Part 2 (1/2)
Mayor Devo, eager to rea.s.sert his authority and regain whatever credibility he might have lost, offered an obscene gesture.
”That's for you and the Emperor!” The shuttle had just disappeared over the horizon as Peeno sidled up. ”So, Byron, what do you think? Why all interest in ruins and artifacts?”
Devo had small, beady eyes. They darted hither and yon.
”Something valuable would be my guess. Something worth sending a task force to Ruusan.”
Peeno nodded.
”Exactly, so keep it to yourself. Who knows? Maybe we can find it.”
Devo's eyes glazed over as visions of valuable treasure danced in his head. ”It could be ours, Marie! All ours!”
Peeno nodded, wondered if the Imperials were that stupid, and feared that they weren't.
The bridge was large and open as befitted a capital s.h.i.+p. Jerec, hands clasped behind his back, stood with his back to the command area. The crew, who occupied semicircular trenches cut into the highly reflective deck, hung on every word.
He liked it that way. His voice was pitched to carry.
”And your conclusion?”
Sariss, who like Yun and Boc was still aboard the shuttle, brought her report to a close. A bolo of her head and shoulders hovered in the air.
”So, my lord, based on interviews with members of the criminal community and the squalor in which they are forced to live, it seems safe to conclude that the Valley remains undiscovered.”
Jerec paused, allowed the tension to build, and nodded his head. ”I concur. Destroy the settlement.”
The Imperial raiding party had been gathering for more than twenty-six hours. The flat area, surrounded by hills, made a perfect staging area.
A maintenance facility had been set up, fuel bladders had been buried, and a perimeter established. It was patrolled by a pair of AT-ST walkers and supported by heavily armed troopers. The unit, which would depend on speed, surprise, and overwhelming force, consisted of four a.s.sault shuttles and six TIE fighters. They were manned by the best the larger task force had to offer and ready for action.
Sariss, her hair whipped by desert wind, took one last look at at the s.h.i.+ps under her command and spoke into the wire-thin boom mike.
”All right, you know the plan. TIE fighters first... a.s.sault boats second. Let's wind 'em up.” The Jedi felt the ramp bounce under her weight as she entered the s.h.i.+p.
She slipped into the co-pilot's position, fastened her harness, and gave the pilot a nod.
He ran up the power, pulled back on the controls, and scanned the readouts. The s.h.i.+p rose, rocked in the breeze, and vectored away.
The rest of the shuttles followed. The smugglers had antic.i.p.ated the possibility of a a s.p.a.ce-borne attack, which was the reason for the satellites. However, once the orbital surveillance system had been neutralized, and with no ground-based detectors to fall back on, the attack would have caught the colony by surprise if it had not been for the Jedi's visit. Still, even with advance warning, they were only partially prepared. The TIE fighters came first, low and slow, their cannons spitting death. The initial volley punched holes in the rammed earth walls, destroyed the southern gate, and set a storage shed on fire. The smoke made an excellent marker and helped orient the pilots during successive attacks.
The fort's defenses were manned - Peeno had seen to that. Turrets swiveled as gunners tracked the incoming s.h.i.+ps, and d.i.n.ko whooped with joy.
”I nailed one of the slimeb.a.l.l.s, lieutenant - look at that!”
Peeno, who was directing the defensive effort from an underground bunker, consulted her monitors. There weren't very many of them, all sitting on an old cargo module, connected by a maze of wires. She watched a TIE fighter explode, saw flaming debris fall on Katarn's Hill, and knew there would be casualties.
”Nice shooting, d.i.n.ko - keep it up.”
”We have four inbound a.s.sault shuttles... range, thirty klicks.”
Peeno didn't recognize the voice - but was thankful for the information. The fort's line-of-sight, target-acquisition system consisted of volunteers equipped with electrobinoculars. She turned to her weapons-control officer, a grim-faced sixteen-year - old with an apt.i.tude for electronics.
”Missile status?”
”Ready...”
”Prepare to launch... launch.” The youngster tapped some keys. Hatches slid clear, a flight of six missiles soared into the sky and flew down range.
”We've got 'em!” the teenager said excitedly. ”We've got 'em!”
”Maybe,” Peeno replied levelly, ”and maybe not. Prepare flight two.”
Sariss watched impa.s.sively as the first TIE fighter exploded, cursed the pilot for a fool, and felt the shuttle fink to port.
”Blew chaff,” the pilot reported laconically. ”Surface-to-air missiles inbound... air-to-air outbound.” The pilot thumbed a b.u.t.ton, and two flights of four missiles raced away. Sariss felt the shuttle jerk and saw reddish-orange flowers populate the sky.
The pilot kept count. ”Three, four, five...”
”And six,” Sariss said dryly, as shuttle number three staggered, veered off course, and hit the side of a hill. Then the fort was below, still fighting, in spite of the fact that three of its ball turrets had been destroyed and that a forty-meter section of wall had been breached. Antlike figures could be seen running in all directions, while others sought the comparative safety of the underground caves.
A TIE fighter swooped in on a strafing run, mowed an entire row of fugitives, and roared away.
”Put her down,” Sariss said grimly. ”Some of the criminals are getting away.”
The pilot nodded, put the s.h.i.+p into a tight turn, and chinned the intercom.
”Thirty to dirt... stand by.”
Forty stormtroopers had been crammed into the cargo area. They pulled one last check on their weapons and waited for the moment of impact. It came with a thump, tone, and green light. Daylight appeared, the ramp fell, and an officer began to yell.
”Go! Go! Go!”
They went. Ground fire stuttered out to greet them, one fell, and the rest charged.
The shuttle rocked under the impact of a shoulder-launched missile but remained undamaged. Sariss, who was unarmed with the exception of her lightsaber, strolled down the ramp. An energy beam whipped by her head, knocked a trooper off his feet, and left her untouched.
That's when she saw Devo, waddling out to meet her, his face contorted with fear.
”What are you doing? I answered your questions. You promised to leave us alone!” The Jedi smiled. ”Why, Mayor Devo! Nice to see you again. Politicians tell so many lies that I a.s.sumed you knew one when you heard it.”
Sariss lit the lightsaber. It crackled and popped. The settler, eyes the size of saucers, tried to retreat. Energy sizzled, and his head flew off his shoulders and rolled down the slope.
It took fifteen minutes to subdue the fort and another twenty to clear the underground caves. Some of the colonists had managed to escape, Sariss knew that, but wasn't inclined to follow. The long and none - too-glamorous job of extermination could be left to junior officers and stormtroopers. Her task was done.
The Jedi waited for Boc to finish off a wounded settler, ordered Yun to destroy the subsurface farms, and climbed a nearby hill. A half-buried dwelling crackled as it burned, a woman lay dead a few feet away, and a gra fought to break its tether. Sariss gained the summit, looked out across the badlands, and wondered what the planet had been like when the forces of light and darkness had clashed out on the plains. When artificial lightning had split the the sky, when Jedi had fallen like wheat before a combine, and the stink of ozone filled the air.
The fact that such battles had occurred was incredible enough, but even more amazing was the fact that the ancient ones were still there - hidden in their Valley - waiting for someone to command their power.
Jerec? Yes, probably, but with her at his side. The wind swept in off the plains, caused her cape to snap, and blew smoke toward the east. The first battle had been fought - and the first battle had been won.