Star Wars (Legends):The Eternal Conflict. Book:2

Chapter 20 (A Death Fit For A Hero) Part II

Location: Tendrando Arms Secret Base below the surface of the planet Socorro.

The sound of each breath was the sound of a hurricane. Each footfall; a seismic reckoning.
Vestara's consciousness was desperately trying to catch up with her new reality. She had no plan for escape! She hadn't planned on being alive at this point!

It took every ounce of her shattered will just to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Thank the force for Ben! The power of her self doubt, withered and died under the assault of Ben's relentless optimism. He could pull her out of the deepest of pits. He was pulling her out of the deepest of pits!

Between Ben and Vestara, hung a man who was crippled by betrayal, loss and a perforated lung. At this point, he had become almost catatonic.

"Lando! Lando! We need the command codes!"
Ben kept demanding. He knew that without those codes, the base's defences would rip them apart. Ben tried again: "Lando! I need you to tell me the..."

Ben's inquiry was cut off by an alarm klaxon.
"It's too late!" Vestara said. "We gotta get out of this place! Now!
They were more than halfway down a long hallway. At the end, was the turbo-lift room.

That's when the first series of blaster bolts came sizzling from behind. Using force augmented reflexes, Ben and Vestara were able to dodge the vicious lines of burning plasma, all the while keeping the semi conscious man between them in one piece.

Then, they were there: The turbo lift tube! Ben grabbed Lando's hand and pressed his palm against the activation pad. The panel let out a: "Authorization confirmed! Emergency override activated!"

Vestara knew it would be at least 10 seconds before the lift pad reached their level. Until then, they would be sitting wompas.
She knelt down and retrieved her lightsaber that she had hidden away in one of the many secret pockets that lined her utility pants. She had not intended to use the weapon ever again. She had imagined that Lando might have found it on her dead body after exacting his revenge. Maybe, he would have kept it as a symbol of fulfilled justice. Maybe he would have destroyed it. Ironically, she would now use it to save his life.
And the blaster bolts flew...

Location: In the skies above the planet Socorro

In between making muscle jarring manoeuvres and break-neck thruster boosts, Han glanced over at the tracking map still on display above the co-pilot's controls. "She's moving! Sith girl is moving!" Han yelled out.
Jaina's voice came over the intercom: "Where?"

Han spared another glance. "I think she's headed for the surface but I got no way of knowing if she is alone or if Ben is with her!"

The intercom was silent for a moment, and then Leia's voice crackled through: "Yes... He's with her. I can sense them both... Together... Urgency... Desperation.

Han was heartened by Leia's report. A second later, however, that same heart sank as realization struck. "Not Good! They're headed for the landing pad, and they're going to be greeted by a wall of turbo-laser bolts from those towers!"

Han's mind was racing for that ever elusive solution that he knew lay at the very bottom of every problem he had encountered. But there was too many towers and to many fighters for just one ship to handle.

"No! No! No!" Ben was about to die, and Han had only two choice:

1) Sit back and watch as 6 turbo lasers towers turned his nephew into a smouldering crater.