26
“How is it going down there?” Luke said.
“Don’t ask,” Lando said.
“I’m going to see what I can whip up in the galley, you want something?”
“Yeah, how about a beaker full of battery acid and bug poison.”
Luke shook his head, stood, and headed for the galley.
Stopped suddenly as if he’d been touched by a cold hand.
“Master Luke? Are you all right?”
Luke ignored Threepio. There was a disturbance in the Force, a dark blot on its perfection. It felt familiar somehow …
Uh-oh.
Luke turned and hurried back to the service well. “You’d better get it fixed fast, Lando.”
“What’s the hurry?”
“I think we’re about to have company.”
Lando poked his head up over the edge of the well. “What? No way anybody could find us in here.”
“Yeah? Want to bet?”
“Oh, man. Don’t even say what you’re thinking,” Lando said.
“Huh?”
“Don’t say, ‘I’ve got a bad feeling about this.’ ”
Luke stared at him.
Lando disappeared back into the service well. “I’m hurrying, I’m hurrying!”
Luke headed for the cockpit to check the sensors. If it was who he thought it was, hiding in a clump of rocks wasn’t going to do much good. You could run, but from some things, you couldn’t hide.
Xizor was pleased. The young woman sitting across from him, backed by her furry bodyguard, was every bit as delightful as he had hoped, even more so. Thus far, they had spoken of trivial things, in generalities. He pretended to be honored that she was a high Alliance official come to call; she pretended that she wasn’t disgusted that he was a criminal. And, in fact, it didn’t really matter what she felt, now that she was here in his grasp.
No, the thing now was how best to proceed with his courtship, if he could think in such terms.
Already he had allowed some of his potent pheromones to seep into the air. He’d fought hard to keep his skin color from altering too much, but there was a definite warm glow to it. The Wookiee didn’t seem to notice, but Leia had responded to the chemical attractants he exuded. She felt drawn to him; he knew this from long experience with women. He was not unattractive to look at, and with the added lure of his enhanced hormones, it would take a very strong and very determined humanoid female to resist him.
As a young man, he had felt the pull that Leia was now feeling. Falleen women had their version, and it was hard to ignore when one of them … blossomed for you. Like a hothouse flower sending its fragrance into the air, Falleen pheromones swirled and wrapped anyone close enough into their urgent embrace. As strong as a durasteel vise …
If Leia had any sensuality whatsoever, she could only pretend that she wasn’t attracted to him—as she now tried to do. He had to give her credit; she was not volunteering how she felt. But the flush of her cheeks, her slightly faster breathing, her … yearning, all were obvious to one who had seen them a thousand times before. To one who knew how to spot the signs and use them to his best advantage, as did Xizor. And use them he would.
“You must be tired from your trip,” Xizor said. “You should refresh yourself, change clothes, relax a bit before we delve into serious matters.”
“I didn’t exactly bring my wardrobe with me.”
Xizor waved a hand and affected a man-of-the-galaxy smile. “Such things are easily remedied. I’ll have Howzmin show you to your quarters. We have had other visitors from time to time, and a gracious host looks after his company’s needs. Perhaps there are a few articles of clothing you might find acceptable in your room. I have pressing business to which I must attend. Refresh yourself and rejoin me in a couple of hours.”
Leia glanced at her bodyguard, then back at him.
Xizor favored her with his sexiest smile.
She looked flustered. “Yes. All right. We are a little tired.”
Xizor waved his foot unseen under his desk, and a sensor there transmitted the motion to a paging device implanted in Howzmin. The door opened, and the bald servant stepped into the room.
“Show Princess Leia and Chewbacca to their rooms.”
After they were gone, Xizor sat, breathing slowly and deeply, enjoying the feel of imminent victory. Before their next meeting, he would do the meditation and exercises that brought his hormonal essences into full array. An excited Falleen who loosed his full pheromonal arsenal was, for all practical purposes, irresistible to a member of the opposite sex. It did not matter what a woman’s stance was on fidelity, that she had been a faithful partner to another for years or decades. Falleen pheromones were more potent than the strongest spice. Leia might want to resist him with her mind, but her body would ache for him. There was no antidote save one.
Xizor smiled. He would enjoy administering the single antidote to Leia. He would enjoy it very much indeed …
Leia was shaken. As Howzmin led her and Chewie down another convoluted hallway, she had to take several deep breaths to calm herself. What had that been all about? That—That emotional attraction that rolled over her like a tropical ocean breaker? Sure, Xizor was good-looking in an exotic kind of way, but she’d never before been one to stare dumbstruck at a handsome face. What she had felt, what she had wanted to do, well, that wasn’t like her at all. Besides, she was in love with Han. That wasn’t something you just put into a drawer when you saw an attractive man—Falleen. That wasn’t right.
Then again, she couldn’t deny she’d felt it. The alien called to her somehow. It had been like a punch to the solar plexus; it had knocked the wind out of her.
Well. No matter. She blew out a sigh. She was back to normal; she would stay on target. She’d come here to help Luke. When that was done, they were going to rescue Han. She would put whatever it was she had felt for the mysterious Xizor out of her mind and never think about it again.
The part of her that sat somewhere in her mind watching and listening and refusing to allow anything but the truth to pass it seemed to chuckle: Oh, really? You might not do anything about what you felt for him, sister, but you won’t be able to forget it that easily.
Shut up, she mentally told the little voice. I don’t need this.
Maybe not, sister, but you have it.
“This is your room,” Howzmin said. “The Wookiee will be in the next suite.”
Leia shook herself from the interior dialogue and nodded at Howzmin.
Chewie said something that sounded like a question.
Leia said, “I’ll be okay in here. If Xizor wanted to harm us, he could have done it before now. Go on. Wash that dye out, we don’t need it anymore. Meet me back here when you’re done.”
Chewie nodded and followed Howzmin to the next door.
The portal in front of Leia slid back as she approached, and she stepped into the room.
It was a study in understated elegance, she saw.
The carpet was so deep she sank nearly to her ankles in it. Black neocel, she guessed, and probably a murderous job to keep clean. There was a white leather couch, probably cloned, which sat in stark contrast to the carpet, a round bed with black sheets and a comforter under a translucent white canopy held up by six carved posts. A white desk with a computer on it and a black chair tucked neatly under the desk occupied a niche next to the bed.
Simple, elegant, and probably as expensive as any Grand Moff hotel suite in the galaxy.
Leia submitted to an urge to remove her boots and walk barefoot across the rug. The material was either naturally warm or was kept heated somehow, and it felt wonderful between her toes.
There was a refresher on the other side of a closed door, also done in black and white, tile, sinks, tub, all of them sculpted into smooth and rounded shapes.
She found a closet door back in the main room and opened it.
There were clothes in the closet, all right. Unlike the rooms, they were all the colors of the rainbow: dresses, shirts, pants, jackets, jumpsuits. Leia removed a hanger upon which was draped a diaphanous dress of nearly transparent green material so light it weighed almost nothing and looked at it. Touched it. She was not somebody who spent large amounts of money on clothing, but she knew quality when she saw it, even without the tag that confirmed it. This dress was a Melanani original, made of Loveti moth fiber, and for what it cost, you could buy a new landspeeder.
A quick scan of the other clothes revealed that they were also first-class originals. Looked after his company’s needs, indeed. There were probably enough credits represented by this one closet to buy and furnish houses on many planets, with enough left over to hire cooks and gardeners to go with them.
Leia started to close the closet, then stopped. She reached back inside and examined the label on the first dress she’d seen.
My. Look at that. It was just her size.
A sudden thought occurred to her, and she began checking the other labels.
They were all her size.
She blinked and stared into the closet. Could it be coincidence? The leader of Black Sun just happened to have a closet full of clothes in her size?
She didn’t think so. Maybe Howzmin out there had gotten her measurements via sensor somewhere along the way and had done the fastest shopping trip in history. Xizor had credits to burn. Maybe there were a dozen rooms all stocked this way, each for a different-size visitor? Not likely, but possible.
Xizor had known she was coming, after all; perhaps he was just being a considerate host.
She shook her head. She was tired. Maybe she would bathe and stretch out for a few minutes. As for the expensive clothes? Well, he had gone to some trouble no matter what the explanation. If he found such things attractive, perhaps she should slip into one of the outfits and use that to her advantage. Keep him off balance. If he was busy ogling her, maybe he would be more likely to give away something she needed.
And her little voice said, Really, sister, who do you think you’re fooling here? You want to look good for him, admit it.
Yes, all right, so what? She wasn’t married. There wasn’t any law against flirting a little, was there? She wasn’t going to do anything with the head of a criminal underground, now, was she? What could it hurt to dress up a little? She hadn’t gotten to do much of that since she’d thrown her lot in with the Alliance—not that she missed it much—but given the situation, who would be hurt by it?
Careful, sister. These are dangerous waters. Better watch out for sea serpents.
Oh, spare me. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself.
She went to run hot water into the bathtub.
“I think that’s got it,” Lando said as he clambered out of the service well.
“You think?”
“Won’t know for sure until we engage the drive.”
“Master Lando, Master Lando!”
Threepio came careening in, waving his arms and throwing gold highlights every which way.
“What?”
“The sensors indicate that a ship is approaching! A very large vessel! An enormous ship!”
Lando looked at Luke. “I wonder who that could be.”
“I hope you fixed the drive,” Luke said. “Otherwise I think we’re going to find out.”
The two of them hurried past the droid for the cockpit.
On the way, Luke felt that cold touch reach him through the Force. He knew who it was. The only question was, could Darth Vader feel him as well?
“Lord Vader?”
Vader stared through the viewer at the rock field ahead of them. He didn’t bother to look at his captain. “What is it?”
“We are approaching the asteroid field.”
Now Vader turned to stare at the captain. “Do you mean that asteroid field directly in front of us?” He pointed at the viewer.
Flustered, the captain plowed on. “Yes, Lord. Our sensors cannot detect any sign of a ship in the region.”
“Nonetheless, there is something in the field,” Vader said. “I cannot pinpoint it, but there is a locus for the Force in those rocks and I mean to find it.”
“Certainly, Lord Vader. Ah, might I suggest that we send out fighters? Entering the asteroid field at right angles will place a great deal of strain on the ship’s shields.”
“Very well. Tell them to look for anything unusual, anything at all. If they find something, they are not to engage it but to report back immediately.”
“Yes, my lord. I’ll send them out at once.”
Vader turned back to the viewer. Was it Luke? He couldn’t yet be sure. The dark side might not have limits, but he had, and all he could tell at this distance was that some powerful locus for the Force lay in that collection of shattered rocks ahead of them. He didn’t believe it could be anything else but Luke, but he was not certain. He had to proceed with caution. With Xizor’s manipulations poisoning the well at Imperial Center, it was more important than ever to capture Luke alive. A little closer and the vagueness would undoubtedly resolve itself. He was too close to lose his son again. Sooner or later, he would find him and turn him to the dark side. He was sure of it. He was Darth Vader; he had exterminated the remaining Jedi with his own hands. All but the strongest of them, his own son.
Sooner or later he would face the last would-be Jedi. One way or another, he would deal with him, too.
Leia used the blowers to dry off after her bath, combed her hair out, and had to admit she felt a whole lot better than she had in a while. It wasn’t often these days she got to soak in a hot tub. Most of the places she’d been, the ships she’d traveled there on, you were lucky if they had enough recycled graywater for a tepid shower. You got in, sprayed just enough water on yourself to get wet, lathered all over, and rinsed off with a few liters before the automatic timer shut it off. It was better than nothing but not nearly as much fun as stretching out in a vat carved out of black marble full of steaming water so hot it turned your skin red. That had to be one of civilization’s best luxuries.
She went to the closet, opened it. Noticed a small drawer built into the wall and saw that it contained undergarments. Well. Xizor thought of everything.
All right. Which of these dresses should she wear?
Xizor stared at the blank spot where the holoproj would be if he lit it. There were hidden holocams throughout the castle, of course, in virtually every room.
Including the room in which Leia had been installed.
He toyed with the thought of running the recording, to see if she’d taken advantage of what the room had to offer.
But—no. He didn’t want to spoil it. He would get a closer look at her later.
Much closer.