The Jon Solo Chronicles Book 1: A New Hope

Chapter 2: Escape from Tattooine

Jon helped Luke and Ben get settled in the lounge on the Falcon. Despite having called the Falcon a piece of junk earlier, Luke was fascinated by the ship. His eyes darted all over the lounge, taking everything in. This did not go unnoticed by Jon.

"Yeah, once you get past all the shabbiness, the Falcon's pretty cool, right? he said.

"Yeah, I guess so," said Luke. "But what does your father mean by "special modifications?""

"Oh, stuff that makes the Falcon go faster," said Jon. "Compartments for smuggling. That sort of thing. Not to mention, some of those modifications are things that make me feel happy. Like this, for example. Come here." Jon lead Luke down the hall to the door just outside the cockpit. "Don't mind us, Chewie," the boy told the Wookiee, who was still prepping the Falcon. I just wanna show Luke something."

*And I know what that thing is,* said Chewie, with a chuckle in his growl.

"Look here," said Jon. He pointed to the wall near the door. Luke could see that the letters H.S. and J.S. were carved into the wall. "H.S. for Han Solo, J.S.  for Jon Solo," Jon explained proudly. "Dad and I did this when I was about four or five. And if I ever get any siblings or when I have kids of my own, their initials  will be carved here, too. If you want, I can also show you my cabin."

"Ok," said Luke. He followed Jon as the child led him down the hall to his cabin.

"Here we are," Jon announced, smiling happily. "It doesn't look special, I know. But it works for me."

"I think it's perfect," said Luke. "You and your father seem very close."

"We are," Jon agreed. "He means everything to me."

"I wish I could have known my father like that," said Luke. The sadness in his voice was not lost on Jon.

"Are you an orphan?" asked Jon.

"My parents died when I was a baby," said Luke.

"Oh, we have something in common then," said Jon. "Because my mom died right after she gave birth to me. My grandparents, her parents, I mean, brought me to my dad when I was a week old. Chewie came around a couple years later, when I was like three. I can't remember for sure. But it's pretty much been the three of us ever since. In case you're wondering, my dad's also an orphan. But he doesn't really like to talk much about his childhood."

"I was raised by my Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru," Luke continued. "We lived on a moisture farm. But they were recently killed by Stormtroopers."

"Forgive me for sounding rude," said Jon. "But what did a couple of moisture farmers do to get murdered by Stormtroopers?"

"It had to do with the droids," said Luke. "R2, that's the astro droid, he had a message for Ben. And I guess the Empire was desperate to find R2 before the droid found Ben. Luckily, Ben found us first."