Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 06_ Jedi Under Siege - Kevin J. Anderson [4]
"It'll be a tight squeeze," Orvak said.
"Ready for it?"
"I feel like I could take on the whole Rebel Alliance by myself," Dareb said.
Orvak didn't acknowledge this display of overconfidence. "Closing in," he said.
He brought the stealth TIE fighter lower, just skimming the treetops.
Leaves whispered beneath him, chattering and scratching against the wings of his ship. The air seemed to ripple in front of the fighter, a faint indication of the energy shield, and he hoped the sensors were correct.
"Stay on target," he said. "Once we get under the shields, our real work starts."
Just as they passed underneath the invisible boundary, Dareb swerved to one side to avoid an unexpected moss-covered branch that elbowed up only a meter above the canopy. The young pilot overcompensated and struck a corner of his square wing panel against another branch, which sent him tumbling.
"I can't hold it!" he shouted into the comm system. "I'm out of control!"
Dareb's TIE fighter pinwheeled up into the deadly force field and exploded as it hit the disintegrating wall. Intent on his mission, Orvak streaked onward, looking into the rear viewers to see the flaming debris of his partner tumbling out of the sky.
He clenched his teeth and drew a deep breath through the oxygen mask in his helmet. "We're all expendable," Orvak said, as if trying to convince himself. "Expendable. The mission is all-important. Dareb was my backup.
So now it's up to me. Alone."
He swallowed hard, knowing that now the Rebels must be aware of his covert mission.
Without pause, Orvak homed in on the isolated shield-generating station.
The machinery looked like a set of tall disks half buried in the jungle underbrush, surrounded by a cleared maintenance area that provided just enough space for him to land his small Imperial fighter. Visible in the distance rose the great pyramid that housed Skywalker's Jech academy.
He shut down the muffled twin ion engines and opened the cockpit door, heaving himself out. Reaching into the stowage compartment behind his pilot's seat, he retrieved the pack of supplies that contained all the explosives he would need for a full day's work....
Orvak stepped on the squashing, plantcovered ground. The jungle brooded around him, chaotic and threatening. Overhead, he could hear the crackling hum of the energy shield that had destroyed his partner.
Compared with the clean, sterile Shadow Academy, Yavin 4 felt disgustingly alive. It swarmed with vermin, plants growing everywhere, little rodents, insects, strange biting creatures that moved in every direction and hid in every cranny.
He longed for the precise and spotless corridors of the Shadow Academy, where his boots could ring loud and clear on the cold, hard metal plates, where he could smell the recycled air flowing through the ventilators, where everything was regimented and in its rightful place... just as the Empire would be again after its victory over the Rebels.
Orvak took comfort in his solid leather gloves and the helmet that protected him from infestation by the parasitic creatures of this uncivilized world.
Taking the pack that contained his demolition equipment, he sprinted away from his TIE fighter toward the humming shield generator station. It bulked over him, powerful and unguarded. Doomed.
Although the shield generators were obviously new, vines, creepers, and ferns grew in tangled profusion close to the warm machinery. Orvak could see hacked ends and broken branches where someone had chopped away the foliage in an attempt to keep the access clear. The irresistible jungle, though, kept pressing its advantage. Orvak shook his head at