“Excellent.” He smacked his lips with exaggerated pleasure, then set his mug on the table and wiped the froth away with his sleeve. “Very thirst quenching.”
Han frowned. “Really? You don’t think ish a little flat?”
“Not at all.” Fel’s eyes flicked away nervously. “But when it comes to ale, my tastes aren’t very refined.”
“That mush be it.” Han raised his own mug to his lips and took another small sip, then nodded. “Yeah, the more you drink, the better it tashes.”
The bartender grunted and returned to his bar.
Once he was gone, Han turned back to Fel. “So why are you watching us?”
“Because we’re bait,” Leia surmised. Her face was a bit flushed, but she seemed alert enough to finish the conversation and run. She turned to Fel. “Your assignment is to hunt down Alema and make sure she can’t restart the Dark Nest, isn’t it?”
“That’s my intention, yes,” Fel said. “But not my assignment. I’m no longer with the Ascendancy military.”
Han frowned. “If you’re not on assignment, what are you doing here?”
“I have nothing to hide.” Fel pretended to take another long drink from his mug. “I’m in exile.”
“Exile?” Leia asked. “Why?”
“As you know, I guaranteed Lowbacca’s parole at Qoribu. When he participated in the attack on Supply Depot Thrago, my family became liable for the damage he inflicted on the Ascendancy from that point on.”
A look of sorrow suddenly came over Leia’s face, and Han’s stomach began to feel a bit hollow. It hadn’t been him who tricked Lowbacca and the others into attacking Supply Depot Thrago-but it had been his son, Jacen.
“As I’m sure you know, Wookiees can do a lot of damage,” Fel continued. “Especially Jedi Wookiees. When my family couldn’t cover the expenses, I was forced to leave the Ascendancy.”
Leia’s chin dropped. “Jagged, I’m sorry. If there’s anything we can do…”
“There isn’t,” Fel said, a little sharply. “There’s nothing any Jedi-or Solo-can do that would change the decree of the ruling families.”
“I know things look bad now, but give it some time,” Leia said. “After you find Alema, I’m sure the Ascendancy will reconsider…”
“Then you don’t know the Ascendancy,” Fel snapped, “Finding Alema will redeem my family’s honor and give it the means to rebuild its fortune. But my situation will remain the same; if ever I return to the Ascendancy, my entire family will be dishonored.”
“Well, whatever we can do.” Han didn’t like the tone Fel was taking with Leia, but the kid did have a pretty good reason to be angry. “Use us as bait all you want-everyone else does.”
He cast a meaningful glance over at Nashtah, who was. still slumped against the wall, staring off into space.
“I am using you as bait.” Fel pushed his mug to the table center and started to rise. “And now, if you’ll excuse me…”
“Not so fast.” Han took a quick glance around and was dismayed to notice half a dozen pairs of eyes turned in their direction. “There’s one thing about your story that bothers me.”
Jag did not return to his seat. “That’s really not my problem, Captain Solo.”
“For old times’ sake,” Leia said. She grabbed Fel behind the elbow and, using the Force, pulled him down onto the bench. “I think Han is saying that your account doesn’t add up.”
“Yeah,” Han said. “That’s exactly what I’m saying. There’s no way you found us on your own.”
“Actually, it wasn’t difficult at all,” Fel said. “The HoloNews is filled with stories about your defection to Corellia.”
“This isn’t Corellia,” Han said.
“True, but I happened to see a communique from Admiral Bwua’tu.” Fel glanced nervously around the cantina, then continued, “He was convinced that Corellia’s next move would be an attempt to persuade Hapes to enter the war on her side.”
“You’re lying,” Han said, with more hope than conviction. Despite his fury over Gejjen using them to set up the assassination attempt on Tenel Ka, his heart remained with Corellia-and it alarmed him to think that the Galactic Alliance was good enough to predict Gejjen’s desperate ploy. “Nobody sees that kind of communique.”
“There are plenty of officers in the Galactic Alliance who value honor as highly as the Chiss,” Fel said. “Is it too much to believe that one of them would assist me with the hunt for Alema Rar? Especially since it was the Alliance who asserted that she was dead?”