sixwordstories | (no subject)

Han has a strange relationship with his heritage.

On the one hand, from the accent that creeps into the way he speaks his basic to the distinctive stripe on so many of the outer seams of his pants, you tell within seconds the man is Corellian. It's just that ... he has memories tied to the place he'd rather forget and lacks familial ties that so often go hand and hand with planetary pride.

It never felt like a home the way being in the cockpit of the Falcon does, at any rate.

For a while, he tries to be quiet and just appreciate the elegance of the movement, but he can't seem to keep quiet.

He spits out an incredulous curse in huttese - something about fornicated crookedly - and adds "I don't think I've seen a weapon that looks that old outside of a trophy case. Does it even vibrate?"

"Nope." Was the reply, stepping easily into the next movement, "Not even sharp, actually." He added, even as he moved. Ben had never built himself a lightsaber, he'd never earned one and he'd never wanted one, but he'd still learned the movements all the same, and while he mostly liked to pretend that his time with Luke hadn't happened, he did still remember the katas and he did use them on occasion as their own form of meditation.

It was easy to do, because while he was going through the steps, focusing on the movements, he didn't have space in his head for anything else, only what he was doing.

Since it's not a family heirloom, there are only about three explanations as to how the weapon could have come into Ben's possession - it was either gifted, purchased or stolen. Of course, as a 'responsible father', he'd have to hope one of the former outcomes over the later, right? And yet, if he were applying any of his Han's life lessons to the acquisition of that sword ...

Well, let's just say that Captain Solo always did find hand speed to be a versatile and important skill.

Quiet, respectful watching of his son's martial exercises.

He's never really been all that good at keeping his mouth shut. ~~He knows that, right?~~ It's a fact that was not very well hidden by him over the years.

"I never understood what the point of practicing a sequence of choreographed punches and kicks was supposed to accomplish." He doesn't even know what to call sword moves. Hits? Strikes?

Edited 2016-07-25 13:09 (UTC)

It had been a gift, sort of. The payment he'd insisted upon for services rendered on one of his own side-jobs a while back, because the person who'd had it certainly didn't deserve it -not that Ben was entirely sure he did either- and hadn't been taking care of it -and that much Ben had done already, cleaning and polishing- so it was definitely in better hands than it had been.

He took a breath, sliding into the next set of movements, stringing them together fluidly as he replied, "It's about discipline, mostly." Not that he cared much about that part himself, "But it's also to clear your head. And because once you know the movements, you can string them together in a different order if you're in a fight." And if one was already a step ahead of their opponent, that could be an advantage.

"Guess everybody has to have a way to do that." He admits. Even Han has his own ways to clear his mind. Although it comes in the form of being in the pilot's seat of his YT-1300 freighter more so than anything else.

"Is there something you're trying to clear it from, kid?"

Or is it a fight he's getting ready for? It goes without saying that the elder Solo has always felt like it was easier just to shoot someone than it was to have to get in close, but. Sometimes you do have to improvise.

He almost didn't answer, but on the off chance that it got worse he just said: "Didn't sleep well." It was an understatement, the nightmares were back after almost a year without. It hadn't been enough to send his Force-abilities haywire, at least not yet, but if they got much worse there was always that chance.

The last bout of nightmares had lasted over a week, and by the end of it Ben was barely sleeping just because the intensity of the nightmares, of Snoke prying at the back of his sleeping mind, was enough to leave everything around him not bolted down to rattling, even levitating once. But they'd stopped, the same as they always did, and he'd thought, the same as he always did, that they were over for good.

There's a lot the old man doesn't know about the force. Some of that has to do with the fact that he can't get as close to is as the rest of his family can. Some of that had to do with the fact that he doesn't want to be as close to it as they are. He's been around them enough over the years to have picked up a few things, though. Disturbed dreams, not that his son admitted to exactly that, never lead to good things. Matter of fact, it was always among the more foreboding signs they could get.

Predictably, Han's mood which is prone to being shiftable as it is, turned a bit sour. He always had to ask himself in these kind of moments if he should ask for more details or just trust that Ben would tell him if it was something he really needed to know.

After a moment of silence, he says finally, "I'm sorry to hear that."

"I'll live." He replied. Accepting sympathy wasn't something he'd ever been particularly good at. He knew Han meant well, and more than that would try to help him fix it if it could be fixed -though in this case Ben knew it couldn't, he'd just have to ride it out like always- but knowing that didn't lead to any sort of grace in being able to accept his saying so.

He finished, giving the blade one last easy rotation, the movement mostly in his wrist, but the play of muscle going all the way up his arm and across his shoulders. He straightened then, definitely more centered than he had been, "Let me put this away and I'm ready to go."

He can't entirely fault him there. If the roles were reversed, Han likely would have fielded his own response in a similar way. Twenty-something years of being married to one of, if not the most, prolific politicians of the last century hadn't managed to impart a lot of decorum upon Captain Solo. He didn't really expect out of his son, either.

"Maybe grab a shirt and a jacket too, hot shot."

Han Solo acting glib. Imagine that.

The fact that all he had to do was approach the young man and he was ready to throw himself into work makes him a mixture of worried and proud. He'd always wanted to see him become the kind of man who was an asset on any crew, but jumping right into the next job? It probably isn't going to resolve what's bugging him.

It probably wouldn't, but it would at least keep his mind off of it for a while, at least until he could come around to a solution -if there was one- or get through it -if there wasn't- and get back on an even keel.

He bit back a smile at the statement, tossing the older man a teasing salute, a bare flick of two fingers against his temple. He secured and stowed the sword, did a quick wash up before throwing on a shirt and making his way back up the corridor, "Where we headed?"

'Where are we headed' is perfectly reasonable question to ask when your father is dragging you off on his latest smuggling run. And yet, when his son poses it, you can practically see Han's temples throbbing in response to it.

"Ord Mantell to Nam Chorios." He says, after a deep inhale that really provided him next to nothing in the way of calmness. Maybe he should be doing katas too. "A shipment of spirits going to a cantina owner and a shipment of moisture collectors going to some farmers. We ought to be able to take them both at the same time in the Falcon."

Which is all well and good and seems like a relatively easy run, but your father hates going to Ord Mantell, Ben. It's like every time he goes there someone tries to kill him and honestly, he's getting a little tired of it.

"You up for it?"

Edited 2016-07-27 00:10 (UTC)

No one in the galaxy hated anything as much as Han Solo hated going to Ord Mantell, that was just facts, and facts that Ben knew well.

"Definitely up for that." There was a bare little twitch of expression, something that managed to fall just short of an out and out grin, "Just as long as we can avoid a repeat of last time." Which he knew was unlikely, because there were actual reasons that Han hated Ord Mantell, and trouble always finding them there was at least half of them.

"Was the time that we learned that the slicers working for OutlawTech don't even need to be on your ship to be able to deactivate your hyperdrive or the time Scarlet Tusk was trying to feed me to their Zillo?"

Those are the two misadventures on Ord Mantell that he recalls more recently than others, but hell, he's had so many things go wrong on that planet that he wouldn't rule out him having completely forgot whatever it was 'last time'.

At any rate, Han has started walking toward the docking bay where his YT-1300 can be found. He trusts his kid to start following without him expressly saying so.

Te fell easily into step as he always did, shaking his head, "No, it was the time that we ended up paying off the one set of bounty hunters to send them after the other set." Which hadn't been as immediately dangerous as the two other situations, but had been its own kind of harrowing, and had left with them walking away with only a fraction of the funds they would have had otherwise.

Truth be told, Ben wasn't entirely sure if that had been before or after the Scarlet Tusk incident, but it didn't matter much, in the long run.

Nope. It doesn't. Besides Han has been on so many smuggling runs that have gone wrong, it could very well be that some of these memories are running together on him. The run in with Scarlet Tusk may have been on another planet altogether. A shame Chewbacca wasn't nearby to clear everything up for him. Han's partner seemed to be able to remember everything.

"Burning skies that was a disappointing run." He says after eliciting a grumpy huff. "Well anyway, you know how things tend to go on that planet. Gonna need you sharp."

Goes without saying, perhaps, but how else can a father subtly tell his son that he's worried without using those words.

Ben wouldn't quite have known what to do with those words anyway, which meant that Han's version was probably better, although it did put Ben on the mock-defensive, "Hey, have you ever known me not to be sharp?"

He paused only for a moment before adding: "Anytime that it's more than an hour after I wake up, anyway." He wasn't notoriously slow to wake and get going, but nearly so.

"Don't be defensive, you sound like ..." And he's shockingly wise enough to sensor himself right there. He'd never be able to claim he knew exactly what his kid's line of thinking was over it, but he knew that Ben was a little bit conflicted over Leia. He had reasons to be.

Han himself was pretty deeply hurt by the fact that his own wife thought it was a good idea to keep himself and Ben apart. I was afraid that your reactions would only drive him farther to the dark side. Hard to hear. Even harder to forgive.

This is a great time for a subject change.

"Why do you have such a hard time getting up in the morning?" Are you out galavanting, kid? If you say yes, he promises to pretend to be something other than proud. Because dad's, aren't supposed to be proud of their kids for that. He's ... reasonably sure.

Edited 2016-08-03 02:39 (UTC)

Ben was curious as to whether Han had been going to say that he sounded like his mother or like his uncle, but Han stopped himself and Ben wasn't going to ask. Instead he was just going to roll with the subject change, because that was easier and less likely to lead to awkwardness later.

He shrugged at the question, "Not really sure. Always been like that, I think." At least as far as he could remember. It didn't matter if he'd gotten enough sleep or too little, he was still almost useless until he'd been up and moving for a half hour at least.

He was definitely going to go with Leia. He hasn't know Luke to be defensive since before he left for Dagobah and he sure did come back different. Not that he thinks of those days very much anymore, but sometimes he has to wonder if Luke's transition to Jedi would have been less shocking if he'd been conscious for any of it.

He'd never admit to it, it's too ... sentimental for him, but he really misses the days when he, Leia and Luke were all working towards something together. There's no doubt in his mind that the three of them were stronger as a unit than ever they were apart. Master Skywalker included.

Anyway, Ben wasn't the only one who needed to be sharp, so Han shook the thoughts of days long past right out of his head.

"Chewie's been prepping the ship and unless there's something you want to load onto the ship, I think we're just about ready to go."

He shook his head, shrugging the shoulder the strap of his bag was slung over, "Nope, got everything I need right here." He even had another bag with roughly the same contents already stashed on the Falcon from the last time. He had a tendency to keep a go bag stashed in most places he knew he'd wind up for more than a day or two. He even had one stashed in Maz's office, which had been her idea and not his, he just knew better than to argue it.

He wasn't thinking too hard on his recent spate of nightmares, either, because he knew they'd pass the same as they always did, for the time being he was going to focus on the job and worry about the rest later. Something that was fairly common in their family, really.

Certainly, the youngest Solo demonstrates wisdom in choosing not to argue with Maz. As far as Han can tell it's something of a compliment anyway. It's not as if she's begging every spacer who stopped at the Castle to leave behind some gear. She's been ... helpful. In her own way. Her 'help' sometimes is convoluted, exhausting and prone to giving Han migraines, but he still considers her a family friend.

They finally get to a large automated door with a nine key security panel situated just to the left of the metal doorframe. Han jabs in a code with his index finger that Ben is likely to have known. He only uses ten. One for each different month on the galactic standard calendar.

"One more thing." He murmurs. Something that's been on his mind of late ... "I think you should take the pilot's seat."

Both brows lifted at the offer, "Really?" It wouldn't be the first time, he'd taken over piloting before in emergency situations before, but this was the first time he could recall being offered the seat instead of ordered into it.

The question was followed by a shrug, and a quiet: "Sure, if you don't mind." Any further statement dissolved at the sight of the figure looming on the Falcon's gangway, and Ben grinned, loping forward to sling both arms around his 'uncle' Chewie, the same as he always did, and always had even when he was small, though the Wookiee couldn't pick him up and swing him around like he used to, they still swayed a little and that was good enough for Ben.

It's not a seat that Han offers lightly. It is his seat and possibly the one place in the galaxy that Han finds his solace. It's just that he can't help, but think about the future sometimes and as much as he'd like to believe that he could spend another thirty-something more years piloting the freighter that he loves so much, it's not going to be in the cards.

"Really." He confirms.

He never thought of legacy as all that important until he started to consider his own. What he's leaving to Ben isn't all that much, considering, but they are virtually the two most important things he's ever had - his last name and his YT-1300.

Anyway, he's thankful to have an Uncle Chewie right there to prevent him from having to offer a reason why he wants Ben to be the pilot for this run. No doubt in his mind that his partner was going to be a wonderful influence to have in Ben's life from the moment he knew that he was going to have a kid and the Wookiee had completely proven him right.

Captain Solo decides to let the two of them catch up for a few minutes and heads up the ramp of the Falcon.

Ben had a shuttle of his own, the one he used for his errands for Maz, and it suited him fine, but the Falcon had always been home in a way that most places couldn't match, and considering he'd spent more time on that ship than he had almost anywhere else, that made sense.

The last name was a good one, and there was a reason -multiple reasons, really- why Ben used it instead of his mother's except in the most dire of circumstances.

Ben wouldn't ask for an explanation, but as long as Han was thinking of retiring of his own accord instead of being retired, that was as good an outcome as could be expected for someone in their line of work. He stashed his bag, making sure it was secure before heading to the cockpit, stretching his fingers and wrists as he went, almost as if he needed to limber up.

He happens to have good protection in the form of a loyal Wookiee partner and frequently looking out for his well-being force sensitive son, but no. It wasn't that he planned on retiring. ~~Though, he would in a heartbeat if Leia wanted to hull up somewhere and take it easy.~~ He's just an old man, thinking old man thoughts and as it was pointed out to him recently 'there are only so many people in the galaxy left for him to swindle.'

Whenever it is that he can't do this anymore, whatever the reason, he wants to have passed on as much of what he can on. And at this point Ben has had twenty-something years of experience watching Han fly the Millenium Falcon. Whatever else he's going to learn about flying the YT-1300 is going to come of him actually getting behind the controls.

Han is already in the cockpit, slouched not in Chewbacca's seat, but in one of the rear chairs. He looks like he doesn't have a care in the world, but that's not how he feels on the inside.

"She's got a lot more power than that little transport class ship of yours, kid."

It went without saying perhaps, but that's the subtle warning. She's a fast ship. It's not always easy to keep up.

"I remember." He replied, dropping himself into the seat, fingers gliding over the control panel, and despite the fact that many of the labels had been long worn down to illegibility, he still moved through pre-flight checks with a certain sort of surety, the kind that came from a lifetime of familiarity.

That and it wasn't his first time in the pilot's seat, though the fact that he wasn't already running off of adrenaline from a narrow escape made the whole process seem simpler, "Alright, gangway's up, hatches are sealed, everybody strap in and we can blow this snack stand."

Of course, Ben knows. Of course, Han knows that Ben knows. He's thought about this for a while and he thinks it makes sense to have his son to take over the piloting duties. It's just that Captain Solo didn't realize how hard it was going to be to sit behind him and Chewie and not be involved, alright?

Though he has to admit he's somewhat comforted in watching the way his son's hands wander over the controls. As far as he's been paying attention, Ben's doing the same things that he would be doing and in about the same order.

The elder Solo will reach over Ben's head and grab the headset. He might as well start exchanging info with the transit authority. Whenever there's a critical piece of information that his pilot might need, like their clearance numbers and any closed hyperlanes, he'll repeat it out loud to both the disembodied voice on the headset for confirmation and to his pilot so he can hear it.

Ben was amused by Han taking over as Mission Control, essentially -and he could tell that Chewie was as well- but he didn't say anything against it, no, he just nodded at each of the instructions, inputting commands as necessary and letting Chewie handle the rest. He was there as co-pilot for a reason after all.

It was easy enough to take the Falcon up, breaking atmo as if it were nothing -and really, for her it might as well have been- before his fingers danced across the controls again, inputting coordinates and letting the ship do the hyperspace calculations even though he'd mostly done them in his head already, "Alright, everybody ready?"

Hey, someone had to do it. Not to mention it keeps him from becoming a backsteat pilot. We all know Han has his opinions on the way things should be done and rarely does he feel the need to hold back in saying as much.

And besides, he is undoubtedly the best talker on this three-man crew. When he'd done speaking to the 'authorites' on the other side of the comm channel, he'll hang the headset up where he grabbed it from.

"Should be an easy flight out to Ord Mantell." Han murmurs as he resettles back into the rear seat. He doesn't bother to say as much, but he did spend some time with Leia before he left. No signs of the First Order in the Bright Jewel sector as far as she knew.

Ben wasn't going to ask after her, he never did. He didn't change the subject on the rare occasions that Han brought her up, but Ben rarely -if ever- asked about her himself.

As it was, he just nodded at the statement, "Usually is." A twitch of a smile, "Getting there's always easy. It's getting back that can be... troublesome." But so far they'd always managed, and Ben had faith that they could continue to manage, it was just what they did.

That's one of those things he couldn't help. Can't help the way Ben feels about Leia. Considering the way Leia acts sometimes, he can't even blame his son for feeling that way. For all the wonderful qualities the woman has, and there are many, she can be entirely inflexible as well singularly minded.

He just hopes that it's gonna smooth out one day.

In the here and the now, there was Ord Mantell to think about. His son was right. Han could never recall getting to that planet surrounded by that distinctive pink cloud being a problem. All his problems started when they landed.

"Our first contact is a Rybet, he's the one with the booze, and the second contact is an old man with a droid, they've got the moisture farming equipment."

Maybe, eventually. At least Ben didn't blame her for all of it anymore, but he wasn't yet ready to forgive her for the parts of it he did still blame her for. Some progress had been made, and one could only hope it would continue to be made.

Maybe before it was too late.

In any case, he just listened to the list, brow furrowing a little once more, trying to put the pieces together when he didn't actually have all of the information. Finally he shook his head, asking: "Is this one of those jobs where I'm going to regret not having all the details before we start? Or am I better off not knowing them?"

"When have I ever lead us wrong?"

Not only does he manage to say it with a straight face, he actually sounds like he believes himself when he insists that his judgement is flawless. As if there weren't plenty of jobs this year alone that had gone to hell in a hand basket, much less during all the years that Ben had been part of the 'family business'.

"Listen, as far as I could tell, these two jobs are gonna be easy money. Just some buyers that want to avoid paying some import tariffs and get their stuff from point a to point b a little faster than through the usual channels."

"I didn't say anything about leading us wrong, you said that yourself." He replied, equally straight-faced and just barely managing to keep the amusement out of his tone.

Chewie, on the other hand, made an amused huff, just shaking his head and Ben shrugged, "I'm just asking, if this goes belly up and I end up getting caught," Because it was always better that way, let him take the fall because he could, usually, actually talk himself out of things. Somewhat more persuasive than the elder Solo, "am I going to get in more trouble not knowing all the details, or will it be better to have at least some level of deniability?"

Oh sure, Ben. The reason they position you to take a fall is because you're a 'better' talker than your father. Absolutely. It couldn't have anything to do with the fact that you're half his age and force sensitive. ~~Forget the force, the delusions of grandeur are strong with this kid.~~

The better place for Han Solo, regardless of who actually the better diplomat between the old man and the young one, was just out of sight. Somehow Han had become an even more prolific marksman in the twilight of his smuggling years than he had been in his prime. The last firefight they'd been in he nailed one of his targets square in the chest without even looking at him.

"I think if this goes sideways, it's going to be because the job was a setup of some kind or someone we aren't expecting to see with a grudge is on planet while we are." Either way, probably won't matter how thoroughly Ben knows or doesn't know the scant job descriptions Han has saved on a data pad.

"Now that we're in hyperspace, you have the time to go through the correspondence if you want to."

There was also the fact that sometimes, often, Ben was the one getting caught so that he could be the distraction while Han played sniper, because Han was definitely the better shot. ~~He came by both the Force abilities and the delusions of grandeur honestly, genetics is an awful thing sometimes.~~

"Sure, I might as well take a look, doesn't hurt to be prepared." Especially if there was any chance that this was a setup. It wasn't that he'd be able to tell just from correspondence, not unless details were blatantly mismatched from one communique to the next, but depending on who was involved, he may or may not have heard something during one of his errands for Maz.

~~Your welcome for your genetics, kid.~~

"I'll go grab it."

He doesn't keep his datapad in the cockpit. He doesn't really keep anything in there that doesn't pertain to flying the ship. It's on the small side already and made all the worse when you started filling it with stuff that doesn't belong there.

It doesn't take the elder Solo very long to go get it. The Millenium Falcon looks bigger on the outside than it actually is. He's even pulled up the messages for Ben to see before he hands it over.

~~You'll never hear him complain about them, either ...more than once or twice a week~~

That sort of space-conservation was something he'd learned well and put into effect in his shuttle, table and chairs that folded up flat against the wall, bed hidden away in an alcove behind a bulkhead, storage space wherever he could fit it in, which was a lot of places.

He gave a quiet 'thanks' at the datapad, thumbing easily through the message string, he didn't have to read all the details of each one, only looking for names or places that he recognized as being bad news. He did unwind, just a little, at not finding any, nodding as he handed it back, "I know better than to say it's going to be a piece of cake, but any problems will be from outside factors, unrelated to the job as it is."

You could make a case that Han doesn't always have the best sense. He has other qualities that make up for it, but rational and calculated decisions were always better off in Leia's hands. Perhaps Luke's better still.

At this point in his life, though, what he does have that (somewhat) makes up for not always being the most judiciously minded fellow is a whole lot of experience. And his intuition is pretty good too. Han, being the author of half of those messages that Ben was looking over and having read all the rest, didn't notice anything out of place either. He clicks off the data pad and keeps it in his lap for now.

"Considering my luck and by proxy, yours, something will go wrong. I just don't think it will be from the buyers and sellers this time."

Ben nodded in agreement, "And a place like Ord Mantell, there's a lot of bad blood and boredom to motivate people." he knew they weren't going to make it out completely clean, but they could at least minimize the danger, and the fallout. That was something they were both good at.

Besides, that, they had Chewie to at least hold them back if they were ready to go charging into a situation that would definitely get them in over their heads.

"Maybe it's the planet that makes them all crazy." Han postulates only half jokingly. "There's all those groundquakes and active volcanos on Ord Mantell. Lack of stability in the surroundings and all the inhabitants end up unstable themselves."

That could be it, right? Yeah, it's settled. He's decided that must be it.

"What's the ETA, kid?" It's not usually a long trip to the midrim, but there there's a big storm to travel around or a 'new' asteroid field ... it might be longer than what he figures.

He just nodded at the response, it made sense to him, even if it was half-joking, that and he was pretty sure no one had ever done a whole lot of chemical analysis of the perpetual haze, sure, it was breathable and mostly nontoxic to humans and most other species, but mostly nontoxic meant 'partially toxic' and that could mean anything.

At the question, he swiveled back around in his seat to check the readings, "Maybe a half hour, probably less." There was a twitch of a smile that followed, "You in a hurry to get started?"

"Only in the sense that the sooner we get there and load up the cargo, the sooner we will be off that rock."

Has he mentioned he doesn't like Ord Mantell? Because he can go over it a few more times if it's not abundantly clear. If there's one thing that the Elder Solo has never been especially good at, it's censoring whatever feeling or opinion he has about something.

So, anyway, yes ... he's in a hurry to get started.

"Fair enough." He replied, smile having tilted a little, and it was obvious as anything which parent he'd gotten the expression from.

Their arrival went smoothly enough, and getting landing clearance was about as easy as Ben had expected it to be, no one paid much attention to anything other than the name of the ship, the name of the captain and the estimated time that they'd be around for, it was the sort of thing he was used to, really.

(no subject)

Do you want an old Han or time displaced young Han? How old is Ben?

old is probably better, he's had enough timeline shenanigans. He's uh, 25-30? I'm totally sure

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject