Star Wars_ Tales of the Bounty Hunters - Kevin J. Anderson [88]
Wait. Wasn’t she unafraid of dying?
She searched her feelings. She had missed Daye so deeply and desperately for so long that no other emotion began to fill her heart-emptiness. But she mattered to Chenlambec. She wanted to protect him in return.
And she mattered to herself. She had talents and skills to contribute to the galactic struggle. The Rebels had lost Daye; if she fought on, she might help compensate for that loss.
I’m sorry, Daye, she murmured as his face sprang into her mind. I want to be with you—but I’d like to live. You understand, don’t you?
The Hound grew on the fore sensor screen.
If she wanted to live, she’d better think through the next few minutes. That allergen, whatever it’d been, still floated all over the Hound’s Tooth. “Flirt,” she called, “something in the Hound’s air made Chen and me sick. Can you hold Bossk and still do anything about counteracting it?”
Flirt hesitated a moment, then called back, “It’s mekebve pollen. Strong histamine reaction in mammals but not reptiles. Hound just locked on his full air filtration for me. If you can wait a few hours, it’ll clear out.”
“Not on your life,” muttered Tinian. She looked around the Nashtah Pup. “Chen, what could we use for breath masks?”
He wurfled soft amusement.
“Not for the nerve gas.” She punched his shoulder. “But we’re going back to a ship full of pollen.”
He held up one arm and flicked its long underfur. His suggestion was long and complex.
“Yeah,” she exclaimed. “Your fur attracts it like crazy—”
By the time Flirt popped the Hound’s docking hatch, Chen and Tinian wore makeshift masks knotted from Tinian’s black shipsuit sleeves stuffed with Chen’s fur. Chen landed the Pup inside the Hound’s docking bay. Instantly, Tinian dove out. Her eyes streamed, but she could breathe. Chen pushed past her and sprinted up the corridor.
Blinking hard, she locked down and sealed the Pup, leaving the obah gas canister for later. Then she followed Chen at a mad dash.
Bossk struggled inside one meat locker, bouncing off the energy field and thrashing against interior walls with a Trandoshan’s tremendous strength. Chen stood outside the locker, one fist on his hip and the other hand holding his breath mask, laughing hysterically. The huge drone droid had stationed itself at a control board with one arm extended, anchoring the energy field’s activation switch “on.” The field was transparent, except when Bossk’s touch turned it to glimmering sparks.
Chenlambec threw back his head. Tinian covered her ears and grinned as his victory cry rattled bulkheads.
“Nice work, Flirt,” Tinian said aloud.
A throaty feminine voice answered. “You’re welcome, Tinian.”
“Flirt?” Incredulous, she turned a circle in place. Who was this?
“What would you like next?” The voice sounded sultry enough to steam Bakuran butter newts.
“It doesn’t sound like you.”
The bulkhead laughed in a sexy contralto. “I’m using Hound’s voice simulator. Isn’t he wonderful?”
Chenlambec answered gruffly, but his blue eyes twinkled over his makeshift mask.
“Will do,” Flirt purred. “Next stop, Aida System and Governor Io Desnand. I hear there’s a nice reward offered for a certain scaly passenger of ours.”
Bossk thrashed. “I will destroy this ship! I will take all of you with me to the Scorekeeper!”
He couldn’t, from in there … could he?
“I have failsafes everywhere!” He reached overhead and hooked two claws into an overhead panel.
Tinian’s chest constricted. “Flirt,” she shouted, “be sure the Hound heard that! Bossk wants to blow it up!”
“Oh, he did,” crooned Flirt. “He just let me remove Bossk from all command circuits.”
The Trandoshan villain flung the overhead panel at the energy field. Instantly, he vanished behind an opaque shower of sparks.
“Don’t worry,” Flirt purred. “We shut down that destruct circuit.”
“We?” asked Tinian.
“Hound and I. Who else?”
“Chen,” Tinian murmured, rubbing her bare arms, “we have an acquisition to deliver.”
• • •
It took three of Governor Desnand’s stormtroopers wearing power gloves to wrestle Bossk out of