He swung the Falcon into a wide turn.
"There seems to be a slight problem, my prince," the commander said.
Xizor, watching the flashes of weapons and exploding ships from his deck, frowned. "So I noticed. Why are your ships blowing up, Commander?"
"A squadron of X-wing fighters has joined the fray. No more than a dozen of them. It will merely... delay the inevitable."
"Are you certain, Commander?"
"We still outnumber them twenty to one, Highness. And our frigates are standing by in case they get past the corvettes and fighters. They cannot escape."
"Hope that you are right, Commander."
Luke did a belly-twisting power dive at almost a ninety-degree angle to their path. A trio of fighters stayed with him, firing all the while. He was glad to see the Rogues on the one hand; on the other hand, they were losing the fight. With all the civilian traffic around, the wheelworlds and skyhooks, the power sats, the communications switching platforms and who knew what else, the s.p.a.ce around Coruscant was any-thing but pure vacuum.
The comm hummed with conversations: "I got "em, Luke," Wedge said.
"No, let me," Dash said.
Another attacker blew up off the port side.
"That one was mine," Leia said. "You figured out who these guys are?"
"Not yet," Luke said.
"Bet you a credit they"re Xizor"s."
Luke and Lando exchanged glances. Of course, that made sense.
Not that it made any difference-"Two coming in at one-fifty!" Lando yelled.
Luke punched it. The Millennium Falcon rocketed away in a steep turn.
"What are you doing up there?" Leia yelled. "Giving you a perfect setup shot," Luke yelled back.
Vader stalked the bridge of the Executor. "How long before we can get around the planet?" he asked. "A few minutes, my lord," the nervous commander answered.
"As soon as we come within range, establish communications with the skyhook Falleen"s Fist. I will speak with Prince Xizor."
"Of course, my lord."
"I think we got problems, buddy," Dash said. His voice was calm over the comm, but it was also resigned.
Luke nodded. "Wedge?"
"I"m afraid he"s right, Luke. These guys are only soso pilots, but there are a lot of "em. I figure we"re still outnumbered fifteen to one, and there are a couple of frigates who are just sitting there waiting. We don"t have room to run, don"t have room to maneuver. They"re closing in and they don"t care if they kill civilian ships, either."
"Yeah," Luke said. He took a deep breath. "Well, I guess all we can do is take as many of them with us as we can. Unless anybody wants to surrender?"
Both Dash and Wedge laughed. "That"s what I thought. May the Force be with you."
Luke flew as he had never flown before. He weaved, rolled, stalled, dived, threw power turns that came close to blacking them all out. He was giving it his best and he had the Force helping him, but they were losing.
It would only be a matter of time.
Prince Xizor, we are starting to pick them off. Three of the X-wings have been destroyed or disabled. Our net is closing in. It will be only a matter of time." Xizor nodded. Finally.
"Coming within range, Lord Vader."
"Good. Deploy your fighters."
Leia tracked the incoming fighter, fired, missed, swiveled in the gun seat. The fighter streaked past.
Well. There was another right behind it, and more behind that one. She lined up, fired, saw the lances of energy rake the attacker, saw part of a wing shatter and spew away, saw the wounded fighter spin out of control. There were hundreds of the blasted things, and counting Dash and the Falcon, they were down to what? nine, ten ships?
It looked as if Xizor was going to win after all.
Luke saw the TIE fighters screaming toward them. A dozen, at least.
Lando said, "Uh-oh."
"Yeah, I wondered what was keeping them." Luke looked at Lando. "Listen, thanks for everything, Lando. You"ve been a good friend."
"I don"t want to hear that kind of talk. I still am a good friend."
Luke nodded, turned back to look at the TIE fighters. There was nowhere to go; s.p.a.ce was thick with ships; it was like trying to fly through a hailstorm without being hit. He took a deep breath-Saw the TIEs flash past. Watched them take out two of the unmarked attackers.
"Huh?" Lando said.
"Luke," came Leia"s voice over the comlink, "I just saw-"
"I know, I know. What"s going on?"
Aizor heard the panic in his commander"s voice: "Highness, we"re being attacked by the Imperial Navy!"
Next to him, a communications tech waved frantically. Xizor fixed the man with a baleful stare. "This better be good, your life hangs in the balance."
"It-It"s Lord Vader. He wants to speak to you."
Vader! He should have known!
"Put him on."
Vader"s image swirled into being in front of him. Xizor went on the offensive immediately: "Lord Vader! Why is the Navy attacking my ships?"
There was a pause; then Vader said, "Because the ships, under your orders, are engaging in criminal activity."
"Nonsense! My ships are trying to stop a Rebel traitor who destroyed my castle!"
There came another pause. "You have two standard minutes to recall your vessels," Vader said. "And to offer yourself into my custody."
The coldness at Xizor"s core blossomed uncontrolled into an angry heat.
He tried to keep his voice calm. "I will not. I will take this up with the Emperor."
"The Emperor is not here. I speak for the Empire, Xizor."
"Prince Xizor."
"You may keep the t.i.tle-for another two minutes."
Xizor forced a confident smile. "What are you going to do, Vader? Destroy my skyhook? You wouldn"t dare. The Emperor-"
"I warned you to stay away from Skywalker. Recall your ships and surrender into my custody or pay the consequences. I will risk the Emperor"s displeasure." He paused. "However, you will not be there to see it, this time. "
Xizor felt a surge of fear as the image of Vader turned ghostly and vanished. Would he do it? Would he fire on the skyhook?
He had less than two minutes before he found out. He had better decide what he was going to do.
Fast.
Luke, look out!" Lando yelled.
"I see him!"
Luke put the Falcon into a steep climb, but there were more ships looming at that angle, and he peeled off to starboard. The vacuum was filled with energy flashes, debris of destroyed fighters, more ships than he"d ever seen in such a small s.p.a.ce. The area looked like a nest of angry mermyns.
But-while the TIE fighters occasionally fired on the X-wings, they seemed to be targeting the unmarked attackers. Xizor"s ships. Why? "They"re on the same side, aren"t they?"
Luke didn"t realize he"d spoken this aloud until Lando said, "Thank your lucky stars for small favors. If they"re shooting at each other, they aren"t shooting at ms! Look out!"
Luke zagged, missed the incoming fighter by centimeters. He felt a familiar disturbance in the Force then. Va-der?
No time to worry about that, either. Luke put his questions aside for later-if there was a later for them - and concentrated on flying the Falcon.
The commander of Xizor"s navy put in a frantic call to his master. Vader listened to the decoded communication over the speaker system.
"My prince, we are being destroyed by the attackers! We are outnumbered and being slaughtered! I need permission to offer our surrender!
Highness?"
Vader watched the chronometer, enjoyed the time melting away. Not much left for the Dark Prince now.
Seven seconds... six seconds... five...
The terrified commander kept babbling: "Prince Xizor, please respond! We must surrender or we will be blown to pieces! Please!"
... four seconds left... three seconds...
"Highness, I-" The commander"s transmission ended abruptly. One of the Imperial fighters must have gotten him.... two... one-"Commander, destroy the skyhook." One did not stay in command of Darth Vader"s ship by questioning orders. "Yes, my lord." Darth Vader took a deep breath, painful as it was to do so, and let it out slowly. Smiled, unseen.
Goodbye, Xizor. And good riddance.
As it happened, the Millennium Falcon was facing it when the skyhook exploded.
Luke saw the giant Star Destroyer"s powerful beam strobe, saw it pierce the skyhook. The planetoid shattered, blew apart, went nova, became a small star that burned brightly for an instant before it faded, leaving millions of glowing pieces behind.
It was a spectacular sight, for all its violence. It reminded Luke of the explosion that had destroyed the Death Star.
"Oh, man," Lando said softly. "They must havemade somebody real mad."
Luke shook his head, didn"t speak.
Dash said, "Heads up, boys. Follow me."
Luke blinked. "Huh?"
"Somebody just opened us an escape hatch."
"Are you crazy? We can"t fly through that wreckage!"
"We don"t have a choice. There are ships everywhere. What"s the matter, kid? Don"t think you can do it?"
"If you can, my droid can. Go." Luke understood what Dash meant. It would be tricky, dangerous, but the s.p.a.ce around the destroyed skyhook was relatively clear-the debris was expanding outward. If they could avoid being holed by the stuff on the way there, it was their best chance.
"Yeeeehaww!" somebody in Rogue Squadron yelled.
Luke laughed. He knew just how they felt.
They headed for the debris, and it looked as if it was going to be just fine. The good guys had triumphed!
"Look out, Dash!" Lando yelled.
Luke could hardly spare a glance, but he did. Just in time to see a block of shattered skyhook the size of a resiplex zero in on the Outrider.
"Dash!" Luke yelled. It was too close to avoid-There was an actinic flare of light too bright to look at. Luke turned away, saw Lando throw one arm up to block the glare.
When the light faded, the Outrider had vanished.
"Oh, man," Lando said. "He-he"s... gone."
Just like that.
The sweet taste of triumph went bitter in Luke"s mouth. There wasn"t time to worry about it now. "Brace yourselves! This is going to be rough!"
The debris flashed around them, impacts waiting at every turn. He was sorry about Dash-the man had turned out to be okay after all-but he didn"t want to end up a pile of flaming rubble. He let the Force take him and flew.
The secret Alliance base was light-years away from Coruscant and they had barely made it-but they had made it.