Jedi Apprentice 18: The Threat Within (звёздные войны)

by Джуд Уотсон

  Grath noticed that Obi-Wan wasn't smiling. "Don't worry," he said again more quietly. "We really aren't going to kill anybody. We just want to wake them up."

  Obi-Wan forced a smile and a nod. "To work then?" he asked.

  "Not tomorrow!" Grath laughed.

  Chapter 11

  Qui-Gon took a deep breath and flipped a switch. The screen in front of him went blank, then blinked back on. Down the hall the shrieking finally stopped. The break had been successful. The circuits stopped shorting, and the children's hospital was safe. But it had been close — too close.

  Qui-Gon sighed. He knew the next thing he had to do was to tell Chairman Port about the near disaster, a prospect he did not relish.

  Perhaps he had been wrong to give Obi-Wan three days. After this latest Freelie prank it was going to be harder than ever to stall the nervous Vorzydiak.

  Maybe even impossible, he thought as he made his way back up to the twenty-fourth floor. He was not prepared for what he saw when he walked into the meeting room.

  Chairman Port stood before a large projection of a regal-looking Vorzydiak wearing a turban. It was Felana, the leader of Vorzyd 5.

  "What is the meaning of this?" Felana demanded. "You dare to accuse Vorzyd 5 of sabotage after you have already insulted us by banishing our ambassadors? I do not understand you, Chairman Port."

  "Here is the J-J-Jedi," Chairman Port stammered. He motioned Qui-Gon to join him in front of the holoprojector. "He knows the truth. He will tell you."

  Felana looked even more aghast. "You have called in outside counsel?

  Do you think this will make your baseless accusations stronger?"

  For a moment Qui-Gon was not sure what to do. This was certainly not the way mediation was supposed to work. Chairman Port had put him in an awkward position, and now it would be impossible to establish himself as a neutral party. All he could do, he realized, was try to keep the damage to a minimum.

  "Tell her," Chairman Port screeched at the Jedi. "Tell her what she has done to our planet!"

  "That is enough!" Felana seethed. "We have been under your thumb for a long time, Chairman. And now you accuse us wrongly. We will not tolerate your accusations."

  Qui-Gon put a hand on Chairman Port's shoulder. Using the Force, he calmed the distraught Vorzydiak enough to prevent him from saying anything else he would regret. Then he turned to the image of Felana.

  "Please accept the chairman's apologies," Qui-Gon bowed. "Vorzyd 4 has been experiencing some terrorist activity and he meant only to alert you to that fact so that you may be on the lookout for similar activity on your planet."

  Qui-Gon could tell by the look on her face that Felana did not believe him. But she was not going to contradict him, either.

  "Please tell the chairman that I appreciate his concern and assure him that Vorzyd 5 is prepared to fight," Felana replied in a cool tone.

  "Vorzyd 5 will not be humiliated. We are not the weak planet in the system any longer. We need only the opportunity to show our strength."

  Qui-Gon thanked Felana and ended the transmission. He recognized her last statement for exactly what it was: a threat.

  If Vorzyd 4 persisted in accusing Vorzyd 5 of illegal activity, the likely result would be devastating.

  War.

  Qui-Gon paced the long hall of the retirement home while he waited for his Padawan. He realized that he could simply summon Obi-Wan on his comlink, but he did not want to destroy the young Jedi's cover or put him in danger. Besides, he needed some time to think about what he was going to say when Obi-Wan did appear.

  Qui-Gon reached the end of the hall and turned on his heel. If he did not give Obi-Wan the three days he'd promised, the boy would lose confidence. But things were getting out of hand. If Qui-Gon kept silent…

  Suddenly Qui-Gon's thoughts were interrupted by a timid woman's voice. "Excuse me," she said.

  With his long strides Qui-Gon had covered the distance of the hallway nearly a dozen times without giving any notice to the one open door. Now he stopped in front of it and gazed at the elderly Vorzydiak woman who beckoned him.

  "I am sorry," she said, looking nervously up at Qui-Gon's imposing figure. "You are not a laborer are you? I thought maybe you were a laborer coming to visit. The laborers seem to think life ends when the work is finished. They are too busy to visit. But I heard someone out here and I thought — "

  "I would be happy to visit with you," Qui-Gon said gently. Even in his distracted state, his heart went out to this woman.

  "Oh, would you? I do not get many visitors. And do not get me wrong — I do not blame them. It is the Vorzyd way."

  Qui-Gon followed the woman into her small room and sat across from her on a chair. She did not ask him who he was, but continued to talk, simply enjoying the fact that there was someone there to listen.

  "We live to work, you know. Nobody realizes that there is life beyond the work. Nobody knows. Sometimes I wish there was not. The life, I mean. I wish I could die like the others. But there is Tray. Tray still comes. She says things will change. That everything will be different. I want to believe her, but they are just children…"

  The woman stopped speaking and cocked her head. Outside in the hall Qui-Gon heard boot steps. Obi-Wan.

  Qui-Gon excused himself and stepped into the hall. His brief conversation with the retiree had awakened new questions in his mind. There were many things he wanted to ask the woman, but they would have to wait.

  At the moment he needed to talk to his Padawan.

  Chapter 12

  "The shuttles are set to blow tonight when everyone is sleeping.

  Grath assured me that no one will be in the shuttle bay." Obi-Wan tried to sound confident as he reported the Freelie prank to his Master. He wanted to mask the unease that he felt. Already he thought that infiltrating the Freelies was taking too long. He wished he'd been able to keep the kids from planting the explosives, but he hadn't seen a way to do it. It was too soon to reveal himself.

  Qui-Gon was silent.

  "They don't want to hurt anyone," Obi-Wan added.

  "Someone will be hurt just the same," Qui-Gon said when he finally spoke. "People were almost hurt today."

  Obi-Wan knew that his Master was right. The Freelies were going too far and there was more at stake than they realized. All they wanted was to show their parents that they were alive, that they needed more from them than work training. But they were going about it the wrong way.

  Now Obi-Wan wondered if his plan to stop them was all wrong, too.

  Looking at Qui-Gon's face, he could not help but get the feeling that his Master doubted him.

  "I fear the pranks have risen to a new level. The children are in over their heads. Today Chairman Port contacted the leader of Vorzyd 5. She was outraged at his accusations and is prepared to take action if they continue. There was also an attack on the central control computer. If I hadn't been there to help, it could have resulted in a power outage for the entire city. And many lost lives."

  Qui-Gon spoke evenly, but Obi-Wan felt reprimanded all the same. Even though he shared his Master's doubts, he found himself railing against them.

  "I have two more days," Obi-Wan said with new resolve. "I can do this." Why couldn't Qui-Gon trust him to follow through? Obi-Wan suddenly felt desperate to be allowed to continue his plan. It seemed more important than anything else.

  "It's not that I don't trust you," Qui-Gon said, locking eyes with his Padawan.

  It never failed to startle Obi-Wan the way Qui-Gon sensed what he was thinking.

  "The situation is complicated, and impossible for any single person to control. We must proceed carefully," Qui-Gon finished.

  Obi-Wan nodded. He was prepared to defend his plan further, but Qui- Gon had not cut him off as he'd suspected he would. He was being given the freedom to carry on.

  Why? Obi-Wan wondered later, lying on his sleep couch. Why was Qui- Gon letting him continue when he obviously had no faith in Obi-Wan's plan?


  For a moment Obi-Wan thought his Master was giving him room to fail, to teach him a lesson. But that could not be. A Jedi would never risk the lives of other beings simply to prove a point. Qui-Gon hadn't given Obi-Wan the chance to fail, he had given him the chance to succeed.

  Lying in the dark, Obi-Wan felt torn. He wasn't at all sure that what he was doing was right. Yet he had no choice but to move forward.

  My plan will work, Obi-Wan told himself. It had to.

  The lock on the door clicked and whirred. Obi-Wan was on his feet before he realized he was awake. The door opened to reveal a very rattled Chairman Port.

  "The shuttles," the chairman gasped. "Vorzyd 5 is blowing up the shuttles. The morning laborers…" Port's antennae twitched rapidly and the Vorzydiak leaned against the portal for support. He appeared to be in shock. "Wounded," he said in a hollow voice. "Some may not live."

  "The shuttles are exploding with passengers on them?" Obi-Wan asked, disbelieving. "When? Where?"

  "Everywhere," the chairman whispered. "Now."

  "Contact the shuttle bay. Tell them to evacuate. Tell them to stop all shuttles," Qui-Gon commanded.

  Chairman Port pulled himself together enough to hurry toward the communication station near the entrance of the building.

  Without a word to Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan ran toward the exit. He could hear his Master's footsteps behind him. They needed to keep as many Vorzydiaks as possible from boarding the shuttles.

  Outside, a half-full shuttle was just pulling in to pick up the nearly twenty laborers ready to go to work.

  "Stop!" Obi-Wan shouted, waving his arms to try to keep the crowd from boarding. But the appearance of the strangely dressed Jedi had the opposite effect, and the group attempted to squeeze onto the shuttle in a panic.

  Thinking quickly, Qui-Gon stepped in front of the shuttle to keep it from moving. Obi-Wan understood and dove underneath. With the simple removal of two wires, the explosive was rendered harmless. But this was just one shuttle.

  Suddenly Chairman Port's voice echoed over the shuttle system's speakers.

  "Evacuate the shuttles at once. Please exit and move away from the shuttles. All shuttle systems will be shut down until further notice."

  Confused Vorzydiaks did as they were told. But some of them started in with their droning, and a few others rocked from side to side.

  Eventually most of them began to walk the long distance to work.

  "We cannot allow this to be blamed on Vorzyd 5," Qui-Gon said quietly behind Obi-Wan.

  Obi-Wan nodded. Just as Qui-Gon had predicted, the Freelie plan had gone horribly wrong — and so had Obi-Wan's.

  "I will find out how extensive the damage is and ask the chairman to have every shuttle in the city inspected," Qui-Gon continued. "You should contact the Freelies. You must convince them to come forward before I am forced to do it for them. We haven't much time."

  Obi-Wan nodded again. He had not expected Qui-Gon to let him continue with his infiltration — not after this. He knew his Master had every right to go directly to the chairman and tell him everything. But, he realized, there was reason not to as well. It would be better for all Vorzydiaks if the Freelies came forward in peace. Forcing the kids and adults into a hostile meeting could actually make the situation worse. Qui-Gon had obviously considered this.

  Obi-Wan sighed. Whatever the reason, Qui-Gon was giving Obi-Wan one last chance to do it his way. And he was grateful.

  But as he watched his Master walk away, Obi-Wan was suddenly overcome by a strange feeling. He had the sense that someone was watching his every move.

  Turning quickly, Obi-Wan looked up. High above him, in a window of the retiree complex, Obi-Wan thought he saw a face staring down at him.

  Then it disappeared.

  Chapter 13

  Obi-Wan scanned the window for another moment to see if he could catch a glimpse of the person inside. He couldn't. Still thinking about the conversation he'd just had with his Master, he walked toward the Ports'

  dwelling. It was time to wait for Grath.

  It wasn't long before Grath appeared. When the boy had walked some distance ahead, Obi-Wan called out to him and ran to catch up. Even before he got a good look at Grath's face, Obi-Wan could tell that he was upset.

  "I don't know how everything went wrong," Grath said shakily. He looked exhausted and his eyes were ringed in red. There was no sign of the charismatic, playful boy Obi-Wan had met the day before.

  "There must have been a failure in the remote triggering device. It went off during…" Grath's voice trailed away.

  "I know," Obi-Wan said, putting a hand on Grath's shoulder.

  Grath swallowed. "I've called an emergency meeting. I just hope nobody notices that so many of us are not in work training, or at work."

  Obi-Wan tried to look more optimistic than he felt. It wouldn't do any good to have Grath more worried than he already was. "Let's go," he prompted.

  The meeting was held in the refuse facility. Grath managed to pull himself together, and once again looked like a leader as he stepped up on a pile of rubble to call the meeting to order.

  "We have a problem," he began. "The explosives did not go off last night as planned. Instead they exploded during the morning commute."

  There was a concerned murmur among the students, but an excited voice rose above the rest. It was Flip.

  "And the city is in chaos!" he exclaimed. "We knew we could make a bigger bang if we just put our minds to it and waited until people were paying attention. Now our parents will really have to take notice!"

  The group was silent as everyone stared at Flip.

  "You did this?" Grath asked the boy. "You tampered with the remote?"

  Flip nodded proudly. "Yes!" He looked up at Grath expectantly. It seemed to Obi-Wan that the younger boy was waiting for Grath to shower him with praise. But the Jedi was certain that no praise was coming.

  Grath's mouth hung open for a moment before he snapped it closed. His antennae hung low over his forehead and his mouth contorted into a scowl of fury. But his eyes revealed another emotion: guilt.

  Obi-Wan was not sure which of Grath's emotions was going to win out.

  Then Freelies all over the room began talking.

  "What are we going to do now?"

  "I hope my parents are okay."

  "It's about time somebody took some real action."

  Obi-Wan turned to see who had made this last remark. But the facility was crowded and it was impossible to tell.

  Grath cleared his throat and calmed everyone down — at least for the moment.

  "Many people were hurt this morning," he said gravely, "and some may not live. Our mission is to wake people up, make them see what is happening. It is not to kill them." Grath looked directly at Flip. "You should not have altered the plan," he said flatly. "It was wrong."

  There was a brief moment of silence. Everyone looked at Flip. The boy looked confused, then angry. He glared up at Grath. "It was necessary," he said. "And it was the right thing to do. Now they're really paying attention."

  The group erupted. Obi-Wan could see a split beginning to develop.

  Some of the kids felt that Grath was right. Acting peacefully was the only way. Others had had it with the peaceful tactics. They felt violence was a necessary part of revolution.

  "The adults will never pay attention to us if we continue to act peacefully," Flip shouted. "What we've been doing so far is not working.

  Our pranks need to become tactics."

  "We don't want to start a war!" someone shouted back. "We're talking about our parents."

  "We're talking about adults who ignore us!" yelled another.

  Soon everyone was shouting so loudly that Obi-Wan couldn't understand much of what was being said. He could only tell that everyone felt strongly, and that the group was divided. Then a voice rang out over the rest. It was Flip's.

  "Only cowards are afraid to stand up and fight for what they need!"

  he shouted
.

  This set the Freelies off again. The camaraderie that Obi-Wan had admired in the group completely disappeared. Kids who had worked together peacefully began to shout in one an-other's faces. Antennae jabbed wildly in aggressive movements. The room was in chaos.

  Finally Nania jumped onto a tall pile of rubble. "Stop!" she screamed. The group quieted instantly and turned to look at her. Some of the kids looked annoyed by the interruption, but nobody said anything.