Ahh, here we are again.  For continuity's sake, this story (which looks to be a big one, I hope) takes place shortly after the events of "Captured" (including the epilogue).

Some folks go looking for trouble, and some folks just seem to find it no matter what.

Disclaimer: Characters and associated details are property of Lucasfilm, Ltd. and are used for non-profit entertainment purposes only.

"WANDERING STAR"

by Eric R. Umali

Chapter 1 - “A Bad Feeling”

Jacen Solo, Jedi Knight, leaned forward, propping his elbows against the edge of the table.  He rested his chin on his hands, studying the scene before him intently.  His sister, Jaina Solo, sat across from him, her face lined with intense concentration.  Jaina’s eyes flicked upwards from the table to meet her brothers’ for a moment, then returned.

Reaching over with her right hand, Jaina punched a few commands into a small keypad embedded in the table’s rim.  Atop the black-and-white patterned surface, a tiny holographic monster with two heads and four hands took two steps forward and one to its right.  There, it encountered an equally hideous hologram, which it proceeded to fold in half.

“Aww, no,” Jacen moaned, leaning back.  He sank into the well-worn but still comfortable artificial leather of the circular couch he and Jaina shared.  The couch surrounded the Dejarik gameboard table that had already seen a few dozen games that night, and many more before.

Jaina shook her head.  “We’ve been playing this game since we could see over the table, Jacen– you ought to be better at it by now.”

The young man rubbed his neck.  “I am better than this, usually.  I’m just tired.”

His sister was about to agree when a yawn did it for her.  “What time is it, anyway?”

“It is zero-six-hundred, Jaina,” replied a voice from over Jacen’s shoulder.  Both Solos looked up to see Tenel Ka, their friend, fellow Jedi Knight, and Jacen’s fiancee, emerging from the sleeping area.  The warrior girl stretched, then placed a hand on Jacen’s shoulder and squeezed it gently.  “Have you both been up all night?” she asked.

“Not exactly,” Jacen answered, covering Tenel Ka’s hand with his own.  “Neither of us could sleep, and we both ended up out here.  One quick game turned into a best-of-three, then a best-of-five…”

“Aha.”  Tenel Ka slid onto the couch beside Jacen.  “What caused this bout of insomnia?”

“I don’t know,” Jaina replied.  “Neither of us has ever had trouble sleeping here.  The Millenium Falcon’s as much our home as the Temple on Yavin IV or our place on Coruscant.”

Jacen nodded.  “I felt… I don’t know, restless, like there was something about to happen.”

“That’s what I felt, too,” said Jaina.

“My own sleep was fitful,” Tenel Ka offered.  “Were it only the two of you, I would not be concerned.  But with three of us feeling this…”  Her voice trailed off, as they all completed the thought silently.

Jacen looked up at his sister.  Jaina looked back at him.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” they said in unison, then both twins smiled.

Tenel Ka looked from one Solo to the other.  “I don’t understand.”

Putting his arm around Tenel Ka’s shoulder, Jacen sighed.  Jaina laughed.  “Well, between the Solos and the Skywalkers, that’s kind of the family motto,” she said.

The warrior girl turned to her fiancee.  “Jacen, that is very strange.”

With a lopsided smirk, Jacen replied, “Stranger than the Jedi Knight son of a smuggler and a princess and the Jedi Knight daughter of a prince and a warrior falling in love and getting engaged?”

Tenel Ka was silent for a moment.  Finally, she leaned into Jacen and placed a kiss on his cheek.  “Your point is well taken.”

There was a long, loud yawn from elsewhere.  The three young people looked up now, finding the Millenium Falcon’s owner-captain, Han Solo, emerging from the living area.

“What is everyone doing up so early?” he asked, yawning again.

“Actually, Dad, only Tenel Ka is up early,” said Jaina.

“Come again?”

“Jaina and I are up late.”

Solo placed a distinctly paternal hand on his daughter’s shoulder.  “What happened?  Seemed like a perfectly smooth ride to me.”

“General Solo–“

Han shook his head.  “Tenel Ka, I’ve told you before– you can call me ‘Dad.’  You’re only technically not a member of the family.”

The young woman’s mouth opened, then closed.  She tried again, with the same results.  “I am not sure I can.”

“Then will you at least make it ‘Mister Solo’?  I haven’t been General Solo for a long time.”

His daughter gave him a playful poke in the ribs.  “That’s not what the folks at Fleet Headquarters say every time they reactivate your commission.”

“Anyway,” Han continued, “you were saying, Tenel Ka?”

“I was saying… Mister Solo… that the three of us had the same sense of restlessness last night, the feeling that something will be happening soon.”

The twins looked at their father.  Han looked at his kids.  He waved his arms.  “Oh, no– don’t you dare say that you’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

As if the universe heard him, a distinct beeping came from the direction of the Falcon’s cockpit.  Immediately, all four of them were on their way.  They hustled down the circular passageways until they reached the old ship’s control center.  Without thinking, Han Solo slid into the pilot’s seat, and Jaina took the seat beside him.  Jacen dropped into the third seat, behind his sister, and Tenel Ka stood beside.

The tumbling, twisting energies of the hyperspace domain swirled outside the cockpit’s transparisteel windows.  The ship, en route from Yavin IV, where the three Jedi had been, to Hapes, the homeworld of Tenel Ka’s father, had taken a long detour to view some spectacular stellar phenomena.

“Dad, what is it?” asked Jaina.

“I don’t know,” he answered, checking controls.  “It looks like we picked up a distress call.”  He swiveled his chair so he could see Jacen, sitting at the navigation console.  “Son, can you see if you can tune it in?”

“Gotcha,” he replied, then pulled on a headset.  He began fiddling with a few switches and dials, trying to focus their communications system on the weak signal.  A monitor light flickered, then grew to a solid glow.  “I’ve got something… but it’s mostly static.”  He listened for a moment, then Jacen’s faced blanched.

Tenel Ka noticed at once.  “Jacen, what is wrong?”

Jacen’s only answer was to flip a pair of switches.  “I’m putting it on the speakers.”

Sharp static filled the air, making the listeners wince, then a few faint sounds were interspersed, resembling words.  Then, they made a few out.  “Zzzzz… bzzz… Republic Cruiser… zzzz… ssss… Jedi… bzzz… bzzz… engaged… zzzz… mayday… ssss… Sith enclave…”

A few words, but enough.

Jacen shut down the speaker.  “It just keeps repeating like that.  The signal’s coming from some kind of automated beacon.  If we drop out of hyperspace, we should be right on top of it.”

Han Solo nodded, and grasped the levers that would bring the Falcon back into normal space, and pulled back on them slowly.  Outside the cockpit, the swirling lights coalesced into long, bright streaks, which finally shortened to the familiar twinkling points.

From the hall, there was a low, long growl.  The massive frame of Chewbacca, the ship’s official co-pilot, filled the entryway.  He barked a few interrogatory syllables.

“Yeah, buddy, we’re going to sublight,” Han answered.  “We’ve just stumbled on yet another adventure.”

The Wookiee shook his shaggy head, mumuring something that only Jacen was close enough to hear.  The young man smiled and turned to Chewbacca.  “Not it’s not normal, Chewie, but you’ve got to admit– you didn’t exactly get into this family in a normal way, either.”

Chewbacca chuckled, recalling how the life-debt he’d come to owe a scoundrel of a smuggler had led him to this point.  He playfully mussed Jacen’s hair in reply.

Jaina turned.  “You want your seat, Chewie?”  The Wookiee responded in the negative.  “Thanks.”  Jaina faced forward again, then pointed out of the window.  “I think we’ve found it.”

Everyone followed Jaina’s finger, finding the drifting metal shape, slowly tumbling across their path.  Han reached across the controls, slowing the ship.  He squinted at it.

“Yeah, it looks like a jettisoned emergency buoy, all right,” he said.

“It looks quite old,” Tenel Ka offered.

“Almost ancient,” agreed Jacen.  “I don’t know if we should risk tractoring it in.  It might be too fragile.”

Han rubbed his chin, thinking, then turned to Chewbacca.  “Chewie, do we still have that EVA setup in the hold?”

Chewbacca nodded, then added something else.

“Well, who do you think will fit in it?”

The Wokiee turned to the young woman in his usual seat and barked.  Jaina sighed.  “I should’ve stayed in bed,” she said, “sleeping or not.”

TO BE CONTINUED…