TABLE OF CONTENTS Title Page Copyright Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Images from the Film Epilogue About the Author
A long time ago in a galaxy far far away
CHAPTER 1 THE NIGHT HAD EYES Somewhere over Narro Sienar Boulevard the searchlight searchlight from an Imperial patrol bike scanned the blackness cutting through clouds of exhaust and industrial pollution in search of trouble The kid ducked the surveillance with instinctive ease cut left around a corner and vanished into shadow The gang would be looking for him three blocks away under the overpass where the deal had gone sour All the kid had to do was keep them guessing and he had no problem with that He'd been outwitting lower life forms all his life as a matter of self preservation His name was Han and he liked to steal things Behind him warehouses and tenements rose into the night their outlines carving darkened shapes against the wider cityscape Sirens sounded in the distance but Han hardly heard them Having grown up there in the alleyways and shipyards of Corellia he'd long before gotten used to the smells and sounds of the city It was home Somewhere above him the searchlight swung back around the patrol bike prowling closer for a second pass
but it didn't matter Han had already found what he'd gone looking for The M 68 landspeeder was exactly where he'd seen it earlier an irresistible temptation just waiting for the right set of hands to coax it to life and claim it In one fluid motion he moved up alongside it crouched down and slipped underneath underneath Gloves on and tools out penlight clamped in his teeth he worked fast rewiring the speeder's alarm system and bypassing its security mechanisms Thirty seconds later he was jumping into the front seat popping the panel off the steering column to get at the starter and battery wires Sparks flew as he stripped the wires wrapped them together and tapped the starter He sat there for a moment listening to the speeder's repulsorlift engine roar to life His face was caked in soot and ash nose bleeding freely and left eye starting to bruise from the beating they'd thrown him down at the docks but those injuries were already forgotten Behind the wheel he felt reborn as fresh and alive as he'd ever felt in his entire life A cockeyed smile curved his mouth Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a pair of aurodium plated gold dice and hung them from the speeder's rearview mirror To the kid's eye they looked just right a promise of something better better just around the corner Good luck Fortune and glory Whatever it is he thought I'll take it For a kid like Han around eighteen and chasing whatever whatever dream might get him off that cesspool of a planet a
