the engines up and running, we can probably make do with only a few
patches on the hull plating. Our primary mission now is just getting
out of here alive."
"Mat is a good mission," Tenel Ka agreed, fastening her breathing mask
over her face.
Jaina and Jacen did the same.
While Lowbacca remained inside to tinker with Em Tbedee, wiring him to
the control panels, the other three exited the ship. Jaina used the
light of a glowrod to study the craggy rocks of the cavern ceiling. The
entire asteroid had nearly split apart from the immense impact of
another meteoroid that had scooped out this crater. The air was thin
and cold, the floor rough, the walls jagged.
But they were probably safe for now.
They just had to hope the attacking ship hadn't seen them duck into the
shelter.
"Things could be worse. At least we're not inside one of those giant
space slugs,' Jacen said. He kicked at the rocks under his feet, then
shrugged. "Hey-it never hurts to check."
Jaina flipped her straight hair behind her ears and made her way to the
rear of the Hapan ship, where most of the attacker's precision shots had
landed. She felt dismayed at the sight of the blackened patches and
carbon-scored holes sizzled through the engine cowlings and shield
plates that protected their stardrives.
Using her multitool, Jaina stripped away the charred outer debris and
looked at the mangled disarray that remained of one of their drives.
The second engine had fared better: still damaged but possibly
reparable, given a few spare parts, a lot of intuition, and some risky
rewiring.
She pointed to the burned metal plating and destroyed components.
"Jacen, Tenel Ka-while I check with Lowie to see w hat diagnostics Em
Teedee's been able to run, I'd like you two to dismantle these damaged
systems. Pull them out-we'll have to bypass them. Maybe we can salvage
a eyberfuse or two . . . but they look pretty stagged to me."
"That was going to be my expert opinion," Jacen said.
Inside the Rock Dragon's cockpit, Jaina bent over Em Teedee where
Lowbacca had hardwired him into the main control systems.
"This is all terribly confusing," the translating droid said, his
optical sensors glowing up from the center of the cockpit panels.
"At first I found all this Hapan engineering to be completely
incomprehensible. However, as I continue to study these systems, I
believe I'm beginning to understand. I am gifted with self-learning
capabilities, you know."
Lowie pointed out the displayed schematics, gesturing with his furry
arms and making suggestions. Since he was preoccupied with the ship's
complex systems, Em Teedee couldn't spare the computing power to
translate the Wookiee words, but Jaina could figure out most of what
Lowie meant.
'You want us to divert all the power from our weapons systems and shunt
it into our remaining engine? You think that's smart?"
This comment finally got Em Teedee's attention. 'But Master Lowbacca,
that would leave us completely defenseless!" Lowie made a sharp
continent, and Jaina knew what the young Wookiee meant. If the
attacking ship found them before they could escape, they'd all be doomed
anyway-with or without weapons.
"I agree. We'll have to put everything we can into our engines," Jaina
said with a sigh. "Let's get them repaired, plot an immediate path
through hyperspace, and head off on that vector. I just hope we can
jump to lightspeed before that pirate locks on to us and shoots us
down."
Lowie groaned his agreement, and Em Teedee refrained from continent.
Jaina knew they would all have to work together, and quickly. She
guessed that the other ship was still combing the rubble field, ready to
blast them to pieces. He must have intended to capture the young Jedi
Knights at first, targeting carefully-but now they had eluded him. Any
inexperienced pilot might have been fooled by Tenel Ka's trick of the
exploding gas canisters, but Jaina couldn't imagine this adversary would
be so easily deceived . . . whoever he was.
With Em Teedee wired into the main controls, Jaina and Lowie worked
outside to reconfigure the ship's weaponry, routing the power through
the remaining engine.
The Rock Dragon carried a respectable supply of parts for emergency
repairs, but no spare engines. The starboard drive was a total loss,
providing only a few minor components and connections they could use in
their repairs. Biting her lower lip, Jaina refused to give in to
despair. She would just have to be resourceful.
Jacen and Tenel Ka offered their assistance, and followed instructions
from the two mechanically inclined Jedi trainees. It reminded Jaina of
the efforts the companions had made when fixing Qorl's crashed TIE
fighter in the jungles-but this time their labors were not just for
their amusement. They needed to repair the Rock Dragon for their very
survival.
"Hey," Jacen said, trying to lighten the mood, 'what did the new animal
trainer say after his first day of working with a team of vicious battle
dogs?" He paused a beat. "This job is a pain in the nek!"
He looked around, waiting for a response.
'Uh . . . get it? They're called nek battle dogs, you see, and-oh,
never mind."
As the hours passed and the four friends worked together without
complaint, Jacen and Lowie grew more and more convinced that they had
escaped their enemy, that the hiding place in the crater cave had been a
superb choice. Jaina did not share their optimism. . She felt a
growing dread that every passing minute brought their pursuer closer to
discovering them. . . .
"I guess that's the best we can do," she finally said, slamming shut the
clumsily repaired access panel. She hoped the engines and power sources
would hold together long enough to haul the ship away.
Lowie grumbled a comment, but without Em Teedee they couldn't get an
exact translation.
Jacen offered, "I think he said this ship isn't going to withstand too
much bouncing around." The Wookiee chuffed and nodded.
"This is a fact," Tenel Ka said, 'but Hapan technology is often sturdier
than it might look." 'Well, what are we waiting for?" Jaina said with a
sigh, taking a final glance at their uncertain repairs.
They climbed back inside the Rock Dragon, subdued. All four of them
knew the gamble they had decided to take.
Seated in the pilot's chair, Jaina powered up the systems with nervous
fingers. The engines thrummed, vibrating with power, stuttering and
popping, but the output held.
Jaina bit her lower lip and sensed the flow through the engines, the
pulse through the ship.
The Rock Dragon trembled, humming unsteadily. The ship felt sick to
Jaina, not up to its normal peak levels. But it would fly, and that was
all they needed.
She glanced over at Lowbacca. He smoothed down the dark streak of fur
on his forehead, then nodded at'her. Lowie activated the repulsorlifts,
and the s
hip raised up off the rocky floor in the low gravity.
"All systems go," Jaina said.
"All right!" Jacen cheered. "We're on our way."
Tenel Ka sat gripping the edge of her seat with her hand, leaning
slightly toward Jacen. The ship moved forward, approaching the narrow
passageway through the rocks.
Still wired into the console, Em Teedee said, "I can confirm that our
escape path lies directly through that opening. I must say that this
ship has superb sensors. In fact, I can even detect-oh, dear!" Before
the translating droid could sound an alarm, as Jaina gently maneuvered
the Rock Dragon through the narrow passageway toward open space, the
silhouette of the enemy ship appeared at the mouth of the cave. Its
laser cannons already glowed brightly.
"He's found us!" Jacen cried just as the other ship opened fire.
Wrenching the controls, Jaina hoped to reverse their engines and evade
the blast, but this time their enemy did not target theRock Dragon
itself. Instead, its powerfullasers pulverized the unstable roof of
thecrater cave.
The ceiling collapsed. Boulders split off from precarious positions,
and the entire avalanche tumbled in slow motion, pounding down on the
ship like sledgehammers . . . burying them within the empty cave.
-----------------FALLING BOULDERS SOUNDED like thunder outside the Rock
Dragon. All the ship's systems went dark, plunging them into blackness.
Buried alive.
Jaina braced herself at the controls, but knew she could do nothing-not
yet.
Gradually, backup systems kicked in.
Em Teedee, working frantically to tap into their emergency power,
restored a low glow to illuminate the cabin of the Hapan passenger
cruiser.
Jaina's head ached, but she drove away thoughts of pain as she got to
her feet to make sure her friends were all right. As soon as the lights
flickered back on, she swept her gaze over the others. Lowbacca, Jacen,
and Tenel Ka all appeared to be stunned but uninjured.
Jaina scrambled back into her seat, suppressing a groan. "Em Teedee, is
our hull integrity still intact?" She rubbed her left temple. 'Any
leakage?"
'Oh, Mistress Jaina! The diagnostic systems have simply gone mad," the
little droid wailed. "This is terribly distressing.
Why, I-"
"Em Teedee," she snapped, "are we leaking air or not?" "No, Mistress
Jaina-we seem to be intact."
Jacen, who lay on the floor of the cockpit, sorted and ran his fingers
through his tousled hair. 'I'll bet we wouldn't win any prizes for
best-maintained ship in the galaxy," he said. He moaned. "Guess I
should've buckled my crash webbing before we started to move, huh?"
"Prizes for ship maintenance are not our concern at the moment," Tenet
Ka answered, offering her hand to help him to his feet.
"Looks like we'll have to make some of the same repairs again," Jaina
said, scanning the other cockpit systems. "And a few new ones, too. I
wonder if that other ship has given us up for dead."
"I hope so," Jacen said. "Then he'd just leave, wouldn't he?"
Tenet Ka shook tier head. "No, I believe his strategy was to trap us,
not to kill. He wants something from us . . . though he refuses to
communicate directly."
Rigged up at the control panels, Em Teedee let out a bleep of surprise.
"Oh, alarm! Alarm! Emergency! Dear me, this is dreadful!"
"What is it, Em Teedee?" Jaina said, swivelling in the pilot's chair to
look at him. "A hull breach?"
"No, I can't bear it! We are being violated-scanned! Someone is
copying everything in our memory banks."
'Scanned? How can anyone scan us?
That would take a . . ."
"Indeed, it is a remote slicer, Mistress Jaina-a highly illegal piece of
equipment, if my memory circuits are functioning properly. I should
think he'd be ashamed!"
"I guess he hasn't given us up for dead, then," Jacen said.
Lights flashed on the control panels as the enemy ship linked up to
their computers, skimming through their files. "If he reads our
navigation history and our ship's log entries," Tenet Ka said, "he will
know who we are."
Scrambling with the controls, Jaina and Lowie were unable to block their
enemy's computer access probe. "Not a thing we can do about it,
either," Jaina said. Lowie growled.
"Well, we would have introduced ourselves by now, if he'd just given us
the chance," Jacen said.
Jaina pounded on the control panel in frustration. She seemed to be
entirely out of options. "I don't believe this! Remote slicers are
completely illegal-not to mention expensive. Never even seen one
myself. Only the most powerful high rollers can afford them."
"Of course," Tenel Ka said, raising her eyebrows and tossing her head to
fling her reddish-gold braids behind her, "a certain powerful high
roller helped to outfit this ship-and my grandmother always plans for
many . . . contingencies."
Jacen, Jaina, and Lowie all looked at her, comprehension dawning on
their faces.
'Em Teedee," Jaina said breathlessly, "see if the Rock Dragon has one of
those remote slicers."
"But Mistress Jaina, there is such an unusual combination of systems on
board that I-"
"Just check, Em Teedee!"
"Yes, very well," the little droid said.
"Amazing! Why, I do believe I have found one. I'm quite astonished,
since upstanding citizens could hardly be expected to deal in such
illegal and unorthodox equipment."
"That means we can use our own remote transmitter to pull data from our
friend's memory banks, see who he is and what he's after," Jaina said,
feeling her heart pound with new optimism. "Turnabout. Give this guy a
taste of his own medicine." "Shall I begin now, Mistress Jaina?" Em
Teedee said hopefully. "I'm certain I can perform the appropriate
shcing fimctions.
I feel so . . . useful here in my position.
Almost like the captain of a ship."
"Don't get delusions of grandeur, Em Teedee," Jacen said, and Lowie
chuffed with laughter.
"Using the Rock Dragon's remote slicer would not be a wise idea at the
moment," Tenel Ka said. "If we did, our enemy would know we were
alive-and that we had background information-just as we can see he's
probing us now."
"Good point,' Jaina said. "Wait a while, Em Teedee. Meantime, we
should go out and check over our situation, move a few rocks, see how
bad it is this time."
"Yeah," Jacen said, "before our friend figures out what to do with the
information he's stolen from us."
Carrying portable high-powered glowrods, the young Jedi Knights put on
their breathing masks and ventured out into the collapsed cavern to look
over the battered exterior of the ship. Rock shards had pounded the
Rock Dragon's hull, smashing the already-damaged engines, the
stabilizers, and some of the external communications systems.
'We're banged up-but it could have been a lot worse," Jacen said
optimistically.
"The Force was with us," Tene
l Ka said.
Lowie groaned and gestured toward what had been the opening of the
crater cave. A collapsed wall of rock completely blocked the exit.
Boulders piled in a jumbled wall sealed them inside like a tomb. The
Wookiee's shoulders slumped.
Jaina patted his ginger-furred arm.
"With our lightsabers and the Force, I'm sure we can clear that away
given time."
"But how much time do you think we have?" Jacen said. Nobody hazarded a
guess.
Jaina cleared the rubble from the top of the ship and climbed up onto
it. Kneeling, she inspected the hull plates, brushing away dust with
her fingertips. "Like Em Teedee said, no evident ruptures. The worst
news, though, is that our communications array is smashed. We can't
send out a distress signal."
"Not that we'd want to," Jacen said.
"My friend Jacen is correct," Tenel Ka said. 'A distress signal would
only lure others into the ambush. We do not know how many more pirates
may be hiding in this asteroid field."
"There's already one too many," Jacen said. Bending over, he hefted one
of the boulders that had wedged itself between a flight fin and a
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