wait for information!'
Qui-Gon looked pale. He bit his lip, as if to prevent himself from speaking. Dooku felt very calm.
'I've got it,' Eero said. 'Senator Galim Eddawan of Tyan. He does have a daughter named Joli. And he was scheduled to arrive at the port station Alpha Nonce yesterday. He never arrived.'
'Slowly approach the ship,' Dooku told the pilot, who let out a held breath. 'Keep your flank away from the center of the ship.'
'It's just a small cruiser,' the pilot said. 'A ship like that might have some small arms, but nothing that can penetrate our shields.'
'Do as I say,' Dooku snapped.
'Joli? We're coming to get you,' the pilot told the child. Her voice was a mere whisper. 'Good.'
'Master?' Qui-Gon's voice was low. 'Do you think the distress call is authentic?'
'I do not know, Padawan,' Dooku said. 'What do you think?'
'I feel that child is in great danger,' Qui-Gon said.
Dooku raised an eyebrow at him. 'I did not ask you what you felt, but what you thought.' The Jedi insistence on feelings was all well and good, but Dooku preferred analysis.
'I think we should proceed carefully. We cannot ignore a distress signal,' Qui-Gon said.
'Better.' Dooku turned to the pilot. 'Engage laser cannon tracking. Be prepared to fire.'
The pilot set the controls. The silver ship dipped closer gracefully, as if initiating the first movement of a dance. The other ship sat, eerily motionless.
'Stay out of range of laser cannons,' Dooku said. 'But if we don't get closer, we can't send the shuttle to board,' the pilot said.
'Just do it.' In another moment, Dooku would take the controls himself. He trusted the pilot's abilities more than his judgment, and he wanted to remain free to move in case the worst happened. In Dooku's experience, it often did.
Suddenly, the dead ship roared to life. It veered to the right in a burst of speed. At the same time, panels slid back on the underside of the cockpit.
'Turbolasers!' Dooku shouted. 'Reverse engines!' 'Turbolasers?' the pilot asked, stunned. 'That ship is too small to have that kind of firepower.'
Dooku lunged forward and grabbed the controls. He reversed the engines himself. The ship shuddered and the engines screamed in protest as they struggled to reverse at high velocity. The ship responded, zooming back out of range.
'A lesson for you, Padawan,' Dooku said as the pilot took the controls again and the first turbolaser fire erupted. 'Never trust anything.'
The ship shook from the percussive effect of the fire, but they were out of range. Senator Blix Annon rushed into the cockpit. 'What's going on?'
'We came to the aid of a distress signal,' Eero said, hanging onto the back of a chair while the craft dipped and surged in evasive action.
'Apparently it was a ruse.'
'Apparently!' the plump Senator roared. 'What are we doing answering distress calls? Who authorized this?'
'I did,' Dooku said. 'You put the Jedi in charge when you asked for us to escort you, Senator.'
The Senator disturbed his carefully arranged hair by raking his fingers through it angrily. 'I did not authorize rescue missions!' The ship lurched, and he almost fell. He snapped at the pilot, 'Stop this ridiculous maneuvering. Our particle shields will protect us.'
'We'll have to lower the particle shield in order to fire the laser cannons,' Dooku said.
'I'm aware of that,' the Senator snapped, beginning to look nervous.
'Eero?'
'We also have an energy shield, to protect against turbolaser fire,'
Eero reassured him.
'Of course,' the Senator said. 'I'm aware of that, too.'
'There is a difference between a particle shield and an energy field, which I'm sure you know,' Dooku said as a blast shook the ship. 'The energy shield will not protect against laser cannons. And we can't operate both shields simultaneously. That means that we'll have to alternate as we attack.'
'Stop telling me things I know and do them,' the Senator ordered. It was obvious to Dooku that despite his words, Senator Annon had no idea how his defensive and offensive systems worked. There really was no reason why he should, except that he had most likely paid a fortune for them.
Laser cannons fired as the ship bore down on them. The pilot sent them into a steep dive, and the cannonfire missed them by meters.
'They can outmaneuver us,' the pilot said to Dooku. 'Their ship is smaller and faster.'
As if to punctuate his words, suddenly a blast hit the ship, nearly throwing them to the floor.
'What was that?' the Senator screamed.
