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Han tried unsuccessfully to give her his famous no-care grin. “I’ll work on it,” he said; then he kissed her long and hard. “Next time we’ll manage.”

He bent down to gather the twins in his arms. Jacen and Jaina clearly wanted to go back inside and play in the temples.

The children had found a small group of furry woolamanders nesting in an unused wing of the Great Temple, and Jacen claimed in his broken sentences that he knew how to talk to the creatures. Han wondered just what the hairy and noisy arboreal animals were saying back to the boy.

He backed toward the boarding ramp. “You know I need you to stay here in safety with the kids,” he said to Leia. “And with Luke.”

She nodded. They had been through this all before. “I can take care of myself. Now, get going. If you can do anything to stop Kyp, you shouldn’t be wasting time here.”

He kissed her again, waved goodbye to the twins, and vanished into the ship.

In a rotating cocktail lounge high up in Imperial City, Lando Calrissian yanked the fruit stick out of his drink before it could take root at the bottom of the glass. He sipped the fizzy concoction and smiled across the table at Mara Jade.

“Sure I can’t get you another drink?” he asked. She looked absolutely beautiful with her exotic hair, high cheekbones, generous lips, and eyes the color of expensive gemstones. She hadn’t touched her first drink yet, but he made certain he still shone with confidence.

“No thanks, Calrissian. We’ve got business to discuss.”

The windows of the observation lounge showed the glittering former Imperial Palace and crystallike spires and skyscrapers that extended to the fringes of the atmosphere. Hover barges drifted above the buildings, flashing announcements in numerous languages, ferrying tourists out to watch the sunset and the brightening aurora. A pair of mismatched moons hung in the sky, shining down on the bustling city.

Musical notes drifted into the air from a complex multilayered bank of keyboards in the middle of which sat a purplish-black, tentacled creature. With a flurry of cilia, the creature played a staggering number of keys at a time. Instead of eyes on its lumpy head, it was studded with tympanic membranes of varying sizes so it could hear music over an incredible range. Its tentacles flailed, striking upper keys, drawing out lower resonances, playing tunes both too high and too low for the human ear.

Lando took another sip and leaned back in his chair with a sigh and a soft smile. He had draped his slick burgundy cape over the back of his chair. Mara Jade wore only a tight-fitting jumpsuit; her curves looked like hazardous paths through a complicated planetary system.

Lando looked across at her. “So you think the Smugglers’ Alliance would be interested in an arrangement for distribution of glitterstim spice from Kessel?”

Mara nodded. “I think I can guarantee that. Moruth Doole let the spice mines fall into a shambles. Black-market smuggling from the Imperial Correction Facility has made the entire planet a pain in the soft parts for any self-respecting runner trying to earn a living. It took powerful crime lords like Jabba with enough strong-arm just to make it worthwhile.”

“I’ll make it worthwhile,” Lando said, folding his hands together on the tabletop. “I received a million-credit reward from the Duchess of Dargul, and I can invest it to bring the systems up to a more sophisticated level.”

“What exactly are your plans?” Mara asked, leaning closer to him.

Lando responded by leaning over the table himself, bringing his large brown eyes close to hers. His pulse raced. She frowned and sat up straight again, still waiting for him to answer.

Rebuffed, Lando looked for words. “Uh, I don’t have any great fondness for the prison where Doole centered his operations, but I think I can use that as a starting point. Dismantle most of the old correction facility, but use the buildings for a new base.

“And I don’t plan to use slave labor, either. I figure