Missing Piece

28. Solo

   Matt and I were sitting in the control room, alone. We were the two most important persons in this ship, which felt very weird.
  "This is odd, isn't it?"
  Matt looked up from his hands. "Huh, what is?"
  "You know, being the most important persons on a mission. I'm not used to giving orders."
  Matt nodded. "Yes... odd indeed..."

  Our useless conversation was interrupted by beeps and red alarm lights.
  Matt got up quickly and looked at the screen.
I stood up too. "What is it?"
  His face looked very pale as he turned around. "We're being robbed."
  I knew that that happened often, smugglers stealing First Order goods. Why would Matt be so concerned about it?
  I locked the door. "We'll let the troopers handle it."
  Both Matt and I watched what was happening, live on the screen.
  Gas filled the room, all stormtroopers blacked out.
  "How is that possible? Those helmets are designed to protect you from every kind of gas," I panicked.
  Matt didn't listen to what I said, he turned even more white.
  Two figures appeared from the gas, both wearing a gas mask. One was big and hairy, a Wookiee, the other was an older man.
  "Han Solo," Matt mumbled to himself, empty of emotions.
  My eyes widened, it couldn't be. From all people it couldn't be the infamous Han Solo and his Chewbacca.
  "We need to stop them." I rushed to the door and stepped into the hallway as the intruders took their masks off. Matt was right, it was Solo.
  Matt didn't doubt to take place next to me.
  "Chewie, take them out."
  'Chewie' took a metal pipe from his belt and blew in it, aiming at me.
  The dart never hit me. Matt had pushed me out of its way, and he was hit instead. Matt immediately fell to the ground.
  "No!" I checked his pulse, he was alive, but tranquillised.
  "Get up." Solo pointed his blaster in my direction. "Be a nice girl and tell me, which way are the expensive goods?"
  I stood up. "I will never tell you."
  "Look Chewie, we've got ourselves a stubborn one." Han smiled and turned to Chewie. But then, within the blink of an eye, he turned back around and held his blaster against my head.
"Your head or the heading, Lady."
  I froze, not only because of his threat, but because of the fact his skills seemed familiar. There was only one other person with these kind of skills, Matt.
He will hear about this.
  I turned around and headed towards the supply room.
  I didn't see nor hear Solo mumble, he looked at Matt. "Kid? No, that can't be..."He was ripped out of his thoughts by Chewie who motioned him to follow. Solo stood up and pretended like it never happened.

  I entered the code of the supply room. "Here it is."
  Chewie rushed into the room and started taking the most expensive goods.
  Solo was still pointing his blaster at me.
  I hastily looked over my shoulder, trying to see if Matt was alright, but he was nowhere to be found.
How?
  I tried to suppress a grin, he must have a plan. I started to distract Solo. "You're Han Solo right? The smuggler and Resistance hero? And that must be Chewbacca?" I gestured at the beast.
  Solo only nodded.
  I examined him, he did look familiar. But I was 100% sure that I had never seen him before.
  I couldn't keep a certain thought out of my mind as I looked at the Solo. It kept haunting me, made me angry.
  "What did you do?" I asked, bitterness bleeding through.
  Solo looked confused. "I've done a lot of things in my life, you have to be a little more specific." He smirked.
  I was planning on wiping his smirk away.
  "What did you do to Ben Solo? How could the oh so kind Resistance hero raise such a dark and broken man."
  Solo's face turned pale. "I don't know how you know this, but it's none of your business."
Oh it certainly is.
  I was furious, how could he deny his duty as a parent?
  "You don't deserve him as your son," my voice copied a familiar kind of emptiness. I finally gained a certain understanding towards Ren. No wonder he doesn't like to connect with others, if all they do is to let him down.
  "It wasn't my fault. I couldn't help him," Han said stubbornly, convincing himself.
  "Not your fault?! You're his father for crying out loud. Are you implying that it's his own fault he grew up to be the man he is today?"
  I don't know why, but I had this urge to defend Kylo. I just had to stand up for him, since I had the feeling no one else did.
No one is born broken, they get crushed.
"If you can't help him, who can?"

  Solo rubbed his temples in distress. "I don't know what went wrong okay?! We tried to raise him as a normal kid, which didn't work out. So we brought him to his uncle Luke to train him, which didn't work out great either." Han sighed helplessly. "I only wanted a normal life with a normal kid..."
  "Don't you think Ben wanted the exact same thing?"

  Our revealing conversation was interrupted by none other than a furious Kylo Ren.
What the fuck is he doing here
Chewbacca had already left to take his reward to their ship, so Han was on his own.
"Han Solo."
Han turned pale as Kylo activated his cross-guard lightsaber. Not because Solo feared for his life, no, because he feared for what he might have to do.
Ren's free hand turned into a fist, which seemed to be his trademark.
"You don't need to do this, kid... Think of the girl, she cares about you." Han made calming gestures with his hands.
"I have no intention to kill you, for now." Kylo's voice sounded unpredictable, it was impossible to hear his emotions.
It felt like I was watching a movie. This couldn't be real, the famous Han Solo facing his son. I could only stand there and watch.
"How are you going to talk yourself out of it this time hm? It's hard to convince yourself that you did the right thing, let alone convince me, you must have learned that by now." Kylo swirled dangerously with his lightsaber.
That's when I unfroze, I stepped between them. "He doesn't have to."
Kylo looked down at me, more intimidating than ever. "What are you doing?"
I heard something like confusion in his voice, yet also frustration.
"I'm stopping you from making a big mistake," I said with more confidence than I actually had.
Kylo stepped closer in the heat of the argument, deactivating his lightsaber in order not to harm me. "You don't know what that man made me go through."
"That's true, I don't. But if you do this, there will be more you'll have to go through." I collected all the courage I had left and bridged the space between me and Kylo, placing my forehead against his helmeted one. "You'll get through it." I closed my eyes. "I believe in you."
And that was all it took for the Wookiee to knock out Kylo with the end of a huge firearm.
First I felt a raging pain in the back of my head, then everything turned black.