"The observers won"t be here forever. Nawara Ven says that the High Court is leaning toward reviewing the whole executive order about the Jedi. If they do, they"re sure to strike down most of its provisions, including the observers-"
"That"s not the luck I deserve, and it"s not what I"ll get." Tahiri"s expression turned bleak. "I"ll come back, and they"ll give me him him as an observer. That"s what will happen." as an observer. That"s what will happen."
Desperate to wrench Tahiri"s attention from the man who looked like the long-dead love of her life, Jaina flailed through memories of the night"s events. "Your lightsaber."
"What?"
"You lost your lightsaber at the prison."
Tahiri nodded, confused.
"If they find it ..."
"Oh." With a visible act of will, Tahiri yanked her thoughts away from Dab. "I don"t think it will be a problem."
"Why not?"
"It"s probably crushed under tons of rock. It may never be found. If it is ... well, it"s new. I didn"t want to use my old Jedi lightsaber anymore. I just built that one. The hilt design won"t have been recorded anywhere. I was wearing gloves tonight, so no fingerprints. And non-conductive gloves when I was a.s.sembling it, so no prints inside."
"Good."
"But Jag lost his blaster at the same time-"
"Also not a problem. That model is custom-built for him. Big enough for him to hold with his gauntlets on. Unless he throws a switch on the b.u.t.t, if it"s separated from him for more than a certain number of seconds, it blows up."
"That"s strange. Your boyfriend"s strange."
"I know."
Tahiri"s gaze wandered over to where Dab now sat, alone at one long table, peering into the tiny playback screen of his holocam, doubtless reviewing recent recordings. She stood. "I have to go."
"Tahiri, I don"t think you ought to be out on the streets and walkways the way you"re-"
"Let me know when he"s gone forever." Tahiri whirled away and left the dining hall at a run.
UNDERGROUND COMPLEX, KESSEL.
It was hours into the mission, and its organizers could begin to relax.
Demolition mounds all through the gigantic cavern-and-tunnel complex had been detonating on schedule. Mission control, Koyi Komad, monitoring events from low planetary orbit in the Imperial-era mobile command post Lando and Tendra had overhauled for this operation, reported that the resulting tremors were doing what they were supposed to-taking place, waning, and then subsiding, doing only the damage to be expected of individual groundquakes. The precise sequence of detonations was not permitting overlapping ground-shakes to reinforce one another, and sensors in the Great Kessel Fault running along the planetary axis reported no undue motion, no dangerous stress.
The Falcon Falcon, having fired its last refitted missile into its last target cavern, sat on a tunnel floor only a few kilometers from the exit shaft.
Leia gave Han a curious look. "We really can leave now."
"True."
"Any reason we"re not?"
"I"m going to be the last one out." Han knew that he sounded stubborn, maybe even sulky, rather than determined, but he didn"t care. He"d demonstrated far too much nervousness about the underworld of Kessel, and he was determined to show himself and the planet that he wasn"t driven by fear.
Leia glanced back over her shoulder. "Actually, technically, since Allana"s in the seat behind us, she"s she"s going to be the last one out." going to be the last one out."
"I should should be the last one out." Allana"s voice was decisive. "I got to be the last one to shoot a missile." be the last one out." Allana"s voice was decisive. "I got to be the last one to shoot a missile."
Leia smiled. "You sure did, kid."
"Control to Falcon Falcon, come in."
"Falcon here." This was, Han hoped, the announcement that all other vehicles were out, and that the only thing left to do was stay clear of the planet"s surface until the explosion sequence had run its course. here." This was, Han hoped, the announcement that all other vehicles were out, and that the only thing left to do was stay clear of the planet"s surface until the explosion sequence had run its course.
"Rearmament Team Epsilon is offline and not reporting in. Suspected bogey encounter. You"re the closest vehicle with rescue capabilities-our last rescue speeder is bringing a stranded subsonics pilot out now. Can you investigate?"
"Absolutely. Let"s have the coordinates." As Han watched, both a set of XYZ coordinates based on Kessel"s master map and a dotted-line navigational diagram based on the caverns map appeared on his nav console. "Got it, thanks."
"Control out."
Han brought the Falcon Falcon"s repulsors up and gently lifted the transport from the rocky tunnel floor.
Leia leaned over to give the navigational diagram a look. "Not very far. He must have been on his way out."
"Well, let"s make sure he gets there."
Their route led them through the cavern they"d seen destroyed before their original escape from the complex. Most of the life there had been lost by the explosion, so the cavern was dim, very little of the phosph.o.r.escent fungi on the ceiling remaining.
Once past the far entrance to the cavern, they progressed barely a kilometer into the connecting tunnel before they saw Epsilon. A human man, young and sandy-haired, he ran toward them as fast as his clearly exhausted legs would carry him, frantically waving at the Falcon Falcon as he came. He was alone and carried no equipment. as he came. He was alone and carried no equipment.
Leia unstrapped from her seat. "I"ll get him at the boarding ramp." She hurried aft as Han gently set the Falcon Falcon down as close to the running man as he dared. While the transport settled, Han heard the whir of the ramp descending. "Hey, Goldenrod, give up your seat for our new pa.s.senger. You can join Artoo aft." down as close to the running man as he dared. While the transport settled, Han heard the whir of the ramp descending. "Hey, Goldenrod, give up your seat for our new pa.s.senger. You can join Artoo aft."
"Yes, sir. If I must, sir." C-3PO unstrapped and awkwardly eased past Allana, then hurried aft.
"Rogue to Falcon Falcon, come in."
"Falcon here, Wedge." here, Wedge."
"Are you on that rescue call? My exit route takes me out right past that spot, so I"m inbound. I can stand by your retrieval targets until you get there."
"No, thanks, we"re already on station." Han heard the ramp lift into position. "Lifting off in about ten seconds."
"No worries, then. Rogue out."
There was a clatter of feet on deck plates, and Leia and their new pa.s.senger entered the c.o.c.kpit. Han spared the young man a look. He was drenched with sweat and gasping so hard for breath that he was almost sobbing. "What happened to you, kid?"
The young man dropped into C-3PO"s seat, his chest heaving. "Ran."
"Where"s your partner?"
"Destroyed. We need to go. go."
Suddenly uneasy, Han lifted off and spun the Falcon Falcon around. "Destroyed by what?" around. "Destroyed by what?"
"Energy spider."
Han"s breath caught for a moment. He kicked in the thrusters and accelerated along their exit route. "Tell me you mean one of the new ones, the red ones."
"No, one of the blue ones."
A chill of apprehension climbed Han"s spine. "Not good. You said destroyed destroyed, not killed killed. Your partner was a droid?"
"Loader droid. We"d been hearing this skittering noise at our last station. We took off for our exit, but we ran into a bogey-literally-which killed our speeder and our lights, except for pocket glow lamps. The skittering got closer, and then we saw it." Han couldn"t see the young man shudder, but he didn"t have to; the reaction carried into the young man"s voice. "Jayfor told me to run for it. He charged at the spider. Last I saw, it had him all wrapped up and the lights in his eyes were going dark ..."
"Yeah." Han put on a bit more speed.
His sensor board alerted him to a new contact. He glanced at it and saw a distant blip behind, rapidly overtaking them. For a moment he had the sudden fear that energy spiders could now outrun the Falcon Falcon, but the sensor board presented the pursuer"s transceiver code as Rogue.
"Wedge, this is Han. You"re probably already past it, but there"s an energy spider back your way somewhere. Stay alert."
"Haven"t seen it. Saw a crashed hauler and a mangled lifter droid. I think it was the same one Drathan Forge was with."
Han glanced back and saw the name FORGE FORGE on the breast of the boy"s jumpsuit. "It was, but the kid"s all right. Just keep your eyes open." on the breast of the boy"s jumpsuit. "It was, but the kid"s all right. Just keep your eyes open."
"Will do."
Leia finished buckling herself into the copilot"s seat. "You any relation to Inyri Forge?"
"She"s my great-aunt."
The Falcon Falcon roared through the ruined cavern and into the tunnel beyond. As they exited the cavern, in his rear holocam display Han could see Wedge"s borrowed Eta-5 entering the cavern at the far end and following. roared through the ruined cavern and into the tunnel beyond. As they exited the cavern, in his rear holocam display Han could see Wedge"s borrowed Eta-5 entering the cavern at the far end and following.
"Han, this is Wedge. I see your spider."
"Where?"
"On your-"
An insectile leg, like hollow transparisteel filled with a sparkling dark blue beverage, came down onto the c.o.c.kpit viewport from above and behind.
"-top hull."
Han jumped. The reflex action might have carried him clear out of his seat but for his restraint straps. Allana screamed, a high-pitched peal that went on and on. Drathan said a word that, had Han"s entire universe not been focused on the blue leg, he would have wished Allana hadn"t heard.
The spider had to have come up on the Falcon Falcon along the tunnel ceiling. The creatures absorbed energy; they soaked up anything active sensors had to throw at them and could not be detected by such devices. They were nature"s perfect predators ... and now one of them was in reach of his along the tunnel ceiling. The creatures absorbed energy; they soaked up anything active sensors had to throw at them and could not be detected by such devices. They were nature"s perfect predators ... and now one of them was in reach of his family family.
Almost numb with shock but operating on years of training, Han flipped on his energy deflectors and scanned his weapons board. Concussion missiles all gone. Lasers at full power-no, the power flow wavered just for a moment, then spiked back to normal. Ground buzzer antipersonnel blaster operational. But nothing could be brought to bear against the spider; the top quad-linked lasers could not depress far enough to hit something clinging to the top hull.
Allana continued screaming, despite Leia"s efforts to hush her. Leia"s eyes were on the viewport above, and her hand was on her lightsaber. Han wanted to shout, That won"t work, the thing will absorb it and then all of us That won"t work, the thing will absorb it and then all of us, but he was too busy. The deflectors were not coming up, despite the fact that their generators all indicated they were in the green.
Of course course they weren"t coming up. The energy spider was drinking in every bit of energy in its vicinity. And now the thruster engines skipped, a miss of less than half a second"s duration, but long enough for Han to feel that his heart had stopped for the same amount of time. they weren"t coming up. The energy spider was drinking in every bit of energy in its vicinity. And now the thruster engines skipped, a miss of less than half a second"s duration, but long enough for Han to feel that his heart had stopped for the same amount of time.
The deflector shields weren"t doing a bit of good- Not true. They were still running: if they hadn"t been, the spider would have been draining energy right out of the occupants of the c.o.c.kpit, or straight from the engines, or both. Han glanced at Leia. "Increase power to the shields. Give them everything you can."
She leaned over her controls. "Tell me you have some plan in addition to "more power to the shields.""
"When I do, I"ll tell you."
Allana continued to scream.
The spider leg raised, then hammered down again. It was joined by another, this one featuring a ferocious-looking backspike with a serrated edge.
Even over the sounds of Allana"s wail, C-3PO"s voice carried from the transport"s aft sections. "I say, sir, I"m not quite strapped in yet-"
They reached a tunnel intersection. Han vectored to port, a hard turn. Being slammed sideways in her restraints cut off Allana"s breath for a moment. Han could hear another cry from the rear: "I sayyyyyy-" followed by a crash of a droid into duralloy bulkhead.
On the sensor board, the blip representing Wedge"s interceptor was close, and his voice came across the comm board: "Han, I have a shot."
Those words sent a new kind of chill down Han"s spine. A shot from the interceptor"s twin lasers, missing the spider and hitting a ship"s hull unprotected by shields, could punch straight through. And the spider was on top of the c.o.c.kpit pod.
On the other hand, Wedge knew that.
"Take your shot."
The tunnel walls lit up red all around them. The Falcon Falcon"s diagnostics reported no new damage. The energy spider"s legs kept hammering-and now it heaved itself farther forward, its multifaceted eyes at the aft edge of the viewport, peering down at the living treats within the c.o.c.kpit. Allana resumed her screams.
"No effect." Wedge"s voice sounded as impressed as it did annoyed. "Swallowed up the entire blast. It"s like firing into a Yuuzhan Vong coralskipper void."
"Great." Ahead, Han could see a shaft of brightness stretching from floor to ceiling-sunlight entering through the operation"s access shaft. "Going up, Wedge."
"I"m on your tail."
The Falcon Falcon took the right-angle turn into the climb like the finely tuned ship not everyone admitted she was. Han could see a circle of sunlight, their exit point, far above. The blows of the energy spider continued to rain down on the c.o.c.kpit viewport. took the right-angle turn into the climb like the finely tuned ship not everyone admitted she was. Han could see a circle of sunlight, their exit point, far above. The blows of the energy spider continued to rain down on the c.o.c.kpit viewport.
And Han saw, finally, the effect the monstrous creature"s attacks were having on his beloved craft.
None.
No cracks had appeared on the transparisteel. The viewports were not being kicked free of their housing.
Even without the shields operating, the Falcon Falcon was sustaining no damage. was sustaining no damage.
Something eased in Han"s chest, like a durasteel spring under tension suddenly snapping free.
The Millennium Falcon Millennium Falcon shot out into sunlight toward the pallid pink sky above. Han rolled her over upright. shot out into sunlight toward the pallid pink sky above. Han rolled her over upright.
Things were different than they had been three decades earlier. Han Solo wasn"t a prisoner, running for his life from a creature far larger, far deadlier than he was. Behind the controls of the Falcon Falcon, he was was the the Falcon Falcon. As Han had once been nothing but a bit of food, the fearsome energy spider was nothing but a bit of trouble.
Two seconds later, Wedge"s interceptor shot up from the shaft entrance and instantly leveled off in the Falcon Falcon"s wake. Wedge brought his starfighter above the Falcon Falcon, remaining close for further laserfire attempts. The sensor board showed more starfighters and Lady Luck Lady Luck headed his way. headed his way.
Han grinned, happy as a little kid. "Wedge, break off."