The Force Unleashed II (The Force Unleashed, 2) by Sean Williams

Author:Sean Williams [Williams, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Star Wars, Science Fiction, Fiction
ISBN: 9780345511553
Publisher: Del Rey
Published: 2010-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

JUNO STOOD ON THE BRIDGE of the Salvation, feeling the smooth operation of the ship and crew around her as though they were parts of her physical body. With a change of uniform and a decent meal in the recent past, she felt entirely transformed. Being restored to command had felt like being returned to life. There was indeed something in what Leia had said about having a frigate at her disposal: It was truly nothing to be sniffed at.

At the back of her mind, though, was something her flight instructor had drummed into her all the way through her training. Getting too comfortable was just asking for the universe to provide a kick in the pants. She went through everything that had happened in recent days, searching for the one thing that had gone wrong, for the boot that might already be on its way to shake her out of her complacency.

“Uh, Captain,” said Nitram with surprising hesitancy, “we have the Rogue Shadow in view.”

“Impossible,” Juno said automatically, assuming someone had made a mistake. “It was destroyed on Cato Neimoidia.”

But even as she said the words, she saw it in the scopes, accelerating smoothly toward her.

“It can’t be him,” she said to herself through a stab of surprise and guilt in equal measures.

Then a more likely possibility occurred to her: “The Imperials must have captured it and are using it as a disguise. Target it—all weapons!”

The bridge crew jumped into life around her. Alert sirens wailed.

Then Kota’s voice boomed out of the comm.

“This is General Rahm Kota, requesting permission to board the Salvation.”

“He can’t be,” she repeated, barely hearing the authorization code he gave. “It can’t be him.”

“Captain?”

She blinked. “If it’s a trick, there’s only one way to find out. Let him board. We’ll greet him with every soldier available.”

“Yes, sir.”

She stood straighter and kept her hands behind her back. They were clenched into fists.

You abandoned him, she told herself. You gave up on him. You left him behind.

Any relief she felt at the possibility of his survival was buried under the crushing weight of remorse.

“Blackguard to Blackout,” came Kota’s voice over the comm.

“I’ll take it,” she said, reaching for her comlink.

Nitram patched the transmission directly through to her.

“This is Blackout,” she said, taking a deep breath. “What’s your status, Blackguard?”

“Back in the game,” he said with obvious relish. “I have intel on a major target that I can’t take out on my own. Do you think the Alliance will be interested?”

The meeting with Mon Mothma, Garm Bel Iblis, and Bail Organa was still fresh in her mind. “I think they’ll be very interested, Kota.”

“Good. Here it comes.”

A second later the intel arrived on the bridge. She picked up a datapad and scrolled through the files, seeing floor plans, security systems, troop deployments—everything the fleet needed to ensure a victory over what appeared at first to be some kind of Imperial medical base. No, she realized: a cloning operation. It was way past the Outer Rim, too far

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