Part 19 (1/2)

Ignoring the b.u.mpy ride, the energy beams and explosions lighting s.p.a.ce around him, the little robot moved to repair the damage.

Additional, tireless explosions continued to buffet the three fighters as they dropped into the trench. Biggs and Wedge dropped behind to cover for Luke as he reached to pull down the targeting visor.

For the second time a peculiar hesitation swept through him. His hand was slower yet as he finally pulled the device down in front of his eyes, almost as if the nerves were in conflict with one another. As expected, the energy beams stopped as if on signal and he was barreling down the trench unchallenged.

”Here we go again,” Wedge declared as he spotted three Imperial fighters dropping down on them.

Biggs and Wedge began crossing behind Luke, trying to draw the coming fire away from him and confuse their pursuers. One TIE fighter ignored the maneuvers, continuing to gain inexorably on the rebel s.h.i.+ps.

Luke stared into the targeting device-then reached up slowly to move it aside. For a long minute he pondered the deactivated instrument, staring at it as if hypnotized. Then he slid it sharply back in front of his face and studied the tiny screen as it displayed the s.h.i.+fting relations.h.i.+p of the X-wing to the nearing exhaust port.

”Hurry, Luke,” Biggs called out as he wrenched his s.h.i.+p in time to narrowly avoid a powerful beam. They're coming in faster this time. We can't hold them much longer.”

With inhuman precision, Darth Vader depressed the fire control of his fighter again. A loud, desperate shout sounded over the speakers, blending into a final agonized scream of flesh and metal as Biggs's fighter burst into a billion glowing splinters that rained down on the bottom of the trench.

Wedge heard the explosion over his speakers and hunted frantically behind him for the trailing enemy s.h.i.+ps. ”We lost Biggs,” he yelled toward his own pickup.

Luke didn't reply immediately. His eyes were watering, and he angrily wiped them clear. They were blurring his view of the targeting readout.

”We're a couple of shooting stars, Biggs,” he whispered huskily, ”and we'll never be stopped.” His s.h.i.+p rocked slightly from a near miss and he directed his words to his remaining wingman, biting down hard on the end of each sentence.

”Close it up, Wedge. You can't do any more good back there. Artoo, try to give me a little more power on our rear reflectors.”

The Artoo unit hurried to comply as Wedge pulled up alongside Luke's s.h.i.+p. The trailing TIE fighters also increased their speed.

”I'm on the leader,” Vader informed his soldiers. ”Take the other one.”

Luke flew just in front of Wedge, slightly to port side. Energy bolts from the pursuing Imperials began to streak close about them. Both men crossed each other's path repeatedly, striving to present as confusing a target as possible.

Wedge was fighting with his controls when several small flashes and sparks lit his control board. One small panel exploded, leaving molten slag behind. Somehow he managed to retain control of the s.h.i.+p.

”I've got a bad malfunction, Luke. I can't stay with you.”

”Okay, Wedge, get clear.”

Wedge mumbled a heartfelt ”Sorry” and peeled up out of the trench.

Vader, concentrating his attention on the one s.h.i.+p remaining before him, fired.

Luke didn't see the near-lethal explosion which burst close behind him. Nor did he have time to examine the smoking sh.e.l.l of twisted metal which now rode alongside one engine. The arms went limp on the little droid.

All three TIE fighters continued to chase the remaining X-wing down the trench. It was only a matter of moments before one of them caught the bobbing fighter with a crippling burst. Except now there were only two Imperials pursuing. The third had become an expanding cylinder of decomposing debris, bits and pieces of which slammed into the walls of the canyon.

Vader's remaining wingman looked around in panic for the source of the attack. The same distortion fields that confused rebel instrumentation now did likewise to the two TIE fighters.

Only when the freighter fully eclipsed the sun forward did the new threat become visible. It was a Corellian transport, far larger than any fighter, and it was diving directly at the trench. But it didn't move precisely like a freighter, somehow.

Whoever was piloting that vehicle must have been unconscious or out of his mind, the wingman decided. Wildly he adjusted controls in an attempt to avoid the antic.i.p.ated collision. The freighter swept by just overhead, but in missing it the wingman slid too far to one side.

A small explosion followed as two huge fins of the paralleling TIE fighters intersected. Screaming uselessly into his pickup, the wing man fluttered toward the near trench wall. He never touched it, his s.h.i.+p erupting in flame before contact.

To the other side, Darth Vader's fighter began spinning helplessly. Unimpressed by the Dark Lord's desperate glower, various controls and instruments gave back readings which were brutally truthful. Completely out of control, the tiny s.h.i.+p continued spinning in the opposite direction from the destroyed wingman-out into the endless reaches of deep s.p.a.ce.

Whoever was at the controls of the supple freighter was neither unconscious nor insane-well, perhaps slightly touched, but fully in command nonetheless. It soared high above the trench, turning to run protectively above Luke.

”You're all clear now, kid,” a familiar voice informed him. ”Now blow this thing so we can all go home.”

This pep talk was followed by a reinforcing grunt which could only have been produced by a particularly large Wookiee.

Luke looked up through the canopy and smiled. But his smile faded as he turned back to the targeting visor. There was a tickling inside his head.

”Luke...trust me,” the tickle requested, forming words for the third time. He stared into the targeter. The emergency exhaust port was sliding toward the firing circle again, as it had once before-when he'd missed. He hesitated, but only briefly this time, then shoved the targeting screen aside. Closing his eyes, he appeared to mumble to himself, as if in internal conversation with something unseen. With the confidence of a blind man in familiar surroundings, Luke moved a thumb over several controls, then touched one. Soon after, a concerned voice filled the c.o.c.kpit from the open speakers.

”Base One to Blue Five, your targeting device is switched off. What's wrong?”