Star Wars_ Millennium Falcon - James Luceno [68]
“That'll be my wife,” he said, grinning.
Moving silently and locked in on Allana's Force presence, Leia approached the lower-level detention rooms. A sudden chill raced through her and she came to an abrupt halt. The child of two powerful Jedi, Allana was innately strong in the Force, but her abilities were limited by age and experience. What Leia was sensing made no sense—
An unmistakable thrumming sound infiltrated her thoughts. Intense light radiated from the center of the room, and two beings screamed in pain. Before Leia could react, Allana was racing through the doorway straight to her.
“Jacen!” she said, encircling Leia's legs with her arms.
“What?”
“Jacen!”
Abruptly Allana whirled out from under Leia's comforting hold, glaring at something in the room beyond. Leia felt a small storm of negative energy swirl in the Force and quickly reached for her, spinning her around.
“No, Allana, no! You mustn't do that.”
Fury had turned Allana's face as red as her hair. Her eyes were narrowed in hatred.
“I won't let him hurt me!”
“No one's going to hurt you,” Leia said firmly. “I'll protect you. Nothing bad is going to happen.”
Despite the words, the storm began to build once more. Leia took Allana by the shoulders and gently shook her. “Come back to yourself!”
Allana went rigid, tears streaming from her eyes. “Mom gave me a needle to use! Where is it? I want the needle!” Sobbing and shaking uncontrollably, she buried her face in Leia's shoulder.
Leia held her tight, stroking her hair and using the Force to calm her. Picking her up, she stepped back from the doorway in apprehension. The thrumming returned, and with it blaster bolts and yet more screams. Leia saw movement inside the room and caught a glimpse of Jedi Knight Seff Hellin moving stalwartly toward a different doorway, his lightsaber raised in front of him.
The sight of two armless Barabels staggering from the room behind the desk made Han's jaw drop. Even a grandmother's anger wouldn't prompt Leia to be that brutal. Two of the beings who had escorted Han to the detention center were directing blasterfire through the doorway, but the bolts were being deflected back into the front room. Han threw himself to the floor in front of the desk, evading a bolt that nearly decapitated him. One of the guards fell backward, his chest on fire; the other took a deflected bolt to the left thigh and dropped to the opposite knee. The officer made a dash for the turbolifts, but a detonation in the hall sent him flying backward.
Blaster rifles raised at high port, five soldiers of a swift-response team burst into the room from the direction Han had come.
“Everyone down! Down! Down!”
Considering that everyone was already on the floor, the amplified commands didn't mean much. The security officer was unharmed, but the rest of them—those Han could see, at any rate—were either unconscious or dead. The floor was flecked with blood and scraps of burned clothing. Han heard a sound behind him and realized that someone was standing in the doorway. A tall twentysomething Jedi with curly hair …
All but ignoring the soldiers' blaster rifles, Seff Hellin walked calmly into the room, deactivating his lightsaber when two men in suits and C-3PO appeared behind the members of the swift-response team.
“Galactic Alliance Intelligence,” the shorter agent said, flashing a badge at Seff, then hurrying over to Han to help him to his feet. “Are you all right, Captain Solo?”
Eyes on Seff, Han dusted himself off. “Ask me later.”
The agent waved for the soldiers to lower their rifles. The other agent held a comlink to his mouth.
“Get a medical team down here on the double.”
“My daughter—”
“She's fine,” Leia said, emerging from the doorway behind the now blaster-bolt-scarred desk, Allana clinging to her neck, visibly upset and—it seemed to Han—refusing to look at Seff Hellin.
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