Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 01_ Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson [127]
A pair of wasplike Z-95 Headhunters streaked after them, shooting fire-linked banks of triple blasters; close behind followed three battered Y-wing long-range fighters.
Luke spun around and whistled in surprise. “Headhunters! I didn’t think anybody used those anymore!”
“Doole couldn’t be choosy, I guess,” Lando said.
The Falcon rocked with several direct blaster hits; the fresh and fully charged shields held, though, for the moment.
Lando dropped the blaster cannon through its ventral hatch, then fired back at the pursuers. After five prolonged shots, Lando managed to hit the exhaust nacelle of a Y-wing, forcing it to break formation and peel off for repairs.
“One down—only about a thousand more to go,” Lando said.
The Z-95 Headhunters pummeled them with repeated blaster fire, as if to punish the Falcon.
“Go down close to the planet and skim the atmosphere,” Luke said. “Let’s burn them up in the energy shield.”
Lando set course for the lumpy world of Kessel as he voiced his complaints. “We can’t detect that energy shield either. How do you know we won’t get disintegrated ourselves?”
“We’ve got better reactions than they do.”
Lando didn’t seem convinced. “I’ve already almost flown into an energy shield once during our attack on the Death Star. I’m not anxious to repeat the process.”
“Trust me,” Luke said.
Kessel swelled in front of them, pockmarked and wreathed in a cottony halo of escaping air. “We’re getting close.”
Luke held the back of the pilot chair, his eyes half-closed. He breathed regularly, reaching out, sensing the pulsing power generated as a protective blanket by the garrison moon.
“Don’t fall asleep on me, Luke!”
“Keep flying.”
The Headhunters swooped after, flanked by the remaining pair of Y-wings.
“The aft deflector shield is starting to feel the pounding,” Lando said. “If these guys get any closer, they’re going to fly up my exhaust ports!”
“Get ready,” Luke said.
Kessel filled their entire viewport now, boiling with its turbulent thin-air storms, tiny plumes from the numerous atmosphere factories tracing lines above the landscape.
“I’m ready, I’m ready! Just say the word and I—”
“Pull up, now!”
Lando’s tension helped him react like a spring-loaded catapult. He hauled up on the controls, ripping the Falcon straight up in a tight cartwheel. Taken by surprise, all four of the attacking ships splattered into clouds of ignited fuel and ionized metal as they slammed into the invisible energy shield.
“Missed it by a couple of meters at least,” Luke said. “Relax, Lando.”
Artoo bleeped, and Luke answered him after looking at the expression on Lando’s face. “No, Artoo, I don’t think he’s interested in an exact measurement.”
They soared just above the atmosphere on a tight orbit that took them around Kessel’s poles. The curtain of stars rolled out from the edge of the planet as the landscape sped beneath them; then they looped back into space in a mad dash to escape.
They ran straight into the wave of fighters belching out of the garrison moon.
Yelling in surprise, Lando launched a pair of Arkayd concussion missiles from the front tubes. The density of approaching ships was so great that even the wild shots scored twice, taking out a TIE fighter and a blast boat, while the hot debris cloud destroyed a heavily armed B-wing.
“Let’s not get cocky because we took care of a couple of ships. I’ve got only six more missiles.”
“We will not surrender now,” Luke said.
“No, I just mean we’re running, not fighting. At least the engines are in tip-top condition,” Lando said. “The Falcon hasn’t been this pampered since I owned her.”
“How fast can we get out of here?” Luke asked.
Jacked next to the copilot’s chair, Artoo chittered and bleeped. Luke glanced down and saw rows of flickering red lights on the navigation panel. “Uh oh.”
“What is he saying?” Lando said. He flicked his gaze from the ships swarming by the front viewport to the little astromech droid. “What’s wrong