41:03:30 GrS

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"I can't believe that worked!" Lyra exclaimed, though Reiko wore a look of triumph and even Uncle Shin had a subtle smile. It had taken two of their expensive T-33s and a proton torpedo, but the other ship's shields and sensors were down, at least for the moment.

"Now comes the hard part." She dodged laser fire from the big cannons flanking the hammerhead corvette's heavily armored command module. With their sensors out their aim was awful, but a shot or two glanced off the forward shields, making the Chimera bounce around dramatically. Lyra knew those cannons could punch right through her ship if she got in the crossfire between the two bigger vessels. She didn't recognize the opposing fighters, but she figured they could cause plenty of problems, too.

Eccleston was in her ear, keeping up a rapid-fire commentary on what the Customs ship was doing. Lyra knew the hammerhead's scanners would only be offline for half a minute at most if their crew was at all competent. "Tetris, get the sensors up!" she called into her mic. She'd had to shut down Chimera's scanners lest the indiscriminate pulse from the rigged plasma torpedo affect them too.

While the scopes flickered back to life Lyra steered steeply around the hammerhead. Behind her, the Korvis was closing hard on a perpendicular course. In a few seconds they'd be in tractor beam range, and she didn't want to be caught in the potent gravitic force fields they were about to unleash.

She issued more orders. "Uncle Shin, ion cannons. Might as well help Indrus while we're here. Yuzu, get on the dorsal guns and make sure there aren't any of those fighters nearby."

"Yes, my lady," said Raga, his smile growing as he swung the ventral turret's twin barrels and fired at the ship's engines. Its weakened deflectors took the brunt of the blast, but some of the shots penetrated, and one of the four powerful sublight drives flickered wildly before it failed in a shower of charged particles.

Lyra loitered behind the ship in its blind spot where none of the hammerhead's guns could target her. Shin pounded the inverted triangular aft of the ship that housed the reactors and hyperdrive. With luck they could disable those systems, too.

As soon as Raga finished his fusillade she juiced the drives and rocketed around to the far side of the ship, aiming for the corvette's docking ring. Lyra realized It had been a while since she'd flown a boarding mission. The armored TIE shuttles she'd piloted had their hatches at the front, but this wasn't so different. Resonating in the forefront of her memory was the importance of coming in fast.

"Brace for impact!" she shouted and engaged the lateral thrusters, slamming the Chimera hard against the other ship while she engaged the docking ring's magnetic coupler. She could only hope that the Korvis was keeping the Zephyr crew too busy to notice.

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"Ma'am!" called Narvil, looking shocked.

"Report!" Doriisha ordered above the noise and flashes from the combat. The lights on the command deck flickered precariously before stabilizing. Damage reports streamed over the intercom. The crew Zann had assigned to the Ammon Night were trained well enough, but they lacked the experience her Rebel crew had gained through years of hit and fade ambushes.

For a second, the Falleen woman wished she was back there with all of them— Maraschal, Dett, and the cocky Rodian pilot Skorto driving their gunship, the Hellfire, right down the throat of an Imperial task force. She'd lost them all over the years, but those deadly missions had been worthy of her warrior spirit. The pitiful peacekeeping cruises she'd been assigned after the surrender... Those were missions for police, not warriors. So when Tyber Zann came calling, she'd jumped at the chance for some real fighting.

"Sensors are still glitchy but I think there's contact at the port docking hatch, ma'am."

"Anything on external cameras?"

Narvil's shoulders slumped an apology. "They're out, Captain."

Doriisha boiled inside, and her skin crimsoned even more. Her old crew, all gone but Fortaigne. She could use them now; they'd always been good at worming their way out of trouble. "XO, dispatch a security team."

Fortaigne was already issuing orders. He covered the boom mic with his hand. "On their way, Skipper."

The ship bucked and shivered. At the helm station, the gaunt Tognath pilot's electronic voice boomed, "They have locked a tractor beam, and number two engine is damaged."

"Can we still maneuver?"

"Yes, Captain."

Her lips curled. "They want us to stick around."

"So it would seem," Anais said. "What do you want to do about that?"

"What I do best, ma'am. Take the fight to them."

Sykes nodded. "Just remember, we have a mission."

"We'll get right back to it as soon as I pulverize that cruiser." She raised her voice, feeling the old rush. "Full power to engines. Helm, come about and accelerate to ramming speed!"

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Lyra stood with the others near the docking hatch while Yuzu burned through the ship's hull with his plasma cutter. At Reiko's suggestion, he cut only enough of an opening to access the control conduits for the airlock's manual override.

A long rectangle of durasteel plate clattered against the deck, its edges aglow from the cutting torch.

"You're up, Tetris," Lyra called.

The astromech issued an eager whistle as he extended his manipulator arm and worked at the mechanism. After a few seconds, he chirped.

"He's ready," Reiko said. She was at Lyra's shoulder, gripping her blaster and feeling as nervous as she'd ever been on a combat mission. Shin, Eshna, and Seelam stood at either side of the door.

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"No telling what kind of reception they've planned," Lyra stated, meeting the grim gaze of her impromptu boarding team. "Ready, Eshna?"

The younger trooper nodded, holding canisters in each hand. "Smoke and stun grenades as soon as the doors open, my lady."

"Rei?"

The engineer checked the hand scanner dangling from her belt. "Sera-sha's comm is still pinging. I have a good fix from one of the cargo holds. Should be one level down and twenty meters forward."

Lyra drew her pistol and flicked off the safety. "Let's go. Open it, Tetris."

An electric arc flashed inside the panel and the airlock doors flew open. Eshna pressed the activators on her grenades and threw them into the corridor beyond. The crackle and blue flashes of the stun grenade competed with the hiss of smoke pouring from the other canister. She raised her rifle and advanced with Shin, the rest right behind.

Through the deck plates Lyra could feel the hammerhead struggling against the Korvis's tractor beam, but with one engine wrecked and a much heavier ship holding them, there wasn't much they could do. They emerged into the smoke-filled hallway, though the thick white vapor was already being sucked away by the air handlers. Four men were slumped against the wall. They started for the lift when a pair of red-armored troopers appeared. As soon as they saw the intruders their rifles came up.

"Down!" shouted Eshna, dropping to one knee as she fired. The others pressed against the walls and did the same. Smoke, blaster noise, and the heavy smell of ionized air filled the corridor for a few confused seconds until Lyra heard Uncle Shin's command to cease fire. Both of the armored troops were down. One struggled and moaned. Shin, moving with unexpected speed, glided forward and cut the man's throat. He glanced around. "All clear, my lady."

Lyra swallowed hard. She knew Uncle Shin had been a warrior for much longer than she'd been alive, but seeing the efficient and dispassionate way in which he dispatched the man startled her. Still, they'd attacked her world. She suspected that Raga wasn't feeling any more merciful than she was. Taz and Rendix, you'd better be alive, or I swear I'll kill everyone on this ship.

Reiko opened the lift's maintenance hatch and started down the ladder. She answered Lyra's questioning look by saying, "It's how we did it in Razorclaw. No sense packing everyone in the lift where they'll be sitting ducks."

"Good thought. You and Eshna go down the shaft. We'll wait for your signal then come down in the lift. If anyone's waiting below, we'll hit them from two places."

Reiko smiled. "You'd have made a good Rebel, Lyra." She disappeared, Eshna close behind.

The lift pinged its arrival. A Weequay man and woman stepped out and leveled their blasters at Shin, who raised his hands, looking suddenly fragile and meek. Seelam's and Lyra's shots felled them from behind. They hurried into the lift and closed the door.

"Uncle Shin, that was dangerous!"

"But a useful subterfuge, my lady."

She screwed up her mouth and tapped her earpiece. "Reiko?"

"In position," came Hudson's reply.

She nodded to Seelam, who pressed the button. Raga crouched next to the footman and they flattened themselves against the walls. The lift's door hissed, sweeping rapidly aside. Lyra's finger tensed on the trigger, but there was no one in the corridor. Directly across from them, the maintenance hatch popped open. Eshna climbed out first, followed by Reiko.

Shin peeked around the corner into the main passageway, then ducked back after a moment. "There are several compartments off this passage. One of them is guarded by two non-humans, eighteen meters away."

"I'll bet that's where Taz and Rendix are being held."

Reiko consulted her scanner. "It coincides with Sera's comm signal." The lift started back up. Reiko returned to the maintenance hatch for a moment. "I locked it out. It's just a security override, but it'll take them a while to reset it."

"Nice," Lyra said. "You'd have made a good Imperial tech."

Despite her nerves and fear, Reiko poked her tongue out.

Lyra chanced another look around the corner. She recognized the aliens immediately; a big Tassilite female and a reptilian wearing four pistols in bandoleers. Her breath quickened. "The two guarding the door were at the cargo exchange on Enarc." she swallowed hard, remembering the dangerous-looking man in the long duster coat. "Their boss is a big, nasty-looking guy. He has a cybernetic arm and the face of a killer." She touched Rei's shoulder. "There's no time for details now, but he knew Sera from Corellia. She tried to kill him when she was younger and now I think he wants revenge."

Reiko looked confused and alarmed all at once. "What? Why didn't you say anything?"

Lyra felt contrite, but she aimed a hard look at the engineer. "Rendix asked us not to—"

A big explosion rocked the ship. The corridor pitched into darkness for a second. Emergency lighting blinked on, casting dim beams in the shadowy passage.

"We must hurry, Lady Lyra," advised Shin.

Nimor nodded. "Any of you see a long-haired man with metal on his face wearing a duster jacket... Shoot first." She felt her stomach twist. She'd never ordered anyone's death before, but if it was a choice between Sera and Taz or that half-human psychopath... "I'll see if I can draw them out."

She went around the corner before Raga could stop her, but froze a few steps in. Light splashed into the passage from the doorway the two thugs had been guarding. They were talking to someone inside. With the noise of alerts and explosions, Lyra couldn't tell what they were saying, but it didn't look cordial. A second later the guards split up. The Tassilite disappeared through the cargo door at the opposite end of the passage. The reptilian started toward her.

Think fast, Lyra! She scrambled for a plan. Finally she blurted, "You, get over here on the double! We've got intruders trapped in the turbolift!" She ducked back around the corner. "The reptilian's approaching," she hissed as she passed by Shin.

Raga already had his tulan-sho in hand. The others backed toward the lift. Lyra stood in the passage, fists on her hips, and did her best to look like an annoyed junior officer. The sauroid bolted into the corridor, a DL-18 in each of its four hands. She opened her mouth to castigate him for moving too slowly, but Shin had already cut his throat from behind before she got the first word out.

Lyra actually yelped at the unexpected speed and the grim ferocity of his attack, but recovered her wits quickly enough. "Remind me not to anger you, Uncle," she joked to calm her nerves as Eshna and Seelam dragged the gurgling creature aside. Reiko opened the doors to the lift shaft and the three of them unceremoniously stuffed him through.

Back at the passage, Eshna signaled all clear. Even stronger explosions rocked the ship, though they could hear the sound of return fire, and a sudden surge as the ship started moving despite the tractor beam.

"Hurry," Lyra blurted, drawing her pistol. Taz and Sera were only a few meters away. They set a brisk but cautious pace, acting like they belonged there. In the chaos, she hoped that might keep anyone from looking at them too closely. They passed a few open doors where the crew were busy at their panels. Bolted at intervals along the walls, ladders led to hatches for the ship's escape pods.

Without warning, the ship bucked wildly, throwing them against the bulkheads.

"They're ramming the Korvis!" Lyra shouted over the cacophony of frying circuits and ruptured gas lines. A bug-eyed RA-7 droid with a flaking finish picked himself up from where he'd sprawled on the deck and hurried by, too frantic to challenge them.

Lyra helped Rei to stand. "If that man has Sera in there he might have done... horrible things to her. You need to be prepared, alright?"

Her fair skin grew even paler, but she gripped her blaster carbine with purpose. "I— I will, Lyra."

"Good. I'll be right there with you." She tried to sound reassuring but all she could feel was anxiety. "We'll get them back, I swear."

They stopped at the door. The lock indicator glowed angrily over the reinforced lintel. Lyra nodded toward the access panel where Reiko already had her tools out. She pried the cover plate while Seelam and Eshna covered the corridor with their blasters.

"Ready," said Reiko after a few seconds' work. Her voice was shaky, though her dark eyes were clear.

Lyra glanced at Shin and received a stone-faced nod. Her sweat-slicked hands gripped her pistol while terrible fear made her tremble. "Open it."