by Timothy Zahn
"They're only a few droids to us because we're so used to having them around," Mara pointed out. "Remember what Fel said about the Chiss not having droid technology? If the Chiss don't, probably no one else out here does, either. If the Vagaari can learn how to build and field a droid army, they're going to have a huge advantage, especially among the less developed cultures who seem to be their preferred prey."
"I guess you're right," Luke said. "So the original plan was probably to kill everyone aboard the Chaf Envoy, spread out through Outbound Flight to collect all the droids they could find, then sneak back through the Redoubt before we were gone long enough to have raised any alarms."
"That's my guess," Mara said. "It was just pure luck they got a working Dreadnaught as a bonus."
Luke grimaced. "Some bonus. The chief Vagaari's going to be really pleased to have this show up on his doorstep."
"Not if we can help it," Mara declared. "Come on, you're the Jedi Master. Think of something."
"Maybe we don't actually have to destroy it," Luke said. "All we really want to do is to get onto the command deck and take control of the ship."
"And, what, we just persuade the droideka to turn its head for a minute?"
Luke smiled tightly. "As a matter of fact," he said, "I think we can do exactly that."
* * *
Carefully, Luke eased his way to the end of the starboard corridor. Directly in front of him was the archway and access door into the command deck, while somewhere out of sight to his left the droideka was standing guard.
He stretched out his mind to Mara, sensed that she was in mirror-image position thirty meters away in the portside corridor. The droideka was now directly between them... and the way its arms were hinged, it could only fire in one direction at a time. Bracing himself, he ignited his lightsaber and stepped out into the cross-corridor.
The droideka was, as he'd surmised earlier, standing with its back to the command deck wall midway between the two access doors. Its shield popped on as its sensors detected Luke's movement, its guns swiveling as it tracked toward him. "Yes, it's me," Luke called, lifting his lightsaber to guard position as he took another two steps toward the machine. "Come on; have at it."
The droideka obliged with a burst of blasterfire. Luke's lightsaber flashed back and forth, deflecting the shots as he slowly reversed direction back the way he'd come. He made it back to the corner and ducked back to safety. Closing down his lightsaber, he turned aft and started running down the corridor, listening between the thudding of his footsteps for the sounds of the droideka giving chase.
The sounds didn't come. Frowning, he slowed to a halt, listening more closely. Still no pursuit. Reversing direction again, he returned to the corner and eased an eye around it.
The droideka's response was another round of blasterfire that gouged a fresh set of pits in the metal walls. But in that single brief glimpse Luke had seen that the droideka hadn't budged from the spot where he'd left it.
Retreating a few paces down the corridor, he pulled out his comlink and thumbed it on. "Mara?"
"It doesn't seem to want to come out and play, does it?" her voice answered.
"No, it's apparently happy right where it is," Luke said. "You want to give it a try?"
"Not worth the effort," Mara said. "It's already seen that there are two of us, and it's smart enough not to get suckered into chasing one of us when the other one's unaccounted for. I was afraid we were going to run into that problem."
"It was still worth a try," Luke said. "On to Plan Two, I guess. You ready?"
"Ready," she answered. "Watch yourself."
"Right." Luke shut off the comlink and returned it to his belt. Stepping back to the corner, he lifted his lightsaber, braced himself—
And spun 180 degrees around a fraction of a second before the burst of blasterfire erupted toward him from far down the corridor. Another Vagaari hit squad had launched its assault, apparently hoping to sneak up on him while he was concentrating on the droideka.
Like the previous attacks, this one was over quickly. Luke could sense the pain that indicated one of the deflected bolts had returned to its source, then sensed the distance change as the aliens retreated, dragging their wounded comrade with them.
He took a deep breath. With the combat tunnel vision fading, he could sense Mara's sudden anxiety. He sent her a quick mental assurance, plus a wordless warning to watch her own back. Stepping to the corner again, lightsaber held ready, he charged suddenly toward the archway in front of him.
The droideka must have expected a repeat of Luke's earlier, more cautious appearance. Its first spatter of fire passed harmlessly behind him as he sprinted across the cross-corridor and skidded to a halt in front of the anteroom door. The droideka's second volley found the range, and Luke set his teeth firmly together as he swung his lightsaber across the multiple shots coming at him. He didn't dare split away enough of his attention to look behind his attacker; but if Mara was on schedule, she was even now moving stealthily from her corridor to the portside anteroom door...
Abruptly, the fire coming at Luke broke off as the droideka pivoted around. Luke had just enough time to see Mara in the distance, stabbing her lightsaber into the edge of the blast door, as the droideka opened fire.
He felt his breath catch in his throat. But Mara had been expecting that move, and had her lightsaber back up in time to defend herself.
And now, with the droideka's attack pointed in the other direction, it was Luke's turn. Lifting his lightsaber to point horizontally, keeping a wary eye on the droideka, he jabbed the blade into the blast door beside him.
Again, the droideka reacted, swiveling back around toward him. Luke brought his lightsaber up, dropping into combat focus again as the quadruple blasters began laying down their withering rain of fire. Behind the droideka, he knew, Mara would have returned to her own assault on the command deck. If the droideka continued to play this game, eventually both of them would make it through.
The droideka had apparently figured that out, too. Firing one last volley at Luke, it dropped its shield, folded back into wheel shape, and charged down the cross-corridor toward Mara. Luke set off in pursuit—
And barely got his lightsaber back up in time as the droideka's blasters fired a twin burst at him.
He managed to block the shots, his stride faltering with the sheer unexpectedness of it. He hadn't realized it was possible for droidekas to shoot while in wheel shape. The machine fired a rolling burst at Mara, then another at Luke as the positioning of its blasters came back to the right spot in its rotation. It fired another shot at Mara—
Luke inhaled sharply, breaking into an all-out run as the droideka's strategy suddenly became clear. It was going to roll right up to Mara, moving so close that even Jedi reflexes wouldn't be fast enough to handle the shots. Run, he thought desperately toward her. Get away. Now.
Mara didn't move. She'd figured out the droideka's plan, too, he could sense; but instead of trying to get away, she was waiting for it, lightsaber ready, preparing to meet the destroyer head-on. Luke breathed a curse that was half anger and half fear and leaned into his sprint, driving himself desperately toward his wife. The droideka was nearly on her now—
Then, even as it fired one final time from the wheel position and screeched to a halt a bare two meters away, Mara finally moved. She leapt forward and to the side, moving out of its line of rolling fire and lunging toward it with her lightsaber.
Once again, the droideka's mechanical reflexes were too fast. It had its shield up even before it finished unrolling, bouncing her lightsaber blade uselessly off the hazy surface. The droideka continued uncurling, its blasters swinging up and out into full maneuverability again as Mara tried to bring her lightsaber up in time. The blasters spat fire—
And with a final desperate lunge, Luke hurled his lightsaber forward directly in front of the blasters, blocking the shots. "Come on!" he shouted.
Mara needed no encouragement. She jumped past the
droideka, plucking Luke's lightsaber out of midair as she passed it, and hit the deck running. Luke braked to a halt, snatching back his weapon from her as she shot past him. A second later, they were sprinting together toward the safety of the starboard corridor.
Only it might not be as safe as Luke had expected. Behind them, he could hear the sounds as the droideka once again folded up and set itself in motion. Now that it had both of them in sight, it had apparently decided to go on the offensive.
They reached the starboard corridor and ducked around the corner. "It's following us," Mara panted.
"I know," Luke panted back. "Keep going. We may have to try that lightsaber ambush after all."
Mara didn't reply. Maybe she was thinking about pointing out that the droideka's sensors were obviously still functional enough to make that gesture useless. More likely, she was conserving her air.
Again, he caught the sounds behind him just in time. "Watch it," he snapped, skidding to a halt and spinning around. The droideka had stopped a couple of meters into the corridor and was in the process of unfolding. "In there," Luke ordered, nodding to a cross-corridor cutting across their path a couple of meters behind them.
The droideka opened fire as they backed toward it, but at this distance Jedi reflexes were more than adequate to handle the attack. A few seconds later, they were into the corridor and out of its sight.
For a moment they leaned side by side against the cool metal wall, panting hard. In the distance, Luke could hear the droideka starting to fold up again, and risked a quick look around the corner. If it thought it could bottle them up...
But with the enemy temporarily out of its sight, the machine had apparently decided to go back to guard duty. Luke watched it finish its reconfiguration and roll almost leisurely back around the corner into the command deck corridor. "This isn't working," he commented.
"No kidding," Mara growled back. "Thanks for getting me out of that, by the way. I thought I might have a chance to get in a killing thrust before its shield went up."
"I guess it saw you coming," Luke said. "Did you know it could shoot while rolling that way?"
"No," Mara said. "Either that was a very well-kept secret, or else it's something new that someone built into this particular model. It's not all that effective—you saw it could only fire straight along its path, and only at the spot in its rotation when the blasters were turned to the right spot."
Luke grunted. "It was effective enough for me."
"No argument there." Mara shook her head. "We need a new approach, Luke. We keep playing this game, and eventually it's going to wear us down."
"Or a Vagaari sniper squad will get us while we're being distracted," Luke agreed. "Let's think it through. We know we can't get it with the shield up. That means we have to get it before then, either while it's still rolling or else right as it stops and starts to unfold."
"And as we just saw, it can put its shield up before it finishes unfolding if it senses an attacker nearby," Mara pointed out.
"Which means we can't let it see the attack coming," Luke agreed. "Which brings us back to some kind of ambush."
"Right," Mara agreed. "Problem: the only place around here to hide is inside one of the rooms off the corridor."
"Which we already tried."
"Right," Mara said. "What we need is for it to follow us someplace more promising. Maybe aft to the turbolaser blisters, where we've got all that wreckage to set up in."
Luke shook his head. "It's not going to let us do that," he said. "You saw what it did just now. With both of us clearly in sight, it still stopped two meters in from the command deck corridor, fired a few times, then went back to guard duty."
"It did, didn't it?" Mara commented, her expression changing subtly as she stared at the wall across from them. "You think you could pick out the exact spot where it stopped?"
Luke pulled up the memory. "Easily," he said. "Both times it stopped about two meters in, right in the center of the corridor where it's as safe from possible ambush as it can get. Of course, there's no guarantee it'll go to the same spot the next time."
"Oh, I think there is," Mara said, smiling a sudden, private smile. "Even if this is one of the models with an autonomous brain, the Vagaari can't possibly have the skill to have programmed anything fancy into it. I'm guessing it's been given its patrol parameters and is going to stick with them down to the half centimeter."
"Okay," Luke said, eyeing her suspiciously. He knew that look, and it generally meant trouble. "But there's still no cover anywhere nearby for an ambush."
"That's okay," she said. "For this one, we're not going to need cover. Here's the plan..."
* * *
Getting a firm grip on his lightsaber, Luke once again stepped out into the command deck corridor.
The droideka's head swiveled toward him, as if not believing he was actually going to try this again. Luke took another step; the droideka responded by tracking its blasters toward him. "Get ready," Luke murmured. He took a third step, sensing Mara stepping into the corridor directly behind him—
And suddenly all other sensations and awareness vanished as the droideka opened fire.
Luke's lightsaber flashed back and forth, deflecting the blasts as he continued to sidle toward the starboard anteroom door. He reached it, dimly hearing the snap-hiss behind him as Mara ignited her own weapon.
The droideka reacted instantly. Even as Mara stabbed her lightsaber blade into the blast door, it ceased fire, folded up, and began rolling full-speed toward them. Luke watched its approach, trying to judge the timing— "Go!" he snapped at Mara. He deflected a burst of rolling fire as he heard her close down her weapon and take off back to the relative safety of the corridor. He held position another half second, then broke out of combat stance and charged after her.
The droideka kept coming. Luke heard the subtle changes in pitch as it altered direction to continue the chase, and put some extra speed into his running. If he hadn't been right about the droideka's positioning the last time, or if the machine wasn't as precisely programmed as Mara was hoping, this wasn't going to work.
The sound of the rolling wheel abruptly halted. "There it goes!" Mara called, braking to a halt in front of him.
Luke stopped and spun around, lightsaber ignited and ready. The droideka was standing in the center of the corridor, exactly where it had been the last two times it had chased them in this direction, its hazy deflector shield up as it finished the process of unfolding into attack position.
And beneath it, lying on the deck beside one of its tripod feet where Mara had carefully placed it before they'd launched their little feint, was their secret weapon.
Lorana Jinzler's old lightsaber.
Lying inside the droideka's deflector shield.
Luke lifted his lightsaber; but in salute, not defense. Even as the droideka's blasters settled into firing position, he felt Mara stretch out to the Force, twitching Lorana's lightsaber off the deck and rotating it to point upward toward the large bronzium-armor bulb at the base of the droideka's abdomen. With an asthmatic snap-hiss the green blade blazed to life, slicing into the droideka's heavy alloy body—
Luke had just a fraction of a second of premonition. "Down!" he snapped, grabbing Mara in a Force grip and pulling her down onto the deck beside him with their backs to the doomed machine.
And with a thundering explosion, the droideka disintegrated.
Luke squeezed his eyes shut, wincing as the blast washed over him like a desert sandstorm, the heat singeing the back of his neck, the concussion lifting him up off the deck and slamming him back down again, the tiny bits of shattered metal whipping across his back and legs and arms like maddened stingflies. A wave of acrid smoke followed behind the blast, curling his nostrils. A second later cooler air flowed across him in the opposite direction toward the partial vacuum, causing a brief moment of turbulence.
And then, everything was once again still. Cautiously, he opened his eyes and looked back over his shoulde
r.
The droideka was gone. So was Lorana's lightsaber, he noted with a twinge of guilt.
So was most of the portside blast door.
"Come on," he said to Mara, dragging himself upright. He felt a little woozy, but otherwise he seemed all right. "Let's get in there before they recover."
"What?" Mara asked vaguely, rubbing at her cheek as she got shakily to her feet and turned around. "Oh. That could be useful."
"Right." Luke looked around for his lightsaber, which had somehow ended up another three meters down the corridor, and stretched out to the Force to call it to his hand. "I take it that bulb thing with all the bronzium armor was the droideka's mini-reactor?"
"You got it," Mara said, stooping and retrieving her own lightsaber. "I was just trying to shut it down. I didn't mean to shut it down quite that violently."
"You must have hit one of the power regulators," Luke said, taking a couple of deep breaths as he looked her over. Her clothing was badly scorched, but aside from a few minor cuts and burns she seemed uninjured. She still had some of the same blast-induced fogginess he himself was fighting, but it was rapidly fading away. "Come on—we have to get in there," he repeated.
"Right," Mara said, her voice firmer this time. Taking a deep breath, she started forward. "Let's do it."
The left side of the blast door had been collapsed inward, crumpling the thick metal and leaving a gap big enough for two people to step through together. He and Mara did just that, lightsabers ready in front of them.
There was, as it turned out, no need for caution. Outside, the concussion shock wave from the exploding droideka had had a long, wide corridor to spread out into as it dissipated its energy. Here, however, it had had only the relatively confined space of the monitor anteroom to bounce around in. From the looks of the twenty or so Vagaari sprawled over their consoles or lying twitching on the deck, the wave must have done some fairly serious bouncing.
"They'll keep," Luke decided, looking across the rows of chairs and monitor consoles toward the archway and blast door leading into the bridge. "Let's see if we can get inside before Estosh realizes we're here."
