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| - The Daara’sherum decanted from hyperspace in a flicker of light, then quickly faded away as it cloaked, a black shadow amidst the darkness of space. It had been nearly a week since the ship had left Coruscant, but the cruiser had had to cross almost half the galaxy to get here.The planet Belsavis floated before the ship, its placid white surface from orbit belying the ravages that the technobeast virus had inflicted on its settlements. The system was otherwise deserted; the Galactic Alliance had announced its quarantine, but the ships set to enforce it had yet to arrive. Even if they had been in place, that would have proven little obstacle to a cloaked vessel like the Daara’sherum, whom only the most sophisticated sensors could detect. Of course, there was no need for such sensors when the living beings on the ship shone through the Force. Ariada watched the cruiser head for the planet from the bridge of the Knightfall. If the Yanibar Guard was aware of her presence, they made no show of it. Aspra Serpaddis slid up beside her. “So, we arrived here first,” Ariada remarked. “Is Garnet aboard?” “Her ship just docked,” Aspra Serpaddis confirmed. “How fortuitous,” Ariada answered. “If she’d been any later, they might have seen us.” “The Yanibar Guard has arrived,” she told him. “Just one ship.” “Just one?” he replied in surprise, stretching out with the Force to confirm her assertion. “I would have expected more.” “Perhaps they are busy elsewhere,” she said. “This presents us with a substantial opportunity, given who I sense on that ship.” “Caution, Ariada,” he warned her. “We must be patient.” “Yet you agree that this gives us a chance for a crippling strike?” He nodded slowly. “So many of Yanibar’s best on a single ship that does not see us, does not know we are here, and a ship which we can fight . . . when the Force presents us with this, we would be fools to disregard it.” “I thought as much,” Ariada answered with a confident smile. “We will shadow them, make sure they are not planning a trap, and when the time is right . . . we will strike, swift and hard.” Cruiser Daara’sherum “Prepare a shuttle,” Selu instructed Admiral Arystek as they entered a low orbit over Belsavis. “Not the Hawk-bat?” Milya asked, surprised. “No,” Selu replied. “They’re still repairing the blast damage from earlier, and while it made the ride up from Coruscant in one piece, I wouldn’t want to chance it again.” Selu gazed out at the icy world through the expansive bridge viewport, trying to sense his son. He felt nothing, but he knew Ryion would likely be hiding if he believed that Ariada was still out there. The only way to find him would be to stumble upon his hiding place, down somewhere among the glaciers. Selu grimaced—he’d never much cared for extreme cold, but the knowledge that Ryion had been surviving down there for the better part of two weeks emboldened him. He headed for the docking bay with Milya, Tyria, and Morgedh following. Selu stopped at a gear room, heading for the cold weather gear. To his surprise, he found Cassi and Qedai already there, dressed in thick parkas and other winter garb. Selu immediately frowned. “When I said we could delay your return to Yanibar to reach Belsavis faster, this is not what I had in mind,” he said. “Qedai, I expected better of you than such deception,” Morgedh told her. “Don’t look at me,” Qedai said. “It wasn’t my idea.” Cassi stood firm. “We know at least that Ryion’s been down there on that freezing planet for at least two weeks, and if you’re right and that Jedi is still alive after being shot down, there’ll be plenty of injuries to go around. Seems like a situation where you might want a healer, and I’m the best one Yanibar has.” Selu looked at Milya for help, but she shrugged. “I actually agree with Cassi on this one.” “Fine,” Selu grumped as he donned a pair of insulating shirts. “Just be glad I already spent all my energy arguing that Master Katarn didn’t need to come along.” Once they were fully loaded and dressed for the glacial environment of Belsavis, the six headed for the waiting Javelin shuttle, its Yanibar Guard crew already prepared for departure. The vehicle left Daara’sherum’s hangar and swooped down towards the frozen surface. Selu closed his eyes and began concentrating. “What is he doing?” Tyria asked Milya. “He’s concealing the shuttle with the Force,” Milya responded. “Ariada will likely have left a watcher, and she could be waiting for us to lead her to Ryion and Jaina.” Tyria nodded and sat back as the shuttle descended. “No sign of the crash site,” one of the pilots reported via the shuttle’s intercom. “Still scanning.” “Ryion’s Maelstrom self-destructed and the other fighter is a Jedi StealthX,” Qedai reported. “Not much wreckage to find.” “Use the coordinates from Qedai’s flight record,” Milya ordered. “Extrapolate for likely wind drift and impact trajectories and determine about where they landed. We can conduct a closer search from the ground once you’ve narrowed it down.” Milya’s instructions were carried out and soon the shuttle was setting down on the glacier fields. The side door slid open and a blast of chilling wind whipped inside the shuttle. Selu grimaced and stood up, grabbing his pack. “All right, let’s get out there,” he said without much enthusiasm. They stepped out one-by-one onto the ice fields. Behind them, Selu cloaked the shuttle in a Force illusion which would hide it as long as they were landed, and then pulled down light-amp goggles. This part of Belsavis was shrouded in almost permanent night at this latitude during this time of year. Selu looked around, hoping for some clue, perhaps a terrain feature that would offer a hint of shelter—it was likely Ryion would have sought such cover in this barren wasteland. However, all he saw for kilometers on end was the endless frozen steppe. The ice fields extended into the distance, offering no cover from the relentlessly biting wind that cut through even four insulated layers to chill his bones. Selu shivered and strode forward, his boots crunching lightly on the thin layer of powder that covered a thick slab of ice. At least it wasn’t snowing. The others followed, fanning out slightly as they walked into the howling wind, searching for an indication of life, or even of the crash. “I found something,” Tyria said, holding up a piece of black material she’d retrieved from the thin layer of snow. “It’s a piece of a StealthX.” “We’re close then,” Selu told her. Suddenly, Milya let out a small shriek and disappeared from sight as the glacier swallowed her up. Selu felt her disappear in the Force and feared the worst. He dashed over to where she had vanished, his hand on his lightsaber, ready for action. His Force senses were fully aware and searching and that was when he found it—a Force illusion of a smooth glacier right where Milya had been. He mentally probed and peeled back the illusion, removing its concealment to expose a sizeable crevasse splitting the glacier nearly half a kilometer along and about ten meters wide at its widest. Selu looked down and saw Milya hanging on to the lip with one hand, her gloved fingers scrabbling for more purchase to keep from plunging into the yawning black abyss thousands of meters below. Selu quickly dropped to his stomach and stretched out his hand. “Milya!” he called. She tried to reach up for him, but the ice gave way just as she did. She fell, and Selu was about to jump in after her when two hands shot out of the crevasse wall to grab her. Ryion’s head and shoulders emerged as he pulled Milya into the cave he had blasted into the ice. “Hi, Mom,” he told her cheerily. “Nice of you to drop in.” He looked up at Selu. “You’re late.” “And we forgot your Twi’leki takeout,” Selu quipped. “Hang on, I’ll get a line down there.” He rose from his prone position to wave the others over. “I found them!” he answered. In short order, a cable had been strung down from the lip of the crevasse down to the ice cave that Ryion had hidden behind another Force illusion. Selu and Cassi descended, leaving Morgedh, Qedai, and Tyria up on top to keep watch, and Ryion admitted them into the now-confined space. “I’m glad you guys made it when you did,” Ryion said. “She won’t admit it, but the medisensor is showing a deep infection that I haven’t been able to clean out, and she hasn’t been able to heal. It’s probably some kind of resistant strain. She’s half-delirious.” He indicated to Jaina, who was lying on her back under the thick blankets, staring at the ceiling. “I heard that,” Jaina protested. “Tell your friends that I’m fine as long as they get me out of here.” Upon hearing news of the infection, Selu feared the worst. “Cassi, check her,” he said. “Without touching her.” “We’ve already been through the whole touching thing already, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Jaina said as Cassi knelt by her side. “No,” Selu replied calmly. “I’m more concerned about the possibility of you bearing a contagious mutagenic plague that I’d prefer not spread further.” “Oh,” Jaina answered, her false bravado evaporating momentarily. “Well, you certainly know how to make a girl feel better.” “The infamous Solo wit,” Selu remarked. “She does have an infection,” Cassi informed him after a minute. “But it’s not a technobeast virus. Ryion’s fine too.” Selu breathed a sigh of relief. “Good,” he said. “Can we move her?” “That might not be the best idea,” Cassi cautioned. “I’d like to stabilize her first. She has several broken bones . . .” Selu’s comlink clicked in the midst of her explanation. “Trouble,” Morgedh said simply. “Soon.” “So she won’t die if we move her?” Selu cut Cassi off. “No, but . . .” “Good enough,” Selu said. “Give her something for the pain. Now.” Cassi caught the firm tone in his voice and held her tongue, reaching for her medkit instead. “Yes, please,” Jaina answered. “That would be very, very nice.” “It’s about to get a lot worse,” Selu warned her. She frowned at him. “You really are depressing,” she told him. “There,” Cassi replied, removing the needle from Jaina’s arm. “She’ll be pretty numb in a few minutes.” “We don’t have that kind of time,” Selu answered, then directed his attention back to Jaina. “I will ask your forgiveness later, Jedi Solo.” “For—?” she started, then her words were cut off as Selu knelt down, wrapped her in the blankets, and then scooped her up in both arms. She let out a silent scream as searing pain knifed through her body, overwhelming even her practiced Jedi composure. She gasped for breath as Selu held her. “Everyone else topside,” he ordered tersely. “Now.” They knew that Selu’s urgency was well-founded, so they scrambled out ahead of him. “I apologize,” Selu told Jaina. “Normally, I would use the Force to make this easier on you, but I have a feeling I’ll need that strength. Can you hold on?” She nodded faintly, her face a rictus of pain as Selu switched to sling her over his shoulder. He climbed up the rope one-handed, his left arm wrapped around Jaina to keep her from slipping off. He reached the top of the crevasse in time to see a pair of faint ion trails streak past overhead. “Run!” Selu called. A pair of concussion missiles slammed into the ice, bracketing the group and toppling them all to the ground. The force of the blast threw Jaina away from Selu and she screamed a hoarse cry of agony that reverberated through the Force and cut through the deafening concussion wave. Selu struggled to his feet, checking the blood trickle on his forehead and relieved to find it just a nick. Though the blasts had deafened and concussed him, hurling him to the ground with bruising force, he was still coherent enough to check and make sure that everyone had survived. Thankfully, he did not sense anyone’s death. Milya pulled herself up from the ice, nursing one arm. She mouthed something, but Selu could not hear her. He ran over and pulled Tyria and Qedai to their feet. Both of them seemed shaken up, but otherwise unharmed. Ryion and Morgedh were already up again, but Selu saw that the fighters were coming around for another pass. He pointed in the direction of the concealed shuttle. “Run!” he shouted, though he wasn’t sure if they could hear him, so he repeated the command through the Force. For his part, Selu stood his ground, turning to face the incoming fighters. He could not reveal the shuttle and even if he concealed them all, the fighters would just saturate the area where they had been in weapons fire. He had to make a stand. Closing his eyes, he stretched out his arms and summoned the Force. Ryion started to make for the shuttle, then he turned and dashed over to Jaina, who was lying in a crumpled huddle on the ground. “Leave me,” she whispered hoarsely. Ryion gave her a blank look. “I am not explaining to Han and Leia Solo how I spent two weeks looking after you just to leave you behind at the last minute,” he said as he gathered her up. She moaned in pain as he did so and Ryion grimaced. This was not the easy and stress-free extraction he’d been hoping for. “Final boarding call,” Ryion muttered as he loped towards the shuttle as quickly as he could in his weakened state burdened with a heavy human cargo. Meanwhile, Selu channeled the Force through him into the sky. What had once been a cloudless night quickly darkened as roiling storm clouds blotted out the stars. The fighters wheeled around for another pass and this time Selu sensed the concussion missiles leaping from the firing ports to home in on their location. Lightning bolts sparked from his fingers, arcing out to intercept the missiles. They exploded in mid-air, illuminating the night sky with the bright fireballs. The two fighters switched to lasers, but Selu fed the storm’s burgeoning intensity with the Force, resulting in a whirlwind that threw the fighters off course, their blasts straying wide as they were buffeted by the howling gale. The storm cut through his insulated clothing as if it wasn’t there, the wind’s chill biting into his body and snow whipping furiously around him as the skies opened, but Selu stood his ground, staring down the approaching menace still ineffectually trying to fire on him. They roared by overhead and Selu identified them as TIE Defenders. He scowled and hurled lightning after them, but it glanced off their shields. They swung around for another pass, this time under tighter control. He looked over and saw that Ryion was being helped into the shuttle and that everyone else was aboard. It was time to leave and they were waiting for him. The storm no longer needed his attention—it had coalesced into a life of its own. He took a deep breath of the glacial air, and then turned, sprinting for the shuttles. The whine of the fighters’ engines cut through the air and a row of laser blasts sliced down beside him, throwing up eruptions of steam and hurling chunks of ice after him. His lightsaber was useless against such weapons and he could not hope to distract the pilots with another whirlwind or telekinesis. They would expect it. The aged Jedi Master leapt over a blast that would have vaporized him and continued in a dead sprint, occasionally zig-zagging to avoid a lethal hit. The glacier exploded in a furious cacophony of destruction around him as the fighters strafed him. Selu could feel the heat from the laser cannon bolts as hit the ice fields around him and knew even a near-miss would be fatal. With the Force supplementing his efforts, he dashed for the shuttle even he signaled it to lift off. His vision was saturated with flying shards of ice and laser blasts vaporizing the glacier, but he continued his desperate sprint. With one final effort, he leapt into the air for the open side door of the rising shuttle just as a laser bolt exploded the ground where he’d just been standing. Apparently, the fighter pilots had anticipated his jump and a series of laser bolts were aimed through his trajectory. However, a sheet of ice rose suddenly, intercepting the bolts and mitigating their lethal energy even as it was vaporized. Selu just barely reached the door, grabbing on to the lower rim of the shuttle. Milya reached out and hauled him in even as the shuttle banked and roared away, with Qedai hurling one last chunk of ice at the fighters to ruin their approach on the now-visible shuttle. Selu nodded his thanks to her for her telekinetic cover as he caught his breath. “Get us out of here!” Milya bellowed at the pilot. “You want me to fly through this storm with two Defenders in pursuit?” the pilot demanded. “Do it or we die!” Milya replied. The shuttle roared as it sought to gain altitude even as the two TIE Defenders closed in on its stern. The tail gunner fired his single rearward-facing laser cannon back at them, but it was designed for infantry support, not anti-starfighter duty and the bolts weren’t connecting anyway. Selu staggered to his feet, swiftly checking that everyone had reached the shuttle. Ryion was slumped back on one of the shuttle’s bench seats, breathing heavily. Morgedh, Qedai, and Milya were standing, gripping two straps that hung down from the ceiling for such a purpose. Opposite Ryion, Cassi was cradling Jaina on the other bench. They were all aboard then, and didn’t seem to have serious injury. “I can get us out of here,” Morgedh said. “But we need to come about and rocket the ice cave to cover our tracks.” “Sir, the fighters!” the pilot protested. “I will take care of the fighters,” Morgedh insisted, closing his eyes. Suddenly, a squadron of Yanibar Guard Maelstrom fighters swooped down from above. Four of them surrounded the shuttle in a protective escort formation while the other eight jetted in hot pursuit of the two TIE Defenders. The marauding TIEs, faced with being overwhelmingly outnumbered, broke and turned skyward, disappearing into the dark cloudbanks. The shuttle broke away, putting a pair of rockets into the crevasse to destroy the evidence, then shot skyward. “Nice trick,” Selu told Morgedh. “The phantom fighters were clever.” His strength now recovered sufficiently, Selu used his own skill in the Force to conceal the shuttle for the trip back, hoping to keep the TIE Defenders off their tail until they were safely in the Daara’sherum. Ariada sensed the two TIE Defenders break off even as she watched the Daara’sherum through the bridge viewport of the Knightfall. Her fists clenched in anger as she realized her pilots had been duped; the Yanibar Guard cruiser had launched no fighters and unless the Yanibar Guard had twelve stealth fighters, they should not have been able to reach the shuttle without her noticing. It was more likely that the fighters were illusions; she was well-aware that such a deception was within the capabilities of Selu, Milya, and Morgedh. She angrily sent her fighters back in pursuit of the fleeing shuttle with a wave of the Force, hoping that the window of opportunity to destroy it and its occupants wouldn’t close before she’d had a second chance. However, there was a distinct possibility that her fighters would be unable to destroy the shuttle. She would have to intervene personally. “Captain Toscerra,” she said as she turned and strode to her chair. “Reroute weapons control to my chair.” “Aye, Mistress,” the Cathar replied. She sat down, gripping the armrest’s controls, concentrating. The liability of most cloaking shields had long been that they left the user double-blind, invisible, but unable to see or use their sensors through the cloak. Most commanders and strategists had thus abandoned the technology as a quaint toy, unfit for widespread deployment. However, others had figured out a use for the shields even despite their weakness, and Ariada had expounded upon their work. Thirty years ago, the Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn had used cloaked ships hidden under a shield and coordinated by a deranged Jedi Master to create the illusion that his Star Destroyers could fire through planetary shields. Now, she would elevate his technique to the next level. “Ready weapons,” she ordered. “Arm torpedoes.” “Torpedoes armed, Mistress.” She took a deep breath, waiting for her opportunity. The two TIE Defenders had looped around and were in hot pursuit of the shuttle, but they had given up precious minutes with their evasive flight to escape the supposed fighters. They were closing fast on the shuttle—which judging by the lack of escort, had been protected by illusions earlier—but they would only have a few seconds to destroy it before it reached the safety of the cloaked Yanibar Guard cruiser. However, even a cloaking shield was no match for one who saw through the Force, as she did. As expected, a squadron of fighters shot out from the Yanibar Guard cruiser’s hangar bay, heading for the shuttle. Just as the ship’s shields dropped to let them exit, Ariada fired, guiding the torpedoes telekinetically in lieu of using their engines. This way, the twelve warheads were nearly undetectable until they slammed into the cruiser. She smiled even though the cruiser’s protective energy fields re-engaged in time to catch the brunt of the torpedo impacts. The New Jedi Order had specialized torpedoes with the engines and propellant replaced by more explosive called shadow bombs, but this approach seemed to work just fine. An explosion tore through the pristine skin of the cruiser as one of the torpedoes penetrated and ate into the hull armor. “Re-arm the tubes,” she ordered as her cruiser slipped past the Yanibar Guard ship. She was firing with the Force, homing in on the cluster of concentrated presences she sensed on that ship. However, simultaneously, she was hiding her presence and the Force aura of every being on her ship. Such an effort would normally be far too taxing for her to maintain even for a few seconds, but when Ariada had first fallen in with the Dark Jedi, she had learned of Ilnash crystals, minerals that could amplify the effects of the Force being focused through them. She had carefully prized this secret, mining gigantic Ilnash crystals throughout the years, honing them and embedding them through her ship so they protruded from its hull, bristling like an animal or fish’s defensive spines. The deep blue shards allowed her to expend a fraction of the necessary effort to wield the Force to accomplish such feats, and the power of the dark side combined with a subtle drawing on the life force of her hapless crewers compensated for the rest of the exertion. Her ship was hidden from eye and mind, sensor and sentient, and she could strike at will. Ariada ordered her fighters to break off. No sense risking two of her assassins when she could finish the job herself. “Bring us around for another pass.” She braced herself to fire just as the shuttle and its escort docked with the cruiser. A fresh volley of torpedoes slammed into the Daara’sherum as the Javelin shuttle slid into the docking bay. The cruiser lurched from the impacts. Selu leapt out the shuttle, racing for the bridge with Milya, Morgedh, Zeyn, and Qedai behind him. He arrived just as Ariada’s third volley was unleashed. “Flag officer on deck!” called an ensign even as the stricken cruiser shuddered. “Report,” Selu ordered as he strode over to the tactical station by Admiral Arystek. “Port shields failing,” he was informed. “We have five confirmed hits, cruiser-class proton torpedoes based on the telemetry.” “There’s nothing to shoot back at,” the admiral informed him. “No sensor trace, no ion trail, and the torpedo contrails are invisible.” Selu searched in the Force, but sensed nothing where his gut told him that there should have been enough people to crew at least a frigate in the vicinity. A hunch came to him, and he wheeled around. “She’s using a cloaked ship and firing with the Force,” Selu replied. “Drop cloak and reinforce shields. We’re going to have to trace her out.” “Can’t you sense her with the Force, sir?” Admiral Arystek asked. Selu shook his head grimly. “She’s hidden from my senses.” “That’s impossible,” Morgedh spoke up. “Such power is beyond her.” “Was beyond her, apparently,” Selu replied. “All secondary batteries, fire full volley. Report impacts, stand by to retarget. Standby primary battery.” The cruiser’s guns thundered as blue ion cannon bolts and violet turbolaser blasts lanced out, seeking their hidden nemesis. They streaked out into the void, but none of them connected. “She’s evading us, biding her time,” Selu mused. He glanced down at the tactical board, looking for the name of the starfighter squadron stationed onboard. He was unsurprised to find that the Council had seen fit to send Yanibar’s most renowned pilots after him. “Paladin Lead, bring your squadron around, screen our port side,” Selu ordered. “Roger that,” came the reply. This time Selu sensed the impacts just before they hit. “Brace!” he called. “Paladins, break!” Once again, Ariada struck at the weakened port side of the cruiser. Her next dozen torpedoes tore through the failing shields and many of them stabbed deep into the ship. A turbolaser turret exploded as a line of fireballs were stitched across the flank of the cruiser. The thick hull plating boiled away into space, congealing in liquid drops of molten metal. Bulkheads collapsed in the wounded areas while girders groaned due to the increased load. The cruiser’s automated damage control systems attempted to compensate for the savaging she had just received. Emergency bulkheads slammed into place and power flow was rerouted away from the damaged areas. The bridge lights dimmed from the temporary power reduction due to the explosions, but Selu was still shouting orders even his command console blacked out. “Secondary batteries, fire on a parabolic arc from grid three-one-nine-mark-eleven to grid one-six-three-mark-fifteen,” Selu ordered. “Roll the ship to maintain constant barrage.” The Daara’sherum’s weapons swung to fire along the coordinates Selu had snapped out. Turbolasers and ion cannon beams criss-crossed through empty space, and then Selu’s eye caught the tail end of the barrage impacting on something solid instead of spraying out ineffectually into empty space. “All weapons, concentrate and fire,” he said, indicating the coordinates on the now-functional display. “Paladins, engage the target.” The turbolasers and ion cannon that were recharged and had refreshed their firing cycle were now joined by the cruiser’s primary weapons, a pair heavy beamlaser cannons mounted on top and bottom of the ship’s hull. A sextet of proton torpedoes followed the thick purple beams that slammed into the opposing ship’s shields. Selu watched as the hostile ship, a spiky cruiser about the same displacement as the Daara’sherum, banked, maneuvering away from the line of fire. “Track that target,” he ordered, but it was too late. “Paladins, pursue.” The Daara’sherum’s weapons thundered ineffectually, but all they found was open space. The targeting display had lost weapons lock on the elusive hostile ship. Selu swore under his breath. Ariada had managed to attack from an angle where he couldn’t order the Paladins to engage and bring the cruiser’s weapons to bear. “Most of our port weapons are offline,” Admiral Arystek reported. “Speed slowed by thirty percent due to engine damage.” “She’ll attack from there again,” Selu said. “She’ll hit us where we’re wounded. Recover fighters and prepare to withdraw.” It stung to say those words; Selu had never purposefully retreated from Ariada before, but he knew it was the only thing he could do. They could not win this fight. “She’ll be on us before we can go to lightspeed,” Milya warned him. “We have to try,” Selu said. “Jumping in ten seconds,” the navigator reported. “Stand by for hyperspace.” Selu watched one of the stars on their portside eclipse and knew what was coming. “Brace!” he called. “Point-defense batteries fire on random vectors on port side.” The port side of the Remembrance-class cruiser was equipped with twelve StarfirePD point-defense batteries, each mounting three turrets that each carried two repeating laser cannons and a flak gun. All of that firepower combined was an impressive defense against fighters and missiles—but was only truly effective if it was guided by the ship’s sensors and fire control systems. Selu watched as gouts of laser fire spewed into space, illuminating the damaged port side as flak shells burst, the small round detonations contrasting with the streaks of purple laser cannon blasts that dazzled through the black void of space. He just hoped it would provide more defense than a light show. The rapid-fire laser cannons and the secondary flak shells they fired did some good, shredding five of the torpedoes before they hit. The other seven smashed into the stern quarter of the cruiser’s port side. Selu grimaced as the ship shuddered from the gashing it was taking to its wounded flank. The lights flickered again and went out. Red emergency glowpanels activated, providing minimal illumination and functionality to the bridge. “Main engines are offline,” the admiral reported. “We can’t jump to lightspeed.” “We lost sensors and fire control,” another officer informed him. “We couldn’t hit her before she escaped.” “She’ll get us on the next pass,” Admiral Arystek warned him. “I know,” Selu said regretfully. “Prepare to abandon ship. Make for the planet.” “They’ll be picked off,” Milya said. “Better than dying for sure in space,” Selu retorted. Judging by the timing, he knew that Ariada had brought her ship around. She would be firing any second now. Soon, the Daara’sherum would be a ravaged hulk, torn apart by Ariada’s torpedoes, a lifeless grave for any that failed to reach the escape pods and flee. Selu sensed a wicked tendril of triumph from Ariada extend towards him and he knew she was making her final pass. And it was her final pass, though not for reasons she expected. A massive triangular warship decanted from hyperspace, interposing its ponderous bulk between the Daara’sherum and the incoming torpedoes, which glanced off its full-strength shields as flickers against the protective hazy-blue encasement. An octet of gunships flanked the enormous vessel, turning to fire along the vectors where Ariada’s torpedoes had emerged from. Starfighters began to deploy from the largest vessel, angling to pursue Ariada’s vessel. “Yanibar Guard vessel, I am Commodore Gavin Darklight of the Galactic Alliance fleet carrier Trucemaker.” “Good to hear your voice, Commodore,” Selu said, incredulous. “Thanks for the assistance. Just happened to be in the neighborhood?” “We’re here to enforce the quarantine of Belsavis,” the commodore informed him. “It’d be best if your ship left as soon as possible.” “We have some repairs to complete first, but we’ll be on our way as quickly as possible.” “Understood. Do you require assistance?” Selu looked at the admiral, who shook her head. Doubtless she didn’t want Galactic Alliance engineers crawling all over ship. “No thank you,” Selu replied. “And please convey a ‘mission accomplished’ to Master Skywalker for us.” “Will do,” Darklighter told him. “Did your ships catch the vessel that fired on you?” Selu asked. “No. She jumped to hyperspace once she started taking fire. Our interdictor hasn’t arrived yet.” Selu grimaced. “There’ll be another time for her. Thanks again for your help, Commodore.” He signaled Arystek to cut off the channel and silently promised himself that there would be a next time. In the meantime, they had repairs to complete and ships to send out to Almania, Zonama Sekot, Chalacta, and Yanibar. Drexel system, two days later The Millennium Falcon cut through space towards the derelict Imperial cruiser. Despite the many years and severe abuse the ship had taken, it was still flying, still conveying its famous occupants from one system to another. To any passing spacer, the aged tramp freighter would have appeared to be alone, with no reason for visiting a system whose inhabitants had shown no interest in greater galactic society. Of course, they would have been wrong—the ship was on an urgent mission, and it was not alone. Two black StealthX starfighters flanked the freighter. The fighters had been especially designed for the Jedi and incorporated technology that made them invisible to both the naked eye and sensors, along with a special fuel blend that left almost no contrail for an opponent to track. The drawback was that using targeting sensors or communications would betray the presence of the StealthXes, and their shields were weaker than normal, but the Jedi were able to compensate for all such weaknesses. They could communicate via a Jedi battle meld in a group action, and telekinetically-guided shadow bombs stood in for proton torpedoes. As for shields, Jedi pilots who rated StealthXes traditionally were pilots of considerable skill—which combined with Force precognition made them difficult to hit. “I remember this place,” Han Solo muttered from the cockpit of the Falcon. “Must’ve been nearly forty years ago that we fought Crimson Jack here.” “And Quarg’s scavengers,” Leia added. “I hate to interrupt the nostalgia, but can this thing go any faster?” Jacen asked brusquely from the back seat. “Jaina’s almost out of time.” Han smirked as he recalled another memory from the distant past. It seemed like just yesterday that a cocky farmboy had asked a similar question. “Watch your mouth, kid, or you’ll be floating home,” he said. “As much as we’re concerned for Jaina, walking into a trap is not idea of a rescue.” Leia jabbed him in the ribs. “Oh really?” “Well, not this time,” he amended. “What do Luke and Mara think?” Leia closed her eyes, concentrating on the mental link between her and her brother and Mara out in the fighters. “They don’t sense any danger out here, but Mara says to be careful.” “Aunt Mara always says that,” Jacen pointed out. “Which is why she’s still alive,” Han answered his son. “She’s generally a very careful woman, and not too many people who’ve crossed her have lived to tell about it.” “That’s right,” Ben piped up from the back. “Like Dad always says, nobody messes with Mom.” “I’m going to tell Cakhmaim and Meewalh to stand by in the quads,” Han said, referring to Leia’s two Noghri bodyguards. “It’s quiet.” His wife nodded, frowning. “Too quiet.” Han pointed at a blip on the sensors. “There’s the distress beacon. It’s coming from inside the derelict over there.” He checked the rest of his scopes and winced. “Not picking up anything else, but stay sharp. I don’t like this.” Nevertheless, the aged freighter banked, swooping in towards what had once been the vast hangar bay for a Victory-class Star Destroyer. Now the ship was a lifeless husk, its stern appearing as if a large creature had suddenly taken a bite out of it. Years of stellar drift and inertia had carried it far from Drexel, such that the star was only slightly brighter than the other specks of light in the starfield. Now it hung at the edge of the system, a dead relic of a bygone era. “Do you sense Jaina?” Leia asked Jacen. “Not at all,” Jacen answered, his jaw setting. “I haven’t sensed her death either.” “Luke and Mara think it might be ysalamiri. Apparently this group we’re up against has a history of using them,” Leia offered. Han eased the Falcon into the docking bay carefully. The bay was dark, and with no power, neither illumination nor artificial gravity were online. Unrecognizable pieces of debris floated through the hangar, bouncing off the freighter’s hull. Beside them, Luke’s StealthX set down, while Mara flew a protective orbit around the derelict, watching for trouble. “We’ll be back with Jaina,” Jacen promised his parents as he grabbed the helmet to go with the rest of the vac suit he was already wearing. Ben, similarly attired, followed his cousin to the rear of the ship. “We should be going with them,” Han said with a scowl as he watched them depart. “I mean, I know Luke, Jacen, and Ben can take care of themselves, but—,” “I know how you feel,” Leia told him. “But we need to be ready to get out of here in case it’s a trap.” “In case,” Han snorted sardonically. “When isn’t it a trap, dear?” “Well, how do you think Mara feels?” Leia pointed out diplomatically. “She’s out there flying watch while her husband and son go rescue her apprentice. We all have our parts to play. If we don’t hear anything in ten minutes, we go after them.” “Fine,” Han said unhappily. Suddenly, Leia blanched, one hand clutching the controls. Han instantly noticed her change in complexion. “What is it?” he demanded. “Something bad,” she replied. Only the magnetic soles on their boots kept Luke, Jacen, and Ben anchored to the floor as they advanced deeper into the bowels of the derelict. The place was dark and empty, an abandoned instrument of war now repurposed as a tomb for the crew who had died in its final fight. Luke led the way, his glowrod sweeping left and right as the three Jedi pushed through the corridors, following the signal emitted by the distress beacon. There were no signs of life. Though their knowledge that Jaina was on a limited air supply urged them to hurry, the three made their approach carefully, watching out for possible traps. The dark corridor could have easily disguised trip wires or laser mines, and Ben was wearing infrared goggles to watch for the latter possibility. This was no time to rush into an ambush. “You’d think we’d be able to detect if there was power running through at least part of the ship,” Ben said. “It’s more likely they stuffed Jaina into an EV suit,” Luke answered. “We’re coming up on the beacon.” “Careful,” the aged Jedi Master cautioned. “I sense danger.” “I sense it too,” Jacen added. “Well, then I might as well say that I sense it also, just so we’re all in agreement,” Ben offered. They rounded the corner and, just as Luke had predicted, there was an EV suit there next to a distress beacon. It was floating in the corridor, suspended from the ceiling by a noose around its neck. There was a vibroblade protruding from the suit’s chest. Luke’s eyes shot open in alarm and he raced forward to check the identity of the person inside the suit. As soon as he stepped close to the suit, he felt the Force disappear—a ysalamiri bubble. The sensation was not only unpleasant, it deprived him of senses he had come to rely in. He motioned Jacen and Ben back while he investigated. Looking into the suit’s visor, he found no humanoid body inside. Instead, all he saw was a ysalamiri inside the suit, sleeping peacefully on a branch. Then, he noticed the note pinned to the EV suit’s chest by the vibroblade. It simply read “You lose.” Luke glanced around and realized that the hall, unlike the typically sparse and uniform architecture of an Imperial warship, had several mismatched panels and bolted-on lockers—someone had obviously been preparing this place, and Luke had a couple guesses of what those plans included. “Run!” he shouted. The three Jedi took off for the hangar bay with Force-assisted speed as a series of explosive charges detonated behind them. The explosions tore through the ship, funneled down after them by the metal corridors. Fireballs consumed the halls, only to be quickly extinguished by the lack of air. The three Jedi just barely managed to escape the blasts, but the slivers of material hurled by the detonations pierced their suits in several areas, forcing a hasty retreat back to the safety of their ships. Jacen and Ben raced aboard the Falcon as Luke leapt for the cockpit of his StealthX, which R2-D2 already had prepared for lift-off. As the canopy closed around him, he felt a warning sensation from Mara. I know, he sent back. But we got away in time. We’re okay. Luke backed the StealthX out of the ruined hangar bay on repulsors, shooting out of the hulk with the Falcon closely following behind. His sensors immediately detected the explosions she was referring to, but his eyes found them first. Emerald tendrils of energy were stretching across the space around them. He quickly surveyed the surrounding space and found four such energy clusters, located symmetrically around them. Luke set the shields to full power as the tendrils undulated, bolts of lightning flickering through radiant green clouds. Though they were still thousands of kilometers away, Luke felt a sense of alarm grow within him as the clouds expanded, their reach covering nearly all the space around the derelict cruiser. Time to go, he sent to Mara and Leia as he throttled up his ion engines. Suddenly, the clouds and tendrils stopped, collapsing in on themselves with a rush. Luke braced himself for what was next, only to find nothing. Waves of blackness washed out from the epicenters of the implosions, swallowing up the stars, even Drexel. “What the kriff is that?” Han Solo swore over the comm. “Whatever it is, we need to leave,” Luke said, breaking comm silence. “R2, relay our course out of here.” The astromech droid tootled and soon text was scrolling down the miniature display inside the StealthX. THE PREARRANGED COURSE IS ALREADY ENTERED INTO THE NAVICOMPUTER. THE COMPUTER’S FAILSAFES ARE PREVENTING US FROM JUMPING. The two statements caught Luke offguard. “Why?” R2 had no immediate reply for that, and it was Han who replied first. “We can’t jump either,” he said. “The fine-band sensors are showing that we’re in a dark matter nebula.” “That’s impossible,” Luke answered. “That nebula didn’t exist here an hour ago.” “Unless Ariada has a weapon that can create such a nebula,” Mara replied. “If that’s actually dark matter around us, we can’t jump to hyperspace through it,” Han pointed out. “It’d likely foul up the Falcon’s engines, much less those finicky things your StealthXes have, and then we’re be in real trouble.” “It was a trap,” Mara said. “And I take it no Jaina either?” “No,” Luke answered tersely. “Just a decoy and a bomb.” “We’ll use sublights then,” Han told them. “Fly to the edge of the cloud and get to where we can jump out of the system.” “R2, what’s the shortest distance out of the cloud from here?” Luke asked. R2-D2 whistled and made a negative-sounding blatting noise. Luke directed his attention back to the screen by which the droid communicated. I WILL PROVIDE THE COURSE DETAILS, BUT BE ADVISED THAT AT MAXIMUM SUBLIGHT, IT WILL TAKE YOUR SHIPS ONE STANDARD MONTH TO BE CLEAR OF THE DARK MATTER CLOUD. THIS SHIP DOES NOT HAVE THAT MUCH FUEL. IN ORDER TO ACTUALLY REACH THE PERIMETER, IT WILL TAKE SIXTY-NINE STANDARD DAYS AND FIFTEEN HOURS. MOREOVER, HYPERCOMM COMMUNICATIONS WILL NOT REACH THROUGH THE CLOUD EITHER, SO ANY TRANSMISSION WILL TAKE AT LEAST TWO WEEKS TO CLEAR THE DARK MATTER. Luke was flabbergasted. “What is it, Luke?” Mara asked, sensing his consternation. He shook his head slowly in disbelief as R2 gave him the details for the course. Luke turned his StealthX in that vector and throttled up the fighter. “We’re going to be here longer than we thought,” he said. “R2, send them the details.” The shocked silence that followed was reply enough.
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