Star Wars_ Legacy of the Force 07_ Fury - Aaron Allston [60]
Han scowled. “In that case, strap in tight.”
Jag’s boot heels rang on the boarding ramp, followed by the sound of the ramp being raised into place. Leia’s ears popped as the hull sealed for space.
And then there were Han’s muttered words, barely audible as he started the engines: “Told you we should have been flying the Falcon—”
Leia rolled her eyes. “In the Falcon, we never would have persuaded them that you weren’t aboard.”
Han’s next words were lost as general-quarters alarms began shrilling in the hangar.
Caedus brought the Blur around and above the Anakin Solo, giving him an unimpeded view of the vessel and open space before it. Allana cooed with appreciation at the vista of stars and ships.
Suddenly there were more ships. A bluish streak resolved itself into the curved, graceful lines of the Mon Cal cruiser Blue Diver, flagship of the GA Second Fleet, forward and to port of the Blur’s position. Other capital ships, a score of them, ended their hyperspace jumps in formation all around the vessels already on station. Starfighters now began to stream out of the Anakin Solo’s belly and the starfighter bays of other vessels like piranha-beetles swarming out of a just-damaged nest.
And if the Blur’s sensors were to be believed, the enemy starfighter squadrons and capital ships, increasingly outnumbered, continued to race forward. Caedus saw that the enemy capital ships were not assuming any formation he was familiar with; they remained spread out, too far apart to reinforce one another with overlapping fields of fire.
He snorted. He wouldn’t need to employ his Sith battle meditation technique to turn this into a gruesome victory for the Galactic Alliance. The Confederation couldn’t have mounted a worse approach than the one he was seeing.
A light appeared on his comm board, and he heard Admiral Limpan’s voice. “Sir, I’m arraying us in battle-diamond formation, overlapping fields of fire to deal with the starfighter problem, and holding here, since they seem anxious to do all the work. Unless you have other specific orders.”
“No, Admiral. I’ll monitor from here and maybe assist in defending against the starfighters.” And maybe not.
“That seems to be an unnecessary risk, sir.”
“But an opportunity to test out the capabilities of the Blur.”
“Yes, sir.” The light faded.
Allana’s voice chided him. “You’re working again.”
“Sorry, sweetie. Something came up.” He banked to port and climbed well above the Blue Diver’s relative altitude, activating the Blur’s electronic countermeasures as he did so. In moments he was well outside the GA formation and, he hoped, not registering on enemy sensors.
Below him, the leading edges of Confederation starfighter squadrons came within firing range of their GA counterparts. Lasers, little needles of green and red light, flashed between the two forces. The lines of starfighters wavered and broke, dissolving into dozens of dogfights.
Caedus frowned. Curiously, the Confederation starfighter force was not hammering its way into the GA formation and going after the big ships. They remained skirmishing in a big furball just before the formation. He shook his head. This was the most extraordinarily stupid way to lose a surprise attack that he had ever seen.
Abruptly, his father’s voice sounded in his ears, words spoken twenty years before or more. Jacen, when you’re so much smarter than your opponent that you know you don’t even have to make an effort to beat him, that’s when he smiles and hands you the vibroblade he just cut your heart out with.
Caedus shook his head to clear the memory away. His father didn’t have anything to teach him anymore.
Now would be the time for the bomb to go off. But no wash of fire burst out of the open hangar door in the Anakin Solo’s hull. Baffled, Caedus shook his head.
“Somebody went away.” Allana’s voice was faint.
“What?”
“Somebody went away. And somebody else. They’re going away.” There was now