"What did you do?" Han demanded of Lando.
Lando, embarrassed, told him, "It's not like I wanted this to happen, Han, but you must admit that we had her inside a construction site at full throttle. All things considered, I returned her to you intact."
Han remained unimpressed with his friend. "You said, 'Not a scratch,' Lando. The main sensor dish and my upper turret are missing. Now don't tell me that you simply lost them somewhere."
It was exactly like that, Lando mused. One second they were unblemished, and the next moment the upper half of the Millennium Falcon was gone. "I'll tell you what, Han, I'll let my people work on it…"
Han cut him off. "I have two words for you, Lando: Never again! I'll clean her up, I'll fix her, and I'll certainly fly her from here on out. This is the last time I trust her to any other person other than myself."
Lando had expected this turn in the conversation. Indeed he had predicted every word Han had said down to the very last syllable. It amused him somewhat that he could read Han so well, but he did not allow it to show, doing so would enrage Han even further. A master gambler could read his opponents in depth with only scattered input, and Lando Calrissian counted himself among those reckless few who made it their stock and trade. It was his talent as a gambler that had allowed the Rebels to win the battle yesterday.
On the surface, all the decisions Lando had made or affected during the battle were enormous mistakes. He had been the first to realize there was a trap, but he had told Admiral Ackbar to wait in that trap until the shield fell. When they had been faced with destruction from an operational Death Star, he had told Ackbar to press the attack into the waiting turbolasers of the Imperial fleet. A more level head would have extracted his force on each occasion to fight another day.
Lando was willing to make these decisions due to his understanding of his opponents and allies. He knew that Han could drop that shield, but judging from his situation, Han had hit similar difficulties. Difficulties usually required a little time to adjust to and fix; consequently, he was willing to stay in an obvious trap until Han could get things under control. When the Imperial fleet remained on station he read that the Imperial Admiral in charge of that fleet was bound by some order not to engage them; therefore, that Admiral was not expecting someone with a weak hand in the game to raise the stakes. Men thus caught off guard always became reactionary, and could be lead around as they tried to extract themselves from a game that they had no right to lose. Ackbar did not see it that way, but he was not convinced he could win the game. Therefore, he had tried to survive, in order to do that Ackbar had to win. In the end, Lando could only be astonished by how well it had all gone.
Lando personally mourned the damage he had inflicted on the Millennium Falcon, but he knew he would never convince his friend of the fact until the damage was repaired. Nonetheless, he intended to do something for Han and the ship that had saved his life. "I'll pay for the parts then," he offered.
"You'll find a good supplier too," Han growled.
Lando raised his hands with theatrical flair. "Would I short change my buddy?" He spoke with the same exaggerated sincerity he used to lull his fellow gamblers to their ruin. Anything to break the tension.
Han cast a level gaze at his friend. "That time on Bespin comes to mind," he said coldly.
Lando conceded defeat, "All right, you have me there." Every trace of animation left his voice, and he put away all his tools as a gambler and as a leader so he might spare a truly dear friendship. "I'll call my stockyard on Mon Cal and have whatever you need by the end of the day."
Han appeared satisfied. "Chewi and I will get started on a list, and I'll have it to you in a few hours." He turned his attention back to the ship, and mercifully changed the subject a little.
"We have to take as many of the wounded back to the medical frigate as we can. Are there any problems with the upper docking collar?" Han was all business now.
Lando told him he did not know, but he would not trust it. He then listed off a number of problems he had experienced since the battle. Some Han became alarmed at, but a great number of them he was already familiar with. After that Han, Lando, and Chewbacca crawled into and over every bit of the Falcon to find any problem that would endanger a flight. After a couple of hours, they had discovered enough small hull breaches to warrant grounding her until she could be repaired on the surface of Endor. Battered though she was, the Falcon could fly again with a little care.
Lando made the call to his stockyard and got the parts moving. Only then did he stop to consider his own situation. For the first time in a while he was out of transportation. On Bespin he had a few ships at his disposal, but the Empire had seized them after Cloud City had been evacuated. That had not bothered him then because he had the Falcon. After Han had been rescued, he had other things to do so he allowed Lando keep using her until just now.
With a start of surprise, Lando now discovered he had not given the matter of eventually losing the Falcon any thought at all. Somehow she felt so much like home, that he never considered leaving. It was the effect she had on everyone. Han would certainly sympathize, but he would still keep her for himself. Her familiar touch and often-jumbled interior always seemed a welcome space to be even if the space through which it traveled was not. Even Lando's refined tastes remained silent in what he would otherwise call a rather squalid existence.
He needed a ship and fast. The Alliance would probably allow him to use a shuttle for a while, but he could not command a fighter group from an ungainly craft of that nature. A starfighter did not appeal to him either, that would lack the necessary communications gear and defensive abilities that the Falcon possessed. He could lead a fighter group from another fighter, but not the immensely more complex role of leading a combined force of multiple groups, cruisers, and assault ships. Besides that, he was not as good a pilot as most Alliance pilots. He needed another ship like the Falcon to continue on in his role of General of the Alliance forces.
Lando called a friend on Mon Cal who was a dealer in star ships. After a jubilant greeting from his friend and several congratulatory exchanges for destroying the Death Star with the Emperor in it, they got down to business.
"Can't you cut me a deal, Grhommy?" Lando asked.
The image on the other end of the line displayed a Mon Calamari in dapper clothes and in good spirits. After consulting a pad of data containing his own financial status, Grhommy Beck told Calrissian, "I can sell you anything on the lot at my cost." That was all the deal he would get. Even if the Emperor was dead, he had to provide for his family. The coming days would reveal who controlled the galaxy, but business would continue. The Mon Calamari could expect a boon of sorts, but he could also expect change to be a bit slow in the making. His clients depended on his sound business, and his family depended on his financial sensibilities. Deals of the nature Calrissian was expecting, would take food off his table so slim was his margin of profit.
Beck had built a reputation on dealing only in the most reliable ships that were easily defensible. When he had started his business the second criteria had not even been an issue. But when his customers and friends started being stopped and seized by pirates in deep space, he began to examine speed and defensive armament in detail. When it became clear to him that the Empire would not stop the growing tide of criminal influence, he mandated that all of his clients left in a ship that could return them to buy another. Good business sense that had earned him a great many friends and no enemies.
Calrissian considered that with much longing, but he sensed a deal lurking within the confines of Grhommy's strained finances. "What do you have that could replace the Millennium Falcon?"
Grhommy rolled his eyes in a distinctly Mon Calamari gesture of anticipation. This could be a good exchange yet. "A light freighter of Corellian manufacture?" Grhommy asked in the hopes that Calrissian would take a few heaps off his lot.
"Something of that kind, but I just can't tell you without knowing what you have," Lando answered.
"I have an YT-2000 light freighter you can have for five thousand," Grhommy offered. A picture of the ship replaced his image on Lando's holocom. It bore a strong family resemblance to the Millennium Falcon and all other YT-1300's. The main body was a round dish with an oblong, horizontal drive engine in the rear. Forward of the body extended two utility mandibles to house the ships systems and to make more room in the cargo area. But instead of the side-mounted cockpit, one extended between the mandibles. "It will perform in the same arena as Solo's ship with a few differences. She lacks the dual shield generators and the quad cannons, but I have the parts for those in the shop so I can send them with it." The image shifted to a view of the interior, which was barren and gutted. "I'm afraid her former owner had a short run to make on a regular schedule. She has no amenities outside the cockpit beyond the basics, and her hyperdrive is pretty well played out. If you still have the people to fix her up, I'd say she would serve you better than she would now appear."
Lando flinched at such a foreboding prospect. "Are you sure that's all you have for me?" Normally Beck didn't parade the hulks past him.
Grhommy sounded not in the least bit troubled by the General's misgivings. "I just got her last week, Calrissian, I haven't had enough time to fully outfit her. Let me assure you she can perform as advertised, but I must tell you what I myself would do to it."
Lando was satisfied that he was not being ripped off, but options were something he loathed to close, "What else do you have in YT?" he asked.
The picture shifted to a split display of one YT-1300 and one YT-2400. Grhommy explained: "The 1300 just got here. Plush interior, good engine, in great structural shape, but I can't tell you about it in too much detail. The previous owner has sold me stuff before and I can tell you it's lead an easy life, but defensively, it needs a complete upgrade. If you want it, I would like to keep it for a few weeks to complete the upgrade at the cost of the parts."
Lando smiled. Forever a fair player, Grhommy always tailored the deal to the client's needs. It helped out a great deal that the Mon Calamari was perceptive to Lando's rather extreme requirements. "You just sold me my next fleet of ships, Beck," he chuckled, "But I'm afraid I don't have that kind of time. Perhaps later I can get this one. But what about the 2400?"
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If there ever was anything to be written in stone about these jabbering little creatures, Daub reflected, it should be their unfailing good humor. He wasn't sure how far he had carried Kabayoth with these Ewoks, but they had tirelessly held up their end of the litter. Although it took four of them to hold up their end to his singular effort, they rotated the bearers without breaking stride. So smooth was their switch off that he did not notice until the resting team of Ewoks bounded past him like playful children. He was escorted now by about two dozen of the tribe, and every last one had unbounded reserves of energy for play. They would roll down hills, cartwheel down the trail, and no fewer than five at a time was swinging from vine to vine.
A latecomer to the group was an exceedingly small female. Perhaps only sixty centimeters tall, she was filled with a store of energy that Daub could only gape at in wide-eyed envy. She ran around Daub and the litter as they walked until she fell over dizzy. When she recovered a moment later, she jumped onto Kabayoth and jabbered on incoherently at the Wookee until she seemed satisfied she had made whatever point she had labored to make. She then directed Kabayoth to lower her to the ground. No sooner had her paws touched the path than she sprinted for the trees.
Daub thought briefly that she had run off home, but a slight thump on his back and a familiar screech of delight told him that she had landed on him. Tiny claws gripped the cloth of his prison tunic as she climbed up onto his shoulders. She wailed in triumph then gently ran her claws through his hair. She was light and Daub did not mind her riding him so long as she didn't upset his balance.
The little Ewok's father watched her anxiously and brandished his spear discreetly at Daub. Daub, for his part, smiled and tried his best to convey to the father his benign intentions.
The Ewok then noticed the pockets in the front of his shirt. At first Daub thought she had fallen off him, but she slipped quickly down the front of him and stood up with her feet planted in his pockets. "Becka!" She proclaimed pounding her chest. When Daub tried to look around her at the trail she did it again.
She had done this fully three times before Kabayoth revealed, That's her name, Daub.
Daub at once felt quite dense and rolled his eyes. "I know I'm smarter than this," he murmured. "Daub," he offered her. When she did not register what she had told him he repeated it again.
"EEEEE, Daub," she said and jabbered something else to her father. An explosion of laughter from all the Ewoks told Daub that even she did not consider him a threat. With her endorsement all the spears, axes, and stone knives vanished and the laughter continued ripple through the ranks.
Becka's influence was proven to be greater yet when she pointed over Daub's shoulder at the litter and chirped out some kind of question. "Kabayoth," he answered. No sooner than he had the word out of his mouth than she barreled over his head and jumped onto the litter.
Wookees are known for their tempers, but it is seldom appreciated that they are quite dignified at all other times. As best as they can, they strive to make their shaggy, massive forms straight of back and flowing in motion. So it was a great surprise to Daub and Kabayoth that when Becka landed on the Wookee's chest his enormous bulk jumped up in the air and a very undignified squeak erupted from Kabayoth.
Becka was delighted anew with the ride and rocked herself furiously atop Kabayoth in an effort to make him buck again. When he remained still she rushed back to her perch on Daub's shoulders. The rest of the way she talked to Daub and Kabayoth as though they understood her. Daub had to admit that she made him forget his aches and pains, and he felt very content to have her riding on him.
They continued on for half the day through the woods in this way. Finally the trees parted, and a large clearing appeared. To Daub's relief, Rebel ships were sitting idle surrounded by their crews. Here and there celebrating Ewoks danced and jabbered among the Rebels. Beyond the clearing sat a great heap of smoldering technology that had once been the Imperial shield generator.
Becka sat atop his shoulders in unaccustomed silence. For a long time, Daub's band of Ewoks stood stalk still, and took in the sheer scale of what had happened the previous day. They had been too distant to join the battle in time. Their Chief had wanted to take to the fighting, but by the time news reached him, the Evil Moon growing in the sky shattered into shooting stars. Even those Ewoks who engaged in the battle would never know the magnitude of what they had done.
Becka said something reverent in Daub's ear. "This will all fade back into the land again," Daub assured her. Language barrier not withstanding his words had the desired affect, and he felt her relax a bit on his shoulders.
After being joined by further Ewoks, they were escorted down into the clearing and lead to where a golden protocol droid conversed patiently with the elders of the local tribe. The Droid became quite alarmed when he saw the litter bearing Kabayoth, "Goodness!" he exclaimed in a very human frenzy of worry. "Where in heavens did you come from?"
Daub would have answered, but his escort of Ewoks erupted into a din of chatter. The droid's self-possessed form bent to hear their words and chattered back at them when he could. Later Daub would come to realize that the droid had followed every last word spoken without the need to interrupt any of the tales being told. He was never to know how C-3PO could multitask in such an efficient manner, and he never met another droid who could do the same.
When the Ewoks finally quieted their tales, the droid straightened and made his introduction. "I am C-3PO, human-cyborg relations. Your escort informs me that you crashed near their village. They wish to convey you to our custody since they believe that you belong to us." The droid managed to sound embarrassed when he told them, "They tell me that Lady Becka will release you from the spell she put on you when Master Chewbacca arrives."
Spell? Kabayoth asked with no small amount of incredulity.
"What kind of spell?" Daub added.
The droid shook his head as if confusion clouded his programming. "Yes, sir. Your escorts tell me that their tribal charm witch has enacted a powerful spell to subdue you."
Daub was not a superstitious man, but he found himself taking a quick stock of himself. Nothing seemed amiss. In fact he felt quite well. Not so much as a sore muscle could he claim to trouble him. So whatever it was that the Ewoks spoke of, its effects were marginal if at all there.
The droid sent an Ewok running further into the Rebel camp and over a far ridge, and another towards a group of Ewoks celebrating around the burned out carcass of an Imperial AT-ST. "I have sent for someone to care for you and your companion, sir. If you will forgive the intrusion, we still have security to consider."
You mean you have sent for an armed escort, Kabayoth growled.
C-3PO for his part managed to look embarrassed as well as an immobile face could. "I must apologize, sir, but we have already captured several Imperial survivors this morning." His tone dropped suddenly into a most tender variety of regret as he added, "Most elected to fight on rather than surrender."
Kabayoth shook his head wearily, I understand. He raised himself up onto his elbows. My partner and I helped a crew of Wookees escape the Death Star. Have they found their way here yet?
"Yes they have," the Droid replied. "They tell us about half made it to the surface."
C-3PO could have told them more, but at that moment the shaggy brown head of Chewbacca appeared out of the trees escorted by the first Ewok runner. Chewbacca immediately bellowed into a greeting for Kabayoth. No sooner had he done so than Becka leapt from Daub's shoulders and landed again on Kabayoth's litter. She raised her tiny paws; claws extended, bared her teeth and growled defensively.
So sudden was her action that Chewbacca actually hesitated in mid stride. Then he and Kabayoth began to laugh in great, deep woofs.
It is all right, small one, Kabayoth soothed, as his gusts of laughter would allow. He merely wishes to greet a brother warmly.
Becka either did not understand or had no wish to release her self-imposed charge. She stood defiantly on Kabayoth's chest, daring Chewbacca to challenge her.
Chewbacca stepped within reach of her tiny paws and crouched beside the litter. While his gaze was not yet at Becka's level, it was not at his usual imposing height. He made a few soft growls and spread his paws in submission to show his respect. It seemed almost comic to see what Jaba the Hutt had termed the "Mighty Chewbacca" humbled by a being far less sophisticated, far younger, and less than one quarter his own body weight. But Becka demanded and got everyone's submission in her presence.
Satisfied that she had made her point, Becka did something a bit unusual. After lowering her paws, she leaned over to face Kabayoth, nibbled his nose and leapt onto Daub's shoulders and nibbled his nose. This completed she leapt to the ground and spat on the ground between Daub's feet. She then walked over to Chewbacca clasped his bowcaster bandolier. She jabbered something to him that he didn't understand, and walked over to her father standing guard a discreet distance away.
The strange ceremony held everyone's puzzled attention for the duration. So surprising was her little display, in fact, that every eye followed her over the rise without a word exchanged.
Surprised silence thundered among those gathered around the litter until Chewbacca growled a question at C-3PO. "She told your fortune, Chewbacca," the droid answered.
Impatient with the droid as always, Chewbacca growled a very gruff question 3PO's way.
"She told you that you would never again live in your own home. Your debts of life are well and paid, but you belong to a rebuilding family left over from a misguided father and a broken home," C-3PO answered.
Chewbacca took stock of what he was told, and then refocused on Kabayoth and Daub without the slightest lingering care. For a few moments the two Wookees growled and roared about their latest experiences and caught up with each other. Kabayoth told Daub that Chewbacca and himself were working together while Chewbacca was a slave of the Empire. Chewbacca explained to Daub that he had killed one of Kabayoth's former owners since his own escape. Kabayoth then told Daub who had bought him after that, and how he had come to work on the second Death Star. Chewbacca then told Daub about …
And so it went. Wookee custom held that any conversation held amongst friends after an extended absence from home be held with at least three souls present. The two most familiar of friends telling the third party the story so as to allow the news to reach home by any means possible. Slavery had enforced this custom upon their kind, an ongoing oral history so as to tell of those who had been taken from home without warning or even explanation. When the news reached Kashyyyk the families of the lost and scattered would record what they heard in the event that the oral history may be preserved. To Daub it was a custom of the saddest origins, but of the pleasantest consequences. It allowed someone such as himself a peek at what this race of shaggy beings was really made of, and what would have surprised his Imperial superiors, all those years ago, was how resilient the Wookees were. Even isolated from each other for years at a stretch, they would not allow something so trivial as an Empire crush their spirit. But what touched him the most was his inclusion to this most sacred of customs. For, in effect, he was being made a member of, not one, but two Wookee families just by listening to two long lost friends explain how they had come to get here. At least that was what Kabayoth told him. Daub figured himself either foolish enough or kind enough to believe him.
Daub could find comfort that he was included among the families of Kashyyyk. He would proudly declare his gratitude for what was genuine acceptance among united, caring communities. His own family had ostracized him for the heinous crime of trying to correct the gravest of errors he had himself made. The truth of his own family could hardly match the Wookee's example. His brother was a Captain of an Imperial class Star Destroyer, and by all accounts he was good at his job. That same brother had imprisoned him on that ship for almost two years. Daub's two sons now lived in their uncle Rook's home along with their mother whom Rook had married. Daub's father was a patrician to the Empire, and had not spoken to him in greater than fifteen years despite Daub's repeated efforts. And at last there was Mystery, loyal only to the next contract.
Daub could not find hate enough to condemn them though. His brother was an Imperial by conviction rather than by any real loyalty to Palpatine. His former wife would adore Rook for his position and social standing. He reasoned that he never understood her anyway, and Rook always had understood people better than he had. He wondered what his sons were told about him often enough, but, if they were any bit like their father, they would try to find out for themselves what he really was like. His father Mithras had been a patrician in the Old Republic, and he had retained both his standing and his wealth during the turbulent years of Palpatine's ascension to power. Mithras was a survivor of uncanny instinct who saw and encouraged potential in his children early on so that his family might continue to survive. The old man probably was astounded to see it all unravel so easily. Mystery, his younger sister, had always been the rebellious one of his father's children; consequently, no one in the family was much surprised by her occupation in the bounty-hunter trade. And everyone could take comfort in the fact that she was an outstanding hunter. Daub was proud of her even though she would probably be after him as soon as Rook discovered he was alive.
After a few moments of storytelling, and catching up Chewbacca motioned for Daub to take up the other end of the litter again he explained that the Millennium Falcon would take them to the medical frigate as soon as it could be flown. Chewbacca had already promised the other Wookees Daub and Kabayoth had freed first rights to the ride after the most seriously injured.
It was when Daub stooped to take up the litter again that he noticed how bone tired he was. His shoulders ached, his legs were watery with fatigue, thirst raged in is throat, and he sank to the ground feeling worse by the second. By the time he reached his knees he became aware that his hands were curled into throbbing claws he could not will open. The weight of all the kilometers he had carried Kabayoth through the forest arrived as though it had only now found its way to him along the trails. He also became aware that he had not slept in two or three days. While his mind struggled to cope with the blows his body only now was reporting, it too began to register a headache caused by a badly jarred back. The only bright spot was the spear wound in his leg only itched a bit instead of the raging flames of pain Daub expected after this avalanche of agony.
Kabayoth would have asked Daub what was wrong if not for the sudden onset of pain in his broken leg. A frantic itching bloomed like a lit fire in the center of his limb without warning. The Wookee had time enough to understand that it was Becka's absence that had caused this before a massive fever swept over him and took his mind into delirium. Now that she was gone, she could no longer keep the infection away from the compound fracture. Nor could she distract Kabayoth and Daub's minds from the debilitating pain from the previous day. Kabayoth managed to growl out her name before he convulsed in alternating flashes of intense heat and jarring chills rendered him incoherent.
For a moment Chewbacca only stood there wondering what had happened to these two. The man, Daub, had stooped to pick up the litter, and then appeared to stall to catch his breath. But as he caught more of his wind, he slowly sank to the ground. Simultaneously, Kabayoth shuddered and crooned out the name of that little Ewok that had faced him down. Chewbacca had tried to ask what he wanted from her, but Kabayoth only curled up into a tight ball and panted as after a long run. Chewbacca then asked Daub what was wrong, but he could barely summon the strength to moan out for water.
"Oh, my!" 3PO gasped. "Master Chewbacca, what happened to them?" Chewbacca's reply only puzzled the droid even more. "But what does Mistress Becka have to do with this?" he asked. When the Wookee gave a quick swat to the droid's head though, 3PO started chattering at the assembled Ewoks that always followed him now.
Chewbacca roared out towards the humans working on the rebel ships in the clearing loud enough for one to run over to ask what was going on. Since he could not understand what Chewbacca said, C-3PO had to interpret.
"I'm terribly sorry! But Master Chewbacca needs a medical team here immediately for these two beings," 3PO motioned at the two mounds of agonized flesh before them. The man took off in time to see a small Ewok running pell-mell towards the droid.
Becka took careful stock of her former charge when she arrived. She managed to look a bit confused, but Chewbacca could not tell what about precisely. He stooped to her level again to try and convey his own concern as best he could. Even with their similar bodies and culture, it was clear that Ewoks had only the most rudimentary understanding of what he said. In that way, though, they were like most humans, so having lived his life struggling to be understood, he was good at making a point. He growled encouragement and his concern for the two stricken beings she had kept from harm. He hoped she could help again, and it was not coincidence that Kabayoth had called her.
Becka chattered out something dismissive as though the Wookee should not worry so much. She tapped his knee with one of her tiny claws to emphasize her point and went to work. Seeing that Kabayoth was clearly in the worse shape of the two, she padded over to his side. She ran her paw over his head a number of times in long affectionate strokes. With each pass of her paw the spasms grew weaker until Kabayoth lay still. She them heaved his body out flat one limb at a time. When she got to his splinted leg, she took no particular care with it other than straightening it out comfortably. When Chewbacca tried to help she scolded him off to his amazement.
With Kabayoth now lying still and relaxed, she administered a pressure with her full body weight to his chest with both paws, and a final, gentle pressure to the bridge of his nose with a single finger. She looked at Chewbacca and raised a finger to her mouth. "Sssshhh," she ordered. He could hardly object, so effective was her treatment.
When she approached Daub her demeanor changed: from almost motherly concern, to the untroubled tones of a scolding, but not unkind, nurse. She rolled him over without care and began to brush off the dirt and grit from his body. She slapped his face as one might do to awaken a dozing man. She then sat him up by pulling on his arms making quite a show of it as she did so. She grunted and growled between clenched teeth; scolding him the whole time, it would appear, for his laziness. With him in a sitting position, she walked around to his back and began furiously punching, swatting, and chopping with her fists until Daub stood. Chewbacca's fine ears could hear the pops and crackles of Daub's spine, so intense was Becka's assault.
Daub was now revived, but he reeled on his feet and could not focus on anything before him. Becka scratched at his knee so that he would stoop to see her. When she was satisfied that she had his full attention, she squeezed his spear wound while she held onto his head by the hair.
Daub's eyes flew open in shock and pain. He tried to reel away, but Becka held him still for one moment more. Then she released her grip on his leg but not his hair. With a twinkle in her eye, she drew his attention to Kabayoth's sleeping form, "SSSHHH!" she ordered. She then released her grip on his hair and hugged his uninjured leg.
After a few jabbered words C-3PO translated, "She says: that you will let master Kabayoth sleep until two days from now. She also demands that you must leave this place before the spirits of the trees crush you." The golden droid asked Becka something then continued, "Quite frankly, sir, I don't know what she's talking about. It must be a tribal superstition."
Daub shrugged. "Chewbacca," he said, "let's get Kabayoth back home."
Chewbacca growled agreement.
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Lando looked over the YT-2400 with interest. Dash Rendar's Outrider was of this model and it had impressed him to no end.
Grhommy Beck rolled his eyes again as a smile creased his features. "One of the best I have. Fully outfitted, reconditioned, and rebuilt she's the swiftest ship on the lot."
"Then why don't you have a buyer?" Lando asked.
"She's pricey. The list price for anyone else would be seventy-four thousand and all up front. But for you, I'll sell her at cost." Beck was shifting gears into sales mode. Lando could almost hear the percentages tick off in the Mon Calimari's head.
"What does that come to?" Lando said.
"With dorsal and ventral Taim & Bak 81A duplex laser turrets Fabritech AN-9 sensor package, and a fully rebuilt hyperdrive that comes to…" Beck trailed off as he made the calculation, "… Forty-five point six thousand."
Lando gaped. The sum of all the Falcon's parts would not approach even half this fee. "How did you get beyond generational parts?"
Beck did not answer. Instead he offered, "If you buy her at list cost I will throw in the other two fully reconditioned for free."
Lando caught himself before he exploded in profanity. "Let me think about it for a day alright, Grhommy?"
Beck waved a dismissive hand, "Take your time. None of these ships are moving out of here anytime soon." With a friendly wave he signed off.
"General," a voice said behind him.
Lando turned to see an Alliance commando standing before him. "Yes?" he answered.
The camouflaged figure looked behind him towards a man in Imperial prison coveralls. "This man just came out of the forest with a tribe of Ewoks and a Wookee. He claims to be Daub Lasck." The man looked back to Lando, "Isn't he dead, sir? Chewbacca claims this to be him, but I thought he was killed at Hoth."
Lando knew Lasck only by reputation so he could only say, "If Chewi says this is Lasck, then there's no doubt about it."
Satisfied the commando turned and clipped a set of manacles on Daub's wrists.
Before he could lead Lasck away Lando erupted, "Hold on!" he leapt up to grip the commando's shoulder, "what are you doing?"
The commando turned to Lando with an incredulous stare. "I'm from Alderaan, General, and this man is on the most wanted list just two steps below Bevel Lemelisk."
Lando was aware of this, but he knew there was more to Lasck than that. "He also built Eco base on Hoth as I recall. It would seem that his fate has been tied to us for a couple of years."
The man was adamant, "The Alderaani council never got the chance to take this man to trial. My duty is to see that he meets the courts."
Lando, aware of Daub's talents, was reluctant to throw all that away at a time when he could make use of them. "I'll take custody of the man then," he offered. "Besides, as a flag officer, I have jurisdiction until he can be released to the council." It was flimsy. Han actually held jurisdiction on Endor itself since this man was under his command.
The commando conceded the point. "I suppose so, sir. Do you mind if I inform General Solo and Princess Leia that you have Lasck in your custody?"
Lando smiled broadly, "I insist you do that very thing, uh…" he trailed off looking over the man's uniform for some kind of insignia. "I'm sorry, but you never introduced yourself."
"Caleb, sir, Sergeant Thias Caleb of Alderaan," the man replied proudly executing a perfect formal bow of the Alderaani House of Commons.
"Very well Sergeant Caleb, see to it the General and the Princess are appraised of the situation."
The man walked away leaving Daub standing before Calrissian.
Lando looked the man over and asked, "Just where have you been?"
"Prison," Daub said in his booming voice. "My brother Rook was ordered to look after me in his own brig until recently."
Lando said in a joking voice, "I guess they had you working on this Death Star just recently."
"Yes."
Alarmed Lando said, "You didn't work on the turbolaser did you?"
"Yes."
"The hyperdrive?"
"Yes."
"The targeting computer?"
"Yes."
"The nav systems?"
Daub rolled his eyes impatiently. "Will it save time if I told you I made this one operational?"
Lando shook his head. "Ackbar will want blood for this."
Daub stared back at Lando, "I can hardly be tried for wanting to live."
"It's not that simple," Lando said. "Your desire to survive just cost the Alliance twenty percent of its forces."
Daub was unmoved. "If they had to do without me, they would have. I may be the best they once had (let me tell you that is by no means difficult), but over the years I trained legions of specialists who could have and would have be brought here. They would have made your job impossible. Instead they had me on hand to do everything. Moff Jerjerrod himself would have preferred to have those legions of specialists rather than just little old me. I can only do so much at a time, but I did do them."
Lando was angry, "If you think what we just did was easy…"
Daub cut him off, "You see that deflector generator over there?" he motioned to the smoldering remains on the ridge. "A fully functional unit was aboard the station yesterday to be used as a backup. The Emperor thought it more important to have the superlaser have a higher rate of fire rather than waste labor on installing the unit into the power grid and jeopardize a power drain. If those specialists were available, the labor shortage would silence such arguments."
Lando saw Daub's reasoning, but had to admit it was shaky. "So just by being there and working full tilt, you slowed the project just enough for us to succeed."
Daub nodded. "Besides," he added, "do you really think the station could be made indestructible? Something so large and so dangerous can only be regarded as a target."
Lando was less sure than Lasck of that point, but he saw no reason to continue with the argument. "I suppose you can defend our actions to higher authorities."
"Or make restitution," Daub replied.
"I suppose," he allowed. Changing the subject Lando turned back to his dilemma with Beck, "Can you help me out here? I'm not sure these ships are worth the expense. I only need one of them, but a package deal of the three seems very tempting."
Daub considered the data Calrissian presented for a moment. "Buy 'em," he said.
Lando was unconvinced, "This kind of cash is not easy to come by."
"For a layout of seventy odd thousand you will receive triple the value of those freighters if sold individually. In addition, I can upgrade all those hulks into sprinters that would shame the best around." Daub said this with absolute confidence.
"Even the Millennium Falcon?" Lando asked.
Daub nodded.
"Alright," Lando said. "Speaking of the Falcon, I don't suppose you would work on her right now would you?" He was both anxious to get the ship repaired and to see the engineer in action.
"I'm more interested in a bed right now," Daub replied.
"We're in the process of moving off world right now," Lando told him. "All our efforts are geared towards getting all our assets back to the fleet. In fact, we're short of shuttles right now. The Defiance had the larger part of our spares and it did not survive the battle yesterday."
"My wookee friend is heading to the medical frigate; I'll just stay with him."
"He's at the end of a very long list, Daub. He won't be getting up there for a few days."
This revelation had the desired effect on Lasck, Lando was gratified to see. His shoulders slumped and he breathed a resigned sigh. "Where is it?" Daub asked.
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The Millennium Falcon nested on a small bluff overlooking the battlefield. Battered, scarred, and tired though she was, she nonetheless made a grand sight to see. One could almost imagine a large bird of prey perched over a field of carnage. Lando had chosen the spot for no other reason than its size since the trees allowed only the smallest of clearings. Come daylight, he marveled at the view only to realize how close to dumping the ship off a twenty meter drop he had come.
Daub ignored the view and went right to work. With a confidence born of hard experience, he marched inside, found a tool kit and began jettisoning all the broken parts of the ship. Indeed the ship appeared to molt as the durasteel and fibertanium plates crashed to the ground. Without asking or appearing to examine the damage he shed hull plates, systems modules, fairings, hatch covers and assemblies by the ton.
Lando was at once alarmed. "Stop, we'll never get her back together for months if you don't stop right now!"
Daub looked back at Lando with undisguised impatience. "Would it help if I explained what I'm doing? I am all for getting this heap into the air and to my bed in orbit above. I will therefore waste no time in doing so."
"Perhaps you should explain," Lando allowed.
Daub turned and began to work again. "This hull plating has sheared off the extrusion beneath the surface. It must be replaced or repaired before takeoff or it will no longer bear the mass of this quarter." The part fell to the ground. "This hatch is fused shut by laser fire. This makes the metal very brittle and does not accept the thermodynamic curve for space." The hatch fell to the ground followed shortly by the hatch mounts. "This canopy has suffered a massive impact. Bringing it down to the surface has caused cracking in the plaz that will be fatal before the ship reaches the exosphere." The canopy shattered to the ground.
After about ten minutes of this, Solo sprinted onto the bluff. Horrified, he sank to the ground. Gaping openmouthed at the shedding remains of his ship, Lando casually strolled up. "I thought I might get things moving."
"I thought I told you that Chewi and I would get this fixed," Han wailed just as Chewbacca strolled up the path.
Chewbacca roared a war cry in protest. Unslinging his bowcaster, he was about to charge the ship and disembowel whoever was responsible when Daub poked his head out of the cockpit. The full throated roar chopped itself off into an inquisitive hoot. Lando began to bellow out laughing at the sound. Oblivious to the laughter Chewbacca roared a question to Daub.
"I'll get this done if you have the parts," Daub answered the wookee.
Chewbacca roared again.
Daub considered this for a moment then suggested, "Up in orbit are the remains of four workshops I had in the Death Star. Get me one of those, and I can fabricate a new ship from scratch before the end of the day." His head disappeared into the ship. A moment later, he was walking on the dorsal plates towards the drive. Stooping to examine something, he sniffed in disgust.
"Solo," he said. They had met briefly on Hoth. "You didn't listen to me when I told you about those line patches did you?"
Angrily Han came to his feet. "That engine works just fine!"
Daub shook his head. "You've patched the coolant and feed lines so many times that they have almost swelled shut."
"It still runs!" Han replied defensibly.
"You have to be running at five times red line for dynamic pressure," Daub said.
"It's the fastest ship in the Galaxy. It has to run a little hot just to get around," Han protested.
"Not if you replace rather than patch the feed lines," Daub countered.
"Forgive me if I can't get those parts while I'm being shot at!" Han said.
Daub nodded. "I can forgive you, Han, but the Falcon…" he made a deft motion the entire drive crashed to the ground. He shrugged and moved on to another part of the ship to jettison more broken parts.
Leia appeared next to investigate what the racket was about. She laughed when she saw what had happened to the ship. She was still laughing hard when Daub walked over to throw off the dorsal turret seat ripped from inside.
"Hello, Princess," he said casually.
The effect on Leia was immediate and severe. Her laughing stopped short in her throat, and her teeth came together with a click. "You!" she hissed. She drew her blaster in a blur and fired before anyone had a fair chance to react.
Daub casually kicked a hull plate up and the blaster bolt bounced harmlessly away. "I'll need to fix that now," he growled.
"You belong in prison or executed for what you did to Alderaan!" Leia shouted.
Daub sighed with impatience. "So quit shooting at me so I can make it back to my cell. I haven't slept for three days, Princess, so pardon my manners, but you're being positively boorish."
He continued to roam about the ship until he finally dropped the entrance ramp and jumped down to the ground. "Where are those parts, Lando?"
Lando could only gape at what Lasck had done so casually in under an hour. Sunlight could be seen filtering to the ground underneath the Falcon. One of the forward mandibles lay on the ground in addition to countless discarded parts. "I'm sure they will be here today. I ordered them from Mon Cal shortly before you showed up."
Daub rolled his eyes, "Not Sullust?"
"They didn't have everything I wanted," Lando replied.
"Let me have a crack at it," Daub said.
A few hours later a shipment of parts came from Sullust a full day before the Mon Calamari shipment even left the planet. With astonishing speed the Falcon's form took shape again. Daub, for all his many faults, knew what he was doing. In fact it went so well that Han had to ask how Daub knew what to do. Daub's reply was: "The Falcon knows. Why don't you listen?"
The last thing to go aboard was the main drive. In the intervening hours, Daub had replaced all the drive and coolant lines, but not reattached the massive structure. Without heavy lift devices of any sort, Han was anxious to see how Daub intended to get the drive back in place.
"So what now, Lasck?" Han asked as he mulled the problem over.
Daub shrugged, walked up the boarding ramp, and raised it.
With another massive crash to the ground, the rear landing skids retracted into the ship while the front ones remained extended. The Falcon now sat with her nose in the air and her hindquarters in the dirt like a resting quadruped. Daub then climbed out of the top hatch and slid down her back. Quickly he reattached the drive, went back inside, and lowered the rear skids again. When he lowered the boarding ramp he marched down it and said, "Get Kabayoth, he needs to get to the medical frigate."