Star Wars_ Millennium Falcon - James Luceno [126]
“The ship has jumped back to lightspeed,” Druul said suddenly.
Oxic hurried back to the monitor. “Where are they headed? Does it show a destination?”
Druul was doing input at the monitor. “It's showing coordinates. Give me a moment to see what they refer to.” Alphanumeric text began to scroll on the display, and a series of star maps flashed onscreen and disappeared.
“The name!” Oxic said. “I need the name of the world!”
The Gran gave his full attention to the display, then turned to Oxic. “Tandun Three.”
Oxic glanced at Quire, who shrugged. “I've never heard of it.”
“It's unimportant,” he said. “Quickly—to the ship.”
With their organic technology—their tentacled war coordinators and gravity-generating dovin basals—the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong had superseded every threat the galaxy had faced. But if the Falcon had discriminated between coralskippers and TIE fighters, she had kept the distinctions to herself and fought valiantly from the Outer Rim to the Core, taking on all challengers.
For a time following Chewbacca's horrible death on Sernpidal at the start of the invasion, Han had secretly wished that the Falcon would refuse to function. He knew that a ship was incapable of missing its pilot the way a pilot could miss his or her ship, and yet he wanted the Falcon to mourn the loss of the Wookiee's special touch, or at least to perform poorly without him. No one had put in more time working on the ship, and even when railing at it Chewbacca had a love for her that matched Han's. So when the Falcon failed to mirror Han's grief and despair, Han had given serious thought to retiring her from service.
Stripped to the bone, Han had questioned if he could even set foot inside the YT without his first mate, let alone pilot her into action. And so the Falcon became a kind of ghost ship.
Then, in a complete reversal, Han had set out to even the score with the Yuuzhan Vong. Driven by rage, he wanted the Falcon to participate in exacting revenge. And in the midst of his one-man campaign he found that although he had lost his closest friend, Leia was there to fill not only Chewbacca's outsized copilot's chair but the empty space the Wookiee had left in Han's heart.
But in the same way that the Yuuzhan Vong had left vestiges of themselves and their exotic savagery on Coruscant and a host of other worlds, the war itself had opened wounds that were long in healing, leaving scars that refused to fade. Chewbacca was one of those; Anakin, the Solos' youngest son who had seemed destined to live forever, another.
Years later Jacen's death had reawakened all the anguish.
Jacen, who in a real sense had come closest to understanding the Yuuzhan Vong and had looked to the Force for a peaceful resolution to the war. Only to fall … to die and merge with the Force rather than disappear into it. Or was he, as Han sometimes liked to believe, merely exiled, as the Yuuzhan Vong had been to the sentient world of Zonama Sekot, and advancing toward redemption?
“WAS SWOOP RACING PART OF QUIP FARGIL'S PAST OR YOURS?” Han said.
“That was some of me creeping into Fargil's story. I raced on all the major circuits before the war—the Clone Wars.”
“Same for me—before the Galactic Civil War.”
Jadak showed him an appraising look. “Guess we have more in common than we know, Solo.”
“Or like to admit.”
Glimpsing the smile in Han's eyes, Jadak laughed and Han joined him. The Millennium Falcon had returned to hyperspace, and the two of them were seated side by side in the cockpit. Han's chair was swiveled to face the hatch, and he had his booted feet propped on one of the high-backed rear chairs, ankles crossed.
“You mind a personal question?” Han asked.
“I'll let you know.”
“Those years you were in a coma … I'm guessing that a lot of your family members and friends