Kessel:

The Falcon leaves the nebula and flies towards the planet of Kessel, the planet guarded by a small Imperial fleet of two Star Destroyers and twelve light cruisers, plus patrols of TIE Fighters. The Falcon enters atmosphere and comes in for a landing at the mining-town of Port Ardena.

Solo, Chewbacca and L3 oversee lowering their cargo from the cargo-section while Lando is talking to Imperial officials. Imperial crew move away the crates as Lando walks up to the others.

"We're ok" Lando says. "Cargo payed for. We'll get the spice at the end of the day."

Chewie growls in Shyriiwook.

Solo nods. "Let's go get that droid."

XXX XXX

A bit later and they all enter a shady establishment where miners and crew-workers are betting on droid-fights; large mining-droids using drills and claws to wrestle one-another with. The crowd is wild!

L3 is not impressed by the scene. "Organic barbarians."

Solo walks up to a Devaronian with extensive cybernetic-implants, including the same cranial implant as Lobot has in Episode 5, taking bets from people.

"Don't trust this no good hustler" Solo says out loud. "I wouldn't trust him any more than I would trust a Hutt."

The Devaronian looks up and is surprised, speaking an alien language. "Solo?! No way! I thought you were dead!"

Solo grins. "Sorry to disappoint you, Cikatro. But I'm very much alive."

They embrace and hug, obviously close friends.

"So" Solo says, "swapped sides and working for Pyke now, huh?"

Cikatro chuckles. "Sure am. When the Hutt's got kicked out of here, there was no reason not to join the competition. Pyke Syndicate or Hutt Cartels, the scumbags who come here still enjoy a good scrap between boosted-up droids."

Solo glances at the fight briefly and then turns his attention back at the Devaronian. "I'm looking for a ship" he says. "A special ship that I think you might know about."

Cikatro and Solo enter a backroom where they sit down and Cikatro pours them both a drink.

"So… A ship. What ship are we talking about?"

"A ship that makes the Run in fifteen or sixteen parsecs" Solo says. "The ship that has put the Hutt's out of business here in Port Ardena and over at Decarta. The ship that has convinced the governor over in Thessos to strike a deal with the Syndicate."

Cikatro laughs and shakes his head. "Aaaah, that ship. I know of it. And of it's captain. And I know that my head will get separated from my shoulders if I stab him in the back."

"Don't worry about it" Solo says. "You won't be doing any stabbing. Leave that to me. All I need to know is where she's docked, and how long I have before you rat me out."

"Depends on what you're paying, doesn't it?" the Devaronian says with a devious smile.

"Two hours after the ship leaves dock" Solo says. "How much?"

Cikatro gives it some thought. "That ship leaves in eight hours. So, if you want me to keep my mouth shut for ten hours, why not cough up a thousand credits and you got yourself a deal."

Solo digs out some metallic strips from his inner-pocket and hands Cikatro two of them. "One thousand for ten hours. Which docking-bay?"

"Aah, that would require another two hundred" Cikatro grins confidently. "Nothing's free on Kessel, Solo. You know that."

Solo smiles and hands Cikatro two more strips of metal, smaller than the previous two. "Nothing's free when dealing with you, Cikatro."

The Devaronian chuckles and nods. "True. But on the other hand, who else around here can you trust?"

Solo shakes his head with a smile. "It says a lot about a place when the most trustworthy person around is a Devaronian."

Cikatro laughs at the comment.

Solo finds Chewbacca watching the fights. Chewie tells Solo something and Solo nods.

"Alright. Just don't waste all of it. Make sure it's a safe bet. Where's Lando?"

Chewie nods in a direction and tells Solo where to find Lando. Solo pats Chewie on the shoulder and moves on. Eventually, he finds Lando playing Sabaac by a table with other gamblers.

"Don't lose it all at once" Solo says.

"Don't worry, baby" Lando says confidently. "I have a good feeling about this."

Solo nods and watches the game. He then spots L3 standing a bit behind another gambler by the table, and notices that a light on her heads flashes over and over, almost as if doing Morse Code. L3 moves on and does the same behind the next player and so on. Solo catches on what is happening and realizes that Lando uses L3 to cheat. Lando throws his two dice and laughs triumphantly as he picks one up and saves the other on the table.

"Nova's tops singularities" Lando grins and places his cards on the table. "Triple nova" he then says, referring to his cards.

The other gamblers frown and accept defeat and Lando collects his winnings.

One of the gamblers is a Gungan. "I've heard of yous" he tells Lando, upset. "Yous a conman. Trickster. I know yous from Jedah, from Dantooine. I know yous, Landosius."

"Hey, now" Lando says. "I won this hand, fair and square. Let's not get ugly."

"Yous a thief!" the Gungan says and gets on his feet and pulls out a blaster. "Gimme my moneys back!"

A blaster-shot erupts and causes everyone to duck and look around in fear and surprise. The Gungan falls over the table, smoke rising from his back where he was shot. L3 has extended a blaster from her wrist/lower arm and lets it retract and the arm is put together again.

Lando collects his winnings but places a small stack of credit-strips on the table. "For your troubles."

In a few short seconds, everyone goes back to their own business, as if nothing had happened at all. Chewbacca and L3 join Lando and Solo on the outside.

"Gungans" L3 says. "Never could stand those annoying meat-bags."

L3 walks ahead and Solo turns to Lando.

"That droid needs a memory-wipe" Solo says, entirely sincere. "I mean it. Right now."

"Yeah" Lando nods in agreement. "Feel free to try" he then says and heads after L3.

Chewie says something as Lando walks away and Solo sighs heavily.

"Yeah" Solo says. "That droid is creeping me out as well." Solo then turns to Chewie. "Remind me to never have a droid on the crew."

Chewie replies and then the two of them head on after Lando and L3.

XXX XXX

The crew of the Falcon step out onto a balcony that overlooks a docking-bay; a scruffy-looking CR90 corvette is docked there.

"There she is" Solo says. "Qi'ras blockade runner. The Serenity Six."

Lando inspects the ship. "Are you sure about this?"

"Sure!" Solo says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "That's a Corellian CR90. I've helped build hundreds of them. Eight out of ten ships flying the Kessel Run are Corellian and for good reason. Stick to the plan. It'll work." Chewie argues a point. "Come on" Solo says, "we can do this. Show some optimism."

XXX XXX

Late at night, there is full of activity around The Serenity Six as it is only minutes away from take-off. Solo and Chewie are sneaking along a rooftop close to the docking-bay. Solo spies with a magnocular and spots the captain of the ship and the R2 unit as they walk up the boarding-ramp. Solo and Chewie secure a cable to the roof and then fire a grappling-hook that attaches itself to the corvette; Solo and Chewie slide down the cable and land on the ship. The corvettes engines begin to power up. Solo and Chewie climb down the side of the ship; Chewie waits while Solo hangs next to an airlock and opens a panel and begins to rearrange data-cards. The corvette begins to tremble as it is about to take off. Chewie calls down to Solo who is trying to hotwire the airlock. In the end, Solo manage to open the airlock and he and Chewie climb inside, the airlock closes behind them and moments later the corvette takes off and leaves the docking-bay.

Solo and Chewie sneak around the ship, the corvette a far cry from the fancy interior of the Tantive IV we know from Episode 3 and 4; this is a smuggler, a modified privateer, a proper blockade runner. They hide from droids and crew as they make their way through the ship. Eventually, they reach the bridge; Solo pulls out an ion-gun and Chewie is ready with his blaster. They step in, Solo fires the ion-gun at the R2-unit and it gets taken out much in the same way as R2D2 by the Jawas in Episode 4, while Chewie howls and growls, fires a single shot in the ceiling and aims his blaster at the crew to intimidate them. Taken by surprise, the crew raise their hands in the air.

"Everyone keep calm" Solo says, now armed with his ordinary blaster-pistol. "We'll soon be out of here and you can be on your way."

"Who the hell do you think you are?" the captain sneers. "Do you know what ship this is? Do you know who we work for?"

"I sure as hell do" Solo grins cockily. "Now shut up."

Chewie secures the R2-unit to a harness and puts it on like a backpack. Solo and Chewie back away from the crew and the bridge.

"Nice doing business with you" Solo smiles and shuts the door to the bridge and blasts the controls.

Both Chewie and Solo run through the ship but end up in a firefight with other crewmembers! At the same time, the closed door to the bridge is forced open by the crew on the bridge and the captain is the first one to push his way through the cracked door. Solo and Chewie make a fighting-retreat through the ship until they step inside an escape-pod and launch themselves into space. The captain and the crew run up to the empty launch-bay and the captain turns to his crew, furious.

"Turn us around and bring me that pod!"

The escape-pod flies through space while the corvette begins to turn back. That's when the Millennium Falcon comes flying in at full speed, Lando and L3 in the cockpit.

"Don't worry, Han" Lando says, "we're right with ya." He then turns to L3, "Ready the tractor-beam."

"Already on it" L3 says as she is turning dials and flipping switches.

The cargo-section opens up and reveals a hidden dish; the emitter for a tractor-beam. The tractor-beam activates and locks on to the escape-pod, making Solo and Chewie fall over inside as momentum is suddenly lost. The pod is drawn in towards the cargo-section of the Falcon while the corvette is turning around and closing in.

Onboard the corvette, the captain enters the bridge.

"What's going on?!" the captain demands.

"Captain" an officer says, "another ship has flown in and locked on to the pod with a tractor-beam."

"Disable that ship" the captain growls. "But don't harm the pod. We can't risk destroying the droid."

The Falcon is hit by a couple of salvos from the corvette.

"Hang on" Lando says and mans the controls of the cockpit.

The Falcon flies up towards the pod and catches it with the open cargo-section, the pod and ship slamming together forcing Solo and Chewie to bounce around inside the pod.

"Whatta hell are you doing?!" Solo growls.

"Saving your skin!" Lando replies over the communicator.

The Falcon flies off, the corvette in hot pursuit.

On the bridge of the corvette, the captain turns to his officer. "I want a bounty on that ship, right now! I want every pirate and smuggler in the system chasing that ship!"

Solo and Chewie enter the cockpit of the Falcon.

"Move over" Solo says.

"Move over?!" Lando growls. "This aint your ship, buddy!"

"Do you know how to fly through the Nebula?" Solo asks harshly.

Lando, irritated, lets Solo sit down in the pilots-seat.

"I sure hope you know what you're doing" Lando says.

"Don't worry" Solo says. "I have it all figured out."

The Falcon flies off at full throttle, chased by the corvette, its turbolasers blasting away after the Falcon that dodges the incoming fire with some fancy flying.

Lando, sitting behind Solo, is impressed. "Nice moves, buddy."

"Just hang on" Solo says grins, "I know a few maneuvers."

The Falcon spins and barrel-rolls to evade incoming fire, the corvette trying to keep up.

To be continued…