Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 09_ Edge of Victory 02_ Rebirth - J. Gregory Keyes [9]
When he realized the bumps were coralskippers, the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of starfighters, he suddenly grasped the scale. The thing was the size of a Dreadnaught.
And it was coming for them. It was almost certainly what had yanked them so brutally out of hyperspace.
Jacen snapped out of his fog of confusion and pushed away from the bulkhead. He was in the dorsal gunner’s turret. He’d been sitting there in contemplation before the sudden terrifying jolt. His head was bleeding, but not critically, so far as he could tell.
He pulled himself quickly along the rungs of the ladder into the main cabin. He fought the feeling of falling; it had been a while since he had done any zero-g training.
“Mom! Dad!” His voice rang in the silent ship. A primitive part of him cringed at the sound, warning him that the predator outside would hear him. It couldn’t, of course, not through the vacuum, but human instincts were older than space travel.
He got no answer. Frantic now, he pushed himself through the darkness to the cockpit.
He found them there, and for a heart-stopping moment thought they were dead, so still were they in the Force. But both were breathing.
“Dad!” He gently shook his father’s shoulder, but got no more than a reflexive response. Still gently, fear overcoming reluctance, he probed a little in the Force, suggesting the older man awake.
Han Solo stirred. “Huh? Whzzat!” Then he jerked fully alert, saw Jacen, and pulled back his fist.
“It’s me, Dad!” Jacen said. Next to him, his mother began to stir, too. He couldn’t feel anything seriously wrong with either of them. They had both been strapped in their crash couches.
“Jacen?” Han murmured. “What’s going on? What happened?”
“I was hoping you knew. As near as I can tell, we’ve been interdicted by a Yuuzhan Vong ship. It’s out there right now. I don’t think we have much time.”
Han rubbed his eyes and looked at the control panel, where a few feeble lights were still clinging to life. He let out a long, low whistle.
“That’s not good,” he said.
“Han? Jacen?” Leia Organa Solo sat straighter in the crash couch. “What’s happening?”
“The usual,” Han replied, flipping switches. A few more indicators came on. “Power system’s off-line, artificial gravity off-line, emergency life support on its last legs, big ship full of bad guys outside.”
“A really big ship,” Jacen added.
“Just like old times.” Leia sighed.
“Hey, I told you it would be like a second honeymoon.” Han’s voice dropped lower and grew more serious. “You all right?”
“I’m fine,” Leia said. “I’m wondering what made us black out.”
“Probably the same thing that fried the power couplings,” Han remarked. Then his eyes widened. “Oh, no.”
“I told you it was big,” Jacen said, as their lateral drift brought the Yuuzhan Vong ship into view.
“Do something, Han,” Leia said. “Do something now.”
“I’m doing, I’m doing,” he muttered, working at the controls. “But unless someone wants to get out and push …”
“Why aren’t they doing anything?” Leia wondered.
“They probably think we’re dead in space,” Han replied. “They may be right.”
“Yes, but—” She stopped. Two of the coralskippers had detached from the larger vessel and were coming toward the Falcon.
Han unbuckled himself. “Take my seat, Jacen. I had a shielded power core installed, but the couplings have to be changed.”
“I’ll do it.”
“You don’t know the Falcon well enough. You two stay up here. The second I give you power, go, and I mean, go.”
“We’re too close. They’ll snatch us with their dovin basals.”
“They’ll snatch us for sure if we sit here.”
He kicked back through the doorway and was gone, swallowed by the darkness beyond.