• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

“And let's not forget about pounding his hand against the navicomputer,” Leia said, restraining a smile.

“Or banging his fist on the ceiling,” Allana said, clearly enjoying herself.

Han planted his hands on his hips. “Hey, that's part of real piloting. Not voice-commanding some computer to do the work.”

“Fixing things every time we travel. That's part of it, too?”

Han opened his mouth but no words emerged. The kid was right. Each trip lately had cost them something. Rust was taking hold, parts were wearing out; the superstructure itself was deteriorating. Han so identified with the ship, he lost sleep when she was ailing. But he wasn't about to try to explain that to a seven-year-old kid who'd grown up wearing an opalescent electrotex nanoweave flight suit.

“I'll bet you know every part of this ship by heart,” Allana said, getting up from the dejarik table bench and wandering about the hold.

“Well, maybe not every part, but most of them.”

While Allana moved to the engineering station, Han took a moment to direct a playful smirk at Leia. When he turned back to Allana, she had a small object in her hand.

“What's this part for?”

Han's eyebrows beetled. He accepted the object from her hand, stared at it, and began to scratch the back of his head in puzzlement. “Where did you find this?”

“Right here,” Allana said, pointing to what was now a slight indentation on the curved bulkhead adjacent to the engineering station.

Han kneeled to inspect the divot. The object had been lodged at Allana's eye level into the chamfered edge of an old panel that abutted the station's vertical display board. The divot contained neither relays nor contacts, but Han knew from past repairs that that portion of the bulkhead contained circuitry connecting the engineering station to both the Rubicon navicomputer and the Isu-Sim hyperdrive engine.

“I've never seen this before,” he said at last, laughing in disbelief.

Leia hurried over to peer at the object. “Allana, you've given your grandfather a puzzle.”

“No, seriously,” Han said. “I don't know what the heck this is.”

As he was turning it about in his hand, C-3PO returned from the cockpit. “All systems are nominal. Thank the Maker.” When no one responded, the crestfallen droid added: “Sometimes I wonder why I even bother.”

“Threepio, what is this thing?” Han said, holding the device up to the droid's glowing photoreceptors.

C-3PO canted his head. “I'm sorry, Captain Solo, but I fail to recognize it. Although if I had to venture a guess, I would say that it resembles an antiquated transponder or transceiver of some sort.”

Han regarded it. “You're right. It does.”

“Maybe we should put it back, Grandpa,” Allana said uncertainly.

He glanced down at her. “Oh, I doubt it still works or has anything to do with the ship.”

“You never know, Han,” Leia said.

“Come on, this little piece of tech? I know that much.”

Leia extended her right hand. “Can I see it?”

Gently, Han placed it in her palm.

Leia tightened her fingers around the piece. “There's something about this … Did you feel anything special, Allana?”

She nodded. “I did. That's how come I found it.”

Han looked from Leia to Allana and back again. “Don't you two start going Jedi on me.”

“We're not,” Leia said. “But you can't deny that objects can sometimes have a kind of inherent power.”

“Like you can feel the other people who have touched it,” Allana said.

Han blinked in stupefaction.

“We should find out,” Allana prompted.

“We should, sweetie. It would be like a treasure hunt. Right, Han?”

He gazed at her. “Huh? Oh, yeah, sure. Next time we attend the galactic engineers' convention.”

“I'm serious, Han. For all you know it could have been placed here by someone who owned the Falcon long before you got it.”

“I suppose,” Han said. “Or it could have been put there by any of the hundreds of beings who've been in the Falcon since. Some friend or foe, some spy. Like the Imps who tracked us to Yavin Four.”

Leia laughed at the unexpected reference. “Was that really in this lifetime?”

“Last time I checked.”

“Who owned the Falcon