Nebulous - Han Solo [2]

Chapter 8 : The Falcon

"get off me!" she snarled at Han as they charged down the passage, trying to wrench her hand out of his grip. The corridor shook as the three of them passed door after door towards the transporter hangar. Han didn't pay any attention to the raven girl's request, pulling her behind him as he almost anxiously kept going.

 Not that Tasha could be that angry, she as dragging Leia in a very similar fashion, the younger princess protesting just as much. Threepio clunked behind them, shouting to try and get them to slow down.

On the final corridor to the hangar that housed the large transports, a huge blast knocked an enormous chunk of ceiling to drop down, nearly crushing them. Tasha shrieked in surprise as Han threw her down out of the way, covering her body with his own as dust splashed up around them. Tasha coughed slightly as she pulled herself up from the floor.

"transport," said Han into his comm, helping Leia up, "this is Solo. I cant get to you, I'll get 'em out on the Falcon." He tucked the device back into his pocket before grabbing Tasha's arm again. "come on."

The grey chunk of metal that was the Falcon loomed into view across the fairly frozen hangar, plaster dust falling off the ceiling as the whole place shook, falling onto Tasha's black jacket as she ran towards the ship.

"hurry up, Goldenrod!" Han shouted as Threepio, hurrying the girls up the loading ramp, "or you're gonna be a permanent resident!" Tasha rushed through the familiar passages to the cockpit, sitting down in the chair and switching on to warm up the engine. Han was messing around with a control panel, Tasha joining him when the engines refused to power up.

"how's this!" he shouted at Chewie, hitting a couple of switches. Tasha rolled her eyes, looking at him irritably.

"would it help if I got out and pushed?" she quipped, although her tone was completely serious. Han glared at her, holding her gaze for a moment as Chewie dashed back.

"it might," he said, and Tasha threw her arms in the air in exasperation, returning to her navigator's seat in the cockpit. The smuggler rushed in after a moment, switching something on above the doorway, lights flickering on before powering back down again. Han smacked the wall with his fist, and the lights flickered back on, Tasha now with a small smile on her face.

"this bucket of bolts is never gonna get us past that blockade!" Leia shouted at Han, and he rolled his eyes. Tasha looked out the windshield at the squads of stormtroopers that had begun to fill the hangar.

"Solo." Tasha said, drawing his attention to it, her voice calm and quiet.

"great." Han muttered, sinking into his seat in front of Tasha and hitting some of the buttons on the control panel whilst Tasha began setting up the navicomputer for the jump to hyperspace. Leia was still shouting at the two of them, Threepio making anxious remarks, and there was something else, too. A presence, at the back of her mind, adding weight to her worries.

"Tasha . . ." she knew it anywhere. Vader. She let out a gasp of a breath as the pressure became more intense, Han casting her a worried glance as he attempted to open the gun port. Tasha slammed her hand down onto the control, shifting it into automatic mode as the machine gun went off, spitting lasers at the hoard of stormtroopers, knocking them down one after the other.

 Leia was shouting at Han again, but Tasha couldn't really hear them, the pressure in her head building. She screwed her eyes shut, trying to block him out, pushing him back with the force out of her head.

Han turned around to look at her, she hadn't made one remark to her sister this whole time, and saw her, her green eyes tightly shut, her jaw tense in a grimace of pain, her eyebrows furrowed.

"Tasha?" he said, and her eyes sprung open, glaring at him.

"get out of here," she said in a harsh tone, twinged with pain as the ship finally blasted out of the hangar, leaving Vader and his hoard of minions stood staring up at them.