Star Wars EU Ships and One-Shots

A Corellian Lullaby

Like Leia, Han was scared to know the full story, too . . .

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  She was nearly too young to be the children's mother. Just a month shy of turning twenty-two, hardly anyone suspected her of being the mother to the six year-old boy and the two year-old girl. Sure, she was young, but she'd lived life this way long enough to gain some responsibility. She knew this way of life too well to know how to get herself out of it. So, here she was, her world spinning and she was pulling her children into it, too.

  Jaina Solo sighed, shutting her eyes and taking a deep breath. She looked up and smiled softly at her son and daughter. They sat together in the closet, the boy holding his sister close. "You're going to be a brave boy, right?" she asked him, crawling over to sit with them. She pulled them both into her lap and kissed her boy's head before ruffling his dark hair. "Promise me you'll be a big, brave boy, okay? Mommy needs you to be really strong." Her son looked up to her with his beautiful hazel eyes. Sure, he got them from his father, but Jaina loved them far more on her little boy than on her boyfriend. Her young son, Han, nodded, burying his head into her chest. Jaina held him close, rocking the three of them.
  The peaceful moment ended when the screams returned. Jaina remembered them from the last time her boyfriend's employers had gotten upset with Jonash. It seemed too often now that they were angry with him. Jonash had always assured her that the kids were safe at home, that the pirate whom he worked for, Garris Shrike, would never bother to stop by a poor Corellian town just to harp on a worker. But, like he so often was, Jonash had been wrong. And yet, he didn't care.
  Jaina would have left him years ago, but she had no place to run to and Jonash made enough money to keep one of the kids dressed and fed. Jaina worked for the other child. So, she'd put up with him for all the children's lives. She'd tolerated his abusiveness this far, but she didn't know what to do now. What if the other pirates came further into the house? What if they found her children here, hiding in a small closet of the children's bedroom? Jaina sobbed silently into Han's hair, trying to remain calm for his and Allcyan's sake.

  "Jaina!" came Jonash's screams, urging her out of her hiding place. "Kriff, Jaina, just get out here and bring the blasted kids!"

  Jaina shook her head, holding tighter on to Han and Allcyan. "No," she whimpered.

  "Jaina!"

  "Not today," she cried quietly to no one. "Pleeease not today! The kids . . . they're too young. They deserve so much better than this."

  "Jaina!"
  "I'm sorry."
  "Jaina!" Jonash burst in with Shrike and grabbed her by her black hair. She yelped, dropping the kids. Jaina thrashed in his arms, doing her best to defend her children, but she was weak, defenseless and Jonash and Shrike were so much stronger than her. She watched as the Corellian pirate snatched her children. She heard their screams of protest and she screamed back, still thrashing in Jonash's grip.

  "Mommy!" Han screamed, trying to hit at Garris while he carried him off. Another pirate came and took the girl from Shrike to deal with her. "NO!" Jaina let loose a blood-curdling scream, thrashing harder and swinging her elbows at Jonash. "My babies! Leave them alone! They're useless! They're small and weak and they're just kids!"

  Garris smiled at her, wrapping a hand over Han's mouth. "And kids can are precious and innocent . . . which makes them the perfect asset for a band of pirates, huh?"

  Han bit the man's hand and yelled again, "Mommy!"

  "HAN!"

  Garris slapped the boy's mouth and hurried out, the man holding Allcyan following.

  "HAN! CYAN!" She sobbed and screamed and thrashed until she could no longer hear her children's calls. Jonash let her drop to the floor and she fell into a heap at his feet, pure, raw, untamed hatred teeming in her big brown eyes. "You let them take my kids!" She bounced onto her feet and drove Jonash to a wall, her nails scraping along his skin. Her teeth gritted, she said in an awful, tortured voice, "You let them take my babies!" She kept him there until Jonash regained control, dragging her to their room and holding her hostage. He locked the door behind him and cuffed her hands together to the bed's rials on the headboard. "You gave them my babies! How dare you!"
  "Relax, Jaina. They're just fine now."