Caedus didn’t wait for them to finish opening. He banked across and dropped through the half-opened portal, eliciting a squeal of delight from Allana.
And then he was outside, away from the life-threatening explosion he was sure the Anakin Solo represented. Caedus breathed easier for a minute. Outside, surrounded by hard vacuum, with enemy starfighters and capital ships racing in his direction, at last he felt safe.
ABOARD THE ANAKIN SOLO, JACEN SOLO’S PRIVATE HANGAR
Leia marched through the doors and Jag hit a series of buttons on the keypad beside them, closing and locking them.
Han, visible through the viewport of the Love Commander cockpit, waved, then his voice crackled across the comlink. “Sweetheart, get aboard. We’ve got it, and it’s time to fly.”
Leia put on a Force-augmented burst of speed and dashed up the yacht’s boarding ramp. She heard Jag hurrying in her wake. Zekk was just inside the yacht’s main cabin, standing by to seal the exit hatch. Leia moved forward to the cockpit where Han occupied the pilot’s seat, Jaina the copilot’s.
Leia dropped into the captain’s chair, which Lando formerly had occupied. “We’re in deep space about halfway between Coruscant and Corellia. Jacen’s occupied talking to the Corellians. Now might be the time to go.”
Han half turned and cocked his head at her. “Maybe, maybe not. They’ve already tried to lock you out, lock us in, and depressurize this hangar. They don’t want us to leave. The question is, are they tractor beam angry or turbolaser angry?”
“Good question. But Zekk disabled the tractor beam.” In the manner of a cantina drink hustler, Leia batted her eyes at her husband. “Surely you can outfly a few little old turbolaser beams? Like last time, on Kashyyyk?”
Han scowled. “In that case, strap in tight.”
Jag’s boot heels rang on the boarding ramp, followed by the sound of the ramp being raised into place. Leia’s ears popped as the hull sealed for space.
And then there were Han’s muttered words, barely audible as he started the engines: “Told you we should have been flying the Falcon…”
Leia rolled her eyes. “In the Falcon, we never would have persuaded them that you weren’t aboard.”
Han’s next words were lost as general-quarters alarms began shrilling in the hangar.
Caedus brought the Blur around and above the Anakin Solo, giving him an unimpeded view of the vessel and open space before it. Allana cooed with appreciation at the vista of stars and ships.
Suddenly there were more ships. A bluish streak resolved itself into the curved, graceful lines of the Mon Cal cruiser Blue Diver, flagship of the GA Second Fleet, forward and to port of the Blur’s position. Other capital ships, a score of them, ended their hyperspace jumps in formation all around the vessels already on station. Starfighters now began to stream out of the Anakin Solo’s belly and the starfighter bays of other vessels like piranha-beetles swarming out of a just-damaged nest.
And if the Blur’s sensors were to be believed, the enemy starfighter squadrons and capital ships, increasingly outnumbered, continued to race forward. Caedus saw that the enemy capital ships were not assuming any formation he was familiar with; they remained spread out, too far apart to reinforce one another with overlapping fields of fire.
He snorted. He wouldn’t need to employ his Sith battle meditation technique to turn this into a gruesome victory for the Galactic Alliance. The Confederation couldn’t have mounted a worse approach than the one he was seeing.
A light appeared on his comm board, and he heard Admiral Limpan’s voice. “Sir, I’m arraying us in battle-diamond formation, overlapping fields of fire to deal with the starfighter problem, and holding here, since they seem anxious to do all the work. Unless you have other specific orders.”
“No, Admiral. I’ll monitor from here and maybe assist in defending against the starfighters.” And maybe not.
“That seems to be an unnecessary risk, sir.”
“But an opportunity to test out the capabilities of the Blur.”
“Yes, sir.” The light faded.
Allana’s voice chided him. “You’re working again.”
“Sorry, sweetie. Something came up.” He banked to port and climbed well above the Blue Diver’s relative altitude, activating the Blur’s electronic countermeasures as he did so. In moments he was well outside the GA formation and, he hoped, not registering on enemy sensors.
Below him, the leading edges of Confederation starfighter squadrons came within firing range of their GA counterparts. Lasers, little needles of green and red light, flashed between the two forces. The lines of starfighters wavered and broke, dissolving into dozens of dogfights.