Shadow Academy Page 3

  "Lowbacca, why don't you try first?" Lando suggested. "Come up front and

  take the controls."

  The young Wookiee crouched in a seat that was far too small for him and

  rested his hands on the multiple joysticks of the controls. He directed the

  dangling, sizzling energy cables that trailed out like magnetic tentacles

  through the stormy atmosphere.

  Jacen unbuckled his crash webbing again and crawled along the floor to peer

  through the square portholes. He could see the yellow magnetic whips that

  extended from the Fast Hand raking through the gaseous clouds, but catching

  nothing.

  After a few moments, Lowie groaned in frustration. Em Teedee said, "Master

  Lowbacca wishes to offer someone else a turn." Lowie relinquished the

  controls to Jaina, who sat down with focused concentration, the tip of her

  tongue wedged between her lips at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes,

  golden-brown pools that stared into nothingness, fell half-closed as she

  worked the controls. Jacen watched the energy lines writhe below, sifting

  through the clouds, searching.

  "Now, don't get disappointed," Lando said. "I told you it's still hard work

  to find even one gem. They're quite rare. If they weren't, they wouldn't be

  so valuable."

  Jaina continued to search for a few minutes longer, then gave up. Jacen

  climbed to his feet and came forward, struggling to keep his balance in the

  gale-force winds. He caught the arm of the chair and pulled himself into it,

  letting his hands wrap around the controls. As he tugged on the joysticks he

  could feel the response from the lashing energy cables, groping about like

  nimble fingers sifting through sand to find gold. He reached out with his

  mind, concentrating as Jaina had, using what he knew of Jedi powers to

  search for the precious gems. He didn't know what a Corusca stone would feel

  like, but he expected he would know if he encountered one. The whirling

  clouds seemed empty, thick with useless gases and crushed debris, nothing of

  interest.

  His twin sister sat behind him, and he could feel her hoping for his

  success. Just as he was about to give up, Jacen suddenly felt a flash, a

  glint in his mind. He nudged the joysticks sideways, stretching out the long

  electrical fingers, searching, extending them as far as they would reach.

  With one lightning tip he scratched through the clouds, stretching,

  stretching . . . and finally he snagged the glimmer in his mind.

  The control panels lit up. "I got one!" he cried.

  Lando looked as shocked as anyone else. "You did!" he said. "Okay, let's

  bring it in fast. Time to go." Lando took over and reeled the magnetic

  tentacles back into the Fast Hand, pulling in the catch. As he stabilized

  the energy tether again, Lando opened a small access port in the floor and

  pulled up a durasteel cargo box rimed with frost. He withdrew an irregular

  but beautiful Corusca gem, larger than the one he had shown them earlier. It

  flashed with trapped fire.

  Breathlessly, Jacen took it from Lando, cradling it in the palms of his

  hands. "Look what I got!" he said.

  Jaina and Lowie offered their congratulations.

  Lando, knowing he had promised to give the prize to the kids, shook his head

  in grudging admiration. "Keep that safe, Jacen," Lando said. "That's enough

  to buy half a city block on Coruscant, I bet."

  "It's worth that much?" Jacen ran his fingers along the smooth, incredibly

  hard surface of the gem. "What if I lose it?" he said.

  "Put it in your boot," Jaina said. "You know you never lose things there."

  "I will," Jacen agreed. "I think I'll give it to mother for her next

  birthday."

  Lando slapped his forehead. "Even Han never gave Leia something that

  valuable! Almost makes me wish I had a couple of kids," he muttered. "All

  right, let's head back up."

  As if to encourage him, another fist of wind slammed the side of the Fast

  Hand and sent them spinning. Jacen fumbled with his Corusca gem, nearly

  dropped it on the floor, then caught it again and clutched it in his fist.

  He immediately tucked it into his boot, where he wouldn't have to worry

  about it falling out.

  His forehead still furrowed with anxiety, Lando Calrissian reeled in the

  energy tether, hauling the Fast Hand back toward the safer levels of Yavin's

  atmosphere. The storms tossed them around. Once they heard a loud spang

  against the quantum-armored hull. Lando yelped and looked over at the wall.

  "Another one! Jaina, get over there and check that seal," he said.

  "What happened?" Jacen asked.

  On her knees, Jaina scuttled over to check. "Looks like it's okay," she

  said.

  "What was it?" Jacen insisted. He saw the tiniest dent on the inside, but

  sensed no leaking atmosphere.

  "We just got hit by a Corusca gem thrown at high speed by these winds. It's

  like a projectile weapon striking us, and only the quantum armor saved us. I

  can't believe this luck." Lando shook his head. "I spend hours and hours

  looking for those gems on my own and come up empty-handed. But when I bring

  you down here, Jacen snatches one right away, and then we get hit by another

  as we're heading back up top."

  Lowie bellowed a comment, and Em Teedee said, "I fervently agree with Master

  Lowbacca: Let's hope we don't encounter any more of them."

  Lightning bolts flashed around the hull, sparking blue light into the murky

  clouds. But as they rose higher toward the safety of GemDiver Station, the

  storm winds grew Calmer, less insistent. Lando relaxed visibly. When they

  finally rose back into the glittering GemDiver Station, and the floor sealed

  beneath them, Lando heaved a sigh of relief and slumped down in the pilot's

  chair.

  The pressure bay refilled with atmosphere, and Lando flicked the controls to

  unseal the armored hatch. "There. We're back safe and sound," he said,

  climbing out on unsteady legs. "I think that's enough adventures for now.

  How about we relax and get something to eat?" Lando had barely finished

  making the suggestion, though, when the sudden wailing of station alarms

  screeched across the intercom systems. "Now what is it?" Lando asked.

  "What's going on?"

  The three young Jedi Knights jumped out of the Fast Hand and followed Lando

  as he ran to a comm station on the wall. "This is Lando Calrissian. Give me

  a status update."

  "An unidentified fleet just appeared out of hyperspace," came the tense

  voice of a station security chief. "They refuse our hails and are heading

  toward GemDiver Station at great speed, intent unknown." The voice clicked

  off.

  Jacen and Jaina ran toward one of the viewports and looked out into the

  darkness of space. Then Jacen saw the ships, like a swarm of meteors,

  streaking in their direction. Somehow he sensed they were powering on their

  weapons-up to no good. He gulped.

  "Looks like an Imperial fleet to me," Jaina said.

  * 4 *

  Lando rushed toward the control bridge of GemDiver Station . "Come on,

  kids. Follow me!" he shouted.

  Jaina took the lead while Lowie and Jacen followed at a run. Lowie's long />
  Wookiee legs nearly made him plow over Lando in his haste.

  "Oh, do be careful, Lowbacca!" Em Teedee called.

  Taking a turbolift to the upper observation tower, they bustled onto the

  control bridge, a cylindrical turret that protruded above the main armored

  body of GemDiver Station. Narrow rectangular windows encircled the control

  room, allowing a full view in all directions. The glowing diagnostic screens

  directly below each viewport flashed alarm warnings. Lando's armed guards

  ran about, strapping additional weapons to their belts, preparing to defend

  the station.

  "We are under attack, sir," Lobot murmured in his quiet, difficult-to-hear

  voice. The cyborg was a blur of motion, hands darting from keyboard to

  keyboard, eyes scanning the screens around him and silently assessing

  details. The lights on the computer implants at the sides of his head

  flashed like fireworks.

  Lando scanned the narrow observation ports and saw the fleet of ships coming

  in from deep space. "Do you think they're pirates?" he asked. Then to the

  twins and Lowie, he said reassuringly, "Don't Worry. We're got station

  security on alert. These people don't have a chance against our defenses."

  Jaina studied one of the diagnostic screens, pursing her lips. She shook her

  head. "Not just pirates," she said, recognizing some of the ships by the

  ellipsoid shape of their main body, engine turrets swept back like jagged

  wings on top and bottom. "Imperial craft. The four on the outside are

  Skipray blastboats, each fully equipped with three ion cannons, proton

  torpedo launcher, concussion missiles, and two fire-linked laser cannons."

  Lando seemed startled. "Yeah, that's right."

  She looked calmly up at his surprised expression. "Dad had me study a lot of

  ships. Believe me, these're more than even your security systems could hope

  to fight."

  Lando clapped a hand to his forehead and groaned. "That's not just a pirate

  fleet, that's an armada! What's the big ship in the middle? I don't

  recognize it."

  In her mind Jaina ran through mechanical specifications of all the ship

  designs she had learned from her father - but right now she was at a loss.

  "Some kind of modified assault shuttle, maybe?" Jaina said. Through the

  magnification on the screens they stared as the ships came relentlessly in.

  "But I don't understand that contraption in the bow." The mysterious assault

  shuttle had a strange device mounted at its front end, circular and jagged,

  like the wide-open mouth of a fanged underwater predator.

  "Send a distress signal," Lando said to Lobot. "Full spectrum. Make sure

  everybody knows we're under attack here."

  With maddening computer-enhanced calm, Lobot shook his bald head. "I've

  already tried. We're jammed, sir-can't punch a signal through their

  screens."

  "Well, what do they want?" Lando asked in exasperation.

  "They've made no demands," Lobot replied. "They refuse to answer our hails.

  We do not know what they're after."

  Jaina stared out the window at the incoming ships and felt cold inside. She

  shuddered. Jacen squeezed her hand, his forehead wrinkled with anxiety. They

  had realized the same thing.

  "I've got a bad feeling about this," Jacen said. "It's . . . us they want,

  isn't it?"

  "Yeah, I can feel it," Jaina said, her voice barely above a whisper. Lowie

  nodded his shaggy head and groaned in agreement.

  "What do you kids mean?" Lando looked at them with disbelief in his large

  brown eyes. "They must be after our Corusca gems - it's the only thing that

  makes sense."

  Jaina shook her head, but Lando was too busy to pay further attention. The

  four flanking blastboats angled out from the central assault shuttle toward

  the defensive satellites surrounding GemDiver Station.

  "Have you removed the fail-safes from the targeting systems?" Lando asked.

  Lobot nodded. "Systems ready to fire," he murmured. High-powered lasers from

  the defensive satellites lanced out toward the blastboats, but the small

  satellites could not generate enough power to penetrate the heavy Imperial

  armor. Each Skipray blastboat targeted one of the small satellites and

  unleashed a crackling blur from its ion cannons. The defensive satellites

  powered up, preparing to fire again, but then all the lights went dead.

  "The ion cannons fried the circuits," Lobot announced in his calm voice.

  "All satellites are off-line."

  The Skiprays came in for another strike and fired with laser cannons, this

  time blasting the defensive satellites into molten metal vapor.

  "We've still got the station's armor," Lando said, but now his trembling

  voice betrayed his lack of confidence.

  The modified assault shuttle in the middle of the armada homed in on one of

  the lower space doors. From the bottom decks of the station came a loud

  thump and clang as something large and heavy struck the outer hull-and

  stayed.

  "What are they doing?" Lando asked.

  "The modified assault shuttle has attached itself to the outer wall of

  GemDiver Station," Lobot reported.

  "Where?"

  The bald cyborg checked readings. "One of the equipment bays. I think

  they're trying to force their way in."

  Lando waved his hand in dismissal. "Well, they can knock but they can't come

  in." He smiled nervously. "Just keep all the airlocks sealed. Our station

  armor should hold."

  "Excuse me," Jaina said, "but I may have figured out what that modification

  is. I think they plan to bore through the station walls. The jagged things

  we saw looked like teeth - so I'm guessing they cut through metal."

  "Not this metal." Lando shook his head. "The station wall is double-armored.

  Nothing could cut through it."

  Jacen spoke up. "I thought you said Corusca gems could cut through

  anything."

  Lando shook his head again. "Sure, but that would take a whole shipment of

  industrial-grade Corusca gems." Then he stopped, eyes widening. "Well, uh,

  we have shipped some industrial-grade gems since we upgraded our

  operations." He picked up a comlink and spoke into it. "This is Lando

  Calrissian. All security details go to lower equipment bay number" - he

  leaned over Lobot's shoulder to look at the screen - "number thirty-four.

  Full armor and weapons. We're about to be boarded by hostile forces."

  Lando took a blaster pistol from the sealed armory case inside the bridge

  deck. He turned to Lobot. "Nobody boards my station without my permission."

  He started down the corridor, calling over his shoulder as he ran. "You kids

  find a safe place, and stay there!"

  So of course the young Jedi Knights followed him.

  Station guards in padded, dark blue uniforms sprinted from corridor

  intersections. The pastel colors and nature sounds of GemDiver Station

  seemed oddly out of place, no longer soothing amid the chaos of defensive

  preparations and the turmoil of screeching alarms. By the time they reached

  lower equipment bay 34, a squad of station guards had already set up their

  position behind storage containers and supply modules, blaster rifles drawn

  and aimed at the
wall.

  Jaina heard a whining, gnawing sound that made her teeth vibrate. A circular

  section of the outer wall glowed, and she could imagine the assault shuttle

  on the other side, linked to GemDiver Station like a huge battle-ready

  brine-eel, chewing its way through the station armor. A bright white line

  appeared in the circle as a Corusca tooth bit through the thick plate. Jaina

  hoped belatedly that the attacking ship's seal against the station was

  airtight.

  One of Lando's station guards, keyed up with overwhelming tension, let off

  two shots from his blaster rifle. The bolts spanged against the wall and

  left a discolored blotch on the inner hull, but the jaws of the boring

  machine continued to chew through the plates. In a flash, with a puff of

  steam and the crump of small, shaped explosives, a large disk of the outer

  hull fell forward into the equipment bay. Lando's security forces started

  firing immediately, even before the smoke cleared; but the enemy on the

  other side did not pause either.

  Dozens of white-armored Imperial stormtroopers boiled through the hole like

  a hive of frenzied lizard-ants that Jacen had once kept in his collection of

  exotic pets. The stormtroopers fired as they charged - using only the

  curving blue arcs of stun beams, Jaina was relieved to see. Four

  stormtroopers went down with smoking holes in their white armor; but more

  and more poured out of the assault shuttle. The air in the equipment bay was