Chapter 67 - The Freedom Fighting Scallywag

Lando leaned back in his desk chair and closed his eyes. He could almost feel the starship around him as he flew through hyperspace. Too bad he was not in hyperspace now. Across from him the representative from Twixle Enterprises went on and on, describing their business proposal. He was a very clever man, Lando thought.

"And what about the Beryllium Ore? The Poss'Nomin's thirty percent will come from…"

"Yes, yes, yes," The man drawled. "Of course the mine equipment will produce tons of Beryllium. That's the best thing about this deal. Everyone will be happy."

Lando nodded. Of course he hadn't gone into this negotiation blind, like so many still seemed to expect of him. Sure, Lando got into this management business from a background of smuggling and gambling, but he was a captain! And if there's anything a scoundrel captain knows, it's the scent of another scoundrel. Sure, the equipment can produce both Beryllium and Borium oar. And on the moon where he plans to drill, he probably will get tons of Beryllium. The thing is, he doesn't want Beryllium. All he and his business partners are interested in selling is the Borium. Which means, to produce the most profit, at the numbers he's predicting in his report, he'd have to have the machine set to "gush." At that setting, any Beryllium oar produced will be stripped to its bare minerals and almost worthless. Sure, Lando would be getting a portion of the total profits, which won't be affected by this, but the Poss'Nomin workers, theirs would only come from the Beryllium, which was a major component to their native technology.

At the end of the day, profits aside, Lando did not want to make enemies of the Poss Nomins. They were good, hard workers, and if there's anything you learn to appreciate in this business first, it's hard workers.

But the Twixle representative didn't mention any of this in their deal. No, every time Lando came close to looking at that area, he steered the conversation away. His very careful hiding of the fact convinced Lando that he was, indeed, aware of it. Which convinced Lando that he did not want to do business with the organization, ever. "Thank you for your time. I will be reviewing this all with my advisors. You can expect to hear from me soon." Lando said with a stone face.

"Yes, of course, sir." The representative hurried to regather their flimsy charts, graphs, and mineral surveys. "Of course, you'll want to hurry. We have another mining service we are waiting to hear back from as well. And my investors are eager to start as soon as possible."

"Of course." Lando nodded. The most important element to any con-job. A time limit, to ensure he didn't take the time to be advised about the impact to his work crews. 'Too little too late.'

As the representative was making his way out, Lando glanced down to his wrist. There he wore a device which Lobot, his computer-liaison officer and old friend, used to send him messages.

"Arrival of a ship, estimated at sixty eight percent likelihood of being the Millennium Falcon is imminent. Pilot requests permission to land."

Reading messages from Lobot was always bittersweet. He remembered a time when his friend was more disconnected from the cyborg implants in his head. When he would joke and banter back and forth with him. But that was before that Blasted chip in his head took over. One mistake too many, and his friend gave up his personality to get them out of trouble. Now he could only speak through the main computer. Every once in a while, Lando would think he saw a bit of Lobot's old personality in his responses. Like this when he recognized the Falcon would be something Lando would want to hear about immediately. But those moments only reminded him of his promise to look for a cure. A promise which every day seemed less likely to be fulfilled.

Lando typed an immediate reply, "Granted. Platform Three-Two-Seven I'll greet Han myself."

Well, this was a boost to a rather drab day. Han was a good friend, and the Falcon was his favorite ship of all. Lando stood up and adorned his favorite cape. 'Let no one tell you a man can't be fashionable and hard working.'


Lando made his way to the private landing he used for his own ships. Lobot met him there with a security team.

"What's this, Lobot? I don't need backup for Han."

His wrist vibrated, letting him know a message from the man in front of him was coming through. "Thirty two percent chance it's not the Millennium Falcon."

Lando looked out the window. He'd recognize his baby anywhere, and was about to point that out, when Lobot continued.

"An additional thirty three percent chance that Han is no longer in control of the ship."

"Okay then, come with me, but stay back." Lando agreed with a roll of his eyes, then he turned back. "I'm going to try something. Don't ruin my Jam."

Lobot responded with the same curious head tilt he did everytime someone used slang instead of plain Basic. Lando responded with a last playful smile, then he straightened his face up and walked out to the landing platform.

The Millenium Falcon opened and Han Solo stepped off. Lando breathed a sigh of relief. He'd never admit it, but he always took Lobot's warnings seriously. As he approached them, however, he didn't let that relief show. He stopped ten feet from the party getting off with Han, and shook his head. "Why, you slimy, double-crossing, no-good swindler! You've got a lot of guts coming here, after what you pulled."

Han looked around him innocently. 'Who, Me?' clearly on his lips. Behind him Chewy growled something. A young man tried to step up beside Han, reaching for his weapons belt, but the others stopped him silently. Lando took a step forward, his fists preparing to punch his friend, but at the last minute he opened up and threw his arms around the man in a big hug..

Han reacted by putting his arms up defensively, then as he realized what was happening, he lowered his defenses and smiled a half smile. Han was never much of a hugger.

Lando cackled a big laugh. "How you doing, you old pirate? So good to see you! I never thought I'd catch up with you again. Where you been? What are you doing here?"

Han turned and responded in that gruff way that was so Han. "Oh, I'm just visiting. I brought some friends, and when I told them that I knew The Lando Calrissian, they begged me to come."

Lando turned noticing the group joining Han on the landing. In addition to Chewbacca, the Wookiee, there were two men, older than he and Han were, and another much younger man, barely twenty, if Lando guessed correctly.

"This is Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin, and Luke Skywalker," Han introduced.

Lando's eyes trailed over to two young ladies. Both had red hair and were very beautiful. "Hello. What have we here? Welcome. I'm Lando Calrissian. I'm the administrator of this facility. And who might you be?" He turned on the charm.

One of the girls, the older one by Lando's estimates, spoke up next. "Mara, Princess of Alderaan, and this is Leia, my maidservant."

"Welcome, your highness," Lando bowed and kissed her hand.

The man identified as Anakin seemed to glare at him, but Han pushed him out of the way first saying, "All right, all right, you old smoothie." Han took the princess by the hand and steered her away from Lando. The man known as Luke stepped next to the maidservant and did the same. Anakin and Obi-Wan formed a protective wall behind them all, following them off of the bridge.

Lando looked back up to see a golden protocol droid in front of him. "Hello, sir. I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. My facilities are at your…"

Lando had heard it before, and he did not need assistance from another droid. He turned and followed Han.


"How's the Falcon flying for you?" Lando asked, as he led the way for his guests.

"Oh, she's been wonderful," Han replied.

"Humph" The princess rolled her eyes. "When she flies at all."

Lando knew certain systems in the Falcon could be temperamental, though he couldn't resist the moment. "Just what have you done to my ship?"

"Your ship? Hey, remember, you lost her to me fair and square." Han objected, and Lando smiled. "She's been having some minor hiccups to her hyperdrive."

"I'll get my people to work on it," Lando offered. Then he turned to the princess and added, "You know, that ship saved my life quite a few times. She's the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy."

The princess kept a fake smile on her face and mumbled, "Hunk of Junk, my words exactly."

"She's a beautiful ship, Mister Calrissian." Luke spoke up.

"Please, It's Lando. While you are here, my home is your home. Anything I can do to make you comfortable, let me or one of my aides know." Lando reached the door to the guest apartment, then he started tapping himself looking for the keycard to open the door. Lobot stepped up and held the key in an open hand. "Oh, thank you." Lando picked up the key and turned to open the door.

The one named Anakin stepped around Lobot, eyeing his implants. "What Psychopath invented that?"

The one named Obi-Wan gave him a disapproving glance.

Lando glanced at his wrist to read a message from Lobot and laughed. "Oh Lobot, you old dog. He says it was invented by a man named Alfred Penbottom. A man who also trademarked the Yuckifier implant to make anything you eat taste like garbage. Guaranteed to make anyone lose at least thirty pounds. Accuracy of diagnosis of Psychopathic tendencies is Eighty Seven Percent."

Lando stepped back from the opened door, and Luke stepped inside. After his nod, the others followed him in. Before Han walked in, he whispered, "We're going to get settled in first. Then I'd like to talk about old times."

Lando nodded. "Like what got you involved in rebellion matters?" Han turned, a look of worried surprise on his face. "I've seen the footage of that space station blowing up in the Battle of Alderaan. I'd recognize the Falcon anywhere."

"Yeah. Are my friends safe here?" Han looked back.

"Of course. There's not an agent of the Empire in the system. You think I would've let you land here if it wasn't?"

"Of course not. I just wanted to be sure. They're good people, you know."

"Yeah, I figured. Haveta be to turn a scallywag like you into a freedom fighter," Lando joked.

Han laughed too. Then he turned to enter the apartment, and the door shut behind him.


Hello,

For this chapter I decided to try writing Lando's perspective. I am rather new to the character. There is not much of him in any of the movies. I read his entire Canon Wookieepedia page and I think I did well, but I'll let you decide.

The hardest part, I found, came from Lobot. The wiki pages described him losing his personality to the implants in his head, but does not give an accurate analysis of what the behavioral differences were. I figure it was a case of multiple-authors-havoc that tends to infest works like this, and reduces consistency work to work. Anyways I decided for myself what it would look like and I hope it at least sounds consistent.

I did take a few quotes from the Empire Strikes Back movie transcript online. So, credit where it's due.

Oh, and Leia and Mara were switching places in that last scene. Unfortunately it's in Lando's POV, so I couldn't make that any more clearer. I will probably play with that a little more in the upcoming chapters, but none of them are yet formed in my head yet, so I thought I'd tell you now.