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But she had never shared his bed, which was the only thing that made this current assignment bearable.

And now … now Han had seen her, and thought the worst. Even all the information Bria had been able to funnel to the rebel movement back on Corellia couldn’t ease the grief and shame she felt.

Her pillow was wet. Bria turned it over, and then lay there, staring into the darkness, as the Moff’s yacht streaked through hyperspace.

“Han …” she whispered brokenly. “Han …”

On the way back to Nar Shaddaa, Chewbacca flew the Hutt courier ship Quicksilver competently, but his mind was not completely on his work. The Wookiee glanced over at his partner, the human to whom he’d sworn a life debt, and his blue eyes crinkled with concern. Han was slumped in the copilot’s seat, scowling blackly at the star-lined void of hyperspace. He’d been like this for days now, ever since he’d boarded Quicksilver following his mission to the Moff’s residence on Coruscant. He rarely spoke, and when he did, all he did was complain and make sarcastic comments.

And he complained about everything—the food, the speed of the little courier ship, Chewie’s piloting, the tedium of space travel, the greed of the Hutts … any subject the Wookiee had tried to introduce, Han had had a great many negative things to say about it.

For the first time since he’d met the Corellian, Chewbacca actually wondered whether there might be circumstances under which renouncing a life debt was the honorable thing to do. More honorable, say, than murdering the person to whom one owed the life debt …

“This thing moves like a thousand-year-old Hutt,” Han grumbled. “You’d think with the size of the engines, she’d be able to make some speed … think you could get her to go a little faster if I got out and pushed?”

Chewbacca restrained himself and commented that it wouldn’t be too long now before they were back on Nar Shaddaa.

“Yeah, and it can’t be too soon for me,” Han said bitterly. He got up and paced nervously around the cramped cabin. When he turned abruptly, he whacked his head on a low stanchion and began cursing a blue streak.

When he finally began to repeat himself, Han growled, then threw himself back into the copilot’s seat. “After we return the Hutts’ little bucket of bolts to them, I guess we’ll have to head for Smuggler’s Run. If the Br—” he seemed to choke on the word, then amended, “if that blasted ship of ours will make it through the asteroid field.”

Chewbacca asked why they’d be heading for Smuggler’s Run. Wynni, he pointed out, would likely be at Smuggler’s Run, and she was the last person he wanted to see. The Wookiee wasn’t sure he could take much more of the way she was so free with her paws.

“Listen, pal”—Han’s voice dripped sarcasm—“in case it ain’t occurred to you, it’s all over for Nar Shaddaa. Moff Sarn Shild has probably already ordered his fleet to assemble out near Teth. We’re shakin’ the dust of that miserable excuse for a moon off our feet for good.”

What fleet? Chewbacca wanted to know.

“Oh, each Imperial Moff has his own discretionary ‘peacekeeping’ squadron,” Han said, propping his boots on the console, not bothering to look before he plunked them down. Chewie was relieved to see that he missed the DECELERATE control. Sudden decelerations while in hyperspace were not a good idea. “No doubt Shild has one, too. His fleet’s probably not the best, but it’ll be more than enough for the mission.”

Chewbacca was confused. Why wouldn’t the Moff’s fleet be the best available?

“Oh, it’s just the way things go in the Imperial Navy. Since Hutt space is out here in the Rim, far from ‘civilization’—that is, Coruscant—I’d bet Sarn Shild got stuck with all the older ships and weaponry, while all the newest, best stuff went to Rampa 1 and Rampa 2.”

Rampa 1? Chewie asked. He’d thought only Rampa 2 had experienced an uprising.

“Yeah, well, when the citizens of Rampa 1 heard about what was going on, they rose up, too,” Han said. “For all the good it’s gonna do ’em.”

Chewie commented that he hated the Empire