Champions of the Force

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Champions of the Force Page 22

by Kevin J. Anderson


  Doxin pointed out.

  Sivron whirled and parted his lips to show pointed

  teeth. "Isn't that good enough to knock out a few little

  ships?"

  Doxin blinked his piggish eyes as if he

  hadn't considered the possibility. "Why, yes,

  sir — yes, it is. Ready to fire."

  "At your convenience, Division Leader,"

  Sivron said.

  Eagerly, Doxin spoke into the intercom,

  commanding the gunners to fire. After a few seconds

  the incredible beam of light seared out; side lasers

  converged at a focal point and coalesced into a

  laser battering ram that plowed through the fringe of the

  oncoming cluster of fighters, vaporizing one old

  blockade runner in the vanguard of the left

  prong. Another ship was damaged by the backwash

  of the blast, but the attacking forces spread out and

  disappeared into the superstructure like parasites,

  firing again.

  "Did you see that?" Doxin said with obvious

  pleasure. "We hit one!"

  "Hooray," Golanda said sourly from her seat.

  Her voice carried absolutely no

  enthusiasm. "Only about forty more to go, and you can't

  even fire the superlaser again for fifteen

  minutes."

  "Director, if I may make a

  suggestion," the stormtrooper captain said. "We

  have successfully tested the prototype laser, but

  to stay here any longer would serve no purpose.

  To endure unnec damage to this fine weapon is

  folly. We should protect the Death Star so we

  may present it intact to the Imperial

  authorities."

  "And what do you suggest doing,

  Captain?" Tol Sivron said. He dug his

  long claws into the armrests.

  "We should withdraw to the Maw cluster. I doubt

  these small ships will follow. We are not highly

  maneuverable, but we can build up considerable

  speed. Note that we don't need to go all the

  way back to the Installation, just to the opposite

  side of the cluster where we can hide." The captain

  paused, then said slowly, "Once there, you will have

  time to hold a lengthy meeting, to decide what

  to do. You can ... discuss the whole situation

  wascommittee if you like."

  Tol Sivron brightened. "Good idea,

  Captain. See to it. Let's head out of here as

  fast as we can."

  The stormtrooper captain fed in a new

  course for the prototype. The huge

  open — framework sphere wheeled about on its axis

  and accelerated away from Kessel, cumbersome but

  picking up speed as it left the flurry of other

  ships behind.

  After the blaze from the Death Star's third blast

  faded, Han Solo rubbed sparkles out of his

  eyes, seeing distorted colors. "That was too

  close," he said. "The fringe of the beam fried our

  forward shields."

  Shana's old blockade runner had been

  destroyed, and some ships now flew off in

  retreat. "We have to regroup," Kithra's

  voice came over the comm system.

  "I think we should just get out of here," Han

  said.

  "Look!" Lando interrupted as the arching

  framework of the Death Star spun about and began

  to accelerate away from Kessel. "We've got

  it on the run."

  "For now," Mara said, "but it may just be

  retreating long enough to recharge its power core so it

  can strike again."

  "Kessel won't be safe while that thing is out

  there," Lando said. "Han, we've got to go in.

  Let's take the Falcon all the way to the

  power core."

  "Are you crazy, Lando?" Han asked, his

  voice rising. "This is my ship, remember."

  "I'm not contesting that," Lando said, holding his

  hands up, "but I've flown her into a Death Star

  before. Remember?"

  "I've got a bad feeling about this,"

  Han mumbled, and he shot a sidelong glance at

  Mara Jade. "But you're right. We can't just run

  away. If the prototype falls into the hands of the

  Imperial navy, it could cause a lot more

  misery than I want to be responsible for.

  Let's go in."

  He punched his accelerators. Mara sent

  orders to her fleet. "All ships back off.

  We're going in. Alone."

  The Falcon cruised through the nightmarish

  maze of overhanging girders, coolant and

  ventilation systems, power conduits and substations that

  formed the inner structure of the Death Star

  prototype. Catwalks laced the open spaces

  like so many spiderwebs.

  The Falcon shot inward, tunneling deeper

  and deeper into the construction as the framework grew

  denser, more complex. Han spun the ship left and

  right to squeeze through narrow passages.

  Just ahead, in the middle of a huge open

  corridor, a mammoth — sized construction crane

  toppled from its moorings, dislodged by the smuggler

  attack and the sudden lurching movement of the

  prototype. The crane fell, tumbling in

  silence through the vacuum of space, directly

  into the path of the Falcon.

  "Look out!" Lando cried.

  Han punched the firing buttons and sent out a

  converging blast from his laser cannons, disintegrating

  the falling machine into an expanding plume of

  incandescent gas and metal steam. Lando leaned

  back and closed his eyes with a shuddering sigh.

  As the Falcon careened through, the passengers were

  bumped and jostled. Large debris struck the

  deflector shields. Sparks flew out of the

  control panels, and smoke poured from the engine

  panels beneath the floor plates.

  "We've got damage!" Lando yelled.

  Han fought for control. "She'll hold together,"

  he said, as if praying.

  Suddenly the Death Star jerked and slammed

  forward as its heavy — duty sublight engines fired

  up. Han tried to match the speed, spiraling

  closer to the power core. The Falcon lurched,

  barely responding to Han's attempts

  to maneuver.

  They passed gargantuan girders ringing the outer

  core, tumbling into a vast enclosed space, a

  spherical chamber that contained the two gleaming

  conical sections of the power core.

  Green — and — blue fire crackled between the contacts

  as reactors pumped up the energy level,

  recharging the weapon to fire again.

  "Talk about recurring nightmares," Lando

  said. "I never wanted to see anything like this again in

  my life."

  "I guess we're just lucky," Han said,

  scanning his damage reports. "We need

  repairs bad," he said through gritted teeth.

  "Lousy time for the engines to act up."

  The Death Star rotated again, changing course and

  accelerating once more with equatorial propulsion

  units. Han narrowly avoided an arc — shaped

  girder that swung across to slam at them; he

  maneuvered the Falcon around it in a tight

  loop and limped toward the superstruc
ture that

  held the reactor core in place.

  "I need to check on those engines," Han said,

  "but I can't do anything while the Death Star is

  moving and rocking like this. We're going to have

  to settle in for the ride."

  "Settle in?" Mara asked in astonishment.

  "Don't get all bent out of shape. I did

  this once before to elude Imperial pursuit," he

  said, flashing a lopsided grin. "A nice little

  trick built into the Falcon. Added it myself."

  Han brought the ship up parallel to one of the thick

  girders. "It's my landing claw. I used it

  to hang on to the back of a Star Destroyer, then

  drifted off with the garbage as the fleet entered

  hyperspace."

  The Falcon attached itself with a clang.

  Directly below them the towering cylinder of the power

  core blazed into the emptiness, shining its deadly

  light.

  "We're secure here for now," Han said.

  "But if they plan to go back inside the black

  hole cluster, we could be in for one wild ride."

  Riding together in the close confines of the Sun

  Crusher, Luke felt young Kyp Durron

  draw mentally closer to him as they journeyed toward

  the black hole cluster.

  Kyp was gradually overcoming his fear and

  preoccupation with Jedi powers and the potential for

  abusing them. After his epiphany inside the

  temple of Exar Kun, Kyp had emerged

  stronger, able to accept the challenge. If

  he could face this final test, Luke would know that

  Kyp had passed through the fire of his testing —

  tempered by forces as dire and powerful as those Luke

  himself had endured. ...

  Luke smiled as he recalled how Leia had

  argued for Kyp in the Council meeting, fighting

  for the chance that Luke offered. During her very first

  session as leader of the New Republic, Leia

  had presented her brother's demand; in the uproar

  that followed she had reasoned, cajoled, or shamed

  every one of them into giving Luke a chance.

  She had emerged from the hours — long meeting in the

  middle of a bright Coruscant day. Kyp and

  Luke, waiting for her in one of the high mezzanine

  caf@es within the enormous Imperial Palace,

  had sipped warm drinks and sampled delicacies

  from a hundred planets that had sworn allegiance

  to the New Republic. Leia had brushed

  aside her two bodyguards and hurried forward

  to meet them as other bureaucrats and minor

  functionaries stood up from their tables in

  recognition of their new Chief of State.

  Leia ignored the attention.

  Her face was haggard and exhausted, but she could

  not hide her satisfied smile and the twinkle in

  her large eyes. "The Sun Crusher is yours

  to dispose of," she had said. "You'd better take

  it before someone on the Council decides my

  victory was too easy and moves to reopen the

  discussion."

  Then Leia had turned a stern face toward

  Kyp. "I'm gambling my entire future

  administration on you, Kyp."

  "I won't let you down," Kyp had

  promised, holding his head high. Luke did not

  need Jedi powers to sense the determination in the young

  man.

  They had flown away from Coruscant

  into hyperspace on a direct course for the Maw

  cluster near Kessel.

  The two of them ate rations and shared a warm

  silence. When they finished, Kyp fell into a

  deep rejuvenation trance, a form of deathlike

  hibernation that Luke taught all his students; the

  young Jedi awoke after only an hour, looking

  greatly refreshed.

  En route Kyp had shared fond memories of

  his home planet, Deyer. He spoke in a

  halting, wistful voice about his brother Zeth. As

  Luke listened with quiet understanding, Kyp

  let loose his sorrow and wept cleansing tears,

  finally allowing himself the freedom granted by the

  vision of his brother's spirit in the obsidian

  temple.

  "Yoda made me take a test of my own,"

  Luke told him. "I had to go into a cave in the

  swamps of Dagobah, where I confronted a

  vision of Darth Vader. I attacked and defeated

  him, only to find that I was fighting myself. I

  failed my test, but you succeeded."

  Luke looked into Kyp's dark eyes. "I

  don't promise it will be easy, Kyp, but the

  rewards of your efforts will be great, and the entire

  galaxy will benefit from them."

  Kyp looked away as if embarrassed and

  studied the piloting controls of the Sun Crusher.

  "Ready to come out of hyperspace," he said. "You

  strapped in?"

  Luke nodded with a slight smile. Around them

  hyperspace looked bruised and distorted from their

  proximity to all the black holes.

  Kyp stared at the chronometer and concentrated as

  the numbers spun by. "Three, two, one."

  He released the levers, and suddenly the blur

  sprang away from their viewport, and real space

  snapped into crystal focus around them.

  Luke saw the distant gaseous knot of the

  Maw, but he instantly felt a wrenching inside

  as if something was terribly wrong.

  "What happened to Kessel?" Kyp said.

  Luke found the much closer, distorted shape of

  Kessel masked by an expanding debris cloud.

  "The garrison moon," Kyp said. "It's

  gone."

  "We've been detected," Luke said.

  "Ships coming in." He sensed the anger and dismay

  from the pilots in the attack ships now gathering

  speed and converging on the Sun Crusher.

  The speaker buzzed with a forceful female

  voice. "This is Kithra of the Mistryl guard,

  representing the Smugglers' Alliance.

  Identify yourself and state your business in the

  Kessel system."

  "This is Luke Skywalker," he said,

  restraining a confident smile. "We're here on

  business for the New Republic. Our mission is

  to destroy the Sun Crusher, and we had hoped

  to hitch a ride back to Coruscant with one of

  your ships. Mara Jade cleared us by subspace

  transmission only yesterday."

  "Commander Jade is not here now," Kithra said.

  "But she did notify me you would be coming. As you can

  see, though, we have recently been under attack."

  "Tell me your situation," Luke said.

  "Where's Mara? Is she okay? What about Han

  Solo?"

  Kyp let his eyes fall half — closed,

  reaching out with the Force, searching. He jerked his head

  to the left, toward the swirling mass of the Maw.

  "Han's there — he's over there."

  Kithra's voice came over the speaker again.

  "A Death Star prototype attacked us," she

  explained as the smuggler ships swarmed around them in

  a protective contingent. "We suspect it was

  fleeing the New Republic occupation force that

  recently entered the cluster."

  "Wedge and Chewie are inside the Maw,

/>   too," Luke said to Kyp.

  "What happened to Han?" Kyp said into the comm

  with rising urgency.

  "Our ships struck at the prototype and

  caused some minor external damage, but Han

  Solo flew the Millennium Falcon into the

  superstructure. Commander Jade ordered us

  to fall back. The Falcon was carried along as

  the Death Star retreated toward the Maw. They were

  going to attempt to sabotage its power core, but

  we've heard no word from them since."

  "How long has it been?"

  "Only a couple of hours," Kithra

  answered. "We've been considering our options."

  Luke looked to Kyp, and their eyes met in

  shared concern. "We don't have any options,"

  Luke said.

  Kyp nodded. "We've got to help Han."

  "Yes," Luke said, swallowing hard. "Into the

  Maw."

  For two Jedi, finding a safe path through the

  labyrinth of gravity wells proved simple

  enough. Working together, Luke and Kyp reinforced each

  other's perceptions, flying the Sun Crusher in

  tandem, like linked navicomputers.

  The Sun Crusher rattled and vibrated with the

  strain. Luke experienced a stretching of his mind

  as he let his senses extend outward, as if

  dragged downward into the bottomless black holes.

  Kyp flew with his eyes closed, his jaws

  clenched, his lips drawn back in a grimace.

  "Almost through the wall," he said through his

  teeth.

  After passing through an eternity of superhot

  colors, they fell into the quiet bubble within the

  center of the cluster.

  Clearing his vision, Luke searched for the Death

  Star prototype, expecting to see it firing at

  Wedge's assault fleet. But instead he saw

  quite a different space battle in progress:

  New Republic forces blasting, starfighters

  launched in frantic dogfights — arrayed not against

  the Death Star, but against the deadly spear — point

  shape of a battered and blaster — scarred Star

  Destroyer.

  "It's Admiral Daala!" Kyp said, his

  voice thick with hatred.

  The wire — frame prototype hid, powered

  down, on the far side of the Maw cluster as Tol

  Sivron, Golanda, Doxin, Yemm, and the

  stormtrooper captain held a meeting to discuss

  the implications of their changed situation.

  It had taken some time to find an empty

  storeroom that could be converted into an appropriate

  conference chamber, and they had to forgo their hot

  beverages and morning pastries. But these were

 

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