Part 25 (1/2)

Leia looked to the droid. ”Good work, Q9. I'm glad we have you along. Now let's go find the others before our host decides to turn the dig site upside down looking for you. Come on.”

Jacen and Jaina exchanged a knowing look as their mother turned away on them and headed back the way she had come. Good. They had gotten away with it.

At least for the moment.

Leia turned and gestured impatiently. ”Come on,” she said. ”Can't keep them waiting.”

Jacen thought of the huge and hidden machines that had clearly been waiting for a very long time indeed, and smiled.

He had a feeling they wouldn't have to wait very much longer.

Coming, Mother,” he said, and hurried along to catch up.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN In Trans II uke stuck his head into Lando's cabin and caught him staring at the holocom unit again. ”Haven't you worked up the nerve yet?” he asked.

Lando turned in his seat and gave Luke a reproachful look. ”It's not that easy, you know, just calling a woman out of the blue.”

”But you do that sort of thing all the time,” Luke said, coming into the cabin and sitting down on the bed. ”You certainly managed to do all right charming Karia Ver Seryan.”

”Yeah. I charmed her so much I nearly got killed. But that was different. That was in person. I was there, in front of her. I knew I was welcome, and I could see by the way she stood, the way she held her head, a million little things, that she was receptive. An uninvited holocom call is much more of an intrusion. I don't know anything about this Tendra Risant woman. What am I going to say to her?”

”You might start with h.e.l.lo and see how it goes from there,” Luke suggested.

”Big advice from Luke Skywalker, noted ladies' man,” Lando said.

”Okay, maybe I'm not a galaxy-cla.s.s smooth-talker. I don't claim to be. But you do. Make that call.” Luke stood up and slapped his friend on the shoulder. ”Now.” He turned and left the room.

”Easy for you to say,” Lando muttered. But Luke had a point. If he was going to do it, he might as well do it now. For about the hundredth time, he started punching in Tendra's call code. But this time, for the first time, he actually got all the way through the call code and sat still long enough for the connection to go through.

The holocom came to life, and the face of a young woman appeared in it. She was fair-skinned, with high cheekbones and a slender, expressive face. ”h.e.l.lo?” she said.

”Yes, h.e.l.lo,” Lando said, his heart pounding so hard the holocom's microphone should have picked it up. ”My name is Lando Calrissian. I'm trying to reach Tendra Risant?”

The woman smiled warmly. ”Captain Calrissian! How kind of you to call ahead. I am Tendra Risant.”

Lando smiled in relief. She hadn't cut the call connection, and she didn't have horns growing out of her head. A good start. ”I'm delighted to make your acquaintance, Lady Tendra.”

”And I yours. Are you coming to Sacorria soon?” she asked.

”I'm on my way even as we speak, Lady Tendra.”

”Please, just call me Tendra,” she said. ”I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to meeting you, Captain Cairissian.

”My friends call me Lando,” he replied, ”and I hope you're going to be one of them.

She smiled. ”I have very little doubt of that-Lando.”

Iaando smiled back, and wondered why he had thought this was going to be tough. ”I'm very glad to hear that, Tendra,” he said. ”Very glad indeed.”

* * * The universe exploded into being around the Jade's Fire, and Mara Jade watched placidly as the starlines became stars, and the Corellian System appeared around them.

”On course and enroute,” the pilot reported. ”Corellian Traffic Control has acknowledged, and we are moving toward Corellia in the center of our traffic lane.”

excellent, Mr. Nesdin, said Mara. ”Mr. Tralkpha,” she said, addressing her Mon Calamari navigator, ”while you are not otherwise engaged, give us a deep scan of the system, if you please.” No doubt he had already started the scan-indeed she would have been irritated if he had not shown that much initiative-but for form's sake at least, the order had to be given.

”Yes, ma'am,” Tralkpha replied. ”I'm getting some interesting results from the special equipment.” The Jade's Fire carried some advanced technology scanners that any captain in the New Republic Navy would give her right arm for. They were able to integrate the information derived from the drop out of hypers.p.a.ce into an instant snapshot of the entire arrival star system. The system worked at an astonis.h.i.+ng degree of detail-sometimes. Conditions had to be just right.

But today at least, it sounded as if conditions were indeed cooperating.

”what have you got?” Mara asked.

”Nothing, ma'am. Almost no s.h.i.+ps at all in s.p.a.ce in this system.”

”What so interesting about that?” she asked.

”There's much, much less traffic than there should be, even considering the bad shape the economy's in. No military flights, one or two pa.s.senger shuttles here and there, and just two or three cargo vehicles approaching Corellia The only other s.h.i.+ps I can see show as the ones bearing the delegates to the trade summit-and there aren't all that many of htem either. I think there are going to be some no shows.”

”I suppose I should be surprised by that,” Mara said, ”but somehow, I'm not, Mr. Tralkpha. There's a bad storm coming here,” she went on, ”and no one wants to be out of port when it hits.” ”Can we stop having fun yet?” Han asked. He squinted a bit as he piloted the hover car thrnugh the dark night of Corellia, toward the bright lights of Coronet, dead ahead.

The interior of the hover car was dark and quiet, with the sounds of sleep coming from the rear seats.

Leia, in the copilot's seat next to him, smiled sleepily.

”Just about,” she said. ”As soon as we get home.”

”Wherever that is,” Han said.

Leia laughed. ”It does seem to move around a lot, doesn't it?” she asked. She stretched out her arms, arched her back, and s.h.i.+fted in her seat before settling back down with a yawn. Well, even if we have to move out of the villa to do it, I won't mind getting into Corona House. I won't feel so exposed.”

”I don't know,” Han said, his voice more serious.

”Even if Corona House seems safer, I'm not so sure it is.

But I guess we do have to be there for the big show. It'd be a real ch.o.r.e commuting from the villa-and having to fly back and forth over the city wouldn't exactly give us first-cla.s.s security either. But I've got to admit I'm glad we don't have to see any more sights for a while.”

A deafening, thunderous roar came from the back of the hover car, and then a sort of thud and a whimper. Chewbacca, along with everyone else, was asleep in the rear seats, with Anakin curled up in his lap.

Anytime Chewbacca staried to snore, Anakin would wake up just enough to slug him in the chest and make him stop. Jacen and Jaina were asleep in the rear row of seats, and Ebrihim was out as well, curled up at Jacen's feet, breathing with a funny sort of relaxed wheezing noise. Even Q9-X2 had powered down.

He was in the rear driver's-side corner of the car, all power indicators off except for one tiny amber point of light that blinked on and off.

They had been playing tourist all across the main continent of Corellia for more days than Han could count at this point. He had lost track of the sights they had seen. All of Ebrihim's careful explanations of what they were seeingalong with Q9's fussy interruptions and corrections whenever his master skimmed over a trifling detail-had blurred together in Han's mind.

Even ignoring the whole question of sight-seeing burnout, it had not been easy keeping up the pose of carefree tourist family. Especially not after the twins had told them what Anakin -had found in General Yarar's little excavation, and they had seen the playback of Q9's scans.

There could be no doubt that Yarar's people were there looking for whatever that thing was-a.s.suming they had not found it by now. None of them-not Chewbacca, not Q9, not even Ebrihim-had the slightest idea what the ma.s.sive installation was, but no one could doubt that it was important.