injured, she told Master Saba about this rendezvous.”
“And Master Saba decided you need a set of your own bacta tanks,” Han finished.
Tesar bared his fangs in a smile. “It seemed fair.”
“What if something goes wrong?” The worry in Han’s voice was so foreign to the Han Solo that Leia remembered that she thought for a moment someone else was speaking. “Eelysa’s the one who will pay the price.”
“And Leia, too, you’re thinking,” Izal Waz said.
“The thought had crossed my mind,” Han admitted.
Tesar covered Han’s shoulder with a black-scaled claw. “Han Solo, you worry too much. What could go wrong?”
Leia had to smile. “At least Jacen will feel better,” she said, trying to take Han’s mind off all the things that
could
go wrong. “His report was going nowhere without solid …”
Leia let the sentence trail off, for her thoughts were whirling through her mind like hawk-bats above a thermal exhaust vent. Why would someone contract an assassin to kill her? Why bribea CorSec guard to steal her datapad? Why send an entire combat flotilla to prevent her from returning home?
“Proof!” she gasped. “Someone thinks I have proof.”
“Proof?” Han turned in the pilot’s seat. “Of CorSec’s collaboration?”
Leia nodded. “That’s what they’re afraid of.”
“It makes sense,” Han said. “Hard to be sure, though.”
“What else have I been doing over the last year?” Leia asked. “And no one was trying to kill me
before
Jacen’s report—at least no one on our side.”
“CorDuro’s not exactly on our side either, dear.”
Han opened a tactical feed to the navicomputer display so Leia could watch events unfold from her seat behind the bulkhead. A minute or so after the corvette and freighter had merged into a single blip, Izal Waz opened a subspace channel and announced the coordinates of the rendezvous.
“I thought we had to maintain comm silence,” Han said.
“Close enough,” Tesar said.
A few seconds later, a nervous voice came from the
Star Roamer
. “Who was that?” When no one answered, it said again, “Unidentified transmitter, respond and explain yourself.”
They did not, of course. A minute later, the electronics began to hiss and spit as the freighter went to active sensors and probed in their direction. Leia felt confident the
Falcon
would remain hidden. The asteroid they sat upon was only a few times larger than the ship itself, but Han had set them down beside a ten-meter pressure ridge where standard sensors would find it impossible to distinguish the ship’s silhouette.
The hissing faded away, and another minute passed. The tactical display went briefly blank as the asteroid’s rotation hid the two ships from view, then it turned to static as the sensors pointed toward the tiny sun. When the static cleared, the
Roamer
and the Yuuzhan Vong corvette were separate blips again.
Tesar hissed in frustration. “They will get—”
He was interrupted by the shriek of proximity alarms. A new handful of blips appeared on the display, streaking in from five sides, already firing laser bolts and even a couple of long-range proton torpedoes. The Yuuzhan Vong turned to meet the assault,as Yuuzhan Vong ships nearly always did. The
Roamer
ran in the only direction left to it, toward the
Falcon
.
Han and Izal began a warm start-up, while Leia occupied herself trying to guess whether they would intercept the freighter before it jumped to hyperspace. Identifiers began to appear beneath the blips on the tactical display, revealing a motley assortment of old T-65 X-wings, even older Y-wings, and a pair of Skipray blastboats. Some of the newcomers’ transponder codes were already blinking to show damage, and the Yuuzhan Vong had not even fired.
“That’s the saddest pirate band I’ve seen in some time,” Leia said. “Who did Master Saba hire for this assignment?”
“No one. That is our squadron, the Wild Knightz.” Tesar smiled proudly.
“And Master Saba decided you need a set of your own bacta tanks,” Han finished.
Tesar bared his fangs in a smile. “It seemed fair.”
“What if something goes wrong?” The worry in Han’s voice was so foreign to the Han Solo that Leia remembered that she thought for a moment someone else was speaking. “Eelysa’s the one who will pay the price.”
“And Leia, too, you’re thinking,” Izal Waz said.
“The thought had crossed my mind,” Han admitted.
Tesar covered Han’s shoulder with a black-scaled claw. “Han Solo, you worry too much. What could go wrong?”
Leia had to smile. “At least Jacen will feel better,” she said, trying to take Han’s mind off all the things that
could
go wrong. “His report was going nowhere without solid …”
Leia let the sentence trail off, for her thoughts were whirling through her mind like hawk-bats above a thermal exhaust vent. Why would someone contract an assassin to kill her? Why bribea CorSec guard to steal her datapad? Why send an entire combat flotilla to prevent her from returning home?
“Proof!” she gasped. “Someone thinks I have proof.”
“Proof?” Han turned in the pilot’s seat. “Of CorSec’s collaboration?”
Leia nodded. “That’s what they’re afraid of.”
“It makes sense,” Han said. “Hard to be sure, though.”
“What else have I been doing over the last year?” Leia asked. “And no one was trying to kill me
before
Jacen’s report—at least no one on our side.”
“CorDuro’s not exactly on our side either, dear.”
Han opened a tactical feed to the navicomputer display so Leia could watch events unfold from her seat behind the bulkhead. A minute or so after the corvette and freighter had merged into a single blip, Izal Waz opened a subspace channel and announced the coordinates of the rendezvous.
“I thought we had to maintain comm silence,” Han said.
“Close enough,” Tesar said.
A few seconds later, a nervous voice came from the
Star Roamer
. “Who was that?” When no one answered, it said again, “Unidentified transmitter, respond and explain yourself.”
They did not, of course. A minute later, the electronics began to hiss and spit as the freighter went to active sensors and probed in their direction. Leia felt confident the
Falcon
would remain hidden. The asteroid they sat upon was only a few times larger than the ship itself, but Han had set them down beside a ten-meter pressure ridge where standard sensors would find it impossible to distinguish the ship’s silhouette.
The hissing faded away, and another minute passed. The tactical display went briefly blank as the asteroid’s rotation hid the two ships from view, then it turned to static as the sensors pointed toward the tiny sun. When the static cleared, the
Roamer
and the Yuuzhan Vong corvette were separate blips again.
Tesar hissed in frustration. “They will get—”
He was interrupted by the shriek of proximity alarms. A new handful of blips appeared on the display, streaking in from five sides, already firing laser bolts and even a couple of long-range proton torpedoes. The Yuuzhan Vong turned to meet the assault,as Yuuzhan Vong ships nearly always did. The
Roamer
ran in the only direction left to it, toward the
Falcon
.
Han and Izal began a warm start-up, while Leia occupied herself trying to guess whether they would intercept the freighter before it jumped to hyperspace. Identifiers began to appear beneath the blips on the tactical display, revealing a motley assortment of old T-65 X-wings, even older Y-wings, and a pair of Skipray blastboats. Some of the newcomers’ transponder codes were already blinking to show damage, and the Yuuzhan Vong had not even fired.
“That’s the saddest pirate band I’ve seen in some time,” Leia said. “Who did Master Saba hire for this assignment?”
“No one. That is our squadron, the Wild Knightz.” Tesar smiled proudly.
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