The Han Solo Adventures by Brian Daley

Author:Brian Daley [Daley, Brian]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Tags: Fiction, SciFi, Star Wars, Imperial Era
ISBN: 0345379802
Publisher: Del-Rey

“We’re in luck,” Fiolla said as she and Han stood studying the soaring holos that listed departures in the main passenger terminal. “There’s a ship that goes straight to Ammuud, leaving this evening.”

Han shook his head. “No, there’s the one we want, departure 714, the shuttle.”

Her brow furrowed. “But it’s not even leaving this solar system.”

“Which is why no one will be covering it,” he countered. “They’re likely to have watchers on the through-ships. We can change ships and book passage for Ammuud at the first stop, it says in the index. Besides, the shuttle’s leaving now, which appeals to me a whole lot more. We’ll have to hurry.”

They tried not to appear too anxious as they bought tickets and barely made it to the departure gate in time. Since the ship was only an inter-system shuttle, it offered no sleeping accommodations beyond big, comfortable acceleration chairs. Han buckled himself in and let his chair back, sighing and preparing to drop off to sleep.

Fiolla had grabbed the window seat with no objections from Han. “Why did you make me pay for the tickets in cash?”

He opened one eye and studied her. “You want to go around passing out Authority cash vouchers from an open expense account? Good, go ahead; you might as well hang a sign around you neck: AUTHORITY EXEC—WON’T SOMEBODY PLEASE SHOOT ME?”

Her voice suddenly held a tremor. “Do, do you think that’s what’s happened to Magg?”

He shut his eye again, lips tightening. “Absolutely not; they’ll hang on to him as a bargaining piece. All I meant was that we don’t want to leave a trail. Don’t pay any attention to me; sometimes I talk too much.”

He could hear attempted cheer in her tone. “Or you don’t talk enough, Solo. I haven’t decided which.” She settled herself to watch their liftoff. Han, who had seen more of them than he’d ever be able to count, was asleep before they left the troposphere.

At their destination, Roonadan, fifth planet out from the same sun that warmed Bonadan, they discovered they had missed their starship connection. The shuttle had been slightly delayed en route by injector problems, but of course starships on interstellar jump schedules are never held for mere interplanetary traffic. They run on precise timetables for which hyperspace transitions are meticulously calculated in advance by both onboard and ground-based computers. Straying from the strict timing of the jump schedules was something the passenger lines hated to do.

“But they don’t mind leaving people stranded on some rock,” fumed Han, who had been known to calculate a hyperspace jump with one hand while dodging the law with a hold full of Kessel spice with the other.

“Stop complaining. There’s nothing we can do about it,” Fiolla reasoned. “There’s another ship that can get us to Ammuud, see? Departure 332.”

He checked the holo listings. “Are you crazy? That’s an M-class ship, probably a tour. Look at that, they’re going to stop at two, no, three other planets. And they’re not exactly going to be burning up hyperspace either.

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