Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 04_ Backlash - Aaron Allston [10]
“Come with us.” Leia put on her brightest, welcome-to-the-company smile. “Since they’re not answering our comm, we’re going to look for my brother and my nephew. We need local guides and a local coordinator. That’s you. You make sure that all local ordinances are obeyed—”
Han suppressed a snicker.
“—and you can testify to that effect when it’s time to deal with the authorities.”
“And you’ll have a great story to tell … or sell.” Han mimed typing on an imaginary datapad. “How I Saved Luke Skywalker. By Darth Vames.”
“Tarth Vames.” Tarth’s grimace continued unabated. “I don’t know …”
Leia pointed up toward the Falcon’s cockpit. Allana was visible there, in the canopy, with her nexu beside her, staring down at her grandparents. “See that little girl? My adopted daughter. She’s already grief-stricken at the thought that something might have happened to her uncle Luke.”
From behind Tarth, Han looked up at Allana, made a sad face, and stroked both his cheeks as if tears were running down them. Obligingly, Allana put on a child’s expression of tragedy and rubbed at one eye with a knuckle.
Tarth’s expression turned to one of defeat. “Oh … forget it.”
Leia’s tone became brisk. “We’ll need a couple of airspeeders, camping supplies, preserved food, and guides with experience with the local terrain and clans. We’ll pay the going rate, but if you show me the public rate sheets of everyone and everything you hire, and you’ve negotiated them down below those numbers, you get half the difference in addition to your own fees.”
“Good man.” Han nodded approvingly. “Well done, Tarth.”
When Tarth was gone, Han glanced at his wife and shook his head. “I can’t believe that you, of all people, pulled out the sad-little-girl card.”
“I know, I know. My husband is a bad influence on me.”
Allana’s eyes went wide. “Alone?” she gasped, looking up from the cockpit captain’s seat. “Have you guys gone barvy? I’m eight!”
“So?” Han shrugged. “When I was your age—”
“Han!” Leia shook her head. “You don’t need to give her any ideas.”
Han scowled. “Come on, she’d never—”
“She might,” Leia insisted. “Just tell her when we’ll be back.”
Han sighed. He looked back to Allana. “We don’t know when we’ll be back. It could be awhile.”
A disbelieving expression came to Allana’s eyes. “Like an hour?”
“Longer,” Leia said.
“A day?”
“Longer,” Han said.
Allana’s jaw dropped. “A week?”
“Yeah,” Han said. “More like a week.”
“Maybe even longer,” Leia said. “It’s hard to be sure. So don’t be worried if we’re not back, all right?”
Allana looked back and forth between them, then began to giggle. “Good one! You guys really fooled me.”
Leia dropped to her haunches and took Allana’s hands. “Sweetheart, your grandfather and I have to go find Luke and Ben. They need our help, and their lives may be in danger. So we’re counting on you to stay aboard the Falcon and keep yourself and the ship safe. Can you do that?”
Allana’s face grew serious. “You’re not kidding, are you?”
Han shook his head. “Not in the slightest, kid. Think you can handle this?”
Allana scowled at him. “Of course I can. What do you think I am, a kid?”
“Yeah, but a pretty darn tough one,” Han answered. He glanced out the cockpit canopy, at a small Batag Needle Ship resting on its struts about fifty meters away. Standing beneath it, pretending to work on a stuck cargo hatch, was a tall, dark-haired man in an expensive eletrotex jumpsuit: a Jedi Knight named, simply, Zekk. “Still, you and Anji are going to be on your own here, so stay aboard the Falcon, keep everything locked up tight, and don’t let any strangers aboard. Got it?”
Allana gave him a crisp salute. “Got it, Captain.”
“All right, then.” Han continued to look out the canopy, this time at a pair of airspeeders that were crossing toward the Falcon. “It looks like Tarth finally has everything ready. Time for us to go.”
He leaned down to give Allana, who was seated in the captain’s seat, a kiss, then waited as Leia did the same.
“Do as Threepio says,” Leia instructed. “And call us on the comlink if