Aryn seemed lost in her reverie when a guard entered the room, bent down, and whispered in her ear.
“What is it, Mother?” Raynar asked.
Aryn scanned the circle with a look of alarm. Then she turned to the security officer. “It’s all fight. Tell them,” she said.
“A few minutes ago security noted a brief transmission that came from inside the Tradewyn. We tried to trace it, but couldn’t find the source.”
Raynar clasped his mother’s hand. Uncle Tyko stood abruptly.
“Prepare for another hyperspace jump,” he said to the guard. “Immediately!”
The guard rushed to carry out his orders.
Tyko looked down at his sister-in-law.
“It can’t be anyone here in this room,” he said, “but I fear we may have a traitor aboard the Tradewyn.”
5
For Jaina, the bridge of the Tradewyn was a wonderland filled with the highest quality computers, gadgets, and communications equipment available in any market.
She and Lowie exclaimed over each discovery of technological wizardry.
She thought briefly of her friend Zekk, with whom she had spent many of her younger days on Coruscant, scavenging technological gadgets from the abandoned underlevels and tinkering with them so that old Peckhum could have something to sell. She and Zekk had gone their separate ways, though, He had fallen to the dark side and joined the Shadow Academy.
Even after he had been defeated, and forgiven, Zekk still could not forgive himself.
He had struck out on his own in hopes of building a new life. He had decided to become a bounty hunter, and Jaina wished she could contact him somehow, and get news of him in return. But here, hidden as they were with the Bornaryn merchant fleet, no one in the galaxy would know where to find them.
After the Ceremony of Waters, Raynar took turns with his mother conducting the tour of the flagship, and proved almost as knowledgeable as she was on the subject.
The young Jedi had come to the bridge while Tyko prepared the ship for its next hyperspace jump, hoping to keep one step ahead of any pursuers that might be after them or Bornan Thul. The Tradewyn’s jump elicited a tingle of excitement from the Jedi students. All of them had seen many such jumps, but rarely from the open bridge of a city-sized starship. Tyko paced the bridge, a heavy frown corrugating his forehead, his hands clasped behind his back, as Raynar and Aryn Dro Thul continued the tour.
“What are those?” Jaina asked, spying an unusual console.
“Our weapons systems,” Aryn replied. “Targeting for the entire fleet is linked through here.”
“Everything can be controlled from the bridge of the Tradewyn,” Raynar added.
“Concussion missiles, ion cannons, even targeted energy deflectors. We have quad laser emplacements all around the circumference of the bridge—there, there, and there—” he said, pointing, “plus one up top and one below us. Of course, we can also release control to individual gunners.”
Jaina eyed the weapons appraisingly. “I’d love to try them sometime. Dad always lets us practice with the guns in the Millennium Falcon.”
Aryn’s eyebrows went up. “Ah, yes, that doesn’t surprise me. Your father always was a bit of a rogue. I met him briefly, on Alderaan, when …”
“You know Han Solo?” Raynar broke in, his eyes wide.
Aryn laughed. “Not really. It was decades ago, before I was married, and he visited Alderaan for a day. Of course, he was traveling under another name at the time. We just happened to meet. Back then, I thought he was very handsome. He even tried to steal me from your father. Bornan was rather jealous.” Aryn’s fine-boned face dimpled in a warm smile. “Even though Han has been a respectable man for many years, I’m afraid Bornan may still harbor a bit of a grudge.”
“Preparing to come out of hyperspace,” the helmsman announced in a loud voice.
“Very well,” Tyko said. “You, over there.” He pointed to a man in a security uniform near the navigational station. “Begin plotting our next jump, just to be on the safe side.”
“Kusk,” the man replied. “We’ve been introduced several times.”
Tyko blinked. “I beg your pardon?”
“Kusk, sir—it’s my name.”
Uncle Tyko made a face as if he had bitten into a chunk of rancid Nerf cheese. “Very well—Kusk. I suggest you begin plotting our course immediately or we’ll stuff you into an escape pod and shoot you toward the nearest inhabited system. Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Kusk gritted between clenched teeth.
Jaina made a mental note never to cross Raynar’s uncle Tyko. She wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of his anger.
Just then the scene in the viewports all around the bridge changed. Starlines shortened from glowing streaks into specks of concentrated brilliance, and they were alone against the blackness of space. Completely alone. Not a single ship from the fleet had made the jump with the Tradewyn.
No. Not alone. Something else was here … waiting for them, ready to pounce.
Lowie saw it first and sounded the alarm.
“Oh, my! We’re doomed,” Em Teedee wafted.
There in the viewscreen closest to them came a wicked,looking ship that was no part of their fleet. Its weapons were powered up, ready to fire.
Jacen wished he could think of something to do.
“We’re receiving a transmission, Lady Aryn,” the communications specialist said. “Priority one.”
“Put it on the front viewscreen,” Tyko snapped.
The comm specialist looked back at Aryn.
She nodded.
A face masked by a dark flight helmet appeared on screen.
“Tradewyn, this is the High Roller,” the harsh voice came over the comm speakers. “I demand that you release to me either Aryn Dro Thul or Raynar Thul immediately. If you refuse, I will be forced to destroy your ship.”
Although this seemed like an absurd demand to Jacen, he was still surprised when Uncle Tyko gave a bark of laughter. “This ship has the finest defenses and weaponry that can be bought. Don’t force us to prove it.”
On the screen, the helmeted figure shrugged. “Perhaps you have the best defenses that can be bought legally, that is, but I have access to sources you couldn’t even begin to imagine.” An energy bolt streaked out from the ship and struck just below the forward viewport.
“If you give me the woman or the boy,” the harsh voice said, “I won’t need to demonstrate any further. You have ten minutes to decide.”
“Screen off,” Tyko snapped. The viewscreen went blank. “We need to clear the bridge of everyone but essential bridge crew. Kusk, take Lady Aryn down to the security shelter at the center of the ship. Don’t let anyone near her until this threat has been dealt with. Get moving! Raynar, you go too.”
Kusk sprang up from the navigational console with commendable speed, now that he had been chided by Tyko, and hustled Raynar and his mother from the bridge before Tyko could issue the next order. Even Aryn did not argue. As they vanished down the turbolift, Raynar looked worriedly back over his shoulder, although he tried to appear brave in front of his friends.
Jacen was glad the security guard had reacted quickly this time and avoided making a scene. Even so, he got a strange prickly feeling at the back of his neck. He shivered. Something was wrong here…..
Maybe it was because the High Roller was outside the viewports waiting to blast the bridge again, but he didn’t think so.