Tess wandered absent-mindedly around the Millennium Falcon. If she didn't know that everyone was on the ship at takeoff, she would say it was completely deserted. It seemed off that things would be this quiet in the middle of the day—and especially that the kitchen looked suspiciously undisturbed.

Tess turned into the small hallway leading to most of the bunks and peered into the one Han and Leia usually shared. The lights were still of in there, but Tess could see Leia's long, dark ringlets of hair hanging over the side of the bed. Han had likely gone to the cockpit already, having left a crumped heap of sheets beside the princess.

The fifteen-year-old walked quietly into the room and crawled onto the bed to lie at her sister's side.

"What are you doing?" muttered Leia groggily, opening one eye. Tess grinned.

"Good afternoon, beautiful," she sang. "Planning on getting up at all today?"

Leia responded by closing her eyes to fall back asleep. Tess didn't blame her for being so tired. Leia was quite the insomniac, especially during the days leading up to a big battle, so one would expect the princess to sleep the day away at the first change she got following said battle.

The Falcon had lifted off the ground late afternoon the day before and the group aboard—Han, Chewie, Tess, Leia, and Threepio—were not in as high spirits as one would expect after such a victory. Luke's departure probably had a lot to do with it. He always left just as soon as the others had gotten used to him being back in the game.

And worst of all, this time Tess knew she was somehow the reason Luke left.

Han Solo rubbed the bridge of his nose. His many years of literally staring off into space for days and even months at a time had made him a tad farsighted and given him occasional headaches. The smuggler did a double take at the time on the dashboard. How the hell was it already 1300 hours? A growl from his stomach assured him that the time must have been right.

With joints more sore than he cared to admit, Han heaved himself out of the pilot seat and walked past a snoring Chewbacca into the main corridor. He heard the familiar clashes of a lightsaber blocking a remote-fired blaster shot. The smuggler frowned slightly, thinking it was Luke for a split second and missing his friend. He found Tess in the main hold of the Falcon, battling the remote as expected.

Tess looked different today, Han noticed. Customarily she wore colored jumpsuits, but today she was in a white one with gray boots. A few inches of height and it could have been Leia under the helmet's blast shields.

Han observed the training teenager, watching her blue-green lightsaber dart back and forth, blocking high and low attacks. Was her blade shorter than Luke's, or was it Tess' height that made it appear that way? Han leaned up against the doorframe with a slight smile. Who would have thought the kid that smuggled herself away in this very ship almost five years ago would become this? He had spent hours of his life mulling over explanations for the preposterously unbelievable coincidence of a princess being rescued by a farm boy who turns out to be her brother, and escaping with a surprise stowaway who just happens to be their half-sister. It was enough to convince even the most skeptic smuggler that there was something at work here.

Han would never admit it, but occasionally when Luke or Tess would use the Force, he felt virtually inconsequential. They seemed to have their own little world that they would often escape to, and come back with the ability to do things he couldn't—and save people that he didn't have the power to. Han made it clear in the beginning that he didn't believe in the Force, but the years with Luke and Tess had definitely changed his mind. He secretly dreaded a day when they would realize that they were destined for far superior things than a smuggler's ship.

And now, watching Tess battle the remote, he realized that now he would be having those same fears about Leia.

Lost in thoughts, he didn't notice the young rebel growing more frustrated. The device hadn't hit her once, yet she started responding aggressively. Still blocking with one hand, Tess turned up the difficulty level to the highest setting. Han's eyes widened, but not wanting to distract her, he just watched as she continued to block each and every blaster shot. Then suddenly, she pushed her hand outwards with a yell and the remote went flying into the wall. But she didn't stop there. Still blind from the helmet's blast shields, she stomped over to the damaged remote, lifted it into the air with the Force, and sliced it in half with her lightsaber. She then reached out two hands, each electrocuting the two separate pieces of the remote.

Finally done, Tess tore of her helmet and tossed it to the ground, only to notice Han standing there. Her mouth agape and eyes wide, she tried a mumbled explanation, pointing between her lightsaber and the remote and the helmet, but she eventually gave up. It was hard to believe such remorse and anxiety could come from someone who moments killed a harmless training remote.

"Please don't tell Leia," Tess begged, darting to the mess. "I'll clean it up, I promise!" She started picking up the two pieces of remote, but the first one shocked her with the remaining electricity it had in it. "Kriff!" she recoiled angrily, jumping back.

"I didn't realize your vocabulary had expanded," Han mused. He wanted to just wipe what he just saw from his memory, but he just couldn't. "What was…what happened there?"

"Nothing," Tess promised quickly. Her face was reddening as if she was holding back tears. She picked up the remote pieces with a cloth and threw them in the garbage.

"Really?" Han narrowed his eyes. "Because I've watched Luke train with those things for four years and I've never seen him anything like that."

"We're different people, okay!" Tess spat, stomping over to him. "We may be related, and we're both Force sensitive, but I use the Force a completely different way! I'm…with some things I'm…I do them…" As she struggled for an alternate way to say what she wanted to say, Han just verbalized what she was implying.

"You're better than him?"

"Maybe I am," Tess sneered. "I can be stronger than him sometimes. His father may have been Darth Vader, but my father was Darth Vader's Master."

Han really did not like how the kid was starting to sound. He didn't know much about the Force, but he did know that anger was a huge no-no for Jedi and Tess was practically glowing red with it.

"Look," Han began, taking a defensive step back. She may have been a kid but she was a kid with a lightsaber, and she knew how to use it. "I was just worried about you, that's all."

"Because you're fucking my sister."

"Hey!" the smuggler snapped. That was it. This kid needed to be reminded who was in charge. Lightsaber or no lightsaber, Han grabbed Tess under the chin and forced her to look at him. "First of all, if you think after all of these years I only care about you because of your sister, you're dead wrong. Second of all, your sister cares about you more than anyone else in the world so there's no way in hell I'm letting you talk about her like that, regardless of our relationship. Third, I don't care if you think you're all powerful because you came from Emperor Wrinkles and hold a lightsaber—I can still give you a smack on the head for doing something stupid. Because this is my ship, kid."

At that, Han gave Tess the smack on the head he was talking about. Tess just stood there, wide-eyed.

Han spun around and left the room. He ran into a confused Leia on the way out.

"What was that about?" she asked. Han gestured towards the kid, who was now rubbing her head with a grimace on her face.

"Just reminding her that I care."