When life gives you lemons, make grape juice. Then sit back and watch everyone go 'wtf' as they try to figure you out.

Han Solo

"In part it means that what you don't know you cannot reveal under torture IF the Empire should ever get interested in your activities," Elrondir mugs from the side.

. . .

Okay. I can . . . live with that. Not like I'm really surprised by that angle, considering that they HAD said they wanted as little Imperial involvment as possible for this trip. Had paid a LOT of money to make sure of as little involvement as possible.

Where they actually are nice enough to tell me what the HELL is going on here AND do it to where I won't have to worry about the Empire coming back and looking for ME and Chewie? Hey, I'm ALL for that!

. . .

I'm also for them not having actually shot me when that . . . that short guy with the ears got the drop on me for drawing on Inquirer! GODS! How'd he do that?!

Whatever. I'm . . . man enough to admit that I wasn't exactly in the right there. She did startle me by doing that spooky stuff she did. Oh, it's my ship and I should be able to do . . .

Then again . . .

Ah, forget it. We're all good here right now, right?

. . .

Tale she tells is . . . weird but it . . .

I . . .

Sigh, okay. Sign me up! I believe in that Force crap now! The only thing that fits.

Alright, I have a bunch of . . . people who are Force users on the Falcon. Not exactly Jedi or Sith (huh?), but they use the same stuff and . . .

. .

And I'm not believing that I'm believing. At least Inquirer did the favor for me in her explanations that this Force doesn't . . . necessarily control MY actions. Can bend the outcome of a situation, but not really control me like a puppet. That I can stomach.

Oh, not to say that I buy into EVERYTHING Inquirer is telling me. Seen too much of life and people for . . . .well, a bit of cynicism goes with the business I am in. I mean . . . really! But the thing is that I have, on my own, figured out that she and her gang are somehow connected with the Rebel Alliance and have some kind of information (spy info) on an Imperial weapon system of some sort. I also have to say that some slips that that Chiana made (she says "unexplored territories", I say "unknown space") tells me that they are not REALLY from a galaxy far far away (much less a LONG time from now)!

Myself, I think it's all a bunch of smoke and mirrors. I figure that they're trying to sell this "other reality" crap (making any would be Imperial bloodhounds figure them as crazy) in order to throw off pursuit to the real thing. I figure that much, anyway.

So . . . the Rebel Alliance is getting help from some group from Unknown Space? Yeah, there are areas in my galaxy that to this day have yet to be "officially" explored by . . . . either the Old Republic (back in the day) or by the Empire (now). Those areas are called Uknown Space (or the "Uncharted Territories" as I've overheard Chiana mention).

Maybe it happened this way? Maybe after a few repelled forays into their place these guys (TSA) finally decided on seeing what these Imperials want and keep sending forces to explore (and exploit). Maybe seeing the Empire up close they decide on helping the Rebel Aliance in order to set up some regime more . . . friendly to their neighbors?

Maybe. Or maybe I'm totally wrong. Remains to be seen but I'll bet good money . . .

. . .

On another note . . .Varied group we have here, according to Inquirer. Lots of different technology levels before they'd banded together: from wind powered sailing ships to starships that are on par with what I'm familiar with. That's very possible, really. I myself have seen worlds who've fallen backwards, tech wise. Some who've yet to REACH certain tech levels but have commodities that certain . . . parties find profitable to export from (or exploit from) the natives. So what if some of this group comes from worlds that the law usually wouldn't allow contact with (coming under the heading of "not ready for first contact).

Not like THAT'S stop the shadowy types out there.

That said, though on the technology angle.

Though . . . some of their means of empowering their ships to move I'd . . . hesitate in using. Hell, this business about "warp cores" and antimatter . . . be like riding around in a bomb just waiting to blow! I'll take my ol' hypermatter engine the Falcon has any old day over that!

Just two things now I want to go back over here about, for clarity's sake.

First, what is this about the Emperor being a Sith? Is that some kind of evil Jedi as what I got from Inquirer here?

Second . . .

"Uh, no offense but what is the problem with . . . ?" I gesture back at around the corner where Bambi and Fifi had put themselves, out of my sight.

Inquirer

Rolling my eyes at the second question takes effort. Then again, if after all this time while being in the job I'd been in . . .

. . .

"As for the first question the man keeps that secret even to this day," I explain. "Though I'm sure that it is whispered that those who cross him come to some . . . weird ends? Things like strange deaths of one type or another? Choking deaths though nobody was in the room? Signs of being electrocuted though nobody in maintenance ever finds even the slightest signs of bad wiring? Things like that?"

Going onto explain after I get an affirmative, I tell just why and how (though) . . .

Well, it's involved but I answer enough to his satisfaction. This of course leads to that other questions like just what IS a sith and all that. Sith Lords are not exactly Dark Jedi but they are close. Basically while similar, Dark Jedi are Jedi who've fallen for the Dark Side. They study both Light and Dark sides of the Force but use mostly Dark Side stuff. Sith are different in that they are DEVOTED and study exclusively the Dark Side, if you catch my meaning. They'd be termed . . . specialists.

More or less, anyhow.

Fleshing out what Sith are (admittedly only through the movie and other story material I've seen and read over the years) I continue on with telling the tenants of both Sith and Jedi (as comparison and contrasts).

The Jedi Code:

There is no emotion; there is peace.
There is no ignorance; there is knowledge.
There is no passion; there is serenity.
There is no death; there is the Force.

The Sith Code:

Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.

"And then there is their philosophy . . . ," I go on after I see that Han acutally blinks at that last part.

Sith philosophy

Fear leads to anger.
Anger leads to hate.
Hatred leads to power.
Power leads to victory.
Let your anger flow through you.
Your hate will make you strong.
True power is only achieved through
testing the limits of one's anger,
passing through unscathed.
Rage channeled through anger is unstoppable.
The dark side of the Force
offers unimaginable power.
The dark side is stronger than the light.
The weak deserve their fate.

"Kind of gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling right here, eh?" I say, thumping my stomach instead of the area where my heart would be (if I was human and I HAD a heart).

Despite himself, Solo shivers a little bit. Hardened to life though he can be, there are still things that can . . .reach (and I do admit that I CAN reach people).

Kind of . . . .something I picked up along the way whilst in the Military branch of Intel and such. Long story. Part of being an officer and all that. In part, anyway.

"Yeah . . . bad case of heartburn," Han Solo mutters, getting the point. "And . . . it explains a few things about the policies that the Empire puts out. And it's only going to get worse . . .unless . . .

"Unless the Alliance gets what you're smuggling to them?" he ventures. "Some sort of . . . uh, no. Pardon."

"Weapon system technology . . . more than that I'm not telling," I say, giving him a bland smile (which I don't feel).

Not really happy that we actually might HAVE to unleash this horror on this reality (has a lot of ramifications). Then again, what we ARE trying to do is balance things out for the short term (putting a check on the Death Star of the Empire).

I just hope that the Alliance is enough on the ball to not let things spiral out of control after some kind of balance is struck...

Well, that's always the danger, eh? It is just that . . . I cannot stomach the thought of, now that we NEED to be in this universe and we . . .

Sigh.

We need to use the resources of this reality to get back home and I FEAR that means, bottom line, we get involved in their internal conflicts.

. . .

Then again . . . I DO hope that we can just get by with this transaction by delivering that data within R2-D2's memory banks. I've gotten a copy myself and run a few simulations and a snub fighter (like an X-wing or some such armed with proton torpedoes) could do that trick that we saw in the movies, running that canyon on the Death Star and targeting that port. Just a matter of GETTING a snub fighter (enough of them) to run the gauntlet of energy weapons emplacements and tie fighters. Being that the place we are heading HAS no defenses the ruling regime better make some quick and urgent calls to friends in to whatever friendly resources they can call upon. Enough and on time, getting the resources ready...

We shall see.

Speaking of seeing, I see that Solo hasn't totally bought into the idea that a possible turn of his future life has been documented back from where I hale from, but that's okay with me. Bet he thinks I'm just some kind of intel spook or whatever and that last bit about movies and other realities is just some (admittedly lame sounding) cover story.

. . .

At least he's settled enough with what I have told him, feeling there was enough "truth" hidden in the "lies" I tell him, for him to be more comfortable with this run of his. Perhaps he even feels good about it, now that I've told him about the Empire and the Sith?

Striking back at the Empire IS kind of Solo's style, if albeit in his own manner (and in ways that won't get him squashed for his troubles).

. . .

Whatever. Still, it's a damn shame that it looks like we might have to write off Princess Leia here. Most scenarios I computed have her ending up dead as colateral damage . . .IF she's still alive . . .

"As for the second question I fear you'll have to take it up with the girls," I answer.

Hey, it's a matter of privacy what befell them. I leave it to Solo and the girls to work it out (though if Solo is brainless enough to ask) . . .

Besides I really don't want to answer that question because it opens up all sorts of legions of cans of worms I'd like to avoid and leave at that.

And am relaying all this to the other Champions (including that Emperor peeping tom and all that). . . They need to be kept abreast of these things.

Later . . .

It has been ominously quiet aboard this run. Inquirer and the others sense that a shoe of some type awaits to drop . . .

And when they come out of hyperspace to their destination they find that the planet has . . . a fleet of some kind around it and . . .

Inquirer actually blinks, not at first believing what she is seeing.

"The prototype Death Star?!" she shakes her head. "What the Hell is THAT doing here?"

For those who are asking, besides the fact that the first Death Star took so long from Episode 3 to four (due to labor disputes and failed sabotage attemps), there had been a worry that the new technologies of the Death Star design would fail. A proof of concept model http:/ /starwars. wikia.com/ wiki/Death _Star_ prototype was made to show that the planet destroying weaponry worked and once it was proven, the incomplete hulk of the prototype was left behind.

And apparently somehow it got stolen and brought here. Why remains to be seen . .

A intense beam of energy and explosion across the Falcon's nose is more of the immediate problem right now....

Aboard a ship that has it's origin from an earlier war (with many upgrades garnered by hook and crook from God only knows how many places) . . .

1. "I said to put that warning shot across her nose," a terse female (but oddly familiar sound voice despite it's electronic twang) snaps. "Across, not UP her nose!"

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