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.The Falcon eased downward on her repulsors, coming to a smooth landing at the exact center of thetriangle formed by the grounded boats.That was not the way a ceremonial escort acted.Something hadhappened.But what?Kalenda shifted herself about a bit to get a better look at the Falcon, and was rewarded with a rathernasty cut on her forearm from a bit of razor grass she hadn't noticed before.She cursed absentmindedlyand zoomed in as tight as she could on the Falcon.She seemed undamaged, as best Kalenda could tellfrom rather extreme range.She could see no sign that the modified freighter had been in a recent fight.But she could not know forsure.Maybe she would be able to tell more when they all disembarked.She focused her attention on theship's gangway.At last it swung down, and she could see the tiny figure of Han Solo and the rather less tiny figure, evenat this distance, of Chewbacca the Wookiee, coming down the gangway, each carrying a fair-sized pieceof luggage.There was something cautious, even edgy, about their body language, as if they had had onenasty surprise already and were expecting another.Kalenda chided herself anew for reading too muchinto the situation.Maybe the only thing worrying them was the astronomical fees the spaceport charged.Almost before the two of them reached the ground, the three children hurtled down the gangway andonto the surface of Corellia It was plain to see they were glad not to be cooped up anymore.Then, lastof all, came the Chief of State of the New Republic, Leia Organa Solo, carrying a medium-sized bag.Kalenda let out a sigh of relief, feeling tension ebb away that she hadn't even been aware of.Organa Solowas alive and well.That was the main thing.Now if only Kalenda could make sure Organa Solo stayedthat way.She kept watching.Han Solo waited until his wife was off the ship, and then punched in the lock controls.The gangwayswung shut, and the Falcon switched herself into standby mode.Kalenda watched as an open ground carrolled up.Organa Solo stepped away from the ship-and then hesitated a moment.She stopped walking, andfrowned, a bit uncertainly.She looked around, apparently scanning the horizon-and then stopped, staringstraight at Kalenda.For a terrible moment Kalenda was certain that Organa Solo had spotted her,decided she was a sniper or a terrorist, was going to shout a warning to her family, alert the local securityforces.Kalenda wanted to dive for cover, run for it, but she knew better.Staying absolutely still wasmuch more likely to keep her alive.And besides, what were the odds that even a Jedi adept would beable to seer sense-a single watcher from that sort of range?Especially since all that Organa Solo did next was shrug, frown again, and head for the ground car.Kalenda let out a sigh of relief.The rest of the patty started following Organa Solo toward the groundcar.They all seemed calm enough.Kalenda began to decide that she was wrong, that she had been imagining signs of trouble.But then she noticed Solo talking with the Wookiee.Or, more accurately, the way he was talking with the Wookiee.Kalenda was a pretty fair lip-reader, but she knew better than to trust her skills at this extreme range.Besides, even if she could manage to catch what Solo was saying, there was not the slightest hope ofunderstanding the Wookiee.But it is a truism that throughout history, no pilot has ever talked flying to a colleague without using hishands.There was something very close to a conventional nomenclature and grammar of hand movementsused to describe flight and encounters with other craft.And Han Solo was, beyond question, using his hands to help describe a spaceside dogfight.He might notbe sending Kalenda's message, but she was certainly intercepting one.A most important one.Kalenda watched in fascination as Solo's hands bobbed and weaved through the air, following eachother, then breaking off to show two craft-or two sets of craft-on a collision course with each other.Hepointed up into the sky, at the PPBs still hovering overhead on point guard, then put his hands together ina ball before pulling them apart with his fingers spread.So.A PPB had blown up.The Wookiee was shaking his head no, disagreeing on some point, making his own gestures.Then Organa Solo managed to round up the last of the children.Solo and the Wookiee stopped theirconversation, plainly not wishing the children to hear.Organa Solo got the kids onto the ground car, andsignaled the driver to start moving.The ground car pulled away, and Kalenda scrambled to her feet, nearly beheading herself on the stand ofrazor grass before she remembered and ducked.If she was to have any chance of following them, shewas going to have to get back to her own landspeeder on the double and position herself on the roadleading out of the spaceport, where she could pick them up as they headed into town.It would be a hellof a note if she had managed to spot them there and then lost them.She scrambled back toward herlandspeeder, feeling more worried than ever.Someone had already made a try for the Chief of State [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]