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The Not So Stranger

"YOU!" cried Han. This wasn't possible! It just wasn't! It was as simple as that, not possible! "You're supposed to be simmering in Sarlacc stomach acid right now!"

Indeed it was Boba Fett who was staring at him from inside the battered helmet, "Well the evidence would suggest otherwise," Han's enemy sneered.

"How did you escape?" Han had temporarily forgotten about the twins. The shock of seeing a man who he had though dead for a number of years had driven them straight from his mind.

Tilting his helmet to one side, Fett paused before answering, "You try being digested over a thousand year period! It's not pleasant, that's for sure. I know that you, Solo would also have done anything to get out… mind you, I succeeded where you would have failed."

At this, Fett tapped his helmet and Han suddenly understood. Boba Fett was a walking talking arsenal. Han doubted that even Sarlacc stomach acid could break through Fett's Mandalorian Armour.

Fett knew Han had figured that part of the story out so he continued. "After that, it was just a case of shooting my way out. Of course when I finally reached the surface I had no skin left… but what you gonna do?"

Now that Fett had finished his tale, Han's attention came suddenly back to the twins, who were still lying on the bed. He made a dive at them, but Fett raised his Tenloss DXR-b disrupter rifle and fixed it on Han. Han froze as Fett approached the twins and gathered them under his arm. They were too scared even to cry out to their father.

"You know," said Fett nonchalantly, "I never really wanted these two. I just wanted you in a position that you wouldn't be able to get out of. But when the opportunity arose, well, I couldn't resist using your own children against you." At that point the rifle's business end changed its aim from Han to his children. "So," Fett continued, "now that I have you, I can dispose of them."

Wary of the rifle, Han didn't advance straight away. Instead he said in as menacing a voice as he could muster, "If you do anything to hurt my kids Fett, I swear that for as long as I live I will hunt you down!"

Tinny laughter came from under the battered helmet. "You've been doing that all your life Solo. It's hardly a new threat. And, if I may say so, I believe I have the upper hand."

Overcome with rage, Han drew his gun and charged at the bounty hunter. But he stopped short at the sound of an almighty bang and smoke coming from the place where Fett had stood with the two Solo Juniors. As he jumped back waiting for the smoke that had instantly filled the room to clear, he was briefly reminded of the magician and illusionist Xaverri- one of Han's old flames- who had pulled off many a trick using smoke screens.

However, unlike Xaverri's smoke screens, this one was not designed for magic, so it cleared quickly. Han was then able to see where Fett had gone. He had ducked out a side door, out onto what appeared to be a balcony. Han followed quickly. It was only when he got outside onto the narrow balcony that he realised exactly how high up they were. The street was far below them. The few pedestrians that Han could see were the size of tiny bugs.

Fett was standing on the edge furthest away from the door. He was grasping one twin in each hand, holding them off the ground.

"Well Solo, I guess this is the end. This is my ultimate revenge for you throwing me in to that hell pit!" Fett yelled triumphantly.

"I didn't throw you in!" Han protested, "It was an accident! I hit your jet pack with a stick, remember I was blind at the time," he added as an after thought before continuing, "you went flying into he side of Jabba's barge, rolled down a sand hill and in to the Sarlacc, so it was your own stupid fault! You should know not to get in the way of a blind man wielding a stick!"

Han was sure Fett almost laughed, "I'll remember that for next time," then he was back to his evil self, "Not that they'll be a next time, for you anyway! You worthless fool. You think your independent, but you've been relying on other's your whole life! You came here to save your children, but you can't even save yourself let alone them. Let's face it Solo, you can't do anything right…you couldn't even kill me properly! And if you can't save your kids, tell me, what good are you here?"

"You'd be surprised what he's good for!"

Han suppressed the urge to turn around, as he knew Fett would shoot him in the back. But he recognised the voice.

"He's certainly good a chasing people around his ship when they've sabotaged an oil pipe while trying to help with repairs," said Wedge offhandedly. "Boba Fett, I presume? I'm General Wedge Antilles of the New Republic, Leader of Rogue Squadron and founder of Wraith Squadron."

Han was sure that under the mask Fett's mouth was hanging wide open at the exuberance of Wedge. "You're who?" The bounty hunter replied.

"Wedge Antilles!" Then, in a voice that resembled a childish whine he continued, "How come everyone's heard of you but no-one's heard of me?" He paused, then seemed to have a brain wave.

"And, Mr Fett, in answer to you're question, Han's a hell of a pilot! Some of the acid must have got through to your brain while you were in the Pit of Carkoon, if you don't remember that! It's a pretty obvious factor, in my opinion!"

Fett recovered from meeting Wedge in a shorter time than most. He quickly returned the quip with one of his own. "Ah yes, Solo's beloved Millennium Falcon. That pile of junk belongs in a museum- along with it's owner!"

"Ouch! That's got to hurt," Wedge whispered coming up to stand beside Han. Han hadn't noticed before as he hadn't turned around, but Wedge's blaster was out and pointed straight at Fett. Wedge was sporting some rather unsightly afflictions- such as a bloody nose and a rapidly blackening eye.

"Oh! What's going on here then?" Lando's voice came from the door. Then he spied Fett. And Fett spied him.

"AAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Both men let out a yell.

"You're not dead?" Lando gasped in surprise.

Fett seemed equally surprised that Lando was alive. "No-one's killed you yet?"

What followed was a stunned silence that was finally broken by Wedge. "Here, Lando! It's complement Han Solo day, did you know?"

Either Lando still hadn't recovered from the shock of seeing Boba Fett alive and well, or it was renewed from hearing this. "Complement Han Solo day? When did that happen?" Then he glanced at the man they were supposed to be complementing. "Ah well, looks like someone took pity on him after all…" He trailed off in thought.

"Sithspit, I forgot how insane you lot were!" Boba muttered in disbelief.

Lando acted as though he had never heard him, "Well, I don't think it would be possible to find another man who would forgive me for betraying him to Vader and Fett here."

Han risked a glance across at Lando and said sincerely, "Well, you did help rescue me. That counted for something."

Lando laughed and directed his attention back to Fett as he said, "If it was me in your position back then, I'd have probably pushed you off the barge myself and left you to converse with him," he jabbed a thumb at Fett, who was still holding the twins, "about who would be the first to get digested by the Sarlacc, and stuff like that!"

He lifted his hand to his face and wiped away some of the residue blood from a long cut that stretched from just under his right eye to his chin. As he brought down his arm again, something snapped, and from inside his sleeve a small yet powerful wrist blaster was pulled up into his hand. It was pointed at Boba Fett.

Fett was unperturbed by this and his voice was filtered through the helmet again as he said, "His forgiveness is a weakness that would be his downfall if I wasn't going to kill him here and now."

A roar came from the door as Chewie's feet pounded on the floor as he approached and stood behind Han.

"What did he say? What did he say?" came Wedge's frantic voice.

Chewie put a hand/paw on Han's shoulder, 'Cub saved me, and basically everyone else here at least once. He's the bravest person I know."

"I have no idea what that fuzz ball just said but I bet it was really corny," Fett said sarcastically.

"Fett!"

Instinct kept everyone facing Fett, even as Luke drew up beside them. He looked a state. He had several large, serious looking cuts on his face which were dripping blood. The parts of his face not covered in blood were covered in sweat. He had obviously worked really hard to beat the nexu.

When Luke drew level with his friends, he stopped and threw something at Fett's feet. Fett was surprised, but he still didn't drop the twins. Everyone realised what Luke had thrown at once. It was the nexu's tail.

"Nexus depend on their tails for balance," Luke said calmly, "So if you chop off the tail, they become clumsy and after that they become easy to slay. Perhaps you should have thought of that before you set one on a man with a weapon that cuts through anything."

Han noticed that Luke didn't have his lightsabre out. But he was giving Fett a look that Han had very rarely seen him use before.

"You know Skywalker, out of all of Solo's companions I thought you would have figure out what was going on, but I needn't have worried. It seems that I overestimated your Jedi powers. That's why I sent men to have you killed, which of course didn't work. In fact," his tone changed and they could tell he was sneering, "I've heard you've even taken one of them under your wing. That's the problem with you 'good guys'. You're all far to sentimental!"

"Han would help anyone in need," Luke said, still in the same level voice, "No matter who they are."

"Cute, but I'm still waiting to be impressed."

"Well let's break it down into a form which you can understand!" came the angriest voice of all. Leia had arrived.

Fett was surprised at her outburst but he seemed ready to listen to what she had to say. The others braced themselves for a tantrum.

"Fett, my husband is a far greater man than you- that's assuming that you really are a man and not a whimpering, snivelling fool like your friend back there," she referred to Dengar. "He's currently cowering in the corner of a locked room, fearing for his life!" She took a breath before continuing on her rant. "And while the two of you were the same when I met you- both of you caring only about yourselves and money, Han rose above that! And while he saved the galaxy from the dictatorship of the Empire- what did you do?" She gave him less than a second to come up with an answer. "You- you hid away from the rest of the universe!" She pulled out her lightsabre and ignited it with a snap and a hiss before concluding her downgrading of the Bounty Hunter.

"Han is a greater, stronger, braver person than you could ever hope to be! He is a better pilot than you, he could out-draw you in a blaster battle any day, and I love him more than anyone would ever love you!"

"Drop the glow-stick, girlie!" Fett said loudly. It actually sounded as if some of what Leia said had got through to him, "All of you shut up! I've heard enough!" he held the twins out over the enormous drop, "Say goodbye to your children Solo. It's a pity you couldn't save them. Remember, that in a twisted way…this is your fault!"

With that he let go. The twins plummeted out of sight. Their screams because lost in those of their parents. Boba Fett just managed to dive out of the way as everyone rushed to the edge. The twins were falling fast. Falling, falling, falling, slowing, slowing, stopping, coming back?

"Luke?" Han said worriedly as the twins rushed back up the side of the building towards them.

"It's not me!" Luke sounded as worried as Han and ever so slightly annoyed that he hadn't thought of using his Force Powers as Han thought he was, to save his niece and nephew.

"It's me," said a struggling voice. They all turned around to see Leia, who had fallen to her knees and her lightsabre deactivated beside her on the ground, sweat pouring down her forehead, concentrating with all her might, "HELP ME LUKE!" she yelled, "I can't keep this up for long!"

Luke came to his sister's aid and soon the twins came flying over the edge of the balcony. Jason soared quickly into Lando's arms. The force of his landing nearly knocked Lando backwards, whereas Jaina was caught lightly by Chewie.

In just a few seconds, the tables had turned on Boba Fett. A minute ago, he had been in total control with both twins and their parents at his mercy. Now, just as the dealer at the casino, he found himself faced with two blasters, a wookiee crossbow and one green and one purple lightsabre. He had no choice.

"This isn't over Solo!" he yelled.

"I never expect it will be," Han said, sounding almost as calm as Luke.

With that Fett turned and jumped off the balcony. He fell a few metres, then his jet pack burst into life. He soared up past the balcony again at a phenomenal speed, and in the blink of an eye, he had disappeared around the side of the building.

As Han watched him go he couldn't decide if he was happy that Fett was back or not. It would definitely give him something to chase. However, Wedge broke his pensive mood.

He came up beside Han as Fett disappeared and said, " A jet pack? I gotta get me one of those!"

A.N This is the second time we have wrote this chapter! The first draft got deleted when SD04's computer got wiped. But it's all ok now. We didn't have an A.N at the end of last chapter for suspense, so we'll have to make up for it now. Just so you know, this is the corny climax. You'll be pleased to here that the level of corniness will decrease from now on.

SD04: Yep, I seriously can't believe we've finished this chapter… again. But anywho, we have a few people we need to dedicate this to. First and foremost, the Astronomical Society at our school, which I am a member of! We did this project- the Orion Project which some of the lines in this are nicked from.

Thorney: Particularly, we'd like to thank L.M because he was 'the High Priest' in the play. He inspired Lando and Fett's yelling match. Every time they did it was L.M's turn to go on stage in the play, he changed something about his act, so every time it became more ridiculous and more funny. One time L.M suddenly yelled "ARRRGGHHH!" which scared everyone in the hall half to death (Including SD04 who was on stage next to him) Well after all he was supposed to be a savage! Sweetdeath04 yelled back in the end. Also, A.B for being A.B. we are REALLY gonna miss you when you leave!

SD04: The other person we need to thank for that particular drama is JA- crazy, insane, mad and fun. He's also a Star Wars addict. He was the one who wrote the original script for that drama though how much of it was left in the end could be debated about! Then, lastly our dear friend S. (We don't know his last name!) He was dedicated to the entire project and sat for three days with me (the Nutty Prof,) and my assistant TG in a paper box, dying of fake smoke inhalation. He's now left our school and we're really gonna miss him! Also a Star Wars maniac!

Thorney: I hope we didn't bore you with all our dedications, sorry! However the fics not over just yet (but we're close) so we have to go! But we leave with this parting message:

BOTH: ITZAMNA! OI!

Thorney and Sweetdeath04