Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 05_ Darkest Knight - Kevin J. Anderson [32]
Chewbacca suddenly went still and cocked his head, as if listening. He squinted his blue eyes. The sound came again, this time punctuated by sharp thuds like blaster bolts hitting their targets, underscored by a lowpitched buzzing Jaina couldn't quite identify.
"That's coming from outside," she said. @at could it possibly-' Chewbacca held up his hand for silence.
The Wookiee woofed and loped toward the hangar bay door, with Jaina hot on his heels.
Outside, the treetops spread in a green and brown carpet well below the sheer edge of the hangar bay. Uprising branches held the hangar platform high above the remainder of the forest.
Peering out into the hazy sky, Jaina had no trouble identifying the overlapping sounds: explosions, blaster bolts, and a distinctive engine howl.
"TIE fighters! What would TIE fighters be doing here? And what are they firing at?" She looked at Chewbacca in alarm.
The Wookiee pointed in the direction the sounds had come from and barked an explanation: the computer fabrication facility.
Jaina groaned. "It has to be the Second Imperium! We never thought they'd strike here." Chewbacca roared in anger, and she needed no translation.
"I know. We've got to get over there. Let's call for help-where's the closest comm unit?"
The Wookiee bounded to the communications panel next to the open bay door, slapped the switch, and bellowed an alarm. Jaina whirled as a stuttering whine erupted behind them. "Now what?" The sound came from the Shadow Chaser itself. Chewbacca and Jaina exchanged glances and sprinted toward the sleek ship they had been repairing. Through the viewport, inside the cockpit, Jaina could see a petite woman with wavy bronze hair clad in polished lizard hide-a Nightsister.
"How did she get in there?" Jaina cried.
"Hey, she's trying to steal the ship!"
The Shadow Chaser's engines filled the hangar bay with a sound like millions of swarming insects. The whine stopped, started, then stopped again with a cough. The engines wouldn't fire. In the cockpit, the face of the Nightsister twisted into a scowl. Her creamy brown skin mottled with rage.
Jaina looked up with equal anger. 'We've got to stop her."
Chewbacca dove under the belly of the ship, barking reassurance.
"You're sure it won't start?" Jaina said. 'How do you know?"
His head inside the still-open engine access hatch, Chewbacca grunted and nudged a piece of equipment on the floor with his foot.
Jaina recognized the primary initiator module that the Wookiee had pulled for repairs.
The Shadow Chaser would never startmuch less fly-without it.
The annoying whine came from the engines again, and Chewbacca yelped.
There was a sharp thunk, and the noise stopped as a shower of sparks sprayed from the engine hatch. The Wookiee ducked back out.
Then Jaina heard the low hum of an extending entry ramp. But before they could rush aboard to apprehend the would-be thief, the Nightsister herself sprang out onto the hangar bay floor and faced them. Jaina thought there was something familiar about the set of the woman's face, the icy beauty and cold anger.
Chewbacca bellowed a challenge, but the petite warrior rounded on the Wookiee, eyes blazing. "I came to reclaim my rightful property. You would be a fool to stand in my way.
The Shadow Chaser is mine."
"Then you're that Nightsister-Garowyn," Jaina said. "Tenel Ka and Uncle Luke told me about you." Garowyn shifted her glance to Jaina, her anger turning sour. "Why aren't you at the factory with the rest of your friends, Jedi brat?"
"Factory?" Jaina said in confusion. Why would her friends go there?
"No matter-it is too late to save them," Garowyn snarled, raising her arms overhead as if to hurl something, though her hands were empty. "It will all end here now-with me." She laughed. "You never had a chance."
Chewbacca bared his fangs and coiled his body, ready to lunge.
Suddenly, the meaning of Garowyn's