Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 20_ The Final Prophecy - J. Gregory Keyes [100]
“I hope he isn’t here,” C-3PO said. “I so dislike unplanned reversions. They cause an unpleasant resonance in my circuits.”
“That’s great,” Han said. “All I need now is a hypochondriac droid.”
“Sir, it is quite impossible for a droid to be a hypochondriac.”
“If you say so, Goldenrod. Okay, here goes.”
Han pulled back on the levers, and the Falcon decanted as effortlessly as she ever had—in fact, more smoothly than usual. “Well, whaddya know,” he said. “We came out normally. Guess that means—”
“—that we’re too far from the interdictor,” Leia finished. “Just barely.”
Leia was right. His instruments showed the gravitic profile of not one dovin basal interdictor, but two. The Falcon had flashed into existence marginally outside the field of effect of the nearest. If he’d been set to revert just a little farther in, he would have made good on his prediction.
“Oh, dear,” C-3PO said. “It looks as if General Antilles is here. And not doing very well!”
“Yeah,” Han agreed. “You can say that again.” He looked sharply at the droid. “But don’t.”
The system was swarming with Yuuzhan Vong ships. The nearest was one of the interdictors, hanging in space like a sword with two blades and no grip. Beyond it was a stationary mass of skips and a few cruisers, apparently guarding the interdictor against attack. Farther insystem was the main battle, where ten Yuuzhan Vong capital ships—two of which were behemoths—were engaged with what was left of Wedge’s battle group.
Which wasn’t much—Han counted four Alliance ships of frigate size or larger. They were clustered together, trying to avoid being encircled, but—as C-3PO had pointed out—it didn’t seem to be going so well.
Beyond all of that was another interdictor. It, like the one near the Falcon, was keeping its distance, moving only to keep the Alliance ships from going to hyperspace.
“Ouch,” Han said. “He needs reinforcements, and he needs them now.”
“It’s a disaster,” Leia murmured. Then she straightened and got that Jedi look in her eye.
“What?”
“It’s Jaina.”
He waited for her to continue, his heart frozen in his chest.
“She’s alive,” Leia said, “and I don’t think she’s injured. But something’s wrong.”
“If she’s down there, I guess so,” Han said, swallowing.
“There must be something we can do!” C-3PO wailed.
“There is,” Leia told him.
“Yeah,” Han said, looking at the interdictor. “There is.”
“Whatever—sir, you’re not going to attack the interdictor? We barely survived the last time!”
“They haven’t noticed we’re here yet,” Han said. “They don’t even have any ships on this side. We’ve got a good clean shot at them. With a little surprise on our side, a little know-how—sure, why not?”
“But our weapons aren’t sufficient to incapacitate a ship of that size,” the droid pointed out.
Leia leaned over and kissed Han on the cheek. “That’s never stopped him before.”
Han felt the lump in his throat swell, but he forced a smile. “This is just more of the usual, Threepio. Don’t worry yourself.”
He opened a channel to the TIEs.
“Captain Devis, can I trust you to advise Grand Admiral Pellaeon of this situation immediately?”
“I thought you were going to do that, sir,” Devis replied.
“Pellaeon might not arrive in time. He might even decide not to come at all, given the situation. Heck, he might have troubles of his own. We’re going to stay and take out that interdictor.”
“That could be quite a task,” Devis said.
“All in a day’s work,” Han replied. “Just hurry up and bring us a little relief, will you?”
“I’ll send a wingmate,” Devis said, “but I’m staying to help.”
“I—” Han looked back at the battle, remembering that Jaina was down there, somewhere. “I would appreciate the help, Captain Devis. Thank you.”
He laced his fingers together and cracked them. “All right,” he said, “let’s get this show on the road.”
He turned to Leia. “Sweetheart, could you get to one of the turbolasers?