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Chapter One
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Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Newest Part
Obi-Wan Kenobi was jolted out of his meditations by a sudden jerking impact to the diplomatic Corvette, the Pax Corusca, that he and his Master were riding to Naboo. "Did we ram something?" He asked his Master as they ran to the door of their stateroom.
"We should have been in hyperspace for the next five minutes," Qui-Gon told him. "There's no way we could have rammed anything, unless the course was improperly laid in."
Which would mean we wouldn't be talking about it, reflected Obi-Wan. They ran down the narrow passage to the ship's bridge, where Captain Horrik was shouting orders. One of the crewmen was rattling off damage statistics. Another crewman was being tended by a medical droid - his arm had apparently been broken when the ship lurched.
"Tractor lock from the starboard frigate, Cap't," a crewman yelled. The ship jerked a bit in agreement with the shield officer's observation. "And port," another crewman added.
"Enemy ship hailing," a frightened young man said.
"Patch it to the viewscreen, Ensign," the Captain said. Qui-Gon gestured for Obi-Wan to move to one side. The two Jedi stood near the unoccupied science station, out of range of the comm pickup.
"Republic vessel Pax Corusca," began the man on the viewer. He was middle-aged and bore scars on his face, as well as a badly-healed broken nose. "I am Captain Jarik Mikkles of the Free Trader. Stand down weapons and shields, and prepare to be boarded."
Obi-Wan caught Captain Horrik's wave of distaste for the pirate captain through the Force. "We are a diplomatic vessel, Captain Mikkles. You risk much."
"If you're a diplomatic vessel, why are you so far from the Corellian Run? Prepare to be boarded, or prepare to be vaped."
"Captain," said the nervous young man, "They're powering up turbolaser batteries. Our shields wouldn't last."
"Give me five minutes to consult with my crew, Captain Mikkles."
"You may have three," the pirate told him, and cut transmission.
"Sensors, how did they pull us out of hyperspace?" The captain asked.
"Unknown, sir. The only thing I can see is that sensors show a small moon is in a part of its orbit it shouldn't be in for another three days on that planet, sir."
"Give me visual," the Captain ordered, and the planet to starboard and aft came into view on the main screen. The planet was a large gas giant, and they could see several moons scudding across its face.
"That's no moon," whispered Obi-Wan.
"I don't see it," the Captain said, not hearing the young Jedi.
Obi-Wan stepped to his side, pointed his arm to direct the Captain's attention. "What is that thing?" the Captain asked. "Magnify view," he ordered.
The object - it was unfathomably large for a vessel, Obi-Wan thought - easily ten times the size of the Koornacht Queen, the largest passenger liner ever built. It almost was big enough to be mistaken for a very small moon. It looked like a teardrop whose narrow end had been lopped off, leaving a flat round opening. From the angle they were viewing it at, it looked like a huge eye with a black, empty iris.
"One minute left, Cap't," a crewman called.
"Put all available power and computer time to the sensors. I want to know as much as we can about that thing before we leave."
"Leave, Captain?" Obi-Wan asked.
"Do you suppose I like the idea of being a hostage?" The Captain asked.
"No, sir," Obi-Wan said, a smile starting, "I don't suppose you would." He then stepped back to stand beside his Master.
"Shields, at the appointed time, push shields to maximum, then hit the warm shutdown sequence. Engines, do we have any freedom of movement?"
"Maybe ten yards laterally, Captain," came the reply.
"Perfect. Move the ship forward as far as possible -SLOWLY- and have a crewman place a proton torpedo in each of the forward escape pods. We will arm them from here. Mr. Janson, when the shields shut down, squelch all comm traffic - make it look like the system burned out."
That last order was given just in time. The three minutes ended, and the sudden moves on the shield controllers, combined with the communications ruse, caused a slight power flicker on the deck. The captain punched a button on his console and said into the intercom, "All crew and passengers buckle down. We are about to perform extreme maneuvers. Comm," he continued, killing the intercom switch as the two Jedi arranged their restraints, "Try to 'repair' the damage to our comm system so our friends can get through to us."
"Aye, sir."
"Captain," the sensor officer called, "Fighters launching from Free Trader. Looks like a wing of modified Z-95s and a couple of salvaged Naboo craft."
"Fine, keep an eye on them," the Captain told him.
"Comm repaired, Captain," the comm officer said. A signal came in immediately.
Through a haze of static, the enemy Captain told them, "We.... ken out ships three times.... mored as yours. I don't... mend funny bus...."
"Captain," Horrik began. "Your signal is coming through badly. My shield operator is a trainee, still, and seems to have blown out several major circuits on our bridge. We are attempting no tricks."
"Better... t be," the scratchy voice came.
"Cap't, one of the corvettes is moving towards our dorsal hatch," an officer stated.
"Let him come. Do we have any thermal detonators on board?"
"Four in the arsenal, sir," came the report.
"Get them to the dorsal airlock," the Captain said.
"There's no time, sir, they'll be attached in five minutes."
"There's time," Obi-Wan called, unshipping his restraints.
"Arsenal is the first door aft of bridge, Master Jedi. Airlock is a deck up and amidships," the Captain told him.
"Sir, I'm not a Mas-" Obi-Wan started to protest.
"MOVE!"
Obi-Wan was gone before the Captain could say anything else.
Obi-Wan ran as only the Force would allow. He grabbed the four spheroid weapons from the arsenal, holding them to his chest as a mother holds an infant, two tucked into each arm. Running back into the belly of the ship, he came to the ladder leading up to the upper deck, where Engineering and most of the rest of the Pax Corusca's cargo space was located. Without breaking stride, he ran straight up the ladder. At the top, he leapt, tumbling like a gymnast, a bit further down the corridor to the airlock. There was another ladder here, which he climbed more slowly. At the top, he disengaged the inner door and dropped the lethal little balls in, arming them as he went.
Dropping back to the deck after shutting the airlock hatch, he touched the nearby intercom button. "Detonators armed, Captain. Forty-eight seconds left on the fuses."
"Strap yourself in, things are about to get exciting."
Obi-Wan looked around. The hallway was nearly bare, except for the airlock ladder, the ladder he'd run up, and a blast door at either end of the passage. He ran back to the previous ladder, a sense of fatigue from his Force exertions catching up to him.
Dropping down the hole, he caught the second rung from the top, swung his legs between the fourth and fifth rungs, and wrapped his arms through the rungs. It was as secure a position as he was liable to find in the twenty seconds remaining.
He heard running footsteps just as the airlock above blew open, vaccing its cargo directly up towards the incoming corvette. A crewman was running towards what looked like a gunnery station starboard of Obi-Wan's location. "No!" he shouted, trying to grasp the man through the Force and hold him steady before the ship started moving.
Before the thought had fully formed, though, the ship bucked downwards from the quartet of explosions above, sending Obi-Wan's head up and back into the hatch that was sealing off the ladder access. He shook his head, trying to clear it, and saw that the other man had fallen. His leg seemed to be bent at an angle that wasn't natural. The ship shuddered again as it took turbolaser hits, and Obi-Wan jumped to the deck, disentangling himself from the ladder.
He grabbed a low rung for balance, then started back to the fallen crewman. Checking the man's pulse, Obi-Wan found it strong. The man was unconscious. He looked up and around, saw the gunnery turret, and made for it. The weapons officer's voice was coming through the room's intercom as Obi-Wan climbed into the turret's control seat. "Belton, are you there?" The fire control officer sounded furious.
"Belton's hurt, sir. I think I can help," Obi-Wan told the man.
"Well, it's real simple. Point and shoot - those fighters are coming up fast on your side."
The young Jedi looked around and saw the craft in question. There were three of them, the dagger-shaped Z-95s, strafing along the ship's side. He swiveled the seat to line the turret up on them and squeezed off a fast blast at the lead ship. The smaller vessel's port wing tore off and it spun out into space, fetching up against the hull of the Free Trader, whose turbolasers were battering the Pax's shields. Before the explosion even registered, Obi-Wan had to spin to face the two surviving Headhunters, who had already passed his turret. They were looping back, and their fire was tracking up the side of the ship towards where he sat in a transparisteel bubble. He fired two quick bursts, encouraging them to move up and away from the skin of the ship's shields.
He happened to be facing the escape pods when they blew out - he spun rapidly away as the larger vessel's tractors yanked the lopsided survival pods towards themselves. The explosion, reflected on the inside of his bubble, was fantastically bright.
Suddenly, the corvette leapt forward, slamming Obi-Wan into the gun's controls. He accidentally fired off the battery again, hitting one of the other Z-95's with the stray shot. "Nice shooting," the Captain's voice came. Obi-Wan did a quick spin, searching the sky for more fighters.
Obi-Wan lined up one of the little yellow fighters that had been stolen from the Naboo Defense Force and fired off a spray of laser fire at it, catching it just in front of the astromech droid behind the pilot. A second craft was flying too close, and one of its engines took a large hit of shrapnel as the first exploded, sending it careening off into blackness.
The Pax cleared out of the ambush, taking some damage, but far less than the badly-ougunned little corvette had probably deserved. They made the jump to hyperspace - but once again, came out of it far too soon, as the hyperdrive blew out.
