Star Wars_ I, Jedi - Michael A. Stackpole [134]
But his blaster hadn’t yet slid even halfway from its holster. All three shots struck him in the right thigh, collapsing the leg. He went down screaming and thrashed in the aisle. Biril ran toward him and crouched down, taking him out of Keevy’s attack range. The larger man looked at his stricken comrade, then at me. “You’re dead.”
“Not likely.” The Halcyon line might not have been strong in the ways of telekinesis, but it’s never required much of an effort to slip the latch on an overstuffed cargo compartment. The panel snapped open and the Kuati’s bundle came crashing down to hit Biril across the back of his shoulders. He angrily spun toward it, slashing with his vibroblade, then turned back toward me. By that time, however, I’d vaulted myself across the central seats and caught him in the chest with both feet.
He flew back, tripping and stumbling over the Kuati’s satchel, just as Keevy came charging blindly in from the Premier cabin. Keevy’s forehead caught Biril square on the chin. The bigger man went limp and crashed down while Keevy caromed off him and landed sprawled across the laps of two young women.
I snatched up Laanars’ blaster, flicked it to stun and pumped a shot into him. I fired two more into Biril. I turned and tossed the weapon to the flight attendant. “Can you retract the gangway?”
She caught the gun and nodded hesitantly. “I can, but only on the captain’s order.”
I glanced at her nametag. “Okay, Annissya, you’ve got the order.”
“Sir, I know you are qualified to fly one of these shuttles, but …”
I opened my hands. “There’s more pirates coming, and your pilot likely isn’t. I’d just as soon be out of here. We might as well make a run, because waiting here isn’t going to do us any good.”
She thought for a second, then nodded. “As ordered, Captain Idanian.”
I grabbed Keevy by his collar and hauled him from the laps of the two women who, from the looks on their faces, were convinced he’d saved them from certain death. “You really know how to work an AP127 whatever?”
“The AP127CP?” His larynx bounced up and down as his voice cracked. “Yes, sir.”
“You aren’t lying, are you? Lives are at stake here.”
He straightened up and assumed a pose he clearly thought of as military. “I can do it.”
I smiled. “To the cockpit then, my boy. You wanted to fly in combat? This is gonna be it.”
Keevy rubbed at the bump on his forehead. “We’re going to try to outrun an Imperial Star Destroyer?”
“That a problem for you?” I narrowed my eyes.
“Well, it won’t be easy.”
“Yeah, well, if it was easy, it wouldn’t be worth doing.” I gave him a shove toward the front of the shuttle. “You just plot me a course and get me an exit vector. I’ll get us on it and we’ll all get out of here.”
He glanced back at me. “Sir, even a Rogue Squadron pilot couldn’t get us out of here. I know.”
“And after this, you’ll know some more.” I patted him on the back. “Strap in, son, you’re in for the ride of your life.”
THIRTY-TWO
I dropped into the cockpit command chair, pulled on the communications headset and started hitting switches. The layout hadn’t been modified much from that of the shuttle I’d flown to Yavin. I noticed the weapons-control panel had been replaced with something labeled “Entertainment system.” Shrugging, I punched a button and started some holodrama playing in the back.
Keevy sat across from me in the navigator’s position. He strapped in and sat there for a moment, then looked up and froze.
The Invidious hung out there in space, its dagger shape de-emphasized since we were looking at a profile shot of the ship. Its deck plane lay slightly below ours—if we took off in a straight line we’d pass a good hundred meters over the top of the ship’s main decks. I eyed the ship the way I would have were I sitting