with enough practice.”
“I don’t want to find out,” Lando said, lightly. “How could I give all this up?” He waved a hand at the elegant restaurant, and, beyond it, the glittery clamor of the gaming tables.
She nodded. “I have to admit, I have a hard time imagining you in a Rebel uniform.”
“At least not without extensive re-tailoring,” Lando said, and they both laughed.
“Have you ever been in combat?” she asked him, on a more serious note.
“Oh, sure,” Lando said. “I’m a decent gunner as well as a better-than-average pilot these days. I’ve seen action here and there.
And, of course, there was the Battle of Nar Shaddaa. Han, Salla and I were in the thick of it.”
“Tell me about that,” she said. “It just amazes me that smugglers—as independent and hard-headed as most of the ones I’ve known are—could band together like that to beat the Imperial fleet.”
Always pleased to talk about himself and his escapades to an admiring audience, Lando launched into a fairly detailed narrative of how the smugglers had joined forces with Drea Renthal’s pirate fleet to destroy many Imperial fighters and several big capital ships. Bria listened with grave and knowledgeable attention, asking strategic or tactical questions every so often to encourage the gambler in his story.
Finally, when Lando was finished, and they’d ordered dessert, Bria sat back as the server cleared their plates away. “What a story!” she said.
“I’m really impressed by the smugglers’ daring and expertise. They are all marvelous pilots, aren’t they?”
“You have to be good to stay ahead of the Imp customs ships,” Lando replied. “Smugglers can handle just about anything—they fly through asteroid fields, play tag with nebulas and space storms, and they can land on anything. Nothing fazes a good smuggler. I’ve seen them land ships while fighting uneven gravity fields on asteroids barely bigger than their vessels. Gravity shifts, atmospheric turbulence, sandstorms, blizzards, typhoons ˇ . . you name it, they know how to handle it.”
Bria was looking at him intently. “Of course. Smugglers would naturally be the most experienced pilots in the galaxy …. but they’re also good fighters …. ” Lando waved a hand. “Oh, they have to be that, too, with the Imps apt to pop out and start blasting at any moment. Of course, during the Battle of Nar Shaddaa they were fighting to protect their homes and property, else most of them would have demanded payment for their services.”
She blinked, as though a sudden idea had occurred to her. “You mean .
. .
you think the smugglers would hire themselves out for a military action?”
Lando shrugged. “Why not? Most smugglers are just like privateers.
If there’s a decent profit in it, most of them would dare just about anything.”
She tapped her bottom lip with a manicured nail as she thought.
Lando suddenly looked at her hand intently. “Hey …” he said, leaning forward to take her hand in both of his and examine it gently, “what happened, Bria?”
She drew a deep breath. “These old scars? A souvenir of working in the Ylesian spice factories. I usually cover them with cosmetics for social occasions, but I lost everything aboard the Queen, remember?”
“Drea promised me you’d get your stuff back,” Lando said. “I told her your cabin number.” He looked embarrassed. “I feel terrible for mentioning them. I just … well, I care about you. It’s painful to see them and know how much you were hurt on that world.”
She patted his hand. “I know. You’re sweet to be concerned, Lando.
But I’m not the one you should be concerned about. People are dying every day on Ylesia. Good people. People who deserve better than a life of unending toil, malnutrition, and cruel deception.”
He nodded. “Han talked to me about it once. He feels the same way ˇ .
. but there’s not much we can do about it, is there?”
She gave him a fierce look. “Yes, there is, Lando. And while there’s breath in my body, I’m not going to give up on those people. Someday, I’m going to shut that hellworld down for good.” Bria grinned suddenly, recklessly, and at that moment, she reminded Lando very much of his absent friend. “As Han would say, ‘trust me.”” Lando chuckled.
“I was just thinking that you remind me of him at times.”
“Han was an important role model for me,” she said. “He taught me so much.
How to be strong, and brave and independent. You wouldn’t believe what a spineless little crybaby I used to be.”