Razor's Edge: Star Wars (Empire and Rebellion) (21 page)

Viest ignored him, her gaze moving from Leia to Metara and back. “It's just as well,” she said, and smiled. “I wanted to see you two. I've been chatting with one of your people.” She glanced back at Han. “Oh, don't try pretending you don't know who he is. I know his name is Han Solo, and that he came here on your ship.”

Metara's jaw tensed; even Han saw that tell, and Viest couldn't possibly have missed it. But either Leia wasn't surprised, or she was just too tough to show it. Han was betting on the latter. Still cool, Leia said to Viest, “Then you know we'd like him back. We can still be reasonable about this.”

No, we really can't,
Han thought, and tried to catch Leia's eye. He considered just yelling out that the
Falcon
was in orbit, but he had no idea what kind of game Leia was playing. Itran kept his mouth shut, too, just watching the confrontation. Too bad he hadn't kept his mouth shut earlier.

Viest strolled forward until she was within a pace of Leia. “You talk as if you've got an unseen weapon aimed at my head.”

“You're very perceptive.” Leia considered her thoughtfully. Han hoped she wasn't bluffing. Her expression hardened just a trace. “So let him down.”

“Oh, not quite yet.” Viest's gaze moved over Leia's face, as if searching for something. “I always wanted to meet an Alderaanian Princess.”

Han rolled his eyes and shook his head. He wanted to live long enough to kill Itran—that was all he was asking here. If they died in the next moment, he just hoped Leia knew he wasn't the one who had talked.

Metara's indrawn breath was clearly audible. The woman would make a terrible sabacc player. All Leia did was lift a brow and nod slightly, as if awarding Viest a point in the game they were playing. “When did you find out?”

Viest smiled, arch and sardonic and clearly enjoying the situation. She obviously wanted to make Leia show fear. But Leia had faced down Darth Vader; Han figured Viest didn't have a chance. “That I had such a famous guest? I just read it off you.”

Leia let a trace of amusement cross her expression. “I don't think so. You're good, but you're not that good.”

Metara stepped forward, closer to Viest, as if trying to stand between her and Leia. “Why do you care? Everyone here has a past. Why does it matter to you?”

Viest threw her an angry look. “I care because you lied to me. And because the rebels were hired to break up my business.”

Metara's brow furrowed. “What?”

“She lied to you, too?” Viest laughed. “When I first heard about an Alderaanian gunship stuck in a repair dock, I thought you'd be a good tool, but obviously I'm not the first to use you.”

Leia cut in, telling Metara, “I came here to buy supplies from a merchant consortium. They wanted to raise money to defend their ships, but Viest knows that.” She eyed the flightmaster. “We knew there was a traitor among the merchants, but you have information that could only have come from an Imperial source.” She folded her arms. Han was pretty certain she had a blaster tucked inside her jacket, but the problem was Viest would probably guess that, too. “How many of the ships that dock here know you trade intel with the Empire? How many have you sold out to Imperial patrols and customs?”

Leia paused a beat, clearly waiting for all the avidly listening pirates to absorb that idea. Managing to sound somewhat disappointed in Viest, she added, “I never saw you as an Imperial lackey, but maybe I'm a poor judge of character.”

Viest obviously didn't like the direction the conversation was going. “I don't care about the Empire, and I certainly don't take orders from them.” She tried to keep her expression controlled, but her gaze hardened, her anger so intense not even her Lorrdian training could hide it. “So you admit you're here to help some ignorant merchants ruin what took years to build.”

“Their trade took years to build, too,” Leia said. “And you know all about survival at any cost, don't you? You can understand why they have to fight you.”

“Those soft, planetbound grubbers don't know anything about survival.” Viest stepped closer to Leia. “I took this place from Ingan dire Stane, a Zygerrian slaver, and it took years of crawling and begging and making myself his pet before he gave me enough time and freedom to take over. He never guessed what I was really after, not until the moment I cut his throat. No one will take it from me, especially not some little Princess from a dead planet.”

Furious, Metara shoved Viest back. Every pirate tensed. Han looked at all those blasters aimed at them and thought,
I hope you have a better plan than this, Your Holiness.

Leia lifted her hands. “Let's be calm. We came here to talk—”

“No, you didn't.” Viest stared, reading something from Leia's expression that Han couldn't see. “You're waiting for something.” She stepped back, drew her blaster, and ordered the pirates, “Kill them—”

That was when something huge, metal, and angry slammed into the port with a crash that made the floor vibrate.

Finally,
Leia thought.
Did the blasted thing swing by Coruscant before it climbed up here?
The droid's ocular devices glared, somehow radiating savage fury despite the fact that they were only metal and lenses. Spidering cracks shot through the transparent port, and the droid's drilling arm punched through with a crash and an ear-piercing whine. The horrified pirates fired their blasters at it, which was absolutely the wrong thing to do.

As Viest reflexively drew her blaster, Leia lunged for her, twisted the blaster out of Viest's grip, and slammed a punch into the woman's face. Viest staggered and fell back. Leia hesitated, but Viest lay still.
Well, that wasn't very satisfying.

Metara drew her own blaster from her jacket and fired at the confused pirates. Andevid scrambled away to take cover behind the holovid console. It was just as well; Leia had removed the power cell from his blaster.

The droid plunged through the room, bowled over the Gamorrean, and slammed two more pirates aside. Viest tried to get up and had to fling herself down again as the droid seized a float-lounge and threw it across the room. With Viest's blaster, Leia fired past the droid at the pirates who had taken cover behind the old consoles at the far end of the room. Seeing that they had enough to distract them, she ran for Han. She had to free him and Kifar; right now they were the best targets in the room, for both the droid
and
the pirates.

Behind her the droid tore through the chamber, flung aside furniture, consoles, and anything else that got in its way. Allian was supposed to have programmed the droid to make straight for the exit to the room, but when the pirates shot at it its defensive routines must have taken over. Allian was also supposed to have disarmed those defenses, but clearly he hadn't been able to eliminate all of them. Leia ducked as a chair flew over her head and hoped they hadn't made a terrible mistake.

The door slid open and Sian and Terae barreled in and fired at a Mirialan and two humans, the last pirates on their feet. The droid roared and they scrambled for cover. Leia reached Han, but she couldn't see the control for the tangler field. “Where is it?” she demanded.

“Don't know,” he told her. “Just shoot it!”

Leia was afraid that would either short out the field or kill him. “Are you sure?”

“Yes—” he began. Then:
“Get down!”

Leia hit the floor just as something heavy flew past. She looked up as the Mirialan pirate slammed into the far wall, knocked across the room by the droid. Leia shoved to her feet and aimed carefully at the small tangler-field generator half a meter above Han's bound hands, then fired.

The field flared and vanished. Han hit the floor and collapsed. Leia squelched the urge to make sure he was all right and turned toward Kifar Itran. He was only a few meters away and had managed to knock his chair over to get out of the line of fire. His binders were locked to the metal arms; he struggled to break them but couldn't get free. Leia flung herself down again as the droid threw another console across the room. Apparently happy with the destruction it had wrought here, it roared again and dived out through the port.

Leia shoved to her feet. Viest and three other pirates sprawled on the floor; the others had either fled or been hurled elsewhere by the droid. Sian, Terae, and Andevid cautiously climbed out of the cover of the piles of shattered furniture. Metara stepped around the wreckage of the expensive holoconsole. She had her comlink out and was saying, “Fera, Fera, come in. The droid just went back out into the cavern. Are you clear?”

Leia reached Kifar and crouched beside his chair. “Are you all right?”

“Yes. Yes, Your Highness, I'm sorry—” Kifar began.

“Don't worry,” Leia replied, more concerned with trying to free him so they could get away. Whatever he wanted to apologize for, it could wait; anyway, considering how much Viest had learned about her, she had a good idea of what it was. She realized she didn't have anything to cut the binders and Kifar was too twisted around to risk using the blaster. “Metara, do you have a—”

Kifar's eyes widened as he stared past her. “Princess!”he gasped.

Leia twisted around to see Viest roll to her feet, pointing something at her. It didn't look like a blaster. Han yelled an incoherent warning, and a hard shove to her shoulder knocked Leia aside.

Leia hit the floor just as something like a weird sonic pulse passed through her. It made no audible sound, but her bones vibrated from the deep bass of it. She lifted her head just as blaster bolts from two different directions hit Viest.

Viest collapsed. The bolts had struck her chest and stomach, leaving searing wounds that must have killed her instantly. Confused, Leia looked up at Metara, still standing over her. “What was that thing she—”

Fired at us,
she meant to finish. But Metara swayed and her knees started to buckle. Alarmed, Leia sat up and caught her as she fell, took her whole weight and guided her to the floor as the woman went limp. She couldn't see any wound. There was no blood on Metara's gray shirt or jacket, no mark from any kind of projectile. She was still breathing, her eyes aware but wide in shock.

“Metara, can you hear me?” Leia demanded. “Where are you hurt?”

Han knelt at Metara's side, his wrists still in binders. Staring down at her, he said, “It was some kind of sonic mining probe. I didn't know she could use it from a distance.” He met Leia's gaze. “This is about to get ugly.”

Terae flung herself down beside them, calling out, “Captain!”

Han made room for her. The color had drained from Metara's face, and she still looked more surprised than in pain.

“You're going to be fine,” Leia said automatically. Maybe she was just stunned. If they could get her to the ship—

Then Metara drew a breath, and blood bubbled at her lips. She gripped Leia's hand and said, her voice thick and strained, “Take care of them.”

“You know I will,” Leia whispered.

Metara's body convulsed once and started to collapse inward, as if she were being crushed by some force they couldn't see. Her eyes went blank; blood ran from her mouth and nose. Terae made a strangled, horrified noise in her throat.

Leia's stomach tried to turn and she swallowed hard. She sat back, released Metara's hand, and carefully folded the captain's limp arm across the ruin of her body.
Stupid waste.
All of it was a stupid waste. Metara, Viest, the pirates, this whole place. She shook her head and looked up. She didn't have time for the emotion, not now. “Somebody get Han and Kifar out of those binders. We have to get out of here.”

Sian moved first, fumbling a small cutter out of her pocket and stepping over to Kifar. Terae stayed where she was, staring down at her captain, anguish on her face. Leia pushed to her feet. “Terae, we have to go. The seismic charge.”

Terae's face was terrible to look at, drained and sick as if she had been shot as well. But she nodded, took Metara's comlink and her blaster, and got to her feet.

“The what?” Han asked, lifting his hands for Sian to cut the binders off. Kifar staggered to his feet, stretching his neck. “You still set the charge?”

“You're blowing the place up?” Andevid asked, startled.

Leia told Han, “Yes, but we should have plenty of time to—”

She heard Fera yell, “Captain! The charge—” over the comlink, just before the floor flew up and hit her.

Lying on her back, her ears ringing, tasting blood from a bitten lip, Leia had time to realize the metal floor plates had not actually risen up and slammed her in the back of the head. Her body had been knocked flat by the concussion of the blast.

She sat up in time to see the last sheet of transparent material in the port slide out and drift away in the cavern. The others were all groaning, trying to rise.

Sprawled nearby, Han inquired acidly, “You were saying, Your Worship?”

Leia shoved herself upright, saying through gritted teeth, “You know, you could be a little more supportive right now.”

Terae struggled to sit up, then pulled her comlink out and said frantically, “Fera, report!”

A moment later Fera's shaken voice came over the com. “It went off early, Lieutenant—the droid set it off. We'd nearly made it back to the tunnel when we saw it climb down the wall from the control center. It was going back and forth along the wall there, just flailing around, and it must have gotten too close to the charge … Are you all right?”

Terae shook her head in mute denial.
No, we're not all right,
Leia thought bitterly, but Fera and the others didn't need to know about Metara just now.

“Get back to the ship, as fast as you can,” Terae ordered. “We'll meet you there.”

Leia said, “Right, let's get moving.” They had just run out of time. Anakaret wouldn't have sent her transmission yet, so there would be no confusion among the ships in orbit or the other ships docked here. Somebody would be on their way to find out just what had exploded. And if Leia knew anything about pirates, everybody on the asteroid who had ever hoped to kill Viest and take over her part of the operation would be coming to find out if she was dead or injured. As Han got to his feet, she handed him Viest's blaster and drew her own from inside her jacket.

“Terae, you—” She was interrupted by a loud
crack
reverberating through the metal floor. The whole control center shuddered. Leia grabbed the side of the holotable to steady herself.

Sian staggered but stayed on her feet. “That sounded like—I hope we didn't just come loose from that bridge …”

Deep under the floor somewhere, metal shrieked and groaned. “I think that's exactly what happened.” Leia started for the doorway.

Moving cautiously, Leia led the way out of what had been Viest's private quarters and into the main room of the control center. As they reached it, another screech of strained metal echoed through the chamber and the whole structure lurched sideways. Leia stumbled into Han and he caught her arm, swaying to keep his balance. Keeping his voice low, he said, “Hey, it wasn't me that talked.”

“I know,” she told him. She had never seriously considered the thought that he might have. Han was just too good at concealing things; it was a second nature.
Or a first nature.
Anyway, it was hard enough to get Han to answer a direct question from a friend; Viest would never have been able to get anything out of him in such a short time.

Han eyed her suspiciously, as if he doubted her word, but then said, “Give me your comlink—the
Falcon
's here.”

Startled, Leia handed the comlink over. “What?”

“Yeah, Viest told me about it; she knew it was my ship.” He was eyeing Kifar, who had gotten a blaster from one of the dead pirates and was following Sian toward the doorway. It was clear whom Han suspected.

He adjusted the comlink's frequency and said, “Chewie, Chewie, come in.” There was a long moment of static, and Leia had a moment of doubt. Viest might have been lying, or she might already have ordered one of her pet captains to fire on the
Falcon.
From Han's expression, she knew similar thoughts were going through his head. Then they heard a welcome and familiar Wookiee growl.

Leia let out her breath in relief. Chewbacca went on at length, probably with questions and a lot of comments about dumb Corellians who thought it was a good idea to run off to pirate ports. With difficulty, Han managed to interrupt. “Hey, hey, listen to me! Yeah, we're fine, but we're busy. Just stay where you are and don't do anything until I say so.”

Han signed off before Chewbacca could protest, and Leia took back the comlink. Ahead of them, Sian had made it up the stairs, which now slanted to the right as the floor shifted. She took a look through the hatch and reported, “Princess, the bridge is torn out of the wall.”

Leia dragged her focus back to the immediate problem and followed Sian up the steps. Cool, dank air flowed down from the shaft, now heavy with the smell of ozone and superheated metal. The entire control center had moved back toward the cavern, and the bridge that crossed from it to the main section of the asteroid had been torn from its moorings. One large piece still hung from the gallery of the control center, festooned with the moored lifters dragged down with it.

“We can still get across,” Terae said. “One of those liftpallets—”

Sian stepped down to try to grab the mooring chain for the nearest. Then Leia spotted movement in the waiting area across the shaft. Han snapped, “Get back!”

Sian retreated hastily, and they all ducked back through the doorway as a dozen or more pirates ran into the waiting area, shouting, exclaiming in alarm as they saw the broken bridge. Leia assumed they were the scavengers, here to see if Viest was dead, as she had predicted. Some of them undoubtedly hoped to finish the job if they found her only wounded. Once the word spread, more would be arriving from the ships in orbit.

“We can go out through the cavern and take one of the haulage tunnels,” she said. The lift tubes were likely broken, too, but there were enough old repulsorsleds and lifters around that the pirates would have no trouble getting over here. They could also go around via the tunnels and come up through the low-gravity area of the cavern. “We have to move fast, before we're trapped here.”

“They're going to be right behind us,” Han said.

Leia crossed the room to the port and looked out into the cavern. Dust floated in the air, swirling in odd patterns due to the low gravity, with chunks and fragments of rock. Light from the control center glinted off metal shrapnel, possibly the remains of the unfortunate droid. She couldn't see the lights in the arena or the technician's work area below. “We can get out through the lift tube shaft—Blast!” Small lights suddenly appeared below, long, glowing shafts moving erratically but coming closer. They were handlights, carried on lifters or small repulsors. “They're already coming up that way.”