Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 06_ Jedi Under Siege - Kevin J. Anderson [25]
"Leave off, old man," Norys said. "This is my kill, and I'm gonna score it." Qorl tried to keep his anger in check. "We don't keep score, Norys.
This assault is for the Second Imperium-not for your personal glory."
"Go stick your head up an exhaust tube," Norys said. "I'm not letting an old coward tell me what to do." Then the bully switched off his comm system and plunged after the burning cargo ship, firing with absolute abandon.
Qorl's disappointment turned to outrage.
This young man's attitude flew in the face of everything admirable about the Empire.
Qorl remembered his earlier TIE fighter training, how he and his fellow pilots had all worked together like a machine: precise, well mannered, respectful, listening to orders promoting the orderly lifestyle the Emperor had brought to the g@. That was worth fighting for.
But Norys did not represent such a philosophy. He didn't care.
The broadband comm signal came across his speakers again. "This is Jacen Solo with a personal distress this time. We are in deep trouble. Someone is on our tail. Request assistance. Please-can anyone out there help us?"
Qorl flew beneath the aerial dogfight just above the treetops, anguished inside. Jacen Solo was an honorable opponent. The boy had a strong heart, though he had fallen in with the Rebel band instead of the Second Imperium. But could the boy be blamed?
After all, his mother was the Chief of State of the Rebel government.
Norys, however, did have a choice. The broad-shouldered boy knew what he had been trained for. He had adopted his Imperial uniform and his ship willingly... yet now he refused to play by the rules. Norys was no better than a ruthless, murderous bully.
The pursuing TIE fighter continued to fly in the slipstream of the crippled cargo vessel. Black smoke curled up from her engine pods, and Qorl observed the precise moment at which the shields failed.
Still Norys fired again, staining the hull with a slash of black blisters.
Qorl flicked on his own laser cannons and activated the targeting systems. The Lightning Rod would explode in a matter of seconds under Norys's continued assault. If it did, Qorl wouldn't be surprised if the bully continued to shoot the burning wreckage to make sure there were no survivors.
Disgust welled up within him. Switching off his comm system, he muttered,
"Do I lose any honor by destroying someone who has no honor of his own?"
Qorl had studied every subsystem on the Imperial TIE fighters. He knew their weak points. Qorl knew how to destroy them.
He targeted Norys's reactor exhausts.
Ignoring his teacher entirely, Norys fired again. His lasers had fallen into a slower repeating rhythm now, as if he savored these last few moments.
The Lightning Rod lurched, in one last helpless attempt to dodge the laser fire.
Qorl closed in on Norys's ship.
And fired.
Norys's TIE fighter exploded in the air, annihilated so quickly and completely that the young bully didn't even have time to cry out in surprise.
Ashamed that his act had been a betrayal of the Second Imperium, Qorl made no attempt to contact the Lightning Rod. He simply changed course and swerved back toward the main battlefield, while the faltering Lightning Rod struggled to remain aloft... or at least to land without crashing too badly.
WHILE BATTLES RAGED above the Jedi academy and in the jungle around it, Imperial commando Orvak crept forward, intent on his mission.
He had left his TIE fighter behind in the wake of the explosions at the shield generator facility, but he would come back to it once he had finished here. For hours now, he had made his way secretly through the thick forest.
Several trees burned in the jungle nearby, sending up coils of putrid smoke from the wet vegetation. He heard blaster fire and shouts, the distant hum of lightsabers. He kept low and quiet, not willing to risk giving away his position.
Skywalker's Jedi had abandoned their Great Temple