Rebel Force_ Renegade Part 5

"Yeah," Fixer agreed. "Whoever's running the galaxy, the suns will keep rising and the vaporators will keep sucking moisture. Vader can't bring water to the desert, any more than the Rebels can tame a krayt dragon. Tatooine will always be Tatooine."

"Fixer's right," Camie said, slipping her arms around her fiance and nestling her head on his shoulder. "It's not our problem."

Luke shook his head. "You don't understand. If you knew what was really going on out there-"

"Like you you know?" Jaxson scoffed. "You think you're so much smarter than us because you left and we stayed? You walk away from your responsibilities to run around the galaxy playing s.p.a.ce pilot, and you want to come back here and tell us know?" Jaxson scoffed. "You think you're so much smarter than us because you left and we stayed? You walk away from your responsibilities to run around the galaxy playing s.p.a.ce pilot, and you want to come back here and tell us we we don't understand?" don't understand?"

"That's not what I meant," Luke protested.

"You think you're so special, just because you can pilot a ship," Jaxson jeered. "But I'm a better pilot than you any day."

Luke scowled. "I've seen you fly," he retorted. "You couldn't drive a skyhopper twenty meters without trashing into a dune."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"You think you're so much better? How about you prove it!" Jaxson challenged.

"Anytime, any place," Luke said.

"Tomorrow. Race in Beggar's Canyon. We'll thread the Needle. At least, one one of us will." of us will."

Luke hesitated.

"Scared?" Jaxson jeered.

"Scared for you you, maybe." Only two people had ever successfully threaded the Needle. Luke was one of them; Jaxson wasn't the other.

"Jaxson, don't be crazy!" Camie squealed.

"Yeah, you got nothing to prove," Windy added. He'd been in the c.o.c.kpit the first time Luke had threaded the Needle, and he still looked traumatized by the memory.

Jaxson ignored them, keeping his eyes fixed on Luke. "You in?"

"Tomorrow at sunset," Luke said. "If you're crazy enough to go through with it." He stalked out of the station without waiting for a response. A moment later, Leia came up behind him and gently rested a hand on his shoulder. He shrugged her off.

"I'm fine," he said, and turned around. There was nothing gentle in her expression.

"I wasn't going to ask if you were fine fine," she snapped. "I was going to ask if you were crazy crazy. We came here to keep you safe, and what's the first thing you do? Start a stupid fight over nothing!"

"It's not nothing," Luke protested. "You heard him."

Leia shook her head in disgust. "I thought you knew better than that," she chided him. "You were acting like a child in there. No, worse, you were acting like Han Han."

Luke brightened. "You think so?"

"That's not not a compliment." Leia rubbed her hands across her eyes in exhaustion. "This isn't like you." a compliment." Leia rubbed her hands across her eyes in exhaustion. "This isn't like you."

"Maybe that's the point," Luke said. " Han Han never runs away from danger. But here I am, hiding out here like a scared profrogg." never runs away from danger. But here I am, hiding out here like a scared profrogg."

" Han Han ran away from ran away from us! us! " Leia pointed out. "Or are you forgetting?" " Leia pointed out. "Or are you forgetting?"

"He had his reasons," Luke said, wishing he knew what they were. "And that's not the point. The point is, I'm not running away again. Especially not from the Needle. That doesn't scare me."

"Why do I get the feeling that it should?" Leia asked. "What is it?"

Luke told her about the canyon, a long, jagged gash in the desert that had once been a part of the old Boonta Eve Cla.s.sic Pod race circuit. With its alarmingly sharp twists and turns, it made the perfect training ground for aspiring pilots. Luke had spent plenty of hours out there, practicing his maneuvers and using womp rats for target practice.

Then there was the Needle.

"The Stone Needle's nearly twenty meters high," Luke explained, "and most racers go around it. But if you can manage to slip through the eye of the Needle, you can shave four, maybe five seconds off your time." Not to mention, prove that you were the boldest and best pilot around.

"So why doesn't everyone go through the Needle?" Leia asked, like she already knew the answer.

"Well...lots of people try try," Luke admitted. "But it's risky. If you're off by even a meter..."

As he spoke, Leia's lips pressed tighter and tighter together. Her cheeks blazed red.

"No," she said, shaking her head. " No. No. That's too risky." That's too risky."

"Aw, it's no risk for me," Luke said. "I've done it before. It's a piece of pika cake. After what I've done? The Podrace on Muunilinst? The Death-"

Leia silenced him with a look, and cast a meaningful glance over her shoulder. Luke tensed, as the hairs on the back of his neck stood to attention.

He was suddenly convinced that someone was watching them. But the streets of Anchorhead were deserted.

"Anyway, that was different," Leia said impatiently. "You were risking your life for something important. Not to show off."

" This This is important," Luke insisted. "It's not about whether I'm a better pilot. It's not even about me. You know who was the first person to ever thread the Needle? Biggs. This is for is important," Luke insisted. "It's not about whether I'm a better pilot. It's not even about me. You know who was the first person to ever thread the Needle? Biggs. This is for him him. Maybe I can't tell anyone how he died-I can't prove that he died a hero. But I can do this. I can do this for him."

"This Jaxson guy..." Leia shook her head. "That's some friend you've got there."

Luke bristled. "He's not my my friend. We never used to hang around with him, but...I guess a lot's changed since I left." friend. We never used to hang around with him, but...I guess a lot's changed since I left."

"Not that much," Leia said, offering a half smile. "He's still not your friend."

Luke laughed hesitantly, not sure if that meant she wasn't angry anymore.

"You're telling me that you really believe if you beat Jaxson in a skyhopper race, you'll be proving that Biggs is a hero?" she asked, dead serious again.

Luke nodded.

"And that if you don't race, or if you lose, it will mean to all of your friends that Jaxson's right about the Alliance and about Biggs?"

Luke nodded again.

"You do realize that makes no sense, right?" she asked.

"Not to you, maybe," Luke said quietly.

"But it does to you?"

Luke nodded a third time, and when he raised his head, he held her gaze steadily.

Leia breathed out a sigh, then grinned. "In that case...I guess you'd better win."

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Far across the Western Dune Sea stood a fortress, whose population of guards, chefs, dancers, thieves, and slaves was several times that of Anchorhead. In the bowels of the palace, spider-like creatures skittered through the murky depths, each one's mechanical arms powered by a brain in a jar. These were all that remained of the B'omarr monks, who had erected the great fortress centuries before. Now they clung to the shadows, while another usurped the seat of their power.

The usurper required a very large seat.

"Who's next?" Jabba the Hutt roared in Huttese from his ma.s.sive throne. The groveling courtiers who packed his throne room shrank away from the slug's booming voice. He slapped his tail impatiently against the dais, so hard that the floor beneath him vibrated. Jabba was the sector's biggest crime lord, the shadowy force behind every dirty deal in the sector. His power was such that with a word, he could bring down governments, torpedo corporations, and, if he chose to do so, perhaps destroy a small city.

But the obese Hutt's favorite games were those he could play from home; his favorite toys were the ones who cowered before his throne, begging for mercy.

Too stupid to know it would never be granted.

A thin, stooped human shivered under his glare. Jabba smiled, his mouth widening enough so that he could have swallowed up the man whole. He was always glad to see a human; they tended to be the stupidest of all. And the most fun.

A thick scar crawled from beneath the collar of the human's ragged brown tunic. It traversed the length of his neck and split his weathered face down the middle.

"You dare interrupt my dessert?" Jabba asked. One of Jabba's servants dangled a wriggling gorg over the Hutt's open mouth. Jabba's ma.s.sive tongue tickled the gorg. At Jabba's command, the servant let the creature drop. It disappeared, squealing and keening, into Jabba's gaping maw. He swallowed it with a loud gulp. "Speak!" he commanded.

The human mumbled something, but his words were drowned out by the chattering and chuckling of Jabba's court.

"Louder!" Jabba said. "Rancor got your tongue? Because that can be arranged. HO! HO! HO!" There was a brief pause, and then the room burst into laughter. Jabba raised his twig-like arm, and the sound stopped abruptly.

"Honorable Jabba," the man muttered in Huttese, only a bit louder than the first time. "Thank you for this audience. I've come to report that Luke Skywalker has returned to Tatooine. He's in Anchorhead!"

" Who? Who? What do I care about Luke Skyhopper?" Jabba roared. "Seize him," What do I care about Luke Skyhopper?" Jabba roared. "Seize him,"

he ordered his Gamorrean guards. "The rancor needs his supper."

"Wait!" the man cried, as a phalanx of brutish Gamorreans closed in on him, their green snouts snuffling eagerly at the thought of another kill. "Luke Skywalker is a known a.s.sociate of Han Solo!"

A murmur rippled through the room. Jabba's hatred of Solo was well known.

The pilot had crossed him one too many times, and Jabba had offered a reward for any information leading to his capture.

"Solo?" Jabba hissed, gobbling down another gorg. He turned to Bib Fortuna, his trusted second in command. "Is this true?"

The Twi'lek nodded, his long, fleshy tentacles swirling around his neck.

"We've received reports that the two are close. Skywalker's been traveling with the Millennium Falcon Millennium Falcon. If he's on Tatooine..."

"Then Solo must be close," Jabba said, gurgling with pleasure. Soon Han Solo's body would be hanging on Jabba's wall, a reminder to all of what happened when you betrayed the ruler of the Hutts. "This Skycrabber will lead us to Solo." They would s.n.a.t.c.h the human, use him as bait. Solo would come running.

And if he didn't...well, you could never have enough slaves.

All Jabba needed was the right bounty hunter for the job. He s.n.a.t.c.hed a Klatooine paddy frog from the tank at his feet, crushing it into a pulp and stuffing it into his maw. As the salty reptile juice ran down his bloated face, he realized he had just the creature for the job. "Get me Bossk," he commanded. And at his word, two of the Gamorreans went running. The Trandoshan bounty hunter would show his scaly face by nightfall. Or suffer the consequences.

"Still here?" Jabba shouted at the human cowering before him.

Shaking, the man mumbled something under his breath.

Bib Fortuna leaned toward Jabba. "The human wants his reward," he hissed.

"Reward?" Jabba asked loudly. " Reward? Reward? HO HO! This human wants a reward!" Again, the room laughed with Jabba. And kept laughing as Jabba pressed a b.u.t.ton on the end of his long hookah pipe. HO HO! This human wants a reward!" Again, the room laughed with Jabba. And kept laughing as Jabba pressed a b.u.t.ton on the end of his long hookah pipe.

The human cowered, squeezing his eyes shut, and the laughing grew even louder. But he wasn't in pain...yet. Still shaking, he opened his eyes to see a small pile of credits in front of him.

"Thank you, Honorable Jabba," the man murmured, bowing low and piling the credits into his threadbare tunic, "you truly are the greatest of the Hutts." He kept bowing as he scuttled out of the room, a few credits scattering in his wake.

As the laughter swelled, the band struck up another tune, filling the room with jaunty music. Jabba snapped his fingers for another gorg, when Bib Fortuna leaned and whispered into his ear.

"Another one?" Jabba asked. "Make him wait."

Bib Fortuna hesitated. "But this one, he has...debts."

Jabba smiled. "Very well. Send him in."

A Toydarian buzzed into the room, flitting nervously and looking over his shoulder, taking in the courtiers and henchmen.

Jabba began to shake with laughter. "Block the exits! I will now have my justice."

CHAPTER EIGHT.

It wasn't the first time Han had felt the cold durasteel of a blaster muzzle against his skin. When it came to life and death situations, he was an old pro.

Still, all things considered, he'd rather be playing a hand of sabacc.

"Hands in the air, and turn around," the voice said. " Slowly. Slowly. " "

Han raised his hands and turned. Slowly. Slowly.