He dismounted his Tauntaun, then glanced around to watch the activity taking

place inside the mammoth cave. Wherever he looked he saw things being carried,

assembled, or repaired. Rebels in gray uniforms rushed to unload supplies and

adjust equipment. And there were robots, mostly R2 units and power droids, that

seemed to be everywhere, rolling or walking through the ice corridors, efficiently

performing their innumerable tasks.

Han was beginning to wonder if he were mellowing with age. At first he had

had no personal interest in or loyalty to this whole Rebel affair. His ultimate

involvement in the conflict between Empire and Rebel Alliance began as a mere

business transaction, selling his services and use of his ship, the Millennium Falcon.

The job had seemed simple enough: Just pilot Ben Kenobi, plus young Luke and

two droids, to the Alderaan system. How could Han have known at the time that he

would also be called on to rescue a princess from the Empire's most feared battle

station, the Death Star?

Princess Leia Organa…

The more Solo thought about her, the more he realized how much trouble he

eventually bought himself by accepting Ben Kenobi's money. All Han had wanted

originally was to collect his fee and rocket off to pay back some bad debts that hung

over his head like a meteor ready to fall. Never had he intended to become a hero.

And yet, something had kept him around to join Luke and his crazy Rebel

friends as they launched the now-legendary space attack on the Death Star.

Something. For the present, Han couldn't decide just what that something was.

Now, long after the Death Star's destruction, Han was still with the Rebel

Alliance, lending his assistance to establish this base on Hoth, probably the bleakest

of all planets in the galaxy. But all that was about to change, he told himself. As

far as he was concerned, Han Solo and the Rebels were about to blast off on divergent

courses.

He walked rapidly through the underground hangar deck where several Rebel

fighter ship were docked and being serviced by men in gray assisted by droids of

various designs. Of greatest concern to Han was the saucer-shaped freighter ship

resting on its newly installed landing pods. This, the largest ship in the hangar, had

garnered a few new dents in its metal hull since Han first hooked up with Skywalker

and Kenobi. Yet the Millennium Falcon was famous not for its outward appearance

but for its speed: This freighter was still fastest ship ever to make the Kessel Run or

to outrun an Imperial TIE fighter.

Much of the Falcon's success could be attributed to its maintenance, now

entrusted to the shaggy hands of a two-meter-tall mountain of brown hair, whose face

was at the moment hidden behind a welder's mask.

Chewbacca, Han Solo's giant Wookiee copilot, was repairing the Millennium

Falcon's central lifter when he noticed Solo approaching. The Wookiee stopped his

work and raised his face shield, exposing his furry countenance. A growl that few

non-Wookiees in the universe could translate roared from his toothy mouth.

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