Star Wars_ The Han Solo Trilogy 02_ The Hutt Gambit - A. C. Crispin [125]
“All right!” he yelled. “Thanks, Vuffi Raa!”
As the phantom fleet drew nearer the Imperial wedge, the big capital ships began blasting away. Han realized immediately that there was a huge advantage to being part of an illusion. With this many ships to shoot at, chances were pretty good that none of the three solid vessels would be targeted.
Nevertheless, he prepared quickly for evasive. “Jarik, you ready, kid?” he called.
“Ready, Han!”
“Chewie, you ready with those twin lasers?”
“Hrrrrrrnnnnnnnn!”
Han chose a target—the leftmost Dreadnaught, which was the one closest to him. “I’m going after that Dreadnaught dead ahead,” he said over the comm. He glanced at the vessel ID. “The Peacekeeper. ”
“We’ll stay with you,” Lando said. “We can cover each other.”
“Great!” Han was having the time of his life. “Ain’t this fun, guys?”
“Han, what are you planning to do?” Salla inquired apprehensively.
“Oh, I just thought I might zip by the Peacekeeper’s bridge and wave at the captain,” Han said with cheery good humor. “Just a friendly little visit …”
“Han!” Salla protested. “I’d rather we all lived through this!”
“Crazy Corellian …” Lando muttered.
“Hey,” Han said. “What are you worryin’ about? It’s me!”
Captain Reldo Dovlis, in command of the Imperial Dreadnaught Peacekeeper, shook his head in disgust. “Cease fire!” he snapped. “It’s not real. It can’t be. Our shots haven’t taken out a single ship. And none of their shots have done us the slightest bit of harm. We’re just wasting our fire and our time.”
His sensor operator looked up. “Sensors still indicate that what we are seeing is real, sir.”
“Sensors are lying, then,” Dovlis snarled. He studied the tactical array, and saw a number of ships heading for Peacekeeper’s stern, coming fast. “Vessels approaching from the rear,” he said. “Turn to bring our forward turbolaser battery to bear on them. Lock in weapons. Prepare to fire on my order.”
Slowly the big ship began to swing around. Dovlis kept a sharp watch on the approaching vessels, and was relieved to see that he’d have time to fire several salvos at them. From the size of them, that ought to—
His pilot gave a strangled yelp, and the Peacekeeper shuddered. Red laser fire spattered against Peacekeeper’s forward shield.
A bare second later a ship swooped by, so close to the bridge viewscreen that even Dovlis yelled and ducked. The ship, a small, battered SoroSuub freighter, executed a perfect inside loop and came back for a second run.
They’re not all phantoms! Dovlis realized. “Turn back!” he shouted. “Fire on that ship!”
Peacekeeper began turning back again. Now Dovlis could see the smuggler fleet again, and he gasped at how close they were.
Two more beat-up freighters strafed the Peacekeeper.
“Target those vessels!” the Captain ordered. “Fire!”
Mako Spince’s crew had managed to jury-rig some repairs to the Dragon Pearl, so the Hutt yacht now had partial starboard shielding, and her hull leaks had been sealed. Her sublight speeds were still impaired, but Mako was willing to risk taking her back into battle. Captain Renthal had assigned a Y-wing fighter to accompany him, and the swift, powerful little ship now cruised beside him, prepared to keep incoming off his weakened starboard side.
Scanning the tactical and sensor arrays, Mako saw that he was now in range of his target, the Imperial bulk cruiser Liquidator. The ship was still pointing its stern toward the oncoming smuggler and pirate vessels, still vulnerable to attack.
“Mako,” Blue said, “we’re within firing range.”
Mako nodded at the beautiful smuggler pilot. “Great! I’m going to let the Y-wing have first pass, then we’ll get in our licks. Instruct the gunnery crew to target his left rear deflector, right over his engine room. We want to hit him in the same place as the Y-wing.”
“Right,” Blue muttered, and relayed the order.
Mako was grateful to have that Y-wing to help cover his starboard side.