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By Root 695 0

deeper into the atmosphere, cutting through icy clouds, then dark embankments as the ship homed in on the beacon. Powerful winds began to buffet the ship, and forked lightning split the sky to all sides. Han feathered the controls, as if encouraging the Falcon to pursue her own course through the chaos. In response, the YT veered and planed before leveling out over the tops of exotic trees, whose zigzagging branches seemed to reach out for her. In the distance, volcanoes belched fire and thick smoke into the already sulfurous air and scoured the carpeted ground with rivers of bubbling lava. Hailstones and sheets of blowing rain sizzled against the Falcon's nose and evaporated long before reaching the superheated ground. From obstructed vents in the molten hillsides flew boulders the size of small houses. Still closing on the beacon, the ship powered through gusts of volcanic ash one moment, glowing cinders the next. In the west, Tandun III's primary hung like a blind eye.

“Now that's what I call seat-of-the-pants flying, Solo,” Jadak said, just short of shouting. Having surrendered the copilot's chair to Leia, he was in the navigator's seat, lending what assistance he could. Allana, Poste, and C-3PO had returned to the main hold.

“Couldn't let you think my reputation was all hype,” Han said over his shoulder.

“I know better now.” Jadak glanced at the display. “The topographic sensors can't make sense of the ground cover.”

“We shouldn't have deleted those old programs,” Leia said.

“This isn't your first brush with a Vongformed world?” Jadak asked into Han's ear.

“We took on Coruscant,” Han said, indicating Leia with a nod of his chin. “Flew the Falcon right into the old Senate building, in fact.”

“Ship must have felt like she was returning home,” Jadak said.

Han had his mouth open to reply when the comm emitted a steady tone of recognition. Jadak checked the displays again, then extended his arm between Han and Leia, pointing to a forested rise in the distance.

“Signal's coming from that mesa.”

Han studied the readouts in silence. “That might not be a mesa,” he said at last. “Remember what Threepio said about ancient ruins? I think we're looking at one.”

“Like the Massassi temples on Yavin Four,” Leia said.

“Yavin,” Jadak said. “Where the Emperor's weapon was destroyed, right?”

Han grinned. “The first weapon. You slept through that one, too.”

“Guess I missed all the fun.”

“Not this time.”

Han overflew the mound, then banked through a broad return, bleeding velocity as the Falcon made a second approach. Beneath its thorned mantle, the structure could be seen as a four-faced, flat-topped pyramid surmounting a massive circular base. Surrounding it were dozens of smaller mounds, equally overgrown and apparently part of the ruin complex.

Han throttled the engines back and engaged the repulsorlifts, allowing the YT to hover directly above the structure. “The signal is coming from somewhere inside.”

Jadak leaned toward the viewport. “There could be a landing grid under all that cover. Probably an old turbolift type.”

“That's what I'm thinking,” Han said. “Only one way to find out.”

Han used the positioning jets to maneuver the Falcon off to one side of the structure, then lowered the ship until her belly was just about even with the flat summit.

“Solo, if you're thinking about using the quad laser—”

Han cut him off with a derisive snort. “I'm not planning on razing the place.” His hand flicked switches on the console. “One of the first things I did when I got the Falcon was install a retractable blaster in the bow. It's gotten us out of a lot of tight fixes.”

Han brought a targeting reticle onscreen and began triggering the weapon, each defoliating bolt revealing a narrow swath of the aged platform beneath the impenetrable tangle of thorn trees. A tedious procedure, the clearing took longer than expected, but in the end the BlasTech Ax-108 had bared a platform slightly larger than the ship itself. Han raised the Falcon and positioned it directly above the exposed area. Thousands of reddish brown beetles were