Chapter Six:
Han pursed his lips as he regarded the cargo before him, wondering if he would be better off letting someone else take this particular shipment. This much uncut spice was just asking for trouble, and Han would become a hot target the moment the crates were sealed inside the Millennium Falcon.
[We don't really have a choice, Han,] Chewbacca reasoned, somehow knowing what was on the man's mind.
"Yeah... I know." Han admitted grudgingly, recalling their last encounter with Jabba the Hutt.
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Han swore as the wire he was trying to reattach zapped him, making the smuggler drop his tool and shake his hand fervently to try relieving the pain. That wire had been carrying a lot of juice after all.
From under the ship, a questioning growl sounded from the smuggler's first mate, and Han replied tersely. "This kriffing wire got me pretty good, the dumb thing!"
Han only then realized that his multi-tool had slipped between pieces of machinery when he'd dropped it and Han swore again.
"Ah... now I have to fish out the tool!" Han bemoaned when he ran out of colorful words.
With a tired sigh, Han lay flat on the hull and very carefully tried to reach the tool without getting shocked again.
So engrossed was he in that task that the man was oblivious to the arrival of several beings in the hangar where Han's ship was berthed. But Chewie noticed and straightened, coming forward.
[Han...]
The dark-haired man bit his lip as his fingers finally grazed the tool, and when it rocked Han held hid breath. But it didn't fall deeper and so the man strained his arm... closer...
[Han...] Chewie warned again, more urgently.
"Got it!" Han crowed when he finally grasped the tool and hefted it up triumphantly.
[HAN!]
"What?" Han snapped back, turning irritably.
However, his face drained of some color when he saw his visitors, and found himself staring into the bulbous eyes of a familiar crime lord.
"Han Solo," Jabba the Hutt rumbled in Huttese.
"Hey Jabba," Han returned with a false smile. "What brings you here?"
The Hutt narrowed his eyes at the smuggler. "You know why I am here, Solo. Where is my money?"
Han played nonchalant, hoping to appear more at ease than he was inside. "You'll get it. Have I ever not paid you off?"
"Yes." Jabba snapped, and Han rolled his eyes.
"I meant before this incident. It wasn't my fault the Empire decided to board me when I was carrying your spice! I need a little more time to get the funds; I already have half of it."
Jabba's thick brow lifted at that. "Then give me that half."
Han remained on top of the Falcon. "I don't have it with me Jabba; I stashed it in a safe place so I could give you the whole cache when I got the rest."
Jabba growled in annoyance. "You lie: you don't have the money!"
"I swear I do!" Han defended himself. "Chewie, tell him!"
[He does have it, and we have the records to prove it,] the Wookiee harned.
"Let me see the logs," Jabba demanded.
Han nodded to Chewie, who disappeared into the freighter for a moment, returning soon after. Jabba slithered up to meet the Wookiee and look over the datapad the Wookiee held and then reluctantly handed it back.
"Very well. I will give you one more month, and if I don't have the full amount plus ten percent interest, your hide will be mine. I won't kill you, though, no... I think the Kessel spice mines could use two fresh slaves in their midst."
Han's face paled further and Chewie harned agitatedly, causing Jabba's bodyguards to lift their weapons warningly.
"Jabba, you're a wonderful human being," Han muttered sarcastically, to which the Hutt huffed and signaled his men off.
As they lumbered out, Han wondered just how in space he was supposed to come up with that much money in such a short amount of time.
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Han sighed deeply. Their month was nearly up, and if Han didn't take this shipment of spice, he and Chewie wouldn't have the money they needed to pay back Jabba. It was their only hope to keep out of Jabba's crosshairs... and of all the bounty hunters that would be sent their way if the two failed.
"Alright, let's get this stuff onboard. But keep an eye out, huh?" Han looked around somewhat nervously himself.
[The sooner we finish this shipment run the better,] the Wookiee agreed.
With that, the pair began loading crate after crate, something that would take them a good while with the amount they had to ship. The entire load was worth millions of credits, and Han had settled with the dealer to get one million from the entire deal if the shipment arrived complete and unharmed.
And of that million, over half would still be going to the Hutt they were in debt to.
But the other part would make for some money to use in making a few more modifications to the Falcon, something Han had wanted to do for some time now, but lacked the funds to make happen.
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From the deep shadows in the farthest reaches of the cavernous space, a young man with altered physical features stood. His blond hair was now a temporary black and his eyes a deep brown. Luke wasn't certain just why he'd changed his immediate looks, but he supposed he didn't want to be recognized after the execution's broadcast. Besides, he could go back to his natural appearance while returning to his father.
Luke watched the Corellian and his Wookiee friend Chewbacca load crate after crate. The boxes were unmarked and yet sealed tighter than a watertight ship. The only thing that could be in those crates was spice, and Luke whistled to himself at the payload before him.
But Luke wasn't interested in drugs. No, he was following the movements of the smugglers with a keen, watchful eye. He noted a pattern after a time. While at first they'd come in and out of the vessel one at a time and constantly crossing paths, soon the pair began moving almost in sync so that there were long seconds of inactivity outside the vessel.
It was during one of these gaps in attention that Luke snuck into the forest of crate stacks still to be packed, and then to stand just under the ramp. The Shadow had made certain that there would be no prying eyes to interrupt, so he knew the coast was clear outside this hangar bay. He'd also set the cameras to loop so Luke could operate under the radar.
Luke waited a few more turns of the man and Wookiee making trips with crates to make his move. They had started reverting to the previous pattern of one coming out then the other as the first went inside.
Thus it was that Chewbacca lumbered up the ramp as Han ambled down, muttering something to himself about some part or another for the YT-1300 freighter the man called the Millennium Falcon.
As soon as he had a clear path to the man, Luke used the Force to distract the Wookiee with a sound deep inside the ship. He felt the Wookiee come to attention and then go seeking the cause of the noise while Han remained oblivious.
When the man had his back turned and then bent to collect his next box, Luke stepped out of the shadows, hood still drawn up deeply over his head. There he stood between the smuggler and the ramp as the man straightened under his new load.
If the situation hadn't been so stressed for Luke already, the look on the smuggler's face would have been comical. The man froze up, nearly dropping his precious cargo and backing up unsteadily as his momentum was thwarted.
Luke remained silent as the man's emotions painted his face in different ways, from fear and shock to indignation and uncertainty.
"Who are you?" Han demanded sharply.
Luke didn't answer, only staring at the other from under his black cowl.
When Han got no answer, he risked setting down his cargo, talking as he went. "Are you here for the spice? Because I'm not giving it up so easily."
Luke still didn't answer and as soon as the man's hand crept for his blaster Luke motioned, freezing the other's hand in place with the Force. In the next moment Luke had his lightsaber drawn and lit.
As it ignited and bathed Luke in a ruby glow, the smuggler's entire countenance changed. Suddenly understanding lit in his eyes even as he backed up a step, his hands falling to his sides.
"You're an inquisitor." The finality in the other's tone gave Luke slight pause. "Here to kill me for letting that Zabrak go."
Luke's hand lowered a hair, the blade deviating from its angled position across his body.
Han swore softly. "I knew that choice would come back to bite me in the rear, but it was the right thing to do."
Luke, who had taken a step forward with the intent to end this man's life swiftly and be done with things, again paused. This time the man noticed.
"What, suddenly Inquisitors have moral compasses?" the Corellian asked bitterly and Luke glared at the other, incensed.
But before the Shadow could make another move against the smuggler, his warning sense tingled. With the speed of a nexu and the agility of an acklay, Luke leapt up and over the head of the Wookiee who'd tried to take him out from behind.
The Wookiee roared angrily that anyone would attack his friend, and chased after Luke with surprising dexterity. Luke ducked a large hairy arm and kicked at the Wookiee's knee with a booted foot.
He wasn't all that surprised when the two-meter being barely flinched. Luke found himself rolling away and coming up behind the other while Han reached for his blaster again. Luke's lightsaber reignited in an instant as Han shot at him.
The smuggler's shots were redirected at him and the other shouted in alarm before ducking for cover behind the crates. Then Luke had to deal with the Wookiee, and he took a meaty fist to the ribs before he could catch it.
Luke's breath left him in a whoosh but he pushed through it and Force-shoved at the Wookiee. Chewbacca moved a little, and then Luke grabbed at one crate in the Force and threw it at the being's face.
As the Wookiee roared in distress, Luke sprinted toward the smuggler, who was firing at him again. All the shots were deflected and then Luke leapt up and over the crates to land behind the man.
Han was too slow to spin around and so Luke swept the man's feet out from under him. Han went down with a cry and Luke disarmed him before placing his lightsaber's blade to the other's throat.
But all the movement had caused Luke's hood to slip, and so when Han finally got a look at his attacker, he froze, his eyes widening in shock.
"Stars... you're just a kid!" Han exclaimed.
Luke's lip curled: he was eighteen! "I am not a kid!"
Han continued to gape but, to Luke's befuddlement, the man didn't beg for his life. Luke heard the Wookiee trying to advance and he moved the blade threateningly, making the hairy alien freeze.
"If you're going to kill me, then just do it," Han said simply, but not bitterly, and Luke met the man's hazel gaze.
Luke remained silent, but he pushed the deadly weapon a hair closer to the other's neck, watching as the skin began to turn red from the proximity of his blade. But there Luke paused, unable to bring himself to do it.
Han's words from moments before came back to Luke then: it was the right thing to do...
But his father... Luke would pay dearly if he botched this mission.
Chewbacca tried to advance a bit more as he noticed Luke's distracted state but Han, seeing the warring emotions in the young man's gaze, held up a hand, though his attention remained on the person before him.
"You won't do it," Han stated softly.
Driven by a fear of the Emperor's wrath, Luke was swift to respond. "I will!" Luke hissed vehemently, twitching his blade for effect.
But Han remained steadfast, calm. "No. You won't do it because you don't want to. I see it in your eyes."
Luke hesitated, but did not retract the weapon. "I must..." Part of his mind wondered why he was even debating this with a stranger.
"Do you really have to do it?" Han wanted to know.
"Yes," Luke whispered urgently.
"Why?"
Luke blinked. "What?"
Han lifted a brow. "Why do you have to do the job?"
Luke ground his teeth. "Because it's what I've been... trained to do. And if I don't then the retribution will be terrible." But his hand was trembling somewhat even as he continued to battle himself.
And Han was right... Luke didn't want to do this. He'd said as much to Leia, and he had meant it. But there was also the deep-seated fear that his father would never forgive Luke for this if he disappointed the man anymore.
"I... I can't not do it," Luke whispered, torn.
"You can break free, Kid," Han told the young man. "You don't have to do something you know is wrong. This is your chance to try something new. Just try it. Why not find out what it can be like outside of the Empire's watchful eye?"
Luke glanced around pointedly. "Become a smuggler?"
"No; become a free person," Han corrected, carefully lifting one hand.
Luke's eyes riveted to it instantly, and followed the limb as it moved to cover Luke's own where it grasped the lightsaber.
"Be stronger than what you've been made in to. I served under the Empire briefly myself and broke free to save Chewie and some other Wookiees." Luke's gaze shifted to meet Han's once more, surprised.
Han's palm now rested on the back of Luke's hand. "Do the right thing, Kid. Break free... try living on your own."
Luke closed his eyes, his heart pounding forcefully as the full impact of what this man wanted Luke to do settled upon the youth's shoulders. Break free... Han didn't know what he was asking Luke to break free from.
And yet... there was something deep within Luke's bosom that urged him to take the man up on his request. Luke thought back to his years of doubt, his being sometimes cruelly set on what Vader deemed the 'right course' when Luke's gut told him over and over it was wrong.
And this... this job, what would it really accomplish?
Break free... be free... just try...
He couldn't... but he didn't want this life anymore... he couldn't... there'd be hell to pay... he was petrified...
Be brave, Luke. A soft, female voice whispered to him from a breeze on the Force, and the young man started internally.
Who had that been?
But the peace that had drifted to him on those words pierced him like nothing ever had, and Luke gasped sharply. His hand shifted almost without his consent and shut off the lightsaber.
Luke moved away and dropped the weapon to the side, breathing hard as he struggled with the terror of the unknown future. His hands were shaking more heavily now, but Luke clung desperately to that single strand of peace to ground him in hope.
He would try to be strong. He would try something different. And he would pray to the cosmos that this didn't end with Luke strapped to a chair in sublevel twelve.
Luke ended up placing his head between bended knees, and he spoke to Han, though his voice was directed at the floor. "Go... get out of here while you still can."
Han had risen, but upon seeing the state the young man was in, the smuggler hesitated a moment. Finally, tentatively, he knelt beside the other. "Hey, come with us."
Luke lifted his head at that. "Come with you? I just tried to kill you."
Han shrugged. "It's in the past. And I'm the one who talked you into this, so I kind of feel responsible. Chewie and Me can teach you what we know, or you can just tag along for the ride. But you're pretty good in a fight, and we could use you. It wouldn't pay well, the job won't be very nice to you, but it's something."
Luke eyed the pair, noting how the Wookiee seemed a little wary yet, but nor was he still trying to unarm Luke. The Shadow looked away again, contemplating. He really had nowhere else to go, and he didn't know anyone who would take him in... but Han and Chewie didn't know who Luke was. They thought he was an inquisitor... but he was so much more dangerous than that.
"You don't know what you're asking for," Luke whispered, not meeting Han's gaze. "I'm better off alone."
"I think we can manage," Han remarked, already rising and offering a hand up. "Besides, what's life without a little adventure and danger, huh?"
Luke frowned up at the guy, but eventually gave in, hesitantly taking the smuggler's hand and letting himself be hoisted up. He eyed the Wookiee gingerly. "Sorry about your face."
The Wookiee replied in his native tongue, and Luke had to look to Han for a translation. "He says not to worry about it, but that now our shipment isn't going to arrive untouched, so we will be out several thousands of credits. We really need that money."
Luke looked around. "There's still enough spice here to make anyone filthy rich."
Han and Chewie shared a look. "Yeah... well, wanna lend us a hand getting it all loaded?"
Luke sighed, moving over to a crate. "I guess so."
Sometime later— and after Luke had returned to his ship to deactivate the systems and lock it down so no one could tamper with it— the trio lifted off from the spaceport.
Instead of watching the view from the cockpit, however, Luke disappeared into the guest cabin and lay down on the first bunk he came to. There he stared without really seeing at the wall, not knowing how to feel.
He had disobeyed a direct order from his father... had essentially run away. The question was what Vader would do about it. The possibilities all gave Luke chills, and he found it difficult to get any amount of sleep that night.
