“Artoo!”
R2-D2 emitted a surprised clunk, then trilled a short question.
“The Exxer’s blink code, that’s what!” Luke said. “How about a translation?”
R2-D2 droned wearily, and the translation began to scroll across the screen.
This is the XR808g, flagship of JuunTaar Commercial, with two sister ships bearing supplies for the Jedi warriors. Please signal your intention to provide safe escort.
“JuunTaar Commercial?” Han complained over the comm. “Flagship? I didn’t think Sullustans had that much imagination.”
Luke looked back to R2-D2. “Any answer from the Killiks?”
R2-D2 tweeted a sharp no.
The dartships began to stream toward the XR808g, bleeding a swath of orange rocket flame through Qoribu’s shadow.
“Juun, get out of there now!” Han’s voice made the comm speakers pop. “Time to cut and run… or you’re fired!”
Juun was already swinging around, but the dartships put on a burst of speed and shot across the last few kilometers in an eye-blink, engulfing the XR808g in a whirling cloud of rocket light and splinter-shaped hulls. Luke felt a sudden spike of Sullustan fear and Barabel anger, then bursts of silver light began to erupt around the transport.
Juun’s voice came over the S-thread emergency channel. “Urgent, urgent.” His voice was terrified but steady. “This is Captain Jae Juun of the XR-eight-oh-eight-g requesting immediate assistance. We are under attack just off Qoribu in the Gyuel system, coordinates-“
“Enough procedure, already!” Han said over the normal comm. “We know the situation.”
“Copy,” Juun said. The channel crackled as the XR808g’s shields fell, then the comm erupted into a steady, deep rumble. “Uh, we just lost our drives. Request plan update.”
“I’ll be there in a minute,” Han commed. “Just sit tight.”
“Cop-“
The signal disintegrated into a series of loud bangs, and the Falcon started forward.
“We’ll take this one, Shadow,” Leia commed. “Hang here and cover our stern.”
“Why don’t you cover our stern?” Mara suggested. “You’re better armed. “
“Because the Shadow has yacht-class drive units,” Han said. “If you latch onto that transport, it’ll take you a week to get moving.”
“You have us there,” Mara admitted.
The XR808g”s blaster cannons began to fire indiscriminately, blowing whole swaths clear of dartships, and the anger that Saba had been pouring into the battle-meld turned to hunt-glee.
“We’re going in,” Leia commed. “Just keep your ion drives hot. We may have to scoot out of here in a hurry.”
“Copy.” Luke was just as worried about Han and Leia as he was about Juun and Saba. The Falcon packed a powerful punch and boasted military-grade shields, but her legendary speed would not be available if she was dragging along a transport almost as large as she was. “Just be as fast as you can.”
“Check that,” Mara said. “I think you’re scaring them off.”
Luke glanced at his tactical display and saw that the dartships were swinging away from the XR808g, leaving the Falcon a clear path to rescue Juun and Tarfang.
“Maybe those guys aren’t as homicidal as we thought,” Luke said. “Could this be a communications problem?”
“It wasn’t a communications problem when that tower fell,” Mara said. “And I don’t like the way those dartship pilots feel.”
“Shadowy,” Luke agreed. “Like they’re hiding in the Force.”
The dartships hooked around and began a ferocious acceleration on a course opposite the Falcon’s, back toward the pitch blackness of Qoribu’s umbra.
“They’re sure in a hurry,” Luke said.
He switched scales, searching for any sign that the Chiss were moving against the Killiks, or the Killiks gathering for an assault on the Chiss. Everything looked quiet on both fronts. The dartship swarm split into two groups, one accelerating at twice the rate of the other.
“I didn’t know methane rockets could provide so much thrust,” Mara said. “None of this makes sense.”
R2-D2 beeped, then scrolled a message across their displays.
These Killiks are flying hydrogen rockets.
By the time the Falcon’s tractor beam had caught hold of the XR808g, a two-kilometer gap had opened between the two sets of dartships. The swarms continued to accelerate toward the planet’s umbra until the faster one was past the Shadow, then both groups pivoted around and came shooting back for a flank attack.
“Look sharp!” Luke warned. “They’re coming back for us.”