The Pull to the Light

Chapter VIII

Han Solo then turned away from them and went to the cockpit, his wookie companion, Chewbacca, following him. Chiara blinked the tears out of her eyes at the mention of Ben's father while Finn and Rey exchanged a look.

"What now?" Finn asked, returning his gaze to where Han had just disappeared. "He—he just left us here."

"We could wait for one of them to come back," Rey suggested.

"Yes, we could do that. Just sit here and wait," Finn nodded and the three of them followed Han into the cockpit without another word.

Once back in view of Han, Rey was the first to speak, "This is the Millennium Falcon? I didn't—I didn't make the connection when we stole—when we came on board. You're Han Solo!"

"I used to be," the old man replied, a little bitterly.

"Han Solo?" Finn asked, racking his brain for how he knew the name. Then it hit him — "The Rebellion general?"

"No, the smuggler!" Rey interjected, an excited look on her face.

"Ben's father," Chiara whispered under her breath, tears filling her emerald eyes.

Luckily no one else heard her and Finn turned to Rey, confused, "Huh? Wasn't he a war hero? In the fight against the Old Empire?"

Chewbacca gave a response that Finn could not understand and Rey exclaimed, "The Millennium Falcon! This is the ship that made the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs!"

"Twelve parsecs," Han corrected, entering the cockpit as a somewhat nostalgic look washed over his face.

Rey and Han seemed to click immediately and Chiara watched, noticing each of Han's movement. This was the man who raised Ben before sending him to the Jedi training camp. This was the man whom she had been told never loved his son. And yet he seemed so normal.

"Wait, no! We need your help!" Chiara heard Rey call out, bringing her back into the conversation.

"My help?" The old man questioned, looking ready to refuse their request.

Chiara stepped forward, "This droid has to get to the nearest Resistance base as soon as possible. He's carrying a map that leads to the present location of Luke—Luke Skywalker." When she mentioned the name of her old master, Han's thoughts seemed to leave the ship.

When Han gave no response Finn spoke, "You are the Han Solo who fought with the Rebellion? If so, then you knew him."

"Knew him?" Han asked, his voice soft. "Yeah, I knew Luke."

Before they could argue anymore, a metallic think resounded from somewhere in Han's large freighter. An annoyed expression made its way onto Han's face, "Well, that tears it. Don't tell me a rathtar's gotten loose."

"No," Finn spoke as they followed him off of the falcon. "You're not hauling rathtars on this freighter."

"I'm hauling rathtars," Han replied, without stopping. He walked up to a console that showed images from different locations on the large freighter. Instead of finding a loose rathtar, he was instead confronted with something that was, if possible, worse.

"The Guavian Death Gang," Han muttered in agitation. He and Chewie began walking around the freighter with the three newcomers and the droid following them.

"What's a rathtar?" Rey asked, the only one unaware of the creature as she had lived all her life on Jakku.

"You want the scientific description? They're big and dangerous and ugly," Han replied, glancing at her.

"Ever hear of the Trillia Massacre?" Chiara asked her, knowing it was the perfect description of what a rathtar was.

"No," she spoke truthfully, shaking her head.

"Good," Finn spoke up, a confused look on Rey's face who was wondering what could be so horrible.

They continued speaking until Han hit a wall switch that opened a hatch in the floor, "Get below deck until I say so. Don't go wandering around: This ship is big enough to get lost in, and there are areas you don't want to go. Some of the cargo would be glad to see you, but you wouldn't want to see it. And don't even think about trying to take the Falcon."

"What about Beebee-Ate?" Rey asked about the little droid as Finn went below as asked.

"He'll stay with me. If he's that important to you, that'll ensure you don't try anything funny. I'm still not sure I buy your story," Han replied, sending a suspicious glance towards Chiara.

Rey was halfway down the ladder when she asked, "What happens now?"

"When I get rid of the gang, you can have your droid back and be on your way. I'm used to dealing with droids."

Finn could no longer control his curiosity, "The rathtars, where are you keeping them?" Right after asking, a large wham came from behind him and an orange eye appear in the window of a cell.

"Well, there's one," Han said nonchalantly, as though this was a normal occurrence. Of course, he had been around them for a while. "Or part of one, anyway. Not real bright, rathtars. You'd think by this time they'd have figured out they can't break out of their holding compartments, but they've been banging away at the walls ever since Chewie and I got them on board. They don't seem to get tired."

"Maybe they just want food," Finn suggested, looking back at where the eye had been.

""You volunteering?" He asked, making Chiara tense up. He wouldn't feed them to that thing, would he? Her worries were relieved when he smiled, "Don't worry. I don't think a rathtar would eat you anyway. You're not their natural prey. Take you apart piece by piece and stomp on the pieces, yes. But not eat you. Now get below. And keep quiet."

"What are you gonna do? I've never heard of a Guavian Death Gang, but it doesn't sound like something one man can handle. Not even one man and a Wookiee. I can help you," Chiara offered, hoping to gain his trust.

Han gave a shrug and replied, "I'm gonna do the same thing I always do. Talk my way out of it." At this statement, Chewbacca gave a disagreeing roar. "That is so unfair! Come on." Again Chewbacca expressed his disagreement. "Of course I do—so far."

As the group of three broke of from the disagreeing Wookiee and smuggler they heard, "Yes, I do. Every time."

"What now?" Finn asked, after being left alone in the sub-deck accessway.

"We follow his instructions. After all, he's Han Solo. He must know what he's doing," Rey spoke as though it was obvious. Chiara was tempted to argue with that point, knowing that legends aren't always all they appear to be. Besides, she could take care of that gang with a few simple strokes of her lightsaber.

Before she could change her mind and decide that they needed to help Han out they heard a voice from above in a thick Scottish accent,  "Han Solo, you are a dead man."

...

I really didn't want to go to school tomorrow, I was actually somewhat hoping for another snow day (which is not normal for me). Oh well, I have a vacation coming up soon and in the meantime I can write a bit more of this! I hope that you like this chapter!

Favorite character from the originals?