[Han Solo] - 03(129)

Great, Han thought. I had to call when he was spiced ….

“Uh, hey, Jabba,” he said. “It’s me, Han.”

Jabba blinked several times and finally managed to focus. “Han!”

boomed the leader of Desilijic. “Where have you been? I was expecting you here last week!”

“Uh, well, Jabba, that’s what I called to tell you about,” Han said.

“Listen … it’s not my fault …. ” Jabba blinked muzzily. “Han, my boy … what are you saying? Where is my load of glitterstim?”

The Corellian swallowed. “Uh, yeah, about that load, Jabba. Well, you see … it was almost like they’d set a trap for me! The Imps were waitin’ and they—” “The customs officials have my spice?” Jabba roared, so loudly and suddenly that Han couldn’t help flinching back.

“How could you, Solo?”

“No! No, no, Jabba!” Han cried. “They didn’t get it! Honest, they’ve got nothin’ on you, nothin’! But … in order to keep the customs guys from finding it, I had to dump it. I marked it, but they wouldn’t let me go right away. And when I went back for it … it was gone, Jabba.”

“My spice is gone,” Jabba said, staring blearily at Han, his voice ominously quiet.

“Uh … yeah. But, hey, Jabba, don’t worry. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Me and Chewie will work it off, we’ll pay you the value, don’t worry. You know we’re good for it. And honest, Jabba, I got a feelin’ I was set up, you know? How many people besides you and Moruth Doole knew I was goin’ on a Run?”

Jabba ignored Han’s question. His bulbous eyes blinked rapidly as he took several puffs on the hookah. Then, reaching out, he grabbed a wriggler from the liquid-filled globe and stuffed the squirming thing into his mouth.

“Han…Han, my boy, you know I love you like a son,” he said slowly, portentously. “But business is business, and you’ve broken my primary rule. I can’t make exceptions just because I am fond of you. That load cost me twelve thousand four hundred credits. Deliver the spice or the credits to me within ten days, or face the consequences.”

Han wet his lips. “Ten days … but, Jabba—” The connection was abruptly broken. Han sagged back in his pilot’s seat, wrung out. What am I gonna do?

Six days later, having tried and failed to scrape up the credits from some of the sentients who owed him money, Han went back to Nar Shaddaa.

He hated to do it, but he was going to have to borrow the credits from friends.

He discovered that someone involved in that nightmare Run … some Imp officer, or trooper … had evidently talked about what had happened.

His fellow smugglers regarded him with a mixture of awe and trepidation.

Awe because he’d set a new record for the Run, trepidation because the news was out—Jabba was displeased, most displeased, with his former favorite pilot.

Shug was off-planet, and Han cursed when he discovered that the master tech was gone. He knew Shug was good for that much, though it would strain his resources.

Han made the rounds, managed to pick up a couple of thousand credits by calling in some old favors. But news of what had happened to some of the captains on Ylesia had spread, and several people simply looked the other way when Han approached.

Han finally went to Lando’s place. He didn’t want to, but he was out of options.

He knocked on the door, and heard the gambler’s sleepy voice from inside.

“Who is it?”

“Lando, it’s me,” he called. “Han.”

The Corellian heard steps, then suddenly Lando jerked the door open.

Before Han could utter a single word, the gambler’s fist lashed out in a vicious sucker-punch, catching Han in the jaw and sending him flying back across the hallway. The Corellian slammed into the wall, then slid down, landing on his rear.

Han grabbed his jaw, spots dancing before his eyes, struggling to speak.

Lando loomed over him. “You have got to have the most colossal nerve in the entire galaxy, coming here after what you pulled on Ylesia!” he yelled. “You’re lucky I don’t just shoot you, you lousy, lowlife, doublecrosser!”

“Lando …” Han managed to croak, “I swear, I didn’t know what she was plannin’. I swear …. ” “Right,” Lando sneered. “Sure you didn’t!”

“Would I have come here like this if I wasn’t innocent?” Han mumbled.

His jaw wasn’t working very well. He could feel it swelling. “Lando ˇ . . she did it to me, too. I didn’t get nothin’ from that trip.