Chapter 66 - Truth Tellers

"Okay, is everyone set on their stories?" Leia made her way through the Falcon to receive head nods from Rob and Aretti.

Donael corrected her with a gaze. "I'm not telling a story. Just going to be a little less liberal with details when I give my report. Technically I wasn't even around for the mission or the incident so I have nothing to report on that anyways. I do agree that not knowing certain things will be better for the General's mental health."

"Thank you captain, my ability to take a mission in the next thirty years depends on it." Mara rolled her eyes.

"I don't know about this," Luke looked down. "Shouldn't we at least tell our father?"

"And have him go overprotective on us! No, worse, he'll tell Bail, and then…"

"Then I wouldn't be able to join you for missions anymore." Mara placed a hand on Luke's shoulder. Leia saw the trick she was pulling, but she didn't object if it got them what they wanted.

"Okay, I'll stick to the story," Luke acquiesced after Mara stared deep into his baby blue eyes.

Leia smiled. She had worked hard on her script and "reports," for everyone on the team. Everything came together without a hole to it. "Then let's go over it one more time."

"We arrived on Ord Mantell on schedule, You and the crew took Mara on the mission to the Casino. I went to the other side of Worlport to complete my special assignment, and the Falcon picked me up the following day at our prearranged location." Said Donael.

"Meanwhile, we entered the Casino and completed the mission as planned," said Aretti.

"Mara got the intel from the guy in the Casino, and we all left without incident," Rob added.

"Yes, We met up to discuss the success, and head back to the Falcon…" Luke said, looking down. He wasn't comfortable with lying, Leia knew this. "Can't we just say we had some trouble with, I don't know, police, somebody. This is sounding too perfect. I wouldn't believe it."

"Civil Authority on Ord Mantell Bounty Hunters are. Held by them you were. Until talked them into releasing you, I did." Yoda finished.

"Grandmaster, why are you helping? I'd have thought you'd be encouraging Leia to tell the truth."

"Depends on our point of view, the truth does. Hear what you want to hear, you do. Believe what you want. Too attached Bail is. If dangerous, you tell him this mission was, only dangers will he see. The truth alone, tell him. Safe, she is. Got you all out, I did."

"Yeah, I guess I can see it that way." Luke agreed.

Meanwhile Han piloted them closer and closer to Yavin IV.


"There we go. I don't know how you get so filled with gunk in a single voyage." Han hummed to his ship.

"Raaaaaaraaaaaaagrah," Chewy interrupted his ship's preening.

"Oh, you know me. I'm not into the fussy paperwork. Let them handle the post mission briefing."

"Graaaah."

"I'm not mad. I mean, she didn't come into the cockpit. So what?"

Chewy shrugged.

"You noticed that too, right. It isn't me?" Han continued to rant. "The last several trips, she sat with me as I flew. This time… no, she came by once.

Graaaaaaaaah?" Chewy asked.

I don't know. She handed me something and said something about my portion of… something. I don't remember where I put it." Han reached into his pocket and pulled out his rag, then polished the inner piece of the hyperdrive clean.

The Wookiee bent over to read a piece of paper entitled "script," which had fallen out of Han's pocket.

"Yeah, I'll get this baby back in flyable condition. Why don't you handle the rotators in the back?" Han suggested. Chewy gave a thought to bringing up the note on the floor, but decided against it and turned to leave.

After Han cleaned debris out of the hyperdrive engine, he was thinking a little more clearly. Something about the repetitive task was relaxing. 'You know what, I'll bet she blames me for the incident. Of course she does, it was my fault. They were after me. Now here I am leaving them to handle the difficult job and not stepping out and taking responsibility, again.

"I'm heading out!" Han yelled to Chewy before he walked off the ship.

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh," Chewy began to growl back something about 'Did you read the note?' But Han didn't listen.


"...Until Master Yoda talked them into releasing us." Leia explained.

"Yes, Talked them into releasing everyone, I did. No authority to keep them, they had." Yoda confirmed.

'Gee, they must have just explained about the bounty hunters,' Han assumed.

"Umm hmm." Bail looked over the party, and back and forth between Anakin and Obi-Wan who were listening too. Something about their looks was unsettled. Almost as if they couldn't believe the story they were told.

"I'm sorry, sir. It was all my fault." Han started. Leia looked at him and shook her head.

"What was your fault?" Obi-Wan asked him.

"The bounty hunters, sir. They were after me." Han hung his head.

"Bounty Hunters?" Bail's eyes sweeped the group again.

'Uh-Oh!' Han's brain added, calculating a little too late that maybe he wasn't supposed to say all that.

"Another name for Ord Mantell Civilian Authorities, that is," Yoda piped in.

Anakin glared at Luke and Leia both. "What Happened?" He nearly shouted.

"We ran into a little trouble with bounty hunters," Luke explained.

"Only a little trouble. Everyone got out safely, thanks to Master Yoda," Leia added.

'And Me.' Han felt like protesting, but he probably wouldn't be listened to anyways.

Anakin led Luke and Leia to the side to get the full story from them, while Bail was having a similar conversation with his daughter, Mara. Han stood there and put his hands in his pockets, awkwardly. He was quickly forgotten about.


"It was perfect!" Leia yelled. "We'd finished the mission with only one little hiccup. All we had to do was get home and NOT tell Bail about his daughter almost getting kidnapped by a bounty hunter."

Luke sighed and looked down at her with brotherly affection.

"Oh don't give me that look. You were in on it too," she pointed out. "You and me, and the team. I'd even convinced Yoda not to snitch on us. The one person I didn't think I had to convince…"

Luke nodded. He had been against it at first, but then Mara was so scared that her father would black ball her from all future missions. Alright it took less hand wringing than he'd like to admit, but Mara asked him herself. "True, and that's why I'm here with you. We better carry these boxes, or Dad'll come in and lecture us again."

Leia moaned. "I'm so disappointed in you," she mimicked.

"You know better. I raised you to be honest," Luke finished in his best Anakin impression he could do. They both giggled.


"They were Lying…" Anakin ranted. "Lying by omission is still a lie!"

"Master, It's not often I say this, but Anakin is right. To think what could happen if the bounty hunters try again. Or if there are continued effects to those cuffs."

"Right, I understand they were set pretty high. I'll tell Ahsoka to have Mara take it easy for a few days," Anakin said.

"My point is, we don't really know what the prolonged effects of that could be. And if we weren't aware to watch her for them, we might miss the symptoms entirely," Obi-Wan went on. He turned to Yoda, eyes bearing down on him. "You, at least, should have told us right away."

"True, True." Yoda sighed. "Ashamed I feel. Agreed to this charade, I should not have. Meditate on this, I will."

Anakin sighed.

"Grandmaster, we're not angry with you," Obi-Wan's tone took on a diplomatic effect.

"No, no. Know better, I should have. A bad master, I was. Learn from this, I will." Yoda bowed and the two looked at eachother and shook their heads.


"He said he was from the guild, and that he was collecting the bounty," Han told them. "I didn't know, sir. If I had any idea, I never would have gone on that mission."

Bail tapped his shoulder. "I don't blame you, son."

One of the technicians who was sitting next to a computer spoke up, "Sir, there is a bounty issued on one Han Solo. For three months the price was less than a hundred credits. Last week, it was boosted to three hundred thousand credits by a third party."

"What! Who?" Han turned to stare at the man's screen.

"No word. Just proof it was paid to the guild," said the technician.

Bail turned to Han. "Anyone you know?"

"Hates me enough to pay three hundred kay to have me arrested? None that I know about," Han said.

"What about someone from your past, before you got to Tatooine?" Anakin suggested, walking up to read the computer himself.

"Well," Han thought good and hard on the subject. "On Corellia I joined the White Worms, but to them I was just a scumrat. After I left, there were several who would've wanted me dead at the time, but most of them are dead now, and none I can imagine would hold onto their grudges this long. You know what! I have a contact in Cloud City, Bespin. An old friend from my old life. He might know what happened to some of the others, and if any of them are still holding onto old grudges or are in a position to pay that much."

"Bespin." Bail thought out loud. "They are still mostly independent from the empire. It should be safe to send an envoy."

Han smiled. "Yeah. It'll be nice to see Lando again."

"Landonis Balthazar Calrissian?" Bail muttered in disbelief.

"Yeah, you know him?" Han asked.

Bail blinked. "He's the Baron Administrator of Cloud City!"

"Yeah, a position he won in a card game," Han shared. "He used to own the Falcon once too."

"We've sent him numerous envoys trying to get him to join the Alliance. I've even tried begging him over Holo myself. You're his old friend?"

Han laughed. "Lando, he's not some politician, Old man. He's a scoundrel and a gambler. You're not asking him to join your confederacy, but to bet on your team. Once he does that, he'll be willing to bet big, but first he needs to see your angle."

Anakin laughed. "He sounds like a cool guy. I'd like to meet him."

Bail nodded. "I will have to discuss this more with you, and we'll plan another envoy to send him with your message."

Han smiled. He discovered that he rather liked being the one with the smarts on the subject at hand. "Yes, I will tell you all I know. First, I think I should find and apologize to the others. They didn't mean anything by keeping this information from you. I think they were just worried about how you would react."

"Yes. Well, Mara should know that how I'll react is much better if she's the one to tell me herself," Bail said.

"Yeah, Luke and Leia are clearing the storage bay as punishment. Luke will probably forgive you easily. Leia, on the other hand," Anakin winced. "She's got her mother's memory, and my temper."

Han winced. "Yeah, I probably should've thought of that before I walked in and started talking to you guys about the mission."

Bail and Anakin looked at each other and laughed while Han walked out of the room.

Bail turned to Anakin then and asked him, "So, did you look over that list?"

"Yes. There aren't many good options. If you insist on moving base, you want a place sparsely populated so you don't have anyone who can turn you into the empire for a quick buck."

"Hoth is the least populated world on that list. There'll be no one in that system to report us," Bail said.

"Yes, but any new activity in that sector will shine a light on it for even the Empire's most basic technicians. It wouldn't be long until they came to see what was going on for themselves."

"So then what do you suggest?" Bail asked.

"Well, It is wise to move your center of operations, before the enemy discovers it. I would consider Beskarn. I know you already have an outpost there. It isn't highly populated, but an extra ship or two flying in and out of there wouldn't be seen as odd either. Plus the natives."

"Primitives, I understand."

"Yes, well, Some believe the Yrashu are actually force sensitive. And in my experience, you don't want to underestimate even a tribe of primitive sentients. If we approach them with open minds, they may be better friends than you'd find anywhere else.

"Hmm, well I admit, the Jungles of Beskarn are more hospitable than the icebergs of Hoth, if a little more wet. I'll talk to my people and see what we can work out." Bail patted Anakin's shoulder in thanks.


Hello Everyone,

This chapter took some work, but now I'm proud of it. In the next chapter I'll try to take you all to Bespin. I have no idea yet what's going to happen, but it won't be Canon. It might take me a few weeks to work it all out.