Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 02_ Omen - Christie Golden [80]
There was no time to thank him, or reassure Allana. Leia spun to face the nexu. Even as she whirled, she saw the creature lash out with one of its forepaws as both hind legs came up and gripped the retreating end of the ramp. It caught the leg of an Ithorian. The unfortunate being cried out in pain in the unique, twin-mouthed fashion of his people, his utterance of agony sounding incongruously beautiful and hauntingly musical. He fell backward, his long fingers clutching at the ramp, his left leg caught in the huge jaws of the nexu.
Leia dived forward, lifting the lightsaber in both hands high over her head and bringing it down in a sharp stabbing motion. The energy blade impaled the nexu at the back of its neck, continuing the downward momentum until it was partway through the ramp. Exactly as Leia had intended.
“Get him! Get him!” she cried over her shoulder. The lifeless body of the nexu swung limply now, but its jaws remained clenched in death’s rictus. Some of the beings were jolted from their mindless horror and moved forward, prying open the beast’s mouth and pulling the still-wailing Ithorian back from the edge of the ramp. Leia deactivated her lightsaber, and the huge feline—no longer pinned like an insectoid specimen to a flimsiboard display—tumbled limply into the pen. The cubs scampered to their mother’s corpse and mewed piteously
The ramp had been retracting slowly but inexorably, and now all the ramps were only halfway extended. Crowded to begin with, now the beings were pressed tightly together. Leia was surprised that no one had snapped and begun hurling bodies down at random, but she knew enough to simply be grateful for the fact. Maybe it was the calm she had been pouring into the Force this whole time.
And then with an unexpected jolt the ramp suddenly stopped. Leia looked up to see a large, smoking, circular hole cut in the door. Radd stuck his head through and gave her a grin. He’d done it. Then his eyes widened and he ducked back quickly as the patrons began to pour through the hole.
An arm snaked around Leia and she was suddenly crushed to her husband’s chest. The immediate danger was over for the moment, and so she allowed herself to be held for a heartbeat, slipping one arm around Han and the other reaching to touch her now sniffling granddaughter.
“Leia!”
It was Natua’s voice. Leia whirled, activating the lightsaber, searching for the other Jedi in the crowded ramps that still jutted precariously over the animal pens.
“I know what you are—imposter!”
Leia narrowed her brown eyes. She had realized what must have happened the minute she had been unable to find Wan. Even so, to hear it—
“You want me, Leia? Come find me.”
No, Natua was not present in the crowd. She had to be speaking over a comm, and that meant she had captured the control room. Leia would find her there. Why the Falleen had issued the challenge, she did not know, but she was glad the fight would be contained. Enough innocents had been terrorized and made to suffer this day at what should have been a pleasant, safe outing.
“Take Amelia and get out of here,” she told Han.
“I’ll have Radd take her back home and then I’ll—”
“Radd and Jaina need to stay here and help take care of these people, and you and Amelia need to get to safety.” Leia’s voice was clipped and cool, and Han scowled.
“I’ll get her to safety, Your Worship,” Han promised. “But then I’m coming back. With as many blasters as I can strap to my body.”
With any other man, it would be simply a turn of phrase. Leia knew better than to assume such a thing where Han Solo