[Dark Nest] - 1(105)

“This one is sorry,” Tesar said. “He is not making himself clear. Raynar will not be returning. He has joined the Colony. He has become Unu. He has become the UnuThul.”

“Are you really trying to tell me that my son has become an insect?” Madame Thul demanded.

“Not physically,” Tesar said. “But, yes.”

“By the Core!” Madame Thul studied him for a moment, then grew pale. “You’re serious!”

Tesar nodded, and the purpose of his visit finally began to grow clear to him.

“Unu wishez to establish a relationship between the Colony and Bornaryn Trading,” he said. “A confidential relationship.”

“And you’re the authorized agent?” Tyko asked.

Tesar considered a moment, then said, “For now.”

Tyko accepted this with a nod, then turned to Madame Thul. “I’ve heard that there is large demand for the shine-balls and amber ale the independent smugglers are bringing back from the Unknown Regions.”

Madame Thul seemed too shocked to reply. She merely nodded, then drained the contents of her goblet and held it up for the servant.

“Lonn-“

“Of course, madame.” Lonn took the empty goblet and replaced it with a full one. “I shall keep them coming.”





TWENTY-FIVE


Even full hazmat gear could not prevent Alema from appearing immodest and just a little bit debauched. The suit she had selected was two sizes too small, stretched so tightly over her svelte curves that it was apparent she had decided to leave her underclothes-if she owned any-aboard the crippled Falcon. Leia shook her head in weary amusement, wondering whom Alema was hoping to attract on the deserted planet that had jerked them out of hyperspace. Then again, had Leia spent her formative years as a dancing slave in a Kala’uun ryll den-or merely been a Twi’lek female-she, too, might have felt comfortable only when on display.

Alema glanced back, no doubt feeling Leia’s scrutiny through the Force. “Is something wrong?”

“Not really.” Leia dropped her gaze to the Twi’lek’s seat area. “Just wondering if that suit is going to split.”

Alema craned around to look, then gave a roguish smile. “Only if I bend over.”

Juun came down the access corridor holding Alema’s utility belt and lightsaber. “You forgot this, Jedi Rar.”

“I don’t think we’ll be needing weapons,” Leia said. “The scan showed no animal life at all.”

“Better to be safe,” Juun said.

“Why, thank you, Jae.” Alema raised her arms and let him buckle on the belt. When the short-armed Sullustan had to press his face against her stomach, she smiled and added, “You’re always so considerate.”

Silently cursing the Sullustan’s growing infatuation with

Alema, Leia had C-3P0 fetch her own belt and buckled it on herself. After a thorough inspection of the Falcon had revealed no trace of insect stowaways, the Solos had been forced to turn their suspicions in other directions. Their plan had been to keep Alema separated from her weapons until Leia figured out whether she was the one who had been sabotaging the Falcon-but no one had told that to Juun, of course. He was the only other suspect.

Leia passed the Twi’lek four twenty-liter buckets, then lowered the boarding ramp. A cool wind was hissing across the marsh grass, carrying on its breath the fragrance of a carpet of nearby blossoms. Not far beyond, a ribbon of open water purled past, vanishing into the dark wall of a distant conifer forest.

“It’s stunning!” Leia led the way down the ramp, carrying four empty buckets of her own. “It reminds me of Alderaan - unspoiled and beautiful.”

“Yes, it’s very… natural.” Alema was looking above the forest, at a single jagged mountain silhouetted against the veined ruddiness of the nebular sky. “Not a bad place to crash-“

“Nobody crashed,” Han said over their headsets. “And nobody’s going to be marooned, either-if you two will get under the drive unit with those collection buckets.”

“On our way.” Under her breath, Leia added, “Hurt.”

“I heard that.”

“Good.”

When Leia stepped off the ramp into the grass, the ground felt soft and spongy under her feet. She parted the grass and found water seeping up around her boot.

“We’ll have to make this fast,” Leia reported. “The ground’s a little soft here.”

“Ready when you are,” Han replied.

Leia pulled on her hazmat hood and ducked under the Falcon. She tromped down the grass beneath the hyperdrive hull-access panel, then positioned her collection buckets under likely-looking leak points. Only when she finished did she notice that Alema was out beyond the boarding ramp, kneeling over a magenta blossom the size of a Wookiee’s hand.