[Dark Nest] - 3(100)

“Sneaky, can you get a torpedo lock on either of the defoliators?” The bombs-four on each vessel-were identical to the prototype that Jag had destroyed in the dunes above the Iesei nest.

The droid replied with an affirmative tweet, but added a long descending whistle that suggested he questioned the wisdom of this attack.

“Don’t argue!” Jaina armed all of her proton torpedoes, and sensed Zekk doing the same. “Just let me know when you’re ready.”

The droid emitted a brief whistle.

Jaina fired her next two proton torpedoes and watched in horrified fascination as a pair of clawcraft dropped down in front of the shrinking efflux dots. A moment later, she was momentarily blinded when a pair of dazzling flashes lit the sky between her and the defoliators.

Guessing that she must be in range by now, Jaina began to pour laser cannon fire into the defoliator Sneaky had targeted. The defensive ring tightened even more, bunching up to absorb the attacks on their own shields and leaving the stern of the vessel badly exposed to a proton torpedo.

Still, Alema did not attack. Was she waiting for the Chiss ambushers to show themselves … or for Jaina and Zekk to be blasted out of the sky? The spite Leia and Saba were pouring into the meld made clear what they thought.

Two proton torpedoes streaked from Zekk’s StealthX toward the second defoliator. A Chiss clawcraft dropped down and obliterated the first torpedo with a volley of cannon bolts. The pilots trying to intercept the second torpedo were blinded by the explosion, and it slipped past the defensive screen to detonate against the defoliator’s

belly

shields.

Almost immediately, Jagged Fel and a dozen other ambushers emerged from the clouds to begin hammering Jaina and Zekk’s rear shields.

Trapped in a devastating crossfire and badly outnumbered, the only sensible thing for Jaina and Zekk to do was to roll out. Sneaky began to whistle and toot, no doubt extolling the wisdom of presenting their shielded tails to the enemy and fleeing while they still could.

Instead, Jaina launched her last set of proton

torpedoes

and accelerated toward her target, pouring a constant stream of cannon bolts ahead of her and doing her best to make it appear that she intended to ram the defoliator. Zekk mirrored her every move, heading toward the second defoliator. Four clawcraft defenders quickly moved to block their torpedoes. The interceptors raced forward on a collision course with Jaina and Zekk, while Jag and his ambushers poured fire into the StealthX tails with no concern for hitting their own starfighters.

Then Jaina and Zekk sensed Alema streaking up out of the clouds, coming up behind the defoliators where there were no longer any clawcraft to challenge her. Jaina’s rear shields went down, then one of her fusial engines flamed out, and Sneaky began to trill warnings that she could not understand. She continued to pour fire at the belly of her defoliator, ignoring the pending collision with the clawcraft interceptors and using the Force to dodge what she could of the mad storm of bolts.

One of Zekk’s wings came off. His StealthX entered a spin and tried to nose over into a dive, but Jaina felt him using the Force to pull it back into a climb. He continued toward his target, his spiral more erratic than ever and firing with only two laser cannons, but holding the Chiss rapt.

You have nothing to be jealous of, Jaina said through their mind-link. Even if Jag had the Force, he couldn’t do that!

Who’s using the Force? Zekk replied. This is fear!

Alema finally launched her first set of proton torpedoes, targeting the nearest defoliator. She was so close that the vessel had no chance to deploy countermeasures. The first torpedo overloaded the vessel’s shields and blasted its tail into shards. The second vaporized the entire ship, bombs included, leaving nothing behind but a white flash.

The Force roiled with shock and confusion, but the Chiss reacted with remarkable swiftness, instantly abandoning Jaina’s StealthX to rush back toward Alema.

They were too late; Alema had already sent another set of torpedoes toward the remaining defoliator. One exploded just as the defensive ring arrived at the vessel’s stern, and Jaina and Zekk felt a dozen lives wink out in an instant. The other torpedo smashed into a sacrificial clawcraft, but it was so close to the defoliator that both vessels took the hit. The defoliator’s fuselage and one wing vanished in another white flash.

But one of the wings survived.

It went fluttering planetward, its silver skin flashing brightly in the blue sun, the two bombs still intact and the clouds below coming up fast.





TWENTY-TWO


High above Tenupe, Fell Defender was still shuddering from the Killiks’ opening salvo when a grim calm came to the battle-meld, and Leia understood what Jaina and Zekk were about to do.