Vision of the future

'I don't know,' she said, her stomach twisting with her own sense of helplessness. 'I can't pick up his thoughts clearly enough.'

'Who else might know?' Gavrisom asked.

Leia took a deep breath, forcing calmness into her mind. Gavrisom was right: what Han needed was for her to put aside her emotions and think clearly. 'Elegos was with him on the Falcon,' she said, stretching out again with the Force. But there was nothing. 'I can't even sense him.'

'Who else might know?' Gavrisom persisted. 'Someone closer at hand?' Leia looked out at the battle again, a sudden tentative flicker of hope stirring in her. 'Lando. Han might have said something to Lando.'

'Then we must talk to him,' Gavrisom said firmly. 'I will go speak to the captain about piercing the Diamalan jamming. In the meantime, is there anything your Jedi skills can do about it?' Leia took a deep breath. 'I don't know,' she said. 'Let me try.'

* * *

'I tell you, this can't wait,' Lando insisted, throwing every bit of urgency and intimidation he could muster into his voice. 'I have to speak to High Councilor Organa Solo right away. The whole fate of the New Republic might well hang on the edge. Not to mention your own lives.'

'Really,' Senator Miatamia said, his voice icy calm. Diamala, Lando knew, were notoriously hard to read, but it was abundantly clear the Senator wasn't impressed. 'And what is the nature of this threat?'

'My friend Han went out to take a look at that comet out there,' Lando said. 'I was watching him on macrobinoculars... and he just vanished.'

Miatamia's cheeks creased. 'You mean he crashed?'

'I mean he vanished,' Lando insisted. 'Right out in the open.'

'Yet how truly open is the region around a comet?' the Diamal pointed out, an ear twitching. 'He may have veered into the gases of the tail, or you may have lost sight of him briefly in the glare of sunlight from the surface.'

Lando grimaced. Not only was Miatamia not convinced, he wasn't even going to give it a fair hearing.

But Lando knew what he had seen. 'All right, then,' he said between clenched teeth. 'In that case, I'm calling in the favor you owe me.'

Both ears twitched this time. 'What favor is this?'

'I gave you a ride to Coruscant from Cilpar, remember?' Lando reminded him. 'You've never paid me back for that.'

'You stated at the time that you would not require any payment other than our conversation.'

'I lied,' Lando said evenly. 'And I want my favor now.' Miatamia eyed him darkly. 'We are in a combat situation.'

'This won't jeopardize that.' Lando gestured at the bridge, lying beyond the transparisteel wall of the observation deck he and Miatamia were standing on. 'All I want is for the jamming of the Predominance lifted, just on Councilor Organa Solo's personal comlink frequency. Just that one frequency—that's all.'

The Diamal shook his head. 'I cannot gamble that such an action would not create additional danger for Diamalan lives and goods.'

He turned away, facing the battle again. Lando swallowed a curse, looking past him and the besieged Ishori ship at the comet glowing with such deceptive serenity out beyond the fighting. Han had asked for his help. Had trusted him.

And he did know what he'd seen.

'All right,' he said, stepping squarely in front of Miatamia again. It was time to put his money where it counted. 'A gamble, you say? Fine—let's gamble.'

He pointed out the viewport at the Ishori ship. 'Here's the bet. You let me talk to Leia right now; and if the threat turns out not to be as serious as I claim it is, you and the Diamala will get my mining and casino operation on Varn.'

The Senator's ears twitched. 'Are you serious?'