Behind the gambler, the portal shut. "What"s going on?" Lando demanded, only to hear his voice emerge in m.u.f.fled, subdued tones. Seeing the direction of Bria"s gaze, the gambler turned and found an Anomid regard-ing him.
"Nice to see you again, Calrissian," the Anomid said. "You are fortunate that I never mix business and pleasure."
"What-" Lando started, then he caught a glimpse of the big case, lying open on the floor. His dark eyes widened. "Fett..." he said.
"Yes," the bounty hunter said. "That had better be the last word I hear out of you, Calrissian. I am not here for you. Cooperate, and I may let you live. You might come in handy."
Lando knew better than to argue. Meekly, he put down the wine and flowers. Moments later, he found himself sitting several meters away from Bria, just as ef-ficiently bound, his back propped against the sofa.
Boba Fett regarded Bria intently. "Tomorrow, when we dock with Nar Hekka"s docking platform, you and I are going to leave the Queen, walking closely together. I will be armed, but not with any weapon a visual in-spection or security scan could discern. You will stay close by my right side at all times, and remain silent. Understood?"
She nodded. "Yes. But what about Lando?" The note of fear in her voice for him made the gambler glance at her appreciatively.
"Calrissian"s life depends on you, Bria Tharen. If you give me your word that you won"t "alert anyone, I will leave him behind, bound and gagged, but "alive."
Bria raised her eyebrows. "You would trust my word?"
"Why not?" he asked, with ~tn undertone of mockery. "You value the lives of innocents more than you do your own. I know your type. But just to make sure... I plan to wire Calrissian before we leave with a remote control detonator. If we encounter any problems, the cleaning droids will have to sc.r.a.pe his remains off the walls." Lando swallowed painfully.
Bria glanced at the gambler and gave him a rea.s.sur-ing smile. "You"re fight about me. I give you my word that I won"t cause any trouble."
"Good," Fett responded. "At the moment-"
The bounty hunter broke off as an alarm suddenly shrieked through the Queen of Empire with an ear-splitting volume. Lando sat bolt upright, his eyes widening. What the...
Fifteen seconds later the entire Queen bounced- there was no other word for it. The huge ship heaved like a buoy on a stormy sea. Lando~ stomach lurched, ~and he fell over on his side. He looked over at Bria, who had managed to remain upright, saw her gagging, strug-gling not to be sick.
"What~ going on?" she gasped. Lando, remember-ing Boba Fett~ order to remain silent, struggled to right himself.
"We came out of hypers.p.a.ce," Fett said. "The fail-safes must have encountered a sudden gravity shadow and reacted automatically."
Lando silently applauded the bounty hunter for his ac.u.men as he managed to roll back over and sit up. It was hard work, with his hands bound behind him.
"What would cause that?" she said. "An engine malfunction?"
"Possible," Fett said. "But more likely an attack. An Impefial Interdictor cruiser could bring a ship out of hypers.p.a.ce."
"But why would the Imperials attack a cruise ship?"
Bria asked.
Lando had been wondering that same thing, and couldn"t think of an answer. Bfia frowned as she con-centrated on the straining vibrations of the ship. "You"re fight about the attack," she said. "We"re caught in a tractor beam."
Grabbing his case, the bounty hunter dragged it be-hind the oruamental screen that decorated one wall of the luxury suite. Faintly, Lando could hear the swish of robes being doffed.
The gambler managed to catch Bria"s eye and mouthed, "Trust me, Lady Bfia. Follow my lead if we get an opening." He had to repeat it several times, until she nodded in comprehension and flashed him a shaky smile.
Minutes later the bounty hunter emerged, clad once more in his Mandalorian armor. He carried his blaster rifle, which was his only visible weapon, but Lando knew from experience that the bounty hunter was a walking a.r.s.enal of camouflaged weaponry. Walking over to Bria, he removed the restraints from her ankles, and then did the same for Lando. "You two come with me," he said. "And... Calrissian... remember. You"re ex-pendable. Lady Tharen . . . if you try anything, Calris-sian dies. Clear?"
"Yes," Bria said.
Lando nodded, then managed to get to his feet un-aided, despite his bound arms. Boba Fett, in a parody of gentlemanly behavior, a.s.sisted Bria to rise. She wob-bled a bit on her high-heeled shoes, flexing her feet and grimacing at the pins-and-needles.
Fett picked up the sound sponge and deactivated it, stowing it in a pocket of his trousers. With the m.u.f.fling device turned off, Lando could hear the sounds of blaster fire, screams and running feet. A public address system boomed: "All pa.s.sengers . . . please remain calm and in your cabins. There is an intruder "alert, but your crew is working to restore order. We will advise you as matters progress. Please remain calm. All pa.s.sengers..."
Right, Lando thought. They"re going to restore order... sure they are .... The gambler glanced at Bria, and she looked at him and shrugged slightly.
They reached the door, and Fett gestured to Lando.
"Open it."
The corridor was pure chaos. They had to wait in the doorway until a mob of screaming pa.s.sengers, most of them dressed only in nightgowns and robes, fled past. Fett glanced at a small, palm-sized device he held.
"Turn right," he instructed.
Lando and Bria obeyed. The gambler found it surprisingly difficult to walk with his arms bound be-hind him. It affected his balance.
Several times they had to step into doorways to allow shrieking hordes of pa.s.sengers to run past. The sounds of blaster fire were closer, now, as they neared the boat decks.
They left the pa.s.senger cabins behind, and took a se-ries of glidewalks that Fett directed them to. From the sounds, most of the pitched fighting was going on near the docking areas. Sounds of battle grew louder, closer. As they neared the shuttle deck, they saw sprawled bodies littering the corridor, most of them wearing uni-forms marking them as the liner~ crew. A number of the bodies belonged to pa.s.sengers, but none wore Im-perial uniforms. Bria glanced at Lando as they stum-bled along. He was surprised at her composure in the face of carnage-dead bodies made most citizens sick.
Lando strained his eyes for a glimpse of the attack-ers, but so far they hadn"t encountered any. He licked dry lips, knowing that, even with bound arms, he had to try to make some move before the three of them climbed into a shuttle together. In a shuttle, they had no chance. He glanced sideways at his fellow captive, a.s.sessing her ability to possibly back him if he tried something.
For a moment it occurred to h!m to wonder just why this lovely young woman-she couldn"t have been much over twenty-five-had Boba Fett "after her. She must be more than what she seemed, and his observa-tions of her so far backed that up. Most citizens," faced with the most feared bounty hunter in the galaxy, would be reduced to quivering lumps of protoplasm. But Bria was plainly not your ordinary citizen ....
They rounded a corner that led to the shuttle deck, only to run smack into a boarding party. Lando froze, Bria beside him, faced with twelve or thirteen unsavory characters dressed in loud, gaudy, mismatched clothes that gravely offended Lando"s fashion sense. They were festooned with garish jewelry. Bria whispered, "Pirates!"
Suddenly things fell into place and Lando realized exactly what had happened to the Queen. He"d seen this trick before. These pirates had brought the Queen out of hypers.p.a.ce by towing a good-sized asteroid into the reMs.p.a.ce an"dog of her hypers.p.a.ce coordinates. Then the gravity "shadow" of the asteroid"s gravity well had caused the hyperdrive failsafes to cut in, abruptly reverting the Queen to reMs.p.a.ce. An audacious and cunning plan-and it took big ships to implement it. Big ships and a daring leader. For the first time, Lando felt a surge of hope. It~ got to be. n.o.body else would dare to attack a cruise ship this big ....
"Back the other way!" Boba Fett shouted, and his captives obediently reversed course. Lando and Bria tried to run, but if Lando had thought that walking with bound arms was tough, he"d never imagined that run-ning would be so much worse. At every moment he imagined himself falling down, then being summarily shot by Boba Fett for his clumsiness.
The two captives managed a clumsy jog, and Boba Fett urged them on. But as they approached another curve in the corridor, Lando caught a flash of bright color. More pirates!
"Stop!" Boba Fett barked, his voice sounding doubly harsh because of the mechanical speakers.
Quickly the bounty hunter pushed Bria into a door-way, then yanked Lando over to stand in front of her as a shield. "Don"t move, Calrissian," Fett hissed, and moved out until he was in full view.
The pound of running feet approached, and then, more or less at the same time, both groups of pirates converged from opposite sides of the corridor. Boba Fett, who had been checking his weaponry, tensed, ready to do battle. Against how many pirates? Twenty-five? Thirty? Maybe rru~re ....Lando guessed. The two groups drew nearer, then slowed uncer-tainly. Lando didn"t blame them. He wouldn"t want to be the first person to fire on Boba Fett, even at these odds. Chances are that the bounty hunter would take quite a few attackers with him.
"What"s going on?" a familiar strong alto bellowed from the back of one of the packs. Lando let out a gasp of relief. "Boba Fett, in the name of all the h.e.l.ls of Barab, what are you doing here?"
"Collecting a bounty," the hunter replied. "No quar-rel with you, Captain Renthal. I"ll take my bounty and a shuttle, and go."
"Lando filled his lungs, shouted, "Drea! It"s me .... "Lando! Hey, am I glad to see-" Lando~ breath went out in a whoosh as the bounty hunter took one fast step back-ward and the b.u.t.t of Fett~ blaster rifle connecKed with his solar plexus. The gambler doubled over, wheezing. Slowly, the ranks of pirates parted, and Drea Ren-thal, pirate captain and Lando~ former girlfriend, emerged. She was a big, squarish woman of about forty-five, with fashionably striped silver and gold hair, a fair complexion, and the coldest gray eyes Lando had ever seen. Renthal wore her typical wild jumble of clothes- red striped stockings, a purple skirt kilted up on one side, a pink silk shirt and armored vest. Her short, spiky hair was half-hidden by an outrageous beret with a long, trailing orange feather.
Lando tried painfully to straighten up. He wanted to wave, but of course his arms were .bound. Besides, Boba Fett would probably blast him for his temerity. Renthal surveyed them, and said, "Lando, you never told me you had a bounty on your head."
Actually, Lando knew of several bounties on his head, in the Centrality, but this was Imperial s.p.a.ce. "No bounty, Drea," he called, his voice harsh and breathless. "I was just... in the wrong place... at the wrong time."
Renth,M looked back at the bounty hunter. "Fett, that true? No bounty on C,Mrissian?"
The hunter hesitated, then responded, "True. I have an old score with C,Mrissian, but it is... personal."
Drea Renth"M considered for a long moment. "In that case, Fett, you ought to be willing to let him go. Lando~ kind of... speci"M... to me. I might lose a little sleep if I let you take him. Tell you what... let him go, and I"ll let you have the shuttle, free and clear."
Boba Fett nodded. "Very well." Without turning his head, he said, "C"Mrissian... go. We will meet again... someday."
Lando felt Bria move away from him, giving him room to edge around her and leave. The gambler wanted more than anything to head for safety-Drea and her mob of cutthroats-but instead, he heard his own voice saying, "No. Drea, I can"t go without Lady Lavv,M. You can"t let Fett take her."
Boba Fett wasn"t often taken aback, but he heard Lando Calrissian"s words with surprise-almost aston-ishment. He"d never figured Calrissian for anytiring more than a dandified coward. The bounty hunter glanced at the gambler, wondering if C"Mrissian was just blowing Tibanna gas, making an empty statement, but he could tell from the man~ set expression that he meant it he wouldn"t go without Bria.
Fett"s gaze returned to Drea Renthal. How much did she care for Calrissian? It was obvious that the gambler was an old lover. But Renthal was a practical woman. One did not rise to the leadership of one of the largest pirate and mercenary fleets without being both prag-matic and ruthless. Perhaps Renthal would just cut Cal-rissian loose for his foolish stand-and over another woman, yet!
Renthal locked gazes with C"Mrissian and sighed. "Lando, honey, you"re cute and a good dancer, but you"re pushing me, here. Why should I give a regnuff~ patootie about this floozy? She your current girlfriend?"
"No," Calrissian said. "There"s nothing between us, Drea. But Bria here is Han Solo"s girlfriend. He risked his life to save your Y-wings and Renthal~ Fist from be-ing blasted by Peacekeeper during the Battle of Nar Shaddaa. Seems to me you owe him."
Again Fett was surprised. Bria Tharen and Hah Solo? That was obviously in the far past, since Fett had been monitoring her actions for over a year, and she"d had no contact with Solo.
Renthal blinked. "Bria? Her name is Bria? Like Solo"s ship? This is that Bria?"
C"Mrissian nodded. "Yes. She"s that Bria."
Drea Renth,M grimaced and swore. "Lando . . . you just love to make my life complicated, don"t you? I"m gonna take this out of your hide, baby? Okay... you"re right, a debt is a debt." Reaching beneath her armored vest, she pulled out a heavy pouch. "Jewelry and credit vouchers, Fett," she said. "Should be over fifty thou-sand credits worth in here. Let "em both go, and you can have your shuttle. I don"t want a fight ... but I"m not letting you leave with them."
Boba Fett surveyed the a.s.sembled ranks of pirates, a.s.sessing his chances for fighting his way out. There were thirty-two pirates-hardly good odds. Boba Fett"s armor would protect him, possibly enough to allow him to escape, but Bria Tharen was wearing a strapless eve-ning gown. She was certain to be hurt, perhaps killed, in any fire fight. And her bounty called for a live, un-harmed, delivery.
Boba Fett looked at the heavily armed pirates, then at Bria Tharen, and experienced a tiny flare of some-thing that he recognized, with dismay, as relief. Bria Tharen would not die today, or tomorrow, in agony, while the depraved High Priest of Ylesia rubbed his tiny hands and chortled with glee.
Fett took a deep breath. "The bounty on her is one hundred thousand," he said.
"Whoo!" Renthal looked over at Bria. "Honey, what in the name of Kashyyyk"s night demons have you been doing? All right, Fett, you bloodsucker." Turning to her crew, she opened the pouch and held it out. "C"mon, gentles. I"m collecting fifty percent of my share of the Queen right now. Put it here."
It was a measure of Renthal"s reputation that there was scarcely any grumbling. Pirates dug into their pockets, their pouches, and soon Renthal"s pouch was bulging.
Turning, she tossed it to the bounty hunter. Fett caught it, weighing it, then surrendered to the in-evitable. Renthal"s ransom for Bria Tharen was indeed a handsome one.
The bounty hunter inclined his head to Lando, and said, "Some other time, Calrissian."
The gambler"s teeth flashed in a fierce grin. "I"ll look forward to it."
Then Boba Fett nodded to Bria. "Later, my lady." She drew herself up, and the bounty hunter had to admire her composure. "I hope not. I"ll be watching my back."
Boba Fett turned to Renthal, and said, "The shuttle deck is that way."
"Right," the pirate captain said. "Gentles, let"s give Master Fett here a nice un.o.bstructed pa.s.sage to that shuttle deck. We don"t want any trouble with him, now do we?"
Respectfully, they parted, leaving the bounty hunter a wide aisle.
With grave dignity, Boba Fett walked between the ranks of pirates. The pirates on the shuttle deck also gave him a wide berth. Selecting a ship, Boba Fett climbed in, checked the controls, signaled for departure and watched the entrance to the ship"s docking facility clear. Moments later, the bounty hunter was streaking through the blackness of s.p.a.ce.
Alone...
Bria"s head spun at the sudden turn of events. One moment she was giving herself up for dead, and the next she was safe aboard the pirate queen"s flagship, Ren-thal~ Vigilance. The Vigilance was a huge vessel, twice the size of Bria"s Marauder corvette. Drea Renthal had salvaged the Imperial Carrack light cruiser following. the Battle of Nar Shaddaa. With her Corellian corvette, Renthal~ Fist, and her squadrons of Y-wings, the pirate captain"s fleet was indeed impressive.
"The minute I knew it was pirates boarding us, I knew it had to be Drea"s gang," Lando told her, as sev-eral pirates shuttled them over to the flagship while Renthal finished her boarding operation on the Queen. "I"ve seen her pull that trick with the asteroid"s gravity shadow before. Only Drea would have had the fire-power to tackle something as big as the Queen."
Bria looked at the gambler. "Lando, I"m very grateful to you .... You stood up for me, and you didn"t have to. That took real guts."
Lando smiled charmingly. "What else could I do?
You"re far too lovely to let Boba Fett have you."
Bria laughed. "It wasn"t Boba Fett I was worried about, actually. It was . .". the people who wanted me. They"re a nasty bunch. Compared to them, Boba Fett is a gentleman and a scholar."
She sobered, then jerked a thumb back at the Queen of Empire"s approximate location. "What will happen to the pa.s.sengers? Is Renthal . . ." she hesitated, "... a slaver?"
Lando shook his head. "Drea? No. She"s in it for the quick credits. Slavery is too much work for her. She"ll take the valuables, loot the ship, and maybe take a few prisoners for ransom. Once the ransom is paid, she re-turns them, unharmed. Drea is a businessperson. She"s ruthless when the situation warrants, don"t get me wrong, but she"s not a slaver."
She eyed him, and Lando reached over and took her hand. "Trust me, Lady Bria. I wouldn"t lie to you."
Bria nodded, then visibly relaxed. "I do trust you, Lando," she said. "How could I not after you stood up to Boba Fett for me? I couldn"t believe you did that."
Lando shook his head, smiling wryly. "Sometimes I surprise even myself."
And Drea Renthal will take us to Nar Shaddaa?"
"Oh, yes," Lando said. "Your booking~ at the Chance Castle, right?"
She hesitated, gave him a Sidelong look, then said, "Well . . . actually, thatg not what I"m worried about. I"m taking a shuttle from Nar Shaddaa to Nal Hutta. I need to keep a very important appointment."
Lando raised his eyebrows. "What in the galaxy is a lovely lady like you doing going to visit a bunch of smelly gangsters like the Hutts?"
She smiled wryly. "Well..."
Lando waited, and when she didn"t say any more, prompted, "Bria . . . you really can trust me. I want to be your friend."
She took a deep breath. "I have an appointment to talk to Jiliac the Hutt. It took me a while to get him to agree to see me, but finally he did. I have a... business proposition to offer him."
Lando frowned. "Then you"ll have to take a shuttle to Nal Hutta. Jiliac became a mommy Hurt last year, and she hasn"t been on Nar Shaddaa since, I think."
Bria nodded. "I"ll go wherever it takes, talk to who-ever I have to." She glanced up at Lando. "I understand that Hah lives on Nar Shaddaa?" She couldn"t conceal the note of hope in her voice.
Lando shook his head, his gaze sympathetic. "You"re too late, I"m afraid. Han lit out for the Corporate Se&or nearly a year ago, and hasn"t been seen since. I don"t know if he"ll be back or not."
Bria bit her lip. "Oh." After a second, she looked back up, nodded. "Well, that"s the way things go. I"m not sure he"d want to see me anyway."
Lando smiled again. "I can"t imagine any man not wanting to see you. He was a fool to let you get away, if you ask me."