THE HUTT GAMBI(107)
Two to two. Much better odds!
Okay, now … where was the Lianna Guard? On Lando’s tail? No!
Coming up directly behind her!
Lando said urgently, “Evasive, Salla!”
“Not on your life!” she bellowed. “This is what I’ve been waiting for!
Rik, blast your worthless hide, get him!”
Captain Lodrel of the Imperial ship Lianna Guard smiled grimly as his ship streaked toward the mynock-shaped freighter’s stern. I’ve got you! he thought smugly, and opened his mouth to give the order to destroy the helpless vessel.
But before he could speak, Lodrel noticed something strange about the rear of the CorelliSpace ship. Two camouflaged gun ports had just slid open in the ship’s stern!
Instead of shouting “Fire!” Lodrel screamed, “Evasive!”
But two concussion missiles were already streaking toward him. Hey!
That’s not fair! Lodrel thought indignantly.
It was his last thought …
“Yahooooooo!” shouted Salla as she saw the patrol ship blown to atoms on her rear sensors. “We got him! Sweet shooting, Rik!”
“Does that mean you’ll kiss me when we get back to base?” he demanded in her headset.
“Not a chance,” Salla said cheerfully. “But I’ll buy you a drink!”
“Congratulations, Lady Salla,” Vuffi Raa said, in his prissy, overly refined tones.
“Great going, Salla!” Lando shouted. “In all the excitement, I totally forgot about those missile launchers. Shug, you are the best!”
“Yeah, Shug, we all owe you,” Salla agreed.
“That was fun,” Shug said, chuckling. “Want to do it again?” “Sure!”
Salla and Lando chorused.
Mako Spince heaved a sigh of relief when the crippled Dragon Pearl managed to reach Illusion Point, and the relative protection offered by the bigger ships in Drea Renthal’s mercenary fleet. He checked his sensors, all the while listening to his ships report in.
The smugglers were doing well against the Imp skirmish vessels. They were taking losses, though, ships they couldn’t afford to lose. Mako frowned as he checked ship after ship. I’m losing a lot of friends today, he thought sadly. Too many good ships and people gone…
He ran a status check. Almost twenty-five percent of his smuggler vessels .
. . gone. Even if they won this battle, the smuggling operations out of Nar Shaddaa were going to be affected for a long, long time.
But the Imps had probably lost half their TIE fighters, and nearly fifty percent of their skirmish ships.
The big question is, Mako thought, when is Greelanx gonna move in with his capital ships? The big ships were approaching steadily, but were still out of range.
Mako glanced nervously at his sensors, saw two skirmish vessels converge on a smuggler ship. Oh, no!
A panicked voice erupted in Mako’s headset. “Defender Central! Can you get me some help? I’m crippled, and—” The voice scaled up into an agonized scream, and abruptly stopped. Mako watched as the blip on his sensors winked out. He cursed softly, helplessly.
“Commander Jelon,” Admiral Greelanx said, “order the remainder of the TIEs to deploy and engage at will.”
“Yes, sir.”
The big Imperial ships were now within five hundred kilometers of the Nar Shaddaa debris shell. Greelanx took a sip of stimtea, then checked their sensors again. He could see the remaining twelve TIE fighters streaking toward the battle.
“Commander, instruct the capital wedge to assume an external-approach orbital pass. We’re going to avoid that debris.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And order the wedge to accelerate to full speed. We are starting our attack.”
“Yes, sir!”
Greelanx checked the status of his squadron again. He was impressed by the smugglers’ tenacity. He’d expected them to break and run before now. But they were still fighting, and doing significant damage to his skirmish vessels.
Still, losing wasn’t going to be easy. The smugglers were fighting bravely, granted, but those little freighters were no match for his capital ships.
Greelanx sighed. It was possible that he’d have to order one of his ships to do something that would be guaranteed to cause its destruction.
The admiral swallowed another sip of tea, feeling as though a fist were closing around his throat. He’d sent troops to their deaths before, many times, but never on purpose. He wasn’t sure he could do it …
But what choice did he have?
They’re making their move! Accelerating to attack speed! Mako realized as he stared into his sensors. He keyed his comm to a special, private frequency. “Han, Mako here. You read me?”
“Yeah, Mako,” came the voice of his friend, garbled but understandable.