Star Wars_ Shadows Of The Empire Part 27

"Well, can you fix it?"

"I'm trying to fix it! Pa.s.s me that jumper bypa.s.s."

Luke picked up the JB, which looked like a bar with two sharp fingers making the V sign on one end. He had to lie on his belly to reach Lando.

Lando submitted, in a colorful fas.h.i.+on, that Han's ancestry was in question and that his personal habits left much to be desired.

Despite the danger of their situation, Luke grinned.

"Get Artoo to peek over the edge; maybe he knows what this blue wire is supposed to do."

Artoo heard. He rolled to the lip of the service well, "leaned" forward, and peered down into it. Whistled and chirred for a moment.

"Yeeowch!" Lando yelled.

"Probably you'd better not touch that one."

"Now you tell me. What about this yellow one?"

Artoo whistled.

It looked as if they were going to be there a while, Luke figured.

They had managed to find the remains of a small moon or maybe a large asteroid in a big parabolic orbit around the planet and had nestled the Falcon in among the larger rocks and matched their velocity. From a distance, with most of its power shut down, the s.h.i.+p should be just another one of the cl.u.s.ter of big boul-ders. Not enough gravity here to clump them back together; they'd be a known hazard for s.h.i.+ps and probably avoided. Even a Super-cla.s.s Star Destroyer didn't want a bunch of building-size rocks smacking into its s.h.i.+elds at speed; that would be a lot of kinetic energy to have to bleed off all at once.

At least that was what Luke and Lando hoped.

"Pa.s.s me those needle-head pliers," Lando said.

Luke complied. "You need me down there to help? I'm pretty good with tools."

"I used to own this s.h.i.+p," Lando said. "I'll figure out a way around what Han has done to her. The man ought to be ashamed of himself."

"I'll mention that to him when we get him out of the carbonite," Luke said. "So will I. High, loud, and repeatedly."

The bullet car slowed. The bands of yellow blinked around them at longer intervals. When the car came to a stop, it was inside a vast chamber, as big as a state ballroom. The platform at which it stopped had six large guards on it, each dressed in gray armor and armed with a blast rifle.

Baldy stepped out and grinned his s.h.i.+ny black smile. "This way," he said.

Two of the guards broke away from the others and moved behind Chewie and Leia. "Take the helmet off," Baldy said. "You won't be needing it anymore."

Baldy led them to a door as thick as that of a bank vault. He pressed his hand against a reader, and the door clicked and swung open. He led them inside a tall, arched corridor wide enough for a dozen men to walk through side by side. The ma.s.sive door swung shut behind them. It was very cold here, cold enough for their breathing to show as vapor.

A short distance ahead was another door, another six guards in armor in front of it. Not as heavy as the door behind them, it was still thick enough and run by a print-reader, and when they'd gotten through it, there were yet more guards.

It seemed as if whoever ran this place didn't want unexpected company.

They came to a bank of four turbolifts. Baldy punched a code into a keypad, and the door to the lift on the left opened. The three of them stepped in, leaving the two guards behind.

As the lift rose, Leia said, "Learned to trust us already?" She nodded at the guards they'd dropped off. Baldy smiled. The lift stopped, and another pair of guards stood there. Well. Perhaps Baldy hadn't learned to trust them after all.

A series of corridors branched away from the turbolifts, and Baldy led them down one that linked to a maze of other hallways. Leia tried to keep track of all the twists and turns-she had a pretty good memory for such things-but halfway through an intricate chain of left and right tacks, the lights went out. "Just keep walking," Baldy said. "I'll tell you when to turn. "

They walked in darkness for five minutes, Baldy calling out now and then.

"Turn left."

"Turn right."

"Veer forty-five to the left for five steps, then veer right."

When the lights went back on-how could he have seen to lead them? - Leia was thoroughly lost.

Whatever fat spider crouched in the center of this web, he truly did not want anybody just dropping by unannounced.

Eventually Baldy led them into a hallway. At the end of the hall were two tall, carved wooden doors and, standing to the sides, two more guards.

These didn't wear armor, had no rifles but wore blasters on lowslung belts. They were big men who looked as if they knew how to use their hands. One of them reached for the doork.n.o.bs and opened the doors as they approached.

Baldy said, "In there." With that, he turned and walked away.

Leia looked at Chewie. Realized her pulse was rac-ing and her stomach was fluttery. She took a deep breath and let part of it out.

She stepped into the room, Chewie behind her.

A tall man-no, not a man but an exotic-looking alien-rose from behind a large desk and smiled at her. "Ah," he said, "Princess Leia Organa and Chewbacca. Welcome. I am Xizor."

It was the voice she'd heard over the hotel's comm.

Leia's pulse speeded up yet more. She felt a sudden giddiness, as if her brain had fogged over. So here she was at last, facing the person in charge of the galaxy's largest criminal organization. That was strange enough all by itself, but to make it even more so, he was absolutely...

gorgeousl

26.

"How is it going down there?" Luke said.

"Don't ask," Lando said.

"I'm going to see what I can whip up in the galley, you want something?"

"Yeah, how about a beaker full of battery acid and bug poison." Luke shook his head, stood, and headed for the galley. Stopped suddenly as if he'd been touched by a cold hand.

"Master Luke? Are you all right?"

Luke ignored Threepio. There was a disturbance in the Force, a dark blot on its perfection. It felt familiar somehow...

Uh-oh.

Luke turned and hurried back to the service well. "You'd better get it fixed fast, Lando."

"What's the hurry?"

"I think we're about to have company."

Lando poked his head up over the edge of the well. "What? No way anybody could find us in here."

"Yeah? Want to bet?"

"Oh, man. Don't even say what you're thinking," Lando said. "Huh?"

"Don't say, ' I've got a bad feeling about this.'" Luke stared at him.

Lando disappeared back into the service well. "I'm hurrying, I'm hurrying!"

Luke headed for the c.o.c.kpit to check the sensors. If it was who he thought it was, hiding in a clump of rocks wasn't going to do much good.

You could run, but from some things, you couldn't hide.

Aizor was pleased. The young woman sitting across from him, backed by her furry bodyguard, was every bit as delightful as he had hoped, even more so. Thus far, they had spoken of trivial things, in generalities. He pretended to be honored that she was a high Alliance official come to call; she pretended that she wasn't disgusted that he was a criminal.

And, in fact, it didn't really matter what she felt, now that she was here in his grasp.

No, the thing now was how best to proceed with his courts.h.i.+p, if he could think in such terms.

Already he had allowed some of his potent pheromones to seep into the air. He'd fought hard to keep his skin color from altering too much, but there was a definite warm glow to it. The Wookiee didn't seem to notice, but Leia had responded to the chemical attractants he exuded. She felt drawn to him; he knew this from long experience with women. He was not unattractive to look at, and with the added lure of his enhanced hormones, it would take a very strong and very determined humanoid female to resist him.

As a young man, he had felt the pull that Leia was now feeling. Falleen women had their version, and it was hard to ignore when one of them...

blossomed for you. Like a hothouse flower sending its fragrance into the air, Falleen pheromones swirled and wrapped anyone close enough into their urgent embrace. As strong as a durasteel vise...

If Leia had any sensuality whatsoever, she could only pretend that she wasn't attracted to him-as she now tried to do. He had to give her credit; she was not volunteering how she felt. But the flush of her cheeks, her slightly faster breathing, her... yearning, all were obvious to one who had seen them a thousand times before. To one who knew how to spot the signs and use them to his best advantage, as did Xizor. And use them he would.

"You must be tired from your trip," Xizor said.

"You should refresh yourself, change clothes, relax a bit before we delve into serious matters."

"I didn't exactly bring my wardrobe with me."

Xizor waved a hand and affected a man-of-the galaxy smile. "Such things are easily remedied. I'll have Howzmin show you to your quarters. We have had other visitors from time to time, and a gracious host looks after his company's needs. Perhaps there are a few articles of clothing you might find acceptable in your room. I have pressing business to which I must attend. Refresh yourself and rejoin me in a couple of hours."

Leia glanced at her bodyguard, then back at him.

Xizor favored her with his s.e.xiest smile.

She looked fl.u.s.tered. "Yes. All right. We are a little tired." Xizor waved his foot unseen under his desk, and a sensor there transmitted the motion to a paging device implanted in Howzmin. The door opened, and the bald servant stepped into the room. "Show Princess Leia and Chewbacca to their rooms."

"At once, Prince Xizor."

After they were gone, Xizor sat, breathing slowly and deeply, enjoying the feel of imminent victory. Before their next meeting, he would do the meditation and exercises that brought his hormonal essences into full array. An excited Falleen who loosed his full pheromonal a.r.s.enal was, for all practical purposes, irresistible to a member of the opposite s.e.x. It did not matter what a woman's stance was on fidelity, that she had been a faithful partner to another for years or decades. Falleen pheromones were more potent than the strongest spice. Leia might want to resist him with her mind, but her body would ache for him. There was no antidote save one.

Xizor smiled. He would enjoy administering the single antidote to Leia.

He would enjoy it very much deed...

Leia was shaken. As Howzmin led her and Chewie down another convoluted hallway, she had to take eral deep breaths to calm herself. What had that been all about? That-That emotional attraction that rolled over her like a tropical ocean breaker? Sure, Xizor was good-looking in an exotic kind of way, but she'd never before been one to stare dumbstruck at a handsome face. What she had felt, what she had wanted to do, well, that wasn't like her at all. Besides, she was in love with Han. That wasn't something you just put into a drawer when you saw an attractive man-Falleen. That wasn't right.

Then again, she couldn't deny she'd felt it. The alien called to her somehow. It had been like a punch to the solar plexus; it had knocked the wind out of her.

Well. No matter. She blew out a sigh. She was back to normal; she would stay on target. She'd come here to help Luke. When that was done, they were going to rescue Han. She would put whatever it was she had felt for the mysterious Xizor out of her mind and never think about it again.

The part of her that sat somewhere in her mind watching and listening and refusing to allow anything but the truth to pa.s.s it seemed to chuckle: Oh, really? You might not do anything about what you felt for him, sister, but you won't be able to forget it that easily.

Shut up, she mentally told the little voice. I don't need this. Maybe not, sister, but you have it.

"This is your room," Howzmin said. "The Wookiee will be in the next suite." Leia shook herself from the interior dialogue and nodded at Howzmin.

Chewie said something that sounded like a question.

Leia said, "I'll be okay in here. If Xizor wanted to harm us, he could have done it before now. Go on. Wash that dye out, we don't need it anymore. Meet me back here when you're done."

Chewie nodded and followed Howzmin to the next door. The portal in front of Leia slid back as she approached, and she stepped into the room.

It was a study in understated elegance, she saw.

The carpet was so deep she sank nearly to her ankles in it. Black neocel, she guessed, and probably a murderous job to keep clean. There was a white leather couch, probably cloned, which sat in stark contrast to the carpet, a round bed with black sheets and a comforter under a translucent white canopy held up by six carved posts. A white desk with a computer on it and a black chair tucked neatly under the desk occupied a niche next to the bed.

Simple, elegant, and probably as expensive as any Grand Moff hotel suite in the galaxy. Leia submitted to an urge to remove her boots and walk barefoot across the rug. The material was either naturally warm or was kept heated somehow, and it felt wonderful between her toes.

There was a refresher on the other side of a closed door, also done in black and white, tile, sinks, tub, all of them sculpted into smooth and rounded shapes.

She found a closet door back in the main room and opened it.

There were clothes in the closet, all right. Unlike the rooms, they were all the colors of the rainbow: dresses, s.h.i.+rts, pants, jackets, jumpsuits. Leia removed a hanger upon which was draped a diaphanous dress of nearly transparent green material so light it weighed almost nothing and looked at it. Touched it. She was not somebody who spent large amounts of money on clothing, but she knew quality when she saw it, even without the tag that confirmed it. This dress was a Melanani original, made of Loveti moth fiber, and for what it cost, you could buy a new landspeeder.

A quick scan of the other clothes revealed that they were also first-cla.s.s originals. Looked after his company's needs, indeed. There were probably enough credits represented by this one closet to buy and furnish houses on many planets, with enough left over to hire cooks and gardeners to go with them.

Leia started to close the closet, then stopped. She reached back inside and examined the label on the first dress she'd seen.

My. Look at that. It was just her size.

A sudden thought occurred to her, and she began checking the other labels.