Greedo, he thought.
"Ukle nyuma cheskopokuta klees ka tlanko ya oska." That's the
idea. I've been looking forward to this for a long time.
"Yes, I'll bet you have."
With a tremendous explosion of light and noise Solo's blaster
propelled a bolt of energy through the wooden table. When the
smoke cleared there was very little left of Greedo.
"Sorry about the mess," said Solo, flipping the bartender a
coin.
Spurch Warhog Goa met with the two Rodians on Docking Bay 86,
as he made ready to board his ship, the Nova Viper.
The tall one, Thuku, handed Goa a chest of newly minted Rodian
coinage, pure gold, each coin embossed with the image of Navik the
Red.
"The Rodians thank you, Goa. We would have killed him
ourselves, but we can't let it be known we are hunting our own
kind."
"His clan are all sentenced to die," said Neesh, making a
snorting noise with his green snout.
Goa picked up one of the coins and watched it glint in the
bright-hot Tatooine sun. "Yeah . . . but tell ya the truth, boys,
this is one bounty I ain't too proud of. Least I didn't have to
kill him myself. I knew Solo would take care of that."
Hammertong The Tale of the "Tonnika Sisters'
by Timothy Zahn
"It's a dilemma, really, that's what it is," Dr. Kellering said
in that precise Imperial Prime University voice of his that went
so well with his young, upper-class-pampered face. And so poorly
with the decidedly low-class tapcafe he and the two women were
sitting in. "On the one hand there's the whole question of secu
rity," Kellering continued. "Especially with all the Rebel
activity in this sector. And I can assure you that Dr. Eloy and I
aren't the only persons within the project who are concerned about
it."
His forehead wrinkled in upper-class-pampered perplexity. "But
on the other hand, Captain Drome is extremely hot-tempered in
regard to what he considers his personal territory. If he knew I
was even talking about this matter outside the compound, he'd be
terribly angry. Especially with people like - well, like you."
Seated across the table from Kellering, Shada D'ukal took a sip
from her cup, the wine carrying with it a hint of remembered
bitterness and shame. Like most girls growing up on their war-
devastated world, the Mistryl shadow guards had been the focus of
all her hopes. They had been the last heroes of her people, the
enigmatic cult of warrior women still fighting to force justice
for her world from uncaring, even hostile, officials of the
Empire. She had begun her training as soon as they would take her,
studying and working and sweating her way against the odds until,
at last, she had been deemed worthy to be called a Mistryl.
Assigned to a team, she had headed out on her first mission.
Only to learn that the Mistryl were no longer the valiant
warriors of legend.
They were mercenaries. Nothing more than mercenaries. Hiring
out to useless, insipid people like Kellering.
She sipped at her wine again, listening with half an ear as
Kellering prattled on, letting the memories fade. Now, a year and
seven missions later, the shame had faded to a dull ache in the
back of her mind. Someday, she hoped, it would be gone altogether.
Beside Shada, Team Prime Manda D'ulin lifted a hand, finally
putting an end to Kellering' s ramblings. "We understand your
problem, Dr. Kellering," she said. "May I suggest that you've
already made your decision. Otherwise the three of us wouldn't be
sitting here."
"Yes, of course." Kellering sighed. "I suppose I'm still - but
that's foolish. The Mistryl may be somewhat - but still, you
certainly come highly recommended. When my cousin was telling me
about you, he said you had-"
"The mission, Doctor," Manda interrupted again. "Tell us about
the mission."
"Yes. Of course." Kellering took a deep breath, his eyes
darting around the crowded tapcafe as if wondering which of the
humans or aliens at the other tables out there might be Imperial
spies. Or maybe he was just wondering what he was doing outside
his pampered little academic world. Consorting with mercenaries.
"I'm connected to a research project called Hammertong," he said,
his voice so low now that Shada could barely hear it over the
background noise. "My superior, Dr. Eloy, is senior scientist of
the group. A couple of weeks ago the Emperor's representative to
the project informed us that we were all going to be moved to some
new location. We're to leave in three days."
"And you don't think Captain Drome is handling security
properly?" Manda asked.
Kellering shrugged uncomfortably. "Dr. Eloy doesn't. The two of
them have had several arguments about it."
"So what exactly do you want from us?"
"I suppose-well, I really don't know," Kellering confessed,
throwing hooded looks back and forth between the two women. "I
suppose I thought we could talk to Captain Drome about you
bringing in some people to help guard us en route . . ." He
trailed off, apparently finally noticing the expression on Manda's
face.
"Let me explain something about the Mistryl, Dr. Kellering,"
she said, her voice still polite but with an edge of chromed
mullinine to it. ' 'Your cousin probably told you we were just
your standard group of fringe mercenaries. We're not. He probably
told you we sell our services to the highest bidder, no questions
or ethics involved. We don't. The Mistryl are the warriors of a
forgotten cause; and if we hire ourselves out as temporary
security to people like you, it's because our world and our people
require money to survive. We will not work with Imperial forces.
Ever."
Strong words. But that was all they were. There was a great
deal of simmering hatred toward the Empire among the Mistryl,
anger for their suspected complicity during the war and for their
complete indifference since then. But with the remnant of their
people living on the edge of survival, the simple cold truth was
that the Mistryl couldn't afford to turn down anything but the
most odious of offers from the most odious of people. Manda could
sound as high-minded as she wanted to, but in the end she and the
team would accept Kellering's job.
And as she had seven times before, Shada would do her best to
help them fulfill the contract. Because the other simple cold
truth was that she had nowhere else to go.
But of course, Kellering didn't know that; and from the look on
his face, Manda might have just dropped a large building on him.
"Oh, no," he breathed. "Please. We need you. Look, we're not
really with the Empire-we're funded by them, but we're actually a
completely independent research group."
"I see," Manda murmured, frowning thoughtfully. Making a show
of the decision-making process, probably in hopes of stifling any
protest on Kellering's part when she fina
lly named her price. With
an Imperial-funded project, that price was likely to be high.
It was. "All right," Manda said at last. "We can bypass your
Captain Drome entirely and run you a forward screen net that
should flash out the sort of ambushes the Rebel Alliance likes to
stage these days. You said three days till departure; that'll give
us time to bring a few other teams in. We should be able to field
a minimum of ten ships in the screen, plus a two ship aft guard in
case the Rebels try something cute." She lifted her eyebrows
slightly. "The fee will be thirty thousand."
Kellering's eyes bulged. "Thirty thousand?" He gulped.
"You got it," Manda said. "Take it or don't."
Shada watched Kellering's face as it went through the run of
shock, nervousness, and discomfiture. But as Manda had pointed
out, if he hadn't already made his decision they wouldn't be here.
"All right," he sighed. "All right. Dr. Eloy can cut you a credit
when we meet with him this afternoon."
Manda shot Shada a quick glance. "You want us to meet with Dr.
Eloy?"
"Of course." Kellering seemed surprised by the question. "He's
the one most worried about security."
"Yes, but . . . where would we meet him? Here?"
"No, at the compound," Kellering said. "He almost never leaves
there. Don't worry, I can get you in."
"What about Drome?" Manda asked. "You said yourself he was
pretty touchy on the subject of outsiders."
"Captain Drome isn't in charge of the project," Kellering said
with precise firmness. "Dr. Eloy is."
"Such details seldom bother Imperial military officers," Manda
countered. "If he catches us there-"
"He won't," Kellering assured her. "He won't even know you're
there. Besides, you need to see how the Hammertong's been loaded
aboard the ship if you're going to know how to properly protect
it."
Manda didn't look happy, but she nodded nevertheless. "All
right," she said, her hand curling.into a subtle signal as she did
so. "I have a couple of matters to attend to here first, but after
that I'll be happy to come with you. Shada can go offplanet in my
place and get the rest of the team assembled."
"Understood." Shada nodded. The team didn't need any
assembling, of course-all six of them were right here in this
tapcafe, with their two disguised fighters, the Skyclaw and
Mirage, parked in separate docking bays across town. But it was as
good an excuse as any for Shada to disappear from sight. Backups,
after all, weren't supposed to be seen.
"Good," Manda said briskly. "Have the others here in Gorno by
nightfall. In the meantime-" She gestured Kellering toward the
door. "We'll go deal with a couple of details, and then go meet
your Dr. Eloy."
"They're approaching the gate," Pav D'armon's voice murmured
from one of the two comlinks fastened to Shada's collar. "Two
guards visible, but I see movement in the gatehouse behind the
fence. Could be as many as six or seven more in there."
"Copy," Shada acknowledged, stroking a finger restlessly across
the side of her sniper's blaster rifle and wishing Pav wouldn't
get so chatty on the air. Mistryl comlinks were heavily encrypted,
but that wouldn't stop the Imperials from pinpointing the
transmissions if they took it into their heads to do so. And this
close to a major base, that was a distinct possibility.
The base. Lifting her eyes from the section of road winding
through the hills below-the road Manda and Kellering would be
traversing in a few minutes if they made it through the gate-Shada
studied the waves of rolling hills that stretched into the
distance beyond the innocuous security fence cutting across her
view. It certainly looked like the agricultural test ground the
signs on the fence claimed it to be, not at all like the weapons-
bristling popular image of an Imperial military research base. But
its strategic location, within fifty kilometers of the Gorno
spaceport and four major technical supply and transport centers,
made its true identity obvious.
Perhaps too obvious. Perhaps that was why they were moving
everyone out. She wondered how they would handle it subtly with
freighters, or blatantly with Imperial Star Destroyers. Kellering
had implied this Hammertong thing had already been loaded for
transport; a look at the ship they were using should give Manda a
clue as to how they were going to go about it. That would affect
how their screen net would be put together-
"They're through," Pav reported. "Gate's closing. They're
headed your way."
"Copy," Shada said, frowning. There was something in Pav's
voice . . . "Trouble?"
"I don't know," Pav said slowly. "It all looks okay. But
there's something here that feels wrong, somehow."
Shada tightened her grip on her blaster rifle. Pav might be a
chattercase on the com, but she hadn't survived long enough to
become Manda's team second without good combat instincts. "What do
you mean?"
"I'm not sure," Pav said. "They got through just a little bit
too quick-"
And abruptly, Pav's voice dissolved into an earsplit-ting
shriek of jamming static.
With a curse, Shada ripped the comlink from her collar with her
left hand, throwing it as far away from her as she could. So much
for Kellering's naive assurances of safety. In the split of a hair
right in the middle of it.
With Shada herself about to come in a close third. Beyond the
fence, from over the next line of hills, the gleaming white
figures of a dozen stormtroopers on speeder bikes had suddenly
appeared. Headed her way.
Shada cursed again, lining up her blaster rifle with her right
hand as she groped for the switch on her backup comlink with her
left. If they were lucky, they'd have a minute before the
Imperials found that frequency and locked it down, too. She
located the switch, flicked it on-
"-trap-repeat, a trap," Pav was saying, her voice tight.
"They've got Manda-she's down. Probably. And they're coming for
me."
"Pav, it's Shada," Shada cut in, squinting through the sight
and squeezing off a shot. The lead storm-trooper's speeder bike
exploded into a shower of sparks, pitching him to the ground and
nearly doing the same to the two on either side of him. "I can be
there to back you up in two minutes."
"Negative," Pav said. The tension in her voice was gone,
leaving a sad sort of resignation that sent a cold chill up
Shada's neck. "They're already too close. I'll do what I can to
keep them busy - you and Karoly had better get back to the ships
and get out of here. Good luck, and good - "
There was a brief crinkle of sound, and then silence.
Ahead, the speeder bikes had shifted into evasive maneuvers.
Shada fired four rapid shots, catching another of the
stormtroopers with the third of them. "Karoly?"
she called toward
her comlink. "Karoly? Are you there?"
"They're gone, Shada," Karoly D'ulin said, her voice almost
unrecognizable. "They're gone. The storm-troopers - "
"Snap out of it," Shada snarled, keying the Viper grenade
launcher attached to her blaster rifle barrel. The recoil kicked
the gun hard into her shoulder as the slender cylinder blasted out
toward the approaching stormtroopers. "Can you get to your
speeder?"
There was a short pause, and Shada could imagine Karoly's
earnest face as she pulled herself together. "Yes," she said. "Are
we retreating?"
"Not a chance," Shada said through gritted teeth, getting
halfway to her feet and heading at a crouch toward the bushes
where her speeder bike was hidden. "We're heading in. Get moving."
The approaching stormtroopers, finally presented with a target,
opened fire -
Just as the grenade hit the ground ten meters in front of them,
exploding into a billowing cloud of green smoke.
"We're going in?" Karoly echoed in disbelief. "Shada-"
"I'm clear." Shada cut her off, slinging the rifle over her
shoulder and kicking the speeder bike to life. Over the roar of
the engine she could hear the thuds of her erstwhile attackers
falling out of the sky as the specially formulated smoke burned
into the speeder bikes' power connectors. "Call Cai and Sileen -
tell them to bring the ships in for backup."
"But where are we going?"
Shada swung the speeder bike around. Manda and Pav were gone,
and she knew that eventually the pain of that loss would catch up
with her. But for right now, she had only enough room for a single
emotion.
Rage.
"We're going to teach the Imperials a lesson," she told Karoly.
Kicking the throttle to full power, she jumped the fence, curved
around the edge of the green cloud, and headed in.
It was a little over ten kilometers from the outer fence to the
main base area, and for the first eight of them Shada flew low
over the rolling hills and wondered where in blazes the vaunted
Imperial defenses were. Either they hadn't thrown this ambush
together until Kellering's ground car pulled up at the gate, or
else they'd assumed their quarry would run for it and had
concentrated their forces out beyond the fence.
Or else they were concentrating on Karoly. Blinking against the