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Han stiffened, remembering that they had stolen an old Imperial shuttle. They would have a few seconds before they were blown out of the sky. But a security access code? He had to think fast.

Han toggled the transmitter switch. “This is Imperial shuttle, uh … Endor coming in. We’ve, uh, had a rough ride through the Maw, and most of our computer systems are down. We request assistance.” He paused, then swallowed. “Just how long has it been since you got news from the outside anyway?”

A loud click came from the other end. The TIE fighters continued toward them. Han squirmed, knowing his bluff couldn’t work, that they were an unprotected target to be blown away by itchy Imperial trigger fingers.

The voice came back, gruffer and crisper this time. “Imperial shuttle Endor, we repeat—what is the security access code? Transmit immediately!”

Han turned to his copilot. “Chewie, how long until we get those shields?”

The Wookiee had removed the access panels on the side power compartments, yanking out masses of wires as he strung them through his fingers and tried to straighten the connections. Chewbacca sniffed to find burned circuits. It would be a long time before they had the systems even marginally functional again.

Han opened the transmitter circuit once more. “Uh, as I said, we’ve sustained substantial computer damage. We are unable to—”

“Unacceptable excuse! The code phrase is verbal.”

“Just checking,” Han said. “The code phrase is—” He looked to Kyp, desperately hoping that the young man would be able to pull the code out of the air, but even Luke Skywalker was unlikely to do something like that. Kyp could only shrug.

“Uh, the last code phrase we have is RJ-two stroke ZZ stroke eight thousand. Awaiting your confirmation.” He clicked off, then looked at Chewbacca and Kyp, spreading his hands. “It was worth a try.”

“Improper response,” the gruff voice snapped.

“What a surprise,” Han mumbled.

The transmission continued. “You have obviously not been sent by Grand Moff Tarkin. Shuttle Endor, you are to be taken prisoner immediately and brought aboard Imperial Star Destroyer Gorgon for deep interrogation. Any attempt at escape or resistance will result in your being destroyed.”

Han wondered if he should bother to acknowledge, then decided against it. He was puzzled by the mention of Grand Moff Tarkin, the brutal governor who had built the first Death Star. Tarkin had been destroyed along with his doomsday weapon ten years before. Could these people have been out of touch for that long?

The shuttle lurched as if a giant invisible hand had grabbed it. Han could hear the metal plates groaning as pressure constricted the outer hull. “It’s a tractor beam,” he said.

The giant arrowhead shape of the flagship Star Destroyer loomed up at them. Chewbacca groaned something, and Han agreed. He had a bad feeling about this, too.

“Don’t even bother, Chewie. We could never break that tractor beam, we could never run out of here fast enough, and we could never survive another passage through the Maw.”

A squadron of TIE fighters surrounded the hijacked shuttle like a cocoon, making it impossible for them to deviate from the direct path of the tractor beam. The Star Destroyer Gorgon opened its huge receiving bay to swallow the prisoners. TIE fighters streaked up and into the cavernous metal mouth.

Han remembered being taken captive aboard the first Death Star in much the same way, flanked by Imperial starfighters, fighting against a powerful tractor beam. But that time he had been flying his own ship, and they had been able to hide in the Falcon’s secret storage compartments. Now they didn’t even have uniforms to steal; they wore only the thermal prison suits used for working in the spice mines of Kessel.

“We’re not going to make a very good impression,” Kyp said.

The four Star Destroyers hovered over a cluster of interconnected rocky bodies at the very center of the Maw. Other constructions and skeletal debris orbited low to the asteroid archipelago.

Han wondered again what all this was.