The Hutt Gambit 4

As Han marched woodenly forward, he caught a blur of motion out of the corner of his eye a figure stepped out from behind the freighters massive stabilizer fin. A voice he'd never heard before, low, pleasant, but holding plenty of authority, said, “Freeze, bounty hunter. Move and you've had it." The hand that had been resting lightly on Han's arm fell away. The Corellian, of course, was unable to stop walking. He marched forward
into the sunlit expanse between himself and the modified Firespray, leaving his captor and his unknown benefactor behind him in the shadow of the ship. Relief washed through him. I'm saved! only to be replaced with terror. Now that his eyes had adjusted to the sudden change from shadow to
sunlight, he could see there was an airshaft between him and the Firespray. Unable to stop himself, he was going to walk right off the edge!

Then the voice called after him. "Hey, you! Solo! Stop!" Han felt himself halting, and was again flooded with relief. Fortunately, his body would obey orders from anyone, not just the unknown
bounty hunter. "Turn around and come back here!" the voice added. Joyfully, Han obeyed. As he walked toward his former captor and his rescuer, he stared
into the shadows, but could make out little except that someone stood half behind the bounty hunter,
holding the muzzle of a blaster shoved up under the edge of the Mandalorian helmet, so it dug into the man's neck.

As Han approached him, he smiled, an exceptionally charming smile that revealed excellent white
teeth. "You may stop now, Solo," he said, halting Han well out of range of his erstwhile captor.
Han stopped, and stood watching as his rescuer's thumb moved on the firing control of the blaster as he pulled his hand back slightly. Feeling the newcomer's grip slacken, the bounty hunter started to swing around, raising his wrists. The bounty hunter wore Mandalorian wristlets that were undoubtedly loaded with deadly little darts! Han tried without success to scream a warning, but it was unnecessary. The newcomer was already ccfiring. The stun blast hit the bounty hunter, and at such close range, even his Mandalorian armor couldn't deflect its effects. The bounty hunter went down bonelessly. The edges of his armor clattered on the permacrete as he landed.-Chpt.6 pgs.237-240