Anakin spent the next hour hacking his way into the remains of the ship, hoping to find his holomap. Without it, there was pretty much no way to figure out how to get back into civilization. He still felt uneasy using his lightsaber out in the open, even though no one except Artoo was around to see it. But it was the only way to enter the crumpled ship.

To his relief, the holomap was still in the cockpit of the ship, and mostly undamaged except for a couple of minor dents and loose wires. Once the wires were fixed, Anakin plugged the device into Artoo, who helped calculate where the nearest town was.

Thankfully, there was one about five miles away. With one last glance at the ruined ship, Anakin and Artoo headed off to the town.

Every second, Anakin was reminded of how much he hated desert planets. This place was not as bad as Tatooine, because it only had one sun, but it was still hot and sandy and dry. The whole land was parched, begging for one drop of water, and the plants were limited to leafless, shriveled, scrubby bushes. The heat was nauseating. Nothing was tall enough to provide shade from the scorching sun. On top of all that, Anakin was wearing dark clothes. He felt like a magnet that was attracting the desert's wrath.

It took them at least an hour, probably more, to get to the town. Then, the next task was to buy some overpriced water from one of the shops. That was an annoying way to spend hard-earned money, but there was no other way to get water out here.

"You're lucky that the desert can't suck your fuel right out of you, Artoo," Anakin muttered. The droid beeped in agreement.

Then they had to buy a ship. The choices were limited, because Jubilar wasn't exactly a thriving trade center, and Anakin did not want to spend his remaining money on another ship. The one he ended up buying was small and junky and it barely worked. It needed several repairs before it could be rendered flyable.

So he rented a space and some tools, just as he had done seven years ago, when he and Padmé were trying to get off of Coruscant. Back then, neither of them had any idea what direction their lives would take...

He was forced to cut off the thought before it could get too overwhelming.

Thankfully, the task of repairing the ship was challenging enough to help him take his mind off these ideas. The main jets had to be completely taken apart because they were the main problem with the ship. Their internal parts were covered in dust; this ship had obviously not been used in a while.

He had been feverishly working for a long time, trying to hurry the process along, when a voice startled him. "So, you know a thing or two about ships, huh?"

Anakin glanced up to see a teenager standing there at the door, with disheveled clothes and a cocky smirk. He was probably about fifteen or sixteen. "You could say that," Anakin said coolly, trying to decide whether or not the kid looked trustworthy. "Why?"

The boy shrugged and pushed a lock of greasy brown hair away from his face. "Well, I know some things about ships too. Maybe I could help you fix that piece of junk?"

Anakin couldn't deny that the ship was hardly worth more than scrap metal, but his suspicions of the kid kept growing. "I know there's a catch. What would you get out of it? You want me to hire you? I don't have a ton of money."

"Obviously." The boy's smirk widened. "But I don't even have a ship, and I don't need much money. I need to get off this blasted planet."

"Well, I'm not going to be your chauffer. I'll only take you if it's convenient. Where are you trying to go?"

"Coruscant."

Anakin blinked in surprise. "Really? Why?"

"None of your business. Will you take me there if I help you fix the ship?"

A little bit of help might be useful, and the boy did want to go to Coruscant. This would save time, not waste it. And besides, even if the kid had malicious intentions, he couldn't be dangerous. He was wiry and scrawny, and he didn't seem to have a strong presence in the Force.

"All right," Anakin said. "But I'll have you know, I'm really pressed for time, and if you do anything that slows me down, the deal is off. And also, I'll do the flying, and you won't tell anyone about me."

The kid shrugged again. "Fair enough."

Working with this teenager proved to go quite smoothly. He was competent and useful, knowing how to use all the tools and how all the parts fit together. The two of them got the ship into flying condition in just a few hours- far less than what Anakin had expected.

"How old are you, exactly?" Anakin asked as they boarded the ship with Artoo.

"Seventeen."

"You look younger than that."

The kid made a face. "Ugh, I get that a lot."

Anakin smiled slightly and fired up the ship's engine. "And what's your name?"

The kid leaned back in the copilot's chair and kicked his feet up on the dashboard. "I'm Han Solo, and one day I'll be a pilot for the Empire."

(Author's Note: GASP, Han Solo! I've always wanted the Handsome Cocky Pilots of Star Wars to meet. ^.^ In case you didn't see my status update on my profile page, updates are now every Sunday because I need more weekend days to work on the chapters. So, Chapter 17 will be released next Sunday. :) Please continue to vote and comment! Never feel shy about commenting, even if you don't think you have anything good to say. I love to hear from you all. Thanks for reading!)