Chewie howls dropped to moans... possibly prayers.
Han was too busy to listen.
They were nearing the end of the Pit, heading straight for the Maw. Chewie, Im gonna have to shave the belly armor right off the Falcon, and hope those Imps wont want to mess with these black holes, Hah said, tightly. Those slugs are not givin up!
Chewbacca arrrrhhhhhnnnnned in despair. I cant help it! Theyre not getting the Falcon!
The two Imperial ships stuck to the smuggler vessel as though they were hooked by tractor beams. Hah and Chewie worked frantically over the Falcons con-trol board, adjusting their course, speed, direction, shielding ....
In desperation, Han sent the Falcon closer to the black hole clusters than any sane person would ever go. Only the ships breakneck speed might save them.
The Millennium Falcon skimmed so close to the black holes in the Maw that only her terrible velocity kept her from being captured and sucked in. The watching eyes of the accretion disks seemed to widen and narrow as the Falcon soared and swooped in and around the treacherous gravity wells. The Imperial ships hurtled after him at top velocity.
Han did an impossible spin, flip and swoop as he came around toward the last of the Maw. Studying his instruments, Hah saw that one of the pursuing Imperial ships, the smaller of the two, hadnt been able to dupli-cate his maneuver-the ship vanished into the embrace of the black holes accretion disk with a tiny, ignoble flare.
Yes! he said, fiercely. Youre not gettin me! Not today, not ever!
Now the last Imperial ship was falling behind... and the Falcon was nearly out of the Maw. Yes, Chewie! We did it!
Arrrrrrhhhhhhhhnnn!
Han sent the Falcon hurtling past Kessel, and then, suddenly they were free of the gravity wells. Hah hastily bent over the navicomputer, then a moment later, shouted, Course laid in! Punch it, Chexvie!
Moments later they were safe in hyperspace. Han slumped back in his seat. That was too close, he mut-tered, hoarsely.
Chexvie agreed.
As he sagged in his seat, Han noticed something.
Hey, Chewie. Look! He pointed at the instruments.
We set a record!
Chewie commented bitterly that their speed record had come at the expense of his nerves. Hans eyes nar-rowed. Hey, this is weird, he said. It says we actually shortened the distance we traveled, not just the time. Less than twelve parsecs!
Chewie growled skeptically and rapped on the dis-tance gauge with hairy knuckles, commenting that Hans wild piloting must have caused a short and the gauge was off.
Han argued, but when Chewbacca, short-tempered, snarled at him, he gave up. Okay, okay, Im too tired to argue, he said, throwing up his hands.
But I did do it in under twelve parsecs ....he thought stubbornly.
But now he had more pressing problems to consider than speed or distance records. What in the universe was he going to tell Jabba?
Han faced the craggy, scarred holo-image of Bidlo Kwerve, Jabba the Hutts Corellian majordomo. Be-hind Kwerve he could see the sand-colored walls of the Hutt Lords desert palace on Tatooine. Hey, Kwerve, Han said, let me speak to the boss, please.
The ugly Corellian thug had jet-black hair with a vivid white stripe running through it, and vivid green eyes. Kwerve smiled, a small and nasty smile. Hey, its Solo, he said. Jabbas been callin you. Where you been, Solo?
Here and there, Hah said, shortly. He didnt like being played with. Ran into a bit of trouble with the Imps.
Well, thats too bad, Kwerve said. Let me see if I can get Jabba to talk to you. Last time I knew, he was pretty ticked cause youre overdue with that cargo. Hes got some plans for that spice.
Han stared stonily into the comm. Just patch me through, Kwerve, and stuff the jokes.
Oho, who said I was jokin, Solo?
The Corellian majordomos scarred visage disap-peared in a wash of static, and for a moment Hah thought hed cut the transmission. He reached out to break the connection himself, when the static was sud-denly gone, replaced by Jabbas massive holo-image. Jabba! Hah blurted, in mingled relief and trepidation.
Hey, listen... I got a little problem.
Jabba did not look happy. He was smoking some brown substance that roiled around in the combination hookah and snackquarium hed inherited from the dead Jiliac, and his huge pupils were dilated from the drug.
Great, Han thought. I had w call when he was spiced ....
Uh, hey, Jabba, he said. Its me, Hah.
Jabba blinked several times and finally managed to focus. Hah! boomed the leader of Desilijic. Where have you been? I was expecting you here last week!
Uh, well, Jabba, thats what I called to tell you about, Han said. Listen... its not my fault ....
Jabba blinked muzzily. Hah, my boy . . . what are you saying? Where is my load of glitterstim?
The Corellian swallowed. Uh, yeah, about that load,
Jabba. Well, you see... it was almost like theyd set a
trap for me! The Imps were waitin and they-
The customs officials have my spice? Jabba roared, so loudly and suddenly that Han couldnt help flinching back. How couM you, Solo?
No! No, no, Jabba? Han cried. They didnt get it! Honest, theyve got nothin on you, nothin! But... in order to keep the customs guys from finding it, I had to dump it. I marked it, but they wouldnt let me go right away. And when I went back for it . . . it was gone, Jabba.
My spice is gone, Jabba said, staring blearily at Han, his voice ominously quiet.
Uh... yeah. But, hey, Jabba, dont worry. Ill make it up to you, I promise. Me and Chewie will work it off, well pay you the value, dont worry. You know were good for it. And honest, Jabba, I got a feelin I was set up, you know? How many people besides you and Moruth Doole knew I was goin on a Run?
Jabba ignored Hans question. His bulbous eyes blinked rapidly as he took several puffs on the hookah. Then, reaching out, he grabbed a wriggler from the liquid-filled globe and stuffed the squirming thing into his mouth.
Han. . . Hah, my boy, you know I love you like a son, he said slowly, portentously. But business is busi-ness, and youve broken my primary rule. I cant make exceptions just because I am fond of you. That load cost me twelve thousand four hundred credits. Deliver the spice or the credits to me within ten days, or face the consequences.
Hah wet his lips. Ten days... but, Jabba-
The connection was abruptly broken. Hah sagged back in his pilots seat, wrung out. What am I gonna do?
Six days later, having tried and failed to scrape up the credits from some of the sentients who owed him money, Han went back to Nar Shaddaa; He hated to do it, but he was going to have to borrow the credits from friends.
He discovered that someone involved in that night-mare Run... some Imp officer, or trooper... had evi-dently talked about what had happened. His fellow smugglers regarded him with a mixture of awe and trepidation.
Awe because hed set a new record for the Run, trepi-dation because the news was out-Jabba was displeased, most displeased, with his former favorite pilot.
Shug was off-planet, and Hah cursed when he dis-covered that the master tech was gone. He knew Shug was good for that much, though it would strain his resources.
Hah made the rounds, managed to pick up a couple of thousand credits by calling in some old favors. But news of what had happened to some of the captains on Ylesia had spread, and several people simply looked the other way when Hah approached.
Han finally went to Landos place. He didnt want to, but he was out of options.
He knocked on the door, and heard the gamblers sleepy voice from inside. Who is it? Lando, its me, he called. Han.
The Corellian heard steps, then suddenly Lando jerked the door open. Before Hah could utter a single word, the gamblers fist lashed out in a vicious sucker-punch, catching Han in the jaw and sending him flying back across the hallway. The Corellian slammed into the wall, then slid down, landing on his rear.
Han grabbed his jaw, spots dancing before his eyes,
struggling to speak. Lando loomed over him. You have got to have the most colossal nerve in the entire galaxy, coming here after what you pulled on Ylesia! he yelled. Youre lucky I dont just shoot you, you lousy, lowlife, double-crosser!
Lando... Han managed to croak, I swear, I didnt know what she was plannin. I swear ....
Right, Lando sneered. Sure you didnt!
Would I have come here like this if I wasnt inno-cent? Han mumbled. His jaw wasnt working very well. He could feel it swelling. Lando... she did it to me, too. I didnt get nothin from that trip. Nothin!
I dont believe you, Lando said, coldly. But if I did, Id say, good! You two deserve each other!
Lando, Han said, I lost a load of spice I was
carryin for Jabba. Im desperate, buddy. I need to
borrow-
What? Lando grabbed Hans jacket in both hands and yanked the pilot to his feet. He slammed the Corel-lian against the wall. The gamblers dark face was barely a handsbreadth from Hans. You came here to ask me for a loan?
Hah managed to nod. Im good for it... honest ....
Get this through your head, Solo, Lando snarled. Weve been friends in the past, so Im not going to do what you so richly deserve and blow your head off. But dont ever come near me again!
Slamming Han against the wall one more time, Lando let the Corellian go. Hah slid down the wall again, as Lando stormed back into his fiat. The door banged shut, and Han heard the lock click.
Slowly, painfully, Hah got to his feet. His jaw was throbbing, and he tasted blood.
Well, that that, he thought, staring at the closed door. Now what?
Were not going to get out of here, are we?
Commander Bria Tharen ignored the barely audible question as she ducked down behind the pile of rubble and ejected the spent power pak from her blaster. Or tried to. The pak was jammed. Looking at her weapon, she saw that the constant firing from the past few min-utes of battle had fused the power connectors together, making it impossible toremove the empty pak.
She swore under her breath, and crawled over to the body next to her. Jace Paols features were frozen into an expression of tight, concentrated anger. Hed died fighting, the way he would have wanted to go. Grabbing his weapon, she eased it out from beneath his body, but before she had it .all the way out, she saw the barrel was fused. It was as useless as her own.
Glancing over at the pitiful remains of Red Hand Squadron, Bria said, Anyone who can, give me cover. Ive got to scrounge me up something to shoot with.
Joaan nodded and gave her a thumbs-up. Ready, Commander. I dont see anything moving out there at the moment.
Okay, Bria said. Tossing the useless weapon aside, the Rebel commander peered carefully over the rubble, then stealthily slid around to the side, out from behind her cover. She didnt bother getting to her feet, not sure that her wounded leg would support her. Instead, she scuttled forward on ,hands and knees, keeping low, through the ragged hole in the outside wall of the half-destroyed Imperial comm center where they were mak-ing their last stand.
A few meters away, an Imperial trooper lay, a hole still smoldering in his breastplate.
Quickly, Bria crawled over and stripped the dead man of his weapon and spare power paks, noting wryly that the trooper must have used all his grenades before hed been shot. Too bad... I could have made good use of a couple of grenades ....
Bria thought about taking the man body armor, but it hadnt done him any good, had it?
Here, outside the remains of the Imperial corem center on the restricted world of Toprawa, she could hear better. And breathe better, too. The stench of bat-tle was replaced by a cool night breeze. Bria crouched behind a fallen block of permacrete, daring to pull off her helmet for a second, then wipe her grimy face. She sighed with pleasure as the gentle breeze cooled her sweaty hair. The last time shed felt a cool, pleasant breeze like that had been on Togoria ....
Where are you, Han? she wondered, as she often did. What are you doing right now?
She wondered if Hah would ever know what had be-come of her. Would he care if he did? Did he hate her now? She hoped not, but she would never know ....
Bria thought about that day on Ylesia, and wished things could have been different. Yet... if shed had it to do over again, would she have done things any differently?
She smiled sadly. Probably not ....
The credits shed raised had come in handy, and had led directly to this assignment. Torbul and the other Rebel leaders had sent intelligence units to infiltrate Ralltiir, and theyd discovered that the Empire was shipping vital plans for its new secret weapon to its records center on Toprawa.
Torbul had been straight with her when hed dis-cussed the mission, using terms like, recovery iffy, and expendable.
Bria had known what she was getting into, but shed volunteered Red Hand Squadron anyway. She knew they needed the best for this job, and she was confident her people could deliver. And they had ....
This was the biggest anti-hnperial offensive of the Resistance so far, a coordinated offensive assigned to transmit the plans for the latest Imperial secret weapon. Bria didnt know all the details, but her assignment had been to seize this Imperial comm center on Toprawa and hold it, while the comm techs transmitted the stolen plans to a Rebel courier ship . . . a Corellian corvette that would accidentally pass through this highly restricted star system.
When Torbul told Bria that the Rebel Alliance needed volunteers to accompany the intelligence team to Toprawa, to hold off the Imps while the comm techs did their job, Bria hadnt hesitated before volunteering. Red Hand will go, sir, she said. We can handle it.
She looked out across the plaza, seeing the carnage of war reflected dimly in the streetlights. Bodies, over-turned ground-cars, wrecked speeders... the place was a mess.
Bria thought about Ylesia, reflecting that place had been an even bigger mess . . . and she was proud that she had some responsibility for that. Glancing up at the sky, she thought about Retribution. Theyd lost contact with her, and Bria feared the worst.
Time W get back to work, she thought, and crawled back into the wrecked comm center.
Hearing the deep thrum of heavy repulsorlift units behind her, Bria sheltered behind the wall and peered out. Looking up, she saw the faint glint of light from the armor of a massive rectangular object floating above the permacrete of the ruined plaza. The hnpe-rial heavy armor, one of the Floating Fortress class units, settled down into a covered position behind the remains of the communications and sensor tower, obvi-ously getting ready for yet another assault on Red Hand Squadron... or what was left of it.
Bria scrambled backward, crawling quickly, to pass the word to her remaining troops.
Listen up, people, she said, to the survivors-so few! who were sheltering behind the barricade. She began passing out the power paks, dividing them up equally. Theyre coming again. Weve got to look sharp, hold them off as long as possible.
They didnt talk, just nodded, and prepared to go to work. Bria was proud of them. ProfessionMs. Dedicated professionals.
It wont be long now, she thought, finding a good spot for herself behind the barricade. People... she said aloud, has everyone got their lullaby?
Murmured assents. Bria checked her own. Shed stuck the tiny pill to the collar of her fatigues, so that all she had to do was turn her head and stick her tongue out to get it. You never knew if your arms would be working, after all.
Come on, she thought to the Imperials. It rude to keep us waiting.
What the Imps didnt know was that they were al-ready too late. Red Hand had managed to hold the Im-perial reaction force at the outer perimeter while the Rebel comm techs transmitted the plans to the courier vessel. It had been close; the Imps had chopped the corem/sensor tower in half just seconds after the trans-mission had ended-but Bria had seen the acknowledg-ment from Tantive IV with her own eyes. Transmission complete.
Bria had also seen, before the sensors were cut off, the image of an Imperial Star Destroyer closing in on
the Rebel Blockade Runner. Had that courier gotten away? Shed never know ....
Bria wondered exactly what theyd been transmit-ting, but knew shed never know that, either. As it was, she and her people knew too much... thats why they couldnt risk being taken alive.
Not that the Imperials seem inclined to take prison-ers anyway today, she thought.
As she bent down to check the bandage around her thigh, the trooper next to her voiced the same quiet question shed refused to answer earlier Were not go-ing to get out of here... are we?
Bria looked at him, pale under his battered helmet, his eyes wide and stating. Skkot was a good trooper, loyal to her, loyal to their cause But he was so young ....
Still, he deserved a straight answer
No, were not, Skkot, Bria replied You know that. The Imps have destroyed our ships No retrieval. And even if we didnt have orders to hold this comm center for as long as possible, theres nowhere for us to go on this world. Even if we could get past the troopers . . weve got no transport. She gave him a wry grin, and gestured at her wounded leg. Id look really silly trying to hop out of here, wouldnt I?
He nodded, and his face twisted with anguish.
She looked at him closely Skkot . . . we cant be captured. You understand that, right?
He nodded again, then took out his lullaby and stuck
it to his collar, the way Bria had. Yeah, Commander. I
understand. His voice was shaking, but his hands on
his weapon were steady
He leaned closer to her, not wanting the others to hear. Commander.. I... I dont want to die. His ad-mission seemed to drain him, and he trembled.
Help me with this bandage, would you, Skkot? she said, motioning for him to tighten the medpac tighter on her leg. The kids hands steadied a bit as he pulled on the straps binding it to her wound. Tighter! she told him, and he leaned back, putting his weight into it. A jolt of pain got though to Bria, past the painkillers that let her move about despite her injury. There, thats got it. Young Burrid sagged down next to her. Bria put her arm around him, as she would a brother she loved, and leaned close to him.
Star Wars - The Han Solo Trilogy - Rebel Dawn Page 32
