The Legion Renewed
Chapter Thirty
Colonel Brenna Brellis called Commander Holmi to her. The green-scaled hominoid was one of the few non-humans to achieve any level of rank in the Imperial army, and the Dark Lady kept him under her command as a sort of curiosity.
"Yesss, Colonel?" Holmi hissed.
"Do you think you could manage to complete the attack without me?"
Holmi blinked in surprise. Was she turning command over to him? "I shall do my besssst," he replied.
The Dark Lady spoke briefly into her com-link, then handed it to him. "It's all yours-except for my own flag-ship, of course. They have their own orders. And Holmi?"
"Yessss?"
"Do not fail me. You know what will happen if you do?"
Holmi blinked. "I undersssstand," he said.
"Good. I'll be in the large chamber I admired so much earlier. Oh, and if the storm-troopers should happen to run into a man in a Jedi-costume, instruct them that he is to be killed at once."
Holmi blinked again. "There isss Jedi here?"
"Only the one. Surely an entire legion can deal with the powers of a single Jedi. He is, after all, still just a man."
Holmi nodded. "Assss you sssay."
"Don't disturb me unless it's absolutely neccessary. I'm expecting a visitor."
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Like Luke, Briande had discovered the pipes as a convenient mode of travel past the Imperials, but not being a telekin, she had to wait until she could find a place to climb up. The cavern walls were smooth and wet and difficult to climb, but she had done a lot of rock-climbing on her home planet of Kalmyr, and 'difficult' was not the same as 'impossible.'
Once she reached the level of the pipes, a few simple gymnastics got her to her feet, and if walking across the narrow pipes like a tight-rope walker was difficult, again, it wasn't impossible.
She had to hide twice to escape the squads of stormtroopers passing underneath, and once, when there had been no place to hide, she merely walked past them and returned the salute of the commander leading them, without saying a word.
She waited until her sister was alone, then dropped silently behind Holmi after he passed beneath her, and went into the cavern room where her sister was waiting.
She dropped her shield, and her twin turned to face her in surprise. "Well, well. I see you've improved your skills somewhat."
"I've come to talk with you, Bren."
"I'm not Brenna."
"Brenna is a part of you."
"A buried part, perhaps. But not the one in charge at the moment. Do you know who I am?"
Briande nodded. "You're Palpatine."
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About two-thirds of the children had been off-loaded when Leia told Han it was time to go. Han had contacted ground-control, and it was only Leia's influence and the words "Jedi Knight" that convinced them to let him out of the bay to try this plan.
Han would have preferred to get all of the children off his ship, and especially that baby that Leia was now holding in her arms, but understood that Luke had some sort of sixth sense, and he believed Leia when she said they had to move now!
Even so, it was a few more seconds before they could get the gangplank cleared and lifted, and the bay doors opened enough for them to slip out.
"Now what?" Han wanted to know?
Leia took one hand away from the infant to point to his screen. "Go there."
"I don't see anything there."
"Trust me," she said. "And stay low."
"If I stay any lower, Han muttered, "we'll crash into the surface." Nevertheless, he nudged his craft ever-so-slightly closer to the ground. He touched his com-link. "Ready on the guns, Chewie?"
Chewie woofed assent from the belly-turret.
Oddly, the infant in Leia's arms made no sound. Its dark eyes gazed up at Leia uncomprehendingly, but there was a certain expectancy about them. Leia had called for the baby's mother from the gangplank, but the badly injured woman had not reappeared.
"Now where?" Han wanted to know.
"I'm not sure. Wait."
The Corellian muttered an oath and set his ship in a holding pattern. Finally Leia pointed to a blast-crater. "There!" she said. "Hit that crater with everything you've got!"
"Did you get that Chewie?" Han asked on his com-link.
For an answer, Chewie fired his cannons at the indicated target.
Han swiveled slightly. "We're going to attract an awful lot of attention doing this."
"I know. Get ready to run quickly."
"Got the jump coordinates loaded in. Just need to get clear, and then we're out of here." Han looked at his screen. "Hurry it up, Chewie, we got company! Imperial cruiser at two o'clock!"
Chewie sent a final barrage at the crater, which seemed to implode upon itself, then switched his target to the star-cruiser.
Han veered away from his position as the cruiser started to return fire. He took a hit aft, and from the hold, he could hear the frightened cries of some of the children they hadn't had time to unload. "Was that enough?" he asked Leia.
"Almost, not quite. A few more seconds ought to do it."
"We don't have a few more seconds!"
"It's not enough! Han, we have to go back!"
The next hit to port convinced Han that going back was not a good idea. Han remotely engaged his top guns. They weren't as accurate as they would have been with someone managing them directly, but it was better than nothing.
Suddenly a streak of light shot at the cruiser from a different direction than the Falcon, and for a split second, Han wondered if ground control had found someone to cover them after all. But then The Falcon's com-line blinked, and Han answered it.
"Millenium Falcon, you look like you could use some help."
Han recognized the voice. "Wedge! Is that you?"
"No one but." The X-wing fighter streaked by overhead, toward the cruiser.
Han re-adjusted his course and headed back for the blast crater. "Give me some cover-fire, will you? I'm trying to slow down ground-forces, and could sure use the assist."
"You got it, Falcon." And as Wedge open-fired on the cruiser, Han returned to the impact-crater that Leia had said was his target, and added a couple of proton torpedoes to the barrage Chewbacca was laying down.
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Luke surveyed the damage with satisfaction. The rubble filled what had once been the large cavern. The ground force could cut through it eventually, of course, but it would take time. Enough time for Wedge and the others to drive off the Imperial fleet, he hoped. The Panderaans would have quite a mess to clean up later, but Luke figured it was a hell of a lot better than the alternative.
Then he could hear the approaching ground troops moving towards him, and jump-levitated back up to the pipe network, this time swinging himself up to his feet to run in a crouch along the narrow slippery pipes. He knew from experience that stormtrooper helmets were difficult to see through, and the route back to where the tunnels had branched and Luke and Briande had separated was full of twists and curves. Provided none of the stormtroopers looked up, Luke should be okay. Of course, there were the unhelmeted commanders to consider, but they would be easy to spot in the sea of stormtroopers, and Luke could either hide or arrange a distraction when he encountered one.
He contacted Briande through the Force to let her know that he was on his way. But as he did, he felt a familiar Cold, Dark Presence, and he stopped in surprise and horror.
Sweet Force, he hadn't sent Briande to face her sister alone.
He had sent her to meet Palpatine.
Alone!
"No!" Luke whispered. He broke into a dead run across the pipes, ignoring the protests of his already drained muscles, determined to reach Briande before Palpatine killed her.
Or worse.