[Legacy Of The Force] - 03(93)
But the longer Han studied the blazing sheet ahead, the more he realized he could not be looking at any kind of efflux tail. There were actually two bright streams, one broad and curving and fan-shaped, the other thin and straight and braided. He finally realized what he was seeing. Scowling toward the pilot’s seat, which had become Leia’s until his shoulder was healed enough to fly, Han stepped onto the flight deck. “Are you flying my ship into a comet?”
“Yes, dear.” Leia met his gaze in the canopy reflection, then shot him a brief frown-one he knew was meant to remind him that they still had a lot to learn about Morwan and the usurpers. “We agreed to return Lady Mor-wan to her Ducha, remember?”
“Of course I remember.” Han glanced at Morwan, who was in the copilot’s chair, then dropped into the navigator’s seat behind Leia. “But no one lives on a comet.”
“Actually, a surprising number of beings inhabit comets,” C-3PO offered from the communications station. “Hermits, pirates, fugitives, political exiles…”
“AlGray’s no hermit,” Han grumbled. “And even if she was, she must own a dozen empty moons already.”
“Actually, all of the Relephon Moons are inhabited,” Morwan said. “But we’re not meeting Ducha AlGray at her residence.”
Han glanced down at the navigation display and saw that they weren’t anywhere near Relephon-far from it, in fact. “The Hapan system?” he asked. “What are we doing here?”
“The answer to that is obvious,” Morwan replied. “And you shouldn’t be out of medbay. You need that hydration drip to keep your electrolytes in balance. Blaster burns remove a lot of fluids from your system.”
“My fluids are just fine.” Han had the sinking feeling that he knew exactly why they were in the Hapan system, and he was fairly sure that Tenel Ka could not be ready.
With so much of her Royal Navy assigned to the Galactic Alliance, she would need support from the nobles still loyal to her-support that would take time to arrive. “And stop changing the subject.”
“Fine,” Morwan replied. “Your health is no concern of mine. If you’re truly having trouble figuring out the situation, just look through the viewport.”
Han squinted out at the comet. Once his eyes had grown accustomed to the glow, he saw a dark crescent of empty space at the starboard edge of the canopy, just in front of the boiling brilliance of the comet’s head. Clustered close behind the head were about seventy tiny black ovals, arranged in a three-dimensionai diamond commonly used to attack planetary defenses.
“Oh, that,” Han said, trying to conceal the alarm he felt at how fast the usurpers were moving. “I meant what are we doing here? You can’t intend to be a part of this fight.”
Morwan scowled over her shoulder at him. “You doubt my devotion?”
“That’s not what I said.” Han raised his hands defensively. “But the Falcon ain’t much of a warship.”
“I won’t be aboard the Falcon after we rendezvous,” Morwan replied. “And I suspect you won’t be, either.”
“Is that a threat?” Han demanded, starting to worry that she’d discovered he and Leia were spies. “Because if it isn’t, you’d better clear things up real fast.”
“Even if it were a threat, you’re hardly in any condition to do anything about it,” Morwan replied. “But all I mean is I’ll be aboard the Kendall, and you’ll most likely be with your friends from Corellia.”
“Corellia?” Han glanced back toward the battle formation and realized that the three silhouettes in front were several times the size of the others. “I was wondering if those were our Dreadnaughts.”
As Han said this, he tried to catch Leia’s gaze in the canopy reflection. But her eyes had that distant, unfocused look they got when she was caught up with something in the Force. With any luck, she was reaching out to Tenel Ka, trying to warn the Queen Mother about the trouble coming her way.
“Dreadnaughts?” Morwan repeated. “I really don’t know what they are, only that Corellia promised to send a fleet that could defeat Hapes’s defenses.”
“They did,” Han assured her. “Those Dreadnaughts will punch through in no time. By this time tomorrow, AlGray will be the new Queen Mother.”
“That’s not the reason she organized the overthrow,” Morwan said. “Her only concern is for the Consortium’s independence.”
“Whatever you say,” Han said. “It doesn’t matter to me.”