Star Wars_ Millennium Falcon - James Luceno [106]
Two days of exhaustive searching for Quip Fargil had yielded nothing. The HoloNet listed a human by that name, born on Denon about thirty-three years before the Battle of Yavin, but if Fargil was on Vaced no one seemed to know him or know of him, or they just weren't willing to say. If Parlay Thorp's hunch about him having been military was correct, then Fargil could have died during the Rebellion or in any of the bloody campaigns since.
“Why would someone give away a ship with a military-grade hyperdrive?” Leia asked for the third time that morning. “Even one with a discharged laser cannon.”
“Out of respect for the relief work Thorp was doing?”
Leia nodded unconvincingly. “That sounds like someone who would join the Alliance. But still, a starship?”
“Okay, then maybe this someone had to get rid of the Falcon for some reason.”
“Such as?”
“He bought it on time and couldn't keep up with the payments. Repossession neks were hounding him.”
Leia looked around. “Does Vaced strike you as the sort of world a former Rebel would choose to retire to?”
“Looks more like a place you'd come to hide.”
Leia pursed her lips and exhaled. “At least we know Fargil existed.”
“Yeah, but remember that Thorp found the name in the Falcon's registry, which could mean that Fargil was a previous owner, but not actually the guy who gave her the ship.”
“Either way—”
“All I'm saying is that if it's come down to doing research, we don't have to do that here.”
Han fell silent for a moment. “Would you want to live to be two hundred?”
“Only if you would,” she said, taking his hand in hers.
Up ahead, Allana and C-3PO had turned around and were hurrying toward them.
“We have an idea,” Allana said. “Tell them, Threepio.”
The droid adjusted his stance. “Mistress Allana suggests that we make use of Vaced's local HoloNet to announce our interest in locating Quip Fargil. Assuming that he is somewhere onworld, he is certain to receive the message. And that way, our chances for success are greatly increased.”
Han and Leia swapped smiles.
“Couldn't hurt,” Han said.
“And it keeps us right here.”
Jadak and Poste climbed off the aged Mobquet swoop they had rented at Vaced's poor excuse for a spaceport and stared down the dirt lane that allegedly led to Quip Fargil's cabin.
“Next time, you ride on top of the drive,” Poste said, rubbing his rear.
Jadak grunted a laugh. “Not likely. I've seen how you pilot.” He walked ten meters down the lane, inspecting broken branches on the tall shrubs that bordered it. “He owns a landspeeder.”
“You think we would've had a hope of finding this guy if Zenn Bien hadn't remembered?”
“Not a hope.”
They had been halfway out the door of The Kindest Cut when the Sullustan stylist had recalled that Quip Fargil had changed his name to Vec Minim, though she hadn't said why. The journey to Vaced had taken two days and all but cleaned Jadak out of what remained of Core Life's indemnity payment. Jadak had been cautious at the spaceport, on the watch for signs that they were being followed by Lestra Oxic's henchmen. Finding none, they had rented the swoop under Jadak's false identity and begun the search for Vec Minim.
Vaced wasn't an uncomfortable world; just one you wouldn't want to homestead on unless you had good cause. Covered with forest, relieved here and there by expanses of natural grassland. Indigenous wildlife had rule of the place. Settlers ran the gamut from humans to Gotals, most of whom were either subsistence farmers or shopkeepers. Visitors came to hunt, and were well served by a string of costly lodges accessible only by airspeeder. Jadak suspected that Quip Fargil wasn't the only local to have changed his name and reinvented himself.
He