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Chewbacca appeared at the ramp head. The nashtah, sighting him, gave throat to a piercing scream and lunged, dragging its handler until he dug in his heels and pressed a stud on the control leash handle. The nashtah gave a yeowl of displeasure at the mild shock that stopped its advance for the moment. Chewbacca watched impassively, his bowcaster held ready, eyes sweeping the scene below.

Zlarb started Han off with a shove, staying close behind, and the two climbed the ramp. When they were near the top, Zlarb addressed Chewbacca. “Put down the weapon. Do it now and step back or your friend here gets fried.” There was the nudge of the blaster between Han’s shoulder blades.

Chewbacca debated the variables involved, then complied, seeing no other way to save his friend’s life. Meanwhile, Han evaluated his chances for a fast move. He knew he might stand a chance of neutralizing Zlarb, but the other two gang members were backing their boss up and each had a handgun out now. And then there was the nashtah. Han elected to postpone his most desperate option for the time being.

When they reached the top of the ramp, Zlarb pushed Han hard, then stooped to take up Chewbacca’s bowcaster. The Wookiee caught his friend as Han stumbled from the shove and kept him from falling. Han removed his facebowl and threw it aside. Taking a quick look around, he noticed Bollux still standing where Han had left him. The ’droid seemed to be rooted to the spot, immobile with surprise, his circuitry struggling to absorb the bewildering rush of events.

Zlarb’s men had come in behind him along with the nashtah, whose claws scraped the deckplates. Again it had to be curbed from leaping at the Wookiee, and Han wondered for a moment what it was about Chewbacca that antagonized it so. Something about his first mate’s scent, or perhaps a resemblance to one of the beast’s natural enemies?

Zlarb turned to the hulking humanoid who had been eyeing Chewbacca with nearly as much hostility as the nashtah. “Go tell the others to start moving. We’ll get things ready here.” Then he turned to Han. “Open up your main hold; we’re going to start loading.” And finally, to the handler who still restrained the spitting nashtah, Zlarb indicated the Wookiee. “If he moves, burn him down.”

They set off aft, Zlarb being careful to stay well back from Han, watchful for any surprise move the pilot might make. Following the curve of the passageway, they came to the hatchway of the Falcon’s main cargo hold. Han tapped the release, and the hatch slid back to reveal a compartment of modest size, ribbed by the ship’s structural members, featureless except for air ducts, safety equipment, and the heating-refrigeration unit. A stack of panels and disassembled support posts lay there, to be erected as shelving or retaining bins if they were needed. Dunnage and padding were heaped in a pile to one side near coils of strapping and fastening tackle.

Zlarb, looking around, nodded in approval. “This’ll do fine, Solo. Leave the hatch open and let’s get back to the others.”

Another of Zlarb’s men had arrived and was standing at the top of the ramp, a disruptor rifle leveled at Chewbacca. The nashtah handler had dragged his beast back farther toward the cockpit. The big humanoid had returned, too, carrying a small shoulder pack. Zlarb pointed to it. “You’ve got your equipment there, Wadda?”

Wadda inclined his head. Zlarb pointed to Bollux. “First I want you to stick a restraining bolt on the ’droid. We don’t want him wandering around; he might give us trouble.”

Bollux started to protest but weapons moved to cover him and Wadda closed in on him, looming over him and unlimbering the ominous pack from his shoulder. The labor ’droid’s red photoreceptors went to Han in what seemed to be an entreaty. “Captain Solo, what shall I—”

“Keep still,” Han instructed, not wanting to see Bollux destroyed and knowing Zlarb’s people would do just that if the ’droid resisted them. “It’ll only be for a while.”

Bollux looked from Han to Chewbacca, then to Wadda and back to Han again. Wadda closed in on him,