Star Wars: Join the Resistance: Attack on Starkiller Base by Ben Acker; Ben Blacker & Ben Blacker

Author:Ben Acker; Ben Blacker & Ben Blacker [Acker, Ben & Blacker, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Press
Published: 2018-07-30T00:00:00+00:00

LORICA SENT DEC ahead to scout the way, as he had proven the best sneak any of them had ever known. Lorica, also excellent at stealth, followed closely enough to keep him in her line of sight. Sari was hard to hide due to her size. Mattis could only be relied on for intermittent furtiveness. They brought up the rear. They kept Lorica in view as she found the next alcove, closet, or hallway big enough to hide them. She signaled, and they raced to her. And so it was that J-Squadron slowly, strategically, and methodically invaded Starkiller Base.

Mattis and Sari hid behind a beveled steel column. Sari had her back against it, and Mattis stood in front of her so he could see Lorica. Mattis noticed Sari’s expression was one he’d never seen on her before. She looked the way he had felt back on Durkteel, when he yearned to be a pilot but didn’t know if he’d ever get farther off the ground than the roto-cropper.

Lorica signaled, and they crept to the safety of a technologically impressive alleyway. Even masked in shadow, Mattis could see that Sari’s expression remained abstractly sad. Lorica ran off once more.

“What are you thinking about?” Mattis asked.

Sari looked caught, as if she hadn’t considered how her thoughts would show on her face.

“Honestly, I’m thinking about how I couldn’t sleep on D’Qar.” She sighed after a moment. “When I first got there, I mean. I couldn’t sleep. I’m from a planet called Baraan-Fa.”

“I’ve heard of Baraan-Fa,” Mattis said. “They have that bazaar. It’s supposed to be the best.”

“Exactly so,” she said. “Where I grew up, on the outskirts of the market, the birds would start at sundown. The small ones first, the titterlings and spollows, chirruping in short bursts back and forth in imitation of each other. Kollowaries would hoot low. The shonserras would coo these elaborate melodies that the tench doves would whistle over and around. It was an orchestra. You couldn’t help but breathe the rhythm of it, which would send you off to sleep where you’d dream the music, too.”

Mattis had seen pictures of most of those birds in his books. He found himself wishing he could fall asleep to the sounds of them, too.

Lorica waved. Mattis couldn’t tell if she had just started waving or had been at it awhile and he just hadn’t noticed. The way she pushed them into a corner then down into a squat told him that he’d probably kept her waiting. They’d barely steadied themselves when Lorica bounced away from them and off again.

“D’Qar was a green enough planet,” Sari said. “There were plenty of birds.”

Mattis nodded eagerly. “We saw those castua cranes once.”

“Yes, and we’d get birds in the base sometimes, just flying through or honking at a droid, or squawking during announcements.”

“I once saw a blue dressto perched on an X-wing. Did I ever tell you that? It looked like it was judging our ships, like ‘You call these wings?’” Mattis smiled at the memory.

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