[Dark Nest] - 3(15)

“An antique droid?” Mara asked.

“A very special antique.” Madame Thul waited until the droid had wandered within arm’s length of the table, then reached out and gently guided it to her side. “Master Skywalker, allow me to present Artoo-Oh, the original prototype for the R-two astromech line.”

Luke’s jaw fell. “The prototype?”

“So my systems supervisor assures me,” Madame Thul said. “I’m told it contains the original Intellex Four droid brain. I hope it will prove helpful in working through Artoo-Detoo’s memory problems.”

“I’m sure it will!” Mara gasped. “Where did it come from?”

“An abandoned warehouse, apparently,” Madame Thul said. “It was owned by Industrial Automaton, which Bornaryn recently purchased. Of course, their records were almost completely useless in locating the prototype.”

“Industrial Automaton?” Mara asked. “Ghent said the Artoo was an Imperial design.”

“Misinformation,” Tyko said. “Imperial Intelligence waged a deliberate campaign to obscure the origin of all the Empire’s vital

military technology.”

“Then the designer of the Intellex IV droid brain wasn’t an Imperial?” Luke asked.

“Not when he worked on the Rseries.” Tyko shrugged. “Who can say what happened later? He might have become one, or he might have been forced into their service. All our historians could determine was that his identity has been deleted from all known databases regarding the Rseries.”

“But you have the prototype,” Madame Thul said. “I hope you can find what you need there.”

“I don’t know what to say,” Luke said. “Thank you!”

” ‘Thank you’ will be quite sufficient,” Madame Thul said. “Every man should know his mother.”

“I’m sure it will be very helpful,” Mara said. “But what made you think of it? Artoo’s memory problems aren’t exactly common knowledge outside of the Jedi order.”

Madame Thul smiled. “Tesar and the Wookiee,” she said. “I told you-they have good hearts.”





FOUR


With dozens of battered transports hanging on the wax-coated walls at every possible angle and swarms of orange worker-Killiks floating war cargo through the microgravity, the Lizil hangar looked even busier than the last time Han and Leia had visited. The largest available berth was a wedge near the top of the sphere, and even that looked barely big enough for the bulky Dray-class transport the Solos had borrowed from Lando to complete their disguise. Han rolled the Swiff onto its back and began to ease toward the empty spot.

Leia inhaled sharply, then activated the landing cams and studied the copilot’s display. “Wait. Our clearance is only half a meter.”

“That much?”

“Han, this isn’t the Falcon.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Han said. “This big tub handles like an asteroid.”

“I believe Princess Leia is suggesting you might not be adept enough with this vessel to berth in such a confined space,” C-3P0 offered from the back of the flight deck. “Your reaction speed and hand-to-eye coordination have degraded twelve percent in the last decade.”

“Only when you’re around,” Han growled. “And quit telling me that. My memory is fine-and so’s my driving, metal mouth.”

“What I’m suggesting,” Leia said, “is that it’s a tight fit, and you promised Lando you wouldn’t scratch his ship.”

“And you think he believed me?”

“I think we should wait for a larger berth to open up,” Leia said. “We’re not going to win the Colony’s confidence by causing an accident.”

“We don’t need their confidence.” Han jerked a thumb toward the Swiff’s huge cargo bay. “When they see that big magcannon we’ve got back there, they’re going to beg us to take it out to the front lines.”

“That’s quite unlikely, Captain Solo,” C-3P0 said. “Insect species rarely have a sense of charity, so it simply would not occur to them to appeal to your compassion.”

“Han means they’ll be eager to contract with us,” Leia said. “Which is all the more reason to wait. We don’t want to overplay our hand. Jaina and Zekk will still be in the front lines when we get there.”

“Wait?” Han shook his head and continued to ease the Swiff toward the landing spot. One of the adjacent transports, an ancient Republic Sienar Systems Courier-class, had extended its boarding ramp into the space he intended to occupy, but he wasn’t worried. The Swiff’s landing struts were far enough apart to straddle the ramp, and the Lizil workers streaming up and down the incline were used to dodging ships. “It could take days for another berth to open.”