“No casualties.”
“No casualties at all?” The colonel’s face betrays surprise at Han’s report. “Well done, then,” he adds. “You’ll receive a commendation, Lieutenant – forgive me, I foget your name.”
“No commendation necessary, sir,” Han responds nervously. “I’d better go now, sir. Our com-pack is about to malfunction.” He kicks the set over, then shoots it with his blaster pistol. “Who needs your lousy medals, anyway,” Han says to the now silent com-pack.
“Were I commanding the enemy task force,” Sodarra comments, ignoring the outburst, “I would assign a walker company to investigate the squad’s report.”
Han nods, “How long?”
Sodarra studies the valley walls. “In this terrain, who can know? Six hours at least. Perhaps as much as two days.” Sodarra turns to his aide. “Lieutenant Birdloe, take three men up on the ridge to serve as a watching post.”
“As you order,” Birdloe responds. He turns away to gather his group. Sodarra assigns the rest of the deserters to burial details.
“Chewbacca and I’ll fix the Falcon so we can get off this hailstone,” Han says.
After thirty minutes of work, Chewbacca reports that they have a cracked hyperdrive actuation diode. Assuming Sodarra’s deserters will help, Chewbacca feels he can repair everything else within a day. But without a new diode, the Falcon will never enter hyperspace again.
“We’ll have to steal one from the Imperials,” Han says. “I’ll see if Sodarra can help.”
But the deserter captain is less than enthusiastic. “Pickets will be posted – it’s a hostile landing. You would not get within kilometers of the craft.”
“And you’d prefer to travel sublight?”
Shortly after Han breaks the news about the diode to Sodarra, a high pitched whine echose up the valley. Everyone has grown used to the occasional thunder of cracking and falling glacial ice, but this is an eerie new sound. Even Chewbacca stops working and reaches for his weapon. Han at first believes the keening to be the plaintive wail of some giant ice creature. But a few seconds of increasing volume and steady pitch convince him it is some sort of repulsor drive.
“Captain Solo,” calls one of Sodarra’s deserters. “A woman hails you over the emergency channel.”
Han shrugs in response to Sodarra’s unspoken question and runs for the Falco. When he reaches the vidscreen, he is dumb-founded. Leia is the woman calling him.
Han opens a transmission channel. “Leia!”
“Han? You’re alive! We saw you go down -“
“Are you safe?”
“Of course; being kidnapped is no big deal,” she says sarcastically. “I haven’t been injured, if that’s what you mean. But we’ve got bigger problems than my abduction. How did you manage to cross a Star Destroyer?”
“I didn’t do it,” Han responds. “The credit is all yours, Princess.”
“MINE?” Leia screams.
“Every time I turn my back -“
“Somebody tries to vibro-knife it! You’re a dangerous man to know, Han Solo.”
“You should have stuck with us like I said -“
“Sleazy floorshows aren’t my style,” Leia says.
“And rescuing Princesses isn’t mine. This is the last -“
The transmission goes dead.
“Leia?”
More static.
“LEIA!”
The video display returns. Instead of Leia, it shows a small gray helmet with a full face guard. Long red hair cascades from beneath the helmet. “We meet at last, Solo.” The voice comes through an electronic translator.
Han activates the artificial memory to record the conversation. “Are you Alfreda Goot? What do you want with Leia?”
“I am Alfreda and I will ask the questions. First, what is the condition of the Millennium Falcon?”
“Why are you helping us?” Han demands.
“My interest is to beat the Falcon to Mos Eisley – Not to destroy it.”
“Yeah, well I’d like to talk about our destination -“
“Mos Eisley,” Alfreda insists.
“That’s a problem for me,” Han continues. “A little misunderstanding with Jabba the Hut. You do know who Jabba is, don’t you?
Alfreda appears unimpressed. “Mos Eisley, Solo – or you’ll never see your princess alive again. Now, what do you require to repair the Falcon?”
Alfreda promises to return the next day with the diode. Although Han trusts the woman less than he trusts Sodarra, he has little choice except to rely upon her word.
Shortly after the transmission ends, Captain Sodarra climbs into the freighter’s buried cockpit.
“The strange noise was a space yacht – quite an ugly space yacht.”
“Know it?” Han asks hopefully.
“No. It was shaped like a pear-fruit; broad on the bottom and narrow on the top. I assume the transmission came from the yacht?”
Han nods. He replays the portion of the conversation he has recorded and tells the story of Leia’s kidnapping. Sodarra listens to Han’s account without emotion.
At last, Sodarra says, “A strange incident. Leia is the senator from Alderaan?”
“Know her?”
“The Emperor’s agents have placed a high price on her head.”
“Don’t even think of collecting,” Han warns.
Sodarra smiles. “You forget, I also have a price on my head.”
“Speaking of which, what’s the big deal about your cargo?”
Sodarra hesitates. “I can trust your discretion?”
“Absolutely,” Han replies.
“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. Unfortunately, we are unused to such scum; he double-crossed us and prepared an Imperial ambush. We have been looking for a safe port ever since.”
Han whistles. “That took guts.”
Sodarra nods. “Perhaps you could help us. We would gladly show our appreciation with a full share.”
“Maybe I could – but I have a race to win,” Han says. “And the price would be five full shares.”
“Three,” Sodarra counters. “And we will help you win your race.”
“Four.”
“Done.”
Han smiles warmly as they shake hands. He would have settled for three.
Han and Chewbacca spend the next thirty-six hours working on the Falcon. Although some of the repairs are not pretty, they will hold until the ship reaches better facilities.
When his mind is not fully occupied with a mechanical problem, Han puzzles over Alfreda Goot’s true identity. She acts as though she knows him well, and he certainly finds it strange that she has risked an encounter with an Imperial Star Destroyer to aid him. There is the fact, too, that Leia did not seem worried about her own safety when they spoke. Although Han cannon deduce Alfreda’s identity yet, he begins to fear less for Leia. As his fear subsides, his anger increases. The whole screwy race has the feeling of a practical joke gone sour.
As Han and Chewbacca are putting the finishing touches on the power flux coupling which was damaged in Mon Torri’s rings, Alreda’s ship descends from the overcast sky. It hovers twenty meters above the glacier and opens a hatch. A small brown package falls out and strikes the snow, then the yacht is gone.
“Thanks a lot!” Han yells after it.
“Your gratitude may be premature,” Sodarra warns. “Birdloe sent a message. The walker is only two hours away.”
“Plenty of time,” Han says, turning to Chewbacca. “Right?”
By the time Han and Chewbacca have finished installing the diode, Lietenant Birdloe has returned with his patrol. The walker, her reports is just over the valley’s edge, perhaps a a kilometer away. The installation has taken just over two hours and fifteen minutes. Han is already firing up the freighter’s engines as the last man boards.
The Falon’s mighty drives gleam to life creating a fair-sized lake in it’s crash furrow. A moment later, it bursts from the snow. Four laser flashes zip past the cockpit. Han spins the ship around. She is face-to-face with a walker! HE has a milisecond to react.
If Han fires the laser cannons, Click Here
If Han tells Chewbacca to raise the forward shields, Click Here