Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 01_ Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson [21]
Han heard the click and hum of the deactivation field around the cell doors, and then a grating whirr as hydraulic lifts hauled the huge door upward. As the door raised, garish white light flooded into the room. Han clapped a hand over his eyes. He hadn’t realized the cell was so dim.
“Get ready, Chewie!” Han whispered. If there weren’t too many guards, they could rush them, slug their way out, and escape. But then he felt a twinge of pain from his recently broken ribs, and dizziness washed over him. Chewbacca leaned weakly against one of the damp walls of the rancor’s cell and groaned.
Well, maybe if there’s only one guard, who has poor eyesight and is recovering from weeks’ worth of dysentery …
“Never mind, Chewie. Let’s see what they have to say.”
The skeletal figure standing in the door was obviously Skynxnex. As Han’s eyes adjusted to the light, he could see four other guards behind Skynxnex, wearing not-quite prison uniforms, patches of body armor to protect sensitive areas but showing no rank or insignia.
“So, Han Solo, I trust you appreciate our … hospitality?” Skynxnex asked.
Han smirked and looked behind him at the dank cell, the dead rancor. “Yeah, you guys are really turning Kessel into a resort world. Just like the planet Ithor.”
Skynxnex followed his gaze to the mummified monster. “Ah yes, during the turmoil when we took over the prison, someone forgot to feed the rancor. It was a pity. Months passed before we remembered him. A double pity, too, because by the time we thought of him, we had plenty of Imperial prisoners we needed to dispose of. That would have been fun to watch. Instead, we had to send them all into the spice mines.”
Skynxnex smiled for just an instant; then his face took on its flat, mechanical composure again. “I hope the medical droids helped you recover from your crash injuries. It’s important that you both are healthy enough to withstand interrogation. We want to learn exactly why you came to spy on Kessel.”
It occurred to Han that for once he could actually tell the truth and be completely open about his mission. “Ready when you are, Skynxnex.” Somehow he was afraid the truth wouldn’t be good enough in this case.
The gangly man allowed another flash of a smile. “So you do remember me, Solo? Good. Moruth Doole will want to talk to you immediately.”
Han raised his eyebrows. That meant Doole was still alive, still running things—but Han had no idea how the pieces fit together. “I’d love to talk to old Moruth. It’s been a long time. He was a good buddy of mine!”
Skynxnex snickered at that, then stopped. The other guards behind him also chuckled. “Yes,” Skynxnex said, “I do believe I’ve heard him mention your name. Several times.”
The lift took them out of the main cell-block areas, along a tube to the outer corners of the correctional facility. They rocketed skyward along the angled metal tracks.
Looking through the scratched transparent walls of the elevator, Han could see that the prison itself was a massive tan-and-gray edifice made of plasteel and synthetic rock. The flat front face sloped backward at about a forty-five-degree angle; elevator turrets glided along each of the corners. A glassed and mirrored substructure protruded from the slanted face, housing the administrative offices and prison personnel.
In the racing elevator car Skynxnex watched both of them with flickers of amusement, keeping his modified double-blaster trained on them. The two guards, armed with more conventional weapons, also stood tense and ready.
Seeing this, Han felt ironically impressed. He didn’t know what he had done to instill such fear in these people.
Both Han and Chewbacca had been strapped into stun-cuffs, a restraining fixture across the wrists that sent paralyzing jolts of electricity directly into the nervous system, proportional in strength to the amount