• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

The Nightsister drew herself taller in surprise, looking like a black bird of prey. "Ah, so you are already familiar with the Force. That will make it easier for me to train you, to turn you."

Tenel Ka remained tense and rigid, glaring at her opponent. "This is not a fact. And I will not let you harm my friends."

The Nightsister seemed to snap as her anger came free of its delicate cage. "Then I won't hesitate to destroy you as well!" Her black robes rippled like a thunderstorm. Locking her violet gaze on Tenel Ka, she raised her clawed hands, fingers outspread, glossy dark hair crackling with static as her body charged with electrical power.

Tenel Ka stood directly in front of her, unflinching, as the dark Force built to a climax within the Nightsister.

Without warning, Tenel Ka lashed out with her foot, putting all of the strength of her muscular, athletic legs behind the kick. The sharp toe of her hard, scaled boot struck the Niglitsister's unar-mored kneecap. Tenel Ka distinctly heard the crunch of a breaking bone and tearing muscles as her blow struck home. The Nightsister shrieked and fell to the ground, writhing in. agony.

Calm and self-satisfied, Tenel Ka stared down at her with cool gray eyes.

"I never use the Force unless I have to," she said. "Sometimes old-fashioned methods are just as effective."

Leaving the Nightsister moaning on the floor, Tenel Ka jogged back toward the Shadow Chaser, where Luke was gesturing for hex to hurry. She climbed aboard, and the ship doors sealed.

Alarms continued to sound, their clamor muffled inside the cockpit of the Shadow Chaser. Luke piloted the vehicle, raising it off the floor on its repulsorfields. Jaina and Lowie still worked desperately to open the heavy space doors.

With a loud crrwnmp, two sets of the red metal doors blasted open. Smoke from detonators curled out, and white-armored stormtroopers charged in, blasting at the shuttle.

"You'd better get that space door open," Luke said. "Soon."

Lowie yowled. "We're trying!" Jaina said, keying in a new command string, working even more furiously.

More stormtroopers came through. Blaster fire sprayed across the room.

They could hear the splatter and boom of impacts. But the Shadow Chaser's armor held.

"We've got company," Luke said, staring at the sealed bay doors. "We're out of time."

"I can't get the-," Jaina began, and suddenly the heavy doors cracked open, spreading wide for the Shadow Chaser. The atmosphere-containment field shimmered in front of the star-strewn blackness, but now the shuttle could launch into open space.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Jaina said, trying to cover her confusion.

"Let's go!" Luke shouted, and punched the accelerators.

Everyone grabbed the arms of their seats as the launch threw them back.

The Shadow Chaser roared away from the Imperial station, leaving the huge, spiked structure uncloaked in space behind them.

Luke heaved a loud sigh of relief as he punched the escape coordinates into the navicomputer. "Let's get back to Yavin 4," he said.

None of the young Jedi Knights objected, and they surged into hyperspace.

"Good work, Jaina and Lowie," Luke finally said. "I didn't think you'd ever get that docking-bay door open."

Lowbacca mumbled something unintelligible, and Jaina fidgeted. "Uh, Uncle Luke," she said, "I kind of hate to mention this, but-we didn't get the door open."

Luke shrugged, not wanting to quibble. "Well, we owe our thanks to whoever did it."

Qorl stood by the docking-bay controls, watching the Shadow Chaser disappear. The escape left absolute turmoil in its wake as the Shadow Academy scrambled to regroup. Qorl touched the space door controls, smiled faintly to himself, and then closed the doors. He would, of course, never tell Brakiss or Tamith Kai.

Brakiss came into the control room next to Qorl, exhausted and troubled.

"Is our cloaking shield up yet? We must get it working. The Rebels will no doubt send attack fleets in search of us. We'll have to relocate.

That's why this station was designed to be mobile."

Brakiss drummed