The AT-ST commander, still apparently nervous, fired twice into the empty chamber. The bolts of his laser cannons ricocheted off the inner walls and flashed, causing minor damage spots on the stone. Receiving no retaliatory fire, the AT-ST lumbered forward. Its commander no doubt thought he could take over the Jedi stronghold and prevent any long siege.
As the scout walker stepped under the heavy upraised door, though, Artoo-Detoo, hiding in the shadows, chittered and came forward to activate the release controls. The heavy armored slab, thick enough to seal off the temple from heavy blaster fire, came crashing down.
Propelled by hydraulic pistons, the door squashed the scout walker in an instant, hammering it into the stone floor. Fuel tanks erupted, coolants spilled, and smoke poured into the air. The body casing of the AT-ST lay unrecognizable, like hammered-flat pieces of scrap metal.
Artoo whistled and hooted in triumph, then he worked the door controls again, raising up the stone slab and falling silent. The temple grew dark and sat waiting again, vulnerable. Artoo watched the sunlit jungle outside, hoping to lure a new target.
As Kyp Durron ran to join Han Solo in the Millennium Falcon, Callista followed Luke and Tionne as they slipped behind the Great Temple into the thicker jungle where more Imperials were massing.
Callista felt anger and helplessness crippling her again. Luke had meant well, and had spoken only out of concern for her--but unconsciously he had flaunted the fact that he had Jedi powers and implied that she was helpless without them.
I'll protect you, he had said. That was the wrong thing to say to Callista. She didn't want him to protect her. She wanted to do her own part. She had to find some way that she could strike as many blows to defend the Jedi academy as Luke did. She needed to prove that they could exist on equal terms. Otherwise their relationship had no future, as far as she was concerned.
She sensed the scratching hum of dark side shadows in the back of her mind, tempting her, luring her to dip into their evil powers for just a few moments, and then she would be able to use the light side.
But she knew that was a lie. Callista held her lightsaber and sprinted beside Luke as they dove through a tangle of vines and lacy purple ferns.
A huge piece of heavy assault machinery plowed its way through the jungle toward the temple. Luke gestured for them to follow, but Callista hung behind. He and Tionne would work together, linking Jedi powers in a way that she could no longer share.
Callista came to a dreaded realization that perhaps she had been unable to attempt new techniques to regain her powers because she was too close to Luke. He intimidated her with his own abilities, unconsciously emphasizing the fact that she had so little left. Perhaps she needed time by herself, to operate on her own terms, with no expectations, no need to perform for Luke Skywalker, to meet his level of ability. She and Luke were bonded, joined heart and spirit--but perhaps she needed to find her own strength again so that she could join his.
Now, in the midst of the jungle battles, she felt helpless and alone, tagging along like a burden rather than a companion. She didn't need to prove anything to Luke--but she did need to prove it to herself.
"Here it comes," Luke said, but his attention was focused on Tionne as the two Jedi Knights prepared to meet the Imperial battle machine. With their attention diverted, Callista formed her own plan.
The Imperial Flying Fortress approached them about four meters off the ground, hovering over an ancient deadfall where several giant Massassi trees had toppled in ancient storms. Luke recognized the immense vehicle.
Tactically, it was like a huge Imperial AT-AT walker but without the legs, merely the armored body loaded with heavy weaponry. It was rectangular with rounded corners and two heavy blaster cannons on a hemispherical turret on the top. A target identification network operated from sensors mounted around its outer hull.
The machine hummed as it cruised forward, nosing its way through the thick branches, snapping them off when they refused to yield. Its outer armor plates were already scarred from weapons fire, scraped from hard branches, and splotched with sticky smears of spilled sap. It cruised forward, heavy blaster cannons moving like rigid tentacles. Receiving signals from the target identification network, they fired deadly bursts upon any hapless forest creatures that happened to flee at the wrong time.
Luke concentrated on the armored monstrosity cruising toward them. He whispered to Tionne. "Together," he said. "See that sharp tree stump? When the Fortress flies over ..."
Tionne nodded, and they waited as the low hum of repulsor lifts drove the Flying Fortress over the ancient deadfall.
Luke focused his blue eyes on the sharpened trunk. "Now!" he cried. Luke and Tionne used the Force together, heaving the stump upward like a wooden stake through the lower hull of the Flying Fortress. The impaled siege vehicle spun about roaring with a burst of engine power. Its blaster cannons fired in all directions, setting trees aflame--but it couldn't move.
"That tree." Luke nodded toward another ancient trunk half-collapsed but held up by a net of vines. He and Tionne tugged on the dead tree with the Force, snapping the coiled vines and heaving the massive trunk down like an ax blade, many tons of solid wood slamming the Flying Fortress down into the deadfall, crushing it into an unrecognizable mass of smoldering armor plate.
Luke and Tionne leaped from their hiding place in triumph. They clasped each other's hands in a celebratory grip. "See, Callista!" Luke called. "We'll take care of them, one by one!"
But when he turned to look behind him, he saw no sign of her. "Callista?" he called, glancing around in alarm. Tionne also looked, but they saw no motion, received no answer in the thick jungle.
Callista was completely masked from the Force, and therefore invisible even to their Jedi powers. Luke could not sense her, no matter how hard he tried.
"Callista!" he called again.
But she had vanished by herself into the thick jungle.
HOTH ASTEROID BELT
CHAPTER 52
Qwi Xux leaned forward and pointed just as Wedge began to discern the organized cluster of lights ahead of them. Her indigo eyes were better than his, and she could make out details he hadn't yet been able to imagine.
"Okay, increase magnification," he said.
In the viewscreen they saw the long cylindrical construction amid islands of hardened slag and discarded spare components. The Hutt weapon appeared to be complete and ready to move.
"They actually built it," Qwi whispered. "I hope we're not too late."
"So it was all true," Wedge mumbled. "And the Hutts got this far without us detecting them." He nodded grimly to the helmsman. "But they won't get any further." Trailed by their three Corellian Corvettes, the Yavaris and the Dodonna approached the enormous Darksaber.
Without ceremony, Durga's guards dragged the dead body of Crix Madine off the Darksaber's command deck. Bevel Lemelisk watched the fallen Rebel saboteur with mixed feelings, pursing his lips and scowling with a thousand conflicting thoughts. The expression on Madine's face--fixed there forever so that Lemelisk would never forget it--was one of secret triumph, as if Madine knew something that the Hutts and the Imperials would never understand.
Lemelisk saw the body with a certain amount of envy as well, knowing that at least Madine would stay dead and not have to worry about being brought back again and again and again to be tormented.
Several Taurill scurried across the bridge, watching the entire execution ceremony with intense curiosity. Lemelisk shooed them away, and the multiarmed creatures scrambled to the inner decks where the rest of the hive mind now rested with the completion of their labor.
Sitting imperiously on his levitating platform, Durga the Hutt issued commands to the impostor Sulamar. "Power up our engines. You will pilot us out of here. Now. I'm anxious to get under way."
Sulamar stammered, "But Lord Durga, I can't--”
“I have confidence in your abilities, Sulamar." He rubbed his green finger lightly over one of the booby-trap b
uttons. "Or would you prefer that I dispose of you and choose someone else?"
"No need for that, Lord Durga!" Sulamar said and focused his attention on the controls. "I appreciate your faith in my skills. I won't let you down."
"I'll make sure of that," Durga said. "My Darksaber is finished. I've had enough waiting around here. Let us begin our sweep across the galaxy and begin collecting our due."
Upon hearing Durga's words, Bevel Lemelisk snapped out of his reverie and gaped in disbelief. "You--you're not actually going to use this weapon, are you?" he said. "It's not yet tested." He stumbled over his words. "Lord Durga ... we need to verify all the subsystems and--” Durga made a loud, impolite noise and dismissed Lemelisk's comments. "Nonsense, chief engineer. Your job is nearly finished. Don't try to prolong your usefulness. My Taurill workers followed your own plans exactly. What could go wrong?" He gestured to Sulamar. "Go, I told you. Move out."
Lemelisk nervously twiddled his fingers and scanned the other crew members at their stations, all strapped to booby-trapped chairs. He didn't speak his concerns out loud, but he had a bad feeling about the overall workmanship of the superweapon. Too often he had encountered gaffes such as the ancient and incompatible computer cores, the bel-par materials. Too many miscommunications. Too many malfunctions.
Lemelisk knew the Hutts were obsessive about getting the best bargain for their money, but Durga had accepted the low bid far more frequently than quality control should have allowed; and the Hutts, being such fearsome crime lords, had somehow missed a basic commercial axiom--you get what you pay for, and nothing more.
Lemelisk gradually backed toward the turbolift door as the bridge crew busied themselves, preparing the superweapon for its maiden flight.
"Ah, excuse me, Lord Durga,” Lemelisk said. "I believe my place should be down by the superlaser, monitoring it to make sure everything functions properly."
Durga, too intent on the excitement of finally getting into motion, dismissed Lemelisk distractedly. Lemelisk slipped into the turbolift, and his stomach lurched as the elevator platform dropped rapidly down. He patted his stomach, feeling a growl of hunger. He wondered if he might have time to grab something to eat ... but decided he shouldn't risk delaying. He would be in a great deal of trouble if the Darksaber failed to fire as Durga expected, and Bevel Lemelisk had no intention of being around when that happened.
He exercised the better part of valor and went not to the superlaser control systems, but off to his private launching bay, where he dashed over to the small inspection scooter he had used to watch the final construction of the great weapon.
Everyone on board the Darksaber had been called to their stations, so the bay stood empty and dim with only standby systems lighting his way. Lemelisk strutted over to the single scooter and climbed into the hatch, working his stiff knees and weak arms until he settled into the seat. The cramped cockpit still smelled awful, and he wished he had thought to order the Taurill to clean the upholstery--but it was too late now. He strapped in and powered up the inspection scooter, drifted through the atmosphere-containment field and away from the enormous weapon.
Bevel Lemelisk would take his chances out in open space.
CHAPTER 53
"Battle stations!" Wedge Antilles cried.
"The Hutt weapon is moving out," the tactical officer said, stating the obvious as the cylindrical behemoth powered up its rear engines like a star exploding.
"It's huge," Qwi whispered. "I understand it now, what they've done--they got rid of the extraneous superstructure and channeled all of the power directly into the superlaser. This weapon should be more maneuverable than the Death Star, more easily recharged, able to fire more frequently."
"We won't let it escape," Wedge said.
"Bad news, sir," the sensor chief said, a lieutenant with close-set blue eyes and a pointed nose. He turned away before he continued. "We've ... sir, we've lost the signal from General Madine's transmitter."
The news struck Wedge like a blow to the stomach. He slumped in his seat. "Oh no."
Qwi didn't understand. "But we've found the weapon," she said. "We don't need the transmitter anymore, do we?"
Wedge's voice was hoarse. He intended to speak only to her, but the bridge fell quiet enough that everyone heard his words. "That transmitter is keyed to Madine's life monitor. If the transmitter has stopped, that means--” He sat up straight and gestured violently forward. "All weapons on full. We must not let them get away. The Yavaris and the Dodonna will dive in directly. Corellian Corvettes will target the main engines to slow it down." He clenched his teeth. "This time, the Hutts picked the wrong people to tangle with."
On the Darksaber's command deck, the Devaronian sensor chief squawked in alarm. He jerked his horned head up. "Lord Durga, Rebel fleet approaching! They're powering up weapons."
"What?" Durga recoiled, blinking his lanternlike eyes. "How did they find us?" Then he turned to Sulamar. "It's time to test your piloting skills."
The engines fired again, and the Darksaber heaved into motion, picking up speed. The thrum vibrated through the hull with barely contained power. The Darksaber built up momentum. Durga laughed with delight at the performance of his superweapon.
Deep down within the core, a loud groaning sound came from the engines, followed by a clunk and a thud. Durga looked around in concern. Sulamar concentrated on the piloting controls, biting his lips and pretending to hear nothing out of the ordinary. Sweat streamed from his temples. The strange sound faded away, and Durga ignored it.
"Power up the superlaser," the Hutt crime lord said. "We must be ready to fire a shot when the time is right. We'll blast the Rebel fleet into space dust."
The New Republic warships streaked after the Darksaber as it plowed through the flying rubble of the asteroid belt. The shields sent out bright flashes as they disintegrated small rocks that crossed their path. Several large chunks broke through, though, pounding the hull of the Yavaris.
"That Hutt weapon is like a battering ram, breaking up the rubble," Wedge said.
One of the Corellian Corvettes was struck broadside by a large spinning meteoroid and fell behind in the pursuit. The captain transmitted to Wedge that his engines had been severely damaged, but that containment fields and bulkhead doors had trapped the escaping air from small hull breaches. "No crew loss," the captain said, "but we'll be undergoing repairs for a while. Go get the Hutts for us, sir."
Wedge nodded. "We'll do our best."
"He's going into the densest part of the asteroid field, General Antilles," the navigator said, her face pasty white with tension.
"Then we're going in after him," Wedge said.
The Assault Frigate fired its turbolasers and splintered a jagged asteroid careening toward them. The Yavaris flew through the debris cloud, sustaining little damage. "Thanks, Dodonna," Wedge said.
When they got close enough to the Hutt superweapon, he ordered all ships to open fire.
Asteroids whirled around them, as the field became denser and denser, and Sulamar worked frantically to keep the Darksaber moving forward and in line. It was an impossible task, and Durga spent alt too much time with his stubby finger poised over the "execution" button linked to Sulamar's chair.
"I won't be able to navigate much longer, Lord Durga," Sulamar said. "This is the most deadly part of the asteroid belt. None of our scout ships even dare to enter here."
"Then the Rebels will be too frightened to follow us," Durga said.
"Just look out there, Durga!" Sulamar cried, pointing toward the moon-size rocks grinding together like the molars of a beast as large as a planet.
"Do I need to choose another pilot?" Durga said.
"No, Lord Durga," Sulamar mumbled in exasperation.
The Hutt nodded. "Our superlaser is powered up. We have nothing to worry about."
Sulamar swallowed--he could think of plenty to worry about.
The Rebel fleet came in, firing with their full complement of weapons. Each blast was in
significant in itself, but hundreds of turbolaser bolts struck home, peeling loose plates from the Darksaber's hull, rattling components loose. The unnerving noises grew louder deep within the engine core.
The Darksaber had no outer hull defenses, no turbolaser turrets of its own, and no squadrons of TIE fighters to drive off Rebel pests. Several of the larger asteroids plunged in from the side, denting and battering the weapon's hull--but Sulamar continued flying with grave trepidation. Durga would severely punish any mistakes ... if they managed to survive.
The impostor general looked along their flight path and saw a nightmare. The Darksaber plunged along much too fast to maneuver effectively. Deep inside, the vessel groaned again, startling him.
Up ahead a pair of the largest rocks he had yet seen spun about, grinding together, like granite jaws waiting for new prey. Sulamar knew they could never avoid the hurtling planetoids at the velocity they were cruising. He squeezed his eyes shut.
Durga raised his hand in defiance. "Get those asteroids out of our way," he said arrogantly. "Fire the superlaser!"
Sulamar's finger trembled on the Fire button, but he could not hesitate. They hurtled toward the asteroids. He punched down and covered his eyes to block the blinding glare of the deadly energy beam. "Firing now, sir!"
But instead of a scream of destruction and a pulse of power through the superweapon, Sulamar heard only a loud pffffft! A fizzle of sparks splattered out the front end of the Darksaber, but nothing more.
"Oh no," Sulamar cried. He punched the button again and again--but the Darksaber refused to fire. The two broken planetoids smashed together with the Hutt superweapon between them. The Darksaber was crushed in an instant, becoming yet another hunk of space debris that would float forever in the Hoth Asteroid Field.
YAVIN 4
CHAPTER 54
Darksaber Page 33