Read an excerpt from Secret Missions 2: Curse of the Black Hole Pirates
Coming in July 2010
Chapter 1
Cad Bane was watching a holovid and cleaning his teeth with a small, durasteel ice pick when a warning light flashed on the console in his starship's cockpit. His ship's computer announced, "Approaching Bogden system. Exiting hyperspace in three minutes."
Still picking at his teeth, Bane switched off the holovid. He had been watching The Bounty Hunters Guild's Greatest Hits: Volume VII, a collected edition of holorecorded assassinations. Even though the holovid was a pirated version, it included the Guild's exclusive bonus feature of techniques for killing amphibious targets. Bane had hoped he might learn some new tricks, but he was more than halfway through the holovid, and all he'd gotten out of it was a few laughs. The two Trandoshans, Cradossk and Bossk, were especially entertaining. Cradossk was the Bounty Hunters Guild's leader, and Bossk was his son. They never agreed and they fought constantly. Bane thought they were a riot.
Outside the cockpit, the faster-than-light dimension known as hyperspace appeared as a radiant cascade that flowed over and past Bane's ship. He swiveled his seat, turning away from the deactivated holoprojector so he could run a quick check on the propulsion and navigation systems.
At first, all systems looked fine, but then he noted a negligible fluctuation in the null quantum field generator. As good as he was at creating chaos, Bane's real skill was his ability to gather and organize data that allowed him to control circumstances. He liked everything to operate his way, and his ship was no exception.
Bane's ship was named the Sleight of Hand. Although it appeared to be a battered freighter, it was actually a heavily modified Telgorn dropship. Bane had done most of the work himself. The hull was military-grade armor, and the upgraded hyperdrive could deliver him across the galaxy in a fraction of the time required by most ships. Weaponry included a top-mounted laser turret for ship-to-ship combat and pulverizing obstructive asteroids, a pair of heavy laser cannons to inflict even more lethal damage, and an ion cannon that Bane had used more than a few times to disable merchant cargo ships. A sophisticated sensor jammer rendered Sleight of Hand invisible to most scanners.
Bane placed the ice pick lengthwise between his teeth, freeing his hands to push buttons on the engineering console until he corrected the fluctuation. Satisfied that the null quantum field generator now performed at a better than optimum level, he removed the ice pick from his teeth and gave the sharp tool a playful spin between his nimble blue fingers.
He got up out of his seat and moved behind the cockpit to inspect his cargo, taking the ice pick with him. He stopped beside a two-meter-long, black plastoid box that rested on a hovering gravsled, which he'd magnetically anchored to the wall. A switch was on the box's side. Bane pressed the switch and the box's upper lid slid back, revealing a transparisteel coffin. Through the transparisteel, Bane could clearly see the unconscious, motionless form of Jedi Master Ring-Sol Ambase.
The coffin was actually an exotic stasis pod. A life system monitor was embedded into its side, and a thin layer of ice had formed over the monitor. With surgical precision, Bane made a quick jab with the ice pick, shattering the ice without damaging the monitor. After the ice fell away, Bane leaned close to the monitor so he could read the Jedi's vital signs on a data display.
Ambase's condition had not changed. He was close to death, just as he had been ever since Bane had sealed his body in the coffin on the planet Kynachi. Whether Ambase lived or died depended entirely on how one was inclined to adjust the coffin's controls. Bane would have gladly killed the Jedi on the spot, but he hadn't been contracted to end Ambase's life, only to transport him from Kynachi to the fifth moon in the Bogden system.
Bane sealed the plastoid box, then tucked the ice pick into his gun belt as he moved back to the cockpit. Just as he returned to his seat, the hyperdrive engine began to wind down. He squinted his bulbous red eyes, and watched the bright cascade of hyperspace wash away and vanish through the cockpit window.
The Sleight of Hand dropped out of hyperspace without the slightest shudder. From the cockpit, Bane viewed a large planet that rested against a field of stars. He did not have to consult any data readouts to identify the planet Bogden, an unstable world with numerous moons, but he checked the navigational display anyway to confirm it was working properly. He did this out of habit, part of his ongoing routine to ensure that he would never, ever be a victim of anyone or anything, including faulty technology.
He turned his attention to a sensor scope, and focused the long-range sensors on Bogden's fifth moon, Bogg 5. The scope displayed a stream of data, including multiple layers of transmissions. Bane quickly learned that five ships were traveling to the moon and three were leaving. None of the ships were moving at excessive speed, listed as "stolen," or betrayed any awareness of the Sleight of Hand's arrival in the Bogden system.
Filtering the transmissions, Bane intercepted a unique one, a signal that came from a small, artificial satellite in Bogg 5's orbit. The signal appeared as a flashing green dot on his scope, and a tiny readout indicated that the signal was broadcast on a secure frequency. The satellite was spherical, barely half a meter in diameter.
Bane knew the signal was for him, and him alone. He tuned his subspace transceiver to the signal, and tapped in a preset pass code. Had he entered the wrong code, the satellite would have exploded. Because he entered the correct code, he immediately received a set of coordinates for his next destination. The coordinates were for an unpopulated area on Bogg 5, a wide stretch of land eighty kilometers north of Mong'tar City.
Bane made a series of adjustments to his sensor controls, bounced a transmission off a triangulation of satellites over Bogg 5's far side, and zeroed in on the just-received coordinates. His sensors revealed a single starship had already landed there, and was waiting for him. The starship was a Punworcca 116-class interstellar sloop, a solar sailer.
Bane widened his scan beyond the edges of the Bogden system. More ships, more transmissions, many asteroids, and various radiation trails popped and flittered across his scopes. The sensors did not reveal any unusual traffic or gravitational anomalies, but Bane did not let that stop him from being extra cautious. As far as he was concerned, anyone who put all his trust in sensors was not just a fool, but a fool who got what he deserved.
He plotted his own roundabout course to Bogg 5's surface. He believed there was always a chance that someone was after him. For this reason, he had developed another special skill, which was staying ahead of everyone else. Until he was absolutely certain that he was not being monitored or followed, he wouldn't go anywhere near the solar sailer that awaited him at the designated coordinates.
Nearly two hours later, Bane circled the landing area, a broad expanse of barren black rock, and then he landed the Sleight of Hand ten meters from the solar sailer. Exiting his ship, he stepped out onto the hard ground, looked to the solar sailer, and saw a lone, hooded figure approaching. As the figure neared, Bane saw it was a humanoid female, her face partially lost in the shadow of her cloak. She had chalk white skin and eyes so pale that had she not been walking, Bane might have assumed she was dead.
"You're late," said Asajj Ventress.
"I had to be sure I wasn't followed," Bane said, "and that you didn't bring any friends."
"Friends?" Ventress said with a sneer. "You assume too much."
Bane grinned. "I brought something for you. Do you want it or not?"
Ventress looked at Bane's ship and said, "Show me."
Bane led Ventress into the Sleight of Hand. He showed her the black plastoid box, and opened it to reveal the transparisteel coffin that contained Ring-Sol Ambase's motionless body. He pointed to the fresh layer of ice over the life system monitor and said, "The ice buildup is normal for this unit. Means everything's working right."
"It means your stasis pod is an antique," Ventress said disdainfully.
Ignoring her comment, Bane continued, "To view the monitor and access the controls, you just break off the ice. Like this." He removed the ice pick from his gun belt and jabbed it expertly into the ice. The ice cracked and fell free.
Ventress examined the controls, then leaned over the coffin and studied Ring-Sol Ambase's face. Not a trace of air escaped his nostrils. He was completely inert.
Rising away from the coffin, Ventress turned to face Bane. "Move the pod to my ship," she said. "I'll take the ice pick, too."
"Get your own ice pick," Bane said as he returned the tool to his belt. "This one's mine."
