[Dark Nest] - 3(17)
“And so will Han’s,” Leia said, joining them. She was disguised as a Falleen female, with a face covered in fine green scales, beads and combs adorning her long hair, and a spiny dorsal ridge showing through her shape-hugging jumpsuit. “How do I look?”
“Good-great, even.” Han flashed a lustful smile, openly admiring the athletic figure Leia was developing under Saba’s rigorous training regimen. “Maybe we have time to-“
“What happened to getting our clearance to enter the war zone?” Leia interrupted. She pushed past him, shaking her head. “At least I know the artificial pheromones are working.”
Han followed her aft, fairly certain that it wasn’t the pheromones he was reacting to. He and Leia had been married for nearly thirty years, and not a day passed when he still did not ache for her. It was as though his attraction to her had been growing a little stronger every day, until one morning he had awakened to find that it was the force that held his galaxy together. It was not a feeling he really understood-perhaps the cause lay in his admiration of her spirit of adventure, or in his love for her as the mother of his children-but it was something for which he was deeply, immensely grateful.
You’re welcome,” Leia said.
“What?” Han frowned. Now, whenever anyone read his thoughts, it made him worry he was on his way to becoming a Joiner. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Not aloud.” Leia turned around and gave him a sly reptilian grin that he found rather … stirring. “But I’m a Jedi, remember? I sensed your gratitude through the Force.”
“Oh … yeah.” Han found it embarrassing to get caught being so sentimental, even by Leia-especially by Leia. “I was just thinking how grateful I was you wanted to come along.”
“And I can tell when you’re lying, too.” The outer corners of Leia’s reptilian brows rose. “And why shouldn’t I have come? Jaina is my daughter, too.”
“Take it easy-I didn’t mean anything,” Han said. “I was talking about that whole ‘Jedi come first’ thing Luke is pulling. It couldn’t have been easy for you to leave with me.”
“Luke has to do what he thinks is best for the order,” Leia said, avoiding a direct answer to the question. “We have to do what we think is best for Jaina and Zekk. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”
“Right,” Han said. “But I get the feeling Luke and Saba would’ve felt a whole lot better about it if they had actually sent us to get Jaina and Zekk back.”
“I’m sure they would have.” Leia started toward the hatch again. “But I don’t know if I can support Luke’s decision to make himself Grand Master of the Jedi.”
“Come on,” Han said. “It’s not like he had any other choice-and you know he’ll do a good job.”
“Of course,” Leia said. “But what happens to the order when Luke is gone? That’s a lot of power for one being to wield, and power corrupts. The next Grand Master might be more susceptible to its dark influence than Luke.”
“Then you’re worried about nothing,” Han said. “You saw how the Masters were. Without Luke, the order won’t last a year.”
“I know,” Leia said. “And that worries me, too.”
They reached the main hatch, where Cakhmaim and Meewalh were waiting in their disguises. The Noghri were doing their best to waddle about and cock their heads in the characteristic expressions of curious Ewoks, but somehow they still looked far too graceful. Han slipped the voice synthesizer into his mouth, then turned and spoke to the Noghri in a deep, booming tone.
“Try to be a little clumsy,” he said. “Maybe drop some stuff and trip once or twice.”
The pair looked at Han as though he had asked Ewoks to fly.
“Well, do what you can,” Han said.
He lowered the boarding ramp and nearly gagged on the clammy, too-sweet air that rolled through the hatchway. The cacophony of ticking and thrumming was even louder than the last time he was here. A dozen waist-high Killiks with deep orange thoraxes and blue abdomens appeared at the bottom of the ramp and started to ascend without requesting permission.
Han stepped aside and-gritting his teeth at their lack of ship etiquette-waved the bugs aboard. They brushed past him and immediately began to spread out through the Swiff, running their feathery antennae over every available surface and clacking their mandibles in interest.
Han waved them toward the stern. “This way, my friends,” he said, trying to give his best impression of a
down-on-his-luck