Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 01_ Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson [38]
Kyp made a sound that must have been a bitter laugh. “People say I have good luck in all sorts of things, but my luck has never been good enough to let me have a normal life.” He paused, as if gathering hope. In that moment Han wished he could see the stranger’s face. “Is it really true the Empire has fallen?”
“Seven years ago, Kyp,” Han said. “The Emperor was blown up with his Death Star. We’ve been fighting battles ever since, but the New Republic is trying to keep everything together. Chewie and I came here as ambassadors to reestablish contact with Kessel.” He paused. “Obviously the people of Kessel weren’t interested.”
Han snapped his attention to the front as he heard something happen to the cars ahead. The front car split off; he could hear it echo with a diminishing swoosh down one of the side tunnels. A few moments later another two cars separated themselves and went down another side tunnel as their sounds diminished in the hollow distance. The rest of the floating mine car continued down the main tunnel.
“They’re separating the mining teams,” Kyp said. “I wanted to be with you. Tell me everything.”
“Kyp,” Han said with a sigh, “it looks like we’ll have plenty of time to give you the details.”
The audio hum of the mine cars’ repulsorlifts deepened. Han felt the breeze on his face dwindle as they slowed. His hands and face were numb; his ears tingled with the cold, but the rest of his body seemed comfortably warm in the heated thermal suit.
The guard who had shouted at Kyp spoke when the floating cars stopped. “Everybody out. Link up. March to the work area.”
The remaining cars swayed as the prisoners climbed off and stood in silence on the crumbled ground. Their equipment grated against each other in the darkness, and their boots scuffed the dirt. A pandemonium of little sounds echoed in the claustrophobic tunnel, making the blackness press in even more heavily.
“Where are we going?” Han said.
Kyp grabbed a loop on Han’s belt. “Just hold the person in front of you. Believe me, you don’t want to get lost down here.”
“I believe you,” Han said. Chewbacca made his own noise of agreement.
When the work detail had lined up, the front guard began to march them along. Han took small shuffling steps to keep from stumbling over rubble on the floor, but he still tripped into Chewbacca several times.
They turned to pass through another tunnel entrance. Han heard a faint thump and a yowl of pain from the Wookiee. “Watch your head there, buddy,” he said. He heard the rustle of fur inside a thermal suit as Chewbacca bent down to pass through the arch.
“Here’s the rail,” the guard said. “Stop here, take your time, and go down.”
“What’s a rail?” Han asked.
“Once you touch it, you’ll figure it out,” Kyp answered.
The noises he heard made no sense to Han. He couldn’t determine what was actually happening. He discerned sliding sounds of fabric, bitten-back outcries of surprise or fear. When Chewbacca shuffled up, he voiced a guttural complaint, shaking his entire body in refusal.
The guard lashed out with something hard that struck Chewbacca. The Wookiee roared in pain and swung his arm trying to hit the guard, but apparently smacked only the rock wall instead. Chewbacca grew more upset, flailing right and left. Han had to duck to keep from being battered.
“Chewie! Calm down! Stop it!” The Wookiee slowly regained control of himself at the sound of Han’s voice.
“Do what I tell you!” the guard shouted.
“It’s okay,” Kyp added his own encouragement. “We do this every day.”
“I’ll go first, Chewie,” Han said, “whatever it is.”
“Down there,” the guard snapped.
Han bent over, fumbled with his hands, and felt a big hole in the floor like a trapdoor to lower tunnels, with piled rubble all around it. His fingers found a cold metal railing about the size of a typical steel girder, polished smooth and plunging downward, like a slide or a metal banister.
“You want me to ride