“If you want something done right, you’d better do it yourself,” Han mutters. He fires.
Two blue bolts streak from Han’s blaster rifle and strike the officer square in the chest. A thousand electronic components spray into the chill air as the snowtrooper drops. Chewbacca fires his bowcaster and the point-guard also falls. The third man stands frozen in shock for nearly a full second. He, too, falls without firing a shot.
In the next instant, Imperial blaster fire rains down around Han and Chewbacca. They withdraw beneath the Falcon, unable to return the squad’s heavy salvo. The two smugglers must now rely upon Sodarra’s deserters to save their lives.
That help is a long time in coming. Han and Chewbacca huddle beneath the Falcon as blaster bolts zing off the hull or fizzle into the walls of their tiny ice cave. Through the cave mouth, Han sees snowtrooper feet approaching at a run. He continues to fire his blaster, but his aim is too severely restricted to hit anything.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have trusted Sodarra,” Han says. “He has a sneaky face.”
“Hoooruugh.”
“Really? We all look the same to you?”
Several blaster bolts lace across the cave mouth from opposite directions, forming a grid of death within a meter of Han’s nose. The Imperials have reached the Falcon’s tail. They will be firing directly down the tunnel any moment. Han curses himself for not digging a second exit, but there was no time. Never has he imagined he would die hiding beneath the Falcon’s belly in a frozen worm-hole. Han braces the blaster rifle to fire at the entrance.
And then the battle sounds cease. After ten seconds, Han and Chewbacca crawl to the cave entrance. Sodarra and his men stand behind the Imperials. A few of the deserters already search for survivors.
“What took so long?” Han calls.
“I was thinking of resuming command,” Sodarra replies evenly. Han chokes on rage and fingers his blaster trigger. When Sodarra sees the anger in Han’s expression, he adds, “It was a joke, Captain Solo.”
Han does not laugh. Sodarra does not strike him as a man who enjoys practical jokes.