Star Wars_ Millennium Falcon - James Luceno [123]
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 the 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