Too late. Blue Two became shattered history.

Four of the Bothan ships looped away in pretty good formation, Dash in the Outrider in tandem with them.

Luke was close enough to see the missile port on top of the freighter blow a cloud of gas into s.p.a.ce that crystallized and glittered under the local sun's light.

"He's got a missile off!" Luke yelled.

"I got it," Dash said. "I'll hammer that spike into sc.r.a.p."

Luke watched Dash's ship roll and dive, and his robotic guns began spewing coherent bolts of energy. He couldn't see the missile, but he saw Dash continuing his attack, saw the guns spraying their hardlight spears.

"Blast!" Dash said. "I've got to be hitting it! Why doesn't it stop?"

"Dash! Come on!" Luke yelled.

"Shut up, I've got it, stop, you blasted piece of junk, stop!"

"Move, Dash!"

"No, I'll get it!"

"Incoming!" Blue Six yelled. "Scatter!"

The four fighters tried to split up, separated like an opening fist. Too late. The missile exploded among them, and when the blast cleared, all four ships, eight Bothans, were gone. "I can't have missed," Dash said, his voice incredulous. "I can't."

Luke's anger swept over him as he put the X-wing into a sharp and twisting turn. He headed right at the freighter. Six of his squadron had been destroyed, just like that. And Dash, hotshot Dash, he'd screwed up royally. If it hadn't cost lives, Luke would have felt that the braggart got what he deserved. If he'd had any doubts that the crew of the freighter knew what they carried, they were gone now.

He was too incensed to use the Force. He ignored the energy beams stabbing at him, ignored Artoo's cacophony of whistles and bleats, ignored everything but the engine compartment of the freighter under his guns. Fired. Fired again and again. Saw the radiation absorbed by the shields, saw the blue glow brighten. Saw the force field give way under his attack. Saw the engine compartment rupture, smoke, flash red and purple as his laser beams baked and killed it.

"I couldn't have missed," Dash said. He sounded dazed. "Stow that, Dash,"

Luke ordered. "It's too late to worry about it now. Get ready to bring your ship in."

Luke switched channels. To the freighter, he said, "Your engines are dead, Captain, and that's what you and your crew will be if you fire another laser or missile, do you copy?"

A brief pause. "We copy."

"You are hereby considered prisoners of war. Stand by to be boarded. If you value your lives, best you don't mess with your real cargo. If anything happens to it, you will suffer the same fate."

Luke shut off his comm. Oh, man. He'd lost half his squad. He should have known it was too easy to be true. A dozen Bothans had died to secure this vessel and its computer. He should have been ready for a trick. He should have known better than to trust the Empire. He should have realized that Dash was more talk than substance.

He was a lousy commander. Every time he went out, he lost people. And there was n.o.body else to blame for this. Yeah, Dash had failed him, but it was his responsibility, he was the commander of the mission. He'd thought it would be so easy. A piece of cake, he'd told Dash.

Yeah. He was too c.o.c.ky, too self-confident, too certain the Force would show him the right path. Wrong. On some level, it made him angry. The Force didn't always come when he needed it.

But the dark side would be there if you needed it. Always. Oh no you don't. Don't even think about going down that road.

But it was tempting. All that power. He had felt it...

He shook his head. He hoped whatever was in the computer the freighter was carrying was worth what it had cost to collect it. It had better be.

19.

Avaro sent a menial to tell them that the representative from Black Sun had arrived. He offered to provide a room, and Leia politely declined.

She'd had Lando rent a place two casinos away from here, and he and the droid had recently checked it carefully for spy devices. She trusted Avaro about as far as she could throw him.

"Tell her to meet us at the Next Chance," she told the flunky, who bowed and left.

Leia approached Chewie where he was playing a board game with Threepio, the other gamblers in the place having been convinced it was wiser to let the Wookiee win than not.

"Let's go, boys. We have company." Chewie and Threepio stood and followed her from the casino.

Lando was on the way to their rented suite, to do another fast pa.s.s on the place and to set up security. He'd be hiding with his blaster drawn when the Black Sun rep showed up. Chewie would watch the door from the hall, and Threepio would stay with her.

Outside, the day had shaded into early night, damp and hot still, and the facades of the gambling casinos might not have seemed quite so run-down if not for the garish lighting installed on the exteriors. Clear plastic pipes full of electroreactive gases that glowed in a dozen different colors, most of them bright, cast multicolored glare and shadows in all directions. The lights went with the rest of it: Everything in the complex seemed to be artificial; even the bioengineered lawns and shrubbery looked fake.

Somewhere in the darkness somebody yelled. Leia heard the sound of boots running, followed by more hoa.r.s.e screams. She touched the b.u.t.t of her blaster, tucked into a holster inside the waistband of her pants. Even with Chewie looming over her, she felt better knowing she had a weapon.

The night here was as dangerous as a skirmish with the Empire. People who had lost big money gambling sometimes did desperate things. The local news stat listed the number of murders on its back page every morning-a slaying had to be particularly gruesome or spectacular to make the front of the stat.

They arrived at the Next Chance without incident, however, and went straight to the suite.

Lando, blaster in hand, met them at the door when they buzzed.

"Everything set?"

"Yes," he said. He waved at the suite's meeting room. There was a desk with a computer inset at one end of the room, two couches, three chairs, and a small table. A bar and a cooler were tucked into the corner opposite the door. Two sliding doors led to the refresher and an adjoining bedroom. "I'll be behind the bedroom door," Lando said. "In case the Black Sun rep needs to use the refresher."

"Good. Chewie, you've got the hall."

Chewbacca nodded and moved out into the hall, his bowcaster slung over his back. "Okay, Threepio, you stand over there, next to the bar."

Leia moved to the desk and sat behind it. Might as well try to keep this on a businesslike basis. She sat, took a deep breath, blew it out.

She'd met with Alliance officials, generals, heads of planets, as well as Imperial governors and Senators, so rank didn't scare her. But she'd never had a face-to-face meeting with a major underworld player before.

At least not that she knew about. She was a little nervous. She didn't know quite what to expect.

Chewie called from the hallway.

Sounded as if their caller had arrived.

"Send her in," Leia said.

The door opened.

The computer was the size of a small carrying case. It was black and nearly featureless, save for a control panel along one edge. Koth Melan held the thing easily on his palms.

They were on board the Outrider in the ship's lounge. Dash sprawled on a built-in chair, staring at the wall, not saying anything. He was stunned at his failure to stop the missile that had taken out four of the Ywings. As much as Luke had wanted to see Dash taken down a notch, that was not how he would have seen it done. Dash was disappointed that he wasn't as good as he'd thought he was, but at least he was alive - more than he could say about half his attack unit.

Luke also stared, but at the small computer. Once again, he hoped whatever was in it was worth the lives of a dozen Bothans.

"Can you access the program?" Melan shook his head. "No. It will be encrypted and protected by an automatic destruct device. Only an expert can circ.u.mvent the wards. Our best team is on Kothlis, a Bothan colony world a few light-years from here. We'll transport it there and find out what we've got."

"I'd like to go along," Luke said.

"Of course. I'll give you coordinates; you can reach it easily in your X-wing."

"Dash?" The man didn't answer but continued to stare at nothing. This had really hit him hard. Luke even felt sorry for him.

"Dash," he said again.

Dash blinked, as if coming out of a trance. "Huh?"

Luke had seen it before. Battle shock.

To Melan, Luke said, "Are we apt to run into any Imperial problems on the way to Kothlis?" Melan shrugged. "Who can say? It is possible."

"Would it be possible for your organization to locate Princess Leia?"

"As of yesterday, she was at Avaro Sookcool's casino in the gambling complex on Rodia."

Luke shook his head. These guys were good. He looked at Dash. He couldn't bring him along, not the way he was now. He was too rattled.

"Dash..."

"I had it in my sights," Dash said. "No way I could have missed."

"Dash!"

"Huh? What?"

"Go to Rodia. Find Princess Leia and tell her about the computer and the secret plans. You got it?"

"I should go with you."

"No, it's more important that you find the princess." Luke felt as if he were talking to a child.

Dash blinked. Stared at Luke. "All right. Rodia. Plans. Got it."

"We'll meet later," Luke said. "Okay?"

"Meet you later, uh-huh."

"You going to be all right?"

"Yeah."

Luke turned back to Melan, who looked sympathetic. "It is war," Melan said. "Bad things happen." Luke nodded. One more thing the Empire had to answer for.

Whatever she had been expecting, Leia thought, Guri was not it.

The woman from Black Sun was gorgeous, strikingly beautiful, with long, blond hair and a trim figure. She wore a short black cloak over black thinskins and calf boots, with a belt of pebbly red leather slung low over her hips. If she had a weapon Leia couldn't spot it. She moved with the grace of a professional dancer.

She sat across from Leia and smiled. When she spoke, Guri's voice was cool and even: "How may we serve you, Princess?"

Leia repressed a smile. Direct and to the point, this woman. But Leia had been too long a diplomat to blurt out what she wanted to a stranger.

There needed to be some ritual circling, a few feints, a bit of misdirection. One did not leap from a high cliff into unknown waters; there could be dangerous things lurking just under the surface. It was a good idea to probe carefully first. She didn't know anything about this icy blonde, what her status was in her organization, what their goals were, what they wanted from those they dealt with. While the Alliance would not enter into a partnership with criminals, Leia was not above using whatever eyes and ears she needed to keep Luke alive, and she did not represent the Alliance in this meeting-though she would keep that to herself.

"I understand that Black Sun has a first-rate intelli-gence-gathering capability," she said. Guri flashed a smile. "We hear things from time to time."

"Care for some refreshment?" Leia nodded toward the bar and Threepio.

Guri looked that way. "Tea, if it is not too much trouble. Hot."

Leia looked at Threepio. "And the same for me, please."

"At once," Threepio said. He began making the tea.

"Your flight was pleasant?" Leia said.

Guri smiled. "Very. I trust that Avaro has made your wait here equally pleasant?"

Well, at least she knew how to play this game. It had been a while since Leia had occasion to sit and chat with another woman, being around all these men and males lately. They would have tea, they would dance their diplomatic dance, and eventually work their way to matters of substance.

Like Lando's card game, it was wiser to keep your hand hidden until you had some knowledge of the other players.

The tea came and went; the conversation stayed bland, and while there was nothing upon which Leia could put a ringer, something was wrong. Guri didn't feel right, somehow. She was polite, well-mannered, willing to follow Leia's lead in the game they played, and despite all that, Leia wanted to be rid of her visitor.

What was it?

So far, they hadn't come anywhere near the subject of Luke, and eventually she'd have to work her way to that, but not yet. Not until she could get some handle on what was bothering her about the woman from Black Sun.

"We are more than willing to accommodate the Alliance," Guri said, leaning back in her chair. She looked so relaxed. Much more so than Leia felt herself. "We would not be unhappy if the Empire were to lose this war and the Alliance were to ascend to power."

"The Alliance might be worse than the Empire, as far as criminal organizations are concerned," Leia said."

Let's see how she handles that.

Guri shrugged. "The truth is, Black Sun is less andless interested in illegal activities. Most of our revenuethese days comes from investments in legitimate indus-? tries and strictly legal operations. There are many in our organization who would have it become completely aboveboard, nothing under the table. Such a thing is difficult under the weight of the Empire. Perhaps under the Alliance the transition might be better effected."