Honor Among Thieves: Star Wars by Corey James S. A

Author:Corey, James S. A. [Corey, James S. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Adventure
ISBN: 9780345546869
Goodreads: 18465656
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 2014-03-14T07:00:00+00:00

“UM,” SCARLET SAID. Hunter Maas lay on the floor at Baasen’s feet. The thief blinked twice, then fell into the absolute stillness of death. Han realized he was holding his breath and let it go with an effort.

“That shirtless little gentleman was a bit annoying,” Baasen said, poking his blaster at the corpse on the floor.

“So you shot him?” Han asked. “Now we’ll never know where that data is. You’ve lost your mind, Baasen, and I—”

“We’ll know where it is because I know where it is,” Baasen said, his voice as calm as if he were discussing the weather.

Scarlet nodded at him. “Okay.” Her blaster was in her hand and she drifted away from Han, the three of them turning into a triangle where every angle was a weapon.

Baasen smiled and slipped the stump of his shortened arm into the handle of the carrying case. He lifted it until it slid down to his elbow and hung there, swaying. “So, let’s go on back to your ship now, eh? We have what we came for.”

“Or maybe I leave you here with Maas,” Han said. “And we just take what we need.”

Scarlet said nothing but kept drifting to Baasen’s left. “You’ll want to stop there,” the Mirialan bounty hunter said to her. “Makes me nervous you trying to get to my blind side. It’s a sad world when there’s no trust.”

“So what now?” Scarlet asked. Han wasn’t sure if she was talking to him or to Baasen.

“I think we—” Han started, but his next words were drowned out by a rising high-pitched wail that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

“Out of time, boyo,” Baasen yelled at him. “We should have the rest of this conversation elsewhere.”

The planetary defense alarms had sounded. The Star Destroyers were in orbit. The Empire didn’t need the data Maas had stolen; they just needed to make sure no one else had it. They wouldn’t bother landing troops, they’d just bomb the planet to dust and make sure nothing lived to interfere with their plans.

“To the Falcon,” Han said to Baasen. The bounty hunter nodded and smiled. Han tapped his comlink, trying to reach Leia, but the connection didn’t go through. The relays were already down.

Scarlet darted out the door and waved an impatient hand for them to follow. Baasen started toward her, then stopped and turned to look at the R3 and the rat-bird.

“You two can come along if you like,” he said.

The rat-bird hopped down off the droid’s head and flapped over to sit next to its dead master. The droid burbled to itself for a second, then lowered its wheels and followed after the bounty hunter. When they left the room, Han looked back and saw that the rat-bird was gnawing on Hunter Maas’s leg. No loyalty among thieves.

The defense alert still sounded, nearly deafening, but a new noise was starting to eclipse it. A distant, heavy booming, like thunder.

The orbital bombardment had begun.

People were streaming into the corridor from the occupied rooms, shouting into comlinks and carrying hastily packed luggage.

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