But Han and Leia were not among those presences. Vexed, Alema broadened her search.
Minutes passed, with each minute taxing her personal energy further, and then she found them: not together, but close by each other, with thousands of lives around them—but only thousands, not millions or billions. That suggested they were on a ship somewhere between worlds. She propelled herself to be near them, then went looking among the other presences, the other glows in the Force, for one that would be suitable.
Some radiated too brightly. They would be too strong for her to merge with. Others were too dim—they would not anchor her as she needed to be anchored.
One stood out. It was bright with power, but very pure, not marked by anger or sophistication. She circled in toward it, charmed by its simplicity, its innocence.
As she touched it, she decided that it was a child—a human girl, asleep. The child stirred as Alema reached her, almost coming awake, but Alema poured out comforting thoughts through the Force—emotions of safety and security, of being in the nest, surrounded by thousands like her, all clicking and whirring on their many legs, all nearly identical.
Her emotions did not so much soothe as stifle the child, but that was enough. Alema wrapped herself around the girl.
Now she was fixed in that place. She had a base from which to go hunting.
She went looking for Han Solo.
ABOARD THE ANAKIN SOLO
Caedus strode into his Command Salon. Only officers were there. “Where are Jedi Solo and the guard?”
Captain Nevil pointed toward the stern doors out of the salon. “Princess Leia asked for some privacy. The guard accompanied her to your private office.”
The chill in Caedus’s heart intensified. Without answering, he dashed toward the doors. Moments later, he entered his private office.
The guard, a muscular man with yellow skin, was there, slumped in Caedus’s desk chair, unconscious. A bruise was already beginning to appear on his chin. Leia was nowhere to be seen.
Caedus shoved him and the rolling chair aside, hearing but not looking as the chair toppled and deposited the guard on the floor. Caedus brought up his desk monitor and clicked it over instantly to his secret chambers, where Allana now lived.
There she was, curled up on a little daybed. Nearby, an entertainment monitor flickered, unwatched, its screen displaying an entertainment broadcast in which Ewoks spoke Basic and befriended shipwrecked little girls. Caedus tensed, remembering the deception he had perpetrated in Tenel Ka’s palace, but saw her features and relaxed. This was the real Allana.
He thumbed his comlink to life. “Security. Find Jedi Solo and report her location to me.”
“At once, sir.”
But it wasn’t at once. Thirty agonizingly long seconds went by, then the voice returned. “Sir, she’s approaching your personal hangar bay.”
“Alone?”
“Alone, sir.”
“Alert the guards there. Secure both the internal and external bay doors. If she tries to perform a bypass on the internal doors or begins to cut through them with her lightsaber, unsecure the outer doors, open them, and vent the hangar to space. I doubt she’ll want to play in hard vacuum.”
“Yes, sir.” There was a pause. “Doors secured remotely, sir. But the door guards aren’t responding. There’s no sign of them on holocam.”
Thoughts clicked through Caedus’s mind like sabacc cards going through an automated shuffler.
She was under observation until moments ago, so she couldn’t have gotten rid of the guards herself.
Conclusion: she has allies aboard, or she smuggled in allies on her yacht. Probably the latter.
She doesn’t have Allana, so Allana was not the goal of her mission. He pulled out his datapad and used it to transmit a query to YVH-908, the combat droid serving as Allana’s bodyguard. The droid sent back an immediate response, indicating no intrusions, no problems.
But to be sure, Caedus moved to the wall panel concealing the secret door that led to those chambers. It opened before him, and he stepped through into one of the best-kept secrets aboard ship. The narrow corridor led aft, to a succession of small rooms that almost no one living knew about. A few steps later, another door opened for him, presenting him with the same happy view of Allana he had seen on his monitor.
She opened her eyes, groggy, and yawned. “No more work?”
“I’m sorry. Lots more work. But I wanted to stop in to look at you.”
“I dreamed there was a lady here.”
“Well, have another good dream. I’ll be back soon.” He smiled, then stepped out again and let the door shut behind him.
No, Allana had not been Leia’s objective. So what is? Sabotage of the long-range turbolasers? Surely she knows that Luke took care of them. They won’t be repaired for weeks or months. “Engineering, commence a tiered diagnostics scan of all the ship’s combat and sensor systems.”
“Yes, sir.”
The security officer’s voice crackled across his comlink almost immediately. “Sir, Jedi Solo reached the bay doors. We had them locked down, but they opened right up for her and she walked in. Holocam image inside doesn’t show her. The holocams must have been subverted.”
Caedus hissed in frustration. “Vent the outer doors immediately.”
“We did, sir. Issued the command, I mean. The system acknowledged, but exterior holocams show the doors still shut.”
“Bring up all weapons, prepare to blast that yacht to plasma the instant it launches.”
Remembering the stratagem he’d used on Hapes, Caedus felt a new fear. Perhaps Leia and accomplices had brought a bomb aboard. He never would have suspected it of her, but the idea had a beautiful simplicity to it. A sufficiently large explosion in his private hangar would cripple or destroy the Anakin Solo.
Worse, it would harm or kill Allana.
He spun, reentered the room he had just left, and smiled down at his daughter. “I was wrong. Work is done for a little while. Let’s go for a fun ride.”
CENTERPOINT STATION, FIRE-CONTROL CHAMBER
The chief technician’s voice was quiet and somber. “Anakin Solo imprinting lockout bypasses are holding. Energy charge is holding. Targeting system is holding. We read ready.”
Admiral Delpin nodded. “Acknowledge ready.” She turned Koyan’s way. “We await your authorization to launch.”
Koyan gulped. “Launch authorized. Admiral Delpin, I also authorize you to fire the weapon. Don’t wait for me to authorize. Fire when you think the moment is perfect.”
“Acknowledged.” Delpin raised her comlink. “Force Yimi, move in. Force Zexx, all squadrons, make your jump and commence your attack.” She paused long enough to hear two confirmations, then turned back toward Koyan. “We’re committed.”
chapter seventeen
ABOARD THE ANAKIN SOLO
The little personnel speeder, Caedus at the controls, hurtled down the main passageway of the Anakin Solo, causing crew members, uniformed pilots, and civilian observers to leap cursing out of its way. In the passenger’s seat, strapped down tight, Allana laughed, a child’s throaty chuckle Caedus could hear even over the roar of the repulsorlifts.
Ordinarily he would have been charmed. Now he was simply alarmed. He would remain so until he was off the Anakin Solo and away from whatever it was Leia had brought aboard.
Nor could he leave in the vehicles he knew and trusted most, his shuttle and Tahiri’s StealthX. They were in the same hangar as Leia’s yacht. So he raced toward the main starfighter bay. He’d take out something fast and well defended, and stay far enough away from the Anakin Solo that Allana would remain safe if a bomb detonated aboard.
He hadn’t forgotten his negotiations with Captain Hoclaw, but they were no longer important.
He sideslipped into a pedestrian down ramp, causing a half squad of infantry to dive over a railing to avoid him. Allana laughed again.
He glanced at her and forced a smile. “Having fun?”
�
��Lots of fun. Can I drive?”
“Next time, sweetie.”
Finally, there they were—double doors leading into the main starfighter bay. They slid aside at his approach. He roared in, clearing mechanics standing on either side of the door by a hand span. He glanced at the arrayed ranks of starfighters—old and new, trusted and experimental—and veered toward the line of various TIE series.
One in particular—an experimental design he’d flown once—drew his eye. The prototype TIE Reconnaissance Fighter, nicknamed the Blur by GA pilots, resembled the old TIE bomber—it had low-profile, curved solar array wings and two cylindrical fuselages mounted side by side, making the vessel look curiously like a pair of macrobinoculars mounted between a pair of cupped hands. Unlike the situation with the original bomber, the port-side pod on the Blur was an electronics housing, carrying a modern-era hyperdrive, astronavigation computers, a shield generator, life-support systems, and sophisticated electronic countermeasures; it was the closest thing to a StealthX to come out of Sienar, its manufacturer. This Blur was painted in black, undecorated except for small Galactic Alliance symbols on the outer wings.
Caedus slewed to a stop beside the Blur and was unstrapping Allana as a mechanic ran up to him. “Can I help you, sir?”
Caedus lifted Allana out of her seat. “I’m taking the Blur out.”
“Uh, yes, sir, but Captain Olavey is doing a test run in fifteen minutes, a sweep near the Confederation task force—”
“Push it back.” Not waiting for a boarding ladder, Caedus leapt atop the Blur and lifted the boarding hatch. “You fill out the forms for me.”
“Yes, sir.”
Caedus’s comlink beeped. Carefully, he clambered with Allana down into the cockpit, pulled the hatch shut, and settled into the pilot’s couch before answering. “Yes?”
It was his sensor officer. “Sir, sixteen squadrons of starfighters have dropped out of hyperspace. They’re heading toward us at full speed. The Confederation capital ships are also moving in.”
“Signal Admiral Limpan. Tell her to bring her task force in now. Launch all starfighters from all vessels.” As he spoke, Caedus powered up the Blur and glanced his way through an abbreviated preflight checklist. “Move the Anakin Solo to the rear of our formation and do not, repeat, do not bring up our shields until the last possible moment, or until the diagnostics that are running pronounce them safe, whichever comes first.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m launching now.” Allana in his lap, Caedus finished pulling webbing tight over the two of them, then activated the Blur’s repulsors. In his haste, he caused the vehicle nearly to jump up off the hangar floor.
Alarms filled the air and suddenly mechanics were everywhere, running to the squadrons of starfighters in the hangar, prepping them for the imminent arrival of pilots. The glow rods surrounding the main hangar doors in the floor lit up, signifying that the atmosphere containment field had been activated. The doors themselves began to draw aside, revealing starfield below.
Caedus didn’t wait for them to finish opening. He banked across and dropped through the half-opened portal, eliciting a squeal of delight from Allana.
And then he was outside, away from the life-threatening explosion he was sure the Anakin Solo represented. Caedus breathed easier for a minute. Outside, surrounded by hard vacuum, with enemy starfighters and capital ships racing in his direction, at last he felt safe.
ABOARD THE ANAKIN SOLO, JACEN SOLO’S PRIVATE HANGAR
Leia marched through the doors and Jag hit a series of buttons on the keypad beside them, closing and locking them.
Han, visible through the viewport of the Love Commander cockpit, waved, then his voice crackled across the comlink. “Sweetheart, get aboard. We’ve got it, and it’s time to fly.”
Leia put on a Force-augmented burst of speed and dashed up the yacht’s boarding ramp. She heard Jag hurrying in her wake. Zekk was just inside the yacht’s main cabin, standing by to seal the exit hatch. Leia moved forward to the cockpit where Han occupied the pilot’s seat, Jaina the copilot’s.
Leia dropped into the captain’s chair, which Lando formerly had occupied. “We’re in deep space about halfway between Coruscant and Corellia. Jacen’s occupied talking to the Corellians. Now might be the time to go.”
Han half turned and cocked his head at her. “Maybe, maybe not. They’ve already tried to lock you out, lock us in, and depressurize this hangar. They don’t want us to leave. The question is, are they tractor beam angry or turbolaser angry?”
“Good question. But Zekk disabled the tractor beam.” In the manner of a cantina drink hustler, Leia batted her eyes at her husband. “Surely you can outfly a few little old turbolaser beams? Like last time, on Kashyyyk?”
Han scowled. “In that case, strap in tight.”
Jag’s boot heels rang on the boarding ramp, followed by the sound of the ramp being raised into place. Leia’s ears popped as the hull sealed for space.
And then there were Han’s muttered words, barely audible as he started the engines: “Told you we should have been flying the Falcon—”
Leia rolled her eyes. “In the Falcon, we never would have persuaded them that you weren’t aboard.”
Han’s next words were lost as general-quarters alarms began shrilling in the hangar.
Caedus brought the Blur around and above the Anakin Solo, giving him an unimpeded view of the vessel and open space before it. Allana cooed with appreciation at the vista of stars and ships.
Suddenly there were more ships. A bluish streak resolved itself into the curved, graceful lines of the Mon Cal cruiser Blue Diver, flagship of the GA Second Fleet, forward and to port of the Blur’s position. Other capital ships, a score of them, ended their hyperspace jumps in formation all around the vessels already on station. Starfighters now began to stream out of the Anakin Solo’s belly and the starfighter bays of other vessels like piranha-beetles swarming out of a just-damaged nest.
And if the Blur’s sensors were to be believed, the enemy starfighter squadrons and capital ships, increasingly outnumbered, continued to race forward. Caedus saw that the enemy capital ships were not assuming any formation he was familiar with; they remained spread out, too far apart to reinforce one another with overlapping fields of fire.
He snorted. He wouldn’t need to employ his Sith battle meditation technique to turn this into a gruesome victory for the Galactic Alliance. The Confederation couldn’t have mounted a worse approach than the one he was seeing.
A light appeared on his comm board, and he heard Admiral Limpan’s voice. “Sir, I’m arraying us in battle-diamond formation, overlapping fields of fire to deal with the starfighter problem, and holding here, since they seem anxious to do all the work. Unless you have other specific orders.”
“No, Admiral. I’ll monitor from here and maybe assist in defending against the starfighters.” And maybe not.
“That seems to be an unnecessary risk, sir.”
“But an opportunity to test out the capabilities of the Blur.”
“Yes, sir.” The light faded.
Allana’s voice chided him. “You’re working again.”
“Sorry, sweetie. Something came up.” He banked to port and climbed well above the Blue Diver’s relative altitude, activating the Blur’s electronic countermeasures as he did so. In moments he was well outside the GA formation and, he hoped, not registering on enemy sensors.
Below him, the leading edges of Confederation starfighter squadrons came within firing range of their GA counterparts. Lasers, little needles of green and red light, flashed between the two forces. The lines of starfighters wavered and broke, dissolving into dozens of dogfights.
Caedus frowned. Curiously, the Confederation starfighter force was not hammering its way into the GA formation and going after the big ships. They remained skirmishing in a big furball just before the formation. He shook his head. This was the most extraordinarily stupid way to lose a surprise attack that he had ever seen.<
br />
Abruptly, his father’s voice sounded in his ears, words spoken twenty years before or more. Jacen, when you’re so much smarter than your opponent that you know you don’t even have to make an effort to beat him, that’s when he smiles and hands you the vibroblade he just cut your heart out with.
Caedus shook his head to clear the memory away. His father didn’t have anything to teach him anymore.
Now would be the time for the bomb to go off. But no wash of fire burst out of the open hangar door in the Anakin Solo’s hull. Baffled, Caedus shook his head.
“Somebody went away.” Allana’s voice was faint.
“What?”
“Somebody went away. And somebody else. They’re going away.” There was now a world of hurt and dread in Allana’s voice. Caedus leaned forward to see what he could of her face and was surprised to witness tears rolling down her cheeks. But what—
Then he knew the answer. She was Force-sensitive. Pilots were dying, and she was feeling the diminishment in the Force that accompanied each death. Inured as he was to death in combat, he paid no more attention to it than he would to a breeze stirring his hair. But Allana was experiencing each event as a little stab of pain.
He hesitated, caught off guard. What could he tell her to make the pain go away? No soothing words would keep her from feeling each distant loss, and he was suddenly helpless.
ABOARD THE LOVE COMMANDER
Jaina’s commed signal activated the receiver and chip Han and Jag had planted in the outer door machinery. Rows of warning lights flashed around the outer doors, indicating that the atmosphere shield was being activated. Moments later the doors slid aside, revealing a number of capital ships looming in the starfield.
Han eased the yoke forward. The Love Commander glided to the entryway, and her prow emerged through the atmosphere shield.
But Han did not increase thrust for a run into space. As the yacht’s nose entered vacuum, Han meticulously turned to port, toward Anakin Solo’s stern. Leaving the hangar, the yacht maintained a distance of less than two meters from the Star Destroyer’s hull—too close for the ship’s guns to target him. They could not depress that far, and even if they could, a clean hit would hull the yacht and damage the Anakin Solo itself.
Star Wars: Legacy of the Force: Fury Page 14
