model sported five-axis laser-ranging pods as add-ons on the blind
side, just forward of the loading port--often installed at the
insistence of spooked-pilots after a close call with a docking bay wall
or another ship. But out of some combination of stubbornness and ego,
Han had refused to let Chewbacca install a ranging pod.
"Do you look at your feet when you walk? A real pilot feels where his
ship is," Han had insisted. "I don't want anyone looking at the Falcon
and thinking we need that kind of training-school crutch. Give me a
meter of clearance and I'll fly this thing anywhere. Do you think
Lando could have made that run into the Death Star at Endor if he'd
depended on ranging pods?"
But the Falcon's enormous blind spot was an even more serious issue in
flight than during landings. That fact was the genesis of the maneuver
known to pilots as the Corellian carousel--putting the ship into a slow
left-hand roll when making an approach in traffic or maneuvering under
fire. Han's addition of a single high-mounted sensor dish to the
Falcon only accentuated the need to use the carousel routinely, since
the dish had an even larger blind spot than the pilot.
Jowdrrl had never flown aboard the Falcon, and Chewbacca had never
complained about its peculiarities in front of her. But she summed up
the problem with one clear, simple truth Chewbacca had not yet managed
to impress on his son: [A Wookiee hunter who stands beside a tree hides
half the forest from his eyes.] Jowdrrl's solution was a simple if not
obvious one.
Everywhere there was an existing viewport the port and starboard
loading hatches, the dorsal and ventral
gun turrets--Jowdrrl had covered it with a custom-fitted optical
transducer panel.
The output from all four of the nearly transparent sensors was routed
to flatscreen displays in the cockpit, giving the pilot the benefit of
the familiar views from those four locations. Together, the new
sensors eliminated most of the ship's blind spot, leaving only a small
area directly aft--an area that was already well scanned by the sensor
dish.
In explaining what she had done, Jowdrrl changed from Shyriiwook to the
Thykarann dialect, which was much richer in technical vocabulary.
<Something you could do later is pass the signal through the targeting
computer--then any object showing relative motion could be highlighted
on the flatscreens, the targeting grid, or both,> she told Chewbacca.
<And there are better transducers available--dome fisheyes from Melihat
and bubble sights from Tana Ire--but mounting them would mean hull
work. At least for now you can make use of all your viewports without
running all over the ship.> Chewbacca grunted grudging approval.
[I did not have enough time to work on the other problem,] she said,
switching back to Shyriiwook, her tone apologetic.
[Which problem is that?] [That a Wookiee hunter does not have enough
hands to climb and aim at the same time.] Again, her words showed a
surprising awareness of the Falcon's operational realities--in this
case, the fact that it was almost invariably undercrewed. The
Corel-lian YT-1300 was officially rated as a four-place freighter for
in-system work and an eight-place--four stations, four berths--for
interstellar flights.
The cargomaster was expendable, but none of the other three stations
was. Even with the cockpit remotes for the gun turrets, it was
impossible for two people to simultaneously fly and fight the Falcon
effectively. The Falcon had survived most of its gun battles by
fighting just long enough and just well enough to make a break.
"The more mouths at the table, the poorer the feast,] Chewbacca said.
[And the silent hunt is best undertaken by a party of two. Still,
sometimes four hands are not enough.] Jowdrrl changed dialect again.
<Why have you never installed autotracking fire controllers for the gun
turrets?> <I have told Han for years that we should do so,> chewbacca
said. <But he is too fond of those overbore Dennia quad guns, because
for big-crew Dreadnaughts, however, not for fully automated fire
control.> <As I learned when I looked them up in the Weapons
Engineering Guide,> said Jowdrrl. <There is no fast-response ring and
ball mount replacement available, and no ready way to adapt the
existing mounts for computer control--but I have a few ideas, if I only
had more time.> She thumbed one of the eight cables used in the cockpit
aiming system. <Did you devise this rig?> <I did.> The system
Chewbacca had created involved eight motorized cable spools, turning
the turret into a mechanical puppet controlled by a joystick in the
cockpit.
<It's surprisingly good,> she said. <It gets you most of the way to
where you want to be. Did you ever try taking the steering inputs
directly from the targeting display, or match-sighting with a scope on
the gun itself?> [I do not have time to talk about what might be done,]
Chewbacca said. [But I see from what you have done that I have not
given you enough credit for your skill. You have grown while I have
been away.] [Thank you, cousin.] Jowdrrl closed her tool kit and turned
to face him. [I hope that that means you will accept me as your
partner on the journey you are about to begin.] [Do not talk foolish
talk.] [I know by what Malla has said that you will face an enemy as
fearsome as the webweaver, and more vi
cious than the gundark. You should not go alone, and you need not go alone.] [No,] Chewbacca
snarled curtly, turning and clambering down the access ladder to the
main deck.
[We are family--the life debt to Han Solo does not stop with you,] said
Jowdrrl, following closely behind.
[And you do not have enough hands. What can you do alone to help him?]
Chewbacca had reached the cockpit by then and slipped into the pilot's
seat. Turning on the ion coil preheaters, he began running through the
Falcon's streamlined preflight procedures. [You have three minutes to
collect your belongings from the crew quarters and leave the ship.]
[Aren't you going to talk to Malla before you lift?] Jowdrrl said,
gesturing sideways.
Chewbacca glanced in the direction of Jowdrrl's gesture. He saw Malla,
Shoran, and Dryanta standing together on the landing platform, looking
up at the cockpit. Dryanta and Shoran were wearing hunting bandoliers
instead of baldrics, and a pair of tough-shelled tree bags were lying
on the ground at their feet.
With a fiercely impatient growl, Chewbacca clambered out of the pilot's
seat and half ran to the boarding ramp.
[What is this?] he demanded over the rising whine of the Falcon's
idlers.
[The rest of your crew,] said Malla.
Shoran grinned brightly and drew himself up to attention. [The First
Wookiee Expeditionary Force, reporting for duty.] [Malla told us that
you're going straight to Koor-nacht,] said Dryanta. [We can't let you
go alone, We're here to help.]
Chewbacca looked to his wife. [You
can't ask them to risk their lives on my debt.] [I did not have to ask
them,] said Mallatobuck. [I only had to tell them why you are going
and what you face.] [It was our idea,] Shoran said, reaching down and
shouldering his well-stuffed bag. [And you can't deny us this hunt
without risking betrayal of your debt--if you go alone and fail, you
will have no honor.] Behind Chewbacca, the hiss of injectors and the
clicking of compressors told him that Jowdrrl was continuing the
Falcon's preflight without his assistance.
[I never wanted any of my family to have to fight again,] said
Chewbacca. [I am honor-bound. If I must, I will give my life for my
friend. But I will not give yours.] [My life is not yours to offer,]
said Dryanta. [It is mine. And I pledge it to you, my cousin, and to
your friend.] [You cannot refuse us without shaming us, cousin,] added
Shoran. [Jowdrrl, too.] [Go, then, and get aboard,] he said, shooting
an annoyed look at his wife. They hastened toward the ship, leaving
Chewbacca alone with his Malla. [Your cleverness could cost our family
their lives.] [Or save yours,] Malla said. [I am at peace with my
choice.] Chewbacca seized her in a firm embrace, and they growled with
fierce affection into each other's shoulder fur. Then the high whistle
of the thrust vents called him toward the ship, telling him that it was
ready to lift. But a new voice called him back.
[Father--] Chewbacca turned and saw Lumpawarrump standing in the wooden
arch of the landing platform entryway.
He was wearing his bowcaster and carrying the freshly camouflaged tree
bag he had taken on his aborted journey of ascendance.
[We will finish your tests when I return,] Chewbacca called.
Lumpawarrump drew closer with tentative steps.
[Take me with you. You have already broken with tradition once. I ask
you to do so again.] Malla cried out a protest, but Chewbacca silenced
her with a warning gesture as he crossed the platform to where his son
stood.
"Why?] Chewbacca demanded. [Why do you ask this?] [I will be neither
child nor adult until you return--I do not belong in the nursery ring
or in the council ring,] said Lumpawarrump.
[Are you afraid I will not return?] [Yes.] [Then are you not afraid
that you will not return?] [I am more afraid to fail than to die,]
Lumpawar-rump said. [Much is expected from the son of Chewbacca--he
cannot be a coward.] [You need not fear that now. By offering
yourself, you have shown your mettle.] [That is not what they will
see.
They will say that it was only words, that I knew you would not take
me, that I knew Malla would forbid it,] said Lumpawar-rump.
[They will see that even you did not have faith in me--that Jowdrrl and
Shoran and Dryanta were good enough for you, but I was not.] Chewbacca
shook his head. [It is not a matter of faith. I have a full crew.
What skills do you bring to this hunt?] [Everything of you that is in
me, and everything that you can teach me,] Lumpawarrump said. [Father,
please--I have accepted your long absences, the duties that take you
away from us. But I must have a chance to prove my worth to you. I
want my baldric and my new name. Give me a chance to earn them beside
you, and know that you are proud of me.] Chewbacca cast a sideways
glance at Mallatobuck, who was watching anxiously but keeping her
distance.
He doubted she could have heard much of the conversation over the noise
from the Falcon.
[Go,] Chewbacca said, seizing Lumpawarrump by the arm and sending him
toward the ship with a push.
Malla raised a sharp wail of protest, but Chewbacca moved quickly to
block her from reaching their son.
[You can't take him--he's not ready,] Malla insisted.
[If I let you tell him that, if I tell him that, it will destroy him,]
said Chewbacca. [That is why I must take him. Now step back and let
him see a mother's fierce pride, not her fear.] Her eyes sad but
resigned, Malla cuffed him across the face, and he returned the kiss
with equal tenderness and affection. Then he turned and bounded up the
boarding ramp while Malla retreated into the growing crowd drawn to the
platform by the sound of the Falcon's engines.
Moments later, the ship lifted and wheeled toward the sky.
Vagabond
The Teljkon vagabond had finally ceased Shuddering and groaning around
its prisoners. With the starship once again hurtling through
hyperspace, at last there was silence.
"Attagirl," Lando said, patting the wall of the chamber in which he and
the others floated. "It'll take a lot more than one rusty old escort
frigate to run you down."
"But Master Lando, this is terrible, simply terrible," said Threepio,
his damaged arm jerking spastically as he gestured animatedly. "That
ship could have rescued us, and now we've run away from it. We may
even have destroyed it."
"I hope we did," Lando said. "Trust me on this--any rescue offered by
an Imperial warlord in the Core is going to be no rescue worth
having.
There's probably still a price on my head, maybe on you two droids,
too.
War hero or war criminal it's all a matter of your point of view.
Chances are we'd find ourselves traded around until we were in the
hands of whoever was willing to pay the most for the pleasure of
killing us."
"I see what you mean, sir."
Artoo-Detoo burbled a terse comment.
"I'm quite sure he's not interested in your linguistic pretensions,
Artoo," Threepio said haughtily. "And neither am I." The droid's tone
suddenly changed to a melodramatic melancholy. "Killed or deactivated
or disintegrated to atoms, it's all the same to me. Oblivion, the
final cessation of awareness--" Then annoyance suddenly took over
Threepio's voice. "Not that it means anything to a random jumble of
circuits such as yourself," he added, clanging a golden fist against
Artoo's dome. "If you want to do something useful, you might see about
fixing those sensors Master Lando placed on the hull. Why you let them
be damaged just when we needed them most, I'll never understand."
Artoo's shrill reply needed no translation, even for Lando.
"There's no need to be rude," Threepio sniffed.
"If you two keep wasting your power cells on bickering, you'll visit
oblivion a lot faster than you were planning on," Lando said, drifting
between them.
"Artoo, is there any hope for the limpet?"
"I can answer that," said Lobot, who had suddenly busied himself with
collecting the parts of his contact suit and climbing back into them.
"Just before it ceased transmitting, the sensors measured a monopolar
ion density of more than twenty thousand Rahm units. It is a near
Certainty that the limpet is damaged beyond repair."
"Twenty thousand? Better than I thought. I'd have given you odds that
it wouldn't take more than twelve," Lando said. "Well, no matter."
"The primary component of all spectral sensors is Favervil dielectric
ribbon
," Lobot said. "Dielectric ribbon begins to debond under ion
bombardment at a density of fifteen thousand Rahms."
"Is that so," Lando said.
"Master Lando, why didn't the vagabond's shields stop the ion
barrage?"
Threepio asked.
"Now, that's an interesting question," said Lando.
"The answer might be because there are no shields--no ray shields,
anyway."
"No shields?" Threepio echoed. "Isn't that un-usual-and dangerous?"
"It's unusual--" Lando began.
Lobot interrupted with another encyclopedic answer.
"Since the inception of spacecraft licensing under the Registry Office,
noncombatant vessels have been required to carry ray shielding
generators of at least grade two strength, to protect the crew and
passengers from cosmic radiation and stellar flares. More than
ninety-six percent of alien ship types in the Registrar's Catalog are
known to carry both ray and particle shielding in some form."
Lando looked curiously at his old partner. Before he could give voice
to his thoughts, however, Threepio filled the silence with a burst of
indignant words.
"Master Lando, this is intolerable. I am certain that Master Luke did
not intend for us to be marooned on a vessel with no ray shielding. No
wonder my circuits are so sluggish and Artoo has been so peevish. This
could have the most serious consequences for us. We simply must leave