[Legacy Of The Force] - 03(28)
Leia pressed her hand to Han’s chest. “Han, you’ve got to stop doing that.” She rolled him off with surprising ease and came up kneeling, then plucked at her robe. “Jedi, remember?”
“Sorry-old habits.”
Han rose to his knees. Half the suitors in the room-a couple of dozen-were charging across the chamber, leaping and dodging furniture, either holding a white throwing knife or drawing another from their sleeves. He spun around, reaching for the fallen sergeant’s weapon, and found the entire complement of guards lying in the archway, most dead already, but a few writhing in pain with a plastoid hilt protruding from their throats or faces. A cold knot formed in the pit of Han’s stomach. The assassins were good-organized and well trained. He crawled forward and grabbed the sergeant’s bulky power blaster, then began to fumble with the unfamiliar Hapan safety.
“Blast! I don’t care what you say, next time I’m bringing…”
Leia’s lightsaber droned behind him, then the smell of burned flesh filled the air and a body thudded to the floor. The rest of the attackers were already racing into the archway to either side of the Solos. Most paid no attention at all to Han, simply grabbing weapons from the fallen guards and continuing up the corridor at a sprint. But one, a heavy-jawed man with blond hair, looked over and caught Han’s eye. “You okay?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah,” Han answered. He finally found the power blaster’s safety catch-a small nub inside the trigger guard-and depressed it. “Thanks for asking.”
He pulled the trigger, blasting a fist-sized hole into the center of the man’s chest. The Hapan tumbled over backward, his brow still rising in surprise.
Han turned to find Leia behind him, standing over a dead Hapan and frowning in the direction of the man he had just killed.
“You ever get the feeling we don’t have the vaguest idea what’s going on here?” Han asked. “We’re not the only ones.”
Leia pulled Han to his feet, in the process turning him back toward the waiting chamber. A dozen young noblemen were standing over the middle-aged bachelor who had been lecturing the pale-skinned “kid” about the hat. Another fifteen suitors were watching in slack-jawed astonishment as the “kid” dived and rolled toward the same door through which the Solos had entered, dodging a constant stream of blasterfire from the guards posted there. Now that the assassin had discarded her oversized coat-revealing a skintight bodysuit and a utility belt lined with throwing knives-it was very clear Leia had been right about her being female. And she did have hair-at least a little of it. The top hat was also gone, revealing a bushy topknot that made her look wild, unpredictable, and very dangerous.
Han started to shoulder the power blaster, but Leia put a hand on the barrel. “Not yet,” she said. “She’s Force-sensitive.”
“Force-sensitive?” Han understood what Leia was saying. The woman would not be a quick kill, and they could not afford to get tied up here. “Will someone please tell me what the blazes is going on?”
“Maybe later.” Leia turned up the corridor after the assassins. “After I have time to figure it out myself.”
Han grabbed a couple of spare power packs off the dead sergeant and raced after Leia. By the time he caught up to her, they were two dozen meters down the white stone corridor and not gaining on their targets. Han stopped and knelt at the side of the corridor, taking cover behind the pedestal supporting a blue-sheened suit of early durasteel blast armor.
“We need to slow them down,” he said. “Good idea.” Leia continued running. “Try not to hit me!”
“Hey!” Han called. “Not what I meant!” But Leia was well down the corridor, already passing beneath the great chandelier and picking up speed. Han cursed her foolhardiness, then took three deep breaths and shouldered the power blaster.
Before he could open fire, the assassins suddenly stopped running and glanced uncertainly back toward Leia. Even without the Force, Han could sense their confusion. Either they had come to an unexpected dead end, or they had not seen her attack their fellows and could not understand why she was charging them. Maybe both.
“What the blazes is going on?” Han asked again. He set his sights on the Hapan in front and blasted him between the shoulder blades, then swung the muzzle to the next man and fired again. That one bounced off a display pedestal, then staggered into the middle of the corridor and collapsed. The surviving assassins dived for cover, finally starting to return fire.
Leia caught up to the rear of the group and launched herself into a whirling lightsaber attack, cloaking herself behind a basket of sapphire light and batting blaster bolts back toward their source. Han dropped another assassin and she killed three; Han blasted a man’s leg and sent him somersaulting across the corridor; Leia used the Force to crush two more beneath a flying suit of heavy plexoid armor.