"I am Eve-Ninedeninetwo. I have headed cyborg operations and retraining at this facility since my prototype, Eve-Ninedenine, was purchased by a Tatooine crime lord. I am said to be twice as ruthless as she. I tell you this as a warning, and with the thought that you might want to confess whatever it is my master wishes to know now, before I discover the limits of human pain."
In spite of himself, Cole shuddered. So far, though, he didn't see any R2 units in here, nor did he see 3PO. "I told your master why I'm here." He glanced at Brakiss, whose eyes glittered as cruelly as the droid's did. "I found some detonators in some droids that came from this facility, and I thought he might want to know about it."
"An altruist," Brakiss said dryly. "Who conveniently forgets that he sent his droids out into the nether reaches of my facility."
Eve rubbed her clawlike hands together. "I would prefer to have the droids."
That confirmed, at least, that they hadn't caught 3PO or R2 so far.
"I didn't see the signs," Cole said.
"This story has its limitations, Fardreamer," Brakiss said. He was standing alone in the doorway. The assassin droids remained in the hall. "Tell me how useful you are to Skywalker, and I might let you go."
Cole shrugged. "I'm just his mechanic."
"A man who can go off on his own, with some of the most important droids in the galaxy? Skywalker must trust his servants, then."
A boxy droid with a cylindrical head was having its feet heated and reshaped. The droid's scream was a high-pitched whistle that eeped intermittently. Off in a side room, there was a loud splash, accompanied by a droid begging in unmodulated mechanical tones.
"No," Cole said. "He just expects us to have initiative."
"I see," Brakiss said. "And no one else could have come here? No one else could have sent a message to me?"
"I thought the matter rather delicate," Cole said. "It wouldn't do to broadcast that droids all over the galaxy weren't safe."
"No, it wouldn't do at all," Brakiss said. He shoved Cole toward Eve. Her claws grabbed his arms so tightly that it cut off the circulation.
"Remember," Brakiss said. "Alive, and sane."
"I won't forget," she said.
The assassin droids had disappeared. This had to be quite the terrifying place, even for droids.
He would only get one chance. "Did you know," he said to Eve in a husky, satisfied voice, "that you have your claws wrapped around my pleasure centers?"
She swiveled her head in startlement.
"No," Brakiss said, but it was already too late. She had loosened her grip.
Cole pulled his arms free, and ran for the door. He bumped Brakiss as he did so, and grabbed Brakiss's blaster.
The assassin droids outside were gone as if they had never been. If he could only remember—
A bolt of electricity wrapped itself around him, sending a tingly jolting feeling through him. His body jerked, and flailed, and jerked, and his breath locked in his throat. His eyes were bugging out of his head, and he couldn't breathe..
... couldn't...
... breathe...
—and then the bolt released him. He fell to the floor, flopping like a fish, wishing he could stop, but completely unable to. Finally his muscles stopped jerking and he lay still, his muscles as useless as water.
Brakiss kicked him, turning him over. There was no one else near him. Eve remained in her torture chamber, in the same position she had been in before. Cole saw no stun equipment, nothing that could have caused that thoroughly unpleasant experience.
"Don't cross me again, boy," Brakiss said. "I could easily torture you myself, but I don't have the time to waste."
"You did that?" Cole asked, even though it came through his immobile mouth sounding like "eww ii aa?"
"Your friend Skywalker frowns on such use of the Force, but I find it helpful. Now cooperate with me, Fardreamer, and I'll let you
"Can't," Cole said. It came out as "aae." He couldn't even talk, couldn't even defend himself.
"I'll leave you to Eve for the time being. If at any time you change your mind about your story, just let her know. She'll contact me."
He stepped over Cole and walked down the hallway. Little tremors ran through Cole's body. He had no control at all. Eve stepped over him, bent down, and gripped his ankle in her claw. He couldn't even kick at her.
She dragged him by the leg back into the torture chamber. Then she lifted him as if he weighed nothing and threw him on a tilted, ribbed piece of metal. It reclined slightly. Above him were dozens of drills, saws, and welders. He recognized all of them, and knew most of them were built for metal equipment.
Eve seemed to smile as she bent over him. "This is your last chance, human."
But his mouth didn't work. He couldn't confess, even if he wanted to.
Luke rested for a moment beside Leia. A lesser man would have been dead by now. She was amazed that he could keep going.
"We have to get out of here," she said.
"I know." He spoke softly.
But he seemed to be waiting for something. She hoped that something wasn't Kueller.
She put her arm around Luke's waist, careful to avoid the wounds on his back, and pulled him to his feet. Then she slung his arm over her shoulder, taking his weight off his ankle, and together they walked toward the hangar.
Just as a familiar double tone warned her that the Alderaan's self-destruct had just kicked in.
"We've got trouble," she whispered.
Luke gathered strength from somewhere and stood without her help. He pulled out two blasters. So did she. Then she crept in the shadows toward her ship.
A triple tone sounded. When the ship reached five tones, it would explode. Her throat was dry. The Alderaan was their only way off this empty husk of a planet.
She peered into the hangar, and saw no one. Footprints obscured her own near the Alderaan, half a dozen footprints, maybe more. A blaster scorch on the door told her what had happened.
Where were they now?
"You see anyone, Luke?"
He shook his head. He looked distracted, as if he were hearing faraway music. She had seen that look before, when he had lost his hand below Cloud City. She had never known if the look meant that he was in great pain or if it came when he was listening to something inside his head.
That time he had been feeling Vader's presence.
Did he feel Kueller now?
Four tones chimed from the Alderaan. It was now or never. Either she saved her ship or she saved herself.
She ran into the bay, both blasters out, and launched herself at the Alderaan. Her ship scanned her handprint, her retina, and her voice as she spoke the internal code. The door swung open just as the five-tone chime began.
And stopped.
Her heart was pounding. No one had shot at her. Whoever had disturbed the Alderaan had touched it, and left when the auto-destruct had started.
She opened the internal control panel near the door and shut off the auto-destruct.
Then she leaned her head out the door, and shouted, "Luke!"
But he didn't respond. She couldn't see him in the shadows in the bay.
"Luke! Now!"
Still nothing. Had he collapsed out there?
She would have to go back and get him.
She stepped out the door when she heard the hiss of a lightsaber. She tapped her belt. She wore hers. Luke hadn't been wearing one.
Her heart pounded harder. There was only one other person adept in the Force on Almania.
Kueller.
FORTY-EIGHT
Leia's message said that she was taking the Alderaan to Almania, and then later she added a note about Wedge and the fleet. But try as he might, Han couldn't locate the Alderaan in the swarm of fighting ships not far from him. He didn't want to think about all the debris floating around them.
He was seated in the cockpit, Chewbacca beside him, and Mara Jade in the seat behind. She was still pale and weak. She claimed that the ysal
amiri were affecting her Force sense even though they were as far from her as they could be.
He liked that.
"Chewie, hail someone on the New Republic fleet," Han said. "I need to know where Leia is."
"Her ship wasn't here when we got here," Mara said.
Chewbacca ignored her and punched the communications relay. Han hovered near the Wild Karrde. Talon still hadn't gone into hyperspace. Something was keeping him nearby.
"I thought he was out to save his hide."
Mara smiled. "I think he's still interested in mine," she said cryptically.
"Great," Han said.
Chewie mumbled something about no one having seen Leia since the battle began.
"Long shot, then," Han said. He swerved away from the Wild Karrde and headed toward Almania. "Scan the surface, Chewie. The Alderaan has a distinctive signature. We'll find her if she's there."
Chewie's large paws moved on the console. Mara leaned back in her seat. "You'll die before Kueller allows you on the surface."
"I doubt that, sweetheart," Han said. "He's wanted me there all along."
Mara had no reply to that. Chewbacca continued searching. Han piloted the Falcon high over the fighting.
It looked ugly down there. The Star Destroyers had sustained a lot of damage, but they hadn't given up. There were too many TIE fighters, and no X-wings, only A- and B-wings. One of the New Republic's battleships was already destroyed. Only two were left.
"Don't think about it, Solo," Mara said. "Either you get your wife or you save the fleet."
He knew that, but watching made him feel helpless. Then something zoomed in his periphery. "TIE fighter at two-oh-nine. Chewie, man the controls. I'm going for the guns."
"I'm coming with you," Mara said.
Han climbed to the topside gunport as Mara climbed to the bottom gunport. He adjusted his headset as he sat before the controls of the laser cannon. Stars and fighters swarmed around him.
"You in there, Mara?"
"Ready."
"Okay," Han said. "Stay sharp."
The TIE fighter went over them, shooting. Han swiveled his chair and aimed the cannon, shooting as he did so. Mara's fire from below shone red against the blackness of space.
The fighter exploded in a brilliant white flash.
"Got him!" Mara yelled.
Two more TIE fighters appeared to his gunport's starboard. Then three shot overhead as three crossed below. Two more appeared port.
"Chewie!" Han shouted as he shot cannon fire in all directions. The Wookiee knew better than to let this sort of trap set up. The Falcon continued moving forward and then, suddenly, it flipped on its side and slipped between the fighters.
The fighters, used to shooting at the tinier A-wings, took a moment to recover.
"Chewie, circle," Han said.
Chewbacca executed a perfect parabola. Han and Mara aimed and shot at opposing TIE fighters. Both exploded as five more came to their rescue.
"There's a multitude of those things!" Mara said.
"Kueller sure spent a fortune," Han said. "Not even the Empire deployed this many at once."
Chewbacca yowled from below. More TIE fighters were coming their way.
"What'd he say?" Mara shouted.
"He said we're pulling fighters from the battle. Your ugly little nightmare friend must know we're here." Sweat was pouring down Han's face. His shoulders ached from pulling on the cannon. He was swiveling and twisting so much in the chair that he didn't know which direction he faced in relation to the cockpit. He supposed it didn't matter.
"I thought you said he wanted you alive."
"He did!" Han was shooting at five TIE fighters. He winged one, and it rolled off in the distance. Another flew over, firing as it went. Most of the shots bounced off the deflector shields.
A third fighter fired a round. The shots connected, and something exploded on the Falcon.
"Chewie?" Han shouted.
Chewbacca growled something about losing a deflector shield.
"Chewie, that was more than a shield!"
Chewie growled again. He nearly had the shield fixed but he didn't have time to say any more. It was Mara who finally reported.
"That was my cannon," she said.
"You okay?"
"If you call third-degree burns okay," she said. "My hands'll live."
"Get up there and help Chewie, then," he said, uncertain whether or not she was making up the burns. "We're going to have to pass right over one of those Star Destroyers. Let's hope it doesn't see us."
"Hope is a dangerous thing, Solo."
He didn't answer her. His arms were rattling his entire frame as he kept shooting. The TIE fighters were swarming around the Falcon, but their shots kept bouncing off the deflector shields. Chewie must have fixed them.
Or maybe not.
Another shot connected. The Falcon twisted in space. Chewbacca was yelling, Mara was swearing, and Han found himself upside down from his previous position. If he hadn't been strapped in the chair, he would have been thrown all over the gunport.
"Damage, Chewie?"
Chewbacca yelled back.
"I know it's not your fault! Just let me know the damage."
"The concussion-missile tubes." Again it was Mara who answered. "And you'd better thank Chewie for his quick thinking. He dumped the missiles as the shot hit."
"Oh, great," Han said. "I'm supposed to thank him for dumping our weaponry." He kept shooting, though, and took out one TIE fighter that exploded and spun away from the pack. "Get that shield back on line."
The Falcon righted itself and headed for the Star Destroyer.
"Hey, Chewie," Han said, "abandon that last plan. Just head for the planet."
Chewbacca growled back.
"There are no straight lines in space," Han said. "Go over it, around it, or under it if you have to. I don't care that it's in your way."
Chewie growled again.
"They can't have us in a tractor beam, Chewie," Han said, not wanting it to be true. "Check the instruments again."
"Looks like it doesn't want us to get to Almania, Han," Mara said.
Han wiped the sweat from his face with the back of one arm. He could see the open hangar bay on the destroyer. They would be sucked inside, facing stormtroopers and who knew what else.
If only he could get to Leia.
Luke had done something with his X-wing against a Star Destroyer once. He had shot proton torpedoes into the tractor beam. The torpedoes had gone on board the destroyer and exploded.
But the Falcon no longer had that kind of fire power.
The laser cannon wouldn't do enough damage. But it might stun them for a moment, maybe break the tractor beam, and keep them from chasing the Falcon. It might give him the opportunity he needed to get to Almania and Leia.
Chewbacca shouted from below.
"One ship at a time, Chewie. We only have to pay attention to the new one if it shoots us." At least, Han hoped that was true. The new ship that Chewie had spotted coming up behind them might be even more of a threat.
"Haven't you got any other weapons on board this thing?" Mara shouted.
Han swiveled in his chair, shot several bursts at two passing TIE fighters, and then yelled, "We're down to one laser cannon, sweetheart, and a whole lot of blasters. You want to open the top hatch and climb onto the roof and fire a blaster from there? I'm sure Chewie has enough spare time to rig you up a wire to keep you from falling off."
Chewbacca growled.
"No need to be sarcastic, Solo," Mara said. "Just trying to be useful."
"Then scan for Leia's ship. I'm not going to Almania if she's not there." He pointed the cannon upward—for him, anyway—so that his chair tilted him onto his back. He concentrated on one TIE fighter, blasting, blasting, blasting, until the thing fell away in a smoking heap.
"How soon till we get to the destroyer?" Han yelled.
"Almost there!" Mara yelled back.
Chewie growled a
countdown to the futile shot. Han's shot wouldn't have the one-in-explosive power that Luke's miraculous destruction of the Death Star had. If anything, Han's blast would smash a few transparisteels inside, knock a few officers out of their chairs, and scorch a bulkhead or two.
For this, though, he turned on the targeting computer. With his right hand, he punched in the coordinates while he kept shooting at TIE fighters with his left. They were swarming him now, flanking, surrounding, and threatening the Falcon. They probably thought they had him, this close to the Star Destroyer.
Chewie growled the end of the countdown.
Han watched the targeting computer.
"You're going to miss the shot!" Mara yelled.
Han ignored her, his concentration great. The lines on the computer converged into a single point and he issued a burst of fire from the cannon. Then he shoved the targeting computer away. The shots went along the tractor beam and sank into the open hangar bay. There was a muffled explosion, enough to rattle the entire Star Destroyer.
"That's the best we get," Han said. "Let's take advantage of their surprise and—"
Then the Star Destroyer exploded into a thousand pieces. Light and sparks flew everywhere and debris pelted the Falcon.
"Chewie! Get us out of here!"
The TIE's were moving out of the debris field too. Han slipped out of the gunport and into the cockpit, yelling a victory cry all the way.
"You didn't do it, Solo," Mara said. She pointed at the space yacht streaking overhead. "Better say thank you!"
Han slapped his hand on the console. "Karrde! Thought you were leaving!"
"I hate missing a good fight, Solo." Karrde's voice came over the speakers in crackles. "Go to the planet. I'll cover you."
"He doesn't make that offer every day," Mara said.
"And he doesn't have to make it twice." Han slipped into the pilot's seat. "Found Leia yet?"
"Nope," Mara said. "We'll have to go on feeling."
"I thought the ysalamiri are interfering with your Force sense."
She shrugged. "Let's hope they aren't."
Eeeeooo-whit!
The droid in the lead had seen him.
"R2!" 3PO yelled. "R2-D2, is that you?" The lead gladiator droid shook him. "I told you to shut up.”
Star Wars - The New Rebellion Page 40
