Abruptly, the static cleared. “Luke?”
“I’m here,” Luke confirmed. “What’s the plan?”
“I was hoping you’d have one,” the other said dryly. “Looks like we’re a little outnumbered here.”
“Does Lando have any fighters?”
“He’s scrambling what he’s got, but he’s going to keep them close in to protect the complex. I get the feeling the crews aren’t all that experienced.”
“Looks like we’re the attack front, then,” Luke said. A stray memory flicked through his mind: walking into Jabba’s palace on Tatooine five years ago, using the Force to befuddle the Gamorrean guards. “Let’s try this,” he told Han. “I’ll run ahead of you, try to confuse or slow down their reflexes as much as I can. You follow right behind me and take them out.”
“Sounds as good as we’re going to get,” Han grunted. “Stay close to the ground; with luck, we’ll be able to run some of them into those low ridges.”
“But don’t get too low,” Leia warned. “Remember that you’re not going to be able to concentrate very much on your flying.”
“I can handle both,” Luke assured her, giving the instruments one last scan. His first space combat as a full Jedi. Distantly, he wondered if this was how the Jedi of the Old Republic had handled such battles. Or even if they’d fought like this at all.
“Here they come,” Han announced. “Out of the hangar and on their way. Looks like … probably only one squadron. Overconfident.”
“Maybe.” Luke frowned at his tactical scope. “What are those other ships with them?”
“I don’t know,” Han said slowly. “They’re pretty big, though. Could be troop carriers.”
“Let’s hope not.” If this was a full-scale invasion, and not just another hit-and-fade like at Bpfassh … “You’d better warn Lando.”
“Leia’s on it. You ready?”
Luke took a deep breath. The TIE fighters had formed into three four-ship groups now, sweeping directly toward them. “I’m ready,” he said.
“Okay. Let’s do it.”
The first group was coming in fast. Half closing his eyes, flying entirely on reflex, Luke reached out with the Force.
It was a strange sensation. Strange, and more than a little unpleasant. To touch another mind with the intent of communication was one thing; to touch that same mind with the intent of deliberately distorting its perception was something else entirely.
He’d had a similar feeling at Jabba’s, with those guards, but had put it down then to nervousness about his mission to rescue Han. Now, he realized that there was more to it than that. Perhaps this sort of action-even done purely in self-defense-was dangerously close to the edge of the dark areas where Jedi were forbidden to go.
He wondered why neither Yoda nor Ben had ever told him about this. Wondered what else there was about being a Jedi that he was going to have to discover on his own.
Luke?
Dimly, he felt himself being jammed into his straps as he twitched the X-wing to one side. The voice whispering into his mind … “Ben?” he called aloud. It didn’t sound like Ben Kenobi; but if it wasn’t him, then who-?
You will come to me, Luke, the voice said again. You must come to me. I will await you.
Who are you? Luke asked, focusing as much of his strength on the contact as he could without risking a crash. But the other mind was too elusive to track, skittering away like a bubble in a hurricane. Where are you?
You will find me. Even as Luke strained, he could feel the contact slipping away. You will find me … and the Jedi shall rise again. Until then, farewell.
Wait! But the call was fading into nothingness. Clenching his teeth, Luke strained … and gradually began to realize that another, more familiar voice was calling his name. “Leia?” he croaked back through a mouth that was inexplicably dry.
“Luke, are you all right?” Leia asked anxiously.
“Sure,” he said. His voice sounded better this time. “I’m fine. What’s wrong?”
“You’re what’s wrong,” Han cut in. “You planning to chase them all the way home?”
Luke blinked, looking around in surprise. The buzzing TIE fighters were gone, leaving nothing but bits of wreckage strewn across the landscape. On his scope, he could see that the Star Destroyer had left Nkllon’s shadow again, driving hard away from the planet toward a point far enough out of the gravity well for a lightspeed jump. Beyond it, a pair of miniature suns were approaching: two of Lando’s shieldships, belatedly arriving-now that it was too late-to assist in the fight. “It’s all over?” he asked stupidly.