Star Wars - Truce at Bakura Page 30

Imperial uniform. What had Leia Organa endured as an Imperial senator?

  Governor Nereus studied the projection of near space, smiling. Noticeably

  fewer red Rebel dots "menaced" the system now.

  "Did you order Commander Thanas to kill them all?" she asked bitterly.

  Nereus swept dust that she couldn't see off his ivory desktop. "Yes. For

  the safety of your people. Commander Skywalker is another matter. The larvae

  will be beginning to migrate again. They require a plentiful blood supply in

  which to pupate. The aorta is sweetly close to the bronchial tubes. He won't

  suffer long. He is an excellent physical specimen. It's my guess that the

  aliens will take him with them, as they retreat. They should preserve his body

  for one day, long enough for adult Trichoids to emerge and infest the Ssi-

  ruuk. Trichoids are short-lived, but they survive by sheer numbers. We are

  free from the threat of entechment, Gaeriel. You and your constituency should

  thank me."

  Nothing--not her habit of diplomacy or her fear of Wilek Nereus or even

  her deliverance from entechment--cd entice her to thank him for murdering Luke

  Skywalker this way. And Senator Leia Organa, and all the Rebels who'd come to

  help Bakura. Once Bakura understood what had happened, Governor Nereus would

  need an Imperial legion to put down the resultant uprising... and thanks to

  the Alliance, he could not call down that legion. She ought to feel

  victorious.

  Hollow desperation made her shiver. Luke had saved her from the Ssi-ruuk

  and their captive human, but she couldn't help him in return. That disrupted

  the Balance of her life. She fingered her pendant and dared to think of the

  gravest extreme civil war, long and bloody, Bakuran lives against Imperial

  technology, unless... perhaps... she and Eppie could rid Bakura of Wilek

  Nereus. She steeled herself to stay with him and hope for a chance.

  Han didn't need a cruiser's threat board to know they were losing. He'd

  managed to gather several X-wings and an A-wing into a moderately effective

  formation, but no matter how he and his shipmates used the Falcon's armaments,

  one arc at a time Commander Thanas closed a tight, classic globe. System

  patrol craft and TIE fighters hung in all directions, drawing Rebels out of

  the Dominant's dead zone into tractor range. Though Commander Thanas's damaged

  flagship drifted on minimal thrusters, its turbolaser batteries had already

  swung toward him. The Falcon's power banks were all but exhausted. He needed

  to shut down all systems and let them recharge.

  "All right, Leia," he said over the comlink. "Admit it. That "bad

  feeling"' of yours was the smart side of the Force." He feinted toward a TIE

  fighter. It's big brother, a carbon-streaked patrol craft, matched his vector.

  He backed off. "We're all dead, every ship in the battle group, unless

  somebody comes up with something brilliant... and fast."

  Leia answered from the lower gun turret, "There must have been something

  we could've done." She sprayed a weakening energy burst from her quad guns.

  "Some way we could have--"

  "You're dealing with Imperials. Every one that's high up enough to give

  orders is only in it for number one."

  "We're starting to leave Luke out of the equation," she insisted again.

  "Maybe he is out," Han answered soberly. "Thanas's drift vector is going

  to take him right past that Flutie cruiser."

  From the upper gun turret, Chewie roared angrily.

  Something in the pattern in front of him sparked his memory of a gaming

  table long ago and far, far away. Something brilliant.... "But if we could

  take the Dominant, our fighters might be able to break out and scatter."

  Leia's turret suddenly felt chilly. "Sure. How?"

  "Look where that Imperial patrol craft's hanging, the one about sixteen

  degrees north. If we dropped back about twenty degrees and rammed it, it'd

  squirt out of formation and hit the Dominant hard aft. The Falcon's the only

  ship we've got left with enough mass to carry it off. Thanas deserves his

  behind cooked."

  "Carrack'-class cruisers have their generators just aft of midline."

  "Exactly. Ka-boom."

  Leia felt strangely detached. "Count on you to try a carom shot. Can you

  get nav computer confirmation on that course?"

  "Just did. With full power to front shields until the last possible

  moment, we could do it. Of course, hitting the patrol craft that hard would

  finish the Falcon."

  "Of course." Leia tapped two fingers on her firing controls. Luke? she

  pleaded toward the drifting cruiser. She sensed nothing in return but a

  harried flicker. Busy.

  She heard a soft click. "Listen up," Han announced in a genuine general's

  voice. "Form up behind the Falcon and get ready to break for open space. Get

  home as best you can. Don't try hyperspace jumps unless you can pair up with

  somebody with nav computer capability."

  That would take years, but they'd make it. Leia cleared her throat and

  added, "Scatter the fire of Rebellion. It will flare up everywhere the tinder

  is dry."

  "Poetic," muttered Han.

  "Inspiration is three tenths of courage." Somebody protested over the

  intersquad frequency. Leia didn't stay to listen. She unstrapped and climbed

  upstsideways out of the gunwell's artificial gravity to the main level.

  "Have we nearly finished?" Threepio asked brightly as she passed the

  gaming table.

  Leia didn't want to hear the odds of surviving this maneuver. "Yes.

  Nearly finished."

  "Oh, good. My servomotors won't stand much more of this bashing about...

  Princess Leia...!"

  She swung into the cockpit. Han glanced at her, frowned, then waved one

  soot-streaked hand gallantly at the copilot's seat.

  Little gestures like that--not pillows or berry wine--made her love him.

  "Thank you."

  "Chewie wants to ride it out in the turret," he explained.

  "I understand."

  "Only takes one to execute a ram anyway," Han muttered. "Sorry, old girl.

  "

  Leia opened her mouth to complain.

  "Not you. The Falcon." He started shunting power away from all systems

  except a few thrusters, she guessed, fore shields, and the upper gun turret.

  Again she tried to touch Luke. Again, the harried flicker.

  "Okay," he said. "That's programmed. Now we get you to the escape pod."

  "Oh-ho, no," she retorted. "Not unless there's room for two. Or three."

  "You can't ram on autopilot, and we need a gunner. Kiss me for luck and

  get clear. The Alliance needs you."

  "I'm not going anywhere without you."

  "Go on, move," he said. "You're valuable."

  "Valuable, schmaluable. I'm not running away. I'm a Skywalker, too. Maybe

  this is my destiny."

  "All right, you're valuable to me. Chewie," Han shouted. "Get down here

  and get the princess into--"

  Chewbacca's answer roared through her head. "He means "noea"'" Leia said

  primly, but she laid a hand on Han's shoulder and squeezed, thanking him

  without ^ws. Wouldn't this be perfect justice--Vader's daughter, ramming an

  Imperial ship for the sake of the Alliance? Even if the maneuver failed, she'd


  achieved a victorious kind of symmetry. Finally, she could think about Darth

  Vader without flinching. Watch this, Father!

  Two TIE fighters broke formation and swooped up at them. Possibly their

  scanners showed no power to the lower turret.

  But their scanners had no way of determining this was no stock freighter.

  Han flipped the Falcon one hundred eighty degrees. Chewie snarled gleefully

  and picked them off.

  Leia adjusted her hand on Han's shoulder. He squeezed her fingers before

  lunging again for the controls. As the Falcon approached the patrol craft from

  behind, the patrol craft almost doubled its rate of fire. Either it had

  brought another bank of laser cannon online or Commander Thanas had figured

  out what Han had in mind. Han added a twisting maneuver to the ram program. A

  display indicated seventeen seconds to impact. They had to survive that long.

  A massive energy bolt breezed past the Falcon's belly.

  Chewbacca growled. "Tickles," Han translated. He switched off fore

  shields, so that impact would transfer more energy to the patrol craft's mass.

  "Look out, Thanas."

  While Dev examined one freestanding bridge station, Luke finished a deep,

  rasping cough. If he weren't so busy, he'd try to heal himself. He glanced at

  the deck and twitched his right leg, still unable to shake a sense of

  impending disaster. Maybe the unseen future was closing in. Ever since he'd

  glimpsed Han and Leia's future sufferings at Bespin, he'd wondered if he would

  foresee his own death.

  He reached out to check on Leia.

  Her determination to face certain destruction caught him off guard.

  Hurriedly he searched her consciousness and found...

  Ramming? In the Falcon? Luke tumbled down to a sitting position on the

  deck and ignored Dev's questions. Ignored his body, the Ssi-ruuk still on

  board, and everything else. He had only seconds.

  His itching chest demanded another cough. He had to get out of this bad

  air! He sent his awareness questing across space in another direction for a

  presence he knew only faintly Commander Pter Thanas, aboard the Dominant.

  Thanas leaned over his pilot's station as Luke seized the edge of his

  consciousness. Thanas's thoughts, will, and worldview surrounded him. This

  battle was only a game, but a game he must win, or finish his life in... in a

  slave mine? That explained plenty! Luke eyed the pilot's velocity control

  slide. Full speed ahead would blow the Dominant out of offensive formation and

  cause heavy damage to already crippled thrusters.

  Full speed would also bring him into striking range for the Shriwirr.

  Thanas wanted that.

  Abruptly Luke lost contact. He doubled over, coughing, trapped by his

  weakening body on the hard cold deck of the Shriwirr.

  "Sir?" Thanas's pilot looked up worriedly. "Is something wrong?"

  Pter Thanas blinked. For some reason, the image of Luke Skywalker had

  sprung into his mind. Dismissing it, he made a difficult decision. He must

  destroy the threat of contagion, no matter what it cost him.

  Smoothly he shoved the control slide forward.

  Leia leaned toward Han. "Kiss for luck?" she asked.

  "Sure." Those lips would be the last thing he felt.

  He was about to touch them when she jerked back. "Luke!" she exclaimed.

  Chewbacca cried full-alert.

  "What, Chewie?" Han spun toward the fore scanners. They claimed that the

  Dominant was plunging forward at irrational speed. "We must've taken another

  hit," he exclaimed. "They've ionized our scanners again."

  Chewie bellowed Change course!

  Han slapped the full sensor array back on, then seized main controls. The

  Falcon's cockpit grazed the patrol craft so close that it bent lateral

  antennae on both ships.

  "All squadrons, follow us!" he cried. "There's a break in the blockade!"

  He spoke aside to Leia, "We'll get these Rebel regulars out of the danger

  zone, then double back to finish the Dominant."

  She didn't answer.

  Leia thrust her head against the back of her seat and concentrated on

  breathing. As plainly as she'd felt Luke's sudden alarm and his effort, now

  his exhaustion paralyzed her.

  Han shouted into his microphone, "Red group, Gold group, form up on me.

  We've got 'em between us!"

  Out the viewport, Imperial forces shifted. Farther away, four X-wings and

  an A-wing hadn't made it through the gap before it closed. Her eyes weren't

  focusing properly. "Where's that patrol craft we were going to ram?" she

  asked. Her hands shook.

  "About ten kilometers to starboard."

  Chewie's cry sounded exultant.

  Luke? She gripped her armrests. What's happening to y?

  Luke covered his watering eyes and took several shallow breaths. It

  irritated him to think that Thanas didn't care who won. He'd like to blast

  Pter Thanas and his forces out of the universe. The Ssi-ruuk, too. Yes, he was

  losing his temper. He no longer cared. He simply wanted to stop coughing.

  The Dominant kept closing, growing perceptibly larger in the viewport.

  "Dev, is this cruiser armed?"

  "I assume so." Dev reached down a hand.

  "Find the..." Another cough racked him. "Find the weapons station." Luke

  let Dev pull him up off the deck.

  "Are you all right?"

  Luke wasn't. He teetered dangerously close to the dark side, but he

  didn't care about that either. Leave me alone, Yoda. "I need a breath mask."

  "It wouldn't fit."

  "I know. I've got to try something." He had barely enough energy to focus

  his attention deep again and regain control. Strength flowed up to match his

  anger, dark and empowering.

  Gasping, he flung the energy aside. In the Emperor's throne room, he'd

  touched the dark side's power. He could have destroyed Darth Vader... shared

  the throne, ruled the galaxy... and been destroyed with the second Death Star,

  if he hadn't thrown away his lightsaber. Would he sell himself for a lesser

  temptation?

  He stared out the viewport. The Dominant blasted another X-wing. I

  trusted you, Thanas. I trusted you. He'd had such hopes for the man. Had he

  read the Force wrong? And Leia and Han may have escaped for the moment, but

  until the Falcon's energy banks recharged, they couldn't go far. He had to

  save them.

  He could save them easily, if he--

  There will always be people who are strong for evil. His ^ws to Gaeri

  came back to him. The stronger you become, the more you're tempted.

  Alien presences snagged his attention from above, on another deck.

  "I found weaponry!" Dev cried.

  Luke cleared himself of fear and desire and relaxed again into the Force,

  willfully ignoring the siren call to quick strength and power. He had

  renounced the darkness. That, not Thanas, was the enemy; and it lived inside

  him. He reached Dev's side. "Can you get me a battle display?"

  "I can try." Dev stepped to another station and started jabbing keys.

  "You've got an ion cannon on line, I think. Try aiming it with that wheel key.

  Hurry."

  Luke glanced up at the overhead panel. The Dominant would be in range

  within minutes. "Let's try a ranging shot." He sw
iveled the keyboard into line

  with Dev's battle array. "First target." He rolled the wheel key and fired.

  Nothing happened on Dev's screen. He relaxed deeper into the Force and shot

  again.

  "There!" Dev pointed at a visible trail through battle debris.

  "I see it." Now a little to the left, widen the beam again, and...

  One of the Shriwirr's Ssi-ruuvi picket ships imploded. The remaining pair

  broke formation and shrank into distant points of light.

  Now, it all came down to self-defense. A duel between crippled cruisers..

  .

  Something clicked overhead. Luke lunged aside and ignited his saber. Down

  to the deck dropped a brown Ssi-ruu and three P'w'ecks, each armed with a

  paddle beamer. Without pausing to think, he swung two-handed.

  Dev skittered backward. "Master!" he shrieked.

  Firwirrung swept away from the Jedi and brandished his crippled stump.

  "Traitor!" he sang. "Betrayer of all you held dear!"

  Dev held the P'w'eck's blaster on target, but he couldn't shoot

  Firwirrung. They had shared a table. He'd slept at the edge of Firwirrung's

  nest, a pet at its master's feet. His eyes watered. What to do?

  "Traitor!" Firwirrung bellowed. "Ungrateful bea/!" Wrong-handed, the Ssi-

  ruu swept a silver beam mercilessly and accurately through Dev's shoulders.

  Dev crumpled. He fell on his back, bitterly regretting his relapse. Too

  late, too late. He craned his neck, almost all he could move. The Ssi-ruu spun

  toward Luke. "Look out!" Dev cried.

  Again Luke's thoughts threatened to betray him. Your hatred has made you

  powerful, spoken in the Emperor's cracking voice, spun a web through his

  memory. He needed power--now. Sweeping his saber blindly, he dispatched the

  third and last P'w'eck. As Dev fell, the Ssi-ruu aimed his paddle at Luke.

  By sheer force of will, Luke snuffed out anger and fear. Aggression, too

  Quick power brought temporary triumph, but it seduced and betrayed the

  wielder. I will not turn! Not if I die for it. He leaped into a short

  suspended somersault and grabbed both edges of the overhead trapdoor, knowing

  the big Ssi-ruu would have him in another moment. He could do no more on his

  own. This was the end.

  A simultaneous flash from all status screens almost blinded him as he

  dropped. Expending the dregs of his power, he hung in midair for a full