Jacen’s gaze shifted to the tiny blue blips that represented Ben’s and Jaina’s and Zekk’s rescue beacons. The Longshot’s designator was only a couple of centimeters away from them now. He knew Alema had been trying to make him doubt his parents’ intentions, but she was gone, and those doubts remained. There were too many unanswered questions about his parents’ role in the attempt on Tenel Ka’s life-and the intelligence they had provided had been more harmful than useful.
The fact was, Jacen had begun to question his parents’ motives before Alema ever boarded the Anakin-when he returned from Relephon to find Tenel Ka already under attack. Of course, he knew that the great Han and Leia Solo were capable of playing double agents. He had simply refused to believe they would participate in a coldblooded assassination attempt against a friend.
Lumiya had been right. Jacen had put loyalty to family above his mission. He had balked at the necessary sacrifices. And that hesitation had nearly cost Aliana her mother and Hapes a Queen Mother, had come close to costing the Alliance one of her most important member states … and maybe even the war.
Jacen motioned Orlopp and the others back into the salon, then activated the intercom. “Commander Twizzl, the time has come to smash the usurpers. Order the Anakin and her escorts to advance and engage-we need to wipe those Galney Battle Dragons off the tail of our rescue flotilla.”
“Very good, sir.” Twizzl’s voice was happy. “And nicely done, if I may say so.”
“You may, Commander,” Jacen said. “And I have one other order. Have one of our long-range batteries target the Longshot.”
There was a moment of silence, then Twizzl said, “But, Colonel, the Longshot is a false transponder code. That transport is really…”
“Stop wasting time,” Jacen said. “I’d like the vessel destroyed before it reaches those rescue beacons.”
There was a moment of stunned silence, then Twizzl said, “Colonel Solo… the Longshot is almost on them now.”
“I understand the risks, Commander.” Jacen checked the datapad one more time and found Allana smiling up into the cam. Her eyes were sparkling with confidence and trust, and he knew he was doing the right thing for her-and for all the children of the galaxy. “Assign our best gunnery team and fire away.”
Chapter Twenty-four
The air lock had almost finished equalizing when a boom like a meteor strike resonated through the Falcon’s hull. The corridor dropped away, and Han hit the ceiling-or rather, it hit him. An instant later he found himself plastered to the deck with no memory of leaving the ceiling. His head was aching and his shoulder was throbbing, and his ears weren’t ringing-they were blaring.
Han rolled to his side and lay there suffering, trying to sort out what had happened-trying to sort out the whole last couple of months, as a matter of fact, how he and Leia had gotten themselves involved in another war and what made this one worse than the others, so much more painful and confusing.
Then a scrap of flimsiplast tumbled past, bouncing along the deck past Han’s nose, and suddenly it didn’t matter what had happened. The blaring was not in his ears at all. It was coming from the intercom speakers, and it was slowly-though steadily-rising in pitch.
The cabin pressure was dropping.
Han scrambled to his feet, then stepped over to the control panel next to the air lock and silenced the emergency alarm.
Leia’s voice came over the ship intercom instantly, backed by a chorus of chimes and buzzers that suggested the Falcon’s, systems were sinking faster than a comet down a black hole. “Han? You okay?”
“Yeah, so far.” Realizing he would need both hands to make repairs, Han tried to pull his arm out of the sling-and nearly collapsed with pain. He was going to need help. “But I can’t waste time talking about it. We’ve got a pressure leak somewhere.”
“A leak}”” C-3PO asked, also speaking over the intercom from the cockpit. “Captain Solo, you have only one functional arm. You’ll never be able to…”
“I’ll handle it.” Han peeked through the hatch viewport and was relieved to see that Jaina and her companions were all on their feet and steady. “I’ve got help in the air lock.”
“Just watch yourselves,” Leia warned. The deck continued to tilt and buck as Leia put the falcon through a serious of evasive maneuvers. “Some laserbrain in a Star Destroyer is taking potshots at us.”
“Is that all?” Han asked. Seeing that the air lock pressure was almost within normal safety margins, he hit the safety override. “I thought you’d hit an asteroid or something.”