Star Wars_ Fate of the Jedi 06_ Vortex - Denning Troy [7]
“Okay, Rowdy,” Jaina said, addressing her astromech droid by the new nickname she had given him. “Bring up the passive scanners and prep the shadow bombs.”
A long whistle of inquiry filled the cockpit, and Jaina looked down to see a question scrolling across the primary display. SHADOW BOMBS? WHAT DID CAPTAIN CALRISSIAN SAY TO YOU?
“This is no time for jokes, Rowdy,” Jaina said. “Besides, your humor protocol is lame. Who installed it, anyway?”
Rowdy replied with a mocking tweedle. I WILL NEVER TELL.
Jaina chuckled. It was already an old joke between them, since she herself was the one who had designed and installed the protocol. During a recent bout of melancholy over ending her engagement to Jagged Fel, she had decided to spend a little downtime pursuing what had been one of her favorite teenage passions: tinkering with stuff. The result had been a new humor routine for her astromech droid—and one that had the unexpected benefit of reversing the R9 series’ tendency to self-enhance their preservation routines. The bolder version was a definite improvement, at least to Jaina’s way of thinking. But she still had not decided whether the lame jokes were a reflection of her rusty programming skills, or a subconscious effort to echo the bad jokes her brother Jacen used to tell back on Yavin 4—before he became Darth Caedus and she became his executioner.
An alert chime sounded from the cockpit speakers, and another message rolled across the display screen. BOGEYS COMING FAST.
The screen switched to a tactical map showing three generic starcraft symbols speeding toward the Rockhound’s tail. A fourth symbol, hanging at the top of the display, was not approaching at all.
“That doesn’t look like a turbolaser assault in the making,” Jaina observed. “Rowdy, how sure are you of your sensors?”
ALL SENSORS ARE FUNCTIONAL AND CONCORDANT, the R9 reported. WE HAVE FOUR POTENTIAL TARGETS, AND WE HAVE ONLY FOUR REMAINING SHADOW BOMBS AND NO LASER CANNONS. IF THAT IS NOT CHALLENGE ENOUGH, I CAN ALWAYS SHUT DOWN ANOTHER ENGINE.
“Very funny.” As Jaina spoke, she was watching data readouts appear beneath each of the symbols on the screen. “Didn’t I just say this is no time for jokes?”
WHO IS JOKING?
Jaina was too busy studying tonnage estimates to respond. The three craft approaching the Rockhound were carrying far too much mass to be starfighters, while the vessel hanging back was only about half the mass of the ChaseMaster frigates the Sith were using. In fact, its thermal profile lacked the high-output signature of military-grade engines at all, and there were no energy concentrations large enough to suggest a turbolaser preparing to fire.
“Rowdy, give me more on those bogeys in the lead.” As Jaina spoke, she began to ease back on the control stick, bringing the StealthX up and pointing its nose toward the trio of tiny blue flickers still closing on the Rockhound. “They can’t be fighters, or they would have attacked by now.”
A magnified enhancement of the lead bogey appeared on Jaina’s display. The image suggested a blocky craft about twenty meters long, with a wedge-shaped bow and four undersized ion engines attached to the stern. Thermal imaging showed a main cabin packed with at least twenty beings, while a small energy concentration just beneath the roof seemed to suggest the presence of a cannon turret.
Jaina frowned. “Maybe Lando was right,” she said. “That looks like an assault shuttle.”
NEGATIVE. THE HULL ARMOR ON AN ASSAULT SHUTTLE WOULD DEFEAT OUR THERMAL IMAGING, Rowdy reported. IT IS SEVENTY-EIGHT PERCENT LIKELY THAT ALL THREE CRAFT ARE LIGHTLY MODIFIED BDY CREW SKIFFS.
“Okay … and I suppose the lightly modified means that cannon turret on the roof?” Jaina asked.
AFFIRMATIVE. BDY SKIFFS ARE NOT SOLD WITH ARMAMENT OPTIONS.
“And that’s why pirates love them.” As she spoke, Jaina was trying to recall the latest