Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 08_ Diversity Alliance - Kevin J. Anderson [13]
Jacen was glad the security guard had reacted quickly this time and avoided making a scene. Even so, he got a strange prickly feeling at the back of his neck. He shivered. Something was wrong here.....
Maybe it was because the High Roller was outside the viewports waiting to blast the bridge again, but he didn't think so.
Beside him, Tenel Ka stood up straighter and glanced around as if searching for something. Their eyes met. She felt it too.
"Now," Tyko said, "I'11 need the rest of you children off the bridge.
We're going to be in the middle of a firefight. All weapons, power up and calibrate your targeting systems!"
Jaina stepped forward boldly. "I could be some help to you here. I have a lot of gunnery experience." She looked over at Jacen. "I'm a pretty good shot and so is " Jacen, feeling an urgent need to follow Raynar, gave a minute shake of his head.
"--uh, so is Lowie," Jaina went on, catching the hint, though she didn't seem to understand her brother's intentions.
Lowie cocked his head in surprise, then smoothed the fur down on his neck with both hands. He gave a sharp bark of agreement.
"Very well, then. You may both stay.
We'll need all the help we can get," Uncle Tyko said. "But the rest of you, to your quarters until the emergency has passed."
Jacen and Tenel Ka hurried from the bridge and into the turbolift.
When the door slid shut behind them, Tenel Ka raised her eyebrows.
"Are you thinking the same as I?"
Jacen nodded. "I'm thinking that Aryn and Raynar may not be safe even down in the protected chambers. Something is very wrong here."
Tenel Ka made a fist and thumped it against her bare thigh. "This is a fact."
"He's somewhere on this level," Jacen said, stepping out of the turbolift. "I can sense him."
"But we are nowhere close to the center of the ship," Tenel Ka pointed out. "I believe we have reached the docking bays.
The guard should not have brought Aryn and Raynar here."
Jacen swallowed hard. "Yeah, that's what I was afraid of," he said. "I've got a bad feeling about this."
As if to prove his intuition correct, a blaster shot rang out from down the corridor.
"Hey, that came from the docking bay down there!" Jacen said.
"Isn't that wherein" Tenel Ka's face was grim. "Yes. Where we left the Rock Dragon."
Suddenly, the flagship thrummed with a sharp impact, as if someone had struck the hull with a giant hammer--or a powerful turbolaser blast. "I think that deadline the High Roller gave us just expired," Jacen said.
They ran.
The Tradewyn hummed as it fired back at the ship that had ambushed it.
The space battle had begun.
When they reached the entrance to the docking bay, a strange sight greeted them.
His face flushed, Raynar stood protectively in front of his mother near the boarding ramp to the Rock Dragon, colorful robes swirling around him like an aurora.
Closer to the entrance, the guard Kusk faced them, speaking into a comlink gripped in one hand. His other hand held a blaster aimed more or less at Raynar. The blaster, however, seemed to have a mind of its own.
It raised and lowered and wobbled and dipped while Kusk wrestled to hold it steady. Obviously, Raynar was struggling · through the Force to get a grip. on Kusk's weapon.
"Yes, I have the merchandise you requested," Kusk said into the comlink, straining to keep hold of his squirming weapon.
"I'll meet you in five minutes at the pickup point."
A harsh voice replied. Though it was crackly with static, Jacen still recognized it as the voice of the helmeted man aboard the High Roller.
"It worked, just like I said it would."
Another blow struck the ship. The mysterious attacker had shot again, but the guard Kusk merely smiled in satisfaction.
The Tradewyn fired back with a loud whining discharge of deadly energy.
Tenel Ka took her own action. "Prepare to fight, traitor!" she said in a loud