~How it All Began: Part 9~

The red blush lasted a long time. Han was still chuckling to himself as he sent his precious Millennium Falcon into hyperspace. The two of them sat in silence, Luke's eyes scanned over the console while Han watched the view streak past outside with his hands behind his head. The peaceful hum of the ship filled the void. It almost made him sleepy.

  "I can see why being a smuggler is appealing," Luke announced suddenly. Startled by his words, Han turned his head to look at him. Luke was no longer fascinated with the controls and was staring at the blue and white kaleidoscope of hyperspace. "To own and fly a ship with the few people closest to you and seeing this... it's something I could get used to."

Han raised an eyebrow subtly. Was Luke actually considering becoming a smuggler? The kid seemed too innocent and gullible and trusting for this line of work. But then again, practice makes perfect. And Han did promise to himself that if the old man didn't make it, he would offer Luke a place on the Falcon.

  "It's not the most honest trade," Luke continued. "Uncle Owen would never approve. Still, flying across the galaxy was my dream while I was stuck on that dust ball changing vaporators." Then a shadow of seriousness darkened his face and he leaned back with his arms crossed. "I think I'm going to join the Rebellion."

Something deflated inside Han and he found himself sitting up.

  "Kid, we both know that's suicide," he said softly.

  "And is your life any less dangerous?"

  Touché.

  "I've been thinking a lot about what I would do after this is all over. My original plan was to go wherever Ben goes. He would teach me the ways of the Jedi and I could avenge my father. Guess I'm going to have to postpone that." He chuckled humorlessly. "I can't go back to Tatooine. There's nothing left for me there. I thought briefly that I could join you or get my own ship, but then I thought about the Rebellion. I knew the best way to honor everyone who has sacrificed in my life is to fight the Empire." A fire burned in his eyes now. "I will continue my Jedi training somehow, and one day, I will avenge my father and Ben."

Han's offer died on his lips. He stared at the kid in shock. The innocent, soft kid was replaced with someone with a hidden power burning behind his eyes. A quiet, pure power that seemed to radiate off him. Han felt more awe than threatened. He knew Luke too well to fear it. If he didn't know any better, he would have called it the Force.

But maybe he was wrong. Something in Ben Kenobi's last magic trick struck a different cord, and it wasn't just him. There was something unnatural about Darth Vader; more than just his mask and armor. The way that terror cut through him felt too raw and real to be just his reputation. There was something different about Luke, too.  Deflecting three stun bolts blinded was a neat trick, he'd give him that. But he could feel it in his gut that this kid was special.

Han Solo blinked and stood up. He was too tired for this kind of thinking.

  "You're going places, kid." He clapped Luke on the shoulder with a gloved hand. "Wanna help me make some repairs?"

  Luke shrugged. "Sure. I was going to take a shower, but I think Leia is using it. I can hear running water."

  "Yeah, you still stink. You both do."

  Luke reached up and whacked the back of his head. "You could use a shower yourself. Chewbacca's stench is rubbing off of you."

  Han grinned. "Nah. Chewie is the clean one. He washes his fur every rotation."

Luke shoved him again, both men laughing.

As it turns out, Luke was very handy. He claimed that he had been building things since he was six and made most of the repairs around the farm.

  "So, Han," Luke began. He was lying on his back underneath the floor of the ship fixing a leak that's been leaking for a long time because neither Han nor obviously Chewie could fit in such a tight space, "how did you get into the smuggling business?"

There it is. There's the questions, karma to all of Han's questioning toward Luke while in route to Alderaan. He was so startled, he dropped the screwdriver he was passing to Luke, which hit him in the face.

  "Ouch!" the victim exclaimed more out of shock than pain as the tool bounced off his goggles and forehead.

  "Sorry." Then Han quickly added in a raised voice, "Catch it!"

Metallic and hollow pings and clangs echoed off the pipes as the screwdriver tumbled into the abyss. Luke violently threw out his arm, hissing as bumped his elbow then his wrist in the cramped space, and stretched towards the falling tool. The screwdriver disappeared into the inky blackness.

Han slumped back on his heels. That was his good screwdriver. Also, a pointy tool lost in the interior of his ship could cause problems for him later.

To his shock, the screwdriver reappeared from the abyss and slowly floated into Luke's outstretched hand. Han shot to his feet while the kid's jaw dropped open, both of them staring at the tool in wonder.

  "Did... did you do that?"

  "I don't know. I think so."

  "How?"

  "I don't know. If Ben were here, he could explain everything."

That made them both somber and Luke returned to his task. A quirk of a smile suddenly crossed his face though, as if remembering some irony or private joke.

  "So, you didn't answer my question."

  "Kid, you just magically made a screwdriver float into your hand on accident and you're just going to brush past that like it's no big deal?"

Luke shrugged, still tinkering away, and waited.

   "By circumstance, I guess," Han answered softly, surprise by the absence of the reluctant tightness in his chest. Stars, this kid was so easy to talk to. He sat back on his heels, thinking. "It started out as a survival instinct, then I met some smugglers and it became a career. I wouldn't trade it for anything else though. That view and the thrill is why I do it. And the payment's not bad either."

  "Until you do jobs for Jabba the Hutt," Luke chimed in knowingly. "Although Jabba has his grubby hands on everything on Tatooine, my uncle did his damn best to avoid anything the Hutt has claim on. How'd you get on his bad side?"

  "Took a job, got boarded by Imps, had to dump the cargo."

  "Must've been something pretty important and illegal in the Empire's eyes."

  "Spice."

  Luke whistled. "Stang! No wonder you have such a huge bounty on your head. Why didn't you just outrun 'em?"

  "For the love of—" Han rose to his feet. "Keep working at that. I'm going to check on the Princess. She's been doing her hair for far too long."

Han rapped his knuckles on the refresher door. He couldn't hear the water running anymore.

  "Are you quite finished in there, Your Highness? There's a line, you know." 

There was no answer, which was unlike the spitfire senator.

  "Princess?"

He heard a muted retching from inside.

  "I'm coming in, Your Worship. I hope you're decent."

He found Leia kneeling over the toilet bowl. Her small hands gripped the sides so hard, her knuckles turned white.

Han rushed forward and pulled back her extremely long brown hair before she emptied her stomach of whatever prison food she had on that battle station. Her face was pale.

When she was done, she sat there breathing for a moment while Han rubbed soothing circles on her back.

  "Are you–?"

  "I'm fine," Leia snapped quickly, her cheeks now flushed with shame.

  "Are you sick or was the food poisoned?"

  "Neither. I was tortured for information."

Her nonchalance surprised him.

  "They injected a truth serum inside my system. This must be the side effects."

  "And you resisted it?"

Leia nodded as she rose to her feet, accepting Han's offered hand instead of pushing him away. His admiration for Alderaan's princess grew.

  "Do you need anything?" Han asked as she rinsed her mouth. He may not express that he cared often, but he was the captain of this ship and the host of two guests. Four if you count the droids, and he didn't.

  "No. Thank you, Captain."

When Han Solo returned to the spot where they were fixing the ship, Luke was not there. However, the familiar dripping sound that he and Chewie long ago became deaf to was gone.

The missing kid was found crashed nearby on the med bunk. Han smiled fondly at the peaceful, youthful face. All the uncertainty and burdens melted away in sleep, making Luke look more innocent than ever.

A hand rested lightly on the silver hilt on his belt, a cruel reminder of the boy's potential future midst the peaceful image.

Han sighed tiredly and ran a hand through his mess of brown hair. For a moment, he just stood there listening to the hum of his ship and the kid's soft breathing.

Breath. They had made it. Luke had made it. That terrifying moment when the diagona pulled Luke under and had a tentacle wrapped around its prey's neck and he couldn't breathe, he had survived that. The kid was alive and safe... for now. If that lightsaber had any indication of what's to come, this won't be the last time he dances with death. But when that time comes, Han won't be there to protect him.

Solo blinked and shook his head. He was too exhausted to think straight. He needed sleep. They all needed sleep. He could hear Chewbacca snoring from the other end of the ship. Even C-3PO and R2-D2 had powered down, explaining why the ship was so quiet.

Silently, Han left to find Leia to offer her his cabin. He'll find another place to rest his head.