Star Wars_ The Han Solo Adventures - Brian Daley [251]
“Captain,” Skynx called. Han paused and looked back. “Here’s a funny thing: I still think this adventuring was basically just danger and hardship a long way from home, but now that it’s ended and we’re parting company, I find myself saddened.”
“Look us up for a refresher course, any time,” offered Han.
Skynx shook his head. “I have much to do here; all too soon I’ll be called away by my blood, when it’s time to go chrysalis, then live a brief season as a chroma-wing. If you wish to see me then, Captain, come and look on Ruuria for the flyer whose wing markings are the same as my own banding. The chroma-wing won’t recognize you, but perhaps some part of Skynx will.”
Han nodded, finding no adequate way to say good-bye. Badure called, “Hey, Slick!” Han and his copilot looked to him and he laughed. “Thanks, boys.”
“Forget it.” Han dismissed the entire incident. He started off again with his sidekick, both of them moving with some pain due to their injuries. “After all, a Life-Debt’s a Life-Debt, isn’t it, partner?”
On this last note, he poked a knuckle into his copilot’s ribs. Chewbacca swung angrily but not too quickly. Han ducked and the Wookiee backed off. “Look,” Han said, “that’s it for missions of mercy, all right? We’re smugglers; that’s what we know and that’s what we’re good at and that’s what we’re sticking to!”
The Wookiee growled concurrence. The others, surrounded by the endless shelf stacks of Xim’s treasure, heard the discussion echo back from the corridor. Han broke into Chewbacca’s rumblings with, “When the Falcon’s repaired and this wing of mine’s fixed, we’re going to try another Kessel spice run.”
The Wookiee croaked an irritated objection. Han insisted. “It’s fast money and we won’t have to look at any dirt! We’ll get Jabba the Hut or somebody to back us for a cut. Listen, I’ve got this plan …”
Just as they were moving out of earshot, Chewbacca’s protests stopped. He and Han Solo shared some joke that made both laugh slyly. Then they returned to their schemes.
“There,” Badure declared to Hasti, Skynx, Bollux, and Blue Max, “go the real Survivors.”
About the Author
Brian Daley’s first novel, The Doomfarers of Coramonde, was published on the first Del Rey list in 1977. It was an immediate success, and Brian went on to write its sequel, The Starfollowers of Coramonde, and many other successful novels: A Tapestry of Magics, three volumes of The Adventures of Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh, and, under the shared pseudonym Jack McKinney, ten and one half of the twenty-one Robotech novels. He first conceived of the complex GammaL.A.W. saga in Nepal, in 1984, and worked on its four volumes for the next twelve years, finishing it shortly before his death in 1996.
Brian was enthralled by the Star Wars saga and very excited by the possibilities it afforded for popularizing science fiction for a mass audience, so he was very pleased to be chosen as the author for the first Star Wars spin-off novels, the three volumes of The Han Solo Adventures. He continued his association with Star Wars by writing the radio plays for “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back,” and “Return of the Jedi.”
BY BRIAN DALEY
Coramonde Duology
The Doomfarers of Coramonde
The Starfollowers of Coramonde
The Han Solo Adventures
Han Solo at Stars’ End
Han Solo’s Revenge
Han Solo and the Lost Legacy
The Adventures of Hobart Floyt and Alacrity Fitzhugh
Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds
Jinx on a Terran Inheritance
Fall of the White Ship Avatar
Robotech
(Written with James Luceno under the shared pseudonym of Jack McKinney)
Robotech
No. 1 Genesis
No. 2 Battle Cry
No. 3 Homecoming
No. 4 Battlehymn
No. 5 Force of Arms
No. 6 Doomsday
No. 7 Southern Cross
No. 8 Metal Fire
No. 9 The Final Nightmare
No. 10 Invid Invasion
No. 11 Metamorphosis
No. 12 Symphony of Light
No. 18 The End of the Circle
No. 19 The Zentraedi Rebellion
No. 20 The Masters’ Gambit
No.