“Quick, Chewie,” she cried, “she’s got a speeder bike.”
Jaina stumbled toward the entrance, slipping as she went. She grabbed on to a wall rail to prevent herself from pitching forward in a long drop to the canopy below.
Her heart sank when she saw the fleeing Nightsister on a speeder bike zip across the hanger bay opening, heading toward the computer fabrication facility, which Jaina knew was under attack from Imperial forces.
Moving with amazing speed, Chewbacca launched himself forward. To Jaina’s horror, the Wookiee gave a ferocious howl and leaped straight out the door toward Garowyn’s buzzing vehicle, with nothing beneath him but thin air—
—and grasped a pipe on the speeder bike with one strong, furry hand.
Still slipping, Jaina held the wall rail and watched Wookiee, Nightsister, and speeder bike spiral down toward the leafy sea. Jaina clung to the rail and reached out with one hand, but she was too far away to help Chewbacca.
As the speeder bike crashed on the treetops, Chewie quickly regained his balance. The Nightsister, still covered with slimy lubricant, dismounted and scrambled for purchase on one of the narrow branches. Chewie swung himself to the thicker branch beneath her and shook the limb on which she stood, growling a challenge.
A harsh laugh escaped Garowyn’s lips, and a triumphant look lit her face. Jaina could hear her voice even at this distance. “So you wish to die?” The Nightsister stretched out a hand that crackled with discharges of blue electricity. “You deserve it for what you’ve done to my ship.”
Chewbacca, though defenseless in the face of her discharge of dark power, snarled at her.
In desperation Jaina tried the only trick that sprang to mind. Letting her eyes fall half closed, Jaina sent a rippling furrow through the leaves behind Garowyn. This time the invisible plow made a loud, rustling sound, like a stampede.
The Nightsister whirled to defend against the supposed attack on her from behind. Flinging up an arm to ward off her unseen enemy, Garowyn lost her footing on the narrow branch. She fell backward.
Jaina gasped as she heard Garowyn’s head strike a lower tree branch with a solid thud. Without another sound, the Nightsister’s compact body tumbled like a shooting star, through the sharp and clinging branches into the depths of the jungle far, far below.
15
The screaming sounds of TIE fighters ripping through the atmosphere sent a chill of primal terror down Jacen’s spine. He knew the howl was only exhaust from the powerful engines, but he felt certain the Imperial ship designers must have delighted in the hellish noise.
In the bustling fabrication facility, a cacophony of alarms rang out from platform loudspeakers. Growling, barking announcements hammered through the air. Wookiee workers ran in all directions, activating security systems or evacuating the area.
TIE bombers streaked low over the treetops, dropping proton explosives that set the dense network of branches aflame. Dark gray smoke billowed from burning leaves.
“We must help defend against this threat,” Tenel Ka said, looking for some weapon substantial enough to use against the invading fighters. Her face wore an expression of stony determination.
Sirra and Lowie howled in rage at seeing the destruction of the tree dwellings. The spindly Tour Droid spun its boxy head around, despite its numerous optical sensors. “Do not panic. Have no fear,” it said in its tinny voice. “This must be a drill. No attack has been scheduled for today.”
At Lowie’s waist, Em Teedee piped up in a scornful tone. “Why, you silly Tour Droid, switch on your optical sensors! Can’t you see this is a crisis situation? Hmmmf!” The miniaturized droid muttered a deprecating comment about the questionable intelligence of public-relations models.
The Tour Droid continued to issue calming messages, though its thoughts were obviously scrambled. “Kashyyyk has numerous satellite defenses. No enemy ships can approach this facility. We have sophisticated defense mechanisms, including powerful perimeter guns. They should begin firing any moment now.”
“Perimeter guns?” Tenel Ka said, her cool gray eyes flashing. “Where? Perhaps we can use them against these enemies.”
Sirra roared, gesturing with her long hairy arm to show that she knew the way.
“A splendid idea,” Em Teedee said. “I do hope we won’t be blown to bits before we can implement Mistress Tenel Ka’s plan. Oh my!”
“As my sister would say,” Jacen said, “what are we waiting for?” He, Tenel Ka, and the two young Wookiees barged past the Tour Droid into the complex.
Sirra led them down an open-air corridor amid the din of explosions and laser blasts. They reached a network of pulley-driven vines, ropelike lifts that yanked them to a higher level. Sirra grabbed one vine, tucked her foot into a loop, and the rope sprang upward, drawing her toward the higher platforms. Lowie did the same. Jacen followed suit, looking down to watch Tenel Ka, who wrapped her arm around the vine and stepped into a loop with no problem whatsoever. Within seconds, they were all whisked to an upper platform at the outer perimeter of the complex.
Because of their quick reaction, the companions reached the defensive guns before most of the Wookiee defenders. Jacen saw unattended ion cannons with spherical power sources and needlelike barrels aimed toward the sky—but his eyes lit upon a pair of old-model quad-laser cannons, exactly like those in the Millennium Falcon’s gun wells.
“Hey, we can use those!” Jacen said. He raced over to the nearest emplacement, checking the status panels. “They’re powered up and ready to go.” Tenel Ka gruffly agreed and stationed herself behind one of the other weapons.
The two Wookiees chattered to each other. Em Teedee called, “Master Jacen! Master Lowbacca and Mistress Sirrakuk have decided to use the computers to determine where the breakdown in the facility’s defensive systems occurred. Perhaps they can prevent further Imperial fighters from getting through. Oh, I do hope they’re successful.”
“They’ll do their best,” Jacen said, grabbing the quad-laser’s targeting controls. He sank down into the voluminous seat in front of the cannon, feeling the energy thrum through the firing sticks in his fingers. Since the widely spread controls had been designed for large Wookiee bodies, he adjusted the targeting circle.
Imperial fighters continued to howl overhead, launching strikes against the Wookiee residential districts, but leaving the central computer facilities relatively untouched … though thrown into complete chaos.
A glance to Jacen’s left told him that Tenel Ka was in position. Gripping the firing stick with her right hand, she seemed already familiarized with the weapon’s control systems. In seconds her eyes began to track the enemy fighters overhead.
Three tall Wookiees charged onto the defensive platform and took up positions at the ion cannons, glancing curiously at the two humans, confused by this unexpected assistance. But they didn’t waste time asking for explanations. Instead, they fired powerful blasts from the ion cannons.
One of the crackling yellow-white shots caught a TIE fighter that soared through the edge of the blast. The Imperial control systems flickered out and the TIE fighter spun dead in the air, its engine silenced. Unable to regain control, the pilot crashed into the distant forest canopy with a dull, booming explosion.
Jacen used his targeting circles to lock onto a sluggish, fully loaded TIE bomber that arrowed toward the clustered residential structures. The bomber came in, picking up speed while preparing to drop its deadly explosives.
Jacen grasped the firing controls and gritted his teeth. “Come on … come on,” he said. Finally, the target lock blinked as the TIE bomber settled directly in the crosshairs.