The Unifying Force Read Online Free PDF Page A

padded bench and beat both of them to the communications display.
    Han watched expectantly from the game board.
    “A surprise?” he asked when Leia turned from the displays.
    She shook her head. “The signal we’ve been waiting for.”
    Han rushed from the table and followed Leia into the starboard ring corridor, where he nearly tripped over a pair of knee-high boots he had left on the step. Early in his career as a smuggler, the
Falcon
had been the only home he knew, and now—this past year especially—it had become the only home Han and Leia knew. Whether in their living quarters or in the forward hold, personal items were strewn about, waiting to be picked up and put away. The mess was just that, in desperate need of cleaning—maybe even fumigating. And indeed the dented and bruised exterior of the old freighter, with its mishmash of primers and fuse-welded borrowed parts, was beginning to resemble that of a house, well loved and lived in but too long neglected.
    Han slid to a halt just short of the connector that accessed the cockpit, and swung to the Noghri.
    “Cakhmaim, get to the dorsal gun turret. And this time remember to lead your targets—even though I know it goes against your grain. Meewalh, I’m going to need you here to help our packages get safely aboard.”
    In the outrigger cockpit, with its claustrophobic surround of blinking instruments, Leia was already cinched into the copilot’s chair, both hands busy activating the
Falcon
’s startup systems and console displays. Han slid into the pilot’s seat, strapping in with one hand and throwing overhead toggles with the other.
    “Can we locate them yet?”
    “They’re on the move,” Leia said. “But I’ve got a fix on them.”
    Han leaned over to study one of the display screens. “Lock their coordinates into the tracking computer, and let’s get the topographic sensors on-line.”
    Leia swiveled to the comm board, her hands moving rapidly over the controls. “Take her up,” she said a moment later.
    Awakened from what amounted to a nap, the YT-1300’s engines powered up. Han clamped his hands on the control yoke and lifted the ship out of its hiding place, an impact crater on the dark side of Selvaris’s puny moon. He fed power to the sublight drives and steered a course around the misshapen orb. Green, blue, and white Selvaris filled the wraparound viewport.
    Han watched Leia out of the corner of his eye. “Hope you remembered to look both ways.”
    Leia shut her eyes briefly. “We’re safe.”
    Han smiled to himself. The Yuuzhan Vong couldn’t be sensed through the Force, but Leia had never had any problem sensing trouble.
    “I just don’t want to be accused of making any more illegal moves.”
    She looked at him. “Only daring ones.”
    Han continued to watch her secretly. Through all the rough-and-tumble years, her face had not lost its noble beauty. Her skin was as flawless now as it had been when Han had first set eyes on her, in a detention cell, of all places. Her long hair retained its sheen; her eyes, their deep, inviting warmth.
    Han and Leia had experienced some troubled months following Chewbacca’s death. But she had waited him out; and wherever they traveled now, no matter how much danger they put themselves in—mostly at Han’s instigation—they were completely at home with each other. To Han, each and every action felt right. He had no yearning to be anywhere but where he was—with his beloved partner.
    It was a sappy thought, he told himself. But undeniably true.
    As if reading his thoughts, Leia turned slightly in his direction, lifting her chin a bit to show him a dubious look. “You’re in a good mood for someone setting out on a dangerous rescue mission.”
    Han made light of the moment. “Beating Threepio at dejarik has made a new man of me.”
    Leia tilted her head. “Not too new, I hope.” She placed one hand atop his, on the yoke, and with the other traced the raised scar on his chin. “It’s