Han Solo - Rebal Dawn Part 5

Han took a deep breath. "What did she look like?" he asked. "I may know this Corellian. She may be..." He hesitated. "She may be my... mate. We were sepa-rated long ago, by the Empire."

Which was true, strictly speaking. Bria had left when Han was preparing to go into the Imperial Academy saying she didn't want to hold him back. He still had the flimsy she'd written him. It was stupid, keeping it, and every time he ran across it, he resolved to throw it away, but, somehow, he never had ....

Katarra's wary expression visibly softened upon hear-ing this. She put out a paw-hand and laid it on Han~ arm, expressing sympathy. The Empire was evil, had torn apart so many families ....

Ralrra made a gesture in the air on the level of Han~ nose. [This tall,] he said. [Long hair, the color of the sunset . . . golden-red. Eyes the color of our sky. Not wide.] His hands described a slender form. [She was the leader of the team, a person of rank. She said she had been asked to come to Kashyyyk because she under-stood what it was like to live as a slave. She told us she had been a slave, on the planet Ylesia, and she would give her life to free Kashyyyk and any other world en-slaved by the Empire. She spoke with much pa.s.sion.]

R'alrra~ voice changed slightly, took on a more persona] note. [I, too, was a slave until my friends freed me from the Empire. Quarrr-tellerrra spoke truth about having been enslaved. I could tell. She knew what it was like. We talked much of how much we hate the Empire.]

Han's mouth was dry. He managed to nod, and mumble, "Thanks for telling me .... "

Bria, he thought, numbly. Bria, a member of the Corellian rebellion? How in the galaxy did that happen?

It was wonderful to be back on his own world. Chew-bacca was taken from home to home, and his father, Attichitcuk, proudly showed off his son, the adven-turer, the former slave, and his human friends. All of the Wookiees made much of Hah and Jarik.

Of course, Kashyyyk was a world occupied by Im-perial forces, so care had to be exercised to conceal Han's real purpose in coming there. For the duration of his stay, Han donned clothing more befitting one of the human traders who lived in Rwookrrorro. He and Jarik posed as brothers who'd come to trade trinkets and household items with the Wookiees. This fiction was strengthened by the fact that both humans had brown hair and eyes, and Jarik was only a little shorter than Han.

The Imperial presence of Kashyyyk was mostly con-fined to the posts scattered around the planet. Troopers were sent out in squads, since single troopers had a dis-turbing tendency to vanish without a trace.

Han and Jarik were careful to avoid any contact with the Imperial squads that occasionally patrolled Rwookr-rorro. And, with the Millennium Falcon concealed in the special "smuggler~ dock," protected by the camou-flaged and jamming devices, there was nothing to link them with any illegal activity.

Han spent time with the Woollee techs down in the s.p.a.cedock, tinkering with his new baby. Several of the Woollees were experienced techs, and they spent hours with the Corellian, checking out every system, over-hauling every bit of equipment. The Falcon was far from a new s.h.i.+p, but, under the ministrations of the Woollee techs, it was now in better shape than it had been for a long time.

Chewbacca hadn't realized how much he'd missed his home and family. Seeing them 'all again made him tempted to come home for good but that was not pos-sible. Chewie owed a life debt, and his place was by Han Solo~ side.

Still, he enjoyed his time on Kashyyyk. He visited with all his cousins, with his sister and her family. Since Chewie had last been home, Kallabow had married a fine male named Mahraccor.

Chewie loved playing with his nephew. The little Woollee was smart and fun to be with, with a lively cu-riosity about the universe. He spent hours getting his uncle to talk about his adventures out in the s.p.a.celanes.

In addition to Chewbacca~ family, he saw old friends . . . Freyrr, his second cousin, the best tracker in the family, Kriyystak, and Shoran. It was a source of sorrow that Salporin, Chewie's best Wookiee friend, was not there. He had been captured and enslaved by the Empire, and there was no news of his fate-no one even knew if he was alive or dead.

Chewbacca mourned his friend, wondering if he'd ever see him again.

But he didn't have time to mourn very much. Life on Kashyyyk was too busy. In addition to all his friends and u family, there was... Mallatobuck.

The Wookiee female was even lovelier than Chewie had remembered, and her shy blue glance was even more intriguing. He saw her their first night at home, and was pleased to discover that she'd journeyed from a neighboring village, where she had been working as a teacher and caregiver in a Nursery Ring. Malla had many friends in Rwookrrorro, and it didn't take much urging from Chexvie to convince her to extend her visit there.

The two spent long hours wandering the bough- trails, looking up at the nighttime sky, heating the soft sounds of the arboreal dwellers. They did not talk much, but their silence was filled with unspoken things ....

On his third day on Kashyyyk, Chewbacca decided it was time to go hunting. Hah was busy haggling with Katarra, Kichiir and Motaruba about the cargo of ex-plosive quarrels. His friend would be occupied for hours. The Corellian had taken a sudden, unaccus-tomed interest in the resistance here on Kashyyyk, something that Chewie would have found puzzling, and a bit disturbing, if he'd noticed it. Usually Han was nothing but scornful toward sentients who risked their necks (or whatever equiv',dent body part) for causes other than their own well-being.

But Chewie was too distracted to notice Han's odd behavior. He was concentrating on bagging himself a quillarat. Quillarats are smallish creatures, standing only half a meter high. They are reclusive little animals, hard to find, because they were a mottled brownish-green in color, and tended to simply melt into the sur-rounding brush.

The most distinctive feature of the quillarat was the long, needle-sharp quills that studded most of its body. Capturing and killing a quillarat was soinething of a challenge, because the beasts could actually hurl their quills at a hunter. Wookiee males (and only males hunted quillarats) had to approach the creature with some kind of s.h.i.+eld to collect the barrage of quills until the quillarat~ supply of "throwable" quills was exhausted.

To complicate matters, tradition declared that the quillarat must be hunted bare-handed, and killed by blows delivered by a Wookiee's own strength, as op-posed to quarrels or any other kind of projectile.

Chewbacca did not tell anyone about his quest. He simply waited until late in the day, when darkness would be deepening in the lower levels, then left Rwookrrorro and began his long climb downward.

Even Wookiees never went down 'all the way to Kashyyyk's surface. There were rumored to be night-crawlers down there that feasted on the blood and spir-its of their victims. It was said that the spirits of those who had not honored their debts sank down to the sur-face, and prowled there, ready and waiting to trap and kill anyone foolish enough to come near them.

There were reputedly seven levels of distinct ecology on Kashyyyk, with the seventh level being the topmost tree branches. Normally, not even the bravest Wookiees ever descended below the fourth level, and even Wookiee legend did not speculate on what lay below that. No one that Chewbacca had ever known had walked on the actual surface of his world. The bottom-most levels of Kashyyyk were a mystery... and would likely remain so.

To bag his quillarat, Chewie had to travel down be-low the fifth level. Life was different here, for the forest in the late 'afternoon was almost completely dark. Ani-mals down at this level had large eyes to facilitate their living at such dim light levels. There were dangerous predators... the kkekkrrg rro, or Shadow Keepers, that had ventured up a level to hunt, and the katarn. Chew-bacca kept a sharp eye out, his every sense 'alert.

Old habits came back to him as he traveled the forest trails, seeing bridal-veil suckers, broad-leafed mock shyr, and kshyy vines in profusion. Things were not really green down here, but pale and washed-out look-ing. There was not enough sunlight to support the green growth from above.

Chewbacca walked the broad trails, feeling the rough bark of the wroshyr boughs beneath his feet. His eyes moved constantly, searching for quillarat spoor. His nostrils twitched, filtering and identifying the scents he had not whiffed in more than fifty years.

The Wookiee~ gaze was caught and held by a tiny sc.r.a.pe of the wroshyr bark, and a small rip in the trac-ery of the bridal veil plant next to it. The height was correct... yes, a quillarat~ quills had done this, and... Chewie dropped to one knee to examine the spoor... not long ago.

The animal had been heading off, on this far smaller, secondary bough. Chewbacca walked warily down a bough-trail not much more than two meters across. On either side of him yawlled the green-brown-gray gulfs of the forest.

The Woollee kept every sense 'alert, eyes scanning, ears listening for the faintest rustle, nostrils twitching. Quillarats had a distinctive, and, to a Woollee, entic-ing odor.

His "s.h.i.+eld," made from woven strips of bark on a lashed-together frame, was held ready on his left forearm.

Chewie~ steps slowed... then the Woollee stopped, every muscle poised. There! Amid those leaves!

The quillarat froze, sensing danger. Chexvie leaped, s.h.i.+eld held out.

Suddenly the air before him was filled with a rain of quills. They thudded into the s.h.i.+eld, for the most part, though a few embedded themselves in the Woollee~ shoulders and chest. Chewbacca's right hand went out, grabbed the quillarat by the quilled tail, moving his hand in a particular twist that made the quills lie flat be-neath his flesh.

The terrified animal squawked, turned to bite, but it was too late. Chewie heaved it up, and sent it thudding hard against the bough beneath his feet. Stunned, the animal went limp, and another quick swing dispatched it altogether.

Only then did Chewbacca take a moment to pull the quills from his chest and shoulders, and spread a salve on the tiny, burning wounds. His right hand had one small puncture, which he also treated.

Then, wrapping the quillarat in the woven bag he'd brought, the Woollee began a triumphant journey back to Rwookrrorro.

It took him quite a while to find Mallatobuck. He didn't want to ask anyone where she was, since any of his friends and family would be bound to identify the scent of the quillarat in his bag. Chewie wasn't in the mood for advice or jokes.

But, finally, he located her, wandering 'along a little-used trail. By now two of Kashyyyk's three tiny moons had risen, and moonlight silvered her fur as she wan-dered along, not at first noticing that anyone was ap-proaching her.

She had been picking kolvissh blossoms and weaving their stems into a headpiece. As Chewie watched her, she placed the flowers on her head, tucking their fragile white beauty behind her left ear.

Chewbacca halted on the trail and stood there, lost in wonder at her beauty. His stillness attracted her at-tention as his movement had not, and she stopped, looked up, and saw him.

[Chewbacca,] she said softly. [I did not see you .... ]

[Malla,] Chewie said. [I have something for you. A gift that I hope you will accept .... ]

She froze, eyes wide with either consternation or hope, as he walked toward her, bag in hand. Let it be hope she feels, Chewie thought fervently. By my honor, let it be hope ....

As he stopped before her, Chewbacca, in one fluid motion, knelt and removed the quillarat from its bag. Careful of the quills, he balanced the animal across his palms and held it up to Mallatobuck. His heart was pounding as though he'd climbed all the way from ground level.

[Mallatobuck...] Chewie tried to get the rest of it out, but his voice failed him. He was overcome with fear, as he had never been in battle. What if she refused him? What if she took his traditional propos'd-offering and tossed it off the trail, sending the dead quillarat, and his hope of happiness, plummeting into the depths?

Malla stared at him for a long moment. [Chew-bacca... you have been long away from your people. Do you remember our customs? Do you know what you are offering?]

Relief flooded Chewie, for her tone was bantering, flirtatious.

[I know,] he replied. [My memory is good. In 'all the years I was gone, I never for a moment forgot your face, your strength, your eyes, Mallatobuck. I dreamed of the day that we could be married. Will you? Will you take me for your husband?]

She replied in the traditional manner by cautiously picking up the stiffening quillarat and taking a big bite out of its soft underbelly.

Chewie's heart was flooded with joy. She accepts me/ We are betrothed! Getting up off his knees, he followed Malla to a sheltered niche behind a screen of leaves. There they sat down close together and shared the quil-larat, nibbling delicately on its tasty entrails, savoring its liver, feeding each other choice bits of this greatest of Wookiee delicacies.

[I had proposals, you know,] Mallatobuck said. [Peo-ple told me I was foolish for waiting so long. They said you were dead, that you would never return to Kashyyyk. But I knew, somehow... I knew that was not so. I waited, and now my joy fills the world.]

Tenderly, Chewbacca licked blood and tissue off her face, was.h.i.+ng her, as she returned the favor. Her fur was silky on his tongue.

[Malla . . . you know about the life debt I have pledged to Hah Solo?] Chewie asked, as, sated, they sat back, arms around each other.

Malla~ voice quivered just a tiny bit. [I know. I cherish your honor as my own, my husband-to-be. But let us be married quickly, so we may have as much time together as possible before you and Captain Solo must depa~.] [Nothing would please me more,] Chewie said. [How quickly can you be ready? How long will it take to prepare your wedding veil?]

She chuckled, a rich, throaty sound in the darkness. [It has been ready for fifty years, Chewbacca. Ready and waiting.]

Chewbacca~ heart was full of love and pride. [To-morrow, then, Malla.]

[Tomorrow, Chewbacca .... ]

Teroenza, High Priest of Ylesia, lounged back in his resting sling, watching Kibbick, Ylesia~ figurehead Hutt overlord, trying to go over last month~ accounts and make sense of them. The huge, four-legged t'landa Til groaned inwardly. He'd long since ceased to be amused by Kibbiek's troubles comprehending even the most rudimentary record-keeping. Kibbick was an idiot, and it was Teroenza~ unfortunate task to bring him up to speed on the running of Ylesia.

As though Besadii doesn't realize that if Kibbick ac-tually managed to master the skills necessary to keep the spice factories running smoothly, I would be out of a job, the High Priest thought disgustedly. But the chances of that are vanis.h.i.+ngly small ....

When Teroenza, with the help of the Desilijic leader, Jiliac, had plotted Aruk the Hutt's murder, he'd hoped that the aging Hutt Lord~ only offspring, Durga, would never be declared the head of Besadii clan. After all, Durga had that hideous birthmark, and that should, by rights, have disqualified him from any leaders.h.i.+p position.

But Durga had proven stronger and more able than Teroenza had realized. He'd managed (some said with the help of Black Sun) to eliminate his most vocal de-tractors in a most summary fas.h.i.+on. There was still talk against him, but it was more of a cautious murmur these days than a protesting shout.

Teroenza had pinned his hopes on Zier the Hutt, hoping that the senior Besadii member would be strong enough and clever enough to outwit Durga and take over both the Besadii clan, and the kajidic, its criminal arm, that was part of it.

But no. Durga had emerged iat least for the mo-ment) with a shaky victory, and had promptly an-nounced that Teroenza must adhere to 'all of Aruk's directives: Including teaching Kibbick, Dnrgag idiot cousin, how to manage a top-level credit-making enterprise.

Here on Ylesia, religious "Pilgrims" were recruited by t'landa Til missionaries during traveling revival shows. Anyone unfortunate enough to fall prey to the addictive Exultation would follow the Ylesian mission-aries to the steaming jungle planet. There the malnour-ished, brainwashed and addicted Pilgrims became willing slaves in the Ylesian spice factories, toiling from sunup to sundown for their Ylesian masters.

Teroenzag people were distant cousins of the Hutts, though they were far smaller and more mobile. With their huge bodies balanced on trunklike legs, the t'landa Til had a broad face that rather resembled a Hutt's countenance, but with the addition of a single long horn just above their nostrils. A long, whip-like tail was carried curled over their backs. Their arms and hands were tiny and weak compared to the rest of them.

The most interesting feature of the t'landa Til males, however, was not physical. They possessed the ability to project. empathic "feel-good" emotions at most humans. These empathic projections, coupled with a soothing vi-bration produced in the males' throat sacs, was like a jolt of a powerful drug to the Pilgrims. They quickly be-came addicted to their daily "fix" and believed that the Priests were divinely gifted.

Nothing was further from the truth, however. The t'landa Til'S ability was simply an adaptation of a male mating display, evolutionarily developed to attract t'landa Til females.

"Teroenza," Kibbick said fretfully, "I don't under-stand this. It says that we spent thousands of credits for a fertility-inhibitor that's placed in the slaves' gruel. Why can't we eliminate most of that? Can't we just let them breed? It would save credits, wouldn't it?"

Teroenza rolled his bulbous eyes, but Kibbick fortu-nately wasn't looking. "Your Excellency," the High Priest said, "if the Pilgrims are allowed to breed, that cuts into the energy they have to work. Their produc-tion declines. That would mean less spice processed and ready for market."

"Perhaps," Kibbick said. "But, Teroenza, surely there must be some way to manage this without expen-sive drugs. Perhaps we could encourage them to mate, then use their larvae and eggs for foodstuffs."

"Your Excellency," Teroenza said, hanging on to his patience by a thread, "most humanoids don't lay eggs or produce larvae. They have live births. They also have a very strong abhorrence for eating their own young."

It was true that, every so often, a couple of slaves would emerge from the Exultation-induced haze enough to feel l.u.s.t for each other. It was rare, but hu-man children had actually been born here on Ylesia. Teroenza had coatemplated simply killing them out of hand, but, in the end, had decided that with a modic.u.m of care, these children could be raised to become guards and administrative a.s.sistants. So he'd ordered them to be cared for in the slave barracks.

And, nowadays, fertility-inhibiting drugs were auto-matically added to the food served the slaves. It had been at least five years since the last accidental birth.

"Oh," Kibbick said. "Live births. I understand." He went back to his records with a grimace.

Idiot, thought Teroenza. Idiot, idiot, idiot... how many years have you been here, and you never troubled to find out the most rudimentary facts about the Pilgrims... ?

"Teroenza," said Kibbick presently, "I've found something else I don't understand."

Teroenza took a deep breath, then counted to twen~.

"Yes, Your Excellency?"

"Why do we have to spend extra credits on weapons and s.h.i.+elds on these s.h.i.+ps? They're only carrying slaves, after all, s.h.i.+pping them to the spice mines and the plea-sure palaces after we have gotten the best work out of them. Who cares if raiders take them?"

Kibbick was referring to a raid a month ago by a group of human Rebels on a slave s.h.i.+p preparing to leave the Ylesian system. It wasn't the first such raid. Teroenza didn't know who was responsible, but he couldn't stop thinking that it had to be Bria Tharen, that wretched Corellian traitor and renegade.

Besadii had placed a sizable bounty on her head, but so far, no one had claimed it. Perhaps it~ time to talk to Durgh about increasing the bounty on Bria Tharen, Teroenza thought.

Aloud he said, with exaggerated patience, "Your Ex-cellency, while it's true we don't care about the slaves once they leave here, they're still worth credits to us. And s.h.i.+ps are expensive. Having big holes blown in them tends to render them unusable-or, at least, very expensive to repair."

"Oh," said Kibbick, his brow furrowing. "Yes, I guess that would be correct. Very well."

Idiot/ "Which brings to mind something I wanted to say to you, Your Excellency," Teroenza said. "Something that I hope you will mention to your cousin. We must have greater protection here on Ylesia. It is only a matter of time until we here on the planet are attacked again. These s.p.a.ce-raids are bad enough, but if this Rebel group were to attack one of the colonies, you and I might conceivably be in danger."

Kibbick was staring at the High Priest, obviously u alarmed by the suggestion. "Do you think they'd dare?" he asked, his voice a trifle unsteady.

"They did before, Your Excellency," Teroenza reminded him. "Bria Tharen, that ex-slave, led them. Remember?"

"Oh, yes~ that's true," Kibbick said. "But that was over a year ago. Surely they've learned the futility of trying to attack this world by now. They did lose a s.h.i.+p in our atmosphere."

Ylesia's turbulent atmosphere was one of its best defenses.

"True," Teroenza agreed. "But I would rather be safe than sorry, Your Excellency."

"Safe than sorry . . ." Kibbick repeated, as though Teroenza had said something startlingly original and clever. "Yes, well... perhaps you have a point. We must be protected here. I will speak to my cousin about that today. Safe than sorry . . . yes, indeed, we must be safe .... "

Still mumbling, Kibbick went back to his records. Teroenza relaxed back into his sling, and allowed him-self the luxury of another roll of his bulbous eyes.

Chewbacca and Mallatobuck's wedding day dawned bright with promise and hope. Han, who had been told about the wedding only that morning, was glad that his friend was happy, but saddened at the prospect of losing him. They'd had a good couple of years to-gether, though, and he figured that after a few years of marital joy, Chewie might be willing to come back and make occasional smuggling runs with him. Being a happy married guy was one thing, but being married didn't mean you were dead, right?

He and Chewie barely had a moment to speak to-gether before the bustle of the wedding plans took his friend off on other duties. Apparently Wookiees did not have "best men" companions the way humans did, but Chewie, in deference to Han, asked the Corellian to stand beside him. Han had grinned. "Okay, I get to be 'best human,' eh?"

Chewbacca roared with amus.e.m.e.nt, and told Han that was as good a term for it as any.

As he sat in a comer in Attichitcuk~ home, staying out from underfoot, Han thought about the only time he'd ever asked a woman to marry him. That had been Bria, when he was nineteen, and she was eighteen, and he'd been a lovestruck, moony-eyed kid, too young and dumb to know any better. Good thing for him that Bria had left him ....