Allies
Page 38
“Of course it did.” Jaina pointed her lightsaber at the nearly-dismounted laser cannon. “Any chance you can reattach that and get it working in the next minute-and-a-half?”
“No chance at all, Jedi Solo. Reattaching the power-feeds alone would take ten times that long.”
“How’d I know you were going to say that?” Jaina growled. She turned away and hopped down onto the deck. “All right—finish removing it and prep the craft for launch.”
“I’m sorry, that’s impossible,” BY2B replied. “Even if we had the necessary parts, I’m not qualified to make repairs. The specifications for this craft weren’t included in my last service update.”
“I flew it in here, didn’t I?” Jaina retorted. “Just tell me you haven’t been mucking around with the torpedo launchers, too.”
“This craft has torpedo launchers?” BY2B asked.
Jaina rolled her eyes, wondering exactly when the droid’s last service update had been, then rushed over to a small locker area at the edge of the hangar. She activated the lighting, flipped the toggle switch on the ancient intercom unit in the wall, and stepped into the StealthX flightsuit she had left hanging at launch-ready.
A moment later, Lando’s voice crackled out of the tiny speaker. “Yes, Jaina? What can I do for you?”
Jaina frowned. The voice certainly sounded like Lando’s. “How about a status report?” she asked, pushing her arms through the suit sleeves. “My StealthX is really messed up. No use taking it out.”
“My that is too bad,” Lando’s voice said. “But don’t be concerned. Ar-en-eight has nearly sorted out the system problems.”
“Great.” Jaina sealed the flightsuit’s front closure and stepped into her boots. “I’ll head aft and check out the hyperdrive.”
“Oh.” Lando’s voice seemed surprised. “That won’t be necessary. Ar-en-eight is running diagnostics now. I’m sure the Em-Nine-O and his crew can handle any necessary repairs.”
And his crew. If there had been any doubt before, now Jaina knew she was talking to an imposter. Not long ago, Lando had confided to Jaina that the only way he had survived all those solitary prospecting trips early in his career was to close his eyes whenever one of the Rockhound droids spoke and imagine she was a beautiful woman. He would never have referred to M9EO as a male.
Jaina grabbed her helmet and gloves out of the locker, then said, “Okay. If you’ve got everything under control, I’m going to stop by my bunk and grab some shut-eye before my shift comes up.”
“Yes, why don’t you do that?” The voice sounded almost relieved. “I’ll wake you if anything comes up.”
“Sounds good. See you in four hours.”
Jaina flicked off the intercom switch, then started back toward her StealthX, securing her helmet and glove seals as she walked. Gullible, no Force-presence, and a terrible liar—the Voice definitely belonged to a stowaway droid, probably one sent by the Sith. That made enough sense that Jaina felt vaguely guilty for not anticipating the tactic in time to prevent the sabotage. The only thing she didn’t understand was why the Sith hadn’t just rigged the fusion core to blow. A living stowaway they might have valued enough to work out an escape plan—but a droid? She could not imagine that any Sith deserving of the name would give a second thought to sacrificing a droid.
Jaina reached her StealthX and found BY2B standing behind the far wing, holding the last laser-cannon in her heavy cargo arms. Jaina did a quick visual inspection of the bedraggled starfighter, then asked, “Is she ready to fly?”
“Ready would be an overstatement,” BY2B answered. “But the craft is capable of launching. I do hope you checked your flightsuit for vacuum hardiness.”
“No need—it’s not me that will be going EV.” Jaina ascended the short access ladder and climbed into the cockpit. As she buckled herself in, she asked, “ByTwoBee, have you seen any new droids around here lately?”
“No,” the droid said. “Not since departing Klatooine.”
“Klatooine?” Jaina’s stomach began to grow cold and heavy. “Then you did see a new droid before we left for the Maw?”
“Indeed, I did,” BY2B replied. “A Rebaxan MSE-6.”
“A mouse droid?” Jaina gasped. “And you didn’t report it?”
“Of course not,” BY2B said. “Captain Calrissian had warned me just a few minutes earlier to expect a courier shuttle delivering a new utility droid.”
Jaina groaned and hit the pre-ignition engine heaters, then asked, “And I suppose he told you this over your internal comlink?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact,” BY2B replied. “How did you know?”
“Because that wasn’t Lando you heard,” Jaina said, speaking through clenched teeth. “It was a sabotage droid programmed with an impersonation protocol.”
“Sabotage?”
About the Author
CHRISTIE GOLDEN is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Omen, and several short stories in the fields of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Her media tie-in works include launching the Ravenloft line in 1991 with Vampire of the Mists, more than a dozen Star Trek novels, and the Warcraft novel Lord of the Clans.
www.christiegolden.com
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Allies is a work of fiction.
Names, places, and incidents either are products of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2010 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ™ where indicated. All Rights Reserved.
Used Under Authorization.
Excerpt from Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Vortex copyright © 2010
by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or TM where indicated. All Rights Reserved.
Used Under Authorization.
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Vortex by Troy Denning. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.
eISBN: 978-0-345-51956-6
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