Luke and Leia - Rebels [2]

23: Escapes and Encounters

The Millennium Falcon burst out of the asteroid field, and Leia was relieved to see no more floating rocks on the horizon inside the cockpit. However, the Star Destroyer right in front of them dampened her spirits a bit.

"Oh, thank goodness we're coming out of the asteroid field." Threepio declared in relief. Leia paid him no mind, her eyes glued to the Star Destroyer now behind them in pursuit as Han swooped and swerved to avoid both the diminishing asteroids and the blasts of the cruiser. She knew she should probably sit down, but after the events of that day she was way too restless.

A large bolt from the Destroyer smacked the Falcon and sent it lurching to the side, causing Leia to stumble into the copilot's seat. She righted herself as Han did the same with the ship, and he turned to Chewie urgently.

"Let's get out of here, ready for lightspeed?" He tightened his grip on the lever. "One... Two... Three!"

Han yanked back on the throttle and Leia sat back down to brace herself... Only to move nowhere. The smuggler stared, dumbfounded. "It's not fair!" He exclaimed in outrage.

Chewie growled and barked angrily at the captain who desperately yanked the lever again, his expression set in an angry but fearful frown. "The transfer circuits are working, it's not my fault!" Han snapped.

"No lightspeed?" Leia asked, feeling the small bit of hope inside her deflate immediately. But she wasn't surprised, just disappointed.

Han turned to her frantically. "It's not my fault." He repeated urgently. Frankly Leia couldn't care less if it was his fault or not, but for once she thought it best to hold her tongue against him. Getting into an argument wouldn't help them at all, and if they were all about to die Leia would rather not die angry.

"Sir, we just lost the main rear deflector shield." The protocol droid wailed. "One more direct hit in the back quarter and we're done for!"

Leia watched Han anxiously, her brown eyes wide as she observed his expression change from angry, to scared, to lighting up with an idea. He pulled back on the lever. "Turn her around." He muttered to Chewie, who stared at him in astonishment and barked.

"I said turn her around! I'm gonna put all power in the front shield." Han started speeding the ship towards the Star Destroyer and Leia felt her heart skip a beat.

"You're going to attack them?!" She snapped. Just when she thought Han couldn't get any more reckless or crazy something always happened to change her mind.

"Sir, the odds of surviving a direct assault on an Imperial Star Destroyer-!"

"Shut up!" Leia shot angrily, then turned back and watched with a knot in her chest as Han kept his course right towards the bridge of the Destroyer. Her grip on the back of the pilot's seat tightened so much she thought she might break it off, and she stared with round eyes as Han abruptly stopped behind the bridge and engaged the magnetic clamps.

He'd decided to hide behind the bridge, Leia realized in astonishment. Her base knowledge of cruisers reminded her that their tracking systems only operated far enough away from the cruisers themselves so that their interfaces wouldn't confuse the system, meaning that there was a small gap between where the cruiser stopped and the tracking started. And Han had made a decision to utilize that.

She just scoffed in surprise, speechless, as Han turned around in the chair. They made eye contact and slowly, simultaneously, exhaled lightly and slumped their shoulders in relief.

However, Threepio wasn't as happy. "Captain Solo, this time you have gone too far!"

Leia rolled her eyes and Chewie growled at the protocol droid, who snapped back. "No I will not be quiet, Chewbacca. Why doesn't anyone listen to me?!"