Tatooine Ghost Page 23

  Leia held up a finger while she slipped her water bottle beneath her face coverings and drank. The contents were as hot as caf. “You remembering your water?”

  Han displayed the bottle in his hand and nodded listlessly. “If you’re trying to send me off to the Darklighters’ farm again, forget it.” His voice was too muffled to reveal anything more about his condition. “I’m not the one who sounds like a profogg… much.”

  Leia smiled behind her scarf and felt her lips crack. “I’ve given up.” That was a small exaggeration. “I want to talk about something else.”

  Han’s goggles remained fixed in her direction. “Yeah?”

  “I, uh…”

  Leia’s throat went dry again, and this time it had nothing to do with the heat. There had been few opportunities to really talk since the auction, and Leia had kept much to herself. She had not told Han about the two visions she had experienced. Nor shared Luke’s warning about how the Force was moving her, or even mentioned her grandmother’s diary. And she needed to tell him, to make him understand there was good reason for her fear of having children, that as much as she wanted to, it was not a choice she felt free to make… not until she had put to rest the dark face she had seen aboard the Falcon.

  “You were saying?” Han asked.

  The distant hiss of a craft in flight sounded behind the caravan, and they both turned to see a wavering sliver of ion efflux creeping across the sky. The vessel itself was not visible, not even as a faint glint, but the length of its ion tail suggested it to be a sizable craft—probably one of the Chimaera’s intelligence launches, eavesdropping on local comm traffic.

  The sight reminded Leia of another problem: sometime soon, she needed to find a safe place to set up the portable holocomm and make a progress report. Otherwise, Mon Mothma would be forced to assume that Killik Twilight was lost and Shadowcast compromised, and she might well decide to recall the Wraiths—regardless of what that would mean for the local resistance fighters.

  After watching the efflux for a moment, Leia asked, “What do you think? Signal interceptor?”

  Han shook his head. “The Imperials must have finished searching Anchorhead by now. That’s got to be an assault shuttle.” He did not add that when the shuttle pilots failed to locate the Askajians where they expected to, the Chimaera’s admiral would launch an all-out search to find them. The entire caravan had known that since slipping away from their original route two hours ago. “That what you wanted to talk about?”

  Leia shook her head. “Han, I…”

  The Squibs appeared on the other side of Han, all three riding in the same saddle and bouncing half out of control.

  “Gartal!” Leia swore. “Perfect timing, as usual.”

  “You’re looking a little shaky, Cap,” Grees said. He was sitting in front, gripping the pommel with both hands, the reins threaded under his palms and wrapped back around his knuckles. “Listen to your mate, or you’ll make a widow of her.”

  “I’m doing fine.” Han turned to face the Squib. “Not that it’s any business of yours.”

  “That’s just like you.” Sligh rode in the middle, both arms wrapped around Grees’s waist, his far elbow wrapped around the middle shaft of the herding spear. “You never think of anyone but yourself. How do you think we’ll feel having to leave you behind when the heat knocks you out?”

  “I’m sure it’ll just tear you up,” Han said. “Don’t do me any favors.”

  Leia remained silent. She and Han could hardly hold a serious conversation in front of the Squibs.

  “We are trying to do you a favor,” Emala said. She was in back, holding on to the butt of the herding spear with one hand and Sligh with the other and bouncing higher than both of her companions. “We’re as close as we’re going to get to the Darklighter Farm—”

  “No.”

  Chewbacca rode up on Leia’s other side, sitting astride the dewback as though he had been born to it, his feet hanging down past its belly. Bracing himself on one of the cargo beasts Leia was leading, he leaned across and oowralled at Han.

  “I said no.” Han glanced over at Leia. “I suppose you’re a part of this?”

  “This is the first I’ve heard of it, but—”

  “Yeah, sure.” Han shook his head. “You never give up, sweetheart. That’s one of the things I love about you.”

  “Han, if I said I wasn’t a part of this, then I wasn’t.”

  “Okay, so you weren’t part of it.”

  “But that doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea.”

  “It doesn’t mean it’s a good one,” Han said. “I know how this works, Leia. First I agree to go, then you work me over until I think going without you is the best idea I’ve ever had. I’ve seen you do that to planetary governments a hundred times. I don’t have a chance.”

  “You’re not a planetary government,” Leia said. “And I’m not trying to talk you into something you don’t want to do.”

  “No?” Han’s voice cracked with dryness. “Then what did you want to talk about?”

  “Orbital surveillance.” It wasn’t a lie—not really. She had been wondering about orbital surveillance since the overflight by the TIE reconnaissance craft. “You know the Chimaera has to have spy satellites in place, and we’re not exactly under cover.”

  “More than you think.” Han took a long drink from his water bottle, then continued, “No sensor in the galaxy is delicate enough to find us right now. The reflection blast is hiding us.”

  “Reflection blast?”

  “The Great Chott is a giant mirror.” Han waved a hand at the pale surface of the surrounding salt plain. “With two suns shining down, this time of day all a spy satellite sees is heat and light—same for a high-flying surveillance drone. If the Imps want to find us again, they have to come down low—and that takes time.”

  “That’s why Borno waited until the suns were up to change directions.”

  Han nodded. “He knows his evasion strategy.” He turned and looked into the shimmering whiteness ahead. “I just hope we find some cover soon. Once that shuttle reports we aren’t where we’re supposed to be, it won’t take them long to send a flight of TIEs out on a search grid.”

  An Askajian rode up behind them, arriving with such silence and suddenness that when he spoke, Leia nearly jumped out of her saddle.

  “Why are you bunched together like this?” He gestured at the sky with his spear. “You make it easier for the sky eyes to see us. Spread out, or Borno will take your mounts and leave you for the white shells.”

  The Squibs drifted away immediately. Chewbacca, who never responded well to threats, flashed fangs and glared until the Askajian finally looked away.

  “If you please,” he said more politely, “we shouldn’t take chances.”

  Chewbacca grunted an apology that, judging by the way the Askajian’s eyes widened, Leia was sure the rotund being did not understand. Chewbacca snickered and angled off a bit. Still hoping to have a private word with Han, Leia lingered a moment to see if the Askajian would allow them to remain together.

  “Please,” he said. “It is even more important for you to separate. You are leading pack beasts.”

  “Of course.” Leia wished she had a set of fangs to flash, but she knew the Askajian was only trying to protect them all. She glanced in Han’s direction and, slowing her mount, asked, “Can we talk later?”

  “You know we can.” Han’s goggled eyes lingered on hers. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Leia fell in twenty meters behind him. Even at that short distance, the heat distortion reduced his shimmering figure to an unrecognizable silhouette, but she would at least be able to tell if he fell out of the saddle or let his mount wander. She felt her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth and reminded herself to drink. The water was hotter than ever. She forced herself to swallow three long gulps, then put it away. In this heat, she would have thought any water would taste good. But the stuff in her plastoid bottle was beginning to have all t
he flavor of rancor drool. She set a chime on her chronometer to remind her to drink again in a quarter hour.

  The plain became rocky and broken, with pockets of soft sand lying between boulders the size of droids. The caravan’s progress slowed to a crawl, the gait of the dewbacks growing slow, rhythmic, and swaying.

  Han’s rippling figure seemed to twist in the saddle and look back in the direction from which they had come, and Leia knew he was thinking the same thing she was. Those TIEs had to be starting their search grid by now, and when they found the caravan this time, the equipment hanging beneath their cockpits would not be sensors and cameras. They would take action to stop the caravan, and quickly.

  It soon grew apparent that the dewbacks were better off picking their way without guidance from their riders. With another hour to their destination and nothing to occupy her thoughts except worries over Han and the Imperials, Leia needed something to keep her mind occupied. She slipped her herding spear into its carrying sleeve and tied her reins to a tethering loop on the saddle, then took her grandmother’s journal out of her pocket and began to view entries.

  It wasn’t long before Shmi reported an interesting surprise.

  19:17:10

  Today I came home to find a Falleen waiting on our steps. She was a very rough-looking lady, Annie, and not only because of those narrow eyes and sharp teeth. She was even taller and more beautiful than most females of her species, but her hair had been singed off, and she had a fresh burn across her nose. And there were holes in her jumpsuit that showed scarred scales and swollen bulges along her spinal ridge.

  She had a plasteel box sitting beside her, so I thought she had brought some memory chips for me to clean. I told her she would have to pay in advance—I’ve been cheated by spacers before, even if they’re usually Corellians—but she told me the box was from Coruscant. She apologized for taking so long to get it here and explained that it had been a gift from Qui-Gon Jinn.

  Annie, I was so excited I forgot all about the box. Here was someone from Coruscant, who knew Qui-Gon. That meant she had to know you. But she claimed to be only an errand girl from the Jedi hangars and said she didn’t know anything about Temple business. I didn’t believe her. I told her I wanted to know who was taking care of my son. Finally, she said you were in good hands, and I shouldn’t worry.

  I don’t think she was really an errand girl, though. I didn’t see a lightsaber, but she could have been a Jedi—she seemed so certain of things. I so hope she told you about her visit, because then you will know how happy I am that you are following your dreams.

  As the entry ended, Shmi’s eyes grew glassy with tears, and Leia was surprised to find her own eyes tearing. It seemed wrong to condemn Anakin for following his dreams—yet those dreams had become a nightmare for the rest of the galaxy. If only Shmi had known what his destiny would be… would she have had the strength to deny her son’s help to the Jedi, to make Anakin live out the rest of his life in bondage?

  It was not a decision Leia felt certain she could have made.

  19:19:11

  Oh, yes—the box! Inside there was a message from Qui-Gon explaining that while he and his Padawan waited for the Jedi Council to test you, he had asked someone to start a galaxywide HoloNet search to…

  The display clouded with static, and Shmi’s voice faded to an inaudible scratch. Leia replayed the entry several times, and managed to make out a few more lines:

  “Imagine, a Jedi like Qui-Gon taking… when there must have been so many… his attention. The galaxy is going to… fortunate he came into our lives.”

  Leia gave up trying to make sense of the entry and looked up to find Han slumped over, hanging half out of his saddle. She grabbed the herding spear and urged her mount to catch up, but the beast groaned in irritation and refused to move any faster over the broken ground.

  Han’s head rose alongside his knee and seemed to peer back at her, though it was difficult to tell in the rippling air, and he remained slumped over for several moments more. Finally his body rose upright, and a crescent of white desert light appeared between his seat and saddle as he stood to check the stirrup he had been adjusting.

  Leia let out a groan of her own and returned the spear to its carrying sleeve. She forced herself to gulp some water. It was hotter and more foul tasting than ever.

  18:20:12

  Watto behaved very strangely today. When he sent me out to buy his nectarot, he gave me five extra truguts to buy some pallie wine for us to share—and he insisted I get it from Naduarr because “I should taste the good stuff.” I hardly knew what to make of it!

  It turns out he had heard about the Falleen’s visit, and that she had come on a ship from Coruscant. All he wanted was to hear how you’re doing—well, what he asked was “how many Podraces has the boy won.” I told him the Jedi don’t allow their students to enter Podraces, but that you’re doing well with your training.

  I’m sure I wasn’t stretching the truth, Annie, and the news seemed to calm Watto. Sometimes, I think he really misses you… though of course he won’t admit it. He just grumbles that if he hadn’t let “that Jedi” cheat him out of you, he’d be richer than a Hutt by now.

  The entry ended, leaving Leia a little perplexed about Shmi’s patience with her Toydarian owner. But many relationships were complicated, and she had learned in her work that few beings could be painted without shades of gray.

  As Leia continued to view entries, it quickly grew apparent that losing Anakin had indeed affected Watto profoundly. The Toydarian continued to blame others for his “bad luck.” But, according to Shmi, he no longer cursed at her, and he trusted her to run the shop while he went to bid on wrecks. He even continued to give her a few truguts every week to buy Naduarr’s pallie wine, though he did not always insist on having their drinks together. And while Shmi never acknowledged Watto’s right to own her, she seemed to feel for the Toydarian as well, sometimes defending him to customers who insulted him behind his back.

  Then, after four years of routine entries, Shmi appeared in the display smiling as she had not smiled since the box had arrived from Qui-Gon.

  17:06:13

  A settler came into Watto’s today, a great brattle of a man. Very gruff and to the point. Shmi lowered her voice and did a fair imitation of a human male. “I need a set of booster coils for a SoroSuub V-Twenty-Four,” he said to Watto, “and don’t try to rob me. I know your reputation.”

  She slid into a flawless imitation of Watto’s gravelly whine. “Then you know I am only an honest business-being trying to keep his doors open in this miserable dustbin of a city. And the V-Twenty-Four is a classic. Those coils will cost you, if I have any.”

  I’ve heard Watto use that line a hundred times, but there was something about this settler that made me want to help him, a sense of desperation maybe… or maybe his proud blue eyes and the way he carried himself. I told Watto we had plenty of booster coils, that I had dusted off a whole stack that morning.

  “Good,” the settler said. He looked directly at me, and my knees went weak, the way Amee says hers do whenever she sees Roc or Jerm or nearly any boy. “I’ll take two of ’em.”

  Shmi began to laugh. Watto was so angry he knocked a carton of power cells off the counter turning to yell at me.

  Leia forced down some stale water and checked to see that Han was still upright in his saddle, then continued to view the journal. The next few entries were short, consisting mostly of Shmi’s ritual of telling Anakin how proud she was of him and how much she loved him. There were also a few mentions of the settler, noting with obvious disappointment that Shmi had not seen him again and probably never would—but she was glad to have helped him.

  Watto proved surprising philosophical about the sale, telling Shmi he had only lost a few truguts anyway, and that she could make it up to him by cleaning the memory chips of a used navicomputer. A few days later, he even seemed to grow concerned about her happiness, giving her an afternoon off and buying a bolt of cloth
so she could make herself a new robe.

  About two weeks later, Shmi’s mood was noticeably brighter.

  23:29:15

  The settler came back today! He was looking for fifty vaporator condensers. Watto was still so angry about the booster coils that he wouldn’t offer a reasonable price, so the settler left.

  But when Watto sent me for his nectarot, I found the settler waiting outside. He walked with me to Naduarr’s. I was a little nervous, but he has a jolly manner that makes him easy to talk to. He asked if I had been punished for helping him, then apologized when I told him about the extra work I had to do cleaning the navicomputer’s memory chip—even though it was really nothing.

  Then he asked me why I had helped him. I laughed and started to say I just wanted to get even with Watto for yelling at me, but there is something about this man that wouldn’t let me make light. There is something about his eyes that makes you want to speak your heart—they’re blue, Annie, not quite as blue as yours, and so sincere and kind and warm.

  Before I knew it, I had admitted the truth: that I had done it because I found him so handsome.

  He actually blushed! Then he smiled and held his hand out to me. He is a good man, Annie, and it’s wonderful to have a new friend. His name is Cliegg… Cliegg Lars.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The droning sound came so faintly that Leia thought the sand had finally fouled the heat vents on the palm diary. Terrified the memory circuits would melt, she thumbed the POWER key and continued to hear the whine, then finally looked up to see Han’s wavy figure twisted around in his saddle, his dark goggles studying the sky behind her. Leia turned as well and found Chewbacca and the Squibs and the shimmering blobs of several nearby Askajians also squinting into the sky.