Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Vector Prime Read Online Free PDF

duel—in stride with the knowledge that soon enough they would know better.
    Danni Quee entered next, moving down to Pod 4, the central pod, the one whose viewing scan overlapped the quadrants scanned by all six of the others. Then came the last member of the night shift, Tee-ubo Doole, the Twi’lek woman—theonly nonhuman, as far as the others knew, among the fifteen at the station.
    Tee-ubo gave Yomin Carr a sly look, almost a wink, and stretched languidly and shifted her lekku, the twin tentacles that grew out of the back of a Twi’lek’s head. She had made no secret of her interest in the newcomer, which amused Yomin Carr greatly. For he was coming to understand these people, and their constant insecurities. Normally a Twi’lek woman, with her exotic lekku and greenish skin, and typically scarce clothing, would be the center of male attention anywhere outside her home planet of Ryloth—and Twi’lek women were known to enjoy such attention greatly!—but Tee-ubo had found more than her match in Danni.
    Still looking at Yomin Carr, the Twi’lek held up a small vial and gave it a shake.
    Ryll, Yomin Carr knew, a recreational intoxicant that several of the compound members used to alleviate the boredom.
    He noted, too, that Danni crinkled her nose in disgust at the sight and even shook her head in disapproval. For a long while, Danni had forbidden Tee-ubo from bringing the stuff any where near the control room, but even the resolute Danni had relented—though her motion to Tee-ubo now made it clear that she wanted the intoxicant off the main floor.
    Both Bensin and Garth were more than happy with that request. Tee-ubo was running low of the ryll now and had become stingy about handing any out. They weren’t expecting any cargo shuttles for several months, and despite the Twi’lek’s best efforts, there was no guarantee that any of the illicit drug would even make it aboard the next shuttle.
    They settled in then to their usual positions. After a quick check of all systems from the central pod, and setting the forward screen to cycle through the smaller viewers of each individual pod, Danni joined the others, who were done with the ryll and were all laughing, in the galley area. On her suggestion, they began a four-way game of dejarik, a board gamewhere holographic monsters of varying strength traveled specified paths along the rows of squares, vying for tactical advantages against their opponents.
    At his post, Yomin Carr, as he did every night and most days when he could inconspicuously hang out about the pod, dialed down the volume so that only he would hear any telltale signals, and covertly locked his dish on sector L30, the location he knew to be the entry point: Vector Prime.
    “You want to play?” came Bensin Tomri’s call an hour later, his tone making it clear to Yomin Carr that Tomri was not faring well in the strategic battle.
    A part of Yomin Carr wanted to go up there and engage in the game, particularly waging against Danni, who was a strong strategist. Such competitions were good; they kept the warrior mind sharp and focused.
    “No,” he answered, as he had for every night in the last few weeks. “Work to do.”
    “Work?” Bensin Tomri scoffed. “Like the greatest scientific discovery of the last millennium will happen at any second, to your waiting eyes.”
    “If you feel truth to that, on the next shuttle you should go?” Yomin Carr politely returned, and he saw by their curious expressions that he had mixed up his sentence structure again. He made a mental note to review with his tizowyrms later on.
    “Newbie,” Bensin muttered sarcastically under his breath.
    “He’s got a point,” Danni said, and Bensin threw up his hands and turned away from the table.
    “Are you sure?” Danni asked Yomin Carr.
    “I enjoy this,” he replied haltingly, paying careful attention to every word, then settling comfortably into the pod’s chair.
    Danni didn’t argue; in fact, Yomin Carr