by Kathy Tyers
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