Han eases off the blaster trigger. He does not have a clear shot at the trooper carrying the communications pack. It will be wiser to let someone who does take the shot.
Nothing happens. The officer begins speaking into the radio and still Sodarra’s men do not attack.
Han aims and squeezes the trigger, realizing that he is already too late to prevent the squad from reporting the Falcon’s location. Two blue bolts streak from Han’s blaster rifle and burn holes in the armor of the officer’s assistant. Already reaching for his blaster pistol, the officer drops to cover even as his assistant collapses. Chewbacca triggers his bowcaster and the point-guard falls.
A moment later, the officer returns Han’s attack. The bolt ricochets off the freighter’s hull, then grazes Han’s shoulder. He grunts as it opens a long, burning gash.
Chewbacca fires. The bowcaster’s slug strikes the snow next to the officer’s torso and explodes, shredding armor and flesh. It is the snowtrooper’s turn to yell in pain.
In the next instant, Imperial blaster bolts rain down around the cave-mouth. Chewbacca bellows and the smell of singed fur fills their shelter. Han returns fire blindly, still too stunned from his own wound to aim.
It quickly grows apparent that the two smugglers are no match for the squad’s heavy salvo. They withdraw further beneath the Falcon. Han and Chewie now must rely upon Sodarra and his deserters to save their lives.
That help is a long time coming. The spacers huddle beneath the Falcon as energy bolts zing off the ship’s hull and fizzle into the walls of their tiny ice cave. Through the mouth, Han sees snowtrooper feet running toward them. He continues to fire his blaster, but the opening is too narrow to hit anything.
“Where’s Sodarra?” Han asks. “He should have clobbered them by now.”
“Eeeoorgh! Ooonoooogh!”
“If he’s sold us out, I don’t think you’ll have the chance.”
Several blaster bolts lace across the cave-mouth from opposite directions, forming a grid of death just a meter from Han’s nose. A snowtrooper’s armor passes in front of the cave entrance and Han fires. The shot strikes the snowtrooper just below the knees – the armor shatters and the trooper rolls away, screaming in agony and terror.
Two more snowtroopers drop in front of the cave, their blaster rifles level and prepared to fire. Han continues to fire, but he does not see his targets: he is blind with anger and frustration. That Sodarra sold them out, he has no doubt.
To his surprise, both he and Chewbacca are still living a moment later. The Imperials lie crumpled in front of the cave. Smoke rises from a hole in the back of each man’s armor.
Sodarra gives an order, then turns back to Han. “We waited too long to fire,” he says, his face betraying no emotion. “I am sorry. Perhaps your injuries could have been avoided.”
“Maybe,” Han replies. “But how did we do?”
“They sent a message,” Sodarra says. Han can tell he wants to add ‘as I said they would.’ “But the radio is still intact.”