Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 20_ The Final Prophecy - J. Gregory Keyes [104]
Prann kept the blaster on her, his face contorted with fury.
“She’s right, Erli,” Ghanol said. “We have to fight our way out now.”
Prann’s finger twitched on the blaster contact—then he slammed it back into his holster.
“To the guns, then. But so help me, Jedi, you’re going to pay for this.”
Han cut hard in next to the station as the shields went on. The next instant, heavy laserfire began pounding the interdictor. Now his only worry was the dozen or so skips still on his tail, his own failing shields, and twenty other things that were going wrong in his ship.
“Hang on, everybody,” he said. “This is going to be tight.”
“Han,” Leia called up.
“Little busy right now, honey,” he said.
“Jaina’s in that station.”
“Really? There ought to be a good story behind this one—but hey, that’s our girl.”
“I don’t think—Han, she’s still in trouble.”
“Oh, yeah?” He yawed and straightened, leading a skip through cannon fire. “Well, we’ll see about that.”
“Sir!” Cel shouted. “The Golan Two just appeared right next to the Interdictor. It’s really giving it a pounding!”
Wedge looked at the display, not believing what he was seeing.
“How did they move it?” he wondered.
It didn’t matter. “Change heading. When that field goes down, I want to be out of range of the other one. We’ll take up the rear.”
Ponderously and under heavy fire, what remained of his tattered fleet turned to obey. All except Mon Mothma.
The ships between them and the interdictor had realigned to deal with the battle station. His battle group had a clear run at it, but someone had to prevent that other interdictor from keeping pace with them. And since this was his fiasco, it looked like he was elected.
THIRTY-THREE
“Remember, you’re supposed to be training me,” Tahiri commented as she and Corran moved to stand back to back. “What does the wise Jedi do in a situation like this?” The warriors were advancing toward them in a tightening circle. In the distance, near where the tops of the field guides could be seen, the sky was a mass of white vapor.
“The wise Jedi avoids situations like this,” Corran said.
“Oh,” Tahiri said. “I don’t guess I know any wise Jedi, then. Very disillusioning.”
She counted thirty warriors.
“Right,” Corran said. “And that’s your lesson for the day—don’t hang on to your illusions.”
“I was hoping more for a crash course in ‘how to kick butt when you’re outnumbered thirty to two.’ ”
“Well, if you’re going to be picky about what I teach …”
“Quickly!” Nom Anor shouted, from near the ship. “There is little time.”
The circle contracted more rapidly. The ground trembled again, and pain pulsed through the Force. Pain and something else—something familiar.
She hadn’t had time to sort it out when a track of green laserfire ran through the warriors on their right flank, then their left, and suddenly a gleaming spacecraft come into view. It dropped to hover a few meters off the ground.
“Jade Shadow!” Corran whooped. “It’s Mara and Luke!”
Even as he said it, the landing ramp dropped down, and Luke Skywalker and Jacen Solo leapt out, followed by the hulking reptilian figure of Saba Sebatyne. Three new lightsabers flared to life. Then the Shadow leapt back up, turned, and began raining fire on the Yuuzhan Vong craft.
The remaining warriors shook off their stupor and charged, but Tahiri ignored them, tearing through one of the gaps cut by the Shadow. Nom Anor wasn’t watching her—instead he was dodging laserfire, trying to reach the landing ramp of the Yuuzhan Vong ship. He made it there only a few meters ahead of her, but as soon as he was on it, it began to retract.
With a war cry, she hurled herself through the air, landing on the ramp, sweeping her lightsaber toward the executor’s head.
Nom Anor ducked at the last instant and her lightsaber cut into the coral hull. He scrambled away from her, and she started to follow, but