The twins began bawling in unison as soon as Winter stepped onto the ramp of her unmarked shuttle. Leia"s personal servant stopped, keeping her back turned to Jacen and Jaina, and then slowly faced them.
Leia gripped the shoulders of the two children, but they still treated their mother as a stranger, even after several days. She held on tightly, which she realized might not have been the best thing to do, but she felt suddenly possessive of the twins.
Winter"s face was cold and impa.s.sive beneath her white hair.
"Children, stop crying this instant."
Jacen snuffled. "We want you to stay, Winter."
Winter thrust out one hand, pointing her finger like a spear at Leia. "That is your mother. I was only taking care of you. You are big children now, and it"s time for you to be at your own home. I have to go back and take care of your baby brother."
Leia kept herself from trembling. She had known Winter a long time; the woman had total recall of anything she had ever seen or heard, and she rarely showed any sort of emotion. Now Leia thought she could detect a sadness in her, a sense of loss as she finally gave over care of her two wards.
Leia knelt beside the twins. "You"ll be staying with me now, both of you. And your daddy should be home soon. We"ll have lots of fun together."
The twins turned to look at her; Winter took that moment to slip inside the shuttle. Before Jacen and Jaina noticed she had gone, Winter activated the doors, sealing herself inside.
Leia stood beside the children on the windswept landing pad. The shuttle"s repulsorlifts whined, powering up. Leia stepped backward, nudging the twins with her. "Out of the way now. Back where it"s safe."
Jacen and Jaina still sniffled, on the verge of crying again. In her untrained way Leia tried to send them calm, loving thoughts.
She spoke into a comlink on the lapel of her robe. "Grant departure clearance to unmarked shuttle on top northside platform of the Palace, authority of Minister Organa Solo."
The orbital traffic controllers acknowledged, and Winter"s shuttle rose from the platform, pivoted, then angled into the sky. Leia raised her hand in a farewell salute. "Wave to Winter," she said.
The twins flailed their pudgy arms in the air. Winter flashed the lights in the shuttle at them; then the orbital-burn rockets kicked in, and the vessel shot into the aurora-streaked distance.
"Come on, you two," Leia said to them. "I"ve got a lot of lost time to make up for."
Streen sat atop the ruined and abandoned skysc.r.a.per where he had made his home. When Luke brought him to the yammering ma.s.s of Imperial City, where millions of people covered the planet with all their thoughts and all their feelings, Streen had begged for a place where he could have some solitude until they moved off-planet to their Jedi training center.
Luke showed him the abandoned parts of the city, and Streen had selected the tallest building. Being high up reminded him of the clouds of Bespin.
Now Leia brought the twins with her, keeping a firm grip on each of their hands as she led them into the barely functional lift, which took them to the rooftop. They walked out onto the upper platform where Streen sat alone on the edge. The old man dangled his feet over the sides, unperturbed by the unbroken kilometer drop below him. He looked up and out at the unrelenting cityscape, the geometric spires of sprawling buildings. He watched the tiny shapes of hawk-bats riding thermals.
Leia walked across the rooftop. She had never been afraid of heights, although with the young children at hand she felt an alt different kind of fear, a stomach-clenching paranoia of the millions of things that could bring danger to her children. Jacen and Jaina wanted to dash to the edge of the platform and look over, but she refused to release her grip.
Upon hearing them approach, Streen turned. Leia noted that he still wore his many-pocketed jumpsuit, not wanting to change into the warmer or more comfortable clothes she had offered him.
"We just came to check on you, Streen. With Luke gone I wanted to make sure there was nothing else you needed."
Streen paused a moment before answering. "What I"d like is solitude, but I fear there"s no place I can have that on this entire planet. Even in the quietest places on Coruscant, I can still hear a constant hum of whispering thoughts and voices. It"ll be very difficult for me here, until I learn how to block it out. The Jedi Master promised to teach me how to do that."
"Luke should be back shortly," Leia said.
They approached the edge, and Leia insisted on standing a safe distance away. But Jaina pulled forward to the full reach of Leia"s arm, to where she could peer over the edge and gape all the way down. "That"s far!" Jaina said.
"Too far to fall," Leia told her.
"I won"t fall."
"Me neither," Jacen said. Then he insisted on straining forward to look over the edge as well.
Streen stared at them with a kind of wonder. "You"re better than the others. The children"s minds are simple and straightforward, and they don"t bother me. It"s only when thoughts are complex and filled with a thousand subtexts that it makes my head ache. And you, Minister Organa Solo, are quieter and more focused than most other people."
"Luke taught me how to control my own mind. I don"t leak out the thoughts and feelings that bother you so much. I keep from broadcasting them to anyone else."
Streen gave a wan smile, then stared out at the vast sky. On various parabolic courses, blinking lights of incoming and departing diplomatic shuttles traveled across the sky.
"I hope all the Jedi trainees can learn to be as silent as you are, Minister. I"d very much like to be around other people, part of a community like yourself and the Jedi Master. How long will it be, do you think?"
He looked deeply into her eyes, and she pulled the children away from the edge. "Soon," Leia said. "As soon as possible."
She vowed that she would find a place for Luke"s academy before he returned from Kessel. It had to be the right place, and she had to find it without delay.
Leia and Threepio insisted on giving the twins a warm ripple bath before bedtime. Leia ran the water as Threepio checked to make sure its temperature was perfect.
Leia shooed Jacen and Jaina toward the rippling water. Jacen balked. "Put bubbles in first!"
"I"ll put the bubbles in while the water"s still running. Now just get in."
"Winter puts bubbles in first," Jaina said.
"Well, this time we"ll do it a little different," Leia explained a bit testily.
"I want bubbles now!" Jacen cried.
"Dear me! Perhaps we had better put the bubbles in, Mistress Leia,"
Threepio said.
But the twins" defiance had awakened Leia"s own stubbornness. "No, I told you to get in the bath. I don"t care how Winter did it. This is the place you live now. Sometimes we do things differently."
Jaina began to cry.
"It"s all right!" Leia said. "It"s still a nice bath. Look." She splashed her hand in the warm water. "It doesn"t make any difference when you put the bubbles in."
"I put bubbles in?" Jaina asked.
"If you get in, you can add the bubbles."
Jaina promptly climbed into the water and held out her hands. Leia gave her an amber-colored sphere that would dissolve in the agitation of the ripples.
Jacen jumped into the ripple bath. "Now I put bubbles in!"
"Too late," Leia said. "Next time it"ll be your turn."
"Perhaps we should let them add another sphere of bubbles?"
Threepio said, bending over to situate the children in the water.
Jacen used both of his hands to fling water into the droid"s face.
"I want home!"
"This is home, Jacen. You live here now. I"m your mother."
"No. I want home!"
Leia began to wonder why her diplomatic skills were failing her now. The twins began splashing each other. It looked like light play at first, but suddenly--for no apparent reason--they both began to cry.
Perhaps this would be good preparation for meeting the Caridan amba.s.sador, Leia thought.
She squeezed her eyes shut as the two continued wailing. Threepio, growing more and more fl.u.s.tered, frantically tried to determine what the difficulty was.
Leia wished she knew where Han was.
The stolen shuttle plummeted into the Maw. Maelstroms of hot gas buffeted them from side to side as Kyp fought to guide Han along their tenuous course. The safe path was convoluted and treacherous where the gravitational singularities canceled each other out.
The Maw itself was one of the wonders of the galaxy. The very existence of a black hole cl.u.s.ter seemed astrophysically impossible and had led to much conjecture about its origin. Old Republic scientists cited probability arguments, that among the near-infinite stars in the universe, something like the Maw had to occur at least once.
Other speculations, including those voiced by superst.i.tious smugglers, suggested that the Maw had actually been built, a.s.sembled by a vastly powerful ancient race that had created the black holes in a barely stable configuration to open gateways into new dimensions.
At the moment, Han Solo cared only that the Maw was likely to be the cause of his death.
The shuttle"s interior was dark and hot and stuffy. The wild colors and blazing light made psychedelic fireworks outside the ship and weird shadows inside. All lighting, life support, and temperature regulation had been shut down to increase power to the failing shields.
Han sweated in the pilot seat, watching the navigational controls he had relinquished to Kyp. Though he had been fighting for his life almost constantly during the past week, he missed Leia very much. She had no idea what had happened to him, and she must be terribly worried--but no doubt too proud to show it. Han hated even more to know that his children had finally returned from their sanctuary planet, and he hadn"t been there to greet them.
But he would never see any of them again if the shuttle didn"t survive pa.s.sage through the Maw. Everything depended on Kyp Durron"s mysterious abilities.
Kyp struggled with the controls, guiding the shuttle through some of the most delicate, most difficult maneuvers Han had ever seen--and Kyp kept his eyes closed! The young man seemed to be seeing through a different set of eyes, looking at some path not apparent with normal vision. Staring at the deadly black holes all around the shuttle, Han wanted to close his own eyes, too.
Kyp continued to negotiate the implacable obstacle course intuitively, threading through fragile points of stability. Chewbacca sat frozen with his own tension, afraid to disturb the young man"s concentration.
Sparks flew on one of the far control panels as a shield gave out.
Chewbacca growled as he jammed long fingers down on the controls, rerouting and spreading the remaining protection evenly around them. If a single gap appeared in the shields, the X-rays and fiery gases would tear them apart.
Kyp didn"t flinch. "Coming up on the end of this ride," he said without opening his eyes. "There"s a gravitationally safe island in the middle of the cl.u.s.ter, like the eye of a storm."
Han felt relief rush through him. "We"d better hide there for a while, recharge the power sources and make a few quick-and-dirty repairs." Chewbacca grunted his agreement.
"And take a good long rest," Kyp said.
Han noticed a sheen of perspiration on his forehead. Despite his outward calm Kyp seemed to be concentrating enormously, straining his fledgling abilities. "We still have to find our way back out, you know."
The swirling ionized gases parted like a curtain thrown aside to reveal the gravitational oasis in the cl.u.s.ter"s core, a safe haven for them to recuperate before returning to Coruscant.
"Made it!"Han said in a whisper.
But someone else had already found the hiding place.
Orbiting a small rocky island in the center of the Maw hung four gigantic Imperial Star Destroyers, bristling with weaponry.
Within a moment of their arrival swarms of TIE fighters poured out of the Star Destroyer hangar bays in a truly impressive show of force.
Han stared, unable to speak. They had just escaped execution at the hands of Skynxnex, the energy-spider attack in the spice mines, battle with the entire s.p.a.ce fleet of Kessel, and destruction in the gravitational maze of the Maw. Now the shuttle"s shields were failing, they had no weapons--and an Imperial armada had just been launched at them.
"The way things are going, we"ll end up accidentally destroying the galaxy before suppertime," Han said. "Kick all the engines back on, Chewie! Let"s turn this thing around. Kyp, find us another path out!"
"There aren"t many paths to choose from," Kyp said.
The ship shuddered as if someone had kicked it from behind; then sparks sprayed out. Chewbacca groaned in dismay.
Han looked at the readouts. "All our shields just went out." He stared at the four Star Destroyers and the waves of TIE fighters and TIE Interceptors surging toward them. "I feel like we"ve got a big targeting cross painted right on our hull," Han said. "They can wipe us out with just a potshot." He glanced around, searching for something hard enough to kick; he found a bulkhead and lashed out at it.
The comm crackled, and for a moment Han expected another threatening message from Moruth Doole, but the ionized gases and distortions of the black holes would ruin any transmission pa.s.sing through the outer sh.e.l.l of the Maw.
Gruff words spilled out of the speakers. "Imperial shuttle, welcome! It has been a long time since we received word from the outside.
Please provide your security access code. Our TIE squadron is coming to escort you."
Han stiffened, remembering that they had stolen an old Imperial shuttle. They would have a few seconds before they were blown out of the sky. But a security access code? He had to think fast.
Han toggled the transmitter switch. "This is Imperial shuttle, uh... Endor coming in. We"ve, uh, had a rough ride through the Maw, and most of our computer systems are down. We request a.s.sistance." He paused, then swallowed. "Just how long has it been since you got news from the outside anyway?"
A loud click came from the other end. The TIE fighters continued toward them. Han squirmed, knowing his bluff couldn"t work, that they were an unprotected target to be blown away by itchy Imperial trigger fingers.
The voice came back, gruffer and crisper this time. "Imperial shuttle Endor, we repeat --what is the security access code? Transmit immediately!"
Han turned to his copilot. "Chewie, how long until we get those shields?"
The Wookiee had removed the access panels on the side power compartments, yanking out ma.s.ses of wires as he strung them through his fingers and tried to straighten the connections. Chewbacca sniffed to find burned circuits. It would be a long time before they had the systems even marginally functional again.
Han opened the transmitter circuit once more. "Uh, as I said, we"ve sustained substantial computer damage. We are unable to--"
"Unacceptable excuse! The code phrase is verbal."
"Just checking," Han said. "The code phrase is--" He looked to Kyp, desperately hoping that the young man would be able to pull the code out of the air, but even Luke Skywalker was unlikely to do something like that. Kyp could only shrug.
"Uh, the last code phrase we have is RJ"-TWO stroke ZZ stroke eight thousand.
Awaiting your confirmation." He clicked off, then looked at Chewbacca and Kyp, spreading his hands. "It was worth a try."