Han Solo - Rebal Dawn Part 24

Moments later, Bria was facing her commanding of-ricer, Pianat Torbul. She stiflened to attention. "Sir?"

"Bria... just wanted to wish you luck tomorrow," he said. "And to tell you..." he hesitated.

"Yes? Tell me what?" she prompted.

"I can't be specific. But our intelligence reports that the Empire has something big underway. Really big. Something that could crush the entire Rebel Alliance in one or two engagements."

Bria stared at him, in shock. "Some kind of secret fleet?" she asked.

"I can't tell you," he reminded her. "But bigger than that."

Bria couldn't imagine what he was talking about, but she'd grown used to the "need to know" system long ago. "Okay, so what does that have to do with this raid tomorrow?"

"It's going to take everything we have, every resource we can muster, every credit we can sc.r.a.pe together, to de'a] with this," Torbul said. "your mission was impor-tant before this... now it's critical. Take everything you can get, Bria. Weapons, spice... everything."

"Sir... that's my objective," she said, her heart be-ginning to thud.

"I know that. I just . . . thought you should know. We're dispatching several intelligence teams to Ralltiir to try and find out more. They'll need credits for bribes, surveillance equipment... you know the drill." "Of course," Bria said. "Sir, I won't fail you."

"I know you won't," Torbul said. "I shouldn't have contacted you, perhaps . . . you're under enough pres-sure. But I thought you should know."

"I appreciate your telling me, sir. Thank you." Torbul gave her a quick salute and broke the connec-tion. Bria sat there in her office, wondering if she should go back to bed, or just start the day early.

She heard Han's voice, a little rough with sleep, from the other room. "Bria? Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine, Han," she called. "I'll be there shortly."

Rising, she paced slowly back and forth, remember-ing what he'd said to her earlier. They'd be together... always. Yes, we will, she thought. We'll be together. We'll guard each other~ backs, and wgether we'll fight and we'll prevail against the Empire. And if we have to sac-rifice to achieve that... we will.

She knew that Han would understand about the treasure and the credits. He pretended to be such a mercenary, but at heart, he wasn't, she knew that ....

Her mind once more at rest, her resolve firm, Bria went back to bed ....

Sunset at Ylesian Colony Five. The ruddy rays of the low sun, breaking through a hundred gaps in the ma.s.sed clouds, were projected as pastel spikes across the sky. By the choppy waters of the Sea of Hope, the robe-clad Pilgrims a.s.sembled on the beach cast long shadows across the sand.

Pohtarza, Head Sacredot of the colony, raised his ugly t'landa Til head and surveyed the crowd, his horn sweeping slowly back and forth as lie did so. His bul-bous eyes shone like blood as they bulged from his grayish, wrinkled flesh. After a moment, he brought up his diminutive arms, and the ceremony began.

"The One is All," he intoned in the rumbling, nasal-heavy language of the t'landa Til.

Five hundred voices echoed the phrase back ....The One is All.

At that very moment, at Colony Four on the other side of the planet, it was just 'after midnight. Dark clouds drifted across the moonless night sky, extinguis.h.i.+ng stars, making the night even blacker. On the wall of the Priests' Quarters, there was a soft, chitinous scratching. Ylesian vermin frantically darted away in 'all directions.

Noy Waglla, small and bug-like herself, scuttled up the smooth permacrete and, barely pausing to chew a hole in the grating, through the window. She crouched, poised, on the sill.

Below her, in the darkness, she could hear the sleep-ing noises of the Priests she had come to kill. Jabba would pay well for this, enough that she might someday be able to return to her own species. The great crea-tures in their sleeping harnesses filled the small room, made it stink of musk. The Hyallp crawled up the near-est rough-textured harness, and paused below the enor-mous head. The t'landa Til s.h.i.+fted slightly, and she backed away, 'alarmed, but, after a moment, the Priest's snoring resumedu Waglla advanced even closer. This is going w be easy ....Waglla seized the large vial strapped to her back in her formidable mandibles, pulled out the stopper with her palps. Jabba had tested the substance himselfu A drop of the poison called srej-ptan, placed on the Sacredot~ lower lip, would kill even the largest t'landa Til in seconds, silently and without struggle. Retracting several of her legs, Waglla climbed toward the Priest's mouth.

"The All is One," intoned Pohtarza.

The All is One.

Aiaks Fwa, Whiphid a.s.sa.s.sin and bounty hunter, waited in the corridor leading to the underground mud baths of Colony Seven. It had been a tedious few weeks, living as Pilgrim, trying to blend in, when 'all his instincts c',dled for getting it over with, hunting the ugly muphrida down and escaping. But the Bloated One had specified tonight as the time, and Fwa wanted to collect his full fee.

The sound of t'landa Til voices echoed up from the dimness below, and Fwa heard their characteristic shuf-fling gait. The a.s.sa.s.sin checked the two small hold-out blasters he had smuggled into the compound. Fully charged, of course.

He tensed, thinking that the credits he was about to become ent.i.tled to were not so much the prize of a hunt, so much as a gift. Security here in Colony Seven was lax beyond belief.

Fwa could see them coming now, and he pressed himself into a hollow in the uneven wall. As he'd ex-pected, it was his targets-the three male Saeredots. He could smell them, and his sensitive nostrils recog-nized the reek of the males.

They were close now, coming closer, closer....

Fwa leaped out with a ferocious roar, blasters raised.

Aim for their eyes/he thought, as he fired his first salvo.

"In service to the All, every One is Exulted."

u.. eve~j One is Exulted.

Tuga SalPivo, down-on-his luck Corellian s.p.a.ce-tramp and jack-of-all-trades, paused for a moment at the edge of the Ylesian jungle and looked back. Colony Eight was a gray smudge in the very first light of dawn. Sunrise was still an hour away. SalPivo grinned and wiped the sweat off his face with a back-and-forth motion, catching a whiff of the vinegary vomm powder residue on his hand. He couldn't wait to see the explosion ....

It was so quiet. Even the sc.r.a.ping and peeping of the Ylesian jungle was gone. There was no wind at 'all.

SalPivo forced himself not to blink as he waited. When the brilliant orange flame flowered from the t'landa TiI's sleeping chamber, there was a moment be-fore the sound reached him, and he thought, It doesn't seem real ....

Then the crack and boom rolled over him, almost knocking him down, followed by the cries and wails of the remaining inhabitants. Job well done, he said to himself, chuckling. I'll be back on Poytta 'before the fire ~ put out ....

"We sacrifice to achieve the All. We serve the One." u.. serve the One.

The RodJan named Sniquux sniffed the air thought-fully, his aqua snout wiggling. Mid-afternoon sun slanted down into the wide courtyard, and dust seemed to hang in the hot, thick air. With infinite care, he se-cured the last strand of monofilament fiber across the opening of the pa.s.sageway to the factory compound. Colony Nine was not yet finished, but the main build-ings and dormitories were close enough to completion to start up operation. Nearly three hundred Pilgrims were resident, most of them employed on the construc-tion gang. Sniquux had come in with the last bunch, his experience as a permacrete 'artisan coming in handy.

Here they come/The Rodian stepped back from the invisible wire, then ducked under it, making sure he came nowhere near the deadly stuff. Once in the corri-dor, he made his way up to the first level balcony, which overlooked the courtyard. The six t'landa Til, three males and three females, were returning from their post-siesta walkabout, ambling toward the dinner hall and their supper. A cadre of Gamorrean guards sur-rounded them, their axe heads glinting in the sun. Sniquux pulled the sound projector remote control from his little pouch, hefting the device and feeling the smoothness of its contours.

I don't even have to get near them, he thought, delight-edly. I b~ve this a.s.signment. I don't have to risk my delicate little neck. His ears twitched expectantly as he turned the dial to its maximum position and engaged the trigger.

Suddenly, from the other side of the courtyard, a hideous, shrill wailing began, a sound so high it made Sniquux s.h.i.+ver. It was an ancient recording of the sav-age thota, the princ.i.p.al predator of the t'landa Til on their long-lost homeworld of Varl.

The t'landa Til froze for a second, their protuberant eyes swinging in every direction as they tried to locate the source of the cry. The head Sacredot, Tarrz by name, reared up onto his hind limbs and spun about, calling to the others, but it was no use. The huge crea-tures stampeded mindlessly in 'all directions, trampling Gamorreans as they headed for the openings in the courtyard wall that Sniquux had b.o.o.by-trapped. Finally even Tarrz panicked and dashed for the nearest exit.

The Rodian, who had a taste for bloodshed, smacked his prehensile lips as the Priests came apart, monofi 'la-ment slicing them more cleanly then any b 'lade. Tarrz got halfway through the opening before his upper tono peeled back, revealing the dark maroon interior, internal organs laid out side by side, blood pooling and spilling as he fell to complete the gash. In a trice, they were 'all dead, big pools of wine-red blood slowly spreading around the quartered corpses, and only a few cl~ed Gamorreans were left to try to figure out what had happened.

Maybe this'U mean a promotion, Sniquux told him-self. Jabba seems to like me already... all I have to do is stick with him ....

"Prepare for the blessing of Exultation!" Pohtarza took a step forward and sensed the Priests on either side of him doing the same. The Pilgrims broke ranks, pressing forward, falling over one another, uttering little whimpers of antic.i.p.ation. Pohtarza began to inflate his neck pouch, scanning the expectant faces, When some-thing caught his eye. There was a humanoid Pilgrim pus.h.i.+ng toward them, nothing unusual about that. However, instead of a Pilgrim's cap, there was a dark hood thrown over his head.

Pohtarza stared in fascination. The hood was empty. The thing was quite close now-he was sure of it. Sud-denly the hood fell back and the headless thing pulled a weapon out of its robe. Nameless dread gnawed at the t'landa Til; he took a few steps back, b.u.mped into one of his brothers. The robe fell to the ground, and the Sacredot looked straight into the muzzle of a blaster, seemingly floating in the air. His thinking seemed fuzzy and oh-so-slow, but one thought came with crystal clarity. Oh. An Aar'aa. Just an Aar'aa . . .

Then brightness fell from the air....

At Colony One, the oldest and largest of the Ylesian fa-c'dities, only a few moments later, it was nearing mid-day. Teroenza sat in the shallow, squishy mud like a beached whaladon, hardly moving, eyes closed. The developments of the last day were discouraging beyond belief.

Durga, cu~e him, had called his bluff. Teroenza opened his eyes and took in the depressing sight: beyond Veratil and Tfienna and the other t'landa Tll soaking in the mud, sleek Nova Force s.h.i.+ps littered the landing field, and small teams of heavily armed sentients wearing the uniform of the mercenary unit were everywhere.

How collid Durga have known what he planned?

Maybe the young Hutt was smarter than he'd thought. Now that he reflected on it, Teroenza decided that it had probably been a bad idea to'kill Kibbick so brazenly. But the worst of it was that Teroenza still couldn't know for sure how much Durga knew. Perhaps the Nova Force troops were Durga's response to the High Priest's disingenuous requests to beef up the Ylesian defenses. Maybe he didn't suspect foul play in Kibbiek's death.

Teroenza liked that idea. If true, the t'landa Tll would just have to wait, and hope that this situation was temporary, and that, after a while, Besadii would grow weary of paying Nova Force to stay here. Wait. I can wait a little longer. In any event, thatk all I can do ....

The Nova Force commandant, a squat, heavy-gravity world human named Willurn Kamaran, was approaching the edge of the flat, treading gingerly, not wanting to soil his s.h.i.+ning black boots. Finally, he gave Teroenza a dis-gusted look and motioned for the t'landa Td to come to meet him. The High Priest decided that he'd at lea.st pre-tend to cooperate until he found out more. Hoisting him-selfto his feet, Teroenza sta~ed in the man's direction.

Without warning a lash of energy sizzled into the mud in front of him, spattering him with ejecta. The High Priest halted in confusion. What?

Teroenza turned to see three beings in camo uni-forms come racing out of the jungle, blaster rifles blaz-ing. The Gamorreans who had been guarding them were already dead.

Ptchoo. Ptchoo. Ptchoo.

The sound of blaster fire was all around him. Teroenza tried to run, tried to change direction, but slipped in the mud, falling to his knees.

Is thi~ Nova Force? Hc~s Durga ordered them to exe-cute us now? Teroenza thought, hysteria nearly getting the better of him. At the edge of his vision, he saw that Kamaran was also shooting now. But not at him. At the intruders. Other Nova Force soldiers were coming up behind him, blasting away. By Varl, they're trying to protect us/ There was no place to run. Teroenza froze in panic. Veratil, he could see, lay motionless, a smoking hole where an eye used to be. Tilenna had run deeper into the mud, but was unable to submerge herself, and was flailing back and forth in complete terror. Teroenza re-alized suddenly that it was only a matter of time. Taking a deep breath to still the fear erupting in his heart, he let himself fall, then lay still, playing dead.

The blaster fire abruptly stopped, and Teroenza opened his eyes. It worked/The intruders lay dead. The High Priest dared to raise himself and survey the scene.

Tilenna/ She was half covered by mud and water, and her head was under. She can't breathe ....Before he had reached the body, Teroenza knew the truth. He cradled the ma.s.sive head as best he could in his weak arms, try-ing to find a spark of life in his mate, but she was gone.

Kamaran had taken a hit in the arm, and his tan uni-form was covered with dark brown smears. And there was Ganar Tos, Teroenza's majordomo, making his way through the milling soldiers, pausing for a moment at the mud~ fringe, then plunging right in.

"My Lord Teroenza," he cried, his weak old human~ voice barely more than a croak. "It's terrible. All over the planet, a.s.sa.s.sins are killing our Priests! We've had reports from Colonies Two, Three, Five, and Nine. Offworld communication has been cut. Oh, sir! I~rd Veratil... and Tilenna! Sir, what can we do?" He wrung his hands distractedly. "Sir, this is the end. There can be no more Exultations. What shall we do?"

Teroenza snorted heavily, trying to think. Was this Durga~ work? No, it couldn't be; the Besadii enterprise depended on the t'landa Til. Who was responsible for this? And what should he do now?

Jalus Nebl entered the Ylesian atmosphere with great care, watching for storm cells, and staying in constant touch with the Rebel a.s.sault shuttles that were fol-lowing him. He was a lead s.h.i.+p, and well aware of his responsibility. "Shuttle Three," he said into his comm unit, in his squeaky Basic, "watch yourself. You're drift-ing too far to port. Storm cell 311 is headed in your di-rection. The ionization from those lightning storms will mess up your instrumentation. Increase speed and close up."

"This is Shuttle Three, we copy, Dream of Freedom." They were flying through thick clouds now, and the Dream was buffeted by high winds. Darkness sur-rounded them. They were flying toward the sun, but they would not reach daylight before they landed.

The Sulhistan checked his instruments. "Tighten for-mation," he ordered. "All s.h.i.+ps, tighten formation."

He saw the running lights of his starboard wingman for a moment, then the clouds blotted them out. They were being slammed by gusts, and the clouds were so thick that Nebl didn't even bother to glance at his viewscreen. Instruments-only flying. Rain and hail and electrical storms raged nearby, lighting the inky clouds in actinic flashes. Nebl followed the progress of his for-mation on his tactical sensors.

It had been ten years since Nebl had flown through the Ylesian atmosphere, but he was surprised how it 'all came back to him. He was leading half the Rebel s.h.i.+ps a.s.signed to Colony One in, and Han Solo was leading the other half in the Millennium Falcon. Han had taken his Sull.u.s.tan friend for a brief tour of his s.h.i.+p yesterday, and the two pilots had caught up on old times while Nebl enjoyed watching Hah show off his pride and joy.

Nebl spotted another storm cell, pointed it out to his formation, and then sent his s.h.i.+p swooping down, auto-matically checking his landing vector. His a.s.signed landing spot was directly in the middle of the Colony One compound. He was carrying a squad of troops, and their a.s.signment was to secure the andris factory.

As he flew, Nebl could hear the a.s.sault Commander aboard the transport Liberator, reporting on the fieet's progress. The Rebel forces had taken the Ylesian s.p.a.ce station, having met heavier resistance than expected, but they were now reporting in that it was secured.

Nebl stayed in close touch as he led his formation down, down. He was tracking the storm cells so the more inexperienced pilots wouldn't have to. In theory at least, if they followed Nebl~ lead, they'd be able to con-centrate on their piloting as opposed to their navigation. They were almost down below the heaviest cloud layer now. Colony One was still in darkness, though dawn would arrive in about an hour. Nebl noticed that his rightmost shuttle was falling behind, and quickly es-tablished contact.

"a.s.sault Shuttle Six, you're falling behind. What~ happening?"

"Having trouble with a stabilizer," the young pilot's voice was strained. "I've got my eopilot working on it."

"Formation, reduce speed. We don't want to lose Shuttle Six," Nebl ordered.

Obediently, they reduced speed. The next-voice Nebl heard over the comm was Han Solo~. "Hey, Nebl, what gives? You're slowing."

The Sull.u.s.tan explained the problem. "Well, I don't want to go in ahead of you, so I'll drop back, too," Han said. The Falcon and her s.h.i.+ps slowed, falling back, leaving Nebl, as planned, still in the lead.

Both groups were still in good formation when they dropped below the cloud cover, and saw the nighttime lights of Colony One. Nebl was in the lead, and he'd re-positioned Shuttle Six so it was now beside him, so he could nursemaid the Rebel pilot down. Nebl's other s.h.i.+ps were flying half a s.h.i.+p~ length behind the Dream and Six as they swooped toward their a.s.signed landing coordinates.

Nebl had almost no warning. One second he was heading for his landing coordinates, everything fine, and the next his sensors suddenly blatted out a warning. Glancing down, Jalus Nebl saw that he'd been targeted--- by a heavy turbolaser!

What? he thought blankly. Where- The explosion was so ma.s.sive, so all-consuming, that poor Nebl never even had time to realize he'd been hit.

Hah Solo watched with horror as Dream of Freedom and a.s.sault Shuttle Six were simply eradicated by two blasts from a ground-mounted heavy turbolaser. The turbolaser blasted again, and two other shuttles per-formed frantic evasive maneuvers that caused them to run straight into a treacherous wind-shear. Their stubby wings impacted, and then, flaming, they hurtled down toward the jungle. Fireb.a.l.l.s painted the darkness with crimson, marking the crash sites.

Han was frozen with shock for a half-second. A turbolaser/ Where'd that come from? Then he checked his position, and those of the s.h.i.+ps in formation with him, and began his own evasive. At the same time he activated his comm, shouting, "Formations One and Two-veer offl Bria, order your s.h.i.+ps to their alternate landing sites! Veer off! They got a heavy turbolaser down there! Nebl bought it!"

Without waiting for a response, Han swooped the Falcon up on her side and changed his approach vector-and not a moment too soon. A wash of fatal green energy streaked toward his s.h.i.+p, narrowly miss-ing her belly. Hah saw a damage control warning light up on his board, and realized the shot had knocked out the extension and retraction controls on his new re-tractable blaster. The close brush had also managed to fry the terrain-following sensors. He swore, even as Chewie howled. Hah heard shouts from Jarik, who was in the ventral gun turret and must've gotten a spectacu-lar-and terrifying-view of the blast. Too close for comfort!

He peeled away, accelerating to get well out of the range of the turbolaser. None of the other s.h.i.+ps was. .h.i.t, thankfully.

The alternate landing sites were on the beach, more than two kilometers from the center of Colony One. Han brought the Falcon in for a landing, setting her down on the hard-packed sand, not far from the break-ers. He sat there for a second, just breathing hard, en-veloped by the Ylesian darkness. He kept his lights on, so none of the other pilots would be tempted to land on top of him.

To his fight as he sat in the c.o.c.kpit, were the dunes, and, beyond them, the mudfiats and Colony One. To his left was the Zoma Gawonga, which, in Huttese, meant "Western Ocean." Behind and before him stretched the beach, and already other s.h.i.+ps were settling into place.

Leaving Chewie to finish up their post-landing checks, Han keyed his comm. "Shuttle One, this is the Falcon. Bria, this is Han. Come in, Shuttle One."

A crackle of static, then her voice. Han let out a sigh of relief. He'd lost track of formation a bit back there, and, while he thought Shuttle One wasn't one of the s.h.i.+ps. .h.i.t, he hadn't been positive until now.

"Han, I read you. Shuttle One landing now, alternate site. I'm going to deploy my troops for the ground at-tack. We'll go in over the dunes. My squad will head through the jungle for the compound."

"I'm coming with you," Han said. "Don't go without me."

"Copy, Falcon." She hesitated. "Han, we need to se-cure the Admin Building. Can you take care of dis-patching the Togorian squad?"

Han knew she was thinking about the Treasure Room. The plan all along had been for Muuurgh, who knew the layout and the jungle, to lead his squad of Togorians in there. But now they'd have to go a lot farther....

"Right," he said. "I'll do that."

Han went back to the lounge, where the Togorians were unstrapping, checking the charges in their weap-ons, and commenting to each other about rough rides. They wanted to know why all the stomach-churning aerial acrobatics. Han spent a minute explaining, then went on to tell Muuurgh, Mrrov, Sarrah and the other Togorians that they'd landed much farther from their target than antic.i.p.ated. "This will be tougher than we originally planned," Han said. "You're going to have to make about a two-kilometer hike through the jungle."

Muuurgh stood up, careful not to whack his head in the cramped surroundings of the Falcon's lounge. "Do not worry, Hah," he said. "Muuurgh will lead the way through the jungle to the Administration Building. Muuurgh hunted all around Colony One, and Muuurgh remembers terrain well."

Han pulled on his infrared goggles and his light hel-met, picked up his weapons, then he and Chewbacca followed the Togorian squad down the ramp. Han watched their bright yellow images make their way up the beach. He pushed up his goggles, and was instantly engulfed in complete darkness. The Togorians had van-ished like shadows into the surrounding blackness. The Corellian took a deep breath of the late-night air, and the smell of the Ylesian ocean brought back a rush of memories.