Shards of Alderaan

14

While Jaina sat back, polishing and admiring the chunk of metal she had taken from Alderaan’s core, Lowbacca took the pilot’s seat of the Rock Dragon, piloting them through the hazards of the asteroid belt.

“Just take us home, Lowie,” Jaina said. “I can’t wait until we give this to Mom. I think it’ll be the best present we’ve ever given her.”

The young Wookiee growled happily, and Em Teedee translated. “Master Lowbacca comments that the piloting task you requested is certainly within his capabilities and he is ready and willing to perform it.”

Jaina laughed. “I thought he just said, ‘Okay.’” Em Teedee gave a miffed bleep.

Lowbacca tested the ship’s systems, scanning the unfamiliar Hapan controls as he powered up the engines. Carefully, he released the Rock Dragon’s magnetic grip on the metal asteroid. The Hapan cruiser drifted free and floated out into the rubble stream that had once been Alderaan.

Checking for his best exit path, Lowie verified the orbital streams plotted on the navigation screen. He scratched his ginger-colored fur and hoped he wouldn’t have to resort to so many U-turn maneuvers to depart from the rubble field. Now that the companions weren’t aimlessly searching for some unknown target, charting their path back to the Jedi academy on Yavin 4 should be a simple task—or so Lowie hoped.

Just then a strange ship appeared from out of nowhere, its weapons powered up. Without warning, the enemy ship blasted at them.

The first set of high-energy bolts streaked by, heating up the edges of their shields. Luckily, because of all the space debris, Lowie had already set the shields to maximum as a simple precaution. He roared in alarm. The other young Jedi Knights cried out, trying to hold on through the concussion. Another laser blast hammered against their shields.

The Wookiee reacted quickly with his Jedi senses, yanking at the ship’s propulsion controls. Reeling the Rock Dragon away, he employed an unorthodox strategy and shot straight up into the heart of the asteroid field.

The attacking ship fired at them again, and Lowie spun their cruiser around, jerking the ship backward, realigning their course, and firing his thrusters at maximum.

The reckless maneuvers knocked Em Teedee loose and threw him to the floor. As Jacen and Tenel Ka both scrambled to retrieve him, the little droid wailed, “We’re doomed! We’re doomed!”

Jaina dropped her precious shard of Alderaan and sat up in the copilot’s seat, struggling to focus on the emergency at hand. “Who’s firing at us?” she said, peering through the main windowport. “I can’t see the ship! Didn’t they send out any warning?”

Tenel Ka tossed Em Teedee up to Jaina, who plugged the droid into the navigation console.

Another laser blast burned by, narrowly missing the Rock Dragon. Lowie punched the accelerators, trying to gain distance.

Jacen said, “Can’t say much for this guy’s manners—he didn’t even introduce himself before he fired.” He and Tenel Ka crawled back to their seats, holding on as Lowie spun around again, flying a frantic evasive pattern.

Jaina fought with the controls, concentrating on their onboard defenses. “I can’t find the armament systems,” she said. “We’ve got to have weapons!”

Tenel Ka said, “My grandmother would have made certain we were fully armed.”

“Yes, but I didn’t intend to take us into battle,” Jaina replied. “I haven’t studied the weapons systems yet!”

Lowie snapped a comment and continued to fly, dodging through the debris—but the sleek enemy ship came close in their wake. Em Teedee said for him, “I agree with Master Lowbacca. We’ve no time either for target practice or to learn these systems. I suggest we retreat immediately.”

“We’re trying,” Jaina said, her jaw tight. “But who is this guy? What does he want—other than to blow us into space dust.”

Tenel Ka reached forward to the comm system and activated it. “Attacking ship, please identify yourself. We mean you no harm.” She waited, but the other ship did not respond.

“Maybe it’s one of those pirates we thought might be hiding in the asteroid field,” Jacen suggested.

“You may be correct, Jacen,” Tenel Ka said.

“Here, I’ve got some of the weapons systems on-line,” Jaina said. “But this sure isn’t like the Falcon.” She punched several buttons, then fired. Her laser shots went wide. The strange-looking ship kept coming behind them, undaunted by the display of firepower.

“Small attack vessel,” Jaina muttered, checking her readouts. “Fast, high-powered, and packing more weapons than I can scan … this guy means business!”

“Let’s just hope his business isn’t to add us to the rubble of Alderaan!” Jacen said.

As if in response to Jacen’s comment, the enemy ship fired again, damaging their shields. The impact sent a shudder through the Rock Dragon’s cockpit. Red lights burned on their control panels.

With a roar, Lowie plunged into the densest part of the rubble field, squeezing between tumbling mountains of rock, huge asteroids left over from the breakup of the planet.

Jaina fired their weapons again, and missed once more. “I should have calibrated these things … or at least figured out how they worked.” Her hands flew over the control panels. “Too late now.”

The attacker shot another time. It seemed as if he was carefully conserving his blasts. “He can’t miss. Why doesn’t he just blow us away?” Jacen asked.

“He certainly has the capability,” Tenel Ka said. “However, our opponent seems to be targeting us precisely. Perhaps he wishes to avoid errors. Ah, aha—he hopes to disable us.”

Lowie glanced down at the status report, an electronic diagram that displayed the Rock Dragon’s shields, and discovered that the enemy’s blows had repeatedly landed in one spot. He roared, just as Jaina saw it herself. “Our engines—he’s targeting our engines! He wants to board us.”

Accelerating for all the engines were worth, Lowie raced toward a cluster of huge asteroids. The enormous drifting rocks were riddled with craters, cracked with gigantic fissures left over from the planetary explosion—places to hide.

Lowbacca growled softly to himself, wondering how he could dodge the enemy long enough to gain sufficient distance to drop out of sight. Even in this forest of orbiting rocks, it seemed impossible.

The other ship fired repeatedly, scoring decisive hits. Their shields buckled, and the final blow ripped open their rear starboard engine pod. The Rock Dragon spun out of control.

Lowie and Jaina fought to stabilize the cruiser before they careened into an asteroid. “Power’s down by sixty percent,” Jaina said. “We could barely outrun him before—now we’ve got no chance.”

“Perhaps we do,” Tenel Ka said. She crept to the armaments control panel. “I think I know what this system is for. Find a hiding place,” she said, “and head there on my mark.”

“What are you going to do, Tenel Ka?” Jacen said.

“Observe.”

“Do be careful!” Em Teedee wailed.

The attacking ship fired again, still making no effort to communicate with them. His blow struck its target, damaging the Rock Dragon’s underbelly as well as their second rear engine pod—but as the blow seared against their hull plates, Tenel Ka punched a release lever.

Canisters of ionized decoy gas and shrapnel sprayed out of their aft cargo hatch, detonating in a fireball that washed across their pursuer’s screens, almost certainly blinding him.

“Now, Lowbacca!” Tenel Ka shouted.

Lowie reacted instantly, punching the controls and arcing around into the shadows behind one of the largest asteroids. Then he curved up toward another. His golden eyes scanned for a large crater, a crack into which the Rock Dragon could slip.

Their ship limped along, barely able to fly, but Lowie hoped he had evaded their vicious attacker long enough to hide them from view. Suddenly he saw it: a cave. With engines failing, all of their shields gone, and only a trickle of power remaining in the propulsion systems, Lowie and Jaina fought to control the bucking Hapan ship. They needed to hold the cruiser stable just long enough to descend into the opening of the crater cave.

The jagged ceiling missed scraping their hull by only a meter. Lowie had a bad moment, half-expecting the cave to grow narrower, squeezing them between rock walls—but the chamber opened up, giving them just enough room to maneuver and land.

They settled onto the rugged surface deep within a large grotto, thumping to the ground as their engines coughed and died. Rock walls surrounded them, as if the asteroid had swallowed them up entirely.

“Good hiding place, Lowie,” Jaina said, patting the Wookiee on his ginger-furred shoulder.

“Yeah,” Jacen said. “Either we’re safe here … or we’re trapped.”