TWELVE.

The oily, metallic smell of the maintenance bay reminded Luke of days spent repairing his uncle's speeder on Tatooine. He used to love hunching over equipment, looking for the small variances that would improve speed or accuracy.

Another world. Another time.

R2 moved silently behind him, inching closer the deeper they went into the bay. The Orders and Requisitions area had told Luke to come down here; all they had been able to confirm was that his X-wing was receiving routine maintenance as requested.

The main bay was empty except for several disa.s.sembled X-wings. R2 wheeled his way toward the double maintenance doors and whistled.

"All right, R2," Luke said. "I'll go there if I can't find anyone. But let's wait." His patience was rewarded a moment later when a young blond man-a boy, really-in mechanic's clothing sauntered out of the back. He was wiping his hands on a formerly white cloth when he saw Luke.

"This is a restricted area," the boy said. He wasn't much older than Luke had been when his aunt and uncle died.

"I know," Luke said. "I was sent by Orders and Requisitions. Apparently you have my X-wing down here." The boy shrugged. "If we do, we're working on it. It'll be done as soon as we can get to it."

"It's not supposed to be here. "

"You'll need to take that up with Orders-"Look." Luke stepped into the light, his Jedi cloak flowing behind him. "I don't have time for this kind of runaround. I need the X-wing this afternoon. I was told it's in pieces-"

"Then you won't get it until it's done. I'm sorry. Orders should never have sent you down here."

"Perhaps not," Luke said. "But they did. Let's see if we can resolve this, shall we?" The boy looked up. Apparently he hadn't expected Luke to be reasonable. R2 moved closer. "Your astromech unit shouldn't be here either, you know."

"I know," Luke said. "But I need my X-wing today. R2 works it with me."

The boy pursed his lips as if the idea disgusted him. "You really didn't plan to have your X-wing here, did you?"

"No," Luke said. "Just regular maintenance, as I always do when I come to Coruscant."

"Didn't you see the memo from General Antilles?" Wedge? What had Wedge to do with Luke's X-wing? "Apparently not," Luke said.

"Routine maintenance includes upgrading all X-wings to current clean fighter status."

"That sounds costly," Luke said.

The boy frowned. "Where did you say you came from?"

"I didn't," Luke said. "Where can I find Wedge?"

"General Antilles?" The boy gasped at Luke's forwardness. "I don't know.

I've never spoken to the man. Do you know him?" Luke grinned. "A bit. We were in the same squadron at the Battle of Yavin." The boy dropped his rag. "Forgive me, sir. I had no idea. I - uh-I can leave a message for him on the system."

"I can contact him myself if you just lead me to my ship."

"Sir, the area is restricted."

"We've been through this before," Luke said. "My name is Luke Skywalker.

All I want is to see the state of my X- wing and-"

"Luke Skywalker?" The boy's voice squeaked. "The Jedi Knight? Why didn't you say so in the first place, sir? I would have pulled some strings."

"It's not the Jedi way to take unfair advantage," Luke said, although that wasn't precisely true. "Let's check on the X-wing, shall we?" The boy punched up some codes in the computer, then wiped his hands on his brown mechanic's pants. "If you'll follow me, sir." Luke crossed the main bay. R2 followed.

"You might want to leave your astromech unit here, sir. The equipment in the new X-wing bay isn't droid-friendly, at least for R2 units."

"Will he be in any danger?"

"No, sir, but the Kloperians don't really like R2 units."

"He noticed that the first time he was down here. Apparently he was imprisoned for a while."

"Imprisoned?" the boy glanced over his shoulder. "Forgive me, sir, but you can't imprison a droid." The boy thought Luke was being dramatic.

Luke folded his hands over his robe, rather like Ben used to do. "He's more than a droid," Luke said. "Just like my X-wing is more than a tactical fighter." The smell of X-wing cleaning solvent was strong inside the new bay. More X-wing pieces were scattered about some already-rea.s.sembled ships. The new ships were streamlined. The long nose cone remained the same, but the area in the back that housed the astromech droids was gone.

The hair tingled on the back of Luke's scalp. "Tell me about General Antilles's order."

"It came down last year, sir, after the prototype of the new X-wing arrived here. The new design works better in battle. It combines the computer system and the astromech unit into one complete system."

"But that was tried a long time ago, and they discovered that if the unit broke down, the pilot was in grave danger." The boy shrugged. "They've overcome that bug, sir. The changes in droid and computer technology just in the last six months have been astonishing. We can do things that we've never been able to do before. Where've you been that you didn't know about this?"

"Yavin 4," Luke said, suddenly feeling old and out-of-touch. "I teach there."

"Hm," the boy said. He led them around another disa.s.sembled X-wing to the back of the bay.

"You're overhauling all X-wings in this way?" Luke asked.

"Yes, sir. We've also combined some similar systems on other starfighters." The boy's enthusiasm was charming. Luke remembered feeling that way about new technology himself once.

"How can the Republic afford this?" The boy shrugged. Clearly, financing was not his business. "I don't know, sir, but we've been doing it for more than a month now. Keeps us all busy, I'll tell you. I haven't had more than a day off since the changes began." He stopped in front of a maintenance platform. The X-wing on it was almost unrecognizable as a starfighter. R2 moaned softly as though mourning for a dying friend.

Luke bit back his irritation. "How long will it take to rea.s.semble the ship?"

"Sir?" The boy sounded startled.

"I need it this afternoon. Is that possible?"

"They just started on the computer system, sir. We can't have it to you for the next day, maybe more."

"I don't want the changes made," Luke said. "How long to rea.s.semble it as it was?"

"I'm afraid we can't, sir. General Antilles's orders. He says the old X-wings aren't stable enough for s.p.a.ce use."

"Mine's fine," Luke said. "I'd like it shortly."

"I'm sorry, sir."

"Forgive me," Luke said, feeling the inevitable wave of frustration he felt whenever he had to pull rank. "I'm going to be leaving on diplomatic business for my sister, Leia Organa Solo, the Chief of State. I would like to use my X-wing. I need it this afternoon." The boy peered into the workings of the ship. "I'm really sorry, sir, but they've already taken out the memory and the astromech hookups. The socket is still there, but we have nothing to hook it to. If they're running true to form, the pieces have been recycled already."

"I have the memory chips. My R2 unit picked them up earlier." The boy wrung his hands together. "Sir, if you'd look at the interior..." That had been precisely what Luke hadn't wanted to do. He was afraid he'd see an old friend gutted and nearly destroyed. He climbed onto the edge of the bay and peered in. The entire astromech area had been pulled and disa.s.sembled. Even though Luke hadn't worked extensively on an X-wing since the Battle of Endor, he recognized a mess when he saw one. The X-wing was already half-converted.

He patted the ship's sides, and R2 moaned again. "Put her back the way you found her," Luke said to the boy.

"But, sir-"

"I'll deal with General Antilles. You just fix my X-wing."

"Sir, we can't have it for you when you need it." Luke nodded. "I realize that. Get me an older X-wing, one you haven't upgraded, and I'll put the memory chips in that. It'll have to do for this mission." The boy looked chagrined. "I'm sorry, sir. We disa.s.semble the X-wings when they arrive.

It's quick and easy. We don't have any that you can use."

"Surely there are some on Coruscant...." Luke's voice trailed off at the boy's expression. Nothing in the New Republic ever ran smoothly. When something finally did, it turned out to be a problem.

"I can give you a subst.i.tute X-wing," the boy said, "but it will be one of the new ones. Your chips won't work, and neither will your astromech unit."

"Will R2 fit in the new X-wing?" The boy shook his head. "It's strictly a one-person vehicle." Luke sighed. He didn't like his choices. He wanted to be in a starfighter so that he had speed and the ability to enter into planetary defenses unnoticed. He could take a bigger ship-Leia would probably let him have the Alderaan-but that meant he had to take a support staff larger than R2. It also meant that he would be noticed as he traveled across the galaxy, and it meant that he would have to explain why Leia wasn't with him. Han had already left with the Falcon. And all the other ships had the New Republic insignias.

"You'll work with my astromech unit," Luke said. "R2-D2 knows that X-wing better than anyone. I want it fixed by the time I return." R2 bleeped and moaned.

Luke put a hand on R2's head. "I'm sorry, old friend. I don't think this can wait. I trust you to make sure the X-wing is repaired." R2 whined.

"And I'll let Leia, 3PO, and Wedge know you're here. Nothing will happen to you." Then Luke looked at the boy. "Will it?"

"He's an outmoded R2 unit, sir. They-"

"No," Luke said firmly. "He's a hero of the Rebellion. Neither Leia nor I would be alive without this little guy. You will treat him as you would treat me."

"Sir-"

"What's your name, son?" The boy took a deep breath. "Cole Fardreamer."

The name made Luke start. "You're from Tatooine?" The boy nodded. "I grew up hearing stories about you, sir. How wonderful you are, and how you were once just a moisture farmer. I came here because of you." Luke had no real sense of himself as an inspiration to anyone. He resisted the urge to step back. "And now you work on X-wings."

"It's a place to start." Luke nodded. "That it is." He took a deep breath. "Take good care of my X-wing and my R2 unit, Cole. See that nothing happens to either of them. When I come back, I want them both intact, ready to use."

"If you want, sir, I can have the X-wing for you by this time tomorrow."

Luke studied the boy's face. He had no doubt Cole would give the repair of the X-wing his all. But that wouldn't be enough. "I'd wait if I could," Luke said softly. "But I have a feeling that time is running out."

Smuggler's Run hadn't changed. The Run was an asteroid belt that had, over the years, become the hideout for hundreds of smugglers. The entry into the Run was complex: Han was surprised he had remembered it after all the years.

But he had. He landed the Falcon on Skip 1, the thirty-fifth asteroid in the system, and the one first settled. Skip 1 had always supported human life the best and was extremely well-protected.

The hideouts were deep inside the Skip, carved centuries ago by creatures that Han didn't even want to think about. As he and Chewie made their way down the old, familiar pa.s.sages, he remembered the feeling of claustrophobia distinctly. He'd always a.s.sociated it with the feeling of being on the run. But he wasn't on the run these days, and the feeling remained.

Chewie growled.

"Yeah," Han said. "You'd think that they'd have controlled that stink by now." The corridors smelled of sulfur, rancid meat, and rotting flesh.

The stench had always been a part of the Run. Chewie complained about it each and every time they came.

The source of the odor was a greenish-yellow ooze that ran down the center of the corridors and into the main trading areas. When Han had first arrived on the Run, he'd witnessed the first and only attempt to block the ooze. Some Bothan got it into his brain to plug the ooze at its source. He did, and Skip 1 was instantly rocked by the biggest groundquake in its history.

"The place has gas," the Bothan later explained. "Either we let it stink around here, or Skip 1 will explode." The smugglers chose to live with the stink. They hadn't found a better hiding place in the entire galaxy.

Or a better-defended place. Han knew that the Falcon was being watched from the moment of her approach. What he hadn't expected were the armed guards at the end of the corridor.

Five of them, all old friends.

Chewie roared in indignation. Han put a restraining hand on his friend's furry arm. He scanned the group. Kid DXo'ln, bald now, had taken Han on his first run to Kessel. Zeen Afit, his craggy face even more lined than Han remembered, had first brought Han and Chewie to the Run. Sinewy Ana Blue, looking more beautiful than ever, had run the sabacc games in which Han won a lot of credits. Wynni, the Wookiee who had tried to seduce Chewbacca on his first visit to Skip 1, looked exactly the same. And Seluss, the Sull.u.s.tan who usually traveled with Jarril, clutched his blaster as if he couldn't wait to use it.

Han held out his hands. "Is this any way to greet an old friend?"

"You're no friend, Solo," Sinewy Ana Blue said.

"So how soon until your friends in the New Republic show up to arrest us?

" Zeen Afit asked.

"Have you done something illegal?" Han asked.

Wynni growled.

"A guy can ask a simple question," Han shot back at her.

"Not if he already knows the answer," Kid DXo'ln said.

Chewie's arm tightened. Han kept his grip on Chewie's fur.

"If the Republic was going to go after Smuggler's Run, it would have happened a long time ago." Seluss chittered, his mouse ears wiggling forward as he spoke.

"Oh, yeah, right," Han said. "As if there is a list for you guys to finally rise to the top of. You're overestimating your importance, Seluss, don't you think?" Wynni roared. Chewbacca roared back.

"Stop it, Chewie," Han hissed. "No need to bring personalities into this.

" Chewie grumbled. Han understood Chewie's frustration: Wynni had never acted according to Wookiee code-she had abandoned her family and two life debts to pursue her smuggling career-but Han didn't want an old wound to fester into something ugly. Especially when Han and Chewie were outgunned.

"Personalities are already in this, Han," Kid said. "You left us a long time ago. You have no right to come back here."

"I have as much right to be here as you do," Han snapped. "And when did it become a privilege to be on the Run? I seem to remember when most of us here were struggling to leave."

"The Run's a different place," Blue said.

"Sure smells the same," Han murmured.