[Han Solo] - 03(6)

She stood at the back of the lounge, watching the holo intently, hoping for another close-up of Han. Silently, she rejoiced that he’d made it this far. If only he’d win, she thought. Han deserves a big break.

If he had a lot of credits, he wouldn’t have to risk his life as a smuggler….

For a moment, the holo showed a close-up of Han’s table. Bria saw that his opponents today were a Sullustan, a Twi’lek, a Bothan and two humans, one male and one female. The woman was evidently from a heavy-gee planet, judging from the thick, corded muscles in her neck, and her short, stocky build.

Bria knew little about sabacc, but she knew Han Solo—even after being separated from him for seven years now, she knew him. She knew every line of his face, the way his eyes crinkled at the corners when he smiled, or narrowed when he was angry or suspicious. The shaggy tufts of his hair, perennially overdue for a haircut. She could still recall the shape of his hands, the fine hairs on the backs of them ….

Bria knew Han Solo so well that she realized she could still tell when he was bluffing … as he was at the moment.

Smiling confidently, Han leaned across the table to push another heap of chips into the center. Seeing the size of his bet, the Sullustan hesitated, then threw in her hand. The two humans also folded, but the Bothan was made of sterner stuff. He met Han’s bet, and then, ostentatiously, raised it by a goodly amount.

Bria’s expression didn’t change, but her hands curled into fists at her sides. Will he fold, or play the hand through and hope his bluff will work?

The Twi’lek pushed another card-chip into the interference field, and matched the bet.

All eyes turned to Han.

The Corellian grinned as though he hadn’t a care in the world. Bria could see his lips move as he issued some verbal challenge or wisecrack, then he pushed forward another stack of credit-chips …

such a huge bet that Bria bit her lip. If he lost his hand, he’d bomb out. There was no way he could cover it!

The Bothan glanced from side to side, for the first time seeming uncertain.

Finally, he tossed in his hand. The Twi’lek’s head-tails twitched with frustration and nerves.

Finally, slowly, the Twi’lek laid his hand down. Han’s grin broadened, and he reached forward to scoop up yet another hand pot. Did he genuinely have a winning hand, Bria wondered, or was I right? Was it all a bluff?.

The Sullustan, her droopy jowls working, made a sudden grab for Han’s card-chips, but the dealer spoke up, clearly warning her against such an action. By now the dealer would have signaled for a change in the card-chip values, anyway.

Bria nodded emphatically at the holo. Great! Keep it up, Han! Beat them!

Win!

Beside her, someone snarled, then spoke in raspy, hissing tones, “May all the Blights of Barabel curse that villain Solo! He wins again! He must be cheating!”

Bria glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw a huge Barabel female, obviously a very irritated Barabel. The corners of her mouth twitched. Han has such a way with people … what do you suppose he did to make her so mad?

Something rustled on Bria’s other side, and she turned to find her aide, a Corellian named Jace Paol, beside her. The man lowered his voice until even Bria could barely hear him, though his mouth was barely a handspan from her ear. “Commander, the representatives from Alderaan have arrived. They are on their way to the meeting site.”

Bria nodded. “I’ll be right up, Jace.”

As her aide left the lounge, Bria checked her expensive datapad (a dummy, she committed as little as possible of her real business to any readable form), smiled vaguely at the Barabel, and left the lounge.

Time to get on with her mission here in Cloud City.

When she’d discovered that Cloud City would be hosting the big sabacc tournament, Bria had realized that this was the ideal location for a top-secret meeting between representatives of several of the rebellions.

Resistance groups were growing by leaps and bounds on many Imperial worlds, and it was essential to establish links between them. But such meetings had to be kept clandestine. The Imps had spies everywhere.

Any intelligence operative knew that the easiest place to hide was in a crowd. And Cloud City was pretty far from the Imperial Core, so the Imps didn’t pay it much attention. A big tournament provided perfect cover.

With so many ships coming and going, both alien and human, a few humans, a Sullustan and a Duros meeting in a hotel conference room on Cloud City would arouse little interest from anyone.

Bria wouldn’t admit even to herself that part of her reason for selecting Cloud City during the tournament was that she’d hoped to catch a glimpse of Han Solo. She couldn’t be sure he’d attend, of course, but knowing Han, when there was the chance of winning big, he was there, ready and eager.