Chapter 11

"What?" Nerca asked wildly. Jesbra's statement set her in a slight panic. If that carrier was tracking, then the whole Uunjaian government could come after them. Force masters though they were, the Knights could not take down a whole planet's defenses alone. Grunting, Nerca ran a sensor search across the Cosmic Dragon. Sure enough, on the crack between the main forward laser cannon and the ship's hull was a palm-sized tracker.

But how would they get it off?

Nerca couldn't hit it easily with another laser cannon because of its position, and even if she could, there was delicate equipment in that join. If it was left there the whole Uunja government would be after them.

It appeared that the only way to remove it was for someone to get on the hull and unwire it.

"Knights, the only way to remove it is for one of us to get out there and remove it manually," Nerca said, gulping. "Any volunteers?"

"Nerca, are you crazy!" Keldu exclaimed. "That's next to suicide!"

"Well, if I blast it we'll be leaking air or worse, and if it's left the whole government will be after us."

"Why don't you get out there?" Oliso asked.

"What?"

"You know the ship best and you'd know how to disconnect it," Jesbra said, truth ringing in her words.

Nerca hesitated for a moment then nodded. "Alright, I'll do it." She headed towards the top gunner mount and up the ladder. She stopped near the top. "Cover me."

She opened the hatch and crawled out onto the Dragon's sleek silver hull, the wind blowing violently against her. She crawled slowly to the power core's shell and its unwanted attachment as the Cosmic Dragon dove toward Uunja's forested surface. Nerca reached the tracker and began to pull it lose when Jesbra popped up in the hatch behind her.

"Nerca, hurry up!" she called.

"I am!" Nerca yelled back. She turned back to the tracker and began to work it off quickly with her expert hands. She felt the ship behind her before Jesbra called out.

"Nerca! The Uunjaian police weren't too happy about that space fight!"

"Give me a couple of minutes and it'll be off!" Nerca yelled back. She turned again and closed her eyes, gathering the Force. Using the Force, Nerca began to pry the tracker loose as she could not do with her hands.

She had almost gotten it loose enough to pull when the Dragon dove left. Nerca almost slid off the edge as the Uunjaian fighter raced past them firing. She opened her eyes and lost her balance.

Nerca tumbled off the edge but managed to grab the shell of the laser and keep from tumbling to her doom. She kicked her feet along the Cosmic Dragon's side but her boots caught on nothing as she tried to push her way up. She knew all too well that if she let her grip slip, she would tumble hundreds of meters to splat on the ground below or to dangle helplessly in a giant tree. She closed her eyes and reached out to her friends inside the starfighter.

Nerca hold on! Oliso's voice said. I'll be right there.

Hurry, Oliso, hurry.

Nerca heard the hatch on top of the Dragon open and Oliso crawl out. The Uunjaian fighter raced past again, firing at the two Jedi, venerable on the ship's hull.

"Nerca, give me your hand!" Oliso yelled over the wind whistling past their ears. "We need to get back inside before the Uunjaian gets lucky."

Nerca let one hand slide off of the turret that held her up and grab Oliso's hand tightly. Oliso's eyes narrowed as she struggled to pull Nerca up and as Nerca tried to scramble up herself. Grunting, Oliso managed to pull her up.

Before ducking back inside, Nerca turned and yanked the tracker off.

Once inside, Nerca almost fell over, going from the blowing winds on the outside of the Cosmic Dragon to its cool, calm interior. As Nerca began to make her way to the cockpit, Keldu started to stand, offering Nerca the pilot's seat.

"No, you fly," Nerca said, sitting in one of the passenger seats. "I'm going to rewire this thing." She turned the tracker over and over in her hands searching for an opening.

"Why?" Jesbra asked, sitting across the aisle from Nerca. "What are you going to do?"

"Hack into it. Then I can intercept the tracking signal and I can get into the Uunjaian computer and see why they chased us in the first place."

"Can you really do that?" Lexoc asked. "I've never heard that that can be done."

"Yes, I can. Trust me, I speak from experience." Nerca popped open the tracker and began her rewiring. She looked up a few minutes later and signaled to Oliso. "Hand me that datapad," she said. Oliso tossed her the datapad and she began to wire it into the tracker.

Once she had it wired, Nerca used the datapad to tap into the Uunjaian government computer, searching for any indication why the government was chasing the Kindred Knights. She searched for many long moments while Keldu flew the Cosmic Dragon towards Uunja's forested surface. The area they now flew over was simply wilderness, no settlements in sight.

When she found what she was looking for Nerca was shocked.

"Um, we have a problem. There's been a coup."