[Black Fleet Crisis(16)

“I’ll let it be known. In the meantime, good news-the problem with the Y’taa has unexpectedly beenresolved. My apologies for interrupting your day. ” He bowed deeply and backed away.

“Scamp, ” she said. Her smile lasted all the way back to her desk.

The shipyard boss beamed broadly as he led Han Solo and Chewbacca into the hangar where a gleaming Millennium Falcon rested on its skids.

“You’re going to be very happy, very happy, ” he said, rubbing his palms together. “I only let my best mechanics touch her. “

“No droids, ” Han said in a warning tone, surveying the ship’s exterior. “You better not have used any droids. Droids don’t understand creative engineering. “

“No droids, ” the yard boss said reassuringly. “It was all hand work. Which is why the rebuild took so long, of course. The crew chief used to work on Corellian freighters at Toprawa. Stock, of course, nothing like what you have here. But at least he knows the model well enough to spot your modifications. “

Chewbacca stopped under one of the ship’s forward-pointing mandibles and looked up at the equipment-studded hull plates. Pointing at one of the lower deflector emitters, he turned his head toward Han and loosed a plaintive howl.

“What? ” asked the yard boss, his gaze quickly settling on the Wookiee’s point of concern. “Oh, yes, we realigned all the emitters. You were getting interference nodes to port and starboard-left her vulnerable to a side attack. “

“You promised you wouldn’t change anything, ” Han said threateningly.

“I promised we’d put her right, and that’s what we did, ” the yard boss said, leading the way to the boarding ramp. “First we took her apart down to the frame, then we took the frame apart-we have holos, you’ll have to see how twisted some of the ribs and stringers were. Structurally, she’s about fifteen percent new. “

Han walked right past the boarding ramp, continuing to circle the ship as though doing a preflight check. “Yeah, well, she’s had a few bumps. Never failed me in the clutch, though. “

Chewbacca voiced his agreement in a defiant guttural growl.

Frowning, the yard boss came back down the ramp and fell in behind them. “Well, that’s a small miracle, considering what we found under the access panels. How you serviced her systems the way she was, I’ll never know. When we built her back up, all the cables were properly tagged and bundled, all the mechanicals shock-mounted, all the electricals grounded and pulse-shielded-“

“I knew I should have been keeping an eye on you, ” Han said. “Probably added a couple of tons to her displacement-“

“She’s three hundred kilos lighter. “

“I would have done it all myself, you know. But there just isn’t time anymore. “

Chewie grunted expressively.

“Yeah, I couldn’t stand to see her all in pieces, either, ” Han agreed. “Not with someone else’s hands in her guts. Autopsies and rebuilds don’t want to be around either one. ” He paused, looking up at the drive matrix. “Say, is that a Seinar Systems augmentor? “

“It is. “

“Well, I’ll be a-” His expression softened to wonder. “We tried for years to get one of those on the black market. Remember, Chewie? But every time we got a lead on one, it turned out to be pre-Imperial junk, or something pulled out of the wreck of a TIE fighter, with the scorch marks painted over. How did your-“

The yard boss smiled. “Don’t ask, General. “

Chewbacca yawned a comment under his breath, and Han answered with a crooked smile. “Yeah, I guess there’re a few advantages to wearing a braid. “

He cocked his head at the yard boss. “So are there any more surprises? “

“A few, ” the yard boss said, reclaiming the role of tour guide. “We replaced your missing escape pods. Upgraded the tractor beam generator to a Mark Seven, and the hyperdrive motivator to a Series Four-oh-one-“

“Holy mother of meteors. “

“-Replaced all the sensor lenses. Duplicated an original YT-1300 battery regulator from Corellian specs-“

“That was probably a mistake. “

“-Recarpeted the holds and crew quarters. Fixed the sticky latch on the Number Two storage locker. Recharged the sanitizer in the refresher. ” He smiled. “Want to take her for a spin? “

Gesturing with one furry hand, Chewbacca registered his vote.

“Yeah, all that history gone. It won’t be the same Falcon without the creaks and the shakes, ” Han said.

“No, it won’t, ” said the yard boss. “She’ll be about twenty percent faster, ten percent more efficient, and a hundred percent more reliable. “