Free Star Wars: Crosscurrent by Paul S. Kemp Page B

the chamber's doors and rolled over Saes and Relin. The blast flattened Relin to the floor—he felt his ribs crack, adding that agony to that of his arm and seared face—and blew Saes across the room, slamming him against the wall with the force of a battering ram. Shrapnel rained down. The entire ship lurched from the explosion.
    Saes and Harbinger fled from his mind. Relin sat up, still half dazed, but able to think of only one thing.
    "Drev!"
    "It is…all right, Master. I believe I have matters righted. Though I now admit to being wrong, The Sith appear willing to fire pre-jump." Drev laughed and Relin thought he heard the hint of hysteria in it. "What just happened aboard Harbinger ?"
    Relin could hear the continuous thrum of laserfire through the comlink, could hear the stressed grunts and rapid breathing of his Padawan. He glanced at Saes, unmoving on the floor of the chamber, and fought down his need for revenge. He could not fix himself through murder, and anger had already caused him to exercise poor judgment.
    He deactivated his lightsaber, and left his arm and his former Padawan behind him on the deck of the Sith dreadnought.
    "I'm coming. Stay out of the way of those guns."
    "The dreadnoughts are near the end of the jump sequence. I've got to stay in their jump field until the last moment or those guns will get a clear shot."
    " Harbinger isn't jumping," Relin said as a secondary explosion ripped through the hyperdrive chamber. Smoke poured through the double doors, and he lifted his cloak to his mouth to prevent a coughing fit that would feel like a knife stab to his broken ribs. Alarms sang their song of dismay while he sped as best he could from the chamber. Even if his charges had not completely destroyed the hyperdrive, Harbinger would not risk a jump with a damaged drive. He and Drev had done something to help Kirrek. Not everything. But something.
     
    * * *
     
    Klaxons blared on the bridge. Tension animated the faces of the bridge crew, hung in a pall over the quiet. Dor stalked over to the helmsman's station.
    "Abort the jump sequence!" he ordered, his claws sinking into the helmsman's shoulder deep enough to draw blood.
    "Trying, sir. Something is…wrong."
    Crew stood from their stations, watching the helm and the viewscreen.
    "Stay at your posts," Dor ordered, and stared them back into their seats. "Sit!"
    They did as he bade, while Dor hovered over the helmsman's shoulder like a guardian spirit. Harbinger could not jump with a damaged drive. The ship would be torn apart.
    "Not responsive, sir," the helmsman said, and Dor heard panic creeping into his voice.
    "Emergency shutdown, then," Dor ordered, and disliked the tension in his own voice.
    The helmsman worked his console, then slammed a fist on the readout. "Not responsive. Jumping in twenty-three seconds."
    "Get the engineers down there," Dor said.
    "I've tried," the communications officer said. "No one is responding. A security team is in Corridor Three-G, outside the hyperdrive antechamber, but they report that the blast doors are closed and sealed."
    "Have them go around, and quickly!" Dor said, and the comm officer repeated his order.
    The ship lurched as another explosion rocked the rear section. The distinct bass hum of the activating drive, more felt than heard, vibrated Dor's bones. He turned to the bridge security officer, a Massassi a head taller than Dor and with as much metal under his flesh as he had bone.
    "Get a team to the hyperdrive with explosives and blow the power linkages! Now!"
    The security officer nodded and sped off the bridge, barking orders into his comlink, but Dor knew nothing could be done in time. They were going into hyperspace, on fire and with a damaged drive. He sagged into the command seat as the helmsman counted down the seconds remaining to them all.
    "Nineteen. Eighteen."
    Captain Korsin's voice from Omen cut through the silence. "We are getting odd readings from your jump field."
    Dor stared at the