Part 23 (1/2)
”We'll need survival suits,” Syal said.
Fel shook his head. ”We won't be out there long enough to need them. This should be over in a minute or two.” Danni glowered at the ten circular shapes swooping around the landed barge. Her eyes were dark with fatigue. ”Here comes one now,” she said, pointing at a snow-flier arcing in to land near the barge.
”And another,” Stalgis said, also pointing.
Saba watched as the strange-looking craft came down on one edge.
Its engines burned brightly in infrared, outs.h.i.+ning the cold sun. Four spindly supports emerged to support the vertical disk in the snow. When it was stable, a circular panel on its side irised open and a black-clad female pilot stepped out, her uniform unadorned by rank or other identifying markers. The figure was tall and slender, just like every other Chiss Saba had ever encountered. Saba watched as the woman strode confidently to the curving flank of the barge, then jumped lightly up onto it.
A second pilot joined her, holding one of the two-handed rifles Saba had seen in the immersion room. The Chiss called them charrics, she had learned. The first pilot removed her helmet, revealing craggy, weathered features under close-cropped hair. The blue skin of her face looked colder than the ice around her.
”Ganet,” Fel said darkly. ”I should have known.”
”Who is she? ”Luke asked.
”She commands a phalanx for a rival syndic, one who doesn't approve of the changes I'm encouraging. And I know she wouldn't approve of you, either.” Master Luke dismissed the implied warning with a smile. ”Then maybe it's time we meet her,” he said. ”See if we can't change her mind about us.” Fel didn't smile back in response. He just slipped his hand into a pair of thin black gloves as he turned to his wife. ”Everything ready?” Syal nodded and pressed a b.u.t.ton on the ice barge's controls. A display to one side of the main instrumental panel began to count down.
Two minutes... one minute fifty-nine seconds... one minute fifty-eight seconds...
The main door lifted up and out, and warm air in the cabin was instantly sucked outside. An icy chill wrapped itself around Saba, who clenched her teeth, bracing herself for the freezing temperatures. As with most saurian species, the cold would slow her down, so she would have to draw upon the Force to counter this-which she did, igniting a ball of warmth in her chest that spread outward through her limbs. Only her extremities retained any sensation of the cold, and she kept them tucked in close, curling her fingers into fists and tucking her tail near her legs.
Soontir Fel exited the barge first, exuding a calm self-a.s.surance.
He surveyed the scene before him, then stepped over the threshold to make way for the others. Master Luke went next, followed by Saba, Mara, and Stalgis. Danni and Syal stayed inside.
One minute forty-five seconds...
Fel stopped in front of the female pilot, looking her up and down with quiet disapproval. Finally he shook his head. ”You don't seem the type for open rebellion, Ganet.”
”I prefer the term excision, myself,” she answered calmly.
”Whatever it takes to justify your actions, is that it?” Another pilot stepped up behind the craggy woman and waited there with charric at the ready. Two more snow-fliers landed nearby.
”I'm not here to banter with you, Fel,” Ganet said. ”I want your cooperation. And I will get it, too, because we have your daughter.” Saba detected a slight stiffening to Fel's posture, but his expression and tone remained firm and steady. ”Who exactly are 'we,' Ganet?”
”It's not important,” she said as she raised her weapon and pointed it at his chest. ”All that matters is that we have her, yes?”
”At least tell me why.” Fel stepped forward, his barrel chest defying the nozzle of her weapon. ”I have given the Chiss my all since I joined you; surely I have the-”
”You joined Thrawn, Fel! That's not the same as joining the Chiss.
We have ways and traditions he turned his luck on, and by joining him you proved that you don't respect them, either.”
”Isn't one of those traditions not to fire upon an enemy until he has fired upon you first?” Ganet smiled calmly. ”But you aren't my enemy, Fel. Don't mistake me on that. You are merely an inconvenience that I will soon be rid of.” One minute...
”And what about us?” Master Luke asked.
Ganet took a step to her right, out of Fel's reach, turning her attention to the others. ”You were invited here on a pretext the CEDF does not credit,” she said. ”You may have fooled the Houses, but your fables don't impress us. Zonama Sekot is a smokescreen for something more sinister. We just don't know what it is yet.”
”Then you intend to dispose of us, too.” Ganet laughed. ”It was always our intention to dispose of you, Jedi! We never intended to let you leave here.”
”Then the deadline-” Stalgis started.
”Was a ruse to give us an opportunity to move against you, of course.”
”So we're all just p.a.w.ns in Chief Navigator Aabe's little power game?” Luke shook his head. ”What did you promise him? Soontir's position once it was available?” Thirty seconds...
”He delivered us the means to fix a difficult situation,” she said, nodding. ”He will be suitably rewarded when the time comes, yes.”
”The same way you're 'rewarding' Soontir right now?” Mara said.
”Don't you people have a conscience?”
”We are aware of the concept,” Ganet said, raising the charric, ”but it has no place in war. And this is war, Mara Jade. Have no doubts about that whatsoever. In the fight against the Yuuzhan Vong, there can be no gray areas: there are only allies and enemies. The Chiss do not need allies, so I'm afraid that leaves only the other option.” She motioned the other snow-flier pilot to come forward as two more stepped up onto the ice barge. ”Please move away from the door and turn around-all of you.” Ten seconds...
”That includes your wife, Fel.” Fel motioned for Syal and Danni to join them, which they quickly did.
”I promise you a clean death, Fel,” Ganet said. ”There is no dishonor in accepting your fate.” Three seconds...
”For the Chiss!”
”Indeed,” Ganet said, mistaking Fel's battle cry for a qualifying statement. ”For the-” Now! Luke commanded.
Saba, Danni, and Mara sprang immediately into action-along with Soontir Fel-a split second before all the ice barge's cannons simultaneously fired.
The intended distraction worked. Ganet and her ac-complices were momentarily thrown by the explosions - and a moment was all the Jedi needed.
Fel stepped nimbly to his left. Ganet instinctively followed, the charric in her hand ready to fire. With a hiss, Luke's lightsaber flared to life, slicing smoothly up to sever the barrel of Ganet's weapon. Fel snap-kicked her legs from beneath her as Luke turned upon the second pilot, effortlessly knocking him to the ground with a Force push.
”You heard me?” Luke called to Fel. ”I didn't know you were Force-sensitive.”
”I'm not,” Fel responded. ”But I can count!” Mara spun around as a bolt of energy flashed by Luke's head, and saw the other two pilots adopt sharpshooter stances on the edge of the barge. She deflected the first shot with her lightsaber, exploding a snow dune a hundred meters away into a puff of white. The second shot missed altogether. Saba reached out with a mental hand and wrenched the pilot's rifle away from him. The remaining pilot turned his charric on her and fired. The shot was a good one and would have connected with Saba's head had she not deflected it back at him with her lightsaber. He fell backward off the barge and into the snow.
A screaming sound heralded an attack from above. Blaster bolts scored thick black lines across the top of the barge, barely missing Saba as the snow-flier swept by and swung around for another pa.s.s. Two of the other five were already lining up to do the same.
”Get those s.h.i.+elds back on!” Stalgis yelled, picking up a charric and taking a potshot at the retreating flier. The shot pinged from the craft's side but didn't slow it even slightly.
”Come on, Saba,” Mara said, pointing at two of the landed fliers.
”While we have the chance!” Saba understood instantly what she meant.
Even with its s.h.i.+eld up, the ice barge would be vulnerable to the remaining six snow-fliers. If they were going to reach the s.p.a.ceport, then they were going to have to take a more offensive role in this fight.
Flexing the muscles in her powerful legs, Saba ran for the edge of the barge and threw herself forward into the snow.
Not a moment too soon. Her tail caught the edge of the s.h.i.+eld as it snapped into life. Flexing it to get rid of the tingling, stinging sensation, she ran up the snow dune for the nearest of the fliers. Mara took the one to their right, using the Force to a.s.sist her movement through the thick snow. The fliers were larger than they looked in the air-at least twice as tall as Saba and as thick across as three of her body lengths. Like a glossy, black wheel stuck in the snow, it towered over her as she reached its base and hauled herself up the egress ladder.
The controls were different from any she'd seen before but, like the charrics, operated on principles she understood. The craft didn't possess a sophisticated security system, and responded to the touch of her cold fingers. Wrapping her tail around her hips, she fired up the engines.
The flier's legs retracted with a faint whir as it lifted smoothly from the ground; then, with the c.o.c.kpit vibrating to the tune of the craft's powerful repulsors, it swung up into the sky, forcing Saba back into the seat, grunting in discomfort as her tail was momentarily squashed.