Part 22 (1/2)

”But we fought the war against the Empire to put an end to that sort of thing,” Han said.

”I know,” Leia said. ”And just think what it will be like to get that sort of policy approved, and how expensive it would be. But the alternative is to stand back and let a bloodbath happen.”

”I am not even sure, even sure, we can impose a peace,”

Micamberlecto said. ”We have no heavy s.h.i.+ps to speak of in the sector.

”Can't we bring in s.h.i.+ps and troops from elsewhere?”

Han asked.

”That would cost a tremendous amount of money that we just don't have,” Leia said. ”Besides which, there's not much call for wars.h.i.+ps or armies at the moment, thank the stars. Most of the forces have been disbanded. We've got lots of New Republic and captured ex-Imperial s.h.i.+ps, but most of them are mothballed, or being broken up for sc.r.a.p. And a lot of the supposedly active-duty s.h.i.+ps are in drydock getting upgrades; What few s.h.i.+ps are effective are on duty in other sectors.

”There must be some sort of forces in reserve,” Han said.

Leia shrugged helplessly. ”There are, but there aren't many. And what reserves we do have will take time to activate. We're stretched awfully thin. Readiness is at its lowest ebb in years.

”Then let us hope there is nothing we need be, need be ready for,”

said Micamberlecto. ”I suspect it is a forlorn hope, but there it is.”

”But what are we to do?” Leia asked.

Micamberlecto shrugged again. ”There is nothing we can do,” he said. ”However, there is another point, another point. Although it sounds as if Captain Solo's capture was almost at random, it could have been a deliberate threat directed at all of you. A warning. A warning.”

”You're saying they might be trying to chase us off,' suggested Han.

”Possibly,” Micamberlecto said. ”The staged attack certainly makes it seem that way.

”Well, we're not going to let them win,” said Han. ”I don't cut and run. I say we stay-that we stay and do exactly what we would have done otherwise.”

”Excellent,” said the Governor-General. ”However, I would suggest taking one or two precautions. I know that your s.h.i.+p is under guard at the s.p.a.ceport, but it is not the most secure of locations. Someone could place a traceror, ah, other device-aboard it.”

ther device,' ” Leia said. ”You mean a bomb.”

Micamberlecto nodded. ”Well, yes, I do. In any event, it might be best to place the Falcon elsewhere.”

”I've been thinking on that point myself,” said Han.

”But there's no place out by the villa that would be any better.”

”I was about to suggest that there is a small, a small landing pad and hangar complex here, on the roof of Corona House,” said Micamberlecto. ”You could store the s.h.i.+p there, and I could have my own personal technical staff examine it to make sure that no one has played any games with it already.”

”Can they be trusted?” Leia asked. ”You've made it clear that you can't rely on most of your staff.

”My technical staff, and my personal bodyguards, are all decorated veterans of the war against the Empire,” he replied. ”They are all handpicked, handpicked, and all of them have been vettd. I am quite comfortable with my life in their hands. It is the locally recruited people working in other departments I suspect.”

”Okay, then,” Han said. ”I'll have Chewbacca fly the s.h.i.+p over tomorrow morning, first thing. It'll give him something to do. More to do than we'll have, in any event.”

Leia smiled, with at least some hint of real humor in the expression. ”Oh, we have a lot to do, Han, if we're going to keep up appearances.”

”Like what?” he asked.

”We have to play tourist.”

Han let out a low moan. ”I don't know,” he said.

”That's what I was doing today, and look how it turned out.” -* *

The next morning was not a pleasant one. The weather had s.h.i.+fted, and rain was las.h.i.+ng down on the villa. That meant the kids were trapped inside, and that meant they were restless, and that meant noise. Despite the best efforts of the CDF medical droids, Han's head was still throbbing from the beating he had taken, and that did not help either.

Han sat in the living room and watched the children set to work once again, attempting to build another impossibly tall and spindly tower out of the blocks. Blocks. All the super-duper high-tech toys in the universe, and they were playing with blocks.

At least Chewbacca had managed to escape. He got to fly the Falcon from the s.p.a.ceport to the top of Corona House. Han reflected that things had to be pretty bad if the idea of flying a s.p.a.cecraft in a rainstorm through congested airs.p.a.ce to a rooftop landing sounded like fun by comparison. On the other hand, Leia had retreated to her office with Ebrihim to plan their itinerary, and that didn't appeal to Han at all.

The tower of blocks collapsed in a totally predictable roar of noise, and the kids all laughed just a bit too loud.

Han decided to beat a retreat. He went upstairs to the library, in hopes of being alone. He needed to think things through for a while-and maybe a bit of calm and quiet would keep his head from throbbing.

He went into the library and sat down in one of the infinitely comfortable reading chairs. Some part of the back of his mind, trained back when he had been a smuggler, warned him that he had made the double mistake of leaving the door open and sitting with his back to it.

But Han pushed that foolish worry besides. It was just that he was nervous and edgy, and his old reflexes were coming back. Besides, he had other worries. He thought back to the incident-no, use the real name-the kidnapping yesterday. Why had they grabbed him? Why had they held him?

And why on Corellia had they let him go? The only thing he could think of was that, somehow”Master Solo, if I might have a word?”

Han jumped, startled, and turned around in his chair to find Q9-X2, that weird droid of Ebrihim's, floating behind him. So much for the idea of peace and quiet. ”Don't do that,” he said.

”Do what, sir?”

”Come up behind me so quietly. Make a little noise.

Use your wheels instead of floating around like that.”

”But I would not have been able to get upstairs using mywheel system,” Q9 said.

and wouldn't that have been a shame,” Han muttered.

”Look, I came up here after some peace and quiet. Could you please just roll away, or float away, or something?”

”But there is something of importance that I must tell you,” the droid said as it floated around to face the front of the chair.

”Something that I thought that we should discuss in private.”

”Yeah?” Han asked tiredly as he leaned back in the chair. ”What might that be?” It had been his experience that what droids thought of as important rarely matched his ideas on the subject.

”First, when I learned that Master Ebrihim and myself were to serve in the household of such important persons as yourselves, in a situation as unsettled as that currently obtaining on Corellia I elected to make whatever contribution I could to your security, and I therefore made a number of purpose-built modifications to myself.

”Huh? What?” Han asked. ”What are you talking about?”

”Excuse me for taking so long to get to the point, but you must understand that I have installed quite a bit of sophisticated detection and observation equipment. I now carry a wide range of highly capable scanners and comparators, and I have performed repeated sweeps of the vicinity, whenever possible, in between the execution of my other duties.”