Star Wars_ Cloak of Deception - James Luceno [7]
“Central control’s turned the entire ship against us,” Cohl yelled.
Rella squeezed off bolts at a posse of hydrospanner-wielding PK droids. “What did you expect, Cohl—the royal welcome?”
Cohl gestured Boiny, Rella, and the rest of his team toward the final bulkhead that stood between them and the centersphere turbolifts. Sirens shrieked and howled in the thin air. Crisscrossing and ricocheting blaster bolts created a pyrotechnic display worthy of a Republic Day parade on Coruscant.
Cohl fired on the run, losing count of how many droids he had dropped and how many blaster gas cartridges his weapon had expended. Two of his band were pinned down by droid fire, but there was little he or anyone else could do to help them. With luck they would get to the rendezvous point, even if they had to drag themselves there.
Pursued by three binary loadlifters, the team raced through the final bulkhead door and fought their way to the closest bank of turbolifts.
The hatch that accessed the transfer tubes was locked down.
“Boiny!” Cohl shouted.
The Rodian holstered his blaster and hurried forward, eyeing the hatch up and down, then moved to the control panel set into the wall. Preparing to slice the code, he rubbed his palms together and cracked his long, suction-tip-equipped fingers. Before he could lay a hand on the panel keys, Cohl slapped him in the back of the head.
“What is this, amateur night?” Cohl asked with a menacing scowl. “Blow the thing.”
Dofine was pacing the walkway when the bridge hatch blew inward, loosing a brief storm of paralyzing heat that tumbled him to the deck.
Cohl’s band of six hurried in behind a roiling cloud of smoke, their mimetic suits allowing them to blend even with the burnished bulkheads of the bridge. Quickly and efficiently, they disarmed the Gran and shot restraining bolts onto the chest plastrons of the droids.
Cohl waved one of his men toward the communications station.
“Contact the Hawk-Bat. Tell them we’ve secured the bridge. Have the starfighters deploy for defense, and stand by to cover our exfiltration.”
He waved another of his cohorts toward the Gran’s duty station. “Order the central control computer to stand down. Have it open all bulkheads in the hangar arms.”
The human nodded and dropped down below the walkway.
Cohl tapped a code into his wrist comlink and raised it to his mouth. “Base team, we have the bridge. Move the pod into zone three and set it down as close as possible to the inner wall hangar portal. We’ll be there soon enough.”
Cohl zeroed the comlink. His eyes roamed over the faces of his five living captives, settling finally on Dofine. Then he drew his blaster.
Spreading his arms wide in a gesture of surrender, Dofine took two backward steps as Cohl approached.
“You would shoot an unarmed individual, Captain Cohl?”
Cohl pressed the barrel of the weapon to Dofine’s rib-cage. “I’d shoot an unarmed Neimoidian—and I’d sleep better for it.”
He glared at Dofine for a long moment, then holstered the blaster and turned to the Rodian member of his band. “Boiny, get to work. And be quick about it.”
Cohl swung back to Dofine.
“Where’s the rest of your crew, Commander?”
Dofine swallowed and found his voice. “Returning by shuttle from Dorvalla.”
Cohl nodded. “Good, that’ll simplify things.”
Repeatedly poking Dofine in the chest with his forefinger, Cohl moved him backwards along the walkway until they reached the navigator’s chair. A final poke sent Dofine off the walkway and into the seat.
Cohl jumped down to face him. “We need to discuss your cargo, Commander.”
“The cargo?” Dofine stammered. “Lommite—destined for Sluis Van.”
“To the depths with the ore,” Cohl snarled. “I’m talking about the aurodium.”
Dofine tried to keep his red eyes from bulging. His nictitating membranes spasmed, and he blinked half a dozen times. “Aurodium?”
Cohl leaned toward him. “You’re carrying two billion in aurodium ingots.”
Dofine stiffened under Cohl’s gaze. “You—you must be mistaken, Captain. The Revenue is carrying ore.”
Cohl raised himself to his considerable