Honor Among Thieves
People like him.
“Well, old friend, it’s a good, good day,” Baasen said.
“How do you figure that?” Han asked.
“Scarlet’s hyperdrive killer exists, doesn’t it? And the chances of you and me gunning each other down have fallen a notch. At least that’s how I see it.”
“We’re about to throw all eight X-wings at a Star Destroyer so that we can sneak down into the ruins of some xenophobic dead species’ civilization and try to steal this thing from who knows how many Imperial troops and scientists. And that’s a good day?”
Baasen pursed his lips. “Well, put that way, it sounds less so. But better than it could have been for us.”
“It’s thinking like that that put you in trouble with Jabba in the first place.”
“Ah, but let this all play out well, and it’ll be him who’s got trouble with us, eh?”
One of the fighter pilots whooped, jumping up to the X-wing’s cockpit and striking a pose while the men around him laughed. Han couldn’t say quite why the sight left a sour taste in his mouth.
“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get this over with.”
THE FALCON FLEW QUIETLY through the vast emptiness, moving faster than a comet, but small. Han used the maneuvering thrusters lightly, shifting the ship behind whatever debris he could find and pushing to keep the bulk of the planet between him and the Star Destroyer. Long-range fighter patrols might still reach above the planet’s curving horizon. He couldn’t do anything about that. The best he could manage was to be small and fast and get down to the planet’s surface quickly when the time came.
“Galassian’s notes put the temple’s coordinates just south of the equator,” Scarlet said.
“Yeah, that’s actually in the middle of an ocean,” Han said. “I’m pretty sure he transposed these two readings.”
“Why do you think so?” Scarlet asked.
“Because that would put it more or less directly under the Star Destroyer,” Han said. “Anything dangerous or inconvenient just seems more likely to be true.”
“There’s a cynical worldview,” Scarlet said.
“Just being realistic.”
The small, blue-white sun touched the edge of the planet. Great sheets of light spilled out, caught in billions of motes of dust that surrounded the swamp world. The debris of some shattered moon, the still-uncaptured remnants of the cloud that had spawned the system, or the relic of the inward-facing K’kybak civilization. Han couldn’t say, but it was pretty to look at. And then there, in the center of the light, a speck of darkness. The Imperial Star Destroyer hove into view, and Han tensed.
His impulse was to kick the engines into a fast burn, trusting to speed and maneuverability. Restraining himself wasn’t easy, but he did it, letting the Falcon follow its trajectory like a thrown rock hissing through the darkness. No alarms had sounded yet. There was no sign they’d been noticed.
Chewbacca grunted and moaned.
“I know,” Han said. “I see it, too. We’ll try to fix it when we get down there.”
“Fix what?” Scarlet asked.
“We’ve still got a coolant leak from where Baasen hit us with the tracking beacon,” Han said. “It’s not bad. We’ll be fine.”
Scarlet took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly between her teeth.
“You know,” she said. “I love this part.”
“This part?” Han said. “Really?”
“Really,” she said. “They’re right there. Right in front of us, and they don’t see the threat. If we do it right, they never will. We’ll slide in, do what we came to do, and by the time they understand what’s happened, it’ll be too late.”
“Maybe,” Han said. “Or maybe they’ll have moved the shaft we expected to find, and we’ll wind up climbing a transmission tower while half the stormtroopers in the Core try to shoot us down. It goes that way, too, sometimes.”
“And I loved that part, too,” Scarlet said ruefully. “This is why I could never be an accountant.”
Something glittered off the Star Destroyer’s bow. A wing of TIE fighters starting their patrol, or else ending it.
“What about you?” Scarlet asked. “You have to enjoy the fear, too. Just a little?”
“Not the fear,” Han said. “I just like being a little smarter than the next guy.”
“That’s all it is?”
“That, and I really hate paying taxes.”
The comm flickered red and came to life. “Red Wave One, this is Red Wave Two,” Luke said. “Do you copy?”
“Red Wave Two, this is Red Wave One,” Wedge replied. “I’ve got you loud and clear.”
“We’re in place and starting our approach, Red Wave One. You should proceed when ready.”
“Understood, Red Wave Two. We’re going in.”
The Star Destroyer, black against the brightness of the sun, began to shift, turning its vast bulk. Glitters of silver and darkness spiraled out around it, and then the tiny red and orange flashes of laserfire. The battle had begun. Han fired up the engines.
“Hold on back there,” he shouted. “This could get bumpy.”
The R3 whistled and shrieked.
“What’s the problem?” Han yelled.
“The droid’s not clamped down, boyo,” Baasen said, at the same time that Leia shouted, “The restraint’s broken.”
“Well, someone get it secured,” Han said. “I can’t do everything here.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Scarlet said, and hurried back toward the lounge. At the Star Destroyer’s starboard bow, something flared. A ship dying. Han couldn’t tell if it had been one of the enemy’s or one of their own. Han tapped his fingertips against the console. Another rapid flurry of bright green fire stuttered against the stars.
“They’re shooting at the kid, Chewie.”
Chewbacca whined and bared his teeth.
“I know that was what we wanted. It’s all going just according to plan, but they’re trying to kill the kid up there, and we’re down here. You know what I want to do, Chewie? I want to fire up the turrets, get up there, and help out.”
The Wookiee’s sigh was confirmation enough. The Falcon’s sensors lit up, warning them of the approaching atmosphere. Han tested his fingers on the forward deflector shield’s controls, waiting until the last second to bring up power. The less time they spent under power, the less likely it was that the fighters would come down. A few more seconds, and they’d be beyond the reach of the TIE fighters and into the thick soup of air where they could find out if the Empire had any anti-aircraft batteries in place.