Star Wars - The Han Solo Adventures - Han Solo at Stars End

by Brian Daley

  and Max mentionedV

  Give the droid a prize. When those booths start conking out, therere gonna be some pretty cranky prisoners on the loose. The guy who might be able to pull our choobies out of the conflagration is one of them Doe, Jessas father.

  They made their way down, past Hirkens living quarters and the interrogation levels, encountering no one else in the stairwell. The gravity fluctuations less-ened, but footing remained unpredictable. They ar-rived at another emergency door, and Han opened it manually.

  Across a corridor was another door, which had been left open. Through it Hah saw a long, wide aisle be-tween high tiers of stasis booths like stacked, upright coffins. The lowest rows of booths were already dark-ened, empty, the highest still in operation. Booths in the middle two rows flickered.

  But down in the aisles a line of six guards wavered before a mass of humans and nonhumans. The re-leased prisoners, members of dozens of species, growled and roared their hostility. Fists, tentacles, claws, and paws shook angrily in the air. The Espos, waving their riot guns and advancing, tried to contain the break without firing, afraid they might be over-whelmed if they opened up.

  A tall, demonish-looking being broke from the mob and launched himself at the Espos, his face splitting with mad laughter, hands grasping. A burst from a riot gun brought him down in a groaning heap. The pris-oners hesitation disappeared; they advanced on the Espos in unison. What did they have to fear from death, compared with life in the interrogation cham-bers?

  Han pushed Bollux aside, knelt behind the emergency-door frame, and cut loose at the guards. Two of them fell before they realized they were tak-ing fire from their rear. One turned, then another, to exchange shots, while their fellows tried to hold back the seething prisoners.

  Red darts of light crisscrossed. Smoke from charred metal rose from the doorframe with the ozone of blaster fire. The smell of burned flesh was in the air. The unnerved guards bolts zipped through the open emergency door or hit the wall, but failed to find their target. Han, kneeling to make himself as small a mark as possible, winced and flinched from the intense counterfire and cursed his own riot guns poor sighting characteristics.

  He finally nailed one of the two Espos shooting at him. The other dropped to the floor to avoid being hit. Hah, seeing that, used an old trick. Reaching through the doorframe, he placed his weapon fiat on its side on the floor, triggering frantically. The shots, aligned di-rectly along the plane of the floor, found the prone Espo and silenced him in seconds.

  The remaining guards broke. One let his piece fall and raised his hands, but it did him no good; the mob poured over and around him like an avalanche, bury-ing him in murderous human and alien forms. The other Espo, trapped between Hans sniping and the prisoners, started scaling one of the ladders connecting the catwalks along the tiers of stasis booths.

  Partway up, the guard paused and shot those who had tried to follow him. Hans shots, at the wrong an-gle, missed. Han gathered up Bollux, headed for the tier room.

  The last Espos gunfire had made the prisoners draw back as he climbed for the third catwalk. From out of the pack of prisoners, three shaggy, simian crea-tures swarmed up after him, disdaining ladders, swing-ing up arm over long arm along the tiers outerworks. They overtook the Espo in moments.

  He hung from the rungs long enough to shoot one of the simians. It fell with an eerie caw. The other ape-things drew even with the Espo, one on either side. As he tried to fire again, his weapon was snatched from his hand and dropped to those belo w. The yowling guard was then caught up by both his arms, swung, and hurled with incredible strength straight upward. He slammed against the ceiling above the highest row of booths and fell to the floor in a windmilling of arms and legs, with an ugly sound of impact.

  Hall, setting Bollux aside, ran to join the milling prisoners. Overhead, more and more of the stasis booths were being shut down to power the overtaxed life-support systems, yielding inhabitants of many planets. Now that the immediate challenge of the guards had been eliminated, the recent escapees were at a loss. Many of them had been killed or wounded by the guards fire, and many others were dead or dy-ing, unwounded, because their physiologies werent compatible with Stars Ends atmosphere and they hadnt entered stasis with their life-support equipment. Voices overbore one another Hey, where are- The gravitys funnyl Whats happ--- ....What place is this?

  Han, yelling and waving, got their attention. Grab

  those guns and take up positions in the stairwell! Espos

  will be finding their way here in a minute! He spotted

  a man in the uniform of a planetary constabulary,

  probably a bothersome official the Authority had de-

  cided to put on ice. Han pointed to him. Get them

  organized and set up defenses, or youll all find your-

  self back in stasisl

  Han turned, heading for the corridor. As he passed the droid, he told him, Wait here, Bollux; Ive got to find Doc and Chewie.

  As the prisoners scrambled for the fallen Espos weapons, Han dashed into the connecting corridor, swung right, and headed for the next tier block. But as he closed on the next door, it snapped open, un-locked from the inside. Three Espos crowded, elbows and hips, each trying to be the first to get out of the tier block, as a pandemonium of fighting and shooting echoed from the room behind them.

  The guards made it only halfway through the door. There was a deafening roar, and a familiar pair of long hairy arms reached out to gather all three of them back into the fray.

  Yo, there you are now, Hah called happily.

  Chewie!

  The Wooldee had finished draping the guards limp forms over a nearby handrail. He saw his friend and hooted ecstatically. Han, his protestations ignored, was caught up in a comradely embrace that made his ribs creak. Then the artificial gravity waffled for a second and Chewbacca nearly fell. He let Han down.

  If we ever get out of this, partner, Han panted, lets go settle down on a nice, quiet, stellar delivery route, what dyou say?

  This tier block had been taken with less trouble than the other; apparently fewer guards had been here when its stasis fields began to go. There was the same confusion, though, in a multitude of tongues and sound levels. The Wooldee, jostled into Hah, turned with a truly stentorian roar, holding his fists aloft. A space cleared around him instantly. Into the interval of silence Hah inserted the order that the prisoners take up what guns they had and join the other de-fenders.

  Then he grabbed Chewbaccas shoulder. Cmon, Docs here somewhere, Chewie, and we havent got long to find him. Hes our only chance of coming out of this alive.

  The two went on to the next tier block, of which there were five altogether, as Hah recalled from the floor plan. They encountered a door already open. Hah brought the riot gun up and peered cautiously into the chamber. Its stasis booths were empty, and a disturbing silence hung over all. Han wondered if, per-haps, the Authority hadnt gotten to use this portion of its prison yet. He stepped into the tier block; Chew-bacca followed after.

  Stand where you are! ordered a voice behind them. Men and other creatures jumped up from con-cealment on the catwalks and outerworks, and along the walls. More appeared from around the bend in the corridor.

  But both Hah and his first mate had identified the voice that had commanded them. DOCI Hah cried, though he and the Wooldee prudently held their places. No use being fried.

  The old man, his head wreathed by a white, frizzy cloud of hair, blinked at them in utter surprise. Han Solo! What in the name of the Original Light brings you here, son? But I suppose thats obvious two more inmates, eh? He faced the others. This palrs okay.

  He trotted over to them. Han was shaking his head,

  No, Doc. Chewie was here. A few of us came to see

  what we,---

  Doe hushed him. More important things to get to, youngster. All these tiers in the first three rooms went at once; thats how we took the blocks so quickly. The demands on the systems mustve been extraord
inary; and now I notice the gravitys unstable.

  Three tier blocks going all at once figured, Hah thought, what with that first giant demand placed on the anticoncussion fields when the power plant went.

  Uh, yeah, Doc. I meant to mention that. You know

  youre in a tower, right? Well, I, I sort of blew it into

  space; overloaded the power plant and cut the over-

  head deflector shield so that-

  Doe clapped a hand over his eyes. Hah, you irn-

  becilet

  Hah became defensive. You dont like it? Climb back into your shipping cratel He saw hed made his point. No time to argue; theres no way Stars End can make it all the way out of Mytus VIIs gravity. Were due for a crash, and Im not sure how soon. The only thing thatll save us is that anticoncussion field, and its faded. Its up to you to make sure its juiced up when we hit.

  Doe was staring at Han with his mouth open.

  Sonny, energizing an anticoncussion field is not like

  hot-wiring somebodys skyhopper and going for a joy-

  ridel

  Han threw his hands up. Fine; lets just sit and wait to smash ourselves flat. Jessa can always adopt a new father.

  That struck home. Doe sighed. Youre right; if its our one shot, we shall take it. But I dont think much of your taste in jailbreaks. He turned to the others, who had been kept from intruding in the conversation only because of Chewbaccas looming presence. Pay attentionl No time for chatting! Come with me, and do as I say, and we may make it yet; at least I can promise you an end to interrogation.

  He elbowed Hah. Blaze of glory, and all that, eh? Then he started off at the head of a shuffling, loping, hoof-clacking horde, each individual moving on what-ever extremities or in whatever fashion was his.

  As they went, Han rapidly told Doe the bare bones of the story. The old man interrupted This Trianii is onboard the Millennium Falcon?

  Should be, but it wont do us much good; the Fal-

  cons tractors could never hold back this tower from

  re-entry.

  Doc stopped. I say, did you hear something, boy?

  They all had, the mew and crackle of blaster fire. They broke into a run. For all his apparent age, Doe kept up with the pilot and the Wookiee. They reached the emergency door just as the limp body of a prisoner was passed into the corridor from the stairwell. It was a gangling, saurian creature with a blaster burn in its midsection. From the stairwell came the irregular sounds of a firefight.

  Whats going on? Hah shouted, trying to elbow his way through. Chewbacca got in front, shoving and yelping, and opened a way. The prisoner who Hah had arbitrarily put in charge appeared on the stairs. Were holding an upper landing. There are a number of Authority people up there, trying to fight their way down. I put some lookouts on the lower stairs, but nothings happened down there yet.

  Hitken and his bunch are trying to make their way down because the air locks are located here and on the lowest level. Hes hoping for a rescue, Han told them.

  Doe and the others looked at him in surprise. He remembered that Stars End must be largely unknown territory to them. The constabulary officer asked, Just whats happened?

  Our times running out, is what, Han answered. We have to hold up here and give Doe there a chance to get down to the engineering levels. Take whoevers armed on point; therell be some resistance down there, but it ought to be light. The rest can follow at a distance.

  The expedition down the stairwell began, with Doe hurrying because none of them knew when the tower would hit its apogee and begin its plummeting descent.

  Meanwhile, Han and Chewbacca dashed upstairs. Han felt himself breathing hard and understood that life-support systems were beginning to fail. H the oxy-gen pressure in the tower fell too low, all their efforts would mean nothing.

  They joined the defenders holding the second land-ing above the tier blocks. Blaster beams from above sizzled and crashed against the opposite wall as the re-maining armed prisoners here fired quick, unaimed shots around the corner when they could, with little chance of hitting anyone up on the next landing. Sev-eral defenders lay dead or injured. As Han topped the stairs, one man edged his weapon around the corner, quickly squeezed off a few shots, and drew back hast-fly. He spied Hah. Whats going on down there?

  Han crouched beside him and was about to ease around the corner for a squint upstairs when a volley of red bolts burned and bit at the floor and walls out in the field of fire. He shrank back.

  Get your damn bulb down, man, the defender cautioned. We ran into theh point men right here at the turn. We drove them back, but the rest came down. Its a standoff, but they have more weapons. Then he repeated, Whats going on below?

  The others are headed for the lower levels, to rig a, a way out of this. Were here to keep the riffraff out. He began to sweat, thinking that the tower must surely be succumbing to the pull of Mytus VII by now.

  The steady salvos from the next landing lit the stair-well. Chewbacca, checking it out with narrowed eyes, gobbled something to Han.

  My pals right, Han told the other defenders. See all the incoming bolts? Theyre hitting the far wall and the other side of the floor, and thats all, nothing on this side.

  He slid arou nd on the seat of his pants, cradling the riot gun high across his chest. Chewbacca braced Hans knees solidly to the floor. Han squirmed back on his buttocks, centimeter by centimeter, until his back was almost into the line of fire.

  He and Chewbacca traded looks. The mans was rueful, the Wooldees concerned. Hang it out.

  Han let himself fall backward. The riot gun, clamped across his chest, pointed straight upstairs. Still dropping, he saw what hed expected. A man in g. spo brown was stealing down the stairs, hugging the near wall to avoid his covering fire. The scene burned into Hans mind with an abrupt, almost painful clarity as he cut loose with a flurry of shots. Without waiting to see their effect, he leaned up again, long before his back could touch the floor. Chewbacca felt the move, pulled hard. Han came sliding to safety; his pop-up appearance had begun and ended so suddenly that nobody upstairs had managed to redirect his aim.

  There was a rapid clattering on the stairs, and an Espo-issue side arm spun to a stop on the landing. A moment later, with a weighty bouncing, the pistols owner rolled to a halt next to it, more than adequately dead. It was the Espo major.

  Han nodded in tribute to the majors devotion to duty.

  The barrage from the next landing became more in-tense. The defenders answered with what weapons they had. Chewbacca picked up a pistol dropped by one of the fallen defenders, a feathered creature lying in a pool of translucent blood. The corpses beaked face had been partly obliterated by a blaster shot. The Wooldee found that the barrel of the pistol had been hit, and was twisted and useless.

  Chewbacca, pointing at Hans empty, holstered blaster, threw him the unusable gun. Hah threw back the riot gun in exchange and drew his own side arm, to charge it from the ruined pistol. Chewbacca, whose thick fingers didnt fit the human-sized weapon well, tore off the trigger guard, then began firing around the corner without lookingmhigh, low, and in between, at every angle.

  Han mated the adapters in the pistols grip to those in his own blasters power pack, just forward of the trigger guard. He wound up with only half-charge ca-pacity, but it would have to do. Finished, he tossed the useless Espo pistol aside and joined the Wooldee. To frustrate counterfire, the two fired unpredictably, and they could be very unpredictable indeed. None of the Authority people seemed to want to emulate the majors heroism.

  Suddenly the firing from above stopped. The de-fenders also stopped, watching for a trick. It occurred to Han that if Hitken had even one shock-grenade--- but no; hed have used it already.

  A flat, hissing voice called down, Solel Vieeprex Hirken would speak with you?

  Hah leaned back against the wall nonchalantly. Without showing himseN, he answered, Send him down, Uul-Rha-Shan. What the hell, come on down yourself, old snake Happy to oblige.

  Th
en came Hirkens strong-sales-experience voice. Well talk from here, thanks. I know now just what it was you did.

  Hah wished to himself hed known, too, beforehand. I want to strike a bargain, Hirken went on. How-ever youre planning on getting away, I want you to take me with you. And the others with me, of course. Of course. Hah didnt even hesitate. You got it.

  Throw your guns down here and come down one at a

  time, hands on your-

  Be serious, Solo! Hirken interrupted, depriving Hah of the chance to tell him where to put his hands. We can keep you occupied here so that you wont be able to get out yourself! And Stars End is at the top of its arc; weve seen that much through the dome. Itll be too late soon for any of us. What do you say to that?

  No way, Hirken! Han wasnt sure whether Hirken was bluffing about the towers having reached apogee. but there was no way to check it short of leaning out one of the locks-a poor idea in view of the scarcity of spacesuits. Hirkens dead center about one thing, he whispered. They could pin us here if we let them make the rules.

  The others followed him quickly down to the next landing, the last one before the tier-block level. They slipped around the comer and took up positions, wait-ing. Now itd be the Viceprexs turn to sweat. From what Hah could hear, it sounded like the majority of the prisoners were still in the tier blocks, unsure of what they should do. Han just hoped they wouldnt panic and come his way.

  He had his blaster raised, knowing a questing head must come around the comer theyd abandoned, but it was impossible to anticipate exactly when it would come.

  A head did flick around the comer, Uul-Rha-Shans, high up; hed stood on someone elses back or shoul-ders. He flashed out, saw the disposition of the de-fenders, and pulled back with astounding speed. Hans tardy shot merely chipped a little more wall away; the pilot marveled at how quickly the reptilian gunman had moved.

  Is that how it is to be, Solo, came Uul-Rha-Shans hypnotic voice. Must I hunt you from level to level? Strike a bargain with us; we only desire to live.

  Han laughed. Sure, its just everybody else that you dont want to live.