It was typical of my father to change the subject completely in order to distract from something serious, so as he headed out of the cockpit and back towards the living area I let out a long sigh, watching him go for a moment before I followed. 

"Hey Chewie, some moof-milker installed a compressor," my dad called, rolling his eyes. Chewie moaned some insult, but I was more focused on Rey, who was looking at my father with baffled amazement.

"I thought it was a mistake too, it puts too much pressure on the hyperdrive flow," Rey nodded, as my father said the last part with her. 

Dad glanced over to Rey, a small frown crossing his expression, and I knew he could tell there was something different about her, just like I could. It didn't take a Jedi to sense that she was smart, too clever to say she'd never left Jakku, and both me and my father knew there was something familiar about her. What it was though, I was still trying to figure out, and in typical Han Solo fashion, he clearly wasn't patient to wait and solve the mystery, not as he gestured over to both Rey and Finn. It was a gesture I knew signified his plan to get rid of them, a plan he didn't even need to vocalise for me to hate.

"Well, whatever, Chewie, come on, we'll put 'em on a pod to the nearest inhabited planet," he spoke, but stopped talking when he saw me shaking my head, shooting a confused expression to me. "What's wrong with you, kid?"

"Don't you dare send them away!" I protested, trying to stop myself from snapping at him as I faced up to him. "We need to get Beebee-Ate to the resistance to safety,"

"The resistance," Dad let out a small sneer of a laugh as he avoided to meet my eye. 

"Yes, the resistance," I snapped protectively, glaring at him, wondering just why he seemed to think it was funny. "You aren't tuning your back on us again, not when there's so much at stake," 

"The droid has a map to Luke Skywalker, it needs to get there safely!" Rey explained  upon seeing my father's still-amused expression, one that died at the mention of Luke.

"You are the Han Solo fought with Luke in the rebellion," Finn pointed out, trying to reason with him. 

It wasn't just that they fought in the rebellion together, they were practically brothers. Finn and Rey knew the stories, the legends, but I knew the real men. I'd seen them together, they way they bickered and bantered, the way they cared about each other without even saying. My entire childhood had consisted of bedtime stories of their adventures, and the two of them had been there for me countless amounts of times. I just wanted my Uncle Luke back, even if he had dumped me at the lowest point in my life, and I wanted my Dad to help me get him back. I wanted my family back all together once more, and the only way we could do that was if we went to the resistance, where we belonged.

"Dad, you have to help us get to the resistance," I insisted, feeling as though I was begging. When he glanced over at me, his expression unfaltering, I decided to change my approach, cocking my head to the side slightly, raising my eyebrows before sweetly saying, "Please daddy,"

"You gotta be kidding me," he rolled his eyes at my gesture and I quickly stood up straighter, folding my arms across my chest in annoyance. "That stopped working when you were five, kid. And anyway, what makes you think I'm gonna let you go back to the resistance? You're staying with me, Luce,"

"The only way I'm staying with you is if you're gonna take me to the Resistance!" I exclaimed frustratedly, creasing my eyebrows together in a glare. He looked at me sassily with wide eyes, before shaking his head, one that made me let out an exasperated groan. "You don't understand, this whole thing is so much bigger than you being scared to go home, my best friend died to get the map to Uncle Luke! If we don't get the map to Mum, then it'll all be for nothing!"

"Poe Dameron?" Dad questioned, and I could tell even through his stubbornness he felt hurt over the news, though it didn't last long. "Kid, you aren't risking your life for him, not again. Some stupid crushes just aren't worth it,"

"Force sake, Dad, I don't have a crush on Poe Dameron!" I snarled, balling my fists together as I tried to fight against my anger and grief. "I mean, I didn't! And anyway, I never risked my life just for him, we were teenagers in the middle of a war doing what we thought was right, and now what's right is to make sure his last mission is worth something,"

"I'm not seeing you get hurt again," my father muttered to me lowly as if he was trying to stop anyone else overhearing. 

"Too late," I grumbled, trying to stay serious even if I was fighting back a grimace, the memories of my past flashing through my mind. "I waited three years for you, and maybe I wasted those years because you seem to have forgotten everything that matters. Just because you won't go doesn't mean I have to do the same," 

As I finished I stood back slightly, letting out a sigh of relief. My initial inability for anger seemed to have disappeared, and I realised that Dad had changed just as much as I did. We'd both become haunted by what had happened in the past, but whilst hiding away to recover had made me now more determined to make things right, my father had instead gone back to the way he used to be before he met my mother and Uncle Luke, how he was before the rebellion. It hurt, because the man I knew from my childhood wasn't like that he was the one who'd taught me to never give in and to always stand my ground. The man that stood before me instead seemed determined to stay as far away from the war as possible. 

The look on my father's face as my words stung him, and it immediately reminded me of the way my Uncle looked at me as we escaped from the academy. I'd yelled at him the same way as we fled in his ship, when he told me we needed to hide and I told him we should go to the resistance. The memory made me panic, remembering the way I'd passed out from the pain of my injuries moments after my outburst only to wake up at the resistance with Uncle Luke no where to be found, and I instantly panicked that my father was going to abandon me now too. I'd meant what I'd said, but he was still my father and I still needed him. I bit my lip, considering just what I could say to insist on him not leaving, but that was when a loud bang rang out from outside the Falcon, the ship creaking ominously. Dad's attention was pulled from me, sighing. 

"That better not have been a Rathtar getting loose," he muttered darkly, storming out of the ship to go check on one of the monitors outside.

I watched him leave, guilt flowing through me as I leant back against the wall. Chewie went to go and follow my father, but not before shooting me a worried glance, roaring at me supportively. I merely shrugged, gesturing for him that I was alright and that he should go, and once he did, I turned my attention to BB-8, the droid beeping at me worriedly. I leant down, patting him on his head as I offered him a small smile, except when I looked up I was met with the concerned looks of both Rey and Finn, though the later seemed more worried about the last thing my father had said.

"Rathtars? He's hauling Rathtars?" He asked me, both shocked and slightly terrified.

"How am I supposed to know?" I shot, irritated, until I saw how taken aback Finn looked and I immediately felt more guilty. I stood up straighter, crossing back over to my new friends. "Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped like that, to you or to the nerf herder,"

It wasn't the Jedi way, to feel angry or get frustrated. I needed to stay calm and collected in tough situations, not give into my weaknesses. My Uncle had taught us all that at the academy, and it was something that had affected me ever since. It was meant to be a way of controlling my emotions to harbour the light side of the force, but ever since my brother had gone to the dark side and I'd been hit by anger an grief, I'd struggled to stay true to that teaching. It always made me feel worse when I thought of my family history and how my grandfather had struggled against those very same emotions before falling victim to the dark side. I'd lived in fear of not being able to control my emotions and ending up like him ever since I'd learnt the truth, using it as my motivation to stick to the light, but that was always much harder in the aftermath of the academy.

"Come on," I nodded at the two of them, ignoring the worried looks they both exchanged as I led them out of the Falcon.

Neither of them spoke back to me, instead following my closely as I stalked after my father and Chewbacca, and I was glad for the silence using it to figure out what exactly I could say to my Dad to apologise for my outburst. I wondered if he was comparing me shouting at him to my brother and the way he'd lost it when he found out about our grandfather. After that revelation, Ben only saw our parents a handful of times, growing distant because of ow much he hated the lies, whilst I tried to stay close to everyone. I hated to think of my father comparing me to Ben especially after everything he did once he turned. I wanted to tell Dad just how different the two of us were, my mind drifting to the scars I was given by my brother, but I didn't have much change to figure out how I could articulate any of that to Dad, not as we found him leaning over a monitor with Chewie, watching security tapes.  

Hesitantly, I stepped away from Finn and Rey, moving to stand by my father's side, and when he didn't look u from the screen to acknowledge me, I elbowed him in the side. He glanced up at me, an apologetic smirk on his face, and I knew he felt just as guilty as I did.

"I'm sorry," I sighed to him simply, not sure what else to say.

"Forget it, kid, you're too much like your mother for us to not disagree," he muttered, and I barely had chance to take in him comparing me to my mother in place of my brother as he pointed to one of the screens. I frowned, watching as the screen showed a crowd of heavily armed men, all of them seeming threatening and dangerous. "Guavian Death Gang,"

"You didn't do business with those laserbrains," I rolled my eyes exhasperatedly at him, realising that in all of our years apart, my father was still mixing with violent criminals.

"I didn't? Well, that's news to me," he muttered sarcastically whilst I glared at him.  "Come on, we better see what they want,"

"I think we all know what they want, Dad," I pointed out, gesturing to their large blasters. He shot a glance to me, and behind the bravado I  saw the ever so slight nerves, making me let out a short, bitter laugh. "Come on, I thought you were Han Solo, just shoot them first before they get chance to shoot us,"

As I spoke, my father nodded over at us all, signalling for us to follow him, and as I fell into step with him, walking at his side, I couldn't help but note just how right it felt. My anger with him had made me forget just why I'd left the resistance to find him, but now he seemed to be back to his usual chaotic business, it felt like I'd gone back in time, ack to being a teenager following my father and Chewie on their 'business trips'. It felt right, felt normal, but our definition of normal clearly wasn't shared by either Finn or Rey, the two of them running after us urgently.  

"You never answered me, you're hauling Rathtars?" Finn challenged, still slightly overwhelmed by the situation.

"I'm hauling Rathtars," my father concluded, nodding slightly, and I turned around to see Finn's horrified expression, not improved by my casual smile.

"How are you both so calm?" He exclaimed anxiously, which only made me let out another small laugh.

"I spent nearly twenty years growing up around Han Solo, I'm used to it," I shrugged casually before waving my hand over in Chewie's direction. "I mean, just ask Chewie, he's been round my dad longer than I have, he's practically a Han Solo veteran,"

My father shot me an annoyed look, one I responded to with a sarcastic smirk as the wookiee groaned in approval. By then we had reached a hatch leading to the lower levels of the ship, and as Dad glanced over at Chewie to open it, I raised my hand, waving it in an upwards motion that made the trapdoor fly upwards. I spared a quick glance towards my father, but it was long enough to notice the shocked expression on his face, one that looked far too much like fear for my liking. I brushed it off, knowing my father's old scepticism of the force was probably just resurfacing, instead turning my focus onto the situation at hand.

"You guys get down there, keep quiet, don't even think about stealing the Falcon, wait until this is over and we'll get you out," he instructed Finn and Rey, and I made to go down the hatch with them until he grabbed my arm, stopping me. "Where'd you think you're going? You and the droid are staying with me, it's safer that way,"

"More like I'm better at talking us out of bad situations," I muttered as BB-8 rolled towards me for safety, smirking as Chewie roared out a laugh of agreement. 

"Hey, I always talk us out of stuff!" Dad shot back annoyedly and I looked at him with my eyebrows raised whilst Chewie contradicted him with a single moan. "Yes I do, everytime!"

Our banter was cut off as one of the doors banged, lifting open. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the hatch of the trapdoor quickly slam shut, concealing Rey and Finn, but I was too focused on the Guavian Death Gang now stood before us. Their leader stepped forward, and both BB-8 and I moved closer to my father, my hand going to my lightsaber hanging from my belt as a reflex. My eyes narrowed as I watched the gang determinedly. If I'd have seen them a few years before, maybe I'd have been scared, but I'd been through far too much to be scared of a gang now. I'd faced the Knights of Ren, and these gangsters were nothing compared to them.

"Han Solo, you're a dead man!" Bala Tic called in a thick accent I couldn't identify, his words made me tense slightly, my hand moving from my lightsaber to my blaster.

"Bala Tic!" Dad shouted in greeting and I shot him a glance nervously. Whilst I wasn't afraid and I knew he'd done this sort of thing a thousand times before, I also knew my presence there was making him more vulnerable. "What's the problem?"

"We loaned you fifty thousand credits and want our money back, and so does Kanjiklub," he continued, almost making me roll my eyes; it was always money that seemed to get my father in trouble.

"I don't have your money! I spent it, d'you know how expensive it is hunting rathtars?" Dad shrugged in a gesture of brave casualty.

"We loaned you fifty thousand for a job-" Bala Tic began but I let out a frustrated groan, interrupting him.

"And he spent it," I spoke up defensively, paying no attention to my father as he shot me a glare, telling me to stay out of it. I ignored him, keeping my gaze focused purely on the gang leader. "When the job is finished we'll pay you, and those little freaks at Kanjiklub, but for now we don't have the money,"

"We want our money back now, and so does Kanjiklub!" Bala Tic continued forcefully, practically ignoring what I'd said though I could tell he was glancing over at me curiously, trying to figure out who I was.

"I never made a deal with Kanjiklub!" Dad shouted is desperate frustration, and if the situation wasn't slowly getting more dangerous, I would have laughed, especially at what happened next.

"Tell that to Kanjiklub!" at Bala Tic's words, the blast door behind us lifted. 

I turned my head slightly, feeling my stomach flip in nerves as I realised stood behind us was none other than Kanjiklub. Clenching my jaw, my hand went to my lightsaber once again, deciding that one wrong move could leave us all impaled with blaster holes. Dad tried to appear as though he was still cool, but I knew him too well and could tell he was starting to feel slightly out of his depth as he turned to face this new enemy, trying to deal with both of them at once.

"Kasu Leech... good to see you," he said, faking confidence.

I used to be quite good at languages, since I'd grown up around C-3PO and the droid had taught me quite a few different forms of communication, but I was clearly out of practice as I struggled to understand what the leader of Kanjiklub was saying. Whatever it was though, I knew it wasn't good, guessing it was about how we were in trouble given the fact that we were now ractically cornered. Dad knew what he was saying, however, looking between the two gangs, trying to hide his nerves behind a confident smirk; typical Han Solo.  

"Boys! You're both gonna get what you want!" He called, forging confidence. "Have I ever disappointed you before?"

"Yes!" Replied Bala tic, and a similar reply came from Kasu Leech, except it must of been slightly different, as it made Dad frown, looking down at his hands trying to figure something out, until eventually, he turned to Chewie.

"What was the second time?" He frowned at the wookiee, making me let out an exasperated sigh.

"Your games are old Solo, you're old," Bala Tic announced and I angrily gripped my father's arm with my spare hand, trying to stop myself from pulling my weapons out in my anger. "That droid, the first order is looking for one just like it, with two fugitives,"

At his words, I tensed further, feeling Beebee-Ate roll into my leg in fear. I was protective over the droid anyway, given how much he meant to Poe, but now the First Order had been mentioned and I knew what the droid was carrying I struggled to fight against my instincts of starting a fight against them all. Not only were they jeopardising BB-8's safety, but they'd also threatened Finn and Rey, and though I'd not known them long what we had been through had bonded us together and I didn't want any harm to come to them. Trying to stay calm, I took in a few deep breaths, remembering Jedi training as I moved to cover the droid from both gangs, except my calmness disappeared as I felt Bala Tic's gaze fell onto me once more. 

"And the girl, Solo, we aren't fools, we know who she is," he called menacingly, and though I hated being called 'girl' I felt my heart beat faster in anxiety. "The First Order has been after your daughter for ten years and there's a large sum on her head, not to mention the reward Kylo Ren is offering to anyone who can bring her in,"

"Kylo Ren is offering a reward for me?" I asked in shock. I knew my brother would be after me, but I always thought he'd come for me himself, not have the whole galaxy on a man hunt. 

"You're the most sought after target in the whole galaxy," Bala Tic confirmed. 

I felt my blood run cold, and as I shut my eyes for a brief moment I saw Ben's furious red lightsaber clashing with my purple one in the rain back at the academy, the screams of my friends ringing in my ears. I flinched, opening my eyes and shaking head to clear my thoughts, trying not to notice the startled look of concern my father was wearing in my direction. I tried to push away the fear of my memories, tried to ignore the fact that my brother was after me. I cleared my mind the way my Uncle taught me to do, and as soon as I was tuned into the force I felt my instincts take hold of me, my hand quickly pulling my lightsaber off my belt, igniting it, holding the blade out protectively. 

"I'm not going to Kylo Ren," I snarled at him, flicking my gaze over to Kanjiklub to threaten them as well, though I also noticed my father swallow nervously at the sight of my bright purple blade. "Neither is the droid, and don't even think about threatening my father. Turn around, all of you, and walk away,"

My demands were overshadowed, however, by the distant echo of another blast door creaking open, followed by the thundering sound of rolling and roaring. A feeling of dread washed over me, and as I looked over to my father I saw him gulp, realising what must have happened.

"I've got a bad feeling about this,"

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Word Count: 3736

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