Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 05_ Agents of Chaos 02_ Jedi Eclipse - James Luceno [114]
Intrigued, Han leaned toward the viewport to have a closer look at the ship, then immediately changed course, vectoring directly for the newcomer.
“One on one,” he snarled. “We can live with those odds.”
With the Falcon up on its side once more, Han and Droma assailed the clustership with sustained bursts from the dorsal and ventral quad lasers. Most of the bolts were engulfed by gravitic anomalies long before they reached the ship, but a surprising few got through. The reason became clear when Han realized that the vessel was taking rear fire from a motley group of New Republic fighters. Overtaxed and distracted, the dovin basals that shielded the Yuuzhan Vong vessel were obviously failing.
Caution forgotten, Han at once sharpened the angle of their attack and shed velocity so that the clustership would come across the Falcon’s vector. When it did, he and Droma opened up with both guns, hammering the enemy with massive outpourings of energy. Gas and flame belched from the ship, then one of the spherical components imploded, deflating as if pricked by a pin. Slowing, the ship began to list to port, then rolled completely over, like a defeated creature showing its belly to an aggressor.
“Thanks for the assist, YT-1300,” someone said over the hailing channel.
“The pilot of the lead X-wing,” Droma clarified.
“That’s no military squadron,” Han said.
“When did the fighting start, YT?”
Han opened a channel to the fighters. “The enemy checked in just ahead of you. The shipyards are already under bombardment. Who are you guys?”
“Kyp’s Dozen,” the pilot said.
“Kyp Durron! What in blazes are you doing out here?”
Put off his guard, Kyp fell silent for a moment. “Han, is that you?” he asked tentatively.
“None other.”
“Is that a new paint job, or did you accidentally bring the Falcon too close to a star?”
“Long story.”
“So is ours. We’ve been chasing that bubble ship since Kalarba. The Yuuzhan Vong have captives aboard, Wurth Skidder among them. What about you?”
“The freighter at your starboard marooned a group of refugees somewhere in this system. I figure we can convince them to show us where they made the drop.”
“If you’re headed back into that fray, you could do with some support. I’ll assign two of my people to fly with you.”
“I’ll take them. But what are you planning to do about the captives?”
“Go aboard and rescue them.”
Han uttered a laugh. “Leave it to a Jedi to take on the impossible.”
“It’s our mandate,” Kyp said.
“We’ll be back to help out as soon as we can,” Han promised.
“May the Force be with you, Han.”
“Yeah, you too.”
At Orbital Shipyard 1321, the Star Destroyer Amerce was nearing completion—one of thirty such massive warships being readied at Fondor, in addition to hundreds of smaller vessels. Owing to having had to retrofit a flotilla of ships with hyperwave inertial momentum sustainers, several of the major yards had fallen behind schedule, but confidence was high at 1321 that work on the Amerce would conclude within a local month. The launch would finally mean leave for the tens of thousands of shipfitters who had spent the better part of a standard year working on the great ship, shoulder to shoulder with droids and other machines, frequently for back-to-back shifts, and sometimes in zero-g for days on end.
Creed Mitsun, human foreman of a mixed-species crew of electricians, was more eager than most for leave.The substantial credits he’d amassed were programming an escape route from his bank account, and his companion of the past two years—an exotic dancer who worked in Fondor City—was threatening to return to Sullust if Mitsun didn’t get himself down the well before too long.
Lately not a relative day passed when Mitsun didn’t wake from dreams