THE EIGHTH [han solo]

[1.08]

"The entire starfleet couldn't destroy the whole planet. It'd take a thousand ships with more fire power than I've-"
"Shut it Solo!" Octavia said, as a signal started to flash on the control panel and a muffled alarm started humming.
"There's another ship coming in."
"Maybe they know what happened."
"It's an Imperial fighter." Octavia said, leaning over Han's chair to get a better look. Chewbacca barked in concern and outside the cockpit window, a huge explosion burst, it shook the ship violently from left to right, Octavia falling over and almost landing on Han. The TIE fighter ship zoomed past.
"It followed us!" Luke exclaimed. Octavia stood up, straightening her coat.
"No, Blondie, don't be stupid. It's a short range fighter. There's no way it could've followed us." Octavia rolled her eyes.
"There aren't any bases around here. Where did it come from?" Han asked.
"A fighter couldn't have gotten this deep into space on its own." Octavia added.
"It must have gotten lost, been part of a convoy or something." Luke suggested.
"Well, he ain't going to be around long enough to tell anyone about us." Han said. Octavia flicked a switch over Han's shoulders, and the accelerator hit max. The TIE fighter began losing ground and Octavia let out a small cheer.
"Don't speak so soon Princess." Han scolded her as she rolled her eyes. "Look at him. He's headed for that small moon." Luke said, pointing and almost taking out someone's eye.
"I think I can get him before he gets there... he's almost in range." Han said.
"Solo, erm, Solo!" Octavia tried to grab his attention, shaking his shoulders.
"Not now Princess! I almost have him" Han shook her off
"That's no moon! It's a space station." Octavia said, and Ben nodded.
"It's too big to be a space station." Han said, running a hand though his hair.
"I have a very bad feeling about this."
"Yeah, I think you're right. Full reverse! Princess, lock in the auxiliary power." He ordered, Octavia rolled her eyes, hating the nickname Princess with a passion, but did as she was told anyway, it was the right thing to do.
"Why are we still moving towards it?" Luke asked, confused.
"We're caught in a tractor beam Blondie! It's pulling us in!" Octavia cut in before Han could answer.
"But there's gotta be something you can do!" Luke said.
"There's nothin' I can do about it, kid. I'm in full power. I'm going to have to shut down. But they're not getting us without a fight." Han set his jaw, and flicked off the power.
"You can't win. But there are alternatives to fighting." Ben said.
"Like what?" Octavia asked, accusingly. "Wait, Solo, you remember those hidden panels that we used in the Kessel run?"
"What are you thinking Princess?" Han asked.
"We smuggle ourselves." Octavia suggested. "We get inside whatever this is, hide, then go and take down the Tractor Beam, and escape." She said it as if it were the most obvious solution. Han nodded slowly.
"Y'know princess? That might just work."
"Come on then, there's what? Four? Five compartments? Three droids and Thunder in one, Luke and Ben, Chewie, you get one to yourself and Solo and I get the last one. If I somehow don't throttle him." Octavia grinned, standing up and walking to the main area, she picked up Thunder and put her in the pocket. Then she ordered Threepio, Artoo and Rusty to go to the first compartment. She followed them closely behind, knowing Artoo and Rusty wouldn't be able to get down on their own. "Not a noise from any of you. That includes you Thunder." She spoke directly to the kitten, kissing it's nose lightly, then putting her down into the compartment. Then, with the utmost care, she put her R5 unit into the hold, followed by Luke's R2 unit. Threepio managed to get himself down, with a large amounts of grumbling. She placed the lid on them, and grinned. Her plan would work after all. In the next compartment, Chewie had already stowed away. Octavia helped Luke and Ben into theirs, and finally jumped down into hers. The ship was still moving slowly towards the huge- whatever it was.
"Princess." Han said, as he put the lid on the both of them.
"Shut it Solo." She ordered. The space was cramped and dark, and Octavia didn't exactly know what she was leaning on.
"Octavia." Han hissed.
"What?" She said, finding the wall rather comfortable.
"Do you normally lean against people you're in smuggling compartments with?"
"To tell you the truth, this is my first time smuggling myself." She said, with a small laugh. All of a sudden, Han's hand was over her mouth as the door slid opened. She elbowed him. Octavia knew how to keep quiet without his bloody help. Holding her breath, the Stormtroopers marched overhead not noticing the fake floor panels. Success. She thought to herself. They exited and Octavia grinned.
"Told you it'd work." She said, smirking.
"Shut up." He muttered, it was getting hot in the panels. "All clear." Han said, just under normal speaking levels, popping the lid open. Octavia's once neat but simple white hair was now a complete mess, she didn't bother doing anything to it, just pulled her fingers though it and dealt.
"Boy, it's lucky you had these
compartments."
"I use them for smuggling. I never thought I'd be smuggling myself in them." He said, huffing and getting out of the hole in the floor. "This is ridiculous. Even if I could take off, I'd never get past the tractor beam.
"Leave that to me!" Ben said.
"Damn fool. I knew that you were going to say that!" Han said.
"Who's the more foolish... the fool that follows him?" Ben said.
"Stop speaking in riddles old man, it's not helping your case." Octavia rolled her eyes.
"Hey down there! Could you give us a hand with this?" Han called, Octavia had already pulled Threepio, Rusty and Artoo out, letting Kitten roam the ship while they were away. She pulled her blaster out and shot down one of the people entering in the neck, so the armour wouldn't be damaged. She pulled it off and took herself off into the other room to put it on, without sacrificing her dignity. She put her blaster on the table and took the Stormtroopers instead. It was larger and had more settings than just 'kill.' Octavia forced the Stormtroopers chest-plate over her head and onto her chest, luckily for her, Octavia was not gifted in the chest area, she was teased when she was younger for having no boobs, but she was the one laughing now. Fully equipped in her armour, she walked back to see the others. She put her helmet on.
"C'mere." Han said to her, she walked over. "Turn around." She raised and eyebrow but did as he said. He grabbed her hair that was dangling out from her helmet and pushed it up so that it was hidden. "You could've given the game away Princess." He scolded.
"Yeah, well don't get all trigger happy, you might pass as a Stormtrooper too well! Your aim is about the same as theirs." She shot back, storming off. The group follow her off the ship, waiting in the shadows. She looked up at the guard, pointing at her helmet. "Quick." She said, and they took off running to the door. It slid open, revealing the same guard, however Chewie took care of him.
"You know, between his howling and your blasting everything in sight, and your plans." He pointed to each person in turn. "It's a wonder the whole station doesn't know we're here."
"Blondie, my plans are better than anything you could come up with." Octavia practically growled.
"And anyway, bring them on!" Han added. "I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around." Han took off his helmet, shaking out his hair.
"We found the computer outlet, sir." Threepio said. Ben put some information into the computer and a map of the city appeared on the monitor. He began to inspect it carefully. Octavia leaned over his shoulder and sighed. Threepio, Rusty and Artoo looked over at the control panel. Rusty beeped, it had found something.
"Plug in. He should be able to interpret the entire Imperial computer network." Artoo slightly pushed Rusty out of the way and punched his claw arm into the computer socket and the vast Imperial brain network came to life before Octavia's very own eyes. She took off her helmet, hair tumbling down around her.
"I wonder how much I could get for all this information." She said in awe. After a few moments, Artoo beeped something.
"He says he's found the main computer to power the tractor beam that's holding the ship here. He'll try to make the precise location appear on the monitor." Threepio said. "The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactor in seven locations. A power loss at one of the terminals will allow the ship to leave." Han and Octavia shared a smile.
"I don't think you boys can help." Octavia coughed loudly. "You must stay here too Octavia. I must go alone." He said, Octavia rolling her eyes.
"Whatever you say. I've done more that I bargained for on this trip already." Han said, Chewie nodded
"I want to go with you." Luke complained and Octavia had to bite her tongue to stop herself from making a comment.
"Be patient, Luke. Stay and watch over the droids." Ben said
"But he can-" Luke was interrupted by Ben again.
"They must be delivered safely or other star systems will suffer the same fate as Alderaan. Your destiny lies along a different path than mine. The Force will be with you... always!" He exited the room and the door shut behind him. Chewbacca groaned and Han nodded.
"Boy you said it, Chewie." Han turned to Luke. "Where did you dig up that old fossil?"
"Ben is a great man."
"Yeah, great at getting us into trouble." Octavia inserted, still in a mood.
"I didn't hear you give any ideas..." Luke mumbled.
"Excuse me Blondie, who got you into this ship safely, who had the idea to hide? Who said we needed to turn off the tractor beam?" Octavia said, her frustration getting the better of her.
"Well, anything would be better than just hanging around waiting for him to pick us up..." Han trailed off.
"Who do you think-" Luke was cut off once again by Artoo, who was whistling and beeping violently. Luke stood up and walked over.
"What is it?
"I'm afraid I'm not quite sure, sir. He says "I found her", and keeps repeating she's here." Threepio explained.
"Well, who... who has he found?" Luke asked and Rusty beeped at the same time was Artoo, creating a lot of noise.
"Princess Leia." Threepio said.
"The Princess? She's here?" Luke asked the obvious.
"Princess? I thought Octavia was the only Princess I'd have to deal with. What's going on?" Han asked, standing up.
"Level five. Detention block AA-twenty-three. I'm afraid she's scheduled to be terminated." The golden droid said.
"Oh, no! We've got to do something." Luke sounded distressed.
"What are you talking about?" Octavia asked, huffing.
"The droid belongs to her. She's the one in the message... We've got to help her." Luke said, practically tugging at Han's sleeve
"Now, look, don't get any funny ideas.  The old man wants us to wait right here." Han said, sitting back down and putting his feet up.
"But he didn't know she was here. Look, will you just find a way back into the detention block?" Luke asked.
"I'm not going anywhere." Octavia said. "Besides. I don't come up with any good plans." She threw Luke's words back in his face.
"They're going to execute her. Look, a few minutes ago you said you didn't want to just wait here to be captured. Now all you want to do is stay." Luke ignored the sulking girl.
"Marching into the detention area is not what I had in mind." Han rolled his eyes.
"But they're going to kill her!"
"Better her than me..."
"She's rich." Luke said. Octavia groaned. He'd found Han's weakness, albeit, it was also hers, but that made no difference, it wasn't a good thing.
"Rich?" Han asked cautiously.
"Yes. Rich, powerful! Listen, if you were to rescue her, the reward would be..." Luke said.
"What?" Octavia interrupted.
"Well more wealth that you can imagine." Luke said.
"I don't know, I can imagine quite a bit!" Han was still suspicious.
"You'll get it!" Luke said.
"I better!" Han said and Octavia coughed loudly again, not liking being left out.
"We better." She corrected.
"You will..." Luke said.
"All right, kid. But you'd better be right about this." Han warned.
"All right." Luke said.
"What's your plan?" Han asked.
"Uh..."
"You don't have one do you?" Han asked.
"Gimme a-" Luke tried.
"Oh look. Blondie doesn't have a plan. What a surprise. Han, hand me those binders. Chewie, I'm sorry." Octavia said, grabbing the binders that Han tossed to her, and strapped them onto Chewie. "I'm sorry." She muttered.
"Pardon me for asking... but, ah... what should Rusty, Artoo and I do if we're discovered here?"
"Lock the door!" Octavia said, grinning as she shoved on her helmet, pushing hair up into it so it was hidden.
"And hope they don't have blasters. Han added, putting on his helmet as Luke did the same.
"That isn't very reassuring." Threepio said as the four exited the room.