[Book] [Han Solo] - At Stars End

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Han Solo Adventure Trilogy

Han Solo At Stars End

2 STAR WARS: The Han Solo Trilogy

Chapter 1

“IT’S a warship all fight. Damn!”

Instrument panels in the Millennium Falcon’s cock-pit

were alive with trouble lights, warning flashers, and

the beeps and hoots of the sensor package. Read-out

screens were feeding combat-information displays at

high speed.

Han Solo, crouched forward in the pilot’s seat, coolly

flicking his eyes from instrument to screen, hast-fly

assessed his situation. His lean, youthful face creased

in a frown of concern. Beyond the cockpit canopy, the

surface of the planet Duroon drew stead-fly nearer.

Somewhere below and astern, a heavily armed vessel

had detected the Falcon’s presence and was now

homing in to challenge her. That the warship had, in

fact, picked up the Millennium Falcon first was a

matter of no small worry to Hah; the ability to come

and go without attracting notice, especially of. ficial

notice, was vital to a smuggler.

He began relaying fire-control data to the ship’s

weapons systems. “Charge main batteries, Chewie,”

he said, not taking his eyes from his part of the con-

sole, “and shields-all. We’re in prohibited space; can’t

let ‘era take us or identify the ship.” Particularly, he

added to himself, with the cargo we’re hauling.

To his right, Chewbacca the Wooldee made a sound

halfway between a grunt and a bark, his furry fingers

darting to his controls with sure dexterity, his large,

hairy form hunched in the oversized coptlot’s seat.

Wooldee-style, he showed his fierce fighting teeth as

At Stars End 3

he rapidly surrounded the starship wth layers of de-

fensive energy. At the same time, he brought the Fal-

con’s offensive weaponry up to its maximum charge.

Bracing his ship for battle, Han berated himseN for

ever having taken on this job. He’d known full well it

could take him into conflict with the Corporate Sector

Authority, in the middle of a steer-clear area.

The Authority ship’s approach left Han and Chew-

bacca just seconds for a clutch decision: abort the

mission and head for parts unknown, or try to pull off

their delivery anyway. Hah surveyed his console, hop-

ing for a clue, or a hit off the Cosmic Deck.

The other ship wasn’t gaining. In fact, the Falcon was

pulling away. Sensors gauged the mass, arma-ments,

and thrust of their pursuer and Hah made his best

guess. “Chewie, I don’t think that’s a ship of the line;

looks more like a bul~ job, with augmentative

weapons. She must’ve just lifted off when she got

wind of us. Hell, don’t those guys have anythin8

better to do?” But it figured; the one major Authorit~

installa-tion on Duroon, the only one with a full-dress

port layout, was on the far side of the globe, where the

dawn line would just be lightening gray sky. Han had

planned his landing for a spot as far away from the

port as possible, in the middle of the night-side.

“We take her down,” he decided. If the Falcon could

shake her follower, Hah and Chewbacca could make

their drop and, with the luck of the draw, es-cape.

The Wookiee gave a grumpy growl, black nostrils

flaring, tongue curling. Han glared at him. “You got a

better idea? It’s a little late to part company, isn’t it?”

4 STAR WARS: The Han Solo Trilogy

He took the converted freighter into a steep dive,

throwing away altitude in return for increased veloc-

ity, heading deeper into Duroon’s umbra.

The Authority vessel, conversely, slowed even more,

cllmbing through the planet’s atmosphere, trad-ing

speed for altitude in an attempt to keep the

MiUennium Falcon under sensor surveillance. Han ig-

nored the Authority’s broadcast order to halt; tele-

spenders that should have automatically given his

starship’s identity in response to official inquiry had

been disconnected long ago.

“Hold deflector shields at full capacity,” he ordered.

“I’m taking her down to the deck; we don’t want our

skins cooked off.” The Wookiee complied, to shed

thermal energy generated by the Falcon’s rapid pas-

sage through the atmosphere. The starship’s controls

trembled as she began to buck the denser air. Han

worked to put the planet between himseft and the

Authority vessel.

This he soon accomplished, as indicators registered

increased heat from the friction of the freighter’s dive.

Between watching sensors and looking through the

canopy, Han quickly found his first landmark, a vol-

canically active crevasse that ran on an east-west axis,

like a stupendous, burning scar on the flesh of

Duroon. He brought the Falcon out of her swoop, her

control systems rebelling against the immense strain.

He lev-eled off only meters above the planet’s surface.

“Let’s see them track us now,” he said, self-satisfied.

Chewbacca snorted The meaning of the snort was

clearmthis was temporary cover only. There was little

At Stars End 5

danger of being detected either optically or by

instrument over this seam in Duroon’s surface, for the

Falcon would be lost against a background of fer-rons

slag, infernal heat, and radioactive discord. But

neither could she remain there for long.

In the vivid orange light of the fissure that illumi-

nated the cockpit, Hah conceded that fact. At best,

he’d broken trail so the Authority ship would be una-

ble to spot the Falcon should the pursuer gain enough

altitude to bring her back into sensor range. He poured

on as much airspeed as he dared in an effort to keep

Duroon’s mass between him.gelf and the vessel

hunting him while he sought his landing site. He

cursed the fact that there were no proper navigational

beacons; this was seat-of-the-pants flying, and no

chance of leaning out the cockpit and stopping a pass-

erby for directions.

In minutes the ship had neared the western end of the

fissure. Han was compelled to dump some veloc-ity; it

was time to look for road signs. He reviewed the

instructions given him; instructions he’d committed to

memory alone. Off to the south a gigantic mountain

range loomed. He banked the Falcon sharply to port,

slapped a pair of switches, and bore straight for the

mountains.

The ship’s special Terrain Following Sensors came

on. Han kept the freighter’s bow close above a surface

of cooled lava and occasional active rifts, minor off-

spring of the great fissure. For whatever small edge it

might give against detection, he trimmed the Falcon

off at virtual landing altitude, screaming over eddied

6 STAR WARS: The Han Solo Trilogy

volcanic fiatlands. “Anybody down there better duck,”

he advised, keeping one eye pinned to the Terrain

Following Sensors. They bleeped, having located the

mountain pass for which he’d been searching. He ad-

justed course.

Funny. His information said the break in the moun-

tains was plenty wide for the Falcon, but it looked

mighty narrow on the TFS. For a second he debated

going for altitude fast, hurdling the high peaks, but

that just might put him back onto the Authority’s

scopes. He was too close to his delivery point, and a

payday, to risk having to cut and run. The moment of

option passed. He shed more airspeed, committed now

to taking the pass at low level.

Sweat collected on his forehead and dampened his

shirt and vest. Chewbacca uttered his low rumble of

utmost concentration as both partners synched to the

running of the Millennium Falcon. The image of the

pass on the TFS grew no more encouraging.

Han tightened his grip on the controls, feeling the

press of his flying gloves against them. “Pass, nothing

---that thing’s a slot! Hold your breath, Chewie; we’ll

have to skin through.”

He threw himself into a grim battle with his ship.

Chewbacca caterwauled his dislike for all unconven-

tional maneuvers as he cut in braking thrusters, but

even those would not be enough to avert disaster. The

slot began to take on shape, a slightly lighter area of

sky lit by bright stars and one of Duroon’s three

moons, set off by the silhouette of the mountains. It

was, just barely, too narrow.

At Stars End 7

The starship took some altitude, and her speed

slackened. Those extra seconds gave Han time to pi-

lot for his life, calling on razor-edge reflexes and in-

stincfive skills that had seen him through scrapes all

across the galaxy. He killed all shields, since they’d

have struck rock and overloaded, and wrenched his

controls, standing the Millennium Falcon on her port-

side. Sheer crags closed in on either side, so that the

roar of the freighter’s engines rebounded from the

cliffs. He made minute corrections, staring at rock

walls that seemed to be coming at him through the

canopy, and rattled off a string of expletives having

nothing whatsoever to do with piloting.

There was a slight jar, and the shriek of metal torn

away as easily as paper. The long-range sensors

winked out; the dish had been ripped off the upper

hull by a protrusion of rock. Then the needle’s eye

was threaded sideways, and the Falcon was through

the mountains.

Perspiration beading his face, dampening his light

brown hair, Hah pounded Chewbacca. “What’d I tell

you? Inspiration’s my specialtyV’

The starship soared over the thick jungle that be-gan

beyond the mountains. Han leveled off, wiping a

gloved hand across his brow. Chewbacca emitted a

sustained growl. “I agree,” Han replied soberly in the

wake of his elation. “That was a stupid place to put a

mountain.” He took up scanning for the next land-

mark and spied it almost at once: a winding river. The

Falcon skimmed in low over the watery coils as the

Wookiee lowered the ship’s landing gear.

8 STAR WARS: The Han Solo Trilogy

In seconds they’d reached the landing area near a

spectacular waterfall that dropped two hundred meters

to the river in a flume like a blue-white, ghostly scrim

under stars and moonlight. Han, reading the TFS,

found a clearing in the heavy cover of vegetation and

settled the ship slowly. The broad disks of the landing

gear sank a bit in soft humus; then the hydrolics

sighed briefly as the Millennium Falcon made herself

comfortable.

Han and Chewbacca sat at their controls for a mo-

ment, too drained to do more. Outside the cockpit

canopy, the jungle was an irregular darkness, tangles

of indefatigable growth topped by a roof of fernlike

plants that stretched up twenty meters and more.

Gauzy ground fog rolled through the undergrowth and

clearing.

The Wookiee gave a long, gusty, bass-register ex-

halation. “I couldn’t have said it better,” Han con-

curred. “Let’s get at it.” Both removed headsets and

left their seats. Chewbacca picked up his crossbow

weapon and a bandolier of metal ammo containers,

which also supported a floppy carryall pouch at his

hip. Han already wore his side arm, a custom-model

blaster with rear-fitted macroscope, its front sight

blade filed off to facilitate the speed draw. His hol-ster

was worn low, tied down at the thigh, cut so that it

exposed the weapon’s trigger and trigger guard.

According to directories, Duroon’s atmosphere would

support humanoid life without respirators. The two

smugglers moved directly to the ship’s ramp. The

hatch rolled up and the ramp lowered silently, letting

At Stars End 9

in smells of plant growth, of rotting vegetation, of hot,

humid night and animal danger. The jungle was filled

with sounds, calls, clacks, and cries of prey and pred-

ator, and, over all, with the monumental spillage of

the waterfall.

“Now it’s up to them to find us,” Han said. Check-ing

the jungle, he saw no sign of life. Not surprising. The

freighter’s landing had probably frightened most

wildlife out of the area. He turned to his shaggy first

mate/copilot/partner. “I’ll wait for them. Turn off

sensors, shut down the engines, the works; kill all sys-

tems so the Authority can’t spot us. Then see how

much structural damage she suffered topside when she

got her back scratched.”

Chewbacca barked acknowledgment and shambled

off. Han stripped off his flying gloves, tucked them in

his belt, and stepped down the ramp, which stretched

down and out from the ship’s starboard side, astern

the cockpit. He thumbed his gun’s sights to set it for

night shooting, then glanced around. A lean young

man dressed in spaceman’s high boots, dark uniform

trousers with red piping, and civilian shirt and vest,

Han had cast aside his uniform tunic, stripped of its

rank and insignia, years ago.

He ran a quick check of the Falcon’s underside, as-

suring him.self that she had taken no damage there

and that the landing gear had come to rest properly.

He also made certain that the interrupter-templates

had automatically slid into place along the servo-

guides for the belly turret, so that the quad-mounted

guns wouldn’t accidentally blow away the landing

10 STAR WARS: The Han Solo Trilogy

gear or ramp if he had to fire them while the ship was

grounded.

Satisfied, he wsnt back to the foot of the ramp. He

gazed up at the empty sky and the stars beyond,

thinking: Let the Authority look for me; this whole

part o! Duroon’s spotted with hot springs, thermal

vents, heavy-metal magma seepages, and radiation

anomalies. lt’d take them a month to find me, and in

an hour or three, I’ll be gone like a cool breeze.

He sat at the end of the ramp, wishing for a mo-ment

that he’d brought along something to drink; there was

a flask of ancient, vacuum-distilled jet juice un-der the

cockpit console. But he didn’t feel like going for it.

Besides, he still had business to conduct.

Duroon’s nocturnal life forms began reappearing in

the mossy clearing. Lacy white things swam through

the air with ripples of their thin bodies, resembling

flying doilies, while nearby fern-trees held creatures

that looked like bundles of straw, making their slow

way along the wide fronds. Han kept an eye on them

but doubted they’d approach the alien mass of his

starship.

As he watched, a smallish green sphere sailed out of

the undergrowth in a high arc, landing with a boink. It

appeared perfecfiy smooth at first, but then extruded

an eyelike bump that studied the Falcon with jerky

motions. But when it noticed the pilot, it flinched. The

eye-bump disappeared, and the sphere~ thing’s

underside compressed. With another boink the thing

bounced away into the jungle.

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HanSoloAdventureTrilogyHanSoloAtStarsEnd2STARWARS:TheHanSoloTrilogyChapter1“IT’Sawarshipallfight.Damn!”InstrumentpanelsintheMillenniumFalcon’scock-pitwerealivewithtroublelights,warningflashers,andthebeepsandhootsofthesensorpackage.Read-outscreenswerefeedingcombat-informationdisplaysathighspeed.HanSo...

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