Foster, Alan Dean Star Wars Splinter of the Mind's Eye

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As he studied them Luke realized that the Coway were right, in such close confinement the energy
armor would work against the wearer. Such armor rendered the person inside it invulnerable to most
energy weapons, save at vital points like the joints and eyes where protection was necessarily weaker.
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More important, the armor also restricted its wearer's vision. Not so critical in a battle on a ship, say,
with its wide, unobstructed corridors. But in the jumbled tunnel, vision was more vital than an extra shot.
As if on signal, fourCoway , two on either side of the narrow pathway, materialized silently from
invisible hiding places. The two advance scouts were dragged from view with astonishing speed. Not so
astonishing to Luke, though. He'd experienced the power of Coway muscles. In the resulting silence he
thought he could hear the cracking made by limbs and bone through restrictive armor.
Nervously, he waited for something to happen. Everyone knew that if the fourCoway selected for the
task of eliminating the scouts bungled their assignment, if they wasted even a few seconds, one of the
scouts might have time to call to the troops behind him via his helmet communicator. Surprise, the
defenders' most potent weapon, would be lost.
He was still waiting when the single Coway slipped up behind him, so quietly that Luke almost
exclaimed aloud. The native made a quieting sound, performed a gesture with its facial muscles which
might have been a smile, and vanished as silently as it'd come. It left behind two rifles and two pistols-the
arms carried by the ambushed Imperial scouts.
Luke regarded the little arsenal joyfully. Slipping completely out of sight behind the travertine wall, he
disengaged the power pack from one of the rifles and used it to bring his lightsaber up to maximum
charge. Then he traded his pistol for a fresh one, resumed his place next to the vigilant Princess.
"We ought to get the other rifle to Hin," he whispered to her, watching the tunnel.
"No time," she disagreed reasonably. "No telling where he is now.Can't risk it."
"I suppose you're right." He glanced down at the still half-charged rifle and its fully charged duplicate,
plus the pair of pistols. "At least we'll be well armed for a while longer than I thought."
The rhythmic tread of metal-clad feet pounding rock finally reached them. All thoughts of
conversation vanished as the main body of troops hove into view. They were marching cautiously, three
and four abreast, as they rounded the same narrow place the two ill-fated scouts had entered moments
before. The phosphorescent blue-yellow light of the growths in the tunnel gleamed off slick armor and
immaculate weaponry.
Closer, closer they came, until Luke was afraid they would march right up to his wall before Halla
and the chiefs agreed on the time to attack.
A strident, powerful voice boomed out in Coway. The cavern dissolved into chaos. A waterfall of
sound deluged the air where seconds before there had been only silence. Luke felt the noise itself,
concentrated and magnified by the cave walls, would be sufficient to paralyze most men.
The soldiers caught in the maelstrom were Imperial troops. But they were not the Emperor's palace
guard. They were men and women stationed too long on a backward, desolate world where discipline
and training relaxed concurrently with morale. The screams of human and Coway howled through the
cave.
Bursts of intense light from energy weapons created a berserk cat's cradle of destruction in the
bottled-down tunnel. Luke found himself firing the pistol over and over. Next to him came steady,
confident thrums as Leia pinched off bursts from the heavy rifle.
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Higher up, Halla and Kee began pouring a murderous fire down on the mass of confused, densely
packed troops. Soon they had to slacken their fire and pick targets with more care, as the Coway began
erupting from beneath cloth concealed with sand to pull startled troopers into hidden pits, or coming out
from behind half-stalagmites, or dropping from crevices in the ceiling.
Seeing friend and foe inextricably intermingled, Luke charged down the slight slope brandishing saber
in one hand, and pistol in the other. Despite his admonitions, Leia had discarded her rifle. Pistol in hand,
she was rushing after him to join in the hand-to-hand combat.
She passed him feet first, her kick all but decapitating a dazed soldier who didn't turn quite fast
enough.
It was hellishly dangerous in the tunnel, what with energy bolts crackling wildly in all directions. Luke
cut through the armored legs of one soldier before the latter could bring his pistol to bear. Without
realizing it, he then swung blindly backward. The blue of his saber intersected a beam fired point blank at
him by an Imperial rifle.
Turning, he barely had time to utter a silent thanks to Ben Kenobi. The trooper was so shocked at
the apparent coincidence of having his shot blocked that he didn't react in time. Thinking something had
to be wrong with his weapon, he readjusted it to compensate for the imaginary fault. As he swung it
upward again Luke jabbed him through the sternum.
Turning, he plunged back into the thickest fighting. He was hunting for one figure. It finally showed
itself, standing aloof near the rear of the fighting crowd.
"Vader!Darth Vader!" [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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