Anja turned her tortured gaze back to Cilghal. "One more dose.
Then I'll accept your help."
Cilghal said nothing. She simply folded her flippered hands and stared
at Anja with calm resolve.
Tears of pain now streamed down Anja's face along with the
perspiration. The pain was unbearable. She knew what she needed to
do.
Deep down, perhaps she had always known.
"You're right," Anja choked at last. "Putting it off won't help.
And I can't do this alone." She shuddered. "All right. What do I
have to do?"
Cilghal nodded. She gently pushed Anja's seat back until it
reclined.
Then she placed one flippered hand on her forehead, one on her
stomach.
Anja felt Zekk, Tenel Ka, and Jacen press close around her. In all of
her life, she had never felt such caring ... or such pain.
After the longest and most excruciating half hour of her entire life,
Anja slipped into blissful unconsciousness.
Anja came back awake, blinking her big eyes, with a strength and
alertness that she could not remember experiencing since before she had
begun taking andris.
Andris! To her surprise, though the very thought of the spice still
enticed her, she found she could withstand its allure. She pushed
herself up in her seat. Around her, the young Jedi were hard at work
trying to repair the damaged minisub.
"How long-?"
Tenel Ka checked the chronometer. "Three-point-two hours."
Anja rocked back on her elbows in surprise. "Then it's over? I'm
cured?"
Cilghal turned to fix her with a fishy stare. "Not cured, my child.
Cleansed. The toxins are gone, but your body is still capable of
experiencing the craving for spice."
Anja accepted the news without flinching. Then she glanced around at
Jacen, Zekk, and Tenel Ka, meeting each pair of eyes in turn. "Thank
you for using your powers to heal me."
Jacen shook his head. "Hey, most of those powers came from inside
you.
From your wanting to stay alive and wanting to be healed."
Anja smiled at them all, a warm, genuine smile. "Maybe. But I don't
think I'd have found that strength inside me if I hadn't had friends.
6roping through the spice mines' access tunnels, Jaina, Lowie, and Em
Teedee decided that their next step would be to liberate Nien Nunb and
his loyal workers. With the help of the prisoners, maybe they could
retake Kessel.
Throughout the previous hours, they had heard teams marching up and
down the main tunnels, shouting to each other, shining bright glowlamps
into dark corners. Judging from the angry tones Jaina heard, the
destruction of the transmitter had been a complete success! She could
tell that Czethros had stepped up his efforts to find them ... but the
mercenary teams were so loud and clumsy, only a fool would be unable to
avoid them.
Jaina and Lowbacca were no fools.
The advantage to the young Jedi, now that Black Sun had all of its
resources dedicated to finding the mysterious saboteurs, was that there
were too few troops to keep careful watch on the captives. Only one
guard remained standing in front of the security field by the prison
quarters where Nien Nunb and the Kessel workers were held.
Peeking from the shadows of a low access tunnel, Jaina observed the
lone guard near the shimmering stun-field. The guard was grayskinned,
with a long lantern jaw, smooth lipless mouth, and sunken orange
eyes.
He looked as if he had been dead for some time and had begun to
mummify, but Jaina decided this must be what his species looked like.
The guard carried only a small blaster at his side. Although either of
the two young Jedi could easily have dispatched him with their
lightsabers, Jaina preferred to do this without killing. Instead, she
thought, this was a perfect time for them to use their Jedi powers.
Quietly she whispered her plan to Lowie, and the two companions
concentrated, reaching out with their minds through the Force and
probing until they touched the glimmering consciousness of the guard.
They sent messages of relaxation to place him into a suggestible state
of calm, partially hypnotized, partially asleep.
When they stepped out into the open hall, he spotted them and reacted,
nearly making them lose control of his mind. Jaina strode forward
quickly. "I wouldn't move, sir-especially not if I had a Kessel
scorpion-rat on my shoulder ... one that's prepared to sting."
The guard glanced down, and his sunken orange eyes widened in shock and
dismay. In his imagination, he saw the horrible crablike creature
resting on the shoulder pad of his uniform, its segmented tail and
wicked hooked stinger poised and dripping with a deadly greenish
venom.
He wailed and thrashed around. "Get it off! Get it off!"
Lowie rushed forward. Instead of drawing his blaster against the
oncoming Wookiee, the guard swatted again and again at his neck and
upper arm, as if he continued to see the hideous creature scuttling
back and forth there.
Lowie grasped the guard by both shoulders and pushed him into the
pulsing stun-field that held the prisoners hostage. The guard raised
his hands as crackling sparks flew all around, then slumped backward
onto the floor, unconscious.
"Easy enough," Jaina said.
"It may require significantly greater skill to break through these
Black Sun security codes," Em Teedee said.
"Maybe," Jaina answered, looking over at Lowie. "But then, I've got
you two to help."
Nien Nunb and the other spice mine workers, seeing what had happened,
clamored and cheered from the other side of the security barricade.
They knew they were about to be rescued.
Within moments Lowie and Em Teedee had succeeded in switching off the
stun-field. The crackling shimmer in the air faded, and Nien Nunb and
his companions rushed out. Smiling and laughing, they clapped each
other on the back and offered profuse thanks to Jaina and Lowie.
As Jaina looked at the crowd of former captives now loose in the spice
mines, she knew the tide was turning. At first, Czethros had used
armed guards and the element of surprise to imprison them. But the
tables were turned now, and his advantage was lost.
Czethros had a lot more to worry about than just two young Jedi
Knights.
While most of the guards continued to comb through distant and isolated
spice tunnels in search of the fugitives, Nien Nunb led the escapees to
a main armory and control chamber, protected from outside attack, near
the darkest and least used of the excavation shafts. Here his people
would be able to pick up supplies, arm themselves, and prepare for the
fight to retake Kessel.
Together, they entered the deeply buried control chamber. Once inside,
Nien Nunb keyed his administrative codes into the computers.
With a blur of furry fingers, he punched in commands. Lowie assisted,
growling and offering suggestions. Rapidly, block by block, the
Sullustan Chief Administrator d
enied access to Czethros and his
takeover crew.
Cheering, the workers gathered up their weapons and requested
permission to return to their quarters to make sure the invaders had
not destroyed or commandeered their private possessions. Kessel was a
dreary assignment for many of them; they couldn't bear the thought of
Black Sun mercenaries pawing through their personal effects.
Regretfully, the Chief Administrator shook his head.
Jaina paced the floor of the control center, still anxious, knowing
they weren't safe yet. They had a long fight ahead of them to drive
the invaders from Kessel. "Can we use this room as our base of
operations?" she said. "It's well guarded and we can take care of
it."
Nien Nunb nodded.
"Perfect." She explained how she and Lowie had successfully sabotaged
the communications array so that the Black Sun plans could not
proceed.
Things were already falling apart for Czethros, and now that his
prisoners were freed, this resistance would be the last straw.
Nien Nunb turned back to his computer console, satisfied with what he
had accomplished, and brought up the security holocam images. Lowie
rumbled a warning. Figures were moving down the tunnel, sporting
weapons and dark uniforms-led by the treacherous Second Administrator
Kymn! Directly beside him strode the smiling blond-haired captain who
had lied about being impressed with Nien Nunb's part in destroying the
Death Star at the Battle of Endor.
The Sullustan made a thin growling sound in his throat and jabbered
brief instructions, telling everyone to stay alert. He would take care
of this instantly-he had his own score to settle.
"But whatever shall we do?" Em Teedee said.
"I think we'll just have to be prepared-for anything," Jaina
answered.
Workers brought up their weapons and made ready for a fight as the
Chief Administrator scuttled out the door of the control center and
down the dark and winding corridors. Nien Nunb felt anger blazing
inside him-a new sensation for the timid Sullustan. He vowed to show
that blond-haired captain just how a hero really handled himself.
He hustled along, moving with detemnation ... trying belatedly to
figure out his plan. Kymn's crew of searchers would be surprised to
see him free, since they were simply hunting for one or two hidden
sahotellrs: Jaina and Lowbacca. Or so they thought.
Nien Nunb turned the next corner-and froze stock-still as the
treacherous Second Administrator and the blond-haired captain cried out
in surprise.
"He's escaped!" Kymn yelled. "Grab him! No-shoot!"
"I thought Czethros wanted him kept alive as a hostage," the blond
captain said as the guards surged forward.
"Don't trouble yourself," Kymn sneered. "This little rodent has been
bossing me around in various jobs for too many years. I'd like the
pleasure of seeing him squirm for a change."
Black Sun mercenaries charged forward. Reacting with a panic that was
only the slightest bit feigned, Nien Nunb squealed and whirled. He
pelted back down the low, dim corridor.
Laughing and shouting, believing their quarry had no chance against
them, the guards gave chase, led by the bellowing Second Administrator
and the captain.
When Nien Nunb rounded the last corner before the control chamher,
though, he ducked to one side and pressed himself against the cool rock
wall near the door. His loyal fellow prisoners surged out, weapons
ready. The two young Jedi Knights stood with pulsating lightsabers.
The opposing guards tumbled into each other, piling up as they
scrambled backward in a panic. They had expected no resistance at
all.
Thinking Kessel secure, Czethros had already reassigned his best
mercenaries to other potential battles out in the New Republic. But
his own base of operations was the weakest point.
The freed prisoners shouted and aimed their weapons. Blaster fire rang
out, cracking walls and spouting tongues of rock dust and smoke.
The surprised invaders returned fire, scorching the armor one of Nien
Nunb's defenders-but Second Administrator Kymn quickly realized the
ambush had caught them in a very bad situation. Two of his mercenaries
fell, writhing in pain. Nien Nunb's fighters kept to their sheltered
positions, while Kymn's troops remained completely exposed.
Second Administrator Kymn yelled, "Go left! Move down this way !
Shots rang out, fired by the turning guards more in confusion and anger
than in defense. None of the bolts hit their targets. Broken rock
showered from the walls. Nien Nunb's workers fired back, scorching the
backplate of one of the retreating Black Sun guards. After only a
minor flurry of blaster bolts, the dust settled. No one seemed
injured.
The Black Sun forces had fled.
Nien Nunb's defenders charged after the retreating guards, raising
their voices. Their howls echoed in the tunnels as Kymn's team rushed
away into the deepest spice mines. Nien Nunb shouted at the top of his
squeaking voice, and the defenders reluctantly pulled back, letting the
mercenaries run onward in the dark tunnels.
Back in the control chamber, the Sullustan Chief Administrator busily
entered codes and punched in more commands. Loud metal doors clanged
shut deep in the passageways. Lowbacca chuffed with laughter.
Jaina peered down at the screens to see what he had done. "You mean
they're all sealed down in those tunnels?"
Nien Nunb's thickly folded lips curved in a smile. Through Em Teedee's
translation, he explained that such deep sections of mines could be
sealed off at the senior administrator's discretion. Kymn and his
guards would remain trapped behind heavy plasteel barricades, where
they could cause no trouble. The legitimate security forces on Kessel
would eventually get back to them, once they finished mopping up all
the other problems here in the spice mines.
The mood was elation. The defenders cheered their first victory. It
had been simple and bloodless. Still, Jaina felt uneasy. There was at
least one major obstacle left: Czethros himself.
Over the past hour, the temperature had dropped dramatically inside the
trapped minisub. Ice walls clasped the Elfa like a clenched fist.
The only light that trickled in was a filtered crystalline blue-green
from the polar ice pack. Zekk feared that before long the air in the
sub would grow thick as well. Deprived of oxygen, filled with carbon
dioxide, the atmosphere would offer less and less for its five
imprisoned passengers to breathe.
He crawled up to his waist into the Elfa's engine compartment,
wriggling his head and arms through the small access hatch. Nominally,
Calamarian repair crews would either have hoisted the sub into its dock
on Crystal Reef or labored underwater to complete repairs. Here,
though, Zekk had to make do with what access he could gain from within
the cramped cabin.
He had to use a too-small hydrospanner, one of the few tools available
; in the meager emergency repair kit. He could see how the gears had
ground together, how the electrical connections had been broken and the
precise flow conduits knocked out of alignment during the tentacled sea
creature's attack. He nudged and tweaked and banged with the
hydrospanner, straightening out what he could.
Jacen hovered behind him. "I wish Jaina were here. She's always good
at fixing things."
Zekk banged with the hydrospanner again, discouraged, and skinned his
knuckles instead. "I'm not such a bad mechanic myself," he said.
"And these aren't exactly ideal conditions, you know."
"Not ideal," Anja agreed. "Besides, if Jaina were here, we'd have one
more set of lungs using up what's left of our oxygen."
Tenel Ka frowned at the young woman's remark.
"I guess you're right," Zekk said. "I feel better knowing she's safe
on Kessel."
Jacen gave Tenel Ka a lopsided grin. "Yeah, my sister's probably just
relaxing, bored to tears while we're stuck with all the troubles."
Zekk reattached the connections to the small engines as best he could,
using his sore fingers when the tool itself wouldn't work. "Try it
now, Cilghal," he called over his shoulder. Then he backed out of the
access compartment, his clothes and hands and face grimed with engine
Under A Black Sun Trilogy Page 45
