Dark Nest_ The Swarm War Part 29

You're just saying that because you're jealous, Jaina joked.

Yeah, but not over you, Zekk replied. No one can fly like that without the Force!

A cannon bolt flashed past Jaina's c.o.c.kpit-so close that it raised a heat blister in the canopy-and she and Zekk turned and dived. With their forward shields down and the Chiss behaving more like Killik suicide fliers than clawcraft pilots, their only chance of stopping the defoliators lay in catching the two vessels in the clouds, where their StealthXs could remain hidden until they attacked. The clawcraft pursued, but both Jaina and Zekk still had their rear shields and were able to endure the short pounding they received before reaching cover.

They had barely entered the clouds before the dark pressure began to build inside their chests again. UnuThul did not want them to wait. He wanted them to attack now. Jaina and Zekk reached out to him in the Force, trying to make him see that they could not possibly succeed, that their StealthXs were barely holding together and their only hope of success lay in concealment.

UnuThul did not understand-or care. The dark pressure grew unrelenting, until they thought their hearts would collapse. Still, they remained in the clouds, calling on each other for the strength to resist UnuThul, Jaina using the Force to steady Zekk's hand when his StealthX began to drift upward, Zekk reaching out to push her stick forward when she began to pull it back. Because Jaina's displays were not working and Zekk's sensor pod had been blasted away, they had to navigate by feeling alone, always keeping the noses of their battered starfighters pointed toward the menace they sensed in the Force.

And even as Jaina and Zekk closed on their targets again, they sensed Leia and Saba struggling with their own troubles far above. Sometimes, her mother felt tense and worried, and other times she and Saba were clearly in combat, filling the battle-meld with fury and fear and determination. Jaina and Zekk ached to help, but they were too well disciplined to ignore the defoliators-even without the influence of UnuThul.

A shock wave of astonishment rolled through the battle-meld, and suddenly Leia and Saba seemed confused, hopeful, and terrified all at once. The dark pressure inside Jaina and Zekk grew more powerful than ever, and they found themselves poking their canopies out of the clouds in spite of themselves.

The defoliators were only a few kilometers above, so close now that Jaina and Zekk could clearly see their hawkish silhouettes-and the drop-shaped outlines of two enormous bombs hanging beneath each wing.

Each of the vessels was tightly ringed by a defensive cordon of clawcraft, with another six starfighters arrayed farther out in intercept position. There would be another dozen Chiss ambushers even farther out, circling low over the clouds, ready to pounce the instant the StealthXs showed themselves.

Far above the defoliators, a distant web of light was flashing back and forth between the descending Chiss fleet and the lower reaches of s.p.a.ce. With both of their tactical displays nonfunctional, it was impossible for Jaina and Zekk to tell exactly what was happening ... but they could guess. UnuThul had arrived with the Moon Swarm and launched his attack prematurely, probably hoping to divert the Chiss's attention and make it easier for them to bring down the defoliators-and judging by the feelings in the battle-meld, Leia and Saba and the rest of the Falcon's crew had gotten caught in the middle of it.

The tactic changed nothing as far as Jaina and Zekk were concerned. Their best chance of success, as small as it was, still lay in the .. .

A new presence joined the meld-the dark, oddly familiar presence of a Twi'lek Joiner. Alema Rar A wave of revulsion rose inside Jaina and Zekk-and inside Leia and Saba, as well. Alema was the holochild for all that worried Master Skywalker about the Jedi's new view of the Force. She was living proof that there was a dark side, for she had ventured into that darkness and lost her way so completely that even Luke had given up hoping of redeeming her. She had become a twisted and angry thing that cast off vows like boyfriends, that turned her back on faithful comrades and betrayed sacred trusts and viciously attacked those who had shown her nothing but kindness.

And none of that mattered, because there she was in a StealthX, hiding in the clouds a few kilometers behind Jaina and Zekk. The Chiss had no idea she was there, and Jaina and Zekk understood now why the dark pressure inside them had grown so strong, why UnuThul was so eager for them to sacrifice themselves in a futile gesture.

They were nothing more than a diversion. Alema Night Herald of the Dark Nest-was the true firepower. To UnuThul, this was the surest way to stop the evil hanging beneath the defoliators' wings.

Leia and Saba reached out in the Force, urging Jaina and Zekk to resist UnuThul's Will, to stick to their own plan and attack in the clouds.

Jaina and Zekk pushed their throttles forward, then pulled their sticks back and began to climb in a wild corkscrew that made their astromechs shriek structure-stress warnings. With no forward shields left to share, it made no sense to fly in close formation. Instead, they climbed in parallel spirals, angling across the bows of the defoliators to cut off their descent.

The Chiss moved quickly to stop them, the defensive rings shifting to remain between the two StealthXs and their targets, the interceptors diving to confront them with laser cannons flashing. Jaina and Zekk returned fire effectively but without enthusiasm, destroying a clawcraft apiece and knowing that those pilots were being sacrificed to a diversion-just as they were themselves.

"Sneaky, can you get a torpedo lock on either of the defoliators?" The bombs-four on each vessel-were identical to the prototype that Jag had destroyed in the dunes above the Iesei nest.

The droid replied with an affirmative tweet, but added a long descending whistle that suggested he questioned the wisdom of this attack.

"Don't argue!" Jaina armed all of her proton torpedoes, and sensed Zekk doing the same. "Just let me know when you're ready."

The droid emitted a brief whistle.

Jaina fired her next two proton torpedoes and watched in horrified fascination as a pair of clawcraft dropped down in front of the shrinking efflux dots. A moment later, she was momentarily blinded when a pair of dazzling flashes lit the sky between her and the defoliators.

Guessing that she must be in range by now, Jaina began to pour laser cannon fire into the defoliator Sneaky had targeted. The defensive ring tightened even more, bunching up to absorb the attacks on their own shields and leaving the stern of the vessel badly exposed to a proton torpedo.

Still, Alema did not attack. Was she waiting for the Chiss ambushers to show themselves ... or for Jaina and Zekk to be blasted out of the sky? The spite Leia and Saba were pouring into the meld made clear what they thought.

Two proton torpedoes streaked from Zekk's StealthX toward the second defoliator. A Chiss clawcraft dropped down and obliterated the first torpedo with a volley of cannon bolts. The pilots trying to intercept the second torpedo were blinded by the explosion, and it slipped past the defensive screen to detonate against the defoliator's belly shields. Almost immediately, Jagged Fel and a dozen other ambushers emerged from the clouds to begin hammering Jaina and Zekk's rear shields.

Trapped in a devastating crossfire and badly outnumbered, the only sensible thing for Jaina and Zekk to do was to roll out. Sneaky began to whistle and toot, no doubt extolling the wisdom of presenting their shielded tails to the enemy and fleeing while they still could.

Instead, Jaina launched her last set of proton torpedoes and accelerated toward her target, pouring a constant stream of cannon bolts ahead of her and doing her best to make it appear that she intended to ram the defoliator. Zekk mirrored her every move, heading toward the second defoliator. Four clawcraft defenders quickly moved to block their torpedoes. The interceptors raced forward on a collision course with Jaina and Zekk, while Jag and his ambushers poured fire into the StealthX tails with no concern for hitting their own starfighters.

Then Jaina and Zekk sensed Alema streaking up out of the clouds, coming up behind the defoliators where there were no longer any clawcraft to challenge her. Jaina's rear shields went down, then one of her fusial engines flamed out, and Sneaky began to trill warnings that she could not understand. She continued to pour fire at the belly of her defoliator, ignoring the pending collision with the clawcraft interceptors and using the Force to dodge what she could of the mad storm of bolts.

One of Zekk's wings came off. His StealthX entered a spin and tried to nose over into a dive, but Jaina felt him using the Force to pull it back into a climb. He continued toward his target, his spiral more erratic than ever and firing with only two laser cannons, but holding the Chiss rapt.

You have nothing to be jealous of, Jaina said through their mind-link. Even if Jag had the Force, he couldn't do that!

Who's using the Force? Zekk replied. This is fear!

Alema finally launched her first set of proton torpedoes, targeting the nearest defoliator. She was so close that the vessel had no chance to deploy countermeasures. The first torpedo overloaded the vessel's shields and blasted its tail into shards. The second vaporized the entire ship, bombs included, leaving nothing behind but a white flash.

The Force roiled with shock and confusion, but the Chiss reacted with remarkable swiftness, instantly abandoning Jaina's StealthX to rush back toward Alema.

They were too late; Alema had already sent another set of torpedoes toward the remaining defoliator. One exploded just as the defensive ring arrived at the vessel's stern, and Jaina and Zekk felt a dozen lives wink out in an instant. The other torpedo smashed into a sacrificial claw-craft, but it was so close to the defoliator that both vessels took the hit. The defoliator's fuselage and one wing vanished in another white flash.

But one of the wings survived.

It went fluttering planetward, its silver skin flashing brightly in the blue sun, the two bombs still intact and the clouds below coming up fast.

TWENTY-TWO.

High above Tenupe, Fell Defender was still shuddering from the Killiks' opening salvo when a grim calm came to the battle-meld, and Leia understood what Jaina and Zekk were about to do.

"We can't waste any more time being sneaky," she whispered. Alema Rar had just joined the meld. Leia could sense the Twi'lek in the atmosphere below, hovering behind Jaina and Zekk, calculating and resolute and slightly amused by the idea of using them for bait. "We need to board the Falcon now."

Tarfang chortled something that sounded a little like "impossible." He was the only one in the group who could stand upright in the oily-smelling conveyance tunnel, and he took advantage of the fact by bracing his hands on his hips and vehemently shaking his head as he chittered.

"Tarfang is right." Juun pointed into the bustling hangar, toward an out-of-the-way corner where about fifty Chiss troopers in black deflection armor stood in a tight cordon around the Falcon. "They know we're coming. That security platoon is clearly waiting for us."

"Ssso?" Saba rasped. "Maybe they will give us a good fight-for a change."

"Yeah, maybe too good," Han said. He was looking out across the gleaming vastness of the Star Destroyer's hangar, studying what had to be an entire maintenance brigade rushing to launch the Defender's starfighter wing. "We can probably take the security platoon, but those maintenance guys are all carrying-"

"Han, Alema Rar has joined the battle-meld," Leia said. "I think Jaina and Zekk are going to serve as her decoys, to pull the escorts off-"

"What are we waiting for?" Han raised the T-21 repeating blaster that Cakhmaim and Meewalh had liberated from the detention center's contraband vault-along with the rest of the group's weapons-then started to duck-walk out of the conveyance tunnel. "Let's go get my ship back."

Saba used the Force to stop Han in his tracks. "A plan would be good."

"You want a plan?" He pointed at Saba and Leia. "Okay, you two make a distraction. Cakhmaim, you and Meewalh sneak aboard and take out the squad I'm sure they've got waiting to ambush us. Tarfang, you and I blast anyone who even looks our way." He glanced back to Saba. "How's that for a plan?"

"Good," Saba said.

"It's vague and incomplete!" Juun objected.

"So?" Han demanded.

"So what am I supposed to do?" Juun demanded.

"Keep up," Han replied. " 'Cause the Falcon's not waiting around for anyone."

"Of course not," Juun replied. "In Spy Primer, Kyle Katarn makes it clear that every member of an espionage team . ."

Leia stopped listening as Cakhmaim and Meewalh crept out of the conveyance tunnel. They slipped behind an empty missile rack waiting to be sent back up the tunnel for reloading, then began to work their way along the wall toward the Falcon. They were so adept at camouflaging themselves that even Leia lost sight of them within five steps.

Saba pointed at one of the overhead storage gantries where clawcraft were moored before they were prepped for flight. One of the starfighters began to sway in its suspension rack, then suddenly came loose and fell to the floor with a deafening crash.

All eyes in the hangar turned toward the sound, and Leia led Han and the others out of the conveyance tunnel at a sprint, dashing between empty armament racks, crouching behind parked utility carts, hiding behind portable diagnostic units. Saba's distraction proved so dramatic that work came to a standstill as astonished technicians, pilots, and even the security platoon guarding the Falcon watched the emergency response team rush to investigate.

By the time the officers recovered from their own shock and began to fill the echoing hangar with shouted commands to return to work, Leia and her companions were kneeling behind a self-portable laser-cannon charging tank. The Falcon was only about twenty meters away, the security cordon about half that distance. She could feel the Noghri hiding somewhere in the shadows on the other side of the ship, waiting for their opportunity to slip aboard.

Leia signaled the others to be ready, then used the Force to create a loud creak in the storage gantries directly above the security platoon. The troops immediately looked up, already suspicious enough to raise their charric rifles.

Leia Force-grabbed a clawcraft hanging over their heads and began to swing it back and forth. The troops immediately began to back away from the Falcon-until their female officer started barking commands at them. In the next moment the officer was sliding across the deck with her arms flailing, still screeching orders in a panicked voice and gesturing at the gantries.

The soldiers stared after her in confusion, or looked up into the gantries and scowled. None of them noticed the slender, chest-high forms of two Noghri appearing out of the shadows behind them, then slipping up the Falcon's boarding ramp.

Saba thumped her tail on the deck and began to siss uncontrollably.

"Quiet, Master!" Leia whispered. "You'll give us away!"

"Sssorry!" Saba replied. "She is just so funny, telling her soldierz to stay while she goes."

"Yeah, she's a laugh a millisecond," Han grumbled. He turned to Leia. "How about getting the rest of 'em to move so we can get out of here?"

Leia gave the swinging clawcraft a violent twist, and it came free of its mountings. The security platoon shouted the alarm and dived for cover, many of them zinging blind reaction shots into the gantries as they moved. An instant later the starfighter crashed down in their midst, scattering cannon arms and pieces of armor plating in every direction.

Leia and Saba were already leading the rush toward the Falcon, lightsabers in hand but not ignited. For a moment, the security troops continued to focus their attention overhead, thinking their attackers must be up in the gantries. Then one of them noticed Leia and the others racing toward the ship and shouted the alarm.

Leia and Saba Force-jerked half a dozen charric rifles out of troopers' hands and sent the weapons skittering across the floor. Han and Tarfang began to lay suppression fire, but that did not prevent the security platoon from launching a counterattack.

Leia and Saba activated their lightsabers and began to weave an impenetrable shield of light, synchronizing their movements through the battle-meld so that one blade was always in position to block without interfering with the other. Unlike blaster bolts-which carried little kinetic energy-each maser beam struck so hard that the blow nearly knocked the lightsaber from Leia's hand. Sometimes she called on the Force to reinforce her grasp and batted the beam back at her attacker, and other times she redirected the energy, using it to move her blade into its next position.

But no attacks penetrated their shield, and soon Leia and the others were all backing up the boarding ramp into the Falcon. Han raised the ramp, then winced at the sound of the maser bolts pinging into the ship's hull.

"Now that's just uncalled for," he said.

A pair of metallic feet came clanking down the corridor behind them, then C-3P0 said, "Thank goodness you're here! They've been tearing the ship apart!"

"Who?" Leia asked.

"Lieutenant Vero'tog'leo and his subordinates," C-3P0 replied. "They reactivated me and kept demanding that I tell them where the smuggling compartments were. When I explained that I wasn't authorized to reveal that information, they threatened to pour acid into my lubricators!"

"Where are they now?" Leia asked.

"Waiting with Cakhmaim and Meewalh in the aft hold, I believe."

Leia turned to Han. "Saba and I can handle that. You take Jae and get us out of here."

Han nodded and turned to go-then suddenly stopped. "Where is Jae?"

Leia looked around the boarding area and did not see the Sull.u.s.tan anywhere. "Tell me we didn't leave him outside!"

Tarfang jabbered something angry.

"It's not her fault," Han said. "I warned him to keep up."

Tarfang chittered something else and pointed forward, and suddenly Juun's voice came over the intercom.

"Initiating emergency cold-start procedures," he said. "Secure all hatches."

They all let out long sighs of relief, then Han motioned to Tarfang. "Come on. We'd better get up there, or he'll still be doing circuit tests when the Chiss bring up their laser cannons."

Han and the Ewok started up the corridor at a run, and Leia and Saba went aft. As C-3P0 had said, Lieutenant Vero'tog'leo had torn the Falcon apart, emptying stowage cabinets, disa.s.sembling the medical bay, even opening the service panels in the ceiling. By the time they reached the hold, Leia was mad enough to stow the lieutenant and his squad on the wrong side of a soon-to-be open air lock.

But when she saw how battered and b.l.o.o.d.y the Chiss already were, she decided that Cakhmaim and Meewalh had punished them enough. Leia herded the limping and slumping squad onto the cargo lift and simply off-loaded them.

The lift was still retracting when the Falcon rose from the deck and swung toward the hangar mouth. Chiss being Chiss, Leia was fairly certain that Vero'tog'leo had hidden a tracking device, a bomb, or both somewhere aboard. She sent Cakhmaim and Meewalh to do a security sweep, then she and Saba hurried to the turrets to engage the quad cannons.

Leia had barely buckled into her firing seat before Han had the Falcon shooting toward the hangar mouth. A handful of security troops pelted the hull with maser beams, but there was no question of anyone trying to stop them by sealing the barrier field. With the Killiks attacking, the Chiss had more important things to worry about than escaping prisoners. The Defender was gushing clawcraft as fast as she could, and the deck master was not going to interrupt the launch for anything.

Before venturing out into the tempest of energy erupting just beyond the Defender's shields, the starfighters were using the shelter of her expansive belly to form up by squadrons. Han simply dropped the Falcon's nose and dived, leaving Leia-whose turret happened to be facing aft-staring up into the flashing madness of the battle above. The sky was at once black with smoke and descending dartships and dappled with the blue brilliance of blossoming turbolaser strikes, and already the flaming hulks of two Chiss Star Destroyers were plummeting groundward in an uncontrolled gyre.

The Falcon suddenly veered out from under the battle, and Han announced, "Got 'em."

Leia checked her targeting display and saw that the Falcon was about five kilometers above a pair of Chiss defoliators and closing rapidly. The defoliator escorts were badly out of position, bunched up in front of the two craft as they fired at unseen targets that Leia a.s.sumed to be Jaina and Zekk. She could feel them through the battle-meld, grim and determined, driven by Raynar's Will and still focused on destroying the defoliators. She could also feel Alema-close by and just as determined.

Leia spun her turret around and touched Jaina and Zekk in the Force, urging them not to sacrifice themselves. Help was on the way. All they had to do was drop back into the clouds and wait.

But Alema Rar had never been patient. She continued to pour impatience into the meld, demanding that Jaina and Zekk keep attacking. Raynar's Will continued to weigh on the two Jedi Knights, and they began to exchange cannon bolts with the escorts.

Then the blinding dots of two torpedo detonations flared about three kilometers ahead the Falcon, and when the static cleared from Leia's targeting display, the trailing defoliator was gone.

"Han, get us there now!" Leia ordered over the intercom.

"Sure." The Falcon accelerated, and long tongues of flame began to lick past the turret canopy. "What's a little entry burn?"

By the time the second set of torpedoes detonated, they were close enough to see the thick cloud of clawcraft swarming around Jaina and Zekk's StealthXs-and to see how clumsily both craft were handling as they dived for the clouds. Even if Leia had not been able to feel it through the Force, she would have known just by looking that her daughter and Zekk were in desperate straits.

And there was no sign of Alema going to help them. The Twi'lek had vanished from the battle-meld as soon as she destroyed the second defoliator, and now she was doing nothing to help her decoys.