The Joiner King (10 page)

Tarfang stepped into the light and jabbered at Han some more.

“I’m certainly glad we don’t fly on this ship!” C-3PO said. “He says not everyone has credits to waste on repairs!”

Leia stepped to Han’s side. “We apologize, Tarfang.” She flashed one of her old diplomat’s smiles, a bland show of teeth that could have meant anything. “Han didn’t mean to insult you.”

“Yeah,” Han said. “I was just amazed by your bravery.”

Tarfang eyed Han for a moment, then growled deep in his throat and waved them up the ramp.

Han turned to Luke and Mara. “You sure about this?”

“Not really,” Luke said. He smiled and clapped Han on the shoulder. “We weren’t expecting you and Leia.”

“Yeah, well … 
anybody
can bust up a pirate ring,” Han said. “But Jaina—we figured you’d need the help.”

“We might,” Mara said with a laugh. She kissed him on the cheek. “Good to see you, Han.”

They exchanged greetings all around, then climbed the boarding ramp into a surprisingly tidy air lock with all proper emergency equipment neatly stowed in a transparisteel rescue locker. Beyond the hatch, the interior of the main access corridor was lit only by two of the waxy shine-balls the bugs used for illumination.
By the green glow, Han could see that the durasteel floor panels had been sanibuffed a little
too
well. There was a telltale shadow where the “invisible” seams came together over the smuggling compartments.

Tarfang was waiting a few steps up the corridor. He grunted and waved them into the main cabin. Given the ship’s dim lighting, Han expected to find some fierce, dark-loving being like a Defel waiting inside.

Instead, kneeling in front of an open engineering panel was a little jug-eared Sullustan in a set of carbon-smeared utilities. He was busy soldering powerfeeds to a new master control board, though Han could not imagine how even a Sullustan could see to work by the light of the single shine-ball stuck to the wall above him.

Tarfang went to the Sullustan’s side and, coming to attention, cleared his throat.

“Go on.” The Sullustan spoke without looking away from his work. “I’m listening.”

Tarfang launched into a lengthy explanation, gesturing at Saba and Luke even though the Sullustan’s attention remained fixed on the control board. Finally, the captain finished the attachment he was working on and turned to his visitors.

“I’m Jae Juun, captain of the
XR-eight-oh-eight-g
.”

“XR-eight-oh-eight-g?”
Han asked. “What kind of name is that?”

“It’s a Galactic Alliance registration number, of course.” Juun frowned and squinted in the direction of Han’s voice, but Han was standing well back in the shadows, where even a Sullustan’s sensitive eyes would have trouble with the contrast between light and darkness. “You haven’t heard of the
XR-eight-oh-eight-g
?”

“Should we have?” Leia asked.

Juun pasted on a small Sullustan smirk. “Not if I’ve been doing my job.”

“You’re succeeding beyond your wildest dreams,” Han said.

Leia grabbed the back of his elbow and squeezed in warning, but the Sullustan merely smiled in pride.

“Tarfang tells me you’re looking for someone to help you catch your friends.”

“To find them,” Luke corrected.

“I see. Well, it makes no difference.” Juun cast an annoyed glance in Tarfang’s direction. “I’m afraid my first mate sometimes exceeds his authority.”

Tarfang asked something in a disbelieving tone.

“It’s not the mate’s responsibility to raise funds,” Juun replied. “You let me worry how we’re going to pay for that vortex stabilizer.”

“A warp vortex stabilizer?” Han asked. “For a YT this old? It can’t be easy to come by one of those out here.”

“Not at a fair price,” Juun agreed. “I’ve had one brought in, but I’m two hundred credits short of the shipping fees.”

“Not if you help us, you’re not,” Han said, stepping into the light. “We can pay you the two hundred credits.”

Juun’s mouth fell. “I knew that was your voice!” He turned to Tarfang. “Why didn’t you tell me Han Solo was with them?”

Tarfang sneered in Han’s direction and prattled an answer.

“Yes, but this is
Han Solo
!” The Sullustan rose and thrust a hand out. “The
XR-eight-oh-eight-g
follows all your procedures, and I’ve memorized all your combat maneuvers from the history vids.”

“Uh, I wouldn’t trust everything I see in those holovids,” Han said, allowing the Sullustan to shake his hand. “Now, about that help …”

“I’d like to help you.” Juun’s voice grew disappointed, and he turned back to his work. “But it wouldn’t be proper.”

“Proper?” Han echoed. That particular word encompassed everything he hated about Sullustans. “Why not?”

“Because I have an arrangement with our hosts, and evidently they don’t want you to find your friends.”

Tarfang groaned and slapped his brow.

“We can’t ignore the wishes of our business partners,” Juun said to the Ewok. “We have a deal.”

“A deal you can’t keep until you find two hundred credits,” Han said. “How long are they willing to wait?”

“We
are
facing a bit of a dilemma,” Juun admitted.

“What if we were to buy a copy of your charts?” Luke asked.

Juun shook his head. “My charts wouldn’t help you. Your friends went to Yoggoy.”

“And you don’t know where Yoggoy is?” Luke asked.

“Nobody does,” Juun said. “The Yoggoy are very proud and secretive. They hide the location of their nest from outsiders.”

Saba glared down at Tarfang. “Then why did you say you could help us find our friendz?”

Tarfang jabbered an answer.

“Because the
XR-eight-oh-eight-g
has been assigned a cargo for Yoggoy,” C-3PO translated, “and when a ship is assigned a cargo for Yoggoy, it is also assigned a Yoggoy to serve as its navigator for the trip.”

“Fine,” Leia said. Even she seemed to be losing patience. “Help us get a cargo, and we’ll pay you for consulting.”

Tarfang rattled off a long response, which C-3PO translated as, “Tarfang suggests you simply give Captain Juun the money. They’ll check on our friends and give us a report when they return.”

“Sure they will.” Han turned to the others, then nodded toward the door. “We’re wasting our time here.”

Luke motioned Han to wait, his gaze fixed on Tarfang. Han realized for the first time that Mara was no longer with them; under circumstances like these, she had an uncanny knack for slipping away unnoticed.

Finally, Luke turned back to Han. “Tarfang’s not trying to swindle us, Han. He really does want to work out an honest deal.”

Tarfang snarled something at the Jedi Master.

“He wasn’t stealing your thoughts,” C-3PO said to the Ewok. “Master Luke is not a thief.”

Tarfang whirled on the droid and yapped a command.

“Very well. But I wouldn’t blame him if he used his light-saber on you.” C-3PO turned to Luke. “Tarfang is threatening to remove your eyes if you do that again.”

“Oh,
that
scares him,” Han said to the Ewok. “You want to make a deal? Here it is: two hundred credits to get us a cargo.”

To Han’s surprise, it was Saba who answered. “He can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because Lizil wouldn’t allow it,” Luke said. “He—or she—doesn’t want us to find Jaina and the others.”

“They,” Juun corrected.

Luke frowned. “What?”

“They,”
Juun said.

The Sullustan continued to work, soldering what looked like the rear hold powerfeed onto the main cabin output. Han would have said something, but he had long ago learned never to tell another captain how to maintain his own ship. Besides, anyone who looked at the
Falcon
’s main control board would probably have just as many doubts about his work as he was having about Juun’s.

“Lizil isn’t their leader.” Juun looked up from his work, dragging the hot tip of his soldering iron across the flux-inhibitor circuitry. “Lizil is
them
.”

“They all share one name?” Leia asked.

“In a sense, but it’s more than that. The way they think of it, they’re all Lizil together. Lizil is the nest, but so are all of the members.”

“They don’t have an individual sense of identity?” Leia asked.

“I think that’s so,” Juun said. “But I’m not really current on my xenobiological definitions.”

Tarfang chortled something helpful sounding.

“Master Tarfang says that it’s only important to remember that when you say
Lizil
, you might be talking about the entire nest or any of its members.”

Tarfang chattered something impatient.

“And you’ll never be sure which,” C-3PO added.

“Cozy,” Han said. “So why doesn’t Lizil want us to find Jaina?”

When Juun hesitated, Tarfang let out a long, urgent chitter.

“But nobody said it
wasn’t
secret,” Juun countered.

“You are being rockheaded,” Saba rasped. “Something is only secret if—”

“Hold on,” Han said to Saba. The Sullustan mind was as stubborn as it was methodical, and the Barabel would only delay things by browbeating Juun. “It
is
a bit unclear.”

Saba glared at Han out of one dark eye.

“There are your implied agreements and your tacit obligations.” Han turned to Juun. “Am I right?”

The Sullustan nodded rapidly. “Only captains understand these things.”

“True,” Han said. “But aren’t you smugglers, too?”

Tarfang grunted an affirmative.

“There you have it, then,” Han said. He looked back to Juun. “You have to answer me.”

“I do?”

“Yeah.” Han allowed some of the impatience he was feeling to show in his voice. “The Smuggler’s Code says so.”

Juun looked back to his work and casually asked, “The Smuggler’s Code?”

“Item seven?” Han prompted.
“I swear to help other smugglers, as long as it don’t cost
me
?
”

“Yes, of course.” Juun’s beady-eyed gaze flicked back and forth across the master control board. It was impossible that he actually knew the Smuggler’s Code—Han was making it up—but nothing embarrassed most Sullustans more than admitting they did not know proper procedures. “Item seven. I’d almost forgotten.”

“I think that clears things up,” Leia said. She flashed Han an approving smile, then sat on her haunches beside Juun. “So what’s Lizil trying to hide?”

Juun began to solder the forward loading door’s powerfeed to the forward loading door’s control circuit. “You have seen the Joiners?”

Han expected Leia to shake her head, but she seemed to sense something from her brother and allowed Luke to respond for her.

“You mean Lizil’s translators?”

“Not translators,” Juun said. “
Joiners.
They’re Lizil, too.”

Saba lowered her scaly brow. “How can that be?” she rasped. “Most of them do not even have six limbz!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Juun said. “They’ve been absorbed.”

“Absorbed?” Han was having trouble following the conversation now, probably because he had not yet seen any of these “Joiners.” “Absorbed
how
?”

“Mentally, I suspect,” Luke said, keeping his eyes on Juun. “Is it some sort of brainwashing?”

Juun shrugged. “All I know is that when someone spends too long in a nest, he gets absorbed.”

“You’re saying that my daughter thinks she’s some kind of bug?” Han demanded, taking a step forward. “And you
weren’t
going to tell me?”

Juun jumped up and stepped behind Leia. “It’s not my fault!”

“Take it easy, Han,” Luke said. “We don’t know that has happened.”

“Do we know it hasn’t?” Han countered.

“Now
you
are being a rockhead,” Saba said. “We know nothing, not even where they are.”

Saba’s intervention reminded Han that he and Leia weren’t the only ones with a child at risk. Her son, Tesar, was one of the Jedi Knights who had followed Jaina into the Unknown Regions.

“Sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” Han touched Saba’s back—then swallowed hard, remembering that touching a Barabel uninvited was a good way to lose an arm. “Sometimes, I forget they’re Jedi.”

“Not to worry.” Saba thumped a scaly hand down on his shoulder. “This one forgetz sometimez, too.”

A moment of silence hung in the air as they recalled all they had lost at Myrkr, Anakin and Bela and Krasov and the others, and Han thought he could almost feel Saba reaching for him in the Force, trying to lend him the strength to have faith in his daughter’s abilities, to recall that she was a Jedi Knight and an ace star pilot and a hero as big in her war as he and Leia had been in theirs. It was not an easy thing for a father to keep in mind, but it was true, and—as Leia always said—in truth there was strength.

“All right already,” Han said, motioning Juun back to the control board. “You can go back to work. I’m better.”

Leia gave him an understanding wink, then turned back to Juun. “What does Lizil need with a group of Jedi Knights?”

“I don’t know,” Juun said. “But they left with Unu.”

“Unu?”

“The central nest,” Juun said. “Your daughter and the others were met by an escort of Unu guards.”

“
More
bugs?” Han had a sinking feeling. “Great.”

“Then there’s an
organization
of nests?” Leia asked Juun.

The Sullustan nodded. “The Colony.”

Han thought he was beginning to understand. “How big?”

Juun pulled a datapad from beneath his utilities, then began punching keys. “I have heard three hundred and seventy-five names.”

Luke whistled. “Enough to stretch from here to the Chiss frontier. Now this is beginning to make some sense.”

“How do you figure?” Han asked.

“The situation isn’t complicated,” Leia said. “The Colony is rubbing borders with the Chiss empire. It’s pretty clear why the central nest might want a team of Jedi Joiners on their side—especially this particular team.”

“Jedi commandos are good equalizers,” Han agreed. “But what I want to know is how the Colony got them to come out here in the first place.”

Several moments passed with no answer, and finally their gazes began to drift toward Juun. Tarfang’s eyes darted from one to the other of them, and finally he jabbered an angry denial.