"I got a little toasted, but I'm okay."

     A different, stern voice sounded. "Blue Five," warned the squadron

leader, "you'd better give yourself more lead time or you're going to

destroy yourself as well as the Imperial construction."

     "Yes, sir. I've got the hang of it now. Like you said, it's not exactly

like flying a sky hopper."

     Energy bolts and sun-bright beams continued to create a chromatic maze

in the space above the station as the rebel fighters crisscrossed back and

forth over its surface, firing at whatever looked like a decent target. Two

of the tiny craft concentrated on a power terminal. It blew up, throwing

lightning-sized electric arcs from the station's innards.

     Inside, troopers, mechanicals, and equipment were blown in   all

directions by subsidiary explosions as the effects of the blast traveled

back down various conduits and cables. Where the explosion had hulled the

station, escaping atmosphere sucked helpless soldiers and droids out into a

bottomless black tomb.

     Moving from position to position, a figure of dark calm amid the chaos,

was Darth Vader. A harried Commander rushed up to him and reported

breathlessly.

     "Lord Vader, we count at least thirty of them, of two types. They are

so small and quick the fixed guns cannot follow them accurately. They

continuously evade the predictors."

     "Get all TIE crews to their fighters. We'll have to go out after them

and destroy them ship by ship."

     Within numerous hangars red lights began flashing and an insistent

alarm started to ring. Ground crews worked frantically to ready ships as

flight-suited Imperial pilots grabbed for helmets and packs.

     "Luke," requested Blue Leader as he skimmed smoothly through a rain of

fire, "let me know when you're off the block."

     "I'm on my way now."

     "Watch yourself," the voice urged over the cockpit speaker. "There's a

lot of fire coming from the starboard side of that deflection tower."

     "I'm on it, don't worry," Luke responded confidently. Putting his

fighter into a twisting dive, he sliced once more across metal horizons.

Antennae and small protruding emplacements burst into transitory flame as

bolts from his wing tips struck with deadly accuracy.

     He grinned as he pulled up and away from the surface as intense lines

of energy passed through space recently vacated. Darned if it wasn't like

hunting womp-rats back home in the crumbling canyons of Tatooine's wastes.

     Biggs followed Luke on a similar run, even as Imperial pilots prepared

to lift clear of the station. Within the many docking bays technical crews

rushed hurriedly to unlock power cables and conclude desperate final checks.

     More care was taken in preparing a particular craft nearest one of the

bay ports, the one into which Darth Vader barely succeeded in squeezing his

huge frame. Once set in the seat he slid a second set of eye shields across

his face.

     The atmosphere of the war room back in the temple was one of nervous

expectancy. Occasional blinks and buzzes from the main battle screen sounded

louder than the soft sussuration of hopeful people trying to reassure one

another. Near a far corner of the mass of flickering lights a technician

leaned a little closer to his own readouts before speaking into the pickup

suspended near his mouth.

     "Squad leaders-attention; squad leaders-attention! We've picked up a

new set of signals from the other side of the station. Enemy fighters coming

your way."

     Luke received the report at the same time as everyone else. He began

hunting the sky for the predicted Imperial craft, his gaze dropping to his

instrumentation. "My scope's negative. I don't see anything."

     "Maintain visual scanning," Blue Leader directed. "With all this energy

flying, they'll be on top of you before your scope can pick them up.

Remember, they can jam every instrument on your ship except your eyes."

     Luke turned again, and this time saw an Imperial already pursuing an

X-wing-an X-wing with a number Luke quickly recognized.

     "Biggs!" he shouted. "You've picked one up. On your tail... watch it!"

     "I can't see it," came his friend's panicked response. "Where is he? I

can't see it."

     Luke watched helplessly as Biggs's ship shot away from the station

surface and out into clear space, closely followed by the Imperial. The

enemy vessel fired steadily at him, each successive bolt seeming to pass a

little closer to Biggs's hull.

     "He's on me tight," the voice sounded in Luke's cockpit. "I can't shake

him."

     Twisting, spinning, Biggs looped back toward the battle station, but

the pilot trailing him was persistent and showed no sign of relinquishing

pursuit.

     "Hang on, Biggs," Luke called, wrenching his ship around so steeply

that straining gyros whined. "I'm coming in."

     So absorbed in his pursuit of Biggs was the Imperial pilot that he

didn't see Luke, who rotated his own ship, flipped out of the concealing

gray below and dropped in behind him.

     Electronic crosshairs lined up according to the computer-readout

instructions, and Luke fired repeatedly. There was a small explosion in

space-tiny compared with the enormous energies being put out by the

emplacements on the surface of the battle station. But the explosion was of

particular significance to three   people: Luke,   Biggs,   and,   most

particularly, to the pilot of the TIE fighter, who was vaporized with his

ship.

     "Got him!" Luke murmured.

     "I've got one! I've got one!" came a less restrained cry of triumph

over the open intercom. Luke identified the voice as belonging to a young

pilot known as John D. Yes, that was Blue Six chasing another Imperial

fighter across the metal landscape. Bolts jumped from the X-wing in steady

succession until the TIE fighter blew in half, sending leaflike glittering

metal fragments flying in all directions.

     "Good shooting, Blue Six," the squadron leader commented. Then he added

quickly, "Watch out, you've got one on your tail."

     Within the fighter's cockpit the gleeful smile on the young man's face

vanished instantly as he looked around, unable to spot his pursuer.

Something flared brightly nearby, so close that his starboard port burst.

Then something hit even closer and the interior of the now open cockpit

became a mass of flames.

     "I'm hit, I'm hit!"

     That was all he had time to scream before oblivion took him from

behind. Far above and to one side Blue Leader saw John D.'s ship expand in a

fiery ball. His lips may have whitened slightly. Otherwise he might as well

never have seen the X-wing explode, for all the reaction he displayed. He

had more important things to do.

     On the fourth moon of Yavin a spacious screen chose that moment to

flicker and die, much as John D. had. Worried technicians began rushing in

all directions. One turned a drawn face to Leia, the expectant Commanders,

and one tall, bronzed robot.

     "The high-band receiver has failed. It will take some time to fix..."

     "Do the best you can," Leia snapped. "Switch to audio only."

     Someone overheard, and in seconds the room was filled with the sounds

of distant battle, interspersed with the voices of those involved.

     "Tighten it up, Blue Two, tighten it up," Blue Leader was saying.

"Watch those towers."

     "Heavy fire, Boss," came the voice of Wedge Antilles, "twenty-three

degrees."

     "I see it. Pull in, pull in. We're picking up some interference."

     "I can't believe it," Biggs was stammering. "I've never seen such

firepower!"

     "Pull in, Blue Five. Pull in." A pause, then, "Luke, do you read me?

Luke?"

     "I'm all right, Chief," came Luke's reply. "I've got a target. I'm

going to check it out."

     "There's too much action down there, Luke," Biggs told him. "Get out.

Do you read me, Luke? Pull out."

     "Break off, Luke," ordered the deeper tones of Blue Leader. "We've hit

too much interference here. Luke, I repeat, break off! I can't see him. Blue

Two, can you see Blue Five?"

     "Negative," Wedge replied quickly. "There's a fire zone here you

wouldn't believe. My scanner's jammed. Blue Five, where are you? Luke, are

you all right?"

     "He's gone," Biggs started to report solemnly. Then his voice rose.

"No, wait... there he is! Looks like a little fin damage, but the kid's

fine."

     Relief swept the war room, and it was most noticeable in the face of

the slightest, most beautiful Senator present.