Star Wars - Truce at Bakura Page 29

  imitation of life so powerful, so abominably twisted, that he flinched. A

  hundred intermingled energies seethed at his subliminal senses. Freshly

  enteched energies writhed frantically within the numb, frayed ribbons of

  others' nearly spent volition.

  Luke swung his saber through the console with a deep sweep of his

  shoulders, then shifted his body and reversed the stroke. The gargoyle

  cacophony fell silent.

  He took a long slow look around, breathing deeply and cautiously. The

  chamber and the ship felt clean at last.

  Had he just stranded himself onboard?

  Light rods gleamed behind gray conduits along the ceiling, so emergency

  power existed. Now he had to trace energy flow on the boards like anyone else.

  "Dev? Can you read any of this?"

  After a hurried consultation, they decided that the ion drive and

  hyperdrive still operated--but he'd blown the linkage between Bridge and

  Engineering. "That's amazing," murmured Dev.

  Luke stared around at glowing displays. Not stranded in a dead hulk,

  then, but the Shriwirr was crippled. He coughed again. They had life support,

  weapons, and communication. No medpacks, though. Nothing for strained leg

  muscles, and no breath mask to filter out whatever was irritating his lungs.

  He'd have to tough it out till he could get off the Shriwirr. Again the

  thought crossed his mind that he'd just as soon not be stranded here,

  especially if the Ssi-ruuk lost. "Let's get to a shuttle," he said, pushing

  off from the control panel.

  Dev led him to three giant shuttle bays in turn. Every flyer port and

  escape pod crane lay empty. They couldn't even find the hijacked Imperial

  craft they'd ridden up from Salis D'aar spaceport. "Abandon ship," Luke

  muttered. "Escape the terrible Jedi and his mighty apprentice."

  Dev swept out his arms. "Then this is our lifeboat. I'll take you to the

  bridge."

  Luke's cough rattled phlegm in his chest. "It'll have to do," he said

  reluctantly.

  "Sorry about the DEMP guns," Han crowed at Commander Thanas. Both had

  misfired, disabling the patrol craft, and he wasn't sorry at all. Good thing

  he hadn't gotten one for the Falcon.

  "Casualties of war," Thanas answered over the command channel in Han's

  left ear. "As is Commander Skywalker, it seems. I am sorry. I admired his

  capabilities."

  "What's going on?" Leia's voice demanded.

  "Governor Nereus just sent ^w. The aliens kidnapped him."

  "Don't count Luke out," Leia said tightly.

  Han sniffed the air. Was that hot wiring? Hold together, baby!

  Thanas's brassy voice softened. "Your Highness, unless all the Ssi-ruuk

  retreat, we are now specifically ordered to destroy that cruiser."

  "What?" exclaimed Leia.

  Prickles rose on Han's neck. Only a quartet of Ssi-ruuvi picket ships

  prevented Thanas from doing it. His Dominant had plenty of firepower. "Why?"

  he asked.

  "Contagion, General. I wasn't told specifics, and I don't make a habit of

  questioning orders. The consequences aren't worth it."

  Leia broke in from the lower gun turret. "Question this one. Leave it

  alone for now, Commander." Hah--she didn't believe that contagion line any

  more than Han did. Governor Nereus just wanted revenge. Han spotted a thread

  of smoke curling out of one bulkhead and shut down the offending circuit.

  Crosswired like a city map, the Falcon could function with several boards out.

  Commander Thanas's voice hardened as he addressed someone else.

  "Squadrons eight through eleven, sweep up those escape pods."

  Leia protested, "But they're defenseless."

  "We don't know that," Thanas answered coolly. "Some cultures arm their

  escape pods."

  "Standard Imperial procedure?" Leia challenged him. "Kill the wounded to

  cut medical costs?"

  "You don't seem concerned about the drone ships. Those are living

  energies."

  "Enslaved," Leia snapped. "Irrevocably. Killing them only frees their

  souls."

  "I agree," chimed in Captain Manchisco from the Flurry. She was helping

  an Imperial patrol craft harass an alien light cruiser into range of the

  Dominant's tractor beam.

  "And the aliens, Your Highness?" Thanas's voice insisted.

  Leia sounded as if she were clenching her teeth. "We are fighting for the

  survival of the Bakuran people--and probably others, Commander. Self-defense

  justifies a lot. But never a massacre of the helpless."

  Thanas didn't answer. On Han's scanners, a squadron of large Ssi-ruuvi

  fighters converged on the Dominant. Its turbolasers blasted two away.

  "Good try, Leia," Han muttered. He cut in the comlink override. Abruptly,

  a swirl of lights blinked on his computer panel and Chewie bellowed over the

  comlink. "Great, Chewie," Han exclaimed. "Get to a quad gun!"

  "What?" cried Leia.

  "Threepio's running again. Just don't ask what happened to him. He'll

  bless us with the whole story as soon as we let him. He gave the Empire a

  Flutie translation program, but now we've got one too."

  Leia groaned.

  "How's Luke?" Han fired into another swarm of droid ships, targeting the

  leader. Twice now, they'd thought they'd gotten them all. Twice, some other

  cruiser launched a swarm.

  "Still all right," she murmured. "He just dealt with a major

  concentration of that... zombie energy." The lower quad gun fired as she

  spoke.

  "Sweetheart, forget the drones. Concentrate on your brother. You'd better

  warn him what Thanas just said."

  "I'm trying!"

  "Get Threepio to try transmitting on their frequencies, or something."

  Han ground his teeth. Luke had walked alone into Jabba's palace. He'd

  singlehandedly rescued Han, Leia, and Lando, literally out of the Sarlacc's

  sandy maw. Despite those delusions of grandeur, maybe he did know what he was

  doing.

  What am I doing? Staggering on one good leg and one that cramped every

  time he set weight on it, Luke finished a circuit of the Shriwirr's bridge.

  Consoles curved inward from deck to ceiling, marked by unfamiliar symbols.

  Several freestanding display s marked crew stations, but there were no chairs,

  benches, or stools. One long curved panel served as a viewport. "Do you know

  how any of it works?"

  "I can read you the controls. That's about all."

  "It's a start," Luke muttered. Something nagged at the back of his mind.

  Uneasy, he stepped away from Dev and ignited his saber.

  Dev whirled around. "What is it?" he whispered loudly.

  "I don't know." Luke paced toward the nearest concave bulkhead, then

  edged toward the hatchway, ducking his head. "Probably nothing."

  "I doubt that."

  Dev had left the cockpit hatch open. Luke slipped forward. Behind the

  bulkheads, he felt--thought he felt--an alien approaching. "Dev," he called,

  "take cover."

  A P'w'eck dashed through. Luke sliced off its foreclaw, blaster and all.

  Then he glimpsed a pale metal gas grenade dangling by a chain from its neck.

  He cut the chain, thrust out a hand, and Force-flung the canister back out the

  hatch before whacking the bulkhead panel to slam
it shut. Behind came a

  muffled whump. Wailing, the trapped P'w'eck backed across the bridge.

  "Talk to him." Luke adjusted his grip on the saber and took shallow

  breaths to prevent the distracting cough. "Tell him I don't want to hurt him

  anymore. If he'll help us, we stand a better chance of using this ship."

  Dev crept out from behind a control island and burst into chirps and

  trilling whistles. The P'w'eck hesitated, then dove for his blaster.

  Luke grabbed it out of the air. "Tell him nobody else is coming till that

  gas clears out of the corridor."

  Dev chirped. The P'w'eck shook his head again. Luke wondered if he dared

  try to interrogate the alien. He wasn't sure how. The creature didn't think in

  Standard.

  Luke tossed Dev the P'w'eck's blaster. "Is there any way to tie him up?

  Keep him from slowing us down any further?"

  Dev frowned, leveled the blaster, and shot the alien cleanly through its

  skull.

  "Dev!" Luke exclaimed. "Never kill when you don't need to!"

  "He'd have murdered us the instant we ignored him. We've got a few

  minutes. Let's use them!"

  "Watch it," cried a strange voice in Han's right ear. Han increased power

  to starboard shields. Combined Rebel and Imperial forces had almost closed an

  arc around two more alien cruisers, but the aliens resisted. Black space

  sparkled with ships, shields, and energy as the Ssi-ruuk concentrated

  firepower on Rebel ships that occupied key attack points--j as he'd

  anticipated.

  "Dominant to Falcon. Close up that gap at oh-two-two."

  The Dominant had shot away its attackers, but it drifted to low

  starboard. Han smiled, guessing its lateral thrusters had gone down again.

  Maybe Luke would be safe a little longer. He spun his own ship to face solar

  north. The gap in question was big enough to send a Star Destroyer through.

  "Got it covered," he answered Commander Thanas. "Red group, and the rest of

  you. Follow me." After the Falcon like a flock of chicks sped four X-wings and

  five TIE fighters. Each wing kept to its own side of the Falcon.

  "Dominant," came an exclamation over the clear channel, "They're

  counterattacking! Too much firepower at my--"

  Silence. Han cracked his knuckles. He hated it when youngsters cashed in.

  But as losses mounted, Ssi-ruuvi ships vanished faster. The human forces would

  not be taken easily.

  Something hit an Imperial patrol craft. "Falcon to Digit Six. Are you all

  right?" The patrol craft didn't answer. Wobbling, it accelerated to ram the

  small alien cruiser. An hour later, Han was still dodging collision debris and

  approaching exhaustion. Thanas drove his pilots hard, but the battle was his.

  A sensor lit. Massive communications had abruptly started to flow between

  Flutie ships. Han punched up Threepio's translation program on a sideboard

  screen. With Captison's copy of the program, Commander Thanas probably

  expected to know if the alien commander ordered retreat... but that the Allies

  wouldn't.

  Han's sideboard screen flashed a single message, endlessly repeated by

  the Fluties' command ship. Disengage, full retreat. Disengage, full retreat.

  Disengage...

  Han slapped his control board madly, cutting Imperial ships out of his

  transmission channels. "Rebel ships," he ordered, "the Fluties are getting

  out. Full shields--watch the Imperials. All squadron leaders, get your ships

  away from Imperial fighters. Manchisco, you're in the Dominant's range. Get

  out of it!"

  "They're retreating? What about Luke?" Leia exclaimed. "Is he still on

  board? We can't fire on that cruiser."

  Han drained weapon power into the shields. "And we're not shooting at the

  Imperials first." There wasn't much future for a smuggler with a conscience.

  Evidently the Alliance was stuck with him. "We don't know who's in control of

  Luke's cruiser," he added. "I see four picket ships still on it, riding close.

  " It was the only big Flutie ship not retreating. All across space, oddly

  shaped ships were shrinking.

  The Falcon shuddered from beam lamps to hyperdrive. Han leaped back from

  momentarily ionized controls. Chewbacca snarled in his ears. Light splashed

  the starfield in front of him, a second blast from the Dominant. Han blinked.

  "Flurry?" he shouted. "Manchisco! Manchisco, are you there?"

  The Flurry was static and debris. "They got her," Han exclaimed. Our only

  cruiser. Clear skies, Manchisco. He clenched a fist at Thanas and mentally

  thanked Chewie for hiring that Bakuran tech to add power to the Falcon's

  shields. He would've taken the Dominant if he could've, and if his conscience,

  down there at the lower quad guns, would've let him shoot first.

  Leia seemed to speak in the middle of his head again. "Well, General,

  you're in charge."

  Han keyed the command frequency back on. "Thanks for nothing, Thanas," he

  shouted. Over to intersquad. "That's it--y all saw it. The Empire just broke

  off our truce. We're back at war, us against them. Remember the Death Star.

  Form up with the Falcon."

  "Falcon, this is Red Leader. We're about a thousand kay out from you and

  we've got TIE fighters on all screens."

  "Dogfight it, then," Han barked. "Wedge, where are you?"

  That biggest Ssi-ruuvi cruiser revolved crookedly, still defended by its

  pickets. He couldn't begin to guess how to protect Luke... or if he even

  dared. Luke might've scared off the whole crew, but maybe not. And he

  certainly didn't command those four picket ships.

  Meanwhile, another big egg-shaped cruiser labored to turn. A third jumped

  into hyperspace too quickly to have made calculations, fleeing blindly.

  "Behind the planet from you. Or I was," answered Wedge's voice. "Barely

  heard you on satellite relay. Wait--" After a few seconds, he spoke again.

  "There's a lot of TIE fighter activity over at eight-niner-two-two. You might

  check to see what's up."

  "That's the Dominant!" Leia exclaimed. "Go the long way around!"

  Headache turned to nightmare as Thanas destroyed Rebel squadrons and Han

  slowly rounded up the survivors into a loose double squadron. He eyed the

  wallowing Ssi-ruuvi cruiser. "Leia? Tell Luke there's trouble out here."

  "I'll try!"

  CHAPTER 19

  Gaeriel whooped as the Ssi-ruuvi fleet fled, but within a minute, all the

  silver Alliance ship dots on Governor Nereus's projection turned red. One by

  one, they began darkening. She gasped and sprang off her chair. "They're not!"

  Wilek Nereus rolled his nectar goblet's stem between his heavy fingers.

  "Not what, Senator?"

  "Turning on--attacking--the Rebelsffwas Not only that, but she had to

  assume that the retreating Ssi-ruuk still held Luke prisoner, and he was dying

  without knowing it. She drew a deep breath, hoping her attempt to gather her

  wits looked like a dramatic pause. "Sir," she started over, "on behalf of my

  constituency, I wish to lodge a formal protest over the forces' conduct, which

  I assume follows your orders. The Alliance people risked their lives--some

  spent their lives--helping us repel the Ssi-ruuk. Is this gratitude?"

  "Your constituency?" Governor Nereus's
bland smile affected only the

  edges of his effeminate lips. "You've already been in contact? Have you been

  taking telepathy lessons from someone?"

  She ignored the implied, repeated accusation of collaboration and set her

  chin. "My people have been grateful for Rebel assistance. They would not wish

  to see us--"

  A comlink beeped. "Yes?" Nereus called.

  "Sir, our sensors show thirty people gathered at the intersection of

  Tenth Circle and High Street, with more approaching."

  "What are you bothering me for? Suppress it," he snapped. Again she

  glimpsed a tremor in his fingers, instantly controlled. Governor Nereus cut

  the connection and then sipped from his goblet. "Rebel assistance is already

  in the past. Now we must take thought for the future. What would Bakura suffer

  if Imperial Command learned that we accepted aid from Rebel forces?"

  She clamped her jaw shut. Eppie Belden was raising Bakura, preparing

  civilians for the troopers' return. She mustn't think about Luke... although

  if she'd helped instead of hindered him, Bakura might already be free of

  Imperial rule.

  But how could Bakura have repelled the Ssi-ruuk without Rebel and

  Imperial resources? What insane trick had fate played here?

  Nereus picked up his multifaceted crystal full of human teeth. "My dear,

  you've not tasted your nectar."

  She wondered if he was threatening her. "My throat hurts."

  "I understand. That must have been uncomfortable. I apologize. You were

  not the intended recipient."

  "Is there nothing you won't--" Stoop to, she thought, but said, "do, for

  the Empire?"

  "You have always supported the Imperial presence. I have heard you speak

  eloquently of the benefits Bakura reaps through its affiliation with the

  Empire."

  "Yes, I spoke that way. I learned the language well." The language of

  treachery.

  "You will remember that your offworld education was subsidized by the

  Empire."

  "For which I and my family have thanked you repeatedly."

  "You have not yet begun to repay that debt. Now that I've had time to

  consider, I am certain that there is room for you on my personal staff." He

  slitted his eyes.

  If Eppie's revolt succeeded, that threat would be empty. If the

  revolution stalled, though, she might serve the Bakuran underground in