"Lowbacca, why don't you try first?" Lando suggested. "Come up front and
take the controls."
The young Wookiee crouched in a seat that was far too small for him and
rested his hands on the multiple joysticks of the controls. He directed the
dangling, sizzling energy cables that trailed out like magnetic tentacles
through the stormy atmosphere.
Jacen unbuckled his crash webbing again and crawled along the floor to peer
through the square portholes. He could see the yellow magnetic whips that
extended from the Fast Hand raking through the gaseous clouds, but catching
nothing.
After a few moments, Lowie groaned in frustration. Em Teedee said, "Master
Lowbacca wishes to offer someone else a turn." Lowie relinquished the
controls to Jaina, who sat down with focused concentration, the tip of her
tongue wedged between her lips at the corner of her mouth. Her eyes,
golden-brown pools that stared into nothingness, fell half-closed as she
worked the controls. Jacen watched the energy lines writhe below, sifting
through the clouds, searching.
"Now, don't get disappointed," Lando said. "I told you it's still hard work
to find even one gem. They're quite rare. If they weren't, they wouldn't be
so valuable."
Jaina continued to search for a few minutes longer, then gave up. Jacen
climbed to his feet and came forward, struggling to keep his balance in the
gale-force winds. He caught the arm of the chair and pulled himself into it,
letting his hands wrap around the controls. As he tugged on the joysticks he
could feel the response from the lashing energy cables, groping about like
nimble fingers sifting through sand to find gold. He reached out with his
mind, concentrating as Jaina had, using what he knew of Jedi powers to
search for the precious gems. He didn't know what a Corusca stone would feel
like, but he expected he would know if he encountered one. The whirling
clouds seemed empty, thick with useless gases and crushed debris, nothing of
interest.
His twin sister sat behind him, and he could feel her hoping for his
success. Just as he was about to give up, Jacen suddenly felt a flash, a
glint in his mind. He nudged the joysticks sideways, stretching out the long
electrical fingers, searching, extending them as far as they would reach.
With one lightning tip he scratched through the clouds, stretching,
stretching . . . and finally he snagged the glimmer in his mind.
The control panels lit up. "I got one!" he cried.
Lando looked as shocked as anyone else. "You did!" he said. "Okay, let's
bring it in fast. Time to go." Lando took over and reeled the magnetic
tentacles back into the Fast Hand, pulling in the catch. As he stabilized
the energy tether again, Lando opened a small access port in the floor and
pulled up a durasteel cargo box rimed with frost. He withdrew an irregular
but beautiful Corusca gem, larger than the one he had shown them earlier. It
flashed with trapped fire.
Breathlessly, Jacen took it from Lando, cradling it in the palms of his
hands. "Look what I got!" he said.
Jaina and Lowie offered their congratulations.
Lando, knowing he had promised to give the prize to the kids, shook his head
in grudging admiration. "Keep that safe, Jacen," Lando said. "That's enough
to buy half a city block on Coruscant, I bet."
"It's worth that much?" Jacen ran his fingers along the smooth, incredibly
hard surface of the gem. "What if I lose it?" he said.
"Put it in your boot," Jaina said. "You know you never lose things there."
"I will," Jacen agreed. "I think I'll give it to mother for her next
birthday."
Lando slapped his forehead. "Even Han never gave Leia something that
valuable! Almost makes me wish I had a couple of kids," he muttered. "All
right, let's head back up."
As if to encourage him, another fist of wind slammed the side of the Fast
Hand and sent them spinning. Jacen fumbled with his Corusca gem, nearly
dropped it on the floor, then caught it again and clutched it in his fist.
He immediately tucked it into his boot, where he wouldn't have to worry
about it falling out.
His forehead still furrowed with anxiety, Lando Calrissian reeled in the
energy tether, hauling the Fast Hand back toward the safer levels of Yavin's
atmosphere. The storms tossed them around. Once they heard a loud spang
against the quantum-armored hull. Lando yelped and looked over at the wall.
"Another one! Jaina, get over there and check that seal," he said.
"What happened?" Jacen asked.
On her knees, Jaina scuttled over to check. "Looks like it's okay," she
said.
"What was it?" Jacen insisted. He saw the tiniest dent on the inside, but
sensed no leaking atmosphere.
"We just got hit by a Corusca gem thrown at high speed by these winds. It's
like a projectile weapon striking us, and only the quantum armor saved us. I
can't believe this luck." Lando shook his head. "I spend hours and hours
looking for those gems on my own and come up empty-handed. But when I bring
you down here, Jacen snatches one right away, and then we get hit by another
as we're heading back up top."
Lowie bellowed a comment, and Em Teedee said, "I fervently agree with Master
Lowbacca: Let's hope we don't encounter any more of them."
Lightning bolts flashed around the hull, sparking blue light into the murky
clouds. But as they rose higher toward the safety of GemDiver Station, the
storm winds grew Calmer, less insistent. Lando relaxed visibly. When they
finally rose back into the glittering GemDiver Station, and the floor sealed
beneath them, Lando heaved a sigh of relief and slumped down in the pilot's
chair.
The pressure bay refilled with atmosphere, and Lando flicked the controls to
unseal the armored hatch. "There. We're back safe and sound," he said,
climbing out on unsteady legs. "I think that's enough adventures for now.
How about we relax and get something to eat?" Lando had barely finished
making the suggestion, though, when the sudden wailing of station alarms
screeched across the intercom systems. "Now what is it?" Lando asked.
"What's going on?"
The three young Jedi Knights jumped out of the Fast Hand and followed Lando
as he ran to a comm station on the wall. "This is Lando Calrissian. Give me
a status update."
"An unidentified fleet just appeared out of hyperspace," came the tense
voice of a station security chief. "They refuse our hails and are heading
toward GemDiver Station at great speed, intent unknown." The voice clicked
off.
Jacen and Jaina ran toward one of the viewports and looked out into the
darkness of space. Then Jacen saw the ships, like a swarm of meteors,
streaking in their direction. Somehow he sensed they were powering on their
weapons-up to no good. He gulped.
"Looks like an Imperial fleet to me," Jaina said.
* 4 *
Lando rushed toward the control bridge of GemDiver Station . "Come on,
kids. Follow me!" he shouted.
Jaina took the lead while Lowie and Jacen followed at a run. Lowie's long
Wookiee legs nearly made him plow over Lando in his haste.
"Oh, do be careful, Lowbacca!" Em Teedee called.
Taking a turbolift to the upper observation tower, they bustled onto the
control bridge, a cylindrical turret that protruded above the main armored
body of GemDiver Station. Narrow rectangular windows encircled the control
room, allowing a full view in all directions. The glowing diagnostic screens
directly below each viewport flashed alarm warnings. Lando's armed guards
ran about, strapping additional weapons to their belts, preparing to defend
the station.
"We are under attack, sir," Lobot murmured in his quiet, difficult-to-hear
voice. The cyborg was a blur of motion, hands darting from keyboard to
keyboard, eyes scanning the screens around him and silently assessing
details. The lights on the computer implants at the sides of his head
flashed like fireworks.
Lando scanned the narrow observation ports and saw the fleet of ships coming
in from deep space. "Do you think they're pirates?" he asked. Then to the
twins and Lowie, he said reassuringly, "Don't Worry. We're got station
security on alert. These people don't have a chance against our defenses."
Jaina studied one of the diagnostic screens, pursing her lips. She shook her
head. "Not just pirates," she said, recognizing some of the ships by the
ellipsoid shape of their main body, engine turrets swept back like jagged
wings on top and bottom. "Imperial craft. The four on the outside are
Skipray blastboats, each fully equipped with three ion cannons, proton
torpedo launcher, concussion missiles, and two fire-linked laser cannons."
Lando seemed startled. "Yeah, that's right."
She looked calmly up at his surprised expression. "Dad had me study a lot of
ships. Believe me, these're more than even your security systems could hope
to fight."
Lando clapped a hand to his forehead and groaned. "That's not just a pirate
fleet, that's an armada! What's the big ship in the middle? I don't
recognize it."
In her mind Jaina ran through mechanical specifications of all the ship
designs she had learned from her father - but right now she was at a loss.
"Some kind of modified assault shuttle, maybe?" Jaina said. Through the
magnification on the screens they stared as the ships came relentlessly in.
"But I don't understand that contraption in the bow." The mysterious assault
shuttle had a strange device mounted at its front end, circular and jagged,
like the wide-open mouth of a fanged underwater predator.
"Send a distress signal," Lando said to Lobot. "Full spectrum. Make sure
everybody knows we're under attack here."
With maddening computer-enhanced calm, Lobot shook his bald head. "I've
already tried. We're jammed, sir-can't punch a signal through their
screens."
"Well, what do they want?" Lando asked in exasperation.
"They've made no demands," Lobot replied. "They refuse to answer our hails.
We do not know what they're after."
Jaina stared out the window at the incoming ships and felt cold inside. She
shuddered. Jacen squeezed her hand, his forehead wrinkled with anxiety. They
had realized the same thing.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Jacen said. "It's . . . us they want,
isn't it?"
"Yeah, I can feel it," Jaina said, her voice barely above a whisper. Lowie
nodded his shaggy head and groaned in agreement.
"What do you kids mean?" Lando looked at them with disbelief in his large
brown eyes. "They must be after our Corusca gems - it's the only thing that
makes sense."
Jaina shook her head, but Lando was too busy to pay further attention. The
four flanking blastboats angled out from the central assault shuttle toward
the defensive satellites surrounding GemDiver Station.
"Have you removed the fail-safes from the targeting systems?" Lando asked.
Lobot nodded. "Systems ready to fire," he murmured. High-powered lasers from
the defensive satellites lanced out toward the blastboats, but the small
satellites could not generate enough power to penetrate the heavy Imperial
armor. Each Skipray blastboat targeted one of the small satellites and
unleashed a crackling blur from its ion cannons. The defensive satellites
powered up, preparing to fire again, but then all the lights went dead.
"The ion cannons fried the circuits," Lobot announced in his calm voice.
"All satellites are off-line."
The Skiprays came in for another strike and fired with laser cannons, this
time blasting the defensive satellites into molten metal vapor.
"We've still got the station's armor," Lando said, but now his trembling
voice betrayed his lack of confidence.
The modified assault shuttle in the middle of the armada homed in on one of
thump and clang as something large and heavy struck the outer hull-and
stayed.
"What are they doing?" Lando asked.
"The modified assault shuttle has attached itself to the outer wall of
GemDiver Station," Lobot reported.
"Where?"
The bald cyborg checked readings. "One of the equipment bays. I think
they're trying to force their way in."
Lando waved his hand in dismissal. "Well, they can knock but they can't come
in." He smiled nervously. "Just keep all the airlocks sealed. Our station
armor should hold."
"Excuse me," Jaina said, "but I may have figured out what that modification
is. I think they plan to bore through the station walls. The jagged things
we saw looked like teeth - so I'm guessing they cut through metal."
"Not this metal." Lando shook his head. "The station wall is double-armored.
Nothing could cut through it."
Jacen spoke up. "I thought you said Corusca gems could cut through
anything."
Lando shook his head again. "Sure, but that would take a whole shipment of
industrial-grade Corusca gems." Then he stopped, eyes widening. "Well, uh,
we have shipped some industrial-grade gems since we upgraded our
operations." He picked up a comlink and spoke into it. "This is Lando
Calrissian. All security details go to lower equipment bay number" - he
leaned over Lobot's shoulder to look at the screen - "number thirty-four.
Full armor and weapons. We're about to be boarded by hostile forces."
Lando took a blaster pistol from the sealed armory case inside the bridge
deck. He turned to Lobot. "Nobody boards my station without my permission."
He started down the corridor, calling over his shoulder as he ran. "You kids
find a safe place, and stay there!"
So of course the young Jedi Knights followed him.
Station guards in padded, dark blue uniforms sprinted from corridor
intersections. The pastel colors and nature sounds of GemDiver Station
seemed oddly out of place, no longer soothing amid the chaos of defensive
preparations and the turmoil of screeching alarms. By the time they reached
lower equipment bay 34, a squad of station guards had already set up their
position behind storage containers and supply modules, blaster rifles drawn
and aimed at the
wall.
Jaina heard a whining, gnawing sound that made her teeth vibrate. A circular
section of the outer wall glowed, and she could imagine the assault shuttle
on the other side, linked to GemDiver Station like a huge battle-ready
brine-eel, chewing its way through the station armor. A bright white line
appeared in the circle as a Corusca tooth bit through the thick plate. Jaina
hoped belatedly that the attacking ship's seal against the station was
airtight.
One of Lando's station guards, keyed up with overwhelming tension, let off
two shots from his blaster rifle. The bolts spanged against the wall and
left a discolored blotch on the inner hull, but the jaws of the boring
machine continued to chew through the plates. In a flash, with a puff of
steam and the crump of small, shaped explosives, a large disk of the outer
hull fell forward into the equipment bay. Lando's security forces started
firing immediately, even before the smoke cleared; but the enemy on the
other side did not pause either.
Dozens of white-armored Imperial stormtroopers boiled through the hole like
a hive of frenzied lizard-ants that Jacen had once kept in his collection of
exotic pets. The stormtroopers fired as they charged - using only the
curving blue arcs of stun beams, Jaina was relieved to see. Four
stormtroopers went down with smoking holes in their white armor; but more
and more poured out of the assault shuttle. The air in the equipment bay was