Star Wars_ The New Jedi Order_ Dark Tide 02_ Ruin - Michael A. Stackpole [65]
The third Yuuzhan Vong warrior hissed an order, which started the reptoids pulling back. Before he had any chance to organize any sort of defense or retreat, resistance snipers targeted him. A hail of red blaster bolts shot down at him from all angles, jolting him. He wobbled and lurched, raising a hand to ward off the sting of the energy weapons. His vonduun crab armor might have been proof against an errant bolt or two, but such concentrated fire burned through it. The Yuuzhan Vong spasmed, throwing his limbs wide, then collapsed to the ferrocrete decking.
The reptoids, bereft of any leadership, scattered. Ganner slashed two down and the resistance fighters killed more, but none came in Jacen’s direction. Instead, nearest him, a thrall snapped an order that brought several of his fellows with him. They retreated in good order to the north, back into the building from which they had launched their attack.
Corran raised his blade and circled it over his head. “Move it. Grab two of the guys Jacen put down. Let’s go.”
Two of the resistance fighters each grabbed a downed thrall and started to drag them off when a black ovoid form screamed overhead. It vanished beyond the line of buildings to the south, but Jacen felt a sour taste growing in his mouth. “That was a coralskipper, Corran.”
“Sithspawn!” Corran glanced at his chronometer. “We have to get out of here fast, and we’ve got at least two hours before our ride will be here. As we planned it, people. Get the prisoners out in the vehicles, the rest of us will pull the Vong off.”
Ganner nodded grimly. “I’ve heard the Pesktda Xenobotanical Garden is worth seeing.”
“Yeah, well, don’t figure you’re going to get time to read all the exhibit signs.”
Ganner frowned, but Jacen smiled. “Hey, at least he thinks you can read.”
The older Jedi’s return comment was swallowed by the reappearance of the coralskipper. The ship came down and hovered ten meters above the plaza. Its nose-mounted plasma cannon spat out a bolt that sizzled over the Jedi’s head and melted a two-meter-wide furrow in the ferrocrete.
Corran pointed west. “Go, now! I’ll distract it.”
Ganner started sprinting west, but Jacen grabbed Corran’s sleeve. “You know what you’re doing?”
“Nope, but that’s never stopped me before.” The Corellian Jedi winked at Jacen and stood, then darted east. He waved his lightsaber in the air and shouted. “C’mon, sparky, I dare you.”
The plasma cannon’s muzzle swiveled in Corran’s direction like a bug’s eye on a stalk. The Jedi set himself, lightsaber in hand, ready to deflect the bolt. Light began to glow gold in the muzzle.
“Go, Jacen, go!”
The young Jedi frowned and gathered the Force to himself. He grabbed the hatch cover Ganner had used as a weapon and flicked it up into the air. He slammed it against the cannon muzzle and summoned all the strength he could to hold it there. Jacen felt an immediate shock of pressure through the Force, so he redoubled his effort.
The hatch cover glowed red, then white, then evaporated from the center out. A little spurt of plasma squirted down, and Corran batted it from the air with ease. On the coralskipper, from the nose back, little golden lines traced their way along the ship’s black body. They seemed to define where bits and pieces of it had grown together. Then a nova filled the cockpit and blew out the viewports. Burning plasma geysered into the air, and the ship hung there for a moment before dipping its nose and plunging into the ferrocrete.
It hit hard enough to ripple the surface, knocking Jacen down. Pieces of the ship shattered and started bouncing across the plaza. Jacen began to comprehend his danger from them, but before he could act, Corran came sprinting over, hauled him up by his shoulders, and pulled him clear. A huge section of the coralskipper’s tail toppled over on the spot where Jacen had fallen.
He smiled up at Corran. “Thanks for saving my life.”
“Sure, now don’t ever