Vector Prime (Star Wars: The New Jedi Order Book 1) by R.A. Salvatore

Author:R.A. Salvatore
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780345467409
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Published: 2003-06-03T00:00:00+00:00

“Keep a high orbit,” Luke said to Mara as he sat in the cockpit of his X-wing, the small starfighter at rest in the rear compartment of the Jade Sabre. “If I get in trouble, I’m going to jump to lightspeed to get out of there, and I expect you to do the same.”

“Right behind you,” Mara assured him, her voice still showing some of the strain from their ordeal on Belkadan.

“Right in front of me,” Luke corrected. He could visualize his wife’s wry grin as she heard that command for about the tenth time in the last hour. The two had come into the Helska system quietly, using the sun as a visual and tracking barrier in their approach toward the fourth planet. They had no idea of what might be going on here, of whether the warrior Mara had slain on Belkadan might be related to whatever it was that streaked through the galactic barrier to collide with the fourth planet, of whether the plague that had all but destroyed Belkadan had emanated from this place. Perhaps it was all coincidence, the sighting followed by the destruction of Belkadan. Perhaps Yomin Carr had become deranged by the same metamorphosis that had apparently afflicted the trees of the doomed planet.

Luke didn’t think so. He sensed something here, something deep and dangerous, like a resonation in the fabric of the Force itself. As a strange and dangerous disease had come into Mara, he feared that one had come into the galaxy, and there was only one way to find out. Furthering that line of thought were the leathery balls they had brought from Belkadan. Someone, something, had tried to communicate with Yomin Carr, using a language that neither Luke nor Mara had ever heard before, and one that R2-D2 couldn’t even begin to translate.

C-3PO would get it, though, Luke believed, for the protocol droid was programmed with every known language, even archaic and unused, in the galaxy. That thought brought a shiver to Luke, for, given the information they had garnered on Belkadan, could they even be sure that this language was from the galaxy?

Even if it was not, Luke was confident that dependable C-3PO would figure it out.

“Break it open, Artoo,” he instructed the astromech behind him. R2-D2 punched the appropriate codes into the X-wing, which were relayed to the Jade Sabre, and the tail fin of the shuttle opened like a scissors’ blade. A moment later, the X-wing slid out easily into empty space, floating behind the Jade Sabre, and as soon as there was enough room between them, Luke swooped down about the shuttle and throttled past her, giving a salute to Mara. They had decided that he would go to the fourth planet in the more nimble X-wing, while Mara played a role as a wider-range reconnaissance and provided cover fire, should that be needed.

The X-wing’s layered S-foils were closed now, giving it the appearance of a two-winged starfighter. Luke did a quick check of all systems, then called back to Mara, offering the coordinates for his run.

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