THE PARADISE SNARE(44)

“Ylesia Colony One, this is Ylesian Dream. Colony One, this is the Dream.

We are under attack, repeat, under attack. Two vessels jumped us just after we emerged from hyperspace!” Han’s voice cracked from the strain.

“Honest, it wasn’t my fault! They’re chasing us, and I’m taking evasive maneuvers—Pilot Draygo out!”

Han glanced at the viewscreen with the sensor readouts below, saw that they’d gained on their pursuers—he still hadn’t gotten a good look at the pirate ships—and then sent the Dream spiraling down, beneath the oncoming ships. As they whooshed by overhead, he flipped his vessel up into a tight turn. “Muuurgh! Now!” he yelled into the intercom.

A Togorian roar and a splat of energy rewarded his command—but Muuurgh missed his quarry completely. One of the pirates had turned, and     was firing again-Wham!!

The Ylesian Dream shook violently as the ship sustained a major hit.

Han’s stomach lurched as he heard a yowl of sheer agony float up from the gun well. “Muuurgh? Muuurgh? Are you hit?” he yelled, but there was no answer.

A quick status check told him that they’d suffered a tiny drop in pressure, but that the leak had been automatically sealed by the ship’s systems.

“All right, you creeps …” Han muttered, homing in with his Arakyd concussion missiles, centering the rightmost pirate in the cross-sights .

. . “take that!”

The Dream lurched violently as the missile shot away. Han grimaced as the pirate managed to evade at the last second. He tried again …

if he could just get him moving more to his portside …

“Yes!” Han muttered savagely as he launched another missile right into the path of the pirate, anticipating his evasive maneuver. “Gotcha!”

A second later a bright yellow-white light splashed out in all directions, expanding into a fireball of incandescent beauty. Han had to look away, and when he looked back, the other pirate was hightailing it in the opposite direction at full throttle.

“No you don’t,” Han growled. “I’ll get you, too—” With a fierce stab of his finger, he tracked and launched again.

The concussion missile followed its target, but then the pirate ship vanished in a burst of striated light. They had jumped to hyperspace and safety. Han cursed under his breath as he put the Dream on autopilot and bolted for the gun well. Was Muuurgh okay?

Seconds later Han was standing in the ruins of the gun mount, seeing the pressure sealant that the Dream’s systems had automatically triggered to squirt out and mend the pressure leak. There was a strong ozone smell and scorch marks where the blast had hit them.

Muuurgh was still strapped in the movable seat, but the Togorian was slumped, unconscious, and he didn’t stir as Han unstrapped him and managed to half carry, half drag him up the ladder to the control room.

The Togorian was breathing, but there was a burn mark along one side of his head, just below his right ear. Han looked further, running his fingers through the black fur, and discovered a swelling lump just back of the ear. The Togorian had obviously taken a nasty blow to the head.

Han wasn’t sure what to do–he knew first aid for humans, and a few species of aliens, but Muuurgh’s people were rare in the galaxy.

Got to get him to a medical facility, he thought, covering the unconscious alien with a blanket and going forward to check his navicomputer. Where’s the nearest system?

Han scanned star charts, then his finger stabbed down. “Okay,” he whispered. “Here we go.” He glanced over at the Togorian. “Hang on, Muuurgh!”

Han programmed the ship for the short hyperspace hop, then, before giving the command, went to check the engines. The nose-wrinkling smell of a burned connection made him grimace. Wonder whether I should use the backup hyperdrive unit instead?

But the backup was much slower, and he had no way of knowing how serious Muuurgh’s condition was. Han decided to chance using the main hyperdrive engine. He held his breath as he initiated the jump to hyperspace. From the way the ship hesitated, and the laboring sound of the engine, he started to sweat.

The Dream strained, shuddered, but the stars suddenly blazed at him in streaks, and they jumped.

Han came out of hyperspace a short time later, thanking his lucky stars that the Ylesian Dream had held together for that hop. The ship’s lightspeed engines definitely needed repairs …

The Corellian headed into the star system he’d chosen, toward the sole inhabited world. While he was still fairly far out, he placed the Dream on autopilot and went back to check the box of glitterstim. The world he’d chosen was known to have customs and spice checks, so he opened up the secret compartment the priests had had built into the cargo deck and removed the boxes of Doreenian ambergris perfume that he carried as a “cover” cargo. Grunting with effort, Han lugged the heavy containers of perfume into the cargo bay and put them down. Then he placed the much smaller container of glitterstim vials in the concealed compartment, making sure it sealed shut. Unless someone knew it was there, he’d never spot it, and the hatch was designed to be scannerproof.