Star Wars_ I, Jedi - Michael A. Stackpole [113]
Coming over the top, I rolled the Headhunter and chopped the throttle back. I keyed the comm unit. “This is Headhunter 079 requesting permission to board and land.”
“079, this is Errant Venture control. Please state the nature of your business.”
I rolled my eyes. “You tell Booster Terrik that he lets me park this fighter on his ship, or he’s going to be down more than just three turbolaser batteries.”
Silence reigned on the comm channel for a moment, then the controller’s voice returned with a degree of weariness edging into it. “079, you are clear to land in docking slot 1127. Make sure your weapons are powered down.”
“What?”
“That is the message, 079.”
“I copy.” I brought the Headhunter in toward the egress bay and powered up the repulsorlift coils. I throttled back to ten percent of thrust, and slowly worked the fighter into the docking bay. Slot 1127 was back against a bulkhead and would force me to take a long walk around the bay itself to reach Booster’s office. If he knew I’d broken my leg, I’d be parking back in the garbage hold and hiking even further.
As I closed in on my parking place, the only unusual thing I noticed was that no other ships were parked near me, and the few people on the ground were scurrying away. I ignored them—no one wanted to be caught in the backwash from engine thrust. I concentrated on setting the ship down easily, which I did—giving Booster no reason to complain about my scratching his precious deck. I quickly went through an engine lockdown and provided a security passcode for engine restart. It wouldn’t stop anyone from stealing the ship, but it might slow them down.
I smiled and keyed in a message on the ignition screen. “This Headhunter is the property of Mara Jade.” Anyone nuts enough to steal it now deserves what he gets.
I popped the cockpit hatch, which is when I noticed something rather out of the ordinary. Booster’s security detail wore Imperial style uniforms, but they had light green torsos on the tunics and bright yellow sleeves, bright yellow trousers and green caps with yellow buttons. The effect was a touch unsettling, especially with such a crowd of them around ship.
Their blasters, which were nowhere near as colorful as their uniforms, were all pointed in my direction.
A Weequay whose face looked as if it were made of flaking ceramics motioned for me to come out of the Headhunter. As I stood and my lightsaber came into view, half the guards crouched while the others moved behind convenient cover. I looked around at the dozen of them and shook my head. “No trouble, no trouble.”
For the first time I really wished I had skill in the area of Jedi levitation because trying to get out of a fighter that had me a good three meters off the deck while my hands were in the air was not an easy thing to do. I would have just jumped out, but my left leg still wasn’t one hundred percent, and I didn’t want to be limping around on the Errant Venture. What I ended up doing was sitting on the side of the cockpit and sliding down toward the floor, catching my weight mostly on my right leg.
The Weequay jabbed me in the back with a truncheon which, I imagined, could deliver a nasty jolt to me if he only pushed the red button near his thumb. “Boss Booster wants you.”
“Good, I want to see him, too.”
“Surrender lightsaber.”
I turned slowly on my heels and faced him, setting myself. “Not going to happen, quark-for-brains.”
He poked me with the truncheon again and hit the button. I felt the tingle of the electricity, but just absorbed it. I smiled as I did so. “Power cells are dead. Really. I don’t feel a thing.”
The Weequay hit the button again, but my smile did not fade. I bled the energy off into the decking, which raised the fur