Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 01_ Jedi Search - Kevin J. Anderson [88]
But he would never see any of them again if the shuttle didn’t survive passage through the Maw. Everything depended on Kyp Durron’s mysterious abilities.
Kyp struggled with the controls, guiding the shuttle through some of the most delicate, most difficult maneuvers Han had ever seen—and Kyp kept his eyes closed! The young man seemed to be seeing through a different set of eyes, looking at some path not apparent with normal vision. Staring at the deadly black holes all around the shuttle, Han wanted to close his own eyes, too.
Kyp continued to negotiate the implacable obstacle course intuitively, threading through fragile points of stability. Chewbacca sat frozen with his own tension, afraid to disturb the young man’s concentration.
Sparks flew on one of the far control panels as a shield gave out. Chewbacca growled as he jammed long fingers down on the controls, rerouting and spreading the remaining protection evenly around them. If a single gap appeared in the shields, the x-rays and fiery gases would tear them apart.
Kyp didn’t flinch. “Coming up on the end of this ride,” he said without opening his eyes. “There’s a gravitationally safe island in the middle of the cluster, like the eye of a storm.”
Han felt relief rush through him. “We’d better hide there for a while, recharge the power sources and make a few quick-and-dirty repairs.” Chewbacca grunted his agreement.
“And take a good long rest,” Kyp said. Han noticed a sheen of perspiration on his forehead. Despite his outward calm Kyp seemed to be concentrating enormously, straining his fledgling abilities. “We still have to find our way back out, you know.”
The swirling ionized gases parted like a curtain thrown aside to reveal the gravitational oasis in the cluster’s core, a safe haven for them to recuperate before returning to Coruscant.
“Made it!” Han said in a whisper.
But someone else had already found the hiding place.
Orbiting a small rocky island in the center of the Maw hung four gigantic Imperial Star Destroyers, bristling with weaponry.
Within a moment of their arrival swarms of TIE fighters poured out of the Star Destroyer hangar bays in a truly impressive show of force.
Han stared, unable to speak. They had just escaped execution at the hands of Skynxnex, the energy-spider attack in the spice mines, battle with the entire space fleet of Kessel, and destruction in the gravitational maze of the Maw. Now the shuttle’s shields were failing, they had no weapons—and an Imperial armada had just been launched at them.
“The way things are going, we’ll end up accidentally destroying the galaxy before suppertime,” Han said. “Kick all the engines back on, Chewie! Let’s turn this thing around. Kyp, find us another path out!”
“There aren’t many paths to choose from,” Kyp said.
The ship shuddered as if someone had kicked it from behind; then sparks sprayed out. Chewbacca groaned in dismay.
Han looked at the readouts. “All our shields just went out.” He stared at the four Star Destroyers and the waves of TIE fighters and TIE Interceptors surging toward them. “I feel like we’ve got a big targeting cross painted right on our hull,” Han said. “They can wipe us out with just a potshot.” He glanced around, searching for something hard enough to kick; he found a bulkhead and lashed out at it.
The comm crackled, and for a moment Han expected another threatening message from Moruth Doole, but the ionized gases and distortions of the black holes would ruin any transmission passing through the outer shell of the Maw.
Gruff words spilled out of the speakers. “Imperial shuttle, welcome! It has been a long time since we received word from the outside. Please provide your security access code. Our