But what if nala-tree frogs were immune to the ef-fects of X-l? What if their tissues had been filled with ever-increasing amounts of X-l, without affecting them?
Aruk had loved his nala-tree frogs. Hed eaten them every day, sometimes as much as a dozen of them every day.
Osman! Durga bellowed. Fetch me the scanner!
Bring it straight to Aruks office!
The Chevin appeared briefly, acknowledged the or-der, and then vanished. The sounds of his running feet faded into the distance. Durga began undulating at top speed toward his parents sanctum.
When he reached there, he was only seconds ahead of the panting servant, who was carwing the scanning device. Durga grabbed it from his hands, then rushed into the office. Where is it? he thought, looking wildly around.
Yes, there! he realized, heading for the corner. Stand-ing in the corner, forgotten, was Aruks old snack-quarium. Hed used it to keep live food fresh, and, the last few months of his life, that live food had mostly been nala-tree frogs!
Thrusting the scanhers probe-tip into the snack-quarium, Durga activated the instrument. Moments later, he had his answer. The mineral deposits on the globes glassinc sides contained sizable amounts of X-l!
Durga let out a bellow of rage that made the furniture rattle, then went berserk, smashing the snackquarium with one mighty blow of his tail, slamming his bulk into furnishings, crushing and destroying everything in his path. Finally, hoarse and panting, he halted in the ruins of Aruk office.
Teroenza. Teroenza sent the frogs.
Durga first impulse was to fly to Ylesia and person-ally smash the tlanda Til to a bloody pulp, but, after a moment reflection, he realized that it would be be-neath him to soil his hands and tail on a lesser being. Besides, he couldnt just do away with the High Priest. Teroenza was a good High Priest, and would be hard to replace. The Besadii lord was uncomfortably aware that if he had Teroenza killed, the tlanda Til on Ylesia might well refuse to continue their charade as priests in the Exultation. Teroenza was well-liked by those who served under him. He was also an able administrator, who had brought Besadii ever-increasing profits from the spice factories.
Ill have to have a trained replacement ready to step in before I act against him, Durga thought.
Also, Durga reflected, the evidence against the High Priest was purely circumstantial. It was remotely possi-ble that Teroenza was innocent. Durga had kept a close eye on Teroenza expenditures, and no large sums of credits had left his account. He could not have pur-chased the poison unless he did it in a very clandestine way... and he did not have the kind of credits it would take to purchase large amounts of X-1.
Unless he sold that wretched collection of his .... Durga thought, but he knew that hadnt happened. He kept close watch over all the shipping manifests going into and out of Ylesia, and Teroenza had, in fact, been adding to his collection for the past nine months.
The Besadii lord resolved to begin training a new tlanda Til that very week. Hed continue his investiga-tions, and by the time the new High Priest wts ready, hed hire a bounty hunter to bring him Teroenza horn. Durga envisioned the horn, mounted on the wall of his office, right next to Arnk holo-portrait.
Teroenza might not be the only one who deserved to die on Ylesia. Someone had had to capture the nala-tree frogs, put them into shipping containers, and load them onto ships. Durga resolved to investigate the situation from all angles before placing his bounty.
Of course the real murderer was the individual who had purchased the X-1 and masterminded the entire operation. Jiliac was his prime suspect. She had the credits, she had the motivation.
Durga had already begun searching for links be-tween Jiliac and the Malkite Poisoners. Now he would also search for links between the Desilijic leader and Teroeuza ....
Surely hed find something . . . some record. Ship-ping records, deposits of credits, withdrawMs, records of purchases... somewhere there would be evidence that would link both Teroenza and Jiliac to Aruks death, and he, Durga, was going to find them.
He knew that the search would require both time and credits. His own personal credits, unfortunately. Durga didnt dare jeopardize his admittedly precarious position as leader of Besadii by spending huge amounts of the kajidics money on what would be called a per-sonal vendetta.
Zier and his other detractors were already watching him, just ready to pounce on unjustified expenses.
No, hed have to pay for it himself... and it would strain his personal resources to do so.
Durga thought for a moment of Black Sun. A word to Prince Xizor, and hed have all of Black Suns impres-sive resources at his command. But that would be open-ing the door to a Black Sun takeover of Besadii, and possibly all of Nal Hutta.
Durga shook his head. He couldnt risk that. He didnt want to wind up as one of Xizors vassals. He was a free and independent Hutt, and no Falleen Prince was going to give him his marching orders.
Durga left Aruks smashed office, and went to his own. He had a long session of work at his datapad be-fore him. He couldnt let his work for Besadii suffer, so most of his search would have to be done at night, while most Hutts were sleeping.
Grimly, Durga reached for his datapad, and began keying in requests for information.
He had found his parents murderers, he was sure of it. He knew the how, and the why. Now to gain the proof that would allow him to challenge Jiliac and de-mand persona] satisfaction for a blood-debt.
Durgas tiny fingers began racing over his datapad, and the greenish tip of his tongue protruded from the corner of his mouth as he concentrated ....
Teroenza paced slowly down the hallway in the Yle-sian Administrative Center to meet with Kibbick. The Hutt overlord had requested his presence almost twenty minutes ago, but Teroenza had been busy. In the old days hed never have dared to keep a Hutt lord waiting, but things on Ylesia were changing, slowly but surely.
He, Teroenza, was taking over. That idiot Kibbick was just too stupid to realize it.
Every day he was making plans, hiring the additional guards Durga had authorized, and fortifying the planet. Instead of hiring mostly Gamorrean guards, strong but even dumber than Kibbick which was saying something!--Teroenza was carefully choosing tough-ened mercenary fighters. They cost more, but theyd be worth it in battle.
And Teroenza knew there was going to be a bat-tle .... The day would come when hed have to openly declare his break with Nal Hutta. Besadii would never take such a bid for independenee lying down, but Teroenza planned to be ready. He would direct his troops in battle, and victory would be theirs!
The High Priest was already making arrangements to bring the mates of the tlanda Til priests to Ylesia. His own mate, Tilenna, would be one of the first to arrive. Kibbick was such an idiot that he probably wouldnt even notice for some time. The differences between male and female tlanda Til were most readily appar-ent to tlanda Til. To most other species, except for the males horn, they appeared virtually identical. Teroenza was also planning on increasing the defenses, even if he had to sell off part of his collection to do it. Hed checked the price of a ground-mounted turbo-laser and been horrified, but perhaps Jiliac would help him out with the credits he needed. After all, he, Teroenza, was the only one who could implicate her in Aruks murder. It made sense that shed want to stay on his good side.
When Teroenza reached Kibbick audience cham-ber, he hesitated before the portd, consciously sum-moning up enough of a servile air to pass. He didnt want Kibbick to be aware of his contempt. Not yet. Soon, though ....
Soon, Teroenza comforted himself. Play your part. Listen to him babble. Agree with him. Flatter him. Soon you wont have to do this any more. Only a few more vwnths to put up with his foolishness. Soon ....
One of the first things Han Solo did after getting the Millennium Falcon was challenge his girlfriend, Salla Zend, to a race. In the smaller, unreliable Bria hed never had a hope of defeating her swift Rimrunner, but nOW...
Whenever the two of them happened to have cargoes bound
for the Kessel Run, the two smugglers would race through that dangerous area of space. They fre-quently ran spice and other contraband to the Stenness System, and the Kessel Run was the fastest way there.
One time Han would win... the next, Salla. The two ships were very evenly matched. Neither of the two smugglers liked losing, and their friendly competi-tions became increasingly fierce. They began taking chances... dangerous ones. Especially Salla. An expert pilot, she flew her ship alone and was proud of her skill at getting the last bit of power out of her vessel.
One morning Han and Salla left her apartment to-gether, kissed each other goodbye, and promised to meet on Kamsul, one of the seven inhabited worlds in the Stenness System. Hah grinned at Salla. Loser buys dinner?
She smiled back at him. Im going to order the most expensive thing on the menu just to spite you, Hah.
Han laughed, waved, and they parted to go to their respective ships.
The run to Kessel was uneventful. Han managed to beat Salla in by nearly fifteen minutes, but one of the loader droids a ssigned to his ship developed a malfunc-tion, and slowed the loading process. Salla Rimrunner came swooping down for a reckless landing while he was still loading up, and Hah was barely five minutes ahead of her in lifting off.
He was flying with Chewie as copilot and Jarik in the topmost gunners mount. Imperial patrols in the Kessel region were becoming more and more prevalent these days.
Hah keyed his intercom as they went blasting into the Run. Look sharp, kid, he told Jarik. I dont want any Imp patrols catching us by surprise.
Right, Hah. Just keep a lookout on those soupod-up sensors of yours, and Ill blast em before they know what hit era.
The first obstacle to be faced once they left Kessel was the Maw-a treacherous, roughly spherical region of space containing black holes, a few neutron stars, and scattered main-sequence stars. From a distance, the Maw appeared in Kessel nighttime sky to be a rounded, fuzzy, vari-colored glow, much like a nebula. But as a ship drew closer, the spherical shape became clearer. The Maw glowed with the light from the suns within it, the ionized gas and dust trails snaking throughout in bands of color. And, seemingly looking back at Hah, were the accretion disks of the black holes.
The accretion disks resembled white, watching eyes against the dimmer regions of the Maw. Depending on their angle relative to the Falcon, those eyes were slit-ted, narrowed, or wide open. In the middle of each eye was a pinprick black pupil marking each of the black holes that were sucking in the trails of starstuff.
Almost like the jungle on an Ylesian night, Hah thought. Black nights with watching predator eyes ....
Navigating the perimeter of the Maw at normal sub-light speeds was a tricky proposition, and racing around it at full throttle was asking for disaster. Han glanced at his sensors, and saw that Salla was gaining on them. He increased speed, pouring it on, until he was going faster than he ever had before on a run.
She wont catch us now, Hah said to Chewie. Im gonna hold this lead until were into the Pit and then well be far enough ahead that well make our jump to hyperspace at least twenty minutes ahead of Rimrunner.
The Pit was a perilous asteroid field encased within a wispy gaseous arm of a nearby nebula. To-gether, the Maw and the Pit made the Kessel Run the dangerous proposition it was. Hearing Han boast, Chewie gave an unhappy moan and made a suggestion.
Whaddaya mean, let her beat us? Han demanded indignantly, his gloved fingers flying over the controls as they went screaming past the first cluster of black holes. The gas and dust from nearby stars was being pulled into the accretion disks in long, attenuated streamers of blue-white and rose. You crazy? I aint buying dinner! Im gonna win a nerf tenderloin with a broiled ladnek tail, surf and turf special, fair and square!
Chewie eyed the Falcon speed indicator nervously, and voiced another suggestion.
Youll buy everyoneg dinner if I slow down? Hah gave his copilot an incredulous glance. Hey pal, mar-riage must be makin you soft these days. I can handle this. The Falcon can handle it. Were gonna win this one !
Even as he spoke, his instruments registered a strange sensor signature from the recklessly acceler-ating Rimrunner. Han stared, eyes wide, at his board. Oh, no . . . he whispered. Salla, you crazy? Dont do it!
Moments later Rimrunner royhock-shaped form elongated, then popped out of real space. Chewie howled. Salla! Han yelled, uselessly. You crazy fool! Tryin a microjump near the Maw is just asking for trouble!
Chewie fretted as Han tYantically increased speed even more, checking his sensors to try and find the Rimrunner. Whered she go? Crazy woman! Whered she go?
Ten minutes passed, then fifteen, as the Falcon sped along, hugging the perimeter of the Maw. Hah consid-ered trying a microjump himself, but he had no way of discovering what course Salla had followed. The only thing he could be sure of was that she wouldnt have tried jumping straight from one side of the Maw to the other. The deep gravity wells from the black holes and neutron stars would have yanked her out of hyperspace in short order-and probably straight into a black holes event horizon, the point of no return.
No, she had to have jumped along the perimeter, perhaps to get a straight shot at the Pit ....
Chewie whined and stabbed a hairy finger at the sen-sors. Thatg her! Hah said, studying Rimrunner read-ings. Salta was still moving, but she wasnt headed toward the Pit. She was...
Oh, no . . Han whispered, feeling horror wash over him. Chewie, something must have gone wrong. She aint goin in the right direction... He checked his instruments again. She came outta hyperspace within the magnetic field of that neutron star up ahead!
Rimrunner was still moving, but no longer in a straight path. Instead Salla ship was within a thousand kilometers of a neutron star, looping up in a high orbit. Hans sensors showed jets of deadly plasma spewing out both sides of the flattened accretion disk that marked the neutron star location.
Either the gravity well or the magnetic field must have disrupted her navicomputer, and she came out of the microjump in the wrong place... Han breathed, feeling as though his chest were being squeezed by a gi-ant, invisible hand. Oh, Chewie... she a goner ....
Within minutes, Salla ship would reach apastron, or the highest and slowest point in her orbit around the dying star. Then, scant minutes later, Rimrunner orbit would pull it looping back around, and Salla ship would pass through the edge of the plasma jet. The deadly radiation levels there would fry her in moments.
A hundred memories of Salla raced through Han mind between one heartbeat and the next. Salla, smil-ing at him in the morning... Salla, dressed in a glam-orous gown, taking him out for a night in the casinos... Salla, her face smudged, fixing a hyperdrive as easily as most people would fix breakfast . . . except that Salla never had learned to cook ....
Chewie . . he whispered hoarsely, we gotta try and save her.
Chewbacca shot him a look, then pointed a. hairy fin-ger at the sensors and growled.
I know, I know, Rimrunner awfully close to that plasma jet, Hah said. And for us to get close, we risk gettin our ship knocked out and joinin Rimrunner. But Chewie... we gotta try.
The Wookiee blue eyes narrowed with determina-tion and he roared his agreement. Salla was a friend. They couldnt abandon her.
Hah opened a frequency on the Falcon corem, even as he began frantically ordering his navicomputer to run calculations. Salla? Salla? This is Han. Honey, you there? Were gonna try and get you... but youll have to do what I tell you. Salla? Come in! Over.
He tried twice more as the navicomputer began spouting possible approach vectors. He knew the mag-netic fields, ionized gas, and plasma trails would inter-fere with communications, but he hoped that the Falcon powerful sensors and transmitters could punch through.
Chewie, tell Jarik to get into a vacuum suit and stand by the airlock with the magnetic grapple and the winch. Im gonna tell her to eject, and well match her trajectory and pick her up.
Chewie gave Han a skeptical glance. Dont look at me like that! Han
snapped. I know it wont be easy! Ive got the navicomputer workin on an approach vec-tor that will keep us outta the plume magnetic field. Dont stand there tellin me all the stuff that can go wrong! Get movin!
Chewbacca made a hasty exit.
Han tried the comm unit again. Salla... Salla, this is Falcon. Come in. He wondered whether Salla abrupt reversion to real space had caused her to be flung against the controls. She could be lying there, un-conscious... or dead.
Hey, baby, answer me. Come in, Salla ....
He continued to call as he sped toward the apas-tron coordinates. The neutron stars magnetic field was so powerful that it must have blown out every active system on Rimrunner the moment Salla came out of hyperspace. That would almost certainly include Rim-runnerk sole lifepod, as that system was usually kept on-line-ready for an emergency ejection at a mo-mentk notice.
Salla was still moving, coasting at the same speed she had been when shed first jumped into hyperspace, but now she had no way to brake or alter direction. Most importantly, no power to blast free of the gravity well. Shed be pulled closer and closer in an ever-tighter or-bit until her ship encountered the edge of the accretion disk, then... boom.
By the time that happened, though, Salla WOuld have been dead for at least five minutes, from passing through that plasma particle jet ....
Not if I can help it, Hah thought grimly. Salla?
Salla? Can you read me? Come in, Salla!
Finally, he heard a crackle of static, then a faint reply. ... Hah... Rimrunner... engines out. Power gone... batteries dying... cant... goner, honey... stay away....
Hah swore loudly. No! he yelled into the comm. Salla, listen to me and do exactly what I say! Rim-runner a gorier, fight, but not you, Salla! Youre gonna have to abandon ship, and youve got only a few min-utes to do it! Was your lifepod on-line when you got hit?
.. affirmative, Han... lifepod dead... no way to eject ....
It was as hed thought. Her lifepod was useless, its electronic systems blown.
He wet his lips. Yes, you can eject! Were comin to get you! Salla, you get your rear down to your aft airlock and stuff yourself into a vacuum suit! Take both suit thrust paks, hear me? When the first runs out, activate the second. Full throttleLIm gonna try and match your trajectory, but I want you its far away froin Rimrunner and that plasma jet as possible! Wont work... jump?
Star Wars - The Han Solo Trilogy - Rebel Dawn Page 11
