Star Wars_ Millennium Falcon - James Luceno [34]
“Me, personally?”
“We can start with you.”
Han sniffed. “My daughter had just killed my surviving son, Lando. At that point nothing seemed insane.”
“Even after what Daala did to you and Chewie way back when?”
Han held his gaze. “We got even with her. Besides, if I'm going to list all the beings who've tortured me over the years I've got to include Leia's father in the mix, so what's the use? It is what it is.”
“Not to the Mon Calamari. They'd sooner see a Yuuzhan Vong on Coruscant than a former war criminal. And from what I hear, the Jedi aren't too thrilled with her, either.”
“Daala's feeling is that a just system doesn't need overseers, so Luke's not sure just where the Jedi stand anymore.” Han gazed out at the sea and inhaled deeply. “I try to stay out of it.”
Lando spun the wheel. “I guess we're all looking for answers of a sort.”
“That reminds me.” Han prised from his pocket the device Allana had discovered aboard the Falcon and held it up for Lando's inspection. “Ever seen anything like this?”
Lando squinted. “Looks like some kind of comlink. Where'd you come by it?”
“Amelia found it—aboard the Falcon.”
Surprise shone in Lando's eyes. “I would have figured you knew every rivet by now.”
“It was cached in the bulkhead behind the engineering station. I think the alloy has some mimetic properties, which is probably why I missed it.”
“Couldn't be your eyes, huh?” Lando grinned.
“Not likely, pal.”
“Well, I sure didn't install it, so unless it got installed under your watch, it must have already been there when Cix owned the Falcon. Stands to reason that no one in the past fifty years would use something that old.”
“That's what I'm thinking.”
“Some of my techs are staying in the guest house. You could see what they have to say.”
Han pocketed the device. “I'll do that.”
Lando glanced at him. “You want to take the wheel for a while before we drop anchor?”
“I'm game,” Han said.
“THE ALLIANCE FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE REPUBLIC.”
Jadak woke from tumultuous dreams with the words on his lips and a 2-1B med droid gazing at him from where it was standing at the monitoring device Sompa had yet to remove from the room.
“Sir?” the droid said.
Jadak stared.
“You said, ‘The Alliance for the Restoration of the Republic.’ Is there more you wish to add?”
Jadak ran a hand over his bearded chin and shook his head. “Did I say anything else in my sleep?”
“Nothing intelligible, sir.”
“Business as usual,” Jadak muttered.
He swung off the bed and shuffled to a bedside mirrpanel the nurses had finally provided. Each morning he expected to see the reflection of a man who had climbed from a grave. Instead it was the same blond stranger who greeted him. He used the 'fresher and dressed and downed some of the breakfast a different droid delivered. Sompa had lifted the moratorium regarding the HoloNet, but Jadak found he had no stomach for it and left the room. Still growing accustomed to his new legs, he moved carefully through the hallways, exchanging greetings with other patients when he couldn't avoid them, but mostly wrapped up in his own thoughts and growing more agitated by the moment.
Sompa had warned him to expect periods of frustration as his mind sought to reconstruct the chronology of his memories. But Jadak hadn't anticipated a physical response that sometimes made him want to put his fist through the nearest wall. He couldn't escape the feeling that he had left something important undone. He accepted that the feeling was probably linked to what had turned out to be his final mission for the Republic Group, but his frustration over not being able to retrieve the memory ran deep. As if recalling the mission and concluding it would somehow complete his recuperation and restore him fully to life.
The Alliance for the Restoration of the Republic.
It had its beginning with