[Dark Nest] - 3(30)
“I wouldn’t say angry, Jacen.”
“No?” Jacen gave her a crooked Solo smile. “I would.”
EIGHT
The private hangar, hidden deep under several metallic asteroids on the rear side of the nest, appeared much more orderly than Lizil’s main hangar. Two dozen Slayn Korpil transports hung on the walls in neat rows, taking on everything from blaster rifles to concussion missiles to artillery pieces. There was no “transacting”; nothing was being removed from the vessels, and there was not a membrosia ball in sight.
Han swung the Swiff into an open berth near the exit membrane, using the attitude thrusters to stick the landing pads to the wax-lined floor extra firmly. The hangar was crawling with big bugs-Killik and otherwise-and he had no intention of firing the anchoring bolts until he was sure a quick departure would not be needed.
“We sure picked the wrong disguises for this job,” Han said, eyeing the bustling swarm. “I don’t see anything that isn’t a bug anywhere.”
“That’s odd, Captain Solo,” C-3P0 said. “I don’t see any bugs at all. The Verpine are a species of mantid, the Fefze are more closely related to beetles, and the Huk are much closer to vespids than-“
“I don’t think Han actually meant bugs, Threepio,” Leia interrupted. “He was using the term pejoratively.”
“He was?” C-3P0 asked. “Might I suggest that this is a particularly poor time to insult insects, Captain Solo. You and Princess Leia seem to be the only mammals in this hangar.”
“Like I hadn’t noticed,” Han grumbled. He unbuckled his crash webbing and initiated the shutdown cycle, but remained in his seat staring out the forward canopy. “Leia, do you notice anything strange about the Killiks loading those transports?”
“Now that you mention it, yes,” Leia said. “They really don’t look like Lizil.”
“That, too,” Han said. Unlike Lizil workers, these Killiks were nearly two meters tall, with powerful builds, blotchy gray-green chitin, and short curving mandibles that looked like bent needles. “But I was wondering why there aren’t any coming down the ramps.”
Leia studied the ships for a moment, then said, “Good question.”
“Actually, the answer is rather clear,” C-3P0 said. “Those Killiks aren’t loading the transports, they’re boarding them.”
“It certainly appears that way,” Leia agreed. “The Chiss may be in for a big surprise.”
“A surprise?” C-3P0 said, missing the obvious as only he could. “What sort of surprise?”
“You did notice all those S and K transports hanging out in the entrance tunnel?” Han asked.
“Of course,” C-3P0 said. “All one hundred twenty-seven of them.”
Han whistled. He had not thought it was so many. “Okay, let’s say each one of those tubs can transport three hundred bugs … that’s close to forty thousand troops, counting these ships.”
“A full division,” Leia said. “That’s going to he a very nasty surprise for the Chiss-especially if the Killiks strike someplace they’re not expecting.”
“Oh, dear,” C-3P0 said. “In that case, perhaps we should return to our own territory and send a messenger to warn Commander Fel.”
“Not a chance,” Han said, rising. “The Chiss are on their own-at least until we get our daughter back.”
He led the way hack to the aft hold, where Meewalh and Cakhmaim were waiting with the hoods of their Ewok disguises tucked under their arms. The huge Magcannon Max that had once been stowed here was gone, now headed for a pirate base somewhere in the Galactic Alliance. If Lando’s engineers could be trusted, the weapon would blow itself apart the first time it was live-fired.
Han instructed the Noghri to put on their Ewok heads. After he and Leia checked their own disguises-Arkanian and Falleen-he turned to the cargo lift controls and was puzzled to find a pair of Fefze staring at him from the external monitors. The black, meter-high beetles were standing beneath the cargo lift, staring up into the vidcam, frantically waving their forward legs for the cargo lift to he lowered.
“What now?” Han demanded. He turned to C-3P0. “Didn’t Grees say his Flakax goons would be the ones meeting us?”
“I believe his precise words were ‘Tito and Yugi will be there to take care of you,’ ” C-3P0 reported. “And he was pointing at the Flakax at the time.”
“So what do these two want?” Han asked.
Leia closed her eyes a moment, then said, “Let them in. I think we know them.”