[Thrawn Trilogy] - 02(131)

“What then?” Luke asked.

“We’ll see if this control can operate that lift,” Karrde said, holding up the data pad he’d taken from the tech. “I doubt it, though. If only for security they’ll probably have-“

“Look!” Mara snapped, pointing down the corridor. Far ahead down the corridor was another lift plate, moving down toward the lighted opening Karrde had pointed out a moment earlier. If that was indeed the exit to the hangar bays-and if the lift plate stopped there, blocking their way-Karrde had apparently had the same thought. Abruptly, Luke was slammed hard into his seat as the Falcon leaped forward, clearing the edge of their lift plate and shooting down the corridor like a scalded tauntaun. For a moment it yawed wildly back and forth, swinging perilously near the corridor walls as the ship’s repulsorlifts strobed with those built into the deck. Clenching his teeth, Luke watched as the lift plate ahead steadily closed the gap, the same bitter taste of near-helplessness in his mouth that he remembered from the Rancor pit beneath Jabba the Hutt’s throne room. The Force was with him here, as it had been there, but at the moment he couldn’t think of a way to harness that power. The Falcon shot toward the descending plate-he braced himself for the seemingly inevitable collision-And abruptly, with a short screech of metal against metal, they were through the gap. The Falcon rolled over once as it dropped through to the huge room below, cleared the vertical lift plate guides—

And there, straight ahead as Karrde righted them again, was the wide hangar entry port. And beyond it, the black of deep space.

A half dozen blaster bolts sizzled at them as they shot across the hangar bay above the various ships parked there. But the shooting was reflexive, without any proper setup or aiming, and for the most part the shots went wild. A near miss flashed past the cockpit canopy; and then they were out, jolting through the atmosphere barrier and diving down out of the entry port toward the planet below.

And as they did so, Luke caught a glimpse across the entry port of TIE fighters from the forward hangar bays scrambling to intercept.

“Come on, Mara,” he said, slipping off his restraints. “You know how to handle a quad laser battery?”

“No, I need her here,” Karrde said. He had the Falcon skimming the underside of the Star Destroyer now, heading for the ship’s portside edge. “You go ahead. And take the dorsal grin bay-I think I can arrange for them to concentrate their attack from that direction.”

Luke had no idea how he was going to accomplish that, but there was no time to discuss it. Already the Falcon was starting to jolt with laser hits, and from experience he knew there was only so much the ship’s deflector shields could handle. Leaving the cockpit, he hurried to the gun well ladder, leaping halfway up, then climbing the rest of the way. He strapped in, fired up the quads:and as he looked around he discovered what Karrde had had in mind. The Falcon had curved up past the portside edge of the Chimaera, swung aft along the upper surface, and was now driving hard for deep space on a vector directly above the exhaust from the Star Destroyer’s massive sublight drive nozzles. Skimming rather too close to it, in Luke’s opinion; but it was for sure that no TIE fighters would be coming at them from underneath for a while.

The intercom pinged in his ear. “Skywalker?” Karrde’s voice came. “They’re almost here. You ready?”

“I’m ready,” Luke assured him. Fingers resting lightly on the firing controls, he focused his mind and let the Force flow into him.

The battle was furious but short, in some ways reminding Luke of the Falcon’s escape from the Death Star so long ago. Back then, Leia had recognised that they’d gotten away too easily; and as the TIE fighters swarmed and fired and exploded around him, Luke wondered uneasily whether or not the Imperials might have something equally devious in mind this time, too.

And then the sky flared with starlines and went mottled, and they were free.

Luke took a deep breath as he cut power to the quads. “Good flying,” he said into the intercom.

“Thank you,” Karrde’s dry voice came back. “We seem to be more or less clear, though we took some damage around the starboard power converter pack. Mara’s gone to check it out.”

“We can manage without it,” Luke said. “Han’s got the whole ship so cross-wired that it’ll fly with half the systems out. Where are we headed?”

“Coruscant,” Karrde said. “To drop you off and also to follow through on the promise I made to you earlier.”

Luke had to search his memory. “You mean that bit about the New Republic standing to gain from your rescue?”