Trilogy (19 page)

Nonetheless, he turned to them and insinuated himself into their conversation. “The defense systems on Alderaan, despite the Senator's protestations to the contrary, were as strong as any in the Empire. I should conclude that our demonstration was as impressive as it was thorough.”

Tarkin turned to him, nodding. “The Senate is being informed of our action at this very moment. Soon we will be able to announce the extermination of the Alliance itself, as soon as we have dealt with their main military base. Now that their main source of munitions, Alderaan, has been eliminated, the rest of those systems
with secessionist inclinations will fall in line quickly enough, you'll see.”

Tarkin turned as an Imperial officer entered the chamber. “Yes, what is it, Cass?”

The unlucky officer wore the expression of the mouse chosen to bell the cat. “Governor, the advance scouts have reached and circumnavigated Dantooine. They have found the remains of a rebel base … which they estimate has been deserted for some time. Years, possibly. They are proceeding with an extensive survey of the remainder of the system.”

Tarkin turned apoplectic, his face darkening to a fine pomegranate fury. “She lied! She lied to us!”

No one could see, but it seemed that Vader must have smiled behind his mask. “Then we are even in the first exchange of ‘truths.' I told you she would never betray the rebellion—unless she thought her confession could somehow destroy us in the process.”

“Terminate her immediately!” The Governor was barely able to form words.

“Calm yourself, Tarkin,” Vader advised him. “You would throw away our only link to the real rebel base so casually? She can still be of value to us.”

“
Fagh!
You just said it yourself, Vader: we'll get nothing more out of her. I'll find that hidden fortress if I have to destroy every star system in this sector. I'll—”

A quiet yet demanding beep interrupted him.

“Yes, what is it?” he inquired irritably.

A voice reported over an unseen speaker. “Sirs, we've captured a small freighter that was entering the remains of Alderaan. A standard check indicates that its markings apparently match that of the ship which blasted its way out of the quarantine at Mos Eisley, Tatooine system, and
went hyper before the Imperial blockade craft there could close on it.”

Tarkin looked puzzled. “Mos Eisley? Tatooine? What is this? What's this all about, Vader?”

“It means, Tarkin, that the last of our unresolved difficulties is about to be eliminated. Someone apparently received the missing data tapes, learned who transcribed them, and was trying to return them to her. We may be able to facilitate their meeting with the Senator.”

Tarkin started to say something, hesitated, then nodded in understanding. “How convenient. I leave this matter in your hands, Vader.”

The Dark Lord bowed slightly, a gesture which Tarkin acknowledged with a perfunctory salute. Then he spun and strode from the room, leaving Motti looking from man to man in confusion.

T
he freighter sat listlessly in the docking hangar of the huge bay. Thirty armed Imperial troopers stood before the lowered main ramp leading into the ship. They snapped to attention when Vader and a Commander approached. Vader halted at the base of the ramp, studying the vessel as an officer and several soldiers came forward.

“There was no reply to our repeated signals, sir, so we activated the ramp from outside. We've made no contact with anyone aboard either by communicator or in person,” the officer reported.

“Send your men in,” Vader ordered.

Turning, the officer relayed the command to a noncom, who barked orders. A number of the heavily armored soldiers made their way up the ramp and entered the outer hold. They advanced with appreciable caution.

Inside, two men covered a third as he advanced. Moving in groups of three in this fashion, they rapidly spread through the ship. Corridors rang hollowly under metal-shod feet, and doors slid aside willingly as they were activated.

“Empty,” the Sergeant in charge finally declared in surprise. “Check the cockpit.”

Several troopers made their way forward and slid the portal aside, only to discover the pilot's chairs as vacant as the rest of the freighter. The controls were deactivated and all systems shut down. Only a single light on the console winked on and off fitfully. The Sergeant moved forward, recognized the source of the light, and activated the appropriate controls. A printout appeared on a nearby screen. He studied it intently, then turned to convey the information to his superior, who was waiting by the main hatch.

That worthy listened carefully before he turned and called down to the Commander and Vader. “There is no one aboard; the ship is completely deserted, sirs. According to the ship's log, her crew abandoned ship immediately after lift-off, then set her on automatics for Alderaan.”

“Possibly a decoy,” the Commander ventured aloud. “Then they should still be on Tatooine!”

“Possibly,” Vader admitted reluctantly.

“Several of the escape pods have been jettisoned,” the officer went on.

“Did you find any 'droids on board?” Vader called.

“No, sir—nothing. If there were any, they must have abandoned the ship along with the organic crew.”

Vader hesitated before replying. When he did so, uncertainty was evident in his voice. “This doesn't feel right.
Send a fully equipped scanning team on board. I want every centimeter of that ship checked out. See to it as soon as possible.” With that, he whirled and stalked from the hangar, pursued by the infuriating feeling that he was overlooking something of vital importance.

The rest of the assembled soldiers were dismissed by the officer. On board the freighter, a last lone figure left off examining the space beneath the cockpit consoles and ran to join his comrades. He was anxious to be off this ghost ship and back in the comfortable surroundings of the barracks. His heavy footsteps echoed through the once more empty freighter.

Below, the muffled sounds of the officer giving final orders faded, leaving the interior in complete quiet. The quivering of a portion of the floor was the only movement on board.

Abruptly the quivering became a sharp upheaval. Two metal panels popped upward, followed by a pair of tousled heads. Han Solo and Luke looked around quickly, then managed to relax a little when it became clear that the ship was as empty as it sounded.

“Lucky you'd built these compartments,” Luke commented.

Solo was not as cheerily confident. “Where did you think I kept smuggled goods—in the main hold? I admit I never expected to smuggle myself in them.” He started violently at a sudden sound, but it was only another of the panels shifting aside.

“This is ridiculous. It isn't going to work. Even if I could take off and get past the closed hatch”—he jabbed a thumb upward—“we'd never get past that tractor beam.”

Another panel opened, revealing the face of an elderly imp. “You leave that to me.”

“I was afraid you'd say something like that,” muttered Solo. “You're a damn fool, old man.”

Kenobi grinned at him. “What does that say of the man who allows himself to be hired by a fool?”

Solo muttered something under his breath as they pulled themselves clear of the compartments, Chewbacca doing so with a good deal of grunting and twisting.

Two technicians had arrived at the base of the ramp. They reported to the two bored soldiers guarding it.

“The ship's all yours,” one of the troopers told them. “If the scanners pick up anything, report it immediately.”

The men nodded, then strained to lug their heavy equipment up the ramp. As soon as they disappeared inside, a loud crash was heard. Both guards whirled, then heard a voice call, “Hey, down there, could you give us a hand with this?”

One trooper looked at his companion, who shrugged. They both started up the ramp, muttering at the inefficiency of mere technicians. A second crashing sound reverberated, but now there was no one left to hear it.

But the absence of the two troopers
was
noticed, soon thereafter. A gantry officer passing the window of a small command office near the freighter entrance glanced out, frowning when he saw no sign of the guards. Concerned but not alarmed, he moved to a comlink and spoke into it as he continued to stare at the ship.

“THX-1138, why aren't you at your post? THX-1138, do you copy?”

The speaker gave back only static.

“THX-1138, why don't you reply?” The officer was
beginning to panic when an armored figure descended the ramp and waved toward him. Pointing to the portion of his helmet covering his right ear, the figure tapped it to indicate the comlink inside wasn't working.

Shaking his head in disgust, the gantry officer gave his busy aide an annoyed look as he made for the door. “Take over here. We've got another bad transmitter. I'm going to see what I can do.” He activated the door, took a step forward as it slid aside—and stumbled backward in a state of shock.

Filling the door completely was a towering hairy form. Chewbacca leaned inward and with a bone splintering howl flattened the benumbed officer with one swipe of a pan-sized fist.

The aide was already on his feet and reaching for his sidearm when a narrow energy beam passed completely through him, piercing his heart. Solo flipped up the faceplate of his trooper helmet, then slid it back into place as he followed the Wookiee into the room. Kenobi and the 'droids squeezed in behind him, with Luke, also clad in the armor of a luckless Imperial soldier, bringing up the rear.

Luke was looking around nervously as he shut the door behind them. “Between his howling and your blasting everything in sight, it's a wonder the entire station doesn't know we're here.”

“Bring 'em on,” Solo demanded, unreasonably enthused by their success so far. “I prefer a straight fight to all this sneaking around.”

“Maybe you're in a hurry to die,” Luke snapped, “but I'm not. All this sneaking around has kept us alive.”

The Corellian gave Luke a sour eye but said nothing.

They watched as Kenobi operated an incredibly complex computer console with the ease and confidence of one long accustomed to handling intricate machinery. A screen lit up promptly with a map of sections of the battle station. The old man leaned forward, scrutinizing the display carefully.

Meanwhile, Threepio and Artoo had been going over an equally complicated control panel nearby. Artoo suddenly froze and began whistling wildly at something he had found. Solo and Luke, their momentary disagreement over tactics forgotten, rushed over to where the robots were standing. Chewbacca busied himself hanging the gantry officer up by his toes.

“Plug him in,” Kenobi suggested, looking over from his place before the larger readout. “He should be able to draw information from the entire station network. Let's see if he can find out where the tractor-beam power unit is located.”

“Why not just disconnect the beam from here, sir?” Luke wanted to know.

It was Solo who replied derisively, “What, and have them lock it right back on us before we can get a ship's length outside the docking bay?”

Luke looked crestfallen. “Oh. I hadn't thought of that.”

“We have to break the tractor at its power source in order to execute a clean escape, Luke,” old Ben chided gently as Artoo punched a claw arm into the open computer socket he had discovered. Immediately a galaxy of lights came to life on the panel in front of him and the room was filled with the hum of machinery working at high speed.

Several minutes passed while the little 'droid sucked up information like a metal sponge. Then the hum slowed and he turned to beep something back at them.

“He's found it, sir!” Threepio announced excitedly.

“The tractor beam is coupled to the main reactors at seven locations. Most of the pertinent data is restricted, but he'll try to pull the critical information through to the monitor.”

Kenobi turned his attention from the larger screen to a small readout near Artoo. Data began to race across it too fast for Luke to see, but apparently Kenobi somehow made something of the schematic blur. “I don't think there's any way you boys can help with this,” he told them. “I must go alone.”

“That suits me fine,” said Solo readily. “I've already done more than I bargained for on this trip. But I think putting that tractor beam out of commission's going to take more than your magic, old man.”

Luke wasn't put off so easily. “I want to go with you.”

“Don't be impatient, young Luke. This requires skills you haven't yet mastered. Stay and watch over the 'droids and wait for my signal. They must be delivered to the rebel forces or many more worlds will meet the same fate as Alderaan. Trust in the force, Luke—and wait.”

With a last look at the flow of information on the monitor, Kenobi adjusted the lightsaber at his waist. Stepping to the door, he slid it aside, looked once left, once right, and disappeared down a long, glowing hallway.

As soon as he was gone Chewbacca growled and Solo nodded agreement. “You said it, Chewie!” He turned to Luke. “Where'd you dig up that old fossil?”

“Ben Kenobi—
General
Kenobi—is a great man,” Luke protested loftily.

“Great at getting us into trouble,” Solo snorted. “ ‘General,' my afterburners! He's not going to get us out of here.”

“You got any better ideas?” Luke shot back challengingly.

“Anything would be better than just waiting here for them to come and pick us up. If we—”

A hysterical whistling and hooting came from the computer console. Luke hurried over to Artoo Detoo. The little 'droid was all but hopping about on stubby legs.

“What now?” Luke asked Threepio.

The taller robot looked puzzled himself. “I'm afraid I don't understand either, sir. He says, ‘I found her,' and keeps repeating, ‘She's here, she's here!' ”