Star Wars_ Rebel Force 01_ Target - Alex Wheeler [37]
"Hey!" Han protested.
"The best," Leia repeated. "He just needs practice. He'll be fine."
Elad raised his eyebrows. "The best you've ever met?" He peered into the distance.
The Podracer's cockpit was bouncing furiously over air pockets. Thanks to his erratic steering, Luke was battling his own turbulence. "Even if he wins the race, Kenuun could still double cross us. Perhaps we should think about—"
"We'll proceed with the current plan," Leia said sharply, cutting off all further discussion. She may have let Elad accompany them on their mission, but she wasn't about to cede control. "I have faith in Luke."
The Podracer listed precariously to the right side as it returned toward them. A burst of orange flame exploded from the right engine.
"He's overheating!" Han shouted, running toward the Podracer.
With one engine dead, steering was impossible. The Podracer shot into an out of control spin. The engines whirled wildly around the cockpit. Suddenly, the Podracer tilted vertically, and shot straight up in the air.
"Luke!" Leia cried, taking off after Han. The Podracer flipped upside down and screamed into a dive. It was nearly a kilometer up in the air when a tiny figure toppled out of the cockpit.
An endless moment later, Luke's chute inflated. He drifted slowly to the ground. The Podracer rocketed downward, hitting the ground with a deafening crash. It exploded on impact, gushing a fiery spray of fuel and shorn metal into the air.
Luke wrapped himself in the chute and rolled away from the crash site, trying to shield himself from the falling debris. Leia and the others had almost reached him when one of the slim, fiery strips of durasteel landed on his chute.
The parachute burst into flames.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Luke was a ball of fire. Han slapped his coat at the burning parachute, trying to smother the flames.
"Roll over!" he shouted. Luke started rolling across the dirt. Slowly—too slowly—the flames flickered out.
The parachute was an ashen, blackened mess. The body hidden beneath lay motionless.
"Luke?" Leia said quietly, her voice filled with terror. "Luke!"
He moved.
Luke threw off the charred chute. His face was sooty and his body covered by sandy abrasions, but he was alive. He stood up. "I'm okay," he said, stretching his limbs one at a time to make sure it was true. "I'm okay."
A flood of relief washed over Han. "Close one, kid," he said, trying to keep his voice light. If Luke had fallen from the Podracer any sooner, or any later…If his chute had malfunctioned, or if the armorweave hadn't protected him from the flames…
Did Luke understand how close he'd come to the end? Han watched as Luke's horrified gaze took in the simmering ruins of the Podracer.
He understood.
"The engine flamed out," Luke said, taking a few hesitant steps. "Must have been a defective current filter. I should have had Artoo double check it before I took off. Next time I'll know better."
" Next time? " Leia shook her head. "Luke, there's not going to be a next time. You almost died. The Podracers destroyed."
"Kenuun wants to win this race—he'll give us another one," Luke said confidently.
"And is he going to give us another one of you?"
"Give him a break, Princess." Han slung an arm around Luke. "The kid doesn't even know what he's saying."
Luke shrugged him off. "Yes I do. And a faulty current filter's not going to stop us from completing this mission. The Rebellion needs us to win this race."
The Rebellion needs you to live, Han thought.
But he kept his mouth shut.
* * *
Eventually, Luke got his way. Leia and Elad met with Kenuun in hopes of laying their hands on a second Podracer. The Muun had a hangar full of them—it seemed likely he'd be willing to produce another.
Han took Luke back to their makeshift campsite to rest. There were less than twenty-four hours to go before the race, and Luke knew every second counted. But he couldn't practice without a Podracer—and he had to admit, resting sounded good. His shoulder and back throbbed from the fall, and a deep series of scrapes