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"Better shoot me now, Solo," X-f0 7 growled. "At least if you want to live past sundown." No point in denying what he really was, not when he'd been caught in the act.

Han shook his head. "You're no good to me dead," he said. "Not until we make it good and clear to our friends what you've been up to. You want to quit breathing after that? Be my guest."

X-f0 7 laughed. "You came all the way here to clear your name? How… cute.

Too bad it'll never happen."

Han just scowled at him, and raised his comlink. "Chewie, how's it coming down there?"

The Wookiee barked in response, and Han nodded sharply. "Well, hurry it up." He kept the blaster steadily aimed at X-f0 7. " Our friends will be here soon."

X-f0 7 smirked. "Just in time to rescue their good and loyal friend Tobin Elad from the diabolical Han Solo."

"They're going to find out exactly what their good and loyal friend is made of," Han snarled.

"And you've brought evidence, have you?"

Han said nothing.

X-f0 7 arched an eyebrow. "Your word against mine, then?" he said. "The word of a man who stashed several kilograms of detonite in his quarters? Who fled justice, rather than face his accusers? The man so scurrilous that even Jabba the Hutt has deemed him untrustworthy? I'm sure our friends will have no trouble believing a man like that."

X-f0 7 could read people; it was the only way he'd stayed alive for so long.

So when Han lowered his eyes and said, quietly but firmly, " I'm sure," X-f0 7

knew.

He wasn't.

"But where's Han?" Luke asked, yet again, as Chewbacca led them through the Mos Eisley crowds. "And what are you doing on Tatooine? What's going on?"

Chewbacca just issued the same terse bark he had every time Luke asked.

"He says, 'You'll see,'" C-f0 3PO translated, sounding rather displeased.

They threaded their way through a cluster of chattering Jawas, standing in the midst of a pile of spare parts and smashed pika fruits and shaking their fists at the sky. "Listen to me, you Wookiee—"

Chewbacca cut him off with a warning growl.

"I'm merely—suggesting that if you were to offer us some additional information about what you and Captain Solo are doing on the planet, we might be in a better position to help," C-f0 3PO huffed.

The Wookiee ignored him, disappearing into an empty water distribution plant and beckoning them to follow. He hurried to a dark, crumbling stairwell and rushed up the steps, two at a time.

R2-f0 D2 beeped.

"What do you mean we can trust him?" C-f0 3PO asked. "Do you know how many times he's threatened to tear my arms off?"

R2-f0 D2 beeped again.

" Yet? " C-f0 3PO yelped. "He hasn't done it yet? Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Luke and Leia brushed past the droids. They were wasting time. "Come on,"

he urged them. "Something's going on. Let's see what it is."

Luke followed Chewbacca all the way up the roof. And when he stepped out of the stairwell, he stopped so abruptly that Leia nearly slammed into him. "What is it?" she hissed.

Luke didn't respond. He just grinned.

"Good to see you're still in one piece, kid," Han said. Then he inclined his head toward Leia. "Greetings, Your Worshipfulness."

Leia's eyes widened. "Han! I can't—what are you doing up on the…?"

But she swallowed her words as Han stepped aside and revealed the figure kneeling by the edge of the roof, Han's blaster digging into the side of his head.

"Elad!" Luke exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"What's going on is that you owe me another one, kid." Han grimaced down at Elad. "Everything he's told you is a lie. He's not here to help you—he's here to kill you."

Luke shook his head. Tobin Elad had become a good friend. He'd listened when Luke needed to talk. He'd believed in Luke when Luke hadn't had the strength to believe in himself. "The explosion on Yavin 4?" he asked quietly.

"You're saying…"

"He's a spy," Han said. "Working for the Empire."

"How do you know?" Leia asked.

Han raised his eyebrows. "What if I told you I just knew?" he asked. "What if I told you to trust me?"

Elad turned his face toward Luke and Leia for