Star Wars: The Rising Storm (The High Republic) by Cavan Scott

Author:Cavan Scott [Scott, Cavan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473591929
Google: S3YCEAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2021-06-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

The Innovator, Valo

Bell spotted the boys on the far viewing platform at the rear of the Innovator. Two platforms had been set up overnight to allow visitors to stand on top of the ship’s hull, the perfect image scan opportunity, with the floating islands to the side and the shimmering lake out front. Kip and Jom were laughing, Kip looking far more relaxed than he had been last evening, even from this distance. Bell was on the other platform, near the bow just next to the dock. Ember wagged her tail happily, feeling her master’s relief as Bell raised his comlink to his mouth.

“I’ve found them,” Bell reported, wondering how long it would take him to head down into the bowels of the vessel and make it to the back of the ship. At least he wouldn’t have to follow the route laid out for the visitors. His time exploring the ship at Cyclor meant he knew at least a dozen routes through it, shortcuts that the Cyclorrian workers would surely let him take, especially after everything they had all been through during the Nihil raid.

“Master Gios?” That was odd. Stellan hadn’t responded. Bell waited before switching channels, thinking for a moment that he must have knocked the settings when he pulled the comm from his robes. No, he’d been on the correct channel, there was just no response, nor on the Republic channel he flicked over to when he couldn’t raise Coordinator Ra-oon, either.

Ember growled, drawing a startled look from a nearby Lannik male.

“Settle down, girl,” Bell said, resisting the urge to shake the comlink to see if it was still working. “It’s probably just a bad transmitter.”

“I don’t think so,” a voice said to his right. Bell turned to see Vam Targes pushing his way through the crowd, a few of the visitors also checking their comms. “I heard you were back on board, Padawan. Do you know what the problem is?”

“Problem?”

“With communications. Every channel seems to be blocked. Internal comms within the ship seem to be fine, but we’ve lost contact with the administration building in the city.”

That wasn’t good. Clipping his comlink to his belt, Bell lowered the defenses he’d placed around his connection to the Force and almost staggered as a wave of dread swept over him.

“Padawan Zettifar?”

Bell swallowed, trying to steady his stomach that had suddenly lurched as if he were standing on a storm-tossed sailing ship rather than a moored star cruiser. “You said that internal comms are online?”

“Yes.”

“Then contact the other viewing platform. The chancellor’s son is there with the son of the local mayor. We need to make sure they’re safe.”

Targes’s mandibles quivered. “The chancellor’s son? Why wouldn’t he be safe?”

Bell didn’t answer. Instead he looked up to the sky, Ember not caring what the Lannik thought and barking as dots appeared on the horizon, dozens and dozens of dots that were approaching rapidly. Bell used the Force to blank out the noise around him so he could better focus on the new arrivals.

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