“See ‘em,” Leia replied coolly. “Thanks.”
The Falcon began to accelerate, but hardly with her usual speed. She was dragging the XR808g along, drawing it in slowly because the two transports were so close in size. Working any faster, Luke knew, meant risking the tractor beam’s grasp-or smashing the derelict into the Falcon.
The dartships continued to close, and it quickly grew apparent the Falcon could not outrun them without setting the XR808g adrift. Luke started to suggest that they let Juun and Saba go EV so the Shadow could pick them up on the way past, but the slow swarm suddenly stopped and began to form a wall between the Shadow and the Falcon. The second, faster swarm continued to pursue the Shadow from behind.
“This doesn’t look good,” Mara said. “Artoo, start plotting escape vectors.”
The droid tweedled an acknowledgment and went to work.
“They drew us in,” Mara said. “I’m ashamed.”
“They’re going to a lot of trouble to get us,” Luke said. “What I want to know is why.”
That was the question he held in his mind as he reached for Jacen and Jaina in the Force. Raynar had been unwilling-or unableto discuss the Yoggoy attack honestly, but Luke felt sure his niece and nephew would prove much more open.
In reply, he received only an impression of confusion.
“Same story as on Yoggoy,” Mara observed. “Nobody knows anything.”
R2-D2 tweeted an announcement. The Shadow lacked enough current velocity to escape unscathed. No matter which way they turned, the fast swarm would have a thirty-second window of attack-and that assumed the Shadow suffered no damage to her drive units.
Nanna’s voice came over the intercom. “Shall I take Ben to the docking bay?”
“Not yet,” Mara said.
“I really think you should take Ben and flee in the StealthX,
Master Skywalker,” the droid insisted. “The Shadow’s odds of survival are-“
“Certain,” Mara growled. Her gaze slid across the mirrored canopy toward Luke. “Right?”
“Right,” Luke said. They had rehearsed just this situation many times. “We’re fine.”
Closing his mind to external distractions, Luke began a focusing exercise, breathing in through his nose, filling his belly diaphragm with air, then exhaling slowly out his mouth. He barely felt the Shadow shudder as the first dartships began to pelt her shields with balls of primitive chemical explosives, and when Han’s voice came over the comm, he heard the words only with his ears.
“Uh, why aren’t you on an escape vector? Is Artoo on the blink again?”
“Negative that,” Mara answered. She lowered the Shadow’s blaster cannon and began to fire indiscriminately into the cloud of swirling dartships. “We’re okay.”
“You don’t look okay,” Han said. “We’ll cut the Exxer loose and circle back to-“
“Negative!” Mara snapped. “You do that, we’ll never get free of these pests. Keep going-and don’t look back. Luke has a trick up his sleeve.”
“Copy.” It was Leia this time. “If you’re sure.”
“We’re sure.” Mara closed the channel, then-as the Shadow’s shuddering worsened-added, “I think.”
Luke was sure. By then, he had opened himself wide to the Force, and it was pouring in from all sides, filling him with a maelstrom of power, imbuing his whole body with its energy.
A bang sounded back in the engineering bay as a power circuit overloaded, then the lights dimmed as R2-D2 redistributed shield power. Luke felt a surge of anxiety from Mara, but pushed it to one side so he could concentrate on the task at hand. He formed an imaginary picture of the Shadow’s exterior, then expanded it into the Force, moving it from his mind out into the cockpit.
Mara turned around and inspected the image carefully, then said, “Looks good.”
Luke continued to enlarge the image, extending it into every corner of the vessel, taking his time to absorb the attributes that made up the Shadow’s sensor signature. He began to grow tired, but ignored his fatigue and expanded the illusion until it covered the entire ship like an imaginary skin.
Another bang sounded in the engineering bay. This time, before R2-D2 could redistribute power, the sound was followed by the muffled thuds of several hull hits. Mara hit the crash alert, closing all airtight doors and activating the pressure stop-loss systems, then spoke over the intercom.
“Nanna, get Ben into his vac suit.”
“I’ve already done that,” the droid responded. “We’re waiting at our evacuation station now. Perhaps you should come-“