The bowing finished and the Rodians trooped away, gabbling to each other in their native language. Han stepped out into the garden, Scarlet at his side. One of the commanders glanced his way, eyebrows rising in surprise.
Leia turned. Her face was soft and round, her pale cheeks touched with pink. The fake politeness fell away from her, and a tired, sardonic smile pressed her lips thin. She looked from Han to Scarlet and back again.
“This isn’t good news, is it?”
“WE HAVE TO LEAVE,” Han said. “Right now.”
Leia stared at him as if he were gibbering. Her scorn almost had a physical weight to it.
“Fine. You tell her,” Han said to Scarlet, trying to get Leia to look at someone other than him. Scarlet took a step forward, nodding respectfully.
“Princess. We’re trying to track down a criminal named Hunter Maas. He has information that the Empire badly wants to keep quiet.”
“No,” Han said, cutting her off. “No, that’s not what we’re doing at all.”
“I don’t know the name,” Leia said, tapping her chin with one slim finger. “Haven’t met him yet. Is he here at the conference?”
“There is an Imperial strike force looking for him, and they might be jumping in system any minute now,” Han told her.
“I think he will be,” Scarlet said. “Not as an invited delegate, though. He’s got something to sell, so he’ll probably be setting up private meetings and making the rounds at the bars and parties looking for a buyer.”
“Also,” Han said. “A bounty hunter put a tracking device on the Falcon, so he’s probably on his way, too.”
“All right,” Leia said. “I’ll put out inquiries. See if anyone I know has been contacted by him. What information does he have?”
“Or maybe the bounty hunter has sold our location to the Empire for amnesty,” Han said. “Or to Jabba. Really, he’s in a pretty rough spot, and just about anything’s possible, so we should really get our people out of here. Now.”
“He has an initial report from an expedition by Essio Galassian,” Scarlet said.
“I’ve heard about him,” Leia said. “He’s an astrocartographer, isn’t he?”
“And a murderous thug who likes beating people to death with his custom droids. I lived at his compound. He impressed me, but not in a good way.”
“All right,” Leia said. “And I take it we want to buy this stolen report.”
“No,” Han said. “We want to leave.”
“Buy it or steal it,” Scarlet said. “The threat of its leaking has mobilized more Imperial resources than anything I’ve seen.”
“Really?” Leia said. “That’s interesting.”
“I don’t know what it says,” Scarlet said. “But I know I want it.”
Leia nodded to herself, thinking. “Then I want it, too.”
“Chewie will have the ship ready to go in a few hours,” Han said. “So I think we should all head back to the docks now.”
“I’ve got a meeting I have to take,” Leia said. “Once it’s done, I’ll let you know what I’ve found.”
“No, because—” Han started.
“We’ll be here,” Scarlet said and walked away, not waiting for Han.
Leia started to leave, but Han caught her arm and pulled her in close. “This is serious,” he said in a rough whisper. “When that Imperial fleet jumps in, they’re going to kill this Maas and anyone who’s on the same continent with him.”
Leia pulled her arm away. “Don’t grab me.”
“Are you listening to me? Imperial strike force?”
“I heard you,” Leia said, crossing her arms. “But Scarlet Hark’s reputation as an intelligence agent is beyond reproach. She’s spent years on this. If she thinks this Hunter Maas and his information is worth the risk, then it is.”
“But once the Imperials jump in—”
“And,” Leia went on, cutting him off, “this conference is filled with potential allies of the Rebellion, which means we owe it to them to warn them of the danger. In the right way.”
“But—”
“And,” Leia said, “I’m not done here. I have a presentation and a number of important meetings.”
“Well, don’t expect me to come worship at your feet. If giving a speech is more important than—”
“If I leave in the middle of it, I’d have been better off not coming at all. These groups fund the Alliance, Han. Where do you think we get our money? It’s from places like this. Groups that want to end the Empire but don’t have the will or the weapons or the numbers. They give us money so we can do it for them. If we look scared, that’s not going to happen.”
“I didn’t know that,” Han said. The truth was, he’d never much thought about where the rebels got their financing. He’d only ever worried about getting his hands on some of it.
“We’ll figure out this Hunter Maas situation, I’ll cement a few deals for alliances and financing, and we’ll quietly warn the people who need to know about the Empire before their strike force arrives. I can handle this. It’s what I do.”
He looked down into her eyes. He’d forgotten how dark they were. What you do is get in trouble, he wanted to say, but he could already hear half a dozen of her replies. She lifted her eyebrows.
“Yeah,” Han said. “All right, Princess. You talked me into it.”
“Oh,” Leia said with a sweet smile. “I wasn’t asking.”
Han sat in a small, parklike courtyard. Large trees deepened the shadows around cool stone benches and fountains. Patches of grass and carefully tended flowers filled the spaces between gently curving walkways. The space was unoccupied, so Han took a seat on a bench, leaned back against a tree, and stretched out. Above, the thin strip of sky was a pale cerulean blue dotted with puffy white clouds. Kiamurr was a beautiful planet. Han pictured Imperial concussion bombs and plasma bolts tearing down through that serene sky like the thunder of an angry god, the carefully tended landscape turned into a nightmare of smoking craters. The Death Star might be gone, the Empire no longer able to destroy an entire world outright, but they could still turn the surface charred and uninhabitable.
Han watched the blue skies, waiting for the ships to appear, the bombardment to begin.