A/N: MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU MY PADAWANS!
Loooooooong ass chapter ahead. You wouldn't believe how long this took to write in-between going through the script and matching it with the right actions - a long time.
However, I really love the little bit of Father/Daughter bonding at the end; it just warms my cold heart :') Anywho, hope you enjoy this and I promise all of the angsty sadness will be over soon - you all know what happens next... if not, wtf are you doing here?!
Chapter 15
I hear them walking around, looking at their old ship. I want nothing more than to jump up and run into his arms - even if i'm angry that he didn't come those weeks ago when he said he would.
However, Rey holds me back down as I shoot up, resulting in something being knocked and making a loud clanging sound. I turn to argue with her but before I can the grate is lifted and my breath hitches in my throat in shock of seeing the man who raised me for the first time in years.
They look up, fearing him almost. "Where are the others?" he asks them. His voice sounds tired, aged but still the same as it has done for the last 26 years of my life. He catches my eye and lowers his gun, stepping back a little. He knows he's going to get a mouthful when I get him alone for a minute. "Hey kiddo!"
He pulls me out and hugs me tightly, uncle Chewie growling in happiness at seeing me again. "Hey, dad," My words get muffled into his jacket, the same one he's worn for so long.
We pull apart and he goes all attack mode once again, pointing his gun at my new allies. "Who's the pilot?"
"I'm the pilot," Rey tells him quickly.
"You?" he asks her in confusion, Chewie responding in the same way.
"No, it's true," she informs him. "We're the only ones on board,"
"You can understand that thing?" Finn jumps in rudely.
"That thing can understand you too, so watch it," Dad warns, bringing a smile to my face. "Come on out of there,"
The two of them remove their masks and get out of the hatch, standing opposite to me and my father. "Where did you get this ship?" he questions us, looking to me for the answer.
"Niima outpost," Rey tells him. His face falls in disgust as he faces me.
"Jakku? That junkyard?" he gapes.
"Thank you!" Finn retaliates exhaustedly.
"I told you we should've double checked the western regions," he states to Chewie. "Who had it?"
"We stole it," She tells him. "I stole it from Unkar Plutt, he stole it from the Irvine boys, they stole it from Ducain-"
"Who stole it from me!" he shakes his head in irritation. "Well you tell him that Han Solo just stole back the Millenium Falcon for good," he looks at me with a smirk. "And he's going to be teaching his kid how to fly it,"
"This is the Millenium Falcon?" she gasps. "You're Han Solo? You have a kid? Who?"
"Used to be," he rolls his eyes as he makes his way to the cockpit, Rey's eyes wide open in astonishment.
"Han Solo? The rebellion general?" Finn asks as I walk after Dad.
"No! The smuggler!" they bicker behind me. "This is the ship that did the Kessel run in fourteen parsecs?"
"Twelve!" he shouts back at them.
"Fourteen," we both mumble under our breaths. He turns and looks at me with a seemingly ever growing smile on his face. "It's good to see you again, Baby,"
"It's good to see you too, Dad," he throws his arm over my shoulder and pulls me close. He still smells the exact same.
"Dad?" Finn asks as they follow.
"Wait," Rey stops in her tracks so harshly, smoke could've come from her feet. "Dad!"
"Yeah," I shrug as I wrap my arms around his waist, feeling an evident dad-bod forming on his stomach area slightly. "Y/N Solo-Organa,"
"Full name, Kid," he teases me.
"No, thanks," I reply sincerely.
We walk together into the cockpit and he looks around it in pride. It really is the same as it always has been. He seems content until he notices something that caught my own eye earlier too.
"Hey!" he storms back into the main area where the other four are. "Some moof-milker put a compressor on the ignition line!"
I laugh out loud at the reference to the nickname I used to use on him and Ben when I was younger. "Can't believe you still use that,"
"Never stopped," he winks at me as he faces back to Rey.
"Unkar Plutt did," she starts. "I thought it was a mistake too it-"
"Puts too much stress on the hyperdrive," he interrupts her. "Chewie, throw them a pod we'll drop them on the nearest inhabited planet,"
"Dad!" I exclaim at his rudeness.
"Wait no, we need your help," she tells him. "This droid needs to get to the resistance base as soon as possible,"
"He's carrying the map to Uncle Luke," I further explain. He stops dead in his tracks. We haven't spoken about Luke since, well, you know.
"You're the Han Solo that fought with the rebellion, you knew him," Finn expands their argument.
"Yeah. I knew him, I knew Luke," He looks to me for comfort - his or mine though? "We both did,"
I give him a weak smile, not really knowing what to say. Uncle Luke was the reason for some of the best and absolute worst times of our lives. However, without him Mom and Dad never would have met and he would still be a scavenger and she would be a stubborn princess waiting for her chance to escape the empire's grip. Without him, there would be no rebellion or resistance - no Poe for me to meet and allow to sweep me off my feet.
Our thoughts are interrupted by a faint clang of metal and he groans, throwing his head back. "Oh don't tell me a Rathtar's gotten loose,"
He pushes past our small group and we all follow behind cautiously. I have heard about Rathtars but never actually seen or had full knowledge of what they can do.
"Wait, what?" Finn exclaims in confusion and frustration at the whole situation. As we jog behind Dad, BB-8 uses his grapplers to get himself out of the cubby hole we had hidden in. I feel a sense of guilt, like I was already failing at looking after him because I was too caught up in my own dramas to realise he was still in there. "Did you just say Rathtar? Hey!"
We all follow the greying man into the cargo dock where he goes to a control panel and starts to press around. "You're not hauling Rathtars on this freighter, are you?" Finn continues, panic lacing in his tone.
"I'm hauling Rathtars," Dad replies nonchalantly as he pulls up the cameras from around the larger ship.
"Dad!" I scold him with a disappointed expression.
He shakes his head, but looks closer at the panel. I can feel a wave of uncertainty and fear come off of him temporarily, and looking down at the cameras I can see why.
"Oh great," he mutters. "It's the Guavian Death Gang, they must've tracked us from Nantoon," He begins his pace towards wherever he is going and we follow blindly.
"What's a Rathtar?" Rey questions with a curious but confident face.
"You don't want to know," I chuckle lightly, trying to calm down the tense situations.
"They're big and they're scary," Dad states plainly as we speed walk through the maze of corridors in this freighter.
"You ever heard of the Trillian massacre?" Finn asks her. He knows his stuff.
"No?" she replies in a more questioning tone.
"Good," Finn and I share a tense glare as we say the same answer at the same time. Rey might trust him but i'm still not too sure. I note that my Pilot's jacket is still on him and I want nothing more than to rip it off him and savour the last thing Poe was wearing for myself. But Finn seemed as though he genuinely was sorry about everything that happened, which conflicted my feelings even more. He seemed like he could be a good friend.
"I've got three of 'em going to King Prana," Dad informs us and I groan at his stupidity.
"Three?" Finn questions in shock. "How did you get them on board?"
"I used to have a bigger crew," Yeah, I should've been a part of it.
We get to an intersection in the corridors and Chewie opens yet another hatch. "Get below deck and stay there until I say so. And don't even think about taking the Falcon," Dad instructs us.
"What about BB-8?" Rey asks him, BB looking up at me for guidance.
"He stays with me until I get rid of the gang, and then you can have him back and be on your way," he informs her. Ahh yes, blackmail.
"And what about me?" I ask him with a raised brow and crossed arms.
"You're going down there too," He says, as if it was common sense.
"No, I'm staying up here with you," I tell him with a hint of frustration in my tone.
"You're going with your friends and that's the end of it," Dad starts arguing back in his fatherly tone that I have grown so used to over the years.
"You seem to be forgetting that I am highly trained in combat," he scoffs at my argument. "I could take them down all by myself, wouldn't want you putting out your back while you're at it,"
"You," he points his finger in my face, which I return with a sly smirk. "Are just as stubborn as your mother,"
"Learned from the best," I tilt my head with a raised brow.
"What about the Rathtars? Where are you keeping them?" Finn starts but is rudely interrupted by a loud bang coming from directly behind us. He and Rey jump with a scream, even Chewie is a little startled but I stand my ground.
"There's one," he points at the glass where a tentacle-like organ is rolling against the window.
"What're you gonna do?" Rey asks him with a worried tone.
"Same thing he always does," I nudge his arm and he rolls his eyes.
"Yup, Talk my way out of it," Chewie growls that he never pulls it off - which is true. "Yes I do! Every time," he sticks his finger in the wookie's face before he starts off again - just as Rey and Finn lower themselves into the hatch, closing it behind them.
I follow until we hear a door hissing open and he raises his hand to set us into a halt. Red armoured soldiers enter first, blue lighted guns held tightly in their hands. They separate to reveal whomst i'm guessing is their master.
"Han Solo," he starts with a strange but enticing accent - one i'd like to hear more of in a less dramatic situation. "And the younger Solo too. You're a dead man,"
Dad's lip curls up a little into a smirk as the man and his small army step forward. "Bala-Tik, what's the problem?" he asks confidently.
"The problem is we loaned you fifty-thousand for this job," he replies tiredly.
"Fifty-thousand?" I mouth to Chewie who gives me a small nod, guilt evident in his features that I was now being brought into the mess they have made.
"We also heard you borrowed fifty-thousand from Kanjiklub," he continues.
My jaw goes slightly slack. This is why my father needs constant supervision from either me or Mom.
"You know you can't trust those little freaks," Dad fuels the fire, making me wince slightly. "How long have we known each other?"
"Question is how much longer will we know each other? Not long," Damnit Dad. "We want our money back, now,"
"You think hunting Rathtars is cheap? I spent that money," he counters, shrugging helplessly.
"Kanjiklub wants their investment back too," the man spits angrily.
"I never made a deal with Kanjikulb!" Dad argues, getting bored now.
"Tell that to Kanjiklub," as if on cue - which it probably was - the door opposite to Bala-Tik opens and I curse under my breath as we watch another group of military looking men enter.
"Tasu Leech," He swallows harshly as he points at them. "Good to see you,"
"Wrong again, Solo," he starts in an alien language I remember learning at some point in time. "It's over for you,"
The man cocks his gun and I tense up a little, despite convincing my dad that I was ready.
"Boys, you're both going to get what I promised," He looks exasperatedly between the two bloodthirsty groups. "Have I ever not delivered for you?"
"Yes," Bala-Tik responds blatantly.
"Twice!" The Kanjiklub man speaks up in his foreign tongue.
I shake my head in disappointment and bite my tongue from scolding my irresponsible father any further as Chewie nods his head.
Dad sucks on his cheek for a moment, thinking of his next excuse. "What was the second time?"
"Your game is old," Bala chuckles. "There's no one left in the galaxy for you to swindle,"
"Nowhere left to hide!" Kanjiklub emphasise.
"That BB unit," Bala points out and I feel myself stepping forward and in front of the droid protectively. "The first order is looking for one just like it. And three fugitives,"
I feel my body tense as BB pushes into my legs. I gulp, feeling sick in the bottom of my stomach at this new information.
"First I've heard of it," Dad's hand instinctively reaches for my own and he squeezes it with the realization of the trouble we are in.
"Search the freighter," Kanjiklub orders their men, stepping forward for a moment before the entire freighter turns the same red as had previously encapsulated the Falcon.
An almost siren like call echoes throughout the ship as he holds my hand a little tighter. "I got a bad feeling about this,"
The lights flicker back on and Bala-Tik points at us. "Kill them, and get that droid and the Solo girl!"
They aim their weapons and I prepare for the consequences but a screech pierces the air as a tentacle like creature - which I recognise as a Rathtar from my education books from when I was a child - grabs the men of Bala-Tik and takes them for itself. On the other side, the same situation with Kanjiklub.
Dad lets go of my hand and stumbles as he begins to run down the corridor we had come up beforehand, Rathtar rolling closely behind us. Continuing down the corridor, Dad punches one of the Kanjiklub men unconscious and throws the body to the beast behind us.
We run for what seems like forever, adrenaline pumping through my veins. We take cover and we look through the window at the Falcon - only twenty feet in front of us but feels like a lifetime away.
"I got the door, cover us," he hands me his blaster and I turn to help Chewie with firing at the remaining enemies.
I shoot a few lasers their way but they all miss. In a split second, I notice one of the enemy lasers coming my direction head on. I yelp as Chewie pushes me out of the way and takes the bullet for me in his shoulder that would've been where my head was.
"Chewie!" I yell as Dad goes to his side.
"Chewie, you ok?" he asks, getting a pained but reassuring growl in response. He takes the crossbow that his wookie friend is usually equipped with and fires at the remaining two enemies. "Wow," he mutters at the power of the weapon.
He shoots the small control panel next to the door, opening it up instantly. "Come on, come on!" he helps Chewie up as I scramble to my feet, still in a slight state of shock.
Getting to the opening of the Falcon, I release a sigh of relief as Rey and Finn greet us with determined expressions. "Han, Y/N!" Rey shouts and I embrace her quickly as the rest of the group turn to them.
"You close the door behind us, you take care of Chewie," he flies around orders and the two start them. Chewie howls in pain as Finn puts himself under the wookies arm to keep him balanced. That's my fault. He hurt because of me.
I follow Rey and my father into the cockpit where he gets defensive as she sits in the co-pilot seat that belongs to my uncle. Glad he didn't know that I had sat there that same day as well, I take my seat in the back area of the cockpit.
"Hey, where are you going?" Dad scrunches his brows.
"Unkar Plutt installed a fuel pump too, if we don't prime that we're not going anywhere," she starts up the ship as he groans loudly.
"I hate that guy," he mutters angrily.
"And you need a co-pilot," she reinforces her point.
"I got one, he's back there," in that moment, Chewie growls from the wound he's received.
"She's right, Dad," I stand up. "Let her help,"
I leave him no other choice as I go back to the lounge to see to my Uncle. "You're going to be ok," I tell him, looking at the deep wound. I attempt to keep him calm and laid down as the ship lifts off the ground of the hangar.
"Hang on back there!" I hear Dad shout as Finn throws things around trying to find any kind of bandage that will help.
"No problem," he retaliates - but we both know that's not true.
After a few moments, I feel the need to hold onto something tightly as the ship goes into lightspeed, escaping the freighter.
We all sigh thankfully as we escape the gangs firing and thirsty for revenge, alone with the remaining Rathtars.
However, that is short lived as alarms blare from the cockpit and growls emit from the wookie. Finn has found the first aid equipment but is now struggling to even get close to Chewie as he yowls and fights off the man. BB-8 gets startled and rolls away with a high pitched squeal.
"You hurt Chewie you're gonna deal with me!" Dad shouts from the cockpit, evidently stressed out.
"Hurt him? He's nearly killed me six times!" Finn shouts back before Chewbacca grabs his throat and pulls him closer. "Which is fine," Finn manages to squeak out.
Fight or flight kicking in, I rush to separate the two and sit on the side next to my injured uncle. "I've got this, Finn," I tell him as he nods and backs away slightly.
I compress and wrap his wound as he stops moving so sporadically, only growling and flinching when I pull to tightly or actually touch the wound. The persistent beeps stop from the cockpit and I release a sigh of relief.
The ship's movement stops being so random as it obviously goes into autopilot, Dad rushing into the lounge.
Chewie growls in disappointment with himself for being so careless. "No, don't say that! You did great and you stopped my kids brains being blown out as well. Just rest," he praises his best friend thankfully and turns to where Finn is sitting at the holochess board, BB-8 inbetween him and I. "Good job, kid. And thanks,"
Finn looks up at me and I nod, letting him take the win for this one. "You're welcome," he replies confidently. However, his facade is quickly diminished as he leans forward and turns on the chess board, looking confused and impressed as the characters start to battle on the hologram. Mom always said it was too violent for us kids to play but we did anyway.
"So," my father starts, giving me a either impressed or displeased look - I can't tell and I never have been able to. "Fugitives, huh?"
"The first order wants the map," Rey starts, making me jump from her sudden appearance behind me. "Obviously Y/N is with the resistance, so is Finn,"
I can see the distrust my father has in Finn in his eyes, Finn's nervous look not really doing him any favours. Dad looks to me and I just shrug as if to tell him 'I don't know'.
"I'm just a scavenger," she continues disheartenedly.
He sighs as I step in and turn off the holochess for Finn. "Let's see what you got,"
BB-8 looks up at me and I give him a half-hearted smile. This is what Poe died for. The thought raises bile in my throat but I swallow quickly and regain my pride.
He rolls into the centre and starts up his projector, zooming in on a 3-D image of something to reveal an orange dotted line through unmapped stars and planets.
"The maps not complete, it's just a piece," I state quickly, feeling lightheaded as I grab onto the C-shaped couch that Finn is sitting on.
"Ever since Luke disappeared, people have been looking for him," Dad walks around the hologram admiringly.
"Why did he leave?" Rey asks curiously. I feel the need to curl up into a ball and cry, resurfacing memories that Poe had held away for so long.
With a heavy sigh, Dad looks at me for confirmation which I give to him. "He was training a new generation of Jedi. One boy, an apprentice," I nearly choke as he retells the story to my new friends(?). "Turned against him, destroyed it all. Luke felt responsible - he walked away from everything,"
My eyes gloss over as for the first time in nearly three months, the image of Kaiya's lifeless body surges through my mind. Dad gives me a comforting look as Rey stares straight ahead, trying to imagine the scenes.
"Do you know what happened to him?" Finn pipes up.
"A lot of rumours, stories. People who knew him best think he went to search for the first Jedi temple," Rey stands in astonishment and walks towards my Father, who is tracing the orange line carefully - etching it into his mind.
"The Jedi were real?" she asks him, astonished with this new information. I nearly laugh out loud.
"I used to wonder about that myself," he chuckles. "Used to think it was a load of mumbo-jumbo. A magical power holding together the good and evil, the dark side and the light,"
My lips curl up a little at that. He's right, that's exactly what the force is. It's his previous skepticism that humours me, knowing that now he knows far too well about the balance of the force.
He turns back to the three of us with a serious face. "Crazy thing is," he continues. "It's true," even Finn moves closer towards my Father in shock. Dad gives me a knowing look before he goes on. "The Jedi, the force, all of it. It's all true,"
The two look shell-shocked, it's quite funny actually. Their trance however, is interrupted by a softer alarm than before and BB-8 switches off the hologram as Dad goes to see what the problem is. Chewies rises and insists he helps but he is quickly stopped by myself. "No, you rest," I tell him softly.
"You want my help? You're getting it. Gonna see an old friend, she'll get your droid home," I already know who, Auntie Maz. He turns to me and gives me a sad look before pulling me to the side. "I've seen that look on your mother before, what's going on?"
"I-" I start, but only manage to choke out before my eyes fill with tears and my throat with a peach pit. With a quivering lip, I let out a small sob. "He's gone, Dad. He's really gone,"
He pulls me in tightly as I allow the tears to fall. "Who? Ben?"
"No," I tell him shakily. "Poe,"
"Who's Poe?" He strokes my hair to comfort me, just as he used to do when I was younger and had scraped my knee or had a bad day at school. "A friend?" I shake my head. He seems nervous almost. "A-a boyfriend?" and that's why. I nod. "Oh. I didn't know,"
"Kinda what happens when you avoid contacting us for so long," I respond dryly. He holds me tighter.
He stays silent as I calm down my breathing. Truly taking a moment to bask in his hold on me, something that hasn't happened for a long time. "Did he treat you right?"
"Better than anyone could have,"
"Good," he sighs. "What happened?"
I let out another sob as he shushes me in such a way I nearly forgot he had the capability to do so. "Kylo Ren captured him, Finn helped him escape but they crashed and-"
"It's ok, Sweetie. I can connect the dots from there, you don't have to continue," he raises his hand to my necklace and looks down at it. "Was it really that long?"
"What?" I look up at him, pulling away a little.
"This is definitely a wedding ring. Was I really gone that long?" he asks, pain etching in his voice.
I chuckle a little. "It was his Mom's, he gave it to me before he went away. But yeah, you were,"
"Damn," he curses to himself, at himself. "And you went after him to find him? And I'm guessing that your Mother had very little say in if you did or didn't go?"
"You could say that," he drops the ring gently.
"Every day you convince me more and more that you're more like me," he groans.
"That's a good thing, Dad. If i'm even the slightest bit like you then I'm already pretty great," I tell him convincingly, getting a breathy laugh in response.
"No need to flatter me, Kiddo," looking at my face a little more, he strokes my cheek and wipes away the remaining tear that's falling down it. "When did you get so old?"
"Could ask you the same thing," I smile mischievously as he punches my shoulder weakly.
"Don't be rude," he scolds me before pulling me in again and hugging me tightly once more. "You'll be ok, I know you will be,"
"I'll try," I mutter unconvincingly. "It's just weird, you know? I'll never get to see him again, you'll never get to meet him, his squadron will get given to someone else, Snap probably, I'll have to look after BB-8 now. It's just a lot to comprehend all at once,"
"I get it. I do," we pull apart when the alarm that we have arrived sounds "Let's go and see your Auntie Maz,"
"Let's"
I'll try.
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Hope that did you all justice for such a great day! my dad and I are celebrating by binging all sequel trilogy (+A new hope cause why not?) whilst I'm dressed in my Princess Leia costume and he's in his Chewie onesie!
How are you all celebrating? I would LOVE to hear more about my incredible readers!
Also, thank you SO SO much for 6k reads! I can't quite believe it but I am so grateful for each and every one of you who have stuck along with me for this ride! I read every one of your comments with glassy eyes I swear to the force.
On a more serious note from what I normally write, I've gotten a few comments recently saying they wished I updated more. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate how much you love the book that I have put my heart and soul into for quite some time now but it just stresses me out quite a bit - especially now in such trying times. My mental health hasn't been great recently because of school and my family is giving me a hard time.
Once I finish uploading the whole of TFA plot - which currently is up to 23 chapters(!) - I might take a little break before uploading TLJ plot. I might start that as a new book? I don't really know at the moment. What i DO know is where this story is going, beginning to end, and that I really am so grateful for all of you!
All I'm saying is, in the nicest way possible, please don't comment things like "update more!" Or "I wish you updated more than once a week!", instead give me what you enjoyed about the chapter and where you think it's going to go!
Ok, small rant over. I hope you all understand. I have BIG plans ahead for our two love birds so - in the wise words of Alexander Hamilton - just you wait ;)
Love, always,
S x