Disclaimer: We don't own anything except Zeke. Got it?
Good Times
Luke was exhausted. What with fighting pirates, rescuing demented teens and dealing with distraught siblings, it was a long day. And even Jedi need their sleep!
As he reached his room he shut his door and collapsed onto his bed in weariness. He had intended to get a good sleep in a nice soft bed… but instead he received something sharp poking into his side.
Rolling over, he dug into his pocket and wrenched the offending item into his field of view.
He had almost forgotten, well he had forgotten. When he had dug his hand into the small pouch on the lid of the chest he had been searching through he hadn't bothered looking at what he had retrieved. And what with the excitement of nearly being killed a couple of times and with nothing better to do, well it was an excuse to be nosy once in a while.
Luke stared at the holo-cube in his hand. If the small item which had caused him pain belonged to his brother-in-law, he wasn't sure he wanted to know what was in it- but then again, it was from the mysterious past of the infamous Han Solo. Curiosity took over.
Luke went to the table and placed the cube on its surface. He pressed the button that activated it and stepped back to watch.
His first impression was: 'This is old…'
His second was, 'Oh, crap.'
The film quality was poor; it was fuzzy and unclear in places. The subject of the film also betrayed its age. A very youthful looking Han was in shot, grinning and posing for the camera while a younger Leia in a wedding dress smiled and laughed at him. Suddenly, Luke saw himself trying to sneak into frame. The real Luke smiled, he had arrived late for Han and Leia's wedding. If anything in the old Jedi knights code had said anything like 'A Jedi must be punctual and regular,' he had broken it long ago.
Suddenly the wedding scene vanished to be replaced by Leia sitting in bed, dressed in Pyjamas and holding two new born babies, one in each arm. She was smiling down at them and watched them drool on her. Luke heard Han's faint voice and assumed he was out of shot somewhere, most likely calling people to tell them about the arrival of his children. From what Luke could hear, he sounded ecstatic.
The image blurred and disappeared, to be replaced by the Solos back garden and a bright sunny day. This one was more recent. Jaina and Jacen were running around in their swimming costumes chasing bugs no doubt. The camera moved sideways and Leia came into view. She was lying on a sun bed in a skimpy bikini catching rays. She had a thick green face mask on and cucumber slices over her eyes. Luke snorted with laughter at her ludicrous appearance. She clearly didn't know that the film was being shot or she would never have allowed herself to be filmed looking the way she did.
Han was trying to teach Anakin how to sit up long enough to play 'Dissection', on the grass, in the shade beside the tall fence that surrounded the small lawn. Chewie was walking around the perimeter trying to spy on the neighbours. There was shouting from the other side of the fence and Luke was sure he heard the words, 'overgrown dog!' being used.
The last thing he saw before the picture blurred out for the last time was twins sneaking up behind the wookiee with a garden hose pipe clasped between their small hands, and then the water squirting out the end. Even after the picture was gone Luke could still hear the sound of Chewie's roars and Jaina and Jacen's childish shrieks.
And that appeared to be the last of the holo-vids. Luke sighed, ah the good old days, when Leia didn't shout, the kids didn't complain and Han acted like a grown up. He grinned and reasoned with himself.
Maybe these days were better than the old ones.
"Hey Han! Can I call you Han?"
"No," said Han, looking up at the stick-insect-like teenager.
Zeke flashed a grin, "Too bad, I'm calling you Han anyway!" Despite his valour, he approached the Captain cautiously. He didn't want to seem too annoying, right?
Surprisingly, Han was the first to start the conversation. "How you feeling?"
"I've been better," Zeke took a step forward, "Lando says that I'll feel like I have the flu for a while…"
Han nodded, "I've seen it all before."
Zeke didn't answer, anxious to get off the subject.
Han could tell that if he didn't say anything there would be an awkward silence so he went to the point "Was there something you wanted?"
If he had wanted to destroy the awkwardness he had failed miserably. As soon as he asked, he could tell he had made Zeke feel slightly more uncomfortable. But the boy was brave enough to ask…
"CanitakealookattheFalcon'scontrols?" he said extremely quickly and nervously. Han gave him a surprised look.
"Say that again, a bit slower and…slower."
Zeke took a deep breath and started again, "Can-I-Take-A-Look-At-The-Falcon's-Controls… Please!" he added as an afterthought.
Before Han could answer the boy was off, "I'm really interested in flying but this is only my second time in space! I've only ever been on two starships and this is one of them. In the briefing for this mission, well I wasn't really listening, but I did hear that the Falcon is specially modified! It's not like I want to fly the ship I just want to take a look around! Wedge said you never let anyone else drive it not even him and he told me that he's one of the best pilots in the Galaxy!"
Han rolled his eyes, that sounded like Wedge alright.
"And…"Zeke had been about to continue when Han interrupted.
"Slow down kid! We may be in space but you still need to breathe up here!"
Zeke came to a complete halt and sure enough he was panting slightly. Then:
"Please," he tried once more, so quietly that Han wasn't sure that he heard it.
Han creased his brow. Was it a wise idea to let this kid near the controls of his beloved Falcon? Wedge and Lando seemed to trust him- though that wasn't much to go on.
But Luke- the Jedi Master who could poke around in peoples minds if he felt the need, trusted Zeke as well and who was Han to judge?
"Okay… but on one condition!" Han stated.
"Yeh…?"
Han stared him down, "You must tell me the truth."
Despite the nervousness at being asked such a question- for he didn't even know what truth he needed to tell- Zeke wasn't going to be belittled by Han, so to raise himself to Han's eye level he did the only thing possible. He stood on his toes.
Han noticed but didn't say anything. He also took note of the dark blue eye colour which had come into place.
"You must tell me… have you been sent here as an evil minion, by Wedge and Lando as part of their dastardly plan to steal the Falcon?"
A.N. Yo! We're back!
Audience boos. Apparently we've come back too many times!
Naturally we'd like to thank all our reviewers!
Thorney: You all smell great!
Sweetdeath04: Stares but then continues as if Thorney didn't say anything
We'd also like to thank you for speculating. We love seeing what you lot out there think is going on. Keep guessing, you maybe close…or not so close...
Thorney: Or miles away which is where you are.
Sweetdeath04: SHHHHH! Don't tell them that!
Thorney: for the first time in the history of our writing partnership we had an…argument today. I blame MistyRiver who is here with us.
Sweetdeath04: Thing is I can't even remember what it was about. All I remember was three people yelling at each other.
Thorney: Good Times! I can't remember what it was about either but it was a good way of saying that MR was here.
Thorney and Sweetdeath04
