Chapter 5
-Han's Cargo Ship; Space-
Cecilia stood in front of BB-8 while Chewie stood behind the droid and Han was to the side. This was so the gang wouldn't be able to see the droid or recognize it for that matter and alert the First Order. She frowned as she watched the gang arrived into the hallway of her father's cargo ship they were in. These men had quite a few blasters.
"Han Solo! You are a dead man!" the leader exclaimed glaring at Han as he held a large blaster. The leader noticed a woman immediately to Han's right. He narrowed his eyes slightly. Based on her looks she matched the description of one of the fugitives of the First Order.
Han gave a charismatic expression. "Bala-Tik! What's the problem?" he asked the man swallowing thickly.
"The problem is we loaned you fifty thousand for this job. I, also, heard you borrowed another fifty thousand from Kanjiklub!" he exclaimed furious at the older smuggler.
Han scoffed trying to look offended. "You know you can't trust those little freaks! How long have we known each other?" Han tried to reason with Bala-Tik.
Bala-Tik shook his head in response. "The question is how much longer will we know each other? Not long. We want our money back. Now."
Han's eyebrows shot up. "You think hunting Ranthars is cheap? I spent that money."
"Kanjiklub wants their investment back as well," Bala-Tik snapped glaring at the trio now.
Han groaned in annoyance. "I never made a deal with Kanjiklub!" he exclaimed.
Bala-Tik scoffed. "Tell that to Kanjiklub," he said motioning behind the trio.
Han, Chewie, and Lia all turned around and went wide eyed seeing Kanjiklub enter the cargo ship causing Han and Cecilia to curse faintly.
Han gave a nervous chuckle. "Tasu Leech. Good to see you."
Tasu frowned slightly before smirking darkly at the smuggler. "Wrong again, Solo. It's over for you."
Han swallowed nervously as he spoke. "Boys. You're both going to get what I promised! Have I ever not delivered for you before?" he asked looking between the two gangs.
"Yes," Bala-Tik answered.
"Twice!" Tasu Leech replied.
Han stopped short as he tried to think of the second time it had happened while Cecilia slapped the palm of her hand to her forehead. "What was the second time?" he asked.
Bala-Tik growled loudly at Han. "Your game is old. There's no one in the galaxy left for you to swindle!"
"Nowhere left for you to hide," Tasu Leech continued.
Bala-Tik noticed a white and orange droid behind the woman and smirked as he pointed at the two of them. "That droid…and that woman…the First Order are looking for a droid and a fugitive just like them. Along with two other fugitives," he said.
Han shrugged looking at him trying to be nonchalant. "First I've heard of it."
"Search the freighter," Tasu Leech's right hand ordered.
Cecilia swallowed thickly as she stepped closer to her father. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as she moved her left hand slowly to her left holster where one of her blasters was. She knew a fire fight was going to break out…she just didn't know when. Dread settled in her gut as the lights suddenly began going out. She swallowed thickly as her mind went to the Ranthars. Her eyes became as big as saucers as she heard multiple, loud, monstrous roars. "Oh no," she breathed.
Han nodded in agreement with his daughter. "I got a bad feeling about this." Everything goes still as the lights suddenly come back on. This was bad.
Bala-Tik glared at the trio. "Kill them! Get the woman and take that droid!" he ordered as everyone began aiming their weapons at the trio. However, before they could fire a Ranthar appears making the gangs scream in terror as Han, Chewie, Cecilia, and BB-8 took off to try and hide form the gangs and the Ranthars now loose on the ship.
"I got the door. Cover us!" Han exclaimed as he shot at a couple of the gang members.
Cecilia growled as she drew her second blaster quickly picking off different gang members as she and Chewie held them off while her father worked on the control panel to open the door to where the Falcon resided. Cecilia went wide eyed turning towards Chewie as he cried out in pain. She cursed and moved in front of him as she began firing more shots at the gang members. She vaguely heard her father ask if the Wookiee was okay before hearing a loud shot and the door slide open.
Han looked at Chewie's bowcaster in slight awe before nodding to Chewie and helping the Wookiee up to his feet with some difficulty while Lia covered their backs.
Lia turned running past her father and onto the Falcon just as she saw Rey and Finn rush into the corridor. She quickly got into the cockpit and began hitting the buttons needed to get the ship ready. She sat down in the co-pilot's seat as her father came in as Finn and Rey were taking care of Chewie. She glanced behind her as her father came in.
"What are you doing?" he asked watching his daughter work.
"Unkar installed a damn fuel pump as well as the compressor. We have prime it otherwise we are not going anywhere," Lia responded to her father.
Han groaned in annoyance. "I hate that guy," he murmured softly.
"Plus, you could do with a co-pilot since Chewie isn't usable right now," Cecilia quipped smirking at Han.
Han shook his head as he sat down and began hitting other buttons. "Make sure you watch the thrusts. We are leaving this stupid hanger at lightspeed."
Cecilia looked at her father like he had gone insane. "What? Can the Falcon even take that?!" she asked concerned about the ship.
"That is not the kind of question to be asking right now, Lia," Han commented. He jumped as Lia squeaked when a Ranthar suddenly jumped onto the glass to try and chew it. "This is not how I thought this day was going to go." He looked at Lia nodding slightly. "Get those shields angled," he told her before turning towards where the others were. "Hang on back there!" he called out.
Finn and Rey were doing everything in their power to make sure that Chewie was getting some kind of first aid as they answered at the same time, "No problem!"
Han and Lia both cursed as the ship lurched when it was hit by the gang members. "Come on baby, don't let me down," Han murmured softly to the ship. He reached over and hit the switch to get them into lightspeed but nothing happened. "What?!" he exclaimed confused.
Lia reached over and hit a different switch with a sheepish smile. "The…um…compressor," she told him making her father stare slightly before shaking his head. Cecilia watched as Han hit a switch again as they suddenly took off at lightspeed from inside of the cargo ship. She closed her eyes leaning back in the co-pilot chair for a moment as she relaxed for a moment.
"You've become a better shot," Han praised lightly as he looked at his daughter.
Cecilia smiled sheepishly. "I'm actually a bit rusty as I haven't used them in a little while," she answered him.
"Why Jakku?" Han asked suddenly.
Cecilia was quiet for a long moment as she stared at the white streaks. "To be honest…I didn't have a reason at first. I just needed a place to lay low and be hidden because of everything that happened. I know I was with the Resistance for two years, but I…I couldn't stay in the Resistance. Things were really bad after that night…I…" She closed her eyes trying not cry or think about what had happened but jumped as sudden sounds began going o signaling something was wrong.
"Shit! It's an electrical overload," Han exclaimed.
Cecilia shot up from her seat. "Let me fix that."
"The coolant's leaking too!"
Cecilia looked at her father. "Try transferring auxiliary power to the secondary tank-"
"-Secondary tank, I got it!" Han said as he nodded rapidly.
Cecilia glanced over as BB-8 came over beeping rapidly making her groan at the fact that Chewie was being difficult for Rey and Finn. She gave her father a glare as he looked back and called out to the two helping Chewie.
"You hurt Chewie, you're gonna deal with me!" Han yelled back.
"Maybe if Chewie wasn't being a big baby about getting shot, they would be able to help him," Lia snapped at her father who pointed at her with a stern look on his face.
"If this hyperdrive blows, there's gonna be pieces of us in three different systems," Han commented.
Cecilia growled and grabbed onto the compressor cursing softly. She yanked hard and blinked rapidly as the compressor came out making the alarms stop beeping. She gave a surprised laugh and sat back down looking between the compressor and her father.
Han frowned as he looked at his daughter. "What did you do?" he asked confused.
"I by-passed the compressor," she said with a smile she hadn't given her father in years.
Han gazed at his daughter before chuckling softly and shaking his head as that was something he would have done. He stood from his seat and walked around BB-8 to go check on his partner. He saw that Chewie had a bandage now and was laying down. He sighed softly as Chewie spoke to him. "Nah, don't say that. You did great, Chewie. Just rest." He looked over at Finn and Rey. "Good job…and uh thanks," he said slowly. He watched the pair and glanced at his daughter for a long moment. "So…fugitives?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"The First Order wants the map," Rey said as she stood from where she had been stroking BB-8's dome. "Finn is with the Resistance…I am just a scavenger," she murmured lightly.
Han watched Finn with a frown before glancing at his daughter again for confirmation, but Cecilia kept her face passive. He looked at the droid. "Let's see what you got."
BB-8 looked up at Rey before looking at Lia for confirmation that it was okay for him to do so. At Lia's nod, the droid rolled forward slightly showing the map he had in his data banks.
Lia straightened as she recognized the piece of the map that BB-8 had. She swallowed thickly watching as Chewie sat up and her father walked through the hologram.
"This map isn't complete," Han murmured lightly. "This is just a piece. Ever since he disappeared, people have been looking for him."
Rey noticed how Cecilia turned away suddenly. The brunette looked at Han. "Why did he leave?"
"He was training a new generation of Jedi. One boy, an apprentice turned against him, destroyed it all. Luke felt responsible... He walked away from everything," Han explained to the pair.
Finn frowned furrowing his brow. "Do you know what happened to him?"
"There are a lot of rumors…stories… The people who knew him best think he went looking for the first Jedi Temple," Han answered turning to his daughter slightly.
Rey went wide eyed in wonder. "The Jedi were real?" she asked.
Han studied Cecilia as she suddenly went around the corner. "I used to wonder that myself. Thought it was a bunch of mumbo-jumbo - magical power holding together good, evil, the dark side and the light. 'Crazy thing is, it's true. The Force, the Jedi, all of it. It's all true…and you've already met one," he said with a small smile as Cecilia came back around the corner with her cloak off and two hilts in her hands.
Finn and Rey went wide eyed as they watched Cecilia activate her two sabers showing the one orange blade and one teal blade. They looked at each other before looking back at Lia. "You're a Jedi?" Finn asks.
"I used to be," Lia murmured. "So much happened when the academy was destroyed. I had just been knighted because many of the Jedi of Old were able to reach me and teach me in things not even Luke was able to learn, and my power grew at an exponential rate. Plus, I loved learning, so I absorbed any and all knowledge I could get my hands on."
Han frowned seeing the orange blade. He looked at his daughter as she deactivated her sabers. He remembered she had gotten a yellow crystal as well as a teal one. When did she get an orange one? He went wide eyed as he realized what had happened after Ben turned dark. His dark eyes gazed at his daughter in worry.
Lia could feel the worry and distress rolling off of her father in waves. She glanced at him trying to tell him she was okay.
Han frowned as he gave Cecilia a look that meant they would be talking about her orange blade later. He turned as some beeps went off. He glanced at the Wookie as he tried to get up. "No, you rest." Han looked at Rey and Finn. "You want my help? You're getting it. Gonna see an old friend. She'll get your droid home. This is our stop." He turned as he followed Cecilia back to the cockpit as they came out of hyperspace.
Cecilia recognized the planet they were on immediately. "Takodana?" she asked her father knowing full well who they were going to see.
"She'll help us," Han said he flew closer to the landing zone. He glanced behind his daughter to see Rey looking out of the windshield in awe.
"I never knew there was this much green in the galaxy," Rey whispered softly.
Lia smiled softly hearing Rey's comment. "Wait until you go to the ocean for the first time," she murmured back to her friend. She hummed softly as she and her father landed the Falcon. This was gonna be a long day.