Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 01_ Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson [3]
The instant Han pressed the firing button, Chewbacca threw the Falcon into an evasive roll. The laser blasts went wide, spraying toward the distant stars. The TIE fighter’s shot also missed, streaking in the opposite direction and coming perilously close to striking the second TIE fighter.
The second fighter managed to readjust his aim quickly enough that his two shots scored the Falcon’s shields. Han heard sparks spraying from the control panels. Chewie bellowed a preliminary damage report. Aft shields gone. Forward shields still holding well. That meant they had to take the TIE fighters head-on.
As the first fighter swung around for a third pass, Han swiveled his gun turret as far as it would go and stared at the targeting screen again. This time he would forget about finesse and perfect accuracy. He just wanted to blast the sucker. His lasers were fully charged, and he could afford to waste a few shots, as long as this wasn’t going to be a prolonged battle.
As soon as the targeting cross touched the image of the fighter, Han squeezed his firing buttons at full power, strafing his deadly laser across the path of the incoming ship. The Imperial fighter swooped in but could not change its course quickly enough, plowing through the shower of laser bolts.
The ship erupted into a flame-flower of exploding fuel tanks and expanding atmosphere. Han and Chewbacca shouted their triumph in unison. Even euphoric, Han didn’t sit around patting himself on the back.
“Let’s go after the other one, Chewie.” The second TIE fighter swerved outward in a long trajectory, then headed back toward Kessel. “Hurry, before those reinforcements can get here.”
He wondered if perhaps he and Chewbacca shouldn’t turn and flee immediately. But part of him refused to let anybody take pot-shots at the Millennium Falcon and just walk away from it.
Chewbacca increased speed, closing the gap between the Falcon and the TIE fighter. “Just get me one good shot, Chewie. One good shot.”
He was in an unmarked modified light freighter—why would the TIE fighters come out shooting at them in the first place? Was it the New Republic ID beacon? What was going on at Kessel? Leia sat around thinking about details like that, analyzing the possibilities, and coming up with scenarios. With her tremendous load of diplomatic duties, she was becoming more and more of a thinker each day, trying to solve things by committee and negotiation. But a political solution wouldn’t work if an Imperial TIE fighter came in shooting at you.
Another ship soared up from behind as they chased the TIE fighter toward Kessel. Han shot off a few bursts from his laser, but they all missed; then he turned his attention to the ship tailing them. The Falcon had no operational shields back there.
Chewbacca called out again from below; then Han got his second surprise for the day. “I see it, I see it!”
An X-wing fighter approached from the rear, slowly gaining on the Falcon as they neared Kessel. Han took another potshot at the TIE fighter. Even from this distance the X-wing fighter seemed old and battered, as if it had been repaired many times.
“Chewie, contact the X-wing and tell him we’d appreciate whatever help he can give us.” Han pressed his back against the firing chair and focused his attention on his target.
The fleeing TIE fighter soared into the wispy tail of atmosphere behind the planet. Han could see a bright pathway as the speed of the ship ionized the gas.
Then the X-wing fired on the Falcon from behind. The lasers scored a direct hit, incinerating the protruding sensor dish mounted on the top of the ship.
Han and Chewie shouted at each other,