Part 4 (1/2)

Octa knew Valin's preferred tactics as well as he did. He needed to bank and roll, cause her to drop off. But, halfway emerged through an irregular aperture, he couldn't, not yet-to do so would mangle or even tear free the starfighter's strike foils, turning the X-wing into an expensive, uncomfortable, ugly airspeeder.

Instead, Valin grimaced and eased the yoke forward, emerging two more meters into the predawn air.

Octa got her offhand onto her lightsaber and managed to unclip it. She ignited it and thrust with the weapon at the canopy-not at Valin, but at the point closest to her right arm, where the canopy dogged into place against the fuselage.

The point of her weapon, driven at an awkward angle by her less practiced hand, skidded off the transparisteel and up, inflicting nothing but a scar on the canopy.

She tried again. Valin, timing his action by her attack, punched the thrusters just a little, throwing her off balance. She did not fall off, but the energy blade punched through the canopy centimeters behind the latch. The blade, just above Valin's hands on the yoke, hit the far side of the canopy and burned through there, too.

Now the X-wing was fully extracted from the hangar door. Valin gave Octa a mocking smile, elevated the starfighter's nose, and opened the thrusters full force. The X-wing shot upward at a steep takeoff angle.

Octa felt her right hand slipping across the fuselage. She slid farther down the side of the c.o.c.kpit, wildly waving her left arm and the lightsaber in it for balance, and then tried another blow. Her attack had no accuracy or leverage; it hit the canopy over Valin's face, well away from her intended point of impact, and again left nothing but a scar.

Valin should have been rolling the X-wing by now, but he did not, and Octa lost a precious second or two trying to figure out why.

Then she understood. He's taking me as high as he can ... so I'll die when I hit ground He's taking me as high as he can ... so I'll die when I hit ground. She took a moment to look around, but of course there were no speeders below or close by-unauthorized traffic was forbidden this close to the Senate Building, and authorized traffic was rare at this hour.

Valin gave her a last look of triumph. He twitched the yoke and the X-wing shuddered. Octa's hand slipped free and she fell.

She felt a touch of regret. Force techniques to slow falling were of little use in open air at alt.i.tudes like this. She was going to be a mess, a dead mess, when she hit.

She deactivated her lightsaber and clipped it to her belt. It wouldn't do to have it shear through some innocent pedestrian running in the wake of the shuttle, which, now burning, had come to a rest against the government building on the far side of the plaza.

Octa prepared herself for impact.

When Octa woke up, she knew only moments had pa.s.sed. The Senate Building alarms were still howling. Sirens announced the imminent arrival of other official vehicles. There was also a persistent ringing in her head.

She didn't hurt that badly. Quickly, carefully, she flexed limbs, s.h.i.+fted her body, explored herself in the Force.

Not even a broken bone.

She opened her eyes and Seha, framed by stars, was kneeling over her, looking worried, crestfallen. ”Master?”

”I'm all right.” Octa struggled to sit up. Well, she wasn't entirely all right. Every muscle hurt and she was certain she had a concussion. ”You caught me? With telekinesis?”

”Partly. You still hit hard.”

”Not that hard.” Octa managed a shaky laugh. ”You did very, very well.”

”But we lost. He got away.”

”We won won. He's in street clothes and his canopy isn't airtight. So he can't make s.p.a.ce. And he's airborne, so his tracking device will give away his location continuously. We flushed him.” Standing, she stretched her back, trying to afford it a little relief. ”Others will have to run him to ground.”

”COME TO COURSE TWO-SIX-NINE.”

Han, following his wife's directions, banked the Falcon Falcon around and headed toward the government district. Leia, in the copilot's seat, had her personal comlink to her ear. around and headed toward the government district. Leia, in the copilot's seat, had her personal comlink to her ear.

The Falcon Falcon's comm board was alive with Coruscant Security and traffic monitors warning Han to return to designated s.h.i.+p traffic lanes or be subject to arrest. He growled and switched the thing to silent mode. ”They found him?”

”They found him. He's in an X-wing with a hole in the c.o.c.kpit.”

”Armed?”

”Fiftyfifty chance. It was in the Senate Building, so it's either a fully functional security vehicle or some Senator's unarmed memories-of-youth vehicle. I'm hoping for the second option.”

”Me, too.”

”Come to two-five-nine.”

”Nah.” Han put the Falcon Falcon into a dive. His stomach fluttered, and the sensor screen filled up with tiny objects getting larger-smallvehicle traffic at and below building-top level. Flas.h.i.+ng down at terrifying and illegal speed, he twitched the controls right and left, nimbly dodging the much smaller civilian vehicles. into a dive. His stomach fluttered, and the sensor screen filled up with tiny objects getting larger-smallvehicle traffic at and below building-top level. Flas.h.i.+ng down at terrifying and illegal speed, he twitched the controls right and left, nimbly dodging the much smaller civilian vehicles.

”Han, what do you think-”

Then he was fully among them, streams of traffic above as well as below. He pulled out of his dive two hundred meters below the average height of the buildings.

”-you're doing?”

”This way, we're off the major sensor boards. Only vehicles with line of sight on us will complain.”

”I understand that that. I mean, why not turn to two-five-nine?”

”His course changes are just to jerk us around, to confuse us. I I know where he's going.” know where he's going.”

”Where?”

”The s.p.a.ceport, right at the edge of the government district. He stole a starfighter; that means he wants to make s.p.a.ce. It's damaged, so he can't. He needs another one. Right?”

”Right.”

”When it comes to piloting and pilots, I'm all-knowing.”

Leia put an artificial sweetness into her voice. ”I'll never argue with you again.”

Han snorted and increased velocity. A Coruscant Security speeder following in his wake dropped back, left behind as though it were suddenly standing still.

Luke and Ben, in Ben's nimble red airspeeder, received the transmission with Han's guess about the s.p.a.ceport.

Luke, at the controls, shook his head, not pleased. The s.p.a.ceport, comparatively flat and built at a much lower alt.i.tude than the surrounding residential, business, and government zones, was not, as most supposed, actually situated at bedrock level. Below it were many levels of machinery, repair hangars, Empire-era emergency bunkers, s.p.a.ceport employee facilities, and repair accesses.

If Han was right and Valin was headed that way, even if he was unsuccessful at stealing another s.p.a.ceworthy vehicle he might escape into those subterranean regions, making it hard or impossible to find him before he detected his tracking device and destroyed it.

Their speeder emerged from the skytowers and was abruptly out over the flatter region surrounding the s.p.a.ceport. It was mostly given over to speeder parking, though it had decorative elements, including tree-spotted gra.s.sy regions and a small artificial lake.

And sensor stations. Almost immediately, the speeder's comm board began blaring with instructions for them to turn back, to stay away from restricted airs.p.a.ce.

”Tell them who we are.” Luke had to raise his voice to a shout to be heard.