Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Regency AU)

VIII

Han Solo, Smuggler

Rey was gone.  In the distance, five islands had been blown up by some sort of superweapon.  The cat was gone.

Could this day get any worse?

"Find the girl!" Maz yelled.

"I need a weapon!" Finn protested.

"You have one!"

Finn held up the lightsaber.  How did he get that?

Chewie jogged over and joined us with his crossbow.

We prepared to fight.  My old friend and I found shelter by a bit of rubble.

Finn engaged another stormtrooper, eventually being defeated.  I couldn't let him die.  So I shot the stormtrooper.

And then we were captured.

They took our weapons and made us stand with our hands behind our legs.

Suddenly, a cannon sounded and one of the black ships burst into flame.

A troop of men, in orange jackets, swarmed down onto the shore.  One man shot down the three stormtroopers guarding Chewie, Finn, and I.

The young man caught a glimpse of the man as he ran by and whooped.  "That's one helluva pirate!"

He sprinted off.  I looked in the direction he went and saw a dark figure carrying a much smaller person.

Kylo Ren.  With Rey.

Finn spotted him at the same time I did and ran after him, screaming and yelling like some sort of madman.

I just watched, disappointed in the man I helped to raise.  Kylo went up the gangplank and onto the ship.  Finn pulled up short as the board was raised and they left, still yelling.

I walked up behind him.

"They took her!  They took Rey!  He took her!"

"I know."

Another ship drifted into the port.  A few more soldiers ran down the gangplank, these ones wearing brown jackets.  They were followed by a woman.

Short, yet stately.

A hint of a smile tugged at my lips.  "Leia."

"Han."

"You changed your hair."

"Same jacket."

I looked down.  "No, new jacket."

Suddenly, someone popped up between us.  It was Threepio, a slightly socially incompetent near genius who'd served Leia, Luke, then Leia again for over fifty years, and before then, Anakin.

"Oh, Master Solo!  So good to see you again!  General, do you see who this is?"  He turned to look at her.  She nodded slowly.  "Oh!"

He stepped out of the way.

"I saw our son."

She looked disappointed. I was too.

After a little bit, in which my former wife investigated the rubble, Chewie, Finn, and I loaded onto Leia's ship. BB bounded on as the ship was leaving.

We were going back to the little rainforest island of D'Qar, where the Resistance fort was located. From there, we'd find out what destroyed those islands, how to stop it, and how to get Rey back.