He worried for a while that the Imps might retrieve his pod, but they did not. Han figured that Greelanxs murder was occupying everyones attention.

  Chewie picked him up an hour later, as he drifted, still puzzling over what had happened to Greelanx.

  The Wookiee scooped Hans stolen lifepod into the Brias cargo bay, whining and growling that they had to get out of here, fast, there were recon TIE fighters prowling around.

  Hah agreed. Hastily he and Chewie headed for the bridge. They were halfway there when they heard the WHUMP! Seconds later another followed, this one so strong it knocked both of them to the deck.

  Chewie, were under fire! Hah yelled. Get to the gun mount!

  Hah hastily slipped into the pilots seat, saw two recon TIEs circling back for a second pass-and then he saw the blinking red light on his control board. Chewie! Reactor ovedoad! They hit us right in that weak shield! Weve gotta abandon ship!

  Leaping up, he ran to the gun turret, then grabbed the Wookiee and began dragging him out. Chewbacca shook his head, arguing, but Han screamed, Run, you big oafi This ship is gonna blow !

  When they reached the cargo deck again, the Woo!dee was hesitant about crawling into the Imperial lifepod, but Han insisted. Dont you get it, Chewie? The Bria is fin-ished! This is our only chance! Now get inside and put on this respirator mask!

  Once Chewie was safely inside, Han hastfly donned a spacesuit, then opened the cargo-bay doors wide.

  WHUMP! WHUMP-WHUMPI

  Give up, Hah thought at the TIEs as he attached an anti-grav unit to the lifepod, then floated it over to the cargo door. Were doomed anyhow . . . Tapping on the viewport, he gestured out what he planned. Chewie, now wearing the respirator, nodded.

  Then, in one smooth motion, Han slid the pod toward the opening, just as Chewie popped the hatch and yanked him inside.

  The entire sequence took maybe six seconds. Not enough time for explosive decompression to rupture tough Woo!dee hide. A second later the hatch was closed and dogged, and atmosphere was again filling the pod.

  The pod had barely cleared the cargo-bay doors when the Bria blew up.

  The co ncussion knocked the little lifepod spinning. Han braced himself, half expecting one of the TIEs to attack them, but as hed hoped, their escape was covered by the explosion.

  The lifepod was very, very cramped. Han managed to get his helmet off, then he and Chewie just crouched there, almost in each others arms, and stared at each other, then back at the flaming debris that had been their ship.

  Lando isnt gonna like this, Han said ruefully. The Bria had been a cranky, temperamental ship, but hed kind of gotten used to her.

  Chewie growled softly in Wooldee. Han looked at him and shrugged. What do we do now? Your guess is as good as mine, pal. This is an inhabited system, so the lifepod controls ought to soft-land us somewhere near where we can get a transport . . .

  Chewie whined. Oh, you mean what will we do for a ship? Han sighed. Thats a real good question, pal . . .

  He dead, Teroenza thought in disbelief, looking at the message from Nal Hutta. It worked. I cant believe Ank really gone!

  For just a moment he felt a tiny prickle of guilt, but it was swiftly drowned in excitement. With Aruk out of the way, and Desilijics credits pouring in, nothing could stop him from taking over complete control of the entire Ylesian operation. Durga was back on Nal Hutta, with his hands fiill trying to control Besadii. Kibbick was, as everyone knew, an idiot.

  Teroenza pictured his collection, and then pictured it as it would be soon. He would build a separate building to house it!

  And he would bring his mate here. No more lonely days and nights. They would slosh in the mud wallows together, rich beyond their wildest dreams . . .

  Teroenza spent several minutes putting on a suitably lu-gubrious expression, then the tlanda Til went off to find Kibbick, and inform him that his uncle was dead . . .

  Moff Sarn Shild sat alone in his palatial home on Teth, wondering just what had gone wrong. The attack on Nal Hutta had obviously been a huge mistake. Greelanx-

  Greelanx had failed, and now the admiral was dead under suspicious circumstances.

  Shfld was alone in his house, save for the droids. All his living servants were gone, he knew not where. Bria . . . she was gone, too, had disappeared days ago. She hadnt even said good-bye . . .

  Yesterday, the Emperor had summoned Shild back to Imperial Center, to face a board of inquiry about the ill-fated attack on the YToub system. Palpatines message had made it clear that the Emperor was hurst displeased.

  Shild sat alone, struggling to comprehend it all. Scant days ago, hed been on top of the galaxy. Now he couldnt even remember why hed done the things hed done. It was almost as though hed been possessed by an alien entity.

  Shild stared down at his ornate desk. Before him lay a blaster, side by side with a vial of poison. Shild took a deep breath. He had no illusions anymore. Traveling to Imperial Center would only prolong the inevitable.

  Anything would be better than facing Palpatines wrath.

  But which should he use, the blaster or the poison? Shild considered for a while, but couldnt make up his mind. Finally, in desperation, he fell back on a childhood memory. Moving his finger from one means of death (and escape) to the other, he began to chant aloud Wonga, winga, cingee wooze . . . which of these do I choose?

  It was strange, being back on CoreIlia after all these years away, Han thought, six months later. The streets were both familiar and strange, comforting and threatening. Bad things had happened to him on his homeworld, lots of bad things . . .

  But maybe, just maybe, his luck was about to change. As he walked down the street, Han patted his pocket, which held the little dragon pearl, and a small gold statuette with ruby eyes. It was a palador, an extinct Corellian animal. Years ago, Han had cached the statuette, which hed stolen from Teroenzas collection, in a safe place on his homeworld.

  Now he planned to fence both the statuette and the dragon pearl. He figured that, together, they were worth about ten thousand credits. The big sabacc game on Bespin would be held in ten days . . .

  Han was relieved to find that Galidon Okanors shop was still there. Okanor paid top dollar, though, like all fences, he liked to haggle.

  Ten thousand credits, Han thought. Never thought Id be desperate enough to sk it all on one high-stakes sabacc game . . . especially if lm playing against a shatpie like Lando . . .

  But he had to have a ship of his own. And he could think of no other way to get the credits to buy one.

  Han paused outside Okanors door to take a deep breath. Here goes nothing . . .

  Then, clutching his hopes and dreams in a sweaty hand, he opened the door and walked in . . .

 

 

  A.C. Crispin, Star Wars - The Han Solo Trilogy - Hutt Gambit

 

 

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