Shards of Alderaan

16

In their uncertain and desperate hiding place inside the broken asteroid, Jaina shut down all of the Rock Dragon’s power systems, hoping to prevent detection by the enemy ship.

“First order of business is to check the extent of our damage,” she said, moving about, all businesslike. She would have to keep her cool during this emergency if the young Jedi Knights were to survive. “I’m not entirely familiar with Hapan engines or electronics, but we’ve got to make these repairs.”

Jacen turned to the warrior girl from Dathomir, his eyebrows raised, and leaned close to her. “Do you think your grandmother remembered to put an instruction manual in this ship?”

Tenel Ka nodded with a grim expression. “I would not be surprised if she had included specific procedures on making emergency repairs in an asteroid field while an enemy hunts for this ship.”

“Ta’a Chume is a very thorough lady,” Jacen argued.

Jaina consulted the console sensors before switching them off to conserve their power cells. She determined that the cave contained a minimal atmosphere; it seemed thick enough that they could survive outside, provided they wore breathing masks. “Least we won’t need to wear environment suits,” she said. “That’ll make repairs a lot easier.”

“Mistress Jaina, is there anything I can do to assist you?” Em Teedee said. “I am highly capable in many forms of communication—especially in conferring with electronic devices, such as the ship’s computer.”

“Good idea, Em Teedee,” Jaina said. “Lowie, let’s hook up your little droid to the Rock Dragon’s diagnostic systems and see if he can find any shortcuts or reroutings we can use to bypass the damaged systems. Meanwhile, the rest of us’ll check out the external damage.” She placed her hands on her narrow hips. “If we get the engines up and running, we can probably make do with only a few patches on the hull plating. Our primary mission now is just getting out of here alive.”

“That is a good mission,” Tenel Ka agreed, fastening her breathing mask over her face. Jaina and Jacen did the same.

While Lowbacca remained inside to tinker with Em Teedee, wiring him to the control panels, the other three exited the ship. Jaina used the light of a glowrod to study the craggy rocks of the cavern ceiling. The entire asteroid had nearly split apart from the immense impact of another meteoroid that had scooped out this crater. The air was thin and cold, the floor rough, the walls jagged.

But they were probably safe for now. They just had to hope the attacking ship hadn’t seen them duck into the shelter.

“Things could be worse. At least we’re not inside one of those giant space slugs,” Jacen said. He kicked at the rocks under his feet, then shrugged. “Hey—it never hurts to check.”

Jaina flipped her straight hair behind her ears and made her way to the rear of the Hapan ship, where most of the attacker’s precision shots had landed. She felt dismayed at the sight of the blackened patches and carbon-scored holes sizzled through the engine cowlings and shield plates that protected their stardrives.

Using her multitool, Jaina stripped away the charred outer debris and looked at the mangled disarray that remained of one of their drives. The second engine had fared better: still damaged but possibly reparable, given a few spare parts, a lot of intuition, and some risky rewiring.

She pointed to the burned metal plating and destroyed components. “Jacen, Tenel Ka—while I check with Lowie to see what diagnostics Em Teedee’s been able to run, I’d like you two to dismantle these damaged systems. Pull them out—we’ll have to bypass them. Maybe we can salvage a cyberfuse or two … but they look pretty slagged to me.”

“That was going to be my expert opinion,” Jacen said.

Inside the Rock Dragon’s cockpit, Jaina bent over Em Teedee where Lowbacca had hardwired him into the main control systems.

“This is all terribly confusing,” the translating droid said, his optical sensors glowing up from the center of the cockpit panels. “At first I found all this Hapan engineering to be completely incomprehensible. However, as I continue to study these systems, I believe I’m beginning to understand. I am gifted with self-learning capabilities, you know.”

Lowie pointed out the displayed schematics, gesturing with his furry arms and making suggestions. Since he was preoccupied with the ship’s complex systems, Em Teedee couldn’t spare the computing power to translate the Wookiee words, but Jaina could figure out most of what Lowie meant. “You want us to divert all the power from our weapons systems and shunt it into our remaining engine? You think that’s smart?”

This comment finally got Em Teedee’s attention. “But Master Lowbacca, that would leave us completely defenseless!”

Lowie made a sharp comment, and Jaina knew what the young Wookiee meant. If the attacking ship found them before they could escape, they’d all be doomed anyway—with or without weapons.

“I agree. We’ll have to put everything we can into our engines,” Jaina said with a sigh. “Let’s get them repaired, plot an immediate path through hyperspace, and head off on that vector. I just hope we can jump to lightspeed before that pirate locks on to us and shoots us down.”

Lowie groaned his agreement, and Em Teedee refrained from comment. Jaina knew they would all have to work together, and quickly. She guessed that the other ship was still combing the rubble field, ready to blast them to pieces. He must have intended to capture the young Jedi Knights at first, targeting carefully—but now they had eluded him. Any inexperienced pilot might have been fooled by Tenel Ka’s trick of the exploding gas canisters, but Jaina couldn’t imagine this adversary would be so easily deceived … whoever he was.

With Em Teedee wired into the main controls, Jaina and Lowie worked outside to reconfigure the ship’s weaponry, routing the power through the remaining engine. The Rock Dragon carried a respectable supply of parts for emergency repairs, but no spare engines. The starboard drive was a total loss, providing only a few minor components and connections they could use in their repairs. Biting her lower lip, Jaina refused to give in to despair. She would just have to be resourceful.

Jacen and Tenel Ka offered their assistance, and followed instructions from the two mechanically inclined Jedi trainees. It reminded Jaina of the efforts the companions had made when fixing Qorl’s crashed TIE fighter in the jungles—but this time their labors were not just for their amusement. They needed to repair the Rock Dragon for their very survival.

“Hey,” Jacen said, trying to lighten the mood, “what did the new animal trainer say after his first day of working with a team of vicious battle dogs?” He paused a beat. “This job is a pain in the nek!” He looked around, waiting for a response. “Uh … get it? They’re called nek battle dogs, you see, and—oh, never mind.”

As the hours passed and the four friends worked together without complaint, Jacen and Lowie grew more and more convinced that they had escaped their enemy, that the hiding place in the crater cave had been a superb choice. Jaina did not share their optimism. She felt a growing dread that every passing minute brought their pursuer closer to discovering them….

“I guess that’s the best we can do,” she finally said, slamming shut the clumsily repaired access panel. She hoped the engines and power sources would hold together long enough to haul the ship away. Lowie grumbled a comment, but without Em Teedee they couldn’t get an exact translation.

Jacen offered, “I think he said this ship isn’t going to withstand too much bouncing around.” The Wookiee chuffed and nodded.

“This is a fact,” Tenel Ka said, “but Hapan technology is often sturdier than it might look.”

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Jaina said with a sigh, taking a final glance at their uncertain repairs.

They climbed back inside the Rock Dragon, subdued. All four of them knew the gamble they had decided to take.

Seated in the pilot’s chair, Jaina powered up the systems with nervous fingers. The engines thrummed, vibrating with power, stuttering and popping, but the output held. Jaina bit her lower lip and sensed the flow through the engines, the pulse through the ship.

The Rock Dragon trembled, humming unsteadily. The ship felt sick to Jaina, not up to its normal peak levels. But it would fly, and that was all they needed.

She glanced over at Lowbacca. He smoothed down the dark streak of fur on his forehead, then nodded at her. Lowie activated the repulsorlifts, and the ship raised up off the rocky floor in the low gravity.

“All systems go,” Jaina said.

“All right!” Jacen cheered. “We’re on our way.”

Tenel Ka sat gripping the edge of her seat with her hand, leaning slightly toward Jacen. The ship moved forward, approaching the narrow passageway through the rocks.

Still wired into the console, Em Teedee said, “I can confirm that our escape path lies directly through that opening. I must say that this ship has superb sensors. In fact, I can even detect—oh, dear!”

Before the translating droid could sound an alarm, as Jaina gently maneuvered the Rock Dragon through the narrow passageway toward open space, the silhouette of the enemy ship appeared at the mouth of the cave. Its laser cannons already glowed brightly.

“He’s found us!” Jacen cried just as the other ship opened fire.

Wrenching the controls, Jaina hoped to reverse their engines and evade the blast, but this time their enemy did not target the Rock Dragon itself. Instead, its powerful lasers pulverized the unstable roof of the crater cave.

The ceiling collapsed. Boulders split off from precarious positions, and the entire avalanche tumbled in slow motion, pounding down on the ship like sledgehammers … burying them within the empty cave.