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
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