Part 28 (1/2)

”Aren't you scared?” Han grunted, flipping the Fal-con up on her side to avoid a wash of ionized gas from one of the black hole cl.u.s.ters. The Imp vessel shot at him, but it was a clean miss.

Great[ Gettin' shot at with these kids here]

”No, sir!” the kid chirped. ”This is neat! Can you go faster?”

”Glad you like it,” muttered Han. ”Kid, I'm sure gonna try....”

He poured on the speed, skimming past the first of the black hole cl.u.s.ters. Their velocity made everything blur, almost as though they were going into hypers.p.a.ce. Han had never gone so fast in the Falcon. ”Whooooo!” he shouted, as they narrowly missed being pulled in by a black hole's gravity well.

”Whooooo!” echoed the kid behind him.

Hah began laughing like a maniac as they hurtled 'along. ”Like that, eh, kid? Watch me outrun these Im-peri'd slugs!”

”Go!” yelled the child. ”Faster, Captain Solo!” ”What's your name, kid?” Han asked as they came around the last curve of the Maw's terrible gravity wells, sheering so close that the engines strained in protest. ”Kryss P'teska, sir.”

”And you like to go fast, eh?”

”Yeah!”.

”Okay...”

Han threaded his way into the Pit, zipping 'along, and avoiding the hurtling asteroids by the seat of his pants. He realized that he was gaining on the Imp. The cus-toms s.h.i.+p was barely visible now ....

If I can get just a little farther ahead...

Sweat gathered on Han's forehead and ran down to sting his eyes, but he never eased up on his speed. The Imperial s.h.i.+p was far behind him now. Han ducked and dodged asteroids, and realized he was nearing the edge of the Pit.

”Great,” he grunted. ”All we gotta do is get outta here, and then make the jump to lightspeed .... ”

Chewie suddenly started whining and gesturing fran-tically at the board. Han looked at his instruments and groaned aloud. ”Oh, blast! Three Imps out there on the perimeter of the Pit! What else could they be doin' but waitin' for us! And one of'em is a big sucker!”

Han's mind raced. ”Chewie, we ain't gonna be able to outrun these Imps,” Han said. ”And we're out-gunned. But we've lost that guy on our tail, at least for the moment. I think if we can get far enough ahead, we should go ahead and dump the load just inside the Pit- the way you did that time with Colonel Quirt on that other Run. After they've searched the Falcon to their hearts content, we come back and retrieve the cargo. Whaddaya say?”

Chewie was in full agreement. ”Okay, take over. We gotta do this real fast,” Han said. ”Here's the coordinates.”

”Hrrrrrrnnnnnnhh!”

Leaving the Wookiee to head for the coordinates he'd selected, Han raced back to the pa.s.sageway with the secret compartments, with Kryss in hot pursuit. ”You kids, give me a hand here,” he said, getting out coils of wire. Several of the children a.s.sembled and stood there, staring at him. ”What're your names?” Han said.

”Cathea, sir,” said a young girl of perhaps twelve or thirteen, with a long blond braid of hair. ”I'll help.” ”I'm Tym,” said a small boy.

”I'm Aeron,” said a dark-haired child. ”I'll help!”

”Good,” Hah grunted, heaving up the deckplates.

”Help me get these barrels carried into the starboard airlock, and we'll wire 'em together.”

Within two minutes, the spice was ready to be jetti-soned. Han shooed the kids out of the airlock, then closed it firmly behind them. He ignored the standard depressurization procedures, and, using the manual override, forced the outer doors to slide wide apart- blowing the spice barrels out into the void.

”Chewie!” he yelled. ”Jettisoned! Log these coordi-nates!”

With luck, Han should be able to track the spice's progress and find it again after a little searching. The barrels themselves were made of an 'alloy that would show up on his sensors if he got close enough.

It was the best he could do, under the circ.u.m-stances.

Han ran back up to the c.o.c.kpit, and raced back 'along his course, so he'd emerge from the Pit approximately where they'd be expecting him to. As he headed out of the Pit, the hnp customs s.h.i.+p came hurtling up from behind him. Hah looked at Chewie. ”That was close.”

Han's corem unit began signaling, and he activated it. ”Unidentified s.h.i.+p, prepare to be boarded,” an angry voice said, just as Hah felt the Falcon seized by a tractor beam. ”This is the Imperial light cruiser a.s.sessor. Offer no resistance and you will not be harmed.”

Han sat there, with the kids cl.u.s.tering around him in the c.o.c.kpit, watching as the Falcon was drawn toward the big Imperial s.h.i.+p. ”Kids, let me do the talkin',” he said.

Moments after docking, the Imperials were at the Falcon's airlock, demanding to be admitted. Hah sighed and got up to let them in, with a trail of children tagging 'along behind him.

The Imperial captain himself was part of the heavily armed boarding party. ”Captain Tybert Capucot,” the balding man with the supercilious air said, looking at Han as though he were a particularly unappetizing sight. ”Captain Solo, you stand in suspicion of smug-gling spice from Kessel. I am authorized to search your s.h.i.+p.”

Han waved at the interior. ”Search away,” he said. ”I got nothin' to hide.”

Capucot sniffed and managed to stare down his nose at Han-even though the Imperial officer was several centimeters shorter than the Corellian.

The captain beckoned a scanning crew into the s.h.i.+p. ”Search every millimeter,” he ordered. ”I want that spice.”

Han shrugged and stepped aside.

The Imperials searched . . . and searched . . . and searched some more. Han and Chewie winced as they heard crashes from the lounge and the 'aft cargo com-partment. ”Hey!” Hah protested, ”I'm just an honest trader! I'm an Imperial citizen, you can't trash my s.h.i.+p like this!”

”Honest trader,” Capucot sneered. ”If you weren't running spice, then what were you doing?”

Han thought fast. ”I was... uh... well, I was takin' these kids back to CoreIlia,” he said. ”You see, there was this big rescue operation on a slave world, and... uh... well, these kids got left behind. So I brought 'em with me.”

The captain glared at Han. ”CoreIlia is that way,” he said, icily, pointing aft.

Hah shrugged. ”I had to stop off and buy food.

Didn't I, kids?”

”Yes!” lisped little Tym. ”We was hungry! Captain Solo saved us!”

”Captain Solo risked his life for us,” said Cathea, twirling her long braid. ”He's a hero.”

”He saved us,” Aeron said. ”We was gonna get blowed up.”

Little Kryss came over and took Han's hand, stood looking up at the Imperial Captain. ”Captain Solo is the best pilot in the whole galaxy. He sure can outrun those Imperial sl---”

Han managed to put his hand over the boy's mouth just in time. ”Heh,” he chuckled, grinning weakly. ”Kids. They say the craziest things. You a family man, Captain?”

Capucot was not amused.

Finally the scanning crew returned, not looking pleased. ”Sir, we found nothing. We made a thorough search, Captain.”

Tybert Capucotg face reddened. He stood there, searching for words, then met Han's gaze. ”Very well,” he said. ”Our brave hero Captain Solo claims that he was taking these children to CoreIlia. Such a n.o.ble act deserves an Imperial escort. Set your course for CoreI-lia, Captain. We will escort you there.”