by James Luceno
Oxic lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “Looks can be deceiving.” Indicating the woman, he added: “My personal assistant, Koi Quire. Koi, Princess Leia Organa Solo.”
Leia's eye lighted up in astonishment. “You're Firrerreo.”
Koi Quire smiled and inclined her head in a bow. “I was aboard the sleeper ship you discovered so long ago. I'm honored to be able to thank you in person all these years later.”
“Counselor,” Climm said, “we're about to charge these boys with grand theft starship.”
“Add breaking and entering,” Han snapped. “This ship is practically our home.”
“You've given up the conapt on Coruscant?” Oxic asked Leia.
“No. But—”
“Then I'm afraid you'll have a hard time making a case for breaking and entering. More important, my clients returned the ship to precisely where they found it.”
“They didn't do that,” Han shouted. “The Falcon did that.”
“That may also prove difficult to establish,” Oxic mused. “We are perhaps willing to admit to joyriding.”
Han's jaw dropped. “They stole the ship!”
Oxic showed him a calm look. “You'll have to prove intent.”
Han whirled to the thieves. “How did you get aboard?”
“I caution you to refrain from saying anything that may further incriminate you,” Oxic said well over Han's head.
Leia was prepared to see smoke coil from Han's ears when Oxic turned to her.
“Princess Leia, may we confer in private for a moment?”
Leia nodded. “I won't be long,” she told Allana, then stepped into the wake of Oxic's long strides. “This had better make sense, Lestra,” she said, gazing up at him when they were out of earshot of the others.
He tweaked his smile so that it wouldn't seem quite so patronizing. “Princess Leia, I'm certain you don't want to spend any more time on Vaced than is absolutely necessary. If my clients take my advice and enter a plea of not guilty, you and Captain Solo and your young ward will be required to remain here for the arraignment, and be forced to return for the pretrial and trial, assuming the case should get that far. Furthermore, you will be obliged to reside in a hotel— assuming for the moment Vaced even has one—for however long it will take for this … law officer to complete his poking around in the Falcon on an ostensible search for forensic evidence.”
Leia laughed shortly. “Nice to see you haven't lost your special touch, Lestra.”
“I do what I must,” Oxic said. “Of course, it's up to you to decide whether or not to press charges, though I suspect that the local judges are likely to grant my clients probation before judgment, even if the charge of ship theft holds. Out of respect for our long-standing acquaintanceship, I will try to convince my clients to plead guilty to joyriding and misuse of personal property, which will entitle you and Han to be reimbursed for the cost of fuel and the sheer aggravation of it all.”
Leia narrowed her eyes. “Lestra, what are you doing here— really?”
“Nothing more than serving the needs of my clients.”
“You can't be honest with me?”
“This is a legal matter, Princess. Attorney–client confidentiality must be observed.”
Leia forced an exhale. “All right, Lestra, I'll put it to Han.”
“What'd he say?” Han said, coming to an abrupt halt as she approached. “And who is he, anyway? How do you know him?”
“I'll explain later. Right now we've got a decision to make.”
Allana stepped in to listen to Leia's summary, at the conclusion of which Han shouted, “This is a load of poodoo, counselor!”
“Han!” Leia said, putting her hands over Allana's ears, even while both of them were laughing.
“I'm sorry, Captain Solo,” Oxic said. “It's not personal.”
Han turned to the marshal. “Can we make ship theft stick or not?”
Climm took off his hat and scratched his head. “Maybe not in the long run. But the judge'll probably be willing to consider the charge as a way to keep you around. You see, he's kind of an admirer of yours.”
“Great,” Han said flatly. He shot the thieves his best glare, then turned to Oxic. “You win this one, counselor. But you'd better hope our situations aren't reversed someday.”
“I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Captain.”
Han cursed. “Joyriding.” He gave his head a quick shake. “The sooner we're off this rock, the better.”
“THE FIRRERREO'S NAME IS KOI QUIRE,” JADAK EXPLAINED AS HE and Poste watched from a landing bay adjacent to the Falcon's. “She visited me at Aurora Medical, claiming to be an agent for Core Life Insurance. The tall guy she's with, that's Lestra Oxic. His holoimage was all over the head doctor's office at Aurora. He was also the lawyer representing the Colicoids back on Holess.”
“And they're the ones who've been after you since Nar Shaddaa?”
“After me, and now after the Falcon because Oxic knows we need her to find the treasure.”
Poste frowned. “How long have you known all this?”
“Only since Holess.”
“And you didn't tell me because you didn't want to worry me.”
Jadak clapped him on the back. “I've got only your best interests at heart.” He paused, then said: “We have to get ourselves aboard the Falcon.”
Poste gaped at him. “You're not thinking clearly. The protocol droid saw me.”
“No one listens to droids.” Jadak kept his eyes on the entrance to the Falcon's landing bay. “If the Solos decide not to leave Vaced, we make another try for the ship. If they decide to launch now … well, just follow my lead.”
“Right, because that's worked so well so far.”
Vaced's primary had only dropped a degree or so when they saw everyone but the Solos file out. The deputies loaded the two would-be thieves into the clunky landspeeder and took off toward town. The rotund marshal rode with Oxic and Koi Quire in the rented speeder they had arrived in.
“Let's go,” Jadak told Poste the moment the speeders were out of sight.
Han was inspecting the Falcon's undercarriage when they entered the bay. Hearing them, he came out from under the starboard mandible with his blaster drawn.
“We just wanted to make sure everything turned out all right, Captain,” Jadak said.
Han holstered the weapon. “Sure—if you call allowing a couple of ship thieves to get off with a charge of joyriding.”
“Frontier injustice,” Poste said.
“You're telling me. But to make a theft charge stick …” Han allowed his words to trail off. “Ah, frip.”
“Anything we can do?” Jadak said.
Han shook his head. “I just can't believe those guys would try to make off with my ship.”
“The Falcon's as famous as you are. Word must have gotten around that she was here.”
Han looked dubious. “It's not like somebody could sell her.”
“Paint her, remove the cannons, install a new identity telesponder …”
Han grinned. “Yeah, but then she ain't the Falcon.” He ran his eyes over the ship. “What's worse, they managed to sabotage my anti-intrusion safeguards.”
Jadak watched him for a moment. “I'm guessing you'll be headed for Nar Shaddaa to continue the search for past owners.”
“Maybe,” Han said in a distracted way. “I'm not sure. This little outing of ours has taken some pretty strange twists.” He glanced at Jadak. “Why, what's on your mind, Fargil?”
“I know it's a lot to ask, but I'm wondering if you'd be willing to drop us at Toprawa.”
Han waited for more.
“We need parts for some of the machines on the ranch,” Jadak went on. “An order placed from here will take weeks to fill, and we can't afford to be shut down for that long.”
“I know how that can be,” Han said, rubbing his chin. “Toprawa, huh? Sure, why not. It's not so far out of our way. Consider it thanks for all the info you gave us.” He loo
ked at Poste. “And for telling me about seeing the Falcon launch.”
“No problem, Captain.”
“And thanks for cleaning up. You need time to throw some gear together?”
Jadak gestured to their rucksacks. “We've got everything we need.”
“All right then.” Han motioned to the boarding ramp. “Welcome aboard.”
Han trailed them up the ramp and into the corridor, where Leia and Allana were standing alongside the still-deactivated protocol droid.
“We're giving Quip and Mag a ride to Toprawa,” Han announced.
Leia tried to hide her surprise by turning to the droid.
“We didn't want to switch him back on till you were here,” Allana said.
Han gave his head a theatrical shake. “Will you look at this? That's the last time we leave him alone with the ship.” Reaching a hand behind the droid's head, he flipped the activation switch.
“What? Who are you? What are you doing on the ship?” C-3PO said. “Where am I? What happened?”
“You got yourself switched off is what happened,” Han said. “Why didn't you comlink me when the security system went down?”
“I made every effort, Captain Solo. But someone—yaaw!”
Too late, Poste tried to conceal himself behind Jadak.
“Take it easy, Threepio, they're our passengers. You're a nervous wreck.”
“But, Captain—”
“I know it's going to mean more work for you, but they're only aboard until Toprawa. Besides, we've all got jobs to do.”
“But, Captain Solo—”
“Not another word, Threepio,” Han said, raising his forefinger. “I mean it.”
C-3PO straightened.
“Threepio, come and help us get the Falcon ready for launch,” Allana said.
“Of course, mistress,” he said shuffling off after Leia and Allana. “No one listens to me anyway.”
Nudging Poste in the ribs as he stepped past him to take in the main hold, Jadak gasped in genuine wonder. “If I didn't know, I wouldn't even believe this is the same ship.” He peeked into the ladderwell that led to the gun turrets and ran his hand over the console of the engineering station. “You've done a lot of amazing work since she was mine, Solo. You've even got a hologame table.”
Han glanced around. “Most of the changes I made can't be seen, they have to be experienced. The dejarik board is actually the second one the Falcon's had. The first was put in when she was part of a traveling circus.”
Jadak laughed. “A circus?”
“Parlay Thorp sold her to the Molpol Circus and used the money to open a research center. You should contact her sometime. She's on the staff of the Aurora Medical Center.”
Jadak gulped and found his voice. “Aurora?”
“The circus owner sold her to a gambler,” Han continued, “who ended up losing her to … well, another gambler. Lando Calrissian.”
“General Calrissian?” Poste said.
Han grinned. “Lando hasn't gone by that honorific in a lot of years. But, yeah, General Calrissian.” He motioned to the hologame table's curved bench. “Make yourselves comfortable. I'm going to get her warmed up.”
Poste waited for Han to disappear, then swung to Jadak. “I don't see the slicer droid anywhere,” he said quietly.
“Maybe it left when Oxic's men were busy chasing you.”
Poste looked around, even under the acceleration couch. “Maybe …”
“Listen to me,” Jadak said. “After we launch you need to get Solo out of the cockpit so I can have some time alone in there.”
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“Get him talking about the modifications he's made to the ship— the point-five hyperdrive, the turbolasers, anything that comes to mind. If I know Solo, he won't pass on an opportunity to show off.”
“I hate it when someone sits in my chair,” Han said as Leia came into the cockpit and strapped into the copilot's seat. “Except you, of course.”
“Of course.”
Han fiddled with the chair's control. “You know when you have it perfectly adjusted for yourself, then someone goes and fools with it.”
“Life can be hard,” Leia said.
He frowned at her, and motioned with his chin to the instrument panel. “We good to lift?”
“We're good.”
Han enabled the repulsors and eased the ship up and out of the landing bay, the spaceport shrinking below them. “Where's Allana?”
“Showing our passengers some of her favorite toys.” Leia looked over her shoulder. “You trust them?”
Han glanced at her. “Obviously you don't.”
Leia stared out the viewport for a moment, Vaced's blue sky darkening as the ship climbed and stars began to appear. “I can't get a fix on Mag, other than to say he seems like a fish out of water. But there's something not quite right about Quip.”
“His story rang false?”
“Not at all. In fact, everything he said struck me as true—even when he mentioned Bail. I had a strong sense that he actually knew him.”
“They were both there at the beginnings of the Alliance. They might have crossed paths or had dealings. He practically said as much.”
“That's part of what I was feeling. But there was more to it. When he was telling us about falling in love with the Falcon, I felt the emotion behind his words. But when he began telling us about the mission to Bilbringi and his change of heart, I sensed that he was omitting some crucial detail.”
“It didn't happen the way he said?”
“I can't be sure. I just didn't feel his remorse. He felt bad about what happened, but it was as if he had distanced himself from the events. Or that he was recounting someone else's version of the story.”
“Distancing himself is understandable. It's been more than fifty years. If I was telling someone about what I did on Ylesia way back when, it might come out sounding like I don't harbor regrets, but I do.”
Leia sighed. “You're right. Maybe I'm being overly suspicious because of what happened on Taris.”
“And now two strangers try to make off with the Falcon.”
“What bothers me is Lestra Oxic's being on hand to speak for them,” Leia said.
“I know I've heard the name.”
Leia swiveled her chair toward him. “I've known him practically all my life. He represented many of the so-called loyalists in the years preceding the Clone Wars.”
Han made his mouth a rictus. “You're kidding. He doesn't look half old enough. First Quip Fargil, now Lestra Oxic. What am I doing wrong?”
Leia laughed. “Lestra is one of the people who keep Aurora Medical in business—and not simply as a patron. He made occasional visits to Alderaan when I was growing up. He and Bail had many private talks. Bail respected Lestra because he continued to befriend and offer legal advice to Palpatine's enemies, despite the dangers that posed to his career and to his life. But for Lestra to represent two ship thieves on Vaced …”
“Maybe he's doing it for the public good?”
“That's as good an explanation as any. You know he was the lawyer for the Colicoids in that recent case.”
“The lawyer who lost. So maybe he's taking work wherever he can find it.”
Leia ridiculed the idea. “He's wealthy beyond even your wildest dreams. He's said to have one of the most extensive collections anywhere of Coruscant Republicana.”
Han thought about it. “You don't think he hired those thieves to add the Falcon to his collection.”
“I wouldn't put it past him.”
Before Han could respond, someone said, “Permission to enter the cockpit, Captain.”
Han saw Mag standing in the hatch and beckoned him in. “Take a seat.”
A crescent of Vaced hung in the viewport, the world's small moon engulfed in shadow.
“Your ship is even more amazing than I'd heard,” Poste said. “Quip told me a lot about it, but I guess I wasn't expecting a hundred-year-old vessel to l
ook this good.”
“A hundred and three,” Han corrected. “Does Quip do a lot of bragging about having named her?”
“Quip? Never. Only a handful of folks on all of Vaced know him as Quip as opposed to Vec, and even those folks don't know he ever owned the Falcon. Besides, he feels too bad about what he did to tell anyone. He's still expecting some former member of the Rebel Alliance to come gunning for him. I was surprised when he agreed to meet with you.”
“A story like Quip's, it gets bottled up. It has to come out sometime.”
“Quip says the Falcon is running a point-five hyperdrive.”
“It's a fact. With a Series Four-oh-one Isu-Sim generator.”
“Incredible,” Poste said. “What's the power source?”
“Quadex.”
“What drives her sublight?”
“A pair of Giordyne SRB-four-twos—modified, of course.”
“Deflector shields?”
“Torplex generator, with a Novaldex stasis for support.”
Poste whistled in admiration. “If there's time, I'd really like you to show me around before you drop us at Toprawa.”
“We can do it now,” Han said. “As soon as we make the jump to lightspeed, I'll enable the autopilot.” He swiveled away from the navicomputer to face Leia. “Unless you want to take the helm.”
Leia shook her head. “I promised Amelia I'd help her prepare snacks.”
“Don't go to any trouble on our behalf,” Poste said.
Leia slid out of the harness. “No trouble. But we can't leave Threepio to do it all by himself.”
Han studied the coordinates the Rubicon had provided. “All set. We'll start with the sublight engines.”
Outside the viewport, the stars streaked.
JADAK HAD ENTERED INTO A DEJARIK MATCH WITH THE HOLOGAME computer and was pretending to be engrossed in overseeing his bestiary of holocreatures when first Leia, then Han and Poste left the cockpit for the stern of the ship. Jadak waited until they disappeared around the curve of the ring corridor, then paused the game, rose from the table, and hurried through the connector to the cockpit. Planting himself in the pilot's chair, he pivoted from side to side, then swung to face the navicomputer.
