Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 05_ Allies - Christie Golden [163]
Jaina flicked off the intercom switch, then started back toward her StealthX, securing her helmet and glove seals as she walked. Gullible, no Force-presence, and a terrible liar—the Voice definitely belonged to a stowaway droid, probably one sent by the Sith. That made enough sense that Jaina felt vaguely guilty for not anticipating the tactic in time to prevent the sabotage. The only thing she didn’t understand was why the Sith hadn’t just rigged the fusion core to blow. A living stowaway they might have valued enough to work out an escape plan—but a droid? She could not imagine that any Sith deserving of the name would give a second thought to sacrificing a droid.
Jaina reached her StealthX and found BY2B standing behind the far wing, holding the last laser-cannon in her heavy cargo arms. Jaina did a quick visual inspection of the bedraggled starfighter, then asked, “Is she ready to fly?”
“Ready would be an overstatement,” BY2B answered. “But the craft is capable of launching. I do hope you checked your flightsuit for vacuum hardiness.”
“No need—it’s not me that will be going EV.” Jaina ascended the short access ladder and climbed into the cockpit. As she buckled herself in, she asked, “ByTwoBee, have you seen any new droids around here lately?”
“No,” the droid said. “Not since departing Klatooine.”
“Klatooine?” Jaina’s stomach began to grow cold and heavy. “Then you did see a new droid before we left for the Maw?”
“Indeed, I did,” BY2B replied. “A Rebaxan MSE-6.”
“A mouse droid?” Jaina gasped. “And you didn’t report it?”
“Of course not,” BY2B said. “Captain Calrissian had warned me just a few minutes earlier to expect a courier shuttle delivering a new utility droid.”
Jaina groaned and hit the pre-ignition engine heaters, then asked, “And I suppose he told you this over your internal comlink?”
“Yes, as a matter of fact,” BY2B replied. “How did you know?”
“Because that wasn’t Lando you heard,” Jaina said, speaking through clenched teeth. “It was a sabotage droid programmed with an impersonation protocol.”
“Sabotage?”
About the Author
CHRISTIE GOLDEN is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Omen, and several short stories in the fields of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Her media tie-in works include launching the Ravenloft line in 1991 with Vampire of the Mists, more than a dozen Star Trek novels, and the Warcraft novel Lord of the Clans.
www.christiegolden.com
Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Allies is a work of fiction.
Names, places, and incidents either are products of
the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
Copyright © 2010 by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or ™ where indicated. All Rights Reserved.
Used Under Authorization.
Excerpt from Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Vortex copyright © 2010
by Lucasfilm Ltd. & ® or TM where indicated. All Rights Reserved.
Used Under Authorization.
Published in the United States by Del Rey, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
DEL REY is a registered trademark and the Del Rey colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
This book contains an excerpt from the forthcoming book Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Vortex by Troy Denning. This excerpt has been set for this edition only and may not reflect the final content of the forthcoming edition.
eISBN: 978-0-345-51956-6
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