Part 27 (1/2)

”I quite agree,” said Ossilege. He thought for a moment. ”How long until closest approach with Wa tchkeeper?”

Kalenda checked the time. ”Ah, we will do the flyby in about eight hours, sir.”

”I see. I see. Very well.” Ossilege stood up abruptly and turned toward his flag communications officer. ”Set up a direct laser line-of-sight link with the captain of the Watchkeeper. Patch it through to my cabin, full privacy scramble.” The com officer saluted and set to work at his console. ”As for the rest of you, suffice to say that Lieutenant Kalenda's report has inspired me to make a change in plans. I will inform you of those changes as soon as I have completed my consultations with the Watchkeeper. That is all. Good day to you.” And with that, Ossilege swept out of the room.

Everyone stood up and made their way toward the door. ”What was all that business about consulting with Watchkeeper Lieutenant Kalenda?” asked Captain Calrissian.

”I don't know, sir,” she replied. ”But I've got a hunch that I wouldn't want to be the captain of the Watchkeeper just at the moment.”

”Oh, yeah,” Calrissian agreed. ”When admirals take a sudden interest in disabled s.h.i.+ps, it's almost always time to start worrying.”

That much was beyond debate.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

All Together Now endra Risant was close to despair. It seemed as if she had been stuck aboard this s.h.i.+p for years instead of days. The Gentleman Caller had appeared a roomy enough s.h.i.+p when she had first boarded and explored her, but now the craft felt no larger than a coffin-an image she did not much care for.

She was not sure how much longer she could hold on.

Tendra had never solo-piloted a s.h.i.+p before, never been this alone before. The silence, the solitude of s.p.a.ce seemed to close in around her, and the vast open emptiness seemed to confine her. The s.h.i.+p had enough food to sustain her, and the recycling system would keep her air and water pure for at least a year without any trouble at all. But was there enough sanity left aboard the craft to keep her going? The s.h.i.+p could keep her body functioning as long as need be-but it could do nothing to keep her mind working.

Why didn't Lando answer? what had happened?

What had gone wrong? Had she gambled everything in her life on a foolish whim, and lost?

She reached over and listened again to the radionics monitor speaker as it echoed what the transmitter was sending. She knew that hearing the message could do her no good at all, and might simply reduce her to tears once again. But she had to hear it, had to know it was still going out.

”Tendra to Lando,” said the voice, her voice, from the speaker, sounding far more sensible than she had felt for a long time. ”Please respond on prea.s.signed frequency.” Pause. ”Tendra to Lando. Please respond on prea.s.signed frequency.” Pause. ”Tendra to Lando.

Please respond on prea.s.signed frequency. .”

Admiral Hortel Ossilege stood on the flag deck of the Intruder, resplendent, as usual, in his dress white uniform. ”The time has come,”

he said, ”to explain the situation. As you know, we have taken the Watchkeeper in tow and transferred virtually all of her crew to the other vessels. You no doubt are wondering why we are taking a near-derelict craft in tow as we enter into battle. I will tell you flat out now. I intend to sacrifice her.”

If that statement was intended to elicit a general murmur of astonishment, it succeeded. Ossilege waited for the room to quiet down.

”We have been baffled by the badly timed arrival and inadequate coordination of the opposing fleet,” he said. ”We are now only a few hours away from contact with the first elements of that fleet, and yet the tail end of it has barely begun to form up.

We have just now started to track launches from Selonia itself.

”I have a.n.a.lyzed the s.h.i.+p placements of the enemy, and I can tell you this-they are very bad, if the enemy does in fact try to do what we think he will try to do. If he offers a straight fight, he will lose, and lose badly.

”But. If they intend instead to draw us, to herd us, to move us around by offering themselves as a target and then retreating-then they have deployed themselves very well indeed.

”The obvious question is, of course, draw us toward what? I intend to find out, and without risking all of my command.

”We have managed to restore a very small percentage of the Watchkeeper's propulsion power, and will shortly rig a slave system capable of flying the s.h.i.+p by remote control, at least well enough for our purposes. I will operate the main remotes myself. I recognize that it is the traditional prerogative of the s.h.i.+p's captain to fly the craft at such times, and I do wish to make public acknowledgment of the fact that Captain Mantrony asked, very strenuously, for that privilege.

I have refused her. II the Watchkeeper is indeed attacked in some novel way, we need to fly her so as to find out as much as possible about that weapon. Captain Mantrony would be less than human if the laudable instinct to protect her own s.h.i.+p did not interfere with that need. Her protests of my actions have been recorded.

”I want my fleet to be led toward whatever trap they have setwith the Watchkeeper well in the lead. I do not want our fighters to be overly aggressive. They should take battle if it is offered, but not seek it out. I want a defensive, not an offensive, posture. I think there is no doubt that we can deal with any number of these PPBs and other light fighters at the proper time. For now, I simply want to preserve our force and probe the enemy's capabilities.

”So,” Ossilege said in solemn voice as he looked out over the faces of his officers. ”Let it begin.” He nodded to the Intruder's tactical officer.

”All crew to battle stations,” she ordered. ”All fighter pilots to their s.p.a.cecraft. Stand by for fighter-craft launch.”

The briefing was over, and the officers and pilots stood up and began to file out.

”Defensive posture,” Lando muttered to Luke as they followed the others out. ”II he really wanted a defensive posture, we could all just stay aboard s.h.i.+p.”

”Hey, come on,” Luke said. ”You're my wingman out there. I don't want you too defensive.”

”Look, you'll be lucky if I even remember how to fly my s.h.i.+p,”

Lando replied. ”what with all the planning meetings, I haven't even been aboard her since we entered the Corellian system.” Luke grinned and slapped his friend on the back.

”Well, they say once you learn, you never forget. Here's your big chance to find out if that's true. Come on. Let's get to our s.h.i.+ps.”

her spirit there, s.h.i.+ning in the dark, as clearly as he could see Artoo being lowered into his socket on the X-wing. She was here. She was alive. She was all right.

What else could matter as much as that?

Luke got an answer almost before he could form the question.

For now that he was reaching out with his Force sense, he realized there was someone else out there as well.

Now, leia thought. Now they were close enough. At this distance she could reach across and sense her brother's mind, if he were indeed there.

She shut her eyes, and used her power in the Force to reach, to spread her senses outward.

And she felt him, at once, immediately, felt him strong and clear across the darkness and the distance.

leia smiled, reveled in the warmth of the contact, of the pleasure of knowing her brother was near, and coming closer. But that was only half of it. She knew that Luke would sense her in the Force in the same moment, would instantly know where she was.

Even if her ability was not strong enough to allow any meaningful communication, just the simple knowledge that he was there, that he would know she was here, was a tremendous comfort.

Luke was halfway up the access ladder of his X-wing when he felt his sister's touch through the Force. He froze and looked up, with his mind's eye, through the bulkheads and decks and durasteel of the Intruder up and out into the clean darkness of s.p.a.ce. He could see leia felt the same contact, almost by accident, as her Force sense swept across s.p.a.ce.

In some ways, a much fainter presence, a being not endowed himself with the slightest ability in the Force. But all living things were present in the Force, and this life shone bright with vigor and determination-and it shone especially bright for leia.

”Han,” she said, the joy and amazement plain in her voice, turning to Mara. She worked the detector controls and brought the sensors to bear on the right piece of sky. ”There!” she said, pointing to a small blip in the detector display. ”Han is on that blown-out cones.h.i.+p.

Luke is aboard the largest Bakuran s.h.i.+p, but Han is here, too.”

She shut her eyes and concentrated again.