“Elthree,” Lando said, cocking his head. “Now is definitely not the time. Let me—”
L3 shook her head. “Now is the only time. Right now.”
For a second the two just stared at each other, Lando squinting and holding back a growl. She looked so out of place amid all this elegance—all that exposed wiring on her torso, which she’d pieced together herself from an old astromech. All the other droids around were polished, excessively so, Lando thought. But L3 clearly didn’t give a damn about what they thought about her—an aspect of her personality that Lando had always admired. Anyway, she could run circles around all of them. L3’s central processor and analytical core were light-years more advanced than those of any droid Lando had ever met. Finally, recognizing a battle he wasn’t going to win, Lando let out an exasperated chuckle.
He turned to Prita, who was looking on with some interest. Lando’s face was getting tired from so much insistent smiling. “Prita!”
“Vice Grand Administrator Sven,” she corrected.
“Ooh, I like that!” Lando winked. “Listen—”
“You have a strange relationship with this droid,” Prita pointed out.
“She has a strange relationship with herself,” Lando said. “I’m just along for the ride. Anyway, I will just be a quick second, if you would be so kind as to wait for me.”
Prita didn’t respond, but she didn’t walk away, either. It would have to do. “Now,” Lando said, forcing his voice into a level, understanding tone as he escorted L3 off to a quiet corner, “what is so important that you—whoa!” L3’s grip tightened around Lando’s wrist and she sped around a corner and out of the solarium, tugging him into an off-balance stumble-jog behind her.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! What’s going on, El?” Lando said, trying to pull his arm out of her iron grip.
“We have to go,” L3 said. “We have to go now.”
Lando’s patience finally emptied out all the way. “Now hold on, dammit!” He dug his heels in, slowing both of them enough to get L3 to turn around. “You can’t just…what is possibly so important that…” He flailed around with his free hand. “What’s the deal, El?”
She looked him up and down slowly. “I know this is a lot to ask, especially considering you thought you were about to receive physical gratification from that Imperial female, however—”
“Now, wait a minute…”
“However—”
“What makes you think I wasn’t going to give gratification as well?”
“However, it’s imperative we exit this weigh station immediately and head to the Farfax system.”
“Farfax? But wh—”
“I can’t tell you why, Captain Calrissian.”
Lando paused. L3 almost never called him captain, shirking droid protocol.
“But I can tell you that I wouldn’t ask if it weren’t an urgent matter of life and death. Probably a great many lives.”
Lando narrowed his eyes. “This isn’t one of those rah-rah free-the-droids crusades you’re always trying to drag me along on, is it, El? Because I swear, if it is—”
L3 held up a metallic hand. “No,” she said. That normally would’ve earned Lando at least a lecture or a snappy comeback. “It’s even more serious than that. And you know how serious that is to me, even if it’s just a joke to you.”
“It’s not a—”
“Come,” L3 said, turning and zipping down the corridor with Lando still stumbling along behind. “The Falcon is primed and ready to go. You can come up with a snappy reply when we’re on the way.”
“THE WAY I SEE IT,” Lando said, “Grimdock is where he was last locked up, so if we can get into their files, that’ll give us the most updated info on Gor and the Phylanx. And more than likely, that’s the one place he can’t get access to. Then, when we have the info, we get the Phylanx ourselves and jump Gor when he comes to retrieve it. So essentially, we’ll need a slicer and a freighter.”
“And a whole lot of luck,” Han put in.
They’d set up a long table on the covered balcony at Han and Leia’s apartment. The Chandrilan mountains rose around them, and the creamy, thick aromas of BX’s luxury cuisine mingled with the fresh pine and cedar scents from the forest.
“Fresh and slightly braised Lee romay,” announced BX, swerving in with yet another tray of steaming delicacies. “Sautéed with a sprinkle of lyseed seasoning and a dash of peripicán, these delectable crustaceans were exported from Mon Cala by a famed Zabrak smuggler and sneaked illegally into Chand—”
“That’s quite enough, thank you, Beex,” Leia said quickly.
Florx Biggles yelped with delight and squealed something that Lando didn’t bother translating.
“Thank you,” Kaasha said. “Everything is delicious.” She’d slipped into an elegant golden top for the dinner gathering; it left her slender shoulders out for all the world to see, and Lando was having trouble keeping his eyes off her.
“I’m glad you could make it,” Leia said. “We’ve heard so much about you from Lando here.”
“And what if we get busted by our own folks along the way?” Han asked.
“Look,” Lando said, “we’ll make the whole run incognito. Fake IDs, an unregistered ship and unregistered pilot. We can hire one from Frander’s Bay.”
“You want to hire a pilot?” Han said with a smirk. “That’s a first.”
“Well, we can’t take any of our own ships,” Lando said. “And there’s no point in buying one for this run. And we want the whole thing to be totally under the radar and unaffiliated with the New Republic.”
Leia smiled at him but it was more like a grimace. “That much I can agree with.”
“Frepsin fro prabt!” Florx snickered, shoving a whole shell into his mouth.
“Florx,” Lando snapped. “You’re not supposed to eat the she—”
Florx smiled at him, crunching loudly as juice dribbled into his goatee.
“So how did you two meet?” Leia asked.
“Oh,” Lando said. “Florx has been my droid engineer ever since I took the helm of—”
Leia glared at him. “Not the Ugnaught, you lug.”
Florx loudly scarfed down another Lee romay, entirely uninterested in the conversation.
“Let me try again,” Leia said. “Kaasha: How did you end up with this dangerous businessman, scoundrel, and galactic war hero?”
Kaasha chuckled. “With? Like with with? Ha—I’m most certainly not.”
Han and Leia glared at Lando.
So did Kaasha. “Did he tell you I was?”
Lando raised a finger and both his eyebrows. “What I said was—”
Leia took a sip of Corellian wine. “Certainly made it sound that way.”
“We met back in the Pasa Novo campaign,” Kaasha said. “The Free Ryloth movement sent some of their tacticians to help out, and yeah, I’ll admit I kinda had a thing for him. And you know…we had our fun, but we both knew it was a dead-end situation, considering we were off in the middle of a raging battle in the far reaches and no one had any intention of taking anything further. Right, Lando?”
“I mean—”
“At least I didn’t. I’m not a fool. I know who Calrissian is. So, we did what people do when they’re young and ridiculous and in cramped quarters where they might be blasted into a million pieces at any moment.”
“ViSpaatzen!” Florx yelled.
“Florx!” Lando groaned. “Manners.”
“But then the province fell and the galaxy kept turning. The FRM needed me back on Ryloth to help liberate Tann and so I kept it moving. And so did Lando, I’m sure.” She shot him a pointed look. Lando did a kind of half-shrug-maybe-nod-type gesture that was completely indecipherable.
Han chuckled.
Leia filled Kaasha’s cup and clinked glasses with her. �
��I’m loving this. Please go on.”
Kaasha tipped her glass to the princess with a soft smile and took a sip. “It’s possible he might’ve crossed my mind once or twice over the years, sure.”
Lando, still looking vastly uncomfortable, tried to shrug again. “I have a way of—”
“Save it,” Leia suggested with the voice she used to give orders.
“But never in any kind of yearning way,” Kaasha clarified. “Just like, hmm, wonder what Lando’s up to. Then one day, lo! The Empire falls and the holos are all abuzz with chatter about the man who blew up the second Death Star. Who is this dashing mystery man? This rogue gambler turned baron administrator turned hero of the Rebellion?” She narrowed her eyes. “Who indeed. My first thought was: No way. Absolutely. I mean, he was brave, sure, but always in the service of saving his own hide or profit. But I had also detected that deep down, behind all that smooth talking and those well-ironed capes, there was a whole human being with a conscience and a desperate need to do something worthwhile with his life.”
“I like her,” Leia declared.
“Great,” Lando grumbled. “I’ll leave her here with you.”
Kaasha squeezed Lando’s arm. “Hush, ma sareen. Don’t pout just because people are telling the truth about you.”
Ma sareen. Twi’leki for “my sweet.” If they weren’t paired up, what exactly were they, Lando wondered. Sure, they’d never formally declared anything, but…it was obvious that what they shared, even in just these few steamy nights, was much more than just another passing fling. Wasn’t it?
Han nudged him from the other side. “Cigarras. Bedroom balcony. Now.”
“Good idea,” Leia said. “Kaasha and I need to chat.”
* * *
—
“For the record,” Lando said, flicking open a flame beneath his Chandrilan monjav and puffing a few times as the embers flared to life. “All I said was that it wasn’t like that.”
Han chuckled. “Like what?”
“Like, you know…” He passed Han the lighter and waved his hands around uselessly. “That.”
“Oh, you and Kaasha?”
“Right. It’s not like the others,” Lando said. “But that doesn’t mean I’m trying to do anything reckless like, you know”—he shot a wink at Han—“settle down.”
Han shrugged, shook his head.
“What’s the matter, old buddy? Here you are in this beautiful apartment with Ben sleeping in the other room and your beautiful, beautiful—”
“All right, all right…”
“—wife chatting with my gorgeous Twi’lek something or other probably fleeting companion who more than likely won’t want to hear my name in another week.”
Han scowled. “Yeah, well, everything’s not as pretty as it looks, Lando. Remember, for the first couple of years that Leia and I knew each other, we were just trying not to get blasted to bits by the Empire. All that time, I could barely get her attention and she kept acting like she wanted nothing to do with me. Then suddenly we’re on Endor and everything is just happening fast…really fast.”
Lando nodded sagely and puffed on his monjav. “You did take that leap with your usual reckless impulsive bravado.”
“I dunno, Lando. All this is a mystery to me. I never thought I’d be a husband, much less a father. None of it makes any sense. I try to spend time with the boy, he’s in tears. I go away, he’s mad I left. Kid’s barely got a personality yet and I’m already messing it up.”
“Aw, c’mon,” Lando chided. “I’m sure you’re much better at it than you think.”
Han scoffed. “I guess we’ll see. Either way, I’m no one to be giving advice, trust me.”
For a long time, puffs of smoke rose above their heads and the gentle hoots of Chandrilan forest pripraks and faraway laughter filled the night.
* * *
—
“So that’s all we were doing, huh?” Lando said later that night as he and Kaasha walked arm in arm along the Grand Promenade of the Rebellion. Illuminated fountains burbled their song through the warm Chandrilan night, and tiny preepnobs hooted back and forth in the perfectly trimmed garren trees lining the walkway. Off in the distance, the domed capitol buildings sparkled against the dark sky.
Kaasha looked appalled. “Whatever do you mean, sir?”
Lando affected his best Ugnaught accent, scrunching up his face. “ViSpaatzen!”
“Oh.” Kaasha rolled her eyes. “You know…”
“No, I guess I don’t know,” Lando said.
“Wait.” She stepped back from him, a finger poised demurely against her chin. “Are you…Is the great General Calrissian having…feelings?”
“Oh, here we go.”
“Is that what’s happening here?”
Lando put one hand on his waist and waved the other to punctuate his point. “I’m simply saying that it seemed like you felt a little something more than just some rambunctious throwaway nights.”
“Lando, we were at war. And you’re Lando Calrissian, in case you hadn’t noticed. I knew what I was getting into.”
Lando cocked an eyebrow. “Did you really?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You brought a whole crew of schoolchildren all the way out to Bespin just to keep them informed about the inner workings of a start-up droid company?”
Kaasha laughed, exasperated. “I admitted I came to check up on you! I’m not the one being coy here.”
“Oh, aren’t you? You conveniently brought an extra teacher along and then left the younglings with her when we took off across the galaxy.”
“Of course!” Kaasha yelled, stretching arms to either side. “Because you are the great! Lando! Calrissian! Who could possibly resist your charms?”
“I’m not sure if everyone on the promenade heard you, Kaash, maybe you could try one more time but a little louder.”
“I came along because I thought you might need my help, Lando. But maybe that was a mistake.”
A gentle tinkling filled the air as they walked past an old Talz running a bow along his stringed instrument and shaking his head, eyes closed.
“I don’t think it was a mistake at all,” Lando said. “That’s what I’ve been trying to say.”
“Well, you’re doing a lousy job explaining yourself.”
“Spare change for an old soldier?” a gruff man with one leg whimpered from the bench they were passing. A dimly flashing lightboard on his lap read WOUNDED IN THE BATTLE OF HOTH. Lando handed him a credit.
“You’re insinuating I don’t know how I feel,” Kaasha said. “Why don’t you spend more time asking yourself how you really feel and less trying to decipher me being perfectly clear with you.”
She walked off, her heels clacking on the cobblestones in the night.
Lando plopped down next to the wounded rebel vet and sighed.
“Been there,” the old man said.
Lando raised his eyebrows. “Oh?”
“And she’s right, you know.”
“Ugh.”
“Even if you’re right, too, she’s still right.”
“This isn’t helpful, man.”
“What I’m saying is, you can surmise what she feels all day but it won’t mean kriff if you don’t know how you feel.”
Lando threw his arms up in the air. “I know how I feel!”
The old soldier passed him a flask. “How?”
Lando took a swig. “You want some?”
“Nah, I don’t drink! Just keep it around for folks who seem to wanna talk. I disinfected the nozzle after the last guy, so don’t worry ’bout that.”
“Brother, how you have cash for…never mind. How do I feel? I feel…” Aaaand there went the words, clean out of his brain. But the feeling was there. It was there every time he thoug
ht about Kaasha, even when she was mad at him. He’d first felt it in the Pasa Novo bunkers. They hadn’t even done anything that first night; Lando was wiped out from smuggling gear and refugees off the battlefield and Kaasha had just pulled double shift coordinating troop movements.
But the draw had been there, that inexplicable certainty, the glances that lingered. Lando had figured she just wanted a taste at first—she’d been right about what she’d said at dinner with Han and Leia earlier: When you’re young and dumb and at war, a warm body to hold can feel like all you need to wake up all the parts of you that have been bombed and blasted into an icy slumber. So they’d sneaked off together, and found a bunk, and gently eased each other out of all those utility belts and button-downs and combat boots. And then, smooth as a sip of fine Corellian wine, they’d slid onto that cold lumpy mattress and wrapped around each other and then they’d both passed all the way out.
But Lando’s eyes popped open a little before dawn, shouts and blasts of the previous day’s campaign still echoing through him. He’d sat up, sweat-soaked, and Kaasha had stirred just slightly, laid a hand on his shoulder, and nuzzled deeper into his chest. And Lando had calmed, settled back down, and without even having placed his lips against hers or felt her in the thrall of passion, he had felt a strange kind of peacefulness flood over him. It wasn’t the reeling outburst of excitement that came with victory at the card table, had none of the smugness that would rise in him at that blissfull culmination of a con. No, this was something much more long lasting and delicious. This was joy.
And he’d felt it again when she’d shown up that day in Cloud City, with her loose fitting slacks and sly smile. It was joy, and it had overthrown him entirely without even asking permission.
“She makes me happy,” Lando said, feeling vaguely as if he’d been slapped by the information.
The old vet hummed appreciatively. “That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
Lando grunted.
“Well, did you tell her?”
“Ehhhhh.”
“Maybe you should tell her.”
Last Shot Page 5
