Star Wars: Honor Among Thieves comes out next Tuesday, but we've got a never-before-published chapter right here, to give you a taste of the action:
HAN THREW THE FALCON HARD TO PORT, and a stream of lasercannon fire flashed past.
"That almost hit Hunter Maas's ship!" Hunter Maas yelled in Han'sheadset.
"It almost hit Han Solo's ship," Han muttered to himself, then turnedthe headset mic back on. "We're handling it; just keep heading to Kiamurr at full speed. We'll get this guy off your tail."
"See that you do!"
Chewbacca growled out a laugh.
"Not a chance, pal," Han said to the Wookiee, and pulled hard at thecontrols to throw the Falcon across the pursuing TIE's field of fire, tryingto draw its aim away from the fleeing Maas. "We're not adding athird boss to this trip. Just as soon as we—"
The Falcon shuddered as another burst of laser fire hit her rearshields. A warning light started flashing.
"—get rid of this guy, we'll make sure Maas knows his place in thepecking order."
The warning light shifted to red, and an alarm shrieked. The reardeflector was collapsing. The recently patched power cabling had burned out, and the energy surge had knocked out the backup generator. As ifto highlight this fact, the cockpit of the Falcon started to smell likesmoke and burning conduit.
"We just fixed that," Han said. Chewbacca growled back. Hannodded. "I know it's frustrating."
Another stream of laser fire cut through the space between the ships.Han managed to evade most of it with a hard spiraling dive to starboard,but a few bolts struck the rear of the Falcon. The warning indicator shifted to black, and the alarm squealed one last time, then fell into a sullen monotone.
The rear shield was gone.
Han yanked back on the controls, pulling the ship into a tight loop.
The moment they were out of the way, the TIE fighter began pouringlaser fire into the back of Maas's freighter. The pirate screeched at them."Hunter Maas is being fired upon again! You said you came to protect! You are very bad at this job!"
Han continued the loop until the Falcon was behind the TIE. "Yeah,but you still have rear shields," he said to Maas, "so you can take it."Maas wailed his disagreement, but Han killed the headset. "Chewie, start calculating a torpedo shot on that TIE fighter. If, like the rest ofthem, it doesn't have shields, one concussion blast should be enough to take it out."
Chewbacca worked at the weapons console while Han throttled upto close the distance. The SR-model TIE was fast, and it appeared tohave plenty of spare power for the laser cannons. It fired into the fleeing YU-410 without pause.
The Empire's penchant for building fighters without shields had always seemed insane to Han, one of many reasons he didn't fly forthat particular corporation, but working for the opposing team, he was grateful for their lack of compassion for their pilots.
Chewbacca yowled in triumph as the Falcon buzzed a target lock signal.Han closed the distance to the optimal firing range and let loose two of his eight ST2 concussion missiles. That was fifteen hundredcredits on the wing, but he'd make sure to add that to the bill.
The TIE began dodging when the missiles launched. The pilot wasgood. Han had expected that. The Empire didn't have very many of the SR-class recon fighters, so whoever flew them would be top shelf. Han kept his finger on the trigger, ready to fire two more missiles if heneeded to.
He didn't.
The TIE started a hard turn to port, but the YU-410 veered erraticallyinto its path, forcing the pilot to correct in the other direction and intothe pathof the incoming missiles. Bothhit, and the TIE fighter disappearedin a massive concussion blast that blew it into gravel-sizedchunks. The forward shields of the Falcon flashed as debris sprayedacross the ship.
Chewbacca barked a victory laughat the vanished fighter andclimbed out of his seat.
"Yeah," Han said, "check on that generator. See if it can be saved. Idon't like the idea of flying without rear shields until we can get back tothe fleet."
Chewbacca growled out his assent and vanished into the back of theship.
"Hunter Maas," Han said, after turning the headset back on. "This isCaptain Solo call—"
"You fired torpedoes at Hunter Maas!" the man shouted back. "TheCosmodium could have been destroyed!"
"The Cosmodium? Is that your ship?"
"Hunter Maas carries precious cargo in fragile data storage devices!The pulse from exploding torpedoes can do irreparable damage to suchthings!"
"Those were concussion warheads, they don't make a—"
"And pieces of the exploding ship have pierced the Cosmodium'shull! Hunter Maas will require extensive repairs to his ship!"
"Hunter Maas," Han said pleasantly.
"Yes?"
"Shut up."
There was a long silence, thoughit was impossible to tell if this wasobedience or shock.
"Thank you," Han said. "Please follow my course to Kiamurr. We'llmake sure you get there safely. We have a secure dock picked out foryour landing."
"Hunter Maas selects his own dock," the pirate was saying. "Thankyou for your off er, but your work is now complete. Take the compliments and salutations of Hunter Maas to whoever your master is.Good-bye."
"Hold on there, pal," Han said. The guy on the other end of the linewas finally starting to get on his nerves. "You're going to follow me backto my dock, end of story."
"And why would Hunter Maas agree to these terms?"
"Because," Han said, making sure Maas could hear the smile in hisvoice, "I saved you." When Maas started to interrupt, he talked overhim. "And I'm sitting behind you right now with six more concussion missiles. So you can fly to Kiamurr, land at my private dock, and meetwith my friends. Or I can tow the crippled remains of your ship to thatsame dock."
The pause was shorter than Han had expected.
"Hunter Maas likes the sound of this private dock! Lead the way, myfriend."
Han nodded to himself and stripped off the headset.
"How's that for persuasive?" he said to no one.
True to her word, Scarlet had a dock assignment waiting for them at asmall freight-forwarding warehouse just outside the main city. Thewarehouse was closed when they arrived, so the dock was empty ofships and employees. She was waiting for them, lounging on a nearby flight of stairs.
Han trotted down the ramp from the Falcon, hand on the butt ofhis blaster. They didn't really have any idea how many people Maashad withhim on his ship, or if they'd be angry about Han forcing themto land. If Scarlet was worried, it didn't show. She stretched out on thesteps, head cocked to one side so that her black hair fell away from her eyes. She gave Han a grin.
"Good job, Captain."
"He had an Imperial scout ship chasing him," Han said. "The clock'sticking. The invasion has to be on its way."
"We saw," she said, then jumped lightly to her feet and started walkingtoward Maas's freighter. "Thanks for handling that, Han. But it'spossible the scout that was chasing Maas was working on its own. Wecan't be sure it was an advance ship of an Imperial fleet."
From the book STAR WARS: HONOR AMONG THIEVES by James S.A. Corey. Copyright (c) 2013 by Lucasfilm. Reprinted by arrangement with Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.