Warrior ◊ Star Wars

chapter seven; you again

Mara had a knack for getting herself into tight spots in life, mostly metaphorically.

Did she envision herself in a small space with a heavy droid sitting on her, with a random guy she met a few hours ago scrunched up next to her, with a gas mask on?

No, no she didn't.

Dim light made its way into the cramped space through small lines in the panels but didn't allow them to see through. As they waited for the troopers to come, heavy pounding on the doors echoed across the room. The three held their breath as while BB-8 remained silent. More pounding before the door retracted up.

Now for their plan to work. Mara made sure her mask was tightened a little more as she tried not to make a sound. Two sets of footsteps walked above them, one quite heavier than the other. This was peculiar.

Standard infiltration teams are ten to twenty for this size of ship. Why two?

The footsteps stopped feet away from them, a brief silence adding the tension before a gruff, weathered voice pierced the stale air," Chewie, we're home."

Definitely not storm troopers, but sounds familiar.

A low growl was followed, sounding a lot like a wookie. Who the hell brings a wookie?

Right next to Mara, Finn turned his head in Rey's direction and gave her a nod. As he shifted quietly to her side, more ruffling above them was heard. The light was obstructed as the human walked over the floor to get to the control panel. Both sets stopped, observing the room.

That's when Finn dropped a screw.

Within seconds, the panel was being lifted off. Mara grabbed her gun, ready to aim it at whatever they were about to encounter. As light rushed into the space, her blaster targeted an older looking man. He too was aiming at them, looking a bit surprised at the three humans and a round droid.

He then made direct eye contact with Mara, head nodding towards her blaster," Put the gun down kid, before you hurt yourself."

The blonde's finger slid down to the trigger, not feeling too threatened at the older man's statement. But then again, it wasn't loaded. Alas, she still kept her aim, talking through her mask, "Please geezer, I know how to use it."

The man's eyebrow shot up, offended," Geezer?!?"

He turned to the wookie, an astonished expression playing on his face," Geezer? Do I really look old?!?"

The furball paused before giving a growl, in which the elder also found insulting. He snorted, keeping his gun on Mara again, "Am not, stupid. Now, where are the others? Where's the pilot?"

"I'm the pilot." Rey answered hastily, very aware that her friend was pointing a useless blaster at someone who most likely had a working one.

"You?" He questioned, the wookie roaring accusingly. Mara couldn't understand a word the seven-foot fluffy was saying.

"No," Rey stammered, somehow knowing Wookish or whatever the animal spoke," it's true. We're the only ones on board!"

"You can understand that thing?" Finn questioned, Mara rolling her eyes and slapping him on the leg for the stupid comment. He glared and Mara blatantly ignored him.

The man above them spoke again, addressing Finn," And that thing can understand you, so watch it. C'mon out and put that silly ineffective blaster away."

Mara grumbled, shoving the gun back in her holster before helping Rey up. How the man knew her weapon was depleted, she didn't know. She did know that it'd be hard escaping if they were taken prisoner; a wookie and an old man could be a bit to handle. Also, something bugged her about his face. It seemed somewhat familiar.

After taking off her mask, she hoisted BB-8 up, then herself. The wookie growled at her, Mara sneering back. Her grip fell to her batons, ready in case they grabbed either of them.

"Where'd you get this ship?" The older man asked Rey while Mara and the wookie engaged in a stare-off.

"Niima outpost." She answered, gulping.

"On Jakku? That junkyard?"

Finn raised his hands, nodding as he agreed," Thank you! It is a junkyard."

"I told you we should've checked the Western Regions." He told the wookie, who roared an answer. Mara inspected the furball's weapons; bowcaster and vibro-knife. If she and Finn could take the wookie, then Rey would just have the oldie......

"Did you get it from that knucklehead Ducain?" He asked Rey again, who answered a bit softer this time.

"I stole it from Unkar Plutt. He stole it from the Irving boys, who stole it from Ducain-"

"Who stole it from me!" The man cried out, shaking his head," Well you tell 'em..."

The elder's gaze fell on Mara, who was still sizing up the wookie. He squinted at her for a second, studying her face carefully before speaking again.

"I know you." The statement made Mara look back at him, her heart leaping up to her throat. No no no she really didn't need someone exposing her today. It has had already been a hell of a bad day and someone noticing her would be the cruel icing on the top of an ugly cake.

Before she could cut him off, he shook his pointer finger accusingly at her," Blonde hair, blue eyes, little smirk. You're the girl who stole an old Z-90 Headhunter fighter from me that I rightfully sold on Mandalore seven years ago! I had to give all the money back to the buyer because of you!"

Relief washed over her like a cold shower as she let out an anxious breath, glad he only recognized her for her less nefarious deeds. She laughed at the accusation, hands still on her batons," Please old man, you were cheated in the pricing anyway. And besides, I stole that from Han Solo. It's not like you're him or anything......."

Shit s**t s**t shitty s**t I've screwed up now

Mara felt the wind get knocked out of her. Disbelief was her only emotion as her tongue twisted and she stammered," You're Han Solo!"

Rey seemed equally surprised, walking forward in giddiness with Finn on her heels, "This is the Millennium Falcon!"

The man- Han Solo as it had just been dramatically revealed- flipped on switch on the control panel before facing both Rey and Mara, grumbling, "I used to be."

Finn now spoke up, probably after being quiet for the longest Mara had noticed since she met him, "Han Solo, the Rebellion General?"

Mara quickly corrected him, "No, the guy who shot almost all of Jabba the Hut's bounty hunters."

Rey scoffed at them both, "No, the smuggler."

Finn looked back at the wookie, presumably Chewbacca, "Wasn't he a war hero?"

Rey's eyes were ginormous, seeing the ship in a whole new light. Her smile was huge," This was the ship that made the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs!"

"Twelve!" The correction was yelled from the helm back to them. Mara continued to observe the area, soon realizing that she could've easily been in the same gunnery room as Luke Skywalker himself. She felt almost unworthy, unclean just standing in the heart of the ship.

"Hey," Solo came back there way, "some booze-milker put a compressor on the ignition line."

While Finn and Mara exchanged confused faces, Rey seemed to know exactly why the man was so surly, "Unkar did. I thought it was a mistake too but it's to much stress on the-"

"Hyperdrive." Solo finished for her, seeming a little surprised she actually knew what she was talking about. Mara first thought this would convince him not to get rid of them the first chance he could, but she was wrong, "Chewie throw 'em in a pod, we'll drop them at the nearest inhabited planet."

The blonde's batons showed themselves, one in each hand, "Okay, wait just a minute-"

Solo spun around to face her, probably still holding a grudge over the fighter, "There is no room for you to talk here Thief!"

"Says the smuggler." Mara bit back, twirling one of her batons to warm up her fingers if she really had to fight him; legend or not.

"Wait!" Rey interjected, putting a hand on Mara's firearm to keep her from doing anything rash. She went back to addressing Solo, "No! We need your help."

The smuggler gave a sarcastic look, scoffing, "My help?"

Rey pointed to BB-8, who beeped a bit, "This droid needs to get to a Resistance base as soon as possible."

Solo continued to walk back to the helm, all four following behind him. Before Mara could, Finn disclosed the droid's contents, "It's carrying a map to Luke Skywalker."

That made the old man stop. Though she couldn't, she could tell the name was a spark of some kind, a pinpoint to a time the man used to know. Perhaps a different galaxy altogether.

"You are the Han Solo that fought with the Rebellion." Finn said, further increasing the tension in the room, the three's anticipation to hear his answer evident.

The smuggler shrugged, eyes meeting the younger pairs in front of him, "Yeah, I knew him. I knew Luke."

Breaking the seemingly dramatic and groundbreaking moment, pounding rocked the ship. Everyone looked up, wondering what in the galaxy had interrupted the overdramatic stare off.

Solo just grumbled, saying the phrase like it was the most natural thing in the world, "Don't tell me a Rathtars' gotten loose."