"Come here."
Han hadn't taken his eyes off the scenery straight ahead since they'd left the planet, somehow still he'd addressed Gwynplaine exactly when she poked her head into the cockpit, like he had eyes in the back of his head. To further this idea even more, the young girl had wordlessly pointed to herself in question, only to be met with a determined, "You, come over here."
Without a word but a slight tensing of the shoulders, she walked into the room and over to his line of vision.
"Sit down," he said, equally firmly.
She looked at the two sets of seats and asked, "Front, or back?"
"Get over here," he said for an answer.
Hesitantly, Gwynplaine sat down in the seat usually occupied by Chewbacca.
"I want to get something straight before we go any further," Han told her. He only turned his head enough to glance at her through one eye and told her, "I'm not mad at you. I know the Pompeians, they're a bloodthirsty bunch, and if they'd had the chance, they would've killed all of us. That area's always been the uninhabited side of the planet, that's why we landed there...but apparently, at least one of them made the trek over to the other side...and if there was one, there could've been more...there's more than one reason why we never stay long there, we only stop when we have to." He knew there were two words he should've added to that whole statement, but they wouldn't come. He felt very strange at the prospect of thanking a child for saving his life.
Gwynplaine could tell the conversation wouldn't go any further than that and merely replied, "Yes, captain."
Oh the irony. Han always referred to himself as a captain when he spoke to other people, and he'd thought he'd like being addressed as such by someone he was transporting, but it just gave him a weird feeling under his skin.
"Look, just forget the captain stuff," he told her, "my name's Han Solo. Okay?"
She looked at him and only nodded in response.
It was another minute before she asked him, "Where are we going?"
It dawned on him that the last couple days, he and Chewie had talked around her about their cargo to deliver, but he'd never actually explained it to her. "We're hauling cargo to a buyer over on Hexlan, we were supposed to be there yesterday."
"You're a smuggler," she didn't ask, she simply stated.
He glanced over at her and said with a hint of amusement, "Now you're starting to get it."
"What're you smuggling?" Gwynplaine asked with earnest curiosity.
"None of your business, and don't bother looking for it, you won't find it."
"Just because I was with the gypsies doesn't mean I'm a thief," she replied defensively.
"Not saying you are, also not condemning it, I stole a lot of stuff before I started smuggling," he told her, "the pay's better this way."
Gwynplaine looked at him and asked, "So how long will it take to get to Hexlan?"
"If we keep on at our current speed, we should be there tomorrow," Han said, "assuming nothing else goes wrong."
"What're the odds of that?" she asked.
He scowled at her through one eye and replied, "Don't get smart with me."
There was silence between them for a minute before she asked him, "Can I get something to eat?"
The question was so random it actually took him a few seconds to realize what she'd said. He shrugged, "Yeah, sure, go ahead."
Gwynplaine got up from her seat, Han heard her leave and also heard Chewbacca as he entered the cockpit.
"I'm still trying to figure out who we could leave her with," Han told the wookiee. "I've gone over about everybody I know...the only person left I can think of who she might be okay with is Lando."
Chewbacca grunted a response to that idea.
"She'd probably be okay with him, I mean she's too young for him to-"
Another grunt cut off his sentence, Han felt himself slide down in his seat a bit as he admitted, "Yeah, that's the problem with kids, they keep growing." He mulled it over for a minute and an amusing thought came to him, "Still, it'd be funny, first I cheat him out of the Falcon, fairly, mind you."
Chewie grunted in response.
"And then stick him with that kid..." Han was practically beaming from ear to ear as he said, "It'd almost be worth doing just to see the look on Lando's face."
The wookiee howled disapprovingly.
"I said almost," Han said.
Han was never so relieved to touch down on a planet as the next day when he and Chewie reached Hexlan. On the way there they'd encountered two meteor showers and just about hit a black hole. He was tired, hungry, sore, and if one more thing went wrong he felt like he was going to snap and kill someone. Leaving the ship, he felt a renewed sense of pending relief, they were so close to delivering the shipment, he was so close to getting paid, one step closer to getting one huge angry slug off his back, and the atmosphere itself felt very welcoming. He knew Hexlan well, he'd done a lot of business with people there over the years, it was the perfect place to get lost, life forms of all kinds from all other planets ran amok there, so much so it was impossible to keep track of who or where anybody was. Every time he came there he felt he was in good company. Smugglers, pirates, every kind of outlaw in the galaxy holed up there from time to time and got lost in the crowd.
"So who's picking up the shipment?" Gwynplaine asked as the three of them entered a bar.
"A guy named Voldo, he's the middle man for the guy actually paying for the shipment."
"So why're we meeting him in a bar?" Gwynplaine asked. "Why not take it direct?"
"A matter of trust," Han answered.
The redheaded girl looked at him and asked, "Trust among smugglers?"
He ignored her question and looked around for any sign of Voldo, it wasn't easy because he had every species in the galaxy to look at and try to find him in the crowd. But so far it looked like he hadn't shown up.
Han felt somebody poking him in the ribs and he looked and saw it was Gwynplaine.
"What?" he asked curtly.
"I want a drink," she said simply.
"Then get a drink!" In the time it took him to say those four words, while he didn't actually see Gwynplaine move, she was suddenly six inches back from where she was and her whole body tensed at his outburst. He was unfazed by it and added to his snide remark, "What're you telling me for?"
Without a word, the visibly shaken girl turned and headed for the bar.
If Han Solo was able to shut off the conscience inside of his head, he was not able to shut out the one that was 7 feet tall with hot breath blowing in his ear as he had to reluctantly agree, Chewbacca made a good point. This was his kind of place and his kind of people, despite the overwhelming number of cutthroats and lowlives thrown in the mix, and it wasn't any kind of place to bring a kid. His dumb luck, he was the only one there who had.
Han turned to Chewie and told him, "Stay with the girl while I find Voldo."
Chewbacca gave a couple small grunts as he nodded. Han started making his way through the crowd, looking for a familiar face.
"Solo!"
The voice was familiar too. Han forced a friendly smile as he approached the green alien who stood about as tall as him, wearing a striped orange and white uniform, whose body was scaly like a reptile's and whose head was shaped like a giant crown of broccoli . "Voldo, just the man I wanted to see. How's Khan?"
"Eagerly awaiting the shipment," Voldo intertwined his scaly green fingers, "I trust you had no problem bringing it?"
"Oh I had my fair share of problems," Han flatly replied, "but not with the shipment. 100 blasters, 100 rifles, per our agreement."
"Excellent," Voldo's black eyes seemed to light up at this news.
"Where's the money?" Han demanded in his usual businessman way.
"Same old Solo, you never change, do you?"
"Nope," he answered bluntly. "Where is it?"
"You'll get it, when we get the weapons," Voldo answered.
"Then we'll meet back at the Falcon," Han said.
"We'll be waiting," Voldo said, a hint of ominosity in his tone.
"We?" Han asked. "Khan made the trip himself?"
"Ohhh nooo," Voldo shook his large bizarrely shaped head, "He sent a few of his men to make sure the shipment was collected in full and there were no...discrepancies."
"You can count them yourself, it's all there," Han leaned over and got in the green creature's face as he said with a hint of his own ominosity, "The money better all be there, as agreed."
"But of course," Voldo said as he turned and walked away.
Han felt like a weight was off of him, he was so close to getting the money now. He turned and saw Chewie standing by the bar, hovering over Gwynplaine who was seated at the bar halfway through a mug of beer.
"Come on!" he called over to them, "let's go!"
Both heads turned towards him. Gwynplaine took another swig of her drink and said as she stood up and ran the back of her hand over her mouth, "I didn't finish my drink."
"Never mind," Han said as he flipped a coin to the bartender, "With the money I'm about to make, you can buy out the whole tap. We gotta get to the ship and unload the goods. They're gonna be waiting on us."
Han had just made his way down the loading ramp when he saw Voldo arrive with several other of Khan's hired goons, who touched down in several large hovercrafts to transport the weapons in.
The green alien approached the smuggler and inquired, "Where's the merchandise?"
"Where's my money?" Han asked.
Voldo laughed. "You always insist on playing these funny little games."
"That's because I'm a funny kind of guy," Han said lightly, then in a blunter tone he added, "I don't like getting stiffed for my services."
"First the weapons, then the credits," Voldo insisted.
Han shook his head, "Nothing doing. I see what I risked my neck for or I'm taking Khan's shipment and finding another buyer, he'd bite your head off sooner than he would mine when you come back empty handed."
"Very well," Voldo replied, "as a show of good faith, I'll hand over part of your fee, and you get the rest when we get the weapons."
"5,000 credits up front or I'm leaving," Han told the shrewd creature.
"You drive a hard bargain, Solo."
"That's because I'm the best," he remarked.
He kept one eye on Voldo and used the other one to count the money that had been handed to him, then he turned his head just enough to holler back towards the ship, "Alright, Chewie, bring 'em out."
The next half hour was spent with Chewbacca and Gwynplaine dragging crates down the ramp which were collected by Khan's people, loaded into the hovercrafts and every so often one lifted off to take the goods back, unload, then turn around and come back for another load.
"I trust Khan will be pleased," Han commented, "as usual. Now, the rest of the money."
"Not so fast," Voldo said, "there's still a matter of 20 more blasters before our deal is settled."
"Here's the last of it!" Gwynplaine called. Han and Voldo turned to see her inching her way down the ramp pushing a crate.
"There, now the money," Han turned back to Voldo.
Gwynplaine pushed the crate past the two businessmen and over to Voldo's associates for them to take.
"Solo! You've been holding out on me!"
"The hell I have, 100 blasters, 100 rifles, exactly," Han replied defensively.
"Not the weapons," Voldo shook his head, "The girl."
Han turned back and looked at Gwynplaine, not getting what he meant.
The last crate of weapons was collected, loaded, and the rest of Khan's henchmen took off to deliver the rest of the shipment. Now it was just Voldo, who wouldn't stop staring at Gwynplaine, who looked at him briefly, then looked towards Han for some explanation of what was going on.
"What about her?" Han finally asked, feeling totally lost.
"Where..." Voldo's pitch black eyes seemed to light up at the sight of Gwynplaine, "did you find a specimen like that?"
"Oh you might just say we had a run-in."
Something changed in the alien's demeanor, he looked like a starving man feasting his eyes upon a prime dinner.
"It's so...rare," Voldo said, a slight hissing sound forming with every word he spoke, "to encounter a female type like that this side of the galaxy. I want her, Solo."
Han still wasn't getting what was going on, but he didn't have to look over to the kid to tell Voldo, "Sorry, the lady's got a prior engagement."
The green scaly alien hissed like a snake about to strike. "I want the girl, Solo, I can make it well worth your time."
It didn't escape Han's attention that Gwynplaine was very slowly inching her way over towards him, he didn't actually see her move, but he was aware she was gradually making her way over to him, until she stood behind him and he felt her hands grabbing the back of his belt, clinging to him as if for protection. The same way she'd done it when they landed on Ar-ra, now he understood why she did it.
"The rest of the money you're owed, I would be very happy to double it, in exchange for the girl," Voldo told the smuggler.
"Sorry, no sale."
"Don't be a fool, Solo. You cannot afford to pass up an opportunity like this."
He felt the air being strangled out of him as Gwynplaine subconsciously tightened her grab on him. He wrangled her hands free from his torso and told the wookiee, "Chewie, take the kid back on the Falcon and wait for me. I'll be there momentarily."
Chewbacca grunted in response as he came up towards them, grabbed Gwynplaine and escorted her back onto the ship.
"You'd really give up a chance to make 15,000 credits," Voldo said questioningly, "you're a damn fool, Solo."
"And you're even lower than I originally thought, and I didn't think that was possible," Han replied.
One of Voldo's scaly clawed hands grabbed a fistful of Han's vest, then his head exploded. Han watched the body fall to the ground, then he raised his smoking blaster as if just realizing for the first time that he had it. Instinctively he felt through Voldo's pockets for the rest of the money, he found it, then turned around and ran for the Falcon.
"Get strapped in and let's get out of here," he told the others as he came up the ramp, "I have a feeling we're not going to be invited back here anytime soon."
