Luke closed down his lightsaber and gave his handiwork one last check. A large section of the corridor's ceiling was now hanging perilously by a few strands of metal, ready to come crashing down at the slightest provocation. Beyond it, two sections of the wall were similarly boobytrapped.
'All set,' he told Lando.
'Okay. Here goes ...
And suddenly, the pitch of a different class of weapons joined the cacophony as the defenders opened up on the Imperials. For a few seconds the two groups of weapons vied with each other. Then, with a screech of strained metal, the sounds were cut off.
The four techs were the first around the corner to where Luke waited, their faces showing the mixture of fear and nervousness and exhilaration of men who've just survived their first firelight. Lando was next, with Han and Chewbacca bringing up the rear. 'Ready?' Han asked Luke.
'Yes.' Luke indicated the rigged sections of ceiling and wall. 'It's not going to hold them for long, though.'
'Doesn't have to,' Han grunted. 'As long as it takes a few of them out it's worth it. Let's go.'
'Hold it,' Luke said, stretching out with the Force. Those strangely disturbing minds ... 'They're splitting up,' he told Han. 'About half are still at the portside blast doors; the other half are going to the starboard Operations section.'
'Trying to flank us,' Han nodded. 'Lando, how well is that area sealed off?'
'Not very,' Lando admitted. 'The blast doors from the docking bay itself should hold for a while, but there's a whole maze of storage rooms and maintenance shops off of Operations that they can probably get back to the main starboard corridor from. There were too many doors for us to close it all off.'
From the blast doors they'd just left came the dull thud of a shaped charge. 'So this group keeps us busy thinking they're all here, while the other one tries to get behind us,' Han decided. 'Well, we didn't want to hold the whole corridor, anyway. Chewie, you and Lando take the others and fall back toward the bridge. Take out as many of them as you can on the way. Luke and I'll go across to starboard and see if we can slow that batch down a little.'
Chewbacca growled an acknowledgment and headed oft' the it)ur tech men already on their way. 'Good luck' Lando said, and followed. Han looked at Luke. 'Still in just the two groups?'
'Yes,' Luke said, straining to locate the enemy. The strange feeling was still there ...
'Okay. Let's go.'
They set off, Han leading the way down a narrow cross corridor lined with the kind of closely spaced doors that indicated crew quarters. 'Where are we going?' Luke asked as they hurried along.
'Number two starboard weapons blister,' Han said. 'Should be something nasty there we can use to flood the main corridor with-turbolaser coolant or something.'
'Unless they have life-support gear, Luke pointed out.
'They don't,' Han said. 'At least, they weren't wearing any when they charged us. They had standard trooper air filters, but if we fill the whole corridor with coolant those won't do them much good. You never know,' he added reflectively. 'The coolant might be flammable, too.'
'Too bad the Katana fleet wasn't made up of Star Galleons,' Luke said, reaching out again toward the enemy. As near as he could tell, they were in the maze of rooms Lando had mentioned, working their way around toward the main starboard corridor. 'We really could have used those anti-intruder defenses they come equipped with.'
'If this was a Star Galleon, the Empire wouldn't be so anxious to take it away from us in one piece,' Han retorted. 'They'd just blow it out of the sky and be done with it.'
Luke grimaced. 'Right.'
They reached the main starboard corridor; and they were halfway across it when Han suddenly stopped short. 'What in blazes-?' Luke turned to look. Ten meters down the corridor, sitting in a patch of darkness beneath burned-out light panels, was a large metal box resting at a tilt on a half-seen tangle of cables and struts. Twin blaster cannon protruded from beneath a narrow viewport; the corridor walls immediately around it were warped and blackened, with a half dozen good-sized holes visible. 'What is it?' he asked.
'Looks like a scaled-down version of a scout walker,' Han said.
'Let's go take a look.'
