Dev's immediate problem was to hide that moment's touch in his memory, before
Bluescale called him in and convinced him to confess.
Cold food splattered the bulkheads, and drink bulbs littered the gray-
tiled deck. Dev hurried downship to a supply locker. Cleanup was P'w'eck work,
but he felt responsible.
He had never been able to fool Bluescale. Wasn't hiding thoughts
treasonous? His masters had saved him from starvation and death. He owed them
so much.
Yet he'd never had so strong a reason before. His mind had touched a
kindred soul. He couldn't betray it yet.
He flung open the supply locker, seized up a galleyvac and hurried upship
toward the nearest dribbling glob.
CHAPTER 6
his... safe conduct to Salis D'aar, the capital city. Controllers will
talk you down," finished a spaceport flunky's voice on the Falcon's
transceiver.
"Thank you." Han cut the connection and leaned back. Leia exhaled. "s. We
can get to work."
Han arched an eyebrow. It seemed to him they'd been working already.
Leia didn't notice. "We have to decide what to do next." She smoothed one
of the braids that circled her head.
"Right," he answered, glad to see her thinking sensibly. "Do we use this
safe conduct and land on Bakura, or not? They're in better shape now. This
might be a good time to take our troops and get out."
Leia stared at the Falcon's deck. "That wasn't what I meant, but you're
right. I can't help wondering if we'll be able to deal with Imperials
directly."
On link from over at the Flurry, Luke spoke up. "Leia, aren't you feeling
well?"
She cleared her throat and leaned toward the control board. "I'm uneasy,
Luke. Maybe I'm starting to think like Han. I don't feel quite right about
this situation. I'm more nervous than usual."
Han eyed Chewie, who whuffled softly. Yeah, maybe she was picking up a
sense of self-preservation. Skywalkers seemed to be born without it.
"We're all nervous," answered Luke's voice. "Something's going on here
besides what shows on the surface. I have to figure it out."
Han peered through the Falcon's port at the Flurry. It hovered, looking
lumpy and awkward, near the Falcon in a parking orbit outside the Imperial
defense web. "You sure, kid?" he asked. "It'd be a good time to head home."
"I'm sure. Leia, you're in charge of negotiations. Do you want to shuttle
over and make a dignified landing in the Flurry's transport?"
"Wait a minute." Han straightened his back. "I'm not landing anything but
the Falcon. I want this bucket planetside, in case we need to make another
fast getaway."
"Another?" asked Luke. "What happened?"
"Later." Leia tapped her thumbs over clasped fingers. "What about the
impression we'll create, landing in... well, think what the Falcon looks like
if you don't know her."
Thanks a lot, Your Highness. "That's camouflage."
She spread her hands. "This will be the Bakuran Imperials' first
impression of our group, Han. We want them as allies. Think in the long term."
"First we have to survive the short term."
Luke cleared his throat. "The Falcon won't fit in the Flurry's hangar
bay. It's full."
Leia glanced at the immaculate control panel, then over at one bulkhead
wired together with leftover circuitry. She gave him a long, somber stare. At
last she said, "Okay, Luke. Come on over. We'll land in the Falcon... but only
if everybody dresses up."
Han clenched a fist on one hip. "Well, I'm not--"
"Except you, Captain." Her voice sounded sweet, but he saw an evil gleam
in her eye. "It's your bucket. You'd better look the part."
Some time later, Leia stared out the viewport at cloud patterns on a
stunning azure world. Chewie examined the boards and then stood, looking
satisfied, to head up the corridor.
Luke appeared with damp, tousled hair. He'd taken her account of events
at Planet 6 calmly, then said something about scrubbing down. "Feel better?"
she asked.
"You bet." He plunked down in the oversize copilot's chair. "Let's see if
we can raise Commander Thanas again."
"I still say it smells like a trap." Han slid back into the pilot's seat.
"Maybe Thanas thinks he's being a nice guy, offering to let us into that
defense web. But if we split our forces, we've got half tied up for some
Imperial desk jockey and only half on alert where they ought to be."
Luke tapped a pattern onto the console. "Their ships are going to need
longer repair breaks than ours. What I saw had been shot up pretty badly."
"And we still don't know what those aliens are up to," Leia said. She
glanced sidelong at Luke. She could swear that he knew more than he was
telling. "I have a very bad feeling about it."
"It's our necks in the noose, now," Han joined in, "along with the
Bakurans."
"That was the idea," Leia agreed. "To prove we're with them by sharing
their danger."
"Alliance Forces?" rumbled Commander Thanas's voice from the speaker.
Leia leaned over Luke's shoulder. Nearly dry already, his hair caught dim
cabin lights like an aureole. "On frequency, Commander Thanas," Luke answered.
"I've cleared Alliance ships to join the defense web in the positions you
requested, while your party conducts negotiations at Salis D'aar. I look
forward to meeting you in person."
"It's mutual. Alliance out." Luke paused for a second after switching
from the Imperial frequency to another. "Got all that?"
"Locked into the BAC," Captain Manchisco answered through the speaker.
"Have fun down there."
Luke blew out a long breath.
"You're going to have to tell the Imperials who you are sooner or later,
Luke." Han made a wry face.
Leia started. No you're not!
"I'd rather do it face to face," Luke said calmly.
Oh. They only meant revealing his name, not his ancestry. She hurried to
agree. "He's got better control, better... discernment in person, Han. He can
feel if they're covering up."
Han snorted softly. "It still smells like a trap. I don't like it." But
he reached for the control panel. Luke relinquished Chewie's seat and took one
in back.
"And Luke's a Jedi," Leia reminded him.
Luke nodded at her. "We'll keep our eyes open."
The Falcon vectored out of position in parking orbit toward an approach
for the Bakuran capital city, Salis D'aar. Passing through the defense web,
Leia spotted a huge repair station saucer-shaped, not spherical, thank
goodness. They'd had enough Death Stars. Han made a tight descent, all dive
and no sightseeing. Leia peered between Han and Chewie's seats at the scanner
display.
Between the twin rivers, an enormous outcrop of pure white rock sparkled
in low-angle light. It dazzled her eyes.
Blinking, Han punched in a visual filter. "Better?"
"Look at that," Leia whispered. Where the outcrop took a southeastward
bend, an entire city sat perched on its width. South of the city, she made out
a double ring of large craters surrounding a tall metal tower. Ci
vilian
spaceport, she guessed.
She glanced north again, to the city. Radials and concentric circles of
its road system gave it a web pattern, and considerable aircar traffic cruised
on and off several sharp towers near its midpoint. "What's the local time?"
she asked.
"Just after dawn." Han rubbed his chin. "Going to be a long day."
Irregular green blotches suggested that luxuriant parks had been created
in pockets of soil on the rocky white outcrop.
"Look." Luke pointed a kilometer south of the spaceport. Inside a circle
of barren black artificial surface, enormous turbolaser turrets guarded a
hexagonal complex.
Leia folded her arms. "Standard design for an Imperial garrison."
"It's going to be crawling with stormtroopers down there," Han observed.
"What was that?" Threepio called from his usual station in the gaming
area. "Did someone see stormtroopers?"
"Don't overload a circuit," said Han. "They're going to be everywhere."
Threepio's answering mutter had the rhythm of, "Oh dear, oh dear." Luke
unharnessed and slipped out of the cockpit.
Chewbacca howled something. "Luke must be expecting a smooth touchdown,"
Han translated. "Don't know why not," he added.
Leia elected to stay in her seat and brush a wrinkle out of her white
skirt. She'd ordered a copy sewn from her threadbare white senatorial gown.
She still hoped to dispel the Rebels' ragtag reputation, if that was possible
after landing in the Falcon.
Han flew the ship around the perimeter of Salis D'aar twice, swooping out
over the river on each side of the stunning white outcrop that kept them from
flowing together. "They're not fir ing on us," he said. "Guess we might as well
go through with it."
Controllers directed Han toward a vacant multiship crater at the western
end of the spaceport. The early morning shadows of several moveable repair
gantries stretched out long on the rough white ground. "What's that surface?"
Leia murmured as Han made his final descent.
Han glanced at a scanner. "Says here the outcrop's almost pure quartz.
The crater looks like rock glass, but somebody roughed it up."
The Falcon touched down softly.
"There. See?" Han asked. "Nothing to worry about."
Chewie barked. Leia turned to look where he was pointing one hairy hand.
About twenty people clustered around a long repulsor shuttle, near a gantry at
the edge of their landing crater. "Hurry it up, Luke," Han shouted.
"Right." Luke's breathless voice echoed out in the corridor. Leia sprang
off her seat and joined him.
Threepio stood no.ing approval of Luke's white shipsuit without rank
insignia. As Leia looked him up and down, he hooked on a silvery utility belt
from which dangled a blaster, three trifle pouches, and his lightsaber. "Good
enough?" He fixed his eyes on Leia. They looked so blue and innocent.
"I guess that's how a Jedi ought to dress," she said dubiously. I wish
you looked older.
Luke glanced anxiously at Han. Han shrugged. Leia laughed. "What does it
matter what he thinks?" she asked Luke.
"You look splendid, Master Luke," put in Threepio. "General Solo, you're
rather untidy. Don't you think it would minimize our danger if--"
"Chewie," said Han. "You want to stay on board?"
It was a valid question. Chewbacca would represent the Alliance well if
he came along. Imperials despised aliens on principle, but humans and
Imperial-repressed aliens had founded the Alliance together.
Chewie roared. "Okay," Han said. "Guess we can use one more pair of eyes.
Everybody look sharp."
Leia thought Threepio snickered, if such a thing were possible. Artoo
chirped aloud.
"All right," Luke cut in. "Here we go."
Leia positioned herself in the center of the group with Luke on her
right, Han on her left, and Chewie behind with Threepio and Artoo. Chewie
dropped the entry ramp. She walked down slowly, sniff+ cool wet air that
seemed heavy with exotic plant odors. Her first breath on a new planet was
always a treat.
As she stepped onto the pale spaceport surface, it crunched. She glanced
back. The Falcon sat on a satiny bed of white rock and gray spaceport dust.
Enough exploring. Get to work. She strode to meet the Imperial group
beside its shuttle.
"Ooh," Han said sarcastically. "All the pretty white armor."
"Cut it out," Leia muttered. "I'm wearing white too." She thought back to
her days as an Imperial senator, the double game she'd played between the
Emperor's coterie and the infant Alliance her father had died for.
Her real father, Bail Organa, who had raised and trained her and nurtured
her sense of self-worth and self-sacrifice. Regardless of biology, she would
never own another man by that title. Period. Enter data. End program.
The man at the center of the group had to be Imperial Governor Wilek
Nereus. Tall and dark-haired with heavy features, he wore a khaki uniform that
he might have borrowed from Grand Moff Tarkin, with the addition of a pair of
thin black gloves. The other individuals in his group kept shifting positions
to watch him. He was absolutely In Charge.
Relax, she told herself. Flow with it. My strengths lie here, along a
Governor Nereus's delegation made a semicircle around him. "Princess Leia
of Alderaan." He sketched a half-bow. "It is an honor to receive you."
"Governor Nereus." She returned his bow, making sure hers dipped not a
millimeter deeper. "It is our honor to be here."
"In the name of the emperor, welcome to Bakura."
She couldn't have hoped for a better opening than that protocol greeting.
"Thank you for your welcome," she answered placidly. "You may think me
terribly rude to correct your kind ^ws, but it's no longer valid to welcome us
in Emperor Palpatine's name. Emperor Palpatine died several days ago."
Nereus cocked a dark, heavy eyebrow and clasped his large hands behind
him. "My dear Princess." He swaggered forward another step. "Have you come to
Bakura spreading rumors and lies?"
"It gets better, Your Excellency. He was killed by his apprentice, Darth
Vader."
"Vader." Nereus straightened several millimeters to loom over her.
Distaste dripped through his pronunciation, a sentiment she understood
perfectly. "Vader," he repeated. "His Imperial Majesty should never have
trusted a Sith lord. I was prepared to disbelieve you, Your Highness. But
Vader as an assassin, I believe."
"Lord Vader is dead as well, Your Excellency."
Luke's chin rose at the edge of her vision. She knew what he wanted her
to add. Maybe Vader had died heroically, but ten minutes' contrition did not
make up for years of atrocities.
The governor's people turned aside in pairs to whisper. Leia seized the
initiative again. "Governor, may I present my escorts--first, General Solo."
Han was supposed to bow, or at least shake hands. Instead, he stood aside with
a flat disapproving expression. At this rate, he would never make a diplomat.
"His copilot, Chewbacca of Kashyyyk." Chewie grumbled as he bowed.
Wookiees had been deeply betrayed by the Empire. She hoped Chewie didn't
forget himself and start tearing arms off Imperials. The chilly morning breeze
ruffled his fur.
She laid out her trump card with flair. "And Commander Skywalker of
Tatooine, Jedi Knight."
Luke bowed beautifully--she'd coached him. Nereus squared his shoulders.
After a moment, he returned the bow. "Jedi." His large nose twitched. "We'll
have to watch ourselves."
Luke clasped his hands in front of him. Good! Leia praised him silently.
He was letting her answer, just as she'd begged. Now she felt repd for letting
him take charge in battle. Maybe there was a future in this division of labor,
so long as it didn't go too far. "Yes, Excellency," she said. Governor Nereus
turned his head toward her again. "We mean to reestablish the Old Republic,
including the Order of Jedi Knights. Commander Skywalker is head of the order.
" Again she guessed what he wanted her to add also the only member. Don't
look sheepish, Luke!
"Commander Skywalker," Nereus repeated, and his tone became as oily as
droid lubricant. "Ah. Now I recognize your name, Commander. Fortunately for
you, Bakura has a good trade balance. You might know that for some years there
has been a... an astronomical reward offered for your capture. Alive, only.
That must be something of a distinction among Rebel forces."
"I'm aware," Luke answered quietly. This was nothing new, either. They
were all on the most-wanted docket.
"And I see two droids," said the governor. "They'll have to be equipped
with restraining bolts for the duration of their stay on Bakura."
Fitting droids with those bolts was standard procedure on most planets,
compulsory on Imperial worlds and battle stations. "We'll see to it," Leia
agreed. Now certain she had commanded Nereus's respect, she stepped out of her
own protection. "Governor, Alliance forces intercepted your call for
assistance. The Imperial Fleet is no longer a presence in this part of the
galaxy. We are here to assist you in repelling the invaders. Once that is
accomplished, we will leave you. Bakura must choose its own destiny. We will
not attempt to impose ours upon your... on the Bakuran people," she corrected
herself.
Governor Nereus showed her a chilling half-smile. The left side of his
face contracted pulling up that side of his mouth. The right side could've