Star Wars_ Legacy of the Force 07_ Fury - Aaron Allston [79]
Dician considered, drumming her fingers on the armrest of her captain’s chair. Sneaking up on a rogue Jedi in an antiquated frigate was tricky enough without the complication of additional observers. Still, it had to be done. “Continue as ordered. However, we may have to make a fast run from the final asteroid to our target. I want all crews and asteroid-buster bombs standing by at the shuttles. I want all weapons primed and ready.”
Wayniss nodded, unperturbed. “Yes, Captain.”
Jag took the lead in his X-wing—it was only fitting, because of the three starfighters, his was the only one not equipped for stealth. Jaina and Zekk hung back in their StealthXs as Jag approached the habitat. Squat and dome-topped, set atop plascrete columns holding it meters above the asteroid surface, archaic of design, and pitted with meteorite strikes sustained across centuries, it exactly matched the habitat described in Ben Skywalker’s report of the Brisha Syo encounter.
Jag brought his vehicle in quickly enough that he could accelerate away at a good clip if weapons turrets suddenly sprouted on the habitat’s surface, but the habitat remained inert, and he felt a moment of doubt. Was Alema even there? Leia’s last tight-beam transmission, minutes earlier, had indicated that she had felt some movement in the Force, something distinct from the pool of dark energy waiting at the asteroid’s center, but that didn’t mean their quarry was home.
Well, if she wasn’t, her hunters could take up residence and wait for her.
His X-wing comm board reported a signal—an automated query from a hangar facility, offering landing instructions. He ignored it.
He decelerated as he neared the habitat. In the dim light from the distant sun, it was revealed to be an unlovely mass of reinforced duracrete, its viewports dark, perhaps covered by durasteel meteorite shutters. He sent his X-wing into a shallow dive, activating repulsorlifts as he came within meters of the stony asteroid surface, and glided in underneath the habitat, between its support pillars.
A column of light emerged from the center of the habitat’s underside, illuminating a section of railed track. The track led down to the asteroid surface—and into it, through a broad gash in the stone.
Jag nodded. The light had to come from the chamber described in Ben Skywalker’s report, a room that housed the railcar access to the mines below. The hatch into the chamber was open, with the chamber’s air probably being contained by atmosphere shielding.
Not that the presence or lack of atmosphere mattered to him, not now.
He set his X-wing down almost directly beneath the chamber opening and powered down. Then, bypassing warning indicators and programming implemented to prevent accidents, he raised his canopy, venting his cockpit atmosphere into space. He pulled his crushgaunts from the webbing that kept them secure at his feet, donned them, then unstrapped and activated his low-grav thruster pack.
This would be a tricky maneuver. He had to fly up into the lit chamber, which was simple enough…but if the habitat’s artificial gravity was active, and he calculated his angle and rate of travel wrong, he would immediately be dragged back through the hole again, or would hit the chamber ceiling and carom to an inglorious crash somewhere on the chamber floor.
As he reached the circular opening and emerged into light, he cut his thruster and drew his oversized blaster. His momentum carried him a couple of meters into the air.
—curved wall ahead of him, no targets visible—
He came down on his feet on solid flooring and spun, assessing possible threats, possible targets.
—track protruding nearly up to the high ceiling, a control stand,