anakin's POV and they will naturally be reacting to the news about what happened to Padme. Anakin's gonna want to go do some things, and this time Padme won't be there to tell him off. Han Solo will be there too. We won't be getting rid of him that easily.
