Star Wars_ The Jedi Academy Trilogy 03_ Champions of the Force - Kevin J. Anderson [36]
Han cut him off with a raised hand. “Never quote me the odds. You know better than that.”
Lando grinned. “Yeah, I know, I know. So what are we going to do? What was the point of coming to this system?”
Han pressed his lips together, searching for an answer. It had felt right to come to Carida to pick up Kyp’s trail. “I want to see what he saw,” he said, “think like he might have been thinking. What was going through his mind?”
“You know him better than I do, buddy. If he ignited the Cauldron Nebula to wipe out Admiral Daala, and now he blew up the Imperial military training center, where would he go next? Think for yourself. What would be your next target?”
Han stared out at the inferno of what had been Carida’s sun. “If my goal was to strike out at the Empire, causing as much damage as possible … I would head for …” He turned sharply and looked at Lando.
Lando’s deep-brown eyes flew open. “That’s too dangerous. He wouldn’t go there!”
Han said, “I don’t think dangerous has anything to do with it.”
“Let me guess. Next, you’ll say that we’re going to follow him to the Core Systems.”
“You got it, old buddy.” Han set the coordinates in the navicomputer, and he heard Lando mumble to himself.
“Now I’ll never get to Kessel on time.”
The glowing gases of Carida’s exploded star funneled around them as space elongated. The Falcon shot into hyperspace, heading far behind enemy lines and deep into the heart of the remaining forces of the Empire.
Near the bright heart of the galaxy, where stars lay close together in uncharted configurations, the resurrected Emperor had gathered his defenses to make a last stand. But since Palpatine’s destruction, the Imperial warlords had fought each other for control. With no military genius like Grand Admiral Thrawn to unify the remnants, the Imperial war machine had withdrawn into the protected Core Systems. The warlords had left the victorious New Republic to lick its wounds while they vied for supremacy in their own corner of the galaxy.
But when one military leader managed to come out on top, the forces would strike against the New Republic. Unless Kyp Durron destroyed them first.
Han and Lando found an exploded red-dwarf star on the fringes of the Core. The small, dim sun had been unremarkable, and according to the Falcon’s planetary atlas, had no habitable worlds. However, scouts had determined that the red-dwarf system sheltered a starship-construction yard, weapons depot, and storage for archives shielded in thick vaults deep within several lifeless, rocky planets.
Han looked out the viewport and saw that the small star had exploded in a less-spectacular fashion than Carida’s sun, a fizzle without enough mass to generate a significant chain reaction. But the shock fronts had still pulverized and incinerated the closely orbiting planets.
“He’s done it again,” Han said. “You can’t miss a trail like the one Kyp is leaving.”
Lando squinted at the scanners. “I’m tracking eleven Victory-class Star Destroyers heading out of the system.”
“That’s just great,” Han said. He had enough to worry about with Kyp and the Sun Crusher; he didn’t want to tangle with an Imperial fleet at the same time. “Have they picked us up yet?”
“Don’t think so. There’s still a lot of radiation and interference from that explosion. Looks to me like they just packed up and ran.”
Han felt hope blossom in him. “You think this happened recently? Kyp just triggered the star explosion?”
“Could be.”
“All right. Then you’d better scan for—”
“Already got him, Han. The Sun Crusher is sitting high above the ecliptic like he’s just … watching.”
“Plot a course,” Han said, sitting up straight. “We’re going after him. Full speed.”
He punched the thrusters, and the Falcon’s bank of sublight engines blazed white. The acceleration shoved Han and Lando back into their seats as the ship made a graceful loop, heading above