Apocalypse

by Troy Denning

  Leia had a sinking feeling. “Four,” she answered. “How many legs does—”

  “Two,” Taryn answered. “We noticed a certain young lady’s absence after we departed Taanab.”

  “Young lady?” Han stormed. He pulled back on the pilot’s yoke, bringing the Falcon out of its meteoric plunge. “Are you telling me Amelia stowed away? On this trip?”

  On the tactical display, the ChaseX squadron’s interception point drifted upward, into the highest levels of the city.

  “Han—don’t slow down!” Leia said. They had passed the point of no return, for they did not dare allow the Regalle and its task force within firing range—not with Allana on board. “Keep diving!”

  Han glanced at his own display and scowled. “What do you suppose the odds are that those guys are on our side?”

  “Fifty–fifty,” Leia replied. “And that’s not good enough.”

  “I guess not.” Han shoved the yoke forward again, then opened a shipwide intercom channel. “Amelia Solo to the flight deck—now!”

  “We’re checking on the stowaway,” Leia informed the Lady Worbi. “If her pet nexu is here, she’s probably here, too.”

  “That’s also our feeling,” Taryn replied. “Can you return for a rendezvous?”

  Leia checked the tactical display and saw that the ChaseX squadron was continuing to accelerate after the Falcon, while the Regalle and its escorts were fanning out to spread their turbolaser fire.

  “I think that’s negative,” Leia replied. “We don’t know who that is behind us, but so far they don’t look very friendly.”

  “Very well,” Taryn said. “We’ll cover your descent and assess our options later. Keep us informed.”

  “Affirmative,” Leia said. She hadn’t felt her granddaughter’s presence aboard the Falcon, but that wasn’t surprising. After the close call on Klatooine, she had been working with Allana on concealment techniques—and that included hiding her presence in the Force. “We’ll let you know as soon as we find her.”

  The Falcon started to shudder and slew in the thickening atmosphere, and then a warning buzzer announced that the hull temperature had climbed into the failure zone. Tongues of white flame appeared in the orange glow outside, flakes of corroded metal starting to disintegrate in the heat. Han had no choice but to swing away from the ChaseX squadron and decrease their dive angle. He pulled the throttles back, using the repulsorlift drives to slow their descent.

  R2-D2 tweedled an alert, and lock alarms began to screech almost instantly.

  “See if you can get a friend-or-foe ID on those ChaseXs, Artoo,” Leia ordered. She activated the intercom. “Brace for battle back there. Ramud and Huli, go weapons-live, but don’t initiate. Amelia, if you’re not on the flight deck in—”

  “I’m coming!” a small voice shouted from the back of the access tunnel. “Be patient! Dad just called a minute ago.”

  “That’s because we didn’t know you were aboard.” Leia turned to find her granddaughter scurrying down the corridor with Anji padding along beside her. Dressed in an insulated jumpsuit, Allana was coated from head to foot in various colors of grease. Leia pointed at the empty seat across from Jayk. “You have a lot of explaining to do, young lady.”

  “I already explained,” Allana said. She climbed into the seat and began to buckle herself in. “You just didn’t listen back on the Dragon Queen.”

  “Because we’re your parents,” Han said. “We don’t need to listen.”

  “That’s a bunch of poodoo,” Allana shot back. “You’re the one who’s always saying you can’t let other people tell you what to do.”

  “We’re not other people,” Han replied. “We’re supposed to tell you what to do. That’s our job.”

  Allana rolled her eyes, then looked to Leia. “I had a vision,” she said. “Just like on …”

  She glanced over at Jayk, clearly uncertain of how much to let slip in front of a Jedi she didn’t know very well.

  “We’ll finish this discussion later,” Leia said, turning forward again. “Right now, we need to figure out whether those starfighters on our tail are friends or—”

  R2-D2 interrupted with a sharp whistle, and a single word scrolled across the copilot’s display: FOE.

  “Bloah,” Leia said. “You’re sure?”

  THE PROBABILITY IS 93.4 PERCENT, R2-D2 reported. THE TASK FORCE IS COMMANDED BY ADMIRAL POLOW, A GRADUATE OF THE GALACTIC ALLIANCE SPACE ACADEMY.

  “The Galactic Alliance Space Academy?” Leia repeated. “Not the New Republic?”

  R2-D2 emitted an affirming whistle.

  “Thank you, Artoo,” Leia said, seeing the problem. The Galactic Alliance Space Academy was only three years old. That meant an officer who had graduated from it would be no higher than a lieutenant commander. She opened a channel to the Lady Worbi. “Lady Worbi, the good news is that we found that stowaway. She’s sitting right behind me, in fine condition.”

  “That is good news,” Taryn replied. “What’s the bad news?”

  “Do you see that task force pursuing us?”

  “Of course.” Taryn sounded almost insulted. “Are they a problem?”

  “They still haven’t hailed us,” Leia said. “And we’re pretty sure their commander isn’t one of ours.”

  “I see.” Taryn went silent for a moment, then said, “We can’t do much about the ChaseX squadron, but we’ll give the cruiser and her escorts something to worry about.”

  “Thank you,” Leia said. “That would be a great deal of help.”

  She closed the channel and saw that the Falcon was only seconds from starting to scrape her belly on tower pinnacles. Soon they would begin setting fire to the buildings they passed, and even Han was not skilled enough to fly a YT-1300 transport through Coruscant’s crowded skylanes at this kind of speed. But the tactical display showed an estimated attack point hovering in the upper margin of the city, with the ChaseX squadron already matching the Falcon’s speed and continuing to accelerate. Fortunately, Taryn had launched all three of the Worbi’s Miy’til squadrons and was circling behind the task force, giving the Regalle and her escorts plenty to think about.

  The Falcon tipped up on her side as Han swerved to avoid a residence tower, then he said, “Sweetheart, you do know I’m gonna have to slow down eventually, right?”

  “The thought had crossed my mind,” Leia admitted, keeping her eyes on the tactical display. “Just be ready to evade. Those ChaseXs are closing fast.”

  “How long before they open fire?”

  “Whenever they want,” Leia replied. “That last swerve brought them into range.”

  “And they’re not opening fire?” Han pulled the throttles back, and the orange glow beyond the viewport quickly vanished as the flames died away. “No problem, then.”

  “Han!” Leia watched the tactical display in horror as the ChaseX squadron closed to medium range. “Have you lost your mind?”

  “Relax,” he said. “Not everybody in the Alliance Navy is Sith. If those guys aren’t opening fire yet—”

  “It’s because they want to avoid collateral damage,” Leia finished, nodding. She opened a hailing channel. “ChaseX leader, please state the reason for your pursuit and be advised that we are Coruscant natives.”

  “We know who you are,” replied a clipped voice. “And that’s why we’re pursuing. You Jedi spicerunners aren’t welcome here on Coruscant anymore. You can surrender now, or we open fire.”

  Han scowled at the cockpit speaker. “Thanks for the warning.”

  He pushed the yoke forward, dropping the Falcon between two skytowers, then rolled into a half-deserted skylane and dived through three levels of hover vehicles. Almost immediately a new voice came over the traffic channel. It was a female controller.

  “Longshot, what do you think you’re doing?” she demanded, using the false transponder code under which the Falcon was traveling. “You are not cleared to fly that thing in general traffic!”

  “Sorry about that
,” Leia replied, continuing to watch the tactical display. Rather than start a cannon battle in the narrow confines between Coruscant’s looming towers, most of the ChaseX squadron had pulled up and spread out to fly top cover. But three starfighters had followed the Falcon down into the skylane. Now they were flying between traffic levels, ducking under pedbridges and swinging from one wall to another in an effort to get a shot. “But I think you’d better clear the lane for us. This is beginning to look dangerous.”

  “And whose fault is that?” the controller demanded. “You’re going to lose entry rights over this. I hope you know that!”

  “Hey, get those guys off my tail and we’re outta here,” Han replied. He began to juke and jink, trying to make the Falcon a difficult target. “All I’m trying to do is land this crate.”

  A loud thwung rang through the Falcon as a cannon bolt burned into the hull. Then the entire ship shuddered as the big quad cannons returned fire.

  “Is that cannon fire?” the controller asked. “Please tell me you haven’t started a dogfight in the middle of Seventh Lane Seventeen Fifty.”

  “Okay, I won’t,” Han said.

  “We’re not the ones who started it,” Leia added. She closed the channel and called up a skylane schematic for her main display, then asked Han, “Shields?”

  Han shook his head. “Things are tight enough in here without bouncing off every pedbridge and hoversled we pass.”

  A trio of cannon bolts flashed past Leia’s side of the flight deck and vanished down the skylane, sending airspeeders diving for the undercity or whipping around corners. The Falcon’s cannons fired again, and Ramud’s deep Duros voice came over the cabin speaker.

  “Vape one ChaseX.” He sounded more relieved than excited. “I saw the canopy blow and an ejection plume, so maybe the pilot will survive.”

  Leia was glad to hear the concern in the young Jedi’s voice. Luke had taken pains to emphasize that the Jedi were at war with no one but the Sith. She found it heartening to see that the message had been received.

  Another thwung sounded from the stern. Leia felt the Falcon slew as Han struggled to stay in control. She kept her eyes on the skylane schematic, searching for a way to disappear into the labyrinth of dark lanes that ran beneath Fellowship Plaza.

  “How are those repairs holding up?” she asked.

  “Not well enough to keep taking cannon bolts,” Han said. “Will you guys in the turrets stop playing nice and get those ChaseXs off our tails? It’s them or us, fellas!”

  Han tipped the Falcon up on its side and sliced down through a dozen levels of traffic, giving both gunners clear shots at their pursuers. The quad cannons began to chuff steadily while a torrent of color flashed past as the ChaseXs returned fire. A loud ping echoed through the ship when a bolt glanced off the upper hull, then an Arcona hiss came over the intercom.

  “Vape ChaseX two!” Huli’s voice grew rueful. “The pilot didn’t make it.”

  Incredibly, the third pilot stayed on their tail. Another hit tolled up from the stern, and Han’s hands began to shudder as the Falcon went into a spin that Leia doubted was intentional.

  Finally, Leia found what she was looking for. “Han, there’s a barge tunnel three hundred meters ahead to starboard.”

  “Are you c-c-crazy?” Han demanded, stuttering because the yoke was vibrating so badly. “We can’t m-m-make that turn at this—”

  “Then slow down!” Leia said. “It’s that turn or a dash across Blemmer Circle.”

  By the time she finished the sentence, she was pressing into her crash harness as the Falcon slowed to make the turn. The belly gunner lost sight of the target, and the chuffing of the lower quad cannons quieted. The dark oval of the tunnel entrance appeared on the right, then began to broaden into a circle as Han tried to make the turn. A collision alarm broke into a screech.

  “Blast!” Han cursed. “We’re not going to make—”

  And then they were in the darkness, a deafening shriek filling their ears as the hull scraped along the tunnel wall. A tremendous roar sounded behind them, then the upper quad cannons went quiet, too. Ramud did not bother to report the crash that had destroyed the last ChaseX.

  Han looked over at Leia, his face pale. “What next?”

  “Don’t hit anything,” Leia said. “Those barges are robotic. They don’t use running lights, and our sensors are worthless down here.”

  Han’s eyes widened. He hit a switch on the instrument console, and a trio of floodlight beams stabbed through the darkness ahead.

  “And don’t slow down,” Leia added, still studying the schematic. “If any of those other ChaseXs come after us, we’ve got ten kilometers before we have a chance to lose them.”

  Han squeezed the yoke so hard his knuckles grew white. “I don’t know why I let you navigate,” he said. “Don’t you have any good news?”

  “Sure,” Leia said. “Once we make it through the tunnel, we’ll be a hundred kilometers from the hangar.”

  “And that’s the good news?” Han asked. “Really?”

  It was Allana who replied. “Don’t be scared, Dad. We can do it.”

  Han glanced at her reflection in the viewport. “Who’s scared?”

  “You are,” Allana said. “You’re sweating … and I can feel it in the Force.”

  Han sighed. “Okay, so I’m a little bit scared.”

  “I don’t know why,” Allana said. “The Queen Mother told me you guys do this stuff all the time.”

  “We do,” Han said, continuing to look at her reflection. “But not with you aboard. The next time I tell you to stay—”

  “Why don’t we talk about that later?” Leia interrupted. “After we’ve all had a chance to calm down?”

  “I’m not going to calm down,” Han said, still looking at Allana. “You’re in big trouble, young lady.”

  “I know,” Allana said, her tone as confident as it was subdued. “But at least I’m here.”

  The Falcon continued through the barge tunnel. It wasn’t long before they began to encounter boxy barge-silhouettes moving in both directions. Undulating through the darkness, they ducked beneath all oncoming traffic and flew up and over the ones they were overtaking.

  Leia kept expecting the barge traffic to come to a standstill as the control center initiated a safety shutdown—but the operators were either panicking or not paying attention. A few tense minutes later, the Falcon finally shot out of the tunnel and entered the cluttered darkness beneath Fellowship Plaza, and Leia breathed a sigh of relief.

  After a series of evasive maneuvers designed to detect anyone trying to follow them, Leia ran a thorough signal analysis to make sure the ChaseXs had not tagged the Falcon with a tracking device. After that, she ran a powerful degaussing current through the outer hull—just to be certain she hadn’t missed anything. Then she checked again for unauthorized transmissions, and finally she decided that the Falcon was, indeed, clean.

  “Artoo, bounce a burst message to Jedi Command,” Leia ordered. “Tell him we’re en route, and we need safe-approach charts.”

  R2-D2 tweedled a response, and Han began to thread his way into the lowest levels of the undercity. Just half a kilometer down, the structures were so crusted in yorik coral that it was impossible to see the buildings themselves. Curtains of moss dangled hundreds of meters from pedbridges, and ten-meter stalks of fungi grew on balconies. Strange four-winged reptiles soared through the darkness, their claws clutching still-struggling rodents—or limbs torn from decaying corpses. In many ways, it looked as though the Yuuzhan Vong had never left this part of the planet—and in some ways, that was true. With its attention focused on rebuilding the rest of the galaxy—and just keeping order—for most of the last two decades, the Galactic Alliance had never had the political will to repair what the extragalactic invaders had done to Coruscant’s hidden slums.

  R2-D2 chirped an alert, and then a map of the undercity appeared on the copilot’s display. They were closer to the rendezvous point th
an Leia had imagined, and it took only a few minutes to slip through the tangled labyrinth to a dark hollow in the yorik coral. At first, she mistook the cavity for a cavern entrance, but when the Falcon’s floodlights illuminated it, she saw that it was actually a hangar door painted matte black.

  Leia felt a welcoming brush in the Force, and she knew they were being watched by a group of Jedi sentries. She replied by reaching out in the Force herself, allowing them to sense her relief at having arrived. The door retracted into the wall. On the other side was a loading bay. It looked deserted, but Leia could sense several Jedi presences lurking in hiding places.

  “I don’t know about this,” Han said, holding the Falcon outside the entrance. “Are you sure it’s the right place?”

  “Yes.” Leia and Jayk both responded at the same time.

  “Dad,” Allana added. “The Jedi are at war. You don’t expect them to post a sign, do you?”

  “Don’t be silly.” Han eased the Falcon across the threshold, raising a thick cloud of dust as they moved toward the berthing circles. “I’m just saying … would it’ve killed them to do some cleaning?”

  He shut down the cooling fans, then lowered the struts and quickly set the Falcon down near the back of the small chamber. Behind them, the doors closed with a muffled clang. By the time Leia and the others had unbuckled and traveled down the access corridor to the main cabin, their Jedi passengers had lowered the boarding ramp. They had arrayed themselves in a neat line and were awaiting the captain’s permission to debark. Han rolled his eyes at their formality, then motioned for them to fall in behind him and led the way down the ramp.

  As soon as the Solos stepped foot on the floor of the loading bay, the entire rear wall began to rise. Beyond lay a much larger, brightly lit hangar that was bustling with combat-support activity. Maintenance crews were reloading dozens of assault cars with ammunition and fuel, while repair droids swarmed the exteriors applying hasty battlefield patches. There were even medical droids on the floor, evaluating injuries and dressing minor wounds.

  In one corner, Admiral Nek Bwua’tu was interrogating a platoon of soot-stained space marines, no doubt trying to put together an accurate picture of combat conditions. Scattered around the chamber were half a dozen Jedi Masters, each speaking quietly with a small band of Jedi Knights in color-shifting robes.