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You're a tool. You're a program. You are, and will always be, mine."

X-7 finally understood.

Take me home. The words formed themselves in his brain, almost without his intention. But he knew that if he were to try to form them, his mouth would comply. He would be able to move. His rebellious body would fall into line again, ready to serve the Commander. It would be easy. He opened his mouth.

And the window exploded.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Luke burst through the window, Div and Han close behind him. X-7 was standing face to face with an Imperial officer, both of them as still as stone. "Come on!" Luke shouted. X-7

didn't move; he didn't even turn in the direction of the commotion. The Imperial blanched at the sight of the Rebels and their blasters. He backed away, stumbling over his own feet, and ducked beneath his desk. One hand groped blindly on the desk, feeling around for the comlink. "Security!" he shouted in a high, fluttery voice. "Emergency! Security!"

"X-7, come on," Luke said urgently.

"Enough," Han said. He grabbed X-7 and slipped a hook at the end of the liquid-cable line around X-7's belt buckle. "Let's get out of here while we still can." He gave the liquid cable a harsh yank. X-7 started, as if suddenly realizing they were there.

"What…?"

But there was no time. The Rebels dragged X-7 toward the window. As one, they jumped.

It was heart-stopping, flying into midair like that, the ground so many stories beneath.

But the cable caught. "All clear?" Div said into the comlink.

"All clear," Leia's voice reported.

Luke nodded. "Coming up." He pressed the retraction switch, and the line went taut, then yanked him up the side of the building. Div, Han, and X-7 dangled a few meters beneath him.

It would be easy for Luke to reach across with his lightsaber and sever X-7's line. It wouldn't even be that difficult to make it look like an accident. X-7 would plummet to the ground, and Luke would never have to look into his cold eyes again. He would never have to pretend they were allies.

And he wouldn't have to force himself to trust X-7—to once again put his life in the traitor's hands.

But the edge of the roof was drawing nearer and nearer. Ferus's arm dangled over the side. He gripped Luke's arm and hauled him onto the roof. The moment was gone.

We should have just left him, Luke thought.

But this rescue mission wasn't about helping X-7. It was about protecting a valuable resource, their newest weapon against the Empire. Nothing could be more important than that.

"We should call it off," Luke argued. "Bad enough that the Empire knows Rebels are on Belazura—"

"Because you screwed up the blueprint retrieval," Div pointed out angrily.

Luke ignored him. They might be in Div's house, but it was Leia's mission. She was the one he had to convince. "If X-7 compromised us with the Imperials—"

"We are not calling it off," Div snapped. "After everything we've done? General Rieekan gave me his word."

"Nobody wants this," Leia said. "But we have to proceed carefully."

"I say we proceed right off this rock," Han said. "Now, before the Empire comes calling."

Leia scowled. "Of course you want to run."

"It's not about running," Han argued. "It's about being smart."

"And what would you know about that?" Leia asked.

Han leaned forward, jabbing a finger at the princess. "Listen to me, Your Worshipfulness. You face down a mean Klatooinian, a crazy Ortolan, and a Chiss with an anger-management problem and a CryoBan grenade—all on the same night. And then you talk to me about running away. I'd like to see you try to tie a Klatooinian to the back of a wild rancor."

"And I'd like to see you swallowed up by a—"

"I may have a solution."

Everyone looked up. X-7 had appeared in the room with his usual silent stealth. He'd spoken only once since they'd fled Soresh's roof in a stolen airspeeder. And that wasn't to say thank you. It was only to ask how they'd known where he was—and why they were following him. "I lost you once," Div had said, thinking quickly. "I wasn't about to