Chapter 5: En Route to Kessel
It had been home to the exotic scientist Qwi Xux, and it had been the location of a top secret Imperial think tank. It was here where Han had first met the Jedi Master Kyp Durron, when they escaped from Moruth Doole. They were back in the Kessel system, which contained the Maw Cluster along with "the Pit." The Maw Cluster was a cluster of black holes that drew in everything that got near them. In the middle of the cluster was the old Maw Installation where the Death Star prototype had once been. Almost 11 years ago, the threat of the Imperial Remnant was rampant, but now it was the Vong. Han shuddered at the memory of the deadly glitterstim spiders that had chased himself and Kyp through the dark mines of Kessel. It was not an experience he would care to repeat. All he had to do was pick up the cargo that was waiting for him on the planet. It happened to be glitterstim which the Rebels would be able to sell on the black market.
"Chewie, coming out of hyperspace in five…four…three…two," Han told his partner. With a silent "one," Chewie pulled on the decelerator lever, and the rusty color of Kessel appeared against the blackness of space. In some areas, there were dark disk shaped objects, which were the black holes that made up the Maw. "I don't see any Vong activity yet, but be ready. I doubt that they're crazy enough to play tag with the black holes out here Chewie."
[Yeah, those scarheads are smart enough to know that black holes are suicide.] Even though Chewie voiced his agreement to Han, he secretly believed that the Vong probably would come all the way out to Kessel. They'd do whatever was necessary in order to squash the insurrection against them.
This time when Han was in range of the planet he did not try to contact them on his comm. He didn't want to attract unnecessary attention to himself as he did when they arrived at Bastion.
Han flew the Falcon towards the planet, as many old memories began to come back to him, most of them were bad. His luck held all the way as he piloted the ship, no Vong ever showed up on his scanners. "Okay Chewie, all we gotta do is pick up that load of spice on the planet and it's good riddance."
[Yeah, good riddance to this hell hole of a planet. I bet the Alliance will put this spice to good use.] Chewie said to Han.
"Yeah, there are still guys that'd pay a bundle for this stuff. We really need more ships and weapons if we hope to stand any chance against the Vong." Han replied. The war had gotten so desperate that the Rebels wouldn't look a vrelt in the mouth. Anything they could sell, and knowing that spice was very valuable, would help their cause. As they were talking, a light on his comm began to blink.
"Millennium Falcon, this is Kessel Air Security. Please state your business as to why you are here," said the controller. Han smirked and thought to himself that these guys must be pretty stupid, if they didn't know why one of the most famous smuggler ships was paying Kessel a visit.
"Pal, we're here to pick up a load of spice. We're on direct orders from the Alliance, so do us a favor, give us clearance to land," Han said irritably.
The controller stuttered and replied, "Y-yes sir, sorry sir. My apologies, I didn't know who this was and…" he started to ramble. After Han switched off his comm, he began his descent into the planet's atmosphere. As the Falcon lowered herself onto the landing pad, Han took note of the turbolasers that were in a perimeter around the docking station. They can afford weapons, but not an air generator, he thought sourly. He and Chewie had to don breath masks because Kessel's atmosphere was too thin to breathe normally. As the pair walked up to the docking station, a group of people came out to meet him. Han recognized one of the men.
A dark skinned man, with the skin the color of vine caffeine, greeted Han. If Lando had a brother, this man was him. "Welcome Captain Solo, my name's Rychard Sithole. How've you been you old pirate?!" exclaimed Sithole.
Han grinned and replied, "Well just fine, you know how it goes Rychard. The business has been booming with all of these Vong attacks, and I just know that you'll cut me in on a good deal for the spice." Sithole had once been a very good smuggler back in the old days, when the Empire was still in existence. When Lando had given up on the mines, he gave the whole business to Rychard. Lando had originally introduced him to Han on Nar Shaddaa, back when Han had lived there.
"Of course, you'll get a good price Han. You're an old friend, you get all the perks!" he laughed. "But let's go inside our facilities here."
"Haha, perks you say? Kessel still doesn't have that much of an atmosphere buddy. Yeah, let's go in, any place is better than out here," Han said.
The group began to walk into Kessel's docking station. When they got inside they were able to move their breath masks and talk normally. "Well Chewie and I picked up parts for a planetary shield, back on Bastion," Han said.
"That's perfect, Han. We need a shield just in case the Vong wanna try and halt our spice production." Sithloe replied.
"Yeah, those Vong are smart bastards. They would try to do something like that," Han remarked. "Even with a shield, you're looking at a nasty fight if they do decide to attack."
"I know they might, but for a business such as ours, we gotta take the risks. Also, we're not totally defenseless. You saw our turbolaser mounts on the way in, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did Rych. They'll help you, but just try to stay sharp will ya? You can't afford to be caught off guard," Han replied.
Little did the group know, but there was already an enemy in their midst. One of Rychard's guards, was donning an ooglith masquer, an organism that made the Vong underneath appear human. The masquer filled all of the Vong's pours, and resembled a tall human. This warrior's mission was to kill Han and the wookie. He was waiting for the infidels to get up again, before he would make his kill.
"Rych, we, the Alliance could use you. We need all the help we can get; I know you're a great pilot. I know that the life of a spice administrator is great, but we'd pay you," Han said.
"I wish I could Han, I wish I could help. But Kessel needs me; if I wasn't here there'd be no one to oversee the spice production. But look, I'll see what I can do, if I can find myself an able substitute, I'll join," Rychard said solemnly.
"OK, that's all I ask, Rych. Just think about it. Thanks for the spice; we'll put it to good use. Maybe we'll use the money to create a new Death Star, or something that'll wipe out the Vong in one engagement," Han kidded. The two men then got up, and shook hands.
"I'll be seeing you later, you old rascal. Stay alive, you're my best customer!" Rychard said with a laugh.
"No, you won't be seeing him later INFIDEL!" yelled the warrior. The startled men, turned and looked at the guard that yelled at them. As they did this, the warrior touched a small bump behind his ear lobe, and the ooglith masquer oozed out of his body with a resounding SCHLEP! Coiled around his body was the deadly amphistaff that was his weapon. He whipped it off of his body, and struck down the nearest guard.
Han shoved Rychard out of the way, and knocked over a table for protection. The remaining guards took cover and pulled their blasters. Chewie, near Han, loaded his bowcaster and crouched behind the table. Rychard had already un-holstered his weapon, a small but deadly hold out blaster. They all began shooting at the warrior, who happened to be right in the middle of the crossfire. The warrior pulled out a few razor bugs from a pouch on his hip, and whirled them at the table where Han and Chewie were.
"Look out Chewie! He's got those razor bugs, this table probably won't protect us for too much longer," Han exclaimed. He knew that there were only so many weak points on the armor that the Vong was wearing. "Aim for his neck, knees, or armpits!" Han yelled. The Vong threw two more razor bugs, one completely going through a different table, killing a guard there. The other nicked, Rychard in his right arm, making him drop his blaster. He screamed in pain, but in anger went down to retrieve his gun to make the Vong pay for doing that. "No! Don't go for it!!" Han yelled. "Chewie, cover me!" Han dove out from the table, shooting at the Vong, seconds later Chewie followed shooting his powerful quarrels at the warrior. Han tackled Rychard, and Chewie shot over the two. One of Chewie's shots caught the warrior in his exposed throat. He made a hissing sound as he went down, and hit the ground floor hard. "Hey you alright, Rychard?" Han asked, concerned.
"Ahhh, sh…. Yeah, I'm alright, it's nothing a bacta patch can't fix. But dammit Han, did you see that? I lost one of my own guards, to a guy that I thought was on my side!" Rychard said through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, I know. It's not your fault, the Vong have already infiltrated us with those masquers. It's too hard to tell most of the time. Let's get you patched up, because Chewie and I had better blast out of here, before the going gets any rougher." Han and Chewie helped Rychard get to a medic, and then they ran back to their ship, when he assured them he'd be OK.
Already the sky above Kessel had grown dark, with Vong ships. The warrior had alerted the Vong, that Han and the wookie were here on the planet. Damn, they're better than I thought if they followed me and Chewie through the Maw, Han thought. The ground defenses on Kessel, began to stir as they got ready for a possible attack. There were a few other smuggler ships that began to take off, not wanting any part in an attack. As Han lifted the ship up, he used his comm to contact the Alliance. "Zero, Zero, Alpha, come in. I repeat Zero, Zero, Alpha; we have a tango in the skies. We're currently en route to the rendezvous point."
Han received a burst of static after his transmission, but after a few seconds, it responded. "Roger that, Falcon. Come on home, be careful!" Sure thing Control, that's easy for you to say. You don't got a slew of Vong on your tail. Kessel was behind them, but now they had to deal with the Yuuzhan Vong strike force.
It had been home to the exotic scientist Qwi Xux, and it had been the location of a top secret Imperial think tank. It was here where Han had first met the Jedi Master Kyp Durron, when they escaped from Moruth Doole. They were back in the Kessel system, which contained the Maw Cluster along with "the Pit." The Maw Cluster was a cluster of black holes that drew in everything that got near them. In the middle of the cluster was the old Maw Installation where the Death Star prototype had once been. Almost 11 years ago, the threat of the Imperial Remnant was rampant, but now it was the Vong. Han shuddered at the memory of the deadly glitterstim spiders that had chased himself and Kyp through the dark mines of Kessel. It was not an experience he would care to repeat. All he had to do was pick up the cargo that was waiting for him on the planet. It happened to be glitterstim which the Rebels would be able to sell on the black market.
"Chewie, coming out of hyperspace in five…four…three…two," Han told his partner. With a silent "one," Chewie pulled on the decelerator lever, and the rusty color of Kessel appeared against the blackness of space. In some areas, there were dark disk shaped objects, which were the black holes that made up the Maw. "I don't see any Vong activity yet, but be ready. I doubt that they're crazy enough to play tag with the black holes out here Chewie."
[Yeah, those scarheads are smart enough to know that black holes are suicide.] Even though Chewie voiced his agreement to Han, he secretly believed that the Vong probably would come all the way out to Kessel. They'd do whatever was necessary in order to squash the insurrection against them.
This time when Han was in range of the planet he did not try to contact them on his comm. He didn't want to attract unnecessary attention to himself as he did when they arrived at Bastion.
Han flew the Falcon towards the planet, as many old memories began to come back to him, most of them were bad. His luck held all the way as he piloted the ship, no Vong ever showed up on his scanners. "Okay Chewie, all we gotta do is pick up that load of spice on the planet and it's good riddance."
[Yeah, good riddance to this hell hole of a planet. I bet the Alliance will put this spice to good use.] Chewie said to Han.
"Yeah, there are still guys that'd pay a bundle for this stuff. We really need more ships and weapons if we hope to stand any chance against the Vong." Han replied. The war had gotten so desperate that the Rebels wouldn't look a vrelt in the mouth. Anything they could sell, and knowing that spice was very valuable, would help their cause. As they were talking, a light on his comm began to blink.
"Millennium Falcon, this is Kessel Air Security. Please state your business as to why you are here," said the controller. Han smirked and thought to himself that these guys must be pretty stupid, if they didn't know why one of the most famous smuggler ships was paying Kessel a visit.
"Pal, we're here to pick up a load of spice. We're on direct orders from the Alliance, so do us a favor, give us clearance to land," Han said irritably.
The controller stuttered and replied, "Y-yes sir, sorry sir. My apologies, I didn't know who this was and…" he started to ramble. After Han switched off his comm, he began his descent into the planet's atmosphere. As the Falcon lowered herself onto the landing pad, Han took note of the turbolasers that were in a perimeter around the docking station. They can afford weapons, but not an air generator, he thought sourly. He and Chewie had to don breath masks because Kessel's atmosphere was too thin to breathe normally. As the pair walked up to the docking station, a group of people came out to meet him. Han recognized one of the men.
A dark skinned man, with the skin the color of vine caffeine, greeted Han. If Lando had a brother, this man was him. "Welcome Captain Solo, my name's Rychard Sithole. How've you been you old pirate?!" exclaimed Sithole.
Han grinned and replied, "Well just fine, you know how it goes Rychard. The business has been booming with all of these Vong attacks, and I just know that you'll cut me in on a good deal for the spice." Sithole had once been a very good smuggler back in the old days, when the Empire was still in existence. When Lando had given up on the mines, he gave the whole business to Rychard. Lando had originally introduced him to Han on Nar Shaddaa, back when Han had lived there.
"Of course, you'll get a good price Han. You're an old friend, you get all the perks!" he laughed. "But let's go inside our facilities here."
"Haha, perks you say? Kessel still doesn't have that much of an atmosphere buddy. Yeah, let's go in, any place is better than out here," Han said.
The group began to walk into Kessel's docking station. When they got inside they were able to move their breath masks and talk normally. "Well Chewie and I picked up parts for a planetary shield, back on Bastion," Han said.
"That's perfect, Han. We need a shield just in case the Vong wanna try and halt our spice production." Sithloe replied.
"Yeah, those Vong are smart bastards. They would try to do something like that," Han remarked. "Even with a shield, you're looking at a nasty fight if they do decide to attack."
"I know they might, but for a business such as ours, we gotta take the risks. Also, we're not totally defenseless. You saw our turbolaser mounts on the way in, didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did Rych. They'll help you, but just try to stay sharp will ya? You can't afford to be caught off guard," Han replied.
Little did the group know, but there was already an enemy in their midst. One of Rychard's guards, was donning an ooglith masquer, an organism that made the Vong underneath appear human. The masquer filled all of the Vong's pours, and resembled a tall human. This warrior's mission was to kill Han and the wookie. He was waiting for the infidels to get up again, before he would make his kill.
"Rych, we, the Alliance could use you. We need all the help we can get; I know you're a great pilot. I know that the life of a spice administrator is great, but we'd pay you," Han said.
"I wish I could Han, I wish I could help. But Kessel needs me; if I wasn't here there'd be no one to oversee the spice production. But look, I'll see what I can do, if I can find myself an able substitute, I'll join," Rychard said solemnly.
"OK, that's all I ask, Rych. Just think about it. Thanks for the spice; we'll put it to good use. Maybe we'll use the money to create a new Death Star, or something that'll wipe out the Vong in one engagement," Han kidded. The two men then got up, and shook hands.
"I'll be seeing you later, you old rascal. Stay alive, you're my best customer!" Rychard said with a laugh.
"No, you won't be seeing him later INFIDEL!" yelled the warrior. The startled men, turned and looked at the guard that yelled at them. As they did this, the warrior touched a small bump behind his ear lobe, and the ooglith masquer oozed out of his body with a resounding SCHLEP! Coiled around his body was the deadly amphistaff that was his weapon. He whipped it off of his body, and struck down the nearest guard.
Han shoved Rychard out of the way, and knocked over a table for protection. The remaining guards took cover and pulled their blasters. Chewie, near Han, loaded his bowcaster and crouched behind the table. Rychard had already un-holstered his weapon, a small but deadly hold out blaster. They all began shooting at the warrior, who happened to be right in the middle of the crossfire. The warrior pulled out a few razor bugs from a pouch on his hip, and whirled them at the table where Han and Chewie were.
"Look out Chewie! He's got those razor bugs, this table probably won't protect us for too much longer," Han exclaimed. He knew that there were only so many weak points on the armor that the Vong was wearing. "Aim for his neck, knees, or armpits!" Han yelled. The Vong threw two more razor bugs, one completely going through a different table, killing a guard there. The other nicked, Rychard in his right arm, making him drop his blaster. He screamed in pain, but in anger went down to retrieve his gun to make the Vong pay for doing that. "No! Don't go for it!!" Han yelled. "Chewie, cover me!" Han dove out from the table, shooting at the Vong, seconds later Chewie followed shooting his powerful quarrels at the warrior. Han tackled Rychard, and Chewie shot over the two. One of Chewie's shots caught the warrior in his exposed throat. He made a hissing sound as he went down, and hit the ground floor hard. "Hey you alright, Rychard?" Han asked, concerned.
"Ahhh, sh…. Yeah, I'm alright, it's nothing a bacta patch can't fix. But dammit Han, did you see that? I lost one of my own guards, to a guy that I thought was on my side!" Rychard said through gritted teeth.
"Yeah, I know. It's not your fault, the Vong have already infiltrated us with those masquers. It's too hard to tell most of the time. Let's get you patched up, because Chewie and I had better blast out of here, before the going gets any rougher." Han and Chewie helped Rychard get to a medic, and then they ran back to their ship, when he assured them he'd be OK.
Already the sky above Kessel had grown dark, with Vong ships. The warrior had alerted the Vong, that Han and the wookie were here on the planet. Damn, they're better than I thought if they followed me and Chewie through the Maw, Han thought. The ground defenses on Kessel, began to stir as they got ready for a possible attack. There were a few other smuggler ships that began to take off, not wanting any part in an attack. As Han lifted the ship up, he used his comm to contact the Alliance. "Zero, Zero, Alpha, come in. I repeat Zero, Zero, Alpha; we have a tango in the skies. We're currently en route to the rendezvous point."
Han received a burst of static after his transmission, but after a few seconds, it responded. "Roger that, Falcon. Come on home, be careful!" Sure thing Control, that's easy for you to say. You don't got a slew of Vong on your tail. Kessel was behind them, but now they had to deal with the Yuuzhan Vong strike force.