STAR WARS The Jedi Academy Trilogy 2 DARK APPRENTICE by Kevin J. Anderson

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-03-10T13:35:33+00:00

“What is it?” Leia said.

“Another large metallic mass tangled in the weeds right above us.”

“Maybe it’s part of that crashed ship,” Cilghal said.

“If something fell into the seatree forest, it could have been swallowed up for eternity,” Ackbar said. He eased the sub ahead.

As Leia saw the outline of a large multilegged thing wrapped with seatrees and overgrown with algae, she thought it was some kind of alien life-form. Then she recognized the squashed elliptical head, the segmented body core trailing jointed mechanical arms, its nonreflective black surface.

She had seen something like this on the ice planet Hoth, when Han Solo and Chewbacca had stumbled upon the Imperial probe droid. “Admiral—was Leia said.

“I see it. Arakyd Viper Series Probot. The Empire dispatched thousands to all corners of the galaxy to hunt down Rebel bases.”

“It must have landed years ago on Calamari,” Cilghal said. “The wreckage we found below was its landing pod.”

Ackbar nodded. “But when the probe droid tried to rise to the surface, it tangled in the seaweed. It must have shut down.” He nudged the sub closer, shining his depth light on the outer surface.

But when the beam struck the probot’s rounded head, its entire bank of round eyes blinked to life.

“It’s been activated!” Leia said. She could hear the high-pitched vibrating hum of powerful generators as the probe droid began to move again. The head swiveled and directed its own glowing beam at the sub.

Ackbar pushed the propellers into reverse; but before the sub could move away, the probot launched out with its spiderlike claws. Mechanical arms latched on to one of the sub’s rounded fins. The head of the probe droid rotated slowly, trying to bring its built-in blaster cannons to bear, but the seatree fronds tangled its joints.

Ackbar threw all the sub’s power into pulling away and succeeded only in yanking the probe droid along with him, tearing it free of ancient strands of weed.

Ackbar dug his flippers into the wide gloves that controlled his sub’s articulated arms. He brought up two of the segmented mechanical tools, wrestling with the probe droid’s gripping black claws.

Through the speakers of the comm unit, a sudden static-filled burst of subspace gibberish blasted out from the probe droid in some kind of powerful coded signal. The long chain of data shouted toward space even as the deadly probot wrestled with Ackbar’s sub.

The black droid finally succeeded in rotating its head, bending its laser cannons toward the sub.

Ackbar fired the lateral jets, wrenching them and the probe droid sideways as a volley of vicious laser blasts screamed past them, plowing a tunnel of sudden steam through the water. He tugged at the waldos and brought another of his equipment arms to bear, a small cutting laser.

Its tip heated to incandescent red-white as he slashed through the probe droid’s gripping metal claw, severing the plasteel and breaking them free. Ackbar pulled the sub away and brought the cutting laser to bear again just as the probe droid turned to fire a second time.

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