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He practiced smiling, lighting his dead eyes with a life that almost seemed real.

He practiced laughing.

He practiced the lie of his humanity until he nearly believed it himself. And then he knew he was ready. X-7 would sink beneath the surface, poised, waiting for Tobin Elad to get the job done. And when he did, X-7 would emerge. And strike.

He wiped the details of his false identity from the datapad and called up the picture of Leia, the one he'd first seen. It was a few years old, from a time before her eyes had taken on their sad, haunted look. She was smiling, her long hair wrapped around her head in an elaborate braid. Her head was inclined slightly forward, as if she were about to share a secret with the holocam.

This was the Leia he planned to target. This Leia still existed, he was sure of it. The younger, sweeter Leia who lived beneath the cynical Rebel. The one who longed to connect with someone who could truly understand her, with whom she could share all her secrets.

"Your wait is almost over, Princess," X-7 whispered, his eyes fixed on her face. "I'm on my way."

CHAPTER SEVEN

"I'm bringing us out of hyperdrive now," Han informed his passengers. "We'll be just outside the Muunilinst system, so it should be smooth sailing from here on in."

"It's about time," Leia complained. "If I have to be stuck in this tin can with you for any longer, I'll scream."

Stuck with me? Han thought in frustration. She was the one who'd been pestering him the whole trip— check this, try this, have you thought of that, and on and on. The princess just didn't know how to keep her mouth shut.

"Feel free to get out here," Han retorted, gesturing to the gleaming strands of stars whipping past the ship. "Say the word and I'll just drop you right out the hatch."

"You'd really do it, wouldn't you?" Leia asked incredulously.

"You bet I would, sweetheart."

Chewbacca growled.

"Oh yes I would," Han insisted. "And if you don't stop taking her side, you can go with her, you hairy fuzzball."

Chewbacca yowled.

Han rolled his eyes as he took the ship out of hyperdrive. "Since when are you so sensitive, Chewie? I was just—whoa!" The ship shuddered.

"What's happening?" Leia cried, almost tumbling into his lap. She caught herself just in time.

"Someone's shooting at us, Princess. In case you hadn't noticed." Han pulled the Falcon around, trying to get a glimpse of his attacker. The guy was right on his tail.

Han jerked the ship up, then hard to starboard, dodging another blast of laserfire.

"There's someone shooting at us!" Luke cried, already scrambling down the tube that led to the ventral quad laser cannons.

"You don't say." Han accelerated, trying to get some distance from the attacker—who was a good shot. He took the Falcon into a screaming dive, then pulled up, hard, drawing level with the enemy. "Gotcha!" he shouted, as the TIE fighter came into view. "Kid, why aren't we blowing this Imperial slugbrain out of the sky?"

"Something's wrong!" Even over the staticky comlink, the alarm in Luke's voice came through loud and clear. "The weapons system is offline."

"Well, get it on line!" Han jerked his head at Chewie, but the Wookiee was already on his way, closely followed by R2-D2.

"Sir, might I suggest evasive action?" C-3PO put in.

"Excellent suggestion," Han said through gritted teeth. He took them into a corkscrew dive. "Wish I'd thought of that myself."

"Still, we must get the lasers back online, Captain Solo," C-3PO added. The bucket of bolts was just a fount of helpful advice. "Otherwise I'm afraid I estimate our odds at seven thousand, three hundred thirty six to—"

"What did I say about quoting me odds?" Han increased the forward thrust. The ship bucked and shuddered as Imperial laserfire blasted their deflector shield. They were too close to the moons of Muunilinst to safely go into hyperdrive, but if he could get just a little room—

"What are you doing?" Leia asked in alarm.

"Running away," Han snapped. "Unless you still think that's the