Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 03_ Champions of the Force - Kevin J. Anderson [20]
A year before, the battle to regain Coruscant and overthrow the warring Imperial factions had been won only at the cost of incredible destruction. Many ruined battleships remained in low orbit, collected there in a great garbage pile. Crews had been dismantling them for months, repairing those that could be salvaged, sending others down to burn up as they made their spectacular descent through the atmosphere. Such work, though, had low priority during the crisis phase of the formation of the New Republic. A large junkyard of debris still orbited in well-marked lanes.
Terpfen, however, had previously scanned the placement of the twisted hulks and made his own personal orbital chart. He had found a dangerous path through the maze, so narrow he would have to fly with no margin for error—but it seemed his best chance. He was certain the alarm had sounded across Coruscant’s full security systems, and before long squadrons of fighters would come screaming in to converge on him.
Terpfen didn’t want to fight. He didn’t want to cause more death and damage. He wanted to escape as quickly and as painlessly as possible.
As he left the blanket of atmosphere behind him, the X-wings followed in his wake, firing in earnest now. Terpfen refused to shoot back, although if he crippled one or more of the starfighters, he would have an easier time escaping. But he did not want the death of an innocent pilot on his conscience. He had too many deaths to deal with already.
In the blackness of space he flitted past glimmering shards of metal, reactor pods, and hull plates from blasted freighters. He skimmed up and over a tangled cluster of girders and a largely intact planar solar array from a destroyed TIE fighter.
Up ahead the breached hull of a capital ship—a Loronar Strike Cruiser—hung as little more than a framework of structural beams and split plating after its hyperdrive engines had blown up during a direct hit.
Terpfen streaked toward the hulk, knowing that the blast cavity in its middle was wide enough for a B-wing to pass directly through. He had already studied the path, and he hoped the risk would cause his pursuers to pull back and give him just enough time to launch into hyperspace.
Without slowing Terpfen shot through a gaping opening in the Strike Cruiser’s hull. Two X-wings peeled off, another managed to follow directly in his wake. The fourth shifted a micron too far and clipped its wings against a ragged strut. The X-wing spun and slammed into the wreckage; its fuel cylinders detonated.
Terpfen felt claws of dismay sink into his heart. He had never meant for anyone to die.
The last X-wing hung hotly behind him, firing repeatedly in outrage at the death of his partner.
Terpfen checked his shields and saw that they had begun to fail under the pummeling. He did not blame the other pilot for his anger, but neither could he surrender now. He studied his control panels. The navicomputer had plotted the best course to the Yavin system.
Before his shields could buckle, Terpfen took a short course directly out of the orbital debris field. The X-wing came at him again with all weapons blazing. Upon reaching open space Terpfen punched the hyperdrive engines.
In an instant the B-wing shot forward, impossibly out of the reach of the other fighter. With white starlines that looked like spears to impale him, Terpfen vanished into hyperspace with a silent bang.
6
Standing in front of the Millennium Falcon, Han Solo held Leia in a long embrace. The oppressive humidity of the jungle moon clung to them like wet rags against their skin. Han hugged Leia again, smelling her scent. The corners of his lips drifted upward in a wistful smile. He could feel her trembling against him—or perhaps it was his own hands.
“I really do have to go, Leia,” he said. “I’ve got to find Kyp. Maybe I can stop him from blowing up more star systems and killing more people.”