Star Wars: Legacy of the Force 04: Exile by Aaron Allston

Author:Aaron Allston
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction.Star Wars
ISBN: 9780345477538
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2007-02-27T08:00:00+00:00

Dozens of decks below, a small cargo craft rose into the main hangar bay of the Errant Venture.

It wasn’t a pretty vehicle. About forty meters in length from bow to stern, it had a front end—its main cargo hull—that was as elegant and aerodynamic as a thick nerf steak cut into a rectangle and stood up on its edge. Behind that, constituting about a third of the length of the craft, was the maneuvering shaft, a low cylinder housing the main thrusters and the servos that positioned the maneuvering fins, long wing-like surfaces that stretched laterally from the shaft.

In short, it looked like the mutant offspring of a bird and a brick, reengineered by Verpines to fly backward.

This example of the YV-666 line had dents, blast scars, and rust patches all over its hull, making it especially unlovely.

At the forward portion of the top deck, Captain Uran Lavint carefully maneuvered the awkward craft up into the hangar, then followed the glowing spherical droid above a trail of blinking lights on the hangar floor to her assigned berth. “Soon as we land,” she said, “you’ll want to get into the smuggling compartment. They’ll do a basic scan from outside.”

“We understand.” Alema’s voice came from a patch of shadow, impenetrable by ordinary sight, at the back of the bridge. “Why do they care if there are undeclared passengers?”

“It’s all money.” Lavint set the craft down with only the faintest of thumps, though that noise was joined by the squeal and creak of durasteel components settling. She grimaced at the noise. “If they don’t know about you, they can’t charge you for, well, anything. Soon as I get my cabin assignment, I’ll comm you where it is.”

“Good. Why this ship, Captain? What is so special about a gigantic casino and shopping complex?”

“It’ll take too long to explain now. But remind me sometime to give you my speech about Corellian smugglers.”

“We will.”

Lavint didn’t see the shadow fade, but the bridge seemed to brighten, and she knew Alema was gone.

Three stories below, hangar workers came forward. In a moment they’d be plugging into an exterior hull comm port and asking which of their many overpriced services she wished to avail herself of—refueling, de-rusting, painting, transmission of the latest holodramas…She waved and smiled down at them as if she didn’t mind their presence.

And she wished that the Errant Venture would be where they found the Solos, so she could leave Alema Rar and her craziness behind forever.

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