“Millennium Falcon, this is Zark Two.” The woman’s
Basic
was thick-tongued and awkward. “The Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet demands that you bring to a dead stop your vessel. Stand by for boarding.”
Han activated his comm microphone. “Uh, just a second.” He glanced over at Leia, then pointed at the control panel and raised his brow. When she gave him a thumbs-up and began to bring the sensors online, he continued, “Sorry. You’ll have to say again. Your Basic is a little-“
Another flurry of energy beams flashed past the cockpit, this time so close that they left spots in Han’s eyes.
“That is clear enough, Falcon?” Zark Two asked. “This is a war zone. If you disobey, we fire for effect.”
Han’s tactical display came up, and he saw that the Falcon had an entire squadron of clawcraft on her tail. The fighters were escorted by two heavy gunboats and an assault shuttle-a standard package for a boarding company.
But it was what Han saw near the planet that really alarmed him. As he had suspected, the wedge-shaped flecks circling above the clouds were a huge Chiss battle fleet, clustered together over one tiny area of the planet.
“Leia, see if you can-“
“Working on it,” Leia said.
A moment later, the image from a cloud-penetrating sensor scan appeared on Han’s display. Most of the planet’s land surface seemed to be covered by lowland jungles or mountain rain forests, but the area directly beneath the Chiss fleet was a brown smudge. A huge river ran through one edge of the smudge, and a tiny area along one bank shined red with thermal energy.
The lock-alarms began to chime incessantly, announcing that the Falcon was being targeted by her pursuers.
“Millennium Falcon, this is our final warning,” Zark Two commed. “Bring your vessel to a dead stop.”
Han pushed the throttles to the overload stops and dropped into an evasive corkscrew. Laser bolts instantly began to streak past on all sides, and the cabin lights flickered as the Falcon’s shields began to take hits.
“Captain Solo, the squadron leader’s accent must be confusing you,” C-3P0 said. “She ordered us to stop.”
“I heard.” Han’s eyes remained fixed on the image of the riverbank. “But that looks like a battle down there. A big one.”
“How do you know that?” Juun sounded more amazed than doubtful. “I thought it was a jungle fire!”
“A jungle fire? With a fleet to provide space cover?” Saba reached over from the comm station and slapped the Sullustan’s back. “So funny!”
Tarfang rushed to help Juun off the floor, then whirled on Saba and chittered so angrily it made the Barabel’s scales ripple.
“Sssorry,” she said. “This one did not know he was serious.”
A depletion buzzer activated as the Chiss continued to pound the rear shields. Realizing he would never escape a dozen clawcraft with fancy flying alone, Han activated the intercom again.
“Are you two taking a nap back there?” he demanded. “Shoot something!”
The Falcon shuddered as the Noghri immediately cut loose with the big quad cannons.
Leia’s eyes widened. “Han, I don’t know if this is a good idea,” she said. “Killing Chiss is only going to aggravate-“
“Look, I’m not the one setting the stakes here,” Han said. “If I know my daughter, she and Zekk are in the middle of that battle down there, and that means the Chiss are trying to kill them. So pardon me if I return the favor.”
“Han, I feel the same way,” Leia said. “But we have to think of the mission. Luke wanted to do this without killing more-“
A damage warning began to scream, and suddenly the yoke felt like an angry snake, snapping from side to side and forward and back, twisting right, whipping left, then kicking and bouncing like a kid on his first bound-stick. The Falcon went into a shuddering vortex, and more alarms screamed as delicate systems began to take secondary damage from the violent shaking.
“Sh-sh-shut down n-n-number four n-nacelle!” Han ordered. At least he thought it was number four-with all the quaking and shaking, it was hard to be sure which status light he was seeing. “And if that doesn’t work, try the others!”
Leia’s fingers were already stabbing at the control panel, trying to catch the correct glide-switch. In the midst of it all, a synthesized boom reverberated from the control panel speaker, and Han glimpsed a Chiss designator-symbol vanishing from the tactical display. Even with all of the shaking and spiraling, one of the Noghri had hit a clawcraft. Han was not that surprised.
Leia finally managed to shut down the number four nacelle. The Falcon stopped shuddering, but her acceleration slowed and the yoke grew stiff and sluggish. Han struggled to bring the ship’s wild spiral back under control.