THE EIGHTH [han solo]

[2.05]

[THE MEDICAL BAY
THE MILLENNIUM FALCON]

Not long had passed until the drug wore off Octavia and she woke up again.
"Why does this always happen to me?" She asked, softly touching the bandages on her side.
"Because you always keep going and getting yourself in trouble." Han said. Octavia hadn't realised he was still in the room, as he was sat in a chair in the corner.
"I don't get myself into trouble, trouble usually finds me." She muttered, sitting up and seeing her coat at the end of the bed, it looked a little worse for wear, but she loved it anyway. There was a small meow from under the bed, and Octavia's eyes widened. She though she had lost Thunder along with The Lightning, but the wookie-kitten was still around. "Oh my baby, you're alive." Octavia scooped her up, and scratched her behind the ears.
"Solo, thank you." She muttered, not wishing to look him in the eyes, as knowing him, he'd gloat terribly. She threw off the covers and pulled on her coat. "Okay, what can I do to help?" She asked.
"You can lay back down and rest yourself." He said, raising his eyebrows.
"Wrong." She said, lacing up her boots.
"Fine. There's some welding that needs to be done." He huffed and gave in. She was insufferable.

[THE HOLD
THE MILLENNIUM FALCON]

Threepio whistled and beeped a strange dialect into the control panel in front of him. The control panel whistled back a few mystifying beeps.
"Oh, where is Artoo when I need him?" Threepio said. Han entered the hold area and kneeled on the floor near the control box.
"Sir, I don't know where your ship learned to communicate, but it has the most peculiar dialect. I believe, sir, it says that the power coupling on the negative axis has been polarized. I'm afraid you'll have to replace it." Threepio informed him.
"Well, of course I'll have to replace it." Han replied, wishing Octavia were around to help him out. He handed a wire coil up to Chewie who was working near the ceiling.
"Here! And Chewie..." Chewie brought his head back through the trap door in the ceiling and whined. Han glanced back at Threepio, then spoke quietly to Chewie so only he can hear. "...I think we'd better replace the negative power coupling."
Octavia finished welding the valves she had been working on, and attempted to reengage the system by pulling a lever attached to the valve. It didn't budge. Han noticed her struggle, and moveed to help her. She rebuffed him.
"Hey, Princess, I'm only trying to help." He said, defensively
"Would you please stop calling me that?"
"Sure, Tavi." He smirked.
"Oh, you make it so difficult sometimes." She huffed, tugging on the lever. She didn't have all her strength back yet, and was mad that she couldn't do everything she could normally do. She felt the stitches under her bandages, and furrowed her eyebrows.
"I do, I really do. You could be a little nicer, though." He watched for her reaction, but Octavia didn't give him the satisfaction. "Come on, admit it. Sometimes you think I'm all right." A smile played on his lips. She let go of the lever and rubbed her side where the stiches were.
"Occasionally..." Octavia said, still acting all high and mighty. "...When you aren't acting like a scoundrel." She threw the word scoundrel at him, almost laughing.
"Scoundrel? Scoundrel? I like the sound of that." He said, grabbing her hand from where it was still poking at her sore side.
"Don't" He almost whispered, knowing she'd only hurt herself more.
"Stop that." She said, as he massaged her hands gently.
"Stop what?" Han asked.
"Stop that! My hands are dirty." Octavia found herself saying it, without really knowing why. She had never cared that her hands were dirty before, in fact, if her hands were dirty, she was more than likely going to rub them on Han's shirt to annoy him.
"Your hands are always dirty, so are mine. What are you afraid of?" He asked, and Octavia knew that he wasn't talking about their hands anymore. After all they had been though, the fights and the near death experiences, the kidnapping and the battle of Hoth that had happened not even a week ago, they has been drawn to each other.
"Afraid?" Octavia looked right into his eyes. Han looked right back at her with a piercing look. He'd never looked more handsome, the strange blue glowing lights casted shadows on his face that made him look mysterious and different. Octavia was loosing all sense. He reached out slowly and took Octavia's other hand from where it is resting on a console. He drew it toward him.
"You're trembling." He murmured.
"I'm not trembling." Octavia muttered, looking down. "You're trembling." Trust Octavia to be the one to respond to everything like a small child. Han smiled fondly, it was such an Octavia thing to say. Then, with an irresistible combination of physical strength and emotional power, Han began to draw Octavia towards him, very slowly, so slowly, she hardly noticed herself moving.
"You like me because I'm a scoundrel. There aren't enough scoundrels in your life." He smirked at her. Octavia was now very close to Han and as she spoke, her voice became an excited whisper, a tone completely in opposition to her words.
"There are plenty of scoundrels in my life. I'm a smuggler, everyone I know is a scoundrel-" She was cut off by Han.
"Well I'm different." He affirmed.
"No, you're not. You're just the same as-" But yet again, she was cut off by Han, but in a completely different way. He kissed her now, with slow, hot lips. He took his time, as though they had forever, bending her body backward, careful not to disturb the healing gash in her side. She had never been kissed like this before, hell, she had never been kissed before, although she acted like she had, it was all an act, and this kiss, it almost made her faint. When he stopped, she regained her breath and tried to work up some indignation, but found it hard to even talk. Suddenly, Threepio appeared in the doorway, speaking excitedly.
"Sir, sir! I've isolated the reverse power flux coupling." He said. Han tuned slowly, icily, from their embrace.
"Thank you." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Thank you very much." Han began pushing Threepio out of the door.
"Oh, you're perfectly welcome, sir." He said. The moment was spoiled, and without looking back at Han, Octavia disappeared to the depths of the ship to find something else to fix, or break and then fix, she needed something to occupy her mind, other than the look in his eye and the taste of his lips. She wound her way though the Falcon, and eventually ended up back in the cockpit. It was quiet and lit only by the indicator lights on the control panel. Octavia took her seat in the pilots chair, not caring that it was where Han normally sat. She ran her hand across the control panel as she thought of Han and the confusion he has created within her. She hated him, she knew that much, but at the same time, the kiss felt, right. Before she could dwell on it further, something outside the cockpit window caught her eye. The reflection of the panel lights obscured her vision until a soft suction-like cup attached itself to the windscreen. Octavia moved closer to have a look at what it could be. Large, yellow eyes flashed open and stared back at her. Startled, she jumped back into her seat, her heart pounding faster than when Solo kissed her. There was a scurry of feet and a loud screech, and in an instant the eyes are gone, just as fast as they appeared. Not a trace. It was like she had been imagining it. But if Octavia had found out anything from her travels in space, it was that she was never imagining it.

"Sir, if I may venture an opinion..." Threepio said.
"I'm not really interested in your opinion, Threepio." Han replied, rolling his eyes. Leia was sat on the other side of the room, helping screw in some loose bolts, the only job that they trusted her to do. Octavia rushed into the cabin just as Han dropped the final floor panel into place.
"There's something out there." Octavia said, regaining her composure.
"Where?" Leia asked, standing up.
"Outside, in the cave." Octavia said. As she spoke, there came a sharp banging on the hull. Chewie looked up and barked anxiously.
"There it is. Listen! Listen!" Threepio said.
"I'm going out there." Han said.
"Are you crazy?!" Leia asked.
"I just got this bucket back together. I'm not going to let something tear it apart." Han said. He and Chewie grabbed their breath masks off a rack and hurried out. Leia and Octavia followed them.
"Then I'm going with you." Leia demanded.
"Excuse me?" Octavia asked.
"We're going with you." Leia corrected herself.
"I think it might be better if I stay here and guard the ship." Threepio said nervously. "And the cat." He added.
"It's strange out here. Dark, very dark." Octavia commented, and it was true. It was much too dark to see what was attacking the ship. Leia stomped her foot on the floor of the cave.
"This ground sure feels strange. It doesn't feel like rock at all." Leia added. Han kneeled and studied the ground, then attempted to study the outline of the cave.
"There's an awful lot of moisture in here." He said.
"I don't know. I have a bad feeling about this." Octavia said, and Leia nodded.
"Yeah." Han mused. Chewie barked through his face mask, and pointed toward the ship's cockpit. A five-foot-long shape could be seen moving across the top of the Falcon. The leathery creature let out a screech as Han blasted it with a laser bolt.
"Watch out!" Han yelled. The black shape tumbled off the spaceship and onto the ground in front of Princess Leia. Han bent down to investigate the dead creature.
"Yeah, that's what I thought. Mynock. Chewie, check the rest of the ship, make sure there aren't any more attached. They're chewing on the power cables." Han ordered.
"Mynocks?" Leia asked.
"Go on inside. We'll clean them off if there are any more." Octavia told her. But unfortunately for the Princess, just then, a swarm of the ugly creatures swooped down through the air. Leia put her arms over her head to protect herself as she ran toward the ship. Octavia covered her, shooting down the creatures as best she could, without being attacked herself. Chewie shooed another Mynock away with his blaster. Several of the batlike creatures flapped their wings loudly against the cockpit window of the Falcon. Inside, Threepio shuddered at their presence.
"Ohhh! Go away! Go away! Beastly little thing. Shoo! Shoo!" He yelled, swatting at them from inside. Octavia looked around the strange, dripping cave.
"Wait a minute..." She said. She fired at the far side of the cave, not really aiming for anything accept the cave walls. The cavern began to shake and the ground started to buckle. Chewie barked and moved for the ship, followed closely by Octavia and Han. The large wings of the Mynocks flapped past them as they protected their faces and ran up the platform. As soon as Han and Octavia are on board, Chewie closed the main hatch. The ship continued to shake and heave under the pressure of the Mynocks.
"All right, Chewie, let's get out of here!" Han said, walking into the cockpit, with Chewie behind of him and Octavia in front.
"The Empire is still out there. I don't think it's wise to..." Leia said.
"All things considered, it's not wise to stay here either. I think I'll take my chances with the Empire." Octavia said, strapping herself into the co-pilots seat, Chewie whined and sat in the navigators seat, and Han sat in the pilots seat.
"Don't be such a baby." Octavia scolded Chewie, and Thunder crawled into his lap. Han rushed past her and headed for the cockpit.
"No time to discuss this in committee." Han said, flipping a switch and the main engines of the Falcon began to whine. Leia raced after him, bouncing around in the shaking ship.
"I am not a committee!" She sounded outraged. Han pulled back on the throttle. "You can't make the jump to light-speed in this asteroid field..." Leia said.
"Sit down, Leia. We're taking off!" Octavia said, helping out with the controls. As the ship began to move forward, Chewie barked. He noticed something out the window ahead.
"Look!" Threepio said.
"I see it, I see it." Han replied. They were all referring to a row of jagged white stalagmites and stalactites that could be seen ahead surrounding the entrance. As the Falcon moved forward, the entrance to the cave grew ever smaller. Han pulled hard on the throttle, sending the ship surging forward.
"We're doomed!" Threepio yelled.
"Shut up!" Octavia replied.
"The cave is collapsing." Leia stated.
"Shut up!" Octavia repeated, frustrated.
"This is no cave." Han said.
"What?!" Leia asked. Her mouth dropped open. She saw that the rocks of the cave entrance weren't rocks at all, but giant teeth, quickly closing around the tiny ship. Chewie howled. The Millennium Falcon, zoomed through the monster's mouth, rolled on its side and barely made it between two of the gigantic white teeth before the huge jaws slammed closed. The Enormous space slug moved its head out of the cave as the Falcon flew out of its mouth. The monster tilted its head, and watched the starship fly away into the impending asteroid field.