“She has something to show us,” Leia said.
Kidi activated the holoprojector housed in the Mellcrawler’s engineering station. The report was breathlessly narrated, put together from footage shot around corners and from concealment. It showed Imperial officers in the tunnels of Basteel and stormtroopers holding people at gunpoint. Leia saw the blue rings of stun blasts. And then the report showed a line of beings—humans and aliens alike—being led in binders to a landing craft. She looked for Bon Yoth but didn’t see him.
“Go back,” Leia said. “Play it again. There—freeze that.”
The hologram wavered slightly in the air. It showed a squad of stormtroopers and two officers. One was an older man, with gray hair and long sideburns. He was turning to look at the other officer, who was pointing.
The other officer was a woman. She was small and slight, about Leia’s size, and wearing an olive-green uniform. Her mouth was a thin line, her gaze unflinching. She turned and Leia saw the rank badge on her chest.
“She’s the one in charge,” Leia said. “An Imperial captain.”
Nien nodded. “That would be the commander of the Imperial Star Destroyer Shieldmaiden, then. I just got word from a former associate of mine. The Shieldmaiden arrived a couple of hours after we departed. Captain Khione is known for her dedication to duty, I’m told.”
“A Star Destroyer on our trail already?” Leia said. “That’s not good.”
And yet that wasn’t completely true. They needed their mission to attract Imperial attention. But that was a little more attention than she’d wanted.
“An Imperial crackdown will bring ruin to Basteel,” Kidi said.
“Seemed pretty ruined already,” Lokmarcha said, studying his reflection in his knife.
“You saw those people!” Kidi said. “They’ve got next to nothing and now the Imperial boot will be on their necks. And it’s all my fault!”
Leia shook her head sadly. They’d been to only one world, and already that world was suffering from Imperial reprisals. And not because the Alliance planned to fight for the people’s freedom, either. Those who called Basteel home were pawns in a larger game.
“Kidi, it’s not your fault,” Leia said. “Listen to me. I’m a prime target of the Empire. Anything could have happened—someone sighted me or a security drone saw us. We just have to keep going. If I’m a prime target, our best defense is to make sure I’m a moving target.”
Kidi nodded uncertainly. “All right. Meanwhile, I can update our messages to use the latest Alliance codes. The ones we know are secure.”
Lokmarcha stopped fussing with his knife, waiting to hear what Leia would say.
“We can’t do that, Kidi,” she said, hating the lie she was about to tell even as it came together in her mind. “We know the codes we’re using may not be secure. But there hasn’t been time for our agents to tell potential resistance movements about the new encryption keys. If you change the codes, the Empire won’t hear our messages—but neither will the people we’re trying to reach.”
Kidi cocked her head at Leia. “But doesn’t that put anyone who gets our message in greater danger?”
“Yes,” Leia said. “But everyone we speak to and everyone we meet is in danger. And they will be until the Empire is just a memory.”
FROM SPACE, Sesid was a ball of brilliant blue, adorned with white swirls and flecked with black and green dots.
“It’s a water world,” Nien explained from the pilot’s seat as the Mellcrawler descended. “Imperial corporations conduct pharmaceutical research here, and there’s a garrison to protect those facilities. But most of the islands cater to tourists, and the local authorities want to keep them happy and spending credits. That means as long as we stay away from the pharma plants, we should be able to avoid any Imperial attention—stormtroopers tend to put a damper on a family vacation.”
“And the resistance?” Kidi asked, turning to Leia. “Who are you meeting on Sesid?”
“All I know is his name is Aurelant,” Leia said. “He’s some kind of local resistance leader. I’m supposed to meet him on a volcanic island slightly east of the main chain. Fortunately, we’ve identified the peak as an ideal place to set up our next beacon.”
“In an active volcano?” Antrot asked, looking up from whatever he was doing. “I can accomplish a lot, Princess Leia, but molten rock is at a temperature outside of these beacons’ range for safe operation.”
Leia reminded herself to be patient with the quirky tinkerer.
“We’re not going to throw the beacon into the mouth of the volcano, Antrot,” she said. “We’ll set it up on the slopes. And don’t worry, the terrain data shows this climb will be a lot easier than Basteel.”
“But the volcano is active?”
“Just a little smoke and the occasional rumble,” Nien said with a yawn. “It hasn’t actually erupted for, oh, five or six years.”
Nien Nunb had been to hundreds of planets, but Sesid wasn’t one of them, and he had to ask Sesid Traffic Control to repeat its instructions that he land the Mellcrawler on a giant leaf floating in the turquoise waters near the island called Thrinaka.
“We can accommodate a medium freighter, pal—the pad won’t even budge with a little boat like yours,” the tech on duty told Nien. “Rest easy and come enjoy a beautiful day.”
Nien chuckled. “Never thought I’d be landing on a giant lily pad. Every time I think the galaxy can’t get any stranger, it surprises me.”
Kidi looked worried, but the Mellcrawler set down without incident, bobbing slightly on the massive, spongy leaf beneath it. The ramp lowered and humid air flowed into the space yacht. Leia blinked at the brilliant day outside and—unable to resist—spread her arms to feel as much of the warm sunshine as possible.
“So I like this place just a bit better than Basteel,” said Lokmarcha.
“Me too,” Nien said. “Think I’ll come with you as far as town.”
“You mean the first cantina, don’t you?” asked Kidi.
“Your mission is climbing active volcanoes. Mine is gathering intel—and trying out a new tropical beverage or two. Either way, duty calls.”
The fibrous veins of the giant pad made natural walkways, which the five of them followed to a pier. Birds wheeled in the sky, and Leia saw schools of fish moving as one in the shallow water, like peaceful miniature starfleets.
“This is lovely,” Kidi said. “But how do we get to the island where we’re putting the beacon? Couldn’t we have just landed there?”
“You always want to do it the easy way,” Nien said with a grin. “Traffic Control would have spotted us immediately and alerted the Empire. Besides, this way you get to go boating.”
They left the pier and walked along a broad boardwalk of white wood, shot through with whorls of green and purple. Children of a hundred species were running around, pursued by parents, and multiarmed droids hawked everything from sweets to tubes of sun protection.
“What are those?” Kidi asked, pointing to clusters of tall black cylinders on the other side of the road. “They almost look like escape pods.”
“That’s exactly what they are,” Nien said. “Every settlement here has them. In the event of a big eruption or seismic event, it’s easier to evacuate people by launching them into space than it is to land and pick them up. There are big fines for using them in non-emergencies, of course.”
Leia realized the Sullustan was eyeing them, one hand under his chin.
“What is it?”
“Your clothes. You can’t rent a boat wearing that stuff.”
“What’s wrong with our clothes?” Kidi asked.
“You don’t look like tourists,” Nien said. “Which is fine, since we just arrived, but before long people will start asking questions.”
Leia tried to weigh the perils of discovery against the need to keep the Empire on her trail. She decided—reluctantly—that Nien was right.
“Nobody told me to pack beachwear,” Lokmarcha obj
ected.
The Sullustan pilot chuckled. “Fortunately, Major, there isn’t a beach town in the galaxy without people happy to sell you whatever you forgot to bring. Let’s go get you properly outfitted.”
“Nobody is to tell anybody about this, ever,” Lokmarcha said. “I mean it.”
Kidi tried to look serious but dissolved in giggles.
The Dressellian commando was wearing polarized eye lenses, purple shorts, and a T-shirt advertising a local smazzo quartet. His weapons and gear were confined to a duffel bag. He looked ridiculous, as well as furious.
He also no longer stood out among the throngs of vacationers walking along Thrinaka’s boardwalk.
“None of us are exactly fit for military inspection, Major,” Leia pointed out. She was wearing a flowered shirt that hurt her eyes over shorts, with a bright pink towel wrapped around her waist, having indignantly rejected Nien’s roguish suggestion of a two-piece brown swimsuit adorned with gold braid. Kidi’s tropical shirt was even more garish, and poor Antrot looked like he’d lost a bet, stumbling along with his eyes hidden behind oversize shades, and a cap bearing the logo of a local fishing charter sitting awkwardly on his head.
“I think you look great,” Nien said. “We should stop so I can get a holo for Mon Mothma.…”
“No!” several members of the crew said at once.
But Leia was relieved when no one looked at them twice as they forked over an exorbitant number of credits to rent a repulsorcraft with a powerful engine. Nien waved from the shore as they waded out into the shallow water to where their boat was moored, surrounded by vacationers exchanging weather reports.
“The galaxy’s at war and they’re worried about an afternoon shower,” grumbled Lokmarcha, up to his waist in water, with his duffel held over his head.
“I’m happy for them,” Kidi said. “I mean, isn’t that what we’re fighting for? To make the galaxy a place where people are free to worry about silly things?”
“That’s not the way I’d put it,” said Lokmarcha, heaving his duffel into the boat. “But it’s an interesting way of thinking about it.”
“It is,” Leia said. “Plus the water’s nice.”
“I don’t like wide-open spaces,” Antrot said. “I have agoraphobia.”
“Oh, goodness me,” Kidi said. “I feel like I finally have some room. Even a big starship gets to feeling cramped—particularly when you’re a Cerean.”
When they were aboard, Lokmarcha reeled in the anchor and they raced out of the lagoon and into the open sea, the boat flying over the surface of the water. The wind whipped at them, but unlike Basteel it was warm, full of the smell of salt and life, and Leia found herself smiling.
She was almost disappointed when she saw the conical island rising out of the water ahead of them. A thin plume of smoke trailed from its squared-off top.
“Our rendezvous point should be right in this cove,” Lokmarcha said, cutting the throttle and easing the bow of their boat right up onto the beach.
“Pinpoint landing, Lok,” Leia said. “Nien would be proud.”
Lokmarcha gave Leia a small bow and they splashed ashore. The sand was black, littered with tiny white seashells—almost as if the night sky and the shore had switched places. Beyond the beach, the land rose steadily through green jungle to the steep sides of the volcanic cone.
Once on the beach, Lokmarcha turned serious again.
“I don’t like sending those two off alone to set up the beacon—we don’t know what kind of predators might live here,” he told Leia in a low voice. “But I can’t leave you alone to meet whoever this resistance leader is.”
“You’ll have to pick,” Leia said. “But keep in mind that I can handle myself with a blaster, and they barely know which end is which.”
“True. But my mission is to protect you, not them.”
It was a simple statement of truth, but it still made Leia want to clench her fists. She was tired of people volunteering to die for her—because all too often they had to keep that vow.
“I have a comlink and you’re not going far, Lok,” Leia said. “If anything happens that I can’t handle, I’ll seek cover in the jungle.”
The commando kicked at the black sand unhappily.
“Would it be better if I made it an order, Major?” she asked.
“It would be, actually.”
Leia smiled. “Easy enough, then. Lok, I order you to protect Kidi and Antrot. And not to worry about me so much.”
She watched the three of them cross the black sand with their gear and vanish into the green jungle. The waves broke softly on the beach, and the birds called overhead. It was strange to find herself somewhere so beautiful during such a terrible time.
But it was also comforting. Nature flourished even in a galaxy at war, creating life and beauty on billions of planets—beauty not even the Empire could eradicate. She sat down on the beach, watching the birds and trying to see how many species she could identify.
It was warm and there was no sign of a boat, or anything else that indicated her rendezvous was at hand. Leia decided to lie down for a few moments, to rest while she could. She rubbed her head back and forth in the black sand, creating a comfortable hollow, and stared up into the infinite blue sky.
And a moment later, she was asleep.
LEIA AWOKE WITH a start to see a figure standing over her, silhouetted against the sun. She scrambled for her blaster, knowing it was already too late.
“Relax, Princess—it’s us,” said Lokmarcha. “Fortunately for you.”
“Leave her alone,” Kidi said. “She was exhausted. It’s good that she got to rest.”
Leia got up hastily, embarrassed. The Dressellian commando was standing with Kidi and Antrot, looking out to sea.
“Is the beacon placed?” Leia asked.
“Transmitting perfectly,” Kidi said. “Beautiful view from up there, too.”
“But no one showed up for the rendezvous, I take it,” Lokmarcha said.
“Not unless they decided to let me finish my nap and left.”
She was relieved, actually—there was no need to endanger the mysterious Aurelant. With luck they could return to Thrinaka and head to their next destination, attracting Imperial attention without dire consequences for the people of this lovely planet.
“Let’s get back,” Leia said. “We have a schedule to keep.”
They had just come in sight of Thrinaka when Leia’s comlink began to chime.
“We’re about twenty minutes away, Nien,” she said.
“Turn around, then,” Nien said. “There are stormtroopers in port—and the Imperial captain we saw on Basteel is with them. They’re searching the town. I’ve got to take off in case they recognize the Mellcrawler.”
“Lok, head back out to sea,” Leia said. “Nien, you and Kidi figure out a comm channel you can use in case the Imperials start jamming us.”
Lokmarcha cut hard to the left, sending their boat bouncing over the waves. Leia caught Antrot as he staggered across the deck.
“Don’t your boots work?” Leia asked him.
“The deck material is not magnetic,” Antrot said. “I believe it’s wood. It would have been better if Nien had not rented such a fancy boat.”
“Behind us,” Lokmarcha said. “About five hundred meters. Electrobinoculars are in my gear bag.”
After ordering Antrot to hold on more securely, Leia knelt and dug in the commando’s bag. She braced herself against the boat’s gunwale, grateful for the electrobinocs’ stabilizer controls.
“Stormtroopers on waveskimmers!” Leia yelled over the wind. “And what looks like an amphibious transport behind them. Can we lose them?”
“Their boats are faster than ours!” Lokmarcha shouted back. “And out here there’s nowhere to hide.”
“Let me drive—we need you to shoot!” Leia said.
The boat hit a wave that sent it more than a meter into the air, repulsorlifts whining in protest. Leia landed awkwardly, pain shooti
ng through her knees, and staggered across the deck before crashing into Lokmarcha’s back.
“Don’t let them get a bead on us, Princess,” he said, scrambling across the deck toward his bag. Leia gunned the throttle and Lokmarcha slid toward the stern, smacking into it with his rifle already raised. He stared through the rifle sight and squeezed off a volley of blaster bolts at the pursuing waveskimmers.
“At this range if I hit anything it’ll be dumb luck!” he said.
“Kidi, find something buoyant!” Leia yelled. “A float-vest or chunk of insulation! Antrot, rig a detonator on a ten-second delay!”
She cut the boat hard to starboard, throwing up a sheet of water to spoil the Imperials’ aim. Antrot was huddled in the bottom of the boat, looking queasy while rigging a detonator. The Abednedo’s cap had flown off, and his sunglasses were askew. Blaster bolts sizzled in the water off to the boat’s left, causing columns of steam to rise.
“Must be a deck gun on that transport!” Lokmarcha yelled. “Princess, hold our course!”
Leia risked a look behind her and saw Antrot holding a bright orange float-vest over his head. The tinkerer let go of it and it fluttered through the air, vanishing into the sea and then immediately bobbing to the surface.
Leia tried to count but lost track when she had to duck under a blaster bolt. She peeked over her shoulder just in time to see a column of fire erupt from the surface of the ocean. The black shape of a riderless waveskimmer skittered over the waves like a stone and then sank.
“Got one!” Lokmarcha yelled. “That was beautiful, Antrot!”
Then the bow lurched into the air and Leia felt heat on her back. The boat slewed crazily to starboard, and she briefly feared they’d capsize. She looked back and saw part of their stern had been vaporized. A thin ribbon of smoke began to trail behind them.
“We’re all right—keep going!” Lokmarcha yelled.
The engine screeched as Leia tried to coax more speed from the damaged boat, which was listing slightly to port.
“This isn’t going to work!” Leia yelled at Lokmarcha. “We need to head back to the island—the jungle will give us cover.”
Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure Page 7