Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 13_ Trouble on Cloud City - Kevin J. Anderson [48]
With a bestial roar, Lowie careened out of the hangar bay in the second cloud car, a blue streak across the sky. Jacen wrestled with the controls and soared onward at full speed. He breathed a great sigh of relief.
"I guess they didn't count on our alternatives," Jacen said.
Tenel Ka twisted around to look behind her at the gleaming white metropolis in the clouds. "It does not appear that we are safe just yet, Jacen, my friend," she said.
Not far behind them, they could see that the thugs had helped themselves to a pair of cloud cars, newer and brighter than the ones the young Jedi Knights had found. The killers raced after them in hot pursuit.
Surrounded by the clutter of girders and construction debris, Jaina gripped her extinguished lightsaber, wishing she dared turn it on again to light their way. But for now the tangled darkness offered them places to hide from the turncoat security guards who still hunted the four companions in the abandoned amusement park site. Overhead, however, chameleon creatures scrambled along catwalks and crossbeams, keeping an eye on them as they fled.
Luckily, the chameleon creatures carried neither blaster pistols nor stunners. Instead, they brandished wicked-looking transparent knives with blades fashioned from crystal shards.
Since the creatures were nearly invisible, Jaina had a difficult time counting the camouflaged enemies, but she caught glimpses of the smooth forms as colors and shadows shifted across their bodies. Their cruel lipless mouths grinned as they approached their prey.
"Oh, why didn't I carry my own hold-out blaster?" Lando muttered.
"Ever since I became respectable, I stopped packing weapons."
Zekk commiserated with him. "Right now I wish I had a lightsaber, too...
even my old one from the Shadow Academy."
"We'll just play hide-and-seek as long as we can." Anja seemed more angry than afraid at the prospect of the creatures' attack.
Jaina gritted her teeth as they hurried along. "Looks like we women'll have to defend you men."
"We'll do our best to help out," Zekk said, flashing her a grim smile.
"Somehow or other."
The pack of chameleon assassins made soft thumping sounds as they swarmed along the girders above. Lando and his three companions dashed under the twisted superstructure of the enormous looping hovercoaster.
????? it was the most massive part of the amusement park; the heavy beams and bent durasteel framework loomed high above them like a fossilized prehistoric creature.
"We can't hide under here," Anja said, ducking as a brilliant bolt zinged past her face. She fired up her acid-yellow blade.
"I don't know where else to go," Lando replied. More blaster fire rang out from the shadows as security guards marched into the enclosed space, targeting Anja's bright lightsaber now. "If you have any suggestions, I'm all ears."
Jaina gazed up at the chameleon creatures slinking along the hovercoaster above them. Their sharp crystal blades twinkled, reflecting the dim emergency lights. Skins rippled and flickered, adjusting their camouflage, as the creatures gathered their forces overhead. Although viciously armed, the chameleons seemed to be relative cowards, unwilling to attack until they had massed for a single strike.
Jaina intended to use that to her advantage. "Everybody stand back," she said. "And dive for cover." She stood up, switched on her blazing violet lightsaber, and held it high.
"Wait!" Lando called. "What are you going to-" The Wing Guards shouted and ran toward them.
"What are you waiting for?" Zekk said. Jaina slashed sideways.
Her dazzling lightsaber blade sliced through the main pillar that supported the central section of the hovercoaster. The energy-blade severed the heavy durasteel brace as easily as if it were a hot knife slicing through Ithorian sap gelatin. She stood back to look at the smoking, sizzling ends of the huge support beam. As if in slow motion, she saw the metal begin to