Champions of the Force

by Kevin J. Anderson

  soon drowned out by the growling purr of the shuttles'

  repulsorlift engines.

  Chewbacca raised the heavily armed ship off the

  floor and guided it down the launching corridor.

  Atmosphere — containment fields sealed behind them just

  before the heavy launch doors opened into space like a

  huge vertical mouth.

  Threepio linked up to the guidance computers and the

  directional programming of all five assault

  shuttles. Behind them identical vehicles flew

  in a tight formation, picking up speed. "This is rather

  exhilarating," Threepio said.

  Chewbacca punched at the controls until the

  shuttle rocketed like a projectile through the

  launch doors and away from the Installation's

  protective shield.

  Above, swarms of starfighters streamed from the

  Corellian corvettes. The frigate

  Yavaris began to fire on the Star Destroyer

  as Daala continued to rain turbolaser bolts upon

  the Installation. From the lower bay doors of the

  Gorgon, squads of TIE fighters streaked

  out like spooked mynocks from a cave.

  Chewbacca powered up his weapons systems, and

  Threepio linked into theirthe preprogrammed attack

  patterns. The five assault shuttles from

  Maw Installation plunged into the heart of the

  burgeoning space battle.

  "Oh, my!" Threepio said.

  When Leia answered the summons at the door

  to her quarters in the rebuilt Imperial

  Palace, she saw it was the deepest hour of the

  bustling night. For a moment she had a thrilled

  thought, that Han might have come back from Kessel

  already. But when she rubbed sleep from her eyes and

  opened the door, she found her brother Luke standing

  there. She paused a moment, utterly astonished,

  and then rushed forward to embrace him.

  "Luke! When did you come to Coruscant?"

  Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of

  another young man standing off to the side in the dim

  corridor. She recognized the tousled dark

  hair of Kyp Durron; his eyes were deep — set

  and averted, no longer the brash teenager

  that Han had rescued from the spice mines of

  Kessel.

  "Oh, Kyp," she said in a flat,

  unemotional voice. Seeing the young man unnerved

  her. He had been Han's dear friend, a

  companion through enjoyable adventures — but Kyp had

  also gone over to the dark side, paralyzed Luke,

  killed millions of people, turned on Han. ...

  Kyp's face and eyes looked old now,

  exhausted from the traumas he had endured — and

  caused. Leia had seen eyes like those only

  once before: on her brother after he had faced the knowledge

  that Darth Vader was his own father. But Kyp had been

  through a hell as deep as Luke's had been.

  A small courier droid shot down the hall,

  blinking red lights to warn others to clear the way as

  it propelled itself along on urgent business,

  even this late at night.

  With a flush of embarrassment Leia remembered

  her manners. "Please, come in."

  From the back room Winter emerged, gliding

  forward on silent bare feet, wearing only a

  loose sleeping garment. Winter appeared ready for

  action lest some other danger throw itself upon the children.

  She bowed her head formally when she saw Luke.

  "Greetings, Master Skywalker," she said.

  Luke smiled and nodded to her. "Hello,

  Winter."

  Winter backed into her chambers. "I'll just

  check on the children," she said. She vanished, giving

  them no chance to say anything else.

  Leia looked from Kyp to Luke again, feeling

  deep weariness behind her eyes, behind her head. She

  had been relying on too many stimulant drinks,

  spending too much time negotiating with other

  Council members, sleeping too little.

  Luke closed the door behind him as he and Kyp

  entered the common room. Leia remembered when her

  brother had trained her in this room, trying

  to unlock her Jedi potential. Now, though, she

  sensed that Luke had a much more ominous agenda.

  "Is Han here?" Kyp blurted, looking

  around the quarters.

  Leia noticed that he still wore the black

  cape Han had given him as a gift; but now

  Kyp seemed to carry it as a symbol over a

  light jumpsuit, a reminder to himself of what he

  could become.

  "He's gone off to Kessel with Lando,"

  Leia said, a tired smile tugging at

  the corners of her mouth. "Lando wants to try

  running the spice mines."

  Kyp frowned uncertainly. Luke sat down

  on one of the self — conforming cushions and leaned

  forward, weaving his fingers together. He directed his

  intense gaze at Leia. "Leia, we need your

  help," he said.

  "Yeah, I figured that out," Leia answered

  with a touch of irony. "I'll do everything I can, of

  course. What do you need?"

  "Kyp and I have ... made our peace. He

  has the potential to be the greatest of the Jedi I

  am training, but there's one thing he must do before I can

  consider him completely absolved."

  Leia swallowed, already afraid of what he

  might say. "And what is this "one thing"?"

  Luke did not flinch. "The Sun Crusher must

  be destroyed. Everyone in the New Republic

  knows that. But Kyp must do it himself."

  Leia simply blinked, unable to say anything.

  "But ... how can he destroy it?" she finally said.

  "As far as we know, it's indestructible. We

  already dropped it into a gas planet's core, but

  Kyp" — she turned her exaggerated gaze on the

  young man — "managed to retrieve it. I don't

  suppose even dropping it into a sun would have made

  much difference."

  Kyp shook his head. "No, I could have

  recovered it just as easily."

  Leia looked helplessly at Luke,

  spreading her hands. "So what else?"

  "Kyp and I will fly the Sun Crusher back

  to the Maw. He will set the autopilot and drop

  it down one of the black holes. Quantum armor

  or no quantum armor, it will be obliterated.

  There's no more definite way of erasing something from

  this universe."

  Kyp piped up. "I know the Sun Crusher

  must be taken away from both the Empire and the New

  Republic. I ... Dr. Xux no longer

  has any memory of how to reconstruct it. The

  galaxy will never need to fear such a threat again."

  His posture stiffened, his chin rose, his eyes

  grew alive again. The guilt and pain were

  replaced with a look of pride and determination.

  Luke placed a hand on the young man's forearm,

  and Kyp fell silent, content to let Luke

  continue.

  "Leia, I know you've been appointed the new

  Chief of State. You can make this

  happen." He leaned forward, speaking to her with the

  idealistic, boyish energy she remembered from

&nbs
p; years before. "You know I'm right."

  Leia shook her head, already afraid of the

  enormous diplomatic battle she would have

  to face at the mere mention of Luke's

  preposterous request.

  "There'll be a lot of heated discussion. Most

  of the Council members are going to refuse to let

  Kyp get within sight of the Sun Crusher again.

  What's to stop him from rampaging around the galaxy

  and blowing up more star systems? Can they take that

  risk? Can we?"

  "They have to take that risk," Luke said. "It

  must be done. And I'll be there with him."

  Leia bit her lip. Her brother could be so

  forceful. She knew him well enough that she wasn't

  simply awed by what the Jedi could do ... but she was

  confident that Luke could follow through on his claim.

  "Do you know what you're asking?" she said in a

  soft, pleading voice.

  "Leia, just as I had to face our father, this is

  a test Kyp must complete. Tell the Council

  that if he passes this test successfully, Kyp

  Durron could become the most powerful Jedi

  Knight of this generation."

  Leia sighed and stood up. "All right.

  I'll try — was

  Kyp interrupted her and said, "There is no

  try: do or do not." Then he allowed himself a wry

  smile, gesturing toward Luke. "At least that's

  what he always says."

  Han Solo gritted his teeth as he yanked

  on the Falcon's controls. The modified

  light freighter flew up and around in a tight

  backward loop. The blinding flash of the Death

  Star's superlaser faded to a glowing streak as the

  rubble of Kessel's moon mushroomed in a

  rapidly expanding cloud.

  "That was gonna be my garrison!" Lando

  cried. His voice cracked. "First Moruth

  Doole, now a Death Star — this deal is getting

  worse all the time."

  Mara Jade, her face hard as chiseled

  stone, quickly leaned between Han and Lando in the two

  cockpit seats and shouted into the comm unit. "This

  is Mara Jade. All ships

  report. How many did we lose? Did the

  evacuation order go out on time?"

  One of the cool — voiced Mistryl guards

  responded. "Yes, Commander Jade," the

  warrior woman said. "We scrambled at first

  sign of the intruder. All but two ships made it

  away from the base. One more was struck and destroyed

  by the flying debris."

  Mara nodded grimly. "Then we still have enough of a

  fighting force," she said.

  "Fighting force!" Han said. "Against that thing?

  To do what? It's a Death Star, not a cargo

  freighter." He looked through the overhead

  viewport and saw the skeletal prototype

  over Kessel. The superweapon seemed to be

  brooding over the destruction it had just caused.

  "But, Han," Lando pleaded, "we've got

  to do something before it blows up the planet, too.

  Think of all the spice down there."

  Mara grabbed the comm again. "Attack formation

  gamma," she said. "We're going to head out and

  pound that Death Star." She turned to Han and

  lowered her voice. "If it's just a prototype,

  my guess is they won't have the defenses the real

  Death Star had, no squadrons of TIE

  fighters, no turbolaser fortifications across the

  surface. That's what did the most damage to your

  Rebel fleets, wasn't it?"

  "Not entirely," Lando said. "The second

  Death Star used its superlaser against a few of

  our capital ships."

  Mara pursed her lips as she thought. "Then

  we'll just have to keep them busy. I don't think

  that superlaser can be very effective at targeting

  small moving objects."

  "I don't like the odds on that," Lando said.

  "Never quote me the odds," Han said,

  hunching over the panel and guiding the ship

  into position.

  "Who, me?" Lando said, raising his eyebrows.

  "I'm a sucker for lost causes."

  The Millennium Falcon soared into the

  vanguard of the smugglers' attack formation. Han

  was impressed to see the assortment of large and

  small ships fall into a perfect pattern, as

  if they were trained and regimented. The motley

  bunch must have a great deal of respect for Mara

  Jade, he realized; as a rule, smugglers were

  notoriously independent and took orders from no

  one.

  One of the other ships, an insectile Z — 95

  Headhunter — the type of ship Mara herself often

  flew — streaked in beside the Falcon. Its pilot

  spoke over the open channel. "This is Kithra.

  I'll take the right — hand prong, Shana will take

  the left. You fly center, Falcon, and we'll

  hit the Death Star in all three places at

  once."

  Han recognized the no — nonsense voice of

  another Mistryl guard. How many had she brought

  along with her?

  "Agreed, Kithra," Mara said. She turned

  to look at Han. "Well, Solo, ready

  to lead the attack?"

  "I never intended to take the Falcon against a

  Death Star," he groaned, even as he prepared

  for battle. "I was just giving Lando a lift

  to Kessel."

  "Think of it as an added bonus," Mara said.

  "Come on, Han," Lando urged, "before that

  Death Star fires again."

  "Good thing Leia's not here," he muttered.

  "She'd probably succeed in talking me out of

  this."

  As the ships converged on the skeletal

  behemoth, the superlaser struck once more,

  scorching the fabric of space with emerald fire

  — comb the beam passed through the scattered ships

  descending upon it, causing no damage.

  "Shields up," Han said, "for whatever good

  it'll do against that."

  On either side of the Falcon two segments

  of the smuggler fleet peeled off like the skin from a

  rustle snake: one prong led by Kithra in her

  Headhunter, the other headed by Shana in an

  angular blockade runner, a clunkier

  forerunner of the Falcon's light — freighter

  design.

  The smuggler ships drove in, energy

  cannons blazing, drawing a deadly tracery of

  fire across the superstructures and girders of the

  enormous sphere.

  Han launched three proton torpedoes into the

  labyrinth of cross beams and supports as they

  charged toward the emormous construction. A few

  reinforced girders glowed molten as projectiles

  and energy beams hit.

  "It's going to take us a year to chop away at

  this thing," Han said, firing from the Falcon's

  forward weaponry.

  "I never claimed this was going to be easy,"

  Mara said.

  Tol Sivron's head — tails twitched. He

  squinted his black beady eyes at the oncoming

  small ships. They appeared so trivial, their

  weapons systems so minor. "I can't believe

  they're attacking us," he said. "What do they

  think th
ey're going to accomplish?"

  At the tactical station the stormtrooper

  captain spoke through his white helmet. "If I

  might point out, Director, this battle station

  is for proof — of — concept only. It was never

  designed to defend itself against multiple small

  threats. In fact, the Death Star was meant

  to house over seven thousand TIE fighters, not

  to mention thousands of surface turbolasers and ion

  cannons and an escort of several

  Imperial — class Star Destroyers. We have

  none of these.

  "Individually, those Rebel ships may be

  only a minor threat, but together they can harry us for

  an extended period and, if we are unlucky,

  cause significant structural damage."

  "You mean we don't have any fighters of our

  own?" Tol Sivron said with stern disapproval.

  "That was poor planning. Who wrote that section

  of the procedure? I want to know right now."

  "Director," the stormtrooper said with a tinge

  of exasperation in his filtered voice, "that

  doesn't matter at the moment."

  "It matters to me!" Tol Sivron said.

  He turned toward demon — faced Yemm, who was

  already scouring the records.

  "It appears that Dr. Qwi Xux was

  responsible for that section, Director," Yemm

  said. "She devoted much of her time to the operation and

  performance of the superlaser, giving short shrift

  to tactical considerations."

  Sivron sighed. "I see we've found a

  flaw in our approval system. Such weak

  spots should never have been allowed to pass through the

  progress reports and review meetings."

  "Director," Doxin said, "let us not allow

  this to overshadow the marvelous performance of the Death

  Star superlaser itself."

  "Agreed, agreed," Sivron said. "We should

  have a meeting immediately to discuss the implications

  of — was

  The stormtrooper captain stood up

  from his station. "Director, we must establish

  certain priorities right now! We are under

  attack."

  An outside explosion made the Death Star

  framework around the control chamber vibrate.

  "That's three direct hits with proton

  torpedoes," the stormtrooper said. "So far."

  As Sivron watched, four Z — 95

  Headhunters swooped out of the superstructure,

  their rear engines blazing.

  "Well, then fire again with our laser," Tol

  Sivron said. "Maybe we can hit one of them this

  time."

  "The power core is only half — charged,"