[Han Solo] - 03(39)

After all, the faster a smuggler delivered a cargo, the quicker he, she or it could take off again with another shipment. Time was credits, in the life of a smuggler.

Han, Jarik and Chewbacca did most of the work themselves, with an occasional hand from Salla, who was also an expert technician, and Shug, the acknowledged master.

Once he had the ship’s armorplating the way he wanted it, no lucky Imperial shot was going to take out the Falcon the way Han’s previous ship, the Bria, had been destroyed! He started on the engines and the armament. He added a light laser cannon under the nose, then moved the quad lasers so the Falcon had gun turrets both dorsally and ventrally—top and bottom. Then Han and Salla installed two concussion missile launching tubes between the forward mandibles.

All the while that he was installing weapons and armor, Han, Shug and Chewie worked on the Falcon’s engines and other systems. The Falcon already boasted a military-grade hyperdrive. Together Han and Shug tinkered with both the hyperdrive and sublight engines until they were even more powerful, and the Falcon was making faster and faster times on Han’s smuggling runs.

They also installed new sensor and jamming systems. The new jamming system had a less than auspicious first trial, however. When Han triggered it, the pulse was so powerful that it also jammed the Falcon’s own internal communications, disrupting the signals from the cockpit to the ship’s systems! The incident happened at the worst possible time—while the Falcon was ducking into a planet’s gravity well in an attempt to shake off an Imperial frigate. As their ship hurtled down, grazing upper atmosphere, totally out of control, Han and Chewbacca stared at their instruments in dismay. Only the fact that the new jammer was so powerful that it burned out almost immediately saved them from being incinerated in the planet’s atmosphere.

The day came when Han looked at the Falcon with satisfaction, and threw an arm around Shug Ninx’s shoulders. “Shug old pal, you are one master mechanic. I don’t think there’s anyone better with a hyperdrive in the whole galaxy. She’s purring like a Togorian kit-cub, and we’ve increased her speed another two percent.”

The half-alien master mechanic smiled at his friend, but shook his head.

“Thanks, Han, but I can’t claim that title. I’ve heard that there’s a guy in the Corporate Sector name of ‘Doc’ who can make a hyperdrive dance a jizz-jig with one hand tied behind his back. If you want her to go even faster, you’ll have to hunt him up.”

Han listened with some surprise, but filed the information away in his mind as potentially useful. He’d always had a yen to see the Corporate Sector, and now he had a reason to go there.

“Thanks, Shug,” he said. “I’ll have to consider contacting this guy if I ever get there.”

“From what I’ve heard about Doc, you don’t contact him. He’ll contact you, if he decides it’s a good idea. Ask Arly Bron about him. He’s spent time in the Corporate Sector, he might know how you’d go about contacting Doc.”

“Thanks for the word,” Han said. He knew Arly Bron, as he did most of the smugglers who hung out in the Corellian Sector of Nar Shaddaa.

Bron was a stocky, aging smuggler with a genial air and a sharp tongue.

He enjoyed needling fools, but he was fast enough on the draw to still be among the living, which said something for his speed and accuracy.

He flew a beat up old freighter named Double Echo.

Now that Han had the fast and (comparatively) reliable Millennium Falcon, he could take on the most challenging jobs. He still worked mostly for Jabba, who was basically running the Desilijic kajidic these days, but he also took jobs for other employers. The Corellian and his Wookiee sidekick became almost a legend on Nar Shaddaa as they broke speed records for the Kessel Run and flew rings around Imperial patrol vessels.

Han had never been happier. He had a fast ship, friends in Chewie, Jarik and Lando, an attractive, savvy lady friend in Salla, and credits in his pocket. True, money had a way of slipping through his fingers, no matter how he tried to hold on to it, but to Han, that was only a minor worry. So what if he liked living high, gambling and expensive flings? He could always make more!

But even though Han’s personal life was going splendidly, dark clouds were gathering on the horizon. The Emperor continued to tighten his grip, and his reach was extending even into the Outer Rim these days.

There was a massacre on Mantooine in the Atrivis Sector, and the Rebels that had managed to capture an Imperial base there were wiped out practically to the last defender.

There were other massacres as object lessons to inner Imperial worlds.