Chapter 16

"Oy, Kid! What the kriff do you think you're doin' down there?"

Han knew that 'learning the Wookie from your private slave I was expressly forbidden to have anything to do with' would not be a good answer. Instead, he dangled with the toolkit he had brought. "Repairing the waste pipe valves as I was told, Captain!" he yelled in reply.

"Who told ya to do that?" the Captain asked. Clearly he didn't believe Han.

"Track, Captain. He said to do it before he left to... go out."

That sentence covered a multitude of sins, most being of a carnal nature. Luckily Han was both telling the truth and had had the foresight to actually have that confirmed when someone else had been there. "Ask Caran if ya want, Captain. Track had him give me the tools."

He threw Jowdrrl an encouraging glance and climbed up out of the hole that led down to where the doors for the ship's slave cells were.

"All done, Captain. The pipes should be workin' again."

It had been a matter of thirty seconds to fix the valve, so Han had spent the next hour on language lessons. The last one he feared, as Jowdrrl had told him that short of actually speaking Shyriiwook he was as good as any non-Wookie was about to get.

"Then get movin' you damn runt."

Han hastily withdrew, trying hard not to show that he was desperately sad.

Being 'done' with the forbidden lessons meant several things. First, his plan to finally leave this godsforsaken ship and it's slaver crew behind would have to be set in motion soon. Second, he was going to be free. But thirdly, he knew that Jowdrrl wouldn't be and that he would not be around for Corn's inevitable wrath. The only reason the Wookie was alive still was because... Han had no idea why, but he knew that Corn would vent his anger on him.

But Han knew that he was living on borrowed time himself and that he had little choice but to leave. Right now.

What little possessions he owned were easily exchanged for the tools in his kit and stashed into the small backpack he'd come aboard with. Getting off the ship was easier said than done, but Han knew that Corn would soon enough leave for some 'entertainment' of his own. Those of his crew he didn't trust, which was almost all of them, would be little more than prisoners while he was away. Han knew this, and had planned accordingly. The docking ring of one of the escape pods had been rewired so that it sent a set of false signals to the ship's computers. So when he launched it with himself inside, the sensors should still report it as in place and under power, ready to be used.

So when he was grabbed off the floor just as he turned into the crevice that connected to the lifepods six hours later, he had no idea what to do next.

"What ya doin' kid?"

Han sighed with relief. It was the assistant Engineer, the only one who had been kind to him on occasion.

"Leavin' this scrapheap."

"So where would ya go?"

"What's it to you?" Han asked defiantly. Caran placed him down.

"Is it goin' to damage my ship?"

"Not really."

"Then never let me see your face again, Kid."

With that Caran turned and walked away.

Han picked up his things and crouched into the escape pod. He sent one last prayer of thanks towards his Wookie friend and closed the hatch.

"No time like the present."

He punched in the release code and hammered the launch button.

"Punch it!"

The pod raced out towards the planet, and as it did so, it lit up dozens of sensor scopes, several of which belonged to CorSec. Han hadn't really considered it, but this would end up keeping the ship he'd been on out of the system for a few weeks. He'd set the pod's automatic systems so that they wouldn't land in the middle of town, but manipulating it any more than that...

He'd done that part well. After a rough descent for someone used to sublight engines and repulsorlifts, the pod crashed through the treetops about twelve kilometres north of Coronet. Han knew that CorSec would track the pod soon, so he didn't waste any time and made his way towards the nearest road, intending to hitch a ride into town.

Han had seen the road about a kilometre or so to the east. It would take him only ten or fifteen minutes to get there.

In the end it took him twice that, as Han had underestimated the terrain, and he'd had to hide from the CorSec speeders that investigated the crashed pod. He figured that he had another half hour at best before they figured out it wasn't a malfunction and began to look for any occupants. Luckily the road was fairly well travelled.

Yet it still took him another ten minutes to get someone to stop. Hardly surprising, really, since hitch-hiking in the middle of nowhere wasn't exactly common on Corellia.

The speeder that eventually halted was of a luxury kind, that much Han could see.

"Hey kid, you need a ride?"

"Yeah, thanks, Mister." Han replied and walked over. Once he was seated inside and they were moving again, the driver asked how Han was out here.

"My date ditched me," Han lied, "she said that I was too... common. No idea what she meant. Then that crash or whatever, I turn around all I'm seein' is the taillights."

"Ouch. That sounds horrible."

They drove along for a while.

"So, my name is Han Solo."

"Garm Bel Iblis."

The Mynock set down in the main hangar, some way back from the Z-95s of Blue Squadron and the Y-Wings their Gold counterparts. Ahsoka and Unduli waited while the refugees were welcomed and dealt with by the ship's medical personnel, and during that time Unduli had the leisure to look at the parts of the hangar she could see. It wasn't much, only the back wall and a few Y-Wings. Even knowing that up close they would be anything but and even with most of the outer hull removed to ease maintenance, the bombers looked like something straight out of the Clone War with their gold-accented white paint and that same insignia on side, as well as squadron insignia on the top.

Ahsoka said nothing while Unduli looked around, knowing from experience that it was best to let new arrival take things in on their own time.

It was Chewbacca who returned to them to announce that they were the last ones on board, so Ahsoka turned off the last of the on-board systems and rose from her seat.

"If you will, Master Unduli?"

"Of course."

Unduli followed Ahsoka off the ramp where she waited while the young Togruta stepped aside talk with the deck crew. It gave the Jedi Master a chance to take in her surroundings. Fearless had to have been a volunteer-crewed ship, and it showed in the plethora of different species that could be seen. They all wore the uniform of the Republic Judicial forces or bright orange flight suits with presumably squadron insignia. What amazed her was that more than a few of the pilots, but by no means all, had lightsabres clipped to their belts and when she tentatively reached out into the Force, they turned out to be trained Jedi. In fact, she recognized some of them as former Padawans. Her presence went not unnoticed, but beyond a few odd glances and Force-contacts no one approached.

To her right, Ahsoka was giving instructions with the sort of practised ease that spoke of shared experience and familiarity. The Jedi among those she could see where exceptionally well shielded but the non-force users seemed to have no problem with showing their personal loyalty towards their commander.

Ahsoka eventually returned and silently waited for a set of what Unduli recognized as Republic Judicial Forces troopers to arrive, armed for ship-board combat. Obviously they were here to escort Rex and his men to some place where their loyalty could be ascertained. Ahsoka briefly returned to the inside of the shuttle with Chewbacca and when they returned, they were followed by the clones, unarmed and helmets off.

Waves of consternation, fear and... dislike, to put it mildly, emanated through the Force at the sight of 'stormtroopers' on their ship, but it went no further than that because of the escort and because the Jedi present seemed to be entirely unconcerned about the presence of the clones.

The background hum changed and Ahsoka explained that the ship would be making a few random hyperspace jumps before heading 'home' and before they could risk contacting the council. Unduli mentally prepared herself for that.

tbc

Due to events in TFA I felt the need to check in on him, and I will try to do that a few times until he joins the cast for real. What can I say, Han Solo is The Man. Also, the reason why this took so long is that I really struggled with the second section. It was supposed to go into way more detail, but in the end I decided to defer someone explaining the new status quo of the order to Unduli until they return to Weitun. So yeah, this was supposed to be a lot longer and it's why this has such an aprupt ending.