He couldn't sleep in any of the beds in the quarters, but somehow the illusion of sleep seemed more prevalent as he lay in the dark with his arms folded at his chest and one foot crossed over the other. He was awake but he felt almost asleep, and he wasn't dreaming, but he remembered, he remembered...

He was three years into his career as an TIE fighter in the Imperial Navy. He couldn't have cared less about the politics but the pay was decent and he got plenty of flying time, somewhere in the back of his mind he knew one day he'd be done here and on his own again, and when he did, he was going to have a ship of his own, he longed to get back to Corellia and see if there were any other models available similar to the one Lando got, the Millennium Falcon, a title like that commanded respect. Something he'd never had in his life, and it still varied now. In the Imperial Navy there were some who respected him, including the men he served alongside, there were also a lot who did not respect him, and he didn't care about them, and then there were several others who just plain feared him. Respect, fear, he could stand being the subject of both. Depending on who you were going up against, there didn't seem to be much difference anyway.

His unit had gotten a 48 hour leave and he knew right where he was going, the women on Ginj were built like nothing else in the galaxy and they flocked over a man in uniform.

To get there though, first he had to get through the docking port which was jam crammed full of folks of every species imaginable, heading every which way, coming in and heading out on all kinds of ships, there was hardly even room to walk without getting your ribs crushed by the people along either side of you. He very roughly, though completely accidentally, bumped into someone passing him, who was dressed in a long tattered black cloak.

"Sorry," he said after they both moaned at the impact and crossed paths. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, turned and saw the shapeless figure making its way through the port.

"Charon?"

He didn't know what it was, he couldn't see the person's face, or anything of their build, but somehow he couldn't shake the feeling that's exactly who it was.

The cloaked figure stopped in the middle of the busy platform and slowly turned back towards him. It reached up two black gloves and drew back the large black hood that covered its whole head. He saw a woman's face, a familiar woman's face, with the same dark hair pulled back. A few years older, as he was, but he'd know that face anywhere.

"Charon?"

He couldn't believe it. He'd had no contact with her since that day they went their separate ways, he didn't even know if she was still alive. He'd spent the last several years trying to bury all those memories because they couldn't do him any good anymore. And now here she was.

She looked at him but otherwise didn't acknowledge him. Surely she had to remember him. Then he realized, maybe it was the uniform.

"Charon," he called as he took a couple steps past her, managing not to get knocked down by the swarm of people moving past, "Charon, it's me!"

"Hey Solo!" his commander suddenly appeared out of the crowd and slapped him hard on the shoulder, "What're you dragging your feet for? We got 48 hours before we have to get back to base, so get the steel out."

Han looked back and Charon was swallowed up in the massive crowd of people. He knew he'd seen her though, he knew he wasn't imagining things. He'd given up all hope of them seeing each other again years ago. He tried to spot her but it was impossible, but he knew what he'd seen. She was alive, and she was here. And if her uniform was anything to go by, she was working the ferries.

"Where do you think you're going, Solo?" his commander asked.

"The ferry."

"Oh hell, forget that, we wouldn't even get to Ginj before our leave was up, come on!" the older man grabbed him by the arm and dragged him the other way. Han felt his feet dragging beneath him, he didn't want to go.

It was three more years before he happened to cross paths with Charon again, by which time he had once again given up the idea of ever seeing her. He was slightly more than freshly court-martialed from the Imperial Navy, which was fine with him, he never saw himself having a long career there anyway, and now he had a new friend and co-pilot, who would do anything for him as part of the life debt that now existed between them. They'd landed on a small tourist planet and were there to take in the scenery and try to find some replacement parts for his ship, and now as they entered the cantina, they were arguing.

"What is it with you and Dejarik?" Han asked the wookiee, who only howled at him in response. Unfazed by the hot breath that about blinded him, Han answered, "Sure I like it, but I'm not the one that has to play it every time we stop somewhere."

The place was packed because the air was cold and the drinks were cheap and full of ice, a must for this time of the season. Han looked around mentally taking a head count how long it would be before they could actually get service, and he stopped in his tracks, quickly enough that Chewie walked right into him and about knocked the Corellian smuggler on the floor.

Up at the bar, Han saw a figure in a long black cloak with its back to him. The cloak didn't quite make it to the floor and he was able to spot a well worn pair of black boots and the cuffs of a pair of ashen gray pants just under where the cloak ended.

"Charon?"

Chewbacca grunted inquisitively.

"It's...someone, I used to know," Han answered, not sure at all how to explain this one to his new companion, "Come on."

They went over to the bar, Han came right up behind the cloaked figure, and this time he wasn't going to let her out of his sight.

"Charon?"

The figure turned in response to the voice. Charon pushed the hood down the back of her neck to look at him, her eyes lit up in mild recognition as she acknowledged, "Han Solo...funny, I'd heard you were dead, you don't look too bad considering." She noted the company behind him and added, hardly missing a beat, "What's with the wookiee? You going inter-species now?"

Han had barely even had time to hear the question before he heard something much louder that made his blood run cold, and he realized it was the sound of Chewbacca laughing. The smuggler's eyes widened in this realization. Had it been anyone else he could've easily seen Chewie ripping their arms out of their sockets, but Charon had made the 7 foot beast laugh.

He turned to his navigator and asked him bluntly, "What's so funny, hairball?" He turned back to the ferryman and told her, "This is Chewbacca, my new co-pilot."

"You don't say," Charon responded and looked the wookiee up and down. "Well, it's nice to know somebody's watching your back. I heard you got dishonorably discharged from the Imperial Navy."

"I was not dishonorably discharged," Han retorted firmly, "I was court-martialed, it's entirely different."

Charon chuckled and told him, "What surprised me is that you didn't get yourself kicked out years ago. So what was it about?"

Han turned towards Chewie, "This guy right here."

"Come again?"

"This big hairy oaf is the reason I got court-martialed," Han explained.

"Well will wonders never cease?" Charon asked rhetorically, and held her gloved hand out to the wookiee, "Nice to meet you, Chewbacca."

Chewie chattered something in response.

"What're you doing here?" Han asked her.

"I'm docked at the moment, brought some fares over on the ferry Hades."

"You don't mean you're still working for the old man running that antique," Han couldn't believe it.

"Not quite," Charon answered as the bartender handed her a whole bottle of something and three glasses and she gestured to an available table, "the old man died eight months ago, now the ferry's mine...and it needs a complete overhaul."

"Wait...he left you the ferry?" Han asked as they sat down.

"I didn't say that," she responded, "just that he's dead and it's mine now. When opportunity strikes, you jump on it. What about you? What're you doing here?"

"It's a long story," Han told her.

Chewbacca howled and snorted his own two credits on their current situation.

"Okay, it's a short story," Han replied.

Charon laughed. Then she stomped on Han's foot under the table, causing him to double over with a deafening, "OW!"

"What the hell were you thinking joining the Imperial Navy?" she wanted to know.

Han groaned as he rubbed his foot through the boot and remarked, "You know thinking's never been my strong suit."

Chewbacca grunted in agreement.

"I wasn't talking to you," Han told him. He turned towards Charon and shrugged, "What can I say? The work wasn't that bad, and besides it beat rotting in a detention center."

Charon squinted her eyes questioningly. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Well you might say I was given an ultimatum and joining the Navy seemed like the lesser of two tortures to me," Han said.

"What kind of ultimatum? What'd you do? Who'd you get that zonked off at you?" Charon asked.

"We don't have time to go through that whole list," he pointed out. He looked at her and asked in return, "What about you?"

"What about me what?" Charon asked.

"I've heard rumors the fares on your ship have been taken out to be interrogated for any possible Rebel affiliations and executed afterwards," Han told her. "What of it?"

Charon looked at him smugly and answered, "If I were on the Imperial payroll I wouldn't be stuck with 40 year old generators and 80 year old droids. The rumors are just that, rumors. You can always come on board if you don't believe me."

"Ha, nice try, no thanks," Han remarked.

"Okay, what about your ship?" she asked.

"What?"

Charon didn't say a word since she came on board Han's ship and looked the place over. Even he knew it was a heap of junk but right now it was the best he could do, and he definitely resented it, just like he resented the fact she was keeping her thoughts about the place to herself. For some reason he felt it'd be less insulting if she flat out called the place a horn boar sty.

Once she got the grand tour of the place she looked at him and only said, "How long have you had it?"

"Since I got court-martialed," he answered.

"Any room for passengers?" she asked.

"Not if they want to sleep," he told her.

"Where's the galley?"

"Isn't one."

She looked at him, "So what're you living off of?"

"Emergency ration packs," he answered, the look on his face the perfect answer of how ideal that was.

Charon made a dismissive sound in her throat and responded, "That explains a lot, I thought you were looking kind of scrawny."

Han's eyes bulged and his chest puffed up as he repeated in disbelief, "Scrawny?"

Their conversation rang half hollow in his ears. After all these years there were so many things he wanted to ask, he wanted to tell Charon, and he didn't dare on any of them. It was obvious that neither of them could've ever anticipated their lives turning out this way, and neither of them was currently in any position to improve matters any. He wanted nothing more than to tell her to ditch the ferry and come with he and Chewie, but the truth was there was hardly even enough room on the ship for the two of them as it was, and it was a chance he couldn't take. He hadn't been too popular in the Imperial Navy and somehow he'd managed to make even more enemies since the court-martial, he'd already dragged her into his problems once and it had nearly gotten both of them killed, and he wasn't going to do that again.

"If you change your mind," Charon told him as she headed towards the boarding ramp, "I'm docked over at bay 13, I'll be there for the week. It was good to see you again, cowboy." She turned to the wookiee and added, "Nice to meet you, Chewbacca, I wish you lots of luck with this one."

Han watched her leave the ship, then he had a wookiee howling questions in his ear, all of which he answered methodically, "I told you, she's someone I used to know...yes, I knew her well...no we never got close enough to have kids...she is nice...no, no, I don't think so...that was a long time ago, we were different people then, it wouldn't work out now...it just wouldn't. You want to what?"

Chewbacca's sudden statement caught the smuggler off guard. "Why?" The wookiee had a response for that too, and it honestly surprised Han but didn't sway him much on the argument. "You've really never been on a ferry? ...okay, if that's what you want to do, fine, we'll go check it out, but I'm telling you, buddy, there's not much to see, a ferry's the worst experience you could ever have traveling, it's just a big ship that crawls along at the speed of a slug, and nothing ever happens on them."