SEVENTEEN

The pearlescent blur of hyperspace had barely winked back into the star-sparkled velvet of normal space before the Falcon’s proximity alarms began to scream. Han hit the reset so he could think, and the alarms screamed again.

“What the blazes?” Han demanded. There was nothing ahead but the swirling disk of a cloud-swaddled planet that he assumed to be Tenupe, and it was still no larger than his fist—far too distant to have triggered the first proximity alarm, much less a repeat. “What’s out there?”

“Working on it!” Leia’s hands were flying over the control board, adjusting static filters and signal enhancers. “These sensors don’t calibrate themselves.”

“Okay, take it easy,” Han said. “I didn’t mean anything.”

He hit the reset again, and again the alarms reactivated themselves. The repeats could mean that more hazards were appearing, or that the original hazard was drawing rapidly closer. Seeing nothing between them and the planet, he began to accelerate. Tenupe swelled rapidly to the size of a Bith’s head, and the azure blots of hundreds of cloud-free inland seas began to mottle its creamy disk.

“Is it wise to accelerate while we’re sensor-blind?” Juun asked from the navigator’s station. At Luke’s request, Pellaeon had arranged for him and Tarfang to serve as the Solos’ guides to Tenupe. “We still don’t know where—”

“You see something in front of us?” Han interrupted.

“Only Tenupe.”

“Same here.” Han reset the alarms, then cursed as they instantly reactivated. “So whatever keeps triggering those alarms is coming at us.”

“And we are running?” Saba was incredulous. “We do not even know from what!”

“Think of it as getting out of the way,” Han replied. He activated the intercom so he could speak to the Noghri. “Get into the cannon turrets and let me know if you see anything suspicious.”

Tenupe had swollen to the size of a bantha’s head now. Hanging to one side of the planet, Han could see a shadow-pocked lump that might be a small red moon. On the opposite side, a cluster of tiny, wedge-shaped specks were circling above the clouds.

“That doesn’t look good,” Han said. “Leia, how are those sensors—”

Han’s question was interrupted when Meewalh and Cakhmaim announced that there were ion trails closing on the Falcon’s stern from all directions.

“Chisz?” Saba asked.

Tarfang chuttered something sarcastic.

“Tarfang believes so,” C-3PO translated helpfully. “He points out that Killik fighters still use rocket propulsion.”

“Of all the luck!” Han complained. “The Chiss are already here—and we enter the system in the middle of a patrol!”

A trio of crimson bolts flashed past barely a dozen meters above the canopy. Then a gruff Chiss voice came over the hailing channel.

“Millennium Falcon, this is Zark Two.” The woman’s Basic was thick-tongued and awkward. “The Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet demands that you bring to a dead stop your vessel. Stand by for boarding.”

Han activated his comm microphone. “Uh, just a second.” He glanced over at Leia, then pointed at the control panel and raised his brow. When she gave him a thumbs-up and began to bring the sensors online, he continued, “Sorry. You’ll have to say again. Your Basic is a little—”

Another flurry of energy beams flashed past the cockpit, this time so close that they left spots in Han’s eyes.

“That is clear enough, Falcon?” Zark Two asked. “This is a war zone. If you disobey, we fire for effect.”

Han’s tactical display came up, and he saw that the Falcon had an entire squadron of clawcraft on her tail. The fighters were escorted by two heavy gunboats and an assault shuttle—a standard package for a boarding company.

But it was what Han saw near the planet that really alarmed him. As he had suspected, the wedge-shaped flecks circling above the clouds were a huge Chiss battle fleet, clustered together over one tiny area of the planet.

“Leia, see if you can—”

“Working on it,” Leia said.

A moment later, the image from a cloud-penetrating sensor scan appeared on Han’s display. Most of the planet’s land surface seemed to be covered by lowland jungles or mountain rain forests, but the area directly beneath the Chiss fleet was a brown smudge. A huge river ran through one edge of the smudge, and a tiny area along one bank shined red with thermal energy.

The lock-alarms began to chime incessantly, announcing that the Falcon was being targeted by her pursuers.

“Millennium Falcon, this is our final warning,” Zark Two commed. “Bring your vessel to a dead stop.”

Han pushed the throttles to the overload stops and dropped into an evasive corkscrew. Laser bolts instantly began to streak past on all sides, and the cabin lights flickered as the Falcon’s shields began to take hits.

“Captain Solo, the squadron leader’s accent must be confusing you,” C-3PO said. “She ordered us to stop.”

“I heard.” Han’s eyes remained fixed on the image of the riverbank. “But that looks like a battle down there. A big one.”

“How do you know that?” Juun sounded more amazed than doubtful. “I thought it was a jungle fire!”

“A jungle fire? With a fleet to provide space cover?” Saba reached over from the comm station and slapped the Sullustan’s back. “So funny!”

Tarfang rushed to help Juun off the floor, then whirled on Saba and chittered so angrily it made the Barabel’s scales ripple.

“Sssorry,” she said. “This one did not know he was serious.”

A depletion buzzer activated as the Chiss continued to pound the rear shields. Realizing he would never escape a dozen clawcraft with fancy flying alone, Han activated the intercom again.

“Are you two taking a nap back there?” he demanded. “Shoot something!”

The Falcon shuddered as the Noghri immediately cut loose with the big quad cannons.

Leia’s eyes widened. “Han, I don’t know if this is a good idea,” she said. “Killing Chiss is only going to aggravate—”

“Look, I’m not the one setting the stakes here,” Han said. “If I know my daughter, she and Zekk are in the middle of that battle down there, and that means the Chiss are trying to kill them. So pardon me if I return the favor.”

“Han, I feel the same way,” Leia said. “But we have to think of the mission. Luke wanted to do this without killing more—”

A damage warning began to scream, and suddenly the yoke felt like an angry snake, snapping from side to side and forward and back, twisting right, whipping left, then kicking and bouncing like a kid on his first bound-stick. The Falcon went into a shuddering vortex, and more alarms screamed as delicate systems began to take secondary damage from the violent shaking.

“Sh-sh-shut down n-n-number four n-nacelle!” Han ordered. At least he thought it was number four—with all the quaking and shaking, it was hard to be sure which status light he was seeing. “And if that doesn’t work, try the others!”

Leia’s fingers were already stabbing at the control panel, trying to catch the correct glide-switch. In the midst of it all, a synthesized boom reverberated from the control panel speaker, and Han glimpsed a Chiss designator-symbol vanishing from the tactical display. Even with all of the shaking and spiraling, one of the Noghri had hit a clawcraft. Han was not that surprised.

Leia finally managed to shut down the number four nacelle. The Falcon stopped shuddering, but her acceleration slowed and the yoke grew stiff and sluggish. Han struggled to bring the ship’s wild spiral back under control.

“Han?” Leia’s voice was brittle with fear. “You know what I was saying about aggravating the situation?”

“Yeah?”

“Forget it,” she said. “They’re already mad.”

“Yesssszz.” Saba’s hiss had an air of thoughtfulness. “Master Skywalker did not know how far the situation has deteriorated.”

“Thanks for your opinions,” Han grumbled. “Now could someone get back there and disconnect the number four vector plate? We’re handling like a one-winged manta right now!”

“Mantaz can fly with one wing?” Saba gasped.

“No, Master,” Leia explained. “That’s the point.”

“Oh.” Saba jumped up and tapped Tarfang on the shoulder, then started toward the back of the flight deck. “Why did you not say it was so bad?”

A jolt ran through the Falcon as they took another hit, and Han saw on the tactical display that the clawcraft were beginning to close the distance more rapidly.

“Jae, how long before we’re in the clouds?”

“We won’t reach them,” Juun announced immediately.

“What are you talking about?” Han demanded. “Of course we’ll reach them!”

Juun shook his head. “I’ve done the calculations. By the time we decelerate to enter the atmosphere—”

“Who says we’re decelerating?” Han demanded.

Juun’s voice grew even more nasal. “We’re not going to decelerate?”

“Captain Solo never decelerates in these situations,” C-3PO reported. “He seems to enjoy seeing how close we can come to crashing without actually doing so. I can’t tell you the number of times that we have been statistically doomed, only to escape at the last possible mo—”

Another boom reverberated from the control panel speaker, announcing the destruction of a second clawcraft.

“You see?” C-3PO continued. “But I am pleased to report that our odds of survival have increased by three one-thousandths of a percent.”

The boom had barely died away before the hailing channel grew active again.

“Captain Solo, that is quite enough!” The voice this time was male…and very familiar. “Come to a dead stop at once!”

“Sorry—someone’s shooting at us.” Han continued to corkscrew toward Tenupe, which was now so large that its cloud-blanketed face filled the entire forward viewport. “Is that you, Jag?”

“It is,” Jagged Fel confirmed. “And I will not tolerate any more casualties.”

“Then I advise you to order Zark Leader to stop pursuit,” Leia retorted.

“I am Zark Leader,” Jagged replied coolly. “And I am not at liberty to end this pursuit. If you do not stop immediately, there is only one way this can end.”

“You’re a squadron leader now?” Han asked, ignoring Fel’s threats. “What’d you do to get busted down that far?”

“Nothing.” The cockpit speaker crackled with Jagged’s indignation. “My rank remains intact. Bring the Falcon to a—”

“You’re the same rank?” Leia broke in. “Are you telling me a commander is leading this squadron?”

“Captain, actually,” Jagged replied.

“Captain?” Han began to feel sick to his stomach. The Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet used the naval system of ranks, so captain was a command-grade rank—the equivalent of colonel in terms of Galactic Alliance ground forces—and Han could think of only one reason a command officer would fly a patrol mission. “You’re here because of us! You knew we were coming!”

“I should have thought that was obvious, Captain Solo,” Jagged said.

Han did not respond. He was too busy trying to bring the Falcon out of her spin…and silently promising a painful death to whoever had betrayed them to the Chiss. Only a handful of people outside the Jedi order had known of the Solos’ destination, so it would not be difficult to track down the spy and put a blaster bolt through his head.

“But now that you understand,” Jagged continued, “perhaps you see how hopeless your situation really is.”

“Hopeless?” Han scoffed. “I’m not even worried!”

He shoved throttles one through three past the overload stops. The Falcon began to spiral even more wildly, and a slight tremble returned to the yoke.

“Han,” Leia said.

“Yeah?”

“I’m a little bit worried.”

“Rel-l-lax.” The yoke was vibrating so hard in Han’s hands that it made his teeth chatter. “Those are rain clouds down there.”

“So?”

“So when we pull up under them,” Han explained, “they’ll put out the entry burn.”

“You’re entering a gravity dive?” Juun’s voice was filled with awe. “May I have permission to record? We should document how you pull out—especially given the damage to our controls.”

“If we pull out,” Leia groaned. She hated gravity dives. “But go ahead. What can it hurt?”

“We’ll pull out,” Han said, “assuming Saba and Tarfang get that vector plate disconnected. And we’ll need to know if there are any mountains in that mess. Better run a terrain scan.”

“I’ll try,” Leia said. “It’s difficult to get a reading while we’re spiraling out of control to our deaths like this.”

“Who’s out of control?”

Leia began to activate the imaging scanners, struggling to keep her hands on the appropriate switches as the Falcon bucked and shook. Zark Squadron continued to zing cannon fire at their stern, but the Noghri’s accuracy seemed to have a chilling effect on the Chiss. Despite the renowned speed of their clawcraft, Fel’s pilots were closing the distance much slower than Han had expected—and not nearly fast enough to keep them from reaching the planet, as Juun had calculated.

“Wait a minute!” Han said. They were so close to Tenupe now that all they could see ahead was pale mass of green clouds, marked here and there by a blue blob of cloudless sea, spinning past the forward viewport ever more quickly. “Something’s not right.”

“You can say that again.” Leia sent the terrain scan to his display. “Look at this.”

The map showed a rugged jungle planet of high mountains and vast drainage basins, with no large oceans, but rivers wide enough to see from orbit. It also showed a dozen cruisers converging on the Falcon’s point of entry, their course and original locations clearly outlined by the huge vapor trails they were leaving in their wakes.

“Get a tactical readout on those—”

The data appeared on Han’s tactical display. As he had expected, they were drop cruisers—terrible in space combat, but ideal for supporting planetside operations. And the energy blooms on their hulls suggested they all had fully charged tractor beams.

“This is a setup!” Han pulled the three functional throttles back to three-quarter power—not suddenly, but enough to buy a little reaction time. “Jag is trying to drive us into a trap!”

“Trying, Han?” Leia asked.

“Trying,” Han growled. “Nobody traps Han Solo.”

Han waited until the Tenupe’s little red moon showed through the top of the canopy, then jerked back on the yoke. A series of muffled crashes rumbled up the access corridor—the inertial compensators could not quite neutralize the high g forces—but the planet’s cloud-swaddled face vanished from the forward viewport.

Jagged Fel’s voice came over the cockpit speaker immediately. “I told my superiors that trap wouldn’t fool you. But if you check your tactical monitor, you’ll discover your situation has only grown more hopeless.”

Han checked his display and had to agree. A pair of Chiss Star Destroyers had appeared on Tenupe’s horizon, eliminating all hope of escaping around the curve of the planet. Zark Squadron was cutting the corner behind the Falcon, approaching at an angle and continuing to fire.

“Don’t force me to destroy you and the Princess, Captain Solo,” Jagged said. “Things didn’t work out between Jaina and me, but I still remember you all fondly.”

“Do what you have to, kid.” Han pushed the three functioning throttles back past their overload stops. “I always liked Kyp Durron better anyway.”

Leia slapped the comm microphones off. “Han! Are you crazy?” she demanded. “Kyp?”

“Relax.” Han gave her a crooked smile. “I’m just trying to make him mad. I know Kyp’s way too old for her.”

Leia closed her eyes and shook her head. “Do you really think now is a good time to make Jag angry? He has an entire fleet at his disposal.”

“Nothing to worry about,” Han said. “He’s bluffing.”

“Han, Jagged was raised by Chiss. They don’t know how to bluff.”

“Must be why they’re so bad at it.” Han winked at her. “Send Meewalh and Cakhmaim to help Saba and Tarfang with that vector plate. I don’t think we’re going to need them in the turrets much longer, but it would be nice to have control of this tub again.”

Leia activated the intercom and relayed the order. The laser cannons had barely stopped firing before Jagged’s voice came over the comm again.

“You have stopped firing on us—thank you.” He sounded genuinely relieved. “But I cannot stop firing on you until the Falcon comes to a dead stop.”

“Jagged, we all know that if you were serious about this, we’d already be space dust,” Leia replied. “What I can’t figure out is why you’re going to so much trouble to save us.”

“Your confusion surprises me, Princess,” Jagged said. “I should think the reason would be obvious to someone of your diplomatic and military background. You and Captain Solo will be valuable prisoners—and so will Master Sebatyne and Bwua’tu’s master spies, the Ewok and the Sullustan.”

“You’re very well informed, Jag,” Leia said. “But not well enough. If you knew our mission, you’d know we’re trying to end the war. You would be helping—”

“I know you and Captain Solo came here to find Jaina and her, ah, companion,” Jag retorted. “I also know you want to help them smuggle a Killik commando squad into one of our command and control centers. I know your brother believes—wrongly—that this maneuver will prove to us how difficult it would be to win a war against the Killiks. He also believes it will make it easier for him to persuade the ruling houses to accept the peace that he intends to impose on the Colony. Is there anything else about your mission that I should know?”

“No, that about covers it,” Han said, speaking through gritted teeth. He had assumed that some spy eavesdropping in a hangar or briefing room had betrayed them. But clearly, it been someone a lot closer to the Jedi order than that—someone close enough to know Luke’s entire plan. “You think it’ll work?”

“No,” Jagged said icily. “I’d have to kill you first.”

“Yeah, that’s what I figured,” Han said.

Zark Squadron continued to pour fire after the Falcon. Another damage alarm started to scream—prompting Juun to take C-3PO and rush aft—but the clawcraft began to drift back on the tactical display. The Star Destroyers began to lay barrages of fire ahead of the Falcon, trying to channel her into tractor beam range, or force her to stop and wait for boarding.

Still fighting a sluggish yoke and an out-of-control spiral, Han dropped them back toward Tenupe and continued toward the planet at an oblique angle.

“Uh, Han?” Leia sounded worried. “What are we doing?”

“This d-d-doesn’t make any ssssense,” Han said. The yoke had started to shake again, and he was fighting to keep it from swinging around at random. “They know our plan. They ought to be coming after us hard.”

“Han, this is hard.” Leia’s gaze was fixed firmly forward, where a green sliver of planetary horizon was slowly rolling around the edge of the viewport as the Falcon spiraled toward Tenupe. “There’s a whole task force after us.”

“That’s what I mean,” Han said. “You saw that battle down there! Do you think the theater commander really wants Jag wasting his time chasing us right now? They should just blast us back to atoms and be done with it.”

“They won’t need to,” Leia said. “Han, we’re heading for—”

“Whoever double-crossed us made them promise to take us alive,” Han continued. The boiling red curtain of a Star Destroyer barrage blossomed ahead, jolting the Falcon and spreading spots before his eyes. “Leia, it had to be someone close to us.”

“Okay, Han!” Leia pointed forward, where the hazy blur of Tenupe’s atmosphere was whirling around the center of the viewport. “But what are you doing?”

“Just what it looks like—a planet-skip.” Han activated the intercom. “Hold on back there!”

An instant later, tongues of red flame began to flicker over the viewport as they entered the thin gas of Tenupe’s upper atmosphere. The Falcon bucked so hard that Han slammed against his crash harness, and the clamor of flying gear echoed up the access corridor. Han fought against the sluggish controls, struggling to keep the ship’s spiral from growing any tighter and faster…and that was when the yoke went loose.

Before Han realized it, he had pulled it completely back against his thigh, and the Falcon was flipping out of its spiral in a weld-popping wingover. He quickly moved it back to center…and the wingover gradually slowed.

The Falcon stopped about three-quarters of the way through her roll and hung there, then languidly began to drift back toward upright—now headed straight for a rolling barrage of megamaser blossoms. Han pushed the yoke all the way forward, trying to dive under the fiery wall of death, and could only grit his teeth as the Falcon dropped her nose a mere five degrees.

Leia leaned over and grabbed Han’s hand. “Han, I love—”

The barrage vanished as suddenly as it had appeared, leaving nothing ahead of the Falcon but the blotchy red surface of Tenupe’s moon.

“Yeah, me, too.” Han pulled the throttles back to the overload stops, gripping the handles tightly to keep his hands from shaking. “See what I mean? They killed that barrage to keep from vaping us.”

“Yes. Okay. I believe you.” Leia’s voice was still shaky. “They promised someone not to kill us.”

“Yeah.” Han’s tone was bitter. “I wonder who that could have been?”

“You’re thinking Omas?”

“That’s the only thing that makes sense,” Han said. “Cal Omas would sacrifice us in a minute if he thought it would convince the Chiss that the Alliance isn’t at war with the Ascendancy.”

Leia shook her head. “Why would he bother making them promise to keep us alive?”

“Because he needs the Jedi, too,” Han said. The moon ahead had swelled into a lumpy, fist-sized ovoid laced with a spidery web of dark rifts. “And if his double cross ever comes out, Omas would never be able to make peace with Luke if we were dead.”

Leia frowned. “Maybe…”

“Look, it’s either him or Pellaeon or someone in the Jedi,” Han said. “And Pellaeon never double-crossed anyone, even when he was an Imperial.”

“I guess, when you put it like that.”

Leia still sounded doubtful, but their discussion was interrupted by Jagged Fel’s astonished voice.

“I’m finally starting to understand Jaina,” he said. “Insanity runs in her family. Only a madman would attempt a planet-skip in a damaged ship.”

“Han’s not crazy,” Leia said. “Just good.”

“I’m sure you believe that, Princess Leia,” Jagged said. “But I’m warning—no, I’m advising—you not to attempt taking refuge in that moon cluster.”

“Moon cluster?” Han peered more closely at the red lump ahead and saw that the rifts might, indeed, be interstitial spaces. He deactivated his comm microphone, then asked, “What the blazes is that?”

“I’ll find out,” Leia said, reaching for the terrain mappers. “In the meantime, stall.”

“Stall Jag?” Han turned his microphone back on, then commed, “Thanks for the advice, Jag, but we were planning on going around anyway.”

“Really?” Jagged sounded smug. “Then the Falcon must be even faster than Jaina always claimed.”

Han glanced down at his tactical display and saw that the Zark Squadron had taken advantage of his planet-skip to put on their own burst of acceleration. They had stopped firing—a sign that they now felt certain of a successful capture—and were arrayed in a semisphere around the Falcon. The squadron’s escort was not far behind, and the Star Destroyers had already closed to within tractor beam range of the moon cluster’s near side.

Han cursed under his breath, but said, “Just watch, kid. You’ll be surprised.”

“I have no doubt,” Jagged said. “But please believe me about the moon cluster. It’s gravitationally unstable. Every one of our scoutships has been smashed flat. You’ll be much safer surrendering to us, and I give you my word that we won’t torture or humiliate you during your interrogations.”

“Thanks, that’s real good of you,” Han said. “Let me think it over for a second.”

Han closed the comm channel, then experimented with the yoke, pushing it around and feeling almost no reaction from the Falcon.

“How bad is it?” Leia asked. She was still staring at the terrain mapper, frowning and adjusting the controls.

“Bad,” Han said. “How about those moons?”

“Even worse than he said.” Leia looked out at the moons, which were close enough now for her to see that they were all shifting around, bumping against each other. “It looks like something shattered the old moon into fifty or sixty pieces. It must still be in there, because I’m detecting…”

Leia let her sentence trail off, then gasped and stared out the viewport.

“Yeah?” Han asked.

Leia raised her hand to quiet him, then closed her eyes in concentration.

Han frowned and leaned over to look at the terrain scanners. He saw only the shattered moon she had described, with a density reading near the center that suggested a metallic core—probably whatever had shattered it in the first place. He tried to be patient, waiting for Leia to do whatever Jedi thing she was preparing, but they were running out of time. The two Star Destroyers had activated their tractor beams and were already reaching out toward the moon cluster, trying to block any chance the Falcon had of slipping into one of the crevices.

Han activated the intercom. “Somebody back there get to the repulsor beam now! We’ve got some rocks to move out of—”

“Han, no!” Leia opened her eyes and turned to him, shaking her head. “We have to surrender!”

Han frowned. “Look, I know the yoke’s a little sloppy—”

“It’s not that.” Leia reached over and pulled the throttles all the way back. “It’s Raynar and the Killiks—those moons are teeming with insects!”