Honor Among Thieves

  Voices drifted down the corridor to him. Leia, talking to the rest of the crew in the lounge. The voices laughed, Chewbacca’s loud honk mixing with the Bothan’s chittering and the various human sounds. Leia being funny, lightening the moment, getting everyone on the same team.

  Another ship jumped out of the system. Han wished them a silent good luck, then almost fell out of his seat when he heard the sound of a throat being cleared behind him.

  “You all right?” Leia asked. Han realized the laugh he’d heard must have been their meeting breaking up.

  “Sure, just stretching a bit while I work,” Han said, then tapped on some controls to look like he was busy. He turned the water recycling system off, then on again. “Uh-huh, that’s just about done.”

  “You finished with the calculations?” she asked.

  “Yep, pretty much.”

  She put a hand on his shoulder, leaning close. “Then punch it, flyboy.”

  Twenty-Four

  The Seymarti system lay along the space lanes that led from the Core to the Inner Rim. Its sun was a small white star with a tendency to throw off flares massive enough to bathe its three closest planets in nuclear plasma. The fourth and fifth planets orbited beyond that, and then a cluster of four gas giants spun beyond them, each with a constellation of moons surrounding it. Jumping into the system behind the largest of these, Han could see the great smear of the galaxy. Billions of stars so far away that their light melted together into one great, unbroken band. On the display, the tactical computer drew out the planets and their orbits, the moons, the asteroids, the curving masses of high-energy ejecta from the star. Otherwise, the Falcon ran dark. Only the bare minimum of life-support and computational resources. If he’d done it right, they wouldn’t look like anything more interesting than a rock with a high concentration of metals.

  “Nice placement, old friend,” Baasen said. “Just here, we’re in three different kinds of shadow.”

  “Complex systems make for lots of cover,” Han said. “And more things to run into.”

  “Trade-offs,” Baasen said. “Always trade-offs.”

  Chewbacca moaned, gesturing toward the glowing planets and moons.

  “Yeah, I see ’em,” Han said.

  Leia ducked in behind them. The light from the display painted her in shades of red and black. “What’ve we got?” she asked.

  “Passive sensors are picking up something in orbit around the fifth planet,” Han said. “We don’t have great resolution yet, but it’s about the right size for a Star Destroyer.”

  Leia’s expression went grim. “Well, we knew there’d be something.”

  “All respect,” Baasen said, “I was hoping for something smaller.”

  “So was I, but I was expecting we’d see more,” Leia said. “What do the active scanners show?”

  “They show little dark circles where I haven’t turned them on,” Han said. “Seems to me that announcing that we’re here with an active signal might not be a great plan.”

  “Could disguise them a bit,” Baasen said. “Shift the spectrum, bounce the signal off the atmosphere of that sixth planet for scatter.”

  Chewbacca snarled and howled, but he also started setting it up. Han sat forward in the pilot’s chair, his fingers laced together. The display showed that the gas giant and one of its moons would be blocking them from the Imperial ship’s sight for another few minutes at least. He leaned forward and thumbed up the hyperdrive. The whir and hum filled the ship, but even before he looked at the readouts, he knew. It sounded wrong.

  “What are you doing?” Leia snapped as he shut it back down.

  “Seeing what our options are, Your Worship,” Han said. “It’s not looking like tactical retreat’s one of them. Whatever that thing is, it’s affecting our hyperdrive.”

  “That confirms it, then,” Leia said. “They’ve found it. And they’ve found how to turn it on.”

  “And so we’re not getting out of this system unless we get down there and turn it off.”

  “Not unexpected,” Baasen said. “But still a bit disappointing. Hey, boyo, at least your magic gizmo exists, eh?”

  At least I won’t be shooting you in the back today, he meant.

  The communications panel flickered to announce an incoming signal. Not from a hyperwave relay, though. Those channels were coming in as unstable and wild as the hyperdrive itself. Instead it was coming in on standard radio, a weak signal, but using a Rebellion encryption code. Han felt the sudden release of a tension in his chest that he hadn’t even known was there. He scooped up the headset and opened the channel.

  “This is the Millennium Falcon,” Han said. “Who’ve we got out there?”

  “Han!” Luke said. The relief in the boy’s voice was enough to set Han grinning. “What are you doing here?”

  Han smiled at Leia and pointed to his earpiece. Leia’s eyes were bright, and her relief showed in the way she held herself.

  “Looking for you, among other things. What’s your status?”

  “We’re grounded right now. When we got here, we ran into a patrol of Imperial fighters,” Luke said, and then paused. “It got a little hot.”

  “Do the bad guys know where you are?”

  “No,” Luke said. “We took the fighters that were left and skimmed past one of those solar flares, then killed power. The TIEs looked around for a while after that, but then they stopped. I think they assumed we’re all dead.”

  Leia pointed to the copilot’s headset. Chewbacca growled and whined, shaking his head in refusal.

  “I’ll give it back,” Leia said, her hand still out imperiously. Chewbacca coughed and handed it over. Leia put the headset on and adjusted the strap to her much smaller skull. “Luke. It’s Leia. How badly is the force hurt? Where’s Wedge?”

  “We’ve got seven fighters still ready to go,” he said. “We lost Burlis and Chrenn in the first pass. Daawis is still here, but his attitude stabilizer’s shot. Wedge is helping him try to get it working right now. I think we could fix it, if we had the parts. But we can’t get the hyperdrives to work. None of us.”

  “We know, kid,” Han said. “That’s why we’re here.”

  “Is it some kind of new Imperial weapon?” Luke asked.

  “No,” Han said at the same moment Leia answered, “Not yet.”

  “Well, whatever it is, we’ve been trying to transmit a warning and tell everyone to stay away from here.”

  Scarlet poked her head in the cockpit, and Han held up his palm. The Bothan’s bleating voice and the R3’s chirrups and whirs came behind her, a chorus of inquiry and concern. The Falcon wasn’t built to have that many people all wanting to be in the middle of things together.

  “Where are you, kid? We’ll come have a conversation in person.”

  “There’s an ice cave on the second gas giant’s third moon,” Luke said. “It’s even got a little atmosphere.”

  “Sounds glorious,” Han said. “Hang tight, and we’ll be right there.”

  “I’ll tell the guys not to shoot you,” Luke said. Han could hear the smile in the boy’s voice. Was I ever that young? he thought. Han dropped the connection.

  “So they’ve got it already,” Scarlet said.

  “It can’t be that straightforward,” Leia replied, handing the headpiece back to Chewbacca. Han noted that she didn’t put it back to the Wookiee’s size. “If they didn’t think it was a risk to be nearby, they’d have more than one Star Destroyer standing guard over it. And if our hyperwave relays are down, it’s a safe bet theirs are, too. My guess is they’ve found it, whatever it is, and they’re still trying to figure out how to make it work.”

  Baasen shifted to give Scarlet enough room in the cockpit. “Interesting day, this’ll be.”

  “Do we think it’s still on the planet,” Leia asked, “or would they have taken it up to the Destroyer itself?”

  “I don’t know,” Scarlet said. “Galassian doesn’t talk about the size of the thing. If it’s working?
??”

  Chewbacca howled at Han and nodded toward the tactical display. Han squinted at it as a pale blue arc appeared between the planets.

  “—I’d assume it’s on the planet, though. Whatever resources it needs to function are down there.”

  “No,” Han said to Chewbacca. “The burn’s too long. I want us running as quiet as we can here. Take it up a third of a degree and we can slingshot around that big moon there. Make it to Luke faster, and there’s less chance of the Star Destroyer seeing us.”

  “You think they’ll have forces on the ground, then?” Leia asked.

  “A science team at least,” Scarlet said. “Guard forces, too. Galassian’s initial survey showed several different strata of ruins, so I’d expect that it’s somewhere under the planetary surface.”

  “That’s not a bad path,” Baasen said, leaning past Han to point at the display, “but there’s a better one if you aim for this moon here, instead. Longer path, but faster, and you don’t spend so much time exposed to the Star Destroyer because of these asteroid fields in the middle.”

  Chewbacca howled and grunted.

  “What did he say?” Baasen asked.

  “Stop!” Han shouted. The conversations paused. From the lounge, the R3 whistled. “If you aren’t me or Chewie, please get out of the cockpit. Now.”

  The others scowled or smirked, but they left. When they were gone, Han ran his fingers through his hair.

  “We’ve got too many people on this ship.”

  Chewbacca shrugged, adjusted his headpiece, tried it on, then adjusted it again. He growled conversationally.

  “No,” Han said. “There’s only one person in charge. Me.”

  Chewbacca shrugged again. This time his headpiece fit.

  The ice cave was as wide as a hangar deck. Eight X-wings squatted at the back beside a surveying ship with scorch marks down its sides and blistered metal along its landing gear. The emergency lights on the ice beside them threw wide shadows against the pale blue ceiling. None of the fighting ships was unscathed. Long, black char marks streaked their wings and sides, and one of them had a pool of frozen green coolant on the ice under one wing actuator. But the pilots in their dirty orange jumpsuits all waved cheerfully enough as Han brought the Falcon gently down beside them.

  As Han walked down the cargo ramp, Luke trotted forward to meet them, R2-D2 rolling behind him. The kid was grinning just as if they weren’t trapped in a dangerous system, badly outnumbered, with limited food supplies and no way to call for help or know when—or if—support was coming. Chewbacca’s roar echoed softly in the thin air as he lifted Luke up off his feet, tossing him lightly in the air. Scarlet, Baasen, Leia, and Sunnim followed behind.

  “I’m glad to see you, too,” Luke said, patting Chewbacca’s arm. “What are you guys doing out here, anyway? I thought you were off in the Core getting a spy back to the fleet.”

  “We were,” Han said. “Scarlet Hark? Luke Skywalker. Luke, this is the spy.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Luke said.

  “Likewise,” Scarlet said with a smile. R2-D2 squealed, and she nodded to the droid. “And you as well.”

  “That,” Han went on, “is Baasen Ray. He’s a bounty hunter who promised Jabba he’d bring me in, and the Bothan is Sunnim, his pilot. I wouldn’t trust either too much.”

  “Oh,” Luke said, frowning.

  “Any friend of Solo’s,” Baasen said with a nod, and then didn’t finish the sentence.

  “Is he on our side?” Luke asked.

  “Not really,” Han said. “And the R-three used to belong to a man named Hunter Maas, but Baasen killed him. Now . . . I don’t know. Now it’s just on my ship.”

  “I feel like I’ve missed a lot.”

  “Luke, I need to speak to Wedge,” Leia said, as the pair embraced. Han stepped back, pretending to look at the power leads on the Falcon. He caught Scarlet’s glance, gauging him, and ignored it.

  “Right here, ma’am,” Wedge Antilles said, striding up. Han hadn’t seen him approach, but the man looked tired. His flight suit was stained by grease and what looked like engine coolant.

  “Commander Antilles, we have to get down to the planet,” Leia said, stepping back from Luke but keeping one hand on his forearm. “The thing that’s broken your hyperdrives and the communication relays is down there.”

  “Gonna be hard,” Han said.

  “Won’t be that hard,” Baasen said. “Just need a distraction, as I see it. And here’s one now, eh?” He gestured at the fighters.

  Leia’s expression went perfectly calm. Blank. Han realized she was weighing the options. The chances of safely reaching the surface of Seymarti V against the danger to the fighters. To Luke.

  “No problem,” Wedge said. “We’ll divide into two wings. One can come up from sunward; the other can come in from the gas giants. If we time it right, no one will notice one extra ship dropping in on the far side of the planet.”

  “And then what?”

  “Then we win,” Luke said.

  Han laughed. “You took out one space station with a lucky shot because I was there running interference for you, kid,” he said. “Don’t let it go to your head.”

  “I didn’t say it’d be easy.” Luke grinned.

  That was the thing about Luke. The way he said it, it almost sounded possible.

  “All right,” Leia said. “We need to move quickly. The ship with the bad attitude stabilizer?”

  “That one,” Wedge said, pointing. “I’ve been working at it for hours, but we don’t have the parts. I’d take any help I could get putting her back on her feet.”

  “Han?” Leia said. “Do we have something that will patch that up?”

  Han shrugged. “Let me take a look at it. I’ll see what I can manage.”

  “Thank you,” she said, and her voice was a little thick. She knows how dangerous this is, he thought. She knows that she’s asking the kid to risk death. Or any of the others. Maybe all. Grand causes, he thought. All in the grand causes. But he had to give her this much: she was willing to risk the people she cared about just as quickly as the ones in Kiamurr that she barely even knew. Han could admire that, but it didn’t make him comfortable.

  “Come on then,” Baasen said. “I’ll give a hand. I’ve still got the one.”

  “All right. Thanks,” Luke said. And then, to Leia, “Why is he here?”

  Han, Baasen, and Chewbacca tramped across the thick blue ice of the cave, their shadows shifting around them as they passed the emergency lights. Baasen’s expression was unreadable. The fighter, when they reached it, wasn’t as bad as Han had feared. The stabilizer was fused, but it was a standard design. Han could pull any of a dozen from one piece of equipment on the Falcon or another. The pilot was a young man, even more fresh-faced than Luke. Han hadn’t been sure that was possible.

  Chewbacca hauled himself up on the fighter’s wing while Han and Baasen got a welding torch and soldering alloy. Leia moved among the fighter pilots, talking and asking questions. Seeing her among them reminded him of the halls and gardens of Kiamurr. This was what she did. It was what gave her power. If she wound up running the galaxy, it would be because of moments like this one, asking for the loyalty of people who had no reason to be loyal to her.

  People like him.

  “Well, old friend, it’s a good, good day,” Baasen said.

  “How do you figure that?” Han asked.

  “Scarlet’s hyperdrive killer exists, doesn’t it? And the chances of you and me gunning each other down have fallen a notch. At least that’s how I see it.”

  “We’re about to throw all eight X-wings at a Star Destroyer so that we can sneak down into the ruins of some xenophobic dead species’ civilization and try to steal this thing from who knows how many Imperial troops and scientists. And that’s a good day?”

  Baasen pursed his lips. “Well, put that way, it sounds less so. But better than it could have been for us.”

  “It’s thinking like that that
put you in trouble with Jabba in the first place.”

  “Ah, but let this all play out well, and it’ll be him who’s got trouble with us, eh?”

  One of the fighter pilots whooped, jumping up to the X-wing’s cockpit and striking a pose while the men around him laughed. Han couldn’t say quite why the sight left a sour taste in his mouth.

  “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Twenty-Five

  The Falcon flew quietly through the vast emptiness, moving faster than a comet, but small. Han used the maneuvering thrusters lightly, shifting the ship behind whatever debris he could find and pushing to keep the bulk of the planet between him and the Star Destroyer. Long-range fighter patrols might still reach above the planet’s curving horizon. He couldn’t do anything about that. The best he could manage was to be small and fast and get down to the planet’s surface quickly when the time came.

  “Galassian’s notes put the temple’s coordinates just south of the equator,” Scarlet said.

  “Yeah, that’s actually in the middle of an ocean,” Han said. “I’m pretty sure he transposed these two readings.”

  “Why do you think so?” Scarlet asked.

  “Because that would put it more or less directly under the Star Destroyer,” Han said. “Anything dangerous or inconvenient just seems more likely to be true.”

  “There’s a cynical worldview,” Scarlet said.

  “Just being realistic.”

  The small, blue-white sun touched the edge of the planet. Great sheets of light spilled out, caught in billions of motes of dust that surrounded the swamp world. The debris of some shattered moon, the still-uncaptured remnants of the cloud that had spawned the system, or the relic of the inward-facing K’kybak civilization. Han couldn’t say, but it was pretty to look at. And then there, in the center of the light, a speck of darkness. The Imperial Star Destroyer hove into view, and Han tensed.