Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 01_ Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson [133]
The last time anyone had left Maw Installation, it had been the construction engineers—and they had been given the wrong course, dooming them to fall into one of the black holes. This time, though, Admiral Daala and all the firepower at her disposal would spring out upon the unwary galaxy, ready to take it back.
The Sun Crusher vibrated from a thousand stresses as it rode the razor’s edge of gravity through the maelstrom of the Maw.
Kyp Durron sat at the simplified controls, next to the watchful eyes of Han Solo, but Han didn’t dream of interfering with Kyp’s intuition, no matter how nightmarish the path ahead seemed.
Kyp half closed his eyes as he looked through a mental vision of the perilous maze to safety. He jerked the ship to starboard, then plunged down, frantically avoiding unseen obstacles. Han kept a firm, reassuring pressure on the kid’s shoulder. Hot gas blazed around them like hell’s furnace.
Qwi Xux stared at Kyp and his blind piloting, her dark-blue eyes wide and her face transfixed with terror.
“Don’t worry,” Han said. “The kid knows what he’s doing. He’ll get us through, if anybody can.”
“But how is he doing it?” Qwi’s voice sounded flutey, like high-pitched notes played by an amateur performer.
“Not in any way your science can explain. I’m not sure I understand the Force myself, but I don’t question it. I used to think it was a hokey religion, but not anymore.”
Abruptly the curtains of gas parted in front of them, peeling away to reveal the black infinity of open space. At last they were free of the Maw!
In their mad run away from the forces of Kessel, Luke and Lando tried to push through the clustered capital ships. They winced simultaneously every time a bolt impacted the Falcon’s shields.
The mammoth form of the Loronar strike cruiser lay directly across their path, cutting them off from a dubious escape into the Maw. The ten ion cannons mounted in front of the strike cruiser belched destruction at them.
One bolt struck the Millennium Falcon dead on, and their systems flickered as sparks flew out of the control panels. Lando grabbed at the overrides and yelled to Luke, “Our shields are failing, and these guys don’t want to take prisoners.”
“Just get us into the Maw,” Luke said. “It’s our only chance.”
“I never thought I’d be keeping my fingers crossed for that to happen!” Lando hunched over the controls. “Artoo, see if you can pump up the front shields. We’re going to take quite a pounding from that strike cruiser when we pass by. One good hit and we’re fried.”
“Wait,” Luke said, squinting at the swirling gases ahead of them. “Something’s coming out!”
The thornlike form of the Sun Crusher streaked away from the cluster, leaving a trail of hot gases. A few moments later three fully armed Imperial-class Star Destroyers charged out of the Maw like banthas on fire.
Han’s sigh of relief turned into an exclamation of dismay as he saw the array of Kessel’s battle fleet massed in front of them, weapons already blazing. “Where did all those ships come from! They can’t still be waiting for us!”
Exhausted from his piloting ordeal, Kyp said, “Han, why is it that every time we escape, we end up in a worse situation than the one we left?”
“Just good timing, kid.” He slammed his fist down on the armored controls. “This isn’t fair! They should have given us up for dead days ago!”
Chewbacca yowled and jabbed his hairy finger at the viewport, pointing to a ship at the vanguard of the gathered attack forces. The Millennium Falcon.
Han’s lip curled downward. “I’m going to get that slime merchant who’s flying my ship. Don’t we have any of our laser cannons still operational?”
After rechecking the banks of instruments, Chewbacca granted a negative.
“Then we’ll ram them like we did that Star Destroyer.”
“Han,” Kyp said, “it