****
Chapter Three
Jas welcomed the smell of oil and fuel of the hanger. Rei'Ka followed her into the hanger bay as she searched for the Millennium Falcon. Her eyes caught the large Corellian freighter ship and led Rei'Ka toward it. Han Solo was sitting on the top of the Falcon, trying to work on something inside it; Chewbacca was underneath it, working hard as well.
"Anything we can do?" Jas asked the two of them. The former smuggler and his wookie companion looked away from their work to see her standing there, the Togorian at her side.
"It's about time you got back!" Han said, climbing down to the hanger bay floor. "We were worried sick!" He wiped his hands off with a rag and tossed it aside.
"No you weren't, but thanks anyway." She said, Han walked up to her and shook her hand.
"Well, it seemed like the right thing to say." Han shrugged.
"Han Solo, meet Rei'Ka. Rei, this is Han, and that's Chewbacca." She said, introducing the Togorian to her friends.
"Pleased to meet you both." Rei'Ka said.
"Of all the Togorians I've come up against, he seems to be the most intelligent one." Han said. "How is that possible?"
"I'll explain later." She said. "Is Luke around?"
"Yeah sure, he's inside the ship." Han said, thumbing toward the ship.
"Rei'Ka stay here, I'll be back." Jas said and went to the ship. She boarded it and looked around searching for Luke. She finally found him, sitting in the captain's chair of the ship and huddled over the sensor array, trying to adjust it so it worked right. But as Jas knew from experience, nothing on the hunk-a-junk freighter ever worked right.
Luke had his back toward her, she walked up to him and tapped his shoulder. The man turned and smiled. "Jas?" He asked, he got up. She hugged him tight around his neck. He returned the embrace and squeezed her tightly, then let her go.
"What are you doing here?" Luke asked.
"I was around." Jas replied with a shrug and a half smile. "How are you?"
"Surprised and pleased, actually. I didn't expect to see you back so soon." Luke said.
"It's been three years." Jas replied, crossing her arms.
"You know what I mean." Luke said as he sat back down in the Captain's chair in the ship..
"I caused quite an uproar in the Senate meeting." She said as she sat in the seat next to him.
"What did you do?" Luke asked.
"Some hotshot senator named Briggs is causing quite a stir. About disbanding smugglers and focusing on the Empire, primarily. Cutting out the middleman---woman in my case. He called me a piece of backwater smuggling trash, and you KNOW I couldn't sit around and take it." She said, with a smile. "Now I have that senator mad at me."
"Canton Briggs." Luke sighed. "The worst representation Tatooine ever had. Don't let it bother you too much, Jas. It'll pass. Besides, I'm sure Leia loved it."
"She did, actually." Jas replied. The smuggler chuckled. "She was glad I was there to get her off the hook if nothing else."
Soon, Rei'Ka stepped into the Falcon, "Jas." Rei said.
"Luke, this is Rei'Ka, Rei, this is Luke." Jas introduced.
"Nice to meet you." Rei said.
"You too." Luke replied.
"What's up?" Jas asked her Togorian companion. He gestured her to join him outside of the ship. She nodded and looked at Luke. "I'll see you later, alright?" She put her hand on his arm as the Jedi nodded and went back to his work. Jas left the ship with Rei, then they went back to their own shuttle.
"Savan has been trying to contact us for two hours." Rei said as they stepped on board. The hatch closed behind them as Jas turned on the holo-projector.
"Sometimes I wish I could cut ties with her altogether." Jas said as she punched the codes in for the private channel of their employers, Black Sun.
The head and shoulders of a very distraught Falleen female with black hair and smooth reptilian green skin filled their sight. Her deep violet eyes were narrowed and angry.
"I have been trying to get a hold of you for two standard hours." She growled.
The pro-Imperial Black Sun Organization has been around since the war with the Rebellion. After the fall of it's leader, Prince Xizor, his only living relative took over. Her name is Savan, she's Xizor's niece and just as persuading as he was.
"Sorry, boss. Got caught up in something else." Jas said, she sat in the captain's chair of her ship and slouched nonchalantly, she put her right leg over her left and leaned back. Rei'Ka remained standing.
"Whatever it is, I'm sure it was important to you." Savan said with mock sincerity.
"What's up, Savan?" Jas said.
"Have you succeeded in making yourself known to the New Republic Senators?" She asked.
Jas rolled her eyes up to Rei, then back at Savan. "Oh, I made myself known alright." She leaned forward in her chair and looked at the female Falleen. "Look, couldn't you have hired someone else to do this job?"
"You are the best at what you do. Besides, your ties with Luke Skywalker and the Solos are strong." Savan said, Jas sighed in exasperation and leaned back in her chair. "They trust you."
"Which is exactly why I can't do this." Jas argued. She wasn't afraid of Savan, the only smuggler under the Falleen's jurisdiction who wasn't. It earned Jas a certain respect from her. "You got the wrong girl, Savan."
"If you don't cooperate, then I will see that your family on Endor suffers greatly for this." Savan said darkly. Jas's family was still alive. Living on Endor, they were refugees, forced out of their home by Black Sun itself. Jas had a mother, father and a younger brother, no older than six, living among the Ewoks that had helped Jas and her friends three years ago. No one knew about her family's existence, none but Jas, Rei and Savan of course. To save their lives, Jas offered her services to Black Sun. Their lives rely on her loyalty.
"You wouldn't dare." Jas growled.
"Oh yes I would. You see, I've learned a few things about my Uncle's ruthlessness while he was in charge here. Put up a charming, calm exterior, while I watch planets and their inhabitants cringe in fear. And while I stand by Grand Admiral Thrawn, he will do anything I wish of him." Savan growled. "Even if I wish a planet to be destroyed."
"Damn you, Savan." Jas said.
"Now, work your smuggler's charm and destroy the New Republic. Slowly and subtly if you must, but do it, or your family is as good as dead." Savan's image disappeared.
"Damn her! That…that….slime eating worm! That…scum! " Jas yelled, pounding her fist on the arm of her chair. She put her face in her hand and rested her elbow on the chair arm again. Rei'Ka put his large hand on her shoulder. "I don't want to do this." Jas said quietly.
"I know. But we don't have a choice." Rei said.
"Yeah, that's the worse thing about this." She said. She got up and wiped her face. "We may as well get started. It's going to be hard getting passed Luke though. He's a Jedi, he could read me like a book, and if I block anything, I know he'll be suspicious of me. I don't want to betray Luke." She started pacing around the lounge of her shuttle. A little something she had added on thanks to Black Sun's many, many connections.
"What if we told your friends what is going on, then we could work out a plan to fake it. Make Savan think we did our job?" Rei suggested.
"There are Black Sun Operatives everywhere. You know that, just as well as I. If there are Operatives posing as New Republic Guards for all we know. If one should over hear, they'll take it to Savan and she'd have us killed." Jas said.
"Jas'Lyn?"
A voice asked from outside the ship. Jas and Rei stopped talking and looked at each other. "It's Han." Jas said as she let the docking hatch open, praying to whatever is holy that he didn't over hear anything.
"Hey Han. Welcome to The Emerald." Jas said as if nothing was wrong. "A lot roomier than a standard Lambda-class shuttle, and homey."
"Nice." Han said looking around. "The modifications are great. More shield power, quad laser cannons, and a place to eat, sleep and play Sabacc. A little home away from home. Who ever you're working for must be paying you good."
"You have no idea." Jas said rolling her eyes. "Overworked and underpaid, though things have been pretty slow lately."
"Every smuggler has a binge like that." Han said. He gave Jas one of his handsome sideways smiles. His brown eyes were kind and friendly.
"So, what's up?" Jas asked.
"Oh yeah." Han said. "Leia asked me to invite you dinner with, her, Luke and I. I hope you're hungry. She's had the cooks working double shifts since you got back."
"Actually, I could eat an entire Bantha right now." Jas said.
"Good." Han said with a chuckle. "You can tell us all about what you've been doing." He turned and left the ship. Jas looked at Rei, the Togorian looked back at her. He saw the sadness in her eyes. She usually never showed her emotion to him, but now…well now was different. Rei'Ka had a family of his own on Togoria, a mate and two cubs. It was hard parting from them to travel with his human counterpart. But of course no one was holding their lives over his head.