Free Star Wars - Constant Spirit by Jennifer Heddle Page A

with us.”
    “Your Highness —” both Rafe and Gorhan began at once. Gorhan glared at the small, wiry Rafe, who subsided. “We can’t take him onboard,” Gorhan continued. “If they know he’s with the Rebellion, and he gets connected to you… It’s too much of a risk.”
    Leia knew, at least intellectually, that her escort was right again. But she couldn’t bring herself to agree this time, while Rafe looked at her with death in his eyes. “I know all about the risks,” she said, summoning her best tone of royal command. “My entire life is a risk. And I’m not going to let anyone die who I doesn’t need to.” She looked at her father’s friend reassuringly and repeated, “You’re coming with us.”
    Out of the corner of her eye she could see Gorhan shaking his head; she ignored him, keeping her gaze on Rafe.
    The spy swallowed hard, then sighed. “Thank you,” he whispered. “But if there’s even a hint this is going to go wrong…”
    “How about we quit talking about it and move,” she said. The three rebels took off in the direction of the Constant Spirit , none of them noticing the smell of katella blossoms or the stars beginning to appear in the night sky.

    Despite the collective nervousness of everyone onboard, the Constant Spirit left Quellor’s airspace without difficulty. Seated in the cockpit of the compact light freighter with her pilot and navigator, Leia allowed herself a glimmer of hope that they would leave the planet as unobtrusively as they had arrived.
    But shortly after they left atmo behind for the vacuum of space, emergency klaxons started blaring. Should have known we wouldn’t get off so easy , Leia thought.
    “A single Imperial Customs corvette approaching,” reported the pilot, Minna. “They’re hailing us.”
    At least the Moff hadn’t had time to send more ships after them. Yet. “Let’s hear what they have to say,” Leia said.
    Minna nodded, and a moment later a clipped male voice filled the cabin. “Attention Constant Spirit , this is Captain Task aboard the Gatekeeper . You are transporting a known spy. Surrender him at once and we will spare your vessel.”
    Right. She was young, but she wasn’t stupid. “I’m afraid we don’t know what you’re talking about, Captain,” Leia said, keeping her voice as even as possible. Her heart pounded in her chest. “We’re shimmersilk merchants who were delivering a shipment to a loyal client in the capital.”
    “Whoever you are, you’re in league with the Rebellion,” Task said. Leia felt a pang of relief that he at least didn’t know her identity. Their aliases must have held up under inspection. “Turn over Rafe Ballon or we will fire on your ship. I will give you one minute to respond.” The communication ended.
    Rafe appeared in the opening to the cockpit. “Let me turn myself in,” he said. “You can’t allow one person to jeopardize the mission — not to mention the danger this puts you in.”
    “Minna, begin evasive maneuvers,” Leia said, not looking back at him. “Youk, how soon until we can jump to lightspeed?”
    The Mon Calamari navigator consulted his screen. “Six minutes, Your Highness.”
    That was at least five minutes longer than she’d like. “Gorhan?” she said into the comm.
    “Already in place, Princess.”
    Good. The Constant Spirit only had one gun, the better to make it appear a peaceful merchant vessel, but Gorhan would make the best of it. “Fire at will. And everybody hold on.”
    “I never should have come onboard,” Rafe said. He slammed his palm against a bulkhead in frustration.
    “You might want to sit down,” Leia told him. No sooner were the words out of her mouth than her stomach lurched as the ship went into a steep climb. Rafe stumbled and put his hands out to keep from slamming head-first into the cockpit’s opposing bulkhead.
    “Like I was saying…” Leia murmured. The ship rocked again, this time from a laser blast, snapping her head back.