Chapter One:

(Seventeen years later)

Han Solo settled down in his booth with a sigh, Chewbacca across from him. "Well Chewie, I didn't think that game would go quite that south, but I guess I was wrong."

[That's an understatement,] the Wookiee returned with a snort.

"Hey, in all fairness I thought that Gran had a bad hand. Turns out his tells were all faked." Han rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. "Stang, that guy really cleaned me out. Guess we'd better leave before we lose the Falcon too."

Chewie stood with a low growl. [We'll have to take a new job from Jabba just to pay for fuel and supplies again, Han. What were you thinking?]

"Lay off, will ya?" Han snapped irritably as they made their way to the exit. "I said I was sorry, what more do you..."

His words were cut off by the arrival of a squad of armored soldiers from the Empire. The ground soldiers and troopers of the Empire still wore the full-body armor used in the Clone Wars: only the faceplate and coloring had changed. The color of the armor was now olive green with black stripes running the length of their arms from shoulder to wrist. Han backed up to give them space as the Imperials spread out in a well-known search pattern.

The commander, denoted with an orange shoulder cover, stopped next to Han and Chewie since they were nearest the door. "You there, how long have you been in this building?"

"Just a couple of hours," Han replied. "What's up?"

"We're in search of someone," the man held up a holo, and Han could feel his hard stare on him even through the black eye sockets of the helmet the other wore. "He's believed to have come to this world."

Han dutifully studied the holo, taking in the image of a black and tan Zabrak male. But even so, Han shook his head, Chewie doing likewise. "Nope, I haven't seen him, or anyone like him."

Chewbacca harned a negative also.

The man sighed. "Very well. If you see him, you are to report it immediately. But do not, under any circumstances, make contact. He is highly dangerous to civilians."

"Yes sir," Han replied, and they were allowed to leave as the rest of the squad worked the other patrons.

"Let's get out of here, Chewie," Han muttered. "The sooner the better."

[I won't argue with you there,] the Wookiee replied.

The pair made their way to the docking bay and was just about to make their way inside when a hand grabbed Han's arm. "Are you leaving the planet?"

Han reflexively jerked away, but the other held fast, and Han glared at him. "Let go of me, Pal, or the Wookiee will do the job for you at the risk of your own limb."

Chewie growled threateningly and the other seemed to pale even under his hood. "Fine."

He dropped Han's arm, and then glanced about surreptitiously. "I need charter off-planet. Can you give me a ride?"

Han narrowed his eyes. "Not for free I can't."

The being sighed. "I can offer a thousand credits when we are safely away and another three when I arrive at my new stop."

Han glanced to Chewie, who nodded slowly. Han considered, and then eyed their visitor. "Why do you want to leave? Who are you?"

"My name is unimportant." The hooded being looked around again, and though something didn't sit quite right with Han, he'd rather risk chartering someone from Raltree than run another shipment for Jabba and go into debt even further for the Hutt.

"Fine, but if you cause me trouble, we will space you, got that?" Han warned.

"Understood."

"Well then what are we standing around for?" Han remarked mildly. "Let's go."

00000

In the shadows, a dark-hued droid hovered silently, capturing the face of the hooded figure it had been surreptitiously following. After a swift scan in facial recognition, the droid confirmed the identity.

Dishon Annsh, the very Zabrak the Empire was searching for. And the smuggler... Han Solo, was knowingly taking him off-planet.

The droid sent a burst of a message across a secure channel to the man leading the search on Raltree and then returned to the shuttle it had been dispatched from.

00000

Commander Cody listened to the droid's message and swore, racing with his contingent of men to catch the freighter. "Let's go!" As he and his men ran, Cody commed the troopers patrolling nearest the launch pad. "Do not let the craft go!"

A few tense seconds went by before the other trooper returned with grim news over the comlink. "Sir, it's already taking off!"

"Tag it! We need to know where it goes!" Cody snapped. "His Majesty wants his pupil back alive!"

"Yes sir!"

Cody arrived at the docking area just as a dilapidated freighter soared from the building to the skies above. With a dark look to the ship, Cody slowed to a jog and entered.

His contact appeared immediately. "Sir, we were able to get a tracker in place, but just barely."

"Excellent," Cody replied. "Alert the Executor that we have a lead and will soon have Dishon's location."

"Yes sir."

Once the man had turned to fulfill his orders, Cody turned to the next trooper in line. "You, get me everything we have on Han Solo and his copilot. We need to have that information ready for His Majesty."

"At once, Sir." The trooper saluted and moved off also.

00000

Han sat back with a sigh as the Millennium Falcon finally made the jump to hyperspace. "Well, we're on our way."

[Time to collect our fee,] Chewie said, and Han nodded his agreement.

"Yeah. I just hope he isn't going to cause us more trouble than this job is worth," Han muttered.

[If he does, we will get through it,] Chewie harned.

Han sighed. "Thanks, Buddy."

The smuggler made his way aft while Chewie continued to do flight checks. He entered the main hold to find their passenger sitting by the dejarik table, arms folded and seemingly staring at nothing.

"So, why the big rush to leave Raltree?" Han asked mildly as he sat in the swivel-chair at a sensor station.

The being glanced up as if he'd been jolted from his thoughts. "Huh?"

Han rolled his eyes. "You show up out of the blue just as I happen to be leaving the planet, and with Imperial troopers looking for someone. So what's the big deal?"

The other shook his head. "Trust me when I say it's best you don't know anything about me."

Han thinned his lips, but decided the other was probably right. "Okay then. Well you'll be happy to know we arrive at Belkadan in six hours. Feel free to take a nap if you want, the guest cabin is down the hall on your right."

"Thank you."

"And you owe us money, pal," Han added pointedly.

Gloved hands moved and then a credit chip was flicked onto the tabletop. "One thousand credits as agreed. The other three will remain with me until I'm safely away."

With that he left, closing the cabin door behind him.

Just before reversion to realspace, and with the gut feeling that something wasn't right, Han knocked on the door and opened the portal to alert their guest to their arrival. As such, he ended up startling the other, and Han got his first look at the guy's head and face.

Han gaped for a long minute before anger and even some fear took hold. "You?!"

He backed away as the other swore and stood, coming forward. Han whipped out his blaster and aimed for the other's heart. "Stop right there!"

The Zabrak made an indistinguishable noise and suddenly Han's blaster was in the other's hand. "Listen to me: I am not here to harm you or the Wookiee. I am trying to get away from that life."

Han narrowed suspicious eyes at the man. "Yeah? And what kind of life is that? What, are you a hotshot criminal?"

The Zabrak looked down with an acerbic laugh. "I guess I am, in a matter of speaking."

Han frowned. "What is that supposed to mean? Either you are or you aren't pal. So which is it?"

The Zabrak's green eyes met his. "Fine, I am a criminal, is that what you want to hear? I killed for His Majesty time and time again, and I enforced his law like my fellow Inquisitors. Happy now?"

Han froze. "Inquisitor?"

Everyone in the galaxy knew of Emperor Vader's Special Forces personnel known as Inquisitors. These were the ones sent to deal with unruly Force-sensitives or to handle things that needed the touch of a Force-user, but was too small a job for the Emperor to oversee. After all, one man couldn't be everywhere. And Vader trusted only his elite Inquisitors with Force matters, because they had been trained by the Emperor himself, as well as his closest advisors.

Any other Force-sensitives in the galaxy were always counted separately in the yearly censuses and were allowed to live as long as they did not pursue any form of Jedi training. Jedi were explicitly illegal, and anyone caught with sympathies towards them or harboring their rare left-over artifacts were either put to death or punished severely. And those found to be training in secret were publicly executed to make a point.

"Didn't I tell you it's better not to know who I am?" the passenger retorted. "Now that you know your life is in jeopardy."

"And it wasn't when you came to me for a ride?" Han ground out.

The other actually hesitated. "That was unavoidable."

"Sure it was," Han snapped angrily, "because it was too kriffing hard to steal your own ship and not risk the necks of two innocents in your quest for freedom."

The Zabrak's shoulders slumped in defeat. "I am trying to get away from my master, something you can't understand." He handed Han the blaster once more. "Very well, just drop me off in an escape pod and let me off once we're close enough to the planet. Here is the rest of your money."

He tossed three more credit chips at Han and stalked toward the escape pods.

Han studied him from behind for a moment, and then looked to the money in his grasp, feeling bad now... to a degree. "Hey."

The Zabrak paused, turning.

"We agreed to take you all the way, and that's what we're gonna do," Han said, gesturing for the man to follow him to the ramp. "We will get you to the surface and open the ramp. You get off and we part ways. And... if you're serious, I wish you luck."

The Zabrak softened and offered a hand. "Thank you, Captain."

Han shook the limb and made his way to the cockpit. "We're coming in hot and dropping him off, Chewie. The man's a runaway Inquisitor if you can believe that."

Chewbacca's head whipped around so fast Han heard bones creak in the Wookiee's neck. [An Inquisitor? Han, are you serious?]

Han hooked a thumb. "We have to give the man a chance, don't we? He says he wants to change, and he didn't hurt me when he had every chance to. We're finishing this job, like we always do. We have a sense of honor, don't we?"

Chewie studied Han for a long minute until the navicomputer beeped for reversion. [Yes,] the other finally sighed.

Han brought them into realspace and immediately rushed for the surface of the planet, grateful when nothing came up at them and no one tried to contact them for code clearances.

True to their word, Han and Chewie drew as close to the ground as safely possible and opened the ramp. Han saw the figure jump off and run into the nearby trees and Han gave him a goodbye wave before he closed the ramp and the Falcon pulled for deep space again.

When they once more got to the jump point with ease, Han and Chewie shared a worried look. "Does it bother you that we met no resistance when that guy is so badly wanted?"

[It does. Where is the Empire? Why aren't we being chased?] Chewie fretted. [This isn't like them at all.]

Han bit his lip and took them into a short jump to empty space, where he then turned to the Wookiee. "Bring up the security footage of our departure."

His co-pilot did just that and with growing dread the pair watched as they only then saw the four troopers enter the hangar just as the Falcon took off. And right before the surface of the building covered the camera's view Han saw one man throw something at the ship.

Then the feed shut off since the cameras were only set to record during landing and takeoff.

Han sat back with a lead ball in his stomach. "Tracker..."

[That means they know where their man is... and where we are.] Chewie worried.

"Not for long," Han growled. "Set off an electronic burst over the hull to fry the tracker. I'm afraid the only thing we can do for the Zabrak is hope he's alright."

[Sending burst,] Chewie answered, and they watched a wave of bluish white wash over every inch of their hull, and only then did Han plot a few random jumps to shake anyone who tried to trail them.

But even still...

"I've got a bad feeling about this, Chewie," Han murmured as they set off.