A chapter with no Han (Evin)! How is that possible?
Chapter Twelve
Nexx Turner was not a brave man, nor did he know how to fly a ship through hyperspace. Therefore he located and hired a Sullustan pilot by the name of Seep Nilub who owned a very nice VCX-100 Corellian small freighter. Turner strongly suspected Nilub was a smuggler, but that didn't matter, and he didn't ask questions about the Sullustan's usual employers. All he wanted was to hire a pilot that would mind his own business and take him where he needed to go. The Sullustan was a suspicious being, and initially demanded ten thousand credits - payable up front - for taking Turner to the Hapan Consortium. Unfortunately, Turner hadn't been lying when he informed Isolder he was tapped out of funds. It took Turner a lot of fast talking but he managed to convince Nilub to fly him to Hapes for twenty thousand credits, payable after they returned to Coruscant.
They traveled to the Hapan Consortium through the Transitory Mists, from the entry point of Lorell, then headed to the remote planet of Zadaria, the planet that Isolder claimed was home to his vast, hidden wealth.
The Sullustan put his ship down near the dirty spaceport town of Vurrshun. Turner turned to the Sullustan as he exited the ship.
"You wait for me," Turner ordered the humanoid. "Whatever you do, don't leave! I'll be back as soon as I can."
"You owe me twenty thousand credits," Nilub stated flatly, his wide ears wiggling. "I will hunt you down and painfully kill you before I leave you behind without receiving payment."
The threat only served to make the jittery reporter even more nervous. He hurried away from the Sullustan, increasingly concerned that if Isolder had been less than honest, it would be Nexx Turner who would pay with his life for swindling Nilub.
Turner checked his flimsi notes as he shuffled through the dank and dusty streets, frequently glancing back over his shoulder as he passed by dark alleyways. He patted his small blaster under his overcoat, reassuring himself it was still there, although Turner was far from an expert when it came to blasters and he certainly wasn't a fast draw. At least the weapon was there and that reassured him he wasn't completely helpless.
Finally he found the address he was looking for, and slowly walked up the steps toward a decrepit warehouse located in a heavy industrial area. He double checked the address, confused. He had been expecting a bank, or at the very least, some rich Hapan's house.
Cautiously, he rang the buzzer next to a rusting, durasteel door. After waitng a few minutes, he rang the buzzer a second time, then a third. Finally a tiny, elderly woman opened the door, ever so slightly, frowning at Turner in confusion. She was holding an old fashioned mop and bucket, and it appeared she was a cleaning woman. This surprised Turner, since he assumed that droids would be the ones doing the cleaning.
"Hello," Turner said, struggling to speak the Hapan language that he'd studied only briefly prior to leaving Coruscant. "My name is Nexx Turner, and I've been personally sent by Prince Isolder on a mission to retrieve his wealth."
"I am seeking Calelyn Du'Srue," he said, trying to remain polite.
"I am she," the old lady said in broken Basic, coughing in his face.
Although he was surprised, Turner perused his scribbled notes on the Hapan language, then bumbled forward with his speech, "Prince Isolder and his Mother, Queen Filamina have been unjustly arrested and imprisoned by the evil New Republic and require their funds to purchase their freedom."
"Code," the woman croaked out, this time in Hapan.
Turner carefully repeated the phrase Isolder had told him during his last prison visit, "The Mists of the Fountain are Bewitching and Fair. The Reign of the Queen is neither Transitory nor Temporary."
The woman's eyes grew wide as she recognized the code, and she swung open the creaking door. "Enter. Bring no weapon inside."
This order didn't please Turner, but he pulled out his blaster and placed it on the ground next to the doorway then entered the warehouse. He gazed up at the ceiling and the crossbeams overhead, and immediately saw the reason for her order of no weapons. Located at all four corners inside the building were laser weapons pointed down and toward the center of the room. A blaster would have undoubtedly triggered the security system and fried any intruder holding a blaster. Then his eyes swept over the sizable floor area and he grew a bit concerned when he saw the room was entirely empty. "I don't see any wealth or jewels."
The woman gave a disgusting snort, then blew her nose on her sleeve. "Males are stupid." She headed toward the center of the large area, waving for Turner to follow. Once she arrived in the center of the floor, she pointed down. Then she stomped her heel against a small circle carved into the duracrete. A hatch in the floor shifted, revealing a stairwell. "Down," she commanded. "There."
Shaking with anticipation, Turner carefully stepped down the wobbly rungs and headed underground, glad he'd had the foresight to bring a glowrod. Once he reached the bottom, he shined the light around. Dozens of boxes and crates were stacked high in the hidden room. He pried the lid off the closet box, and immediately saw that it was filled with valuable Hapan rainbow gems. Another box revealed expensive guns of command, which, although illegal in the New Republic to own still sold for a small fortune on the black market.
It was all there, just like Isolder had said it would be. It was a fortune, and it was all his. Turner had no intention of bringing the fortune back to Isolder, nor would he bother bringing the crazed Prince more information. However, he would continue his research on Daysun and the Princess, not only because he was curious, but because he wanted revenge. Once he discovered the truth, if there indeed was something either Daysun or Organa wanted to hide about their past, he would make them pay to keep their secrets hidden from the public. And he was certain they would pay, if their secrets proved to be damaging to their images. Turner was still furious at the Princess for making him look like a fool in the eyes of the public because of his interview with Isolder. And Daysun... well, Daysun was just too damn good looking, too talented and too popular with the females, and he was engaged to a Princess on top of everything else the man possessed. Evin Daysun had won it all in the sabacc pot of life. He had everything Turner longed for, and would never have. If Turner could find something to bring him down, it would do his heart good. Turner was finally a rich man, and in his experience, rich men got whatever vengeance they desired.
He hurriedly climbed the steps back up and bowed slightly as he smiled and addressed the old woman, "The Prince gives thanks for guarding his fortune. He would like to reward you for your long years of service. I will need to return with a repulsor lift and take the bounty back to Coruscant. This will buy the Queen's and her son's freedom, and they will richly reward you for your years of protecting their resources."
As he rushed back to the Sullusan's ship, he wondered if he could trust the smuggler once he laid eyes on this much wealth. Then he remembered the boxes filled with Hapan guns of command, and he found himself smiling and hoping that the technology would work on species other than humans.
Corellia, six weeks later
Han had only been gone on tour for one week, and already Leia was intensely missing him. Trying to keep her mind off Han and on her project, she picked up another datachip and inserted it into a terminal to study the financial reports of yet another Corellian Orphanage. Han had been quite correct that most of these lousy places were being run by shady beings. They siphoned off the vast majority of government funding and private donations and put the credits in the hands of a few, greedy beings. Most of the money ended up in private bank accounts, leaving very little to run the shelters.
She looked up from her studies as Luke and Mara entered the house, shaking snow off their boots and jackets.
"It's cold enough outside to freeze a tauntaun," Luke complained as he rubbed his hands together to get them warm. "How many more weeks until spring?"
"Probably another standard month or two," Leia replied, amused. Her brother didn't let a day go by without griping about the cold and snow. Leia was looking forward to spring just so she wouldn't hear any more grumbling.
"Well, Han sure picked a great time of the year to do his touring, didn't he?" Luke continued his rant. "He won't be back until this nasty winter is all over, while we have to suffer. He's probably laughing his ass off thinking about me living with this horrible cold weather."
Mara shook her head in exasperation. "It's not all that bad. The younger students love playing outside in the snow."
Luke looked balefully at Leia. "They use the Force and heave snowballs at me. They think it's funny."
"It is funny," Mara said, biting her lower lip to keep from grinning. "Especially when it gets down the back of your coat and you jump up and down screaming like a little girl."
"Have you heard from Han at all?" Luke asked his sister, pointedly ignoring his wife's snide comments.
"He subspaced comm'd me two days ago," she said. "He's on Chandrila, and the concerts are going great, although he did spend an awful lot of time complaining about the new costumes Lando had made for him."
"More fringes?" Mara asked, folding her arms across her chest.
"He said he'd prefer the fringes," Leia replied with a laugh. "These new ones are covered with iridescent lab-gems, and Han says they weigh over nine kilos... plus Lando had matching capes made for the costumes!"
"Capes?" Luke asked in surprise while attempting to visualize Han wearing a cape. "Lando is the one that loves capes, and I can't imagine Han trying to wear a long cape while doing those moves on stage."
Leia shook her head. "No, that would be bad. But, apparently, these bejeweled capes only come down to his waist, so tripping over them isn't an issue. Han says Lando must have a secret life insurance policy on him, because he's positive Lando's trying to kill him from a stroke caused by heat prostration." She sighed. "I wish I would have gone with him."
"You have a lot of work you're doing here, though," Mara said. "Checking out all those younglings' shelters and making wedding plans takes a lot of time."
"I know," Leia said wistfully. Then she snapped her fingers. "Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. Lando just contacted me a few timeparts ago, and you'll never guess what he's up to."
"Besides costumes with capes?" Luke said dryly. "This ought to be interesting."
"You know the benefit concert Han's doing in Coronet City?" she said, smiling. "Well, Lando's decided to make it really, really worth it. He's contacting the Holo-Net and multiple systems, and he's arranging to have the concert put over the Holo-Net, live, on credits per view basis. He said he's gotten twenty-three systems already signed up to receive the concert through their long-range holo-space satellite systems, and everything above the cost of sending the signal will go toward Corellia's orphans. Lando's going to surprise him with this exciting news when he gets back on Corellia. Isn't that great?"
"Uh, Leia?" Luke said, his eyebrows creasing in concern.
"Yes?"
"How many beings will be watching Han's concert?"
Mara pursed her lips as she mentally considered. "Well, if a mere million beings per system watch, that's twenty-three million beings. But since the population of each Core system is considerably more than a billion, I'd guess that we're looking at close to a billion viewers, and maybe even more once Lando kicks in the advertising and they see that it's all going for a good cause. Who knows? Maybe three to five billion viewers?"
"That will bring in a massive amount of money for Han's charity," Leia said. "It could even be enough to help underprivileged younglings on other systems. I might have to hire assistants to distribute it all."
"Maybe Lando really is trying to kill Han," Luke said worriedly. "Seriously, Leia, can you imagine getting up on a stage with over a billion beings listening to you sing and trying to give a performance? I'm a Jedi, and even I don't think the Force would be able to calm me down prior to doing something that overwhelming."
"I never thought about that," Leia said, her eyes growing wide.
"Lando probably should have asked Han first before going ahead with something of this magnitude," Luke said firmly, thinking if there ever was a time Han might actually bolt for the Unknown Regions, this might be it.
"But there is good news," Mara said, once again looking amused. "Solo will be so nervous about doing that concert, he won't even be thinking about all his friends and their wives sitting in the audience watching him sing and shake his backside."
Leia whispered softly, "Han's going to blast Lando into a billion atoms. Maybe three to five billion."