Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel

Chapter 1

Han

Two Days Later

It s not over yet.

That s what Han had told the rebel Pathfinders after he d left the Imperial base they d uncovered on the other side of Endor. While the Death Star had been constructed in orbit around the forest moon, a separate communications base had been built on the surface, undamaged in the aftermath of the Death Star s destruction until Han and his troops had arrived. Signal intelligence had decrypted some of the messages the base had been sending out, transmitting throughout the galaxy. Blowing up the Death Star may have been fun, but it wasn t enough. Imperials occupied countless worlds, and they weren t just rolling over. The Pathfinders had gone in blasters blazing, but they hadn t been quick enough to stop the signal.

Data, comms, plans. All that info scattered across the galaxy. And it all came down to Emperor Palpatine still giving orders despite being nothing but ash and space debris now. He had calculated for his legacy to live on even if he exploded in space, and that was exactly what they d been too late to prevent.

One night. They d all had one night to celebrate and pretend that the war was over. But . . .

It wasn t over yet.

Han cursed. The debriefing with the generals the other generals, because he now held that rank, too had been quick and dirty, just a relay of information followed by the others scattering in various directions to make new plans. Time for the brains to work. No one had invited Han to stay and concoct a strategy to round up the Imperials that still remained and hadn t gotten the message that they d lost. That was fine. They just needed to tell him where to fly and what to shoot. He was good at that part. The best. Sure, he d had some decent ideas in the past. But now that the blasting was over, it made sense for the others . . .

Beside him, Chewbacca roared.

Yeah, I get you, Han muttered. It never seemed to end. But then he paused, turning to look up at his

Beth Revis