Part 35 (1/2)
”Burn!”
On her command, the platoon lit up the sky. Spears of downward-pointing flame stabbed at the surface of Sebaddon. The silver airfoils reflected the light, transforming the troopers into fiery angels that were visible from below. Intel confirmed that at least some of the tall stacks were weapons emplacements. Perhaps they were swinging to track her and her troopers even now. She braced herself for the first shots even as she tried to keep her bucking jet under control.
She wasn't the only one having trouble. The comms were full of whoops and warning cries as troopers struggled to maintain position. Two near-collisions between Imperial and Republic troopers prompted an exchange of harsh words, which Sergeant Ozz put a sharp stop to. The last thing they needed now was an internecine fight to break out.
Then the emplacements started firing, and all was chaos. Bolts of blue energy flashed past them, searing the air. Two of her troopers died in the first exchange, tumbling out of control in b.a.l.l.s of flame. Larin returned fire, even while struggling to fly the jet. She doubted any of her shots. .h.i.t home.
Bombardment from above came almost immediately, called in by Major Cha. One emplacement exploded, adding another ball of smoke to what already lay close over the master factory.
A savage grin split Larin's face. She had forgotten how beautiful aerial combat could be.
A blast at close range wiped the smile away. She'd been hit! Her jet guttered, sending her careening across the sky. Her airfoil whipped in streamers behind her.
Cursing her poor luck, she struggled to control her descent and succeeded only in putting herself into a spin. Her flailing hands reached for the nearest soldier, desperate for something solid to hang onto. The soldier hesitated, and in that fleeting moment, she remembered who he was. Ses Jopp.
Mouthing off out of misplaced loyalty was one thing. Letting a fellow soldier drop to their death was another. She knew he would change his mind-and he did within an instant. His right hand reached for her, timing his grab to match the moment when her arm was nearest to him. Too late.
Larin's jet-chute failed, and she dropped like a stone out of the sky.
CHAPTER 35.
Even before the alarms started ringing, s.h.i.+gar knew something was wrong. The transport containing him and Darth Chratis lurched as though hit, and the major in charge of the drop broke off in the middle of issuing a general announcement. s.h.i.+gar wasn't patched directly in to the Imperial network, so he couldn't tell what was happening to the s.h.i.+p in real time. Instead, he was receiving data from the Republic troopers, relayed via neutral command node. The delay between the systems was very nearly fatal.
”Something's not right, ” he told the troopers packaged up next to him in rows, ready to drop. His instincts were warning him to move. Punching the overrides on his harness, he was on his feet as the first of the hexes burst through the outer hull into the troop deployment bay.
s.h.i.+gar was ready for it. He Force-pushed the droid backward, sending it tumbling into s.p.a.ce. There were more behind it, scrabbling for claw-holds on the torn metal. He leapt at them with lightsaber swinging, severing legs and stabbing at sense organs before the hexes could activate their electromirror s.h.i.+elds. If he could stop them from getting in, he and the other pa.s.sengers might have a chance.
The bay wall ripped open at another point, too distant for him to take on both at once. Fortunately, the troopers behind him were ready and brought their own weapons into play. Imperial and Republic blasterfire converged on the invading hexes, knocking several back into the void. Still more came after them, climbing over one another in a horrible swarm. The hexes were returning fire now, those at the back shooting past those in front, and s.h.i.+gar felt the defense of the bay beginning to turn in the hexes' favor.
”Get these troopers out of here!” he told the major between cutting two hexes each in two.
On the other side of the bay, he saw the orange helmet nod. Orders went out to open the bay doors early and launch the troopers on their way to Sebaddon. Acknowledgment came from two of the other three bays, and the doors below s.h.i.+gar opened smoothly, jettisoning their precious cargo, the major with them. Several hexes went, too, which would no doubt make the journey more interesting for all.
s.h.i.+gar stayed behind, clinging to a stanchion with one hand and kicking another hex back where it came from. It wriggled and spun in free fall, six legs waving frantically.
How long, he wondered, until it redesigned its innards to match the ones in orbit and ”grew” a retrothruster or two?
He wasn't sticking around to find out. The fourth and final bay hadn't sent any kind of acknowledgment. If they were in trouble, he had to help them.
The s.h.i.+p rocked underfoot as he pa.s.sed through the air lock and hurried through its empty corridors. Nearing the fourth bay, he heard blasterfire, explosions, and a persistent crackling over his comm. The hexes were jamming both Imperial and Republic frequencies. That was a disturbing development.
An interior bulkhead breached, sending hexes spilling over themselves into the hallway. He braced himself to meet them head-on, using a Force s.h.i.+eld to deflect their laser pulses while stabbing with his lightsaber. They hadn't expected him to be there; that much was certain. They were firing at someone attacking them from inside the bay, and it took them a moment to bring their own s.h.i.+elds to bear. s.h.i.+gar whipped the legs off three, not stopping to impale the fallen bodies. Immobility was good enough.
A black figure leapt through the rent in the wall, wielding a red lightsaber. Lightning flashed from his open hand, sending hexes twitching and smoking in every direction. Caught between s.h.i.+gar and Darth Chratis, the hexes stood no chance. In moments, Jedi Padawan and Sith Lord stood alone in a field of red-dripping droid debris.
The jamming let up, allowing them to speak.
”The rest have launched, ” said s.h.i.+gar. ”We have to get these bay doors open. ”
”Do not think to give me instructions, Padawan. You have survived this far by luck alone. ” Darth Chratis stalked up the hallway. ”The mechanism is damaged. Lieutenant Adamek will either repair it in our absence or widen the existing hole. Failing that, she will exit the s.h.i.+p via the other open bays. That is not our concern. Your priority, and mine, is to stop this s.h.i.+p being turned by the hexes into a weapon. ”
”To the bridge, then?” said s.h.i.+gar, swallowing his annoyance at being spoken to like a child.
”To the bridge. ”
They encountered three swarms of hexes on the way. Traveling in groups of six, the droids appeared to be scouring the s.h.i.+ps section by section, destroying all evidence of Imperial insignia. The appearance of Darth Chratis and his red blade drove them into an immediate frenzy. On two occasions, s.h.i.+gar was ignored completely, allowing him to flank the hexes and attack from behind. The element of surprise was working for him for a change, turning an impossible situation into one that was merely difficult.
The Sith Lord swept through hexes with little apparent effort, leaving them for s.h.i.+gar to finish off. The Sith Lord's lightsaber had an unusually long reach, emerging as it did from a collapsible staff of some kind. Darth Chratis also had another weapon that s.h.i.+gar did not. His lightning was much more powerful than Eldon Ax's efforts and had an effect similar to the electrified nets Stryver had fired at the hexes on Hutta, sending them into paroxysms that left them vulnerable to conventional attack.
”The Grand Master has taught you poorly, ” Darth Chratis said, observing s.h.i.+gar's efforts to subdue the last of the hexes. ”She allows philosophy of mind to interfere with outcomes in combat. That is how the Sith will triumph over you and your kind, in the end. You will hold yourselves back from achieving your true potential. ”
s.h.i.+gar blinked sweat out of his eyes. Satele Shan regarded Force lightning as a pathway to the dark side, and had counseled s.h.i.+gar many times against its use. Now, though, he could see how Darth Chratis might have a point.
He wasn't so naive, however, that he couldn't see where the Sith Lord was going with this.
”Save your breath, Darth Chratis. Nothing will tempt me to join you. ”
The Sith's smile was horribly humorless, even through the gla.s.s of his faceplate.
The bridge was two levels up, sealed behind thick blast doors that even the hexes were having trouble penetrating. Comms were down again, so there was no way to signal the crew within. Darth Chratis tried overriding the locks, but they had been fused into solid lumps of metal by the hexes' attempts to get in.
”Together, ” said s.h.i.+gar, thinking of the huge ma.s.ses he had seen Jedi Masters move using nothing but the power of their minds and the Force.
”On my command, ” agreed the Sith Lord.
Operating in tandem, they were able to twist the blast doors aside as though they were made of tinfoil. s.h.i.+gar considered their cooperation a small moral victory until he broke off the effort and s.h.i.+vered. Something of Darth Chratis had clung to him during the effort. A coldness, and a foulness. His fists clenched as he stepped over the buckled metal and onto the bridge. He wanted to strike out at something, but there were no hexes around. Just Imperials, who were temporarily reprieved.
The frightened-looking commander of the transport saluted as Darth Chratis closed on him.
”Tell me the drives are locked” was all the Sith said.
”I-I cannot, my lord. The engine room is not responding. I ordered a maintenance team...”
”They will already be dead. Stay here. We will effect the repairs ourselves. ”
Darth Chratis was already leaving.
”Perhaps you should evacuate, ” said s.h.i.+gar to the commander before following. ”There's nothing you can do here. ”
”Leave my post?” The Imperial looked affronted at the suggestion. ”Never!”
s.h.i.+gar wanted to argue. The blast doors were down, and the hexes would be back before long. Staying meant certain death for the commander and his bridge crew.
Instead he shrugged. Who was he to fight the stubbornness of the Imperial officer? That wasn't a Jedi's job.