Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 01_ Onslaught - Michael A. Stackpole [76]
The droid tooted an acknowledgement, then quickly keened a sharp whistle.
Jaina thumbed her weapons control over to proton torpedoes and triggered a pair. The pink missiles jetted blue flame and shot straight at their target. A heartbeat before they reached it, the valve snapped open, revealing a golden glow coming from deep down in the shaft. The torpedoes flew on, and Jaina pumped the throttle full forward and inverted as her X-wing dove back toward the Yuuzhan Vong ship.
Somewhere in the middle of the spine, the torpedoes hit the plasma bolt. Cracks immediately appeared in the midnight blue shaft. They leaked silver-gold fire, then the shaft started to come apart. The center of it vaporized into an incandescent cloud of molten yorik coral. A great gout of fire clipped the end of the shaft’s upper half at an odd angle, starting it to spin and wobble. It slammed into another spine, shattering both of them.
Another pair of proton torpedoes streaked in at the shaft she’d hit. They came in at a sharp angle, and one skipped off the glowing, molten edge, then impacted the hull. Its explosion gouged a deep scar in the ship and scattered yorik coral into space. The second one made it inside the shaft, and when it exploded, the base of the shaft crumbled from the inside out.
“Nice shot, Twelve.”
“Following your lead, Sticks.”
Jaina laughed as she leveled out for a moment, then pulled up and shot away from the ship. “We showed them!”
“We did.”
“Can the chatter!” Gavin’s order coursed through the comm channel, but didn’t bring with it any anger.
“As ordered, Lead.” Jaina’s grin grew larger as she watched the Ralroost get closer and closer to the point where it would begin its run to hyperspace. We’re doing okay.
Then something shook her ship. She glanced about, fearing a dovin basal had somehow locked onto her shields, but there were no fighters anywhere near her. Her secondary monitor did show a gravitic anomaly in the system, but the readings were well beyond that which any of the coralskippers could have generated. In fact, the only time I’ve seen readings like this was when I’ve simmed against an Interdictor cruiser!
Her heart immediately sank into her belly. The Yuuzhan Vong warship had shifted its dovin basals away from driving the ship and instead had them create a narrow gravity well that blocked the Ralroost and a half-dozen other ships from entering hyperspace along the route to Agamar. We’ll just have to find another route out.
Just as that thought materialized, Sparks whistled to acknowledge receipt of new navigational data. She glanced at it as Gavin’s voice came through the comm channel. “Rogues, our exit vector to Agamar is blocked. You now have our new destination. The Ralroost has recovered fighters, so head out. We’ll rendezvous there in twelve hours. Good fighting.”
Jaina double-clicked her comm unit. She looked again at her destination, then pointed the fighter toward a distant star and began the run. Dantooine, eh? It’ll be good to see Mara again. I hope she’s gotten her rest because, if we’re followed, I know she’s going to need it.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Jacen Solo awoke as a great, wracking cough lifted his body, then left him limp. Burning pain from his shoulders and hips formed a backdrop into which the pain from the cough faded. He opened his eyes and saw a pearlescent floor beneath him. While nowhere near as reflective as a mirror, it did provide him with a distorted image of himself, where he was blobby at some points and pinched at others. Which is pretty much how I feel.
He determined he was hanging from some sort of rack mounted above him in the ceiling. He could feel the restraint bands on his ankles, thighs, and wrists. The wristbands were the worst, since they twisted his arms enough to lock his elbows. His ankles were higher than his shoulders, and his position made it difficult to get a good