A Matter of Commitment
story and art by Dani
PART 2
PART 6 PART 7
Meanwhile, back at the base, Luke Skywalker was edging up next to Wedge Antilles. He glanced quickly from side to side to insure that none of the other pilots could overhear, and then nudged his dark-haired comrade.
"Hey, Wedge," he said hesitantly.
"Yo!" Antilles picked up his helmet and looked at Luke. The young Jedi paused, reluctant to appear naïve again. The wisdom borne of experience was more evident in Luke's constitution nowadays, but the smooth ease of manner he desired wasn't coming fast enough to suit him. But Wedge was waiting and Luke was not timid by habit.
"What are snowballs?"
Wedge gave Luke a strange look that turned quickly into a very smart-assed grin. Wedge's droid fired up his X-wing and Antilles slipped his helmet on.
"Sorry, Luke," he shouted over the roar while tapping his helmet. "Can't hear you." He then turned away and climbed into his fighter.
Luke nodded wryly. He knew now that he was going to find out about snowballs the hard way. Leia,he thought, I think I'm going to owe you one for this!He donned his own helmet and ordered Artoo to start up his ship.
Princess Leia was not as naïve as her Tatooinian friend. In fact, she was quite well traveled for a young woman. But it is one thing to traverse the galaxy as an Imperial senator and a princess, and quite another to experience its harsh realities as an ordinary citizen with no special rights and privileges. A person of Leia's former importance had never had to wait six timeparts in orbit merely to receive a landfall clearance. But here she was! She glared impatiently out of the plasteel canopy at several dozen other spacecraft that were also waiting.
When they had first come out of hyperspace and received instruction to orbit, Han and Chewbacca had gone back to make a meal of ship stores. But Leia had declined, thinking how long could they possibly be made to wait? Three timeparts later found her unhappily munching tasteless processed food bars, and the three after that had worn away the cool facade that hid her growing irritation.
"This must be due to the convention?" she asked sourly. Solo nodded and shifted uncomfortably in the pilot's chair. "Is it like this every cycle?"
"No, not always. Sometimes we get landed right away. It depends, y'know?"
"On what, y'know?"
Han gave her an exasperated look. "On what season you arrive during, on who's ahead of you, on what spaceport you're docking at!" he snapped.
"What do you mean 'who's ahead of you'?" Leia hoped that she was being very annoying.
"Just what I said," Solo returned, thinking how annoying Leia could be. "Us commoners have to wait our turn."
"Well, just who in space attends something like this?"
"Lots of other supralighters," answered Solo, clearly not wanting to go into it.
"I can seethat!" Leia waved a hand towards the other visible ships. Chewbacca half-turned in his seat and growled lengthily. Threepio translated for Leia.
"Chewbacca says that there are representatives here from every company in the galaxy that manufactures supralight engines or their component parts. They all have come to display new products and compare advances. This attracts their customers, wholesale and retail, military and civilian. Almost anyone with a fleet of FTL ships to maintain. Most of the ships you see around us are independent owner-operated and are here to investigate the latest modifications and to purchase available refinements. He says that volunteers are often solicited to test prototype equipment."
Chewbacca added a little more to that.
"He said," Threepio continued while Han sank a little lower in his seat, "that the system's accompanying festival provides entertainment for the Con attendees and opportunities for local merchants to unload all the surplus goods they pick up from the off-system freighters. He said that an independent freighter can always find a cargo to haul and, since it's so busy and the Empire's control is rather lax, you can easily sneak a lot of illegal merchandise past Space Port customs."
"I see," Leia replied dryly.
"Thanks a lot, Chewie," Han mumbled.
Leia thanked Chewbacca for his good-natured loquacity. The Wookiee and Threepio were not bothered by the delay. Leia recognized it as a lesson she should absorb. The silence that followed was a little more comfortable. At least for a moment. It was suddenly broken by a jolt and the Falconshuddered from laser fire.
"What the flamin'...!" Han fell onto the scanners while Chewie adjusted their aft shield density. There was another hit and Han swore again. Leia could see the other ships in their area veering off to get clear of what could soon turn out to be a wicked, close-quarter laser fight. In a second, Han had a fix on the attacking ship.
"I got him!" he told them. "Chewie, keep an eye on him and angle the ship to ninety degrees so I can get a good look." To Leia he ordered, "I'm feeding the sensor data to the computer. Get on it and see what you can find out about that ship!" There was a third direct hit. Han leapt to his feet. Leia looked up from the computer screen.
"Where are you going?!"
"Nobody's going to sit and take potshots at my ship!" he yelled as he ran to the gun turret's access shaft.
"Damn you, Solo!" she cursed uncharacteristically. "We don't want to attract attention!" It was too late, though, for she could hear Han returning fire already. The attacking ship fell back. Threepio was panicking as usual.
"Oh, no! They must be after me! An L-Ten droid and all his secret information! I'll have to self-destruct!"
"You need my permission to do that, Threepio," Leia reminded him absently. She tried to ignore his babbling and scanned the 'puter printout. She slipped on a headset and spoke to Han. "The 'puter shows a one-man Lodian design scout. The numbers don't match anything in your information banks."
"Scan the logs," Han told her over the comlink.
"Nothing there either."
Han's voice sounded again, this time to Chewbacca. "Looks like he's giving up. Keep those shields angled, pal." In a moment, Solo was back in the cockpit.
"Do you know who it is?" Leia demanded.
"I've got no idea," he replied, "but I'm going to find out." He studied the sensor's readouts. "Still shadowing us..."
At that time the comboard crackled to life. It was Space Port Central with their approach vector.
"Thank the Maker!" Threepio exclaimed.
Han piloted his ship down into the atmosphere of Ord Mantell. The scout followed them at a safe distance until it was spotted by SPC and warned back into orbit. The Falcon'spassengers relaxed.
"Can't figure that ship," Han muttered. "Do you have any ideas, Chewie?" The big Wookiee shook his head and made a nonchalant gesture. True,thought Han, there'd been no damage, and it's unlikely anything will come of this. Probably only a case of mistaken identity, but...it really rubbed him the wrong way when someone shot at him for no reason and with no warning. He made a mental note to check out the ship with SPC Computer. He glanced back at the princess and she returned it with a "what can I expect, keeping company with smugglers" kind of look.
The small scoutship merged once again with orbiting traffic. Its pilot was slightly annoyed. He had underestimated his prey. Solo's ship would naturally have an augmented defense system, but his appearance here had taken Boba Fett so completely by surprise that the bounty hunter had felt impelled to make the effort, ineffectual as it had turned out to be. Well, this was the first time Fett had spotted the Millennium Falconsince a cycle ago when it had topped the bounty roster on the Rim, so he wasn't about to trust to chance. He would find out where the Falconwas docked. Of course, he'd have to be extra cautious now that he'd alerted Solo to his presence. He would not underestimate him twice.
Although the Falcon'spassengers had been shipbound for ten timeparts, by the time they had docked, it was only midday on Ord Mantell. They had managed to get a berth some one hundred and fifty kilometers outside the city of Jettee-Fel, Space Port Central, and while the distance made commuting between the ship and the city impractical, it also kept them from being closely associated with the old freighter. That suited Solo and the princess just fine, although for different reasons. Leia's were purely aesthetic.
Han revealed that he knew Jettee-Fel like the back of his hand and that, despite the crowds of beings who were here on convention business, he was sure that he could find them a place to stay in the city. Leia got the impression that they knew someone there.
It took a while for Han to secure his ship. He was taking no chances after the incident with the Lodian scout. Chewie was setting up a monitor and Han was slipping the pitman a credit or two to keep an eye on their bay. While he and Chewbacca locked it down, Leia and Threepio stepped outside to have a look around.
Leia's first impressions were of a colorful, seething mass of sentient life. It looked like a local downport spacer bar with a thyroid problem. There were beings from every corner of the galaxy here. They walked, slithered, rolled, floated, and waddled. Flowing about the docking bays, they engaged in buying, selling, coming, going, or just plain partying. The short humanoid female and her droid seemed mundane by comparison. Leia found it hard not to gawk at all the intriguing aliens. Threepio, upon request, identified the unfamiliar ones for her. She wasn't surprised when even the knowledgeable protocol droid drew a blank on a species or two.
At the sound of music, they looked down the street where about fifty Ordians were marching towards them. They were chanting and pounding their percussion instruments. The sound was very rhythmic, very compelling. Beings all around them stopped to watch them pass. Even Leia began to bounce up and down on the balls of her feet. She was noticing for the first time what a lovely day it was. The sun was bright and warm. The breeze was alive with the pleasant aromas of the food being vended at various stalls scattered throughout the row of docking bays. Leia let her hood fall back a bit, so as to enjoy the sunshine. For a moment, she allowed herself to savor the warmth, the crowds of friendly travelers, and most of all, the peace. Yes, for this one moment there was peace. The marchers' music was fading with the distance and when Leia looked after them, she spotted a squad of white armored stormtroopers. A routine patrol, they passed her by without a glance. She felt a chill run down her spine. The brief moment was gone, carried away on the cold wind of war like so many others. Fortunately, Threepio had fallen silent upon sighting the troopers, for a talkative droid always attracted a lot of attention.
When she stepped back into the bay, Leia found Captain Solo and Chewbacca affixing their palm prints to the security lock next to the blast door.
"C'mere," Solo beckoned to Leia and indicated the palm plate. Leia laid her hand on the white plastic "eye."
"Are you done here?" she asked. "I've got to get started." The lock buzzed and she removed her hand.
"Almost," Solo told her. "I still have some business at SPC, so Chewie'll take you into the city. We know a place to room there."
"No, thank you," Leia declined. "I'll meet you there later. Can you give Threepio directions?"
"I guess so." Han gestured to his first mate. "Take care of it, will you, Chewie?" Chewbacca began to give the droid detailed instructions on how to reach it and Han turned back to Leia.
"We ought to have some sort of plan," she said, "in case we have to get off-planet in a hurry."
"Yeah, I've been thinking about that. C'mon." Leia followed him over to the Falcon.The palm plate on her hull was hanging open. The Corellian made an adjustment to the mechanism. He glanced down at the princess. "We'll be staying in a place called Nida's. She's a friend. The droid'll have her comcode. If something goes wrong, leave word for me with her and then get back here as fast as you can." He pushed the palm plate back into place and stepped aside. "So you'll be able to get inside, you've got to have access to my ship."
Leia hesitated. A personal palm lock was a very intricate piece of equipment and adding or deleting a palm print from its memory was not a job lightly undertaken. Solo was watching her with solemn eyes.
"Go ahead," he urged.
Leia placed her hand upon the plate. "Thank you...Han." For the next few seconds, they just stared at each other.
Han Solo realized that he was uneasy, not about giving her what might possibly become permanent access to his beloved ship, but about the thought of her wandering the streets of Ord Mantell alone. No matter how civilized or sophisticated a planet was, spaceports were always dangerous. Not that Leia couldn't take care of herself; she was a tough little shivik when it came right down to it. But still, Han felt...well, he felt responsible. He knew damn well that just by volunteering, he hadn't guaranteed her safety, but he had told Luke that he'd watch out for her.
"You watch yourself, huh?" he warned. "There's a lot of scum around here during Convention."
Leia arched her eyebrows. "Really?" She stepped away. "See you later..."
"Leia?"
The Alderaani was a little startled by his use of her name. "Yes?"
Han paused uncertainly. "Do you have a gun?" That hadn't been what he'd meant to say.
Leia smiled. "Of course!"
Solo flipped her a jaunty salute. "Right."
He watched as she and Threepio boarded a public hoverbus headed downport.
Chewie studied his captain. The Wookiee cocked his head, indicating his interest.
Feeling the steady gaze upon him, Solo turned a perturbed expression on his partner. "What's with you lately?" Chewie replied softly. "She can take care of herself," Solo told him in a carefully neutral tone. Chewie shook his shaggy head. "Aw, c'mon, Chewie. Do Ilook worried?" Han said with a last glance at the disappearing hoverbus.
A pretty Ordian female was manning the computer console at the local SPC office. She was smiling coyly at the handsome Corellian spacer who was leaning over the counter and plying her with compliments. Anyone else using that approach would have bothered her, but this Corellian had the most disarming smile and he knew how to use it.
The spacer had a problem. He had spotted a familiar ship while in orbit, but had received landing clearance before he was able to make contact. He asked if she could check to see if a Lodian scout had docked and where. He even had its registration numbers. Dutifully, she informed him that she was not allowed to give out that data. Regulations, she told him. He would understand. And he did. He told her so. He also looked at her, his eyes aglow with the sincerity of a small furry mammal, and explained that he was positive it was his cousin's ship and that no one from his family had seen his cousin in years. In fact, it had been assumed that he had died in a skirmish over Beta Nori three cycles ago. How happy it would make his dear sweet aunt, the spacer pleaded, if only he could bring home a word or two of reassurance.
The female only paused a second to sneak a glance in the direction of her superior, then punched up the data he needed. The spacer's resultant happiness was so genuine that the clerk was positive that the Corellian would soon be taking his long lost cousin in arms. He waved good-bye and she realized as he walked out the door that she didn't even know his name. That was too bad, thought she.
Chewbacca, who had listened to the whole exchange in the SPC office from outside the door, chided Han that a little of Lando Calrissian had rubbed off on him. Han almost smiled. That could be considered an insult. "That's right, pal, rub it in."
The young woman from Alderaan and her protocol droid were making their way along a crowded boulevard. Threepio tapped Leia on the shoulder. "According to our data, Mistress Leia," he said, "that building there was the base of Emil's operations."
Leia followed his gaze, but his reference was hardly necessary--the structure to which he referred was very obvious to her. The buildings on the far side of the boulevard all formed a long continuous wall of shop fronts. Each was identifiable as separate units by the type of siding or its color. All of them were open and doing a thriving business with the conspicuous exception of a small second-hand store.
"Threepio, I want you to stay here and scan the crowds. Pay close attention to any being who seems even casually interested in me as I go take a closer look," she instructed. "If anything happens to me," she added as an afterthought, "you are to go directly to the address Chewbacca gave you and report to Captain Solo. Is that clear?"
"Affirmative."
Leia dodged several skimmers and speeders on her way across the street and pressed into the knot of customers in front of a garment stand. She casually looked over several items before choosing one. Under the pretense of checking out the wrap she'd chosen, Leia slipped away from the stand and held the fabric up to her chest. She appeared to be scrutinizing her reflection in the windows of the second-hand store. A nervous vendor followed her, delivering flattering remarks about the way she looked in the outfit, but also making sure she wasn't going any further with his merchandise. The princess handed the gaudy shimmerslip back to the vendor, shaking her head politely.
When she returned to Threepio, she asked him about what he'd observed. "Did you spot anyone?"
"Yes, Mistress, the Vallagic merchant was very interested in what you were doing."
"Besides him, Threepio."
"No, but my photoreceptors are only one hundred and fifty percent as sensitive as your own--"
"Don't worry." She patted his arm, "I trust you."
"Thank you. You have no idea what it means to be appreciated. For a droid, that is."
Leia led Threepio to a more secluded section of the plaza. "Record," she instructed. "Mission: Ord Mantell. Arrived noon on first day. Have observed Emil Sonel's last known base and while it is non-functioning in both capacities, it appears undisturbed. This may mean that the Imps have not yet discovered it. It is now late afternoon. I shall return after dark and try to enter the establishment. I hope to find some clue as to Emil's fate, or at least to find out what it was that he sacrificed his own cover and perhaps even his life to obtain."
After scouting about the area a little more, Leia and Threepio hopped a public transport headed in the general direction of Nida's.
Docking Bay 1190. Han Solo and Chewbacca strolled casually towards the bay which housed the Lodian scout ship. The restraining strap on Solo's holster was unhooked, his hand hanging close to the butt of his blaster, yet not actually touching it. Chewbacca held his bowcaster so that it appeared to be hanging by its shoulder strap. They were as coiled springs, wound tight and ready for anything.
Solo paused outside the alcove leading to the blast doors of Bay 1190 while Chewie ducked inside and tried the lock. Han saw him shake his head. Without a word, the Wookiee took up a position just inside the alcove, while Solo continued making his way down the row. Chewie's keen eyes flicked over the beings in their vicinity to assure himself that no one was going to jump Han. He then watched as Han approached a pitman. As he spoke, Solo jerked his head in the direction of the Wookiee and Bay 1190. Whatever reply the pitman made was done so in poor judgement, and Chewbacca lost sight of them as Han shoved the pitman back into another bay's entry. Chewbacca scanned the passers-by once again. He was satisfied to note that no one appeared to be interested in going to the aid of the luckless individual from whom his partner was now, no doubt, forcibly retrieving answers. The Wookiee thought that it was unfortunate in a way that this pitman did not have any close friends to look after and be looked after by.
A few minutes later, Han returned. He was rubbing the knuckles of his right hand. The Wookiee fell into step alongside of him. "The pilot's alone," Han reported. "He's wearing shocktrooper armor and he's armed to the teeth. Whether he came by his outfit honestly or not, he means business." Han gave a wry laugh. "He's probably beating up our pitman right now."
Chewie told Han that his lip was bleeding. Solo touched his swollen mouth gingerly. "Lucky punch," he muttered. "Still think some of Calrissian rubbed off?" The two exchanged grins, but Han's disappeared quickly. Given a chance, Lando would've tried to con the Emperor himself; Han preferred the direct approach.
"I don't know, pal," he said. "I've got a bad feeling about this character." The Wookiee rumbled a somber reply. "Sounds like it, doesn't it?"
PART 6 PART 7