Beating Heart ♔ Rey

eight

Chapter Eight;

Out of everyone to find them, it had to be Han Solo.

He knew who she was, surely, Hester thought. She'd met him only a few times, but he definitely knew that she had been Ben's best friend. She'd been the one Ben first met when he went to train with Luke, she was the one person he valued over everyone else and cared for, even when Snoke turned him to the Dark side.

He surely would've thought her dead – she'd abandoned the name Hester Mirren for years and she hadn't been among the Knights of Ren as they attacked. And once he realised who she was, he would have no trouble connecting the pieces.

Would he see her as an enemy? Would he blame her for Ben still being on the Dark side? Would he accuse her of being on the Dark side herself at one point? Would he demand to know why she hadn't done more to make Ben shed the identity of Kylo Ren and bring the Ben Solo they both knew back?

Hester didn't have much time to dwell on those thoughts, since Han Solo and his friend, the Wookie Chewbecca, both had blasters pointed at them.

"Where are the others?" Han barked. "Where's the pilot?"

"I'm the pilot!" Rey exclaimed. "And she's the co-pilot!"

Hester felt a rush of warmth through her body at being included.

Han raised his eyebrows, eyes flicking between the two girls. "You?"

Chewbacca growled.

"No, it's true, we're the only ones on board!" Rey protested.

"You can understand that thing?" Finn exclaimed.

Hester elbowed him in the ribs as Chewbacca let out a low growl. "Careful what you say around Wookies," she murmured. "He's not a thing."

"And that thing can understand you too, so watch it," Han warned. "Climb out!"

The three hastened to obey. After pulling their oxygen masks off, they clambered out of the compartment so they stood on the same ground as Han.

"Where did you get this from?" Han demanded.

"Niima Outpost," Rey blurted.

Han spluttered.

"Jakku? That junkyard?"

Despite the situation she found herself in, Hester grinned and nudged Rey. "Told you it was nothing more than a wasteland."

"I told you we should've checked the Western Regions," Han muttered to Chewbacca. He glared at Rey. "Who had it?"

"I stole it," she stammered, "from Unkar Plutt, who stole it from the Erwin boys, who stole it from Dunquense."

"Who stole it from me." Han frowned and walked away. "Well, you can tell him that Han Solo has stolen back the Millennium Falcon, for good."

Rey gasped.

"This is the Millennium Falcon?" she exclaimed, as though she was meeting her hero - which she quite possibly was. "You're Han Solo?"

"I used to be," Han snapped, before he stalked to the cockpit.

Finn's eyes had widened. "Han Solo, the Rebellion general?"

"No, the smuggler!"

"Wasn't he a war hero?"

"He was both," Hester said with a light laugh.

Rey still was in awe. She stared around the ship as though seeing it in a few light. "This is the ship that made the Kessal run in fourteen parsecs!"

She sounded like a child who had been handed the best birthday present, and her eyes were shining. Hester couldn't help but smile and look fondly at the girl. She wouldn't have had many surprises like this on Jakku. Her amazement and excitement was beautiful to watch - Hester hadn't seen excitement like that for years. Cold excitement from her 'allies' as a target was discovered, yes, but pure excitement like that... It made Hester's heart flutter.

"Twelve!" Han shouted back irritably. He scoffed. "Fourteen," he sneered, as though it was an insult.

Hester moved next to Rey. "How much have you heard about Han Solo?" she mused.

Rey grinned. "He's legendary. Hearing about him and other smugglers was the only bright thing about living on Jakku."

Hester chuckled, just as Han stormed back out. "Someone put a compressor on the ignition line," he grumbled, unimpressed.

"I thought it was a mistake too," Rey spoke, "but it's too much pressure on the -"

"Hyperdrive," the two finished together.

For a moment, they stared at each other. Han almost looked like he was seeing Rey in a new light. Then she shrugged and walked away, calling over his shoulder, "Chewie, throw them in a pod we'll drop them off at the nearest inhabited planet."

Hester narrowed her eyes. "Like hell you will!" she snapped, stepping forward. Finn grabbed her hand and held her back, shaking his head at her.

"Hester, don't," he warned, as Rey instead stormed ahead to demand Han's help.

She didn't need to. Han had frozen as soon as her name had been spoken. He turned to her, studying her as though he'd never seen her before.

"Hester?" he repeated quietly. Hester had the sudden impression of being x-rayed, as though Han was staring right through to her soul. "You aren't Hester Mirren, by any chance?"

Hester nodded once, and her eyes slid down. "I am," she muttered.

She stood frozen, tensing herself to brace for any accusations or raised voices.

"We thought you were dead," Han breathed.

Her head snapped up. Was she imagining things? Han hadn't sounded hostile at all. If anything... It was relief.

She braved looking at him. He wasn't glaring, nor were his eyes narrowed or his lips pressed into a thin line. Instead... he looked like he'd seen a ghost. A welcome ghost, that was.

Hester managed to grin his way. "Happy surprise, I'm not. But please -" her voice turned serious - "we need your help."

"My help?"

Hester nodded frantically. "This droid needs to get to the Resistance base as soon as possible!"

"He's carrying a map to Luke Skywalker," Finn added.

Han froze yet again at the second familiar name. He didn't respond, only stared at a fixed point on the ship.

"You are the Han Solo who fought with the Rebellion?" Finn said quietly. "You knew him."

Han nodded once.

"Yeah, I knew him. I knew Luke."