by Alex Wheeler
"Stop right there!" The feeble command came from a thin, wispy Kaminoan in the entryway of the docking bay. He wobbled on spindly legs and clenched a thin, tattered lab coat around his shivering body. "You're supposed to be dead! I told those Imperials to take care of you!" he shouted, raising a blaster. "I won't let you destroy my experiment!"
"No one wants to destroy your experiment!" Div shouted. "We just want to leave here!" He ducked as the Kaminoan fired a burst of laserfire at him. The shot went wild, and the scientist stumbled backward with the unexpected recoil. The laserfire ricocheted off Div's ship, scoring a shallow gash to the hull. "I don't want to kill you," Div said, drawing his own weapon. "But I'm not going to let you damage this ship."
The scientist was insane; that was obvious. But he was a madman with a blaster. Div aimed his own weapon. It was useless, but the Kaminoan didn't know that. He had the scientist in his sights. "Back off," he called out. "Let me take off, and I'll leave you here in peace."
This is risky, Div thought. Too risky. Normally, he would have shot him. It would have been the smart move. But that wasn't an option this time. "I'm just going to get on the ship now," he said as he backed toward the Howlrunner, his eyes never leaving the crazed Kaminoan. "And you just—"
Another stream of laserfire shot toward him, this time hitting closer to the mark.
Luke's and Han's ships lifted off the ground. If he didn't move soon, he'd be left behind. "Enough!" he shouted, and squeezed the trigger, purely on instinct. To his surprise, blue-green laserfire spurted from the blaster and slammed into the wall just over the Kaminoan's head. A chunk of duracrete slammed into his shoulder, knocking him to the ground, Div lunged for his ship. Within seconds, he had powered it up and lifted off the ground.
I missed, he told himself. Maybe the weapon was still faulty after all. It happens.
But it never happened, not to Div. He'd missed on purpose, saving the life of an enemy. He'd tried hard to rid himself of weakness, of the remaining shreds of mercy and doubt that made life so dangerous. Once again, he'd failed.
Div piloted the ship through the exit of the docking bay. The sky swarmed with TIE fighters. Laserfire blasted by, shattering against the Howlrunner's defensive shields. The ship could take a few seconds of this kind of pummeling, but no more. He had to make it into open air if he wanted to fight back. Div accelerated, pushing the ship as fast as it could go. Behind him, there was a thunderous crash, as if the sky had split open. He glanced back, just in time to see the research station erupt in flame. The Kaminoan scientist and all evidence of his precious experiment were gone forever.
Div forced his attention away from the ground and up to the sky. He was going to have to fight his way past the TIE fighters and out of the atmosphere, or he'd end up just like the scientist: blasted into oblivion.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Pull up.
Pull up.
PULL UP!
The thought began as a dim echo in the back of Luke's brain, but within seconds it swelled to a roar. He obeyed the instinct, yanking the controls back hard. The Howlrunner rose in a precarious climb through dense clouds. A TIE fighter screamed past, bare meters beneath him. Flying nearly blind in the storm, Luke hadn't even seen it coming. If something hadn't inspired his change in direction, the two ships would have collided.
Luke let out a thin, shuddering sigh, forcing himself to concentrate. TIE fighters darted in and out of the clouds, sparking the frequent bolts of lightning. The electrical storm was disrupting his radar and jamming the comms. He could only hope the Empire's pilots were similarly disoriented.
Rain slapped at the ship. Winds buffeted him from side to side. The Howlrunner was an Imperial ship, and unlike the X-wings, it had a fixed-wing design, along with laser cannons that were weaker than what he was used to. On the plus side, he could push it faster than an X-wing, and its narrow profile made it a difficult target. But in this weather, everything was a difficult target.
Focus, Luke told himself. Without radar, without a clear line of sight, he had little to go on but his instincts.
And the Force.
Luke dived sharply.
A laser bolt rocketed past. He turned his vehicle and backtracked its trajectory, tearing after the TIE fighter. It spiraled up through the clouds. Luke stayed close on its tail, struggling to keep the Imperial in his sights. The fighter looped to starboard, then climbed sharply to ten thousand meters and disappeared into the gray mist. Luke plunged after it, scanning the horizon for the flicker of light that would give it away. Nothing but cloud and rain—and then a forked bolt of orange lightning flashed across the sky.
There!
Luke squeezed the trigger. A laser bolt sliced through the clouds, straight for the Imperial. A fireball lit the night.
But before he could celebrate, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. Clouds swirling, as if a huge object was tearing through them. Like a ship.
Luke jerked hard on the controls, executing a gut-dropping pivot so he was facing the oncoming ship. He readied his weapons and—
No!
Something made him hesitate.
He waited, knowing that the other ship was about to have a clear shot. Luke tightened his grip on the weapons trigger, ready to fire at the first sign of trouble.
The vessel emerged from the clouds. It was another Howlrunner. Luke had almost fired on Div.
But why didn't he fire at me? Luke wondered. In the murky skies, it would have been just as easy for Div to mistake Luke's ship for a TIE fighter. Somehow he'd known to hold back.
Maybe he's as good a pilot as he says, Luke thought grudgingly. Lucky for me.
Div's ship peeled off from its trajectory and banked shallowly to port. It shot off two short bursts of laserfire, though no enemy targets were in range.
It's a signal, Luke thought. He wants me to follow him.
All he had left were his instincts, and his instincts were telling him to trust Div.
So he did.
Skimming so low over the city that the belly of his starfighter nearly toppled the durasteel spires, Han watched Div and Luke break through the clouds overhead. They ambushed three TIE fighters running recon over the station, picking off the enemy one by one as their ships danced and weaved through a barrage of laserfire. It wasn't just that they were remarkable pilots—it was the way they worked together. With the comms out, they were all on their own, or should have been. But even from where Han was, he could tell that Luke and Div were functioning as a team, one anticipating the other's move almost before it happened.
Good thing that guy's on our side, Han thought. At least for the moment.
Chewbacca, wedged into the copilot cockpit a few feet behind Han, barked a warning. But Han already saw them: two TIEs, four and seven o'clock. Both hot on their tail. "I see 'em, Chewie," Han said, upping the fore thrusters. He fired a short burst from the tail guns, but the fighters evaded him easily. He had to maneuver behind them, turn the chase around—which meant he needed to shake them or outrun them. "Let's see how fast she can go," he muttered, pushing hard on the accelerator.
They shot forward, the g-forces flattening them against the seats. But the TIE fighters kept pace with ease. A stream of laserfire sizzled past his cockpit window. Han banked sharply to port as they fired again. A bolt glanced off his wing.
"Blast!" Han cursed, dipping the nose of the ship toward the ground. If he couldn't outpace them, he would have to outfly them.
As the ship lost altitude, the city rose around him. Chewbacca issued an alarmed growl. "I know what I'm doing," Han snapped.
Pushing the ship to breakneck speed, he weaved through the empty Kaminoan streets, guiding the ship down winding boulevards. The TIEs were forced to follow single file. Han whipped around a hairpin turn and ducked beneath a bridge, waves lapping at the belly of the ship. The lead Imperial took a shot, but it went wild, slamming into the side of a building. The laser bolt knocked loose a shower of duracrete chunks, which raine
d down on the slower of the TIEs like an asteroid field.
Han heard the explosion as the ship crashed to the ground, but he couldn't spare a look back.
The remaining Imperial was still matching him turn for turn, move for move. Han knew he could climb to a higher altitude and try to get the jump on the TIE fighter in open sky—but churning with storm clouds and crowded with enemy craft, the skies were hardly open. At least down here he knew what he was dealing with.
He swept through the city, searching for just the right spot. Finally, he veered around a building to find exactly what he'd been looking for: a long, narrow straightaway ending in a monolithic slab of duracrete. Han gunned the engine and headed straight for it.
I know what I'm doing, he reminded himself, ignoring Chewbacca's increasingly loud protests.
The TIE fighter stayed on his tail, as he knew it would. "Just a little farther," he murmured. "A little closer."
The building loomed before them, too massive and too close in the cockpit window.
Now! Han yanked the controls, forcing the ship into a ninety-degree climb. The ship roared up the side of the building. Han allowed himself a single glance back.
The TIE fighter was almost as fast, but not nearly so lucky. Instead of pulling up, it veered around the building, avoiding it by less than a meter. It cleared the structure—but not the thick, tall levee holding back the sea behind it.
As Han had flown to the sea on the aiwhas, he'd passed this way and been taken by surprise by the levee that appeared out of nowhere, marking the edge of the city. The aiwhas had known enough to avoid it; the TIE fighter crashed right into it. The ship exploded, ripping a huge gash in the seawall. A flood of water gushed into the abandoned streets.
Han adjusted the angle of his climb and accelerated toward the edge of the atmosphere, noting out of the corner of his eye that Div and Luke had taken down the last of the enemy ships and were doing the same. Soon the air thinned out, the clouds faded away, and the cool, crisp glimmer of stars shimmered in the distance, glowing brightly in the vacuum. Han grinned as Kamino fell away behind him. Space was waiting.
And so were four more TIE fighters, holding a low orbit over the planet.
They opened fire.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Luke increased power to the thrusters and accelerated through the atmosphere. The planet shrank beneath him, but he couldn't jump to hyperspace until he was safely out of range. And there were four TIE fighters blocking his path.
"Enemy fighter on your tail," Han reported through the comm.
"I see it!" Luke dropped into a corkscrew spiral. The TIE stayed close, hugging the same tight curves.
"Incoming!" Han shouted, too busy with two fighters of his own to lend a hand. Div was holding his own, pursuing a fighter with scorch marks lining its solar array wings. A trail of smoke streamed from its command pod.
Laserfire streaked toward Luke's ship. He deployed countermeasures and pulled a reverse-S maneuver, flipping his craft upside down and backtracking over the TIE fighter's head. He slipped into the Imperial's blind spot for just a moment, but it was all the time he needed. He locked in the target, squeezed the trigger. A blast of white-hot laserfire shot toward the TIE fighter.
It exploded. The solar array wings blew off and drifted into space.
One down, Luke thought, swooping around to join Han's fight. Three to go.
"Blast it!" Han slammed a fist on the control panel. He'd never be used to flying this piece of junk. It might have been more maneuverable than the Falcon, and its parts might have been in better working order, but it wasn't his ship. The Falcon felt like a part of his body; it responded almost before he made a move. The ARC-170 was just a machine. And, as far as Han was concerned, not a very good one.
Chewbacca growled a warning.
"I see it, I see it," Han muttered, peeling off from his trajectory as a fireball whizzed past. A TIE zoomed up from below and unleashed another barrage of laserfire before he could steer out of the way. The ARC's shields bore most of the brunt, but a few bolts snuck through. The alert system went haywire, screaming of damage to the hyperdrive. Han cursed under his breath and slammed a fist into the controls again, silencing the alarm. He needed to focus on surviving the next moment, then the next.
"Think you can sneak up on me?" Han shouted, pushing the accelerator and hurtling past the closest of the TIE fighters. Activating the inertial damping system, then slamming the aft thrusters, he flipped the ARC end over end reversing direction in a hairpin swivel that put him face to face with the shocked Imperial pilot. "Think again." Han waved at the Imperial, then pulled the trigger. One good thing about the ARC fighter: The laser cannon muzzle was designed to internally tilt the beam, offering a few more degrees of accuracy.
It was a direct hit.
The TIE's cockpit window shattered into a shower of transparisteel as the ship imploded. Caught by the shock wave, Han's ship lurched and shuddered, and he was nearly trapped in the blowback fire of the explosion. But he guided the ship safely out of range, already homing in on the second fighter. "Can't believe that actually worked," he muttered.
Chewbacca barked sharply.
"What are you worried about?" Han said. "Even without the Falcon, three of us can take two TIE fighters, easy."
But then he glanced at the radar screen and answered his own question. Another enemy ship was drawing into range. A larger ship, shaped like a dagger.
Han shot Chewbacca a worried glance. Two TIE fighters was one thing. Two TIEs and a Star Destroyer was another altogether.
"You seeing what I'm seeing, kid?" Han asked through the comm.
Luke's voice was steady. "Copy that, Han. I'm not giving up yet."
As he spoke, the bank of turbolasers on the Star Destroyer's starboard side swiveled toward his ship. And fired.
Div watched it all happen with a clarity he hadn't experienced in a long, long time.
The laser bolt speeding toward Luke's Howlrunner.
Luke, as if he'd expected the shot before it happened, was already taking evasive maneuvers, shifting hard to starboard and diving away from the incoming fire.
The TIE fighter easing into Luke's blind spot, taking advantage of his momentary distraction. Preparing to fire.
Han was pinned down; Luke was focused on the Destroyer.
Div could watch his target go up in flames, return to his employer, and claim the reward money all for himself. Or he could act.
It was as if the ship had decided for him. Feeling as if he were watching himself from a great distance, Div rotated the vessel, coming up fast and shallow behind the TIE fighter. Just before the Imperial pilot could fire on Luke, Div launched a concussion missile.
Direct hit. The flimsy fighter exploded.
Div dodged and weaved through the flak, soaring over the wreckage—and straight into the Destroyer's line of fire. The Empire's cannon attack strafed his wings and blew out the shield generator.
A hail of laserfire lit up the cockpit. Alarms blared. Hits to the navigation, propulsion, targeting systems. Engine power overload. Port thrusters dead, starboard thrusters firing out of control.
The ship fell into a dizzying spin. The cockpit filled with smoke.
All because I couldn't watch a Jedi die, Div thought bitterly. Not another one. Not again.
He'd been weak once more; he'd given in to impulses that should have been long since destroyed. Maybe death was the punishment he deserved.
He waited for the Destroyer to deliver the final blow.
But before it could, a ship jumped out of hyperspace, a rusted Corellian clunker that wouldn't last five minutes against the Imperial onslaught. If it tried to attack the Star Destroyer, it would be a momentary distraction for the Empire's craft, nothing more, before they returned to the task of slaughtering Div and the rest of them.
If the freighter was an Imperial ally, then maybe it would take Div down first. He almost laughed. Imagine the galaxy's greatest pilot blown away by suc
h a sad, misshapen bird. Either way, it didn't matter. Dead was dead, regardless of who dealt the blow.
Div shut his eyes and waited for someone to fire.
"Fire," Leia ordered, hoping that C-3PO had absorbed her quick tutorial on operating the quad laser cannons. Laserfire launched toward the Star Destroyer, scoring a direct hit on its shield generator dome. Leia quickly guided the Millennium Falcon out of the Destroyer's firing range and took a quick survey of the situation. Three battered ships—one out of commission, two intact but taking heavy fire.
She tuned the comm to a Rebel frequency, hoping to pick up evidence that her friends were inside. As she did so, she accelerated and hurtled toward the remaining TIE fighter, which was lurking just beneath one of the strange ships, about to fire. Two quick blasts from the laser cannons blew it into debris.
"Took you long enough." Han's voice over the comm was as infuriatingly cocky as ever. Leia allowed herself a short sigh of relief. She'd worried she might never hear that voice again. "But what I want to know is who gave you permission to fly my ship?"
"Excuse me, Your Highness, but the Star Destroyer seems to be powering up its turbolasers again," C-3PO relayed, sounding worried. "At this juncture, might it be wise if we considered perhaps—"
"Just fire!" Leia snapped.
"Tell me you didn't let that tin can fool around with my laser cannons," Han moaned.
Leia ignored him. Now that the final TIE fighter had been destroyed, she could concentrate on the Star Destroyer.
When Zev and Wedge had reported back to Yavin 4 with news of the failed mission, Commander Narra had been convinced that Han and Luke were lost. There had been no life signs in the Kaminoan city, no indication that they had survived the crash. But Leia had told herself that electrical storms in the atmosphere could have foiled their sensors—that Luke and Han must have survived.