The Last Jedi_Expanded Edition [Star Wars] by Jason Fry

Author:Jason Fry [Fry, Jason]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Published: 2018-03-06T05:00:00+00:00

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When the police burst into the stable, blasters drawn, two things happened almost at once. First a massive door slid aside, opposite the row of fathier stalls. Then every gate on the stalls snapped open and the hapless officers were left spinning in the dust and straw as twenty fathiers leapt free of the confines of their pens, jostling to be first through the door leading to the empty racetrack beyond.

As the officers picked themselves up and stared after the departing fathiers, the stableboy grinned and crept away from the control panel he’d activated, looking down happily at the ring with the Alliance crest where it bobbled on his finger.

Rose clung to the lead fathier—the herd’s matriarch, the boy had explained in halting Basic—as her first steps exploded into a full gallop. In her ear, Finn let out an astonished yelp as the world began pitching violently up and down around them.

Rose knew a grin was plastered across her face. She’d been nervous when the stableboy had hastily buckled a saddle onto the matriarch’s back and indicated—with a wide grin—that they should climb aboard. But Finn had been little short of terrified.

Despite their nerves, the matriarch had accepted both Rose’s presence and the unaccustomed additional weight of Finn. Her sides quivered between Rose’s knees and her ears twitched, and somehow Rose knew: She wanted to run.

Around them, the racetrack was empty but lit up as if it were broad daylight instead of the middle of the night. Rose wanted to rear up in the saddle so her legs could better keep her in place atop the hurtling fathier, but she couldn’t with Finn plastered to her back, hands locked around her waist. There was nothing to do except hold on to the animal’s neck as best she could.

Rose could feel the matriarch’s enormous lungs working beneath her hide, and the muscles of her neck and legs working in synchronization. It was like being atop a living machine—one built with exquisite precision to maximize speed.

She was terrified and exhilarated—and aching for Paige to have been able to see this.

This isn’t a daydream or a story we’re making up in the ball turret so we can forget about the war for a moment. Pae-Pae, this is real—I’m riding a fathier!

The fathier’s head slammed up and down as she ran, her ears pushed back behind her by the wind. Rose could feel the blood pumping beneath her arms where they were pressed against the beast’s graceful neck.

“Stop enjoying this!” Finn yelled in her ear.

Police speeders rose into view above the track and Rose could see their weapons rotate, trying to get a fix on the matriarch and the herd sprinting behind her. But then the fathier matriarch snorted and lowered her head, as if she had a plan.

“Ohhh—hang on!” Rose yelled as she realized what that plan was.

She ducked, pressing her head against the fathier’s neck as the matriarch crossed the infield, churning up grass, and smashed through the window behind one of the casino’s bars.

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