Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 05_ Darkest Knight - Kevin J. Anderson [33]
"You're going nowhere!" Garowyn shouted.
One of several large wooden crates of engine components sailed through the air and knocked Chewbacca to his knees. He went down with a woof of pain and surprise.
Garowyn stood by the Shadow Chaser's ramp, her hands on her scale-armored hips.
With dark fire flickering behind her eyes, she used the Force to snatch other heavy objects from where they rested.
Jaina cried out as a similar crate flew directly at her head. She instinctively deflected it with a shove from the Force. Eerily, it reminded Jaina of the training sessions she had undergone while a prisoner at the Shadow Academy. Fear gripped her as the Nightsister tossed barrels, heavy bolts, mallets, metal sheeting, hydrospanners, and anything else she could fling, quickly and without moving a muscle, at her two captives.
Chewbacca tried to scramble for shelter behind a half-dismantled skyhopper, but Garowyn sent more sharp and hard objects flying after him.
While doing her best to deflect the flying objects from herself and Chewbacca, Jaina huddled behind one of the fallen crates and concentrated. Even in the midst of her own danger, she felt an urgency about reaching Jacen, Tenel Ka, Lowie, and Sirra.
Unfiltered lubricant oozed out of a broken container, making an acrid-smelling puddle on the floor. Jaina was frustrated that she only had time to react. She was too busy defending herself to formulate any plan.
Though Chewbacca had no Jedi defenses, he also had no intention of remaining a stationary target. Jaina saw him slip away from the skyhopper's fuselage and lift a crate with his strong, hairy arms. With a powerful heave, he sent the crate smashing into an incoming pail of lubricant tossed by the Nightsister. As iridescent liquid sprayed into the air and splashed to the floor plates all around Jaina and Garowyn, Chewie scooped up his discarded toolkit and, with a mighty bound, leaped onto the hull of the Shadow Chaser, @ll me what you've done to my ship,"
Garowyn shrieked, now directing the barrage of objects at Jaina. "How can I fix it?" The crate Jaina was crouched behind finally splintered under the attack, spilling hundreds of rattling, loose cyberfuses in every direction.
Jaina scrambled to find other cover.
Panting, she dodged some of the thrown objects and deflected others with her skills.
Perspiration streamed from her forehead and into her eyes, making it difficult to concentrate. "Damaged in an ion storm," she gasped, wiping an arm across her eyes.
"You'll never be able to fly it."
"In that case, you're worthless to me," Garow,yn sneered. 'I'll take care of you immediately." Even as the Nightsister stretched out her hands, her fingers crackling with blue fire, Jaina cast about for a way to distract her.
From out of nowhere an impedance tester sailed toward Garowyn, followed by a bydrospanner and a barrage of rivets and heavy clamp-bolts.
Chewbacca did not need the Force to hurl heavy objects.
Now it was the Nightsister's turn to d odge and deflect. Garowyn directed her attention to the Wookiee, and with a muttered oath sent a bolt of blue fire sizzling up at him.
Chewbacca yowled and ducked, tumbling back over the opposite side of the sleek ship.
The distraction was brief, but it was long enough for Jaina. Reaching out with the Force, closing her eyes in concentration, Jaina gave the Nightsister's body a powerful shove.
Caught completely off guard, Garowyn slipped in the lubricant that coated the floor around her. With another forceful shove, Jaina sent her shding toward the yawning hangar bay entrance.
"Give it up, Garowyn," Jaina said, her voice harsh with exertion. "You'll never get the Shadow Chaser."
"You haven't seen the last of me yet," the Nightsister yelled.
Then, to Jaina's amazement, instead of trying to stop the momentum of her slide toward the gaping