Star Wars - The Han Solo Trilogy - Hutt Gambit, page 27
Seconds later the Lianna Guard came zipping toward them, firing its laser cannons. Salla took a minor hit, but the shields deflected it. The Imp vessel was fast, and as maneu-verable as the freighters-matter of fact, the ship was a Customs patrol ship, designed to stop smugglers cold.
Shug took a shot with his quad lasers, but scored a clean miss as the Imp pilot evaded. Hes really good! Salla thought. But well get him. Hes outnumbered.
Shed been so occupied with engaging the Lianna Guard that Salla failed to notice three slug blips on her sensors,,all coming in incredibly fist. Vuffi Raa squeaked, Lady Salla! TIE fighters!
Salla took a hit in her bow, but the shields handled it. Shug was shooting steadily now, and so was Lando. One TIE was hit, and promptly exploded. Salla couldnt tell who had made the kill.
Evasive! Salla flipped Rimrunner up on her side, but took a hit anyway. Her shields took the brunt of it, but the freighter shuddered violently.
Get those TIEs! she yelled.
Im trying! came both Landos and Shugs voices at the same time.
Salla swore grimly. Wheres the Lianna Guard? Shed lost track of the Guardian-class ship in the melee. BAM!
Rimrunner shuddered again. Salla struggled to hold her bucking ship, narrowly missed crashing into a huge piece of space debris. Theyd been hit in the flank, and her shields were weakened back there. From the strength of the blast, it must have been the patrol ship, not a TIE.
AWriiiiight! Lando shouted in her headset, and she saw another TIE wiped out.
Two to two. Much better odds!
Okay, now... where was the Lianna Guard? On Landos tail? No! Coming up directly behind her! Lando said urgently, Evasive, Safla!
Not on your life! she bellowed. This is what Ive been waiting for! Rik, blast your worthless hide, get him!
Captain Lodrel of the Imperial ship Lianna Guard smtied grimly as his ship streaked toward the mynock-shaped freighters stern. Ive got you! he thought smugly, and opened his mouth to give the order to destroy the helpless vessel.
But before he could speak, Lodrel noticed something strange about the rear of the CorelliSpace ship. Two cam-ouflaged gun ports had just slid open in the ships stern! Instead of shouting Fire! Lodrel screamed, Evasive! But two concussion missties were already streaking toward him. Hey! Thats not fair! Lodrel thought indig-nantly.
It was his last thought . . .
Yahooooooo! shouted Salla as she saw the patrol ship blown to atoms on her rear sensors. We got him! Sweet shooting, Rik!
Does that mean youll kiss me when we get back to base? he demanded in her headset.
Not a chance, Salla said cheerfully. But Ill buy you a drink?
Congratulations, Lady Salla, Vuffi Raa said, in his prissy, overly refined tones.
Great going, Salla! Lando shouted. In all the excite-ment, I totally forgot about those misstie launchers. Shug, you are the best!
Yeah, Shug, we all owe you, Salla agreed.
That was fun, Shug said, chuckling. Want to do it again?
Sure! Salla and Lando chornsed.
Mako Spince heaved a sigh of relief when the crippled Dragon Pearl managed to reach Illusion Point, and the rel-ative protection offered by the bigger ships in Drea Renthals mercenary fleet. He checked his sensors, all the while listening to hks ships report in.
The smugglers were doing well against the Imp skirmish vessels. They were taking losses, though, ships they couldnt afford to lose. Mako frowned as he checked ship after ship. Im losing a lot of friends today, he thought sadly. Too many good ships and people gone . . .
He ran a status check. Almost twenty-five percent of his smuggler vessels . . . gone. Even if they won this battle, the smuggling operations out of Nar Shaddaa were going to be affected for a long, long time.
But the Imps had probably lost half their TIE fighters, and nearly fifty percent of their skirmish ships.
The big question is, Mako thought, when is Greelanx gonna reave in with his capital ships? The big ships were approaching steadily, but were still out of range.
Mako glanced nervously at his sensors, saw two skirmish vessels converge on a smuggler ship. Oh, no!
A panicked voice erupted in Makos headset. Defender
Central! Can you get me some help? Im crippled, and-
The voice scaled up into an agonized scream, and abruptly stopped. Mako watched as the blip on his sensors W/nked out. He cursed softly, helplessly.
Commander Jelon, Admiral Greelanx said, order the remainder of the TIEs to deploy and engage at will. Yes, sir.
The big Imperial ships were now within five hundred kilometers of the Nar Shaddaa debris shell. Greelanx took a sip of stim-tea, then checked their sensors again. He could see the remaining twelve TIE fighters streaking toward the battle.
Commander, instruct the capital wedge to assume an external-approach orbital pass. Were going to avoid that debris.
Yes, sir.
And order the wedge to accelerate to full speed. We are starting our attack. Yes, sir!
Greelanx checked the status of his squadron again. He was impressed by the smugglers tenacity. Hed expected them to break and run before now. But they were still fighting, and doing significant damage to his skirmish ves-sels.
Still, losing wasnt going to be easy. The smugglers were fighting bravely, granted, but those little freighters were no match for his capital ships. Greelanx sighed. It was possible that hed have to order one of his ships to do something that would be guaranteed to cause its destruction.
The admiral swallowed another sip of tea, feeling as though a fist were closing around his throat. Hed sent troops to their deaths before, many times, but never on purpose. He wasnt sure he could do it . . .
But what choice did he have?
Theyre making their move! Accelerating to attack speed! Mako realized as he stared into his sensors. He keyed his comm to a special, private frequency. Han, Mako here. You read me?
Yeah, Mako, came the voice of his friend, garbled but understandable. I read you. Whats happening?
Greelanx is starting his move with his capital ships. Im going to order the retreat. Do me a favor, pal? Sure.
You and Chewie play rear guard during the retreat. Hang back and ride herd on those spacebums, okay? Keep em on track, Han. Dont let em go too slow, but keep on their tails about goin too fast. We want those Imps follow-ing right on their heels.
Will do, Han said. Howre we doing?
Overall, not bad. But weve lost some friends.
I, know. Ive seen wreckage, Han agreed, sounding bleak.
Mako out.
Mako keyed in another special frequency. Captain Renthal?
Renthal here.
Im going to order the retreat now. Be ready.
We are ready. Ill recall Minestra.
What about Too Late Now?
Shes gone.
Oh . . .
Renthal out.
Mako keyed his general frequency. Boys and girls, this is Defender Central. You done good, fellow spacebums. Now its time to leave the party. All vessels, retreat along assigned vector. Remember your drills. Repeat, you are to retreat along your assigned vector, starting now. Defender Central out.
Xaverri stood in a cordoned-off section in Shug Ninxs spacebarn, intent on the tactical display she was receiving, transmitted by Dragon Pearl. She watched as the smugglers turned tail and raced away from the oncoming Imperial capital ships and remaining skirmish vessels. Her friends were fleeing in what seemed to be a panicked rout, but was, in actuality, a carefull y coordinated and rehearsed with-drawal under fire. Mako and Hah had drilled and drilled them in just how far they should stay ahead of the Imperial vessels-tantalizingly within weapons range, so the strag-glers would have to take evasive maneuvers to avoid being blasted if the Imperials got lucky.
The magician licked her lips in anticipation, thinking that this was her big chance, the chance to wipe out more Imps at one time than shed probably ever get again.
Thats right, she thought, watching the wedge move closer and closer to the Illusion Point coordinates. Thats right, come abmg, chase them, yes, chase them right into the trap . . .
Poised like a hunting Togorian, she stared fiercely into the tactical display until her eyes burned and she was forced to blink.
When her vision cleared, there they were! The entire capital wedge was right in the middle of the IP coordinates!
Xaverri grinned, a predatory smile that had nothing pleasant about it. She activated her comm, spoke on a spe-cial frequency. Mako, Xaverri here.
This is Mako. Xaverri, I read you.
Activating illusion . . . now, she said, and broke con-tact. Then, slowly, deliberately, she pressed the big red button on her console, the one marked, DONT TOUCH UNLESS YOURE XAVERRI!
Now you die, she whispered.
Imperial Destiny rounded the limb of Nar Shaddaa, swinging wide as ordered, in order to avoid the floating debris surrounding the Smugglers Moon. As it did so, Ad-miral Greelanx could finally see Nal Hutta, large even at a distance of over 123,000 kilometers. His flagship was lead-ing the dlarge against the fleeing smugglers, his capitd ships moving in perfect formation, with his remaining TIE fighters and skirmish ships flanking the wedge.
Greelanx stood on his bridge, watching them close on their prey, seeing the red and green trails of Imperial lasers and turbolasers blasting at the motley assortment of freighters, wondering once again how he was going to man-age to stage a realistic defeat and retreat.
The smugglers had fought hard, Greelanx had to admit that, but the sight of his big ships had obviously terrified them, frightened them so badly that any fighting spirit theyd had was gone.
Now they were running like Corellian vrelts before a pack of canoids.
Admiral Greelanx, sir! the sensor operator spoke up urgently. Sir, Im getting something, but where did it-
Weve got incoming, sir!
Greelanx took a quick glance at the sensors, then turned to look out the viewport. His eyes widened.
Coming straight at them from the direction of Nal Hutta
were hundreds of smuggler ships of assorted sizes-includ-
ing several Corellian corvettes! Mercenaries, Greelanx
thought. The smugglers dont have anything that large.t
Where did they come from? Jelon demanded of the sensor operator. Why werent you tracking them?
Sir, they mustve just launched from Nal Hutta! Sir, I was concentrating on tracking the smuggler fleet, as or-dered, Commander!
Greelanx frowned. His instincts, honed after decades in the Imperial Navy, made him wonder if this could be some kind of a trick.
Full sensor scan! he snapped.
Yes, sir!
Moments later the sensor operator displayed the results of his check. Greelanx studied it. The Hutts must have held these mercenaries in reserve, then launched them in desper-ation, he decided.
Greelanx cleared his throat. Commander Jelon, instruct the wedge and our fighters to execute a one-hundred-and-ten-degree turn, Y axis, and engage the newcomers. When they have completed their maneuver, they may fire at will!
Mako Spince let out a yell of triumph as he watched the phantom fleet appear, and saw the Imperial ships begin their turn. Yes! Theyre fallin for it! He keyed his comm. Captain Renthal!
I see it, she said tersely. I didnt believe it would work until now, but I gotta admit . . . Im attacking, full speed!
Go get era!
As Mako had requested, Han Solo had stayed back be-hind the other smugglers, as they wove their way out of tile debris during the retreat. Once past the limb of Nar Shad-daa, Hah had ordered them to swing wide, and get out of the debris. That way Greelanx would have a clear view of the fleeing smugglers, and would continue his pursuit, straight into their trap.
When Han finally emerged from the shell of debris, he found himself actually trailing the Imperial fleet. He could see them ahead of him, and considered trying to loop around them at top speed, so he could take part in the attack that was planned at the IP coordinates.
Ahead of him, he spotted a pair of vessels on his sensors, and was surprised when he checked their vessel IDs and found that the wayward pair was Salla and Lando in Rimrmner and the Falcon.
Han wondered if one of them had taken a bad hit and needed help. Activating his corem, he said, Defender Central, this is Han. Come in, Mako.
Makos voice was clearer, now that Han was out of the debris field. Mako here, Han. The Imps have almost reached the IP point.
Ive got Salla and Lando on my sensors, and were all behind the Imp fleet, Mako.
Yeah, I asked em to take it easy, figuring you might need some help if you ran into any stray skirmish vessels, Mako said.
Okay, so theyre all right?
Far as I know.
Patch me through to them, will you?
Sure.
In order to keep the frequencies as clear as possible, all communications had been routed through Mako, except for designated pairs like Lando and Salla. Moments later Han heard Landos voice. Han, old buddy!
Lando, Im behind you, wondering how to get past the Imp fleet so I can get back into the action.
Salla and I were just wondering the same thing. I dont want to miss out on the chance to score some more hits on those Imp skirmish ships. Salla and I got quite a few of them, Lando said proudly.
Three Guardian-class light cruisers, Salla interjected.
Hey, congratulations!
Master. Vuffi Raas precise tones were unmistakable. Would you like me to swing us around so we can fly back to the action with Captain Solo?
Yeah, Vuffi Raa, why dont you do that? Oh, and . . . dont call me master. Yes, Master.
Han was now close enough to his friends that he could see them in the distance as they peeled off and swooped back to join him. Han chuckled. Where in the galaxy did you pick up that droid, Lando? Long story. Moments later the three vessels were flying together. Han was fiercely glad to find out his friends were okay. It felt good, all of them flying together, united against the Imperials.
Hah keyed his comm again. So, guys, how are we gonna get past the fleet, back to the IP?
Suddenly Chewie, who had abandoned his useless gun turret and come up to serve as copilot and to man the Brias bow guns, growled urgently and gestured at the sen-sors.
Hall looked, and saw the wedge of pursuing capita] ships slow, then begin to execute a ponderous turn, all the while remaining in perfect formation.
Go, Xaverri! he shouted, then he keyed his comm.
Hey, Lando, Sallal Check your forward sensorsY
The Imperial ships were just out of visual range by now. Han found himself wishing fiercely that he could catch up to them, do some more damage.
They can see it! Lando said. Why cant we? Because were behind it, Han said. It all has to do with the angle of the light rays. Complicated, but trust inc. The Imps are seeing a big fleet comin straight at them!
The Imperial fleet continued to execute their turn. I hate being stuck back here, out of the action/Han thought.
Suddenly, seeing the direction in which the fleet was turning, Hah had an idea. He keyed his comm. Lando, Salla! Were close enough to the wedge to be able to do a two-second hyperspace microjump right into the middle of the illusion. If we alter our approach vector slightly just before the jump, well wind up on the right approach path to come roaring in with those phantoms, firin! Lets give Xaverris fleet some real teeth!
Hah! Salla protested. Were right in the middle of a gravity well, in case you havent noticed?
Were close enough to where the two bodies balance each other out, Han insisted. We can do it, guys! Cmon! Follow me!
He altered his flight vector slightly, and was pleased to note that Rimrunner and the Falcon followed him.
Okay, were all set! Hah said tensely. Now for the
microjumpY
Hey, Han, that illusion is only going to be good for another couple of minutes! Lando protested. We cant possibly get a course out of the navicomputers in time!
I got it covered, Hah said. You just order that fancy little droid of yours to compute our microjump and put the three of us right in the forefront of that fleet. He can dump the figures into our navicomputers over the comm. Cant you, Vuffi Raa?
I am a class two droid, of course I can make such an elementary calculation, Vuffi Raa said, sounding affronted at having his abilities questioned. But, Captain Solo, I must point out that what you are suggesting presents a considerable risk. From the way the little droid spoke, Han could picture it wringing its tentacles at the very idea. Lando, cmonl Order him to do it!
Han could hear Lando sigh even over the comm. All right, you crazy Corellian. Vuffi Raa, you mechanical mas-termind, do what Han says!
Moments later Vuffi Raa said, in a subdued voice, Course laid in.
Punch it! Hah yelled, suiting his actions to his worcls. The stars striated around him for a brief second, then he found himself racing straight at the Imperial fleet!
He glanced from one side to the other, saw that Lando and Salla were still in formation with him. And, behind them and to either side of them, stretched Xaverris illu-sion. Han could see it now, and even though hed been prepared for something big, he was impressed. All right! he yelled. Thanks, Vuffi Raa!
As the phantom fleet drew nearer the Imperial wedge, the big capital ships began blasting away. Hah realized im-mediately that there was a huge advantage to being part of an illusion. With this many ships to shoot at, chances were pretty good that none of the three solid vessels would be targeted.
Nevertheless, he prepared quickly for evasive. Jarik, you ready, kid? he called. Ready, Han! Chewie, you ready with those twin lasers?
Hrrrrrrnnnnnnnn!
Han chose a target the leftmost Dreadnaught, which was the one closest to him. Im going after that Dread-naught dead ahead, he said over the comm. He glanced at the vessel ID. The Peacekeeper.
Well stay with you, Lando said. We can cover each other.
Great! Han was having the time of his life. Aint this fun, guys?
