Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 11_ The Emperor's Plague - Kevin J. Anderson [25]
"This way," Jaina said. She turned down a branching corridor just as a blaster bolt hit close to the floor at Tenel Ka's feet, forcing her to jump. When a second blast zinged off the corridor wall beside her, Tenel Ka threw herself backward, brought up her lightsaber, and deflected the bolt - but not without a price. Unable to regain her balance in time, Tenel Ka tried to pull herself forward again to land on her right leg, but her foot encountered a loose chunk of plasteel broken free from the ceiling. Her foot slipped, and the ankle turned at an angle it had never been meant to assume.
One of the guards saw her loss of balance and shot past the Quarren toward Tenel Ka. Knowing her leg would not hold her anyway, the warrior girl relaxed her body and allowed it to fall, so that the energy bolt sizzled harmlessly over her-a hair's breadth from the breastplate of her lizard-hide armor. Tenel Ka tucked and rolled as she hit the floor, having the presence of mind to switch off her lightsaber as she tumbled a few meters to avoid more blaster fire and-even with only one arm -
displaying her prowess as a fighter.
Jacen stepped out of the corridor in front of her, his lightsaber blazing to deflect the enemy fire.
"That way," he yelled, jerking his head to indicate the corridor from which he had come.
Pushing off from the metal wall behind her, Tenel Ka launched herself into the side corridor in a tumbling roll. During calisthenics she'd often used such maneuvers to bring herself out of a defensive position, back to her feet, and ready to go on the offense. This time, though, when she came out of the roll with both feet planted beneath her, a jolt of pain lanced upward from her right ankle. She bit back an outcry. She could not afford to draw Jacen or Jaina's attention away from their own defenses by causing them concern for her.
"This way," Jaina's voice hissed.
Jaina stood farther down the corridor at the control panel to a safety interlock, where a vaulted portal was set into a bulkhead. Jacen backed around the corner beside Tenel Ka, still deflecting blaster bolts. "Come on, you two, " Jaina called. Her brother turned and ran, grabbing for Tenel Ka's arm. She gritted her teeth and pounded down the hallway next to him, ignoring the spear of pain she felt every time her right foot touched the ground.
Moments later they were through, and Jaina swung the heavy portal shut behind them.
"I set an entry code on the emergency interlocks," she explained, "but I don't know how long this'll hold them."
Tenel Ka ignored the flaring pain in her right leg, tuning it out as if switching off a faulty comlink.
"Perhaps our situation calls for desperate measures," she said.
INSIDE THE PLAGUE chamber, Lowie planted his last thermal detonator and set the controls. He stood up, satisfied with his work, and growled at the insidious storehouse of destruction. He looked around one last time, surrounded by a forest of tall, bubbling cylinders. Suddenly he felt a chill as his Jedi senses brought him to full alert. He was no longer alone in the room. Lowie heard no change in the background hissing and burbling, no muffled conversation-but he did feel an unaccustomed stir in the air currents. From the center of the crowded equipment room he couldn't see the outer walls.
In fact, he could see very little except barricades of tubes and canisters. But as he listened, his fur prickling against his skin, he heard a grating, rasping breath... heavy footfalls that came slowly, stealthily.
As if something were stalking him. Lowie's fingers drifted to his lightsaber. His muscles tensed, and the dark streak on his forehead stood upright in an intimidating brush. Danger, he sensed, danger. He held himself utterly still.
Then Em Teedee said in a whisper that sounded louder to Lowie than his