Star Wars the Truce at Bakura - Kathy Tyers [82]
Luke answered out one side of his mouth. “Reconsider Commander Thanas.”
“Oh?” Han raised one eyebrow, then turned his head aside to stare down a corridor.
Good. They’d both better stay jumpy. “Straightforward,” said Luke. “Wants to do a good job and is glad for help. He’s not Nereus’s man.”
“Empire’s man.”
“Mm.”
“Do you like Thanas because he complimented you in there?” Han suggested.
Luke smiled. “No. But that was refreshing.”
“Compliments from an Imperial. Right.”
They slowed at the edge of a wide lobby. Luke reached out through the Force. No one waited there. Han kept one hand near his blaster as they hurried across.
Once they left the Imperial Offices corridor, Han frowned. “Is it my imagination,” he asked, “or are you being just a little more careful than yesterday?”
“I had word from an inside source that Governor Nereus plans to hand me to the Ssi-ruuk. Did you notice that he got a message or something during that session?”
“Yeah,” said Han. “Finally going to be careful, uh?”
“I’ve been careful.” Luke’s exasperation didn’t distract him from watching shadows. “And is it my imagination,” he came back, “or are you just a little more pleased with yourself?”
Han paused in midstep. “What is this? I suppose you’re going to ask my intentions toward your sister.”
Luke took a careful look around, then dropped his guard and smiled at Han. “I know what your intentions are, friend. She needs you. Just don’t let her down.”
Han’s crooked smile shone like an asteroid beacon. “Not on your life.”
Luke clapped his shoulder. All they’d been through had already bonded them like brothers. Now, this—
Following footsteps snapped him back to attention. He slipped behind a pillar and unhooked his saber. Han slid in beside him.
Three sets of footfalls approached. Luke stayed in his cover. Han raised an eyebrow. Luke shook his head. He moved around the pillar, staying behind it as the trio passed: Nereus, followed by a pair of stormtrooper bodyguards.
He’d felt so controlled, back in his office. But something in his walk, and the faintest hint in his Force-sense, nudged Luke to an unexpected conclusion. “He’s starting to panic,” Luke observed in a whisper.
“Panic?” Han wrinkled his forehead. “Him?”
“It’s just setting in.” The trio’s backs receded up the corridor. “We’d better watch him.”
“That’s nothing new.” Han’s hands relaxed at his sides.
Once they reached the apartment, Han disappeared into his room. Luke hastily encoded a message to Wedge Antilles, out in the orbital net. Attack coordinated for tomorrow night. Work with Governor Nereus’s forces, follow Thanas’s orders, but keep your deflector shields up. Smiling grimly, he sent it. Han and Leia were headed for the Falcon as soon as he located her. She’d gone off alone after breakfast, but with the attack this imminent, it was time to stand ready. Luke would catch the next shuttle to orbit and reboard the Flurry. He would enjoy proving Manchisco’s premonition wrong.
His stomach grumbled a more immediate message. He ought to catch lunch, but not here. The food at Pad 12’s cantina should be nontoxic. “You ready, Han?” Luke called.
Han stepped back out. “Leia’s not answering.”
“Maybe she and Captison went someplace where the Imperials couldn’t listen to them.”
“Possible,” said Han. “Let’s get you to the troops. Then I’m going looking for her.”
Prime Minister Captison had suggested a drive, and to Leia’s surprise, Senior Senator Orn Belden climbed aboard with a bulging breast pocket. She assumed it contained his voice amplifier. This time, the Bakurans wouldn’t be distracted by droids or Chewbacca.
Captison’s liveried chauffeur steered a closed-cockpit government speeder off the roof port. Belden laid a finger across his lips.
Leia nodded understanding: Not yet. “It’s a lovely city,” she observed lightly. “In many ways, Bakura reminds me of Alderaan.” She glanced up at a layer of broken clouds. “Some of its wetter regions, anyway. Have you explored this quartz outcrop for metals?”
Sitting beside