Razor's Edge: Star Wars (Empire and Rebellion) (29 page)

Chewbacca lowed anxiously and Terae turned to the sensor suite, expanding the field of view. Leia said, “Then we need to move fast.” And she needed to find out if Degoren had discovered the
Falcon.

She took the mute off and made her voice hard. “We've taken your ship, Commander Degoren. Surrender your shuttle immediately, or we'll blow you to pieces.”

There was a slight pause. “You won't do that, Organa.”

He's not surprised about this,
Leia thought.
He's angry but not surprised.
That was a very bad sign. “I will, actually.” She spoke to Terae, carefully not muting the comm frequency. “Are the concussion missiles ready to fire?”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Terae gestured sharply and one of the crew members dropped into the weapons station chair, hesitated for a moment over the unfamiliar board, then started the charge sequence.

“We have two of your people aboard,” Degoren said. “Kifar Itran and Luke Skywalker. But I'm perfectly willing to trade them for my ship. You can even take the other rebel prisoners on board; I won't protest.”

Leia grimaced, Chewbacca made a faint noise of dismay, and Han swore under his breath. She thought,
Yes, that's what I was afraid of.
And Degoren was definitely stalling them. A prisoner transfer would take time, and that was what Degoren wanted. She made her voice hesitant. “Give us a moment to discuss it.”

“Make it quick, I'm impatient,” Degoren said.

Leia hit the mute on the comm. “He must have another ship en route. We can take that shuttle, but we need to move fast. Terae, we need the
Aegis.
”

Terae hit the all-ship comm, speaking to all the crew still aboard. “We need to transfer command of this ship to the Alliance personnel. Get the rest of the Imperials to the brig and then get back to the
Aegis.
Transfer our casualties first. Move!”

Han leaned over to the comm to add, “Ilen, Barani, if you're still alive, get up here! Every
Gamble
crew member who can operate a station, find a station and operate it!”

Leia held up a hand for quiet and opened the frequency again. She said, “Very well, Degoren. I'll release your ship and crew in exchange for my people. Why don't you dock with your ship and we'll make the exchange.”

Fera arrived, waving a comlink and making frantic motions at Leia. Leia muted the comm and Fera said, “I can transfer the connection here, to the
Aegis
's comm system, and you can keep talking and he won't realize you aren't still on the bridge—”

“Do it.” Leia opened the frequency again as Degoren was replying, “I don't think I'm quite that foolish, Organa. You'll have to come up with another arrangement.”

Ilen and Barani appeared at the entrance to the bridge. Both looked bedraggled and exhausted. Ilen gasped, “Princess!”

Leia motioned for him to be quiet. Han shoved out of the pilot's station and signaled for them to take the stations. To Degoren, Leia said, “Perhaps we could both land on the planet.”

Fera returned with the comlink and mouthed the word, “Ready.”

Leia pointed urgently for her to go ahead. Any moment, Degoren was going to realize she was stalling, too.

Fera worked over the comm board for a moment, then plucked the headset off Leia's head, switched it off, and handed Leia the comlink. Leia heard Degoren, unconscious of the interruption, say, “That might be amenable. But how do I know it isn't a trick? There is some sort of sensor-blocking field in effect on the surface.”

Han was already off the bridge, and Chewbacca stood in the doorway, shaking his bowcaster for Leia to hurry. “Let me discuss it with my crew,” Leia said. “Perhaps we can find a way to reassure you.” She muted the comlink and ran, with Terae and Fera and the other
Aegis
crew members on her heels.

She encountered General Willard and Jerell at the first junction, with engineer Sorel and the medic, Sarit. Han was there, explaining the situation briefly. The general nodded and said to Leia, “You're going on the
Aegis
?”

“Yes, and I want you to take this ship into hyperspace and head back to the fleet.”

General Willard drew breath and Leia was certain he meant to argue with her. Conscious of their already small window of opportunity rapidly closing, she said, “Degoren has another ship en route and we have no idea what kind of firepower we're facing. I'm going to retrieve Luke and Kifar and then we'll be right behind you. You have to trust me to—”

The general held up a hand to stop the rush of words. “I trust you. Now go get our people so you can get out of here. If I have to come back for you, you'll never hear the end of it.”

Leia hadn't been aware that she needed to hear something like that until he said it. She nodded sharply. “I'll see you on the
Independence.
”

She and the others ran down the corridor. They passed other
Gamble
crew members, running or limping toward the bridge, to the weapons stations, or down toward engineering, and
Aegis
crew heading for the hatch connection. Everyone looked frantic and determined but not panicked. Leia felt she was panicking enough for everybody and wondered if all the others were just as good at hiding it as her.
Luke. You have to get him back.
If Degoren left the system with him, she would never be able to find him; he would be questioned, tortured.
I can't lose him.

And it was her fault he had been captured. The more she thought about Degoren's appearance on the scene, what he had seemed to anticipate and what he hadn't, she suspected she had made a key and possibly devastating error in judgment.

Terae took a report on another comlink frequency and told Leia, “The Imperial crew is accounted for as best we can and secured in the brig. We think they have ten crew members in that shuttle, plus Degoren.”

A crewman stood at the
Aegis
's hatch with a datapad, efficiently checking off the crew as they returned. Sian and R2-D2 waited beside him. Leia said, “You two, get to the bridge. The
Gamble
's crew is going to need help up there.”

R2 trundled off obediently, but Sian followed Leia through to the
Aegis.
Leia stopped her and said, “I meant you, too.”

“I know,” Sian said, “but I'm sticking with you.” She jerked her head, indicating the
Aegis
and its failure so far to take advantage of the situation for profit. “You've been right so far.”

Leia appreciated the vote of confidence, but she didn't think she deserved it. “I think I've been very wrong about one thing,” she said, as she started after Terae.

Han glanced back at her. “You think Itran talked again.”

“I'm worried he did more than that.” She watched him as they hurried down the corridor. “You haven't said anything about the
Falcon
yet.” There had been no sign of the ship on the sensors, and Leia hoped that meant the Imperials had left it down on the planet, undamaged.

Chewbacca made a worried noise in his throat, and Han said grimly, “If anything's happened to it, guess what you owe me?”

Leia didn't need to guess. “If anything's happened to it, you can have the
Darsumae.
”
And if anything's happened to Luke, I'll have Degoren's head.

When they reached the junction that led to the bridge forward corridor, Leia held up a hand for quiet. She unmuted the comlink and said, “Commander Degoren, before we release your ship, we'd like some assurance that our people are still alive. Let me speak to Skywalker.”

“You have no need to doubt my word. But I'll let you speak to Itran.”

Right,
Leia thought. “Give me a moment, please.” She muted the comlink again and kept walking.

As the blast door to the bridge opened, Kelvan turned toward her. He was listening to a comm headset and told her, “The last of the crew is aboard and we've started to disengage the hatches. The
Darsumae
has been redesignated
Gamble Two,
and the pilot reports that they are configuring their jump and will enter hyperspace per your orders on our signal.”

Terae reached the sensor station and said, “Shuttle is still holding position.”

“Good.” Leia lifted the comlink that connected her to Degoren, then hesitated.
How sure are you, Leia? This sure, at least.
She told Han, “Call General Willard on a secure frequency and tell him that if Kifar Itran shows up at the fleet without us, then he's probably an Imperial agent.”

Han's expression went through several complicated changes, then he set his jaw. “Well, that explains a lot. He wanted the two of us to break open the slave pen, said he didn't trust the
Aegis
's crew. But he must have thought he could get rid of me and find a comm system somewhere.”

Sian stared in shock. “But he … The whole time he was … Oh, no. That's how they found the
Gamble
on Arnot Station.”

Chewbacca drew his lips back in a grimace and made a comment that sounded remarkably accusing. Han glared at him. “It's not my fault. How was I supposed to know?”

Kelvan's brow furrowed and he clearly thought he had been left out of a rather important loop. He demanded, “When did you know?”

“Just now, actually,” Leia said. “He must have been a deep-cover agent, intended to report on our movements and possibly sabotage our missions while the Empire prepared a trap for the Alliance fleet.”

Terae clapped a hand to her head. “That lousy piece of—He didn't just tell Viest who you were, he made a deal with her.”

“But after we rescued him, he couldn't get to a comm to tell Degoren that we planned this ambush.” Leia eyed the sensors. The assistance that Degoren clearly expected might arrive at any moment.

Kelvan touched his headset as he listened to an internal report. He nodded to Leia. “The hatches are sealed, and we're ready to break off.”

Leia pressed her lips together, then said, “We'll have to move fast, or he'll kill Luke.”

Kelvan's smile was wry. “Believe me, it will be fast. We're good at this.”

Terae added more grimly, “And we don't want to lose Itran. He made a deal with Viest, and got Captain Metara killed.”

Leia wasn't certain there was a direct connection, but Itran certainly hadn't helped. She clicked on the comlink and said, “Commander Degoren, we're breaking off from your ship. We have your crew aboard, and will land on the planet to release them. Follow us down, or we'll space them and destroy your ship.”

She cut the comm connection before Degoren could reply. “That's not going to hold him long. Let's go.”

Kelvan signaled the pilot. Leia felt the deck sway underfoot as the
Aegis
powered away from the
Gamble II
so fast its gravity sensors couldn't compensate quickly enough.

Degoren wouldn't buy her distraction; he might believe she was confused and out of her depth, but he wasn't a fool. The
Aegis
dived toward the shuttle, which turned away immediately. Leia kept her eyes on the sensors as the newly named
Gamble II
began to accelerate in the opposite direction, readying itself for its hyperspace jump.

“Sir, we're almost in tractor beam range,” the copilot said.

Kelvan touched his headset. “Tractor beam control, mark the target, ready—”

Fera, at the sensor station, said, “Sir, new contact exiting hyperspace!”

And we've run out of time,
Leia thought. She stepped toward the sensor station as Fera enlarged the image of the incoming ship. It was an Imperial light corvette, likely the same one that had attacked the
Gamble.

Fera said, “Sir, it's heading for
Gamble Two.
” The corvette's course curved toward the fleeing ship. Degoren must have managed to contact the corvette and inform it of his situation just as it hit realspace.
Or give orders,
Leia thought.
Degoren might be in charge of this whole operation.

“Break off the shuttle, cover
Gamble Two
's retreat.” Kelvan glanced at Leia for her reaction, and she nodded sharply. Every nerve screamed at the idea of letting the shuttle go, but they had to protect the
Gamble II.

Han watched the images from the sensor array fly across the displays. “That Degoren's one lucky Imp.”

“And the corvette knows General Willard is aboard the
Gamble Two,
” Terae said, her voice tense.

She was right. Degoren would have informed them that he was holding the general prisoner aboard his ship. He might suspect that Willard had transferred to the
Aegis,
but with the
Gamble II
jumping to lightspeed, there was little doubt that the Alliance now controlled the ship.

The corvette fired turbolasers. But the
Aegis
cut across its field of fire and deflected the blasts on its own shields.

Leia looked at the sensors, just in time to see the
Gamble II
vanish. “
Gamble Two
is entering hyperspace,” Fera reported. “Repeat,
Gamble Two
is away and clear.”

Leia let out a pent breath. But the shuttle had taken advantage of the few moments to put distance between it and the
Aegis.
Now the corvette turned back toward it, shielding it from the
Aegis
's weapons and tractor beam. Leia started to order Kelvan to pursue it, then stopped the words in her throat.

The light corvette was nearly twice the size of the gunship, though their weapons were equivalent, if the corvette hadn't been modified. The light corvettes were customs ships and had practically been designed to take on pirates.

She couldn't risk the
Aegis,
not for one life, not even if that life was Luke's. None of these people had signed on to the Alliance. She made herself say, “You'll have to break off.”

Chewbacca made a faint noise, an aborted protest, and she could feel Sian staring at her. She thought Han would be the one to blow up, but instead he just said, quietly, “That may be a pirate-killer, but this isn't a modified freighter. The
Aegis
isn't as outgunned as you think.”

“He's right.” Kelvan faced her. “Your Highness, we can do this.” There was nothing but complete conviction in his voice. “We couldn't help Alderaan—let us help you.”

Leia wasn't sure what he was asking for, if it was absolution or atonement. She couldn't give him either, and attacking the Imperial ship didn't make tactical sense. “I'm not Alderaan.”

“For us, you are. At least at this moment.” Kelvan said again, “Let us help you.”

Leia realized her hands were knotted into fists. She couldn't leave Luke to the Empire. She just hoped she wasn't dooming all of them. “All right.”

Kelvan nodded, and smiled gratefully. “You won't regret it.”

I hope you don't regret it,
Leia thought as Kelvan gave the orders and the
Aegis
accelerated in pursuit.

Chewbacca wuffed in relief. Han just stepped around her, heading for the sensor console. “I got an idea. That light corvette has external docking bays.”

“We can't board it,” Leia told him, frustrated. “It has at least a squad of eight stormtroopers aboard and more than fifty crew members.”

“We can't board it if they know we're there,” Han said. He leaned on the back of Fera's chair, studying the sensor displays. “Can you get them into the sensor field disruption?”

The
Aegis
drew into range of the corvette. The two ships seemed to dance as the corvette tried to protect the shuttle, but had to keep moving too fast for the shuttle to dock. Kelvan ordered, “Fire at will, keep their attention.” To Han, he said, “Yes, but even with their sensors partly disabled, they could tell we were locking on and they'd hardly hold still for it.”

“Or they would hold still, and blast through our lock before we could board them,” Sian pointed out.

“Not if we use an escape pod,” Han said.

Leia stared at him. “You're out of your mind. And that might just work.”

Nobody liked the plan, but there was no time to argue about it.

Leia, Han, Chewbacca, and Sian raced for the
Aegis
's shuttle bay where the
Gamble
's escape pod still sat in the cradle, ready to be used. They were trailed by a protesting Terae, who couldn't seem to decide whether she wanted to talk them out of it or demand to go with them. Blast impacts made the deck shiver underfoot, though the shields still held. The
Aegis
darted back and forth to tease and lure the corvette farther into the sensor disruption area near the planet.

“You might need an engineer,” Terae said desperately as Leia was about to climb into the pod. Han was already inside, starting its launch sequence, as Chewbacca adjusted the seat so he could fit into it.

“I appreciate the offer, “Leia told her, “but between Han, Chewie, and Sian, I think we have it covered.” Fera had handed Sian a satchel at the last moment, still packed with the small hatch-busting explosives and a few stun grenades left over from the boarding action against the
Darsumae.
Leia hesitated. “Terae, if I don't see you and Kelvan and the others again—”

“Don't say that!” Terae stopped, confused. “I just … After what happened to Captain Metara … I don't know what I mean.”

Leia knew what Terae meant. After the traumatic death of her friend and mentor, after confronting the reality of the crew's life as pirates, Terae's world was spinning around her and some of her basic convictions had been shattered. Even after two years of hatred for the Alliance, of blaming it for Alderaan's destruction, Leia was still the only safe anchor in that world, and Terae didn't want her to leave, at least not yet.
You can't be responsible for every survivor of Alderaan,
Leia told herself. No one person could take that on and not go mad; it was worse than being the Alliance's perfect shining symbol and figurehead. But walking away from Terae and the others tore at her. Maybe that was why Leia had been risking her neck so much lately. It was easier on her soul than the alternatives.

Sian helped shove Chewbacca into his seat and plopped down beside him, and Leia had no time left for negotiation or persuasion. She just said, “Think about what I've said to you. The offer is still open. If not, take care of each other.”

Leia dropped into her seat and hit the sequence to seal the hatch and pressurize the pod. Terae hesitated for a moment, as if she might still protest, then turned and jogged for the blast doors, signaling the techs to follow her. Leia strapped in, and Han said into the comm, “We're ready when you are.”

“We'll get you as close as we can,” Kelvan's grim voice answered.

“Right.” Han signed off but left the frequency open so they could hear the bridge. He gave Leia one of his typically hard-to-read looks. “You didn't have to come along, Your Worship.”

“We've had this conversation before. My answer hasn't changed.” This was Han's idea and she knew he was fine with the thought of risking himself on it, just not with risking anyone else. But Luke being in this mess was her responsibility.

Sian smiled tightly and Chewie grumbled low in his throat. Han had tried to order both of them to stay behind, too.

Besides customs enforcement and pirate hunting, the Imperial light corvettes had been designed for search-and-rescue after battles. They were equipped with exterior docking bays designed to handle multiple sizes of standard escape pods. Even in the sensor disruption area, the corvette would be able to detect something the size of the
Aegis
trying to lock onto it, but an escape pod would go unnoticed.

Hopefully.

Over the comm they could hear quiet voices from the bridge, tense but cool and determined. The
Aegis
fired at the corvette and its turbolasers fired back, the ship's hull vibrating at the impacts. Leia grimaced, imagining what would happen if the
Aegis
lost shielding. Then Kelvan's voice said, “We're coming in close. Get ready to launch on my mark.”

The bay doors slid open and the pod's cradle tilted. Leia tensed, automatically checking the small console's sensor screen. They were deep in the sensor disruption area, so the screen displayed nothing but an error code, which was to be expected but still made her nerves jump.

Kelvan said, “Mark!”

As the pod dropped out of the cradle and spun out into space, the console's screen lit with a static image sent from the bridge: a diagram of the best estimate of the
Aegis
's position relative to the corvette. That would be all Han had to navigate.

The stars wheeled outside as the pod tumbled away. Leia caught a confused view of the
Aegis
's hull before a too-close blast impact dazzled her vision. She blinked hard to clear her eyes. Han bent over the console, and Chewbacca and Sian stretched forward to see. Leia leaned back as far as she could to get out of their way.

Han made a quick adjustment and the pod swiveled, came out of the tumble, and Leia felt the press of acceleration. Han stretched to look out the port. “I make it three degrees.”