of Farpoint. It looked like a dart, pinning Farpoint to the surface.
“Reports vary between three and six attackers,” Syll said, still listening.
“It has to be them,” Nyss said. “They’re trying to get the medicine they need.”
He climbed to altitude and engaged the engines. The scout flyer streaked through Fhost’s sky, rapidly closing the distance to Farpoint.
From a distance, the city looked like a ship that had been stretched on its ends until it broke apart, its pieces scattering across a couple of kilometers. The spire of the medical center rose out of the decrepitude, impossible to miss. Nyss noted a landing pad on the roof, its large doors folded open. As he watched, a YT-class freighter streaked in and descended onto the landing pad.
YT-class freighters were as common as desperation in the Outer Rim, but its appearance right there, right then, gave Nyss pause. Syll voiced his thoughts.
“The spacers and Korr flew a YT, according to the Anzat’s reports.”
“Yes,” Nyss agreed.
Perhaps they could hit two targets with one shot.
A few dozen swoops and speeder bikes dotted the sky over Farpoint. Sirens flashed red on several that flew near the medical center. Smoke spiraled into the sky from somewhere else in the city, far from the medical center.
“You take the stick,” Nyss said to Syll. “Take me over the landing pad, but don’t land.”
“What will you do?”
“I’m jumping,” Nyss said. “Be ready. When I have the Prime and Korr, I’ll signal you on our usual channel.”
“Go,” she said.
The medical center loomed large through the cockpit transparisteel. Nyss pulled on his goggles, then hurried into the rear compartment, where they stored equipment. There, he took an antigrav pack, strapped it on, and stepped into the airlock.
“Almost there,” Syll said over her comlink. “Reports have the clones in the stairwells and coming up. That has to be the spacer’s freighter. It’s got a modified ship’s boat instead of an escape pod.”
Nyss took hold of one of the bars bolted to the wall of the airlock and pressed the button to open the hatch. Wind and light and the scream of sirens blazed into the tiny compartment. Still holding the grip, he leaned out and looked down.
The scout flyer was almost upon the medical center. Nyss could see the landing pad ahead. The YT had set down near another ship, a large, cylindrical supply ship of some kind.
“Over in three, two, one. Mark.”
Syll slowed for only a moment, and Nyss did not hesitate. He leapt from the airlock, spread his arms and legs to catch the wind, and fell free toward the building’s landing pad.
The duracrete rectangle sped up to meet him. He waited, waited, then engaged the antigrav pack at the last moment. He fell the final ten meters at walking speed, hit the metal of the landing pad in a roll, bounced to his feet, and sprinted into the shadow of the large ship. There, he stripped off the antigrav pack. The shining star of Pharmstar Industries marked its side: it was a medical supply ship.
Loading droids milled about on the far end of the ship, preparing to unload it. Nyss drew the darkness to him and sank into the shadows near a stack of shipping containers. The droids did not see him.
He knew exactly what the clones intended. They were not attacking the medical center, at least not primarily. Into his comlink, he whispered, “They’re going to hijack the medical supply ship on the pad.”
Syll’s soft tones answered him. “Jaden Korr will try to stop them.”
As if summoned by her words, the landing ramp of the YT descended and he saw Jaden Korr and the Cerean, Marr Idi Shael, standing in the open hatch. Had Jaden been alone, Nyss might have made an attempt then and there.
As it was, he remained in hiding, unseen, and watched.
The moment Junker touched down, Jaden and Marr bounded out of the cargo bay and onto the landing pad. Khedryn’s voice carried over the comlink, ghostly.
“Be careful.”
Jaden looked back at Junker and saw Khedryn through the transparisteel off the cockpit, giving them a thumbs-up.
Marr ran for the doorway that opened onto the east stairwell. Jaden headed for the west stair, but diverted toward the medical supply ship. A half-dozen loading droids stood beside the ship, waiting for the lateral cargo bay doors to open so that they could begin unloading.
“May I help you, sir?” asked one of the droids.
Ignoring it, Jaden activated a beacon and tossed it high up on the ship’s side, where it stuck