Chapter 7: The Scoundrel
The lower levels of Coruscant were home to some truly seedy cantinas. While the upper crust of Coruscanti society lived well and saw plenty of daylight, the less reputable parts of the city lived in perpetual darkness. It was the perfect breeding ground for all sorts of dubious activities ranging from smuggling outright gang warfare in the seedier parts of the planet's underbelly.
That was precisely why Leia was here. Her work with Master Ahsoka on dealing with criminal gangs had given her an exceptional knowledge of where to find them and what to do when she did. After several interrogations and a few well placed threats with a lightsaber, she'd discovered that her mother's killer had been a Mandalorian, or at least had been wearing their armor.
Mandalorians. They had been the sworn enemies of the Jedi once, and had harbored furious resentment against the Order ever since the Jedi had broken them during the Mandalorian-Jedi Wars. They were dangerous foes, and there were rumors that the greatest of their warriors earned that honor by killing Jedi. She needed to be on her guard if she didn't want to end up as a trophy for an eager young warrior.
Knowing that her quarry was a Mandalorian had made her work much easier. They were not a subtle people, and a local Coruscant Security contact had informed her that no such visitors were documented arriving on the planet. That meant they had come here secretly, trying to keep as low of a profile as possible. The only people who could help with that were criminal gangs, and not just any street gang full of simple-minded thugs. These assassins had needed an interplanetary organization, and one with enough pull to bribe C-Sec officers, disguise their ship, and not let outside parties see what they were up to.
With a little help from C-3PO acting as a translator, she had learned that the Pykes were in charge of most of the human smuggling in this sector of Coruscant, and that one of their largest hideouts in The Works had recently gone up in flames with nearly every single member of the gang inside when it happened. Though she couldn't prove it, this felt like the lead that she had needed. Someone was covering their tracks, and these gangsters were a loose end that needed tidying up. She might not have been able to speak to the Pykes about their cargo, but she knew where to go next.
That is what brought her to this particular cantina in the underbelly of Coruscant. Though Master Yoda had gifted her many things like a protocol droid and a sizable amount of credits, he hadn't given her a starship to get offworld.
It had been harder than she had first thought. There were many pilots that were eager to see her credits, but none of them wanted anything to do with her once they heard what Leia had in mind. This cantina was the seventh that Leia had been to in search of a ship off Coruscant. She desperately hoped that this would be the last one.
"I think it's best if you wait outside, Threepio." she said, pulling up her hood and shuffling her lightsaber so it was well hidden underneath her cloak. "You're likely to draw some stares, and I don't think that it'll be the kind of attention that I want."
"I wholeheartedly agree, Mistress Leia." Threepio chirped. "These places are far too dangerous for the likes of me. I shall make myself scarce immediately."
WIthout a backwards glance Leia turned away and stepped into a world both strikingly familiar and totally alien to her all at once.
It had all of the normal items a cantina of this nature had. A water tank that covered the entire ceiling was home to various Aqualish water serpents flitting back and forth. There was a bartender idly polishing dirty glasses, reading to pour the next round of Juma Juice, or perhaps even something stronger for those courageous enough to risk it. There was a small band playing off in a corner, and shady characters of all sorts were milling about. Two Bith bounty hunters were tallying up their latest scores, an Ithorian was trying in vain to get a Twi'lek dancer's attention, and a Wookiee was scowling at every single passerby while their human partner idly polished his blaster. A person would be hard pressed to find a more wicked place to go about their business.
It was perfect.
"What can I getcha, girlie?" the bartender asked, looking up from what he was doing for the briefest of seconds before sizing Leia up and deciding she wasn't worth his time.
"I'm looking for transport." Leia said, giving the man a hard stare as he turned his back to her, pretending to inspect the beverages on the shelf behind him. "Want to travel to the Pyke homeworld."
"Then go get a shuttle ride." the bartender replied, looking uneasy for merely speaking to her about this.
"That's not the kind of ride that I'm looking for." she replied gruffly. "I'm looking for something a little faster and a little more discreet. This seems like the kind of place where I can find people who have ships like that. Someone with a fast ride that'll get me to Oba Diah with as little questions asked as possible."
The bartender didn't even bother to respond. He ignored Leia completely, turning around and inspecting glasses just so that he wouldn't have to keep talking to her.
"Is this the kind of place that has the pilots I need?" Leia asked, her voice getting almost shrill as she could feel herself losing control of her temper.
"Don't mind him, he's just angry he's gotta work here all the time." a Trandoshan said, approaching from behind and leaning against the bar, his tongue darting in and out of his mouth as he tasted the air. He seemed to like what he tasted about Leia, because his eyes widened and he leaned in closer to her.
"Maybe I got what you need." he said, stroking her shoulder with a claw. "You wanna see my ship?"
"Hard pass, laser brain." Leia said with a huff. "I'm not looking to be your trophy, either on your wall or in your cockpit."
The Trandoshan snarled at that insult, grabbing Leia's wrist tightly and pulling her closer. This was getting a little too heated for her liking. She didn't want to use her lightsaber, not unless she absolutely had to. The moment she drew her weapon and outed herself as a Jedi, it was all over. Nobody would even look her in the eye if that happened, much less give her a ride to where she needed to go.
"You should show a little more respect, girlie." The Trandoshan hissed. "I got a bounty on my head in sectors from Pallis to Quelli. Maybe you wanna reconsider how rude you're being."
"Thanks for the advice, but I'm still not saying yes to you." Leia replied, tensing herself and letting loose a kick at the Trandoshan's foot. He yelped in pain as he leapt back.
"Why you little-" he growled as he fumbled for his blaster. The bounty hunter didn't even have time to draw it from his holster.
Two hairy arms grabbed him and lifted him up in the air as if he weighed nothing at all. The Wookiee on the other end of those arms was howling and bashed the Trandoshan into the bar repeatedly. By the time he was done, the Trandoshan was a bloody mess, gurgling weakly on the floor as he raised a hand for aid.
Leia brushed it aside as she picked the hunter's pockets for credits. Tossing them to the bartender as if to say sorry for the damages the Wookiee caused, she turned her gaze back towards where the Wookiee was going and saw their human partner nodding his head and motioning for Leia to come over and join them.
"Don't think Chewbacca here was doing that just to save your skin." the human said, pouring Leia a glass of Juma Juice and sliding it her way as she sat down in the booth across from him. "He's had it out for Trandoshans ever since he was prey on one of their little hunts. But I don't think it hurt that you were saving a pretty girl while you were smashing his face in, huh Chewie?"
Chewbacca let out a small bark. Though Leia hadn't met many Wookiees before, it almost sounded like he was laughing at some inside joke with his friend.
"The name's Han Solo by the way, Captain of the Millenium Falcon." Han said, turning back towards Leia with a cocky smirk on his face.
Leia couldn't help but notice that even Han's arrogance couldn't completely remove the effortless charm that he possessed in droves. It was clear he had a high opinion of himself, but that he could easily back it up by getting results. She didn't even need the Force to tell her that this one was a scoundrel, through and through. Still, maybe he could be the answer to her problems.
"I'm Leia." she replied, perhaps a little too guardedly, considering how Chewbacca had come to her rescue and allowed her to keep her cover intact.
"GGWWWRH?" Chewbacca said, tilting his head as he looked at her.
"Yeah, I agree Chewie. It is a little suspicious that she didn't give her clan name." Han said, idly swirling his drink in his cup as he did so. "You got a last name there, Leia?"
"I don't think we're here because we want to be friends." Leia replied curtly. "If it's all the same to you, I'd rather we just talk business."
"Oh of course, Leia." Han replied, holding up a hand as if to feign surrender while flashing her yet another cocky grin. "Anything the client wants, we're happy to provide. Now, I couldn't help but hear that you want to get to Oba Diah? What business do you have with the Pyke crime bosses?"
"My business is my own." she retorted. "Your job should be to make sure I get there in one piece."
"Of course, Leia, of course. I didn't mean anything by it." Han shot back, holding up his hands in mock surrender as he motioned to Chewbacca. The two of them shot each other a knowing glance. It didn't seem hostile to Leia, but it definitely told her that there was more here than met the eye. "Chewie and I here don't need any more people on our backs than we have already. Got to know what you'll be doing there."
"Well I suppose it can't hurt, considering you're the first people I've met that don't turn me away when I mention the Pykes." Leia said. "I'm actually not after them at all. I'm after someone they helped, and I'm hoping their homeworld will have information on how to find them."
"Well if it's information you're after, I don't think Oba Diah's the planet for you." Han said. "Nothing there but a bunch of spice labs, prison cells, and old gangsters ranting about the glory days. Nah, the real work is done on other planets. Take Kessel for instance. I think you want to go to Kessel instead."
"Kessel is just a poor mining planet." Leah said. "If it wasn't for the coaxium, the whole place would have gone under by now."
"A good guess, and that's what they tell you on the holonet, but Chewie and I have some people we know there. That mine hasn't worked in years. It's a center for information now, all stored in those secure computers in the most remote part of the galaxy that the Pykes could find. We'll take you there, if you have the credits, that is."
"Credits won't be an issue." Leia declared, putting out her credit chip bag that Master Yoda had given to her and dropping it on the table. "If I get all that I need, I'll make sure that you two get even more money. I know people, and I have ways of making this multiply."
Han grabbed the bag and weighed it in his hands before removing a chip and taking a closer look at it.
"Looks like this is the real deal, Chewie." Han said, handing the credit over to his friends who gave an appreciative sound. "Let me tell you, it's nice to deal with honest people for a change. Last job we had? Fleeced us, and all because we came in ahead of schedule. He said that there was no way that we could have gotten the job done that quickly. Thought we had to lighten the ship by dropping cargo to get in that fast."
"You have a fast ship, I take it?" Leia asked.
"The fastest." Han shot back. "You ever heard of the Millennium Falcon?"
"Not even a little." Leia said.
Han gave her a mock startled look, arching his eyebrows and giving Chewie a wounded expression.
"The Millennium Falcon is only one of the fastest ships in the galaxy." he replied. "I haven't seen a ship yet that can outfly her when I'm in the cockpit."
"All empty bragging." Leia quipped. "If you'd done anything special, I'm sure it would've been the first thing out of your mouth."
Han's face darkened at that last remark. Clearly his ego was a little fragile, and Leia cursed herself for possibly talking her only pilot out of a job.
"Well if our being small-time is a deal-breaker, then I think we should go our separate ways." Han said with a theatrical sigh as Chewie let out a huff and stood up, letting Han slide out of the booth. "Best of luck finding a pilot that'll take on the Pykes."
"Han, wait." Leia said, letting out a defeated sigh as she did. She'd lost these negotiations. She'd lost them quite badly. Now Han had all the power.
"I'm sorry." she continued through gritted teeth. "I would be happy to pay you to be my pilot."
Han's grin was almost ear to ear. This was music to his ears.
"Well I'm glad we could come to some sort of arrangement, Leia." he said, clearly feeling more than a little smug about how negotiations went down. "Always happy to help out a customer. Unfortunately the price just went up."
She thought about talking back, about trying to make him come down from whatever ludicrous price he had in mind, but she realized that she was hopelessly outmatched here. Han knew how much she needed this passage, and she'd lost the ability to bargain on price.
"It'll be double what you were going to pay before, and the only reason I'm not making it triple is because I think it would be rude to do such a thing to such a pretty lady." he continued. "I'll let you think it over and decide whether this is what you truly want, Leia. Come find us at Docking Bay 49 when you're done. We should be loaded up and ready to fly by then."
With a quick motion to Chewbacca, Han Solo gave Leia a small wink and got up from the table, flipping a credit chit to the bartender on his way out the door. The young Jedi just sat there stewing at her failure. The first real test of her independence and she had folded into his demands pathetically easy. Maybe this was all too much for her. She had always been with Ahsoka when dealing with scoundrels like this Han Solo character, and she wondered whether she was cut out for this.
Leia steeled herself. It was too late for doubt now. Her mother deserved more than a daughter who bowed down to the first sign of pressure. She was Leia Amidala, Jedi and Princess of Naboo. The Force was calling her to do this, and it would be worse than stupid to give up now. Han may have gotten the better of her this time, but that wouldn't happen again, at least not in the same way. Kessel awaited, and the Pykes were going to pay. She wouldn't stop at taking down the people responsible for her mother's death, she was going to damage as much of their organization as she could.
"Oh my!" C-3PO exclaimed as he shuffled into Docking Bay 49. "It is a horrid piece of junk!"
Leia had to smother a grin at her protocol droid's outburst. How could a droid designed to foster diplomatic relations be so rude? Though he did have a point, the Millennium Falcon had clearly seen better days. The YT model leight freighter had a thin layer of grime on it, as if Han and Chewbacca had never bothered to scrub the outer hull. There was a large blast mark next to the boarding ramp and it was clear that it bothered Threepio. She couldn't exactly blame him. It appeared as though the ship had seen heavy modification and it seemed as though most of the modifications the pair had made to the craft were parts from other ships that had been discarded as unusable by other craft. The ship was old. It would have been considered old when her father and Ahsoka had concluded the Clone Wars. That was almost as worrying as the blast mark. The vacuum of space was notoriously unforgiving and old ships didn't get a pass because of their age.
"I agree with my droid here." Leia said, narrowing her eyes and tracing her finger along the blast mark she had been observing. "Are you sure this ship can even make it into hyperspace?"
"She doesn't look like much, but my ship is one of the fastest you'll ever see in the galaxy." Han said confidently, grinning as a droid passed by him loading up the last of the cargo onto his ship. "Being discreet is a part of the job, and the moment some fighter comes out to lazily check to see if our codes are in order, we're going to be a system away at least."
Leia just huffed as she passed Han and went inside the ship. The interior was just as bad as the outside. Stained, outdated upholstery was everywhere and the consoles in the cockpit looked like it was a coin flip whether they would actually work or not.
"So is the horrible looking interior to throw off anyone who might be doing a close inspection?" Leia asked sarcastically. Chewbacca just let out a laughing bark and continued with his pre-flight inspections.
"Chewbacca says that this is the excuse that Han says, but that their ship is much better than it appears." C-3PO chimed.
"Yeah, I figured that one out for myself, Threepio." Leia replied with a roll of her eyes. "Just go and get settled in the back."
The droid gave a stiff bow and turned to leave before giving a stuttering step and gesturing out of the cockpit.
"Oh my goodness!" he cried out. "Criminals are attempting to rob us!"
Leia looked out of the cockpit window and saw that Pyke gangsters were swarming into the docking bay. They were shouting at each other and leveling their blasters at the ship. Blaster bolts were coming from underneath the Falcon and Leia thought she saw the barrel of a DL-44 retreating up the steps of the ship.
"Chewie, get us out of here!" Han yelled, running into the cockpit and almost vaulting over Leia as he flipped the last few switches and the Millennium Falcon took off. Blaster bolts hit the side of the ship, but the shields held and the ship was soaring into the lanes of Coruscant traffic. Han hadn't been lying, the ship was fast. Soon they left the entire docking port behind as it seemed like the danger had passed.
"Han, I swear that I didn't bring the Pykes down on us." Leia said, her face going white as she realized how much danger she might have put Han and Chewbacca in. "I know I flaunted the fact I was looking for the Pykes, but we weren't followed. I swear."
"Gwraaaargh!" Chewbacca roared, which caused C-3PO to look at him and throw his arms up in exasperation.
"What do you mean you knew that already because this was your fault?" he exclaimed. "What have you done, you big hairy oaf!"
"Shut up, Chewie." Han growled, maneuvering the ship into a higher lane of traffic in an attempt to get out of orbit. "Not really helping."
"I'd also like to know why this isn't my fault." Leia said, a dangerously steely tone in her voice.
Han let out a sigh and slumped his shoulders, a rueful look towards his copilot on his face.
"You remember when I said how my last employer accused me of dumping cargo to make a delivery?" he asked rhetorically. "Well yeah, that happened. Republic security is getting crazy and I didn't want to get boarded. I just so happened to be smuggling for the Pykes when that happened. If I were to guess, I think they want me to pay them back, or collect my head if I can't get the funds."
"Oh my goodness, we've taken up with outlaws!" C-3PO wailed. "We'll spend the rest of our lives as prisoners, or in my case, scrap!"
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Han shouted, looking over at his co-pilot with a confident smirk on his face. "Chewie, punch it!"
The Millenium Falcon roared to life and shot out of its docking bay like a blaster bolt. Han sported a cocky smile on his face as he zoomed in and out of the bustling Coruscanti traffic. As the Pykes were leaning out of their own speeders to shoot at them, Han pulled the Falcon around and started charging one of their speeders.
"Oh my, we'll be pulverized!" C-3PO shouted, trying to cover his eye sensors with his hands.
Chewbacca roared at their droid passenger and waved his arms to get the droid to step back. Han paid them no attention at all as he was focused on the fast approaching enemy speeder. He accelerated the ship and they were close enough they could see the Pyke pilot increasing the speed of his own craft as well. The two of them looked like they were about to hit before the Pyke balked at the last second and swerved. It was far too late however, and he went careening into the side of a mega skyscraper nearby, exploding into a ball of fire.
Leia couldn't believe it. It was clear Han had some skill as a pilot, but he could also get them all killed with these stunts.
"You know, most pilots try to deliver their passengers to their destination alive." Leia quipped at him.
"Relax, I got this." Han shot back. "In fact, we're about to get a little help too. All we need to do is blow past the right party of the city."
Sure enough, as they zoomed through a crowded marketplace, several C-Sec security personnel on speeder bikes started flying after them, sirens blaring and lights flashing.
"Good, C-Sec took the bait!" Han exclaimed. "Alright Chewie, here's what you need to do: get on the bottom turret gun and see if you can't shoot down a couple of those C-Sec speeders. That'll draw more towards us and I'll lose 'em all in the chaos."
"You are most certainly not going to kill innocent C-Sec officers!" Leia exclaimed, giving Han a startled look.
"They're not gonna be killed, Chewie is just gonna shoot down the ones that are flying low enough they'll survive the fall onto the marketplace." Han replied.
"You're a good enough shot, aren't ya Chewie?" he called out and received an affirmative roar from his partner.
"Well we aren't going to injure them either!" Leia shouted.
"No offense, sweetheart, but you're really not the one calling the shots right now." Han said, flipping switches and diverting power to the turret targeting systems. "What makes you think you got the right to say that to me on my own ship?"
"Not much. Mostly just this."
Blue light filled the cockpit and the smell of burning ozone filled the area near the pilot's chair of the Millennium Falcon. The distinct hum of a lightsaber was in the air as Leia held it close to Han's throat.
"I said we're not injuring a single innocent life in our escape." she said again, with much more emphasis on her words, the lightsaber moving the tiniest bit closer to the captain's throat as she did.
Han Solo raised one hand in the air to signal his acceptance while the other flipped the switch to open a channel to talk with his copilot.
"Ah, hey there Chewie. We got a slight change of plans up here. The Jedi we're transporting says we're not gonna shoot at any C-Sec speeders, and I'm pretty inclined to agree with her."
Chewbacca let out a bark that was equal parts frustrated and confused.
"Well that's a good point you make there, buddy. But she's got a lightsaber and you don't, so we're going with her way on this one. Just come on back up here and help me come up with a new plan."
As Chewbacca made his way back up front, the ship was jostled by a laser that bounced off the back. Warning lights started flashing on the dashboard and Aurebesh data streams started pouring across the screen in front of Han.
"Captain Solo, it appears that the shields on this ship are failing." C-3PO chimed in.
"Droid, if you don't shut up in the next two seconds, I am tying you to the back of the Falcon so you can take some of the hits the shield can't." Han warned him.
The protocol droid looked seriously offended, and it appeared there were things he still had to say, but wisely decided to keep his mouth shut.
"Got any ideas back there, Jedi Leia?" Han asked, shooting her an annoyed look as he weaved in and out of oncoming traffic. Despite clearly being distracted, his reactions were incredible. It surprised Leia that someone not gifted in the Force could make such decisions and movement unaided. Though it pained her to admit it, and she would never tell him, he was one of the best pilots she had ever seen.
Before Leia could come up with some sort of retort to give him, Chewbacca growled and gestured to one of the great vertical tunnels that dotted the Coruscanti landscape. This connected the various layers, or levels as they were more often called, to one another. The deeper down you went, the seedier and more lawless it became.
"Nah, Chewie. We need to be getting off the planet, not going deeper in." Han said. "Doesn't help us get offworld, even if we are shielded from-"
Han stopped mid-sentence, a massive grin spreading across his face that made him look like he had just won the Boonta Eve classic podrace on his first try.
"Offworld shield. Chewie, you're a genius!" he crowed as he urged the Falcon forward and into a deep dive. It flew straight down into the tunnel, weaving through ships going both up and down as they went by.
"Han… what are you doing?" Leia asked as the gravity of the capitol world increased their acceleration. "You're going to hit that ship!"
A massive ship, taking up almost a third of the tunnel, was slowly rising up to the surface. It was a large, bulbous thing, with thousands of tiny windows filled with light peering out into the smog-filled tunnel.
"Han… pull up. You're going to hit it."
Leia was right. Han was making a straight shot right for the ship. The Pyke and C-Sec speeders weren't that far behind, and it was clear the group was running out of places to go.
"Han, seriously, pull up."
Even Chewbacca was worried now, letting out a quiet grunt that even Leia could tell meant he was worried.
"I got it… almost there…" Han murmured, half to himself as much as anyone else.
In a flash, they were at the ship, and Han pulled up hard on the controls as the Millennium Falcon came within mere feet of colliding with the ship. The Pyke speeders following close behind did not have nearly as good of pilots, and all crashed into the top of the ship when they couldn't pull up fast enough. The C-Sec officials were mercifully following far enough back to not be affected by the sudden turn, but they did lose sight of the Falcon amidst all of the smoke and confusion.
When they finally did fly around to the other side of the massive ship, there was no sign of the Falcon further down the tunnel. It was as if it had simply vanished. Even sending scanner droids further down the tunnel was no use. They reported that the ion trail of the freighter vanished near the massive ship and there was no sign it ever made it further than that. With a shrug of their shoulders, the C-Sec officers concluded that the Falcon had unfortunately crashed into the side of the ship and was another victim in the senseless gang warfare that plagued certain parts of the ecumenopolis that was the capital planet of the Republic.
On the underside of the ship, where no one had bothered to look, the Millennium Falcon sat powered down and magnetized to the behemoth's hull. Unless someone was directly looking at it, or had a fairly advanced bioscanner available, they wouldn't have even know that the ship was there at all.
The people on board the Falcon were all too busy catching their breath to be amazed at what had happened. All except for the ship's captain, that is.
"Am I a great pilot or what?" he asked Leia, with a cocky grin on his face. "Told you I was one of the best in the galaxy. And you didn't even believe me. I should charge you more right now, except I got a soft heart for lovely ladies like you."
"What's your next move, captain?" Leia asked, pointedly ignoring his comments towards her.
Chewbacca let out a snort and C-3PO gave a slight nod of agreement.
"I wholeheartedly agree, my new friend." the protocol droid chimed. "I am most curious as to why we are attached to the underside of a colony ship."
Han merely gestured towards Threepio as if that was the first part of his explanation.
"Your droid is right." he said. "There here is a colony ship, getting ready to take all sorts of creatures who are sick of Coruscant life and dropping them off on a planet in the Outer Rim somewhere so they can go live lives farming for Juna berries or whatever it is that they do."
"And that helps us how?" Leia retorted.
"Well your Jediness, this ship is going to pass right by a good portion of Republic cruisers as it makes its way towards light speed." Han replied. "And since it's supposed to, nobody is gonna hit it with a suspicious look or a powerful enough scanner to detect us until it's too late. Tarkin's little blockade won't do much if we cling to one of the ships that's supposed to pass through it."
Sure enough, as the colony ship lazily rose into Coruscant's orbit, the most any Republic cruiser did was give it a quick flyby with two TiE fighters before moving on to another ship requesting departure from the capital.
As they broke into proper space, Han powered up the Falcon once again and started rapidly punching in hyperspace coordinates. The process only took him a matter of minutes, and by the time that the Republic ships nearby realized what was going on, Han's hand was already on the hyperdrive lever and the ship entered hyperspace before a laser turret so much as had them in their sights.
"Another successful start to a mission by Captain Han Solo." Han crowed, leaning back in his chair with his hands laced behind his head and his boots resting on the center console.
"I suggest you get some rest sweetheart," he continued, getting up and making his way back to the common area of the ship. "We got a long way to go before we hit Kessel."