anything else she could fling, quickly and without moving a muscle, at
her two captives.
Chewbacca tried to scramble for shelter behind a half-dismantled
skyhopper, but Garowyn sent more sharp and hard objects flying after
him.
While doing her best to deflect the flying objects from herself and
Chewbacca, Jaina huddled behind one of the fallen crates and
concentrated. Even in the midst of her own danger, she felt an urgency
about reaching Jacen, Tenel Ka, Lowie, and Sirra.
Unfiltered lubricant oozed out of a broken container, making an
acrid-smelling puddle on the floor. Jaina was frustrated that she only
had time to react. She was too busy defending herself to formulate any
plan.
Though Chewbacca had no Jedi defenses, he also had no intention of
remaining a stationary target. Jaina saw him slip away from the
skyhopper's fuselage and lift a crate with his strong, hairy arms. With
a powerful heave, he sent the crate smashing into an incoming pail of
lubricant tossed by the Nightsister. As iridescent liquid sprayed into
the air and splashed to the floor plates all around Jaina and Garowyn,
Chewie scooped up his discarded toolkit and, with a mighty bound, leaped
onto the hull of the Shadow Chaser, @ll me what you've done to my ship,"
Garowyn shrieked, now directing the barrage of objects at Jaina. "How
can I fix it?" The crate Jaina was crouched behind finally splintered
under the attack, spilling hundreds of rattling, loose cyberfuses in
every direction.
Jaina scrambled to find other cover.
Panting, she dodged some of the thrown objects and deflected others with
her skills.
Perspiration streamed from her forehead and into her eyes, making it
difficult to concentrate. "Damaged in an ion storm," she gasped, wiping
an arm across her eyes.
"You'll never be able to fly it."
"In that case, you're worthless to me," Garow,yn sneered. 'I'll take
care of you immediately." Even as the Nightsister stretched out her
hands, her fingers crackling with blue fire, Jaina cast about for a way
to distract her.
From out of nowhere an impedance tester sailed toward Garowyn, followed
by a bydrospanner and a barrage of rivets and heavy clamp-bolts.
Chewbacca did not need the Force to hurl heavy objects.
Now it was the Nightsister's turn to d odge and deflect. Garowyn
directed her attention to the Wookiee, and with a muttered oath sent a
bolt of blue fire sizzling up at him.
Chewbacca yowled and ducked, tumbling back over the opposite side of the
sleek ship.
The distraction was brief, but it was long enough for Jaina. Reaching
out with the Force, closing her eyes in concentration, Jaina gave the
Nightsister's body a powerful shove.
Caught completely off guard, Garowyn slipped in the lubricant that
coated the floor around her. With another forceful shove, Jaina sent her
shding toward the yawning hangar bay entrance.
"Give it up, Garowyn," Jaina said, her voice harsh with exertion.
"You'll never get the Shadow Chaser."
"You haven't seen the last of me yet," the Nightsister yelled.
Then, to Jaina's amazement, instead of trying to stop the momentum of
her slide toward the gaping outer door, Garowyn gave herself an
invisible shove in the same direction. Chewbacca scrambled after the
woman, but the floor was too slippery for him to overtake her.
As she reached the entrance, Garowyn flung out one arm to grasp a
vertical railing that ran along the edge of the doorway.
Without slowing, she used her momentum to swing herself out and around
in a tight half circle to land on the verandah that ran along the side
of the hangar.
Wind whistled around the open door. Inside, the sounds of loose
equipment clattered and clanked, and small components rattled out of
to reach the doorway through which Garowyn had escaped. Before she could
reach the outside, Jaina heard a puttering, buzzing sound.
"Quick, Chewie," she cried, "she's got a speeder bike."
Jaina stumbled toward the entrance, slipping as she went. She grabbed on
to a wall rail to prevent herself from pitching forward in a long drop
to the canopy below.
Her heart sank when she saw the fleeing Nightsister on a speeder bike
zip across the hanger bay opening, heading toward the computer
fabrication facility, which Jaina knew was under attack from Imperial
forces.
Moving with amazing speed, Chewbacca launched himself forward. To
Jaina's horror, the Wookiee gave a ferocious howl and leaped straight
out the door toward Garowyn's buzzing vehicle, with nothing beneath him
but thin air-and grasped a pipe on the speeder bike with one strong,
furry hand.
Still slipping, Jaina held the wall rail and watched Wookiee,
Nightsister, and speeder bike spiral down toward the leafy sea. Jaina
clung to the rail and reached out with one hand, but she was too far
away to help Chewbacca.
As the speeder bike crashed on the treetops, Chewie quickly regained his
balance.
The Nightsister, still covered with slimy lubricant, dismounted and
scrambled for purchase on one of the narrow branches. Chewie swung
himself to the thicker branch beneath her and shook the limb on which
she stood, growling a challenge.
A harsh laugh escaped Garowyn's lips, and a triumphant look lit her
face. Jaina could hear her voice even at this distance. "So you wish to
die?" The Nightsister stretched out a hand that crackled with discharges
of blue electricity. "You deserve it for what you've done to my ship."
Chewbacca, though defenseless in the face of her discharge of dark
power, snarled at her.
In desperation Jaina tried the only trick that sprang to mind. Letting
her eyes fall half closed, Jaina sent a rippling furrow through the
leaves behind Garowyn. This time the invisible plow made a loud,
rustling sound, like a stampede.
The Nightsister whirled to defend against the supposed attack on her
from behind.
Flinging up an arm to ward off her unseen enemy, Garowyn lost her
footing on the narrow branch. She fell backward.
Jaina gasped as she heard Garowyn's head strike a lower tree branch with
a solid thud.
Without another sound, the Nightsister's compact body tumbled like a
shooting star, through the sharp and clinging branches into the depths
of the jungle far, far below. -----------------
THE SCREAMING SOUNDS of TIE fighters ripping through the atmosphere sent
a chill of primal terror down Jacen's spine. He knew the howl was only
exhaust from the powerful engines, but he felt certain the Imperial ship
designers must have delighted in the hellish noise.
In the bustling fabrication facility, a cacophony of alarms rang out
from platform loudspeakers. Growling, barking announcements hammered
through the air. Wookiee workers ran in all directions, activating
security systems or evacuating the area.
TIE
bombers streaked low over the treetops, dropping proton explosives
that set the dense network of branches aflame. Dark gray smoke billowed
from burning leaves.
"We must help defend against this threat," Tenel Ka said, looking for
some weapon substantial enough to use against the invading fighters. Her
face wore an expression of stony determination.
Sirra and lkwie howled in rage at seeing the destruction of the tree
dwellings. The spindly Thur Droid spun its boxy head around, despite its
numerous optical sensors. "Do not p amc.
Have no fear," it said in its tinny voice. "This must be a drill. No
attack has been scheduled for today."
At Lowie's waist, Em Teedee piped up in a scornful tone. "Why, you silly
Tour Droid, switch on your optical sensors! Can't you see this is a
crisis situation? Hmmmfl" The miniaturized droid muttered a deprecating
comment about the questionable intelligence of public-relations models.
The Tour Droid continued to issue calming messages, though its thoughts
were obviousl scrambled. 'Kashyyyk has numerous y satellite defenses. No
enemy ships can approach this facility. We have sophisticated defense
mechanisms, including powerful perimeter guns. They should begin firing
any moment now."
"Perimeter guns?" Tenel Ka said, her cool gray eyes flashing. "Where?
Perhaps we can use them against these enemies."
Sirra roared, gesturing with her long hairy arm to show that she knew
the way.
"A splendid idea," Em Teedee sai I (@o hope we won't be blown to bits
before we can implement Mistress Tenel Ka's plan. Oh my!" 99@ my
sister would say," Jacen said, "what are we waiting for?" He, Tenel Ka,
and the two young Wookiees barged past the Tour Droid into the complex.
Sirra led them down an open-air corridor amid the din of explosions and
laser blasts.
They reached a network of pulley-driven vines, ropelike lifts that
yanked them to a higher level. Sirra grabbed one vine, tucked her foot
into a loop, and the rope sprang upward, drawing her toward the higher
platforms.
Lowie did the same. Jacen followed suit, looking down to watch Tenel Ka,
who wrapped her arm around the vine and stepped into a loop with no
problem whatsoever. Within seconds, they were all whisked to an upper
platform at the outer perimeter of the complex.
Because of their quick reaction, the companions reached the defensive
guns before most of the Wookiee defenders. Jacen saw unattended ion
cannons with spherical power sources and needlelike barrels aimed toward
the sky-but his eyes lit upon a pair of old-model quad-laser cannons,
exactly like those in the Millennium Falcon's gun wells.
"Hey, we can use those!" Jacen said. He raced over to the nearest
emplacement, checking the status panels. "They're powered up and ready
to go." Tenel Ka gruffly agreed and stationed herself behind one of the
other weapons.
The two Wookiees chattered to each other.
Em Teedee called, "Master Jacen! Master Lowbacca and Mistress Sirrakuk
have decided to use the computers to determine where the breakdown in
the facility's defensive systems occurred. Perhaps they can prevent
further Imperial fighters from getting through. Oh, I do hope they're
successful."
"They'll do their best," Jacen said, grabbing the quad-laser's targeting
controls. He sank down into the voluminous seat in front of the cannon,
feeling the energy thrum through the firing sticks in his fingers. Since
the widely spread controls had been designed for large Wookiee bodies,
he adjusted the targeting circle.
Imperial fighters continued to howl overhead, launching strikes against
the Wookiee residential districts, but leaving the central computer
facilities relatively untouched . . .
though thrown into complete chaos.
A glance to Jacen's left told him that Tenel Ka was in position.
Gripping the firing stick with her right hand, she seemed already
familiarized with the weapon's control systems. In seconds her eyes
began to track the enemy fighters overhead.
Three tall Wookiees charged onto the defensive platform and took up
positions at the ion cannons, glancing curiously at the two humans,
confused by this unexpected assistance. But.they didn't waste time
asking for explanations. Instead, they fired powerful blasts from the
ion cannons.
One of the crackling yellow-white shots caught a TIE fighter that soared
through the edge of the blast. The Imperial control systems flickered
out and the TIE fighter spun dead in the air, its engine silenced.
Unable to regain control, the pilot crashed into the distant forest
canopy with a dull, booming explosion.
Jacen used his targeting circles to lock onto a sluggish, fully loaded
TIE bomber that arrowed toward the clustered residential structures. The
bomber came in, picking up speed while preparing to drop its deadly
explosives.
Jacen grasped the firing controls and gritted his teeth. 'Come on . . .
come on," he said. Finally, the target lock blinked as the TIE bomber
settled directly in the crosshairs.
He squeezed both controls, launching searing blazes of laser energy from
all four cannons. The beams targeted on the bomber just before it could
drop its proton explosives.
Instead of destroying the homes of hundreds of Wookiees, the bomber
became a brilliant ball of fire and smoke. The belch of detonations grew
louder as the TIE fighter's own proton bombs fed into the eruption.
"Got one!" Jacen crowed.
Tenel Ka fired repeatedly until another pair of TIE fighters exploded in
the air. 'Two more, she said.
By now, additional Wookiee defenders had arrived to assume positions at
the remaining guns. Jacen fired again and again, rotating his chair to
aim at the rapidly moving targets. He blasted another TIE fighter out of
the sky.
"Just like our practice runs in the Millennium Falcon," he said. 'Only
this time, hitting the targets is a lot more important than winning a
contest with my sister." "This is a fact," Tenel Ka said.
Another wing of TIE fighters swooped down, and Jacen shot wildly. So
many Imperial targets, he thought, all of them bristling with lethal
weaponry. . . . Ms quad-laser cannon spat beams of energy, but they all
missed as the fighters spun evasive loops in the air.
'Oh, blaster bolts!" Jacen said.
Wookiees kept appearing, leaping off the vine pulley-lifts and rushing
to their positions, although now there were more defenders than guns.
Lowie and Sirra hurried over to Jacen and Tenel Ka, speaking loudly.
Their grunts and growls overlapped, so that Em Teedee had difficulty
translating both.
'One at a time, please!" the little droid said. "All right, I believe I
understand the basics of what you're saying. Master Lowbacca and
Mistress Sirrakuk have determined that a single-point defensive failure
occurred in the traffic control tower for this facility. Somehow, all of
the central command systems have been compromised. It appears that the
a
ttack is being guided from there."
Lowie roared a suggestion. "Oh dear," Em Teedee said. "Master Lowbacca
suggests we would be well advised to go to the heart of the problem and
leave these well-trained Wookiee gunners to continue the fight here.
While I agree that it might be safer to move insider am skeptical about
the wisdom of rushing into greater danger."
"Good idea, Lowie," Jacen said, ignoring Em Teedee's warnings. He fired
the quadlaser one more time, almost offhandedly, and was astonished to
see his quick shot destroy the side panel of another TIE fighter, which
spun out of control and crashed to the treetops. 'Hey, got another one,"
he said.
Barricaded in the traffic control tower, Zekk listened to outraged
Wookiees pounding against the sealed door. A sizzling, melting sound
worked its way into the background din as the Wookiees used
high-intensity laser torches to slice through the armored metal.
Their own well-constructed defenses worked against them, since they had
intended Kashyyyk s command center to be impregnable. Slowly but surely,
though, the Wookiees made headway, slicing through the door one
centimeter at a time.
Using the security monitors, Zekk watched the hairy creatures out in the
hall. With bestial rage one of them picked up a metal pipe and hammered
at the door-to no effect, of course, because of the thick plating, but
the Wookiee seemed satisfied just to be able to vent his fury.