[Thrawn Trilogy] - 02(49)

Lando inhaled sharply. “Those are old Dreadnaught cruisers.”

“That’s our help,” Irenez said. “Straight down the middle of the triangle-they’ll cover for us.”

“Right,” Han gritted, shifting the Lady Luck’s vector a few degrees, and trying to coax a little more speed out of its engines. The New Republic had a fair number of Dreadnaughts, and at six hundred meters long each they were impressive enough warships. But even three of them working together would be hard pressed to take out an Imperial Star Destroyer.

Apparently, the Dreadnaughts’ commander agreed. Even as the Star Destroyer behind the Lady Luck opened up with its huge turbolaser batteries, the Dreadnaughts began pelting the larger ship with a furious barrage of ion cannon blasts, trying to temporarily knock out enough of its systems for them to get away.

“That answer your question?” Han asked Luke.

“I think so,” Luke said dryly. “Okay, I’m gone. Where do I meet you?”

“You don’t,” Han told him. He didn’t like that answer much, and he suspected Luke would like it even less. But it couldn’t be helped. With a dozen TIE fighters currently between the Lady Luck and the X-wing, suggesting a rendezvous point on even what was supposed to be a secure comm channel would be an open invitation for the Empire to send their own reception committee on ahead. “Lando and I can handle the mission on our own,” he added. “If we run into any problems, we’ll contact you through Coruscant.”

“All right,” Luke said. Sure enough, he didn’t sound happy about it. But he had enough sense to recognize there was no other safe way. “Take care, you two.”

“See you,” Han said, and cut the transmission.

“So now it’s my mission, too, huh?” Lando growled from the copilot’s seat, his tone a mixture of annoyance and resignation. “I knew it. I just knew it.”

Sena’s transport was into the triangular pocket between the Dreadnaughts now, still driving for all it was worth. Han kept the Lady Luck with them, staying as close above the transport’s tail as he could without getting into its exhaust. “You got some particular place you’d like us to drop you?” he asked, looking back at Irenez.

She was gazing out the viewport at the underside of the Dreadnaught they were passing beneath. “Actually, our Commander was rather hoping you’d accompany us back to our base,” she said.

Han threw a look at Lando. There had been something in her tone that implied the request was more than merely a suggestion. “And just how hard was your Commander hoping this?” Lando asked.

“Very much.” She dropped her gaze from the Dreadnaught. “Don’t misunderstand-it’s not an order. But when I spoke to him, the Commander seemed extremely interested in meeting again with Captain Solo.

Han frowned. “Again?”

“Those were his words.”

Han looked at Lando, found the other looking back at him. “Some old friend you’ve never mentioned?” Lando asked.

“I don’t recall having any friends who own Dreadnaughts,” Han countered. “What do you think?”

“I think I’m being nicely maneuvered into a corner here,” Lando said, a little sourly. “Aside from that, whoever this Commander is, he seems to be in contact with your Bothan pals. If you’re trying to find out what Fey’lya’s up to, he’d be the one to ask.”

Han thought it over. Lando was right, of course. On the other hand, the whole thing could just as easily be a trap, with this talk about old friends being designed to lure him in.

Still, with Irenez sitting behind him with a blaster riding her hip, there wasn’t really a graceful way to get out of it if she and Sena chose to press the point. They might as well be polite about it. “Okay,” he told Irenez. “What course do we set?”

“You don’t,” she said, nodding upward.

Han followed her gaze. One of the three Dreadnaughts they’d passed had now swung around to fly parallel with them. Ahead, Sena’s ship was heading up toward one of a pair of brightly lit docking ports. “Let me guess,” he said to Irenez.

“Just relax and let us do the flying,” she said, with the first hint of humor that he’d yet seen from her.

“Right,” Han sighed.

And with the flashes of the rear guard battle still going on behind them, he eased the Lady Luck up toward the docking port. Luke, he reminded himself had apparently not sensed any treachery from Sena or her people back in the city.

But then, he hadn’t sensed any deceit from the Bimms on Bimmisaari, either, just before that first Noghri attack.