Star Wars: Han's Vision Returns

Han's Vision Returns, Part 1

A/N: This story was inspired by a beautiful illustration by Chris Trevas, entitled "His Vision Returns". He has made other amazing works of art, filling in missing scenes from the Star Wars movies (and others). Do a search for his website and Facebook page, and perhaps you'll be inspired too. My fic also includes deleted scenes from ROTJ, of the sandstorm our heroes encountered after the battle of Jabba's sail barge. You can find this scene on YouTube. I hope you enjoy my own attempt to fill in some blanks.

Carbonite Dreams

Chapter 1

The sound of the hot wind and blowing sand made it nearly impossible to see, hear, or speak, and the four humans and two droids, resembling orphaned sand people in their blankets and eye gear, trudged onward through the Tatooine desert. It was early afternoon, but the twin suns were nearly blocked out by the sand, the eerie orange-tinged darkness further impeding their journey.

Leading the way were Luke Skywalker, and Lando, leaning on the Wookie Chewbacca for support against the strong wind, and the droid, R2-D2, who had zeroed in on the X-wing's homing beacon to show their way to safety. A mile back, Jabba the Hutt's sand skiff had short-circuited, probably having sustained damage in the battle between the rebels and the gangster's sail barge. As bad luck would have it, the sandstorm had begun moments before the skiff sputtered and summarily stopped.

"Guess it's the heel and toe express for us," yelled Han above the wind, after Chewbacca had done a hasty evaluation of the skiff's mechanical operations and pronounced its demise. Han shielded already blurry vision from the sand, his eyes watering from the tiny, irritating grains.

Leia Organa, acutely feeling the sting of the sand on the exposed skin of her slave girl outfit, searched the storage compartments of the skiff and called her compatriots over to retrieve hooded cloaks, blankets, and eye protection—a necessary precaution in any Tatooine vehicle. She wrinkled her nose as she slipped on the long, brown cloak—it smelled vaguely of wet Bantha.

And so they climbed down from the skiff and began the long trek toward their waiting ships.

Han and Leia clung to each other—she for support against the wind and deep sand, he because his sight was not fully recovered from his bout with hibernation sickness. C3PO brought up the rear, complaining to himself the entire way. After what seemed like hours, Artoo's sensor for the X-wing and Lando's handheld sensor for the Falcon flashed red and beeped in unison.

"How is it?" Leia shouted close to Han's ear, referring to the big dark blur of his ship looming ahead of them.

"I don't know. All I can see is blowing sand!"

"That's all any of us can see!"

"I guess I'm getting better then!" Han yelled wryly.

Lando keyed in the code for the Falcon's ramp, and he and Chewie rushed inside, followed by Threepio, who was loudly lamenting his frozen joints and the generally miserable conditions of Tatooine. For once, no one could disagree with him; they were all anxious to get the ship going so they could get off this inhospitable rock.

In the relative shelter near the entrance of the ship, Han raised his goggles and snagged Luke by the arm before he headed toward his waiting X-wing.

"Hey, kid, why don't you leave that crate and come with us? We're faster."

Luke shook his head. "I have somewhere I promised to be," he said, straining to be heard. He bent and kissed Leia's cheek, then waved goodbye as he ran to help Artoo up into his X-wing, using the Force to lift the droid into place behind the cockpit.