Han drops the Falcon’s nose toward Aldo’s fiery surface. Even before he opens the throttle, the freighter accelerates quickly. Chewbacca looks at Han with his eyebrows. He says nothing.
“We’ve got to beat the TIEs to the comet nucleus,” Han says evenly. Chewbacca simply nods. His eyes are round as saucers and he sits braced stiffly in his seat. Two minutes later, the Falcon has surpassed the top-end velocity of the TIE fighters. Han edges out of Aldo’s gravity well and turns toward the comet.
The Falcon enters the comet’s hazy dust tail just ahead of the TIEs. Although the tail is not dense, its dust particle emit a brilliant ghostly light. The ambient glare blinds Han as badly as a total absence of light would have. It feels like flying inside an immense illumination tube.
TIE energy bolts flash past the Falcon every half-second. Each bolt quickly dissipates, leaving a red streak of fluorescing dust in its wake. Han pays the spurts no attentionl the opposing gravitites of Aldo and Spach keep him too busy to worry about potshots.
Chebacca groans a report.
“It’s out already?” Han asks.
The Wookiee opens an audio receptor channel. Nothing but static. They have lost their fix on the distress signal.
“Then let’s even the odds,” Han says. He turns toward the ionized gas tail. From inside the dust tail, it appears to be a streak of polychromatic strands ending in a subdued burst of primary colors. The TIEs follow, still gaining on the Falcon. Insider the gas tail, Han hopes, the ionized gases will render the TIE targeting computers as useless as the Falcon’s communications channels.
As they approach the gas tail, its strands twist into narrow, knotted tongues that resemble nothing so closely as a jet of fire. They leave the dust tail, flash through a thousand kilometers of open space, then enter the gas tail. Wisps of the royal blue, brilliant orange, fervent red, and a dozen other colors dance over the Falcon as it streaks toward the coma.
They have been in the tail for a full minute before Han notices the TIE cannons have stopped firing. After climbing into the upper turret to check on their pursuers, Chewbacca reports that the TIEs have fallen far behind. Their drive systems appear to be troubling them.
“The gases!” Han blurts. “TIE fighters run on ionized gas. The comet’s ionized tail must be fouling their drives.”
The Wookiee roars in excited agreement.
Han pushes the Falcon even harder. “As soon as they drop out of the gas tail, they’ll clear their engines. Lets try to be so far ahead they can’t catch us.”
A few minutes later, the Falcon reaches the coma. Like the dust tail, it is a mass of glowing particles – except it is much brighter and more dense. A trail of twisting colors leads generally ahead. Although Han can see out of the coma easily enough, looking deeper into it hurt his eyes. This relatively dense region is a near vacuum by planetary standards, but it contains dozens of atoms per cubic centimeter. Each of those atoms glows with every erg of energy it has absorbed from two suns.
“Trying to find the nucleus in this is like trying to find a grain of dust in a smoky room,” Han says.
Chewbacca utters a suggestion.
“Already thought of that,” the pilot responds. He continues following the brightly colored tail deepre into the coma. “I hope we see the nucleus before we hit it.”
Five minutes later, they are still following the colored trail. Han decelerates. They should have encountered the nucleus over a minute earlier. He studies the gaily colored streamers carefully, then realizes that the Falcon is now traveling in the same direction as the tongues of flame. They have overshot the nucleus.
Han turns around and follows the ionized gases back toward the core. When he encounters a particularly knotted area, he cautiously flies into the knot.
A ball of steam whirls within the densely twisting strands. Han circles the orb several times. The steam ball is barely twelve kilometers in diameter. Cautiously, the Corellian descends. As he goes deeper, he begins to make out terrain features. The surface appears remarkably smooth – but then, it should. It is melting away.
At last, he finds a shadow which rises at a sharp angle. Landing the Falcon next to the shadow, he and Chewbacca go aft to don protective gear.
Before they finish, a rapping sounds at the airlock door. Han immediately releases the security program and stands back with a condescending smile on his face. He is already rehearsing the lecture he intends to give Leia about her brainless race.
When the lock opens, the smuggler’s smile fades to an open-mouthed gape. He reches for his blaster pistol, and the Wookiee runs for his bowcaster.
Three stormtroopers in full battle armor stand in the lock, steaming and dripping condensation. An Imperial officer wearing a vac-suit stands with them.
“Don’t shoot,” commands the officer. He removes his helmet and says, “I am Sodarra, commander of these troopers.” He is a short, stocky man with vaguely oriental features.
Hand does not lower his pistol. “Don’t come any closer. I thought you were somebody else.”
“Who?”
“Never mind,” Han answers. “Just put your helmet back on and leave. Your friends will be here in twenty minutes.”
“Friends?”
“Yeah. The TIE fighters that chased me in.”
Sodarra’s face shows concern. “They are not friends. We are deserters.”
Sarcastically, Han smiles. “Stormtroopers don’t desert.” Chewbacca returns with his bowcaster cocked and level.
Captain Sodarra shrugs. “And one does not send TIE fighters to rescue a downed ship. One of us must be mistaken.” The man looks Han squarely in the eye. “I will understand if you must abandon us.”
The pilot think sfor only a moment. Sodarra’s words make sense, especially considering the Star Destroyer activity he has seen. “I’ll decide who I abandon and who I rescue.” He holsters his blaster. “Right now, you’re on my good side. Come in.”
The Imperial hesitates. “There are three more of us. And we have a rather large piece of luggage.”
“Forget the luggage and get the crew. Those TIEs can arrive at any time.”
“We will not abandon our cargo,” Sodarra insists. “If you cannot wait, I will understand.”
“What’s so valuable about this cargo?” Han asks.
Sodarra remains silent for a moment. “May I trust your discretion?”
“Absolutely.” Han grins.
“My men and I were to transport the prototype of a new compact cloaking device to the secret Imperial Production Laboratories on Rigoron. We decided to sell it to Ploovo-two-for-one instead. We are unused to such scum; he double-crossed us, and Governor-General Vellam ambused us in his Star Destroyer, the Eradicator. We tried to flee to the Aldo Spachian system but had to enter hyperspace before the calculations ended. This is the result.”
The pilot whistles. “That took guts.”
Sodarra nods. “Perhaps you can help us. We will gladly show our appreciation with a full share.”
“Maybe I can – but I have to race to win,” Han says. “And the price will be full five shares.”
“Three,” the Captain counters. “What kind of race?”
“Four,” Han responds. “I’ll tell you about it after we’re out of ehre.”
“Done.”
“Good. Chewie, open the exterior cargo hatch. I’ll get ready to fly.”
Ten minutes later, the Falcon leaves the surface. Han tells Sodarra about the challenger’s identity. Captain Sodarra does not have time to ask questions, however. A surprise awaits them in the coma. As soon as they clear the gas streaming from the nucleus, two TIE fighters jump them. Sodarra does not need to be asked to man the gun wells.
If Han concentrates fire on one TIE fighter, Click Here
If Han fights bothe at the same time, Click Here