Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 01_ Outcast - Aaron Allston [50]
“Great,” Lando said. “So … what do you need?”
“A vehicle,” Han said. “Very small, no bigger than your repulsor-lift mine cars, so we can navigate wherever they go. Packed with sensors. Active, passive, as broad a range as possible. And weapons. No energy weapons—I'm talking fragmentation explosives, slug-throwers, whatever you can manage, since the energy spiders can gobble up pretty much any energy output from handheld or small vehicle weapons. Hand weapons, too, in case Leia gets it in her head that she needs to step out of the vehicle.”
“Done,” Lando said.
“When can you have it ready?”
“It's waiting at the mine main entrance.” At Han's upraised eyebrows, Lando smiled. “I know your ways, old buddy.”
“I guess you do.”
“Can I go?” That was Allana, standing at the doorway to the other room—just on the other side of it, half concealed by the doorjamb.
Han and Leia exchanged a look. Leia turned her attention to Allana. “Were you listening at the door?”
Allana hesitated, then nodded. She stepped forward, her movement tentative. “Threepio started telling a story and I got sleepy, but I didn't want to nap so I moved to where I could listen to you, because you're more interesting.”
“I'm sorry, sweetie.” Han gave Allana a look that he hoped was both affectionate and sternly parental. “It's dangerous. No place for a little girl. You'll need to stay with Threepio and Artoo and Chance.”
“I'd rather be with you.”
“I know, Amelia. But it's not going to happen this time. On a mission, sometimes people serve best by remaining where others know they're safe. That's a contribution, too.” Han turned back to the others, and the amused, knowing looks on all their faces eloquently said, Not that anyone is ever willing to do that.
The vehicle Lando had prepared, resting on the white, dusty soil in front of the mine entrance building, had apparently started its existence as an airspeeder; it had the same low, rectangular frame with a central passenger compartment that was ubiquitous to that class of vehicle.
But this was a hard-top model, and emerging from the center of the roof was a small turret. Protruding from that were twin barrels, one no wider in diameter than Han's thumb, one wide enough nearly to fit his fist. He recognized them as a slugthrowing blaster and a grenade launcher, ancient designs seldom seen toward the galactic Core but more prevalent in Outer Rim worlds and less-developed planets. The turret looked like a recent patch job; there were signs of new welding around it and the turret, a dull metallic gray, had not been painted tan like the rest of the vehicle. On the metal surfaces over the engine compartment and cargo compartment were other recent additions, blue transparisteel bubbles that housed sensor equipment; they were on patches of metal where paint had been burned away and leads punched through so wiring and connectors could pass from the sensors into the vehicle's interior.
Han experimentally rapped on the speeder's frame and viewports with his knuckles. Both areas returned reassuringly deep thumps.
“Armored?” Leia asked.
Tendra nodded. “Used to be a speeder for shuttling visiting dignitaries between the prison and the landing field. It's old but sturdy. Sort of like Lando.” She winked in her husband's direction.
Lando shot her a dirty look but addressed Han instead. “The grenade launcher has two modes—two sorts of ammunition. The switch is on the weapons-control yoke. One mode is fragmentation explosives, very nasty. Be at least fifty meters away from one of those when it goes off, even if you're inside the vehicle. The other is a decoy we came up with for dealing with the spiders in a nonviolent way. Fires a flying drone with a very powerful heat package in it, gives off an energy signature brighter than a squad of miners. It automatically steers to avoid walls and has a flight duration of about a minute. Fire it off, let the spider chase after it, and