"I have never seen a signature like this," Marr said, studying the enhanced readout from Junker's sophisticated sensor array. "I am getting odd readings." He tapped a few keys, then shook his head in frustration.
Khedryn examined the readings. "Big ship. Not Reegas. Cruiser size, but that signature is no cruiser I've ever seen. Look at that. One of yours?" he asked Jaden.
Jaden moved to the scope, looked over Marr's shoulder, and studied the ship's erratic signature. "No. And it's not Chiss or Yuuzhan Vong. What is-"
Sudden nausea cut off Jaden's words, made his stomach squirm. Marr put two fingers to his left temple and winced with pain.
"You all right?" Khedryn asked Jaden. "You look a little green. Here, sit."
Jaden nodded, took the seat Khedryn offered. He realized he was sweating. He felt a tingle in his fingertips, the beginning of a discharge of Force lightning. He fought it down, putting the hand in his pocket as if it were a proclamation of his guilt.
"Marr, you all right?" Khedryn asked.
"I am fine," Marr said, but squinted as if at a bright light.
Khedryn tapped the scanner screen. "What are you doing in my sky, big girl? Especially right here, right now?"
Marr shook his head as if to clear it, inhaled. "No hails. Getting closer, Captain."
"Keep us clear of it, Marr. Get us on the other side of the moon if you have to."
"Copy."
"Have they pinged us?"
"No."
"Odd," Khedryn said.
"Perhaps not," Marr said. "The ship is showing a lot of damage. I see fires and decompressed compartments all over it."
"A derelict?" Khedryn asked, brightening, presumably at the possibility of profit.
"No, sir. Lots of living crew aboard."
Jaden fought the nausea, the muscles gone weak, and tried to understand his feelings. He finally recognized the source-the power of the dark side. Having put a name to the problem, he put up a defensive screen and the ill feeling passed immediately. He felt it as a pressure in his mind, but it no longer affected his body.
"Get the ship clear of that cruiser," he said. "Now!"
"What is it?" Khedryn asked.
"Sith," Jaden answered.
"Sith? Get us clear, Marr!" Khedryn glared at Jaden.
"I thought you said this was not a Jedi grand scheme?"
Relin slowed the pod only at the last instant, slamming on the reverse thrusters and hitting the ship in a crush of booming metal. He activated the magnetic seal on the pod's docking port, hoping that it would hold as he scrambled out of his seat and opened the air lock.
He had a tiny leak in the seal between ships-he could hear its hiss, but not see it-but he had some time before the pod would be depressurized and out of oxygen. He left the pod's inner air lock doors open to increase the amount of oxygen in the linkage. His damaged flexsuit would not protect him from a vacuum-Saes's lightsaber had taken off both arm and suit below his left elbow-but it still functioned enough that it would maintain his body temperature for a time.
He double-checked his gear: his lightsaber, a few more mag-grenades, his overrider, and his blaster. Good enough.
He knelt before the other ship's emergency external air lock control panel-the writing used an odd, stylized version of the Galactic Standard alphabet, but he could make it out-and attached his overrider to it. He had to strip the overrider's tines and improvise a connection because the panel's architecture was nonstandard. He activated it and waited, willing the red light to turn green. He figured he'd blow the inner doors with his remaining grenades.
"I had no idea," Jaden protested.
Marr started to bring Junker around when it shook with an impact, knocking Khedryn to his rump and slamming Marr's head against the console. Alarms sounded.
"What was that?" Jaden asked.
"Unknown," Marr said, dabbing at a bleeding gash in his forehead and tapping keys.
"Something hit us," Khedryn said.
"Debris, maybe," Marr said.
"Not debris," Jaden said, and activated his lightsaber.
"What are you doing?" Khedryn said, backing away from the green line of Jaden's saber.
A second alarm rang out. Marr spun in his seat. "Something has attached to the port docking ring. Someone is trying to board us."
"Stang!" Khedryn cursed, and drew his blaster.
CHAPTER NINE
Khedryn and Jaden sprinted through the ship's corridors, Khedryn leading, alarms blaring along the way.
Marr's voice sounded over Khedryn's comlink. "They are docked and have overridden the external doors. They are in the air lock."
"The cruiser?"
"Now at a full stop. It still has not scanned us as far as I can tell."
Jaden imagined the tiny freighter facing the huge cruiser across the void of space, a lava flea staring down a rancor.
"Keep me updated," Khedryn said.
They sped through the cargo hold, down a hall, and into a side compartment. Jaden could see the black of space through the occasional viewport. Ahead, he saw the twin hexagonal pressure doors that opened onto the air lock and the docking rings. Both remained closed. The green light above the far door indicated a successful dock.
Jaden put a hand up to slow Khedryn. He pressed his cheek against the nearest viewport and tried to get a look at the ship docked on the ring, but the angle provided poor visibility. The docked ship looked tiny, a small sphere like an escape pod, but no make that Jaden recognized.
To Khedryn, he said, "Probably best you keep your distance-"
An explosion blew the inner air lock door from its fittings and knocked Khedryn and Jaden to the ground. The impact of the falling door sent vibrations through the deck. Smoke filled the corridor, the sizzle of exposed, severed wiring.
Jaden's ears rang, but he still heard the dull clarion of the alarm and, through it, the hum of an activated lightsaber. Adrenaline allowed him to climb to his feet, groggy, his lightsaber in hand. Beside him, Khedryn did the same, blaster in his fist, his other hand on the bulkhead for balance.
Marr's voice crackled over Khedryn's comlink. "What was that? Khedryn?"
A human male in silver armor bounded through the breached doors, a green-not Sith red-lightsaber glowing in his fist. Oddly, a cable attached the hilt of the lightsaber to a power pack on his belt. His left arm was a stump below the elbow, the suit-not armor-black and frayed at the joint, as if it had been recently cut.
Khedryn did not hesitate and fired a series of blaster shots. The intruder's lightsaber turned from line to blurred circle as he weaved a defense that deflected each shot into the bulkheads.
"Stay back," Jaden said to Khedryn. He augmented his speed with the Force and rushed forward, feinting high and stabbing low.
Parrying the low stab as he sidestepped, the intruder spun into a reverse strike at Jaden's head. Jaden interposed his blade, met the man's hard eyes through the transparisteel of his helmet, and put a Force-augmented kick into his abdomen.
The impact slammed the intruder into the wall, elicited a wince and a grunt of pain. He doubled over for a moment, favoring his side. Taking advantage of the opening, Jaden unleashed an overhand slash, but the man spun aside and Jaden's blade cut a black groove in the bulkhead.