Star Wars the Truce at Bakura - Kathy Tyers [119]
“Are you in any other pain?” Luke asked urgently.
“I can’t … feel anything below my shoulders, where he … clipped me.”
“There’s almost no light in here,” Luke said, “I don’t think you’re blinded.”
“Bridge … probably hit. Shield overload.”
Luke’s shoulder struck a bulkhead that stopped his slide. He and Dev lodged in the corner. He reached up and found the underside of a console. At least they’d stay here for a while.
Had the Force betrayed him?
He gulped and coughed. He’d resisted the dark side. Darkness favored death. Commander Thanas’s blast had killed the V-crested Ssi-ruu, but at what cost to Dev?
I’m tired, Yoda. I don’t have time for philosophy. Let me rest. He hunched forward, coughing uncontrollably.
“Are you all right?” Dev asked.
Residual heat from the deck and bulkhead stifled him. Leia, he called. Leia? Too weak to make contact, he projected his slight, returning strength into the youngster. At first, he could only tweak Dev’s pain perception. Dev sighed, relaxing tangibly.
As Luke lent power to Dev, he felt his focus strengthen. “Dev,” he urged. “Open your mind to me.” As he’d shown Eppie Belden how she might heal herself, he gave Dev that knowledge. “Draw on your strength,” Luke insisted. “You can do it. I’ve got to get us off this ship—”
A horrendous cough interrupted him. Automatically, he turned the healing focus onto his chest.
Two greedy pinpoints of life gleamed with primitive instincts: Eat. Cling. Reproduce. Survive.
A blast of understanding underscored his panic. He tried to touch minds with one of the pinpoints, but it had no mind. It ate its way instinctively toward blood. It was chewing through a bronchial tube toward his heart. Reduced to a single instinct, himself—survive!—he curled toward the bulkhead.
• • •
Leia clenched the armrests of her cockpit chair, frightened nearly numb. The star field dipped and swirled in the viewport. She stared at the Ssi-ruuvi cruiser, which drifted directionless like a huge blistered egg.
“The kid bought us breathing room,” Han muttered. “I’ve almost got everybody out of the globe. Is he okay?”
“No! We’ve got to help him!”
Han’s head turned sharply. “He’s not dead, is he?”
“I can’t feel him any more.” She let him hear her desperation.
Han glanced at the sensor boards and examined the alien cruiser. “Thanas scored an awfully good hit. All power’s gone. Hull’s breached. She’s leaking air.”
“But it’s Luke. He could be shielded by some kind of energy field or obstruction.” She couldn’t relinquish hope. “Can we get in close? Sneak on board?”
“Maybe.” Han worked controls, stirring the stars. “I’ll try to get closer. Maybe a docking bay—” He swooped at an edge of the Imperial formation. From the dorsal quad gun, Chewie scored a lucky hit on a patrol craft’s energy banks. Waves of debris followed the Falcon away. So did the rest of the Rebel forces. “There!” he exclaimed. “Now let’s get behind that cruiser, where the Dominant can’t fire on us.”
“Rogue Leader to Falcon,” announced Wedge’s voice over the intersquad link, “we’re clear to run at the Dominant.”
“Wait!” Leia exclaimed. “Bully Commander Thanas into changing course so he can’t hit the Ssi-ruuvi ship again, but don’t destroy him. The Rebellion could use an Imperial cruiser.”
“Spoils of battle, Your Highness?” Wedge chuckled. “Will do. If possible. Somehow I doubt the Empire will let us have her.”
“Yeah,” muttered Han. “Nice thought, but he’s certainly got a self-destruct.”
“Wedge, just give Commander Thanas a clear message,” Leia insisted. “We’re not stooping to his tactics.”
The egg-shaped cruiser loomed closer. Han steered low along its surface, looking for a place to dock the Falcon. We’re coming, Luke, Leia thought. A terrifying stillness hung where his presence had been.
CHAPTER
20
Gloom settled over Gaeriel like a sticky gray rain cloud when Commander Thanas’s Dominant blasted the alien cruiser. Governor