Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 06_ Vortex - Denning Troy [150]
Han pulled the thermal detonator off his vest, then tried to gauge the distance between them and the apex. “That ought to be far enough above us that we’re clear of the blast, right?”
Leia studied the dome for a moment, then nodded. “I think so, and if we’re wrong …”
The sound of hatches opening rang out below. GAS guards in full riot gear began flooding into the bunker, and a moment later blaster bolts began to scream upward.
“That was fast,” Han observed. He and Leia pressed themselves against the wall, then he set the detonator fuse for three seconds and asked, “Ready?”
When Leia nodded, he tossed the detonator toward the dome and started to count seconds aloud.
Leia extended a hand, catching it in the Force—and several guards cried out, “Detonator!”
The blaster fire stopped as the guards dived for the nearest exits. Leia flicked her hand upward, and the thermal detonator flew into the apex of the dome.
“Three!” Han warned.
Both Solos closed their eyes and turned toward the wall. Even so, the flash was so bright that it made Han’s head pound. He felt a wave of heat so searing that he feared they had misjudged the distance to the apex.
A tremendous crackle rang through the bunker, then the heat and the light faded as quickly as they had come. Han stood frozen for several heartbeats, just to make sure he was actually alive, then finally let his breath out.
“Hey, we made it!” He opened his eyes and turned to hug Leia … and nearly stepped off a half-disintegrated balcony. “Leia?”
She wasn’t there. And neither were the Horns.
More than half of the balcony had been caught in the blast radius and was simply gone. But that still left a good half a meter of durasteel upon which Leia could have been standing—and should have.
“Leia!”
Han dropped to his knees and peered over the white-hot edge of the balcony, expecting—hoping—to see her hanging from a balcony below.
There was no one there. No one but about four thousand very quiet carbonite prisoners.
“Leiaaaagghh?” The call was half question and half wail, a scream unlike any Han had unleashed before. “Leiaaaaa!”
Han?
Leia’s voice came to him as much within his mind as in his ears, and he imagined she was reaching out to him through the Force, trying to touch him one last time before she was gone … forever. The tears welled in his eyes.
Then she called out to him again. “Han!”
He looked up, his eyes so watery that he could see nothing but a blue smear where the detonator had disintegrated the roof. “Leia?”
“Han!” she called. “Will you get moving, already? They’re waiting for us!”
“Waiting?”
Han stood and turned toward the voice, growing more confused. There was no way Zekk and Jaina and the others in the newsvan were on the roof—even if they had disobeyed orders, GAS would have shot them down. And he could not imagine who else might be waiting with Leia, except all of their beloved ones who had gone before … so, was he dead, too?
Han looked up again. He could barely make out a female form kneeling at the edge of the detonator hole—Leia’s form. Behind her loomed the bulky shape of a Cyngus-7 armored transport.
“Leia! You’re …” He caught himself, not wanting to act like a total fool in front of the woman he loved. “You’re out already?”
“Han, I’ve been out for five seconds—and the Horns have been out for a couple!” When the sound of running boots began to rumble up from the depths of the bunker, Leia frowned and asked, “What’s wrong? Did you hit your head or something?”
“Uh, yeah.” Han wiped his eyes on a sleeve. “Sorry, I must have.”
“What’s the holdup?” demanded a familiar Hapan voice. A moment later Taryn Zel appeared next to Leia and began to pour blasterfire down through the hole. Behind her, the screech of the Cygnus-7’s ion cannon began to shred the air. “Let’s get moving, Solo!”
A steady stream of blasterfire began to fly up from below, ricocheting around the upper ring of the bunker and vanishing into the sky above. Han pulled his blaster off his shoulder, glanced up to see Leia already extending a hand