Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 01_ Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson [113]
Kessel’s moon approached, looking like a hollowed sphere with most of the rock scooped out to house a large internal hangar and the enormous generators and transmitters that created the protective energy shield surrounding the planet.
After they landed, Moruth Doole strutted out of the shuttle, gesturing them to follow with an impatience that made Luke curious. Doole stood waiting for them as Artoo worked his way down the ramp and into the giant grotto. Behind a transparent atmosphere-containment screen, Luke could see stars and the trailing wisps of gas looping around the black hole cluster.
Doole seemed prouder of his defensive fleet than he was of any other aspect of the Kessel operations. “Follow me.”
He waddled across the rock floor of the hangar bay, leading them along rows and rows of fighter craft arranged in seemingly random order. They passed ships Luke found familiar and others so exotic he could not even identify them. He called on his knowledge as a fighter pilot to assess the fleet: X-wings, Y-wings, powerful Corellian Corvettes, a single B-wing, TIE fighters, TIE interceptors, four TIE bombers, several Skipray blastboats, gamma-class assault shuttles. In space, like prizes around the ragged opening of the moon, hovered larger attack ships—three Carrack cruisers, two big Lancer frigates, a single Loronar strike cruiser.
“After we drove out the Empire,” Doole said, “I placed the highest priority on a defensive fleet. I bought every fighter I could find, no matter what its condition, and hired experienced mechanics from the Corellian sector of Nar Shaddaa.”
He grinned with his amphibian lips. “We just got the energy shield operational again two days ago. I can heave a big sigh of relief now. With the shields finally up and our new fleet as a backup, Kessel is safe and independent. We can set glitterstim prices across the galaxy without interference from anybody.”
“Sure is a lot of ships,” Lando agreed. “I’m impressed.”
Luke recalled how much trouble the New Republic had obtaining sufficient fighting ships during Admiral Thrawn’s guerrilla campaigns. If Moruth Doole had been pulling all the strings he could to obtain every functional ship in the sector, no wonder supplies had been so limited.
“We should be able to defend against spice pirates, don’t you think?” Doole said.
They kept walking along the rows of parked ships. Suddenly Lando froze, and Luke felt a surge of shocked emotion from him. Artoo began chittering wildly. Luke looked around until he saw one modified light freighter of Corellian manufacture—a ship that looked decidedly familiar.
“What is it?” Doole asked, looking down at the droid.
Lando took a moment to regain his composure. He rapped his knuckles on Artoo’s top dome. “Stray cosmic ray, I suppose. Occasionally these old astromech units frazzle a circuit.” He swallowed. “Could I speak with my assistant for a moment in private, Moruth?”
“Oh, uh, of course.” Doole discreetly backed away. “I’ll go make sure the mechanics are prepping the shuttle for our return to Kessel.” He turned to Luke and forced humor into his tone. “Now, don’t go talking your boss out of making an investment here!”
The moment Doole moved out of earshot, Lando nodded excitedly to the freighter. “That’s the Falcon, Luke! I know her like a krabbex knows its shell!”
Luke looked at the ship, recognizing it himself but wanting more proof. “You positive?”
“It’s the Falcon, Luke. I owned her, remember, before Han stole her from me in a sabacc game. If you look, you can see the streaking scar on top where I knocked off the subspace antenna dish trying to zip away from the Death Star.”
Luke also noticed scorch marks from a recent space combat. “They could have changed the markings, wiped the memory core. Is there any other way we can prove it?”
“Just get me inside the cockpit. Han’s made some modifications to the ship nobody else would