“No, not again,” Han snapped as the Falcon dropped suddenly from hyperspace. “This is really starting to get old.” How many times was he going to get pulled out by Yuuzhan Vong interdictor analogs? There weren’t even supposed to be any Vong here.
He threw the ship into a series of evasive maneuvers. “Okay, where are you scar-faced clowns?” he growled.
“It’s not Yuuzhan Vong,” Leia said. “Look.”
He did look, and had to resist the temptation to rub his eyes. For there, silhouetted against the bright stars of the Core, was an Imperial interdictor.
He noticed the comm was buzzing for attention. “Put ’em on,” Han managed.
A moment later, a terse voice filtered into the cockpit. “Unidentified vessel, this is Captain Mynar Devis of the Imperial cruiser Wrack. Identify yourself immediately.”
“Some things don’t change,” Leia murmured.
“Easy, honey. I think it’s kind of romantic. Takes me back. Anyway, it has to be part of Pellaeon’s bunch.”
He keyed to answer. “Wrack, this is Millennium Falcon. Looks like you’re a little lost. The Imperial Remnant is about twenty parsecs from here. Do you mind telling me whose orders you’re under?”
There was a gravid pause. Then the voice returned. “Captain Solo, I presume. You’re every bit as insolent as I’d heard.”
“Now, listen—” Han began, but the captain cut him off.
“And it’s a great pleasure to meet you.” Devis suddenly sounded very young. “I thought I recognized Millennium Falcon from the holos, but I couldn’t be positive. How can I be of service?”
“Ah—” For a rare moment, Han was speechless. “Well, nice to meet you, too,” he said. Not exactly what he’d been expecting, even with the recent alliance. He had a fan in the Empire? “But I suppose I still need an answer to my question before we continue this little love fest.”
“Of course, sir. I’m here under orders from Grand Admiral Pellaeon.”
“In connection with Operation Trinity?”
“Yes. I—ah—wasn’t informed you were involved, sir.”
“I just got drafted. In fact, I’m on the way to meet with the Grand Admiral. What are you guys doing, watching the back door?”
“Excuse me? I—oh, I see. Yes, sir. The Grand Admiral placed interdictors on all the major routes leading to the fleet’s location.”
“Smart,” Han said. “Someone comes along and you yank them out of hyperspace and send a warning to the fleet. Dangerous position. What happens if a whole Yuuzhan Vong flotilla jumps in here?”
“We’re to delay any forces that arrive here as long as we can, then jump. Unfortunately, our mission has been impacted by some sort of trouble with the local HoloNet relay. We can’t get a message through to Grand Admiral Pellaeon.”
“It’s not just the local relay,” Han informed him. “The whole thing’s going down. Some sort of new Vong weapon, we think. Communication has been lost between the fleets—that’s why we’re here. Have you sent any couriers?”
“Yes, Captain Solo. We had an incident not long after we lost communication. We sent a courier to report it and receive orders.”
“Incident? What sort of incident?”
“We pulled a ship out of hyperspace. We gave pursuit, but it launched some sort of weapon that disabled our forward gravity-well generator.”
“Vong?”
“I don’t know. What sensor readings we got made it as organic, but it didn’t match any known profiles of Yuuzhan Vong ships.”
“That’s no surprise,” Han said. “Every time you turn around, they’ve grown something new.”
“Their escape vector didn’t put it going anywhere near the fleets, but it must have reported us. The courier returned and told us to hold our position.”
“That’s good,” Han told Leia. “That means Pellaeon hasn’t pulled out of the whole thing. He’s still waiting on word from Wedge.”
“Which we don’t have,” Leia said.
“Right. To get that, we’d have to go to Bilbringi.”
“Which is not what our orders were,” Leia reminded him.
“True,” Han said. “And I’m such a stickler for orders …” He opened the channel again. “Captain Devis, could you do me a favor and send another courier?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Thanks. Tell the Grand Admiral we’re going to see what’s going on with Alpha. As soon as we know something, we’ll report back directly to him.”
“Yes, sir. Captain Solo?”
“Yes?”
“If Alpha is fighting without backup, things may be pretty hot there. May I send an escort with you? I could spare a few TIE defenders.”
“I don’t—”
“Han,” Leia said. “He’s right. And if we get stuck, one of the TIEs might be able to slip out with a report.”
Han nodded reluctantly. “As long as they don’t get in my way,” he said. He opened the channel. “Thanks—the help is appreciated.”
“It’s easily given. I’ve been following your career since I was five years old, sir.”
“Well, let’s hope there’s plenty more for you to follow,” Han replied.
“I’ll see to it,” Devis said.
A few moments later, three TIE defenders came streaking their way.
“Hi, fellows,” Han told them. “I’m sending jump coordinates. Try to keep up with us.”
“We’ll do our best, sir,” the flight leader replied.
Han wrinkled his brow. “Devis?”
“Yes, sir?”
“Since when does the captain of an interdictor trade down for a starfighter?”
“Since interdiction duty is boring, sir. I’ll sort it out with the Grand Admiral later. Easier to beg forgiveness than to ask permission, as they say.”
“Okay,” Han said. “Looks like the interdiction field is down. Let’s go do this.”