Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 20_ The Final Prophecy - J. Gregory Keyes [110]
Han shuffled a bit. “I’m sorry, Admiral, he, ah—didn’t make it. He died helping to take down the interdictor.”
A strange expression passed over Pellaeon’s face like a cloud, and like a cloud it was quickly gone. But Jaina caught something in the Force, something unmistakable.
“I see,” Pellaeon said.
“He said to tell you he did what he thought was right.”
Pellaeon clasped his hands behind his back and looked at the floor. “Well, yes, that sounds like him,” he said. He glanced at Han. “He was a great admirer of yours, I believe, Captain Solo, despite the fact that in Imperial holos you are most often portrayed as something of a villain. Or perhaps that’s why he admired you.”
He clicked his heels together. “Ladies, gentlemen—until I have time for that drink.”
He saluted and left—almost in a hurry, it seemed.
“Villain?” Han muttered. “Maybe I need to see some of these holos.”
“That was a little odd, don’t you think?” Leia asked.
“Yeah,” Han drawled. “Devis was a good guy, sure, but—”
“Is the Grand Admiral married?” Jaina inquired.
“No,” Leia replied. “They say he’s never made time for it. Why do you ask?”
“Because,” Jaina said, remembering what she’d just felt in the Force, “I think Devis was his son.”
They were all silent for a moment, until Han raised his glass.
“To all of our sons and all of our daughters,” he said, “be they with us or beyond.”
EPILOGUE
Han was sitting on a shingle of a beach on Mon Calamari, silently enjoying the sunset with Leia, when Lando Calrissian came calling.
“They said I’d find you down here,” Lando said. “I didn’t believe it.”
“Well, you know,” Han said. “The wife likes this sort of thing.”
“Is that Jaina?” Lando asked.
Han glanced off in the distance, where Jaina and Jag were exploring the tide pools below an ancient reef uplift in rolled-up trousers and windbreakers. Jag had shown up with Kre’fey a few days before, and Jaina and he had been annoyingly inseparable since then.
“Yep. I convinced her to take a little leave,” he said. “What’s going on? Still charging military prices for your courier service?”
“Hey, I’m just doing my part,” Lando said. “I only charge enough to keep me from looking foolish. Anyway, my businesses won’t run without communications, either. And there’s plenty of competition—the Smugglers’ Alliance loves this sort of work. Appeals to the romantic in them.”
“Did you just come down here to fill me in on your good deeds, or is something up?”
“No, I’m just stopping in to say hello and good-bye before I head back out. But I thought you’d like to know some of my people caught one of the things that made such a wreck of the HoloNet.”
“Really,” Leia said. “What was it, exactly?”
“A dovin basal, basically, grafted onto some sort of living guidance system. They follow HoloNet signals to their source and then collapse the relays into singularities. The Vong must have released a million of them—they’re everywhere. Some of my people think they’re even multiplying.”
“Wonderful,” Leia said. “So even if we rebuild the relays, as soon as we use them one of these things will catch the scent, and good-bye relay.”
“That’s about the size of it. I’ve been building some compact new relays, though, and mounting them on retrofitted corvettes. If they’re mobile, it’ll be harder to find them.”
“Sounds expensive,” Han said.
“Yeah, but think how useful one of those would have been at Bilbringi.”
“Good point. I guess the military will give you a good price for those, too.”
Calrissian smiled. “Eventually. I’m going to give them the first few as samples. I have to think about the future, after all. Well, I’ll leave you two alone, now. Places to be, and all that.”
“Thanks for stopping by.” Leia said. “It’s always good to see you.”
“I’m sure it won’t be long before we see each other again,” Lando replied.
They had finished watching the sunset and were walking