Han pushes the Falcon’s sublight drive beyond specification and makes a corkscrew run for Mon Torri’s outer ring. The flight computer shows several silhouettes separating from the Eradicator, but the area within a kilometer of the Falcon is ominously clear of enemy fighters. Han notes, however, that the corvette the Imperials were attacking has also fled toward Mon Torri’s rings.
“That corvette’s trying to use us for cover,” Han reports. “But that’s not what we need to -“
Ahead of the Falcon, empty space itself lights up with the brilliance of a small sun. The freighter lurches as if she has hit a wall. The falcon erratically resumes her dive for Mon Torri while Han shakes his head clear.
“Concussion missiles!” he gasps at last. “What did we do to them?”
“Arroggh!” Chewbacca growls, pointing at the flight computer. A dozen H-shaped silhouettes are now separating from the Eradicator.
“More TIE fighters,” Han observes. “That’s a relief.”
A moment later, they enter Mon Torri’s outer ring. As Han hoped, the ring is easily thick enough to conceal the Falcon – about a kilometer and a half. It consists mostly of pebble-sized rock and ice which occasionally slips past the weakened shields to skitter across the Falcon’s hull with irritating, high-pitched squeals. Unfortunately, there are also enough large chunks to keep Han busy dodging.
Although Han does not relish what the debris is doing to his ship, the pebbles will clog the Eradicator’s tractor beams with tons of useless rock and ice. The Falcon’s spit-shined finish seems a reasonable trade-off for eluding a Star Destroyer.
The first TIE fighters arrive thirty seconds later. They do not enter the ring. Instead they remain above and below and take pot-shots at the Falcon. Han breathes a sigh of relief. “They just want to pin us in here until we hit something!”
Chewbacca growls a question.
“What’s so good about that,” Han answers smugly, “is that we can stay in here until they find something better to hunt.You don’t expect the best smuggler this side of Shador to crash into an orbiting iceberg.”
As if to prove him wrong, a dozen boulders appear in front of the cockpit. Han jerks the controls with maniacal precision, hoping as much as attempting to dodge the largest of the rocks. His efforts do not completely succeed; a man-sized chunk of ice bounces off the forward hull.
The Falcon’s power falls immediately. The drive cuts out and the internal life-support system fails.
“Chewie?” Han yells, alarmed. “What happened?”
“Urrgh, yoooogh!” the Wookiee snaps.
“Who was hot-rodding?” Han replies.
Chewbacca ignores him and goes aft. He begins rummaging around in the dark. The Falcon continues to drift, ice and rock now bouncing off the hull with painful regularity. Han says nothing as Chewbacca pounds and growls, then growls and pounds. Finally, there is a loud thump and power returns.
“You’re a wizard, Chewbacca,” Han says.
“Annoggh, uuurggh.”
“What do you mean you don’t know how long it’ll last?”
Han dodges another man-sized rock, then studies his flight computer. The TIE fighters and destroyer are so close now that the screen shows one large wedge. He sees no sign of the corvette, but it could be any one of the thousands of small blips in the ring. Han looks overhead. Beyond the ring’s debris, a great white mass of metal fills the horizon. Han cannot see the edge of the destoryer in any direction.
“How’d that get there?”
Turbolaser bolts strike rock and ice all around the Falcon. Within a matter of seconds, Han estimates, there will be a very big gap in Mon Torri’s outer ring. “Hold on, Chewbacca!” Han warns. “I’m taking us down.”
Han drops the Falcon out of the ring and accelerates. His move takes the Imperials by surprise, buying enough time to reach Mon Torri’s atmosphere before the TIE fighters can jump him. The destroyer, Han knows, is an old one which can skim the outer layers of a planetary atmosphere, but he has to gamble the Eradicator’s captain will not want to risk his ship crossing the rings in hot pursuit.
A moment later, a bank of high clouds engulf the Falcon. Chewbacca climbs into the upper laser turret to keep a visual watch for pursuers. The planet’s rugged terrain confuses the Falcon’s flight computer; Han hopes the same thing will happen to Imperial equipment. The Falcon flashes out of the cloud bank and Chewbacca reports only two TIE fighters follow. The corvette has also dropped out of Mon Torri’s rings and now parallels the Falcon’s descent.
Han looks for a mountain valley in which he can lose his pursuers, but the Falcon still tops at least one cloud layer. Han dives, praying there are no high peaks hidden in the bank. Two seconds later, the Falcon drops out of the clouds. She flies less than a hundred meters above the floor of a wide, deep valley. Snow and coniferous trees line the valley. A long river of ice fills its bottom.
Two explosions spray steam and rock high into the sky from the valley’s left wall. Chewbacca reports they have lost the TIE fighters. Hugging the valley walls, Han rises to the top of the ridge and slips into the next valley. As he attempts this maneuver a second time, the Falcon’s power cust out. “Chewie, I thought you fixed that!”
Chewbacca growls in response. A moment later, the Falcon plows into a deep carpet of snow.
*******
Han does not know how long he has been unconscious. When he awakes, he has blurry vision, but not too blurry to make out the forms of a stormtrooper and an Imperial officer standing over him. He reaches for his blaster pistol. The effort causes so much pain that he drops his hand back to his side.
The stormtrooper makes no move to raise his own weapon. Instead, the office says, “Please, do not worry. I am Sodarra, captain of this company.” The man motions vaguely toward the back of the Falcon. “We are deserters who desire your aid.”
“Stormtroopers don’t desert,” Han moans.
“And Star Destroyers do not attack Imperial courier corvettes, which I am sure you witnessed. One of us must be mistaken.”
Han rubs his throbbing head.
“I took the liberty of using your ship’s medical equipment. Your headache should fade in a few moments.”
“Chewbacca?” Han asks, suddenly concerned for his friend’s welface.
“If you refer to a rather large Wookiee, then he, too, will be fine. He should regain consciousness any moment.”
Han stands, despite the pain it causes him. Sodarra is a short, stocky man with vaguely oriental features. True to the Captain’s word, Chewbacca rests in the opposite bunk.
“I trust you will take a few desperate passengers?” Captain Sodarra asks. “I happen to know that the Millennium Falcon is a ‘free-freighter.’ We have already taken the liberty of securing our cargo.”
“It doesn’t look like I’ve got much of a choice.”
Sodarra smiles politely. “But you are mistake. I will understand if you must abandon us here.”
Han studies Sodarra. The Imperial captain looks him straight in the eye. “I decide who I abandon and who I rescue.” Han walks over to Chewbacca. The Wookiee breathes evenly and deeply. “Right now, you’re on my good side.”
Sodarra smiles. “Good. I would have let you sleep longer, but a squad of blizzard force snowtroopers approaches.”
“Any walkers?” Han asks, forgetting his headache.
“No,” Sodarra answers. “It is a reconnaissance unit.”
Chewbacca stirs. “How long have we got?” Han asks.
“Just long enough to awaken your friend and deploy our forces.