“Keep steady,” he muttered to himself. This commando run would require the utmost precision and piloting skill. Along with a new batch of TIE fighter trainees chosen from the ranks of young stormtroopers, Orvak had completed the simulations over and over again en route to the Yavin system.
But this was the real thing. Now the Emperor was depending on him.
Massassi trees formed a chaotic carpet of green below. Gnarled branches thrust above the thick canopy like monster claws. Orvak glided in low, watching the wake of his passage disturb treetop creatures who fled from the blast of his hot exhaust.
His companion Dareb spoke over a tight line-of-sight beamed channel. The other pilot’s words were encrypted and descrambled by a special coding system in Orvak’s cockpit. “Long-range sensors are picking up the protective energy field,” Dareb said. “The shield generators are right where our covert information said they would be.”
“Target verified,” Orvak acknowledged, speaking into the microphone built into his helmet. “Lord Brakiss, who endured some time here, knows much of the layout of the Jedi academy itself—if the Rebels haven’t moved things around.”
“Why would they?” Dareb said. “They’re far too complacent, and we are about to show them their folly.”
“Just don’t show me your folly,” Orvak said. “Enough chatter. Head for the target.”
The invisible shields hovered like a protective umbrella over a section of jungle where a river sliced through the trees and an ancient-looking stone pyramid rose majestically. Orvak hoped that by the end of this day Skywalker’s Great Temple would no longer be standing.
But before the Shadow Academy could begin the primary assault, Orvak and Dareb had to complete their preliminary mission: to knock out that shield generator and open the doors wide for a devastating attack.
Orvak checked his sensors. In the infrared and other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, he could see the deadly ripples of the hovering force field dome that protected the Jedi academy. Yet, because of the tall Massassi trees, the shield did not reach all the way to the ground, halting instead five meters above the treetops. Five meters—a shallow gap between foliage and sizzling energy, but wide enough for a crack pilot to negotiate. Here and there, a few upthrust branches were singed and blackened where they had intruded into the crackling energy dome.
“It’ll be a tight squeeze,” Orvak said. “Ready for it?”
“I feel like I could take on the whole Rebel Alliance by myself,” Dareb said.
Orvak didn’t acknowledge this display of overconfidence. “Closing in,” he said.
He brought the stealth TIE fighter lower, just skimming the treetops. Leaves whispered beneath him, chattering and scratching against the wings of his ship. The air seemed to ripple in front of the fighter, a faint indication of the energy shield, and he hoped the sensors were correct.
“Stay on target,” he said. “Once we get under the shields, our real work starts.”
Just as they passed underneath the invisible boundary, Dareb swerved to one side to avoid an unexpected moss-covered branch that elbowed up only a meter above the canopy. The young pilot overcompensated and struck a corner of his square wing panel against another branch, which sent him tumbling.
“I can’t hold it!” he shouted into the comm system. “I’m out of control!”
Dareb’s TIE fighter pinwheeled up into the deadly force field and exploded as it hit the disintegrating wall. Intent on his mission, Orvak streaked onward, looking into the rear viewers to see the flaming debris of his partner tumbling out of the sky.
He clenched his teeth and drew a deep breath through the oxygen mask in his helmet. “We’re all expendable,” Orvak said, as if trying to convince himself. “Expendable. The mission is all-important. Dareb was my backup. So now it’s up to me. Alone.” He swallowed hard, knowing that now the Rebels must be aware of his covert mission.
Without pause, Orvak homed in on the isolated shield-generating station. The machinery looked like a set of tall disks half buried in the jungle underbrush, surrounded by a cleared maintenance area that provided just enough space for him to land his small Imperial fighter. Visible in the distance rose the great pyramid that housed Skywalker’s Jedi academy.
He shut down the muffled twin ion engines and opened the cockpit door, heaving himself out. Reaching into the stowage compartment behind his pilot’s seat, he retrieved the pack of supplies that contained all the explosives he would need for a full day’s work… .
Orvak stepped on the squishing, plant-covered ground. The jungle brooded around him, chaotic and threatening. Overhead, he could hear the crackling hum of the energy shield that had destroyed his partner.
Compared with the clean, sterile Shadow Academy, Yavin 4 felt disgustingly alive. It swarmed with vermin, plants growing everywhere, little rodents, insects, strange biting creatures that moved in every direction and hid in every cranny.
He longed for the precise and spotless corridors of the Shadow Academy, where his boots could ring loud and clear on the cold, hard metal plates, where he could smell the recycled air flowing through the ventilators, where everything was regimented and in its rightful place … just as the Empire would be again after its victory over the Rebels. Orvak took comfort in his solid leather gloves and the helmet that protected him from infestation by the parasitic creatures of this uncivilized world.
Taking the pack that contained his demolition equipment, he sprinted away from his TIE fighter toward the humming shield generator station. It hulked over him, powerful and unguarded. Doomed.
Although the shield generators were obviously new, vines, creepers, and ferns grew in tangled profusion close to the warm machinery. Orvak could see hacked ends and broken branches where someone had chopped away the foliage in an attempt to keep the access clear. The irresistible jungle, though, kept pressing its advantage. Orvak shook his head at the folly of these Rebels.
When he reached the pulsing station, Orvak hunched over and glanced from side to side, expecting Rebel defenders at any moment. Opening his pack, he withdrew two of his six high-powered thermal detonators, shaped charges he would place against the generator’s power cells. These two explosives would be sufficient to take down the Jedi academy’s shields.
He would save the rest of the explosives for the second part of his mission.
Orvak synchronized the timers. Then, removing his recalibrated compass and glancing at the coordinates he had programmed in, he ducked and fought his way through the underbrush toward his next target, which was some distance through the jungle and across a river.
The Great Temple.
He paused for only a moment, opaquing his blast goggles as the timers ran down to zero—and the explosive charges detonated.
The boom was deafening, and a pillar of fire rose to the sky, singeing the surrounding Massassi trees. Satisfied, Orvak congratulated himself on an excellent explosion. Most spectacular.
But the next one would be better yet.
4
With Raynar and Tionne crowded in the back, Lowie piloted the T-23 skyhopper back toward the Jedi academy at full speed. As they skimmed along the treetops, Lowie explained the situation as best he could, with Em Teedee translating.
“… and that is why Master Skywalker requested that Master Lowbacca retrieve you with such haste,” the little droid finished.
“Well, well, well,” Raynar said in a sour voice. “I suppose you think this is going to make you heroes for coming back to save the Jedi academy. I’m sure I could have managed quite nicely without your help. While you were off playing, I was here training with Tionne.”