blaster pistol into my waistband when I took the carbine. If only I
had the stiletto. If only I'd been more quiet in my
advance ....
Self-recriminations clogged his mind and fed the despair slowly
creeping into his head.
Then his father stood up and the glow rod on his carbine burned to
life. Illuminated by its backlight, Hal Horn stood twenty meters away,
the carbine held steady in his right hand. He presented Thyne with a
profile--offering him a target other than Corran. The expression on
his father's face bore a gravity Corran had not seen since his mother's
funeral. Hal's eyes seemed purged of anger and fear, but full of
intent.
"It is my duty to inform you, Zekka Thyne, that I am inspector Hal Horn
of the Corellian Security Force and you are under arrest. I have a
valid warrant for your apprehension for violations of smuggling laws.
Let your hostage go and stop making things more difficult for
yourself."
Thyne's chuckle came low and ringing with contempt.
"No, this is the way it's going to go. You're going to remove your
finger from the trigger and lower your blaster."
"I can't do that."
"You will do that." Thyne tightened his hold on Corran's neck.
"My eyesight is good enough even in full darkness here that I can tell
if your finger so much as twitches toward pulling the trigger. And my
reflexes are good enough that I'll pump three shots through your
partner's head before you complete that move. You may get me, but your
partner will be dead. Do it, now!"
Hal frowned. "Okay, don't do anything rash."
"Don't, Hal! Shoot him ...."
Thyne jammed the gun harder into Corran's jaw. "You were stupid enough
to join CorSec, let's not be stupid enough to die for it."
Hal's left hand came up. "Okay, I'm doing what you said. I'm pulling
my finger off the trigger."
Corran tried to shake his head to tell his father not to comply with
Thyne's order. He has to know that the second he
disarms himself, Thyne will shoot me and then shoot him. I may already be dead, but no
reason for him to die, too.
Hal Horn's right index finger slowly unhooked itself from the blaster
carbine's trigger. As it did so the glow rod's backlight washed all
color from the digits. The finger straightened and Corran saw bones
pointing at him. It's over. We'll both be skeletons left here to
molder forever.
Then the blue bolt shot from the carbine's muzzle. The air crackled
and Corran's hair stood on end as the bolt sizzled past him and hit
Thyne. The blue nimbus resulting from the shot sent a tingle through
Corran's body and weakened him enough that he fell to his hands and
knees. Behind him Thyne's body hit the ground with a heavy thump
accompanied by the light clatter of the blaster pistol dancing off into
the darkness.
Hal dropped to one knee beside his son, then pumped another stun round
into Thyne. "Are you okay, son?"
Corran sat back on his heels. "I will be." He rubbed at the side of
his neck with his right hand. "He gave me a bruise to balance the one
Kast gave me. Having blaster bruises on my head and neck is an
experience I could have done without."
"Beats having the bolts hit home, as our friend here discovered."
Corran looked at Thyne in the light from Hal's carbine.
The area around Thyne's right eye had begun to swell indicating where
the bolt had hit him. "How did you . . .?"
Hal smiled. "The little gold diamond in his eye gave me a great
target. I just focused on it--setting aside my concerns for you so I
could--and hit him."
He frowned at his father. "No, not that. You had your finger clear of
the trigger and the gun fired anyway. How did you do that?
The spice vapor back there give you some sort of telekinetic power or
something?"
"Me, move something with the power of my mind?"
Hal shook his head and brandished the carbine. "This is a hotshot. At
the same time I pulled my index finger off
the trigger,-I was able to bring my middle finger up and stroke the trigger. Nothing special or
unusual, just sneaky."
Despite the smile on his father's face, and the cold logic of his
answer, Corran couldn't shake the feeling that his father wasn't
telling the entire truth. He probably doesn't want me to know how
chancy his move was, but at least he had the guts to make it. I
wouldn't have wanted to be in his boots for all the spice in the
galaxy.
Hal handed Corran Thyne's blaster pistol, then hauled Thyne to his feet
and tossed him over his shoulder. "I can feel a breeze from ahead.
We're almost clear."
Corran retrieved his own blaster carbine and carried it by the
pistol-grip in his left hand while using the blaster pistol in his
right hand and its glow rod to light their way out. "I see something
up ahead. Stars and Selonia out there."
The two CorSec agents got clear of the cavern fairly easily. The mouth
of it had been blocked with a lattice of iron bars with a door in it
similar to those of the prison they'd escaped earlier. Corran shot the
lock open then led the way out into a small grassy clearing.
Hal laid Thyne out on the ground and brought his blaster carbine to
hand again. "Check him for a comlink.
We can call for transport to come get us."
Corran knelt over the body and began to search it when a vaguely
mechanical sounding voice snapped an order at him.
"Drop the weapons, hands in the air." The first of eight stormtroopers
emerged like ghosts from the trees surrounding the clearing. Their
armor bone-white in the reflected moonlight, they made themselves very
easy targets. The fact that each of them brandished a blaster carbine
prompted Corran to raise his hands. I can't imagine any of them has a
weapon set on stun.
Hal lowered his carbine to the ground carefully. "I'm Inspector Hal
Horn and this is my partner, Corran Horn.
We're with CorSec. We've just apprehended Zekka Thyne."
The leader of the stormtroopers approached Hal.
"Looks as if you are trying to help Thyne escape and are lying to
me."
Corran frowned. "What a stupid conclusion to draw. I don't know why
you've got that big helmet to protect your head because there clearly
isn't anything you're putting to good use under it."
The stormtrooper swung his gun to cover Corran. "On your feet, Black
Scummer."
Corran glanced at his father as he stood. "I guess we're their
prisoners."
The stormtrooper shook his head. "Who said anything about taking
prisoners?"
Hal's voice came low and calm, but full of intensity and power.
"I think I would want a specific order from a superior about shooting
us. I think to operate otherwise would seriously jeopardize our
career, and possibly your life."
The stormtrooper reoriented himself toward Hal and Corran thought for a
moment he'd have to jump the man to prevent him from shooting Hal.
Corran would have gone for him
, too, because he'd seen countless bodies
that had ended up dead for making remarks that were no where near as
confrontational. What held him back was the way the man's movements
slowed as he watched Hal.
The stormtrooper wasn't reacting to the tone or challenge in the words,
he was clearly considering their full import.
Will wonders never cease?
A comlink clicked inside the man's helmet and the murmurs of
conversation hummed into the night. Corran smiled and shrugged at his
father. Hal winked back and allowed himself the start of a grin.
The stormtrooper's head came up. "It'll be a minute or two wait."
Hal nodded, then jerked a thumb back toward the cave mouth.
"You'll want to have your squad secure that cav
ern. It leads back into Thyne's office. Your people can get inside and hit the towers
from below because if shooting starts, your people are going to die
taking that place."
The stormtrooper thought for a moment, then sent half his squad
forward. The remaining trio set themselves up to watch the clearing
perimeter while the leader kept his blaster on Corran and his father.
The night air had become a bit chilled and the fact that he'd been
sweating earlier became readily apparent to Corran.
"Mind if I lower my arms? I'm getting cold."
The stormtrooper shook his head. "You can get colder."
"Nice night, isn't it?" Corran gave the man a toothy grin and hiked
his arms up higher.
A soldier in the olive drab uniform of the Imperial Army broke through
the brush, flanked by two more stormtroopers. The eight bar box with
rank cylinders on each side worn (in his chest proclaimed him to be a
Colonel.
His dark-eyed gaze flicked between father and son, then lingered on
Thyne's body. "Zekka Thyne. You may put your hands down. I take it
you must be the CorSec agents."
Hal nodded. "Hal Horn. This is my son, Corran. I have a disc that
identifies me in my shoe. It also contains the open warrant CorSec has
for searching this place and arresting Thyne. I can dig it out for
you, if you wish, to prove who we are."
"I'm Colonel Veers and I believe you are who you say you are. My
source indicated you would be coming out somewhere in this vicinity and
even suggested we might want to backtrack you." He glanced at the
stormtrooper who had threatened to kill them. "Apparently my reasons
for dispatching this squad around here were not fully understood."
Hal shrugged. "No one got lit up, so no problem."
Corran pointed to Thyne. "We've gotten the nastiest of them out of
there. There aren't many people left in there and, by now, they should
all be Thyne's people."
Hal nodded. "You can safely consider it a free-fire zone."
"I'll remember that if they give us a reason to go in."
Veers smiled. "You didn't happen to notice any signs of Rebel agents
or Rebellion supplies in there by any chance?"
"No, but as a CorSec Inspector, I do believe it is within my discretion
to ask for assistance in serving a warrant and apprehending
suspects."
Hal looked at the hillsides on either side of the valley.
"I should check with my liaison officer, but calling back to Crescent
City from here would be impossible, so I guess I'm on my own."
Veers shook his head. "Pity."
"Indeed." Hal waved a hand toward the cavern. "Colonel, if you and
your squad would care to assist me, I would be most appreciative."
"We always like working closely with local officials."
Veers gave Hal a nod and pointed his stormtroopers at the black hole.
"You heard him. No waiting for them to shoot first, we're clear to
go."
The stormtroopers jogged forward in a clatter of armor.
Veers handed Hal a comlink. "Your transit code word is
'masterpiece."
At our perimeter just commandeer one of our landspeeders to get your
prisoner out of here."
"Thanks." Hal, looking back toward the cave, pointed at a stream of
green laser bolts coming from one of the mansion's towers toward the
ground. "Looks like your war has started."
"Then we'll get in quickly and end it." Veers gave them a brief salute
and ran off with his men.
Corran looked after the Imperial officer. "I thought Imps believed in
leading from the rear."
"Not all of them, it seems." Hal grabbed Thyne's hands and hauled the
man up onto his back. "Get the ankles there, will you?"
"Sure." Corran grabbed Thyne's ankles and trailed be
hind his father.
"So, is this the end of Black Sun on CoreI-lia?"
"I doubt it. Two CorSec agents, a handful of smugglers and a bounty
hunter who isn't a bounty hunter aren't going to be enough to bring
Black Sun down. Even if the Colonel and his people level that place,
Prince Xizor still has enough power and the resources to restore it to
what it was before, and you have to know there are countless
individuals willing to take Thyne's place."
Corran shivered. "Yeah, I'm afraid you're right. How depressing."
"Depressing?" Hal turned and looked back at his son.
"It's not depressing. As long as there are Horns to catch criminals,
Prince Xizor is welcome to send all he cares to in our direction."
"And you don't find that prospect depressing?" Corran frowned at
him.
"If it isn't depressing, what is it?"
"I think it's obvious, son." Hal's hearty laugh blotted out the whines
of blasters being fired back and forth. "It's job security. It may
not be easy work, and it's dangerous quite a bit of the time, but it's
work that holds evil at bay and there's nothing better you can devote
your life to doing."
Corran nodded and recalled a bit of conversation he'd had with Riij
Winward. "And what will we do when the only evil left in the galaxy is
the Empire?"
"That's a good question, Corran, a very good question."
Weariness seemed to creep into his father's voice.
"It's one that each person must answer for himself. I just hope, when
the time comes for me to answer it, I'll have the wisdom to choose the
right answer and the strength to act upon it."
"Me, too."
"You will, Corran, no doubt about that." Hal gave him a wink and a
nod. "When the time comes, you'll see the light and those wallowing in
darkness who move to oppose you will regret that decision throughout
what little remains of their lives."
Side Trip Part 4
by Timothy Zahn Zekka Thyne's airspeeders were stored on the low end of
a split-level section of the fortress roof, inside a bunker-like
structure with a single entrance from the stronghold proper and a
single hangar bay-style exit. Two guards were on duty, but their
attention was turned outward, toward the distant blaster fire coming
from the woods around the fortress, and neither noticed the shadowy
bulk of Rathe Pairor moving quietly up behind them.
A pair of deceptively gentle-looking hand movements
from the Tunroth, and both guards temporarily lost the ability to notice anything.
"I'll have to get you
to teach me that trick," Trell commented, ducking
down to peer through the window of a likely looking airspeeder.
The vehicle looked ordinary enough, but in the dim light he could see
the add-on weapons control board tucked coyly away under the main panel
on the passenger side. Perfect. "We'll take this one.
You still have that molecular stiletto?"
"Here," the Tunroth rumbled, pausing in his task of stripping the
guards' weapons to dig the slender cylinder from his belt. "Should we
not take one of the armored vehicles instead?" he added, pointing his
chin horns toward one of the three KAAC Freerunners parked near the
wide exit opening as he lobbed the weapon in Trell's direction.
"They're a little obvious for in-town driving," Trell told him as he
caught the stiletto. Extending the almost invisible blade, he began
carefully cutting around the air-speeder's lock mechanism. "This one's
got some hidden firepower--means it's probably got some hidden armor,
Tales From The Empire Page 38
