Han’s voice turned mocking. “Poor little girl. Suddenly has to rely on just her sight, hearing, and wits…”
“It’s still like losing one of your senses.”
“… just like her old man.” He opened an eye and peered down at the reptile. He waved. “Hang on there, little guy. I’ll get you back to Karrde when we’re all done here.”
As if in response, the ysalamir flicked out its tongue for a fraction of a second.
Movement on the monitor drew Jaina’s attention. “Sensor crew is leaving. But there are still two guards on the exit, and two just outside.”
Han leaned over to peer at the monitor. “Got the hangar holocams picked out?”
Jaina nodded. “Yeah. I don’t want to Force-flash them constantly, but we can use blind spots between parked vehicles a lot of the time. And we have one piece of real luck. Jacen’s shuttle is right here, in this hangar.”
“Let’s go.” Han exerted himself against the durasteel panel directly overhead and it swung open, admitting cool air from the Love Commander’s atmosphere conditioners.
They executed their plan in several stages, each accomplished very quickly and with the precision that only Jedi and someone like Han Solo could manage.
Silently, the four exited the Love Commander through a cargo hatch in the blind spot between her starboard side and the mass of maintenance machinery immediately beside her. Jaina, carrying the electronics package whose construction had been supervised by lella Antilles-a package now disguised as a mouse droid-reached a wall datajack and plugged the package in.
Its code, optimized not only for this task but for this specific vessel, as well, sampled hangar holocam feeds, looped them, and extracted visual glitches such as glow rod flickers that might alert viewers they were watching a recording. Then the programming subverted security measures-not the ship’s main programming, just those pertaining to the holocams-and began sending the looped recordings instead of the live feeds to the bridge.
Next, as Han and Jag covered the door from concealed positions, Jaina and Zekk rushed the guards there. The advantage of surprise allowed them to cross meters of distance before the guards could bring their blaster rifles into line, and a few swift blows put them down. The Jedi dragged them aside, out of sight of the door.
The third stage was just as potentially dangerous, and just as successful. The four of them positioned themselves out of sight of the hangar doors, two to either side, and then opened them. They heard a surprised exchange from the guards there, but no footsteps suggesting additional traffic out in the corridor. Blaster rifles at the ready, the two guards stepped into the hangar.
As the pair caught sight of the intruders in their peripheral vision, Jag hit the button to shut the doors. Jaina and Zekk stepped forward and launched attacks. Jaina’s kick took her target clean off his feet, breaking ribs despite his chest armor, sending him into deep unconsciousness. But Zekk’s opponent, clearly an experienced hand-to-hand combatant, blocked Zekk’s punch with his rifle butt and swung the barrel around to fire.
So Han shot him in the face. His blaster pistol was set on stun, and the guard merely spasmed and fell.
Zekk breathed a relieved sigh-not at the removal of danger, but at his opponent’s size. “This one’s big enough.”
“Get into his armor and get going.” Jaina took up her ersatz mouse droid and headed toward Jacen’s shuttle. “Despite what Dad says, we can’t guess how long Mom’s distraction will give us.”
“Yes, boss.”
Han helped Zekk strip the armor from the tallest guard and don it. He lowered his voice to a whisper so Jaina would not hear. “I’m used to her being intense. But I don’t think I’ve seen her flash a smile in, I don’t know, months.”
“She hasn’t. She’s lost a lot since this war began.”
“Leia’s lost just as much. And Leia can still smile. Leia knows that she has to, from time to time, or go crazy.”
“I don’t think it’s a problem anymore, Han. I think Jag got through to her.”
Han glanced over at his daughter, who, having cracked the shuttle’s door security, was just entering that vehicle. “I hope you’re right.”
Zekk stood and swept his long hair up to the top of his head, holding it there while Han put the last piece of armor, his helmet, in place. Zekk pulled the helmet down low and picked up the guard’s blaster rifle. “Next stop, tractor beams … and the installation of some very specialized holocomm gear.”
Han gave him a lopsided smile. “Jacen’s going to get sick of people improving his ship.”