Star Wars_ Tales of the Bounty Hunters - Kevin J. Anderson [104]
4-LOM had been observing him. He was trying to learn how to get intuitive knowledge.
Zuckuss began to cough again. He walked in and sat on the bunk with 4-LOM. “Have you received intuitive knowledge?” he asked when he stopped coughing.
“No,” 4-LOM said. He put down his legs and stood up quickly. Zuckuss looked up at him. “I have the beginnings of an equation on the function of intuition,” the droid said, “but I cannot yet take it to its conclusion. I will need to observe you further.”
Zuckuss stood up, too. “You glittery, tardy-gaited foot-licker!” he said. “You worked with Zuckuss all this time to try to steal his skills!”
“Not steal them,” 4-LOM said. “I cannot take your intuition. I hope only to learn to be intuitive myself.”
Zuckuss had no doubt that 4-LOM would learn intuition. He had never seen a droid so determined to equip himself with every skill necessary to succeed.
“Zuckuss has our answers already,” Zuckuss said. “Han Solo will try to join the Rebels at their rendezvous point, and that is a most interesting point, indeed. You and Zuckuss have work to do before we can go there—let’s get to it!”
4-LOM and Zuckuss hurried to their pilots’ chairs. Zuckuss quickly explained the knowledge he had received. He and the droid agreed that they had to infiltrate the Rebellion. They could not just show up at a point outside the galaxy where the Rebels happened to be—they would have to pretend to want to join them. Their past history with Governor Nardix would make that request somewhat more credible.
“There is a mere 13.3445 percent chance that the Rebels will accept our request to enlist,” 4-LOM said.
Zuckuss thought about that. He looked out the viewport at a row of wrecked Rebel transports and suddenly had an idea that, if it worked, could up that percentage significantly.
“What if we rescued survivors of this battle and delivered them to the Rebels—what would our chances be then?”
“87.669,” 4-LOM answered without hesitation. “Plotting course to the nearest transport.”
It had lights. It had intact decks. It probably had survivors.
It was the transport they had helped bring down, the one named Bright Hope.
Zuckuss communicated with the Star Destroyer and arranged for a staged TIE-fighter attack when they left the system: it would make the “rescue” more credible.
The Imperials quickly agreed to every request—though they must have wanted to interrogate all living Rebels themselves. Being forced to use some to bait a bounty hunter trap must not have pleased them.
But obeying Darth Vader’s orders pleased them. Zuckuss and 4-LOM did not need intuitive knowledge to be certain of that.
Zuckuss completed calculations on the spin of the Rebel transport and entered them into the computer. They had to match its spin to dock with it.
“Communication with the Rebel Transport is impossible,” 4-LOM announced. “We will have to dock and force entry into the ship.”
“They will welcome Zuckuss and 4-LOM. We are coming to save them,” Zuckuss said.
He was glad they would not have to fight. The Rebel transport would have oxygen on it. He did not want to risk exposure to it. “Computer,” Zuckuss said, “calculate this ship’s oxygen supplies.”
Numbers flashed onto a screen in front of 4-LOM and Zuckuss.
“How many adult oxygen breathers can survive on that oxygen for two days?” Zuckuss asked.
“Fourteen,” the computer answered.
The Mist Hunter had three holding cells, built for one person each. They would soon be much more crowded.
“Zuckuss wishes to take fourteen, then,” Zuckuss told 4-LOM, “the ones worth the most bounty—and all droids. Oxy-breathers can crowd into the cells, and the droids can stay out here.”
It was good to have a backup plan. The bounty from the Rebels they rescued might be worth a considerable sum.
“We can force more than fourteen into the cells,” 4-LOM said. “If we draw off all remaining air on the transport, we might accommodate another