“What sort of trouble are we looking at?”
“It looks like a full-fledged task force,” Lando said grimly. “I saw three drop ships come in, and I think there were one or two on the ground when I got here. If they were fully loaded, that translates to a hundred sixty to two hundred men. Most of them are regular army troops, but there are a few storm troopers in the crowd, too. There aren’t too many of either still up here-most of them headed on down the ramps a few minutes ago.
“Probably gone to search the city for us,” Luke murmured.
“Yeah.” Han eased up to look over the analyzer. The top of Luke’s X-wing was just visible over the nose of a W-23 space barge. “Looks like Artoo’s still in Luke’s ship.”
“Yeah, but I saw them doing something over that way,” Lando warned. “They may have put a restraining bolt on him.”
“We can handle that.” Han scanned as much of the area around them as he could see. “I think we can make it to the X-wing without being spotted. You told me on the trip here that you had a beckon call for the Lady Luck, right?”
“Right, but it’s not going to do me any good,” Lando said. “With all these boxes around, there’s no place I can set it down without opening myself to fire.”
“That’s okay,” Han told him, feeling a tight smile twist at his lip. Luke might have the Force, and Irenez might be able to climb stairs without getting winded; but he would bet heavily that he could outdo both of them in sheer chicanery. “You just get it moving toward you when I give the word.”
He switched off the comlink. “We’re going over to the X-wing,” he told Luke and Irenez, adjusting his grip on his blaster. “You ready?”
He got two acknowledgments, and with a last look around the area headed as quickly as silence permitted across the floor. He reached the space barge lying across their path without incident, paused there to let the others catch up-
“Shh!” Luke hissed.
Han froze, pressing himself against the barge’s corroded hull. Not four meters away a stormtrooper standing guard was starting to turn in their direction.
Clenching his teeth, Han raised his blaster. But even as he did so, his peripheral vision caught Luke’s hand making some sort of gesture; and suddenly the Imperial spun around in the opposite direction, pointing his blaster rifle toward a patch of empty floor. “He thinks he heard a noise,” Luke whispered. “Let’s go.
Han nodded, and sidled around to the other side of the barge. A few seconds later they were crouched beside the X-wing’s landing skids. “Artoo?” Han stage-whispered upward. “Come on, short stuff wake up.”
There was a soft and rather indignant beep from the top of the X-wing. Which meant the Imperials’ restraining bolt hadn’t shut the droid down entirely, just blocked out his control of the X-wing’s systems. Good. “Okay,” he called to the droid. “Get your comm sensor warmed up and get ready to record.”
Another beep. “Now what?” Irenez asked.
“Now we get cute,” Han told her, pulling out his comlink. “Lando? You ready?”
“As ready as I’m going to be,” the other came back.
“Okay. When I give the signal, turn on your beckon call and get the Lady Luck moving. When I tell you again, shut it off. Got that?”
“Got it. I hope you know what you’re doing.
“Trust me.” Han looked at Luke. “You got your part figured out?”
Luke nodded, holding up his lightsaber. “I’m ready.”
“Okay, Lando. Go.”
For a long moment nothing happened. Then, through the background noise of the landing area, came the distinctive whine of repulsorlifts being activated. Half standing up, Han was just in time to see the Lady Luck rise smoothly up from among the other docked ships.
From somewhere in the same general vicinity came a shout, followed by the multiple flash of blaster fire. Another three weapons opened up almost immediately, all four tracking the Lady Luck as it made a somewhat ponderous turn and began floating south toward Lando’s hiding place.
“You know it’ll never get there,” Irenez muttered in Han’s ear. “As soon a, they figure out where it’s going, they’ll be all over him.
“That’s why it’s not going to get to him,” Han countered, watching the Lady Luck closely. Another couple of seconds and every stormtrooper and Imperial soldier in the place ought to have his attention solidly fixed on the rogue ship:”Ready, Luke : now.”
And suddenly Luke was gone, a single leap taking him to the top of the X-wing. Over the commotion Han heard the snap-hiss as Luke ignited his lightsaber, could see the green glow reflected from the nearest ships and equipment. The glow and sound shifted subtly as Luke made a short slice-