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Chapter Six: Solo's

My heart was pounding as the three of us ran through the ship, BB-8 following us close behind. My senses were completely blocked by the thought of my brother being on the ship we were about to dock onto, but yet I still managed to hear Rey form a plan with Finn to gas the ship. The Solo in me hated that, not wanting any damage to come to the ship, even if we were under ambush. I didn't have a plan of my own, and though that just reminded me of my Uncle's teachings where he told me failure to plan was planning to fail, but for once I wasn't going to be swayed by the voices of my past.

As we approached the smuggling pits, I lifted the hatches off with the force, trying to ignore the memories of my childhood that hit me, my mind taking me back to when Ben an I were children, when we used to play hide and seek in the Falcon. He always used to say it was a stupid game, but that was probably because I always managed to find him first. I quickly cleared my thoughts, knowing if Ben was close he'd be able to sense my sentimental emotions, instead changing my focus onto the situation at hand, ignoring the look of shock my two new friends fired at me, instead gesturing for them to get down. 

"In the smuggling pits," I told them both firmly, gesturing to one of the holes as I jumped into the one across from them, watching as Rey frowned in protest. "We spread out, that helps our chance of survival if it is the First Order, and don't gas them, I don't want this ship getting damaged,"

"Then what's the plan?" Finn asked, almost demanding in desperation as he helped get BB-8 down in the pit, letting out a grunt as he nearly dropped the heavy droid onto his foot. 

"Don't know yet, we'll see how it goes," I shrugged, flashing them what I hoped was a confident smirk as I took my lightsaber of my belt for the first time in months, raising it up for them to see. "But I've got this, so..."

"You're going to use your lightsaber?" Rey exclaimed, a small grin appearing on her face. 

"It's not just an over-glorified flashlight," I grinned back at her. "I haven't used this thing in a while though, but I have unfinished business with the First Order, so if it is really them..."

"You and Poe Dameron really were friends, huh?" Finn noted, and when I frowned at him he continued, "He was just as reckless as you," 

I was too busy grinning at the fact Finn thought Poe and I were similar to feel the pain of his loss. We were quite reckless, especially when we were together, except I'd never be with him again. All I could think of then was that he'd died at the hands of the First Order, and if they were truly at our doors I would make them pay. Finn and Rey must have noticed the vengeful glint in my eye as they exchanged a nervous look, one that I tried to ignore, offering them a reassuring smile. 

"I'm not going to get us killed, promise," I sighed, trying not to roll my eyes. "Now, hide!" 

At my words the two of them ducked down, pulling the panel over their heads to conceal them from our imminent invaders. My heart still pounding, I brought the panel back over my own pit, subjecting myself to darkness until I ignited my saber. It let out a hiss as it reignited for the first time since I fought my brother at the Academy, and seeing the bright purple beam in real life and not just in my dreams was a strange comfort, reminding me of who I was before the Academy fell. It was strange, and I felt almost like a wannabe Jedi again after so long. 

I didn't savour those feelings for long though, my mind turning to the feelings pulling me in the force. The way I felt in the cockpit, I was still certain that Ben was on the ship, but even if he was my brother, I knew that wherever he was, the force of Snoke was there too. He'd seduced my brother to the dark, and though I'd refused to join him all those years ago, I had no idea what would happen if I saw him again. I wasn't worried about being tempted to the dark since I'd spent so long resisting, but Finn's comment about my recklessness had struck me hard. Was I truly being so reckless just to see my brother again? Even after all those years being tortured by the memories of my brother trying to get me to turn, I was still desperate to see him, still desperate to try and turn him back to the light.

I cleared my mind, readying myself for the intruders as I heard the noise of the door sliding open. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as I focused on the force around me and our new guests. In my years of training I'd managed to refine my use of the force, but yet for some reason it wasn't working as it usually did. I couldn't sense who was on the ship, and even after years of separation I knew it was not my brother. I'd know if it was him, our sibling bond drawing us together, and realising that it was not him made my heart sink ever so slightly in disapointment. I opened my eyes, clenching my hands around my lightsaber hilt, knowing that whoever was on the ship was probably not the First Order, and instead a more unexpected danger. 

"Chewie, we're home,"

No. That voice felt like I'd been shot through the heart, my breath catching in my throat slightly as I fell back in shock. It couldn't be him, not after all I'd been through in the past few years, waiting for him. Surely it was the force playing a trick on me, so I tried to remember my training, tried to stop my mind instantly projecting me back into my childhood where that voice was all around me, until he wasn't, until he left. I tried to keep focused, tried to focus on my head instead of my heart, but I couldn't, especially not when I heard the familiar moan of a Wookiee that made my chest ache. 

Instantly I seemed to forget about a potential threat, pulling myself up to my feet, quickly pushing the panel away one-handedly as I held onto my lightsaber as if it was my life-line. I jumped out of the hole, not thinking of how I could be walking straight into a trap. I'd been waiting three years for this moment, and as I stood on the grated flooring of the Falcon, I saw him, my father and his wookiee companion. 

I wanted to feel angry. He'd left me, left my mother, when we needed him the most. I'd left the resistance to try and find him but all I'd found was his abandoned ship. I'd spent three years waiting for him to come back, an he never did. It wasn't his fault, he didn't know I was waiting for him, but yet I'd spent so long on my own, surrounded by my memories and trauma, yet here he was, just as I had given up, just as I was trying to get home. 

Except as I stood before him, I couldn't be angry. Maybe that was because he looked the same. I'd changed, everything that had happened since I last saw him had made sure of that, not to mention I was barely twenty the last time we were together, but he just looked the same. The last time I saw Han Solo, he was starting to go grey, but now his once brown hair had gone completely silver. Facially, he was no different, the same glint of adventure in his eyes, slight stubble hiding the scar on his chin, and though he still looked ever so slightly battered he had a new jacket. He was exactly how I remembered him, and so I couldn't help but drop my lightsaber, throwing myself at him.

"Dad!" I gasped out, wrapping my arms around his neck, holding him tightly as if I didn't want to let him go in case he would disappear once again. 

I buried my face into the shoulder of his jacket, and though I'd spent so long trying to hold back my emotions, my eyes had started watering slightly. It had been so long since I had seen someone I knew, let alone my father, and I'd not realised just how much I missed him until I felt him hug me back. I felt his hands squeeze my back, as if he was checking that I was real, before he pushed me away slightly to look at me properly, his hands going to my arms, squeezing them.

His eyes grazed over me carefully, a stunned expression on his face. He kept looking at me in amazement as if he couldn't quite believe I was there, and his hand moved from my arm to stroke my cheek gently, like he was trying to check I was real, trying to check I was still his daughter since I looked so different, so much older. I worried for brief second that he was going to turn me away, not believe I was who I said I was since so much time had passed since we were last together, but I didn't have long to worry, not before a huge grin erupted on his face. I let out a small laugh, my smile mirroring his as he pulled me into a tight hug once more.

"Lucinda... Luci?" he asked, repeating my name in disbelief and I couldn't help but laugh again.

"The one and only," I muttered with a small smirk, and as he pulled out of our hug I saw his disbelief once more, though I didn't have chance to say anything else to him, not as I heard a moan from Chewbacca, the wookiee pushing past my Dad to pull me into a bone-crushing hug. "I missed you too, Uncle Chewie!"

As I was hugging Chewie, I couldn't quite believe what was happening. I'd spent so long wishing for this reunion, so long dreaming of what it would be like to see my father again, and now it had happened it felt far too surreal. It felt like I'd stepped into one of my dreams or gone back in time to my childhood. Except everything was so different now.

That was when Han noticed the lightsaber I'd dropped onto the floor, still ignited. "Whatcha gonna do with that kid, impale me? On my own ship?"

I quickly pulled out of my hug with Chewie, holding my hand out to summon my saber, and as soon as it was back in my hand I flicked the switch to turn it off, the blade disappearing. As I attached it back onto my belt, I glanced up to see Dad has been watching me intently, as small frown creasing across his forehead. I wondered if it was me using the force that had suddenly made him wary, if he was comparing me to my brother, to his son. Dad never liked me using the force around him, and now with everything that had happened he clearly didn't like it more than usual, not that he said anything, knowing exactly how I'd react if he did. 

"Excuse me, my ship," I corrected him, raising my eyebrow at him, remembering all the years I'd spent alone waiting for him. "I have been living on it alone for years, after all," 

"What?" He frowned confusedly again, and I could tell he was still in disbelief that I was there. "How many years have you been on here and what the hell were you doing?"

"About three years," I shrugged, feeling like I was a child being lectured, and I'd been waiting so long for Dad that I almost liked it. "And, I was waiting for you,"

"Waiting for me?" he exclaimed, letting out a baffled laugh, Chewie mimicking him with a roar. "Hell, kid, I thought you were dead! Or, I dunno, I thought you were with Luke, or your..."

"My mother?" I filled in as he drifted off, noticing the guilty look that appeared in his eye as he mentioned his wife. Chewie groaned something at Dad, something about him leaving Mum, but we both chose to ignore it. "Well, surprise, I'm alive, and I'm not with Luke either. I was with Mum, but I came looking for you instead. How'd you lose the Falcon?" 

"I didn't lose it, I'm not your Uncle Lando," Dad rolled his eyes, sounding insulted, and at the mention of Lando I suddenly remembered the golden dice, still hidden in my pockets. "She got stolen, few years back,"

"So, you lost it," I corrected him, nudging Chewie who moaned in agreement. "Who stole it?"

"Doesn't matter," he changed the subject, and I knew it was probably a tricky thing for him to talk about since he'd had the ship for so long and it was practically a member of our family. That was when he turned back to me, holding his blaster. "So, where are the others?"

"What others?" I asked, my eyes narrowed slightly, cocking my head to one side as I tried to figure out just how he knew we weren't alone of the Falcon.

"Oh come on, kid, you're a terrible liar, and you were the best pilot so you can't tell me that you've flown all the way from some dead-end planet on your own," my father explained, sounding exasperated as he raised his eyebrows and Chewie tried to defend me, my father merely turned to him and said "Remember when we asked her to help us make the calculations for light speed and she shut down the hyperdrives?"

"I was eight then!" I exclaimed frustratedly, following him as he paced over to the other smuggling pit. "And I'm not that bad of a bad pilot either!" 

"Yeah well, you're still a bad liar, so tell me," he quipped, and I really did feel like I was a kid again.

Dad was right, I was a bad liar, or at least I was when it came to my parents. Jedi training had always made me want to tell the truth, or at least as much of it as I could, and so as my father questioned me I couldn't help but glance down at the floor, down at the panel covering the smuggling pit that my companions were hiding in. Dad noticed, smirking over at Chewie and I stepped back to my father's side, watching as the wookiee lifted the hatch off. With a glance down, I saw Rey and Finn looking up at us, startled and terrified, glaring at me like I'd betrayed them. 

"Who're you two? Which one of you's the pilot?" Dad demanded, pointing his blaster at the two of them, both of them raising their hands up to prove their innocence.

"I-I'm the pilot!" Rey stumbled, looking between the three of us, her gaze lingering on me as if she was asking for help. Chewie groaned something at her, making her shake her head rapidly. "I'm not lying, I swear!" 

"She's telling the truth, Chewie! She flew, I was co-pilot, and Finn took the blasters, you believe me, right?" I insisted, watching Chewie as he shrugged, roaring out a 'no' that made me let out a laugh. "Oh, thanks, bud!"

"You can understand that thing?" Finn exclaimed with a confused frown, his words making my father glare down at him, fiercely protective of Chewie as he pointed his blaster at the man in the pit below.

"And that thing can understand you, so watch your mouth!" Dad snapped, turning his glare to me, noticing I too was irritated by Finn's words. "Where's you pick these kids up, Luce?" 

"You... You two know each other?" Rey asked with a frown, glancing between the two of us cautiously.

"Of course I know her, she's my kid!" Dad exclaimed in his frustration, rolling his eyes once more. "Come on, you two out of there, now,"

Irritated at how my father was treating my two new friends, I leant down, holding my hand out to Rey to help pull her out, and once she was out I turned my attention to Finn. BB-8 pulled himself out with an extendable chain, and to distract myself from my friends who were looking at me with newfound caution and from father who was pacing around the corridor I bent down to the droid, making sure his antenna was straight. 

"He's your father?" Finn asked me, looking between the two of us, and I knew he was comparing our physical similarities. "Is... Is he a Jedi too?" 

At Finn's question I burst into laughter, snorting hysterically, and even Chewie moaned out a small laugh. The two of us were similar, same dark hair and nose, similar height and I had his eyes too, but other than that I looked more like my mother. Me and my father were similar, but not similar enough for him to be a Jedi, and what with his long history of refusing to believe in the force, I found the idea of him being a Jedi ridiculous. Dad, however, clearly didn't, not as he shot me a glare and nudged my leg with his foot. I held back a laugh, getting back to my feet, still fighting a smirk.

"Nope, Dad's the furthest thing from force sensitive," I told them both, gesturing over to my father who was still glaring at me. 

"Alright, laugh it up, Luce," he rolled his eyes at me before becoming serious once more. "Where'd you get this ship?"

"Jakku," Rey answered, a small, kind smile on her face as she looked between me and my father.

"That junkyard?" Dad frowned and I let out a sigh, realising that if Dad thought it was a junkyard then of course he wouldn't look for his ship there; no wonder I'd been waiting for so long.

"See?" Finn exclaimed, shooting Rey a triumphant look. "Told you, junkyard!"

"Unkar Plutt had it, he stole it from the Irving Boys, who stole it from Ducain," Rey began to explain but my father interrupted her.

"Who stole it from me! Well, next time you see Unkar Plutt, you tell him that Han Solo has stolen back the Millenium Falcon, for good!" He shouted slightly, looking around his ship, before walking off in the direction of the cockpit. 

"Actually," I shouted back to him, irritated that he was going to claim the ship back after so long even with me hiding out on the Falcon. "Luci Solo stole it back years ago!"

"You're Han Solo?" Rey's eyes widened in shock, watching my father intently with wonder. "This is the Millenium Falcon? This is the ship that made the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs!"

"Twelve!" Both me and dad shouted, correcting her.

"Han Solo? Wasn't he a war hero?" the confused, so-called Resistance fighter asked the wookiee stood behind him.

"No he was a smuggler," the scavenger girl beamed, watching the older man with look of awe on her face, one that I recognised well, since it was a look I used to give him.

"Smuggler, war hero, nerf herder," I grinned, a lifetime of memories of Han Solo running through my mind. "But mostly, my father,"

"Your father is Han Solo? Luci Solo!" Rey beamed at me, though I merely shrugged. 

"Technically, its Luci Padme Organa Solo," I told both Finn and Rey, though Chewie groaned out a correction that made me sigh in annoyance. "Fine, Lucinda Padme Organa-Solo, but no one calls me Lucinda but my Mum and Luke Skywalker," 

"You're the Luci Organa-Solo that was on all the First Order wanted lists?" Finn exclaimed his eyes narrowed in shock. "And, Organa, like General Leia Organa, the Resistance leader?"

"Yeah, General Leia Organa," I nodded, fighting off my proud smirk. "It's hard not to be an enemy of the First Order when my Mum leads the resistance. She also happens to be Luke Skywalker's twin sister, so Luke's actually my Uncle. That's why he trained me," 

At the mention of Luke I glanced down to BB-8, thinking of the map he carried. Then, with a glance to Chewie who was standing over by Finn, I felt my emotions growing too strong, unable to stop thinking about the possibility of getting my Uncle back after so long, and what it had cost to get him back. Poe, I thought, and instantly tears pricked at my eyes, something that Chewie noticed as he moved closer to me. 

"Beebee-Ate has a map to Uncle Luke," I told him, forcing down my emotions. "Mum sent Poe on a mission to find it, you remember Poe Dameron? Well... Poe died to get the map, Chewie,"

As if sensing my sadness, the wookiee pulled me into a tight hug once more. I buried my face into his fur, wrapping my arms around him as I took a deep breath, trying to force my sadness and grief away. Chewie's hand rested on my head, stroking my messy brown hair as if trying to comfort me, knowing how much it hurt to say that last sentence. I'd not realised just how much I'd missed Chewie, who often knew me better than my own parents when I was growing up. He always knew what was wrong with me if I was upset, or how to cheer me up. If there was ever anything wrong with me, before actually talking to me themselves, my parents would send Chewie to me to see if I'd talk to him. Growing up, he'd taught me how to shoot and how to fly alongside my dad. He was like a second father to me.

My bond with the wookiee almost made me consider crying on him again, to let out all the emotions which had built up since seeing my father, but I couldn't. I had to talk to dad, knowing there was still too much unsaid between us. I knew that, as good of a pilot Rey was, we needed Han Solo on our side to get us to the Resistance if we had any hope of getting to my uncle Luke in time. I pulled out of Chewie's grip, giving him a gentle smile before wandering off down the corridor, following my father into the cockpit, to see him smirking down at the controls nostalgically.

My childhood was full of memories, practically all of them taking place in the Falcon. I thought about all the times we'd sat in the cockpit as a family. Me, my parents, Chewie, Uncle Luke and Ben. All the nights I'd come out from the house to sit here, often finding my father keeled over the controls, trying to work repairs. All the summer days home from training, curled up on the leather seat reading books on the force whilst my father teased me for being so studious. I'd tried not to think of those times whilst I was on my own, the memories too painful in my isolation, but now I was stood with my father it was inevitable. 

If it was strange for me I wondered how it felt for my father, since the majority of his life had happened in this ship. I couldn't help but think about all the times my father had here before I was around. All the missions for the rebellion, the escape from the death star, being with my mother. What was he thinking, standing there, where he used to stand, now everything has changed?

With a small smile, I leaned past him, moving closer to the control board, taking the gold dice out of my pocket. Dad watched me, smirking as he noticed me tying them back into place, and as I turned back to look at him he ruffled my hair gently. 

"What's it feel like, being back in the Falcon?" I questioned him, my eyebrows creasing together as I tried to read his expression.

"Different," He answered with an indifferent shrug, one of his hands on my shoulder and the other resting on the head board of the leather seat. "How long's it been since we last saw each other?" 

"Eight years," I counted, not meeting his eye just because I didn't want to see his guilt.

Six years since Ben went to the dark side, the worst six years of my life. I'd not seen Dad for nearly a year before that, not with training, the resistance and Dad's work. I used to go home over the summers, but Ben stayed back a lot of the time, not wanting to spend his summers with our mother and the resistance. It made sense now, thinking back, but then it used to hurt a little. After Ben went to the dark side, when Uncle Luke first abandoned me with the resistance, I woke up in the med-wing asking for my father, but no one told me where he was, not until my mother came and told me that he and Chewie had been on a job when they heard the news of Ben. He just never came home, and though my mother put on a good front, I know that broke her heart.

"Why did you leave?" I asked, trying not to sound demanding even though the pain of my past was making my voice waver. "You left Mum and me alone, for nearly seven years, why did you go when we needed you?"

"I thought you were dead, Luce," he sighed, and I heard something in his voice that seemed to mirror my own feelings, though I knew that Dad didn't deal well with big, complex emotions. "I thought he... You think I could have faced you and your mother after what happened to your brother? I failed him, I failed all three of you. I couldn't just walk back to your mother like nothing happened," 

"But we needed you!" I insisted, trying to keep my tone neutral, fighting back tears as I remembered all the nights I spent with my mother outside the base, both of us silently staring at the stars, willing the Falcon to appear. "You didn't fail me, you know, and you didn't fail Ben either. When... When the academy fell, we all lost so much, but now we have the chance to make it right. We have a map to Uncle Luke, and you're gonna help me get it to the Resistance,"

He sighed in protest, looking around the cockpit as if refusing to meet my eye whilst he thought through my proposition. He opened his mouth, about to answer me, until his eyes caught onto something. His face turned confused, angry and frustrated all at the same time, storming closer to the control board to get a better look, glaring down at the controls until he glared back at me.

"Which son-of-a-bantha installed a compressor on my ship?"

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Word count: 4564

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