Stargaze [Star Wars Sequel Trilogy] ✔︎

VII. Connections

All these years I've changed. Adapted to Jakku although I wanted to leave the day Mother passed. But I stayed for Rey, who desperately believed her parents were coming back. 

I pulled out of my thoughts and looked to Finn, who struggled to find the bonding tape. "No, that one!" Rey said. Finn hovered his hand over several other tools all while Rey screamed no. "If we don't patch it up, the propulsion tank will overflow and flood the ship with poisonous gas!" I then walked over to him before finding the tape immediately and tossing it to her. Finn and I walked back to where she was and sat down. "Rey. You're a pilot. You can fly anywhere. Why go back? Do you guys have a family? Boyfriend? Cute boyfriend?" Finn asked quickly. "Rey wants to wait for-." I began. "None of your business that's why." she replied annoyed. It got dark. The power was out. 

"That can't be good." he said. "No. It can't be-" I began running to the cockpit as Rey, Finn, and BB-8 followed. Rey checked the non-working panel. "Someone has locked onto us. All the controls are overridden." she said. Finn stood on the seat to see outside. "Oh no." he muttered. 

We sat in the freighter powerless as a giant ship sucked us in. 

"It's the First Order." he said helplessly flopping into the seat. "There has to be something we can do." I said. I glanced at Rey in front of me. "The gas!" I said. "Right. You said it was poisonous gas." he said. "But I fixed that." she said. "Can you unfix it?" I asked. We all got up grabbing gas masks on the way. We all jumped to hide beneath the decks. I pulled the grating over the top of us as Rey began to remove the tape. "Do you think this will work on stormtroopers?" she asked. "Yeah." Finn said as I looked at him surprised. How did he know that? He didn't notice my stare and continued. "Their masks filter out smoke, not toxins." 

We heard the sound of a ramp lowering. "Hurry!" Finn and I said in unison. then we heard the door open. There was a murmur of a voice. It sounded too old and gruff for a stormtrooper. The other steps were too heavy, almost like the steps of a wookie. Then light flooded in as the grating was lifted. An old man and wookie stared down at us. 

"Where are the others" the old man asked. "Where's the pilot." "I'm the pilot." I said. "Me too." Rey added. "You two?" The wookie roared. "No, it's true; we're the only ones on board." she said. "You can understand that thing?" I said. "And 'that thing' can understand you too, so watch it." the man responded. We all climbed out. BB-8 happily followed. 

"Where did you get this ship?" the man asked. "Niima Outpost." Rey said. "Jakku? That junkyard?" 

"Thank you." Finn said before leaning to Rey and whispering: "junkyard". The man looked to the wookie. "Told ya we should have checked the Western Reaches." The man looked to Rey. "Who had it, Ducain?" he asked. "No." I said. "I stole it from Unkar Plutt. He stole it from the Irving Boys, who stole it from Ducain." Rey said. "Who stole it from me!" he finished. "Well you can tell him Han Solo stole it back the Millennium Falcon for good." 

Han Solo walked away observing his iconic ship. "This. This is the Millennium Falcon! You're Han Solo?" Rey asked. "I used to be." Han replied. "Han Solo?" Finn said amazed. "The rebellion general." "No, the smuggler." I corrected. "Wasn't he a war hero?" Finn asked who I assumed to be Chewbacca. He growled in response. "This is the ship that made the Kessel Run in fourteen parsecs!" Rey said amazed. I was confused. Maybe the stories were real. A smuggler falling for a former princess turned general. The princess's long lost brother was Luke Skywalker. Whose map was in BB-8. 

"It was twelve". Han answered from the cockpit. He then stomped back. "Some moof-milker put a compressor on the ignition line." he said. "I think Unkar did." I said answering for Rey. "I thought it was a mistake it puts too much stress on the hyperdrive." Han, Rey, and I spoke. He looked at us before turning back into the gruff old man.

"Chewie. throw them in a pod. We'll drop them off at the nearest inhabited planet." Han said as Chewbacca growled in response. "Wait. We need your help." I said trying to stop him. The droid has to get to the resistance as soon as possible!" "It's true." Rey added. "He's carrying a map straight to Luke Skywalker." Finn finished. Han stopped in his tracks. He really was that Han Solo.