Star Wars Rebels: Servants of the Empire: Rebel in the Ranks by Jason Fry

Author:Jason Fry [Fry, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781484717011
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2015-03-03T00:00:00+00:00

Zare had just sat down across from Jai when Currahee marched into the mess hall.

“CADETS! REPORT TO THE ASSESSMENT HALL IN FIVE MINUTES! HELMETS AND HARNESSES!”

“Didn’t look that appetizing anyway,” Jai said with a shrug as the boys left their nerf cubes and vegetable mash to cool and congeal without them.

“We should grab ration bars on the way out,” Zare said. “Who knows what they have in mind or how long it will be till we eat.”

“Quick night’s march to Naboo?” Jai asked with a grin.

“Why stop there? Double-time it and we’ll make Coruscant by dawn.”

“I’ll get two ration bars, then.”

When they arrived at the assessment hall, a glowing flag stood atop the Pillar.

“This isn’t even a challenge,” muttered Oleg. “Instead of going down, we go up.”

“But how?” Jai asked. “I don’t see any handholds.”

Zare dialed up the magnification on his video sensors, but there was nothing but the usual grid on the Pillar’s sheer sides.

“CADETS! BEGIN!” shouted Currahee as the chime sounded in their helmets.

A low hum filled the room and platforms emerged from the sides of the Pillar, then began to rotate around its sides. The lowermost row was about a meter and a half above the floor and rotated left, the one above it rotated right, and then they alternated all the way to the top of the Pillar.

“See you at the top, losers!” crowed Oleg, springing atop a platform as it passed by.

A few seconds later Oleg said a word that would have earned him a demerit if Currahee or Chiron had heard it. Zare saw him sprawled on the floor below after his platform retracted.

“Have to be quicker than that!” Jai said, leaping onto a platform alongside Lomus, a beefy cadet from Unit Cresh. While Lomus tried to get his footing, Jai jumped and caught the edge of a platform heading the other way above him. The platform below him immediately retracted and Lomus crashed to the floor in a heap beside Zare.

Zare jumped onto the lowermost platform, waving his arms to keep his balance, then pulled himself up to the row above him and then the one after that. He saw Jai on the next platform, preparing to continue his ascent. But then the platform above Jai retracted, dropping a cadet onto his perch and knocking Jai to his knees.

Zare jumped up a row and looked down, expecting to see that the platform had retracted and dumped Jai and the other cadet. But they were both still standing there looking up at him.

“Something’s changed,” Zare said, activating his unit’s channel. “The platforms aren’t retracting.”

A second later he felt the platform beneath his own feet begin to retract. He jumped blindly, catching the platform above him by his fingertips.

“Wrong as usual, Leonis!” Oleg chuckled.

“I stand corrected,” Zare said as he hauled himself up.

“I know what’s going on,” Jai said, and a moment later he clambered aboard Zare’s platform, holding up one hand. “Wait.”

The two cadets readied themselves to leap away, but their platform remained motionless. Jai gave Zare a thumbs-up.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.