THE EIGHTH [han solo]

[2.04]

The last thing Octavia wanted to be doing after waking up in ten tonnes of snow, with her favourite jacket ripped and a little burnt was to be running after some sort of hook dangling from the bottom of the Millennium Falcon. She took a large running jump, and managed to grab onto it, and she was slowly pulled up. The gash in her left side was bleeding out and she was in a lot of pain, but she'd hide it from everyone, they were too busy for her minor injuries.
"Oh Octavia thank Kriff you're okay." Leia said, grabbing her and pulling her into the ship, and closing up the cargo port. "Han won't be happy to see you but he's always being a baby so he can deal with it. Come, let's get you to the cockpit, the boys need you." She said, ushering her in. Inside the cockpit, Chewie let out a loud howl.  Han checked as the ship was buffeted by exploding flak.  He appeared to be doing around six things at once.
"I saw them!  I saw them!" He said, flicking another switch.
"Saw what?" Leia asked, helping Octavia sit in the navigators seat, she started helping Han by taking a few of his jobs.
"Star Destroyers, two of them, coming right at us." Han said.
"Sir, sir!  Might I suggest..." Threepio had buffled his way into the room.
"Shut him up or shut him down!" Octavia said, flipping a switch off and then pulling down on a toggle.
"Check the deflector shield!" Han said, and Octavia did as she was told.
"Not looking good." She said, the deflector shield was almost gone.
"Oh, great.  Well, we can still outmanoeuvre them." Han said.
The Millennium Falcon raced towards one of the huge oncoming Star Destroyers.  Suddenly, the Falcon started into a deep dive straight down, closely followed by four TIE fighters.  The underside of the Star Destroyer continued on a collision course with two oncoming Star Destroyers.  Slowly, it started to veer to the left.
The Millennium Falcon raced away from the colliding Star Destroyers, still followed by four TIE fighters. Laser bolts sparked in the pitch-black skies, and thing's weren't looking good for the Falcon.
"Prepare to make the jump to light-speed." Han said.
"But, sir!" Threepio said.
"Shut him up or shut him down!" Octavia repeated, with more conviction.
"They're getting closer!" Leia said, panicking.
"Oh yeah?  Watch this." Han said with a gleam in his eye. Expectantly, Leia and Octavia looked out the cockpit window as stars didn't go into hyperspace, but just sat there.
"Solo." Octavia said, with warning in her voice. Han and Chewie looked at each other and were thrown into an acute state of concern.
"Watch what?" Leia asked. Han tried again. Still nothing.
"I think we're in trouble." Han said.
"Oh, really?" Octavia said sarcastically.
"If I may say so, sir, I noticed earlier that the hyperdrive motivator has been damaged. It's impossible to go to light-speed!" Threepio said.
"We're in trouble!" Han said, and the explosions became heavier. Both Han and Octavia worked furiously at some control panels while giving various orders to Chewie.

[THE HOLD
THE MELLENIUM FALCON]

"Horizontal boosters...!" Han yelled.
"Alluvial dampers...! Well that's it." Octavia said, pushing her hair out of her face. She really needed something to tie it back with.
"Bring me the hydrospanners!" Han said. Chewie hurried over to the pit and placed the tools on the edge.
"I don't know how we're going to get out of this one." Octavia said, grease streaking her hands, hair and face, the gash in her side was bleeding still, and everything seemed a little spinning. Suddenly, a loud thump hit the side of the Falcon, causing it to lurch radically. Chewie barked.  The tools fell into the pit on top of Octavia, who stumbled into Han.
"Oww!  Chewie!" He said, shoving Octavia off without so much as a sorry. More turbulence rocked the ship. Octavia began to get that anxious knot in her chest again.
"That was no laser blast!  Something hit us." Octavia said.
"Han, get up here!" Leia said.
"Come on, Chewie!" Han said, leaving Octavia down below to do the dirty work. She looked down at her side and whished she didn't, her navy blue coat was soaked through with blood. Han climbed out of the hold like a shot. Both he and Chewie ran out of the hold and toward the cockpit. Out the front cockpit window, they saw hundreds of asteroids racing by.
"Asteroids!" She said, pointing to the window. "Where's Tavi?" She asked.
"Still in the hold fixing things, we need all hands on deck." Han changed places with Leia, who had been at the controls, and Chewie got into his chair.  Han worked his controls as a chunk of rock crossed in front of the ship.
"Oh, no!  Chewie, set two-seven-one." Han ordered.
"What are you doing?  You're not actually going into an asteroid field?" Octavia asked over her comlink.
"They'd be crazy to follow us, wouldn't they?" Han said, the malicious glint in his eye was back. Another asteroid thumped against the ship and Leia winced at the jolt.
"You don't have to do this to impress me." She said.
"Sir, the possibility of successfully navigating an asteroid field is approximately three thousand, seven hundred and twenty to one." Threepio said, hesitantly standing at the door.
"Never tell me the odds!" Han and Octavia said at the same time, although Octavia was through the comlink, and she said us not me. The Falcon turned into the asteroid storm and as the ship completed its turn, the asteroids started coming straight at the cockpit windows. A large asteroid tumbled away from the Falcon's path at top speed. Octavia was stood in the hold with her eyes closed, trying to feel the astroids around her, and move them with her mind. She had done it with small stones as they came at her when Ari threw them while she was training, but nothing this big. She felt her body draining as she deflected several smaller asteroids. Other asteroids of all sizes passed by in every direction, some colliding and exploding.  The tiny Millennium Falcon veered around the big asteroids and raced past it through the rain of rocks, followed by four TIE fighters, which bobbed and weaved around the asteroids. Octavia was feeling the pressure to keep her friends safe, and was feeding of that, her only energy source. One of the pursuing TIE fighters connected with an asteroid and exploded.  The other fighters were pelted with a steady stream of smaller explosions. Octavia gave a small cheer. Two huge asteroids tumbled toward the Millennium Falcon, which quickly banked around both of them, with help from Octavia, who was sweating and almost in tears from the pressure on her head. The three TIE fighters followed in hot pursuit until one of the fighters scraped an asteroid and tumbled out of control into deep space. The Falcon twisted on its side as it raced around an oncoming asteroid.  The two remaining TIE fighters followed in the distance, coming from either side. Chewie barked in terror as a slightly smaller asteroid came especially close to the Falcon, and Octavia felt her concentration waver. None of her friends knew what she was doing to keep them safe. They'd be dead ten times over if she weren't here to keep the asteroids from hitting the Falcon. Leia sat stone-faced, in Octavia's seat, staring at the action. Han gave her a quick look.
"You said you wanted to be around when I made a mistake; well, this could be it, sweetheart." He said.
"I take it back.  We're going to get pulverized if we stay out here much longer." She said.
"Not on my watch." Octavia muttered, and only Leia heard the girl's strained voice. Leia knew something was up with Octavia.
"I'm not going to argue with that." Han replied to Leia's comment, he hadn't heard Octavia.
"Pulverized?" Threepio echoed.
"I'm going in closer to one of those big ones." Han said.
"Closer?" Leia exclaimed.
"Closer?!" Threepio repeated. Chewbacca barked the same word, only much, much louder. The Millennium Falcon dived towards the surface of one of the moon-sized asteroids.  There was a continued display of explosions against the starry void as smaller asteroids collided with larger chunks of rock. The two remaining TIE fighters followed the Falcon to the large asteroid.  The Falcon skimmed the surface of the giant asteroid as, all the while, small asteroids exploded on the surface of the ship. Octavia was weakening, and could not hold the small shield she had created for much longer. She only hoped that Han had a plan, and not one of his insanely stupid ones, a good one. The TIE fighters approached the Falcon, but a giant asteroid hurtled directly into their path.  As the asteroid continued on its way, it left the remains of the two exploded TIE fighters to tumble into deep space.
"Oh, this is suicide!" Threepio complained, in hysterics. Han noticed something on his main scope and nudged his faithful Wookiee, pointing.
"There.  That looks pretty good." Han said.
"What looks pretty good?" Leia asked.
"Yeah.  That'll do nicely." Han nodded to himself, not answering Leia. The asteroid shower over, Octavia felt strange, she was awake, but her body collapsed to the floor, exhausted. She looked at herself from above, admittedly, she did not look healthy, she was bloodied and sweating and tears streaked down her face mixed with grease, her hair had lost it's white tone, covered in black oil so it looked like a dark brown colour, she was conscious, but unconscious at the same time. Then, everything went black.
"Excuse me, ma'am, but where are we going?" Threepio asked Leia. Out the cockpit window, they saw that they were skimming the surface of the enormous asteroid and nearing a large crater. The Millennium Falcon dove into the huge crater and disappeared.
"I hope you know what you're doing." Leia said.
"Yeah, me too." Han mumbled. He and Chewie busily shut down the engine and all electronic systems.  Threepio and Leia watched worriedly.
"I'm going to shut down everything but the emergency power and medical systems." Han said.
"Sir, I'm almost afraid to ask, but... does that include shutting me down, too?" Threepio asked. Han almost laughed as Chewie barked "yes".  But he thought otherwise.
"No, I need you to talk to the Falcon, find out what's wrong with the hyperdrive, oh, and go and find Octavia while you're at it." He added. Suddenly, the ship lurched, causing all the loose items in the cockpit to go flying.  Chewie howled.
"Sir, it's quite possible this asteroid is not entirely stable." Threepio said.
"Not entirely stable?  I'm glad you're here to tell us these things. Chewie, take the professor in the back and plug him into the hyperdrive, and get me my Octavia." He said.
"Oh!  Sometimes I just don't understand human behaviour.  After all, I'm only trying to do my job in the most..." Han didn't get to hear what Threepio had to say next, as the sliding door closed behind the indignant Threepio, as Chewie and he moved back to the hold.  Chewie and Threepio walked to the hold, and as they entered, they were met by the sight of Octavia, seemingly dead on the floor.
"Oh my!" Threepio gasped, and Chewie roared. He launched himself forward to pick up Octavia. Chewie had grown fond of the girl, even if Han had not. He picked her up softly and walked her to the medical bay, with Threepio trailing behind him. He put her down on a bed, and walked Threepio back to the hold, plugged him in and left. He quickly got back to the medbay and began gently removing her coat, as it was only making things for her worse. He called out for Han, and got both Han and Leia, running in to see what the matter was with Octavia. Leia gasped and took as step back, looking worried to say the least. Han moved forward, gently peeling back her clothes to reveal where the nasty cut was in her side.
"Damnit." He cursed quietly and began disinfecting it. That was when she woke up.
"Get off me Solo." She grunted, pushing his hands away.
"Not likely Princess, you're hurt. And I need you because you're the only one who knows how to fix the thrusters." He said, and she reluctantly let him touch the skin where she was injured. Han nimbly injected her with a fluid that would make her sleep for a little while so he could stitch her up without her complaining the whole time.
"I saved all of your asses." She mumbled, before falling asleep again.