Aug. 15th, 2018 03:08 pm
The Falcon's Captain
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runningscams Han had a history with the CEC model ships.
He had been born in Coronet City. The modest apartment that he’d grown up in was nestled in the shadow of the shipyard. Walking distance for his father who had worked on the factory line. It was a very common line of work for dad’s of Corellia to have — factory worker. The thing of it was, more and more of the work within the factory was becoming automated and consequently, they needed fewer live people to actually work in the industrial sector.
The workers, fearing to lose their jobs entirely, started working longer hours. Started accepting less pay. Even when the Empire had come in and increased demand for things like starships and refined metals, the conditions for people that had the factory line jobs didn’t get any better. It was a recipe that made some factory dad’s miserable old bastards.
Han’s dad turned to drinking. It was okay in that small apartment for a while, his dad wasn’t home that much after all, till one day ... it wasn’t. ‘Solo’ has very clear memories of being dragged out into the cold, no jacket on his back to ward off the temperature drop, to stare at the lifeless ships with his father. Their relationship had been on shaky ground for a long time and they didn’t really talk to each other much. It wasn’t fun to sit in silence and look at the spaceships, but it had probably planted the idea of being a pilot in his head.
Or maybe he just longed to escape everything ... and being able to fly a ship seemed like the best way to do that.
Anyway, it was a fairly young age that Han had learned all the lines and curves of the YT-1300. It was a favorite of his for reasons he could never explain. Was it any wonder, then, that he'd fallen for the Millennium Falcon at first sight?
Lando had cheated his way to victory the first time around. He wasn't going to pull one over on Han Solo again, though. He had a plan. He and Chewbacca would come in to the cantina with menace in their eyes and threats on their lips and they'd get any gizmos he had for cheating taken off him before they sat down. Then it would just be a matter of letting the best man win.
When he left with the controls of that ship under his palms, for good, he plotted a corse all the way across known space. For the simple fact that he could. He traveled to a couple of planets he'd always wanted to see for the thrill of entering the atmosphere and skipping through the clouds. It was an amazing feeling. He was free. Really free now. It was the closest to unbridled happiness he'd ever felt before.
There was an incomplete piece in this puzzle, though. Qi'ra belonged at his side. She ought to be here seeing these places for the first time with him and helping him figure out what his next move should be. As fun as it was to be criss-crossing the galaxy, he couldn't do it forever -- if for no other reason that the Falcon guzzled fuel like nobody's business.
When he had gotten over the initial itch to explore and fly in his ship, he hailed Qi'ra on one of the Falcon's long range communicators; their own private line.
He had been born in Coronet City. The modest apartment that he’d grown up in was nestled in the shadow of the shipyard. Walking distance for his father who had worked on the factory line. It was a very common line of work for dad’s of Corellia to have — factory worker. The thing of it was, more and more of the work within the factory was becoming automated and consequently, they needed fewer live people to actually work in the industrial sector.
The workers, fearing to lose their jobs entirely, started working longer hours. Started accepting less pay. Even when the Empire had come in and increased demand for things like starships and refined metals, the conditions for people that had the factory line jobs didn’t get any better. It was a recipe that made some factory dad’s miserable old bastards.
Han’s dad turned to drinking. It was okay in that small apartment for a while, his dad wasn’t home that much after all, till one day ... it wasn’t. ‘Solo’ has very clear memories of being dragged out into the cold, no jacket on his back to ward off the temperature drop, to stare at the lifeless ships with his father. Their relationship had been on shaky ground for a long time and they didn’t really talk to each other much. It wasn’t fun to sit in silence and look at the spaceships, but it had probably planted the idea of being a pilot in his head.
Or maybe he just longed to escape everything ... and being able to fly a ship seemed like the best way to do that.
Anyway, it was a fairly young age that Han had learned all the lines and curves of the YT-1300. It was a favorite of his for reasons he could never explain. Was it any wonder, then, that he'd fallen for the Millennium Falcon at first sight?
Lando had cheated his way to victory the first time around. He wasn't going to pull one over on Han Solo again, though. He had a plan. He and Chewbacca would come in to the cantina with menace in their eyes and threats on their lips and they'd get any gizmos he had for cheating taken off him before they sat down. Then it would just be a matter of letting the best man win.
When he left with the controls of that ship under his palms, for good, he plotted a corse all the way across known space. For the simple fact that he could. He traveled to a couple of planets he'd always wanted to see for the thrill of entering the atmosphere and skipping through the clouds. It was an amazing feeling. He was free. Really free now. It was the closest to unbridled happiness he'd ever felt before.
There was an incomplete piece in this puzzle, though. Qi'ra belonged at his side. She ought to be here seeing these places for the first time with him and helping him figure out what his next move should be. As fun as it was to be criss-crossing the galaxy, he couldn't do it forever -- if for no other reason that the Falcon guzzled fuel like nobody's business.
When he had gotten over the initial itch to explore and fly in his ship, he hailed Qi'ra on one of the Falcon's long range communicators; their own private line.
no subject
Not because of him, but due to his presence. Now, she found herself as an accidental arm of Crimson Dawn, something she'd never aspired to be, not in any of the years she'd been Vos' top lieutenant. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. Leaving would have been impossible before, just as she'd told Han, and it was still impossible.
Maul had known of her, but in the intervening months since Vos' death, he'd come to admire the skill which had developed under Dryden. It would likely be the death of her, she knew it, and still she didn't stop.
When Han's message comes, she's putting the finishing touches on a communiqué to Maul. The happy distraction is needed and she pulls it through.
"And where might you be?"
no subject
"Christophsis."
Han enables the video feed if she's interested. She'll get notification from the screen that she's standing closest to -- giving her the choice to keep it on voice only or to enable video of that expressive face of his.
"I wanted to see the planet where everything is made out of crystal ore."
no subject
When the notification comes up for a video feed, she hesitates slightly, the allows it to come through. Only because their channel is so encrypted does he get to see that she's happy he's so happy.
"Now that you've seen it, where do you think you'll go next?" Her amusement at his antics - the flying and visiting different places - is clear in her voice and expression, though it's just as obvious she doesn't hold it against him. This is what he's always dreamed of and she's happy for him.
no subject
No sense in beating the dead bantha. They had talked about having their own ship often enough when they were kids that she didn't need him to rehash it for her. Nor did she need for him to prey on her feelings, she was where she felt like she belonged.
Where she must have wanted to be, he realized, as painful as that was for him to accept.
"Somewhere warm, but not too hot."
It's the first answer that he can think of beyond the childish impulse to tell her that he wished she was here.
no subject
Still, she recognizes the moment he wants to tell her that he wants her with him and then... doesn't. He moves the conversation past their normal rhetoric and she suspects that it's difficult for him. To find something else to touch on, to find another answer, it can't have been easy.
"Warm but not hot sounds lovely," she concedes, her voice softening as she mentally ran through possible planets. He hadn't offered a meeting, but that didn't mean she couldn't invite herself along if he named a place.
no subject
He studied the crinkle of her brow and the set of her jaw. Han knew the look well, because he knew her well. She was thinking about where he could be going, which must meant on some level, she wanted to know where he was headed. Before he can think it all the way through, the destination escape his lips ...
“Spira.”
no subject
Her expression changes to one of careful pleasure as she recognizes the name of the planet, her mind already working on logistics. It's entirely possible she's not as nonchalant as she'd like to be as she invites herself along.
"If you don't want to visit alone, perhaps I could join you." Ahem. A simple offer, but one she hopes he'll take.
no subject
“Yeah.” He says, after a moment. “If you can make it, that’d be nice.”
Wow, the typos. I'm sorry.
She can even make it alone, without the giant ship that usually accompanies her presence and she plans her arrival via shuttle. She'll leave very few clues for those who might miss her and none at all for those of importance, but, because of it, she's also made herself available by call if necessary. No need to tempt bad things.
Not that her superior would need to find her in that mundane manner if necessary.
"When?"
Np, I end up making plenty myself.
Han’s eyes dart over the Falcon’s control panel and he starts doing some ballpark calculations in his head. No doubt his own look of concentration is familiar to her.
“Let’s say about three.” He says, hoping it didn’t seem to eager to head there right away. There was nothing wrong with wanting to head to a beach planet after a long couple of weeks ...
no subject
"I'll be there."
She follows it with a smile meant to both reassure and give him something to look forward to. He doesn't know that she's coming utterly alone but, three hours later, she's there. Alone. Not that she can't be found if necessary, but she's ensured that it won't be necessary unless absolutely dire circumstances arise. Han doesn't need to know that - why tell him something that would only give him hope for a future that doesn't exist? - but she wanted him to have this.
Stepping out of her ship, she presents herself for what amounts to a minor inspection. Is she well? Has she been mistreated? She is, by all appearances, healthy and fine.
no subject
He’s surprised at the lack of the hulking presence of the First Light when he arrives. Surprised to see that she appears to be alone. Surprised that she’s actually there, where she said she would be. He used to think he could dependably predict what she was going to do, most of the time, but he hadn’t seen their separation on Savareen coming. It made him a lot less certain about his guesses ever since ...
That said, still in a jacket and pants that have the segmented red stripe on the outseam, he swaggers down the gangplank of the Millienium Falcon to her. His eyes apprising her up and down the whole way — not because of her beauty, or to take in her clothes — but because he does want to make sure that she is healthy and fine, still.
“You look good.” He murmurs and then decides he can open his arms to embrace her.
no subject
It's easy to step into his embrace, one that she welcomes. He's clearly not lacking for anything now, which is why she appreciates the strength in the way he holds her; she'd been doing her own appraisal as he'd approached and she was glad to see that he appeared to be well, too. That and he had the ship from Lando, which means that he'd clearly done something. She wasn't going to ask right now.
Pulling back slightly, she looks past him toward the ship. "Are you alone?"
no subject
Han opens his mouth to respond and then, closes it to glance down at her thoughtfully. He takes a long moment or two to make up his mind and then, he answers ...
“Yeah.” He says pursing his lips. “For now.”
He’d dropped Chewbacca off on Kashyyyk before he’d arrived, but she didn’t need all the details. Better for him if she didn’t know that, all things considered.