Read Online Star Wars: Shadow Games by Michael Reaves - Free Book Online
Authors: Michael Reaves
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happens.”
Mel grimaced. “With your ship under repair, I understand. Tough luck.”
Dash nodded, glad to be tacking away from the previous subject. “That’s why we were available for this gig. Charn caught us at just the right moment.”
Mel nodded and turned to continue down the aisle between stacks of cargo.
Dash moved with him. “So, about your system: Who loads the crates—sentients or droids?”
“Both. After the incident with the stowaway we’ve made sure there’s one droid for every sentient in the cargo crew. New rule is—never leave a container open if you have to go do something else. And never open a container that you’re not planning to load or unload immediately.”
Dash stopped and rested a hand against the side of a large carboplas container the size of a ship’s life pod. Half a dozen people could cram themselves in there if they tried, he knew. “Do you think there’s any way that could happen again? I mean that a fan with a deep desire to get close to Charn could distract someone and either sneak in or … leave her a nice, deadly little present?”Melikan gave Dash a positively bone-chilling look from his almost colorless eyes. “That’s not fannish adoration. It’s sabotage.”
“Can’t they go hand in hand?”
The cargo master raised a ginger-colored eyebrow. Before he could comment, a klaxon pierced the hold’s quiet, making Dash just about jump out of his boots. A calm, female voice followed, expressing every spacer’s worst nightmare in dulcet tones: “Hull breach on the aft quarter deck. Venting atmosphere. Hull breach on the aft quarter deck. Venting atmosphere.” The klaxon resumed its wailing as the
Nova’s Heart
dropped back into realspace.
“Shut that stupid thing off!” Mel bellowed, racing for the turbolift with Dash on his heels.
“Sir?” An owl-eyed young Sullustan crewman and an Otoga 222 series maintenance droid met them just outside the door to the cargo master’s office. “Did you mean—?”
“Yes, blast it! Shut the klaxon off and stay
here.
”
“But if there’s a hull breach—”
“Stay on the comm, Nik. If it’s bad, you’ll be told to abandon ship. If it’s not you’ll get the all-clear. In either case,
do not leave this area
unless and until you’re ordered off the ship. Do you understand?”
“Yessir!”
“Do you wish me to stay, too, Cargo Master Melikan?” the droid asked politely as Mel and Dash stepped into the turbolift.
“Yes!” roared the cargo master as the door slid shut. “Droids,” he added for Dash’s benefit. “Gotta spell everything out for them.”
Despite the fact that Nik had turned off the klaxon in the hold, it was going full-tilt on the upper decks, nearly deafening the two Corellians as they stepped from the lift onto the forward section of the quarterdeck. They were not the first ones to respond. Arruna Var and hernew Nautolan sidekick were some meters up the corridor, as were Leebo and the med droid, Gea.
Arruna, her face covered by a breathing apparatus, was in the process of obtaining atmospheric readings from the aft section of the deck, which had self-sealed automatically after the alarm sounded. As new as he was to the ship, it didn’t take Dash more than a moment to recognize his surroundings. His quarters were on the other side of those emergency doors … as were Javul Charn’s.
He ran.
He reached the group clustered about the emergency doors with Yanus Melikan at his side. He was just in time to see Arruna rip off her breath mask and turn her attention to the doors’ controls, which were in a panel set into the port bulkhead. She was reaching for the emergency override.
Dash put out a hand to stop her. “What’re you doing?” he shouted above the klaxon. “You want this whole section to vent?”
She shook her head, making her lekku swing. “There’s no leak. Ask your droid.” She pulled her arm away from him and hit the override. Nothing happened.
“Frang!”
Mel grimaced. “With your ship under repair, I understand. Tough luck.”
Dash nodded, glad to be tacking away from the previous subject. “That’s why we were available for this gig. Charn caught us at just the right moment.”
Mel nodded and turned to continue down the aisle between stacks of cargo.
Dash moved with him. “So, about your system: Who loads the crates—sentients or droids?”
“Both. After the incident with the stowaway we’ve made sure there’s one droid for every sentient in the cargo crew. New rule is—never leave a container open if you have to go do something else. And never open a container that you’re not planning to load or unload immediately.”
Dash stopped and rested a hand against the side of a large carboplas container the size of a ship’s life pod. Half a dozen people could cram themselves in there if they tried, he knew. “Do you think there’s any way that could happen again? I mean that a fan with a deep desire to get close to Charn could distract someone and either sneak in or … leave her a nice, deadly little present?”Melikan gave Dash a positively bone-chilling look from his almost colorless eyes. “That’s not fannish adoration. It’s sabotage.”
“Can’t they go hand in hand?”
The cargo master raised a ginger-colored eyebrow. Before he could comment, a klaxon pierced the hold’s quiet, making Dash just about jump out of his boots. A calm, female voice followed, expressing every spacer’s worst nightmare in dulcet tones: “Hull breach on the aft quarter deck. Venting atmosphere. Hull breach on the aft quarter deck. Venting atmosphere.” The klaxon resumed its wailing as the
Nova’s Heart
dropped back into realspace.
“Shut that stupid thing off!” Mel bellowed, racing for the turbolift with Dash on his heels.
“Sir?” An owl-eyed young Sullustan crewman and an Otoga 222 series maintenance droid met them just outside the door to the cargo master’s office. “Did you mean—?”
“Yes, blast it! Shut the klaxon off and stay
here.
”
“But if there’s a hull breach—”
“Stay on the comm, Nik. If it’s bad, you’ll be told to abandon ship. If it’s not you’ll get the all-clear. In either case,
do not leave this area
unless and until you’re ordered off the ship. Do you understand?”
“Yessir!”
“Do you wish me to stay, too, Cargo Master Melikan?” the droid asked politely as Mel and Dash stepped into the turbolift.
“Yes!” roared the cargo master as the door slid shut. “Droids,” he added for Dash’s benefit. “Gotta spell everything out for them.”
Despite the fact that Nik had turned off the klaxon in the hold, it was going full-tilt on the upper decks, nearly deafening the two Corellians as they stepped from the lift onto the forward section of the quarterdeck. They were not the first ones to respond. Arruna Var and hernew Nautolan sidekick were some meters up the corridor, as were Leebo and the med droid, Gea.
Arruna, her face covered by a breathing apparatus, was in the process of obtaining atmospheric readings from the aft section of the deck, which had self-sealed automatically after the alarm sounded. As new as he was to the ship, it didn’t take Dash more than a moment to recognize his surroundings. His quarters were on the other side of those emergency doors … as were Javul Charn’s.
He ran.
He reached the group clustered about the emergency doors with Yanus Melikan at his side. He was just in time to see Arruna rip off her breath mask and turn her attention to the doors’ controls, which were in a panel set into the port bulkhead. She was reaching for the emergency override.
Dash put out a hand to stop her. “What’re you doing?” he shouted above the klaxon. “You want this whole section to vent?”
She shook her head, making her lekku swing. “There’s no leak. Ask your droid.” She pulled her arm away from him and hit the override. Nothing happened.
“Frang!”
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