by Troy Denning
“And the boasa statues,” Leia added, quietly fuming at the interference, How could she read Lebauer’s reaction if she could not see his face? “Say the word, and your uncle is free.”
Leia tried to step around where she could see Lebauer, but Emala picked that moment to step in a glass and spill Moonface’s drink in his lap. He rose, cursing, and Leia’s view of Lebauer remained blocked - but the other Jenets at the table did seem to be watching Lebauer instead of her. She smiled and remained where she was. They were the ones he had to worry about - not her.
But Emala was the first to run out of patience. When Lebauer did not respond within the first few moments, she reached into her cheek pouch and withdrew a credit-chip.
“Emala!” Han snapped. “Give that back!”
Emala ignored him and flipped the chip not to Lebauer, but to the Jenet at his side.
“There’s a sweetener,” she said, “For Second Mistake. But that’s it. Take it or leave it.”
The Jenet - Tall - studied the chip for a moment, then nodded. “It’s authorized to ten thousand credits.” He turned to Lebauer. “I don’t know. That sounds like a good price for a Squibsickle.”
“I’ll bet it does,” Han said.
He was glaring at Emala, but made no attempt to retrieve his pilfered sabacc money. They could give Lebauer no reason to back out now. Emala finally stepped back, and Leia saw that tiny beads of moisture had begun to glisten on his pink brow. His eyes remained unreadable, but he was sweating.
Lebauer took the credit-chip from Tall. “I tell you what I’m going to do,” he said, tucking the chip into an inner doublet pocket. “I’m going to keep this and think it over.”
Leia was hardly surprised; stalling was the favored tactic of the desperate. “I don’t see what there is to think over. I should think-”
“What’s the problem, Lebauer?” Sligh popped up on the tier above and pushed his head over the Jenet’s shoulder, “You worried she might actually get it done?”
Lebauer’s eyes flashed scarlet. “I’m not worried about nothing.” He made a snatch for the Squib’s neck and missed. “But you’re gonna be.”
Sligh’s head appeared over the other shoulder. “I wouldn’t want to give up being chairman either.”
Lebauer shot to his feet and spun toward the Squib, one hand reaching under his doublet. Leia was half-tempted to let him draw his blaster; after Sligh’s clumsy attempt to pressure Lebauer, they would be lucky if he did not see through the whole plan. Unfortunately, if she allowed Sligh to die, Emala would probably refuse to turn over the promised guidance software.
“Before you kill the Squib, there is something I should mention.” Leia would have to accelerate the plan and hope that Lebauer’s anger blinded him to the rough transitions. “The Thyferrans are afraid this is some sort of fraud. They won’t release Lorimar until I return to Coruscant and make a request in person.”
Lebauer immediately forgot Sligh and turned back to Leia. “You don’t say?”
“It’s no problem,” Tall said, shrugging, “Once he’s free, you can have the goods.”
“You think we’re going to fall for that?” Han scoffed, coming to Leia’s side. “Not a chance. We take the stuff with us.”
Tall shook his head. “Not going to happen.”
“I’m afraid I must insist.” Leia kept her eyes fixed on Lebauer as she spoke; his eyes were narrowed in thought, and the corners of his mouth kept sneaking toward a smile, “The New Republic and I have a reputation for keeping our words. The Invisible Shell does not.”
Lebauer finally met Leia’s gaze, and she saw hope dawn in his expression. She was gambling on Lebauer’s instincts as a survivor, and that gamble was paying off.
Tall said, “Look, there are ways to do this-”
“It’s okay.” Lebauer raised his hand to silence the other Jenet, then dropped back into his chair. “I’m sure we can trust the Princess.”
“What?” Several associates gasped the word at once, and Moonface turned to scowl at Lebauer, “Ludlo, you fool! She’s using mind tricks on you. Everybody knows she has Jedi blood.”
Lebauer whirled on the other Jenet, his confidence returning now that he could see a way out. To stop Leia from releasing his uncle, all he had to do was see that she never returned to Coruscant. “You might want to choose your words more carefully,” he said to Moonface. “I’m still the acting chairman of this syndicate.”
Moonface met Lebauer’s glare without flinching. “Acting chairman. You know this isn’t right, Lebauer. If your uncle was here-”
“What I know is that it’s my decision, and that my uncle isn’t here. He’s sitting in that miserable stinkhole on Thyferra.” Lebauer slapped his palms on the table and glared at his associates, then said, “Now, does anyone here really want to tell me I shouldn’t do everything I can to bring our chairman back to Pavo Prime?”
It was a nice touch - and one that reminded Leia how dangerous Lebauer could be. The other Jenets had no choice; they could only look at the floor and mumble about how much they all wanted Lorimar home. Leia had to bite her lip to keep from snickering.
“That’s what I thought.” Lebauer stood, but motioned the other Jenets to remain at the table. “Stay. Enjoy, I’ll be back when I’ve taken care of this.”
Lebauer led the Solos and their companions out of the lounge, then went back inside to have security disarm the system protecting the boasas. Leia and Han exchanged knowing glances; they knew that was not the only message he would be sending.
A short time later, they were joined by a small security detail and taken to the Regal Suite mezzanine. To Leia’s great surprise, all ten boasa statues had already been taken from their display niches and loaded into a covered luggage sled. She was even more surprised when she verified that they really were the statues and saw how carefully they had been packed.
Next, Lebauer took them to collect Second Mistake, and now Leia began to doubt her instincts. The last thing she had expected was for Lebauer to turn over the boasa statues quite so willingly. Perhaps ho was not as ruthless as she thought - or perhaps he was merely smart enough to know when he had already lost the game. In either case, they reached the administrative wing without incident, and there Lebauer dismissed the small security detail that had been escorting them.
“We don’t want extra bodies,” he explained. “Security back here is automated after hours.”
Lebauer opened the security gate and led the way - alone - into the administrative wing. Leia caught Han and Chewbacca exchanging puzzled glances; the Jenet was taking them by surprise as well. They followed him into the shadowy offices and were about a hundred meters in when the hair rose on the back of Leia’s neck. She stopped and, in the dim lighting, saw the balcony of Lebauer’s executive suite hanging in the darkness above.
Han stopped at Leia’s side. “What’s wrong?”
“I feel something.” She made sure her comlink was active and clipped it to the underside of her collar. “Maybe the Force.”
The stop was all it took to send Lebauer springing into the nearest turbolift, Chewbacca roared and sprang after him, hammering a huge fist into the lift door as it slid closed in front of him. Sligh and Emala screeched in alarm and disappeared into the shadows.
In the next moment, there were no shadows as the office lights came up to full. Leia grabbed Han’s wrist and, blinded by the sudden glow, turned to dodge down a half-glimpsed aisle.
They ran headlong into a blaster rifle being carried at port-arms and were roughly shoved back the way they had come.
“It’ll go better if you don’t run,” Lebauer called, “Make my boys leave a mess, and I’ll freeze whatever’s left in carbonite.”
“This doesn’t sound good,” Han said.
“But we expected it,” Leia said. “That’s a comfort.”
Han paused. “You have funny idea of comfort, Leia.”
Leia blinked the blindness from her eyes and saw that they were surrounded by J
enet thugs. Unlike the security guards, these were dressed in the uniforms of drink mixers, porters, and pit bosses. Their blaster rifles were all E-11s and rather new-looking. Three of these thugs were standing in front of Chewbacca just out of arm’s reach, their weapons pointed at his chest and keeping him pinned against the lift tube’s closed door.
A pair of Jenets returned with Sligh and Emala and shoved them into the middle of the floor with the Solos.
Leia lifted her gaze and found Lebauer resting his elbows on the balcony tailing. “You don’t have to do this,” she said.
“Afraid so. I guess you should have gone with the salvage contracts.” Lebauer braced his hands on the railing and looked down to one of the pit bosses, a rough-featured Jenet with sad eyes and a mangled lip. “Do it in the power plant, Verm. And this time, be sure the culkuda eats all of the bodies.”
“That’s it?” Han objected. “Do it in the power plant?”’
Lebauer turned his blank face on Han. “Pretty much, yeah.” He stepped back from the rail, and Leia lost sight of him.
“Wait!” This was not going quite the way she had planned. “What will your associates think when we don’t return to the Coruscant?”
Lebauer remained just out of view. “The same thing everyone thinks when Rebel heroes disappear: you ran into an Imperial patrol.”
Emala’s eyes grew even more round and large. “Oh, that’s good.” She turned to Sligh. “We didn’t think of that.”
“We didn’t?” The fur stood up along Sligh’s neck.
“Don’t worry,” Han said. “Leia has everything under control.” He looked over and whispered, “Right, Sweetheart?”
“Right.” More loudly, Leia called to Lebauer, “What about the boasas?”
“That’s right - the boasas!” Emala clucked her tongue at Lebauer. “I wouldn’t want you to forget how much they’re worth to you.”
“We can get you five million easy,” Sligh added. “You owe it to yourself to let us do this for you.”
“Five million?” This drew Lebauer back to the balcony railing, “I don’t know. If they show up again…”
He let the sentence drop, not saying what was obvious to everyone present. If the boasas showed up again, his associates would know he had deceived them to keep his uncle in prison.. and Leia fell certain that the penalty for such an offense would make being frozen in carbonite feel a long nap.
After a moment, Emala said, “So what if they show up again? They’ll be in Imperial hands. Who’s to know what happened to the Solos?”
“Can you believe these two?” Han complained to Leia.
“Unfortunately, yes,” Leia said.
At the railing, Lebauer shook his head. “No, it’s not worth the risk.” He glanced at the one called Verm again. “Melt the boasas down.”
“Right, boss.”
“Leia, Sweetheart,” Han whispered. “I think it’s time.”
“Right,” she said. “It’s time.”
Lebauer turned away from the railing again, and Verm motioned for Chewbacca’s captors to bring him over.
Leia dropped her chin toward her collar and said, “Now, Threepio - and make it loud.”
“Loud, Princess Leia?” C-3PO asked. Lebauer was already out of view again. “But I can’t control the volume of your comlink from-”
“Threepio!” Leia hissed. “Just do it!”
Lebauer’s voice began to come from Leia’s comlink, repeating the orders he had given to Verm just a few moments earlier: “Do it in the power plant, Verm, and this time…”
Verm stepped in immediately, the muzzle of his blaster-rifle pressed to Leia’s ribs. “What’s that?”
“What’s it sound like?” Han demanded.
Verm’s eyes grew wider as he continued to listen.
“Your voice is on it, too,” Han said. “I suggest you get the muzzle out of my wife’s ribs and call your boss.”
“Don’t move!” Verm pulled his rifle away and started for the lift tube. “Boss! Wait! Boss, you need to hear this.”
Leia turned to Han. “Han’”
“Yeah?”
“I just love it when you talk tough for me.”
Verm’s helpers arrived with Chewbacca, who bared his fangs at the Squibs and made threatening noises. A few moments later, Lebauer was back at the railing.
“You were wearing a link?”
“Old diplomat’s trick.” Leia had C-3PO replay the exchange for him, then said, “If anything unfortunate should ever happen to us - and I do mean ever - I’m sure you know who my droid will play that recording for.”
Lebauer closed his eyes, then tipped his chin back and stood that way for several seconds, clearly struggling to gather his thoughts.
Han nudged Leia with his elbow. “We’ve got him now.”
Leia nodded. “I think so.”
Finally, Lebauer brought his chin forward and stared down at Leia. “Congratulations, Princess. You’ve done it to me good.” He reached under his doublet and drew a big blaster pistol. “There’s nothing to do but blast you myself, right here.”
“What?” Han shrieked. He would have jumped in front of Leia, save that Chewbacca pushed him aside and took his place. “Maybe you didn’t understand the part where the board hears that recording.”
“I understand we’re both dead now. The day the Thyferrans free my uncle, there’s a marker on my life.” Lebauer waved his pistol at Chewbacca. “Verm will you get that fur wall out of my way?”
Verm raised his blaster rifle, the Squibs hit the floor, and Chewbacca gathered himself to spring.
Leia stepped into the clear. “I can’t believe you’re the chairman of the Invisible Shell. Did you really think I’d ever get your uncle out of prison?”
Lebauer held his blaster half-raised. “You weren’t going to?”
“Certainly not. He cost thousands of beings their lives. I’d never use my influence to free a mass murderer.” Leia jerked a thumb at the luggage sled containing the boasas. “As long as I leave here with what I came for, you can sleep easy.”
The color began to return to Lebauer’s face. “You lied?”
“We bluffed,” Han corrected.
Lebauer considered this for a moment, then said, “Well, if you bluffed…” He slipped his blaster pistol back into its holster. “You know my associates won’t be happy when you renege on the deal.”
“That recording is going to be around for a long time,” Leia said. “I’m sure I can count on you to keep them in line.”
“As long as you understand: if my uncle ever-”
“He won’t.” Leia waved a hand toward the lift tube. “I believe we have business to conclude?”
Lebauer nodded and turned so Verm, “Our guests won’t need an escort after all, Take the boys and go back to work.”
“You sure, boss?”
“They beat the house, Verm.” Lebauer waved the thug away. “This time we pay.”
Once the thugs were gone, Leia and the others ascended to the balcony and followed Lebauer into his private office, where Grees still hung on the wall in his carbonite shell. Lebauer took a last lingering look at the panel, then went over to his desk and entered a code on the control console. A trio of soft beeps sounded behind the carbonite, and he waved Sligh and Emala toward the panel.
“Second Mistake is all yours.”
The two Squibs removed the panel from the wall and wasted no time heading for the door with it suspended between them.
“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Han called.
They did not even slow down. “Now’s not a good time,” Sligh called over his shoulder. “Don’t worry, we’ll see you at the suite!”
Han and Chewbacca started after them, but had to stop when Lebauer pressed a button on his control console and the door closed in front of them.
“You’re looking for a datacard maybe?” Lebauer looked amused. “The guidance software for the MS-19 maybe?”
“As a matter of fact.” Leia
began to have a sinking feeling. “I take it you know something about it?”
“You might say that.” A deep chuckle began to roll from Lebauer’s throat, “That’s why I named my wall hanging Second Mistake.”
Leia began to grow angry - most of all with herself. “There is no guidance software?”
“Of course not” Lebauer was grinning like a culkuda. “The Imperials got wise. The Squibs have been passing me false stories for a month. NRI doesn’t want to have anything to do with me.”
“Disinformation?” Leia was trembling with anger now. “And the Squibs knew it?”
“What do you think?” Lebauer took Han’s credit-chip out of his pocket and flipped it into the air. “By now, the Squibs are scrambling into a luxsub and thawing their friend. I suggest you head for a docking salon yourself.”
Han cast one last, longing look at the chip. Then, as Lebauer slipped it into a deposit slot on his desk, he nodded to Leia and Chewbacca and turned toward the door.
“At least you have the boasas.” Lebauer began to chuckle. “And, just to show there are no hard feelings, I’ll give you some free advice.”
“Yeah?” Han said. ‘This should be good.”
“Never trust a Squib,” Lebauer said, laughing.
He was still laughing as the door closed behind them.
From Star Wars Insider 67 (05-2003)
11.6.18.15.14.5-1