Alarms blared as the Falcon was yanked out of hyperspace. "What the…" Han shouted as he ran up to the cockpit. He now regretted leaving Chewie on Kashyyyk… if it was trouble…
He glanced out the viewport. It certainly looked like trouble… An Interdictor cruiser was ahead—along with two Dreadnoughts.
Imperials? Han thought. Here? Where was 'here' anyway? He glanced at the navicomputer and gulped. His memories of this place weren't exactly pleasant. He was very close to the Myrkr system.
The cruiser and the Dreadnoughts fired ion cannons at him. Madly zigzagging, Han sped away from the cruiser, wanting nothing more than to escape into hyperspace. The ships followed, and they also launched TIE fighters.
Where's an asteroid field when you need one? Han thought grimly. He glanced at the instruments. He was almost out of the interdiction field…
That's when he nearly rammed an Imperial Star Destroyer that came out of hyperspace right on top of him. Before he could do anything, the Falcon was caught in a tractor beam, and began its long, slow, monotonous trip into the Star Destroyer's belly.
Great, Han thought. Just great. He could try to get way… blow the Falcon up, get into an escape pod… And either be dragged in anyway or simply blasted out of the sky. He could hope that this was a misunderstanding… that the Star Destroyer was one of the ships captured by the New Republic over the years… Yeah… sure, Han. Might as well hope their admiral is a Hutt.
The Falcon was still being dragged in. So this is how it ends… the way it began. HAN SOLO, SNAP OUT OF IT! he shouted at himself. No, he decided. Not the end… not yet. He got his blaster ready. No Luke, no Chewie, no Obi-Wan… but he himself was far from helpless.
His ship was dragged into the hangar bay, which quickly shut, cutting him off from the outside world. The tractor beams settled the Falcon down and released it. Han stood at the exit, waiting.
Just like on the Death Star, they began to pry the door open. Han aimed down the hallway…
The ramp finally came down and stormtroopers marched in, weapons ready. Han fired, dropping one. One of his partners fired his rifle, which emitted a bright blue ring instead of the usual red bolt. Stun beams, Han thought. He took the shooter down, fired his blaster again, but then he saw all remaining troops in the squad raise their rifles at once.
Damn, was his last thought before he was hit and collapsed on the deck of the Falcon.
XXX
Luke took the Lady Luck out of hyperspace and a familiar system appeared ahead. Nirauan. The place where he asked Mara to marry him… the place where they found love…
"Are we home?" Jag asked. Luke came back to the present. He didn't know why he was supposed to take Jag home instead of rushing off to look for Mara anywhere he could, but through the Force, he felt that it was the right thing to do. Besides, he mused, it's not like I know where Fett is taking her. Maybe he would get a clue here.
He took the Lady Luck down. "Nirauan control," he transmitted, "this is private yacht Lady Luck, requesting permission to land at your spaceport."
He got no response, but he saw the strange-looking fighters rise and head towards him. He felt no hostile intent… these were disciplined pilots, who'd wait for orders before attacking.
"Lady Luck, this is Nirauan control. Permission to land denied," a transmission in accented Basic came in. "If you continue your approach, you will be fired upon."
Damn! Luke thought. He searched his mind for a possible solution when Jag interrupted him.
"Excuse me, Mr. Skywalker, but maybe I should contact my father."
Luke couldn't believe he didn't think of it earlier. I only hope we can get through fast enough.
Jag obviously understood what he was thinking. "It's a family channel. It'll get through immediately."
Luke smiled at that. Leia had a family channel installed in her office comm unit. A message sent on it would get to Leia immediately, no matter what was waiting. Of course, very few people knew its code—he, Han, Chewie, Han and Leia's children, and Winter. And hopefully, soon, Mara. It didn't surprise Luke that Soontir Fel—who was, by all indications, a family man—would have a similar arrangement.
Baron Fel's image appeared on the comm screen. "Jag?" The elder Fel gasped. "Where are you?"
"Dad, I'm in the Lady Luck, and your pilots are about to shoot us down."
"What!" Fel yelled, and Luke saw him turn to the side and stumble. Then the channel was cut off.
"Dad!" Jag shouted, but it was no use. They were being jammed.
"Jag, hold on tight. If your father didn't get through…"
But then, less then thirty seconds after they were cut off, the jamming deactivated, and they received a new transmission.
"Lady Luck, you have clearance to land on platform 219."
Luke acknowledged, then turned to Jag. "Thanks."
"Welcome."