Star Wars_ Millennium Falcon - James Luceno [39]
His eyes scanned the scrolling text, seizing on every appearance of the word accident, and in every instance he was left disappointed by the absence of details. The accident resulted in damage to this or that part of him, interfered with the functioning of one organ or another, required a procedure time-tested or experimental. But in a subfolder labeled PREVIOUS HISTORY Jadak struck pure aurodium. He had been transferred to Aurora after languishing in a coma for twenty-two years at a public medical center. There was no mention of cost covering by Core Health and Life.
The medical center was on Nar Shaddaa.
The images that ignited in his mind drove him back into Sompa's ample chair.
He and Reeze had jumped the Stellar Envoy to Nar Shaddaa! The YT had sustained damage. All systems were down. The ship was streaking into the planet's envelope on a collision course with a bulk freighter. They had hurried aft into the escape pod. The YT had suddenly powered up and veered. But too late: they had jettisoned the pod—almost directly into the mammoth ship's V-shaped hull—
Fresh as yesterday, the images assaulted his mind and body, accelerating the beat of his heart and drenching him in sweat. When he finally could, he began to pick the images apart.
They had jumped into hyperspace at Coruscant, on the heels of the battle in which Palpatine had been held hostage. But preceding a chase to the stars and a hasty jump to hyperspace, they had been a downside … at the Senate Annex.
Meeting with members of the Republic Group.
Senators Des'sein, Largetto, and Fang Zar.
Jadak pivoted to Sompa's computer. State-of-the-art, it would have outwitted Jadak's best attempts to slice into the files it contained, but he knew enough to gain access to the HoloNet. Conjuring an image of the white-bearded Senator from Sern Prime, he used it as one would a meditation aid, to prompt recollection.
A Jedi was present at the meeting.
A Kadas'sa'Nikto Jedi who had installed something in the Envoy …
“Right!” Jadak said aloud.
The Senators had wanted him to deliver the Envoy to one of their allies on Toprawa!
Jadak recalled his disappointment. After all his years of service, he had been asked to surrender the ship he loved to a stranger. But there had been something of great importance at stake … something that had to do with restoring the Republic.
No.
With restoring Republic honor …
He had asked the Senators about the phrase. And they had provided an answer.
Jadak stared at the 3-D image of Fang Zar.
And slowly the Senators' words bubbled to the surface:
Think of the ship as a key—the key to a treasure. A treasure sufficient to restore Republic honor to the galaxy.
He pulled the computer toward him, practically into his lap.
A search on the name Stellar Envoy returned hundreds of hits, but none of the entries coincided with a YT-1300 freighter. Navigating his way into Nar Shaddaa's subnet, he requested data on air and space collisions that had occurred in the year of his accident.
Suddenly there it was, staring him in the face in green holotext: a brief report of a collision between two Corellian ships—one, a bulk freighter named the Jendirian Valley III; the other, a ‘25 YT-1300 freighter. Both pilots were presumed to have died in the crash, but the ship had survived and been claimed by salvagers.
The ship that was now a key to the puzzle his life had become had survived.
There was no telling for how long, but Jadak had a starting point—and pursuing the ship was worth whatever risks he would be forced to take.
“ONE HUNDRED AND TEN THOUSAND.”
“Lord Oxic bid'sa hundred ten thoussand. Do'sa we hear