Rebel Force_ Renegade Part 13

So when Han lowered his eyes and said, quietly but firmly, " I'm I'm sure," X-f0 7 sure," X-f0 7 knew.

He wasn't.

"But where's Han?" Luke asked, yet again, as Chewbacca led them through the Mos Eisley crowds. "And what are you doing on Tatooine? What's going on?"

Chewbacca just issued the same terse bark he had every time Luke asked.

"He says, 'You'll see,'" C-f0 3PO translated, sounding rather displeased.

They threaded their way through a cl.u.s.ter of chattering Jawas, standing in the midst of a pile of spare parts and smashed pika fruits and shaking their fists at the sky. "Listen to me, you Wookiee-"

Chewbacca cut him off with a warning growl.

"I'm merely-suggesting that if you were to offer us some additional information about what you and Captain Solo are doing on the planet, we might be in a better position to help," C-f0 3PO huffed.

The Wookiee ignored him, disappearing into an empty water distribution plant and beckoning them to follow. He hurried to a dark, crumbling stairwell and rushed up the steps, two at a time.

R2-f0 D2 beeped.

"What do you mean mean we can trust him?" C-f0 3PO asked. "Do you know how many times he's threatened to tear my arms off?" we can trust him?" C-f0 3PO asked. "Do you know how many times he's threatened to tear my arms off?"

R2-f0 D2 beeped again.

" Yet? Yet? " C-f0 3PO yelped. "He hasn't done it " C-f0 3PO yelped. "He hasn't done it yet? yet? Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Is that supposed to make me feel better?"

Luke and Leia brushed past the droids. They were wasting time. "Come on,"

he urged them. "Something's going on. Let's see what it is."

Luke followed Chewbacca all the way up the roof. And when he stepped out of the stairwell, he stopped so abruptly that Leia nearly slammed into him. "What is it?" she hissed.

Luke didn't respond. He just grinned.

"Good to see you're still in one piece, kid," Han said. Then he inclined his head toward Leia. "Greetings, Your Wors.h.i.+pfulness."

Leia's eyes widened. "Han! I can't-what are you doing up on the...?"

But she swallowed her words as Han stepped aside and revealed the figure kneeling by the edge of the roof, Han's blaster digging into the side of his head.

"Elad!" Luke exclaimed. "What's going on?"

"What's going on is that you owe me another one, kid." Han grimaced down at Elad. "Everything he's told you is a lie. He's not here to help you-he's here to kill you."

Luke shook his head. Tobin Elad had become a good friend. He'd listened when Luke needed to talk. He'd believed in Luke when Luke hadn't had the strength to believe in himself. "The explosion on Yavin 4?" he asked quietly.

"You're saying..."

"He's a spy," Han said. "Working for the Empire."

"How do you know?" Leia asked.

Han raised his eyebrows. "What if I told you I just knew?" he asked. "What if I told you to trust me?"

Elad turned his face toward Luke and Leia for the first time. "Don't listen to him," he said, in a firm, steady voice. There was no trace of fear in his eyes.

" He's He's the Imperial spy. He came here to kill you, Luke. It's why I'm here-to stop him." the Imperial spy. He came here to kill you, Luke. It's why I'm here-to stop him."

Han jabbed Elad with the blaster. "Shut up."

"Or what?" Elad asked. "You'll kill me in cold blood? That will only prove the truth: that you're a mercenary. For enough money you'll do anything. Even kill an innocent man. Or-" He glanced meaningfully at Luke. "Someone foolish enough to believe he's your friend. If I have to die to reveal who you really are? So be it."

"You're not listening to this junk, are you?" Han asked. "You barely know this guy. Don't know anything about him. And you're going to believe him over me?"

"And what do they know about you?" Elad countered. "Other than the fact that you're a smuggler, a criminal, and wanted in twenty different star systems.

Go on," he urged Leia. "Ask if he has any evidence. Ask if he has a shred of proof that I I would ever be a threat to the Rebellion." would ever be a threat to the Rebellion."

Leia didn't even hesitate. "He doesn't need any."

Han started in surprise. "I don't?"

"He doesn't?" X-f0 7 said, his surprise shocking even himself.

"No," Luke answered for her. "He doesn't."

The certainty that filled him had nothing to do with the Force. He didn't need the Force to tell him that he could trust Han. The pilot had proven his loyalty, and his friends.h.i.+p, again and again-and no matter what had happened on Yavin 4, that was unquestionable. Luke had come to Tatooine hoping to take comfort in the friends.h.i.+ps of his past, people he'd known long enough and well enough that their loyalty could never be questioned.

But coming home had made him realize that he wasn't the same naive moisture farmer he'd been when he left. He wasn't the same Luke Skywalker who'd hunted womp rats with Windy and matched daredevil skyhopper maneuvers against Fixer and Jaxson. They'd known him longer, but they didn't know him better. Not anymore.

Luke had only known Leia and Han for a short time, but they were more than friends, they were family. And he trusted them both with his life.

He gazed steadily at the man who'd called himself Tobin Elad. "If Han says you're a threat, then you're a threat. All I need is his word."

Han broke into a surprised grin. "Then I guess you won't be wanting this?" he said, and tossed a datacard in Luke's direction. Luke s.n.a.t.c.hed it out of the air and looked at it in confusion.

"Holorecording of the spy getting orders from his boss," Han explained. "Ask most people, and they'd tell you my word isn't worth two credits."

Elad looked disgusted. "You're all fools," he snapped. "And it's going to be my pleasure to kill you."

"Not today," Luke said, amazed by the transformation. In seconds, Elad had become a stranger-his voice, his posture, even his face face seemed different. seemed different.

Harder. Crueler.

"No," Elad said. "But soon." And then, with lightning speed, he slashed an arm out, slamming into Han's windpipe. As Han gasped and lurched forward, Elad sprang to his feet and leapt off the edge of the roof.

Luke rushed forward in time to see Elad's falling body reverse motion in midair and rocket toward the sky. Smoky plumes billowed from his hidden jetpack as he sailed over the roofs of Mos Eisley.

"Can't believe I let him get away," Han muttered angrily as soon as he could breathe.

"Don't worry." Luke watched Elad's figure dwindle to a speck, disappearing on the horizon. "He'll be back."

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

"So, why'd you come back?" Leia said coolly, once enough time had pa.s.sed that it was clear the escaped a.s.sa.s.sin wasn't returning. "Finally get bored playing your little s.p.a.ce games?"

"Games?" Han repeated in disbelief. " Games? Games? I risk my I risk my neck neck to come back here and save your lives-even after you accused me of trying to blow up Luke-and to come back here and save your lives-even after you accused me of trying to blow up Luke-and that's that's the thanks I get? Maybe I should have just stayed away." the thanks I get? Maybe I should have just stayed away."

"Maybe you should have," Leia snapped. "Then you wouldn't have to explain why you ran away in the first place."

"Listen, sweetheart, no one said anything about running away." Han jabbed his finger in the air toward her. "For all you know, I only busted out of there so I could find out who was after Luke."

Chewbacca interrupted with a nagging bark. Han waved him off.

"See, now you've hurt Chewie's feelings," he said. No need to translate what the Wookiee had actually actually said. "That's some thank you." said. "That's some thank you."

Luke cleared his throat. "Thank you, Han."

" You're You're welcome, kid," Han said, shooting a glare at Leia to make sure she knew she wasn't included in the sentiment. welcome, kid," Han said, shooting a glare at Leia to make sure she knew she wasn't included in the sentiment.

"I still don't get how you knew Elad was a spy," Luke said. "Or how you knew we were here. Or-"

Han waved away the questions. "Long story."

Chewbacca let loose a long stream of growls and barks.

"What's he saying?" Leia asked.

Han shook his head. "Don't mind him; the fuzzball here's just hungry. Gets a little testy when he misses dinner."

C-f0 3PO cleared his throat. "If you'll pardon me, Princess, the Wookiee has explained that Captain Solo located the truth at grave risk to his own life!"

Leia quirked her lips into a half smile. "Is that true, Captain Solo?"

"It might be."

"Then I offer you my sincerest grat.i.tude on behalf of the Rebellion," she said formally.

Han gave her a deep mock bow. "On behalf of myself, I accept."

"And Han-" The icy distance was gone from her voice, along with any trace of mockery. "Thank you. Han...I'm sorry about before. On Yavin 4. That should never have happened. We should have trusted you."

Han shrugged, as if it didn't matter. "You did what you had to do, Princess.

Just like the rest of us."

Luke shook his head. "But we knew all along that you never would have-"

Leia put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. "No. It was my call-it was my investigation. And..." She steeled herself again. "I'm just glad you came back.

The Rebellion needs you."

"Well, if the Rebellion Rebellion needs me," Han said, giving her a knowing grin. needs me," Han said, giving her a knowing grin. You You need me, too, Your Wors.h.i.+pfulness need me, too, Your Wors.h.i.+pfulness, he thought. And one day you're going to And one day you're going to admit it. admit it. "I guess I'll stick around a little longer. Give you plenty of time to make it up to me." He cast a sharp glance over the roof, where the fruit vendors had righted their stands and the Jawas had gotten back to work, peddling half-defective droids and bartering with locals for their credits. A couple of them were still staring up at the roof, looking far too interested in what they saw there. "How about if you do the rest of your groveling back on the "I guess I'll stick around a little longer. Give you plenty of time to make it up to me." He cast a sharp glance over the roof, where the fruit vendors had righted their stands and the Jawas had gotten back to work, peddling half-defective droids and bartering with locals for their credits. A couple of them were still staring up at the roof, looking far too interested in what they saw there. "How about if you do the rest of your groveling back on the Falcon Falcon-Jabba's going to hear I'm back in town, sooner or later. And by the time he does, I plan to be halfway across the galaxy."

"Not that you'd ever run away run away," Luke teased.

"Hey, kid, there's running away, and then there's being smart being smart. You want to stay alive much longer? You'll figure out the difference."

"I think I'm beginning to understand," Luke grinned at his friend. "But before we go, let's attend the services for Biggs-that's why we came, right?"

Feeling as good as they had since the award ceremony following the destruction of the Death Star, Luke, Solo, Leia, Chewbacca, and the droids left the roof and melded into the crowds of Mos Eisley. They headed toward a cemetery in the desert where they would make it just in time to pay their last respects to Luke's childhood friend and a hero of the Rebellion.

"Another chance?" Jabba the Hutt reclined in his throne, gulping down a live, wriggling gorg coated in spicy mubasa sauce. "HO! HO! HO!" His ma.s.sive body shook with each burst of gurgling laughter. "You want another chance to fail me?"

The Trandoshan bounty hunter strained in the grip of the Gamorrean guards who held him in place, still angry about the wasted deaths of their brothers-in-arms. Struggling was useless; the guards held him with a durasteel grip. "The human was setting a trap for you," Bossk told Jabba, "He wanted wanted to be captured. to be captured.

You should be thanking me."

"HO! HO! You saved me from a human? human? " Jabba laughed again, and the rest of his court hastily joined him. "Then why did you try to sneak offplanet in the middle of the night like a Baldavian pocket hare? Why not come to me and claim your reward?" " Jabba laughed again, and the rest of his court hastily joined him. "Then why did you try to sneak offplanet in the middle of the night like a Baldavian pocket hare? Why not come to me and claim your reward?"

"I will get Skywalker for you," Bossk hissed. "And Solo. And"-he pounded a clawed fist against his armored chest-"the Wookiee Wookiee. They're mine."

"They're mine mine," Jabba roared. Alarmed by the sound, the Kowakian monkey-lizard who played court jester plunged his head into a nearby vat of boga noga.

"Just like everything else on this planet," Jabba added. "Perhaps you need a reminder of that."

Bossk shook his head.

"What do you think?" Jabba asked the room. It erupted into hooting cheers. A storm of voices whirled around them, but one word became clear, chorused over and over again. Rancor. Rancor.

Jabba nodded. "Step forward for your reward reward, bounty hunter."

The Trandoshan stayed rooted to the floor until the Gamorreans pushed him forward.

"Have no fear, bounty hunter," Jabba said. "I'm not going to kill you."

As Bossk released a nearly imperceptible sigh in relief, Jabba depressed a b.u.t.ton on his pipe. "But he he might," Jabba said, chuckling, as a trapdoor opened beneath the bounty hunter and he dropped to his fate. The rancor hadn't eaten for some days, and it howled in delight at the appearance of a new meal. If Bossk was as tough a warrior as he claimed to be, he would survive. might," Jabba said, chuckling, as a trapdoor opened beneath the bounty hunter and he dropped to his fate. The rancor hadn't eaten for some days, and it howled in delight at the appearance of a new meal. If Bossk was as tough a warrior as he claimed to be, he would survive.

If not...Jabba smiled and dropped another squealing gorg into his maw. If not, no matter. There were plenty of other bounty hunters. Better bounty hunters, who would have no trouble dispensing with human sc.u.m like Luke Skywalker or Han Solo. Bounty hunters who would drag Solo to Tatooine and deposit him at Jabba's feet, so he could suffer the fate he deserved.

Torture. Humiliation.

And ultimately, death.