Light of the Jedi(61)
Two of the mole mines popped out of the ground—dark-gray cylinders with grinding, gear-filled mouths at one end, the means by which they yanked themselves through the soil. As Bell reached the top of his leap, he seized both with the Force and flung them as far as he could into the air, a reflexive move he hoped would do the job.
The remaining two mines had not left the dirt, their primitive brains unsure where their target had gone now that he was no longer standing.
A huge sound, a whoomph, then a second a moment later, as both airborne mines exploded.
Bell felt a wash of heat—intense, but survivable.
He fell, seeing the endpoint of one of the mole mine trails just below him, and aiming himself toward it as best as he could.
Bell landed, stabbing his lightsaber into the ground, impaling one of the two remaining mines. The final explosive shot up into the air, and he reacted without thought, the Force as his guide, slicing it in half before it reached the apex of its leap.
The two halves of the mole mine, neatly bisected, fell to the ground, and Bell looked up.
He saw that Loden and Porter were dealing with their own attacks—each in their own way. Loden was using the Force to yank the mines out of the ground before they got anywhere near him, sending them flying high into the air to explode harmlessly over the rust flats. Porter was in a low crouch, his lightsaber out and lit, a bright-blue blade he held in a reverse grip.
He was simply slicing the mines in half as they popped out of the ground. One after another—the maneuver Bell had performed just once and didn’t even truly understand how he’d managed, Porter was doing again and again. The expression on his face never changed. His blade flashed, and the metal fell, and he remained untouched.
Both Bell and Loden were transfixed. They were both good swordsmen, and Loden had some claim to being great. But this was like nothing they had ever seen. Not at the Jedi Temple, not from Master Yoda or Zaviel Tepp, or even old Arkoff. Bell couldn’t imagine what it would be like to face Porter Engle in combat.
The display of skill was beautiful, and they could not stop watching, and so they did not see the mole mine that burrowed its way beneath the Vanguard, then shot up and destroyed itself in a paroxysm of joyful self-immolation. The explosion ripped the transport in half and shoved Bell and Loden to the ground in an impact they were barely able to cushion with the Force.
“You all right?” came Indeera’s urgent voice. “Loden! Porter! Answer me! What the hell is going on down there? Everything just started blowing up!”
Loden groaned and rolled over onto his back. He pulled his comlink from his belt.
“We’re okay, Indeera,” he said. “Just a few surprises the Nihil left for us. Mole mines. Seems to be over now. But we lost the Vanguard.”
“If they left mines, it means they thought they might be followed,” Indeera said. “Means they got away.”
“I think so, too,” Porter said, walking up, his lightsaber back in its holster. “My guess is they have a ship parked somewhere in one of the transit zones. The magnetic fields are rough around here, so they couldn’t just land by the house and take the family. They had to land, then speeder in. Then the family killed their speeder, so they stole the steelees and set out to ride back to their ship.”
“How are we supposed to catch them now?” Bell asked, pushing himself up off the ground. “The V-Wheel’s done.”
“Still got three steelees left,” Porter said. “I can saddle them up, and I can use the Force to convince them to work with us, to give us everything they’ve got to save their people. If we hurry, we can catch these monsters before they take the family offworld.”
“Do it,” Loden said, then lifted his comlink again.
“Indeera, we’re going after the Nihil—there are beasts here we can ride. You head back to the outpost and get a Vector. We might need it to follow them off the planet.”
“Got it,” Indeera said. “May the Force be with you.”
Loden replaced his comlink in his belt and walked toward the burning remains of their Vanguard. The vehicle’s two halves were now separated by several meters, shards of debris scattered amid the open space between them. He stopped near what was once the driver’s compartment.
“What are you doing?” Bell asked.
“The internal systems on the Vanguard are hardened against attack. In theory, you can blast a thousand holes in one and the wheels will keep turning. Now, this poor V-Wheel isn’t going anywhere ever again, but maybe it can still make itself useful…”
He lifted his hand, and a long metal panel on the front of the wrecked Vanguard began to vibrate, lifting away slightly from the rest of the machine.
“Help me, Padawan,” he said. “This thing’s on tight.”
Bell lifted his own hand, and the blackened metal panel tore free, flying backward and skittering across the ground. Loden bent and peered into the Vanguard’s inner workings.
“Mm,” he said. “Looks intact.”
He gestured with his hand, closing it into a fist, and Bell heard the sound of metal bending and snapping from inside the engine compartment—little spangs as of thin clasps being stressed beyond endurance.
Loden reached into the machine and withdrew a metal tube about a meter and a half in length, with a sort of wire basket on one end containing a compact power module. Wires stretched and pulled as he lifted the assembly out, electronics connected to a flat metal panel dangling below the tube as he freed it from the Vanguard.