Star Wars: The New Rebellion (65 page)

“He sounds like a delightful creature.”

“He was too big and pesky to be delightful,” Leia said. “And it took him two days to digest the ysalamiri. Mara, Luke, and I were stuck in the
Falcon
, playing holographic games while Han and Chewie argued about who would repair the damage.”

“They must have fixed it.”

Leia grinned. “They did. After Mara threatened to shoot them both.”

Mon Mothma laughed. They stopped in front of the ballroom door. Mon Mothma put her hand on Leia’s arm. “You realize that some of the senators are saying Threepio and Artoo should be deactivated for taking such initiative. They also want action taken against Cole Fardreamer. The theft of the freighter has them all disturbed. They’ll try to make that the first order of business.”

Leia glanced at the closed doors. The last time she had gone into a Senate Chamber dressed like this, she had been worried about the petty backbiting of the senators. The explosion had come out of the blue, had ruined so many lives, and had made those worries seem trivial.

Kueller. His youthful face would haunt her longer than his death mask would.

His actions would haunt her longer still.

He had taken so many lives without a single thought. And it had taken so much to defeat him. She would do everything she could in her position as Chief of State to see that no other monsters like him were created under her watch.

And the first order of business would be to make sure no truth got distorted by opportunistic politicians.

“They won’t succeed in deactivating the droids,” she said. “Artoo and Threepio are heroes. I have some ideas about changing the laws regarding droids. And they won’t touch Cole Fardreamer. He discovered the flaws in the new X-wings. It’s on his suggestion that we’re returning to the older models. I’ll take care of all of this. I also have some bridge building to do.”

“Sounds like a busy day,” Mon Mothma said.

“It can’t be too busy,” Leia said. “Luke is having his last bacta treatment this afternoon, and I plan to be there when he wakes up. Then I am going home. Han promised dinner for me.”

“And no children until tomorrow,” Mon Mothma said.

Leia smiled. “A person always has to make the best of every situation,” she said.

“Oh, you do, Leia,” Mon Mothma said.

The moment had suddenly gotten too serious for Leia. She put her arm around Mon Mothma’s waist. “A whole new chapter in here,” Leia said.

“Yes,” Mon Mothma said. “And the first order of business is for me to step down and you to regain your post.”

“Think they’ll ratify my return?” Leia asked.

“Without dissent,” Mon Mothma said.

Then they opened the door to the temporary Senate Hall. Leia was already planning her speech. It would be different from the one she had planned so long ago. This one would be about unity and respect.

She would set the tone for the new Senate term.

And this time, she would do it right.

KRISTINE KATHRYN RUSCH is an award-winning mystery, romance, science fiction, and fantasy writer. She has written many novels under various names, including Kristine Grayson for romance, and Kris Nelscott for mystery. Her novels have made the bestseller lists, and have been published in fourteen countries and thirteen different languages. Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award. She is the only person in the history of the science fiction field to have won a Hugo award for editing and a Hugo award for fiction. Her short work has been reprinted in sixteen Year’s Best collections. She is the former editor of the prestigious The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Before that, she and Dean Wesley Smith, started and ran Pulphouse Publishing, a science fiction and mystery press in Eugene. She lives and works on the Oregon Coast.

Visit her online at
kriswrites.com

Works by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Science Fiction

Star Wars

Star Wars: The New Rebellion

Diving Universe Series

Diving Into the Wreck

City of Ruins

Boneyards

The Spires of Denon
(Short Novel)

The Retrieval Artist Series

The Disappeared

Extremes

Consequences

Buried Deep

Paloma

The Recovery Man

The Recovery Man’s Bargain
(Short Novel)

Duplicate Effort

The Possession of Paavo Deshin
(Short Novel)

The Retrieval Artist
(Short Novel)

Alien Influences

Fantasy Novels

The Fey Series

The Fey: Sacrifice

The Fey: Changeling

The Fey: The Rival

The Fey: Resistance

The Fey: Victory

The Black Throne Series

The Black Queen

The Black King

The White Mists of Power

Heart Readers

Traitors

Façade

The Devil’s Churn

Sins of the Blood

Fantasy Life

Written As Kristine Grayson

Utterly Charming

Thoroughly Kissed

Completely Smitten

Simply Irresistible

Absolutely Captivated

Totally Spellbound

Wickedly Charming

Mystery Novels

Hitler’s Angel

Spree

Written as Kris Nelscott

The Smokey Dalton Series

Dangerous Road

Smoke-Filled Rooms

Thin Walls

Stone Cribs

The War at Home

Days of Rage

Other Novels

The Death of Davy Moss

You saw the movies. You watched the cartoon series, or maybe played some of the video games. But did you know …

In
The Empire Strikes Back
, Princess Leia Organa said to Han Solo, “I love you.” Han said, “I know.” But did you know that they actually got married? And had three Jedi children: the twins, Jacen and Jaina, and a younger son, Anakin?

Luke Skywalker was trained as a Jedi by Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda. But did you know that, years later, he went on to revive the Jedi Order and its commitment to defending the galaxy from evil and injustice?

Obi-Wan said to Luke, “For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire.” Did you know that over those millennia, legendary Jedi and infamous Sith Lords were adding their names to the annals of Republic history?

Yoda explained that the dreaded Sith tend to come in twos: “Always two, there are. No more, no less. A Master, and an apprentice.” But did you know that the Sith didn’t always exist in pairs? That at one time in the ancient Republic there were as many Sith as Jedi, until a Sith Lord named Darth Bane was the lone survivor of a great Sith war and created the “Rule of Two”?

All this and much, much more is brought to life in the many novels and comics of the
Star Wars
expanded universe. You’ve seen the movies and watched the cartoon. Now venture out into the wider worlds of
Star Wars
!

Turn the page or jump to the
timeline
of
Star Wars
novels to learn more.

A
ll right, Chewie, try it now.” Han Solo stuffed the comlink back in his pocket and stepped back a bit from the
Millennium Falcon
, an anxious look on his face. It
ought
to work this time. But that was what they had figured the time before, and the time before that. He could see into the
Falcon’
s cockpit viewports from where he stood, and Chewbacca didn’t look all that confident, either. He saw Chewbacca reach for the lift controls. Han realized that he had been holding his breath, and forced himself to exhale.

The
Millennium Falcon
shifted slightly on her hard stand, then rose slowly into the evening air. Chewie took her up until the landing pads were at Han’s eye level, and held her there.

Han pulled out the comlink again and spoke into it. “That’s good,” he said. “Good. Now engage the shields.” The air all around the
Falcon
seemed to shimmer a bit, and then steadied down.

Han stepped back just a bit farther, not wishing to be all
that
close when Chewie cut the repulsors. “All right, Chewie, repulsors—off!”

The glow of the repulsors dimmed, and the
Falcon
dropped abruptly—and stopped, suspended in midair, with the landing pads waist-high off the ground. Sparks and scintillations flared and flickered here and there on the hard stand as the shields’ energy webs shifted under stress.

“Good,” Han said. “Very good.” Short of firing a turbo-laser at the ship from point-blank range, it was about as good a field test of overall shield strength as you could ask for. If the shields could support the weight of the ship, then they could—

Suddenly the sparking grew brighter, fiercer, just under the number-two landing pad. “Chewie! Repulsors on! It’s going to—”

With a shuddering flash of light, the rear shields blew out. The aft landing pads slammed into the hard stand with a bone-rattling impact that sent Han sprawling. The forward end of the ship hung in midair as the rear half bounced on its jacks, back up into the air.

Just as the rear of the ship was at the peak of its travel, the forward shields died. In the same instant the forward repulsors flared to life. The rear repulsors came on, lighting a split second after the forward units, and flickering a bit. Getting slammed into the pavement like that hadn’t done the rear repulsor coils any good, that was for sure. Still, Chewie had timed the recovery nicely. Han had seen ships flipped onto their backs trying to recover from a failed shield hover.

Chewie brought the
Falcon
back down to a gentle landing and cut the repulsors. A moment later the gangway lowered itself and Chewie came out, clearly none too happy with the situation. He made a loud bugling noise, turned back up the gangway, and returned a moment later carrying a shield-tuning set.

That was not good. After all the years Han had spent with Chewie, he knew better than to let a frustrated Wookiee vent his feelings on a repair job. He was just as likely to tear the shield generator out by the roots as he was to retune it. “Ah, maybe that’s not such a good idea, Chewie. Leave it for now. We’ll come back to it tomorrow.”

Chewbacca roared and threw the tool kit down.

“I know, I know, I know,” Han said. “It’s taking longer than it should, and you’re tired of tweaking up subsystems that we optimized last week. But that’s the way it is on a ship like the
Falcon
. She’s a finely tuned instrument. Everything affects everything else. Adjust one system and everything else reacts. The only way not to go through this would be to scrap her and start over—and you don’t want to scrap the
Falcon
, do you?”

Chewie looked back toward the ship with an expression that told Han not to press his luck on that point. The Wookiee had never felt as deeply for the
Falcon
as Han had, and even Han knew the old girl would have to be retired someday. Sooner or later it would be the scrap heap for her—or a museum, more likely.
That
was an odd thought, but after all, the
Falcon
had made more than her share of history.

But just now the key thing was to get Chewbacca calmed down, or away from the shield system—or, preferably, both.

“Tomorrow,” Han said. “Back at it tomorrow. For now, let’s leave it, all right? Leia’s probably waiting dinner on us, anyway.”

The mention of food seemed to brighten Chewbacca up—as Han had intended that it do. Wookiee management was a full-time chore, and then some. Now and then Han wondered just how much effort Chewbacca put into Han management. But that was another point to consider later. It was time to knock off for the day.