The route called the Main Avenue went more or less straight for nearly two kilometers before it made a sharp-angled turn to the right. Dead Man's Turn, they called it, and for good reason. Luke dropped his airspeed as he approached the intersection. Try to take it too fast and you'd turn yourself into a gooey paste on the far wall of the turn.

He hit the retros as he adjusted the turbojets for a hard arc to the right. The swoop slewed a little, drifted to the left; then the thrusters straightened it out with a heavy shove.

Easy as sneezing.

The rider behind him, apparently unfamiliar with the canyons, didn't slow down enough.

Luke heard the crash as the swooper hit the far wall of the turn. The fuel cell let go, and a brilliant yelloworange flash and fireball rose into the air.

No time to worry about that; another turn was upcoming, a long zigzag to the left, right, then left again, and he needed to keep to the center of the corridor, which narrowed in the middle of the stretched-out Z.

He didn't see the rest of the swooptroops behind him, but if they wanted to catch him, they'd have to be back there somewhere. They could stay high, but to see him they'd have to be so high they couldn't possibly catch up. And if they got that far away, he could find an overhang and hover under it and they'd never find him.

Four down, eight to go.

Seconds later one of the graysuits appeared in Luke's rear viewer. He was pretty good, to have gained so fast. Or pretty stupid. Gray gained. He was within sixty or seventy meters now.

Time to thread the needle. There it was, just ahead.

The Eye of the Needle was a narrow slot with jagged rock teeth lining it.

Luke gunned the turbojets. Went through the slot. Close enough so he felt a shard of rock catch his jacket and tear it. Man-!

Gray, hot on Luke's tail, tried to follow him.

Didn't make it.

Boom...

The rest of them were still after him. And the bad odds were still bad.

It might be a long afternoon. Or a short one...

As he throttled back for a sharp turn, Luke heard a hoa.r.s.e yell: "He's got help! We ain't gonna win this one, Spiker! Let's burn!"

Huh? Help?

Luke looked over his shoulder.

A swoop, engines off, dropped silently in free fall. The man on the machine wore black, his head shrouded in a flight helmet and polarized shield, a blinking blaster held in his outstretched right hand. He was shooting at the swoopers.

If that guy on the swoop didn't light his engines real soon, he was going to turn that expensive machine and himself into a big smoking crater-As if he'd heard Luke, the falling swoop's engines ignited. The little craft continued to fall, but more slowly.

It didn't look as if he'd kicked the repulsors on in time - He kept firing as he fell, missing but making the swoopers scatter. Who-? The swoop got to within a handspan of the ground and stopped. It hovered, dead still.

Man, that was flying.

The swoopers took off. After a moment, the stranger eased his craft toward where Luke had put his swoop into a hovering idle. The man pulled off his helmet and face shield.

Dash Rendar!

"What are you doing here?" Luke said. Dash shrugged. "Saving your b.u.t.t from swoop sc.u.m, it looks like."

"You know what I mean. Why are you here?" Luke looked at the fallen attackers. "Well?"

"Well, here's the thing. Leia-she's a hot package, that one-Leia kinda wanted me to keep an eye on you until she gets back."

"She what?"

"Ease up, you'll blow a fuse. No big deal."

"Listen, pal, I don't need a baby-sitter!"

"Oh, yeah, you coulda taken these melloons all by yourself, right?"

"I wasn't doing so bad."

"No, you're right, you weren't. But you were gonna lose." Luke held his temper as best he could. He didn't like this braggart, but Dash was right. It would have taken a miracle, one he wasn't capable of just yet, to beat the last of the swooptroop alone. Like it or not-and hedidn't like it at all-Dash had saved his neck.

"Thanks." It was a mumble.

"Excuse me, I didn't hear what you said."

"Don't push it, Dash."

The older man grinned.

Boy, was he going to have words with Leia when she came back. As much as he was attracted to her, as much as he thought she was the toughest, most beautiful woman he'd ever known, where did she get off sending this guy to watch him? And he knew she had to be paying Dash to do it-Dash wasn't the kind of guy who did stuff for free.

Dash said something, and Luke blinked at him."Huh?"

"I said, did you see their tattoos? This gang works for Jabba." Luke looked. That was where he recognized the in-signia from. Jabba's men.

Dash continued, "I was in Mos Eisley, kinda... hanging around, when I heard them talking. They had orders to kill you."

Kill him, yeah, he'd figured that out. Dash kept talking, and Luke tuned back in to what he was saying. "... Vader is no longer your number one admirer."

"He never was. If it's him behind it." Was it? Luke shook his head. That still didn't make sense.

14.

"Lord Vader, we are closing on the Rebel asteroid." Vader turned away from the viewport to behold the junior officer who had drawn the duty this time. "Good. Have Admiral Okins meet me on the bridge."

"At once, Lord Vader."

Vader adjusted the controls on his armor for an increased supply of oxygen and started for the bridge. It was not his choice of ch.o.r.es, this surprise attack on helpless vessels, but he would do it well.

Ah, Prince Xizor," the Emperor said. "How good to see you again." Xizor nodded and bowed low. "The pleasure is mine, my Emperor."

"Do come in. What brings you to my chambers?"

"I was just curious, my master, as to the progress of Lord Vader's attack upon the Rebel shipyard in the Baji Sector." The Emperor's ravaged face revealed nothing, but Xizor was certain his comment had come as a surprise.

"I really must see about hiring your spies away from you," the Emperor said. "Especially after you stole my best horticulturist. A pity the man had that fatal lift accident before he could start working for you."

"Yes, a pity," Xizor replied. If ever there was a poor loser, it was the Emperor. "However, it was not my spies who gave me this information."

"Tell me, then, how did you come to know of it?"

"I'm surprised Lord Vader didn't mention it to you, but what my spies did discover was the location of the Rebel shipyard. I, of course, immediately offered this information to Lord Vader."

"Of course," the Emperor said, his voice as smooth as lube on transparisteel plate. "I am expecting a report from the fleet shortly.

Perhaps you would join in some refreshments and wait with me?"

"I would be honored."

Xizor kept his smile in check. Vader had not told the Emperor who had given him the Rebel shipyard. No surprise. More, he had somehow gleaned the recordings from the Emperor's own skyhook to keep him from finding out. Xizor himself would have done the same in Vader's position. Which was, of course, why he was here. To make certain the Emperor knew whom to credit for this bit of business.

And whom to blame for his not knowing that, too.

Ah, but he was going to enjoy watching Vader become aware that his little game had gone awry.

He was going to enjoy it greatly.

"Admiral?"

"We will be in range shortly, Lord Vader," Okins said.

"Good. Commence firing as soon as we reach optimum distance. I want no mistakes."

Vader stood in front of his vessel's main viewport, looking out at the large asteroid looming ahead of them. Big as a small moon, the rock was pocked with craters from collisions with its smaller brothers, and looked to be nickel-iron, very common in this region.

Suddenly a pair of ships came around from the opposite side of the asteroid."Two Nebulon-B Escort Frigates," an officer said tohis left.

Vader looked at the pair of ships. The frigates werelong and lean, with control and weapons pods in thefront connected to the ma.s.sive drives and TIE decks at the rear by a long and relatively slender tube. "Our own ships," he said, angry.

n.o.body spoke to that. Early in the Rebellion, a number of the frigates had been captured or had defected to the Alliance."At least they won't have any operable TIE fighters," the admiral said.

As if his words had been a signal, a dozen X-wingfighters boiled out of the frigate and began acceleratingtoward the Imperial fleet.

"I see they have been modified to carry X-wings," Vader said. His tone was very dry. "It seems the shipyard will not be such an easy target after all."

Okins turned to his TIE operations officer. "Scramble our fighters. I don't want to waste firepower swatting these annoying... flies with our big guns."

"At once, Admiral."

Vader saw a third ship round the asteroid, much faster than the frigates.

He identified it as the officerspoke: "Here comes a Corellian corvette."

Inside his mask, Vader smiled. Good. Better a fightthan a slaughter of crippled, roosting birds. He turnedto the operations officer. "Have my Interceptor readied."

The admiral glanced at the TIE OpOff, then at Vader. "My lord, do you think that is-?"

"-wise?" Vader finished. "It has been too long since I flew in combat, Admiral. I need to flex those muscles. You can handle the shipyard. I will clear the vacuum of the fighters."

The admiral inclined his head in a military bow.

As if the admiral could do anything else.

Vader had forgotten how much he enjoyed piloting his Interceptor, it had been so long. It came back quickly.

The enjoyment did not last. Almost effortlessly, he blew three, four, five of the Rebel ships into smoking pieces.

It was... disappointing. The Force was not strong in any of them; it was no real challenge. Some were skilled, true, but mere skill could not defeat the dark side. He had hoped for better compet.i.tion.

Any compet.i.tion.

An X-wing in a hard power climb tried to attack him from below, but he looped away and came around fast, punched it with his lasers, turned it into sc.r.a.p.

He was aware of the destroyers firing at the frigates, disabling one?.nd holding the other at bay. A frigate was no match for the pride of the Imperial Navy.

As he chased another X-wing into oblivion, he felt the disturbance in the Force as the fleet pounded the Rebel shipyard apart, pouring destruction upon the helpless grounded ships, pilots, and troops. Multicolored streams of light burned all they touched.

Another X-wing darted and twisted and turned, tried to avoid his fire.

The Rebel pilot was good, but he had no chance of escaping.

Vader let the dark side guide his aim. Felt his weapons lock on... Held his fire.

Disgusted, he broke off his attack and allowed the X-wing to escape. This was beneath him. Since he had fought Luke on the balcony of the city in the clouds, no other opponent had been any real compet.i.tion. Well.

Perhaps the criminal Xizor offered something, but that was different, that was not a warrior's challenge. Xizor was merely duplicitous and devious; he would never dare stand eye-to-eye with the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Vader watched the X-wing scurry away. The battle was over, such as it was. The Rebel shipyard burned, its own air and fuel feeding the conflagration. Hundreds of ships gone, thousands of troops wiped away, a great victory for the Empire.

Vader shook his head. A great victory. Once that would have been something to make him proud. Now? Now it was as hollow as smashing these weak X-wing pilots.

A warrior needed to contend with equals. Obi-Wan was gone, and the other Jedi were all extinct, save one, who was the strongest of them all. His own son.

He had told the Emperor that Luke Skywalker would join them or die. The real truth was only slightly different: Luke would join Darth Vader or die.