[Thrawn Trilogy] - 02(130)

But she wouldn’t remain concealed for long : and knowing Mara, she wouldn’t just sit and wait for the Imperials to notice her. If there were only some way he could warn her not to fire on them yet :

Perhaps there was. Mara, he sent silently, trying to picture her in his mind. Wait until I give the word before you attack.

There was no reply?; but he saw her throw a quick look at the Falcon in response and ease farther back into her limited cover. “I’m going back to the hatchway,” he told Karrde. “I’ll try to catch them in a cross fire with Mara. Stay out of sight up here.”

“Right.”

Keeping down, Luke hurried back down the short cockpit corridor. Barely in time; even as he came to the hatchway he could feel the vibration of battle-armored boots on the entry ramp. Four of them were coming in, he could sense, with the other four fanning out beneath the ship to watch the approaches. Another second and they would see him-a second after that and someone would notice Mara-Mara; now.

There was a flash of blaster fire from Mara’s position, coming quickly enough on the tail of his command that Luke got the distinct impression Mara had planned to attack at that time whether she’d had his permission or not. Ignighting his lightsaber, Luke leaped around the corner onto the ramp, catching the stormtroopers just as they were starting to turn toward the threat behind them. His first sweep took off the barrel of the lead stormtrooper’s blaster rifle; reaching out with the Force, he gave the man a hard shove, pushing him into his companions and sending the whole bunch of them tumbling helplessly down to the lift plate. Jumping off the ramp to the side, he deflected a shot from another stormtrooper and sliced the lightsaber blade across him; caught a half dozen more shots before Mara’s blaster fire took the next one out. A quick look showed that she’d already dealt with the other two.

A surge in the Force spun him around, to find that the group he’d sent rolling to the bottom of the ramp had untangled themselves. With a shout he charged them, lightsaber swinging in large circles as he waited for Mara to take advantage of his distraction to fire on them. But she didn’t; and with the blaster bolts beginning to flash in at him there weren’t many alternatives left. The lightsaber slashed four times and it was over.

Breathing hard, he closed down the lightsaber : and with a shock discovered why Mara hadn’t been firing there at the end. The lift carrying the Falcon was dropping steadily down toward the deck below, well past the point where the stormtroopers would be out of Mara’s line of fire. “Mara!” he called, looking up.

“Yeah, what?” she shouted back, coming into view at the rim of the lift, already five meters above him. “What’s Karrde doing?”

“I guess we’re leaving,” Luke said. “Jump-I’ll catch you.

An expression of annoyance flickered across Mara’s face; but the Falcon was receding fast and she obeyed without hesitation. Reaching out with the Force, Luke caught her in an invisible grip, slowing her descent and landing her on the Falcon’s ramp. She hit the ramp running, and was inside in three steps.

She was seated beside Karrde in the cockpit by the time Luke got the hatchway sealed and made it up there himself. “Better strap in,” she called over her shoulder.

Luke sat down behind her, suppressing the urge to order her out of the copilot’s seat. He knew the Falcon far better than either she or Karrde did, but both of them probably had had more experience flying this general class of ship.

And from the looks of things, there was some tricky flying coming up. Through the cockpit canopy Luke could see that they were coming down, not into a hangar bay as he’d hoped, but into a wide vehicle corridor equipped with what looked like some kind of repulsorlift pads set across the deck. “What happened with the computer?” he asked Mara.

“I couldn’t get in,” Mara said. “Though it wouldn’t have mattered if I had. That stormtrooper squad had plenty of time to call for help. Unless you thought to jam their comlinks,” she added, looking at Karrde.

“Come now, Mara,” Karrde chided. “Of course I jammed their comlinks. Unfortunately, since they probably had orders to report once they were in position, we still won’t have more than a few minutes. If that much.”

“Is that our way out?” Luke frowned, looking along the corridor. “I thought we’d be taking the lift straight down to the hangar bays.”

“This lift doesn’t seem to go all the way down,” Karrde said. “Offset from the hangar bay shaft, apparently. That lighted hole in the corridor deck ahead is probably it.”