Star Wars the Truce at Bakura - Kathy Tyers [117]
His itching chest demanded another cough. He had to get out of this bad air! He sent his awareness questing across space in another direction for a presence he knew only faintly: Commander Pter Thanas, aboard the Dominant.
Thanas leaned over his pilot’s station as Luke seized the edge of his consciousness. Thanas’s thoughts, will, and worldview surrounded him. This battle was only a game, but a game he must win, or finish his life in … in a slave mine? That explained plenty! Luke eyed the pilot’s velocity control slide. Full speed ahead would blow the Dominant out of offensive formation and cause heavy damage to already crippled thrusters.
Full speed would also bring him into striking range for the Shriwirr. Thanas wanted that.
Abruptly Luke lost contact. He doubled over, coughing, trapped by his weakening body on the hard cold deck of the Shriwirr.
“Sir?” Thanas’s pilot looked up worriedly. “Is something wrong?”
Pter Thanas blinked. For some reason, the image of Luke Skywalker had sprung into his mind. Dismissing it, he made a difficult decision. He must destroy the threat of contagion, no matter what it cost him.
Smoothly he shoved the control slide forward.
Leia leaned toward Han. “Kiss for luck?” she asked.
“Sure.” Those lips would be the last thing he felt.
He was about to touch them when she jerked back. “Luke!” she exclaimed. Chewbacca cried full-alert.
“What, Chewie?” Han spun toward the fore scanners. They claimed that the Dominant was plunging forward at irrational speed. “We must’ve taken another hit,” he exclaimed. “They’ve ionized our scanners again.”
Chewie bellowed: Change course!
Han slapped the full sensor array back on, then seized main controls. The Falcon’s cockpit grazed the patrol craft so close that it bent lateral antennae on both ships.
“All squadrons, follow us!” he cried. “There’s a break in the blockade!” He spoke aside to Leia, “We’ll get these Rebel regulars out of the danger zone, then double back to finish the Dominant.”
She didn’t answer.
Leia thrust her head against the back of her seat and concentrated on breathing. As plainly as she’d felt Luke’s sudden alarm and his effort, now his exhaustion paralyzed her.
Han shouted into his microphone, “Red group, Gold group, form up on me. We’ve got ’em between us!”
Out the viewport, Imperial forces shifted. Farther away, four X-wings and an A-wing hadn’t made it through the gap before it closed. Her eyes weren’t focusing properly. “Where’s that patrol craft we were going to ram?” she asked. Her hands shook.
“About ten kilometers to starboard.”
Chewie’s cry sounded exultant.
Luke? She gripped her armrests. What’s happening to you?
Luke covered his watering eyes and took several shallow breaths. It irritated him to think that Thanas didn’t care who won. He’d like to blast Pter Thanas and his forces out of the universe. The Ssi-ruuk, too. Yes, he was losing his temper. He no longer cared. He simply wanted to stop coughing.
The Dominant kept closing, growing perceptibly larger in the viewport.
“Dev, is this cruiser armed?”
“I assume so.” Dev reached down a hand.
“Find the …” Another cough racked him. “Find the weapons station.” Luke let Dev pull him up off the deck.
“Are you all right?”
Luke wasn’t. He teetered dangerously close to the dark side, but he didn’t care about that either. Leave me alone, Yoda. “I need a breath mask.”
“It wouldn’t fit.”
“I know. I’ve got to try something.” He had barely enough energy to focus his attention deep again and regain control. Strength flowed up to match his anger, dark and empowering.
Gasping, he flung the energy aside. In the Emperor’s throne room, he’d touched the dark side’s power. He could have destroyed Darth Vader … shared the throne, ruled the galaxy … and been destroyed with the second Death Star, if he hadn’t thrown away his lightsaber. Would he sell himself for a lesser temptation?
He stared out the viewport. The Dominant blasted another X-wing. I trusted you, Thanas. I trusted you. He’d had such hopes for the man. Had he read the Force