• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 2049 0

the Yuuzhan Vong in his unprotected armpit, twirling him fully around and sending him plummeting from the shoulders of two warriors who had been providing unintentional support. With the immediate threat eliminated, the faceless rocket man raised his left arm and fired a small grappling hook from his forearm gauntlet. The hook found purchase on an expansion girder, instantly towing him to the ceiling of the hold, out over the extended arms of swarming warriors and through flights of blunt amphistaffs. Clambering into a crouch on the girder, he gazed down on his would-be captors, then armed his backpack missile launcher.

“He’s … he’s going to fire!”

One step ahead of C-3PO, Han and Leia each grabbed one of the droid’s arms and yanked him down to the deck. The projectile exploded in the center of the hold, flattening everyone within a radius of ten meters. Fifty or more stunned or dying Yuuzhan Vong warriors formed the circumference of the detonation zone.

But reinforcements were already on the way.

Han heard them surging down the corridor, crying for blood. He got to his feet, then helped Leia and C-3PO to theirs. Simultaneous with the snap-hiss of Leia’s lightsaber came the drone of launched thud bugs.

Leia fielded those she could. Taken by surprise, a dozen Caluula soldiers were dropped in their tracks. The volley of deflected bugs flew back down the corridor at the approaching Yuuzhan Vong, only to be returned by several warriors at the head of the pack. Han caught a glimpse of five comparatively short warriors, smeared head to toe in black blood rather than sheathed in the usual arthropod armor. Odder still, was the way they were holding their amphistaffs to parry thud bugs and blasterbolts.

“They’re using them like lightsabers,” he said.

“That seems to be the idea,” Leia replied breathlessly.

Han shook his head in incredulity. “More new models?”

“I don’t think we should wait around to ask!”

The Mandalorian-armored cadre apparently felt the same. Taking aim on a portion of bulkhead close to the deck, two of the troopers used missiles to blow a gaping hole into the adjoining hold. The Caluula defenders began to scramble through, with C-3PO, Leia, and Han bringing up the rear. They raced through the adjacent hold and into a wide corridor, lowering blast shields wherever they encountered them.

Greeted with an intersection, Han knew enough to ask.

“That way!” C-3PO said.

Han gave a last glance at the armored fighters, then turned to follow Leia and C-3PO.

The side corridor led directly to the connector that ran between Caluula’s number three and four modules. Outside the tube’s curved transparisteel walls, laserbolts and plasma projectiles cleaved the darkness. Coralskippers and starfighters chased one another in chaotic circles. The volcanolike launchers of enemy capital ships fired again and again.

Han, Leia, and C-3PO hadn’t set foot inside the number four module when something shook the entire station.

“The ychna,” Han said.

Leia agreed. “You know how hard it is to satisfy those things.”

Farther along, Garray’s meaty adjutant motioned them from the pack of withdrawing soldiers.

“Captain, Princess Leia, the Falcon is ready for departure.”

Han stared at him. “You’ve got to be kidding.” He gestured broadly. “It’s worse out there than in here!”

“I concur, sir. Nevertheless, she’s patched up and ready to go. Nowhere near good as new, but you should be able to limp her to Mon Calamari in a couple of microjumps.”

Han and Leia traded doubtful looks.

“Each officer we rescued from Selvaris could rally ten thousand additional troops to our cause,” Leia said.

Ultimately, Han nodded. “A bunch of people a lot smarter than me figured this out, so I guess we have to trust that they’re right.”

Leia smiled. “Spoken like a true enlisted man.”

Garray’s adjutant directed them back to where the Falcon was berthed. With nearly every spaceworthy craft launched, the place was practically deserted. Cracken, Page, and the rest of the Selvaris roster were clustered at the foot of the landing ramp.

The station’s klaxons