• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

He closed his eyes, feeling the air rush past, feeling the living Force around him, the great pulsing life of Sekot, the unseen floor, his own body, all one in the Force—

And relaxed. He kept his hands loosely around the cable, but put no pressure on it. He was really falling now, his body tending horizontal as the atmosphere pushed against it. Fear tried to rise up and take him, but he batted it away. There was nothing to be afraid of—he knew he could do this.

Of course, he’d always had a little trouble with levitation …

He had to get the moment exactly right, and he had to trust the Force to let him know when it was.

It came. He clamped down on the jacket, and his arms felt like they were coming out of their sockets. The smell of scorched synthleather filled his nostrils, and he felt the floor coming up, still too fast. He pushed, pushed in the Force—

—and slammed into the ground. He let his knees buckle, released the jacket, and rolled.

“Ouch,” he murmured.

Nom Anor heard something strike the floor, not too far away, and without even having to look, he knew the Jedi had somehow found a way to come down the shaft after him.

He cursed under his breath and ran for the lift. They couldn’t catch him now—he would either have to help them reverse his sabotage or die along with them, neither of which figured very prominently in his plans. He was still unarmed, except for the plaeryin bol.

The lift came in sight, but he heard running footfalls behind him. He lurched to a stop in front of the car, pushed out the crate that was blocking it, and punched at the ascent control.

Only then did he look up to see how close his pursuer was. Corran Horn was just rounding a bank of equipment, his lightsaber blazing. He was coming fast, but not fast enough.

“Nom Anor!” he shouted. “Fight me!”

Nom Anor actually laughed at that. “I wouldn’t fight the Solo brat at Yag’Dhul,” he shouted, as the door closed. “Why in the galaxy would I fight you?”

The lift started up.

Now he had a few seconds to think. Horn would unjam a lift and follow him, but he hadn’t seen Tahiri. She was probably still at the top, waiting for the lift door to open. Maybe Harrar was with her. Could he take them both?

He had to, obviously, or all of this would be for naught.

They already knew his identity. The shaper must not have been as dead as he thought she was.

He spent the next few seconds marshaling his strength, knowing this would either be his moment of triumph, or another failure.

The door opened.

THIRTY

Thunder seemed to rumble through Mon Mothma as the ship turned ponderously broadside to bring her guns to bear on the lead Yuuzhan Vong destroyer analog. The destroyer, already in a position to fire, held its ground and unloaded, pounding the deflectors mercilessly. Wedge could almost hear the Yuuzhan Vong commander’s triumphant gloat—by the time the Mothma’s main batteries were in position to strike at him, its shields would have failed.

Which was why it was good that that was not really what Wedge had in mind, after all.

“Now,” he said quietly. “Engage the tractor beam.”

The entire ship jolted and hummed as its structure tried to compensate for suddenly being attached to another mass of even greater size. Both ships suddenly began to pivot in ponderous slow motion.

“They’ve broken the lock, sir,” Cel informed him.

“That was plenty,” Wedge replied, repressing a grin. They had managed to roll the destroyer right into the path of a Yuuzhan Vong Dreadnaught, effectively blocking fire from it to either the Mothma or the heavy Mon Cal cruiser Vortex Wind that was coming up behind. The Yuuzhan Vong ship not only was serving as a shield for them, but was now exposed to fire from both Alliance ships, as well. Wedge watched in satisfaction as huge chunks of the vessel went white, fading through blue to red, then black. A seam of internal explosions ran down the spiny length of the destroyer, ripping it apart.

Cheers went up from the bridge crew.

That put them ahead of the game, in terms of numbers.

“Continue