Read Star Wars: The Adventures of Lando Calrissia for Free Online Page B

Governor!” Lando forgot himself momentarily, struggled free of the policeman on his left—then remembered where he was and clamped the astonished man’s armored hand back around his elbow with a short-lived sheepish grin.
    He’d realized, with a sudden, stifled gasp, that the transparent desk the governor occupied was composed entirely of gigantic, priceless life-crystals—enough to extend the life-spans of hundreds of individuals. Power, then, was the key. It explained the barren office. Money and display wouldn’t impress the malevolent lump of wasted hydrocarbons sitting before him; he would be motivated only by the prospect of controlling and disposing of the lives of others.
    “Sir, I had all the clearances and permits. I—”
    “Truly, Captain? Where? Produce them and the charges against you may be reduced some small but measurable fraction.”
    Lando looked down, seeing his own frame—the thought whisked by that this might be an unfortunate choice of words—draped in pocketless pajamas much the worse for their recent intimate acquaintance with Teguta Lusat law-enforcement procedures. He looked back up at the governor. “I don’t suppose you’d let me go back to my hotel … no, I didn’t think so. Well, better yet, check with the Port Authority. They should be able—”
    “Captain,” the governor sighed with affected weariness, “the Port Authority have no record whatever of any permits being granted to either a Lando Calrissian, or a …” He checked the list again. “…  a
Millennium Falcon
. Of this I assure you, sir.In fact, you might say I ascertained the data in the matter
personally
.”
    “Oh,” Lando answered in a small voice, beginning to understand the situation.
    “There is also,” the governor continued, satisfied now that he had a properly attentive audience, “conspiracy to evade regulations of trade. You see, we know of your attempts to obtain an unlicensed cargo. Carrying a concealed weapon—my, my, Captain, but you
are
a bad boy. Finally: assaulting a duly authorized police officer in an attempt to resist arrest.”
    The governor got a thoughtful look on his face, looked down at the list again, picked up a stylus and made a note. “
And
failure to settle your hotel bill as you departed those premises.
    “
Now
what have you to say?” The governor blinked, licked fat lips in anticipation.
    “I see,” Lando said, barely concealing his glee. His spirits had begun to lift considerably in spite—or because—of the list of charges against him. The governor was someone he could deal with, after all.
    Ante:
“My gun was on the nighttable, it wasn’t concealed. And if ‘assault’ consists of willfully striking a constable in the fist with my stomach, then I’d say you’ve got me, fair and square. Governor. Sir.”
    Raise:
“Very well, Captain. Or ought I to make that ‘
Mister
Calrissian’—you will not likely be doing very much more captaining from now on. What have you to say to the probability of finishing your days doing stoop-labor in the life-orchards amidst other criminals, malcontents, and morons like yourself?”
    Lando saw that and raised with a grin: “In all truth, sir, I wouldn’t like that very much. I’ve heard that the life-orchards tend to take it out of you.”
    The governor nodded, not exactly an easy feat for someone without a discernible neck: “If you had it to begin with, Captain—if you had it to begin with.”
    Call:
“I’d also say you’re about to offer me some less-unpleasant alternative. That is, unless you make a custom of trumping up silly charges against every independent skipper who makes your port. And I guess I’d have heard about that long before I got here.”
    The governor resembled a frowning tree-stump covered infeathers. “Don’t anticipate me, Captain, it takes all the fun out of occasions such as this.”
    He blinked, then pressed a button on his desk.
    Lando replaced the cup on its saucer, leaned back in the