ABOARD THE ERRANT VENTURE, 40 YEARS ABE:

A plump, curvy Devaronian woman wearing a gauzy half-skirt over an abbreviated red jumpsuit led a small group of humans and one golden protocol droid down the converted Star Destroyer's hallways. Her tawny fur rippled as she laughed, revealing sharp teeth and a deep set of dimples.

Booster, having an entire casino to manage, had turned his visitors over to one of his loyal employees-as loyal as credits could buy, at least-and it was the sharp rap of her razor-edged heels against the scuffed deckplates that they followed now. Overhead, strings of small erratically colored lights twinkled, bring an oddly anarchic sort of cheer to the grim Imperial-style architecture. The colorful paint framing each gray door did much the same, scuffed as it was. The general style of this section of the Errant Venture was akin to what would happen if a child were given a paintbox and told to color in the lines of a Star Destroyer, only to get bored halfway through and give up. It was, in its own way, oddly charming.

Charming being the default state of being into which the Calrissian family fell, Lando was charmingly flirting with their escort. "And how long has such a delightful lady as yourself been in the employ of that old scoundrel?" he asked, flashing one of his trademark-worthy smiles.

"Is that a delicate way of asking my age?" the Devaronian gasped, batting her eyelashes at him above a wide pout. "How rude." She turned towards Han, walking beside Lando, and repeated the gesture. "Don't you think he's being rude, Captain Solo?"

Han grunted, apparently unaware of her fluttering eyelashes and the prominent furred bosom she turned to angle towards him; he stared straight ahead as he walked, the expression on his weathered face stoney. A half-pace behind him, his wife glanced at the Devaronian and her ineffectual flirting and for a moment, a wry smile flickered through the grim lines of her own set features. Leia's eyes flicked back front and worry knotted her brows again as Lando attempted to draw their guide's attention back to himself, saying, "You misunderstand, my dear; I was merely trying to gauge whether you'd grown bored with grumpy old Booster yet, and might be interested in an offer of more lucrative employment elsewhere…"

"I thought you and Booster agreed to stop trying to poach each other's employees four years ago," Stella interrupted, learning forward to interpose herself between her father and the object of his flirtation. Her expression seemed torn between amusement and exasperation. She rolled her eyes pointedly. "Leave Yon Riesel alone."

"She doesn't mind!" Lando protested. "You don't mind, do you?" Instead of answering, the Devaronian woman just laughed. "See?" Lando insisted to his daughter. "She doesn't mind. Right?"

"We've arrived," was all Riesel said, her blue eyes twinkling mischevieriously. She paused beside a closed bulkhead door that appeared identical to all the others dotting the long hallway, save for the dots and dashes of the number painted on its scuffed door in fading red. She gestured towards the pale plasteel as though she were a holo-presenter introducing a featured artifact or prize on a gameshow. "Can I assist you further? Lord Terrick wants you to have all the succor you desire while you're aboard his vessel."

"How generous," Threepio exclaimed; the others ignored him.

"I'm sure," said Leia drily, imagining how eager Booster probably was to have a witness in the room with them-not that there was even a faint chance he didn't have surveillance on the room already but no matter how many holocams one had recording, the perspective of a live sentient was always worthwhile. "We'll be fine, though. Thank you."

She reached toward the button to open the door but Bail caught her arm.

"Mom, wait," he said. "If these are stormies, they're going to be terrified of Jedi. We should hang back and let dad and Uncle Lando ask the questions."

"Senator Leia, if I might offer my communication services-" Threepio began to speak with enthusiasm, but the humans weren't listening and he fell silent again in the face of their inattention.

Leia's eyes narrowed in frustration but she nodded agreement to Bail's words and stepped aside, letting Han lead the way inside. He squeezed her arm absently as he passed. Lando patted her shoulder reassuringly and winked at Riesel, who gave him a toothy smile in return.

"I'll be waiting right here if you find you need anything," she told the Organa-Solos and Calrissians as they filed inside one-by-one, the two Force users taking the rear. Riesel winked at Bail as he passed; the young Jedi ducked his head and blushed furiously.

The door slid shut on Riesel's laughter.

Within the small, cramped, sparsely-furnished room waited five unfamiliar humans, all averaging approximately 1.8 meters in height and 80 kilograms in well-muscled weight, their hair close-cropped and their faces young. They ranged in coloring from lighter than Leia's pink-cheeked pallor to darker than Stella's beautiful brown dimples, but the moment they turned to face the door they snapped into identical parade-perfect posture, all five of them reaching in unison for blaster rifles they didn't have.

"At ease, kids," Lando said, holding up his hands in a half-joking imitation of a surrender gesture. He gave them a charming smile. "We're the folks Booster commed to say he was sending down to talk to you. No funny stuff-just a couple of questions."

"Who are you, that we should have to answer them?" a hard-faced young woman asked. The shiny old blaster-scar across her temple made her scowl look feral.

Lando drew in a breath, no doubt about to share his extensive (and extensively exaggerated) credentials, but before he could speak another former stormtrooper lowered his empty hands and stepped forward and said breathlessly, "Don't you recognize them? That's General Calrissian, and-and Admiral Solo!" The wide-eyed young man pointed at Lando and said, "He blew up the Second Death Star! And led the Rebel forces at the Rout of Iskalon! And Admiral Solo led the task force that-"

"Hey," Han interrupted, raising his hands in an unconscious echo of Lando's conciliatory greeting, "Hey, I resigned my commission, kid." He looked as uncomfortable as though someone had dumped Klatoonian sandworms into his socks. "I'm no admiral."

"Still-"

"Wait," one of the other ex-stormtroopers interrupted, pointing past Han and Stella at Leia and Bail, in the back of the group, "if that's Solo, then that means that's-"

"Organa!" shouted the first speaker. She shoved forward before Han or Lando could react, diving past them as she pulled a vibroblade from her sleeve and thumbed it on, drawing back her arm in preparation for driving it into Leia's chest.

"Oh my!" shouted Threepio, flinging his arms up in panic.

"Mit, no!" shouted the second of the speakers but Mit ignored him, barrelling forward.

Before she could take a third step, Stella caught the former stormtrooper's outstretched arm, swung her hip out to block the other woman's charge, hooked a fashionably-booted foot around her ankle, and flung her to the deck all in half the time it would have taken her father to narrate.

The vibroblade now in her hand, Stella pressed it lightly against the ex-stormtrooper's neck and leaned down on the other woman's shoulder with her free hand, pinning her in place. Lando gaped, then grinned proudly. Han already had his blaster in his hand and was holding it low and loose but unmistakably pointed in the general direction of the remaining stormtroopers.

A small smile tugged at Leia's lips as she observed Stella's work. Next to her, Bail raised his eyebrows and whistled softly.

Stella's pretty smile didn't reach her glittering eyes, which she held fixed on her captive, trusting the others to keep the woman's comrades from causing trouble. None of the other stormtroopers put their hands in the air, but none of them reached for a weapon either; instead they watched, tense and anxious and clearly knowing themselves outmatched if not outnumbered.

"We're going to ask some questions now," Stella said calmly. "At least one of you is going to answer them, or I'm going to start by cutting this throat and moving on until I've found someone ready to talk. We have a friend in danger, and no time for Imperial games."

The stormtrooper on the ground glowered and pressed her lips together so tightly the pink skin went white from the pressure. The other stormtroopers shifted their weight, as though bracing for a fight. Their faces shone with equal parts fear and resolution. The one who had spoken with such awe of Lando and Han's military careers glanced frantically around the room, searching for an escape hatch that did not materialize.

Han's hand tightened on his blaster. Leia rested her fingers lightly atop her belt, inches from her lightsaber. Lando edged backwards, out of the line of fire, and fidgeted with his cape. Almost as practical as it was fashionable, the fabric was designed to deflect blaster fire but it wouldn't do much against a direct shot, and would be all-but-useless against a high-grade vibroblade-or a low-grade fist. "Oh dear," Threepio murmured, head rotating to look between Stella and Leia. "Mistress Leia, I'm not sure-"

Bail stepped forward, his face serene. "There is no need for that," he said. Gone was the anxious tone of a worried brother; gone the sardonic drawl of a resigned son. He sounded calm and lofty, every inch the proper young Jedi Knight. "Jedi Organa-Solo and I can simply rip the information we want from their minds," he continued lightly. "Much less mess-well, at least for Lord Terrick's carpets. The mindscape is a different matter...but unlike throats, brains don't leak when you tear them apart."

He offered a small, cool little smile.

The former stormtroopers stared at him. So did Han and Lando. So did Stella. Threepio's head swiveled faster.

"Can they do that?" Lando leaned over and whispered to Han.

The ex-stormtroopers cracked: "What do you want to know?" the admiring one asked.

"Please," said the shortest of the group, nodding fervently, "we'll tell you anything."

Han grinned. "They just did," he murmured back.

Lando frowned, then started to smile. "Pure Sabaac," he chuckled.

Bail moved towards the stormtroopers. "Tell us where-" he began, but Leia stepped past him.

"Tell us about your new Emperor," she said, her voice grim.