• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

"He must mean food and medicinal supplies," Jaina said, not realizing that Han still had the comm circuit open.

"N-not, uh, exactly, Millennium Falcon," Lilmit said. "But my c-cargo is important to the war effort, nevertheless."

Anja moved farther into the cockpit. "He's running weapons," she said.

Her voice dripped with scorn.

"Lilmit, this is Han Solo, a special emissary from the New Republic.

I'll be coming aboard for a brief inspection." He brought the Falcon so close to the small cargo hauler that their hulls nearly touched.

"Y-Y-You what?" Lilmit stammered. The Rude Awakening put on a burst of speed that the Falcon easily matched. "Y-you have no right to detain my ship. I'm-I'm officially licensed."

"Then we should have no problem. Besides, I'm well aware of how much a license from Ord Mantell is worth," Han said, "and exactly how much one costs. " He glanced at Anja. Her face bore a troubled expression.

"Are you ready to be boarded?" he said into the comm system.

The two ships flew along side by side, nearly touching, but Lilmit still refused to answer. Han extended his grappling hook and attached the docking field. "Let's do this peacefully, Lilmit. Don't make me blast you and take over the wreck of your ship. It'd be a heck of a lot of trouble for both of us."

The other pilot mumbled something unintelligible, which Em Teedee offered to relay, but the young Jedi Knights quickly assured him that some things were better left untranslated.

&' C-c-come on aboard, then," Lilruit grumbled. "B-but you're delaying my delivery. I'm perfectly legal."

"His actions suggest otherwise," Tenel Ka said.

The docking clamp engaged with a loud metallic clank, and after a hiss of air equalization, both ships were ready. "I'm going across first, kids,"

Han said, taking the lead. "Just in case there's a trap."

"If it's a trap, Dad," Jaina said, following close behind him, "you'll need us next to you, not hiding inside the Falcon."

Han looked over his shoulder and cocked an eyebrow at her. "You know, you may be right."

He opened the hatch and quickly descended into the smaller ship.

Anja's face contained a thunderstorm of anger in anticipation of what she knew they would find aboard the smuggler's ship.

Lilmit, a small grayish-skinned man, had winglike eyebrows and a wrinkled, ridged scalp. He met them with frowns and flailing hands.

Jaina noticed that his fingertips were connected by thin translucent webs of skin. Finally, he forced a ridiculously fake smile onto his face.

4 I Han Solo! W-welcome aboard my ship," he said. "It's not in very g-good condition, but it's paid for. I've had it for many years-and this war on Anobis has been providing some of our best business since the Empire fell." He rambled on, his tone obsequious. "We've g-g-got a lot in common, don't we? You used to be a smuggler yourself. Y-you ran spice for Jabba the Hutt, didn't you?"

"Nearly cost me my life a few times," Han answered. "It's been decades since I ran those kinds of risks for a quick profit."

Lilmit sighed. "If only we c-could kick back in a cantina on Ord Mantell, sh-share a Rhuvian fizz or some Osskom ale. Then we'd have time to socialize."

"I'm not here to socialize, Lilmit," Han said coldly. "We're here to check out your ship's cargo."

Anja snatched out her lightsaber, switching it on so that its acidyellow glare flooded the small compartment. "Show us your cargo now! " Lilmit recoiled, holding up his webbed hands. "It's j-just my usual run! I've been doing this for years. N-rmobody's ever bothered me before."

"Then today's your lucky day," Zekk said, standing close to Anja.

The young woman, tall and slender, had a sort of animal energy that dominated the room. Zekk had no lightsaber himself. Jaina, Jacen, Tenel Ka, and Lowie did not draw their weapons, though the smuggler could surely see them at their sides.

"All right, all right. C-come with me."

Inside the cargo hold they found crates filled with munitions: blasters, burrowing detonators, sonic punchers, and other explosive devices.

"Just as I thought,"