• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

“Glitterstim,” Han said. “It’s … well, it’s really valuable. Even more so than carsunum or andris.”

The boy shook his head again. “Never heard of them, either.”

I don’t believe this! “What about andris? You got andris here? Used to flavor food, preserve it?”

The kid nodded. “Yeah. Andris. We got that. Expensive stuff.”

“Right,” Han said. “When you buy andris, who do you buy it from?”

“I don’t buy it, creep,” the boy said. “Now gimmee back my money and ID.”

“Just a second, be patient,” Han said, holding the items up, safely out of the boy’s reach. “So, okay, you don’t buy andris personally. But if you or your friends wanted some, how would they get it? Buy it in a store? Or a government agency?”

The boy’s expression was eloquent as he shook his head. “No, man. We’d buy it from Darak Lyll.”

At last! A name! “That’s what I wanted. Darak Lyll. What’s he look like?”

“Taller than you. Long hair, beard. Fat around his middle.”

“Old or young?”

“Old. Gray hair.”

“Where’s he hang out?” Han asked.

“Do I look like his keeper?” the pickpocket demanded scornfully.

Han took a deep breath. “Just tell me the names of any places where he might go on a typical day. Don’t lie, or I’ll swear out a complaint that you tried to rob me.”

The boy named six taverns, telling Han that they were all within a five-minute walk. Han straightened up and flipped the boy his ID and money. “Next time keep it inside your clothes, junior,” he said. “Next to your skin.” He patted his own money and gave the lad a smug smile.

The lad snarled at Han and walked away, cursing.

Alderaanian taverns were much too clean and well lit, Han decided, an hour later. He’d been to three of the six so far, and none of them appeared seamy enough for his purposes. No sign of Darak Lyll, either.

At one place he’d glimpsed a man in the back slide something to another under cover of his arm, and then receive a credit disk slipped to him just as clandestinely. Han had waited until the first man had gotten up to use the refresher unit, then he’d followed him. When the man came out, Han was waiting for him in the dim hallway.

“Like a word with you, pal,” he said.

The dealer, a small, sharp-faced man who reminded Han of a ranat, eyed the Corellian suspiciously, then evidently decided Han offered no threat. “Yeah? What about?”

“You deal in spice?”

The man hesitated for a long moment. “How much you want?”

“No, pal, I’m selling, not buying. You interested?”

“What you got?”

“Glitterstim. A hundred vials.”

“Glitterstim!” The man’s voice scaled up, then he hastily lowered it and stepped closer. “Where’d you get that, son?”

“I’m not your son, and it’s none of your business where I got it. You interested?”

“On any other world than this one, better believe I’d be interested, but …” The man shook his head. “No. No channels to unload it. I’d have to try and smuggle it off-world, and that’s too risky. They’d send me to the mines on Kessel to dig out the infernal stuff. Glitterstim can be dangerous, y’know. Make you blind, if you take too much. Drives Biths mad, y’know.”

“I know all that,” Han said impatiently. “Thanks for nothing, pal.”

Scowling, he stalked out of the tavern.

He finally ran down Darak Lyll in the fifth tavern he visited. Han recognized the man from the pickpocket’s description. Lyll was playing sabacc, and when he saw Han standing there, watching the game, he cordially waved the young Corellian over. “Care to sit in for a hand?”

Han had played sabacc before, but that wasn’t what he’d come here for. He stared directly at Darak Lyll and raised his eyebrows. “All depends on what you’ll accept for a stake, Lyll.”

The man’s expression didn’t change a whit as he glanced casually up. “You got something good, Pilot?”

“Might.”

“Well, the ante is twenty credits.”

Han shook his head. “Changed my mind. Going out to get some fresh air.”

He stood outside, leaning against the alley wall, for about five minutes. When he heard someone approaching, Han said, without looking, “Took you long enough. Must’ve been winning.”

“Idiot’s array,” Lyll