"The ship’s all yours," one of the troopers told them. "If the scanners pick up anything, report it immediately." The men nodded, then strained to lug their heavy equipment up the ramp. As soon as they disappeared inside, a loud crash was heard. Both guards whirled, then heard a voice call, "Hey, down there, could you give us a hand with this?" One trooper looked at his companion, who shrugged. They both started up the ramp, muttering at the inefficiency of mere technicians. A second crashing sound reverberated, but now there was no one left to hear it.
But the absence of the two troopers was noticed, soon thereafter. A gantry officer passing the window of a small command office near the freighter entrance glanced out, frowning when he saw no sign of the guards. Concerned but not alarmed, he moved to a comlink and spoke into it as he continued to stare at the ship.
"THX-1138, why aren’t you at your post? THX-1138, do you copy?" the speaker gave back only static.
"THX-1138, why don’t you reply?" The officer was beginning to panic when an armored figure descended the ramp and waved toward him. Pointing to the portion of his helmet covering his right ear, the figure tapped it to indicate the comlink inside wasn’t working.
Shaking his head in disgust, the gantry officer gave his busy aide an annoyed look as he made for the door. "Take over here. We’ve got another bad transmitter.
I’m going to see what I can do. He activated the door, took a step forward as it slid aside—and stumbled backward in a state of shock.
Filling the door completely was a towering hairy form. Chewbacca leaned inward and with a bone-splintering howl flattened the benumbed officer with one swipe of a pan-sized fist.
The aide was already on his feet and reaching for his sidearm when a narrow energy beam passed completely through him, piercing his heart. Solo flipped up the faceplate of his trooper helmet, then slid it back into place as he followed the Wookie into the room. Kenobi and the ’droids squeezed in behind him, with Luke, also clad in the armor of a luckless Imperial soldier, bringing up the rear.
Luke was looking around nervously as he shut the door behind them. "Between his howling and your blasting everything in sight, it’s a wonder the entire station doesn’t know we’re here."
责任编辑：mman
