Star Wars_ Millennium Falcon - James Luceno [121]
“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 look 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.
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