Shadow Academy

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 blast-boats 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 crisscrossed with bright weapons fire.

Looming behind the armed stormtroopers, cloaked in shadows and rising smoke, stood a tall and sinister woman dressed in a black cape with spines on each shoulder. She had flowing ebony hair like the wings of a bird of prey. Despite her growing terror, Jaina saw that the woman’s eyes were a striking color, like the violet of iridescent jungle flowers on Yavin 4. Jaina felt her heart clench as if hands of ice had wrapped around it.

The ominous dark woman stepped through the smoldering hole in the wall of GemDiver Station, oblivious to the weapons fire. A faint electric-blue corona of static lightning clung around her like the powerful discharges that had zapped the Fast Hand in the atmospheric storms of Yavin.

“Remember—don’t harm the children,” the woman shouted. Her voice was slow and heavy, but razor-sharp menace edged every word.

At the mention of the children, Lando whirled to see that the twins and Lowie had followed him. “What are you doing here?” he said. “Come on, we’ve got to get you to safety!” He waved his blaster pistol toward the entryway. Then, as if in afterthought, he turned and fired three more times, catching one of the white-armored stormtroopers full in the chest.

Jacen and Jaina bolted down the corridor. Lowie, needing no further encouragement, bellowed as he ran along.

Lando came charging after. “I guess you were right,” he said, panting. “For some reason they are after you.”

“I’m just a simple droid,” Em Teedee wailed. “I certainly hope they don’t want me.”

A series of muffled explosions erupted behind them, and a shockwave of heat rippled through the station’s metal corridors, making the kids stumble.

Lando caught his balance and steadied Jaina. “Turn right,” he gasped. “Up here.”

They ran. More blaster fire followed them, then a third explosion. Lando clenched his teeth. “This has not been a good day,” he grumbled.

“I most heartily concur,” Em Teedee chimed from Lowie’s waist.

“Here! In the shipping chamber.” Lando gestured for the three others to stop outside the barricaded door of the launching room where they had seen the cargo pods and the droids packing Corusca gems for automated shipment.

He punched in an access code, but Lando’s fingers were trembling. A red light blinked. “ACCESS DENIED.” Lando hissed something, then rekeyed the number. This time the light winked green, and the heavy triple doors sighed open. Inside, the two copper-plated droids continued packing the hyperpods. “Excuse me,” one droid said, sounding flustered, “would you please discontinue those explosions? The vibrations make it much more difficult for us to process.”

Lando ignored the droids as he pushed the kids inside. “We can’t get you away from here—those blastboats would come after you before you knew it—but this is the safest place on the station. I’ll stand outside and guard the door.” He gripped his blaster pistol, feigning confidence.

Lowie growled, obviously wanting to fight; but before Jacen or Jaina could say anything, Lando slapped the emergency panel. The thick doors clanged shut, locking them inside the chamber.

Jacen placed his ear against the thick door and listened, but he could hear only the muffled noises of battle. Lowie, his ginger-colored fur standing on end with battle-readiness, kneaded his big knuckles. Jaina looked around the room for anything to help them fight.

Jacen yelled to the droids, “Hey, is there an armory in here? Do you have any weapons?”

The droids interrupted their packing and swiveled smooth copper heads toward him, optical sensors glowing. “Please do not disturb us, sir,” they said, then resumed their tasks. “We have essential work to do.”

Outside the door, the sound of gunfire suddenly increased. Jaina pulled Jacen back from the door as she heard Lando shout. The door vibrated with the impact of energy bolts, then everything went quiet. Jaina waited, backing away and looking into her twin brothers brandy-brown eyes. They both swallowed. Lowbacca let out a thin sound like a whimper. The multiarmed droids continued working, undisturbed.

A shower of sparks ran around part of the door as heavy-duty lasers cut into it, slicing away a section.

“D’you suppose you could invent some sort of weapon for us in the next few seconds?” Jacen said.

Jaina racked her brain for inspiration, but her inventiveness failed her.

The door split open, melted and smoking. The security breach set off yet another alarm, but the sounds were pitiful and superfluous in the already-overwhelming noise of the battle for GemDiver Station.

Stormtroopers muscled their way in.

The two packing droids trundled indignantly toward the stormtroopers. “Intruder alert,” one of the droids said. “Warning. No unauthorized entry is permitted. You must return to—”

In response, the stormtroopers fired with all their weapons, blasting both copper droids into shards of smoking components that clattered and sparked on the floor.

Jaina saw Lando sprawled unconscious on the floor outside the door, his green cape pooled around him, his right arm extended forward, still grasping the blaster pistol.

The towering dark woman strode in, her violet eyes flashing at the three companions. The stormtroopers leveled blaster pistols at Jacen, Jaina, and Lowbacca.

“Wait!” Jaina said. “What do you want?”

“Do not let them manipulate your minds,” the dark woman shouted to the stormtroopers. “Stun them!”

Before Jaina could say anything else, bright blue arcs shot toward her and the others, and they were overcome by a wave of unconsciousness.

Jaina fell into blackness.