Star Wars_ Darth Maul 02_ Shadow Hunter - Michael Reaves [47]
“The vertical adjustment on the repulsor array has been damaged,” the Jedi piloting the craft said.
“What does that mean?” the woman asked. She was younger than her companion; younger than Lorn, too.
“It means,” I-Five said, before the Jedi could answer, “that while we can move laterally and descend, we can’t rise above this level.”
Lorn glanced over the side. It was hard to estimate their altitude in the pervasive gloom, but it looked to him that they were about twenty meters above the street. The skycar was moving at a fast clip. There was little air traffic at this level, which was fortunate, given the limited room for maneuverability granted by the narrow, twisting streets.
He looked at the Jedi. He was a Twi’lek who appeared to be in his mid- to late forties. Lorn could not recall having seen him around the Temple. Of course, that meant nothing; there were plenty of Jedi with whom he had had little or no contact.
The irony of it all would have made him laugh, if it wasn’t still so blasted terrifying. To be rescued from the deadly grasp of a Sith by a Jedi! Still, he had to admit it was providential that they had come along when they did. Since it looked like he and I-Five wouldn’t be heading offworld any time soon, the Jedi Temple was probably the safest place for them now—though it galled him to admit that, even to himself.
So much had happened within the last few minutes—and practically all of it disastrous—that he hadn’t even begun to come to grips with it yet. The Jedi shot around another corner, and Lorn felt inertia press his body against the low-powered tractor field designed to prevent injury in the case of accidents.
“Take it easy!” he said. “There’s no way he can catch up with us on foot now.”
“He’s not on foot,” the woman said tensely.
Darth Maul leapt onto the speeder bike as it flashed past him. He wrapped both hands around the acceleration grips on the handlebar and opened them up. The repulsor engine’s hum climbed as the speeder shot forward. Maul leaned into the turns as the speeder zoomed around corners.
There was no need to activate the heads-up tracking display. The Jedi and his quarry gleamed like twin beacons in his mind; he could feel them in the skycar ahead of him. The speeder bike was moving at half again their speed. He would overtake them in mere minutes.
Maul grinned savagely. It would be the work of a moment to dispose of Pavan and the droid. Then he would see just how good the Jedi were. It had been far too long since he had felt his lightsaber clash against another, had heard the grating scream of energy blades in conflict, had smelled the ozone tang. Far too long.
“Why is the Sith after you?” Master Bondara shouted over the slipstream’s howl.
Though Darsha had come to the same conclusion, it was still shocking on a very deep level to hear Master Bondara articulate her thoughts. She had learned much about the Sith during her studies, of course, but all of the lectures and data seemed unanimous in the conclusion that the ancient dark order was no more. And yet, what else could he be, this creature of the night who even now pursued them? He was adept in the use of the Force, but it was quite obvious he was not a Jedi. That didn’t leave a whole lot of choices.
She saw the human and the droid look at each other, and realized they had come to a silent agreement about something. Then the droid spoke.
“We are information brokers,” he said, and something—or rather, the absence of something—in the timbre of his voice surprised Darsha. She could hear none of the built-in obsequiousness that droids, particularly those of the protocol series, evidenced as a rule. He had a confidence in his tone and manner that was startling enough for her to notice, even given the duress of the moment.
“I am known as I-Five, and my associate is Lorn Pavan,” the droid continued. Darsha saw Master Bondara glance