"Fine," she said, blinking back the tears. "You just turn your back on both me and a fortune. I don't call that smart, Han. I call it stupid. And the idea that a drug runner is putting on moral airs is really laughable, you know?"

"I'm a smuggler," Hah shouted. "We have our own code!"

"Yeah, running drugs for Hutts!" she was yelling too.

"You and Jabba! Birds of a feather!"'

The idea that she would cla.s.s him with the Hutts was the last straw. Han spun around and started to walk away.

"Fine!" she cried. "I'll go see Mako Spince, that's what I'll do. He can't be as dumb as you!"

Her unwitting pun made Han laugh nastily. "Fine," he snarled, not turning around. "Have fun gettin' him to talk. Goodbye, Bria."

He strode away from her, his bootheels clicking against the permacrete, his head high. It felt good to leave her standing there, looking after him.

It felt real good ....

Durga faced Prince Xizor~ image on his comm unit. "Guri has explained your difficulty," the prince said. "I will dispatch two companies of mercenaries under the capable command of Willurn Kamaran to Ylesia. Com-mander Kamaran~ Nova Force will help you keep Teroenza in line until he can be dealt with: Which should be speedily, my friend."

"Thank you, Your Highness," Durga said. "As Guri may have told you, I will share the profits from Ylesia with you this year, to recompense you for your help. Fifteen percent."

The Faleen prince's mouth curved down, and he shook his head sadly. "Durga, Durga... I thought you had some respect for me. Thirty percent for the next two years."

Durga batted his bulbous eyes in disbelief. Worse than I ever imagined/He drew himself up. "Your High-ness, if I granted you that, I would be deposed as leader of Besadii."

"But if you do not have my troops in place, and soon, you will lose Ylesia altogether," the prince pointed out, truthfully.

"Twenty percent, one year," Durga said, feeling ac-tual pain as he spoke the words. "They will not have to be there long, remember."

"Thirty percent, two years," the head of Black Sun said. "I do not negotiate."

Durga drew a deep breath, feeling the ghosts of bruises and injuries from his battle with Jiliac awaken. "Very well," he said, sullenly.

Xizor smiled pleasantly. "Fine. The mercenaries will embark as soon as possible for Ylesia. It is a pleasure doing business with you, my friend."

It took every bit of willpower Durga could summon to say, "Very well, Your Highness. Thank you."

He cut the connection and slumped in despair, imag-ining what Aruk would say to 'all of this. I'm trapped, he thought. Trapped. All I can do is try to make the best of it ....

Han did not sleep well that night. Thoughts of Bria and her proposition raced through his mind like an as-teroid on a collision course. I can't trust her... can I? I don't want to see her... do I?

He dozed, and dreamed of mounds of glitterstim, which mutated without warning into piles of credits. He leaped into those piles, rolled around in them, shouting joyfully, and suddenly Bria was there with him, and he was holding her, rolling over with her, kissing her in the midst of piles and piles and piles of credits . . . more wealth than he'd ever imagined ....

He jerked awake with a gasp, and then lay there, his arms behind his head, staring into the darkness.

Maybe I ought to do it, he thought. This might be my big chance to make that big stake. I could get out... make a bundle, and retire. Find myself a nice little place in the Corporate Sector and just let the Empire go to blazes all by itself....

He lay there, tossing and turning, punching his pil-lows in frustration, until he could stand it no longer. Swinging out of bed, he headed into the 'fresher, then dragged on clean clothes. He 'also combed his hair, re-flecting ruefully that the haircut had gone beyond the realm of "should get one" to "want to be mistaken for Chewie's cousin?"

Then, carrying his boots, he tiptoed out through the dark, silent apartment, not wanting to wake Chewie, or Jarik, who was sleeping on the couch. He was almost at the door when he stubbed his toe on something un-yielding and heard a plaintive electronic bleat.

ZeeZee! Han dropped his boots, swore aloud, then snarled at the antiquated droid, who was babbling apologies in its twittering, querulous voice.

"Shut up!" Han snarled, and slammed out the door. He was back a second later to collect his boots, and then gone again.

The Smuggler's Rest was on the border of the Corel-lian section. Hah arrived there before the place was even open, and had to buzz for the night-clerk. It sud-denly occurred to him that he didn't know what name Bria had registered under, but he'd barely begun to de-scribe her, when the bored clerk brightened. "Oh her," he said, licking his lips. "She expecting you, buddy?"

"Let's just say she'll be glad to see me," Han said, sliding a credit piece across the counter. "Okay, sure. Room 7A."

Han went up in the ancient turbolift, and then walked down the dark, noisome hallway. He tapped on the door. Moments later, he heard her voice, sounding wide-awake. "Who's there?"

"It's me, Bria. Hah," he said.

There was a long pause, then the locks clicked and the door swung open into the darkness. "Come in with your hands up," Bria's voice said.

Han walked in as directed, and only when the door was closed behind him did the lights come on. He turned to find Bria wearing a nightshirt that was too short for her, her blaster in her hand. "What do you want?" Her voice was anything but friendly.

Han found it hard not to look at her long, shapely legs. "Uh... just wanted to talk to you. I've... I'm... reconsidering your proposition."

"You are, eh?" She still didn't look friendly, but at least she lowered the gun. "Okay, give me a minute."

Grabbing her clothes, she disappeared into the 'fresher, and came out again a minute later, fully clothed, down to her boots.

Hah nodded down at her right leg. "What's in ihe boot?"

"Hold-out blaster," she said, with a small, feral smile.

"A nice little ladies' model."

"I see," Han said. He sat down on the edge of the rumpled bed, feeling her warmth still amid the covers. Bria sprawled in the room's single chair. "You go lookin' for Mako 'after we... parted?"

"I made some inquiries," she said, and her mouth twisted. "Found out why you were laughing when you walked away."

"Yeah," Hah said. "Tough break for Mako. I don't know what he'll do now." He cleared his throat. "Any-how, I didn't come here to talk about Mako. I've been thinking about your offer. Maybe I was too hasty. Let's face it... I was sore about the way you dumped me. I had to get that outta my system, maybe."

He hesitated, and she stared at him. Her hair was hanging in wisps around her face, and Hah was glad to realize that it wasn't all chopped off. She must have had it up in a tight bun earlier. She waved at him. "Go on."

"So, uh... yeah. Maybe I shot my mouth off a little, earlier," Han admitted. "Wouldn't be the first time." She widened her eyes. "No! You can't mean it!" Han resolutely ignored the sarcasm. "Anyhow... it won't happen again. So... I want in. I'll give my friends your proposition, and help train your pilots how to deal with the Ylesian atmosphere. I'll bet some of the priva-teers would also want in. I'll talk to 'em in return for what you promised me. Fifty percent of Teroenza's treasure room, or seventy-five thousand credits worth of the spice, whichever is more."

She considered. "And you'll be civil?"

"Yeah," Hah said. "I'm always civil to business part-ners. And that's all this is. Just... business."

Bria nodded. "It's a deal." She leaned forward and offered her hand. "Just business."

Hah took it, reflecting that she had a grip many men would envy. "Okay."

Uurga activated his comm system, and keyed in the codes his parent had given him years ago. He won-dered if they'd still be the correct ones. This was a very important call ....

The connection took several minutes to establish, and it was not a good one. His party must be a long way from the Outer Rim ....

Finally, the picture coalesced. The holo-image of the most famous bounty hunter in the galaxy appeared... wavering, all the edges fuzzy. But Durga could hear Fett's mechanically filtered tones clearly.

"Boba Fett, it is I, Durga, Lord of Besadii," the Hutt said. "Greetings."

"Lord Durga," the fiat voice conveyed nothing . . . not interest, surprise or eagerness. Nothing. "I am a long way from the Outer Rim. What is it?"

"I wish you to take on a Priority bounty," Durga said. "The situation is very delicate, potentially volatile. That is why I need you. I know that you perform exactly as you specify you will. There can be no mistakes in this case. I need the best."

Boba Fett inclined his head. "You are .willing to pay the extra for a Priority bounty? I must be adequately recompensed for turning my attention away from other a.s.signments and concentrating solely on yours."

"Yes, yes, I am," Durga said. "The bounty is on the High Priest of Ylesia, Teroenza. I am willing to pay the sum of two hundred thousand credits."

"Not enough. Three hundred thousand," Boba Fett said. "And I will head back for the Outer Rim immediately."

Durga hesitated, then nodded, "Very well. The tim-ing here is crucial. I wish to have you bring me Teroenza~ horn as proof of his death. But you must wait to make the kill until I have left Nal Hutta and am within five hours of landing on Ylesia. You must kill Teroenza in such a way that none of the other t'landa Til will know of his death for some hours. Otherwise, if the other priests discover that their leader has been killed, they may try to stage a revolt. Understood?"

"Affirmative. Contact you and confirm the timing be-fore making the kill. Make sure no other t'landa Til realize that he is dead."

"Correct." Durga than recited his ship ID codes, and Fett a.s.sured him that he had them.

"I would like to remind you of the terms regarding a Priority bounty," Fett said. "I will concentrate on reach-ing the target you have specified, and will take no other bounties until I have delivered the High Priest~ horn to you. And the Priority bounty for Teroenza is three hun-dred thousand."

"Correct," Durga confirmed.

"Fett out."

The fuzzy holo-image of the armor-clad bounty hunter rippled, then vanished.

' Durga then activated his comm for local frequencies, so he could check in with Zier. His Hutt lieutenant had a.s.sured him that he had narrowed the search for Teroenzag successor down to three t'landa Til. Durga would go to interview them personally, and select the new High Priest of Ylesia.

Durga ruminated about how pleasant it would be to have the b.l.o.o.d.y horn of the High Priest in his two dainty hands. Perhaps he'd have it mounted, and hang it on his wall ....

Over the next two days, Bria Tharen and Han Solo traveled around Nar Shaddaa together, recruiting smugglers and privateers to serve as pilot guides and- in the case of the privateers-potential backup for her Ylesian operation. They stressed the easy pickings to be had on Ylesia, the wealth of spice stockpiled by Besadii.

Both were careful to stick by their "just business" agreement, but Bria sensed a growing tension in Han, and knew that it reflected her own feelings.

He told her about what he'd been doing for the past ten years, and she told him a little about her life with the Resistance. She explained to him that after leaving him on Coruscant, she'd wandered from world to world, constantly fighting her craving for the Exulta-tion. "Two times I actually bought a ticket and stood in line to board a ship back to Ylesia," she said. "And both times when it came down to it, I just couldn't. I stepped out of line and went off and collapsed."

Finally, she'd found a group on CoreIlia that had helped her deal with her addiction, helped her realize why she felt so empty, so driven. "It took me months of hard digging into myself," she said. "Months to figure out why I wanted to hurt myself. I finally got it through my head that just because my mother hated and de-spised me for not being what she wanted me to be, I didn't have to hate myself. I didn't have to destroy my-self in some twisted attempt to please her."

Han, remembering Briag mother, gave her a sympa-thetic glance. "I used to feel cheated that I'll never know who my parents were. That is... until I met your morn, Bria," he said. "There are worse things than be-ing an orphan."

She gave a shaky laugh. "You are right, Han."

Many smugglers and privateers were very intrigued by Bria's proposition, and they signed up droves of them. It didn't hurt that Jabba was backing the enter-prise and urging those who piloted for him to go. Many of the pilots who'd worked for him in some capacity were agreeing to be pilot guides.

All the while, the Rebel Alliance was a.s.sembling ships out in s.p.a.ce so the captains and ground comman-ders could be drilled on the battle plan. After Bria and Han had recruited enough smuggler captains so they'd have at least one smuggler per group of Rebel a.s.sault ships, they took the MiUennium Falcon to rendezvous at the Rebel deep s.p.a.ce coordinates-a spot well off the regular shipping lanes, but within one easy hypers.p.a.ce jump of Ylesia.

Bria was fascinated by the Falcon and suitably im-pressed by her speed and armament. Hah enjoyed showing her around his ship, pointing out all his special modifications. In preparation for this ground a.s.sault, he'd finally gotten around to getting Shug and Chewie to help him install that belly gun he'd wanted for so long. Since this was a ground a.s.sault, there was a good chance that it would come in handy.

When the Falcon was on an approach vector to dock with the Retribution, Bria smiled at Han. "You showed me yours... now let me show you mine," she said.

Han laughed, and it was the most relaxed moment they'd had since they'd met. "Beautiful ship," he said, admiring the Marauder corvette's clean, streamlined sil-houette against the starfield.

They were greeted when they disembarked by the captain of the Retribution, Tedris Bjalin. Han regarded him in astonishment. "Tedris!" he exclaimed, staring at the tall, balding man in the Rebel uniform. "How in the galaxy did you get here?"

Bria looked from one to the other. "You know each other?"

"We sure do," Han said, pumping Tedris's hand, and exchanging backslaps. "Tedris and I graduated in the' same cla.s.s in the Academy."

"It's a long story," Bjalin said. "After what you said to me that time aboard the Destiny, I couldn't help think-ing more and more about how the service was getting as corrupt as the Empire. And then..." his bony features twisted. "Han, I'm from Tyshapahl, remember?"

Han had forgotten. He stared at his old friend, real-ization slowly dawning. "Oh . . . Tedris . . . I'm sorry. Your family?" The Corellian had met Tedris's family, during graduation.

"Killed during the ma.s.sacre," Tedris confirmed. "Af-ter that, I couldn't stay. I knew I had to fight them, any way I could."

Hah nodded.

Bria took Han on a tour of her ship. He was seeing yet another side of her, and, as an ex-military man him-self, was impressed by the discipline and alertness of her troops. The sentients of Red Hand Squadron obvi-ously revered their commander. Hah discovered that many of them were ex-slaves, people willing to give their lives to the mission of freeing those in bondage.

Bria took Han to meet with other Rebel Comman-ders, and they attended several planning sessions for the raid. The Bothans were providing security, and the Sull.u.s.tans had sent ten ships and nearly two hundred troops. In the years since Han and Bria had left Ylesia, Sull.u.s.t had lost many citizens who had gone to Ylesia to become Pilgrims.

In addition to many ships from the Corellian Resis-tance, there were troops from Alderaan (though much of the Alderaanian support was in the form of medical personnel, transport pilots, and other non-combatants) and Chandrila. "It was hard to convince the Alliance that this could be done," Bria confided to Han. "But it's become brutally apparent that our troops need combat experience. I was able to convince HQ that this raid would help the troops gain the confidence to start going up against the Imperials."

All of the Rebel ships from the Outer Rim had been detailed to the raid. Han surveyed the gathering fleet, and conceded that maybe they did have a chance. He wound up giving a number of briefings to the Rebel pi-lots who'd be flying the Rebel a.s.sault landing shuttles into the Ylesian atmosphere.

During his first such briefing, Han ran into yet an-other old friend. "Jalus!" he exclaimed, as the small, droopy-jowled Sull.u.s.tan trooped into the Retribution 's briefing area. "What the heck are you doin' here?" Jalus Nebl pointed to his ragtag Rebel uniform. "What does it look like?" he squeaked. "The Ylesian Dream is now Dream of Freedom, and she's served the Rebellion well for several years now."

Han introduced Bria to the Sull.u.s.tan, and she was pleased to at last meet the brave pilot who had saved them from Helot~ Shackle. The three reminisced about the past, and their daring escape from the slave planet. Both Jalus Nebl and Han were impressed to hear that Bria's group had taken Helotg' Shackle, now renamed Retribution.

The reconditioned Retribution would be flying with the Resistance on this raid, carrying a.s.sault shuttles and backup troops under the command of another Rebel Commander.

As Bria watched Han interact with the Rebel Com-manders and other mission personnel, she realized that she had never been happier. Han seemed to enjoy the chance to return to the old military lifestyle, eating meals in the galley, joking and talking with her troops. They were respectful of his knowledge and his military background as an Imperial officer-especially after Tedris Bjalin recounted some of "Sliek's" wilder es-capades during their Academy days.

She found herself hoping that Han would realize that the Resistance was where he belonged-with the Resis-tance, and with her. Every moment they were together was like coming home, she thought-though she was careful to keep her "just business" distance.

All the while, she wondered what Han was thinking about her....

At the end of their second day with the gathering Rebel fleet in their deep-s.p.a.ce rendezvous, Bria re-ceived a message that she was needed to meet with some potential allies from the Resistance on Ord Man-tell. Han offered to take her there in the Falcon, proud of the chance to show off his ship's speed though the first time he tried to jump into hypers.p.a.ce, the cranky Falcon refused to cooperate. When two elbow-whacks failed to work, Han had to spend several sweaty and embarra.s.sed minutes with a hydrospanner to get his ship to cooperate.

Once they were in hypers.p.a.ce, Bria sat in the co-pilot's seat, watching Han handle his ship, admiring his sureness. "She's a wonderful ship, Han," she said. "I watched you win her, you know."

Han turned to her, surprised. "What? You were there?"

Bria explained about her trip to Bespin during the big sabacc tournament. "I was rooting for you," she said. "When you won, I wanted to-" she recalled her-self, blushed, and fell silent.