Chapter Three

Seventeen days after Han Solo's 'death'

It turned out the only thing covered up in the cart was food, and when the old man waved his hand toward the meal Han realized he was famished. When was the last time he'd eaten, anyway?

Between mouthfuls of food he asked, "Tell me my name."

"It was Han Solo."

"Was?" Han blinked, straining to recall his past. Although it was still fuzzy, his memory started to come back, especially now that he'd heard his name. The Wookiee… whose name he now remembered.. Chewbacca… the Princess, his ship, his friends.

"Now, don't get all upset," Dr. Nik chastised. "Almost three weeks ago I saved your life, so you should be grateful."

"Grateful?" Han repeated, hovering over the nervous doctor in his best threatening manner. "You obviously did some weird surgery on me, and I'm supposed to be grateful?"

"I've done no such thing," Dr. Nik said indignantly.

"Then explain!"

"Well, I used to work for Palpatine..."

"Great. A crazy Imp."

"Don't interrupt. It's rude." Dr. Nik cleared his throat. "Like I was saying... I worked for Palpatine. Well, actually, my mentor, Doctor Stanfrincer worked for the Emperor. I was just his second-in-command, which turned out to be fortunate for me, actually, since poor Stanfrincer couldn't seem to please Palpatine. But, then, that turned out to be good for you, too. So I suppose, in the great scheme of things, everything works out for the best."

"You're starting to annoy me," Han warned the doctor.

"Well, then, let me start at the beginning. You recall the Ssi-ruuk that invaded Bakura, right?"

"Yeah, I remember." Han suddenly remembered Leia's face much more clearly. Bakura was the place they'd first made love. The Ssi-ruuk, on the other hand, were beings he'd prefer to forget.

"The Empire had problems with them long before the Rebels won the war, although Palpatine covered it up. Especially when he found out about their little abilities to transfer human essences into machines. He really liked that technology."

"I'll bet," Han remarked. "That would be right up his perverted alley."

"And, when you combine that with ... well," Dr. Nik said, smiling. "The Emperor thought he'd hit the lottery, as far as living forever goes."

Han blinked, suddenly comprehending. "He wanted to transfer himself into a clone."

"Not a clone, son. Palpatine was way too proud to want a clone's body." He frowned, considering his words. "Well, he did originally try the cloning technique, but for some reason, clones using Palpatine's cells proved to be rather unstable, both physically and mentally. So then he decided he wanted the perfect unique body, built cell by cell, from the ground floor up, so to speak. Poor Doctor Stanfrincer thought he'd gotten it perfect, too. A good-looking guy, tall but not too tall, you know, someone all the ladies would swoon over. And with none of the problems inherent with cloning, either. The body grew in a tank for nine months, just like a regular baby. When it was removed from the tank it kept aging exactly as a body should age, but it seemed to have no self-awareness. The boy could only learn basic things, like speaking simple words, how to eat, how to dress. It was like teaching a droid that had no personality in its programming. Stanfrincer gave this human he created life, but he could not give it a soul, which is exactly what Palpatine needed – a body with no inner spirit to fight him when he took it over. However, the Emperor wanted to wait until the body had aged to at least nineteen standard years before he took it over since he didn't want to appear too young to be a ruler of the galaxy."

"What happened?"

Doctor Nik stroked his chin. "The Emperor came to visit his 'new' body not too long ago. He was quite pleased, but he demanded a blood test for midichlorians."

"What the hell is a midichlorian? A disease?"

"No... I don't really know how to describe it. It's the special cells in the blood of a Jedi that makes him or her Force-sensitive. Unfortunately for Stanfrincer the midiclorian count wasn't nearly high enough for Palpatine's standards, only around a three hundred count, when most Jedi are between nine hundred and twelve hundred count. The Emperor was furious, and promptly choked the life out of poor Doctor Stanfrincer." The older man shook his head at the memory. "So then Palpatine ordered me to kill the young lab-created man and start over, and get it right this time. Fortunately for me, the Rebels defeated the crazy Sith shortly thereafter so I didn't end up like poor Doctor Stanfrincer, and I also didn't have to kill the boy he had created. Even though he had no personality, I had come to think of him as a son. After the defeat of the Empire, I just took him and the Ssi-ruuk technology from the Imperial palace on Coruscant to Corellia, hid them both away in my apartment, and then got a job at the local medical center."

"You still might end up like Stanfrincer," Han threatened. "What in the nine hells of Corellia does any of this have to do with me?"

Doctor Nik smiled. "I sneakily stole you out of the hospital where you were dying, in the middle of the night, right under the noses of all those medical personnel and brought you to my apartment where I've kept Little Pal alive and well. Security at hospitals is pretty lax, let me tell you, and no one questions a doctor taking a patient out of his room for extra treatment."

"Little Pal?"

"Pal. Short for Palpatine, my name for the boy," the doctor explained. "I'll bet your Wookiee friend tore a few limbs off when he came back in the morning looking for you. Anyway, I hooked up your dying body, and using that Ssi-ruuk technology while hoping for the best, hit the transfer switch, and here you are ... alive and well in a new body." He paused, then added, "At least you're well, now. I wasn't sure you would survive for those first weeks after the transfer. But survive you did."

Han felt dizzy. "What happened to my old, I mean other body?"

"I left it in the hospital morgue the next morning."

Without thinking, Han grabbed the man around his neck, pushing him against the wall. "You KILLED me?"

"Hey..." the doctor gasped, struggling for air. "I saved you!"

"How do you figure that?" Han yelled back.

"You were on the verge of death," the doctor mumbled. "You'd be dead by now anyway, so you should be happy."

Han released the man, staggering back in shock. "How long ago did you do this to me?"

"Seventeen days ago."

"Everyone thinks I'm dead."

"Yes, well, technically you are dead," the doctor agreed, frowning and rubbing his neck. "You've been given a second chance at life, Solo. You have new body, you'll have a totally new identity, and I'll give you some credits to start your life over. You can have it all."

"Except the woman I love," Han muttered quietly.

"I assume you're talking about the Princess," Doctor Nik said. "It's probably too late for that since her wedding is coming up very soon, but you can always try to win her back."

Can I? Han wondered as well.

Doctor Nik motioned Han over to a computer terminal so he could see the information on the screen. "I've set up your new identity to help you along."

"Why are you doing this for me?" Han asked suspiciously.

"Shouldn't it be obvious?"

"No, not to me."

"I wanted to make amends for helping the Empire. I figured that helping one of the New Republic's biggest hero would be a good start, the ultimate revenge on Palpatine," Nik explained. "Anyway, pay attention. This is important. Your new identity is Evin Darkstar, and you grew up as a street orphan, not too off from your original life story. I didn't want to make things difficult for you. I will provide you with a military identity as well, showing you served a short time as an Imperial lieutenant before going AWOL due to your conscience objecting to how the Empire treated its citizens. Oh, you entered the service when you were not quite sixteen, and lied about your age to get in. I don't know if that lines up with your real past or not, but this body is much younger so I had to get creative. The closer we can keep your old identity in line with your new identity, the less likely anyone will notice if you slip up while answering questions about your past."

"Why can't I just be Han Solo again?"

"Look in the mirror," Nik said, shaking his head. "Han Solo died. You have to accept that. And it's not like you took a downgrade when it comes to looks."

"I don't appreciate the implication that I wasn't good looking before."

Nik gave a laugh. "I didn't say that. You were certainly a fine looking young man, before."

"Speaking of young, how old is this body, anyway?"

"Twenty, very soon to be twenty-one."

Han mulled that over, and considered the fact he was now thirteen years younger than he'd been only a few weeks ago, younger than even Luke and Leia. Then he said, "I don't like the surname 'Darkstar'. It sounds… too ominous. I'd prefer Daysun."

"I can change it easily enough on the Corellian ID disk." He tapped some keys on the computer pad. "Daysun it will be, then."

"Why do I speak with an outlier accent… like yours?"

"It's all Pal heard and learned - at least what he was able to learn - while growing up with me. Stanfrincer may have created you, but I raised you, so your accent is like mine." He pursed his lips thoughtfully and smiled. "I suppose, with effort, you could re-train your tongue to use an Inner Corellian accent, but I happen to like our accent. It's rarer, and more unique. Still, the choice is up to you."

Another troubling thought occurred to Han. "You said Palpatine didn't like this body because it wasn't Force-sensitive, right?"

"It wasn't Force-sensitive enough," Nik clarified.

"So this body can access the Force? I don't want to be a Jedi."

Nik grinned. "So don't become one. If a person was born with a great set of vocal chords, yet he doesn't sing, he's not a singer, right?"

Han looked appalled. "I'm not a singer, am I? This is getting worse and worse!"

"You're missing the point, Evin," Doctor Nik said with a sigh, deliberately using Han's new name. The change was something he needed to adjust to, and the sooner the better. "Don't sing, and don't access the Force. Then no one will ever be the wiser."

"I can only hope," Han said worriedly, unaware of how incredibly wrong those 'hopes' were going to turn out to be, and how wrong Doctor Nik would be about no one being the wiser.