Star Wars_ A New Hope Part 18

No defensive fire greeted him as he raced toward the distant target. He found himself looking around nervously, checking and rechecking the same instruments.

"This doesn't look right," he found himself muttering.

Blue Ten sounded equally concerned. "You should be able to pick up the target by now."

"I know. The disruption down here is unbelievable. I think my instruments are off. Is this the right trench?"

Suddenly, intense streaks of light began to shoot close by as the trench defenses opened up. Near misses shook the attackers. At the far end of the trench a huge tower dominated the metal ridge, vomiting enormous amounts of energy at the nearing ships.

"It's not going to be easy with that tower up there," Blue Leader declared grimly. "Stand by to close up a little when I tell you."

Abruptly the energy bolts ceased and all was silent and dark in the trench once again. "This is it," Blue Leader announced, trying to locate the attack from above that had to be coming. "Keep your eyes open for those fighters."

"All short-and long-range scopes are blank," Blue Ten reported tensely. "Too much interference here. Blue Five, can you see them from where you are?"

Luke's attention was riveted to the surface of the station. "No sign of-Wait!" Three rapidly moving points of light caught his eye. "There they are. Coming in point three five."

Blue Ten turned and looked in the indicated direction. Sun bounced off stabilizing fins as the TIE fighters looped downward. "I see them."

"It's the right trench, all right," Blue Leader exclaimed as his tracking scope suddenly began a steady beeping. He adjusted his targeting instrumentation, pulling his visor down over his eyes. "I'm almost in range. Targets ready... coming up. Just hold them off me for a few seconds-keep 'em busy."

But Darth Vader was already setting his own fire control as he dropped like a stone toward the trench. "Close up the formation. I'll take them myself."

Blue Twelve went first, both engines blown. A slight deviation in flight path and his ship slammed into the trench wall. Blue Ten slowed and accelerated, bobbed drunkenly, but could do little within the confines of those metal walls.

"I can't hold them long. You'd better fire while you can, Blue Leader-we're closing on you."

The squadron commander was wholly absorbed in lining up two circles within his targeting visor. "We're almost home. Steady, steady..."

Blue Ten glanced around frantically. "They're right behind me!"

Blue Leader was amazed at how calm he was. The targeting device was partly responsible, enabling him to concentrate on tiny, abstract images to the exclusion of all else, helping him to shut out the rest of the inimical universe.

"Almost there, almost there..." he whispered. Then the two circles matched, turned red, and a steady buzzing sounded in his helmet. "Torpedoes away, torpedoes away."

Immediately after, Blue Ten let his own missiles loose. Both fighters pulled up sharply, just clearing the end of the trench as several explosions billowed in their wake.

"It's a hit! We've done it!" Blue Ten shouted hysterically.

Blue Leader's reply was thick with disappointment. "No, we haven't. They didn't go in. They just exploded on the surface outside the shaft."

Disappointment killed them, too, as they neglected to watch behind them. Three pursuing Imperial fighters continued up out of the fading light from the torpedo explosions. Blue Ten fell to Vader's precision fire, then the Dark Lord changed course slightly to fall in behind the squadron commander.

"I'll take the last one," he announced coldly. "You two go back."

Luke was trying to pick the a.s.sault team out of the glowing gases below when Blue Leader's voice sounded over the communicator.

"Blue Five, this is Blue Leader. Move into position, Luke. Start your attack run-stay low and wait until you're right on top of it. It's not going to be easy."

"Are you all right?"

"They're on top of me-but I'll shake them."

"Blue Five to Blue pack," Luke ordered, "let's go!" The three ships peeled off and plunged toward the trench sector.

Meanwhile Vader finally succeeded in hitting his quarry, a glancing bolt that nonetheless started small, intense explosions in one engine. Its R-2 unit scrambled back toward the damaged wing and struggled to repair the crippled power plant.

"R-2, shut off the main feed to number-one starboard engine," Blue Leader directed quietly, staring resignedly at instruments which were running impossibilities. "Hang on tight, this could get rough."

Luke saw that Blue Leader was in trouble. "We're right above you, Blue Leader," he declared. "Turn to point oh five, and we'll cover for you."

"I've lost my upper starboard engine," came the reply.

"We'll come down for you."

"Negative, negative. Stay there and get set up for your attack run."

"You're sure you're all right?"

"I think so... Stand by for a minute."

Actually, it was somewhat less than a minute before Blue Leader's gyrating X-wing plowed into the surface of the station.

Luke watched the huge explosion dissipate below him, knowing without question its cause, sensing fully for the first time the helplessness of his situation. "We just lost Blue Leader," he murmured absently, not particularly caring if his mike picked up the somber announcement.

On Yavin Four, Leia Organa rose from her chair and nervously began pacing the room. Normally perfect nails were now jagged and uneven from nervous chewing. It was the only indication of physical unease. The anxiety visible in her expression was far more revealing of her feelings, an anxiety and worry that filled the war room on the announcement of Blue Leader's death.

"Can they go on?" she finally asked Dodonna.

The general replied with gentle resolve. "They must."

"But we've lost so many. Without Blue or Red Leader, how will they regroup?"

Dodonna was about to reply, but held his words as more critical ones sounded over the speakers.

"Close it up, Wedge," Luke was saying, thousands of kilometers away. "Biggs, where are you?"

"Coming in right behind you."

Wedge replied soon after. "Okay. Boss, we're in position."

Dodonna's gaze went to Leia. He looked concerned.

The three X-wings moved close together high above the battle station's surface. Luke studied his instruments and fought irritably with one control that appeared to be malfunctioning.

Someone's voice sounded in his ears. It was a young-old voice, a familiar voice: calm, content, confident, and rea.s.suring-a voice he had listened to intently on the desert of Tatooine and in the guts of the station below, once upon a time.

"Trust your feelings, Luke," was all the Ken.o.bi-like voice said.

Luke tapped his helmet, unsure whether he had heard anything or not. This was no time for introspection. The steely horizon of the station tilted behind him.

"Wedge, Biggs, we're going in," he told his wingmen. "We'll go in full speed. Never mind finding the trench and then accelerating. Maybe that will keep those fighters far enough behind us."

"We'll stay far enough back to cover you," Biggs declared. "At that speed will you be able to pull out in time?"

"Are you kidding?" Luke sneered playfully as they began their dive toward the surface. "It'll be just like Beggars Canyon back home."

"I'm right with you, Boss," noted Wedge, emphasizing the t.i.tle for the first time. "Let's go..."

At high speed the three slim fighters charged the glowing surface, pulling out after the last moment. Luke skimmed so close over the station hull that the tip of one wing grazed a protruding antenna, sending metal splinters flying. Instantly they were enveloped in a meshwork of energy bolts and explosive projectiles. It intensified as they dropped down into the trench.

"We seem to have upset them," Biggs chortled, treating the deadly display of energy as though it were all a show being put on for their amus.e.m.e.nt.

"This is fine," Luke commented, surprised at the clear view ahead. "I can see everything."

Wedge wasn't quite as confident as he studied his own readouts. "My scope shows the tower, but I can't make out the exhaust port. It must be awfully small. Are you sure the computer can target it?"

"It better," Biggs muttered.

Luke didn't offer an evaluation-he was too busy holding a course through the turbulence produced by exploding bolts. Then, as if on command, the defensive fire ceased. He glanced around and up for signs of the expected TIE fighters, but saw nothing.

His hand went to drop the targeting visor into position, and for just a moment he hesitated. Then he swung it down in front of his eyes. "Watch yourselves," he ordered his companions.

"What about the tower?" Wedge asked worriedly.

"You worry about those fighters," Luke snapped. "I'll worry about the tower."

They rushed on, closing on the target every second. Wedge stared upward, and his gaze suddenly froze. "Here they come-oh point three."

Vader was setting his controls when one of his wingmen broke attack silence. "They're making their approach too fast-they'll never get out in time."

"Stay with them," Vader commanded.

"They're going too fast to get a fix," his other pilot announced with certainty.

Vader studied several readouts and found that his sensors confirmed the other estimates. "They'll still have to slow down before they reach that tower."

Luke contemplated the view in his targeting visor. "Almost home." Seconds pa.s.sed and the twin circlets achieved congruence. His finger convulsed on the firing control. "Torpedoes away! Pull up, pull up."

Two powerful explosions rocked the trench, striking harmlessly far to one side of the minute opening. Three TIE fighters shot out of the rapidly dissipating fireball, closing on the retreating rebels. "Take them," Vader ordered softly.

Luke detected the pursuit at the same time as his companions. "Wedge, Biggs, split up-it's the only way we'll shake them."

The three ships dropped toward the station, then abruptly raced off in three different directions. All three TIE fighters turned and followed Luke.

Vader fired on the crazily dodging ship, missed, and frowned to himself. "The Force is strong with this one. Strange. I'll take him myself."

Luke darted between defensive towers and wove a tight path around projecting docking bays, all to no avail. A single remaining TIE fighter stayed close behind. An energy bolt nicked one wing, close by an engine. It started to spark irregularly, threateningly. Luke fought to compensate and retain full control.

Still trying to shake his persistent a.s.sailant, he dropped back into a trench again. "I'm hit," he announced, "but not bad. Artoo, see what you can do with it."

The tiny droid unlocked himself and moved to work on the damaged engine as energy bolts flashed by dangerously close. "Hang on back there," Luke counseled the Artoo unit as he worked a path around projecting towers, the fighter spinning and twisting tightly through the topography of the station.

Fire remained intense as Luke randomly changed direction and speed. A series of indicators on the control panel slowly changed color; three vital gauges relaxed and returned to where they belonged.

"I think you've got it, Artoo," Luke told him gratefully. "I think-there, that's it. Just try to lock it down so it can't work loose again."

Artoo beeped in reply while Luke studied the whirling panorama behind and above them. "I think we've lost those fighters, too. Blue group, this is Blue Five. Are you clear?" He manipulated several controls and the X-wing shot out of the trench, still followed by emplacement fire.

"I'm up here waiting, Boss," Wedge announced from his position high above the station. "I can't see you."

"I'm on my way. Blue Three, are you clear? Biggs?"

"I've had some trouble," his friend explained, "but I think I lost him."

Something showed again, d.a.m.nably, on Biggs's screen. A glance behind showed the TIE fighter that had been chasing him for the past several minutes dropping in once more behind him. He swung down toward the station again.

"Nope, not yet," Biggs told the others. "Hold on, Luke. I'll be right there."

A thin, mechanical voice sounded over the speakers. "Hang on, Artoo, hang on!" Back at the temple headquarters, Threepio turned away from the curious human faces which had turned to stare at him.

As Luke soared high above the station another X-wing swung in close to him. He recognized Wedge's ship and began hunting around anxiously for his friend.

"We're goin' in, Biggs-join up. Biggs, are you all right? Biggs!" There was no sign of the other fighter. "Wedge, do you see him anywhere?"

Within the transparent canopy of the fighter bobbing close by, a helmeted head shook slowly. "Nothing," Wedge told him over the communicator. "Wait a little longer. He'll show."

Luke looked around, worried, studied several instruments, then came to a decision. "We can't wait; we've got to go now. I don't think he made it."

"Hey, you guys," a cheerful voice demanded to know, "what are you waiting for?"

Luke turned sharply to his right, in time to see another ship racing past and slowing slightly ahead of him. "Don't ever give up on old Biggs," the intercom directed as the figure in the X-wing ahead looked back at them.

Within the central control room of the battle station, a harried officer rushed up to a figure studying the great battle screen and waved a handful of printouts at him.

"Sir, we've completed an a.n.a.lysis of their attack plan. There is a danger. Should we break off the engagement or make plans to evacuate? Your ship is standing by."

Governor Tarkin turned an incredulous gaze on the officer, who shrank back. "Evacuate!" he roared. "At our moment of triumph? We are about to destroy the last remnants of the Alliance, and you call for evacuation? You overestimate their chances badly... Now, get out!"

Overwhelmed by the Governor's fury, the subdued officer turned and retreated from the room.

"We're going in," Luke declared as he commenced his dive toward the surface. Wedge and Biggs followed just aft.

"Let's go-Luke," a voice he had heard before sounded inside his head. Again he tapped his helmet and looked around. It sounded as if the speaker were standing just behind him. But there was nothing, only silent metal and nonverbal instrumentation. Puzzled, Luke turned back to his controls.

Once more, energy bolts reached out for them, pa.s.sing harmlessly on both sides as the surface of the battle station charged up into his face. But the defensive fire wasn't the cause of the renewed trembling Luke suddenly experienced. Several critical gauges were beginning their swing back into the danger zone again.

He leaned toward the pickup. "Artoo, those stabilizing elements must have broken loose again. See if you can't lock it back down-I've got to have full control."