Shadows of the Empire (40 page)

“Good. Keep me informed.”

The image vanished, and Xizor stared out into the blackness of space. He had heard the buzz of conversation when he arrived. The rumor had reached here fast, though no one dared speak directly to him about the disaster below. Well. No matter. He had survived worse.

He would survive this; survive it and somehow turn it into a victory.

“T
hanks for the ride,” Dash said over the comm.

The
Outrider
hung just off the
Millennium Falcon
’s port bow in a matching orbit. If you had a good arm, you could hit it with a rock, even in full gravity. Dash
had jetted across the short gap, complaining all the while about how bad the borrowed suit smelled.

“Want to race to the jump spot?” Luke said. He now sat at the controls, taking a turn piloting. Lando sat next to him, Leia stood behind them.

Dash laughed. “You want a parsec head start?”

“No, I—”

A hard green beam of light flashed between the two ships. The sighting ray of a big ship’s cannon—you couldn’t see the laser itself in vacuum, of course, but it followed the ionized marker you
could
see precisely.

Somebody was shooting at them.

“Uh-oh, looks like we got company.”

More laser and charged-particle bolts blinked, none really close. Well, no closer than a couple of meters—

Luke punched it. The
Falcon
jumped like a startled hopperoo.

Lando said, “We’ve got an unmarked corvette coming in at two-seventy! And four fighters at three-five-nine! Those aren’t Imperial ships! Who are these guys?”

“Who cares?” Luke said. “We’ve got to move! Chewie, the guns!”

“You heard the man, furball,” Leia said. “You want dorsal or ventral?”

Chewie harned. He and Leia disappeared.

“Good luck, Dash!” Luke yelled.

“You, too, Luke.”

Luke pointed the
Falcon
into the deep and ran. The ship rocked as a beam found the shields and splashed from them.

They needed to get clear of this system, fast, and make the jump to hyperspace.

“P
rince Xizor, we have located the Corellian freighter,” came the commander’s voice from the holoproj.

“And …?”

“We are engaging it now. It should be destroyed momentarily.”

Xizor nodded. “Don’t be too sure, Commander. They seem to be extremely lucky.”

“They’ll need more than luck, my prince. We have them completely surrounded. They’ll need a miracle.”

Xizor nodded again.

“T
here is a wall between us and where we need to go,” Luke said.

“So find another way,” Lando said. “You want me to fly her?”

“No.”

A beam hit them, slapped them crooked. The shields held.

Lando yelled into the comlink. “I thought you two were supposed to be shooting back!”

Both Chewie and Leia yelled at him, but Luke was too busy flying to pay attention to what they said. He put the
Falcon
into a power climb and turned the move into a half twist at the top of the arc, heading back the way they’d come.

“Chewie wants to know how he’s supposed to hit anything with you looping like that,” Lando said.

“How can he miss? We’re surrounded! He should hit something no matter where he shoots!”

A black shape zipped past them. The
Outrider
, cannons blazing.

Ahead of the
Falcon
a fighter exploded.

Lando said, “See how it’s done, Chewie?”

Chewie yelled something back at Lando.

“H
ave you stopped the ship yet, Commander?”

“Not yet, Highness. They are, ah, quite skilled. And there are two ships returning our fire. We don’t have a
transponder signal on the other one, but it is heavily armed.”

“If my navy can’t defeat two ships it certainly needs another commander,” Xizor said.

“We will defeat them. Our net is closing. They are running out of room.”

T
he attacking ships had formed a loose hemisphere in space. There were an awful lot of civilian freighter and passenger ships going to and coming from the planet, and it was all Luke could do to avoid hitting one of them as he dodged the fighters buzzing them. The civilians tried to get out of the way, which made things worse. And sooner or later, the Imperial Navy was going to wake up and probably add to the confusion. Why they hadn’t already made Luke wonder.

As he watched, one of the aggressors fired at the
Falcon
. The cannon’s beam struck one of those passenger ships, punched a hole through a power converter, and caused a bright flash as the unit shorted out. Lot of damage, probably nobody hurt.

“Lousy shots,” Lando said. “Don’t care who they hit.”

Luke nodded. He had thought they might weave in and out of the thick traffic and avoid being blasted, but it seemed Lando was right: The bad guys didn’t care who got fried.

The attackers had them boxed. There didn’t seem to be any way out. Too bad he couldn’t get to his X-wing—though one more ship probably wouldn’t be much help.

Things looked bad. Really bad …

One of the attacking fighters came straight at them, cannons winking hot plasma eyes—

The attacker exploded. The
Falcon
blew through the cloud of debris. It pattered like hard rain against the shields.

“Good shot!” Luke yelled. “Who got it, was that you, Leia?”

“Not me,” her voice came back. “I’ve got plenty to worry about coming in from my side. Must have been Chewie.”

Chewie said something.

Lando said, “Chewie says he didn’t get it, either.”

Luke blinked. Then who did?

Over the comm: “Hey, Luke! Okay if we join your party?”

“Wedge! What are you doing here?”

“Waiting for you. Dash’s droid sent us a distress signal. Sorry it took so long to get here.”

Another of the unmarked attackers blossomed into a fireball.

“Well, just don’t let it happen again,” Luke said. He grinned. Now that Rogue Squadron was here, the odds were a little better.

He swung the
Falcon
into a wide turn.

“T
here seems to be a slight problem, my prince,” the commander said.

Xizor, watching the flashes of weapons and exploding ships from his deck, frowned. “So I noticed. Why are your ships blowing up, Commander?”

“A squadron of X-wing fighters has joined the fray. No more than a dozen of them. It will merely … delay the inevitable.”

“Are you certain, Commander?”

“We still outnumber them twenty to one, Highness. And our frigates are standing by in case they get past the corvettes and fighters. They cannot escape.”

“Hope that you are right, Commander.”

L
uke did a belly-twisting power dive at almost a ninety-degree angle to their path. A trio of fighters
stayed with him, firing all the while. He was glad to see the Rogues on the one hand; on the other hand, they were losing the fight. With all the civilian traffic around, the wheelworlds and skyhooks, the power sats, the communications switching platforms and who knew what else, the space around Coruscant was anything but pure vacuum.

The comm hummed with conversations:

“I got ’em, Luke,” Wedge said.

“No, let me,” Dash said.

Another attacker blew up off the port side.

“That one was mine,” Leia said. “You figured out who these guys are?”

“Not yet,” Luke said.

“Bet you a credit they’re Xizor’s.”

Luke and Lando exchanged glances. Of course, that made sense.

Not that it made any
difference—

“Two coming in at one-fifty!” Lando yelled.

Luke punched it. The
Millennium Falcon
rocketed away in a steep turn.

“What are you
doing
up there?” Leia yelled.

“Giving you a perfect setup shot,” Luke yelled back.

V
ader stalked the bridge of the
Executor
.

“How long before we can get around the planet?” he asked.

“A few minutes, my lord,” the nervous commander answered.

“As soon as we come within range, establish communications with the skyhook
Falleen’s Fist
. I will speak with Prince Xizor.”

“Of course, my lord.”

“I think we got problems, buddy,” Dash said. His voice was calm over the comm, but it was also resigned.

Luke nodded. “Wedge?”

“I’m afraid he’s right, Luke. These guys are only so-so pilots, but there are a lot of ’em. I figure we’re still outnumbered fifteen to one, and there are a couple of frigates who are just sitting there waiting. We don’t have room to run, don’t have room to maneuver. They’re closing in and they don’t care if they kill civilian ships, either.”

“Yeah,” Luke said. He took a deep breath. “Well, I guess all we can do is take as many of them with us as we can. Unless anybody wants to surrender?”

Both Dash and Wedge laughed.

“That’s what I thought. May the Force be with you.”

Luke flew as he had never flown before. He weaved, rolled, stalled, dived, threw power turns that came close to blacking them all out. He was giving it his best and he had the Force helping him, but they were losing.

It would only be a matter of time.

“P
rince Xizor, we are starting to pick them off. Three of the X-wings have been destroyed or disabled. Our net is closing in. It will be only a matter of time.”

Xizor nodded. Finally.

“C
oming within range, Lord Vader.”

“Good. Deploy your fighters.”

L
eia tracked the incoming fighter, fired, missed, swiveled in the gun seat. The fighter streaked past.

Well. There was another right behind it, and more behind that one. She lined up, fired, saw the lances of
energy rake the attacker, saw part of a wing shatter and spew away, saw the wounded fighter spin out of control. There were hundreds of the blasted things, and counting Dash and the
Falcon
, they were down to what? nine, ten ships?

It looked as if Xizor was going to win after all.

L
uke saw the TIE fighters screaming toward them. A dozen, at least.

Lando said, “Uh-oh.”

“Yeah, I wondered what was keeping them.” Luke looked at Lando. “Listen, thanks for everything, Lando. You’ve been a good friend.”

“I don’t want to hear that kind of talk. I still
am
a good friend.”

Luke nodded, turned back to look at the TIE fighters. There was nowhere to go; space was thick with ships; it was like trying to fly through a hailstorm without being hit. He took a deep breath—

Saw the TIEs flash past. Watched them take out two of the unmarked attackers.

“Huh?” Lando said.

“Luke,” came Leia’s voice over the comlink, “I just saw—”

“I know, I know. What’s going on?”

X
izor heard the panic in his commander’s voice: “Highness, we’re being attacked by the Imperial Navy!”

Next to him, a communications tech waved frantically.

Xizor fixed the man with a baleful stare. “This better be good, your life hangs in the balance.”

“It—It’s Lord Vader. He wants to speak to you.”

Vader! He should have known!

“Put him on.”

Vader’s image swirled into being in front of him. Xizor went on the offensive immediately: “Lord Vader! Why is the Navy attacking my ships?”

There was a pause; then Vader said, “Because the ships, under your orders, are engaging in criminal activity.”

“Nonsense! My ships are trying to stop a Rebel traitor who destroyed my castle!”

There came another pause. “You have two standard minutes to recall your vessels,” Vader said. “And to offer yourself into my custody.”

The coldness at Xizor’s core blossomed uncontrolled into an angry heat. He tried to keep his voice calm. “I will not. I will take this up with the Emperor.”

“The Emperor is not here. I speak for the Empire, Xizor.”

“
Prince
Xizor.”

“You may keep the title—for another two minutes.”

Xizor forced a confident smile. “What are you going to do, Vader? Destroy my skyhook? You wouldn’t dare. The Emperor—”

“I warned you to stay away from Skywalker. Recall your ships and surrender into my custody or pay the consequences. I will risk the Emperor’s displeasure.” He paused. “However,
you
will not be there to see it, this time.”

Xizor felt a surge of fear as the image of Vader turned ghostly and vanished. Would he do it? Would he fire on the skyhook?

He had less than two minutes before he found out. He had better decide what he was going to do.

Fast.

“L
uke, look out!” Lando yelled.

“I see him!”

Luke put the
Falcon
into a steep climb, but there were more ships looming at that angle, and he peeled
off to starboard. The vacuum was filled with energy flashes, debris of destroyed fighters, more ships than he’d ever seen in such a small space. The area looked like a nest of angry mermyns.

But—while the TIE fighters occasionally fired on the X-wings, they seemed to be targeting the unmarked attackers. Xizor’s ships. Why? “They’re on the same side, aren’t they?”

Luke didn’t realize he’d spoken this aloud until Lando said, “Thank your lucky stars for small favors. If they’re shooting at each other, they aren’t shooting at
us
! Look out!”

Luke zagged, missed the incoming fighter by centimeters.

He felt a familiar disturbance in the Force then.
Vader?

No time to worry about that, either. Luke put his questions aside for later—if there was a later for them—and concentrated on flying the
Falcon
.

T
he commander of Xizor’s navy put in a frantic call to his master. Vader listened to the decoded communication over the speaker system.

“My prince, we are being destroyed by the attackers! We are outnumbered and being slaughtered! I need permission to offer our surrender! Highness?”

Vader watched the chronometer, enjoyed the time melting away. Not much left for the Dark Prince now.