by James Luceno
For all the YT-1300 had changed over the decades, the cockpit had undergone the fewest modifications since the days the ship had been known as the Stellar Envoy. Solo or someone before him had added an additional pair of chairs, and the instrument panel boasted a bewildering array of retrofitted toggles and levers, reflecting the changes made to the stock propulsion, guidance, and sensor systems. Then there were the controls for the quad lasers and Ground Buzzer repeater. Otherwise, the cockpit was much as Jadak remembered it, and just sitting in the chair was enough to transport him back in time. He half expected to turn and find Reeze sitting in the copilot's chair, complaining about one thing or another.
Jadak studied the navicomputer, which still retained its original alloy faceplate with the name RUBICON in raised letters across the top. Spots of rust had formed around the bolts that fastened it to the bulkhead, but the keyboard was relatively new.
Jadak gazed at the raised letters. “Rubicon,” he said softly.
Digging into his pocket, he pulled out a scrap of flimsi on which were scrawled some of his attempts at deciphering the mnemonic phrase Senator Des'sein had had him memorize.
He gazed again at the navicomputer, then studied the handwritten phrase. His forefinger moved across the flimsi.
“R … u … b … i … c …”
His heart began to race. He stared at the flimsi. “Restore,” he said quietly. His finger moved over the letters. “R … e … s—” He stopped. “Reset? Reset … Rubicon …” He looked from the flimsi to the navicomputer and back again. “Reset Rubicon to …”
Some of the keyboard tabs were marked with numbers and letters. Had the mnemonic phrase been designed to remind the bearer to reset the Rubicon to the numbers represented by the nine letters that made up the final two words? If so, did the numbers represent time–space coordinates or was the numerical sequence itself a cipher?
In either case, he didn't expect the Falcon to respond, much less alter course—not while traveling through hyperspace. But it was possible that the navicomputer would furnish him with the name or the star map coordinates of the treasure world.
If at least that much happened, Jadak would have no further use for the Falcon. The Solos could drop him and Poste at Toprawa and be on their merry way to Nar Shaddaa or wherever else, and he and Poste could begin to figure out how to raise enough credits to finance an expedition to the treasure world.
Centering himself over the keyboard, Jadak hit the RESET button and used both his forefingers to enter the nine-digit code. The navicomputer chimed in response, but neither a name nor coordinates appeared in the display screen.
Instead he heard a pained cry issue from elsewhere in the ship.
* * *
Anyone observing Han as he whirled and high-stepped his way through the Falcon's port ring corridor might have assumed that he was executing a rather sloppy interpretation of the Sacorrian Jig, which had enjoyed a brief revival in popularity on Corellia in the years after the Battle of Yavin. But in fact Han was attempting to yank from his trousers pocket the archaic transponder Allana had discovered weeks earlier, which was just now needling his upper thigh with a series of painful electric shocks.
Bouncing the device in his cupped hand when he finally managed to withdraw it, he was on the verge of smashing it underfoot when it suddenly calmed down.
By then Jadak had hurried from the cockpit and was standing in the center of the main hold when Han and Poste appeared from one side and Leia, Allana, and the protocol droid appeared from the other, none of them looking very happy.
“Kriffing thing went off in my pants!” Han shouted.
Leia gestured. “Maybe Mag or whatever his real name is can explain.”
Jadak heard a sound he had thought he would never hear again— the snap-hiss! of a lightsaber being activated—and all at once he and Poste were being forced back toward the hologame table's arc of acceleration couch.
“Down,” Leia said. “Both of you.”
Poste sat, and Jadak followed suit.
“Last time I saw one of those it was dangling from the belt of Jedi Master J'oopi Shé,” he told Leia.
Her expression turned quizzical. “What?”
“What's going on?” Han said, glancing from Jadak to his wife.
“Tell him, Threepio.”
C-3PO raised an arm and pointed to Poste. “Captain Solo, he was the one responsible for jamming communications and shutting me down. With the help of a nasty little slicer droid, I might add.”
Han stared at Poste and Jadak. “You two are in league with those ship thieves?”
Jadak shook his head. “We're more like members of the opposing team.”
Unholstering his blaster, Han stepped toward the table. Behind him, Leia deactivated the lightsaber and sat with Allana at the engineering station.
“What's your real name?” Han asked Poste.
“Flitcher Poste,” he said quietly. “And I'm really sorry about—”
“And yours?” Han cut him off, glaring at Jadak.
“Tobb Jadak.” Nodding toward Poste, he said: “He's only involved because I dragged him into this.”
“Then you've got a lot of explaining to do.”
Jadak exhaled through his nostrils and sat back in the couch. “Remember in the restaurant when I told you I had no idea who owned the Falcon before the Nar Shaddaa crime boss? I was lying.” He tapped himself in the chest. “I piloted the ship before he had it.”
Han's eyebrows formed a V. “When was that?”
“Well, about … seventy-two years ago. It was called the Stellar Envoy back then.”
Han laughed. “What'd you fly it in, your diapers? There's no way you're that much older than me.”
“Oh, I am, Solo. By a good twenty-five standard years.”
Han stared at him. “That would put you close to a hundred.”
Jadak nodded. “Don't I know it.”
“Who is the Jedi you mentioned?” Leia asked suddenly.
“A Kadas'sa'Nikto of the old Order. Master Shé was present when I received my final orders regarding the Stellar—the Falcon.”
Han looked at Leia. “Are you following this?”
Leia didn't answer him. “When and where was that?” she asked Jadak.
“The Senate Annex, the final month of the war. The year you were born, if I'm not mistaken.”
Leia folded her arms. “You're not mistaken. But that isn't exactly classified information.”
“Is any of this on the level, Jadak?” Han said.
“All of it.”
“You're just a hundred-year-old pilot who's still in love with the Falcon, is that the idea?”
“I won't deny loving the ship, Solo. But the truth is, I don't want her. I want the secrets she's safeguarding.”
Allana hurried from the engineering station before Leia could grab her. “What secrets?” she said, wide-eyed with anticipation.
Jadak looked from her to Han. “That transponder your dad's holding … I think it was installed on the Falcon by Master Shé just before I took off on what I thought was going to be the Falcon's final mission.”
“The Jedi sent you on this mission?” Leia said.
Jadak shook his head. “The outfit I worked for was known as the Republic Group.”
“The covert loyalist organization?”
“The same, Princess Leia. I worked for them for ten years, carrying out all kinds of missions with this very ship. My orders on that day in the annex were to deliver it to an Antarian Ranger on Toprawa—a woman named Folee, who was going to look after the ship from that point on. The thing is, I never made it to Toprawa. Clone pilots pursued me off Coruscant and the ship took a hit from a Republic cruiser laser. My partner and I made a last-instant jump to Nar Shaddaa, but we reverted without the ability to maneuver.” Jadak paused briefly. “We collided with a bulk cruiser. My partner died.”
“I'm sorry to hear that, Jadak,” Han said. “But I'm still waiting to hear where you've been for t
he past sixty or so years.”
“In a coma,” Jadak said evenly. “In a medcenter near Nar Shaddaa for the first couple of decades, and at Aurora Medical for the rest.”
“We were just there,” Allana said.
Jadak nodded. “Talking to Dr. Parlay Thorp, the way I figure it. But I don't think she has anything to do with this.”
“To do with what?” Leia said.
“The game of hide-and-seek I've been playing with Lestra Oxic. He's the one who had me moved from Nar Shaddaa to Aurora, and he's had his underlings chasing me ever since I woke up. Those two joyriders back on Vaced? They belong to him. So does the doctor who supervised my rehabilitation—Dr. Sompa.”
“We spoke with him,” Leia said. “Parlay even mentioned you!”
Jadak mulled it over. “That explains how Oxic put two and two together about the Stellar Envoy and the Falcon.” He looked up at Han. “Oxic knew I was searching for the ship. Once he made the connection, he figured on stealing the Falcon, knowing that I'd have no option but to turn myself over to him if I wanted a piece of the prize.”
“I knew it!” Allana said. “There isa treasure!”
Han's eyes darted from Allana to Jadak. “Is she right?”
“The Falcon holds the key to locating a treasure that was described to me as ‘sufficient to restore Republic honor to the galaxy.’”
Leia's brow furrowed. “Honor?”
“Credits?” Han said. “Aurodium? What kind of treasure?”
Jadak shook his head. “I don't know.”
“How could the Falcon know where this treasure is cached?”
“The Republic Group set it up to know. They saw where things were headed with Palpatine and must have been preparing for a time when they could wrest power away from him. What they didn't foresee was how the Clone Wars would end, with the Jedi murdered and the Emperor all but untouchable.”
Han holstered his blaster and began to pace. “Then this treasure could be a trove of weapons.”
“Maybe,” Jadak said, watching him. “Or a combination of weapons and precious metals.”
“The Republic Group said honor,” Leia chimed in, “not strength.”
Han came to a halt and turned toward the hologame table. “How could Oxic have learned about it? Was he a member of the group?”
“I think I know,” Leia said. “To the best of my knowledge he wasn't a member. But he was close friends with many of the beings who were. One of them may have told him about the cache.”
Han considered it. “Why not just tell him where to find the treasure?”
“The location may have been a closely guarded secret,” Leia went on. “Whoever told Oxic knew only that the Falcon was the key to finding it, and that Tobb Jadak was the last person known to have piloted it.”
“Are we gonna go and find the treasure?” Allana asked.
Han steered a course around the question. “The first thing we have to do is check the ship for homing devices, just in case Oxic is thinking about following us. We won't be able to scan the hull until we revert to realspace, but we can run a scan of the interior.” Han turned to C-3PO. “You know what to do.”
“I'll begin at once, Captain Solo.”
Han whirled to Poste. “Threepio said you had a slicer droid with you.”
Poste gulped and nodded. “It was with me in the cockpit when Oxic's goons got the jump on me. It could have deboarded while they were busy chasing me through the ship.”
“Could have? You mean to tell me it could still be aboard?”
“I'm just saying that I didn't see it leave,” Poste said.
“Threepio!” Han shouted. “We have a revised priority!” As if only just remembering, he opened his left fist and glanced at the transponder. “Why did this thing suddenly go active?”
“Because I entered a code sequence into the navicomputer,” Jadak said.
Han's eyes narrowed. “The transponder received the code, and tried to transmit.”
“We need to put it back where we found it,” Allana said, going to the bulkhead alongside the engineering station.
Leia looked at Han, waiting for him to speak.
“This is crazy,” he said finally.
“It's not,” Allana said. “It's just a treasure hunt.”
“Nothing affixed to the hull,” Han announced from the pilot's chair.
Leia and Allana were beside him, Jadak and Poste in the rear chairs. Outside the viewport the stars were visible once more, the Falcon drifting aimlessly among them.
Swiveling toward the ship's intercom, Han said, “Threepio, what's taking you so long?”
A note of distress punctuated the droid's voice as it issued through the cockpit enunciators. “I am working at all speed, Captain Solo. The cargo areas are free of tracking devices. I will sweep the rest of the Falcon from the stern forward.”
“Fine. Just be quick about it.”
Han muted the audio before C-3PO could respond. “Have to keep him on his toes,” he said over his shoulder.
“Oxic's boys aren't stupid, just incompetent,” Jadak said. “They'd expect you to scan for a homing device.”
Han nodded. “Still, why take chances.”
“Captain Solo,” C-3PO said a moment later, “I am receiving an anomalous signal originating from within the escape pod access.”
“Could one of the pod trackers be enabled?” Leia said.
“Possibly.” Han leaned toward the intercom. “Threepio, stay put. We're on our way.”
The five of them filed out of the cockpit and wended their way into the Falcon's rear hold. C-3PO was peering into the escape pod access-way, his photoreceptors glowing in the dimness.
“I believe—” he started to say when Han ducked into the space, sending the broad beam of a glow rod into the darkest areas. Twisting over, he craned his neck toward the ceiling and trained the light on a spot above the hatchway.
“All right, you,” he said, “come down from there.”
“What are you planning to do to me?” a raspy mechanical voice asked.
“That depends on what you tell me.”
“I was only following orders.”
“That's everybody's excuse. Now come out of there before I decide to use a disruptor on you.”
No sooner did Han step back into the hold than the long-snouted slicer droid glided from the accessway, trembling as it hovered a meter off the deck.
Han slapped a data interface connector into C-3PO's hand. “He's all yours.”
“Thank you, Captain Solo.”
The slicer droid floated backward against the ring corridor bulkhead. “Hey, watch out with that thing, it has a probe on the end of it.”
Locating the dataport beneath the slicer's snout, C-3PO inserted the probe and studied the tool's alphanumeric readout display. “He is harboring a homing device, Captain.”
“As a precaution against theft, my master installs trackers in all rentals,” the slicer said.
“How long has the tracker been transmitting?” Han said.
“Since the ship launched. It's not my fault.”
Han nodded to C-3PO. “Go ahead.”
C-3PO made an adjustment to the probe and deactivated it. Photoreceptors blinking out, the slicer droid drifted slowly to the deck, where it collapsed in a heap.
“Now can we put the transponder back?” Allana said while everyone was staring at the droid.
Leia had lost track of how many times Allana had asked the question. Putting her hand on Allana's shoulder, she looked at Han.
Han compressed his lips, then forced a laugh. “What could go wrong?”
“Can I do it—please?”
“Sure you can,” Han said. “You're the one who found it.”
“I'll probably have to reenter the navicomputer code,” Jadak said.
Han nodded and prized the transponder from his pocket. “Leia, you have the helm while Amelia and I put this thing back where it belongs.”
“Where do you want
me?” Poste asked.
“I want you and Threepio to keep an eye on this droid.”
The six of them split into three teams. Moments later, Han was in the main hold, watching Allana fit the transponder into its pocket in the bulkhead, the device's mimetic alloy making it seem to disappear.
“We're all set!” Han shouted.
In the cockpit, Leia watched Jadak reset the Rubicon navicomputer and enter a numerical code. Instantly time–space coordinates appeared on the display screen.
And the Millennium Falcon jumped into hyperspace.
“You've lost the signal,” Lestra Oxic said.
The Gran rental agency owner, Druul, gestured dismissively. “They found the primary tracker—the obvious one. The redundant system is integrated into the slicer's carapace and will continue to function even if the droid is deactivated. The device uses the ship itself as an antenna.”
The monitor in Druul's office beeped.
“What did I tell you,” the Gran said.
Lestra looked at Koi Quire, who showed him a subtle nod of appreciation.
“Where is the ship?”
“In realspace, though nowhere in particular,” Druul said, two of his three eyes scanning the monitor's star map. “Rimward of the Hydian, perhaps three-quarters of the way to Toprawa.”
“What now?” Oxic said.
One of the Gran's stalked eyeballs fixed on him. “That's entirely up to you. You're the one paying.”
“Patience, Lestra,” Quire said. “We've come this far. Besides, Remata and Cynner are still being processed.”
“Who's handling the bail arrangements?”
“We're using a local to supply the bond.”
Oxic fell silent and began to pace. If things had gone according to plan, he would have had both the Falcon and Jadak in hand by now. Even so, they had caught a break, thanks to the slicer droid Poste had rented. That in itself had to be a sign that the treasure was destined to be his. As Koi had said, they had come this far—
“The ship has jumped back to lightspeed,” Druul said suddenly.
Oxic hurried back to the monitor. “Where are they headed? Does it show a destination?”
Druul was doing input at the monitor. “It's showing coordinates. Give me a moment to see what they refer to.” Alphanumeric text began to scroll on the display, and a series of star maps flashed onscreen and disappeared.
