Leia looked out the cockpit canopy at the Imperial Star Destroyer and eight Dreadnaughts arrayed against the beleaguered planet ahead. Clustering around it like mynocks around an unshielded power generator. It was to have been her last diplomatic mission before settling in to await the birth of her twins: a quick trip to calm a nervous Filvian government and demonstrate the New Republic’s determination to protect the systems in this sector. —The Last Command
It was the sound of the gentle beeping from her console that prodded Leia out of her light doze. “It’s okay, Chewie, I’m awake,” she assured Chewbacca as she opened her eyes. Above her, the blue swirls of hyperspace filled the Falcon’s cockpit canopy. “How long till we break out?” Leia asked, doing her best to stretch in the confines of the co-pilot’s chair.
Beside her in the pilot’s seat Chewbacca pointed at the timer on his display: one minute. “Threepio,” Leia said, leaning into the intercom, “we’ll be coming out of hyperspace in less than a minute. Why don’t you go get strapped in?”
“Of course, Your Highness,” Threepio’s response came back promptly. Promptly, and with none of the hurt Leia would have expected—not after being condemned to the aft living areas for most of the trip.
Carefully, she cast a side-look at Chewbacca. The Wookiee didn’t have nearly the dislike Han had towards droids generally, or Threepio specifically; and Leia had always hoped all the effort Chewbacca had spent putting Threepio back together on Cloud City would have created some kind of bond between the two of them. But from time to time Chewbacca still seemed to have little patience for the droid’s personality—some form of distant loyalty, Leia guessed, related to his life debt to Han.
Chewbacca seemed to notice Leia looking at him. “All right, all right,” she said as he woofed a suggestion, moving to strap herself in as well. The restraints pressed tight across her pregnant stomach, and for a moment Leia rested a hand on her belly, feeling the pair of tiny lives surging within. It was a strange experience, having something growing inside you—two somethings, if the doctors on Coruscant were to be believed. Just a few more weeks, she reminded herself eagerly, reaching out with the Force to touch the two little minds.
Her thoughts were interrupted by a second ping from her console. “Ten seconds,” she reported, removing her hand and reading the timer off Chewbacca’s display. Beside her Chewbacca reached a hairy arm over and wrapped his fingers around the Falcon’s hyperdrive levers. The timer counted down to zero. “Now, Chewie.”
Chewbacca pulled the levers back, and the blue swirls outside melted into starlines before settling into stars. Stars, and the distant orb of a green-white planet directly ahead. “No, I’ve never been to Obroa-skai,” Leia said in response to a question from Chewbacca. “I know Mon Mothma sent a delegation a couple years ago petitioning them to join the Republic, but I wasn’t part of that group.”
Chewbacca nodded and growled another question. “I don’t know if we‘ll be any more successful this time around,” Leia admitted. “But Mon Mothma felt we had to try. The events of the past month may have gone a long way toward convincing the Obroans the Empire is still a very real threat.”
Chewbacca didn’t answer, and Leia knew what he was thinking: with these new clone soldiers at Thrawn’s command, it wouldn’t be hard convincing anyone the Empire was still a threat. “Don’t worry, Chewie,” Leia continued, doing her best to soothe his concerns. “It’ll be fine.”
Chewbacca remained silent—thinking back, no doubt, to their last diplomatic mission together. But unlike that near-disastrous trip to Honoghr, she reminded herself, they weren’t exactly alone this time around. Glancing out the cockpit she could just make out the elongated noses and wingtip lasers of their X-wing escort, following in position behind the Falcon. Leia felt a small smile touch her lips. Han would probably have preferred they bring an entire task force, or at least a Star Cruiser or two…but Leia had more faith in the Millennium Falcon than the entire New Republic fleet combined.
Besides, at the rate Thrawn was going with his offensive, the Republic could find better use for a Star Cruiser these days. The thought wiped Leia’s smile off her face.
“Incoming ship,” the comm suddenly crackled, startling Leia. “This is Obroa-skai Space Control. Please identify yourself and state your business.”
Leia flipped a switch on her console. “This is Councilor Leia Organa Solo aboard the Millennium Falcon,” she identified them. “I have a conference scheduled with Premier K’cheng, to discuss Obroa-skai’s membership into the New Republic.”
“Of course, Councilor Organa Solo,” the voice at the other end agreed promptly. “Your meeting is known to us. Please proceed to the landing field; the beacon will guide you in. Premier K’cheng will meet you there. And welcome to Obroa-skai.”
“Thank you,” Leia said, even as Chewbacca’s display started flashing a new signal as it picked up the landing beacon. “They seem friendly enough,” she commented.
Chewbacca snorted. “Yes, I realize the Bimms did, too,” she said, casting another look out the canopy. Now that they were closer Leia could make out almost two-dozen ships above the planet, in various stages of coming and going. Most of the ships Leia didn’t recognize, but she did spy at least one or two familiar shapes: a couple streamlined personal yachts of the Sorosuub variety, plus at least one Corellian Corvette that made her think back for a moment to her old diplomatic ship, the Tantive IV.
But it wasn’t these that caught her attention. “Chewie, those three ships coming towards us on the port side,” she said, pointing. “Have you ever seen them before? They almost look like fighters.”
Chewbacca looked where she pointed and shook his head. He growled out a possibility. “Maybe,” Leia admitted hesitantly. But if the Obroans were sending an escort, why hadn’t they mentioned anything just now?
Apparently she and Chewbacca weren’t the only people who’d noticed. “Ah, Falcon?” Wedge’s voice came from the ship’s comm. “Any idea what those three Skiprays are doing?”
So that’s what they were. “Chewie and I were just discussing the same thing, Wedge,” Leia said. She’d heard of Skipray blastboats: Han had mentioned them a time or two when discussing his old smuggling days, and according to Luke Karrde used the ships a fair amount in his own organization. But for herself Leia had never seen one before. “Do you think it’s an escort?”
“Because an entire X-wing squadron isn’t enough?” Wedge suggested dryly. “Maybe. I wonder if—”
Leia felt a sudden flicker in the Force. “Look out!” she yelled at Chewbacca, just as a flash of laser fire shot out from the nearest Skipray. But the Wookiee’s reflexes were as quick as ever. Immediately he threw the ship into a sharp spin, weaving the Falcon between the incoming blasts. “Wedge—”
“We’re on it,” Wedge’s voice came back, suddenly tight. “Rogue Squadron, form up. Lock S foils into attack positions and move to assault pattern delta…”
“Hold it a sec, Rogue Leader,” Rogue Two interrupted. “We’ve got three new boogies coming in at one-seven-two mark eight.”
“I’m picking up two more on my scope,” Rogue Five added. “Moving into position behind us.”
“It’s an enclosure movement,” Leia realized, glancing out the canopy. She could indeed see three other Skiprays, coming in on their right. Meanwhile on her display two more blips were closing behind them. “Shields up,” Leia said, quite unnecessarily; a quick look revealed Chewbacca already had switched them on. She turned to look at him. “It looks like we’re in it now, Chewie. Do want me to take one of the quads?”
Chewbacca shook his head, his eyes focused on his controls…but Leia could see the concern there. The gun wells didn’t have nearly the shielding the cockpit had, and Leia knew Chewbacca would never forgive himself if something happened to her.
Outside a new pair of laser blasts flashed past the canopy, one of them making contact and causing a shudder to run through the ship. “Princess Leia!” the intercom crackled. “I do believe we’re under attack!”
That’s an understatement, Leia thought, almost hearing Han’s voice in her head. “Just stay strapped in, Threepio,” Leia suggested, returning her attention to her display. Wedge had moved most of his squadron to engage the incoming Skiprays, leaving Rogues Eleven and Twelve in back-up position to protect the Falcon. But one of the Skiprays appeared to have broken free of the X-wings and was bearing down on Leia and Chewbacca, its laser cannons still blasting away. A second shot made contact, causing another shudder through the ship. “Wedge!”
“Copy, Falcon,” Wedge’s tense response came back. “Eleven, Twelve, where are you?”
“Doing our best, Wedge,” Rogue Eleven replied, sounding even more tense. “Those two boogies behind us have got us tied up.”
Chewbacca roared in frustration as a third shudder ran through the ship, followed by a fourth. “Hang on, Chewie,” Leia urged, ignoring the red lines that started flashing on her display. She knew the kind of beating the Falcon could take—had seen it first-hand during that elaborate escape from Hoth all those years ago—but even the Millennium Falcon had its limits. A new line flashed on her screen. “Deflector shields just dropped to fifty percent,” she told him.
Chewbacca suddenly threw the ship into another spin, cutting hard to starboard and then diving in an attempt to shake their pursuer. “He’s still on us,” Leia said, studying the rear sensor display. The Skipray was almost directly on top of them, its laser fire splattering off the Falcon’s hull. “Upper deflectors below ten percent,” Leia called. “I don’t think they can take another hit!”
Without warning Chewbacca flipped the Falcon over, presenting its fully-shielded underside to their attacker. In the same motion he flipped the switch that released the hidden belly laser cannon: and grabbing the controls Chewbacca took aim and opened fire. The first salvo caught the Skipray completely unaware, spattering against its own forward deflectors. The Skipray tried to jitter to its left even as the second salvo made contact. The third salvo finally punched through, blasting the Skipray’s ventral fin into dust as it abandoned its target and dove desperately into an evasive maneuver. Chewbacca let out a triumphant whoop. “Good shooting, Falcon,” Wedge added over the comm.
“Thanks, Wedge,” Leia said. But the congratulations was short-lived, and they both knew it: already a second Skipray could be seen bearing down on them. They weren’t out of it yet. “Wedge, we’ve picked up another tail,” Leia told him, glancing out the canopy at the approaching silhouette. “Any chance you—”
She was interrupted as a fiery explosion lit the sky, taking the Skipray with it. “What in space?” Leia blurted, scanning the surrounding area. “What was that?”
“Not sure, Falcon,” Wedge started; but Chewbacca pointed at the display, a grave expression on his face. A new series of blips had appeared on their sensors, coming up quickly behind the Falcon. They were blips Leia recognized only too well.
TIE fighters.
Leia swallowed, staring at the new signals. They were TIE fighters, all right; she would recognize those H- shaped silhouettes anywhere. Behind them, just coming in out of lightspeed, was the equally-familiar shape of an Imperial Star Destroyer. “Wedge, we’ve got a new problem,” she said into the comm, and the stars spun as Chewbacca swung them on a new vector away from the incoming TIEs. “Star Destroyer inbound, plus at least one full squadron of TIE fighters.” She paused, but there was nothing to be done. “We’re going to have to abort the mission. Can you get the rest of your squadron out of here before…”
But Leia was interrupted again, this time as a new voice crackled on the comm. “Attention, Millennium Falcon,” the voice said, even as the TIE fighters roared past the Falcon and opened fire on the escaping Skiprays. “This is Captain Harbid aboard the Star Destroyer Death’s Head. Do you require assistance?”
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