by Timothy Zahn
"Succinct and practical," Luke said, stretching out ahead of them with the Force. There was no danger yet that he could sense. "Come on, Artoo."
Mara's point about the room's size turned out to be correct. They had gone only a few steps when the back wall came within range of their glow rods. In the center was an open archway leading farther back into the rock.
Not the rough natural rock of the caverns, though. The walls and floor of this passageway were smooth and finished.
"Interesting," Mara said, playing her glow rod around as they stood just outside the archway. "Notice anything peculiar about the ceiling?"
"It hasn't been smoothed down like the walls have," Luke said, eyeing the jutting rock hanging down from the arched ceiling.
"I wonder," Mara murmured. "Artoo, your sensors getting anything?"
Artoo warbled a rather distressed-sounding negative, and Luke leaned over to check the datapad translation. "He says the output from the power generator is masking pretty much everything else," he told Mara. "That's probably where that hum is coming from, too. You think there's something else up there?"
"Keeper Of Promises said this area was lethal to Qom Jha," Mara reminded him. "And we all know how much Qom Jha like to hang from ceilings."
"And we had that cave of predators who eat flying things like Qom Jha." Luke nodded, seeing where she was going with this. "And a bunch of Chiss up in the fortress who think of them as vermin."
"Not to mention that layer of cortosis ore back there," Mara said. "Which I still don't believe got there naturally. This place has defense rings six ways from Coruscant."
"As one would expect with Thrawn in charge of it," Luke said. "Question is, do we try to do something about that ceiling, or assume it isn't something that will bother us?"
"It's never a good idea to leave a danger at your back," Mara declared, taking a step just inside the archway. "Here goes." Igniting her lightsaber, she hurled it expertly up to slice into the rocky ceiling.
There was a brilliant flash, the crackle and stench of high-energy current
And suddenly the whole ceiling seemed to collapse.
Mara was back out of the room in an instant, even as Luke ignited his lightsaber and jabbed it protectively over where her head had been. The ceiling fell onto it, draping itself over the green-white blade for a second before it was cut through and fell the rest of the way onto the floor.
"How cute," Mara said, peering in over his shoulder. "It's like a sculpted Conner net. A Qom Jha settles to a landing, there's a high-energy discharge that fries him, and the whole thing drops to take out any of his friends who happen to be with him."
"That's cute, all right," Luke murmured, poking at the netting with the tip of his lightsaber. "Question is, is it safe now for us to walk over?"
"Probably," Mara said. "Conner nets are usually single-charge gadgets, and it doesn't do much good to leave it active once it's on the floor."
"Makes sense," Luke said, stretching out to the Force as he eased his foot out over the net. No tingling of danger... and sure enough, his foot came down onto the net without even a spark of residual charge. "It's clear," he said.
"Hold it!" Mara hissed, taking a long step forward and putting her lightsaber handle across his chest to stop him, her sleeve blaster now gripped in her free hand. "Something's coming."
Luke stopped, listening to the soft clicking of feet on rock. More than one something, too, by the sound of it. He played his glow rod down the tunnel trying to see what was coming...
And abruptly, from a group of narrow side openings he hadn't noticed came a swarm of fist-sized insectlike creatures scuttling rapidly across the walls toward them.
"Watch it!" Mara snapped, her blaster tracking.
"No, wait," Luke said, pushing her arm to the side off target. He'd caught a glint of metal... "Just keep moving. Artoo, come on, hurry."
He could sense Mara's strong disapproval, but she did as instructed without argument. The skittering creatures passed them by without slowing, apparently without even so much as a second glance. Luke reached the end of the collapsed Conner net and stepped off onto the stone floor; and as Mara and Artoo did likewise, he turned around to look.
The creatures had grouped themselves around the front edge of the collapsed net. Even as Luke watched, they began to ease their careful way up the walls, carrying the edge of the net with them.
Beside him, Mara snorted gently. "Of course," she said, sounding mildly disgusted with herself. "Maintenance droids, there to get the trap reset. SorryI guess I overreacted a bit."
"Considering it's Thrawn we're dealing with, overreaction isn't likely to be a problem very often," Luke said.
"Thanks, but you don't have to try to soothe my feelings," Mara told him, sliding the sleeve gun away and shifting her lightsaber to her right hand again. "Lesson learned. Shall we go?"
* * * "What in the Empire are you talking about?" Captain Nalgol demanded, blinking the sleep from his eyes as he grabbed for his uniform and started pulling it on. "How can they be shooting at each other? The flash point is still three days away."
"I don't know, sir," the Tyrannic's duty officer said tautly. "All I know is that the probe ships report the battle has begun, and that the section of planetary shield over the Bothan capital has collapsed. It's hard to tell from this distance, but they say the capital appears to be on fire in several places."
Nalgol swore viciously under his breath. Someone had blundered, and blundered badly. Either the Intelligence strike team
Or Thrawn himself.
It was a shocking thought. A shattering thought, even. If Thrawn's timing could be that far in error
He shook away his misgivings. What was done was done; and whatever mistakes or miscalculations had been made, he was determined that he and the Tyrannic wouldn't add to them. "Have the Obliterator and Ironhand been informed?" he asked, grunting out the last word as he leaned over to pull on his boots.
"Yes, sir. Probe ships report they're coming to full battle stations now."
"Make sure we get there ahead of them," Nalgol told him tartly.
"Yes, sir," the officer said again. "Estimate we'll be at battle readiness in five minutes. Probe ships are continuing to feed us reports."
"Good," Nalgol muttered. Now that the shock of the news was fading, he realized it wasn't quite as bad as it had first seemed. All right, so the battle had started early. The three Star Destroyers were ready, or would be before their presence was needed to eliminate the survivors of the battle raging out there.
And blinded by the cloaking shield as they were, they definitely needed up-to-the-minute reports from the probe ships. The danger was that, with the ships dipping in and out of the shield with that kind of regularity, someone might notice something odd happening around the comet head and come over to investigate.
But there was a way to minimize that risk. "Put all tractor beam operators on full alert," he ordered. "If any ship besides our own probe shipsand I mean any shippokes its nose inside the cloaking shield, I want it grabbed and held inside out of communication. Make sure that message gets to the other ships, too. No one is going to stumble in on us and live to talk about it. Understood?"
"Understood, sir," the officer said.
"I'll be on the bridge in two minutes," Nalgol said, grabbing his tunic and belt. "I want the ship at full battle readiness by the time I get there."
"We will be, sir."
Nalgol slapped off the intercom and headed out the door of his quarters. Fine; so the aliens and alien-lovers couldn't contain their self-destructive hatreds as long as Thrawn had expected. Fine. It just meant that the pent-up boredom and frustration of his crew would get released a little earlier.
Smiling grimly, he headed down the corridor toward the turbolift at a carefully measured walk. This was going to be a pleasure.
* * * A turbolaser flashed, its lethal red beam sizzling perilously close to the Falcon's starboard side on its way toward an Escort Frigate
with Prosslee markings. Han spun the ship away from a second shot, dodged the other direction barely in time to avoid a pair of Bagmim customs ships driving with laser cannon blazing toward the Prosslee.
The whole universe had gone mad. With him square in the middle of it.
"What happened over there?" he called toward the comm, weaving between a pair of Opquis gunships.
"According to the Ishori, three humans came aboard about half an hour ago," Leia's voice came back, the sound of an alert tone droning in the background. "They had New Republic tech IDs and a letter from the Ishori High Conflux authorizing them to examine the Predominance's power couplings for oxidation damage."
"All phony, of course," Han growled, maneuvering the Falcon into a relatively clear space and looking around. It was like Endor all over again out there.
Except that this time the Empire was nowhere to be seen. It was Rebels fighting other Rebels.
"We know that now," Leia agreed. "Once aboard, they killed their escort and took over one of the turbolaser clusters. When the Drev'starn shield went down... Han, they got eight shots off onto the surface before we were able to cut off power to their cluster. The Ishori still haven't been able to storm the room and get to them, even with Barkhimkh and Sakhisakh helping them."
Beside Han, Elegos murmured something in the Caamasi language. "How bad did Drev'starn get hit?" Han asked. "Never mindthat's not important right now. What's happening with you and the ship?"
"We're under attack," Leia said, her voice tense. "Three Diamalan ships have joined up against us, one of them sitting between us and the planet in case we try to fire on Drev'starn again. No serious damage yet, I don't think, to either side. But that can't last."
"Didn't you tell them what happened?" Han asked.
"I told them, the Predominance's captain told them, Gavrisom told them," Leia said. "They're not listening."
"Or else don't care," Han said, clenching his teeth hard enough to hurt. Leia, trapped aboard a ship under massive attack... "Look, I'm going to try to get over there," he told her. "Maybe I can at least get you and Gavrisom off."
"Nostay away," Leia said sharply. "Please. You'd never make it."
Han gazed bitterly out at the swirling battle. She was right, of course; from his new vantage point he could see the Predominance now and the storm of turbolaser fire raking across it, and he knew full well the Falcon's shields wouldn't stand a chance in there. But he couldn't just sit out here and do nothing. "Look, I've outfought Star Destroyers before," he said.
"You've outmaneuvered them," Leia corrected him. "There's a big difference. Please, Han, don't try to"
There was a squawk, and suddenly she was cut off. "Leia!" Han shouted, his chest tightening as he looked back at the Ishori war cruiser. It still seemed intact; but all it would take would be a single lucky shot into the bridge area
"She's all right," Elegos said, pointing at the comm display. "They're just being jammed again."
Han let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "We've got to do something," he said, searching the sky for inspiration. "We've got to get her off that ship"
The comm crackled back to life. "Leia?" Han called, leaning hopefully toward the speaker.
"Solo?" a male voice called. "It's Carib Devist."
Han grimaced. "What do you want? We're kind of busy out here."
"No kidding," Carib snapped. "And whose fault do you think that is?"
"We already know," Han growled. "Some troublemakers got aboard the Predominance and started shooting. Probably Imperials."
"Definitely Imperials," Carib retorted. "And it was other Imperials who stirred the rest of the crowd into doing likewise. Or didn't you hear them broadcasting recorded attack orders in a half-dozen different languages?"
Han threw a glower at Elegos, feeling a stab of chagrin at having totally missed reality on that one. So that was what those small Imperial ships Carib had identified had been hanging around Bothawui for. Obvious.
Or at least it would have been obvious if anyone out there had bothered to take a minute to think it through. But nobody had.
"But that can wait," Carib went on. "I called to warn you that I think there's something happening out by the head of that comet."
"Yeah? What sort of something?" Han asked, his attention already back on the Predominance and how in space he was going to get Leia off it.
"I don't know," Carib said. "But there are a dozen mining ships fluttering around the area. All of them flying under Imperial pilots."
Han frowned at the comm speaker. "What are you talking about? What would Imperials want with ore buckets?"
"I tell you they're Imperial pilots," Carib insisted. "Their whole flying style just screams it out."
"Okay, fine," Han said, not really interested in arguing the point. "So what do you want me to do about it?"
There was a hiss of exhaled breath from the speaker. "We're going to go check it out," he said, sounding disgusted. "Under the circumstances, I thought you might be interested in taking a look yourself. Sorry to have bothered you."
The comm clicked off. "I'm sorry, too," Han muttered. He glanced at Elegos
Paused for another look. "What?" he snarled.
The Caamasi lifted his hands, palms up. "I said nothing."
"What, you think I should just take off and head out there with him?" Han demanded. "Just leave Leia and go running off on a wild-tresher hunt?"
"Can you help her at the moment?" Elegos countered mildly. "Can you free her, or defeat the attacking ships, or halt the battle itself?"
"That's not the point," Han bit out. "Ten to one they're just some miners who used to fly for the Empire. There are thousands of them around the New Republicit doesn't mean a thing."
"Perhaps," Elegos said. "You must balance that against all the rest."
"All the rest of what?"
"The rest of all things," Elegos said. "Your knowledge of Carib Devist and his observational abilities. Your beliefor lack of itthat he did not, in fact, betray you to the Empire while you were on Bastion. Your own experience with Imperial procedure and style, and whether you believe someone of Carib's skills could recognize them. Your trust in your wife and her reading of this man."
He lifted his eyebrows slightly. "And most of all, your innate sense of what is right and good. If there is indeed danger of some sort out there, whether you should leave him to face it alone."
"He isn't exactly alone," Han grumbled. "He's got a whole bunch of his other clones with him."
Elegos didn't reply. Han sighed and did a quick search of the sky. There was Carib's beat-up Action II freighter, all right, driving out past the boundaries of the battle toward the blazing comet in the distance. All alone. "You know, you Caamasi could be a real pain if you worked on it a little," Han told Elegos, turning the Falcon to follow and keying the comm to Lando's comlink frequency. "Lando? Hey, Lando, look alive."
"Yes, Han, what is it?" Lando's tight voice came back.
"You back on the Lady Luck yet?"
"I wish I were," the other said fervently. "I'm stuck on the Industrious Thoughts with Senator Miatamia."
Han grimaced. "That's one of the ships attacking Leia?"
"If Leia's on the Predominance, yes," Lando said, his voice both disgusted and more than a little bit nervous. "Han, we've got to get this thing stopped, and fast."
"No argument from me, buddy," Han said, steering clear of a pair of Froffli patrol ships slugging it out with a D'farian starbarque. "Gavrisom's with Leia. If you can get Miatamia to call off their jamming, maybe he can talk this thing down."
"I've already tried," Lando sighed. "I'm the last person aboard anyone's interested in listening to."
"I know the feeling," Han said. "Look, I need a quick favor. I'm heading over to that comet out there with Carib Devist. Put some macrobinoculars on me, will you, just in case we run into trouble?"
There was a brief pause. "Sure, no problem. Exactly what sort of trouble are you expect
ing?"
"It's probably nothing," Han said. "Carib seems to think there are Imperials out there flying ore buckets around. Just keep an eye on us, huh?"
"I will," Lando promised. "Good luck."
Han keyed off the comm and swerved around the last handful of ships between him and the comet. "Hang on," he told Elegos as he threw full power to the sublight drive. "Here we go."
* * * "Easy, now," Bel Iblis warned from Booster's side. "Take it nice and calm and easy. We're all friends here, with the protection of the outer defense perimeter between us and the nasty Rebel attack force. We're safe now, and there's no need to look like we're hurrying."
"No, we wouldn't want to look like that," Booster growled, staring uneasily at the huge mass of the Ubiqtorate base looming directly ahead of them. Suddenly, his beloved Errant Venture didn't seem nearly so big and powerful and safe anymore as it used to.
"Steady, Terrik," Bel Iblis said. His voice, to Booster's thorough annoyance, was controlled and glacially calm. "The big show's going on behind us, remember? The last thing we want to do is draw their eyes our direction."
Booster nodded, glancing over at the aft display. There was a show going on back there, all right, with the New Republic ships taking a real beating from the Yaga Minor defense perimeter.
Or at least, that was how it was supposed to look. If they were following orders, they were actually hanging just far enough back to keep from taking any really serious damage from the massed turbolaser fire. Hopefully, in all the confusion, the Imperials wouldn't notice that. "I don't know," he said. "I don't like this, Bel Iblis. We got in much too easy."
"General, we've got movement," the officer at the sensor station called. "Imperial Star Destroyer, moving up from starboard."
Booster took a few steps forward along the command walkway, peering out the viewport, a bad feeling twisting into his gut. The Star Destroyer had appeared from around the starboard side of the base and had moved across the Errant Venture's vector.
And even as he watched, it stopped there, between them and the base. Floating in space in front of them, as if daring them to pass...