2The Choices of Han Solo:
Han had a bad feeling about this.
In the days since they'd gotten away from the Death Star, he'd spent his time scanning the Falcon's sensors. Luke was usually hanging out in the cargo hold, practice with that relic the Old Man had given him. The kid had taken it pretty hard, and Han would be lying if he said he was fine himself.
Still, what bothered him was how confident Leia was they were being tracked.
More importantly, why she had the same plan. They were still heading toward Yavin IV as she had directed them. Han had figured the Rebel Base had been somewhere around there. He'd pieced together a few things when working with Chewie for the Rebellion. But why hadn't the Princess ordered them to go somewhere else?
If they were being tracked, they'd lead the Death Star straight to them. Han wasn't in this for Leia's revolution, but that didn't mean he wanted it wiped out. He'd had the idea that once he finished paying off Jabba, he and Luke could do some jobs for them. The kid was going to need to do something, and Han could use him.
Leading the Death Star straight, there wasn't something he could square up with doing.
"Hey, Leia?" said Han, finding her playing one of the holo games.
"Yes, what is it?" asked Leia.
Han paused, thinking of how to say it. She'd been given him the cold shoulder since he pointed out he'd done his job. "Listen, suppose we are being tracked. I could probably drop you and Luke on some other world, and you could take a ship to Yavin IV from there. Throw them off the trail." Make it sound like an offer when pointing out someone is doing something stupid.
Leia sighed. "Maybe, but if we did, the Empire might destroy it as soon as they came out of hyperspace." She made a move against the computer. "Even if they didn't, we won't get a better chance than this."
"What do you mean?" asked Han, wondering if she really thought she could beat the computer.
"Think about it," said Leia. "They'll be coming out of hyperspace based on our signal. Yavin IV is the moon of a gas giant. The Empire can't destroy something like that. That means they'll have to circle around the planet."
Han put things together. "...It's a trap."
"More or less," admitted Leia. "Yavin is our strongest naval base. If anywhere stands a chance of destroying that thing, it's there. And, if the Death Star arrives at Yavin IV, they'll be far away from any kind of help.
"Tarkin is an egotist. He won't be able to abide, letting the Imperial Navy take the credit, so he'll bring the Death Star in for the coup de grace. But, while he's orbiting the planet, we'll have a window of opportunity where we can attack freely."
"If he doesn't come out of hyperspace within range of the moon," noted Han. "And if you're right about what Tarkin is going to do. And if you manage to find a weakness on that thing, which, let me tell you, I don't see happening."
"The Death Star is a larger station than any ever seen," said Leia. "Even Malak's Star Forge was smaller, and that made use of technology never achieved by us. With that kind of firepower and that kind of superstructure, there will be a crack somewhere."
Malak? Hadn't he been some legendary Sith Lord who shot his friend in the back or something? Right, he'd blasted his best friend's command ship. Then that friend had come after him for revenge. Or come after him to save the universe, there were a lot of legends.
In some, Revan was a hero. In others, just another Sith Lord. Some said he was a woman, others that he was a man. Official Empire History dismissed the force as mythology. But Han had never bought into that. Even before he met the Old Man, he'd been fairly certain the Jedi could do things ordinary people couldn't. But it hadn't been anything magical about it.
"You hope," noted Han.
Leia seemed somewhat offended by the doubt in his tone. "Yes, I hope.
"It's a calculated risk, but the alternative is giving up and letting the Empire crush us under its heel. I wouldn't have been willing to do that under any circumstances before. Now, after Alderaan..." She sighed. "Well, I think I'd rather go up in flames than submit."
"Right," said Han, leaning against the doorframe and looking away.
Leia remained silent for a moment. "Han?" she said after a moment.
"Yes?" asked Han.
"You missions for the Rebellion, back when Captain Antilles was still with us," said Leia.
"Yeah, I did," said Han. "The pay was good, and it didn't break any of my rules, so I figured I'd give it a try."
Leia gave him a half-sarcastic review. "You have rules?"
"Obviously, I have rules," said Han, almost laughing. "I don't deal in slaves or drugs or, well, I don't deal in a lot of things. I prefer to move cargo for people who have good reasons to need them moved. I'll get my hands dirty, but, well, not that dirty.
"Except once."
"Once?" asked Leia.
Han didn't want to talk about this. "I almost moved a shipment of spice, alright. Jabba was offering top premium, and it seemed like too good an offer to pass up." Leia looked up at him in horror. "You don't have to give me that look, I got boarded by the Imperials and had to jettison the whole thing. That's what got me into this mess."
"What does that mean?" asked Leia.
"You think Jabba the Hutt forgives cargo getting stolen?" asked Han. "I have to pay him back and fast. The old man, Ben Kenobi, he and Luke came and offered me seventeen thousand for a trip to Alderaan.
"I took it." He shrugged.
More silence. Was this going to become a thing? "You're lucky, you know," said Leia after a moment.
Han actually laughed at that. "Lucky? At what point has anything we've been through constitute luck?"
"What if you hadn't been boarded, Han?" asked Leia, looking at him hard. "Do you really think you'd have stopped at one shipment? Especially when Jabba told you what a great job you'd done and offered you a better contract?
"He'd have had you for sure. That wouldn't have been your last shipment, would it?"
Yeah, he wanted to say it would have been the last time. But he'd been telling himself before he did it that the whole world was corrupt and it was just a drop in the bucket. He also had told himself it would be only one time.
But would it have been one time?
Han, for the first time, wondered if he was the same person that had been sitting in that Cantina talking to the Old Man. Or who had made a bargain with Jabba the Hutt and shook his hand while watching slavegirls dance.
He wondered what their names had been and if he might have been able to help them.
Not that Han was going to let that line of thought interfere with his image.
"I run my own ship, sister," said Han.
"Sure you do," said Leia. "But who do you dock it with? Who do you run missions for?" She looked away. "...Look, I'm certain I'll be able to get you paid for your services so far. You've certainly earned that much.
"Why don't you keep working with the Rebellion? Even if you pay off Jabba, the Imperials are going to be looking for you. It'll be safer working with us, and I don't think you're the kind of person to make the same mistake twice."
"I'm working with you, aren't I?" asked Han, realizing what she was asking.
If they'd tried to shake off, the Imperials Han could have played middleman and helped them out. He could have smuggled for the Rebellion or something. But the way things were going, she was practically asking him to lead an assault on the Death Star. This kind of all or nothing offer didn't sit right with Han.
"I wouldn't consider fighting for democracy a mistake," said Leia, voice annoyed.
"Democracy?" asked Han, remembering his lessons. "Even if you did overthrow the Empire, do you really think you'd be able to set up a new government? The Moffs aren't going to bow out gracefully. They'll all set up their own little kingdoms throughout the Galaxy.
"Do you know where Jabba got his start? In the Republic. His organization was forged under the nose of the Jedi. And who can forget the Trade Federation? That and all the other glorious democratic organizations they let spring up." Where was he going with this?
"Many of whom have even more power now," said Leia. "The Empire didn't crackdown on crime; it just made it part of the government. The Moffs go to parties with gangsters while shooting political dissidents for 'corruption.'
"You can't really think that's better than the Republic?"
"Maybe not, but we're not talking about the Republic," said Han. "We're talking about this mystical 'New Republic' you're planning to set up. You have, what, a few snub fighters and some militia? How are they going to hold territory? You'd need capital ships and industry."
"It has to start somewhere," said Leia, cutting him off.
"Well, you'll have to start it without me," said Han, before he could stop himself. "Yavin IV is going to go up in smoke in a few days, and I'm planning to be somewhere else."
"That's your choice to make," said Leia.
At that moment, a door opened, and Luke came in. "Hey, guys, I just checked the storage rooms, and I found a homing beacon. I think we're being tracked."
Han looked to Leia, who looked back.
"...He's not very bright, is he?" asked Leia after a moment.
Standing up, Leia walked past them.
"What?!" said Luke.
"I'll tell you in a minute," said Han.
As he explained the details of what they had been talking about, Han thought back to that old story about Malak. Blasting a commander's ship when his guard was down. It was more like something you'd expect from pirates. Maybe that was why the story still held in the underground.
Revan and Malak were legendary figures who reshaped their world. But their story played out like a holotape revenge film. Maybe they appealed to rogues and renegades.
How had things ended for Malak again?
Han didn't know, but he knew he was never smuggling spice again.
Author's Note:
So, I've been a fan of Star Wars my entire life, and I realized that I had never written a story about Luke, Han, and Leia before. Well, except Luke Wakes Up, but that was a joke.
Here's my one shot, enjoy. I decided to reference the events of Empire at War. They provide a pretty good context for the events of A New Hope.
As for references Malak and Revan, they were extremely important historical figures. Even if the Empire has tried to stamp out knowledge of the Jedi, they couldn't have done it completely. And stories and legends would probably persist long afterward.
If you think about it, Han Solo and Malak are foils to one another.
Both of them are characters who were pulled into action at the will of another person. Luke convinces Han to follow him through the promise of riches, and they become friends. Revan convinces Malak to follow him out of friendship, and both become villains.
Both of them permanently set their paths with a surprise attack from hyperspace. Malak betrays his friend and shoots him in the back when he's fighting off the Jedi. Meanwhile, Han completes his redemption by saving Luke and shooting down Vader.
This is why the Knights of the Old Republic is such a great game. Like the prequel trilogy before it, Kotor rhymes with the story. It reechoes the same themes that are fundamentally Star Wars and so serves to enhance the myth.
But I talk too much. I hope you enjoyed this.
