Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 03_ Champions of the Force - Kevin J. Anderson [14]
Chewbacca just wished the pilot would hurry up and take off. He blew out a long sigh through his rubbery lips, thinking uneasily of Han. He had waited a long time for an opportunity to rescue the tortured Wookiee slaves, though.
When he, Han, and young Kyp Durron had been captured by Admiral Daala at Maw Installation, Chewbacca had been forced to work with captive Wookiees aboard the Star Destroyers and down in the Installation itself. The Wookiees had been imprisoned for more than ten years, working at hard labor, and the resistance had gone out of them. The thought of their ruined lives made Chewbacca’s blood boil.
Not long ago, with Threepio’s dubious abilities as translator, Chewbacca had addressed the New Republic Council. He urged them to occupy the Installation and rescue the Wookiee prisoners, as well as to keep the new weapon designs from falling into Imperial hands. Seeing Mon Mothma’s support, the Council had agreed.
With a mechanical whir and a thump of metal against metal, the landing struts of the transport drew up inside the hull. With a lurch the transport rose on its repulsorlifts, then headed off the landing platform, rising into the sky as the metropolis of Imperial City glittered below.
Threepio began talking to himself. Chewbacca marveled at how sophisticated the droid’s electronic brain must be to consistently find so many things to complain about.
“I simply don’t understand why Mistress Leia ordered me to go with you. I am always happy to serve in any capacity, naturally, but I could have assisted greatly in watching the children while she visited Master Luke on Yavin 4. I’ve been doing a good job of taking care of the twins, haven’t I?”
Chewbacca grunted. Threepio continued. “True, we misplaced them at the Holographic Zoo for Extinct Animals, but that was only one time, and it all turned out right in the end.” He swiveled his golden head.
As the acceleration increased, Chewbacca closed his eyes and growled at him to be quiet. Threepio ignored him. “It would have been nice to see Artoo-Detoo again at Master Luke’s Jedi academy. I haven’t spoken to my counterpart in a long time.”
Threepio did not slow down as he changed subjects. “I really don’t know what use I’m expected to be on this military mission. I’ve never been very skilled at combat. I don’t like combat. I don’t like excitement in any form, though I seem to have encountered enough of it.”
Inertia pushed Chewbacca back against his uncomfortably small seat as the transport accelerated toward the congregation of battleships in orbit around Coruscant.
Threepio continued, and continued. “Of course I understand that I am technically supposed to help sift through the data in the Maw Installation computers, and I suppose I could be of some use translating the languages of alien scientists—but certainly there must be some other droid better qualified for that type of work? Isn’t General Antilles taking along an entire team of slicer droids to get encrypted information? Page’s Commandos are experts in this sort of thing. Why do I have to go along and do all the hard work? It seems unfair to me.”
Chewbacca barked a sharp command. Threepio turned to him with his yellow optical sensors glowing in indignation. “I will not be quiet, Chewbacca. Why should I listen to you after you put my head on backward in Cloud City?
“If you yourself had spoken up during the preparations for putting this team together, you could have convinced them to let me stay with Mistress Leia. But you thought I might be an asset to this mission, and now you’re just going to have to listen to me.”
With a sigh of annoyance Chewbacca reached over and hit the power switch on the back of Threepio’s neck. The droid fell silent, his words slurring to a stop as he slumped forward.
On the troop transport Page’s Commandos—noted for their intense training, cold efficiency,