Luke swung back around, peripherally aware of Han and Mara scrambling out from under the arch to safety behind him. The stormtroopers’ expressions were hidden behind their masks, but the look of sudden horror on the major’s face said it for all of them. Overhead, the mass of the arch creaked warningly; setting his teeth, Luke locked the lightsaber on and hurled it across the gap toward the pillars there. It cut through one of them and nicked the other-And with a roar, the whole thing came crashing down.
Luke, standing at the edge, barely got out from under it in time. The stormtroopers, crouched in the center, didn’t.
Chapter 30
Karrde walked around the mass of stone to where the crumpled nose of the Chariot assault vehicle poked out, a sense of slightly stunned disbelief coloring his vision. “One man,” he murmured.
“Well, we helped some,” Aves reminded him. But the sarcasm of the words faded beneath the grudging respect clearly there behind it.
“And without the Force, too,” Karrde said.
He sensed Aves shrug uncomfortably. “That’s what Mara said. Though of course Skywalker might have lied to her about it.”
“Unlikely.” A motion at the edge of the square caught his eye, and Karrde looked over to see Solo and Skywalker helping a distinctly shaky-looking Lando Calrissian to one of the airspeeders parked around the perimeter. “Took a shot, did he?”
Aves grunted. “Came close to taking one of mine, too,” he said. “I thought he’d betrayed us-figured I’d make sure he didn’t walk away from it.”
“In restrospect, it’s just as well you didn’t.” Karrde looked up, searching the skies. Wondering how long it would take the Imperials to respond to what had happened here today.
Aves looked up, too. “We might still be able to hunt down the other two Chariots before they get a chance to report,” he suggested. “I don’t think the headquarters people got any messages away before we took them out.”
Karrde shook his head, feeling a deep surge of sadness rising through the sense of urgency within him. Not until now had he truly realized just how much he’d come to love this place-his base, the forest, the planet Myrkr itself. Now, when there was no choice but to abandon it. “No,” he told Aves. “There’s no way to cover up our part in what happened here. Not from a man like Thrawn.”
“You’re probably right,” Aves said, his voice taking on a sense of urgency of its own. He understood the implications of that, all right. “You want me to head back and start the evacuation?”
“Yes. And take Mara with you. Make sure she keeps busy-somewhere away from the Millennium Falcon and Skywalker’s X-wing.”
He felt Aves’s eyes on him. But if the other wondered, he kept his wonderings to himself. “Right. See you later.”
He hurried away. The airspeeder with Calrissian aboard was lifting off now, heading back to where the Falcon was being prepped for flight. Solo and Skywalker were heading over toward a second airspeeder; with just a moment’s hesitation, Karrde went over to intercept them.
They reached the craft at the same time, and for a moment eyed each other across its bow. “Karrde,” Solo said at last. “I owe you one.”
Karrde nodded. “Are you still going to get the Etherway out of impoundment for me?”
“I said I would,” Solo told him. “Where do you want it delivered?”
“Just leave it on Abregado. Someone will pick it up.” He turned his attention to Skywalker. “An interesting little trick,” he commented, tilting his head back toward the mass of rubble. “Unorthodox, to say the least.”
Skywalker shrugged. “It worked,” he said simply.
“That it did,” Karrde agreed. “Likely saving several of my people’s lives in the bargain.”
Skywalker looked him straight back in the eye. “Does that mean you’ve made your decision?”
Karrde gave him a slight smile. “I don’t really see as I have much choice anymore.” He looked back at Solo. “I presume you’ll be leaving immediately?”
“As soon as we can get Luke’s X-wing rigged for towing,” Solo nodded, “Lando’s doing okay, but he’s going to need more specialized medical attention than the Falcon can handle.”
“It could have been worse,” Karrde said.
Solo gave him a knowing look. “A lot worse,” he agreed, his voice hard.
“So could all of it,” Karrde reminded him, putting an edge into his own voice. He could, after all, just as easily have turned the three of them over to the Imperials in the first place.