They waited, silent, watching their screens.
One of the Fondorian fighters eased out of the line and past Bloodstripe. It advanced slowly toward Zekk, who was holding position on Jacen’s starboard wing.
“Steady,” said Zekk.
The Fondorian slowed almost to a halt and then suddenly peeled off to one side. Zekk matched its maneuver instantly and harried it for ten kilometers at close range until it swung around and headed back to the line behind Bloodstripe. Now all the vessels pulled forward to form a line level with the Corellian cruiser.
“They’re going to go for it, Zekk,” said Jaina.
“Yeah, I feel it …”
“Here we go.”
Jacen said nothing. Bloodstripe didn’t move, but the ships to either side of her did. They spread farther apart, and for a moment he wondered if they were simply going to try to draw Alliance ships away.
But the picket ships at their back had orders to remain on station. Their laser cannons could very nearly cover the whole run of Centerpoint’s access bays, and Jacen was sure Bloodstripe’s commander knew that. This was a gesture. This was provocation.
“Hold steady,” said Jacen.
Then the Atzerri freighter picked up speed and came straight at them. Jacen had it on visual now. It was an old ship and lightly armed to deter piracy. But it was picking up speed.
“He’s coming right at you, Jaina,” said Jacen. “If he hasn’t changed his mind at two kilometers, give him a reminder who’s in charge here.”
“I’ll buzz him.”
“You be careful,” said Zekk.
The freighter showed no signs of slowing. It was coming at the picket head-on, and its course appeared to be about to take it between the XJ7s and within three klicks of one of the Alliance destroyers. The only question was when it was prudent to block its path.
“That’s close enough,” said Jaina, and edged forward to skim over the freighter’s casing, nearly shaving its antennae. The freighter didn’t waver.
“He needs another reminder,” said Jacen, and set off after Jaina to block the freighter’s path.
“Bonadan cruiser breaking on the far side.” Zekk’s voice was a whisper. “Leave that to me.”
Resolute, one of the picket destroyers, cut in on the shared comlink. “Laser cannon targeted, Rogue Three, just in case he gets any ideas.”
The cruiser was a legitimate target; it was an armed warship. The Atzerri freighter, though, needed more careful handling. Firing on a civilian vessel was a political risk, not a military one. Jacen set a head-on course for the freighter’s long panel of viewports set across the width of its nose. Jaina had looped back and was making a second pass to block the ship.
“Blink … ,” said Jacen.
The freighter held its course.
“Go on … blink.”
They were on a collision course. It wasn’t high speed, but in space even a low-velocity collision could be disastrous.
“Don’t play this game with me, friend,” Jacen said.
He could now see the figures moving on the freighter’s brightly lit bridge. He was close enough to see the color of their overalls. Not yet. Red, blue, a few green; humans, all of them. Not yet.
Thirty seconds more on this course would smash him into their viewport.
Steady…
If he didn’t pull up in twenty seconds, he’d be dead. He was no longer aware of Jaina, or Zekk, just the rust-streaked ship with its band of white light that now filled his field of view. He became a pilot again: not a Sith Lord-in-waiting, or a Jedi with all the knowledge of generations, but a pilot at one with his fighter.
Ten seconds…
Jacen surrendered himself to instinct. He jerked the controls and the XJ7 climbed high and fast just as the freighter made a last-second dip below the plane of collision. Jacen knew he had missed the hull by meters. When he reached the top of his climb he looked down and saw that the freighter’s aft ports had opened: small laser cannons were trained on him. Not all ships had all their armament mounted forward; freighters expected sometimes to be chased in pirate-infested space lanes.
“Got you,” said Jaina. “Jacen, I’m targeting their cannons-“
There was a staccato exchange of white and blue streams of fire beneath Jacen as he arced down into a dive and came up behind Jaina. The freighter fired again, and then Jaina was clear of the stream and coming about for a second time. Jacen watched one cannon mounting shatter and break into a shower of shimmering particles, and then the other.
The freighter slowed and began to turn. Jacen sent a one-word message to Jaina in the Force: Fire.
He felt her resist him.
He switched his comlink to Jaina’s channel alone. “Finish it, Jaina.”