'Just one,' Lando confirmed. 'Count your blessings-after this much time we're lucky to have even one ship whose engines still work.'
'Let's hope they stay working,' Han grunted. 'Give me an intercept course for that second Star Destroyer.'
'Uh ...' Lando frowned. 'Come around fifteen degrees portside and down a hair.'
'Right.' Carefully, Han made the necessary course change. It was a strange feeling to be flying another ship by slave-rig remote control. 'How's that?' he asked Lando.
'Looks good,' Lando confirmed. 'Give it a little more power.'
'The fire control monitors aren't working,' Luke warned, stepping to Han's side. 'I don't know if you're going to be able to fire accurately without them.'
'I'm not even going to try,' Han told him grimly. 'Lando?'
'Shift a little more to portside,' Lando directed. 'A little more ... that's it.' He looked up at Han. 'You're lined up perfectly.'
'Here goes,' Han said; and threw the throttle control wide open. There was no way the Star Destroyer could have missed seeing the Dreadnaught bearing down on it, of course. But with its electronic and control systems still being scrambled by Bel Iblis's ion attack, there was also no way for it to move out of the way in time.
Even from the Katana's distance, the impact and explosion were pretty spectacular. Han watched the expanding fireball fade slowly, and then turned to Luke. 'Okay,' he said. 'Now we're out of the fight.' Through the Judicator's side viewport Captain Brandei watched in stunned disbelief as the Peremptory died its fiery death. No-it couldn't be. It simply couldn't. Not an Imperial Star Destroyer. Not the mightiest ship in the Empire's fleet.
The crack of a shot against the bridge deflector screen snapped him out of it. 'Report,' he snapped.
'One of the enemy Dreadnaughts seems to have been damaged in the Peremptory's explosion,' the sensor officer reported. 'The other two are on their way back here.'
To reinforce the three still blasting away with their ion cannon. Brandei gave the tactical display a quick check; but it was a meaningless exercise. He knew full well what their only course was. 'Recall all remaining fighters,' he ordered. 'We'll make the jump to lightspeed as soon as they're aboard.'
'Yes sir.'
And as the bridge crew moved to comply, Brandei permitted himself a tight smile. Yes, they'd lost this one. But it was just a battle, not the war. They'd be back soon enough...and when they did, it would be with the Dark Force and Grand Admiral Thrawn to command it.
So he would leave the Rebels to enjoy their victory here. It might well be their last.
CHAPTER
29
The repair party from the Quenfis got the anteroom hull breach patched in what was probably record time. The ship Luke had requested was waiting for him in the docking bay, and he was out in space again barely an hour after the destruction f the second Star Destroyer and the retreat of the first.
Locating a single inert ejection seat among all the debris of battle had been a nearly hopeless task for Karrde's people. For a Jedi, it was no trick at all.
Mara was unconscious when they found her, both from a dangerously depleted air supply and from what was probably a mild concussion. Aves got her aboard the Wild Karrde and set off at near-reckless speed toward the medical facilities of the Star Cruiser which had finally arrived. Luke saw them safely aboard, then headed back toward the Katana and the transport he and the rest of his team would be returning to Coruscant by.
Wondering why it had been so important for him to rescue Mara in the first place.
He didn't know. There were lots of rationalizations he could come up with, from simple gratitude for her assistance in the battle all the way up to the saving of lives being a natural part of a Jedi's duty. But none of them was more than simply a rationalization. All he knew for certain was that he had had to do it.
Maybe it was the guidance of the Force. Maybe it was just one last gasp of youthful idealism and naivete.
From the board in front of him, the comm pinged. 'Luke?'
