Star Wars_ Rebel Force 2_ Hostage - Alex Wheeler [2]
She wasn't ready—but the moment had arrived, ready or not.
It was time to go home.
Han muttered a silent curse as Leia climbed into the cockpit. With the densest debris field this side of the galaxy to navigate, the last thing he needed was a distraction.
Especially the worrying-about-Leia kind of distraction.
He wasn't supposed to have to worry about anyone but himself. And now, all of a sudden, he was mixed up in this ridiculous Rebel Alliance business, saddled with a handful of trouble-making passengers and their annoying droids.
In addition to the princess, there was Luke Skywalker, who fancied himself some kind of Jedi warrior—and who was lucky he hadn't sliced off an arm with that lightsaber of his.
Yet. There was Tobin Elad, the resistance fighter they'd picked up on the way to Muunilinst—an impressive pilot, an even more impressive fighter, a quick thinker, no friend to the Empire…Han might even have enjoyed having him around. Might—if the princess hadn't made it so painfully clear that she found Elad superior in every way that counted. He could do nothing wrong. While Han, as far as Leia was concerned, could do nothing right.
Fine with me, he thought. It was time to start treating this like any other job. He would drop them on Delaya, as promised—but that would be the end of it. He had a life of his own, after all. People to scam, places to go, Hutts to repay.
"Entering the Alderaan system." Han cut the thrusters to reduce speed. "Delaya's on the other side of the debris field. No way around but straight through." The storm of whirling rock loomed in the viewscreen. Delaya lay just beyond. Once it had been Alderaan's sister planet.
Now it was an only child.
Leia's face paled. Luke's jaw tightened. Chewbacca let loose a mournful howl.
Han couldn't blame him. You could almost feel it pressing in around you: death. Two billion lives, gone up in a ball of flame. For a single, horrifying moment, he imagined their faces—pale, terrified, dead—flattening themselves against the cockpit window.
I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced, the old man had said. Like he could sense it happening.
Han shook it off. You're starting to sound like Luke, he warned himself. You're not sensing anything but a rough landing. And if you don't start focusing on these rocks, there might not be a landing at all.
"Better strap in," he warned his passengers. As he spoke, the ship lurched as a large rock slammed into the starboard deflector shield. Caught off guard, Leia toppled forward.
Han caught her just before she crashed into an instrument panel. "You okay?" he said, trying to steady her.
She ripped her arm away. "I'll be okay when we land this thing," she snapped. "How about you try focusing on that."
"Yes, ma'am," he said sarcastically. "But only because you asked so nicely." She had some nerve, giving him orders on the bridge of his ship. Who did she think she—
"Whoa!" Han swore, jerking the Falcon sharply to the port side, moments before crashing into a ship-sized asteroid. "Focus. Right. Good plan."
Chewbacca growled at the viewscreen.
"I see it, buddy," Han said, steering the ship around another asteroid. They were hurtling toward him from all sides now. He eased the Falcon through the gaps, diving and weaving to avoid the larger rocks. The smaller ones battered the shields. The ship shook and shuddered, the controls vibrating in his grip. Behind him, somewhere in the bowels of the ship, there was a soft hissing noise, then a loud bang. A moment later, the acrid scent of smoke trickled into the cockpit. "Chewie, the aft deflector must have taken a hit. Get back there and check it out!"
The Wookiee was already in motion. Luke's astromech droid followed closely on his heels.
"Captain, may I recommend that you avoid crashing into anything else?" the protocol droid C-3PO suggested.
"May I recommend you