Chapter 18
Cordell swung his acid yellow blade at the vort, which easily blocked the attack with one of its amphistaff arms. Cordell was not discouraged, however. After several failed attempts to cause the vort harm, Cordell began to get a strange look in his eyes. The same look he had right before he impaled Denz on his lightsaber. Cordell's attacks became more fierce and unpredictable. The vort, as hideous and frightening as it was, appeared to be unnerved by the intensity of Cordell's attack.
Cordell dodged several jabs from the vort's amphistaff arms and then dashed beneath its guard, getting behind it. The vort was a lot quicker that Cordell had anticipated. Before he could attack it from behind, the vort vaulted into the air with its powerful legs. It spun one hundred and eighty degrees in mid air and landed facing Cordell – about twenty feet away.
The vort made a sort of growl-hiss as if agitated. It had not expected its food to be so difficult to kill. It took a step toward Cordell but suddenly changed its mind. Something convinced the vort that there was easier prey to its right. When it turned, it saw not one but three Jedi, as well as a large man aiming something big at it.
"Do it now!" Jyo told Kam.
"Roger!" Kam replied and pulled the trigger.
A large blast shot from the laser canon and hit the vort, square in the chest. It did not penetrate, and it did not seem like it did much damage, but the blast did knock the vort back about thirty feet. Long marks in the dirt were evident from where the vort had dug in its clawed feet to try and stop its slide.
"Shoot it again! Quick!" Zeek instructed.
Kam let loose again and delivered another direct hit. This time the vort was lifted off of its feet as it flew backward into a building at about fifty miles per hour. Before the vort could even fall to the ground from where it had hit, Kam fired the laser canon once more. The blast struck the base of the building, causing it too collapse, burying the vort.
"Nice shot, Kam!" Zeek extolled.
Kam grinned with satisfaction. "Do you know how long I've wanted to use this baby? I must have had it stashed aboard my ship for at least a couple years!"
Jyo, Zeek and Todan chuckled at this.
Jyo glanced toward Cordell and saw him running full tilt in their direction – with his lightsaber still lit. Jyo realized where Cordell was looking, "NO, CORDELL DON'T!"
Too fast for Kam to react, Cordell ran past him, swinging his lightsaber once as he went by.
Kam fell to the ground, his right arm gone, severed at the shoulder. The big man yelled in agony before passing out.
"Idiot." Cordell said without turning around. "He should not have interfered with my fight." Behind him he heard the sound of three lightsabers igniting.
Krison Glynt led Denz and Salah to a slightly larger hangar where an SWS Battleboat was docked.
"Do we really need a ship with so many weapons?" Salah asked.
"No, but this will do just fine," Denz answered as he followed Krison up the boarding ramp.
The three Jedi students were soon strapped in inside the cockpit.
"Where…" Krison started to ask.
"Get us to orbit first, and do it quick!" Denz interrupted.
"But I need clearance…"
"Are you a good pilot?" Denz cut in again.
"Well, yeah."
"Then you should be able to get us to orbit safely without clearance, right?"
Krison did not answer. Instead, he fired up the main engines and soared out of the hangar. He switched off the radio so warnings from Air Traffic Control would not distract him.
Once safely in orbit, Denz told Krison their destination and how soon they needed to get there.
"WHAT! FIFTEEN MINUTES! That's impossible!" Krison said in disbelief.
"Is it, Krison?"
"What do you mean?"
"I just happen to know that you have been studying the current hyperspace lanes, trying to find shortcuts and more direct routes."
"So?"
"You found some, did you not?" Denz pried.
"Yes, but they only exist in theory…"
"Are you scared, Krison?"
"Of what?"
"Of being wrong."
"No, I…"
"Don't you want to feel the satisfaction of doing something that no one else has dared to do?"
"Well, yes, but…"
"No 'buts'. Now show me what you got."
Krison sighed in defeat and pulled up a holographic space chart. "It is actually possible to get from here to Myrkyr in under ten minutes. I'm sure you know that all of the current hyperspace lanes are straight lines, but I've discovered a way, in theory, to make a turn while in hyperspace. I would not try this in an old or dilapidated ship, but this Battleboat should work. Pretty much all hyperdrives have a fail-safe that brings a ship out of hyperspace if it encounters a gravatic anomaly, such as a planet. First, we would need to disable that device."
Denz raised his hand to ask a question. "Exactly where on the hyperdrive is this fail-safe?"
"In the right, rear area. Why?"
"Oh, I just figured I'd help out a little."
Krison's face bore a questioning look as the ship's console beeped. When he checked to see what the problem was, he began to stutter, "You – how?"
"Beg pardon?" Salah asked impatiently.
Krison looked at Denz incredulously. "The system analysis shows that the hyperdrive fail-safe has been taken offline."
Denz shrugged, "Disconnect a few wires, loosen a few screws, nothing major. It's easily repaired."
Krison shook his head in disbelief, and Salah just stared. "Anyway," he continued. "According to my theory, if we stay in hyperspace and fly close enough to a planet so that its gravity grabs us, we could use it to swing around the planet."
"Kind of like a grappling hook," Salah mused.
"Exactly! All I have to do is program into the ship's navicomputer where to break free of the gravity and off we go again."
"Well, what are you waiting for? Program the computer, and let's see if we can beat that estimated ten minutes." Denz said.
Cordell turned around and found himself face to face with three angry young Jedi. He chuckled, "Finally, a real challenge."
"What's wrong with you?" Jyo yelled angrily.
"This is not a game," Zeek growled as he rushed at Cordell. Zeek grunted as he swung with the same kind of Force enhanced attack he had used on Jyo.
Cordell blocked the attack with one hand, and slid backward about an inch.
"What!!!" Zeek gasped.
Cordell laughed, "Is that the best you can do?" He then grabbed Zeek by the neck with his free hand and tossed him to the side.
Zeek thought to deactivate his lightsaber before he landed several feet away. He grunted as he bounced and rolled to a stop. Zeek lay there motionless, but pulled himself up to his knees after a moment.
When Jyo was sure that Zeek was not severely injured, he suggested a different tactic. "Let's get on either side of Cordell and take him together, but do not kill him. Just disable or make him drop his weapon."
"I'll stick to those rules for now," Todan agreed. "But if worse comes to worse, just know that I won't hesitate to kill him."
Cordell found this amusing as well. "You talk as though you actually have a chance."
"You should really learn to count. There's two of us and only one of you." Jyo pointed out.
"Oh, I count two alright … two Jedi jokes!" Cordell replied.
The Battleboat had just made its turn around the planet Obroa-Skai and was now only seconds away from Myrkyr. The sensation had been almost nauseating as they swung around Obroa-Skai. Even with the inertial compensators all the way up, the pull from the planet and the speed of the ship was overpowering.
The Gut Buster, which was the name Krison had decided on, dropped out of hyperspace right on target. Best of all, the trip had only taken five minutes!
"Quick!" Denz said. "Go a quarter of the way around the planet and land as close as you can to a city called Dryknar."
"How do you know this stuff?" Salah asked.
But Krison had decided not to question Denz, and instead followed his directions. He located the city on his onboard map of Myrkyr, and landed just outside of Dryknar two minutes later.
"Oh," Denz said. "Congratulations. Your theory is now fact."
Krison smiled as he followed Denz and Salah down the landing ramp.
"Actually, Krison, I'd advise you to stay here. Someone is going to have to pilot everyone home. We can't afford to lose you, and the danger level is too high to risk it." Denz said.
"So what am I supposed to do? Wait here wondering if you guys are alive or dead?" Krison appeared upset.
Denz looked Krison in the eyes and said, "You don't want to come with us. You want to stay here and find something on board that will hold a Jedi."
Krison smiled, "Don't worry, Denz. I'll stay here and search the ship from front to back for something to hold a Jedi." Krison waved as he ran back in the ship.
"Did you have to use a mind trick on him?" Salah asked.
Denz nodded as they made their way into the city, "It was the quickest solution at the time."
"And what was all that about 'holding a Jedi'?"
"How else are we going to get Cordell to behave when we take him back to Jedron?"
"Speaking of Cordell," Salah said. "Are you sure you're ready to face him so soon after – you know?"
Denz did not answer. His thoughts drifted to the lightsaber clipped to his right arm. What if it's not enough? Will I have to? Denz self-consciously touched his left arm and shook his head. I can only hope that that will not be necessary.