Star Wars - Outbound Flight (by Timothy Zahn)

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OUTBOUND FLIGHT

TIMOTHY ZAHN

The light freighterBargain Hunter moved through space, silver-gray against the blackness, the

light of the distant stars reflecting from its hull. Its running lights were muted, its naviga-tional beacons

quiet, its viewports for the most part as dark as the space around it.

Its drive gunning for all it was worth.

"Hang on!" Dubrak Qennto barked over the straining roar of the engines. "Here he comes again!"

Clenching his teeth firmly together to keep them from chat-tering, Jorj Car'das got a grip on his

seat's armrest with one hand as he finished punching coordinates into the nav computer with the other.

Just in time; theBargain Hunter jinked hard to the left as a pair of brilliant green blaster bolts burned past

the bridge canopy. "Car'das?" Qennto called. "Snap it up, kid."

"I'm snapping, I'm snapping," Car'das called back, resisting the urge to point out that the

outmoded nav equipment was Qennto's property, not his. As was the lack of diplomacy and common

sense that had gotten them into this mess in the first place. "Can't we just talk to them?"

"Terrific idea," Qennto bit out. "Be sure to compliment Progga on his fairness and sound business

sense. That always works on Hutts."

The last word was punctuated by another cluster of blaster shots, this group closer than the last.

"Rak, the engines can't hold this speed forever," Maris Ferasi warned from the copilot's seat, her dark

hair flashing with green highlights every time a shot went past.

"Doesn't have to be forever," Qennto said with a grunt. "Just till we have some numbers.

Car'das?"

On Car'das's board a light winked on. "Ready," he called, punching the numbers over to the

pilot's station. "It's not a very long jump, though—"

He was cut off by a screech from somewhere aft, and the flashing blaster bolts were replaced by

flashing starlines as theBargain Hunter shot into hyperspace.

Car'das took a deep breath, let it out silently. "This isnot what I signed up for," he muttered to

himself Barely six standard months after signing on with Qennto and Maris, this was already the second

time they'd had to run for their lives from someone.

And this time it was aHutt they'd frizzled. Qennto, he thought darkly, had a genuine talent for

picking his fights.

"You okay, Jorj?"

Car'das looked up, blinking away a drop of sweat that had somehow found its way into his eve.

Maris was swiveled around in her chair, looking back at him with concern. "I'm fine," he said, wincing at

the quavering in his voice.

"Of course he is," Qennto assured Maris as he also turned around to look at their junior crewer.

"Those shots never even got close."

Car'das braced himself. "You know, Qennto, it may not be my place to say this—"

"It isn't; and don't," Qennto said gruffly, turning back to his board.

"Progga the Hutt isnot the sort of person you want mad at you," Car'das said anyway. "I mean,

first there was that Rodian—"

"A word about shipboard etiquette, kid," Qennto cut in, turning just far enough to send a single

eye's worth of glower at Car'das. "You don't argue with your captain. Not ever. Not un-less you want

this to be your firstand last tour with us."

"I'd settle for it not being the last tour of my life," Car'das muttered.

"What was that?"

Car'das grimaced. "Nothing."

"Don't let Progga worry you," Maris soothed. "He has a rotten temper, but he'll cool off "

"Before or after he racks the three of us and takes all the furs?" Car'das countered, eyeing the

hyperdrive readings un-easily. That mauvine nullifier instability was definitely getting worse.

"Oh, Progga wouldn't have racked us," Qennto scoffed. "He'd have leftthat to Drixo when we

had to tell her he'd snatched her cargo. Youdo have that next jump ready, right?"

"Working on it," Car'das said, checking the computer. "But the hyperdrive—"

"Heads up," Qennto interrupted. "We're coming out."

The starlines collapsed back into stars, and Car'das keyed for a full sensor scan.

And jerked as a salvo of blaster shots sizzled past the canopy.

Qennto barked a short expletive. "What thefrizz? "

"Hefollowed us," Maris said, sounding stunned.

"And he's got the range," Qennto snarled as he threw theBargain Hunter into another series of

stomach-twisting evasive maneuvers. "Car'das, get us out of here!"

"Trying," Car'das called back, fighting to read the computer displays as they bounced and

wobbled in front of his eyes. There was no way it was going to calculate the next jump before even

Qennto's luck ran out and the fuming Hutt back there finally connected.

But if Car'das couldn't find a place for them to go, maybe he could find all the places for themnot

to go .. .

The sky directly ahead was full of stars, but there was plenty of empty black between them.

Picking the biggest of the gaps, he punched the vector into the computer. "Try this one," he called, keying

it to Qennto.

"What do you meantry? " Maris asked.

The freighter rocked as a pair of shots caught it squarely on the aft deflector. "Never mind,"

Qennto said before Car'das could answer. He punched the board, and once again the star-lines lanced

out and faded into the blotchy hyperspace sky.

Maris exhaled in a huff. "That wastoo close."

"Okay, so maybe heis mad at us," Qennto conceded. "Now. Like Maris said, kid, what do you

mean,try this one?"

"I didn't have time to calculate a proper jump," Car'das ex-plained. "So I just aimed us into an

empty spot with no stars."

Qennto swiveled around. "You mean an empty spot with novisible stars?" he asked ominously.

"An empty spot with no col-lapsed stars, or pre-star dark masses, or something hidden behind dust

clouds?That kind of empty spot?" He waved a hand toward the canopy. "Andout toward the Unknown

Regions on top of it?"

"We don't have enough data in that direction for him to have done a proper calculation anyway,"

Maris said, coming unex-pectedly to Car'das's defense.

"That's not the point," Qennto insisted.

"No, the point is that he got us away from Progga," Maris said. "I think that deserves at least a

thank-you."

Qennto rolled his eyes. "Thankyou," he said. "Such thanks to be rescinded if and when we run

through a star you didn't see, of course."

"I think it's more likely the hyperdrive will blow up first," Car'das warned. "Remember that

nullifier problem I told you about? I think it's getting—"

He was cut off by a wailing sound from beneath them, and with a lurch theBargain Hunter leapt

forward like a giffa on a scent.

"Running hot!" Qennto shouted, spinning back to his board. "Maris, shut 'er down!"

"Trying," Maris called back over the wailing as her fingers danced across her board. "Control

lines are looping—can't get a signal through."

With a curse, Qennto popped his straps and heaved his bulk out of his seat. He sprinted down

the narrow aisle, his elbow barely missing the back of Car'das's head as he passed. Poking uselessly at

his own controls, Car'das popped his own strap re-lease and started to follow.

"Car'das, get up here," Maris called, gesturing him forward.

"He might need me," Car'das said as he nevertheless re-versed direction and headed forward.

"Sit," she ordered, nodding sideways at Qennto's vacated pilot's seat. "Help me watch the

tracker—if we veer off this vec-tor before Rak figures out how to pull the plug, I need to know about it."

"But Qennto—"

"Word of advice, friend," she interrupted, her eyes still on her displays. "This is Rak's ship. If

there are any tricky repairs to be made, he's the one who'll make them."

"Even if I happen to know more about a particular system than he does?"

"Especiallyif you happen to know more about it than he does," she said drily. "But in this case,

you don't. Trust me."

"Fine," Car'das said with a sigh. "Such trust to be rescinded if and when we blow up, of course."

"You're learning," she said approvingly. "Now run a systems check on the scanners and see if the

instability's bled over into them. Then do the same for the nav computer. Once we get through this, I

want to make sure we can find our way home again."

It took Qennto over four hours to find a way to shut down the runaway hyperdrive without

slagging it. During that time Car'das offered his help three times, and Maris offered hers twice. All the

offers were summarily refused.

Sometime during the first hour, as near as Car'das could fig-ure from the readings tumbling

across the displays, they left the relatively well-known territory of the Outer Rim, passing into a shallow

section of the far less well-known territory known as Wild Space. Sometime early in the fourth hour, they

left even that behind and crossed the hazy line into the Unknown Regions.

At which point, where they were or what exactly they were flying into was anyone's guess.

But at last the wailing faded away, and a few minutes later the hyperspace sky collapsed into

starlines and then into stars. "Maris?" Qennto's voice called from the comm panel.

"We're out," she confirmed. "Running a location check now."

"I'll be right there," Qennto said.

"Wherever we are, we're a long way from home," Car'das murmured, gazing out at a small but

brilliant globular star clus-ter in the distance. "I've never seen anything likethat from any of the Outer Rim

worlds I've been to."

"Me, neither," Maris agreed soberly. "Hopefully, the com-puter can sort it out."

The computer was still sifting data when Qennto reappeared on the bridge. Car'das had made

sure to be back at his own sta-tion by then. "Nice cluster," the big man commented as he dropped into

his seat. "Any systems nearby?"

"Closest one's about a quarter light-year directly ahead," Maris said, pointing.

Qennto grunted and punched at his board. "Let's see if we can make it," he said. "Backup

hyperdrive should still have enough juice for a jump that short."

"Can't we work on the ship just as well out here?" Car'das asked.

"I don't like interstellar space," Qennto said distractedly as he set up the jump. "It's dark and cold

and lonely. Besides, that system up there might have a nice planet or two."

"Which means a possible source of supplies, in case we end up staying longer than we expect,"

Maris explained.

"Or a possible place to settle down away from the noise and fluster of the Republic for a while,"

Qennto added.

Car'das felt his throat tighten. "You don't mean—?"

"No, he doesn't," Maris assured him. "Rak always talks about getting away from it all whenever

he's in trouble with someone."

"He must talk that way a lot," Car'das muttered.

"What was that?" Qennto asked.

"Nothing."

"Didn't think so. Here we go." There was a screech, more genteel than the sound from the

Bargain Hunter 's main hyper-drive, and the stars stretched out into starlines.

Silently, Car'das counted off the seconds to himself, fully ex-pecting the backup hyperdrive to

crash at any time. But it didn't, and after a few tense minutes the starlines collapsed again to re-veal a

small yellow sun directly ahead.

"There we go," Qennto said approvingly. "All the comforts of home. You figure out yet where we

are, Maris?"

"Computer's still working on it," Maris said. "But it looks like we're about two hundred fifty

light-years into Unknown Space." She lifted her eyebrows at him. "I'm thinking we're going to have a

stack of late-delivery penalties when we finally get to Comra."

"Oh, you worry too much," Qennto chided. "It won't take more than a day or two to fix the

hyperdrive. If we push it a lit-tle, we shouldn't be more than a week overdue."

Car'das suppressed a grimace. Pushing the hyperdrive, if he recalled correctly, was what had

wrecked the thing to begin with.

There was a twitter from the comm. "We're being hailed," he reported, frowning as he keyed it

on. He threw a look at the visual displays, searching for their unknown caller

And felt his whole body go rigid. "Qennto!" he snapped. "It's—"

He was cut off by a deep rumbling chuckle from the comm. "So, Dubrak Qennto," an

all-too-familiar voice rumbled in Huttese. "You think to escape me so easily?"

"You call thateasy? " Qennto muttered as he keyed his trans-mitter. "Oh, hi, Progga," he said.

"Look, like I told you before, I can't let you have these furs. I've already contracted with Drixo—"

"Ignore the furs," Progga cut in. "Show me your hidden treasure hoard."

Qennto frowned at Maris. "Mywhat? "

"Do not play the fool," Progga warned, his voice going an octave deeper. "I know your sort. You

do not simply runfrom something, but run ratherto something else. This is the lone star system along this

vector; and behold, you are here. What could you have run to but a secret base and treasure hoard?"

Qennto muted the transmitter. "Car'das, where is he?"

"A hundred kilometers off the starboard bow," Car'das told him, his hands shaking as he ran a

full scan on the distant Hutt ship. "And he's coming up fast."

"Maris?"

"Whatever you did to shut down the hyperdrive, you did a great job," she said tightly. "It's

completely locked. We've still got the backup, but if we try to run and he tracks us again—"

"And he will," Qennto growled. Taking a deep breath, he switched the transmitter back on. "It

wasn't like that, Progga," he said soothingly. "We were just trying to—"

"Enough!" the Hutt bellowed. "Lead me to this base. Now."

"There isn't any base," Qennto insisted. "This is the Un-known Regions. Why would I set up a

base outhere? "

A light flashed on Car'das's proximity sensor. "Incoming!" he snapped, his eyes darting back and

forth among the displays as he searched for the source of the attack.

"Where?" Qennto snapped back.

Car'das had it now, coming from directly beneath theBargain Hunter : a long, dark missile

arrowing straight toward them. "There," he said, pointing a finger straight down as he stared at the

display.

It was only then that his brain caught up with the fact that this wasn't the vector a missile would

take from the approaching Hutt ship. He was opening his mouth to point that out when the missile burst

open, its nose ejecting a wad of some kind of mate-rial. The wad began to expand as it cleared the

shards of its con-tainer, opening like a fast-blooming flower into a filmy wall stretching over a kilometer

across.

"Power off!" Qennto snapped, lunging across his board to the row of master power switches.

"Hurry!"

"What is it?" Car'das asked, grabbing for his board's own set of cutoffs.

"A Connor net, or something like it," Qennto gritted out.

"What,that size?" Car'das asked in disbelief.

"Justdo it," Qennto snarled. Status lights were winking red and going out now as the three of

them raced against the incom-ing net.

The net won. Car'das had made it through barely two-thirds of his switches when the rippling

edges came into sight around the sides of the hull. They folded themselves inward, curling around toward

the bridge

"Close your eyes," Maris warned.

Car'das squeezed his eyes shut. Even through the lids he saw a hint of the brilliant flash as the net

dumped its high-voltage current into and through the ship, sending a brief coronal tin-gling across his skin.

And when he carefully opened his eyes again, every light that had still been glowing across the

bridge had gone dark. TheBargain Hunter was dead.

Through the canopy came a flicker of light from the direc-tion of the Hutt ship. "Looks like they

got Progga, too," he said, his voice sounding unnaturally loud in the sudden silence.

"I doubt it," Qennto rumbled. "His ship's big enough to have cap drains and other stuff to protect

him from tricks like this."

"Ten to one he'll fight, too," Maris murmured, her voice tight.

"Oh, he'll fight, all right," Qennto said heavily. "He's way too stupid to realize that anyone who

can make a Connor net that big will have plenty of other tricks up his sleeve."

A multiple blaze of green blasterfire erupted from the direc-tion of the Hutt ship. It was answered

by brilliant blue flashes vectoring in from three different directions, fired from ships too small or too dark

to see at theBargain Hunter 's range. "You think whoever this is might get so busy with Progga that

they'll forget about us?" Maris asked hopefully.

"I don't think so," Car'das said, gesturing out the canopy at the small gray spacecraft that had

taken up position with its nose pointed at the freighter's portside flank. It was about the size of a shuttle

or heavy fighter, built in a curved, flowing design of a sort he'd never seen before. "They've left us a

guard."

"Figures," Qennto said, glancing once at the alien ship and then turning back to the green and blue

flashes. "Fifty says Progga lasts at least fifteen minutes and takes one of his attackers with him."

Neither of the others took him up on the bet. Car'das watched the fight, wishing he had his

sensors back. He'd read a little about space battle tactics in school, but the attackers' methodology didn't

seem to fit with anything he could remem-ber. He was still trying to figure it out when, with a final salvo of

blue light, it was over.

"Six minutes," Qennto said, his voice grim. "Whoever these guys are, they're good."

"You don't recognize them, either?" Maris asked, looking out at their silent guard.

"I don't even recognize the design," he grunted, popping his restraints and standing up. "Let's go

check on the damage, see if we can at least get her ready for company. Car'das, you stay here and mind

the store."

"Me?" Car'das asked, feeling his stomach tighten. "But what if they—you know—signal us?"

"What do you think?" Qennto grunted as he and Maris headed aft. "You answer them."

The victors took their time poking or prodding or gloating over whatever was left of the Hutt

ship. From the number of ma-neuvering drives Car'das could see winking on and off, he guessed there

were just the three ships that had been involved in the battle itself, plus the one still standing watchful

guard off their flank.

Connor nets, like ion cannons, were designed to disable and hold rather than destroy, and

Qennto and Maris had most of the systems back online by the time their keeper finally made its move.

"Qennto, he's shifting position," Car'das called into the comm, watching as the gray ship drifted leisurely

past the canopy and settled into a new spot with his stern above and in front of theBargain Hunter 's

bow. "Looks like he's setting up for us to follow him."

"On our way," Qennto called back. "Run the drive up to quarter power."

The gray ship was starting to pull away when he and Maris returned. "Here we go," Qennto

muttered, dropping into his seat and easing them forward. "Any idea where we're going?"

"The rest of the group's still over by the Hutt ship," Car'das said, squeezing carefully past Maris

as he headed back to his own station. "Maybe he's taking us there."

"Yeah, looks like it," Qennto agreed as he fed more power to the drive. "So far, they're not

shooting. That's usually a good sign."

There were indeed three alien vessels hovering around the remains of Progga's ship when they

arrived. Two were duplicates of their fighter-sized escort, while the third was considerably larger. "Not

that much bigger than a Republic cruiser, though," Car'das pointed out. "Pretty small, considering what it

just did."

"Looks like they're opening a docking bay for us," Maris said.

Car'das measured the opening port cover with his eyes. "Not much room in there."

"Our bow will fit," Qennto assured him. "We can use the forward service tube to get out."

"We're going to go into their ship?" Maris asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"Unless they want to use the tube to come in here instead," Qennto told her. "The guys with the

guns get to make those de-cisions." He lifted a warning finger. "The key is for us to keep control of the

situation while they're doing it."

He half turned toward Car'das. "That meansI do all the talk-ing. Unless they ask you something

directly, in which case you give them exactly as much answer as they have question. No more. Got it?"

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OUTBOUNDFLIGHT TIMOTHYZAHN 1 ThelightfreighterBargainHuntermovedthroughspace,silver-grayagainsttheblackness,thelightofthedistantstarsreflectingfromitshull.Itsrunninglightsweremuted,itsnavigationalbeaconsquiet,itsviewportsforthemostpartasdarkasthespacearoundit. Itsdrivegunningfor...

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