Lowbacca opened his eyes to a vast banded darkness and was instantly back above Qoribu, shivering inside the cold stink of his EV suit, anchored to a ronto-sized hunk of ice and dust in the planet’s ring system. The blackness around him was filled with blue needles of ion discharge-Chiss rescue ships still searching for survivors-and a steady rain of battle debris was plunging into the gas giant’s thick atmosphere, igniting a spectacular display of crimson cloud-blossoms.
Jaina continued to touch Lowbacca through the battle-meld, helping him push back the loneliness and despair that she herself had experienced when she went EV at Kalarba. Alema assured him they would reach him soon. Zekk worried about his life-support status. The heads-up display
inside Lowbacca’s helmet showed low batteries, no water, and thirty minutes of air - three times that if he returned to a hibernation trance. Another presence urged him to stay alert and be ready.
Lowbacca thought for a moment this last presence was Tesar, but it felt older, fiercer, less familiar… Saba!
Be ready! There would be only one chance.
Lowbacca disengaged his tether-line safety sleeve and poised his thumb over the quick release gate. He was ready.
With his other hand, he pulled himself down to the iceball, then grabbed the anchoring bolt and used it to slowly spin around, looking for the telltale halo of an approaching vessel. He saw only the ion trails of craft passing on the oblique, and that puzzled him. Jaina and the others would be coming in StealthXs, but they were even more cramped than standard XJs. How were they going to pick him up…
The question vanished from Lowbacca’s mind. There was a dark shape about a hundred meters ahead, its canopy and one weapons-arm protruding above the sea of iceballs that formed Qoribu’s ring system.
It was probably just an empty wreck. Or maybe Lowbacca was seeing things. His EV suit was automatically holding his oxygen consumption at a minimum, feeding him just enough air to keep him functional,
and hallucinations were common under such circumstances. Jaina had told him she spent several hours talking to Yoda when she went EV Unfortunately, she had not been able to understand anything he said because he spent the whole time speaking in Gamorrean.
Lowbacca slowly spun himself toward Qoribu, keeping a careful watch at ring level. He found another dark shape about the same distance away, this time pointed in his direction, standing on edge with two weapons-arms protruding above the surrounding surface. A flash of entry fire on Qoribu briefly lit the cockpit, silhouetting a helmeted head.
The cold suddenly began to seep into Lowbacca’s bones. He reached out with the Force, extending his awareness in all directions, and found himself surrounded by living presences.
Chiss presences.
Leia set their new waypoint and transferred it to Han’s display. “There, I think.”
Han glanced down at his screen. “You think, or you’re sure?”
“Sure?” The word emerged from Leia’s dry throat in a high-pitched croak. “What do you think? The coordinates just popped into my head.”
The navigation schematic showed a yellow destination icon hanging on the inner edge of Qoribu’s ring, about as far from the Falcon’s assigned search area as it was possible to get.
“Sorry for asking,” Han said. “But we’re only going to get one shot at this.”
When Han continued on their current trajectory, Leia sighed and reached out to her daughter, then began to recite the coordinates in her mind.
But Jaina was in no mood to be bothered. Leia sensed only an overwhelming
urgency
and
determination-and
perhaps
an
irritated admonishment to stop wasting time.
“Han, just go. Something’s not right.”
“Okay.” Han swung the Falcon toward the new waypoint, then pushed the throttle forward and activated the intercom. “Battle stations back there. This might get rough.”
“Battle stations?” Juun gasped. “Do you remember that your cannon turrets are nonfunctional? Your gunners won’t be able to hit a thing!”
“Have some faith, Shortwave,” Han said. “You’d be surprised what Noghri hit when they can’t aim.”
“This has happened before?”
“Sure,” Leia said, only half listening. “It seems like something’s always broken down just when you need it most.”
To her surprise, the Chiss did not immediately demand to know why the Falcon had drifted off course. In fact, she detected no sign they had even noticed. Thankful that Raynar had not felt threatened by their sensor dish, Leia locked it on their destination and began a passive analysis of the vicinity.
“The Chiss are being awfully quiet,” Han said. “Better take a sensor reading on our destination-but don’t go active. We don’t want to give away where we’re going.”