Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order 21_ The Unifying Force - James Luceno [169]
Pursued anew by coralskippers, the Falcon raced across the devastated cityscape, then down into blazing chasms and corridors thick with roiling smoke. The landscape was jagged with ferrocrete debris; the remains of superstructures jutted up at odd angles, like experimental sculpture.
“This place isn’t worth saving,” Jaina said in a stricken voice.
“Shimrra obviously feels the same,” Harrar said, equally disheartened.
Homing in on the beacon, Han veered the Falcon slightly north and began a slow descent through the smoke. He realized that they were going to be setting down at the western terminus of the Glitannai Esplanade—but principally because the map display established as much. Formerly a stretch of fashionable shops and restaurants spread across the spacious rooftops of Judicial Plaza, the Glitannai was now a deep canyon, spanned in a few places by organiform bridges and channeling a flow of whitewater toward the Citadel.
Aware of the Falcon’s approach, Alliance soldiers began to appear on a spacious sheltered balcony that jutted out over the former promenade and had been secured by commandos for use as a landing zone. Engaging the repulsorlifts, Han steered the ship onto the ledge and let her settle down on her landing gear. Just to be on the safe side, he lowered the repeating blaster from its hidden compartment in the forward hull, and activated the interrupter template that would prevent the weapon from damaging the landing ramp or hard-stand.
Last to file from the cockpit, Han found Leia, Luke, Mara, Tahiri, and Kenth waiting in the ring corridor, already sheathed in biosuits. While Jacen and Jaina were slipping into their suits, he palmed the bulkhead switch that extended the entry ramp.
“Cakhmaim, Meewalh,” he shouted toward the forward compartment. “You and the droids remain aboard. We’re not going to be here long.”
Heads ducked, the Jedi landing party scrambled down the ramp. A scorching, debris-laden wind was howling across the balcony, tearing at the enviro-suits worn by the soldiers who approached the ship.
“Welcome home,” Judder Page said, shouting to be heard as two A-wings streaked low overhead. “To, as we like to call it, ‘Necropolis.’ ”
Like his comrades, Page was wearing a jet pack and helmet, and carrying a blaster rifle. Along the lip of the balcony stood a dozen YVH droids. Han wasn’t surprised to spy a couple of Wraiths among the commando platoon, but Pash Cracken was the last person he had expected to see.
Jaina was even more stunned to see Jag Fel, who was waiting with a few others for a shuttle that would convey them to Westport, where there were starfighters that needed pilots. Jaina hurried to Jag while Page began to brief Luke, Kenth, Mara, and Jacen on the situation planetside.
“The Shamed Ones are up in arms, but word has it that Shimrra has issued an extermination order. He’s blaming them for every reversal the Yuuzhan Vong have faced, and is determined to see every last one of them die, along with Coruscant itself.”
“How fortified is the sacred precinct?” Luke asked, as the wind whipped his hair about his face.
“Several thousand ground troops, some reptoid slave soldiers,” Cracken said, “but not much in the way of air support.” He nodded to the flashing sky. “Most of the skips have gone upside.”
“The better for us,” Luke said.
Leia stepped into the howling wind to embrace her brother and Mara, then hugged Jacen as if she wasn’t going to let him go. She did the same with Jaina after Jaina had said hello and good-bye to Jag.
“Luke,” Leia started to say.
“They’re in my keeping, Leia,” he said of Jaina and Jacen. “But all of us are in the custody of the Force.”