Nebulous - Han Solo [2]

Chapter 14: Are You Crazy?!

"Thank heavens we're coming out of the asteroid field," Threepio had returned to normal, even after Tasha's snapping at everyone. It had just been too overwhelming, she needed to concentrate. The loss of the voices in her head had given her some respite, but she was still finding it hard to think about things that weren't the nightmares of her memories.

"I wouldn't be so quick to say that, Threepio," she said, watching intently the display in front of her, "we've got a Star Destroyer coming right at us." Han noticeably swallowed, quite clearly running low on options. A laser blast rocked the ship: they'd been spotted.

"Do you to have another magnificent plan to get us out of this?" said Leia, and Tasha rolled her eyes at her. Han glanced back at Tasha, as though asking her advice. A shadow of her old smirk graced her lips as Tasha spoke:

"Make a run for it?" Han nodded, adjusting course away from the Star Destroyer, firing up the engines to full. Another laser blast hit the rear deflector shield, throwing all of them forward slightly, Tasha letting out a small groan as her head hit Han's seat in front of her. Shaking her head as though to shake out the dull pain, she looked around at the readouts next to her.

"We've nearly lost the rear deflector!" she said urgently, swinging back around to lookout the front windshield.

"Oh my!" said Threepio (oh, how Tasha was getting sick of his voice!), "one more direct hit on the back quarter and we're done for!"

"Turn us around!" Han said suddenly, standing up and out of his chair. Chewie made a howl in protest and Tasha's eyes widened. "You heard me, turn us around! Put all power in the front shield!"

"You're going to attack them!" Leia screeched at him, and for once Tasha agreed with her statement. Han gave the two startled girls one of his sarcastic smirks, switching the deflector power route and settling back in his seat. The ship zoomed around, facing the Star Destroyer head on. Tasha's heart was pounding in her ears, adrenalin pulsing through her body as her throat went dry. The Falcon sailed closer towards the Star Destroyer, almost on a collision course.

"Are you crazy?!" Tasha cried, her green eyes the size of saucers as she stared at him. The ship sailed close to the bridge of the Imperial vessel, its proximity sensors screaming at them, everyone except for Han shouting at him that he was crazy (Leia) or that it was a really dumb idea (Tasha) or attempting to tell him the odds of his suicidal plan (Threepio, obviously). Turning in a tight arc, the Falcon slowed down, almost coming to a stop behind a control tower, away from any sensors.

"Chewie, open the docking gear," Han said, sounding as though he was totally in control. Tasha's eyes widened again, his idea swirling around her head. The Wookiee growled in compliance, manoeuvring the Falcon in to land on the side of the Star Destroyer that dwarfed it by comparison. Tasha sucked in a breath as the freighter latched itself onto the ship, breathing out a sigh of relief when it stayed there. This was crazy . . . but it worked.

"Captain Solo, now this time you have gone too far!" exclaimed Threepio, and everyone rolled their eyes. The Wookiee let out a soft noise, telling him to shut up, but this time the protocol droid was having none of it.

"No, I will not be quiet Chewbacca, why doesn't anyone listen to me!" he exclaimed. Han sighed and made an exasperated gesture to Tasha, and the girl smirked slightly.

"Surrender is perfectly acceptable in these circumstances, the Empire may be gracious enough to-" Threepio's voice cut off in an electrical warble as Tasha hit his 'off switch', shutting down.

"Thank you," Han said, stretching out slightly in his chair before shifting his gaze down to a consol in front of him. The raven girl nodded slightly in response, still in shock over what had just happened. They were parked on the side of a Star Destroyer, and Han seemed to be relaxing.

"You see, if they follow standard Imperial procedure, they should dump their garbage before they go to lightspeed and then we just . . . float away."

"With the rest of the garbage . . ." Tasha said, rather cheekily.

"So what's our next move?" Leia asked, leaning over the back of Han's chair, her voice suggesting he better answer with something sensible and less suicidal than last time.

"Fix the hyperdrive?" Tasha suggested, and Han chuckled slightly as her sister scowled.

"certainly, sweetheart, but we need to find a safe port somewhere," he replied, still sounding far too relaxed about all this, "not far from here, where the Empire wont find us."

"Where are we?" Leia asked, looking between the smuggler and the raven princess.

"The Anoat system," Han replied, casting his eyes over the charts. Tasha shook her head slightly, ruffling her raven locks.

"There's not much out here," Tasha said, her green eyes looking up at Leia, who affirmed her statement with a nod. Her mind slowly clocked through everything she could thing of around the fairly remote system. That was the problem with the Hoth base: it's remote. And they just happened to be stuck in the only ship in the fleet with a busted hyperdrive.

"Wait a minute . . . this could be something," the smuggler said after a moment, his eyes scanning a settlement profile, "Lando."

Tasha's face scrunched up in confusion.

"The Lando system?" she said, her tone turning almost mocking. Han looked around at her, slightly incredulously before turning back to his computer.

"Lando's not a system, he's a man. Lando Calrissian. He's a gambler, card-player, scum." He looked at Tasha again, his mocking smirk on his face. "Exactly your sort of person, huh, princess?" Tasha glared playfully at him before shifting her green eyes to the computer.

"A gas mine? Who'd think one of your friends would end up doing something respectable?" Tasha quipped, Han's self-satisfied smirk on her face instead.

"Respectable?" He scoffed, "I'm sure Lando conned somebody out of it. Bespin. It's pretty far but I think we can make it."

The ship gurgled slightly, shuddering and Leia sunk back into her seat.

"Chewie, go and stand by the manual docking clamps," Han told the Wookiee, "prepare to release on my mark." He gave a soft grumble in reply, getting up and walking past the shut down droid and out of the cockpit. The ship rumbled again, rocking them from side to side. Tasha and her sister sat back in their seats, Tasha praying that this would work.

"Detach!" the smuggler said into the COM link, just as anxious as Tasha. There were no guarantees with this plan. If it didn't work, they were toast. The ship shuddered as it let go of the destroyer, floating out into the vastness of space. Tasha held her breath. It was an amazing feeling, but scary as hell.

But, the ship didn't seem to notice them. Han let out a sigh of relief, grinning at his achievement. Even the pair of princesses were impressed.

"You know what Solo, you have your moments," Tasha said, a disbelieving smile on her face.

"Is that a compliment, Tash?" he said incredulously, his infuriating smirk on his face. Tasha laughed.

"Don't flatter yourself. You don't have many of them," her eyes flickered back to the window as the sublight engines kicked in, "but you do have them."