THE HUTT GAMBI(96)

Han and Jarik walked by Salla’s Rimrunner, and waved to Shug when he raised his face shield to wipe his sweating face. Han stopped to cup his hands around his mouth and shouted up at the master mechanic.

“Looks good, Shug!

You and Salla are sure gonna give those Imps a rude surprise!”

Whenever they weren’t working on helping Xaverri create her master illusion, Salla and Shug, with Rik Duel’s help, had been modifying Rimrunner, installing a pair of camouflaged concussion missile launchers in the stern. Salla’s smuggling ship was a CorelliSpace Gymsnor-4-class light freighter and, like virtually every smuggling ship in the business, was heavily modified. The ship looked rather like a flying wing or—if you wanted to be insulting and gain a punch in the nose from Salla—a my-nock.

Rimrunner was a fast, agile ship, and Salla was an excellent pilot.

Han was counting heavily on her during the coming battle.

He knew that Salla would be in a much better position to do serious damage to the Imperial ships than he would. The Bria was a decent little ship, but nowhere near as fast as the Millennium Falcon or the Rimrunner. She was more lightly armed, too.

When Han and Jarik reached Shug’s office, they had to clear several odds and ends of greasy equipment off the chairs before they could sit down.

Once they were comfortable, Han sighed. “Glad you wanted to have a talk, kid. This is the first time I’ve sat down all day, seems like.

Organizing this battle has kept me and Mako hopping.”

“Yeah, I’ve been busy, too,” Jarik said. “When I wasn’t busy helping the Lady Xaverri, I’ve been helping Chewie with the Bria, or Shug with the Rimrunner.”

“Shug tells me you’re gettin’ to be a pretty good mechanic, Jarik,” Han said. “And you’re becoming a decent pilot and gunner. I’m going to be glad to have you flying with me as a gunner. Chewie’s good, but two gunners are more than twice as good as one.”

“Han… that’s … that’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

Jarik’s handsome young features were shadowed. “I … I’ve never been in a battle before.” He swallowed. “Last night, I fell asleep while I was cleaning carbon scoring off the Bria, and I … I had this dream.

Nightmare, really.”

“Yeah? What about?”

“I dreamed we were fighting the Imperials, and”—he swallowed—”Han .

. .

we got blown up. I had a TIE in my sights, and I … I froze. I didn’t shoot. And then I saw the streak of green from the laser blast coming straight at me, and there was nothing I could do. I dreamed that I …

died.”

Jarik’s face worked. He shivered. “Han… I’m scared. I don’t know if I’ve got what it takes. What if I mess up, and get us all killed, the way I did in my dream?”

“Jarik,” Han said, “if you weren’t scared, I’d be worried about you.

The first time I went into real combat, as a TIE pilot, I was so scared I nearly upchucked in my helmet. Fortunately, I was already strapped in my cockpit, in vacuum, so I knew that if I did that, I’d choke and die. So I managed to hold it back. Then someone shot at me, and without even thinkin’ about it, I found myself shootin’ back. The training just …

took over.”

“Really?” Jarik looked as though he didn’t know whether to find Han’s story reassuring or not. “But, Han … everyone says you’re brave.

It’s the first thing they say about you—’He’s got courage!” Nobody ever told me I had courage. What if I’m a coward? How can I risk letting you all down?”

Han gave the youth a long, measuring look. “Jarik, you’re facin’ something that we all have to face. We’re not citizens here on Nar Shaddaa. We live outside the law, and that’s dangerous, by definition.

Cowards don’t make it here on Nar Shaddaa. They get eaten alive.”

“Well, yeah, I can handle myself with a vibroblade or in a fistfight,” Jarik allowed. “But that’s not the same thing as just being blown to atoms.

Boom, and you’re history.”

“Kid, I’ve watched you, and I can only tell you that I think you’ve got what it takes. Yeah, people do freeze sometimes in battle. But that’s why Mako and I have been gettin’ everyone out in their ships for all these battle drills.”

Han shrugged. “We did the same thing when I was with the Imps. You drill and you drill, and the reason for that is that anyone can freeze when faced with real combat. Even combat vets. But if you know the drill cold, chances are that even if your brain freezes, your hands and body won’t.