Free Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime by R. A. Salvatore Page B

understood the design of this course change, as the great square of Redhaven came into view, where a celebration was in full swing, great bonfires burning.
    “What is that?” Jaina asked, pointing down at the huge pit, and Mara, equally curious, brought the
Jade Sabre
in for a low fly by.
    C-3PO wailed and the three women crinkled their faces when the truth of that pit became apparent, when they saw the battered, pitiful droids, some still moving or sparking, andevery motion invariably drawing anew volley of stones from the crazed crowd that ringed the pit.
    “Barbaric!” C-3PO cried. “The inhumanity!”
    “Get us out of here,” a disgusted Leia instructed, but Mara was already spinning the
Jade Sabre
up on end and punching full throttle, the roar of the twin engines making many of the fanatics in the square dive for cover. A squawk of protest came over the comm, but Mara just clicked it off.
    “Well,” she said as they soared far, far away, “I warned you about Nom Anor. Still think I was exaggerating?”
    “He is about as infuriating as any being I’ve ever met,” Leia agreed.
    “And once again, my sensitivity to the Force revealed nothing about him,” Mara added. “Nothing. I even tried to silently call to him, just to get a reaction, but he didn’t respond at all—I don’t even know that he heard it—and so completely did he ignore me that there was little I could learn about him.”
    “Same with me,” Jaina admitted. “It’s like he was totally devoid of the Force. I didn’t like the feel of that other one, Shok Tinoktin, either.”
    Mara nodded. “But I don’t have the feeling that there was any hint of a bluff in Nom Anor’s rebuttal,” she said. “He brought us here for no better reason than to snub us, and even if Osarian puts the pressure on, I doubt that one will ever negotiate.”
    Leia got up and rubbed her eyes, shook her head in utter frustration, and gave a helpless sigh. “I admire you,” she said to Mara. “Truly. You met him once and agreed to do so again. You’re a braver person than I.”
    Luke and Jacen found the
Millennium Falcon
right where they left it, Docking Bay 3733, and judging from the sounds coming from the bay, the clank of metal wrenches, the hum of turbo drivers, and the stream of muttered curses, they figuredthat Han and Chewie were still trying to figure out how to fix the thing.
    On the way to Coruscant, Han had given the controls over to Anakin, who was more than a bit jealous that Mara often let Jaina fly the
Jade Sabre
, and the fifteen-year-old, predictably, pulled a few hotdogging maneuvers on the way down. But while the
Millennium Falcon
was surprisingly agile for a ship that looked more like an old garbage scow than a starfighter, she was also much, much more powerful. The
Falcon
had the agility to pull the turns Anakin put her through—though with his inertial compensator dialed down only 2 percent, everyone on board had nearly passed out from the g’s—but the boy had apparently throttled up a bit too hard coming out of more than one. By the time Han had managed to take back the controls for the last remnant of the flight to dock, the
Falcon
was listing badly, with one engine and several repulsorlifts firing intermittently and unpredictably. Even now, secured in the bay, one of those repulsors popped off now and again, jolting the ship’s edge up a few degrees, to bounce back down as the repulsor sputtered back out.
    Luke and Jacen exchanged a smile as the
Falcon
went up yet again, higher this time, nearly onto its side, then dropped fast to horizontal, slamming down against the floor.
    “Weeow!” came the screech of R2-D2.
    “Chewie!” Han cried, from somewhere above the open lower landing ramp, followed by a thud, a swear or two, and a wrench bouncing down the ramp to clang out into the docking bay.
    Han staggered down behind, covered in grease and sweat, muttering every step of the way. He bent to retrieve the wrench, but stopped and