Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 04_ Lightsabers - Kevin J. Anderson [54]
Where was the background hum of the night perimeter shields?
Leaning forward, Tenel Ka narrowed her eyes to study the air. A telltale shimmer should have been visible to demonstrate that a protective field surrounded the fortress-but she saw nothing. Then her attention turned to a glimmer of light and a smudge of smoke rising into the air near the generator station.
The shield generator had been destroyed! That meant Reef Fortress now stood unprotected.
Tenel Ka drew back, intending to whirl around and sound the alarm-when a faint motion far below caught her eye. Her heart pounding, all Jedi senses alert, she glanced down to where the steep stone walls blended into the uneven lumps of the reef. A strange camouflaged ship, long and angular, floated just above the waves on repulsorfields.
"Ah. Aha," she said. "Assault craft of some sort."
Then she sucked in a sharp breath as she saw figures moving-more than a dozen.
Black, many-legged creatures like large insects swarmed up the base of the fortress-and scaled the sheer wall.5 effortlessly. Tenel Ka instantly recognized the tactics, the black body armor, the skittering, segmented movements. Her stomach tied itself into an icy knot, and adrenaline shot through her veins. The Bartokks, deadly humanoid insects, were legendary for their relentless and resourceful assassin squads.
Tenel Ka raced over to the comm unit mounted on a stone wall near her door and slapped the alarm button to sound a general call to arms-but nothing happened. She pushed the alarm firmly once again with her hand, and found that the entire warning system was dead.
"Lights," she called, but her room remained dark.
All power, including backup generators, had been cut off to Reef Fortress.
They were in deep trouble.
Bending over and using the stump of her arm to hold the buckle in place, she took a moment to fasten her utility belt over the supple reptilian armor in which she slept. Tenel Ka pulled her hair back with a thong, letting the long red-gold braids drape like a crown around her head. It was time for action.
She would have to rouse everyone.
Tenel Ka rushed down the corridor and pounded on the door to Jacen's room. Lowbacca bellowed from his own chamber and flung the door open.
Jaina hurried out of the gadget room.
"What's going on?" Jacen asked, dragging unsteady fingers through his sleep-tousled hair.
"Something... dangerous," Jaina said, already sensing the situation. "A serious threat."
Lowbacca roared, his wildly disheveled ftir standing out in every direction as he attempted to strap on the glossy white belt made of syren-plant fiber.
"Emergency?" Em Teedee said. "Perhaps we are all simply overreacting."
"No. We are not," Tenel Ka answered. "The power to the fortress has been cut off, and our defensive force field no longer functions. The generating station has been destroyed. We are currently under attack by a Bartokk assassin squad."
Jacen shuddered. "Hey, I've heard of them.
Insects, right? And they all work together as a hive, to assassinate their assigned target."
Tenel Ka nodded. "They are fearsome mercenaries, fighting as one organism. Once given a target, they continue to fight until the very last member of their hive has been killed-or until their victim lies dead."
"I'm sure that's terribly efficient," Em Teedee observed, "but they certainly don't sound very friendly."
Jaina frowned, looking determined. "Well then, what are we waiting for?" She retrieved her lightsaber from her quarters while Jacen ran back into the aquarium room to fetch his weapon, too.
Lowbacca, his lightsaber already at his waist, roared in challenge. "Now, Master Lowbacca, getting delusions of grandeur can be hazardous to your health," Em Teedee said. Lowie just snarled, the black streak across the top of his head bristling with anger.
Tenel Ka stepped into the Wookiee's room, marched to the far wall, and yanked free the jagged