Star Wars_ Coruscant Nights 01_ Jedi Twilight - Michael Reaves [72]
In the dark warehouse, I-Five’s photoreceptors broadcast just enough light for them to make things out. Someday, I’ve got to ask him how he can still see through those things when he’s using ’em as headlights, Den told himself. Amazing, the things one thinks of when in danger.
The droid apparently had no trouble seeing, however. He moved unerringly through the darkness until he found what he was looking for: a row of late-model weavers.
“These will, at least, give us better maneuverability,” he said.
The sound of the PCBUs’ approach was very loud now. “How’d you know they were in here?” Laranth asked as she stepped onto a weaver and activated it. “Do you have X-ray vision or something?”
“No,” I-Five said. “I read the sign on the wall.”
“The weavers will only accommodate two,” Pavan said as he activated another one. “Laranth, take Dhur. He can pilot while you fight. Droid, you come with me.”
Den stepped onto the floorplate. The weaver was designed as a one-being conveyance, but could handle two in an emergency. And this definitely qualifies as one. He studied the control console. The weaver was simple in design: a floorplate about a meter wide, mounted on a small repulsor array. The controls, such as they were, occupied a small panel atop a column that rose from the floorplate. There was also a handlebar with twin grips. Once the speed and vectors were established, the driver stood on the floorplate and steered mostly by shifting body mass. He’d ridden one a couple of times; they were surprisingly easy to master.
Fortunately, the steering column’s height was adjustable. Den hastily turned and aimed the weaver toward the front entrance, only to see two PCBUs hovering just outside, about three meters off the street.
“Surrender in the name of Emperor Palpatine,” the emotionless, amplified voice of one of the droid pilots shouted.
“We need a new exit,” Pavan said calmly to I-Five. The droid raised a finger and cut a hole through the back wall. The Jedi swooped the weaver down and out through it. A barrage of blasterfire peppered the floor and walls around the escape route, gouging chunks of duracrete and streamers of plasteel.
Den swallowed, gripped the handlebars firmly, and followed the Jedi and the droid through the hole into the night.
twenty-eight
The weaver was designed for fast intercity transport, with a smaller footprint and more maneuverability than a landspeeder or a skimmer. It had a top speed of about sixty-five kilometers per hour, and a small “windscreen” repulsor field to protect the pilot. Usually the streets were too crowded for it to go full speed, but this was an industrial area, and all but empty of pedestrians. Jax and I-Five zoomed down a narrow lane, the repulsorlift’s negative field waves scattering flimsies and other trash.
A moment later two PCBUs hummed around the corner in pursuit. They were disk-shaped, with a transparisteel bubble in the middle that housed the droid pilot—usually, as was the case here, a 501-Z police droid. The disk’s equator could revolve rapidly, locking various weaponry in front for firing, including laser projectors, particle beam blasters, stun and glop grenades, slugthrowers, electro-nets, and other lethal and non-lethal weapons. As soon as they’d made the turn, the PCBUs began firing their heavy-duty T-21s at the weaver.
Both Jax and I-Five were surprised when the big energy bolts zapped by, entirely too close for comfort. “I thought you said Vader wanted you alive,” the droid said.
“I said probably.” Jax shifted his weight, barely avoiding another energy ball that nearly hit them. “Maybe these guys didn’t get the memo.” He heard the droid mutter, “Looks more like dead or alive right now.”
Jax kept the weaver dodging and swerving. Even with the Force to help him anticipate the blasts, avoiding charged-particle bolts wasn’t easy. “They’re much faster than us,” I-Five said loudly over the wind of