Drawing his own pistol, Solo managed to snap off a couple of bursts from the comparative safety of the hatchway. Seeing that their quarry was neither helpless nor comatose, the exposed troops dove for cover.
The low throbbing rose to a whine, then to a deafening howl as Solo’s hand came down on the quick-release button. Immediately the overhead hatch-cover slammed shut.
As the retreating troops raced out of the docking-bay entrance, the ground was trembling steadily. They ran smack into a second squad, which had just arrived in response to the rapidly spreading emergency call. One of the soldiers, gesticulating wildly, tried to explain to the newly arrived ranking officer what had happened back in the bay.
As soon as the panting trooper had finished, the officer whipped out a compact communicator and shouted into it, "Flight deck…they’re trying to escape! Send everything you’ve got after this ship." All across Mos Eisley, alarms began to sound, spreading out from docking bay ninety-four in concentric circles of concern.
Several soldiers scouring one alleyway reacted to the citywide alarm at the same time as they saw the small freighter lift gracefully into the clear blue sky above Mos Eisley. It shrank to a pinpoint before any of them thought to bring a weapon to bear.
Luke and Ben were already undoing their acceleration straps as Solo walked past them, moving toward the cockpit with the easy, loose-limbed stride of the experienced spacer. Once forward, he fell rather than sat in the pilot’s seat and immediately began checking readouts and gauges. In the seat next to him Chewbacca was growling and grunting like a poorly tuned speeder engine. He turned from studying his own instruments long enough to jab a massive finger at the tracking screen.
Solo gave it a quick glance, then turned irritably to his own panel. "I know, I know…looks like two, maybe three destroyers. Somebody certainly dislikes our passengers. Sure picked ourselves a hot one this time. Try to hold them off somehow until I can finish the programming for the supralight jump. Angle the deflectors for maximum shielding." With those instructions he ceased conversing with the huge Wookie as his hands flew over the computer-input terminals. Solo did not even turned around when a small cylindrical shape appeared in the doorway behind him. Artoo Detoo beeped a few remarks, then scurried away.
责任编辑：mman
