Perron took them up one platform, taking the princess with him as the immobilisation of her hand made it impossible for her to use the ropes by herself. He then put them all into harnesses and they found themselves travelling across the forest on a similar, but horizontal rope system. The princess clung to the professor for dear life and Perron smiled.

"Quite a way to travel, don't you think?" he said.

"Quite," Leia agreed.

Looking around, Leia was glad they were doing this in daylight. At least she could see how far she might fall... Well, no that wasn't quite true. In fact, as they were travelling between the top and middle canopies, she couldn't see the forest floor at all. But she could appreciate the forest's beauty. The early mist had all but faded, leaving a singing, green thing, alive like one enormous animal. Even the air was full; awash with insects and thick with humidity. Occasionally she caught glimpses of sun-drenched blue through gaps in the canopy above and wondered how she could have ever thought of the jungle as horrible.

Perron smiled at her obvious appreciation, pleased. "You like the forest?"

Leia regarded him with sudden understanding of why he stayed. "It's beautiful."

"It's deadly," he reminded her.

She smiled. "I know."

The next platform they landed on brought them face to face with a group of Kivvidans. The natives obviously knew and tolerated the professor, but turned threateningly towards the others as they arrived. Perron was reassuring the Kivvidans in their own tongue, but the natives weren't having any until they got a good look at the princess. Then their attitudes changed dramatically. They bowed, all but prostrating themselves before her.

Leia looked awkwardly at Perron who smiled and removed her harness.

Solo regarded the prostrate natives happily and reholstered his blaster. "This is good," he said. The natives looked up at him and he took a step closer to the princess. "I'm with her," he said, then put an arm around her shoulders and added, "We're all with her."

The Kivvidans rose and approached Leia who took an automatic step backwards. Solo let her go and his hand dropped to his blaster again.

"It's alright," Perron assured the princess. "They just want to touch you."

Leia tried to look calm as the natives stepped closer to her. One of them touched the markings on her temples, then her chest. Leia followed his hand and frowned. There were more blue marks between her breasts.

She pulled the shirt down, revealing the design and looked to Perron for an explanation. The Kivvidans were nodding sagely and one of them moved over to Luke and pointed at his chest.

Frowning, Luke checked inside the undershirt he was wearing, then pulled the front of it down so that the others could see the blue marks on his sternum. Chewbacca looked at Solo who was frantically checking his own chest. The Kivvidans chattered at them and Luke looked to Perron for an explanation.

"What does it mean?" he asked.

Perron studied the mark on Luke's chest and said, "It marks you as sherchlah."

The Kivvidans nodded and echoed the word.

"Jedi," Perron translated.

Luke's expression became intense and he asked sharply, "Is that what Leia's says?"

The professor shook his head. "A fertility sign," he said dismissively. "Sign of a woman. It's the designs on her temple that mark her as special."

"A goddess," Solo reconfirmed, and Leia got the impression he was reassuring himself that it would keep the Kivvidans at bay rather than making fun of her.

"Yes," Perron said and directed them towards the ropes.

"You don't have one?" Leia asked Solo, who shook his head happily and hooked his feet into the ropes.

"I almost feel left out," he said grinning at Luke and launching off the platform.

…..

They reassembled on the ground, all but Perron looking around nervously. The lazechs, he assured them, were twilight hunters, but they weren't convinced. It had been mid afternoon when they'd been attacked yesterday.

Leia had opened her mouth to point out this fact when a bone-shaking BANG chased all conversation away. The shockwave that followed threw her against Perron and knocked them all to the ground. The forest shuddered and the princess clung to the professor in sheer terror as the ground beneath them rippled.

Two metres behind them, Luke shrieked, "What the hell was that?!" He and Solo were both struggling to their feet, looking around frantically for the source when the heat wave from the blast came through and almost knocked them flat again.

Leia found her voice before her brain was fully in gear, "That was... That was..."

"That was a blast from space!" Solo yelled.

Perron had managed to find his feet and helped her to do likewise, answering darkly, "That was the Empire."

Leia stared at him, horror in her eyes as her mind finally identified the bang. "A Star Destroyer?"

He nodded, "It's in permanent orbit."

"Why?" Solo demanded.

Leia felt a sudden rush of relief and respect for Solo's landing. They could have easily been caught. She also realised that while the blast had felt horribly close, it was probably at least fifty kilometres away. But her mind still hadn't managed to come up with a reason for the blast.

"What are they doing?" she asked.

"What the Empire does best: raping the planet." He started them moving again and Leia hurried after him, waiting for an explanation, but he wouldn't meet her gaze.

She concentrated on watching where she was putting her feet, trying to calm herself, but feeling a surge of anger rising to replace her shock. And with nowhere to focus it but at Solo's father.

"Why?" she insisted. "What do they want?" She shook her head, struggling to find the words, "And what do they gain by blasting the planet?"

"Lazechs."

He had said it so quietly she almost missed it.

"What?"

The professor hastened his pace and insisted on keeping his attention focussed on the jungle, but Leia would not be discouraged, and hurried to keep up with him.

"Professor-?"

"Some idiot," he muttered, "discovered that the glands of the lazechs, that beast which nearly killed you, carried an enzyme that was eagerly absorbed by the natives' bodies; in particular, their muscles. He noticed that the natives ate it the night before a lazech hunt. It gave them augmented abilities. Greater speed, strength, hearing, sight... It only lasted a day, and left them completely exhausted, but it assured a successful hunt, usually without casualties.

"The idiot decided he could help the natives by refining it. Removing the side effects and lengthening its effective time. Unfortunately, he was too stupid to conceal his efforts and the university caught on and immediately applied his discovery to humans. The Empire arrived soon after, lured by the promise of superhuman stormtroopers."

"But," Leia frowned, trying to sort it out, "how does the blasting help?"

"They sight nests," Perron explained. "Hit just to one side, killing everything within two or three k's, then move in and take the little they need."

Leia was aghast, "They're blasting the planet just to kill the beasts?!"

"As you've seen yourself, the lazechs are impervious to small blaster fire. They are also surprisingly intelligent. They run in family groups, except for the adolescent males, and are the most successful hunters I've ever come across. The only way to kill them involves getting too close. And the mortality rate for unskilled hunters is very high; the Empire lost an entire battalion of stormtroopers during their first attempt."

Leia had to curb a malicious smile at the thought of a lazech slaughtering stormtroopers. "How do the natives kill them?" she asked.

"Where do you think the Imperials learned the trick with fire?"

"What are they planning to do? Burn the whole planet?" It was said sarcastically, but the look on Perron's face told her he thought that was exactly what they had in mind. Horrified, Leia asked, "What about the natives?"

"What about the natives?"

"But they can't-"

"They already have."

Leia gaped at him, appalled, but Perron kept walking and didn't look at her.

"Can't it be synthesised?"

"Not as cheaply as it can be harvested."

Something was starting to make awful sense to the princess. University geneticist studying the local ecology...

"It was you," she said.

Perron looked sharply at her then busied himself checking their position on his map.

"You were the one who discovered it."

Luke, Solo and Chewbacca caught up and Solo demanded, "What the hell is going on here?"

"What made you sell it?" Leia asked Perron, scathingly.

That made him look at her. "I didn't sell it!" he growled defensively. "The university sold it!" He stalked ahead down the narrow path.

"So you ran away?" she snapped, following him. "Why didn't you fight it? Say you'd made a mistake?"

"And draw attention to who discovered it?"

If Leia had been appalled before, she was doubly so now.

"Besides," Perron continued, "the samples had already gone through; and don't you think the university would have tested it before contacting the Empire?"

Leia was almost shaking with fury. "So that absolves you?"

"Spoken like a true idealist and rebel," Perron snapped.

"That's why you're here, isn't it? Living with the natives. You think it'll make it easier to live with yourself," she observed, darkly.

Perron looked her in the eye. "You're quite right." Then walked away. "But the nintwine helps me sleep."

"And when there's no more forest?" she called after him. "No more natives? Where will you go then?"

"Somewhere else."

Leia yelled after him, "You're not hiding from the Empire, Professor Perron Solo! You're hiding from yourself!"

She steamed impotently and turned hotly to face the others, quietly observing.

Solo smiled, "You and Dad seem to have hit it off."

Leia glared at him and snapped, "You're so alike!"

Solo was deeply insulted but Luke was worried about being left behind. "Come on, come on!" he harassed them and dragged the princess with him as he hurried after the professor.

"What was that all about?" Luke asked, keeping his eyes on the man in front.

"The Empire," she answered, grimly.

Luke looked at her sharply, "Is he working for them?"

Leia sighed and shook her head, "No..."

"What was that blast?"

"They're using a Star Destroyer to hunt those beasts- like the one you killed."

Luke grimaced at her for a moment then hurriedly concentrated as they followed in Perron's wake into a thicket of vines.

"Dare I ask why?"

"Harvesting an enzyme which could result in super-human stormtroopers."

Solo and Chewie had caught up with them and Solo said, "What?"

"Something your father discovered," Leia explained.

"And the Empire exploited," Luke added.

"Is that the answer the Rebellion's looking for?" Solo asked. "That's why the Empire's here?"

"We still need to find the operative," Leia said.

They stepped out of the tangle of vines into what had once been a clearing, at the centre of which was an older style skyhopper, laughably overgrown with vines and mosses.

Solo stopped in his tracks, appalled. "How long since you've flown this?"

His father, who was already at the 'hopper, struggling to remove plant-growth from the hatch, didn't pause or hesitate, "Not long."

The others shared sceptical glances and Solo muttered, "Yeah, sure."

It took Chewie's strength as well as Luke's lightsabre to clear the overgrowth from the hatch, but they finally got it open and Perron pushed his way through to the pilot's seat. A move that served to irritate his son further.

"Let me -" Solo started, but the withering look he got from his father shut him up.

"I can pilot a skyhopper, you know," Perron sniped as his son slid into the co-pilot's seat. Solo doubted they would get off the ground and was seriously worried about their flight worthiness if they did. From the look of it, the 'hopper hadn't been flown in over a year.

Chewie, Luke and the princess crowded into the two-man passenger space behind him, Leia literally having to sit in the Wookiee's lap.

The 'hopper started faultlessly and Perron shot his son an 'I told you so' look. He lifted it a little drunkenly into the air, working his way up through the forest levels. About two hundred metres up, it lurched sickeningly to one side and Solo gave his father a baleful look, then the ship levelled out and Perron smiled.

"See?"

Behind them, Luke, Chewie and the princess looked unconvinced.

They cleared the trees and brilliant sunshine had them all squinting until the automatic filters in the cockpit canopy kicked in and darkened it to a comfortable level. Below them, a verdant carpet stretched to the horizon in every direction except one. Leia regarded it grimly, silently pointing it out to Luke and Chewie. Luke had to strain to see past the Wookiee, but looked just as grim as he contemplated the thick plume of smoke rising from a distant stretch of forest.

"Is that the blast we heard?" he asked Perron.

The professor glanced at it and nodded, then pointed in the opposite direction, "There's the university."

It was not as much of an eyesore as Leia had expected. It was large and rambling, and reminded her of the temples on Yavin four in that it seemed a part of the forest somehow. Just as overgrown, but in a more controlled way. She suspected it would be a very pleasant place to work.

Perron veered the ship towards it and the skyhopper bucked again. He took them higher, hoping the ship would clear its throat, but it continued to shudder uncomfortably.

I don't like this, Leia thought loudly to herself, feeling less and less confident in the professor's piloting ability.

The ship bucked again and Solo gave an alarmed yelp, "Dad! What the hell are you doing?!"

"It's alright. We don't have far to go-"

The ship lurched to one side again and Solo growled intolerantly, "You've lost your starboard stabiliser!"

"We'll make it-"

"Take us down, now!" Solo insisted.

"No, we'll be-"

"You'll stall!"

Perron pointed at the fast approaching university, "There's the landing platform-"

The ship stalled.

Perron looked at the controls, stunned, but Solo didn't waste a second. "Switch it over to me!" he demanded.

Perron didn't argue and hastily switched control of the ship to the co-pilot station. Solo cut their power and set everything to give them as much lift as possible. "If there wasn't so much crap in the system..." he scolded.

"It's always worked fine for me," Perron muttered defensively.

Solo shot him a look that stated plainly, 'Yeah, sure, Dad'. He threw the switches to start them up again, but nothing happened. Pause. Try again. Nothing. Now he was getting seriously angry.

Luke had his eye on the swiftly approaching landing platform but, more particularly, the too close for comfort blanket of trees, and murmured, "Han..."

Solo was vibrantly aware and held little hope for them if they had to crash. He switched on again. Nothing. He slammed is fist into the instrument board in impotent fury and the engine coughed into life. The others breathed a sigh of relief, but Solo was not so happy.

"'Bout bloody time," he muttered, still fighting with the controls. "Hang on, kids, it's gonna be a rough landing." He frowned. Something was crawling up his leg. He thought he'd felt something a moment ago, but had been too busy to think about it. Now he was too busy trying to land without stabilisers, but he chanced a glance down...

"What the-"

... and shrieked.

Winding its slimy way delightedly up his leg was a huge, green and yellow slug. The ship lurched in direct response to his reaction and the passengers wailed.

"Dad!" he demanded. "Get it off me!" He struggled to regain control of the ship, wishing he'd never looked down. "Dad!" Solo glanced at his father and found him looking at the slug with something akin to wide-eyed terror. "Get it off me!"

Perron glanced at his son, then back at the slug. "Zrolog," he said. "Very dangerous."

"Get it off me!" Solo yelled.

Luke leaned forward, "Perron, open the hatch."

Perron looked at him then moved to comply. "Don't touch it with your bare hands; it'll take your skin off."

Solo almost whimpered, "Oh... great..." He could feel the thing moving up his thigh and forced himself to concentrate on flying.

Perron opened the hatch and a gale swept through the cabin. Luke removed his cloak, wrapped it around his hands and reached for the slug.

"Be careful!" Leia breathed tensely and Solo thought, Fine! What about me?"Get it off me," he growled darkly.

Luke was watching the slug, "Fly the ship, Han."

Solo tried to concentrate but the slug was moving into his lap. What the hell was Luke waiting for?

"Luke..."

"Fly the ship, Han."

The slug lifted half its body off his leg, waving pseudopod antennae at his torso and foaming with anticipation at the meal before it. Luke seized his chance, grabbed the slug and flung it, with his cloak, out the hatch. Perron slammed the hatch shut as though he thought there was a chance the slug might somehow get back in.

Luke sat back and expelled the breath he'd been holding. He looked at the princess and found her gazing at him with unparalleled admiration. Solo, too, was breathing a sigh of relief.

"Thanks, kid."

Luke couldn't quite suppress a cocky smirk. "Was just a slug, Han."

Solo shot him a fierce look, "Say that when you've got one crawling up your leg."

Luke grinned, "Fly the ship, Han."

….

The flight controller shook his head at the state of the 'hopper as it limped onto the landing platform, trailing a profusion of vines and creepers, and muttered about crazy university students.

Then they piled out; three filthy humans, an even filthier Wookiee and a feral professor. The flight controller rolled his eyes and thanked the local deity that he wasn't the tech who'd have to clean and repair that ship.

Perron closed the hatch behind them and threw his son, what he deemed was a well-earned morsel of praise, "Well done, son. Expertly handled."

Solo glared at him, "No thanks to you. You would've let that thing eat me alive!"

The older man sniffed and headed off the platform. "I was talking about your flying."

The others fell in behind him.

"Again, no thanks to you!" Solo sniped. "How long since you've flown that thing? A year?"

Perron shrugged and said non-comittally, "About that."

"You could have got us all killed!"

Perron smiled. "With the Academy's star student as pilot? Hardly."

Solo glanced guiltily at the others. They said nothing but were getting everything. He waved his finger hotly at his father and warned, "Now, listen, Dad-"

"I'm sorry about the zrolog," his father admitted. "It sort of took me by surprise."