One year later
Twenty-seven year old Han Solo dropped out of hyperspace in his new ship the 'Millennium Falcon' and accelerated towards the large Star Destroyer, the large blue Star Destroyer that hung in space, moving ponderously towards the planet ahead. The emblem of Geworpena Ventures gleamed on its side and ships of various sizes buzzed around it as was fitting for the Headquarters of one of the largest trading companies in Galactic history, and certainly the first company to have a former Star Destroyer as its Headquarters. Han looked at in silence for a moment. All that had happened to him was certainly not something he had expected growing up. The Wookiee beside him growled softly and Han shook himself out of his reverie and accelerated towards the Star Destroyer.
"Transmit clearance codes," a cool alien voice came over the comm and Han nodded at Chewie who pressed the button to transmit back.
"Code Motee-Banai-4-6-4-1-9," Han replied. "This is the Millennium Falcon."
"Acknowledged Falcon," the voice replied. "Your assigned docking bay is Bay 16. Please make your way there and prepare for your supplies to be unloaded."
"Copy Control," Han answered and swung his precious ship around on a loop towards the indicated bay, the blaster doors swinging open to admit the freighter as it landed.
Chewbacca quickly began to shut down the various systems of the ship as Han ducked out into the main part of the ship to seal off the crew cabins and to open the ramp. The efficient droids of Geworpena Ventures bustled onboard to begin unloading his cargo and he and Chewbacca were ushered off to refresh themselves in guest quarters. They did so and then began exploring the ship.
The two of them were strolling down a corridor and were just turning a corner when Han collided with someone, knocking them to the floor.
"Hey, watch where you're going you scruffy-looking nerfherder!" a female voice said angrily.
Chewbacca steadied Han and then they both looked down at the floor.
A young woman was sitting on the floor, gathering the couple of datapads that she had been carrying. She wore tough clothing, dark blue pants, white shirt, dark blue thermals and a plain black jacket. A blaster sat comfortably in a holster at her waist. A dark brown braid threaded with black ribbon fell over her shoulder, and a pretty face glared up at him.
"Who're you calling scruffy-looking?" Han demanded, equally as angrily.
"I don't see anyone else who just knocked me over," she retorted.
"Well I am so sorry Your Worship," Han drawled sarcastically. "Perhaps you would like to go everywhere in a hoverchair or be escorted by armed guards so that you don't hurt your delicate self?"
She gathered herself up off the floor as she spoke, accepting Chewbacca's offer of a hand up. "Hardly flyboy, but if you and the walking carpet had been paying attention then you wouldn't have knocked me over."
"That's really too bad Princess-" Han started heatedly, to be cut off by Chewbacca's reprimanding growl. "What?" he demanded.
Chewbacca raised a furry eyebrow and growled again. The girl flushed. Well. That answered the question of whether she understood Shyriiwook.
"My apologies to you Mighty Wookiee," she said with a polite bow in the Wookiee's direction, shooting another glare at Han. "Perhaps we should introduce ourselves?"
"Han Solo," Han said resentfully when Chewbacca nudged him subtly. "Captain of the Millennium Falcon. This is my First Mate Chewbacca."
The girl smiled. "Leia," she replied.
"Leia what?"
"Just Leia," she said firmly. "I'm not in the habit of giving out my full name to complete strangers." She changed the subject abruptly. "So you're the crew of that YT-1300 Corellian freighter that just landed to discharge its cargo in Bay 16?"
"Yeah," Han said, slightly floored at the extent of her knowledge. Leia looked down at one of the datapads she was carrying and grinned.
"Well Captain Solo, your ship may look like a lump of junk," ("Hey," Han interjected) "But it must be quite something if you're transporting what your manifest lists."
"Did the Kessel run in 12 parsecs," Han said with pride. She clearly knew what the significance of that was as one of her eyebrows flicked up.
"Hmmm," was all she said however. "Sounds like she's got some engines that my brother would like to get his hands on."
"He interested in ships?" Han asked.
Leia nodded. "He and Dad are both into pod-racing." At that moment bells began to ring through the ship. She cursed in Huttese under her breath, Han and Chewbacca both raised an internal eyebrow at her choice of language and words, and tucked the datapads more firmly under her arm. "Pleasure I'm sure Captain Solo, Chewbacca," she said. "Maybe I'll see you on your next supply run to 'Outcast'."
"You too Princess," Han said impertinently. Chewbacca growled a farewell. Leia rolled her eyes at his use of a nickname and hurried around the corner.
The man and Wookiee continued exploring the ship until they were found by a young Twi'lek aide who informed them that their cargo had been unloaded and that they had their next assignment. He and Chewbacca ambled back to the Falcon and departed 'The Outcast'. Just before they shot into hyperspace Han looked out the viewport back at the ponderous dark blue Star Destroyer moving through space before turning back to his own controls.
"Punch it Chewie," he said.
The Wookiee yowled and the stars lengthened around them.
15 months later
'The Outcast', Headquarters of Geworpena Ventures
The Millennium Falcon was docked for temporary repairs on 'The Outcast' as it had access to some of the specialised parts that were necessary to make the repairs and upgrade the weapons systems. Han and Chewbacca were taking it in turns to supervise the workmen on their beloved ship, and it was Chewbacca's turn at that moment, allowing Han a few hours to wander around the ship.
"Captain Solo!" a girl's voice said from behind him.
"Princess!" he returned, turning to see Leia walking towards him. They had run into each other a few times over the previous year, and he had been introduced to her twin brother as well, becoming quite good friends with the "kid" as he called him.
Leia huffed as she reached him. "You know I hate that nickname," she complained.
"Why else would I continue using it Your Worship?" he returned.
Leia rolled her eyes as she replied: "Shut up Han."
"Are you two bickering already?" a voice asked from behind the two of them as Luke, Leia's twin and as different from her in looks and personality as chalk and cheese, joined the pair.
"Her Worship here just can't admit that she likes her nicknames kid," Han taunted, shooting a glance at Leia from where she stood next to him with her arms crossed.
"You wish," Leia muttered.
Luke simply rolled his eyes, well used to the two of them. "I just came to say 'hi'," he informed his friend. "I've got some time booked on the simulators."
"Force forbid that we prevent you from going on the simulators," his twin teased. Han disregarded the strange slang that the twins often used.
"See ya kid," was all he said as Luke moved past the two of them, clapping Han on the shoulder as he disappeared around the corner. "So," turning back to Leia, "anything new happen while I was gone?"
"Nothing much," Leia said with a brilliant smile. "As is to be expected when Captain Solo is not on board 'Outcast' life was simply boring except for when my brother flooded half of Deck 12."
Han chuckled. "How did he manage that?"
"Well…" Leia was halfway through a long and involved story about how her younger brother had managed to play a prank on the ship when there was the sound of hurrying footsteps from behind them and a voice shouted from around the corner in front of them.
"Leia! Leia Skywalker where are you?"
Beside Han Leia winced as they turned to see a middle-aged woman hurrying around the corner. She stopped in her tracks when she saw that Leia was not alone. Han looked from Leia to the woman who was clearly her mother with the same dark curls and eyes. Then the surname clicked.
"Leia Skywalker?" he asked. "Padme Skywalker?" he demanded of the woman in front of him. The former Senator raised her chin and her eyes hardened with resolve.
Then there was a pain in the side of his head, lights flashing in front of his eyes and he felt himself begin to crumple as darkness invaded his vision. Two slender arms slowed his fall and as the world went completely dark he heard Padme Skywalker demanding of her daughter "Really Leia?"
"Han's quick on the draw," Leia defended herself. "I'd like to have the chance to explain everything before he starts waving his blaster about."
Even as he fell into unconsciousness he had to admit that the girl made a good point.
The Outcast
En route to the simulators
2 minutes later
Luke Skywalker was happily making his way to the simulators when his twin's voice sounded in his head. 'Luke? We have a bit of a situation.'
'What kind of situation?' he sent back.
'The kind that involves the nerfherder finding out our surname and meeting Mum,' Leia responded nonchalantly, but a mild undertone of panic threaded through her mental voice.
'Right,' Luke sent back, turning on his heel and heading back the other way. 'Where are you?'
Leia sent a mental picture of Han in one of the secure rooms on the floor that he had left the two of them on and Luke sped up his pace, ducking into one of the turbolifts and sending it shooting towards three floors above. At his stop he exited and headed down the corridor, locking onto Leia's signature in the Force and making his way steadily towards her.
When he arrived to the secure room his mother slid open the door and greeted him with a wry: "Almost ten years in hiding and someone finds us out because I am the only one in this family who can't sense when there is someone on the private floors who shouldn't be there and change what I'm saying accordingly."
"It was going to happen sooner or later," Luke agreed cheerfully. "Better that it's Han than someone who might run straight to the authorities as soon as we let them off the ship."
"Meaning we wouldn't let them off the ship," Leia chimed in over Padme's shoulder. "So, realistically, this was the best case scenario."
"Your optimism is charming children," their mother sighed. "But I still need to call your father and tell him about the breach of security. You two keep an eye on Captain Solo from the observation room."
"Yes mother," Luke said, slipping past her into the room where Leia was already perched back on the table facing the one-way mirror. Padme shut the door behind her as she left, leaving the twins alone.
Luke sat down on the chair behind the table and swung his legs up onto the table, crossing them. Then he looked through the mirror. Han was slumped over the table in the interrogation room, clearly still asleep.
"How much longer is he going to be unconscious?" Luke asked, jerking his chin towards their friend.
"Five more minutes," Leia replied, leaning forward from her perch on the front of the table. "I didn't hit him as hard as I could have."
"Alright then," Luke said, then sighed. "And I could have been on the simulators."
Leia swatted his legs from where they were slung beside her. "Stop fussing," she chided, picking up a datapad. "And just wait patiently."
Luke rolled his eyes and pulled a small portable holoprojector out of his belt pouch and projected some of the most recent sweep-bike racing up to watch as he waited. The bikes had only managed a couple of loops of the track when there was a groan from the other room. Leia's head snapped up instantly, alert, and she placed the datapad to the side, leaning forward and bracing her arms on the side of the table. Her twin shut his holoprojector down and tucked it back in his belt pouch, swinging his legs off the table and rising. Both their faces lost their good humour and became serious masks. You didn't hide for eight years from the Empire and then almost ten from the Republic without learning how to hide your emotions and compartmentalise.
"You be good cop?" Leia asked, rounding the table to pour a carafe of water.
"That's how we're going to play it?" Luke asked. "Really? He knows us both. Nah, better to play I'm there to keep the peace if the two of you start arguing, which, let's face it, is not exactly unlikely."
"That does make the most sense," Leia agreed. "We've been around him enough that he knows that I'm the communicator, but you're the one who is best with dealing with upset people. So you're backup then."
"That won't work either," Luke argued. "Again, Ley, he knows us. He knows that we work as equals, that we take it in turns. You're talking to him because you're the one who has most contact with him through the business, I'm a younger guy who sometimes annoys him."
"True," Leia smirked suddenly. "You're the 'kid'. The two of you talk spaceships, and racing. So I'll talk to him, you stand in the back."
"Alright," Luke agreed. "But seeing as how he now knows exactly who we are we could probably wear our lightsabers openly."
"True."
Both quickly produced their lightsabers from where they were hidden in carefully concealed pockets of their tunics and displayed them openly on their belts. There would be no hiding who they were, and the heritage they had, in the next room. Leia picked up the carafe of water and handed it to Luke. Then they turned and exited the room, perfectly in step.
5 minutes before
A communications room on 'The Outcast'
Padme Skywalker pressed the button to hail her husband from wherever he was on the ship, and drummed her nails impatiently on the board as she waited for him to respond. After five rings he finally picked up.
"Yeah, Angel?"
"Han Solo found out," Padme said plainly. Easiest to communicate the bad news first.
On the other end of the holocall there was the thump of a dropped tool and a string of Huttese curses. Then Anakin's head appeared in the viewer. He ran a hand through his hair. "Right. Han Solo found out. Now what?"
"The twins are dealing with it," Padme replied. "He's their friend, and if they trust him, plus anyone who earns a Life Debt from a Wookiee, particularly one of Chewbacca's reputation…"
"Must be okay on some level," her husband completed her sentence. "Well, if the twins trust him. Luke's instincts about a person are rarely wrong, and I trust him. But why the urgency in calling if the twins are dealing with it?"
"The aforementioned Wookiee," Padme answered. "He's going to notice something's up. Not to mention whatever scents Solo will be giving off when he gets back to the Falcon. No, Ani, we have to tell Chewbacca as well, and in a controlled environment. But how?"
Anakin hummed for a moment on the other side of the line. Suddenly he snapped his fingers. "The Trandoshan hunters!" he exclaimed. His wife raised an eyebrow. "Ahsoka knows Chewbacca! They survived when she was kidnapped remember?"
Padme's eyes lit up. "Excellent," she replied. "I'll arrange for Chewbacca to be sent to an out of the way conference room, you get Ahsoka there and tell her what she's dealing with."
"Roger that," Anakin said, with a cheeky grin. "This'll be fun to tell Snips. Love you."
Padme rolled her eyes at her husband's glee at annoying his former Padawan even as she answered. "Love you too."
The holocall flickered out and Padme quickly opened her datapad, sending a message to one of the crew members assigned to deal with the Millennium Falcon, its shipments and crew.
The same time
The interrogation room
Han Solo was distantly aware of a pounding headache as he opened his eyes. The lights wherever he was were pretty low, and he spared a moment's brief gratitude for that before the memories flooded back in. Leia Skywalker. He was allowed only a minute or two to consider this and all its implications, as well as work out precisely where he was. Answer: an interrogation room of some kind, mostly likely still aboard 'The Outcast', where he had evidently been taken after Leia Skywalker knocked him out. The room was dimly lit, and had plain grey walls. A black one-way mirror faced him across the table which had a chair on the other side. He wondered briefly if Chewbacca knew where he was, or if his co-pilot was worried.
Less than five minutes after he had awoken in an unfamiliar room the door slid open. He turned to face the opening to see Leia Skywalker enter, closely flanked by her brother, her twin brother, Luke Skywalker. They both had expressionless masks on their faces and he spotted the silver hilts of lightsabers on their belts within seconds. Leia held a carafe of water in her left hand and she placed it on the table and slid it across to him, taking a seat in the chair opposite him. Luke moved to the back of the room and settled in a corner, half in shadow half in light.
"We thought you might want some water," Leia offered. "I hit you pretty hard in the head."
"Thanks," Han replied, half-suspiciously, half-gratefully, picking up the carafe and taking a sip. He wasn't going to lie, the water was soothing. "Where's Chewie?"
"He was diverted," Leia replied smoothly. "We found that there was suddenly a problem with a shipment that the two of you are supposed to take. When he arrives to the conference room we sent him too, there'll be someone there to talk to him who can explain all this to him, just as we are doing to you. Someone who speaks Shyriiwook."
"Who?" Han asked.
"Ahsoka Tano," Luke said. "She knows him from the Clone Wars, they survived… it doesn't matter. But we need to talk to you. You deserve an explanation about a few things."
"Alright," Han said, leaning back casually in his chair. "Talk away. I'm listening."
The twins exchanged a glance, and then Leia took a deep breath and began.
Shortly after
Undisclosed conference room
Chewbacca palmed open the door to the conference room that he had been sent to and stepped inside, muttering to himself. The door slid shut and sealed behind him. He spun in confusion and attempted to open it when there was a soft step inside the room. He turned back around and examined the other end of the room. A figure moved out of the shadows and smiled hesitantly.
"Hello Chewbacca," Ahsoka Tano said. "It's been a long time. Can we talk?"
AN: My apologies for this chapter taking so long, I had my A-levels and the start of university, which I'm loving, and a bad case of writer's block as a result of too much studying! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Please review!
The8thDalmuti