First of all, THANK YOU for all the great reviews! I can't believe it received so many, especially for one chapter. It really makes me happy, as I love reviews. I wrote all the suggestions down and will try to use them all. I'm not very familiar with Mara Jade (although I did read all the Star Wars novels) – that is, I never tried writing her character before. I know she used to work with Kardre (spelling?), was the Emperor's Hand, married Luke (once he fixed her brain of course!) and recently had a son named Ben. I could try a chapter with her but it may not be perfect. I also need to think about Mon Mothma, as I'm not too clear yet what they would say to each other. As for Vader's character not being perfect: I realize Vader would arrest Solo, but the idea is just for them to have a funny conversation. Now onto Chapter Two!

Chapter Two: The Falcon

Darth Vader silently followed the smuggler Solo to where his freighter was parked. Either the man didn't know he was being followed or he didn't care. Not that it mattered to the Dark Lord of the Sith. No, what mattered to him was inside Solo's ship: his two children. Why Luke and Leia continued to friend with such a low-life character was beyond him, although he had to admit he did have certain abilities. Solo was apparently a superb pilot and continued to escape from his clutches on a regular basis when they encountered each other in the dark depths of outer space. The man also had an unusual ability to make his ship disappear off radar without the use of a cloaking device. Vader desired the secret greatly, for as of yet he hadn't been able to figure it out. He watched Solo run up the ramp into the Falcon and disappear from sight.

From the outside, the Millennium Falcon looked like the last time he saw it: a hunk of junk with blaster scoring in several places. How such a ship could continue to evade his state-of-the-art Executor was a real mystery and Vader didn't like mysteries. Determined to learn more about the man his daughter had gotten involved with, Vader walked up the ramp. "It had better look different on the inside."

Pausing in the doorway, Darth Vader turned his helmeted head up and back to scan the interior of the spaceship. What his eyes saw was pure chaos. In all his life he had never seen such a filthy mess! One would think a bomb had recently gone off inside the spacecraft and had thrown debris everywhere. Machine parts and tools were scattered over every surface, abandoned wherever they had last been dropped. Panels gaped open in several places, colored wires dangling out like long tongues. Assorted bits of clothing added to the mess; a sock over there, a jacket bunched up on the floor near a chair. And what was that brownish stuff that seemed to coat everything? Vader bent and picked up a small sample, holding it up near his black breath mask.

FUR! It was fur from that Wookie that Solo was always with!

"Oh, it's you." Han said as he appeared from somewhere deeper inside the ship. "Thought I heard someone snooping around out here."

"Solo, if you wish to marry my daughter your living conditions must improve."

"Huh?" Han Solo gazed around the room, a confused look on his face. "Things look OK to me. What's wrong with it?"

"This place is a pig-sty! Solo, I will not have my children living in such filth!"

Han glanced around again and spotted the sock. Walking over to it, he snatched it up. "It's not my fault if Luke leaves his socks everywhere. Besides, people are LIVING here. That's how a place looks when people live in it. If you don't like it, Your Lordship, you can clean it up."

HO-PAH. HO-PAH. HO-PAH.

Vader's hands clenched into fists as anger surged through him, the power of the Dark Side flooding him with its darkness. How dare that Solo suggest for him to clean it! He wanted to choke the space pirate for the remark but managed to reign himself in. If he did, he wouldn't get to see Luke or Leia and that was more important than killing Solo.

"Uh, uh, uh, uh!" Han wiggled a finger at him, his dark eyes lit with humor. "Remember what I said about Leia, so you have to control that temper of yours. Now if you don't like how it looks, go clean it."

Vader stood motionless where he was in the doorway, staring at Solo.

"See? You don't mind the mess at all." Solo said as he turned away from Vader and went deeper into his ship. "Probably got a mess bigger than this in your quarters on that fancy ship of yours."

Watching where he placed his booted feet, Vader followed Solo. Stretching out in the Force, he could sense both Luke and Leia were aboard this sorry excuse for a ship. He would make sure to talk to each of them today, but Solo first. He hadn't realized the man was such a slob. He found Han within a few minutes, standing in front of an open panel.  Since he had fixed ship parts for Watto since he was a young boy, Vader was quite familiar with the inner workings of a ship – and the confused tangle of wires before Solo was jury-rigging. Jury-rigging on a ship was fine in an emergency, but it was meant to be a temporary fix not long term. And the tangle was so confusing it was even giving him a headache!

"Solo, I am greatly disappointed in you."

"Now what?" Han groaned as he turned around to look at Vader. "Hey, it's not my fault if Chewie is shedding! It's spring back on Kashyyk, you know. Oh, I'll clean it up later, OK? But that's what you get when you drop in unannounced."

"This ship is jury-rigged."

"So? It works!" Han snorted. "Besides, its MY ship. If you don't like it, go back to your own bucket of bolts."

"It's against regulations for an entire ship to be jury-rigged in such a manner."

"What regulations? I'm not in your blasted Empire!" Han retorted. He bent down to a pile of parts lying on the floor near his boots and began to throw them around. "Now where is that part?"

"It's against regulations because it's unsafe. How can you risk my children's lives on such a crate? It could all fail at the same time."

"Well, it didn't do that so far!" Han went over to a chair that was covered in a towering pile of data disks. Shoving the disks to the floor, Han held up the desired part in triumph. "Ah-ha! I found it!"

"It's very likely it will fail. You know that as well as I."

"Every time a part fails is because you're shooting at me!" Han yelled as he tried to put the part where it belonged within the tangle of wires. "Great. It doesn't fit. Now what am I going to do?"

"I strongly suggest you clean this vessel before you get infested with bugs."

Han blinked his brown eyes at Vader. "I thought that spray I bought killed them all. Hmm, guess I need to buy more. What kind of bug did you see?"

"Are you telling me this ship is infested with vermin?"

"Well," Han shrugged his shoulders, his face turning reddish. "I thought I killed them all. There was the black ones that crunch when you step on them, the squiggly things with all the legs, those annoying tiny flying ones, the bigger flying things, one or two things that built webs and uh, those other things with the spots."

HO-PAH. HO-PAH. HO-PAH.

"Hey, could you hand me the wrench? It's under the sofa, I think." Han pointed towards a tan sofa along the far wall. "Lando gave it to me after his deal at Bespin went sour. That Lando, always scheming up plans and get-rich-quick schemes; of course none of them ever works for him."

Vader stared at the sofa in question. It looked oddly clean compared to the rest of the ship and he wondered why. Only a data disk and a few pillows rested on it. In fact, it looked too clean. "Why is a wrench under a sofa?"

"Because it slid there when we landed. The thrusters weren't working right so the ship came down unevenly." Han explained with a sigh. "Oh, never mind. I'll go get it!"

Han crouched in front of the sofa and stuck his arm under it. He pulled out a plate with some dried up crusted food on it. "Oops, you don't want to see that. Hee-hee."

"Solo, don't you know anything about keeping a ship?"

"I know you're too fussy." Han found the wrench and went back over to the part. Then he started banging on the part with the wrench as hard as he could.

"What are you doing?" Vader demanded.

"Trying to make the part a bit smaller so it'll fit! What else does it look like?"

"I am loosing my patience with you, General Solo. You are incompetent to run a ship, especially one with my children aboard!"

"Well, excuse me, Your Lordship!" Han dropped the wrench and turned to face Vader. "And I think you're the one that has a few things to learn!"

"And what am I to learn from you?"

"There are more important things than having a big fancy ship with gleaming floors so clean you can eat off them. Like friendship and responsibility. Look, maybe I don't have all the wealth and power you have, but I'm taking care of your kids the best I can. I don't see you helping any. In fact, you never were around."

"That wasn't my choice." Vader replied. "They were taken and hidden from me. I was never told they even existed."

"That sounds like an excuse to me," Han said. "I keep risking my neck for them because I love them and care about them. You command your men through fear. Well, friendship and love is more powerful. That's why the Rebel Alliance is going to win this war. Because we all stick together because we want to be together, not because we've been drafted and ordered to do something."

"That's still not an excuse for the pig-sty on this ship!"

"Yeah, Leia keeps complaining about it, too." Han laughed, a twinkle in his eye. "But I just thought up the perfect solution."

"You're going to clean it?"

"Heck no! We're going to move in with YOU!"

To be continued…

Sorry if that wasn't as funny as the first one. Chapters with Luke and Leia will be next.