Han Solo at Stars' End by Brian Daley

Author:Brian Daley [Daley, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction - Science Fiction, Solo; Han (Fictitious characte, Solo; Han (Fictitious character) - Fiction, Solo; Han (Fictitious character), General, Science fiction, Science Fiction - General, Fiction, Non-Classifiable
ISBN: 9780345282514
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 1979-03-12T00:00:00+00:00

Unknown

“Shall I erase that portion of my memory, sir?” Han's answer was slow, as if he was catching the habit from the droid.

“No. You may be the one who'll have to pass it along if I don't hack it. Make sure Blue Max keeps zipped, too.”

“Yes, Captain.” Bollux moved to take Rekkon's other arm as Han prepared to hoist again. His joints creaked, and his servos whined. “This was a great man, was he not, Captain?”

Han strained under the corpse's weight. “What d'you mean?”

“Just, sir, that he had a function, a purpose he cared about above and beyond his life. Doesn't that indicate a greatness to the purpose?”

“You'll have to read the obituaries, Bollux; all I can tell you is, he's dead. And we're going to have to eject him through the emergency lock; we might get boarded yet, and we can't have him around.”

Without further conversation, the two dragged at Rekkon, who had reached out from beyond death and given Han the answers he needed.

Han opened the hatch. Atuarre, Pakka, and Torm looked up in unison. They'd taken seats on the bare dock, the man at the opposite side of the empty hold from the two Trianii.

“We had to ditch Rekkon,” Han told them. “Atuarre, I want you and Pakka to go square away the forward compartment. You can throw some eats into the warming unit, too. Torm, come with me;! need a hand repairing the damage we did on liftoff.”

Atuarre objected. “I am a Trianii Ranger, and a rated pilot, not a drudge. Besides, Solo-Captain, that man is a traitor.”

“Save it,” Han cut her off. “I've locked up all the other weapons in the ship, including Chewie's other bowcaster. I'm the only one armed, and things stay that way until I figure out what to do with you all.”

She gave him a sullen look, telling him, “Solo-Captain, you're a fool.” She left, with Pakka trailing behind.

Torm rose, but Han stopped him with an arm across the hatchway. The redhead retreated back into the hold and waited. “You're the only one I can trust,” Han told him. “Bollux isn't really much good, and I just figured out who killed Rekkon.”

“Which of them did it?”

“The cub, Pakka. He was in Authority custody, and they messed with him. That's why he doesn't talk. I think they brain-set him, then let Atuarre recover him. Rekkon wouldn't have let any of you others near.”

Torm nodded grimly. Han produced the man's pistol from the back of his gunbelt and handed it to him. Its charge indicator read full. “Keep this on you. I'm not sure Atuarre's figured it out yet, but I'm willing to play them along and find out if either of them know anything that'll help.”

Torm stashed the gun in his coverall pocket. “What will we do next?”

“Rekkon left a message as he was dying, scrawled it on the gameboard. The Authority's keeping its special prisoners at something called Stars' End, on Mytus VI. After we've checked the ship over, we'll gather in the forward compartment and run down everything we've got in files and computers on it.

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