Star Wars: Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn

Star Wars: Dark Force Rising by Timothy Zahn

Author:Timothy Zahn
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9780307796189
Publisher: LucasBooks
Published: 2011-05-03T23:00:00+00:00


CHAPTER

16

It took them only a few minutes to make their way back to the headquarters lounge. Han kept an eye on the pedestrian and vehicle traffic as they walked, hoping they were still early enough for the place to be empty. Getting a close look at that repeater display would be tricky enough without a whole bunch of people sitting around with nothing better to do than watch what was happening at the bar. “What exactly are we looking for?” he asked as they came in sight of the building.

“There should be some specialized input slots on the back for the full-rig slave circuitry readouts,” Lando told him. “And there’ll be production serial numbers, too.”

Han nodded. So they were going to need to get the thing off the wall. Great. “How come you know so much about the fleet?”

“Like I said, I did a lot of studying.” Lando snorted under his breath. “If you must know, I got stuck with a fake map to it as part of a deal back when I was selling used ships. I figured if I could learn enough about it to look like an expert I might be able to unload the map on someone else and get my money back.”

“Did you?”

“You really want to know?”

“I guess not. Get ready; it’s show time.”

They were in luck. Aside from the bartender and a couple of deactivated serving droids behind the bar, the place was deserted. “Welcome back, gentlemen,” the bartender greeted them. “What can I get you?”

“Something to take back to our quarters,” Han told him, giving the shelves behind the bar a quick once-over. They had a good selection here—there were probably a hundred bottles of various shapes and sizes. But there was also a door off to the side that probably led back to a small storeroom. That’d be their best bet. “I don’t suppose you’d have any Vistulo brandale on hand.”

“I think we do,” the bartender said, peering back at his selection. “Yes—there it is.”

“What’s the vintage?” Han asked.

“Ah—” The bartender brought the bottle over. “It’s a ’49.”

Han made a face. “Don’t have any ’46, do you? Maybe stashed in the back room somewhere?”

“I don’t think so, but I’ll check,” the bartender said agreeably, heading toward the door.

“I’ll come with you,” Han offered, ducking under the bar and joining him. “If you don’t have any ’46, maybe there’ll be something else that’ll do as well.”

For a second the bartender looked like he was going to object. But he’d seen the two of them having a friendly drink earlier with Bel Iblis himself; and anyway, Han was already halfway to the storeroom door. “I guess that’d be okay,” he said.

“Great,” Han said, opening the door and ushering the bartender through.

He didn’t know how long it would take Lando to get the repeater display off the wall, check it out, and then put it back up. On the theory it was better to play it safe, he managed to drag out the search for a ’46 Vistulo for a full five minutes.



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