Part 9 (1/2)

”Yeah, dammit, jump!” Han made a course adjust-ment. ”I can be there in eight minutes. I want you blasting away from Rimrunner at full throttle on the fol-lowing coordinates...” He glanced at his navicomputer and gave her a string of numbers. ”Copy that?” ”But Rimrunner...” was the faint reply.

”Blast Rimrunner!” ttan shouted. ”It~ a s.h.i.+p, you can get another! Now do it, Salla! This is gonna be hard enough without you arguing! You've got three minutes to get into that suit! Go!”

He keyed his intercom to Jarikk s.p.a.cesuit frequency. ”Jar/k, you standing by with the magnetic grapple and the winch?”

”Affirmative, Hah,” Jar/k said. ”Just warn me when I can make visual contact. Itk hard to see in this hehnet.”

”I'll tell ya, kid,” Hah said tersely. ”Here% your coor-dinates for the grapple.” He repeated them. ”Timink gonna be critical here, so don't be slow about it. Any drift, and we'll graze the edge of the magnetic field and then we're in the same fix as Rimrunner. Basically, we've got one chance to get in and get out safely. Got that?” ”I copy, Hah,” Jarik said, tensely.

As Han piloted his s.h.i.+p toward the rescue coordi-nates, he worried that Salla% thrust paks wouldn't be strong enough to propel her far enough away from her doomed vessel. He didn't want to risk cras.h.i.+ng into Rimrunner. The Falcon was a freighter, not designed for tight, pinpoint maneuvering of this sort. True, Han could make his s.h.i.+p practically stand on her head, but picking up a tiny s.p.a.cesuited human while trying to stay out of the particle jet~ magnetic field was risky enough, without worrying about having Rimrunner slamming into them.

Hah carefully checked and rechecked his course. He had to do this precisely, on the first try. He had to get her before she got within range of that deadly plasma. He had a brief, hideous vision of what it would be like to bring a radiation-seared corpse aboard, and made himself concentrate on his piloting. This maneuver was probably the trickiest piece of piloting he'd ever tried ....

Minutes later, Han, sweating, began entering the course corrections that would bring them to the intersec-tion point. He slowed his s.h.i.+p... slowed her again... then again, He didn't dare come to a dead halt, for fear that he'd drift into the magnetic field ....

He kept his eyes riveted on his sensors. Rimrunner was only about fifty kilometers away, now, growing on his screens. ”Jarik, I have visual contact with Rimrun-ner. Stand by.”

”I read you, Hah. Standing by.”

Had Salla ejected ill time? Han tried calling her. No answer, but there was a good chance that her suit com-link wouldn't be strong enough to reach him through the interference.

The doomed freighter grew on his screens, in his viewport. Hah slowed still further, hardly daring to blink. Where is she? Did she have the courage to jump?

Salla didn't lack for courage, Han knew that. But jumping into s.p.a.ce, with nothing between you and some very hard vacuum was a scary proposition. Han bit his lip, picturing her pus.h.i.+ng herself away from Rimrunner's airlock and triggering that first thrust pak. Although he'd spent time in s.p.a.cesuits himself, he didn't like it, hanging there, with nothing between you and in-finity in all directions. And he'd certainly never had to try and cross kilometers of s.p.a.ce in nothing but a s.p.a.ce-suit. The Corellian wasn't sure he'd have the courage to do what he'd demanded of Salla ....

Before she became a smuggler, Salla had spent time as a technician on a corporate transport. He hoped she hadn't lost her s.p.a.cesuit skills.

Han watched the schematic on his navigation boards. There was the neutron star, with Rimrunner~ projected downward-spiraling orbit marked out. Salla~ s.h.i.+p had reached apastron. The blip that was the Falcon was closing rapidly. Thirty klicks ....

And there, marked in virulent green, was the deadly plume of the plasma, haloed with the magnetic field in violet.

Han swallowed. So close...

He was closing on twenty klicks, now. He looked up, and through the viewport made out Rimrunners mynock shape.

Where is she? he wondered, checking the schematic again. Where is- ”Got her!” Han suddenly yelled. ”Jarik, I see her blip! No visual yet, but stay sharp!” He made a few mi-nor course changes so he'd exactly match Salla~ trajec-tory. She was moving toward him at a pretty good clip, fast enough to stay in a straight line, not fast enough to risk losing control and going into a spin. Hah admired her suit expertise.

”Ready, Han,” the youth said, then muttered some-thing under his breath... a prayer? Han was too busy to inquire.

Hah turned on his s.h.i.+p~ intercom, ”Chewie, you standing by with that med-pak?”

”Hrnnnnnnggggghhh!”

As Hah watched her blip, he kept glancing up at the port, and suddenly- ”I got her! Visual contact! Jarik... fire magnetic grap-ple on my order...”

Han counted seconds in his head. Three... two... one...

”Fire!”

A tense second...

”I got her! Activating winch!”

”Chewie, can you hear her?”

Chewbacca roared. No, he couldn't hear her, but he'd let Han know the moment he could. ”Jarik, Jarik, is she okay?”

”She's waving, Han!” A moment later, the kid said, ”Okay, Han, she's inside! Closing the airlock!”

Chewbacca's roar came over the intercom a moment later. ”Right!” Hah said. ”We are getting outta here!”

Hah 'altered course and increased speed, pulling out of the neutron star's gravity well. Checking the schematic, he saw that Rimrunner was just pa.s.sing through the plasma jet and accelerating in its...o...b..t.

That was close/ ”How is she?” Han said over the intercom. ”Talk to me, guys?

A moment later he heard Salla's voice, hoa.r.s.e but recognizable. ”I'm okay, Han. Just a cut on my head. Chewie's fixing me up.”

”Jarik, c'mon up here and take the controls,” Hah said. ”I want to see Salla. Chewie, don't forget to check her for radiation exposure .... ”

”Arrrmnnnnnnnnghhhh!” came the exasperated roar.

”That's goodff ”Han,” Jarik said, ”she's coming up. Stay where you are.

A minute later, the three joined Han in the c.o.c.kpit. The Corellian slipped out of the pilot's seat, and Chewie and Jarik took over the pilot~ and copilot~ seats. Salla sat down in the pa.s.senger seat, scowling. There was a bandage on her forehead, half-covered by her wiry mop of black hair. Hah bent over her solicitously. ”Hey... honey...”

She pulled away from him, and for a second he thought she was going to swing at him. Her eyes flashed with anger at the universe in general. Taking the hint, Han stepped back. ”Hah... that blip...” She pointed. ”Is that Rimrunner?”

Han turned and looked at the schematic, then the viewport. Rimrunner was still in the plasma jet, visible only as an orange glow. ”Yeah,” he said. ”She's really picking up speed .... ”

Silence reigned in the c.o.c.kpit as the four watched the blip that was Salla's pride and joy speeding through the last of the plasma, accelerating faster and faster, heading for the accretion disk as the neutron star~ gravity pulled the freighter into an ever tighter, closer orbit.

Minutes later, a tiny flare blossomed for a second on the edge of the accretion disk. Salla stood up. ”Well, that~ that,” she said, flatly. ”If you gentles will excuse me, I need to use the 'fresher.”

Han stood aside as Salla walked back into the Fal-con's interior. He thought about how he'd feel if it was his s.h.i.+p that had just bought it, and could understand the pent-up anger that she was barely controlling.

Minutes later, he heard m.u.f.fled thuds and cries com-ing from the s.h.i.+p's small lounge area. Hah glanced at his friends. ”I'll check it out.”

When he arrived back in the lounge, he found Salla standing with her back to the hologram game board, beating her fists against the Falcon's bulkheads and cursing a blue streak.

”Salla...” he said.

She whirled to face him, amber eyes blazing. ”Han, why didn't you just let me die?”

For a second he thought she was going to punch him, and got ready to duck. But she restrained herself with a visible effort. ”Why, Han?”

”Satla, you know I couldn't do that,” he said, holding up his hands placatingly.

She stamped around the Falcon's lounge, obviously on the verge of going nova. ”I can't believe I tried that microjump! I can't believe the Rimrunner is gone! How could I have been so stupid?”

”We'd raced before, Salla,” Han said. ”This time was just... bad luck.”