Star Wars the Truce at Bakura - Kathy Tyers [20]
Great. Just great. Chewie was already powering up. “Not good, sweetheart,” Han clipped. “We just got probed.”
“By what?” Leia dropped into the seat behind him.
“Well?” Han tossed the question over his shoulder to Threepio.
“Sir,” began Threepio, “I have not yet ascertained—”
“Okay,” Leia interrupted, “shut up. There!” She pointed dead center on the viewscreen. “Look! What are they?”
From behind the dead icy bulk of Planet 6, eight or nine small shapes appeared in midstarfield, headed directly for the Falcon.
“I’m not sticking around to find out,” Han growled. “Chewie, charge the main guns.”
Chewbacca barked agreement full voice.
“We know the aliens take prisoners,” Leia muttered. “I don’t want to open negotiations from that position.”
“You won’t. C’mon, Chewie. You and me for the quad guns. We’ll see what they’re made of. Leia, take us someplace. Suddenly I don’t trust Planet Six.”
Leia slid into the pilot’s seat. Hadn’t he just vowed that she’d never take the Falcon away from him and Chewie?
Yeah. But this was different. As he rounded the bend, he heard Threepio’s voice fade out: “The Millennium Falcon is better configured for running away than for engaging enemy fighters.…”
Han climbed up the turret and clambered into his seat, then squeezed off a ranging burst. “They’re closing fast,” he told Leia via the pickup mike on his headset. “Is Goldenrod getting any data? What are they?”
Threepio’s answer began, “Well, General Solo—” By then, Leia’d answered, “Deep-space droids. That’s all he knows.”
The droids swooped into close range. Three soared over the freighter’s asymmetrical dish, firing energy bursts toward its main engine. “Analyze those beams, Goldenrod,” Han shouted as he fired. “Are they laser cannons or what?”
Chewbacca snarled over his headphones. “Yeah,” Han answered, “for ships of that size!”
“What?” Leia cried. “What, for ships of that—”
“Strong shields.” Han poured firepower into a single droid, holding it steady in his sights for as long as it’d take to implode a full-size TIE fighter. The thing finally blew.
The Falcon rocked as another droid fired. Han relaxed into the gunner’s power chair. This was just the old game. Another droid swooped along the freighter’s rim, right at the edge of his sighting capability. “Smart droids,” he muttered. “They learn fast.”
Abruptly the starfield tilted, lining up the droid for a long, clean burst. “Better?” asked Leia’s voice in his ears.
“Much.” The thing finally exploded. Two more came in, still aiming for the engines, not the gunners’ stations or the cockpit. They want prisoners, all right. So where was Big Mama, the boss ship? Or were these babies programmed to attack on their own?
As if she’d read his thoughts, Leia murmured, “What do you bet they’re left over from the alien attack on this outpost?” Han finally overloaded the upper one’s shields. A wave of debris sent its buddy spinning out of sight.
“Safe bet,” he said tightly.
Silence.
“That everybody, Chewie?”
Affirmative roar.
Breathing heavily, he scrambled back down to the cockpit. “Where are we headed?” he asked Leia.
She stroked a control rod. “In system. There may be more of those out here. I don’t know about you, but I’d feel safer with the rest of our battle group.” As she stepped out of the captain’s chair, the engine pitch fell off with a groan. Cabin lights darkened. “Now what?” Leia demanded. “I never know what to expect from this overmodified bucket.”
Or its overconfident captain? Go ahead, Princess, say it. Han whacked a console. Ready lights blinked and the engines came back up. He swung into his seat with a flourish. “We’re gone.”
Leia crossed her arms and looked defiant. “For all the protection I’ve gotten, we might as well be doing Luke some good.”
“Well, strap down, sweetheart. We’re going to hustle.”
Motionless but for his eyes, Luke glanced from viewscreen to BAC unit. Commander Thanas’s Imperial ships were falling back.
Not because Luke was coming in. Evidently his battle group had dropped back out of hyperspace at the moment when the Ssi-ruuk meant