[Hand Of Thrawn] - 01(9)

At her urging, he’d been spending more time lately in meditation, hoping that immersing himself in the Force would help. So far, though, there had been no results.

“Luke?” Han’s voice said into his helmet. Where are you?”

Luke shook his thoughts back to the task at hand. “I’m above you and a little to portside,” he said. “I don’t see anything out here that looks like a pirate ship. You?”

“Not yet,” Han said. “Don’t worry; when they get here, you’ll know it.”

“Right.” Turning his head slowly, Luke looked around at the drive glows and running lights of the various freighters.

And then suddenly they were there.

Only it wasn’t just two or three ships. Dropping in from lightspeed were no fewer than eight ships, all unmarked, all bristling with turbolaser batteries.

Behind Luke came a startled shrill. “Easy, Artoo,” Luke soothed the droid. “Give me a readout on them.”

Artoo beeped uncertainly, and a list appeared on Luke’s sensor scope. Two mangled-looking Corellian gunships, an old but impressively big Kaloth battlecruiser with an equally old KDY a-4 ion cannon welded awkwardly to its bow, and five Corsair-class assault starfighters. The whole group of them were in encirclement formation, closing on a pair of medium transports a few kilometers below and ahead.

Transports bearing New Republic insignia.

“Han?” Luke called.

“Yeah, I see them,” Han said tightly. “Okay. What do you want to do?” Luke looked out at the incoming pirates, a sudden tightening sensation in his stomach. There were many options, of course. He could reach out with the Force and damage the ships’ control surfaces, crippling them. He might even be able to wrench off whole hull plates or deform the weapons emplacements, tearing them apart with the Force alone. Or he could simply reach inside to the crews’ minds, turning them into helpless observers or even forcing them to surrender. For a Jedi Master with the Force as his ally, there were no limits. No limits at all.

And then, abruptly, he stiffened, his breath seeming to freeze in his throat. There in front of him, starkly visible against the blackness of space, he could see the faint images of Emperor Palpatine and Exar Kun, two of the greatest focal points of the dark side he’d ever had to face. They were standing there before him, gazing back at him.

And laughing.

“Luke?”

Han’s voice made him start, and as he did so, the images vanished. But the icy horror stayed behind. Something he wasn’t supposed to do . .

“Luke? Hey, look alive, pal.”

“I’m here,” Luke managed. His mouth, he discovered, was suddenly very dry. “I-you’d better take charge, Han.”

“You all right? Can you fly?”

Luke swallowed. “Yes. I’m fine.”

“Sure,” Han said, obviously not convinced. “Look, you’d better hang back. Chewie and me’ll handle this.”

“No,” Luke said. “No, I’m with you. Just tell me what you want me to do.”

“Well, if you’re sure you’re up to it, you can run me some cover,” Han said. “First thing is to take out that ion cannon.”

Luke took a deep breath, settling his mind and stretching out to the Force. Two ships against eight. It was like the old days, when the Rebel Alliance was struggling against the awesome power of the Empire. He hadn’t been nearly as strong in the Force then. Hardly strong enough, in fact, to enhance his natural combat and flying abilities.

And yet, somehow, the memories of those days felt strangely clean. Cleaner than his mind had felt for a long time.

Something he wasn’t supposed to do …

All right, he told the memories. Let’s call this a test. “Go ahead,” he told Han. “I’m right behind you.”

It was unclear in that first minute whether the pirates, concentrating on their intended prey, had even noticed the old YT-1300 freighter and the X-wing flying alongside it. It was abundantly clear, though, that a sudden attack from outside their encirclement ring was the last thing they were expecting. The Falcon shot between two of the Corsairs without drawing any fire at all until it was well past them. They got a single ineffective turbolaser salvo off before Luke slid in behind them, dropping a proton torpedo each into their drive sections. A brilliant double flash, and they were effectively out of the fight.

The X-wing shot between them, curving up out of the crippled ships’ line of fire. The battlecruiser was starting to turn its turrets toward them&mdash There was a sudden warning squeal from behind him. “I see them, Artoo,” Luke said, throwing the X-wing into a stomach-twisting spiral out and away from the battlecruiser just as two of the three remaining Corsairs shot past. A burst of light caught the edge of his eye as he turned, and he twisted back around to see the bow of the battlecruiser flash into shrapnel. “Han? You okay?”