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She rumbled softly from outside the door. Han yanked up his jumpsuit, sealed it, and opened the door. “What do you mean, you have exciting news for me?”

Dewlanna came in, her huge, furred body fairly bouncing with excitement. Han waved her past him, and she sat on the narrow bunk. Since there was no place else to sit, Han settled down beside her. The Wookiee cautioned him to keep his voice low, and glancing at the chrono, Han realized it was the dead of night.

“What are you doing up now?” he asked, puzzled. “Don’t tell me you were playing sabacc this late?”

She nodded at him, her blue eyes sparkling with excitement amid her tan and chestnut hair.

“So what’s going on, Dewlanna? Why did you need to talk to me?”

She rumbled softly at him. Han sat up straight, suddenly transfixed. “You found out my last name? How?”

Her answer was a single name. “Shrike,” Han muttered. “Well, if anyone knows, it’s him. What … how did it happen? What’s my name?”

His name, she told him, was “Solo.” Shrike had gotten very, very drunk, and he started bragging about how much the Krayt dragon pearl was worth, what a good deal he’d gotten when he sold it. Dewlanna asked Shrike innocently if Han came from a long line of successful thieves. Shrike, she reported, exploded into laughter at the suggestion. “Maybe some branches of the family, but this Solo?” he sputtered, wheezing with merriment, pausing to gulp more Alderaanian ale, “I’m afraid not, Dewlanna. This kid’s folks were …”

And at that point, the captain suddenly halted in midword, fixing the Wookiee with a suspicious glare. “So why do you care, anyhow?” he demanded, his momentary good humor gone.

Dewlanna answered only by covering Shrike’s bet, and raising.

“Solo,” Han whispered softly, trying it on for size. “Han Solo. My full name is Han Solo.”

He looked up at Dewlanna, and a wide grin spread across his features. “I like it! It sounds great!”

Dewlanna whined softly and, slinging a long arm around him, gave the boy a hug …

Han smiled, remembering, but it was a sad smile. Dewlanna had meant well, but her discovery that his name was “Solo” had led to one of the worst episodes of his young life. The next time the Luck was in orbit around Corellia, he’d stolen time away from his pickpocketing and burglary duties and had gone to one of the public archives to do some research.

Shrike didn’t like his “rescuees” to spend any time on furthering their education. Each child aboard Trader’s Luck was given an elementary-level education via the ship’s computer, so he, she, or it could learn to read and count money. Beyond that, Shrike discouraged the children from pursuing higher learning.

It was partly because he automatically wanted to flout Shrike’s wishes, and partly due to Dewlanna’s encouragement, that Han had kept up his studies in secret. He had a tendency to ignore subjects he didn’t like—such as history—and to spend all his time on subjects he enjoyed—such as reading adventure stories and solving math equations. Han knew how important math was to anyone who wanted to be a pilot, so he worked hard at mastering as much of it as he could.

Once Dewlanna discovered what he was doing, she monitored his curriculum, making him study subjects that he would otherwise have skipped, leaving gaps in his knowledge. Reluctantly, Han tackled the physical sciences, and history.

He was surprised to discover that some real historical battles were just as exciting as anything he’d read in adventure sagas.

That day in the public archives on Corellia, Han applied some of his newly learned research skills to learning about his new surname. The results were surprising. When Han looked up the last name “Solo” in the historical records, he was astounded to discover that the name was well known on Corellia. A “Berethron e Solo” had introduced democracy on Han’s homeworld three centuries ago. He’d actually been a ruler, a king!

But there’d been another Solo, more recently, who was equally famous—or, to put it more accurately,