“You have stopped firing on us-thank you.” He sounded genuinely relieved. “But I cannot stop firing on you until the Falcon comes to a dead stop.”
“Jagged, we all know that if you were serious about this, we’d already be space dust,” Leia replied. “What I can’t figure out is why you’re going to so much trouble to save us.”
“Your confusion surprises me, Princess,” Jagged said. “I should think the reason would be obvious to someone of your diplomatic and military background. You and Captain Solo will be valuable prisoners-and so will Master Sebatyne and Bwua’tu’s master spies, the Ewok and the Sullustan.”
“You’re very well informed, Jag,” Leia said. “But not well enough. If you knew our mission, you’d know we’re trying to end the war. You would be helping-“
“I know you and Captain Solo came here to find Jaina and her, ah, companion,” Jag retorted. “I also know you want to help them smuggle a Killik commando squad into one of our command and control centers. I know your brother believes-wrongly-that this maneuver will prove to us how difficult it would be to win a war against the Killiks. He also believes it will make it easier for him to persuade the ruling houses to accept the peace that he intends to impose on the Colony. Is there anything else about your mission that I should know?”
“No, that about covers it,” Han said, speaking through gritted teeth. He had assumed that some spy eavesdropping in a hangar or briefing room had betrayed them. But clearly, it been someone a lot closer to the Jedi order than that-someone close enough to know Luke’s entire plan. “You think it’ll work?”
“No,” Jagged said icily. “I’d have to kill you first.”
“Yeah, that’s what I figured,” Han said.
Zark Squadron continued to pour fire after the Falcon. Another damage alarm started to scream-prompting Juun to take C-3P0 and rush aft-but the clawcraft began to drift back on the tactical display. The Star Destroyers began to lay barrages of fire ahead of the Falcon, trying to channel her into tractor beam range, or force her to stop and wait for boarding.
Still fighting a sluggish yoke and an out-of-control spiral, Han dropped them back toward Tenupe and continued toward the planet at an oblique angle.
“Uh, Han?” Leia sounded worried. “What are we doing?”
“This d-d-doesn’t make any ssssense,” Han said. The yoke had started to shake again, and he was fighting to keep it from swinging around at random. “They know our plan. They ought to be coming after us hard.”
“Han, this is hard.” Leia’s gaze was fixed firmly forward, where a green sliver of planetary horizon was slowly rolling around the edge of the viewport as the Falcon spiraled toward Tenupe. “There’s a whole task force after us.”
“That’s what I mean,” Han said. “You saw that battle down there! Do you think the theater commander really wants Jag wasting his time chasing us right now? They should just blast us back to atoms and be done with it.”
“They won’t need to,” Leia said. “Han, we’re heading for-“
“Whoever double-crossed us made them promise to take us alive,” Han continued. The boiling red curtain of a Star Destroyer barrage blossomed ahead, jolting the Falcon and spreading spots before his eyes. “Leia, it had to be someone close to us.”
“Okay, Han!” Leia pointed forward, where the hazy blur of Tenupe’s atmosphere was whirling around the center of the viewport. “But what are you doing?”
“Just what it looks like-a planet-skip.” Han activated the intercom. “Hold on back there!”
An instant later, tongues of red flame began to flicker over the viewport as they entered the thin gas of Tenupe’s upper atmosphere. The Falcon bucked so hard that Han slammed against his crash harness, and the clamor of flying gear echoed up the access corridor. Han fought against the sluggish controls, struggling to keep the ship’s spiral from growing any tighter and faster … and that was when the yoke went loose.
Before Han realized it, he had pulled it completely back against his thigh, and the Falcon was flipping out of its spiral in a weld-popping wingover. He quickly moved it back to center … and the wingover gradually slowed.
The Falcon stopped about three-quarters of the way through her roll and hung there, then languidly began to drift back toward upright-now headed straight for a rolling barrage of megalaser blossoms. Han pushed the yoke all the way forward, trying to dive under the fiery wall of death, and could only grit his teeth as the Falcon dropped her nose a mere five degrees.