“Alema, we’re kind of in a hurry here.” Leia wondered if the Twi’lek was intentionally dawdling, hoping the Falcon would sink in the soft ground-and then she put the idea out of her mind. This was going to be dangerous enough without Alema sensing her suspicion through the Force. “We can look at flowers later.”
“Sorry.” Alema glanced in her direction, but did not rise. “Are you sure there are no animals here? No insects or birds or flying mammals?”
“The scan didn’t reveal any,” Leia said. “And I’ve seen nothing to suggest it was wrong.”
“Interesting.” Alema plucked the flower off its stem and brought it over to Leia. “If there are no insects or animals, what pollinates the flowers?”
Leia studied the blossom. Its structure was much the same as flowers across the galaxy, with a stamen, anther, and pollen.
“Good question,” Leia said, surprised the Twi’lek had noticed. “I didn’t think Ryloth had any true flowers.”
“We have sex,” Alema replied. “And males who want sex bring-“
“I get the picture,” Leia said. “The answer is I don’t know. Wind seems pretty inefficient, and that’s about the only pollen-transfer agent I can see.”
Han’s voice came over their headsets. “If you two are done talking about the birds and the bees, I’d like to change out this coolant line-before the Falcon sinks to her belly.”
“It’s my fault.” Alema’s voice assumed the same purring quality she used with Juun. “I hope you can forgive me.”
“That remains to be seen,” Han said.
Leia winced at Han’s cool tone, but saw no sign that Alema had sensed truth beneath his words. The Twi’lek simply retrieved her own buckets and positioned them beneath the Falcon, then curled her lekku into her hood and pulled it on.
“Ready.”
Han grunted, and one corner of the hyperdrive hull panel sagged open. Toxic red coolant began to pour out. Leia quickly moved one of the buckets into position to catch the primary flow, then placed three others beneath adjacent drips.
It took only a minute to fill the first bucket. Alema passed an empty to Leia and moved the other one out of the way. They repeated the process four more times, carefully placing the filled buckets five meters away, where they were unlikely to be accidentally overturned.
Finally, the flow slowed to a drip, and Han said, “We’re done. Just catch those last drips, and we’ll be ready.”
“Affirmative.” Under her breath, Leia added, “For all the good it will do.”
“Relax,” Han said. “I can handle this repair. No problem.”
The final drops of coolant fell from the hull panel. When they moved the last buckets aside, Leia was surprised to find the first little bit that had fallen on the flattened grass was evaporating before her eyes.
“Look at that,” Leia said.
“It killed the grass,” Alema observed. “That’s to be expected.”
“It should have killed a lot more,” Leia replied. “And look at how fast it’s drying up. It’s not that hot-or dry-around here.”
Alema shrugged. “Maybe the grass is absorbent.” She glanced at the vast field surrounding the Falcon, then added, “I don’t think we need to worry about the environmental damage.”
They carefully wiped the access panel down with absorption pads, then Leia reactivated her throat mike.
“Okay, it’s clean. You can close up now.”
The panel hissed into place, then Han asked, “How much did you get?”
Leia eyed the buckets. “About a hundred and twenty liters.”
“That’s all?”
“Maybe one thirty,” she said. “No more.”
A disappointed sigh came over the headsets. “It’ll have to do-but don’t spill a drop. We need it all.”
“Copy.” Leia picked up a bucket, using both hands on the handle, and started for the Falcon’s ramp. “We’d better take it in one bucket at a-“
A liquid thunk sounded behind Leia, and she turned to find Alema holding a broken handle. At the Twi’lek’s feet lay three overturned buckets, an eighty-liter pool of hyperdrive coolant slowly spreading across the ground.
‘Alema!” Leia was trying to feel genuinely surprised, rather than disappointed, to avoid giving Alema any hint that this was exactly what she had expected. “What happened?”
“The handle broke,” Alema said. “I’m-“
The Twi’lek’s eyes grew large behind her faceplate, and suddenly she sprang toward the Falcon’s prow in a diving roll. An instant later, Meewalh and Cakhmaim dropped out of the ship’s far-side air lock, their blaster rifles spraying stun bolts at the place Alema had just been standing.