[Legacy Of The Force] - 08(123)
Carid dived into the opening with Vevut and Fett behind. It was an adrenaline-fueled blur-as it always was-and Fett was aware of Vevut getting a faceful of white armor; the troopers must have shoved the remaining Moffs into the next compartment to shield them. The spaces were so cramped now that it was hand-to-hand fighting, with not even enough space to raise a rifle. Displays and sensor panels crashed across consoles like barriers. He tasted singed plastoid when he inhaled-he needed to smell his environment, helmet filters or not-and he would have been blinded by smoke if the HUD hadn’t picked up other wavelengths. He jumped onto a collapsed panel to vault over it and it split beneath his boots, catapulting him forward onto a shock trooper. The man shoved his sidearm into Fett’s belly and fired.
The impact of rapidly expanding superheated air was like a gut-punch, but beskar really was worth the extra weight. Fett smacked down hard with his vibroblade into the gap between chest plate and underarm, feeling it lodge and then penetrate. A blaster bolt that wasn’t his cracked into the man’s helmet in a blinding flash of light. The trooper stopped struggling.
“Ba’buir, “said Mirta, trying to haul him up. “Where’s the Jedi?”
Jaina Solo was tough enough to look after herself. But if she’d managed to get herself killed, he’d be furious. That wasn’t in the plan. He scrambled to his feet, then heard a thud and turned. Jaina dropped down out of what looked like a ventilation duct.
“Tahiri, “she said. “She’s gone into the shafts. Schematic says that’s an emergency exit route, last resort.”
“You busy, Mand’alor?” Carid yelled. He seemed to forget that he didn’t need to raise his voice in a helmet. He usually preferred fighting without one. “Or we’ll just mop up this bunch on our own, shall we?”
“On my way, “Fett said. “Solo, can you get her?”
“I need her blocked off somewhere along the route.”
“I’ll do it.” Mirta adjusted her helmet. “I’m small enough to pass through in armor.”
“There’s a med sprinter docked topside, “Fett said. “Just a hunch, but do those ducts join up?”
Mirta checked her datapad. “Yeah…. there’s a space a little under two meters high running the underside of that hatch. I reckon Tahiri commed a ride home. Maybe you should use the flamethrower.”
“Let’s not, “said Jaina, looking up at the deckhead. She shut her eyes as if listening, and coughed. Fierfek, next time I’ll make her wear an environment suit. “I can feel her, but I can’t feel anyone outside on the hull.” “You can sense that?”
“When I really concentrate.” She took a deep breath and coughed again. “Might be a med droid, might be someone who can vanish in the Force and I can guess who that’ll be.”
“I didn’t need the Force to know your brother would come to collect his villip, “said Mirta, and dragged a seat across the deck to climb up to another ventilation grille. “And if I get to him first, your training’s going to be wasted.”
“I said, we leave the scumbag to her.” Fett lunged to grab Mirta’s ankle just as she hauled herself into the trunking. He couldn’t think of anything that would express his sudden fear for her. He tried. “Don’t get killed now that I’ve bought your wedding present.” She shook her leg free. “Get a refund.” Jaina gave him a sympathetic shrug and bent her knees, bouncing a little as if she was going to jump. She did. She vanished up the shaft and there was no sound of her crashing into anything. ‘Yeah, clever. The noise of close-quarters fighting had now given way to more distant sound transmitted through the ship’s decks, the faint vibration of some serious pounding taking place. The blastproof bulkheads and hatches in the engineering sections seemed trooper-proof, too.
Fett turned to see Carid’s head stuck out of the hatch. “Don’t get all envious. You can do that with a jetpack. Now, Mand’alor, we’re about to open your surprise, so if you wouldn’t mind hauling your shebs in here…” “I shouldn’t have brought her. Or Grade.” “Don’t go soft on me, Fett.” “I need someone to dance on my grave.” Carid was a good man, but Fett missed Beviin on ops like this. “How many have we got in there?”
Fett picked his way through the debris to another hatch, one with double doors. The schematic said this was the inner sanctum. His terahertz penetrating radar showed bodies moving around, just a dozen or so now. As far as he was concerned it was a stupid design for a warship, but then he didn’t fight the way Imperial navies did.