Shadows of the Empire (28 page)

“Ha-hah!” Lando said.

Luke, halfway out of his seat, was thrown back into it hard. When he recovered himself, he glared at Lando. “You cut that awful close.”

Lando shrugged. “Hey, you wanted a boring life, you should have stayed on Tatooine.” He smiled, pleased with himself. “I knew I could fix it.”

Luke shook his head but had to smile in return. They were, for the moment at least, safe. What did it matter what had
almost
happened? Almost didn’t count.

“Now, if some other special Solo modification doesn’t put us into the middle of a star, our next stop should be Tatooine. As soon as Leia and Chewie are finished with their business, we can get back to rescuing Han.”

“Fine by me,” Luke said. “Haven’t they finished yet?”

Lando shrugged. “They had to take a slight detour.”

Luke got the feeling Lando wasn’t telling him everything, but he let it slide. He was tired. He needed to rest, get something to eat; then he could follow up on this conversation.

V
ader stared out into space as the captain nervously approached.

“M-My lord Vader,” he began.

Vader repressed a sigh. “There is no need to say it, Captain. Your pilots lost their prey.”

“The ship left the asteroid field and made the shift
into hyperspace as they approached. There was nothing they could do.”

“And did your pilots identify the ship?”

“It was a small Corellian freighter.”

Vader said nothing. Solo’s ship, the
Millennium Falcon,
no doubt, now under Luke’s control. Perhaps he had the young princess with him and that traitorous gambler Calrissian.

“Set your course for Imperial Center, Captain.”

“But weren’t we supposed to—”

“Let
me
worry about that.” He paused.

The captain was correct. The Emperor had sent him here for reasons other than to fetch Luke. “Very well. There is a suspected Rebel base on one of the Kothlisian moons.”

“I know of no such base, my lord—”

Vader turned his gaze upon the captain, who quickly shut up.

“As I said, there is a suspected Rebel base on the moon. Before we leave, you will allow your men to display their prowess by pinpoint-bombing that base.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Luke was gone, he couldn’t tell where, and Xizor still up to his twisted trickery within sight of the Emperor. He would locate his son later; meanwhile, best he get back to where he could deal with Xizor. There was an old Sithian proverb that said, “Even when fighting the great sabercat, it is best not to turn your back upon the lowly serpent.” A bite from a tiny spit adder could kill you just as dead as the arm-long fangs of a giant predator. And the snake’s kiss would be slower and more painful, too.

“Hurry, Captain. I do not wish to be kept waiting.”

“No, my lord.”

L
eia put on a dark bodysuit before she slipped into the nearly transparent green dress. It was probably not
the designer’s intent that her choice of undergarments cancel out the see-through cloth, but she wasn’t interested in letting Xizor look at
that
much of her.

It felt vaguely decadent to be wearing several thousand credits’ worth of clothes. She hadn’t done that since she’d been a girl on Alderaan.

She went into the ’fresher and looked into the mirror. She had made use of a well-stocked makeup drawer next to the looking glass, just a touch, and managed to plait her hair and pin it up so it didn’t resemble the nest of a crazed ship rat. At least it was clean. She tried a smile.

Chewie should be here by now.

She went to the room’s door. Frowned when it didn’t open automatically. She found the manual control, but when she tried it, the door still refused to slide aside.

Ah. It seemed that Lord Xizor didn’t want guests running around loose in his castle.

But as she turned around, the door slid open. Chewie stood there, sans his dye disguise. The haircut still looked odd, but with the coloring gone the Wookiee looked more familiar.

Howzmin stood behind him.

She wanted to tell Chewie that she needed to see Xizor alone. “Give us a moment, would you?” Leia said to Howzmin.

The servant nodded, a choppy military gesture.

Chewie stepped into the room. The door closed.

He stared at Leia. Turned his head to one side quizzically.

“What are you staring at? I put on some clean clothes, that’s all.”

Chewie said nothing.

Leia felt a sudden stab of guilt. Chewie and Han were like brothers. She hadn’t done anything wrong, but she felt as if she had, so she tried to explain it:
“Look, we need Xizor’s help. There’s no reason I can’t look nice; maybe it’ll throw him off guard.”

Still silent, Chewie raised one eyebrow.

Leia felt herself flush. “Who is the diplomat here, anyway? I don’t tell you how to fly, you don’t tell me how to conduct interviews.”

Finally the Wookiee said something. He punctuated it with a wave of one hand at the door, then at Leia. She didn’t understand the comment, but she had a pretty good idea of what he was trying to convey: Chewie didn’t approve. Would Han?

In a Gamorrean’s eye he would.

“It’s none of your business how I dress!” she said. Maybe that came out a little more snappish than it should have. She started to apologize but then changed her mind. She and Han weren’t married; they hadn’t had time to even
pledge
anything. Yes, she loved him and she thought he loved her, but he’d never
said
it. When he had the chance, he’d said, “I know.” What kind of commitment was that? “I know”? Two words instead of three? How much harder was it to say one more short little word?

There was nothing wrong with trying to look nice for a handsome man, especially one who could help save Luke’s life. It wasn’t as if they were going to
do
anything! What was Chewie doing being so righteous? She had nothing to feel ashamed about. Nothing at all!

Then why
do
you feel so guilty, sister?

I
n his most private of chambers, Xizor sat alone on a pad in the otherwise bare room, eyes closed, fingers interlaced in his lap. His breathing was deep and regular, his mind clear. He began to concentrate as he called upon his special hormonal abilities.

The attractants in him built, began to seep from his pores. His pheromones came forth, colorless, odorless, save to receptors carried by humanoid females. To the
bearer of those small organelles hidden and nearly invisible inside the olfactory channels, the attractants would be overwhelming; they would carry a compulsion stronger than a hypnotic command.

There was no way to stop the color of his skin from shading into the red. No matter. She wouldn’t care what color he was, once she felt him call to her.

He had given her but a taste of them before. Now he would set before her a banquet. One she could not refuse.

He took a deep breath, let it out. Almost ready. The coldness was there, but soon, soon—soon the passion would be set free.

He smiled.

A
rtoo and Threepio held a quiet conversation in the lounge. Luke, on his way to the galley to fix the meal he’d never gotten to, paused and looked at the droids.

“Something up?”

Threepio said, “Artoo is a bit worried about Princess Leia. I told him that she is quite resourceful,” Threepio said. “I’m sure she’s all right.”

Luke shrugged. He went into the galley. In that moment, he had the feeling that Leia, wherever she was, was in great danger.

His hunger vanished. He didn’t feel like eating anymore. Maybe he’d better go and have that talk with Lando. Now.

In the cockpit, Lando said, “Sorry, buddy, but I’m not supposed to tell you.”

“What?”

“The princess wants you on Tatooine, and she said when you asked, to tell you she took care of herself before she met you and she can take care of herself now.”

Luke glowered.

“Besides, she’s got Chewie with her. He won’t let anything happen to her, you know that.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

“Look, she’ll probably get to Tatooine before we do. And she’s in charge, remember?”

Luke nodded. But he didn’t like it. Something felt wrong.

W
hen the door to Xizor’s sanctum opened, Leia almost gasped. The crime lord now wore a long, flowing robe done in shades of red that seemed to reflect that color onto his uncovered skin. The clothing could have been made by the same designer who had done her dress. And he wasn’t wearing a bodysuit under it. He was big under the thin cloth, hard and muscular, and if there were any visible anatomical differences between him and basic stock humans, she couldn’t see them.

He smiled. “Do come in, Princess.”

Behind her, Chewie said something. Xizor must have understood it because his smile dropped for an instant before he recovered it. “Perhaps your friend would care to take this time to dine while we conduct our negotiations?”

From Chewie’s tone, he would not care for that at all.

Leia had forgotten to tell him that in her room, so defensive had she been about her clothes. Now she said, “Chewie, wait outside.”

He
really
didn’t like that.

She turned to face the Wookiee. “Han would trust me here. You should, too.”

Chewie wasn’t sure, but he shut up. Took a step backward and nearly knocked Howzmin over.

“I’ll be fine.”

The door slid closed between them.

When she turned back around, Xizor had moved to
a small bar behind the leather couch. “Something to drink? Luranian brandy? Green champagne?”

“Tea would be fine, Your Highness.” No way she was going to drink anything potent around him.

“Call me Xizor, please. We can dispense with titles, now that we are alone.”

Leia watched as Xizor poured her tea. He seemed almost to … glow, and she felt dizzy watching him. She moved to the couch, sat on one end. Tried to relax but felt a strange tension grip her.

When he rounded the couch to bring her the tea, his hip brushed against the back of her head.

It sent a shock through her, a rush that was kin to dropping in free fall, a stomach-full-of-moths kind of sensation. Whoa!

Xizor handed her the teacup and moved to the other end of the couch and sat.

Leia felt a brief pang of disappointment that he hadn’t sat closer to her.

And a sudden stab of worry at that thought. What was she doing?

She tried to bring an image of Han to mind. But all of a moment, she couldn’t see his face. It was as if she had somehow forgotten what he looked like …

Stop this!

Xizor said, “So, the Alliance might be interested in doing business with Black Sun?” He sipped at whatever it was he was drinking.

Leia thought he looked absolutely fascinating as he drank.

She scrambled to collect her thoughts. “Uh, yes, we, that is to say, the Alliance, we have been considering such an alliance.”

Alliance considering an alliance? What is the matter with you, Leia? Have you lost your wits?

Xizor seemed to take no notice of her poor choice of language.

“Well, certainly there are advantages to such a … liaison,” he said.

Leia felt hot all of a sudden. She wished she hadn’t worn the bodysuit. She had an urge to excuse herself, find a ’fresher, and take the undergarment off. The cloth of the dress would feel so good against her bare skin.

And what would Xizor’s hand feel like against her bare skin—?

She shook her head, trying to clear it. This was crazy! She didn’t even
know
him! But he was so, so—so
something
.

“I—we—the Alliance, we feel that while Black Sun’s aims are not the same as ours, the Empire is our mutual enemy.”

“Yes, war does make strange bedfellows, doesn’t it?” He smiled.

Bedfellows …

“Here, let me warm your tea,” he said.

“No, it’s fine …”

But he was already up. He bent, lifted her hand with one of his, took the cup from her.

His touch was electric; it sent a charge through her as if she had grabbed a live capacitor node. She gasped.

Again, he seemed to take no notice of what she said.

Time seemed mired in thick mud. Xizor moved away so slowly; sounds seemed muted; Leia felt the heat in her growing. Something was wrong here. She felt, well, she felt too good. As if being here were the best thing in the universe. Well. Almost the best thing. Xizor needed to forget about that tea and come back; then the best thing would start …

Leia! What is the matter with you?

Trouble, sister. Big trouble. You’d better leave. Fast
.

But leaving was the last thing she felt like doing.

I
n hyperspace, Vader considered his next move. He had arrived too late to collect Luke, but he had waved the Imperial flag and blown up a small spaceport. Whether or not the port had anything to do with the Rebels didn’t matter, only that they thought
he
thought it did, and thus reasoned that the computer they had stolen was important to the Empire.

Half his mission had been accomplished, though to his mind it was the lesser half.

He had no evidence against Xizor, only speculation and rumor. Thirdhand knowledge from a soon-to-be-executed bounty hunter would hardly be enough to indict one of the most powerful beings in the galaxy. He was convinced, but the Emperor would not be so easily swayed. He needed more before he could move against the Dark Prince.

Well. If there was more to be had, he would have it. Now that he knew what he was looking for.

X
izor leaned over and kissed Leia. Lightly at first, a mere touch of his lips on hers.

Delicious. Amazing. She drank him in, enraptured by his touch.

He pressed harder.

Leia found herself responding to the kiss. Returning it …

She broke away. “No. This isn’t right,” she said. But she kept one hand on his shoulder. It was hard, powerful, that shoulder, warm under her fingers. No. This was wrong.

“I came … to talk about … Luke Skywalker!”

“In due course. We have more important things to do first.”