A second later she got her answer. A violent thunderclap came from above them, flattening her to the ground with the shock wave. For a horrifying second she thought the aliens had set the ship to self-destruct; but the sound faded away, and the ramp beside her was still intact. “What was that?”
“That, sweetheart,” Han said, pulling himself to his feet, “was the sound of an escape pod being jettisoned.” He eased cautiously away from the relative protection of the ramp, scanning the sky. “Probably modified for atmospheric maneuvering. Never realized before how loud those things were.”
“They usually take off in vacuum,” Leia reminded him, standing up herself. “So. Now what?”
“Now-” Han pointed “-we collect our escort and get out of here.”
“Our escort?” Leia frowned. “What esc-?”
Her question was cut off by the roar of engines as three X-wings shot overhead, wings in attack position and clearly primed for trouble. She looked up at the white tower of korfaise gas … and suddenly understood. “You did that deliberately, didn’t you?”
“Well, sure,” Han said, looking innocent. “Why just disable a ship when you can disable it and send up a distress signal at the same time?” He gazed up at the cloud. “You know,” he said thoughtfully, “sometimes I still amaze myself.”
“I can assure you, Captain Solo,” Admiral Ackbar’s gravelly voice came over the Falcon’s speaker, “that we are doing everything in our power to find out how this happened.”
“That’s what you said four days ago,” Han reminded him, trying hard to be civil. It wasn’t easy. He’d long since gotten used to being shot at himself, but having Leia under the hammer with him was something else entirely. “Come on-there can’t be all that many people who knew we were coming to Bpfassh.”
“You might be surprised,” Ackbar said. “Between the Council members, their staffs, the prep crews at the spaceport, and various security and support personnel, there may be up to two hundred people who had direct access to your itinerary. And that doesn’t count friends and colleagues any of those two hundred might have mentioned it to. Tracking through all of them is going to take time.”
Han grimaced. “That’s great. May I ask what you suggest we do in the meantime?”
“You have your escort.”
“We had them four days ago, too,” Han countered. “It didn’t do us a lot of good. Commander Antilles and Rogue Squadron are fine in a space battle, but this kind of stuff isn’t exactly their area of expertise. We’d do better with Lieutenant Page and some of his commandos.”
“Unfortunately, they’re all out on assignment,” Ackbar said. “Under the circumstances, perhaps it would be best if you simply brought Councilor Organa Solo back here where she can be properly protected.”
“I’d love to,” Han said. “The question is whether she’ll be any safer on Coruscant than she is here.”
There was a long moment of silence, and Han could imagine Ackbar’s huge eyes swiveling in their sockets. “I’m not sure I appreciate the tone of that question, Captain.”
“I don’t much like it either, Admiral,” Han told him. “But face it: if the Imperials are getting information out of the Palace, they might just as easily be able to get their agents in.”
“I think that highly unlikely,” Ackbar said, and there was no missing the frostiness in his tone. “The security arrangements I’ve set up on Coruscant are quite capable of handling anything the Imperials might try.”
“I’m sure they are, Admiral,” Han sighed. “I only meant-“
“We’ll let you know when we have further information, Captain,” Ackbar said. “Until then, do whatever you feel is necessary. Coruscant out.”
The faint hum of the carrier cut off. “Right,” Han muttered under his breath. “Bpfassh out, too.”
For a minute he just sat there in the Falcon’s cockpit, thinking evil thoughts about politics in general and Ackbar in particular. In front of him the displays that normally monitored ship’s status were showing views of the landing field around them, with special emphasis on the areas just outside the hatch. The underside swivel blaster was extended and ready, the deflector shields set for hair-trigger activation, despite the fact that the things weren’t all that effective inside an atmosphere.
Han shook his head, a mixture of frustration and disgust in his mouth. Who’d ever have thought, he marveled to himself, that the day would come when I was actually paranoid?