Star Wars_ Legacy of the Force 01_ Betrayal - Aaron Allston [52]
“You can borrow my speeder,” she said.
Thann waved Jaina and Kolir forward. “You’d better hop out,” he told the driver. “This is going to be dangerous.”
“I’ll hop out.” The driver exited the speeder on the sidewalk side.
“And don’t tell anyone who you are or the details of your speeder. They’re all spies trying to catch us,” Thann said.
“I won’t tell anyone.”
Jaina exerted herself and Zekk floated up a meter into the air. In moments she had him laid out faceup in the backseat, his head in her lap, while Thann and Kolir took the front.
Thann blew a kiss to the dazed driver, then set the speeder into motion, fearlessly merging with traffic. “Control acknowledged my transmission,” he said. “But Team Tauntaun didn’t. I suspect they ran into a trap.”
“Right.” Jaina rapped her knuckles against the speeder’s side. Nothing had gone right, and now the three Jedi of Team Tauntaun—Tahiri Veila, Doran Tainer, and Tiu Zax—were incommunicado.
“You shouldn’t do that, you know,” Kolir said.
Thann spared her a glance. “Do what?”
“Use Jedi mind tricksh and pheromonesh at the shame time. Not fair.”
Thann shrugged. “I should perhaps use the mind tricks alone and maybe fail?”
“Well, no.”
Thann changed the subject. “How’s Zekk?”
Zekk said, “Ow.” His eyes opened.
“Better,” Jaina said.
chapter eleven
ABOVE CORELLIA
Luke’s Hardpoint Squadron made a high orbital crossing over to Corellia’s day side and then a fast descent into the atmosphere. The squad’s speed was hampered by its having to shepherd the shuttle Chandrila Skies, an Uulshos space-capable light assault vehicle. Not much longer than an X-wing, the LAV had a horizontal chisel-shaped bow and was much broader across the fuselage than a starfighter, giving it enough interior room to carry a dozen or so passengers…making it a good choice for the extraction of the teams of Jedi now operating down in Coronet.
Despite the fact that the Corellian fleet continued to pace and, by its very presence, taunt the GA fleet, no units had moved out against Luke’s X-wings. But now Mara’s voice came across squadron frequency: “We’ve got some distant activity, looks like fighter swarms rising to meet us from Coronet.”
Luke checked his own sensors. They did show a couple of fuzzy signals from ahead, but to his eye they could have been two cargo craft launching, or a swarm of airspeeders punching up above approved travel routes. Mara, designated sensor officer for this mission, had a more capable set of sensors than Luke did.
Mara’s voice came back: “Confirmed two squadrons. Probably some class of TIE, based on their movement patterns. We’ll be within maximum laser range in two minutes.”
A pity. Luke looked off to port, down at the planetary surface. Here, it was all green forest separated from blue sea by thin lines of sandy golden beach. Such a pretty world. It was a shame that they had to send flaming starfighters and their pilots crashing down onto it.
A new voice came across the comm: “Attention starfighter flight approaching Coronet from course three-five-seven. This is Corellian Defense Force Headquarters in Coronet. You are classed as a hostile. Identify yourself or return to space.”
Luke switched his comm unit to broadcast on the same frequency. “This is Hardpoint Squadron of the Galactic Alliance Second Fleet, Luke Skywalker commanding. If your transponder hasn’t recognized us as a legitimate GA unit by now, it’s faulty. I’m transmitting you our ID…and your orders. Stand down.” He switched off the speaker and added, “Artoo, send the package.”
Artoo wheetled, the sound emerging from the cockpit speakers, acknowledging that the data package was away.
The land below was becoming less forest, more irrigated fields. Luke could see sailing craft, excursion boats, out on the water.
The Corellian comm officer’s voice came back after a moment. “I’m sorry, but Corellia does not