Star Wars The Old Republic Fatal Allianc - By Sean Williams Page 0,55

her. It moved on lean, powerful servos that matched her own strength and agility. Its black sense organs tracked her every movement. But every blue pulse it fired at her was reflected by the Force barrier, and every wild slash of its razor-sharp limbs was deflected harmlessly.

Then suddenly it retreated. Its limbs worried at its metallic skin as though scratching itself for fleas. She followed it, puzzled and wary. Was this a trap, some strange new tactic to throw her off her guard? She lunged at it, and it backed rapidly away, firing a stream of blue to keep her at bay.

Then it stopped, stood its ground, and vanished.

For a second Ax doubted the evidence of her own eyes. How could a droid just disappear? It wasn’t possible!

A blast of blue energy struck her from the side, out of thin air, and she realized: the droid had activated a camouflage system, reducing its appearance to little more than a blur. It was blending into the background, circling her, trying to shoot her in the back.

Ax narrowed her eyes. She didn’t know what these things could or couldn’t do, exactly, but of one thing she was completely sure. One way or another, they were going to die. She was going to destroy them all.

SHIGAR BLINKED SWEAT out of his eyes and took the chance to catch his breath. Backup couldn’t have come too soon, even if it was in the form of a Sith and a green-skinned Twi’lek at the controls of a laser cannon. He didn’t have the energy to complain. With one of the droid-things down, speared by the Twi’lek right through the middle, and another occupied by the girl, that left just one for him and Stryver to finish off.

The Mandalorian hovered over it, peppering it with blasterfire and concussion missiles. Shigar waited for an opening.

His comlink buzzed.

“You should fall back,” Larin told him. “We’ve got it covered now.”

“I don’t think it’s that simple.”

“But you’re hurt. At least have someone look at that for you.”

He looked down and noticed for the first time that his left arm was covered with blood. He had been completely oblivious to the pain.

The laser cannon fired again. This time the droid-things were ready. The one Shigar was watching dropped to a crouch and threw up its electromirror shield. The bolt from the cannon knocked it backward, but the bolt itself was reflected into the wall. There it exploded harmlessly, showering two crouching noncombatants with gravel.

Stryver swooped in on his jetpack and landed next to Shigar. Shigar raised his lightsaber, but the Mandalorian wasn’t on the offensive.

“Tell them to aim for the vault,” he said, indicating the comlink.

“Why, what’s in there?”

“Just tell them.”

Then he lifted off and went back to harrying the target. Again the laser cannon fired, and again the bolt exploded into the wall.

Shigar relayed the instruction. “The door’s open,” he said, “and it’s a confined space. Anything left in there will be fried.”

Larin passed the message on to the Twi’lek. From his position, Shigar could see his lekku swinging in an instant negative. A brief argument ensued before Larin came back to him.

“The navicomp might still be in there,” she said over the comlink. “If you can get it out, then they’ll fire into the vault.”

Shigar didn’t dismiss the plan out of hand. Far be it from him to aid the Hutts in their venal pursuits, but the Republic needed all the help it could get in the war against the Empire. It wasn’t his primary mission, but it was still important.

“All right,” he started to say.

Then two things happened that put all thought of the navicomp from his mind. First, the droid-thing attacking the Sith girl disappeared. Second, the laser cannon fired again, and the bolt was deflected a third time into the wall.

Into the same section of the wall, Shigar realized. The shots weren’t ricocheting at random. They were being aimed.

“Stop firing!” he shouted into the comlink. “Tell him to stop firing!”

Larin tapped her helmet, obviously thinking she had misheard his order.

The Sith girl was moving, following a dimple in the air. It fired back at her, blue pulses appearing out of nowhere and bouncing off her Force barrier. The nearly invisible droid-thing was heading for the two noncombatants Shigar had seen earlier.

“I said stop firing!” He waved his arms to convey his urgency. “Now!”

The Twi’lek ignored him. Another bolt went into the wall, widening the crater that had already been bored into it. One more shot, Shigar