Part 19 (1/2)

Too late. Blue Two became shattered history.

Four of the Bothan s.h.i.+ps looped away in pretty good formation, Dash in the Outrider in tandem with them.

Luke was close enough to see the missile port on top of the freighter blow a cloud of gas into s.p.a.ce that crystallized and glittered under the local sun's light.

”He's got a missile off!” Luke yelled.

”I got it,” Dash said. ”I'll hammer that spike into sc.r.a.p.”

Luke watched Dash's s.h.i.+p roll and dive, and his robotic guns began spewing coherent bolts of energy. He couldn't see the missile, but he saw Dash continuing his attack, saw the guns spraying their hardlight spears.

”Blast!” Dash said. ”I've got to be hitting it! Why doesn't it stop?”

”Das.h.!.+ Come on!” Luke yelled.

”Shut up, I've got it, stop, you blasted piece of junk, stop!”

”Move, Das.h.!.+”

”No, I'll get it!”

”Incoming!” Blue Six yelled. ”Scatter!”

The four fighters tried to split up, separated like an opening fist. Too late. The missile exploded among them, and when the blast cleared, all four s.h.i.+ps, eight Bothans, were gone. ”I can't have missed,” Dash said, his voice incredulous. ”I can't.”

Luke's anger swept over him as he put the X-wing into a sharp and twisting turn. He headed right at the freighter. Six of his squadron had been destroyed, just like that. And Dash, hotshot Dash, he'd screwed up royally. If it hadn't cost lives, Luke would have felt that the braggart got what he deserved. If he'd had any doubts that the crew of the freighter knew what they carried, they were gone now.

He was too incensed to use the Force. He ignored the energy beams stabbing at him, ignored Artoo's cacophony of whistles and bleats, ignored everything but the engine compartment of the freighter under his guns. Fired. Fired again and again. Saw the radiation absorbed by the s.h.i.+elds, saw the blue glow brighten. Saw the force field give way under his attack. Saw the engine compartment rupture, smoke, flash red and purple as his laser beams baked and killed it.

”I couldn't have missed,” Dash said. He sounded dazed. ”Stow that, Dash,”

Luke ordered. ”It's too late to worry about it now. Get ready to bring your s.h.i.+p in.”

Luke switched channels. To the freighter, he said, ”Your engines are dead, Captain, and that's what you and your crew will be if you fire another laser or missile, do you copy?”

A brief pause. ”We copy.”

”You are hereby considered prisoners of war. Stand by to be boarded. If you value your lives, best you don't mess with your real cargo. If anything happens to it, you will suffer the same fate.”

Luke shut off his comm. Oh, man. He'd lost half his squad. He should have known it was too easy to be true. A dozen Bothans had died to secure this vessel and its computer. He should have been ready for a trick. He should have known better than to trust the Empire. He should have realized that Dash was more talk than substance.

He was a lousy commander. Every time he went out, he lost people. And there was n.o.body else to blame for this. Yeah, Dash had failed him, but it was his responsibility, he was the commander of the mission. He'd thought it would be so easy. A piece of cake, he'd told Dash.

Yeah. He was too c.o.c.ky, too self-confident, too certain the Force would show him the right path. Wrong. On some level, it made him angry. The Force didn't always come when he needed it.

But the dark side would be there if you needed it. Always. Oh no you don't. Don't even think about going down that road.

But it was tempting. All that power. He had felt it...

He shook his head. He hoped whatever was in the computer the freighter was carrying was worth what it had cost to collect it. It had better be.

19.

Avaro sent a menial to tell them that the representative from Black Sun had arrived. He offered to provide a room, and Leia politely declined.

She'd had Lando rent a place two casinos away from here, and he and the droid had recently checked it carefully for spy devices. She trusted Avaro about as far as she could throw him.

”Tell her to meet us at the Next Chance,” she told the flunky, who bowed and left.

Leia approached Chewie where he was playing a board game with Threepio, the other gamblers in the place having been convinced it was wiser to let the Wookiee win than not.

”Let's go, boys. We have company.” Chewie and Threepio stood and followed her from the casino.

Lando was on the way to their rented suite, to do another fast pa.s.s on the place and to set up security. He'd be hiding with his blaster drawn when the Black Sun rep showed up. Chewie would watch the door from the hall, and Threepio would stay with her.

Outside, the day had shaded into early night, damp and hot still, and the facades of the gambling casinos might not have seemed quite so run-down if not for the garish lighting installed on the exteriors. Clear plastic pipes full of electroreactive gases that glowed in a dozen different colors, most of them bright, cast multicolored glare and shadows in all directions. The lights went with the rest of it: Everything in the complex seemed to be artificial; even the bioengineered lawns and shrubbery looked fake.

Somewhere in the darkness somebody yelled. Leia heard the sound of boots running, followed by more hoa.r.s.e screams. She touched the b.u.t.t of her blaster, tucked into a holster inside the waistband of her pants. Even with Chewie looming over her, she felt better knowing she had a weapon.

The night here was as dangerous as a skirmish with the Empire. People who had lost big money gambling sometimes did desperate things. The local news stat listed the number of murders on its back page every morning-a slaying had to be particularly gruesome or spectacular to make the front of the stat.

They arrived at the Next Chance without incident, however, and went straight to the suite.

Lando, blaster in hand, met them at the door when they buzzed.

”Everything set?”

”Yes,” he said. He waved at the suite's meeting room. There was a desk with a computer inset at one end of the room, two couches, three chairs, and a small table. A bar and a cooler were tucked into the corner opposite the door. Two sliding doors led to the refresher and an adjoining bedroom. ”I'll be behind the bedroom door,” Lando said. ”In case the Black Sun rep needs to use the refresher.”

”Good. Chewie, you've got the hall.”

Chewbacca nodded and moved out into the hall, his bowcaster slung over his back. ”Okay, Threepio, you stand over there, next to the bar.”

Leia moved to the desk and sat behind it. Might as well try to keep this on a businesslike basis. She sat, took a deep breath, blew it out.

She'd met with Alliance officials, generals, heads of planets, as well as Imperial governors and Senators, so rank didn't scare her. But she'd never had a face-to-face meeting with a major underworld player before.

At least not that she knew about. She was a little nervous. She didn't know quite what to expect.

Chewie called from the hallway.

Sounded as if their caller had arrived.

”Send her in,” Leia said.

The door opened.