by Martha Wells
Han’s expression went through several complicated changes, then he set his jaw. “Well, that explains a lot. He wanted the two of us to break open the slave pen, said he didn’t trust the Aegis’s crew. But he must have thought he could get rid of me and find a comm system somewhere.”
Sian stared in shock. “But he … The whole time he was … Oh, no. That’s how they found the Gamble on Arnot Station.”
Chewbacca drew his lips back in a grimace and made a comment that sounded remarkably accusing. Han glared at him. “It’s not my fault. How was I supposed to know?”
Kelvan’s brow furrowed and he clearly thought he had been left out of a rather important loop. He demanded, “When did you know?”
“Just now, actually,” Leia said. “He must have been a deep-cover agent, intended to report on our movements and possibly sabotage our missions while the Empire prepared a trap for the Alliance fleet.”
Terae clapped a hand to her head. “That lousy piece of—He didn’t just tell Viest who you were, he made a deal with her.”
“But after we rescued him, he couldn’t get to a comm to tell Degoren that we planned this ambush.” Leia eyed the sensors. The assistance that Degoren clearly expected might arrive at any moment.
Kelvan touched his headset as he listened to an internal report. He nodded to Leia. “The hatches are sealed, and we’re ready to break off.”
Leia pressed her lips together, then said, “We’ll have to move fast, or he’ll kill Luke.”
Kelvan’s smile was wry. “Believe me, it will be fast. We’re good at this.”
Terae added more grimly, “And we don’t want to lose Itran. He made a deal with Viest, and got Captain Metara killed.”
Leia wasn’t certain there was a direct connection, but Itran certainly hadn’t helped. She clicked on the comlink and said, “Commander Degoren, we’re breaking off from your ship. We have your crew aboard, and will land on the planet to release them. Follow us down, or we’ll space them and destroy your ship.”
She cut the comm connection before Degoren could reply. “That’s not going to hold him long. Let’s go.”
Kelvan signaled the pilot. Leia felt the deck sway underfoot as the Aegis powered away from the Gamble II so fast its gravity sensors couldn’t compensate quickly enough.
Degoren wouldn’t buy her distraction; he might believe she was confused and out of her depth, but he wasn’t a fool. The Aegis dived toward the shuttle, which turned away immediately. Leia kept her eyes on the sensors as the newly named Gamble II began to accelerate in the opposite direction, readying itself for its hyperspace jump.
“Sir, we’re almost in tractor beam range,” the copilot said.
Kelvan touched his headset. “Tractor beam control, mark the target, ready—”
Fera, at the sensor station, said, “Sir, new contact exiting hyperspace!”
And we’ve run out of time, Leia thought. She stepped toward the sensor station as Fera enlarged the image of the incoming ship. It was an Imperial light corvette, likely the same one that had attacked the Gamble.
Fera said, “Sir, it’s heading for Gamble Two.” The corvette’s course curved toward the fleeing ship. Degoren must have managed to contact the corvette and inform it of his situation just as it hit realspace. Or give orders, Leia thought. Degoren might be in charge of this whole operation.
“Break off the shuttle, cover Gamble Two’s retreat.” Kelvan glanced at Leia for her reaction, and she nodded sharply. Every nerve screamed at the idea of letting the shuttle go, but they had to protect the Gamble II.
Han watched the images from the sensor array fly across the displays. “That Degoren’s one lucky Imp.”
“And the corvette knows General Willard is aboard the Gamble Two,” Terae said, her voice tense.
She was right. Degoren would have informed them that he was holding the general prisoner aboard his ship. He might suspect that Willard had transferred to the Aegis, but with the Gamble II jumping to lightspeed, there was little doubt that the Alliance now controlled the ship.
The corvette fired turbolasers. But the Aegis cut across its field of fire and deflected the blasts on its own shields.
Leia looked at the sensors, just in time to see the Gamble II vanish. “Gamble Two is entering hyperspace,” Fera reported. “Repeat, Gamble Two is away and clear.”
Leia let out a pent breath. But the shuttle had taken advantage of the few moments to put distance between it and the Aegis. Now the corvette turned back toward it, shielding it from the Aegis’s weapons and tractor beam. Leia started to order Kelvan to pursue it, then stopped the words in her throat.
The light corvette was nearly twice the size of the gunship, though their weapons were equivalent, if the corvette hadn’t been modified. The light corvettes were customs ships and had practically been designed to take on pirates.
She couldn’t risk the Aegis, not for one life, not even if that life was Luke’s. None of these people had signed on to the Alliance. She made herself say, “You’ll have to break off.”
Chewbacca made a faint noise, an aborted protest, and she could feel Sian staring at her. She thought Han would be the one to blow up, but instead he just said, quietly, “That may be a pirate-killer, but this isn’t a modified freighter. The Aegis isn’t as outgunned as you think.”
“He’s right.” Kelvan faced her. “Your Highness, we can do this.” There was nothing but complete conviction in his voice. “We couldn’t help Alderaan—let us help you.”
Leia wasn’t sure what he was asking for, if it was absolution or atonement. She couldn’t give him either, and attacking the Imperial ship didn’t make tactical sense. “I’m not Alderaan.”
“For us, you are. At least at this moment.” Kelvan said again, “Let us help you.”
Leia realized her hands were knotted into fists. She couldn’t leave Luke to the Empire. She just hoped she wasn’t dooming all of them. “All right.”
Kelvan nodded, and smiled gratefully. “You won’t regret it.”
I hope you don’t regret it, Leia thought as Kelvan gave the orders and the Aegis accelerated in pursuit.
Chewbacca wuffed in relief. Han just stepped around her, heading for the sensor console. “I got an idea. That light corvette has external docking bays.”
“We can’t board it,” Leia told him, frustrated. “It has at least a squad of eight stormtroopers aboard and more than fifty crew members.”
“We can’t board it if they know we’re there,” Han said. He leaned on the back of Fera’s chair, studying the sensor displays. “Can you get them into the sensor field disruption?”
The Aegis drew into range of the corvette. The two ships seemed to dance as the corvette tried to protect the shuttle, but had to keep moving too fast for the shuttle to dock. Kelvan ordered, “Fire at will, keep their attention.” To Han, he said, “Yes, but even with their sensors partly disabled, they could tell we were locking on and they’d hardly hold still for it.”
“Or they would hold still, and blast through our lock before we could board them,” Sian pointed out.
“Not if we use an escape pod,” Han said.
Leia stared at him. “You’re out of your mind. And that might just work.”
Nobody liked the plan, but there was no time to argue about it.
Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and Sian raced for the Aegis’s shuttle bay where the Gamble’s escape pod still sat in the cradle, ready to be used. They were trailed by a protesting Terae, who couldn’t seem to decide whether she wanted to talk them out of it or demand to go with them. Blast impacts made the deck shiver underfoot, though the shields still held. The Aegis darted back and forth to tease and lure the corvette farther into the sensor disruption area near the planet.
“You might need an engineer,” Terae said desperately as Leia was about to climb into the pod. Han was already inside, starting its launch sequence, as Chewbacca adjusted the seat so he could fit into it.
“I appreciate the offer, “Leia
told her, “but between Han, Chewie, and Sian, I think we have it covered.” Fera had handed Sian a satchel at the last moment, still packed with the small hatch-busting explosives and a few stun grenades left over from the boarding action against the Darsumae. Leia hesitated. “Terae, if I don’t see you and Kelvan and the others again—”
“Don’t say that!” Terae stopped, confused. “I just … After what happened to Captain Metara … I don’t know what I mean.”
Leia knew what Terae meant. After the traumatic death of her friend and mentor, after confronting the reality of the crew’s life as pirates, Terae’s world was spinning around her and some of her basic convictions had been shattered. Even after two years of hatred for the Alliance, of blaming it for Alderaan’s destruction, Leia was still the only safe anchor in that world, and Terae didn’t want her to leave, at least not yet. You can’t be responsible for every survivor of Alderaan, Leia told herself. No one person could take that on and not go mad; it was worse than being the Alliance’s perfect shining symbol and figurehead. But walking away from Terae and the others tore at her. Maybe that was why Leia had been risking her neck so much lately. It was easier on her soul than the alternatives.
Sian helped shove Chewbacca into his seat and plopped down beside him, and Leia had no time left for negotiation or persuasion. She just said, “Think about what I’ve said to you. The offer is still open. If not, take care of each other.”
Leia dropped into her seat and hit the sequence to seal the hatch and pressurize the pod. Terae hesitated for a moment, as if she might still protest, then turned and jogged for the blast doors, signaling the techs to follow her. Leia strapped in, and Han said into the comm, “We’re ready when you are.”
“We’ll get you as close as we can,” Kelvan’s grim voice answered.
“Right.” Han signed off but left the frequency open so they could hear the bridge. He gave Leia one of his typically hard-to-read looks. “You didn’t have to come along, Your Worship.”
“We’ve had this conversation before. My answer hasn’t changed.” This was Han’s idea and she knew he was fine with the thought of risking himself on it, just not with risking anyone else. But Luke being in this mess was her responsibility.
Sian smiled tightly and Chewie grumbled low in his throat. Han had tried to order both of them to stay behind, too.
Besides customs enforcement and pirate hunting, the Imperial light corvettes had been designed for search-and-rescue after battles. They were equipped with exterior docking bays designed to handle multiple sizes of standard escape pods. Even in the sensor disruption area, the corvette would be able to detect something the size of the Aegis trying to lock onto it, but an escape pod would go unnoticed.
Hopefully.
Over the comm they could hear quiet voices from the bridge, tense but cool and determined. The Aegis fired at the corvette and its turbolasers fired back, the ship’s hull vibrating at the impacts. Leia grimaced, imagining what would happen if the Aegis lost shielding. Then Kelvan’s voice said, “We’re coming in close. Get ready to launch on my mark.”
The bay doors slid open and the pod’s cradle tilted. Leia tensed, automatically checking the small console’s sensor screen. They were deep in the sensor disruption area, so the screen displayed nothing but an error code, which was to be expected but still made her nerves jump.
Kelvan said, “Mark!”
As the pod dropped out of the cradle and spun out into space, the console’s screen lit with a static image sent from the bridge: a diagram of the best estimate of the Aegis’s position relative to the corvette. That would be all Han had to navigate.
The stars wheeled outside as the pod tumbled away. Leia caught a confused view of the Aegis’s hull before a too-close blast impact dazzled her vision. She blinked hard to clear her eyes. Han bent over the console, and Chewbacca and Sian stretched forward to see. Leia leaned back as far as she could to get out of their way.
Han made a quick adjustment and the pod swiveled, came out of the tumble, and Leia felt the press of acceleration. Han stretched to look out the port. “I make it three degrees.”
Sian bit her lip. “I think it’s five.”
Chewbacca barked an agreement.
“Let’s split the difference and call it four,” Han said. He hit the thrusters, and the pod shot forward.
Leia craned her neck to see. A metal wall rushed at them, a round docking port just off center. A blast somewhere above and forward blinded her for an instant, and she braced for an impact.
The pod jerked, threw them back in their seats. Then it slid forward with a screech of metal and slotted in to dock as if it had been built for this ship. Han let out a breath and said, “Automatic docking sequence. It activated when we got close enough.”
“That’s good flying, Solo,” Sian said, a little breathless. “With nobody running a docking tractor beam for us, if we’d been too far off—”
“Get ready,” Leia said. She already knew what would have happened if they’d been too far off. “We’ll only have a few minutes before they realize we’re here.”
The last lock rotated into place, and the pod’s hatch warning light went green. It slid open as Sian pressed the control, but the ship’s inner hatch didn’t open in response. That wasn’t a surprise: battle conditions should require all the ship’s outer hatches to lock from the inside. Leia lifted the satchel and handed Sian one of the small explosives designed for just this purpose. She slapped it into place, and they all huddled back as she triggered it.
It made a faint thump, the small charge sending an energy bolt right through the hatch’s lock controls. The hatch switched itself to manual, but the safeties kept it from sliding open. Chewbacca surged forward as Sian ducked back, gripped the hatch, and forced it to one side.
The Wookiee shoved through first, bowcaster ready, and Han, Sian, and Leia climbed out after him. The corridor was narrow and for the moment empty, lined on one side by outer hatches that led to more docking stations for pods and other small craft. “The shuttle should lock on at the main dock between the two stern modules,” Han said. “We’re about thirty meters forward from it.”
Leia drew her blaster. “Let’s go.” Her skin prickled as they ran down the corridor. They passed a couple of closed blast doors, but both would connect to the heavily occupied forward section of the ship, where the crew would be running battle stations in weapons, engineering, and the bridge. They needed a way to the aft section and the docking station where the shuttle would be taken aboard.
Han reached the open blast door at the end and flattened himself against the wall. He took a quick look around the corner beyond the door, and Chewbacca leaned around him to see. Leia got enough of a view past them to see it was a junction, one corridor leading away toward starboard, the other heading into the port module.
Leia heard a whisper of sound behind her. She spun and lifted her blaster even before she identified it as the sound of a blast door opening.
Two dark-uniformed Imperial techs stepped out of it. Surprise froze them for an instant. One clawed for his blaster and Leia’s first stun bolt hit him in the chest and dropped him. The other ducked back and hit the control to close the door. But Sian threw herself down onto the deck and fired under the closing door. Leia saw a body hit the deck just as the metal panel slid shut.
“Got him,” Sian confirmed. “Should we—” Blasterfire from behind them cut her words off, and Leia spun to see Han and Chewbacca returning fire at crew members running at them from the starboard corridor. Chewie took one last shot and pulled back as Han fired into the blast door’s control mechanism, dropping and sealing the door.
That left them one option. Leia stepped to the side of the second sealed blast door, as Sian pushed to her feet and moved to cover her. Leia hit the control, and as it slid open, she ducked down into a firing position. The corridor beyond was empty for the moment. They would have to skirt the engineering section, but if they moved fast they might make it to the
port module without the crew pinpointing their location. “This way.” And it would help to give the crew something else to think about. “Sian, you have more of those explosive patches? Blow one of the escape pod hatches, please.”
Chewie slipped past Leia and moved down the corridor to scout the way. Han waited with Leia, keeping a wary eye on the junction blast door. Someone on the other side was pounding on it and yelling for a fusioncutter. Sian moved a short distance down the corridor to attach the patch to the nearest escape pod hatch, then sprinted back toward Leia and Han at the blast door. Just as she she stepped through it, she triggered the explosive.
Han hit the release to seal the door and they pelted down the corridor as the decompression alarms sounded.
Luke watched Kifar start to sweat as the shuttle tried to match speed with the light corvette. The corvette was more worried about fighting off the Aegis, and the shuttle pilot was desperate to stay out of the line of fire and keep the corvette between it and the gunship. Luke was trying to decide if he would rather be blown up instantly or be an Imperial prisoner. On the whole, he was leaning toward the former.
The shuttle jerked and bucked; then he caught a glimpse of the hull of a ship through the forward ports. Trehar shifted and swore in Durese. “He almost took us right up the starboard engine.”
Kifar grimaced. Luke’s nerves itched. Much as being vaporized would probably be a preferable fate, the bad piloting made him twitchy.
The shuttle stopped vibrating, and Luke knew they must have finally been caught in a tractor beam. It pulled them in slowly toward a docking port between the corvette’s two long stern modules. From what Luke could see, it wasn’t a docking bay, just a large hatch structure designed to fit many different sizes of small craft. The shuttle was gradually drawn inside it and secured, and there was a loud thunk on the outside of the hull as the docking clamps locked on.
Luke heard the pilot doing final checks and talking to someone on the comm. An older man stepped out of the cockpit and came toward Luke. Kifar, Trehar, and the others unstrapped and stood, not quite at attention.
