Rebel Stand: Enemy Lines II Read Free Page B

Artoo,” Han said. “I can’t take revenge on my wife, so I’ll have to take it on the nearest droid at hand.”
    R2-D2 replied with a distinctly sour set of notes, then Han heard the droid whir away. “What did he say?” Han asked.
    Leia laughed. “I don’t know. But if I were him, it would be,
I’ll go fetch See-Threepio, then.
”
    “Good point.” Han clipped the flow meter to the wires he’d just installed. “You want to power up the holocomm for me?”
    “Are you down there with your head in the holocomm power cables?”
    “Yes.”
    “No.”
    “I can’t tell if the power flow is right if you don’t.”
    “Come on up out of there and leave the meter where you can see the readout.”
    Han growled. He knew, deep in his heart, that nothing could go wrong, that the
Falcon
would never hurt him while he was working on her. He knew this in spite of innumerable minor abrasions, contusions, and electrocutions he’d suffered over the years. But Leia remained stubbornly unconvinced.
    He also knew, from long experience, that Leia was not going to leave until she was sure he wasn’t going to do something she considered foolish. He could either wait here upside down forever, or do it
her
way.
    So he situated the meter where he could see the readout from above. He shoved his way up and out of the access and turned an artificially cheerful smile on Leia. “Happy?”
    “Happy. You’re very red.”
    “That’s what happens when you stay upside down for too long. Could I get you some caf? Something to read? For while you’re here managing this repair operation, that is.” Ignoring sudden dizziness brought on by the flow of blood back out of his head, he stood.
    Leia smiled, not at all put off by his snide comments. “Actually, I just came here to remind you that we need to see Tarc before we take off.”
    “Yeah, I know. I just hate good-byes. Never could figure out how to make them happy.”
    Leia lowered her voice to a whisper. “Speaking of which, do you have any advice on how we’re going to tell Meewalh she can’t come along on this mission? That hovering around me to do bodyguard duties will compromise any disguises that we try to use?”
    Han matched her whisper for whisper. “How about persuading her to take a vacation?”
    “Han.”
    “How about, just before takeoff, we send her out to pick up a bottle of brandy, and then leave while she’s running the errand?”
    “You’re not helping.”
    He smiled and pulled her to him. “You’re not fooling anybody. You know exactly what you’re going to tell her. You just want me to be there when you do it. To back you up. Right?”
    She offered him an expression of mock outrage. “No fair peeking into my mind like that.
    ““Right?”
    Leia sighed and settled against him. “Right.”
    But her expression, though merry, wasn’t entirely without worry, and he knew why. She couldn’t be entirely free from concern with one of their sons recently lost to war, the other missing and presumed by most to be dead, and their only daughter elsewhere in the Pyria solar system on a mission with her squadron. Han wondered if there would ever be a time when Leia’s expression was completely at peace.
Pyria System
    Well within the dovin basal minefield, Jaina and her Twin Suns Squadron caught up with
Mon Mothma
, which was executing a turn back toward Borleias while, in the distance, a Gallofree cargo ship, as pudgy and unlovely as a Hutt in the middle of diving into a pool, edged toward them. Tiny lights winking around the freighter hinted at the battle that still went on, but they were few in number—and ever fewer, as the sensor blips representing coralskippers gradually disappeared from the screen.
    “Twin Suns, this is
Rebel Dream
. Sensors show more skip squadrons incoming, but we think our payload willbe out of the minefield and through with its last microjump before they arrive. It’s going to be close, though, so please stand by.”
    Jaina grinned at