Star Wars_ Children of the Jedi - Barbara Hambly [19]
Cray continued to flip through the readouts and specs while Luke guided the Huntbird through the glowing mazes of veils, light, and stones. Few pilots would even venture into asteroid fields—the appearance of languid drift was an unsafe illusion to bank on. Even Luke was wary of them. Most of the asteroids were the size of the vessel or larger, too big to be shuffled away by the deflectors. The ship’s mere movement was sufficient to cause gravitational ripples and swirls in the uneasy equilibrium of the field. The field itself was enormous, the fritzed-out sensor pickup showing more and more rocks. Almost certainly a planetary belt, thought Luke. It would take days to explore it in even the most cursory fashion.
And yet …
Every instinct he possessed told him there was something there. Or near there, and one look at the readouts told him there wasn’t anything near there but there. They passed close to a massive ball of rock, almost sixty kilometers through, and under the shadows of its flank Luke glimpsed more holes and the remains of a self-erecting dome. Another installation, a big one this time. Clearly deserted, but …
Why two mines?
Or were mines what they were?
“They have any readings for mining activity in this area?”
Nichos, who had quietly taken his place at the computer station, tapped the keyboard for a moment, then said, “There’re no observation posts anywhere in this sector. Funny,” he added. “No records of any mining having gone on anywhere near here at all.”
“Can you pick up any antimatter trails?” asked Luke, steering the Huntbird around a tight mass of large asteroids that had drifted into one another’s gravitational proximity and now clung together, bumping and scraping with the silent, stupid clumsiness of ex-spouses at a party. “Hyperdust? Any sign of ships coming through here at all?”
“Trails would dissipate in a few weeks,” Cray reminded him, checking anyway. “Nothing. Drat this interference. We—”
“Shields!” yelled Luke, slamming his hand on the deflectors and wondering—in the same split second that something impacted with the explorer like the crushing fist of some vengeful demon—if he was crazy …
Purple-white light rammed through the viewport with an almost physical force, leaving blindness and the sickening jolt of the gravity going out. Light again, as a second plasma bolt smashed the ship in the same instant that Luke swung the helm. He smelled burning insulation and heard a sizzle, then Cray’s cursing. She had a startling line of profanity for someone that proper and controlled. As his eyes readjusted he saw that most of the board in front of him was black.
“Where are they coming from?” The readouts weren’t telling him.
“Sector two, back behind—”
“There!”
Luke had already begun to whip the vessel into another yaw, hoping his impression was correct that that area wasn’t occupied by an asteroid, and from the tail of his eye saw the white sword of light stab out from an enormous asteroid that had, until seconds ago, indeed been in their rear.
“Get a fix on it!”
“Look out!”
“Oh, dear!” That was Threepio, as the Internal Systems Console to his right exploded into a geyser of sparks. Luke barely noticed, for the next plasma bolt splintered a meteorite and showered the ship with several thousand superheated cannonballs.
“There’s nothing on the surface!” yelled Cray over the crackle of shorting wires. “No domes, no emplacements, I can’t even see gunports …” He wondered that she could see anything in the nebula’s weird, shadowless light. “There’s holes all over the thing—”
“Watch it!” Luke spun the vessel, whipped behind another hunk of rock and ice, praying he wasn’t diving straight into the attacker’s gunsights. Except for size, every asteroid in the field looked almost exactly like every other asteroid, and unless it was actually shooting at them it was nearly impossible to tell on which of the half dozen one-to-two-kilometer rocks immediately visible in