"Will he be in any danger?"
"No, sir, but the Kloperians don't really like R2 units."
"He noticed that the first time he was down here. Apparently he was imprisoned for a while."
"Imprisoned?" the boy glanced over his shoulder. "Forgive me, sir, but you can't imprison a droid."
The boy thought Luke was being dramatic. Luke folded his hands over his robe, rather like Ben used to do. "He's more than a droid," Luke said. "Just like my X-wing is more than a tactical fighter."
The smell of X-wing cleaning solvent was strong inside the new bay. More X-wing pieces were scattered about some already-reassembled ships. The new ships were streamlined. The long nose cone remained the same, but the area in the back that housed the astromech droids was gone.
The hair tingled on the back of Luke's scalp. "Tell me about General Antilles's order."
"It came down last year, sir, after the prototype of the new X-wing arrived here. The new design works better in battle. It combines the computer system and the astromech unit into one complete system."
"But that was tried a long time ago, and they discovered that if the unit broke down, the pilot was in grave danger."
The boy shrugged. "They've overcome that bug, sir. The changes in droid and computer technology just in the last six months have been astonishing. We can do things that we've never been able to do before. Where've you been that you didn't know about this?"
"Yavin 4," Luke said, suddenly feeling old and out-of-touch. "I teach there."
"Hm," the boy said. He led them around another disassembled X-wing to the back of the bay.
"You're overhauling all X-wings in this way?" Luke asked.
"Yes, sir. We've also combined some similar systems on other starfighters." The boy's enthusiasm was charming. Luke remembered feeling that way about new technology himself once.
"How can the Republic afford this?"
The boy shrugged. Clearly, financing was not his business. "I don't know, sir, but we've been doing it for more than a month now. Keeps us all busy, I'll tell you. I haven't had more than a day off since the changes began."
He stopped in front of a maintenance platform. The X-wing on it was almost unrecognizable as a starfighter. R2 moaned softly as though mourning for a dying friend.
Luke bit back his irritation. "How long will it take to reassemble the ship?"
"Sir?" The boy sounded startled.
"I need it this afternoon. Is that possible?"
"They just started on the computer system, sir. We can't have it to you for the next day, maybe more."
"I don't want the changes made," Luke said. "How long to reassemble it as it was?"
"I'm afraid we can't, sir. General Antilles's orders. He says the old X-wings aren't stable enough for space use."
"Mine's fine," Luke said. "I'd like it shortly."
"I'm sorry, sir."
"Forgive me," Luke said, feeling the inevitable wave of frustration he felt whenever he had to pull rank. "I'm going to be leaving on diplomatic business for my sister, Leia Organa Solo, the Chief of State. I would like to use my X-wing. I need it this afternoon."
The boy peered into the workings of the ship. "I'm really sorry, sir, but they've already taken out the memory and the astromech hookups. The socket is still there, but we have nothing to hook it to. If they're running true to form, the pieces have been recycled already."
"I have the memory chips. My R2 unit picked them up earlier."
The boy wrung his hands together. "Sir, if you'd look at the interior..."
That had been precisely what Luke hadn't wanted to do. He was afraid he'd see an old friend gutted and nearly destroyed. He climbed onto the edge of the bay and peered in. The entire astromech area had been pulled and disassembled. Even though Luke hadn't worked extensively on an X-wing since the Battle of Endor, he recognized a mess when he saw one. The X-wing was already half-converted.
He patted the ship's sides, and R2 moaned again. "Put her back the way you found her," Luke said to the boy.
"But, sir—"
"I'll deal with General Antilles. You just fix my X-wing."
"Sir, we can't have it for you when you need it."
Luke nodded. "I realize that. Get me an older X-wing, one you haven't upgraded, and I'll put the memory chips in that. It'll have to do for this mission."
The boy looked chagrined. "I'm sorry, sir. We disassemble the X-wings when they arrive. It's quick and easy. We don't have any that you can use."
"Surely there are some on Coruscant...." Luke's voice trailed off at the boy's expression. Nothing in the New Republic ever ran smoothly. When something finally did, it turned out to be a problem.
"I can give you a substitute X-wing," the boy said, "but it will be one of the new ones. Your chips won't work, and neither will your astromech unit."
"Will R2 fit in the new X-wing?"
The boy shook his head. "It's strictly a one-person vehicle."
Luke sighed. He didn't like his choices. He wanted to be in a starfighter so that he had speed and the ability to enter into planetary defenses unnoticed. He could take a bigger ship—Leia would probably let him have the Alderaan—but that meant he had to take a support staff larger than R2. It also meant that he would be noticed as he traveled across the galaxy, and it meant that he would have to explain why Leia wasn't with him. Han had already left with the Falcon. And all the other ships had the New Republic insignias.
"You'll work with my astromech unit," Luke said. "R2-D2 knows that X-wing better than anyone. I want it fixed by the time I return."
R2 bleeped and moaned.
Luke put a hand on R2's head. "I'm sorry, old friend. I don't think this can wait. I trust you to make sure the X-wing is repaired."
R2 whined.
"And I'll let Leia, 3PO, and Wedge know you're here. Nothing will happen to you." Then Luke looked at the boy. "Will it?"
"He's an outmoded R2 unit, sir. They—"
"No," Luke said firmly. "He's a hero of the Rebellion. Neither Leia nor I would be alive without this little guy. You will treat him as you would treat me."
"Sir—"
"What's your name, son?"
The boy took a deep breath. "Cole Fardreamer."
The name made Luke start. "You're from Tatooine?"
The boy nodded. "I grew up hearing stories about you, sir. How wonderful you are, and how you were once just a moisture farmer. I came here because of you."
Luke had no real sense of himself as an inspiration to anyone. He resisted the urge to step back. "And now you work on X-wings."
"It's a place to start."
Luke nodded. "That it is." He took a deep breath. "Take good care of my X-wing and my R2 unit, Cole. See that nothing happens to either of them. When I come back, I want them both intact, ready to use.”
"If you want, sir, I can have the X-wing for you by this time tomorrow."
Luke studied the boy's face. He had no doubt Cole would give the repair of the X-wing his all. But that wouldn't be enough. "I'd wait if I could," Luke said softly. "But I have a feeling that time is running out."
Smuggler's Run hadn't changed. The Run was an asteroid belt that had, over the years, become the hideout for hundreds of smugglers. The entry into the Run was complex: Han was surprised he had remembered it after all the years.
But he had. He landed the Falcon on Skip 1, the thirty-fifth asteroid in the system, and the one first settled. Skip 1 had always supported human life the best and was extremely well-protected.
The hideouts were deep inside the Skip, carved centuries ago by creatures that Han didn't even want to think about. As he and Chewie made their way down the old, familiar passages, he remembered the feeling of claustrophobia distinctly. He'd always associated it with the feeling of being on the run. But he wasn't on the run these days, and the feeling remained.
Chewie growled.
"Yeah," Han said. "You'd think that they'd have controlled that stink by now."
The corridors smelled of sulfur, rancid meat, and rotting flesh. The stench had always been a part of the Run. Chewie complained about it each and every time they came.
The source of the odor was a greenish-yellow ooze that ran down the center of the corridors and into the main trading areas. When Han had first arrived on the Run, he'd witnessed the first and only attempt to block the ooze. Some Bothan got it into his brain to plug the ooze at its source. He did, and Skip 1 was instantly rocked by the biggest groundquake in its history.
"The place has gas," the Bothan later explained. "Either we let it stink around here, or Skip 1 will explode."
The smugglers chose to live with the stink. They hadn't found a better hiding place in the entire galaxy.
Or a better-defended place. Han knew that the Falcon was being watched from the moment of her approach. What he hadn't expected were the armed guards at the end of the corridor.
Five of them, all old friends.
Chewie roared in indignation. Han put a restraining hand on his friend's furry arm. He scanned the group. Kid DXo'ln, bald now, had taken Han on his first run to Kessel. Zeen Afit, his craggy face even more lined than Han remembered, had first brought Han and Chewie to the Run. Sinewy Ana Blue, looking more beautiful than ever, had run the sabacc games in which Han won a lot of credits. Wynni, the Wookiee who had tried to seduce Chewbacca on his first visit to Skip 1, looked exactly the same. And Seluss, the Sullustan who usually traveled with Jarril, clutched his blaster as if he couldn't wait to use it.
Han held out his hands. "Is this any way to greet an old friend?"
"You're no friend, Solo," Sinewy Ana Blue said.
"So how soon until your friends in the New Republic show up to arrest us?" Zeen Afit asked.
"Have you done something illegal?" Han asked.
Wynni growled.
"A guy can ask a simple question," Han shot back at her.
"Not if he already knows the answer," Kid DXo'ln said.
Chewie's arm tightened. Han kept his grip on Chewie's fur.
"If the Republic was going to go after Smuggler's Run, it would have happened a long time ago."
Seluss chittered, his mouse ears wiggling forward as he spoke.
"Oh, yeah, right," Han said. "As if there is a list for you guys to finally rise to the top of. You're overestimating your importance, Seluss, don't you think?"
Wynni roared. Chewbacca roared back.
"Stop it, Chewie," Han hissed. "No need to bring personalities into this."
Chewie grumbled. Han understood Chewie's frustration: Wynni had never acted according to Wookiee code—she had abandoned her family and two life debts to pursue her smuggling career—but Han didn't want an old wound to fester into something ugly. Especially when Han and Chewie were outgunned.
"Personalities are already in this, Han," Kid said. "You left us a long time ago. You have no right to come back here."
"I have as much right to be here as you do," Han snapped. "And when did it become a privilege to be on the Run? I seem to remember when most of us here were struggling to leave."
"The Run's a different place," Blue said.
"Sure smells the same," Han murmured.
They moved closer to him. Zeen poked Han with his blaster. Chewie growled again. Wynni waved her bowcaster at him.
"What? Are you going to push me all the way back to the Falcon? Or shoot me right here?" Han grabbed Seluss's blaster, and pulled the short humanoid toward him. "I'm here on the invite of your partner, buddy. You want to bring him over here?"
Seluss let go of the blaster and chittered, loudly and angrily. Han raised his left hand—the one without the blaster—in self-defense.
"Hey, how was I to know he's not here? I figured he was coming right back."
Seluss shoved Han, still chittering. The shove was surprisingly hard, considering that the Sullustan only came up to Han's waist.
Chewbacca growled and grabbed Seluss by his collar, lifting him off the ground.
"Put him down, Chewie. He's upset."
"He's got a point," Zeen said. "Jarril went to see you and never came back. Now you're here."
Seluss kept chittering. He was swinging wildly with his arms and legs. Chewie held him an arm's length away—Chewie's arm. Seluss looked like an angry pinwheeling mouse.
"You guys know me. I don't double-cross people and I don't murder them in cold blood." Han was beginning to get angry now. "I came here because Jarril said there was trouble."
"You came here because Jarril told you about the money," Kid DXo'ln said.
Wynni moaned a caution.
Han raised an eyebrow. "First I'm an enemy of the Run, and then I'm after your money? Which is it?"
Chewie barked softly.
"I think 'paranoid' is too mild a word," Han said. "What are you guys hiding?"
"See?" Zeen said. "I told you he was here for the New Republic."
Sinewy Ana Blue elbowed Zeen. "It's a legitimate question. Put Seluss down and we'll talk."
Chewie shook his head. Seluss tried to swing at him, and succeeded only in making Chewie's hold on his collar tighter.
"Put him down, Chewie," Han said.
Chewie yowled.
"I said put him down." Han didn't want to fight everyone.
Chewie held Seluss over the ooze, and dropped him. Seluss screamed, an ear-piercing whistle that had the Wookiees covering their ears. Seluss landed, splashing ooze everywhere, doubling the stench. Han backed up, while the other smugglers angrily wiped greenish-yellow goo off themselves.
Seluss sprang out of the ooze and yanked his blaster out of Han's grasp.
"Hey!" Han shouted.
Chewie grabbed for the blaster, but it was too late.
Seluss fired.
THIRTEEN
Lando waited most of the night, and it felt too long. He tried to sleep, but his mind kept feeding him dreams. Dreams he didn't like. Memory dreams, mostly, of Han in the carbon-freezing chamber. What's going on... buddy? Han asked over and over. Lando tried to tell him that Vader had betrayed them all. But Lando couldn't speak. And then the dreams would shift to Chewbacca's hands on his throat, repeating over and over in Wookiee that Lando could have prevented this.
Lando could have...
... prevented...
He sat up on his cot, the thin gold thermal blanket gathered around his thighs. He was cold despite the perfectly adjusted temperature. This particular nightmare hadn't come to him in a long time, but he remembered its effects vividly.
It always left him cold, shivering with the most intense cold of his life. And the chill came from within. He felt as if—
—as if he'd been shoved in carbon freeze and left to die.
Lando glanced at his screen. No responses from Coruscant. He'd left messages for Han, Chewbacca, Leia, and finally for Winter. Repeated messages of urgency, and he received no response at all. Usually someone got back to him.
He had also tried Yavin 4, figuring Luke would know where everyone was, but all he got was Streen, who made certain the academy ran smoothly in Luke's absence. Streen said Luke had left rather suddenly for Coruscant, but didn't know why.
Lando had left Luke several messages after that. One keyed to his X-wing, which got bounced back to Lando over the vagaries of interspacial communications, another at Coruscant, and another at the Imperial Palace.
Then he tried Mon Mothma, Admiral Ackbar, and Wedge Antilles. He'd even left a general message for any member of the Coruscant Inner Council.
None of those was answered either.
Someone should have answered him by now.
The hair stood up on the back of his neck. His teeth were chattering. He got out of bed, slipped on his thickest, warmest robe, and poured himself a cup of hot Aitha protein drink. He wrapped his fingers around the cup to gain additional warmth. Then he sat in front of the computer, trying to quell the low-grade panic his dream had left him with, and called Mara Jade.
She answered with such immediacy that he w
as startled. He had half-expected her to have disappeared as well. She was in the cockpit of Talon Karrde's ship, Wild Karrde, his vornskrs partially visible behind her.
She grinned as she answered his hail. "Can't be away from me even a few days, huh, Lando?"
"Each moment seems like years, Mara," he said, knowing he had to keep up his side of the banter, even though his mood was anything but light.
"You can do better than that," she said, suddenly serious. "What's wrong?"
"I've been trying to raise Han and Leia for almost a day now, and I can't," he said. He no longer tried to keep the worry from his voice. He braced his wrists on the desk so that she couldn't see his hands shaking. "In fact, I can't raise anyone on Coruscant."
"That's not a surprise," she said.
His spine stiffened. She wasn't smiling.
"You've been busy with something, haven't you?" she asked.
Big news, then. News he should have heard.
"Don't toy with me, Mara."
"I'm not, Lando. It's been the buzz of this sector, at least."
"What has?"
"The bombing. Of the Senate Hall." Her lips formed a thin line. Behind her, Karrde came into the cockpit and paused as he saw Lando on the screen. "Don't worry. From all I heard, Organa Solo only had minor bruises, and Han wasn't anywhere near the Hall."
"And Luke?"
"Wasn't on Coruscant at all when it happened. But a lot of people died and even more were injured. It's played havoc with the communications array." She glanced over her shoulder. Karrde sat down beside her.
Lando's mouth was dry. It was, as he had expected, something bad. How bad yet he wasn't sure. "I thought you said the destruction was at the Senate Hall?"
She nodded. "But everyone's been trying to contact Coruscant. From political problems to inquiring about relatives. The volume of calls actually knocked part of the array off-line."
"It's been a mess with business," Karrde said.
"I expect it has," Lando said. "But traffic is getting onto Co-ruscant?"
Karrde nodded. "Not the place I'd want to go now, Calrissian. From what I hear, they're all waiting for another attack."
... could have prevented...
FIREWORKS. SOLO KNOWS. FIREWORKS.
"You all right, Lando?" Mara was giving him her concerned look from clear across the galaxy.
Star Wars - The New Rebellion Page 9