Star Wars the Truce at Bakura - Kathy Tyers [17]
Han rolled his eyes and said mock-menacingly, “Leia?”
She hit the off switch at the back of Threepio’s neck. He froze in position.
Han whooshed out a noisy sigh of relief. Chewbacca added a chuckling growl and shook his black-tipped cinnamon fur. Han reached for his control panel. “Seven minutes to close approach.”
Leia unstrapped and pushed up to stand closer to the console, pressing her warm leg against his. “Imperials can’t be far. Where are the scanners?”
Han shot a hand forward and turned them on. The sixth planet filled the scanner displays. Chewbacca barked several grunts and rrowps. “Dirt and ice,” Han translated for Leia. “Bakura system’s got only one gas giant and a whole flock of accreted-comet types trailing off behind it.” He paused. “If the Falcon’s warm at all, she’ll melt herself right to the surface.”
“Look,” said Leia. “Settlement of some kind near the terminator.”
“I see it.” Han held his course toward the cluster of regular shapes. “But there’s no communication or defense satellites, and we’re not picking up any transmissions.” Chewie howled agreement.
Quickly, the domes swung into view. Han pulled them in on high resolution and spotted a double line of shattered walls between jagged new craters.
“What a mess,” Leia said.
“Ten to one our mysterious aliens have already hit this place.”
“Good.” Leia flicked dust off Han’s chair. Startled, he twisted around. “That means they probably won’t be back,” she explained.
“Checked it off the list,” Han agreed.
“And they’re out for bigger game now. I only hope Luke’s careful.”
“He will be. Okay Chewie, this looks like a nice quiet neighborhood. We’re hidden better if we land … blend in with the rocks, you know. Let’s get low and kill speed. Only enough to fight gravity. We’re going in cold.”
He didn’t tell her how hard that would be. His sensors registered under 0.2 G on this ice ball, and no atmosphere to heat up incoming craft, but shedding temp was no simple job. Core heat was still up from the hyperspace jump, and friction was no small factor: even in the dead cold of outer-system space, they had already hit billions of ions and atoms. Han touched a control he rarely used, setting dorsal radiators on full. He wished he had chillers for the landing struts, but if wishes were fishes, Calamarians would be giving the orders at Alliance HQ.
Just beyond the terminator, he spotted a crater bottom long and broad enough to hold the Falcon snugly. He shut down the radiators, brought her low, and let her hover. Now, no braking rockets …
About to ease down, he spotted a dark shining pool spreading out on the crater bottom below him.
Not water ice, then, but ammonia or some other smelly volatile that melted at such a supercold temp that even hover jets puddled it.
Now what?
Chewie whuffled a suggestion.
“Yeah,” he answered. “Synchronous orbit. Good idea.”
“We’re not going to land after all?” Leia relaxed into her high-backed seat as the Falcon swooped over the ruins and gained altitude.
Chewbacca howled, pointing out a small problem.
“It works well enough,” Han said.
“What works well enough?” Leia demanded.
Han frowned at Chewie. Thanks a lot, pal. “The Falcon’s star tracker. For maintaining orbits on autopilot. It’s slaved into a circuit that doesn’t normally cover those things.”
“Why?”
Han laughed shortly. “You don’t make this many modifications on one freighter without slicing a few circuits. The tracker works well enough—but—Chewie, make sure we don’t drift off course. So long as we stay close, no one’ll spot us.” Han jabbed a sensor. “Looks like Brother Luke’s moving in on the Imperials’ side. I suppose you want to stick around and watch.”
Leia frowned. “With this scanner board, it’s impossible to tell who’s on which side. Anyway, I’m uncomfortable with the whole situation.”
“Oh.” Was that scanner-board comment another insult? “Oh,” he added cheerfully. Maybe they’d finally have a quiet hour. Their so-called vacation after the big Ewok party had been worthless; Leia was bone tired. But during the jump, with all