'He brought us here,' Lando countered. 'Why do that and then lie to us about it?'
Han frowned sideways at his friend ... and through his annoyance he saw for the first time the tension lines in Lando's face. Whatever Lando was reaching for here, he was serious about it. 'Okay,' he said, a little more calmly. 'What did he lie about?'
'This camp, for starters, Lando said, gesturing toward the nearest building. 'The Senator said they move around a lot-fourteen sites in seven years, remember? But this place has been here a lot longer than half a year. Han looked at the building as they passed it. At the smoothness of the edges where the memory-plastic would fold up, at the signs of wear in the subfoundation ... 'There are other things, too,' Lando went on. 'That headquarters lounge back there-did you notice all the decoration they had in that place? Probably a dozen sculptures scattered around on those corner ledges between the booths, plus a lot of light poles. And that doesn't even count all the stuff on the walls. There was a whole antique repeater display panel mounted over the main bar, a ship's chrono next to the exit-'
'I was there, too, remember?' Han cut him off. 'What's your point?'
'My point is that this place isn't ready to pack up and ship off planet on three minutes' notice,' Lando said quietly. 'Not anymore. And you don't get this soft and comfortable if you're still in the business of launching major attacks against Imperial bases.'
'Maybe they decided to lie low for a while,' Han said. This business of having to defend Bel Iblis was starting to feel uncomfortable.
'Could be,' Lando said. 'In that case, the question is why? What else could he be holding his ships and troops back for?'
Han chewed at the inside of his cheek. He saw where Lando was going with this, all right. 'You think he's made a deal with Fey'lya.'
'That's the obvious answer, Lando agreed soberly. 'You heard how he talked about Mon Mothma, like he expected her to declare herself Emperor any day now. Fey'lya's influence?'
Han thought it over. It was still crazy, but not nearly as crazy as it had seemed at first blush. Though if Fey'lya thought he could stage a coup with six private Dreadnaughts, he was in for a rude surprise. But on the other hand-'Wait a minute, Lando, this is crazy, he said.
'If they're plotting against Mon Mothma, why bring us here?' Lando hissed softly between his teeth. 'Well, that brings us to the worst case scenario, Han old buddy. Namely, that your friend the Senator is a complete phony ... and that what we've got here is a giant Imperial scam.' Han blinked. 'Now you've lost me.'
'Think about it,' Lando urged, lowering his voice as a group of uniformed men rounded a corner of one of the buildings and headed off in another direction. 'Garm Bel Iblis, supposedly killed, suddenly returned from the dead? And not only alive, but with his own personal army on top of it? An army that neither of us has ever heard of?'
'Yeah, but Bel Iblis wasn't exactly a recluse,' Han pointed out.
'There were a lot of holos and recordings of him when I was growing up. You'd have to go to a lot of effort to look and sound that much like him.'
'If you had those records handy to compare him with, sure,' Lando agreed. 'But all you've got is memories. It wouldn't take that much effort to rig a fairly close copy. And we know that this base has been sitting here for more than a year. Maybe abandoned by someone else; and it wouldn't take much effort to throw a fake army together. Not for the Empire.' Han shook his head. 'You're skating on drive trails, Lando. The Empire's not going to go to this much effort just for us.'
'Maybe they didn't,' Lando said. 'Maybe it was for Fey'lya's benefit, and we just happened to stumble in on it.'
Han frowned. 'Fey'lya's benefit?'
'Sure,' Lando said. 'Start with the Empire gimmicking Ackbar's bank account. That puts Ackbar under suspicion and ripe for someone to push him off his perch. Enter Fey'lya, convinced that he's got the support of the legendary Garm Bel Iblis and a private army behind him. Fey'lya makes his bid for power, the New Republic hierarchy is thrown into a tangle; and while no one's watching, the Empire moves in and takes back a sector or two. Quick, clean, and simple.'
Han snorted under his breath. 'That's what you call simple, huh?'
'We're dealing with a Grand Admiral, Han,' Lando reminded him.
'Anything is possible.'
'Yeah, well, possible doesn't mean likely,' Han countered. 'If they're running a con game, why would they bring us here?'
'Why not? Our presence doesn't hurt the plan any. Might even help it a little. They show us the setup, send us
