"Same for me-before the Galactic Civil War."
Jadak showed him an appraising look. "Guess we have more in common than we know, Solo."
"Or like to admit."
Glimpsing the smile in Han"s eyes, Jadak laughed and Han joined him. The Millennium Falcon had returned to hypers.p.a.ce, and the two of them were seated side by side in the c.o.c.kpit. Han"s chair was swiveled to face the hatch, and he had his booted feet propped on one of the high-backed rear chairs, ankles crossed.
"You mind a personal question?" Han asked.
"I"ll let you know."
"Those years you were in a coma . . . I"m guessing that a lot of your family members and friends died."
"All of them."
Han took his feet off the chair and sat up. When he spoke, his voice was lowered, almost conspiratorial. "This quest of ours, into the Falcon"s history, it started out something like a game. I"ve always wanted to know who had piloted her before Lando Calrissian won her at Bespin, but it"s not something I ever figured I"d be doing with Leia and Amelia, and it"s turned out to be a lot more than I expected, which is saying a mouthful. "Course, I don"t know why I ever expected things to go smoothly."
Jadak sniffed. "Sorry about what Poste and I contributed."
"Forget it. But I"m curious. You wake up after sixtysomething years and the first thing you do is go chasing after your ship."
"Like I told you, I was looking for the ship only because of what I thought it might lead me to."
"This supposed treasure trove."
Jadak swallowed what he had intended to say. "What, that"s not enough? You married a princess. But I"m sure you were madly in love."
Han"s eyes narrowed in anger, then relaxed. "As long as we"re being honest with each other, the idea of being wealthy did appeal to me-for about a standard day."
"What changed your mind?"
"I started caring about the people I accidentally got thrown in with."
"The Rebel Alliance," Jadak said. He swung to face Han. "Well, then that"s another thing we have in common. You"d think a few decades in a coma would make you forget, but it didn"t. I woke up feeling exactly as I had the day Reeze and I collided with the Corellian cruiser-that I had a mission to discharge. That the Stellar Envoy had to be delivered as planned." He gave his head a rueful shake. "I still haven"t been able to shake that feeling."
"Getting to Tandun Three will allow you to do that?"
"I sure the frip hope so."
"Suppose we don"t find this treasure. What then?"
"At least I tried to deliver the ship."
The navicomputer chimed. Han glanced at it and pivoted the chair to face the instrument panel. "Reversion coming up."
Jadak raised his gaze to the viewport in expectation. Following a moment of wake rotation, the stars firmed up and a crescent of planet hung in the middle distance. Han changed vectors, bringing the Falcon around so that they could approach Tandun III with starlight at their backs.
"Let"s see what the long-range scanners tell us," he said. Jadak watched Han"s expression change as he studied the readouts. Then Han shouted: "Threepio! Get in here!"
"Coming, Captain Solo," C-3PO said.
The sound of the droid"s footfalls issued from the connector, and a moment later he was ducking into the c.o.c.kpit, trailed by Leia, Allana, and Poste.
"What was it you told us about Tandun Three?" Han said. C-3PO c.o.c.ked his head to one side. "I said that initial surveys were conducted approximately twelve thousand two hundred fifty years ago, under the supervision of a Dr. Beramsh, whose expedition departed from Ord Mantell. Tandun Three was described as a youth-mi planet in a young star system, lush and well suited to humans and humanoid oxygen breathers, with close to standard gravity and studded with the ruins of ancient population centers Dr. Beramsh posited as having been constructed by the Rakata. For no particular reason, save perhaps for its distance from the Hydian Way, Tandun Three was never settled, though there are some indications that a second survey was conducted during Finis Valorum"s second term as Chancellor of the Republic."
Han scowled and jabbed his forefinger against the scanner display. "Yeah, well, take a look at these readings and tell me if you"d call Tan-dun Three a "youthful" planet."
C-3PO squeezed between Han and Jadak to study the readouts. "Oh, my," he said. "Oh, my, is right," Han said.
"What is it, Han?" Leia asked over C-3PO"s shoulder. "Let"s hear Threepio"s revised description."
The droid turned to Leia. "The scanners reveal extensive areas of volcanic and tectonic activity. While still breathable, the atmosphere is high in carbon dioxide, methane, and sulfur. Surface temperatures have rendered landma.s.ses in the northern hemisphere unsuitable for all but the most extremophilic of sentient species. In short, the planet is in the grips of catastrophic forces that are likely to destroy it."
"Arc there any signs of life?" Leia asked.
"Intact forests in the southern hemisphere are showing abundant life," Han said. "But I"d argue that any sentient life we find down there can"t be called intelligent." He shook his head. "Whatever may have been here then is probably buried under lava or volcanic ash." Then, catching sight of Allana"s expression, he added: "But we"ll take a closer look, just to be sure."
With Tandun III in full starlight, Han slewed the Falcon away from the churning sky of the planet"s northern hemisphere. Dropping the ship into a cloudless patch near the southern pole, he adjusted the scanners to feed video to the instrument panel display. Static crazed the screen before the images stabilized.
"Oh, no," Han said, as if someone had let the air out of him. Peering over his shoulder, Leia put her hand in front of her mouth. "Oh, Han."
Poste went up on his toes in an effort to see the display screen, and Jadak leaned to his left to have a look.
"I"ve never seen vegetation quite like that," he said. "That"s because you slept through it," Han said out of the corner of his mouth. His forefinger hopped about the screen. "See that cliff face that looks like the bow of a starship? That stuff"s called yorik coral. And those trees that look like they"ve been dipped in blood? Those are called s"teeni. All this forest? This is tampasi. That bird-that bird right there, that"s a whatchamacallit-a scherkil hla."
Jadak lifted an eyebrow. "You want to translate that into Basic?"
"There are no translations," Leia said, one arm around Allana"s shoulders in a protective embrace. "Those are Yuuzhan Vong words." Poste whistled. "Parts of Nal Hutta looked like this for a long time."
"The entire place has been Vongformed," Han said. "The Vong did it to a bunch of worlds, even Coruscant."
Jadak nodded. "I remember reading about that."
Han glanced at Leia. "You think there"s a yammosk down there?
You don"t think there"d be a yammosk down there ..."
"A Yuuzhan Vong war coordinator," Leia said for Jadak"s benefit. "A creature that oversees the transformation."
"Even if there is," Han said, "it"s fighting a losing battle. The planet"s about to come apart."
Leia heard Allana sigh in disappointment. "I"m afraid the treasure is beyond our reach, sweetheart."
"If there was a treasure," Han said. Then, at Leia"s nudge, she added: "I mean, by now the treasure"s probably been engulfed by the Vong"s biots."
"Chin up," Leia told Allana. "We found the hiding place. We just can"t collect the treasure chest."
"They always do on Castle Creep,"""" she said.
Jadak gazed out the viewport. "The Republic Group must have asked for help from the Antarian Rangers in setting up a kind of depot here. A storehouse of some sort."
"Whatever was here is long gone now."
One hand gripped on the yoke, Han was about to climb higher into Tandun III"s tortured atmosphere when he stopped.
"What?" Jadak said quickly.
"We"re getting a signal." Han"s free hand made adjustments to the comm controls. "Very faint."
"A distress beacon?"
Han shook his head. "Just a beacon."
Jadak studied the comm screen. "It"s transmitting on a covert frequency used by the Republic Group." He shot Han a look. "Whatever"s down there has recognized the ship."
"No one could possibly be alive," Leia said.
"No one would have to be," Jadak said. "The installation could still be operational."
Leia looked from Han to Jadak and back again. "Are you two suggesting we go down there and find out?"
"Of course not," Jadak said. Then he glanced at Han. "Are we?"
Han considered it. "I"m not saying we are, but if we were, we"d be doing it for Amelia." He looked at Leia. "We owe it to her to at least check things out, don"t we?"
"Yes! "Allana said.
Han centered himself sit the controls. "Everybody strap in. This is going to be a rough entry."
Han leaned into the yoke and eased the throttle forward. The Falcon lowered her nose and dived deeper into the atmosphere, cutting through icy clouds, then dark embankments as the ship homed in on the beacon. Powerful winds began to buffet the ship, and forked lightning split the sky to all sides. Han feathered the controls, as if encouraging the Falcon to pursue her own course through the chaos. In response, the YT veered and planed before leveling out over the tops of exotic trees, whose zigzagging branches seemed to reach out for her. In the distance, volcanoes belched fire and thick smoke into the already sulfurous air and scoured the carpeted ground with rivers of bubbling lava. Hailstones and sheets of blowing rain sizzled against the Falcon"s nose and evaporated long before reaching the superheated ground. From obstructed vents in the molten hillsides flew boulders the size of small houses. Still closing on the beacon, the ship powered through gusts of volcanic ash one moment, glowing cinders the next. In the west, Tandun III"s primary hung like a blind eye.
"Now that"s what I call seat-of-the-pants flying, Solo," Jadak said, just short of shouting. Having surrendered the copilot"s chair to Leia, he was in the navigator"s seat, lending what a.s.sistance he could. Allana, Poste, and C-3PO had returned to the main hold.
"Couldn"t let you think my reputation was all hype," Han saia over his shoulder.
"I know better now." Jadak glanced at the display. "The topographic sensors can"t make sense of the ground cover."
"We shouldn"t have deleted those old programs," Leia said.
"This isn"t your first brush with a Vongformed world?" Jadak asked into Han"s ear.
"We took on Coruscant," Han said, indicating Leia with a nod of his chin. "Flew the Falcon right into the old Senate building, in fact."
"Ship must have felt like she was returning home," Jadak said.
Han had his mouth open to reply when the comm emitted a steady tone of recognition. Jadak checked the displays again, then extended his arm between Han and Leia, pointing to a forested rise in the distance.
"Signal"s coming from that mesa."
Han studied the readouts in silence. "That might not be a mesa," he said at last. "Remember what Threepio said about ancient ruins? I think we"re looking at one."
"Like the Ma.s.sa.s.si temples on Yavin Four," Leia said.
"Yavin," Jadak said. "Where the Emperor"s weapon was destroyed, right?"
Han grinned. "The first weapon. You slept through that one, too."
"Guess I missed all the ran."
"Not this time."
Han overflew the mound, then banked through a broad return, bleeding velocity as the Falcon made a second approach. Beneath its thorned mantle, the structure could be seen as a four-faced, flat-topped pyramid surmounting a ma.s.sive circular base. Surrounding it were dozens of smaller mounds, equally overgrown and apparently part of the ruin complex.
Han throttled the engines back and engaged the repulsorlifts, allowing the YT to hover directly above the structure. "The signal is coming from somewhere inside."
Jadak leaned toward the viewport. "There could be a landing grid under all that cover. Probably an old turbolift type."
"That"s what I"m thinking," Han said. "Only one way to find out."
Han used the positioning jets to maneuver the Falcon off to one side of the structure, then lowered the ship until her belly was just about even with the flat summit.
"Solo, if you"re thinking about using the quad laser-:"
Han cut him off with a derisive snort. "I"m not planning on razing the place." His hand flicked switches on the console. "One of the first things I did when I got the Falcon was install a retractable blaster in the bow. It"s gotten us out of a lot of tight fixes."
Han brought a targeting reticle onscreen and began triggering, the weapon, each defoliating bolt revealing a narrow swath of the aged platform beneath the impenetrable tangle of thorn trees. A tedious procedure, the clearing took longer than expected, but in the end the BlasTech Ax-108 had bared a platform slightly larger than the ship itself. Han raised the Falcon and positioned it directly above the exposed area. Thousands of reddish brown beetles were scurrying across the denuded platform as if in a daze.
"Now what?" he asked. "Magic words?"
Jadak tightened his lips. "Maybe we need to set her down."
"Worth a go."
His hand steady on the repulsorlift control, Han began to lower the ship a meter at a time. Fighting gusts of cinder-laden wind, the Falcon was fifteen meters from the platform when Leia shouted: "Stop!"
Schematics flashed on the display screen. "We"re being scanned by some kind of authenticator," she said.
"It"s trying to confirm that she"s the Stellar Envoy" Jadak said.
Han blew out his breath. "Then we"re out of luck. Just since I"ve owned her, the registry transponder has been changed more times than I can count."
Leia"s eyes were still fixed on the displays. "The authenticator isn"t interrogating the transponder. It"s trying to establish a physical match between the ship and the platform."
"A template," Han said. "We could set down, but the turbolift won"t take us inside until the authenticator tells it to."
"Then why isn"t it doing that?" Leia said. "The Falcon and the Stellar Envoy are the same ship."