What If : The Story Retold

Project Krystal.

"What a piece of junk!" Luke exclaimed irritably upon entering the docking bay, only to be met with a ship which looked as if it predated the Old Republic.

"She'll make point five past light speed" Han interjected as he came out from under the Millennium Falcon, "She may not look like much but she's got it where it counts, kid. I made a lot of special modifications myself. But we're a little rushed, so if you'll just get on board, we'll get outta here."

"Good," Obi-Wan gestured for Luke to go ahead where Han was pointing up the ramp to the ship, "The sooner we leave, the sooner we can leave this whole fiasco behind us."

"My thoughts exactly," Han smiled smugly, believing the two strangers had just gotten themselves into trouble with one of the crime bosses, something he knew all too well about.

Sighing and giving the grubby looking ship another once over, Luke did as he was told. He and Leia were excellent pilots thanks to all the years of training their father had given them. And whilst Anakin had never exactly been particular about the condition of his ships, he had always told Luke and Leia to trust in their instincts to fly, even if the ship was barely holding together. So Luke wasn't usually particular about the look of the ships he flew but he wouldn't be flying the Millennium Falcon, so he was worried if they could trust their lives in the hands of a dodgy smuggler and his older than the force ship.

Making their way into the main area of the ship, Han chuckled as he followed them.

"Drop the cloaks fellas," he huffed in amusement, "It's a long way to Mandalore and there's no one but me and Chewie here to see you. What are you, some kind of Jedi?"

As Han closed the main doors to the ship and told Chewie to take off, Luke and Obi-Wan exchanged glaces which were a mixture of amusement and worry.

Feeling the ship leave the ground and make for the sky, Obi-Wan nodded his permission for Luke to remove their cloaks. As Han had just pointed out, when they went into lightspeed, it would just be the four of them for quite a while until they reached Mandalore.

With lightspeed now engaged, Luke pulled his hood off and took off his cloak, followed closely by Obi-Wan. Even on a desolate planet like Tatooine, anyone in their right mind would recognise a lightsaber.

"You're Jedi?" Han put the pieces together, "Hey, hey, I didn't sign up to ferry Jedi-"

"We're paying you more than enough credits for your services," Obi-Wan pointed out.

"Yeah but I didn't know you guys were Jedi!" Han retorted, "Kriff! I just thought you two had gotten yourself into some trouble with one of the Crime Lords, that, I can just about handle for a price. I don't know, perhaps you old man had stollen weapons to sell on the black market or the kid had gotten too frisky with one of Jabba's twilek girls. I didn't care, for the right price, I'll do just about anything. But Jedi, that's a deal breaker! Everyone's upset the Crime Sindicates a little, big deal, but Maul, he's not the kind of person you want to go against. If he finds out I'm smuggling Jedi-"

"He won't find out," Luke interrupted him, "Once we're on Mandalore, we'll get you your money and we'll be on our way."

***

"We've entered the Mandalore system," one of the bridge officers informed the Sith Lord, prompting him to grin with his pointed teeth.

"Maul!" Leia snarled as she was brought up to the bridge, poised and dignified despite the fact she was still shackled and held prisoner by the criminals around her, "I wondered where you slipped off to at the end of my interrogation. Slithered back into your shadows of scum and filth, I see."