“Failed to save a lemon cake, apparently,” Baasen said lightly.
“This was supposed to be the data,” Han said. “You blew the job. You said you knew where the information was. Now what have we got? A world died for this.”
“Now, not so hot nor so hasty. I never said it was in the case, did I? That’s a conclusion you drew on your own. Though, in fairness, I did encourage a certain misunderstanding.”
Scarlet made a sound between a cough and a laugh. Leia looked over at her. Sunnim looked from one woman to the other, his ears canted forward in confusion.
“It’s in the R-three,” Leia said.
Baasen clapped his remaining hand against his leg. “Now, that is a smart woman, my friend. Sees right to heart of things. Most people don’t know how easy it is to hide data in an R-three unit.”
“I know,” Leia said.
“Well,” Baasen continued, “I guessed he—”
“Thanks for that,” Han said. “Chewbacca, would you please escort our friend to the air lock. He’s walking home.”
“Ah!” Baasen said, holding up his palm. “Now, we had an agreement, boyo. And I’ve kept my part.”
Han felt Leia’s dark eyes on him. The truth was, he wasn’t sure he’d been joking about throwing Baasen out into space. His head felt thick with distress and exhaustion and the aftermath of the battle. He smirked, clapped the Mirialan on the shoulder, and left it at that.
Leia knelt beside the little red droid. The rat-bird droppings still streaked its finish. The R3 squealed and squeaked.
“It’s all right,” Leia said. “I’ve done this before. It isn’t going to hurt at all.”
A cascade of sparks flew from the droid’s chest panel, its indicator light dimmed and brightened again. A beam of light shot out, and the rough, jittering hologram of a man appeared standing on the floor in front of the R3. He was younger than Han had expected, with flowing, shoulder-length hair the color of honey and eyes that would have looked at home on a snake. His smile was obsequious and greedy.
Another hissing spark, and Galassian came alive. He pushed his hair back from his face. His grin was broad, and his eyes seemed to flicker in a way that made Han think of fevers. A pair of floating round droids hovered, one over each of the man’s shoulders.
“Master,” he said. “It is after much hard work and many weeks of effort that I bring this news to you. I was not certain, but now I am pleased to say that our fondest hopes are achieved. With this new toy I’ve found, your rule will be eternal and utterly, utterly absolute.”
Leia took in a deep breath. Her chin lifted in defiance. She looked beautiful that way.
Han reached up into the access panel. The relay under his fingertips was cold, the power light dull and dead.
“Still nothing,” he shouted.
Chewbacca’s roar rose from the flooring.
“I didn’t say it would be,” Han said. “But I’m telling you there’s no power right now.”
The Wookiee’s grumbling faded to near inaudibility. Han let himself fall back, massaging his hand. The rear deflector shields were proving harder to repair than he’d hoped, but he and Chewie were making progress. If he’d been able to reroute more of the power from life support, it would have been faster. Which brought him back again to the idea of throwing Baasen out the lock.
It was probably the smart thing. He didn’t have any illusions about the bounty hunter’s newfound allegiance. As soon as the opportunity arose and there looked like there was even a little bit of profit in it, Baasen would put a hole through Han’s chest and be glad that he’d done it. The truth was Han had killed people he liked more for less reason. It was the cold-bloodedness of it that escaped him, or that he told himself escaped him. He wondered whether, if he hadn’t snapped at Leia about her tactics on Kiamurr, he’d have had an easier time doing the obvious thing with Baasen. He hoped it would have been just as hard.
“Captain Solo,” Scarlet said. “You have a minute?”
“Sure,” Han said. “You got the whole thing decrypted, then?”
She nodded. “How are the repairs?”
“We’re getting there.”
Chewbacca howled and muttered. Scarlet laughed.
“It’s not as bad as he says,” Han said. “We’ll have full power to the deflectors before we jump again.”
The meeting was in the cabin Scarlet and Leia were sharing. With him added in, there almost wasn’t space, but the door closed and sealed, and Baasen and Sunnim weren’t likely to overhear anything they said.
“What’ve we got?” Leia asked as Han tried to find a comfortable way to squat by the bunks. It was strange being in his private quarters with the two attractive women. In other circumstances, he’d have been turning down the lights and pouring drinks. Now he just felt awkward.
“More than I expected,” Scarlet said. “It’s coordinates to the system and data from the sensor sweeps, but Galassian also made some exploratory surveys on the planet surface. Since the K’kybak died out, their planet’s pretty much gone to ruin. There are old cities drowned in swamps and fallen into the oceans. It’s not a hospitable place, either. Pretty much anything that isn’t predatory is poisonous.”
“Lovely,” Leia said.
“It gets better. The K’kybak left behind an old defense grid. It’s been unattended so long it’s mostly dead, but every now and then part of it comes active enough to throw off jumps going out of the system. That’s how Galassian found the place and decided it was something more than a swamp planet. The system that the defense grid uses to disable hyperdrive is in a barricaded temple. Galassian has a rough map of the place.”
“All right,” Leia said.
“He’s found the controls for the device, and he’s started working out a translation of the controls.”
“He has a manual for it already?” Han asked.
“The beginnings of one,” Scarlet said. “I’m going through it now. I don’t really understand most of it, but I’ve spent a lot of time understanding him. So some of it makes a little sense.”
“That’s a lot farther along than I’d hoped,” Leia said.
“I know. If he’s right, the Empire’s on the edge of controlling hyperspace jumps for ships, the hyperwave relays for information. Pretty much everything that uses hyperspace.”
“That’s bad,” Han said. “That’s really bad.”
“The good news is that getting to the device is a royal pain in the butt and viciously dangerous, so Galassian’s being very careful. The bad news is it’s a pain in the butt. And dangerous.”
“And I assume it’s in some totally secluded part of the galaxy that’s going to be difficult to reach, too,” Han said.
“Actually, that part’s not so bad,” Scarlet said. “It’s near some of the major lanes. No one’s used it because there’s nothing there, and ships kept disappearing when their jumps went wrong.”
Han narrowed his eyes. A tingling sensation started crawling up his neck.
“I think it’s safe to assume the Empire has exploratory and scientific teams in the system already,” Scarlet said. “I assume they have fighter escorts, but I don’t know if they’d risk putting in a heavy military presence until they knew the device was secured and inactive.”
“Where is it?” Leia asked.
“Fifth planet of the Seymarti system.”
Leia frowned.
“I’ve heard of that system,” she said. “Why have I heard of that system?”
“Because,” Han said, “you just sent Luke there.”
Twenty-Three
They drifted through the Trundalki system, an old smugglers’ stopover Han had used any number of times. He’d chosen it because it was a relatively short jump from Kiamurr, and because he could be pretty sure no Imperials would be waiting on the other side. The only planet in the system that had any life on it was unimaginatively named Trundalki IV, and was nothing more than a black-market shipyard surrounded by several dozen bars and gambl
ing dens. The Imperials had never bothered with Trundalki because there was nothing there the Imperials wanted. That was how to keep going. Keep your head down, move fast, and when the people looking to shoot you showed up, be somewhere else.
“Red Wave, this is Pointer, come in Red Wave,” Leia said for the hundredth time. Han could hear the words echoing down the corridor from her station in the cockpit. Red Wave was the call sign for the escort wing Wedge Antilles was commanding, and so far they weren’t answering. That could mean a lot of things. Maybe they were out of range of a hyperwave relay or having comm failures. It might mean they were too close to an Imperial listening post and were maintaining radio silence. It could mean they were dead.
Or it could mean they had jumped into the Seymarti system and been trapped by the Empire’s new hyperspace nullifier. Han tried to imagine being trapped in the same star system for his entire life and failed.
He headed to the lounge to get away from Leia’s pleading, but her voice followed him like the muttering of a ghost.
Scarlet and Chewbacca sat at the dejarik table with Baasen’s dim-witted Bothan thug and pilot. Scarlet was in the process of annihilating Sunnim’s side one piece at a time. Chewbacca watched and laughed at each new kill. The Bothan growled and counterattacked ineffectually. Within minutes his last piece was gone, and he stormed away from the table in a huff.
“You can try Chewie,” Han said, taking the Bothan’s place at the table. “He’s not bad.”
Scarlet laughed and turned off the board. “I like both my arms right where they are, thanks.”
Chewbacca cocked his head to one side and whimpered at her.
“I know you wouldn’t hurt me, sweetie,” she replied, patting the Wookiee’s huge arm. “Han and I are bantering. It’s what you do when you can’t have a grown-up conversation.”
“Hey,” Han said. “Are you saying I’m not a grown-up?”
“Is that what I was saying?” Scarlet bounced to her feet, gave Chewbacca one last pat, and wandered off toward the crew quarters, whistling.
Chewbacca growled and narrowed his eyes.
“I did not run her off.” Han leaned back in the chair and put his hands behind his head. “I think she’s worried Leia will catch the two of us together.”
Chewbacca bared his teeth in a Wookiee grin, then broke into a long, honking laugh.
“Laugh it up, but I know women. You didn’t see how Scarlet was at that ballroom back on Kiamurr. This thing will definitely be a problem. And soon. How are you doing on that shield generator?”
Chewbacca gave a massive shrug and howled.
“Yeah, I hear you. Let’s hope we don’t get shot anytime soon to test that. The Falcon’s been taking a beating lately, and at some point she’ll be more patch than ship. Probably just in time to really screw us up.”
Chewbacca glanced at something behind Han, and he turned in time to see Baasen wander into the lounge carrying a flask and four glasses in a wire mesh box. The Mirialan sat at their table with a friendly nod to Chewbacca and set down his bottle.
“Sunnim gone already, then?”
“Scarlet thumped him at dejarik and he left in a huff,” Han said. He picked the flask up and rotated it in his hands, but there was no marking on it. The metal felt cool to the touch, but not cold enough to have been refrigerated. A thin film of condensation had started to form on it.
“That,” Baasen said, taking the flask away from him, “is the last of a fantastic brandy I smuggled once. Been carrying it ever since, looking for an excuse. I want you to share it with me, Solo.”
“Wait, so while we were running around Kiamurr, you had a bottle secretly stashed down your pants?”
“Well, the universe is an unlikely place filled with unlikely people. Most things, I’m willing to lose, but there’s a few I keep near to hand. No pun intended.”
He took three of the glasses, set them on the table, then opened the flask with his teeth and poured. The smell of high-grade rocket fuel filled the air. He pushed one across the table with his steel-capped stump, but Han waved it off.
“Don’t need a drink.”
“Oh, boyo, you surely do,” Baasen said, then tossed off his own glass and gave Han a grin. The message was clear: It’s not poison. Chewbacca picked his glass up and sniffed at it, nose crinkling up with disgust.
Han sighed and raised his glass. “To your health.”
Baasen refilled his and tapped it against Han’s. “And to your own.”
They both drank. To Han’s surprise, the brandy was mild and vaguely sweet, while still strong enough to drop a charging bantha in its tracks. Chewbacca put his glass down without drinking and pushed his chair back, trying to get away from the smell.
“That’s not bad,” Han said as Baasen refilled his glass.
“Better than not bad, I’d say.” Baasen refilled his own, but didn’t drink right away. He just rotated the glass slowly on the tabletop, leaving a small moisture ring on one of the table’s black squares. “Solo, we needed to sit down, you and I, as men.”
“I’m listening.”
“We know this side of the law, and we know how a friend can become an enemy at the wrong word or the right price.”
Han nodded but said nothing. Chewbacca narrowed his eyes at Baasen, and his heavy shoulder muscles tensed.
“I won’t apologize for trying to take you to the Hutt,” Baasen said after a moment. “That was business, and I’d do it again if all things were the same.”
“Baasen, you’re making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside,” Han said. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Well,” Baasen said, then paused to drain off his glass. “I want you to know where I stand. I’ve agreed to help find your magic whatsit, and I’ll stand by that. We’re allies now. But if it turns out to be wishful thinking and broken promises when we get there, I’ll have no choice but to fall back on my old intentions and deliver you to Jabba.”
“And I’ll have no choice but to try and shoot you first,” Han replied. Chewbacca was growling so low in his chest it was almost subsonic.
“I’d expect no less,” Baasen said. “But that’s understood. What I came to say was until that time comes, we’re allies, and you can count on my help. And Sunnim’s. He’s a bit dim, but he follows my lead.”
Han drank off his glass, then refilled it. “So we’re friends again right up until we find out this thing we’re chasing doesn’t actually exist, at which point we both immediately try to kill each other.”
“Aye.”
“Well, that’ll be quite the day.”
“That it will.”
“Han,” Leia said from the corridor. He hadn’t heard her coming, but the tone of her voice was worrying. Quiet, and just a little frightened.
“What’s going on?” he asked, walking over to her. She gave Baasen a look, then gestured toward the cockpit with her head. Han followed her there, his own worry growing.
“No one can find the survey team,” she said when they were alone.
“Then they’re probably still in Seymarti system. If it can kill hyperspace travel, could it block the relays, too?”
“Scarlet thinks it could, if Galassian’s figured out how to turn it on.”
“If he’s figured it all out, we wouldn’t have gotten here.”
Leia waved his reassurance away with an impatient gesture. “We know the Empire has the location. We know Galassian’s there. Our ships may have jumped into the middle of anything. It was just supposed to be a survey and scouting mission. The escort weren’t armed for a full-scale conflict.”
“Okay,” Han said. “What do we do?”
Leia sat down, rubbing the bridge of her nose between her thumb and finger while she thought. Han dropped into the pilot’s chair and waited. He knew how much was riding on her decisions right now. If it had been up to him, he’d have taken Scarlet straight back to the rebel fleet, and Leia would have been killed on Kiamurr. It made his head hurt even to think about how close h
e’d come to a major blunder. And now maybe Luke was in even bigger trouble, and Leia had to weigh that against the needs of the whole Rebellion. Han didn’t envy her at all.
“I’ve contacted the Alliance. They agree that the possibility of this technology falling into the Emperor’s hands is too great a threat. A massive strike force is being assembled to assault Seymarti directly and take the relic if we can, destroy it if we can’t.”
“Sounds like they’re taking this seriously,” Han said. “If it does turn out to be a wild gundark chase, we’re all going to look pretty silly.”
“At these stakes, we can lose some dignity.”
Han shrugged. “What about Luke?”
“That’s the problem. General Rieekan says he can’t have the strike force ready for almost a week. And meanwhile Luke and the others may be trapped, or worse.”
“Then we’re going to get him, right?”
“You’d do that?” Leia asked, frowning. “Risk the Falcon to jump into a system we might not be able to jump back out of, filled with an unknown number of Imperial ships? You aren’t getting heroic on me, are you?”
Han raised his hands in mock surrender and grinned at her. “I don’t believe in heroes. Luke’s my friend. I don’t like the idea of leaving him there until some general decides the math is right.”
Leia stared at him for a moment, searching his face. Then she got up, but stopped at the hatch to say, “I’ll go tell the others.”
“Besides,” Han said, turning back to his console and starting the calculations for a jump to Seymarti, “Luke owes me a couple, and if I let him get killed, how can I collect?”
“There’s the Han I know,” Leia said to his back, but there was a smile in her voice when she said it.
Han sat quietly as the navigation computer finished figuring out the jump, watching the occasional smuggling ship bounce out of the system in a hyperjump or arrive suddenly in a spray of light and other energetic particles as they dropped out of hyperspace. Places like Trundalki would die instantly if the Empire could control hyperspace traffic. It was the kind of backwater outpost that survived only because there were people who needed a way station in a quiet corner of the galaxy. People like him. There were a thousand places just like it scattered across populated space. All of them waiting, all unaware, for the death sentence Seymarti might bring.