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[Dark Nest] - 3(42)

By:The Swarm War


That was why Mara was so confused when a flash of white brilliance erupted at the front of the convoy. It looked like a shadow bomb detonation, but there had been no warning from either Luke or Jacen, nothing on the tactical display to suggest that a coup was actually under way.

The convoy began to cluster-standard procedure when the leader wanted overlapping defenses-then continued toward the asteroid.

“Nine,” Mara asked her astromech droid, “is there any sign of a battle down there?”

The droid reported that a very large baradium explosion had just destroyed a light transport on final approach to Nickel One.

“I saw the shadow bomb,” Mara said. “I mean, is there anything on the surface …”

The meld suddenly stiffened with shock, then abruptly collapsed as Luke withdrew. Mara could feel his anger through their Force-bond, a searing pressure that meant he had already answered the question she had been about to ask her astromech. There was no hint of a battle on the surface of the asteroid.

Jacen had attacked without provocation.

Mara looked down to find a long list scrolling up her display: SHIELD PROJECTORS, AIR LOCK ENTRANCES, BLASTER CANNON EMPLACEMENTS, DEFENSIVE BUNKERS, TRANSPARISTEEL VIEWING PANELS, GUIDANCE LAMPS … everything her astromech could identify on the surface of the asteroid.

“That’s enough, Nine,” Mara said. “I think I have my answer.”

She reached out to Jacen and found him filled with impatience, determined to stop the Gatherers before they reached Nickel One.

Mara urged him to withdraw.

Another shadow bomb detonated at the head of the convoy, spraying specks of flotsam and torn hull in every direction.

Mara grew so angry that she had to break off contact. Anger was too dangerous to share during a battle. It corrupted the discipline of everyone it touched, tainted their judgment and made the killing personal.

A Verpine belly gunner caught a glimpse of Mara’s StealthX and began to stitch the surrounding darkness with cannon bolts. She rolled away without firing and sensed Jacen trying to establish the meld again, reaching out to her and Luke in confusion and frustration. One of

the

StealthXs’ drawbacks-and the reason only Jedi could fly them-was that the rigid comm silence protocols prevented actual conversation. Instead, pilots had to communicate using the combat-meld, which relied on emotions, impressions, and the occasional mental image.

The convoy had pulled into a tight, three-dimensional diamond formation and was continuing to

approach

Nickel

One,

its

gunners

firing indiscriminately toward the surface. Whether the gunners were trying to suppress the asteroid’s defenses or were simply reacting to Jacen’s attack was impossible to say. Like Luke, Mara kept her own weapons silent.

A moment later, she felt Luke opening himself to the battle-meld again, and Jacen’s relief flooded the Force. He renewed his call to the attack, sharing his alarm and fear through the meld. Luke responded with disapproval and condemnation, urging Jacen to withdraw.

A sudden spark of understanding flashed through the meld, followed by a sense of hurt and indignity. Mara guessed that Jacen had finally realized that his wingmates doubted his judgment, that they did not believe an attack was appropriate simply because he initiated one.

The thought had barely flashed through Mara’s head before the gaping rectangle of a hangar entrance appeared in her mind’s eye. The turbolaser batteries in its four corners all sat quiet, their turrets ripped open by internal blasts. A single Gatherer sat on the asteroid surface next to the hangar, with a line of pressure-suited Killiks streaming out of its air lock.

“Nine!” Mara was practically shouting. “Didn’t you tell me there were no signs of battle on the asteroid?”

The droid replied that there were no signs of a battle.

“Then what about those turbolaser batteries?” Mara demanded. “And the Killiks?”

Nine reported that the turbolaser batteries were nonfunctional. And the Killiks appeared to be debarking, not attacking.

“Never mind.” Mara felt at once relieved and ashamed-relieved that Jacen had attacked for good reason, ashamed that she and Luke had allowed their reservations-which now seemed unjustified-to compromise the team’s effectiveness. “Select targets by expediency, Nine.”

The droid illuminated a transponder symbol near the back of the convoy, and Mara swung in behind the Gatherer it represented. She launched her first shadow bomb and immediately peeled off, accelerating toward the next target. An instant later, space brightened behind her, and her tactical display filled with static. She launched her second shadow bomb without even bothering to glance back and check the damage caused by the first. The light transport had not been built that could withstand a direct hit by a Jedi shadow bomb.