Wuluw tried to thrum something and succeeded only in pumping a long gush of insect gore into the water.
"Don"t try to talk." Jaina started back upstream. The rustling had become a murmur now, and she could see the first Rekkers springing through the trees toward her. "We"ll get you some help, but first you have to stop the Swarm. Attacking now is a terrible mistake!"
Wuluw managed a barely audible mandible tap, and the murmur of the Swarm"s advance rose to a drone. "I have a plan!" Jaina cried. "A good one."
All six of Wuluw"s limbs stiffened and began to tremble, and a milky tint appeared deep inside her eyes.
"Hold on, Wuluw-tell the others we"re going to dam the river." Jaina began to pour Force energy into the insect, trying to keep her alive long enough to complete the message. "Tell them we"re going to flood the Chiss off those islands!"
SEVENTEEN.
The pearlescent blur of hypers.p.a.ce had barely winked back into the star-sparkled velvet of normal s.p.a.ce 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 a.s.sumed 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 cl.u.s.ter 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-3P0 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 c.o.c.kpit, 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 a.s.sault 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, cl.u.s.tered 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-3P0 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 s.p.a.ce cover?" Saba reached over from the comm station and slapped the Sull.u.s.tan"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 claw-craft. 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-3P0 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-3P0 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 c.o.c.kpit 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 doc.u.ment 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, "a.s.suming 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."