Star Wars_ Young Jedi Knights 14_ Crisis at Crystal Reef - Kevin J. Anderson [31]
"Should we just let it sink?" Zekk asked.
"No, that's not good enough!" Anja snapped. She calmed herself and lowered her voice. "Czethros's people would still be able to locate it by the transponder and retrieve the spice. This is valuable stuff, remember."
"In that case, perhaps this will work," Cilghal said, reaching out with the other claw-arm to grasp a second heavy cargo container. She swung them both outward and then back together again to smash them into each other. The already-punctured storage bin burst at the impact and a flood of tiny sealed ampoules cascaded from the container. Some of the vials shattered; others just drifted free and then slowly began to sink into the frigid depths of the ocean.
"Is this an acceptable solution?" Tenel Ka asked Anja.
Anja was silent for a full minute, just staring at the shimmering ampoules in the water around them and panting. Zekk wondered if she regretted her decision to destroy them, but a moment later Anja answered.
She raised a triumphant fist. "Yesss!" She gave a weak laugh.
"Even if Czethros's men manage to find the transponder signal now, I'd like to see them all searching several square kilometers of ocean floor and trying to collect all of those tiny little ampoules-one by one."
Zekk gave a satisfied nod. "As Jaina would say, what are we waiting for?
Let's smash the other ones."
Still leaning over his shoulder, Anja whispered, "Two down, two to go.
" While Zekk handled the minisub's piloting controls, Cilghal deftly maneuvered the pincer claws, grasping the final sealed container of andris spice with one of them. To Jacen's surprise, the Jedi ambassador stopped and blinked her huge fishy eyes. "Something is not right."
The submersible's lights seemed to have attracted something in the murky, ice-clogged water... something large and dangerous and seeking prey.
"What's that?" Jacen leaned toward a thick transparisteel porthole.
"There's a shadow out there, something... swimming." He let his eyes fall halfway closed, reached out with the Force. "Uh-oh."
As he stood, stretching his thoughts into the dark water, a giant yellow eye flashed in front of the window, its pupil as large as Jacen's head.
His eyelids snapped up, and for a fraction of a second, he froze, pinned by its cold and angry gaze.
"Jacen, any friend, do you have a 'bad feeling' about this?" Tenel Ka asked.
He nodded. The creature swam forward. Its eye was followed by a mouth filled with huge fangs, each one seemingly large enough to crush an X-wing starlighter.
"Look out!" Jacen cried.
Zekk and the Calamarian ambassador grappled with the sub's controls.
The minisub rocked back and forth under the water as the startled sea beast moved closer to look at the curious thing.
A huge tentacle the size of a space-station docking tether whipped across their front field of view, slithering, probing.
Though the creature felt hungry to Jacen, it remained cautious as it approached its new victim. The minisub turned about, its propellers whirring in the water, pushing them ever so slowly toward safety.
The giant sea creature swam past again like an immense underwater ship, not attacking yet. Its scaly hide rippled as it cruised by. More tentacles streamed out in all directions.
Jacen gave a low whistle. "It's awfully big. Do you know what it is, Cilghal?"
The Mon Calamarian shook her large head. "There are many things deep in the oceans of my world that have never been named, or even seen, by living creatures.", "We might not qualify as living creatures for long, if that thing decides to go for us," Anja said.
The current from the beast's passage stiffed the waters, making the minisub buck and sway. Zekk grasped the controls more tightly. Jacen pressed his face against the cold porthole, observing the armored hide, the long neck, the huge head with